guests today steve doocy, chris wallace and make sure you watch. >> you have to run. if you run from the tv you have to run to the radio. >> i have to run to the radio. >> we'll have to buy a radio. >> tomorrow is friday. >> bill: democrats today are calling for jeff sessions' head. i'm bill hemmer. we sort through this one today and see where it goes. >> shannon: never a shortage of news. i'm shannon bream in for martha maccallum. the reports apparently contradicting testimony during the attorney general's confirmation hearing when he said he never communicated with the russian envoy. last hour he denied discussions with the ambassador about political campaign issues. >> i have not met with any russians at any time to discuss

any political campaign and those remarks are unbelievable to me and i don't have anything else to say about that. thank you. >> what about your agency's probe? >> when it is appropriate i'll recuse myself. >> shannon: john roberts. busy morning. what's the latest? >> the department of justice is now saying that then senator jeff sessions met with the russian ambassador to the united states twice in 2016, once in his office on september 8th. the other was a chance encounter at a heritage foundation event on the sidelines of the republican national convention in cleveland back in july. the doj insists that the meetings that he had with the ambassador. there was only one. a chance encounter doesn't count for much of a meeting. the one meeting he had in his office was under his auspices as a senior member of the armed

services committee in the senate. not a surrogate for the trump campaign. the doj also says he met with a total of 25 ambassadors last year. for example, the day after he met with the russian ambassador he met with the ukrainian am as bar to the united states. the issue isn't so much of the fact that he met with the ambassador it is what he said about contacts with russian officials during his confirmation hearings. watch here. >> there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the trump campaign communicated with the russian government in the course of this campaign what will you do? >> i have been called a surrogate a time or two in that campaign and i did not have communications with the russians and i'm unable to comment on it. >> some democrats like nancy pelosi are calling for sessions to resign as attorney general. others like franken and adam

ship are saying is to recuse himself fromigation at the depa of justice. on that front now getting some support, at least adam schipp getting some -- sessions should clarify his testimony and recuse himself. it's unlikely that he will resign but i think that pressure is going to grow for him to appoint an independent investigator to oversee this russia investigation and what contacts there might have been between the trump campaign and russian officials and what role russia may have played trying to influence the outcome of the election. >> shannon: what happens if the independent or special prosecutor is actually appointed? >> it depends who is appointed. you could have somebody who looks into is russia investigation and comes to a conclusion or the potential, less so now that the office of the independent counsel is in

existence you could end up with a ken starr figure to look into the failed whitewater land deal and pulled at the very ball of wool that was the clinton administration and went through numerous scandals ending up with the monica lewinsky scandal. when it comes to donald trump because of his long history in the private sector there is a substantial ball of wool there. one of the other things about ken starr, the office of the independent counsel leaked like a sieve. if you have a similar figure to starr there could be a steady drip of all this information that comes out over the course of his administration. so in addition to try to pass legislation, run the country they'll put out fires every week, shannon. >> shannon: an unwelcome distraction. john roberts live at the white house. thank you. >> bill: another report saying the obama white house may be driving the news on russia.

"the new york times" long report this morning. in the final days of the obama term they left a trail for investigators that relate to russian hacking. why would that be? rich lowry with me now to examine this. good morning to you. when you read that story and the details in there, what is the sense among trump supporters that they take from this report? >> it will increase the sense among trump supporters this was a partisan operation to delegitimize his election and all sorts of rules were bent in order to create mine fields for trump coming into office by the loose group of shadowy officials the operation to take down michael flynn came from. >> bill: overall the impression "the new york times" give you the obama team had evidence and wanted the make sure as many people in washington saw it as possible before they were out of power essentially. and they wanted to preserve the record. why would that be? >> the obama folks will tell

you we had a presidential candidate who won and election that the russians had hacked and tried to influence and was constantly denying that the russians had done this and was saying incredibly friendly things about vladimir putin so they found all that very alarming and they worried that information would be ignored or perhaps even destroyed. now, what to me one takeaway i have from this is if all this intelligence was disseminated as widely as this story suggests, if it was really a smoking gun. in this context it's direct coordination between trump inner circle and russia intelligence on the hacking, we would probably know about it. what we have at the moment is a lot of smoke but nothing that is explosive. >> bill: we went back to see when obama talked about the russian hacking or trump campaign officials were involved with the russians.

november 17th, december 12, twice on december 16, another time on january 8. that's what we found today. in one form or another he referred to the russian hacking or the trump campaign team in these comments. so you get the idea that they were trying to plant this seed >> right. >> bill: can you prove that or is it just the suggestion? >> the obama people will say as was reported in the "new york times" story as more and more intelligence came in we were more and more alarmed and wanted to get the word out to the public. the trump folks will say, you know what changed? they lost an election and they were outraged they lost an election and wanted to undermine the legitimacy of the incoming president. >> bill: to emphasize in the times piece they aren't saying president obama was behind this but they're saying the officials that worked in his administration were. >> correct. >> bill: some of those officials might still be

working in powerful positions in washington today under the trump team. >> they are. >> bill: which leads us to this comment. eric holder from yesterday on barack obama. it's coming, he is coming and he is ready to roll. my suggestion from that is that he is about to go public and fight back in an active role in washington, d.c. what do you take? >> a little opaque statement. that would be the natural interpretation, i think. again, the trump people would take from it okay, there is this shadow war been going on against the trump administration. now we'll see it coming into the open with the former president of the united states engaging in it. >> bill: you have been following the jeff sessions story this morning. you heard mccarthy and chaffetz saying he should recuse himself. >> the political pressure for him to recuse himself will be irresistible. perhaps the story is overplayed. one of the so-called meetings

was a group of various ambassadors and seems like a handshake. sessions in his mind thinks i meet with ambassadors all the time. nothing remarkable about that but i'm sure he wishes he was more complete in his testimony. what democrats want is a special prosecutor. even if a scandal doesn't lead to anything a special prosecutor takes time and energy from the administration and they always find something to prosecute someone. >> bill: which means it drags on and a drag on the goals of the trump administration. >> yes. the sessions story materially advances the democratic goal of getting a special prosecutor. >> bill: more to come on this. what's next? >> shannon: the trump bump in the market isn't slowing down. the dow closed above 21,000. highs we've never seen before and futures are pointing to another big open starting at 9:30. we'll be there for the first bell. but first this. >> take a plan since nobody

knows for sure which one is ultimately going to be the best. be unified. then you have a political case to make to the democrats. >> bill: pick a plan. some advice, the republicans on obamacare and we're getting new reports that republicans have settled on a plan. it is being held under lock and key. and we will talk to a senator about what's in it. >> shannon: debate surrounding the most emotional moment of the joint address continues. we'll debate it. first. >> she is a hero and she is strong. she is anything about a poor woman or widow. she has more strength in her little finger than most people would have in their lifetime. i realize that ah, that $100k is not exactly a fortune.

well, a 103 yeah, 103. well, let me ask you guys. how long did it take you two to save that? a long time. then it's a fortune. well, i'm sure you talk to people all the time who think $100k is just pocket change. right now we're just talking to you. i told you we had a fortune. yes, you did. getting closer to your investment goals starts with a conversation. schedule a complimentary goal planning session today. companies across the state are york sgrowing the economy,otion.

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whfight back fastts, with tums smoothies. it starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue. and neutralizes stomach acid at the source. ♪ tum -tum -tum -tum smoothies! only from tums >> shannon: this is a fox news alert. there are reports the trump administration is considering possible military action against north korea over its nuclear weapons program. the wall street journal reporting an internal white house review on strategy includes possible military action or regime change. the review comes less than a month after the reclusive nation conducted a ballistic missile test in the sea of japan. we've got a live report on that story next hour.

>> sick to my stomach and makes me angry. i get the idea everything would be nice to say everything is a political employ. it negates the meaning of it. some valiant people are out there fighting not for republicans or democrats. they're fighting for this country and god bless them for doing it. >> bill: strong words from chris collins widow. the most talked about moment from president trump's joint session speech saying seal widow carryn owens was nothing short of a political pawn. >> so many of my family members are in the military. he exploited that widow. >> i wish she hadn't allowed herself to be used as his prop like that. i don't see any great courage here. where is the courage? who wouldn't stand and applaud for a war widow? >> what is he thinking about?

my ratings. record applause. i'll get an emmy for this. most applause for a dead solder on my watch. this is the sickness of this man. >> i don't know how you defend this stuff. want to bring in our panel. secretary to the president, president clinton david goodfriend. good morning to you. alex, former communications director for -- did you hear the audience applaud? >> you shake your head and change the channel if you are watching the view when you see something like that. people talk about trump derangement syndrome. that was it. these people hate donald trump so much they can't even recognize what a special moment that was and applaud the widow of a dead navy seal. it breaks your heart there are people in this country that think it's acceptable discourse.

partisanship ahead patriotism. >> i think it's disgusting any time any president, democrat or republican hides behind the flag by saying there is a military person, a military widow, somebody who served and tries to -- i think president clinton, president obama, president bush. all of them. all of them. >> bill: what about the tribute to the man and his sacrifice and the widow he leaves behind? >> what about the navy seal's father who called for an investigation. we didn't hear anything about him. >> bill: we know he did not support the president in the last election also. >> that's right. his views are valid. >> bill: he exploited that widow and cheers that follow that. no courage here, was he thinking about ratings? where did that come from? >> here is where it comes from. there is hypocrisy on the left for not calling out president obama or president clinton for

doing the same thing for pointing to a military war veteran or disabled veteran in the gallery and getting a round of applause. i think you are missing the point if you don't think that presidents and their staffs use these speeches as political theater. they do. all of them do. then they send soldiers off to die and donald trump never served a day in his life in the military nor did president obama. i find it all disgusting, all of it. >> bill: are you buying this, alex? >> i'm not. we should celebrate our military heroes and that's what donald trump did last night and what barack obama did when he was president. i applauded barack obama whenever he celebrated our military like i applaud donald trump for recognizes the sacrifices the widow made in his speech the other night. to your point about how his father disagrees with the wife about the outcome of that event, there are three ongoing investigations in the department of defense. we can all wait for the outcome of those investigations but i

don't think it's a rush to judgment to say that widow is a hero and she deserves our nation's thanks and there is nothing inappropriate. it's entirely acceptable the president should be recognizing her in front of the nation and every person in that room should have stood up and applauded her and should not have been attacked on tv the next day. >> that's not what's going on here. >> bill: one last comment. david. david, that room was giving that grieving widow strength. >> absolutely. i think it was and i think all the democrats and republicans who stood and applauded her were applauding her. the criticism that you heard the day after was of the president for in effect saying look, that was a record breaking moment. we did it here. it was now, it was me, it was back to him. i think that's what was a little off putting about it. now look, the president wants

us to be distracted from the investigation by an independent investigator of the russia ties to his campaign and wants us to be distract fred the fact his approval ratings are the lowest of any modern president and distracted from the fact he hasn't gotten any legislation through. barack obama had gotten some through already. >> bill: you are taking away from a successful evening. >> that's the political theater. he is trying to spin this for him and that's what presidents do. that's why i say every president who does this i think it's disgusting. they all should be ashamed of themselves. >> bill: we should all salute the sacrifice of this family. >> absolutely. >> bill: period, end. >> that's right. >> thank you. 20 minutes past the hour now, shannon. >> shannon: the opening bell more than 10 minutes away. right about 10 minutes after the dow jones closed at a record high topping 21,000 for the first time ever. the wall street rally reignited after president trump's speech

before congress. is that the direct impact? maria bartiromo is next. >> the stock market has gained almost $3 trillion in value since the election on november 8th. a record. that's life. you diet. you exercise. and if you still need help lowering your blood sugar... ...this is jardiance. along with diet and exercise... jardiance lowers blood sugar and a1c in adults with type 2 diabetes. jardiance is also the only type 2 diabetes treatment with heart- proven to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death in adults with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. jardiance can cause serious side effects, including dehydration. this may cause you to feel dizzy, faint, or lightheaded, or weak upon standing. ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal.

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>> shannon: six minutes away. we're waiting for markets to open after yesterday's record high close. the dow closing above 21,000 for the first time ever. president trump taking to twitter for a victory tweet saying this, quote, since november 8 election day the stock market has posted 3.2 trillion in gains and consumer confidence is at a 15-year high. jobs exclamation point. fox business network editor maria bartiromo joins us for more. he is taking a victory lap on

twitter. how much is at trib butteable about the roll backs and everything. >> this is all about the trump administration, it really is. he is taking a victory tweet but you have to recognize there are expectations that the policies coming out of this administration will move the needle on growth and that's what is behind that. when the president first came out and started talking about tax reform, that god things going. on election night if you remember the market was down 600 points because people were worried he was going to win. but when the market quickly realized it would be a republican sweep they looked at his economic growth plan differently and they said wait a minute. it's not only the growth plan where you can move the needle on economic growth but it will get passed because it's a republican sweep. we'll get a roll back of tax reform and regulation. it hasn't looked back. the market is up better than 15% since election night and it

is all about expectations of these policies having an impact on earnings and economic growth. i said on this program once before when we were talking the last time i had an analyst on my morning show on the fox news network say a 15% corporate tax rate is equivalent to a 20% increase in corporate earnings. corporate earnings is what drives the stock market and why we're seeing the market fly. by the way, the speech on tuesday night highly praised on wall street wednesday morning. a lot of people felt he looked presidential. he is growing into the job. he is going to make sure to execute the things that he has promised. that's why the market was up 300 yesterday. >> shannon: more pro business friendly talk from him. that's the background and where he comes from. he has had meetings with ceos and healthcare leaders and with union leaders, too, trying to talk to people across the board and get input to the policies. what's the risk of sell-off down the road if they don't act quickly and get some of the things he has done. he has the majority he needs on the hill but they have to get

things on the books and signed. >> the timeline they've given us, the treasury secretary told me last week to expect a tax package out in august. they will use the reconciliation period where they only need 51 votes to get a tax package done later in the year. second reconciliation. that means we're talking about tax reform package out after the summertime. if that timeline is not materializing, that will cause a huge sell-off. no doubt about it. there is a lot riding on this. look, 3/4 trillion in gains in the market just this year. people are betting that tax reform gets done in a timely manner after obamacare. there isn't a lot of room for error. the market is optimistic. if that timeline is -- blows up that will be a big issue for the markets. i think at this point people are betting that yes, he is going to do what he said. he has kept his promises and will do that some more. but as soon as you feel like wait, there is a timeline in

jeopardy we may not see tax reform until later 2019, that would be a major problem. steven -- they have tried to get expectations down. we'll see if it materializes and we see the market continue up. >> shannon: how much of the growth is spurred by other things. inflation level up, global oil prices up over the last year. predictions for global growth and expansion coming back onto the table? >> it is all connected but i think after donald trump won the election and started talking about the policies he wants to execute. investors started to look at it and say maybe things will get better. that spurred an increase in consumer confidence. yeah, you have the outside things like consumer confidence, like spending looking a little better but it is all related. people are expecting that things will get better. don't forget the last eight years we haven't seen a year of 3% economic growth, shannon.

we have 1 1/2, 2%. if we can get out of the 2% mold and get to 3% that will be very, very powerful for other indicators like job creation. >> shannon: the president is all about getting the growth number up. always good to see you. bill. >> bill: thank you, ladies, in a moment here where is the new version of white house travel ban? they're considering dropping iraq from the list, among other changes. is that a good idea or will it make us less safe? max thornberry chairs the house armed services committee and will answer the questions live. also inside the minds of isis. benjamin hall sitting down with several killers jailed in iraq. what he found is clearly disturbing. we'll talk to ben about that. and the controversial nuclear deal with iran is under new scrutiny today. is that deal about to come undone? >> i have also imposed new sanctions on entities and

individuals who support iran's ballistic missile program and affirm our alliance with the state of israel.

>> bill: wall street is open for business. check it out. the bulls are trying to continue their record run. maybe we don't win every day, right? down a couple points. >> shannon: not every day. we'll get sick of winning, though. are you sick of it yet? >> bill: no i want to win every day. as you were talking with maria a moment ago. you can wait a generation for moves like this when you think about the last 3 1/2, four months and thing about 1987, the record run late 1990s that largely fueled by the internet and technology and on and on she goes. so this really is one of those moments, shannon, where you look at investing in the stock market and you think you know, put a big check mark by this time. because we've been watching

this thing just sail. >> shannon: you have your dow 30,000 hat at the stand by as a ready as i understand. >> bill: they are making those? oh my gosh. right now dow 21,000. >> shannon: the senate will hold a final vote on ben carson's nomination to head the department of housing and urban development. they're considering carson for the job. he cleared a preliminary senate vote yesterday and is expected to get to full confirmation today. new expecttive order could be coming tomorrow. president trump may drop iraq from the list of countries whose citizens cannot temporarily enter the u.s. we're talking to chairman of the house armed services committee. thank you for your time. a couple of things here, if you drop iraq from the list, does it take away from this argument that hey, these are the seven countries were picked under the obama administration because of

specific threats or concerns but we'll take off the one we need to maintain diplomatic relations with. does it hurt the underpinnings of this order? >> i think iraq is different for two reasons. number one, a lot of iraqis have worked with our militaries and saved american lives and it is important to recognize that. but secondly, we have a much greater presence in iraq and can do a much better job of vetting people who want to come here. it's much harder to do that sort of vetting in the other countries like syria and libya and so forth. so i think there is a greater assurance for iraqis coming here that they aren't coming here to do us harm. >> shannon: my understanding is they may have -- iraq may have agreed to further beefed up vetting on their end of the u.s. embassy there before allowing people here. there are concerns in many of these countries the vetting on their end, the information they're able to provide to us, is not adequate. what about the idea of adding countries? other places we think could be a threat to the u.s., north korea and others if they were

added to this list do you think it would help it withstand legal muster? >> well, i don't know the legal standard. i know practically north korea will not allow anybody to legally leave their country and come to the united states. but we do have to calibrate our vetting depending on how much information we get from the host country. as i say, syria and libya, we don't get anything from the government. so having that higher level of standard probably makes sense. iraq we have a good relationship with. we need to keep a good relationship with because we are fighting together and a lot of iraqis are dying to eliminate isis. >> shannon: i want to talk to you as well about the developments involving the attorney general jeff sessions. served on the other side of the hill from you. you're on the house chairing the intel -- armed services committee there. he was over on the senate armed services committee. we understand he had 25 or more meetings with various ambassadors from different

countries and apparently the reports are it includes one or two meetings with russia's ambassador. is that something in your role as a congressman on that particular committee would or wouldn't happen? is it out of the ordinary? >> it is certainly not out of the ordinary. i suspect there is not a week that goes by that i do not have some sort of meeting with an ambassador, defense minister, foreign minister, a defense attache on our mutual security interests. and the rest of the story is the united states cannot do everything on our own. we have to have allies and partners and we have to have communication with other countries. and a lot of that resolves around the military, which means as i say, i do that pretty much every week. >> shannon: well, when asked about this under oath in his confirmation hearings the senator said he had not had contact with the russian counterparts -- russian

government and he was being asked in the context of the trump campaign. so he is taking a lot of heat over that answer whether it was inartful. misleading, mistake. here is what senator ted cruz had to say about what should happen next. >> i think what we're seeing is a lot of political theater. could jeff have been more clear in what he said? yes, i think that was unfortunate. but i think context matters a lot. >> shannon: it does. your colleague there in the house chaffetz tweeted sessions should clarify his testimony and recuse himself. the attorney general said where appropriate he'll happily recuse himself. do you think we get more of an explanation from him today? >> i don't know what he thought the question was. he will have to deal with that. what i know, though, is that in both the senate and the house, the intelligence committees on a bipartisan basis are investigating not only the russian attempts to influence

our election but contacts that the russians may have had with various campaigns and so forth. so that's the appropriate way to look at whether there was something inappropriate or unusual going on. certainly as we just talked about members of the house or senate having contact with ambassadors is not unusual at all. >> shannon: there are multiple investigations going on on the hill and the f.b.i. as well. we'll keep track of those. chairman, thank you for your time. >> bill: 21 minutes before the new report on the final days of the obama white house. that report details how staffers were told to save evidence about any potential ties between the incoming trump administration and moscow. and to make sure it was widely seen by many in washington, d.c. well, if that's the case, what was behind that move? we'll have a closer look at that report coming up in a moment here. >> shannon: plus reports surfacing the republicans have chosen a plan, a plan to replace obamacare. the plan, though, is under lock

and key. a key republican leader, senator and doctor is next. >> you know how this town works, bret? things don't happen until they have to happen. now they have to happen. the president is absolutely committed to repealing and replacing obamacare because it is not working for the american people. the things they love to do most on these balloons. travel with my daughter. roller derby. ♪ now give up half of 'em. do i have to? this is a tough financial choice we could face when we retire. but, if we start saving even just 1% more of our annual income... we could keep doing all the things we love. prudential. bring your challenges.

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we're building the future of energy, for you. >> shannon: lawmakers on capitol hill are listening to cybersecurity experts this hour as the senate committee explores better ways to keep our nation safe from online threats. former nsa director keith alexander is testifying in light of russia's election interference and china's success at compromising 20 million security clearance records. >> the point is they need one plan. it is so complicated as trump

has discovered, healthcare reform and healthcare economics, that nobody can predict with accuracy which of the plans will produce the outcome you want. so pick a plan since nobody knows for sure which one is ultimately going to be the best. be unified. then you have a political case to make to the democrats. >> bill: stated simply. he tells the republicans to make up their minds once and for all amidst reports now that republican leaders do indeed have a plan but keeping it under wraps. senator, good morning to you. what do you think about dr. krauthammer's comment there? have you picked a plan? >> charles krauthammer is right. we see so many things the same way. we're both doctors and the same age and talk frequently about these issues. there is no secret, however, that obamacare has failed, is collapsing.

republicans are uniting. the senate leadership yesterday as well as all the members of our republican conference met with leaders of the house to continue to put our good ideas to their plan. they will meet today. it is time to unify behind one plan. there are lots of good ideas. we are unified that obamacare needs to be repealed and replaced to give people what they need, which is freedom and flexibility and choice that they don't have under obamacare. >> bill: you said something very interesting in that comment. you had a meeting yesterday between senate and house leaders. what was the consensus, sir? >> the consensus -- it wasn't just senate leaders but all the members of the republican conference, the consensus is what we have now has failed. we cannot allow the status quo to continue. and we agree with what donald trump said in his speech the other night. he laid out five specifics. people are pre-existing condition need to be able to keep what they have in terms of coverage. we need to provide really a

marketplace. donald trump laid out ways to do that. we need to give more freedom to the states. more responsibility to the states. they do a much better job than washington one size fits all. i think the president was absolutely right. >> bill: to be clear on your comment from the meeting yesterday you did not emerge with a unified plan, correct or not? >> we emerged unified that we need to have something pass the house that will come to the senate. we are still confirming people to the cabinet. we're working on judge gorsuch to the supreme court. the house is starting first and they'll pass something that will come to the senate and it will provide the kind of freedom that the american people need. young people will be able to continue on their parents' plan. >> bill: react to this. bloomberg yesterday, house republican leaders have a new version of the repeal and replacement bill. they just don't want you to see it. the document is being treated

like a top secret surveillance intercept, end quote. is that the case in an effort to avoid leaks such as you saw and heard a week ago? >> what came out a week ago was a couple of week-old plan. what the leaders that talked to us yesterday from the house were going to bring back some of the suggestions we had and incorporate those things in things they'll present to the entire house today. so we continue to work on ways to improve what we can do to provide the flexibility and choice so people with pre-existing conditions like my wife who is a breast cancer survivor and i know as a doctor as well as a husband can look for some certainty and they will find that in the republican plan. so people who are so concerned that they don't have any choices in the marketplace will see that. >> bill: there is a physical plan under lock and key. >> the how is working on their plan and they'll pass it and

mark it up. people will see how that works and we'll see what we're offering is much better than what people are living with now where they are down to one choice, the prices have gone up, some of them realize they can't use insurance because the co-pays are so high. we want to put resources in people's hands to make better decisions about what works for them and their families. >> bill: i'm coming back to the point again, apologize. is there a plan? a yes or maybe? >> yes, the house is continuing to work on that and they'll get it passed. >> bill: you mention president trump and the push that he made on tuesday night. how significant is his involvement ultimately to bring these ideas together, senator? >> it's presidential leadership that is going to get this fully finished, accomplished. he is the one that gets to sign it into law. he is having a huge impact. we've met with vice president pence came to our policy lunch

on tuesday. flushed out additional details of what the president wants in this. i thought the president did a great job and the president was right in reaching out to democrats to be involved. they are the ones that caused the problem that we're living in right now. that's why we're trying to provide relief and repair some of the damage that has been done. he -- the president has only been in office for seven or eight weeks and we've had this obamacare out there for seven or eight years. no wonder that -- this isn't going to be turned around overnight. it will take a while to get to a point of the stability that we need because of the damage that has been done to this system because of this ongoing obamacare debacle and collapse. >> bill: last question. did the leaks from a week ago hurt the aounfication around a plan, sir? >> no, i don't think so at all. this is a long-term problem we've been living with in this country that people have been

suffering on the obama healthcare law. we'll get this done. >> bill: thank you from coming back. doctor from wyoming. >> shannon: we heard from the senate side on the replacement for obamacare. in the next hour we'll talk to house majority whip and the homeland security department is stepping in to investigate the nationwide threats against jewish communities. we'll take you there live with that story. (vo) maybe it was here, when you hit 300,000 miles. or here, when you walked away without a scratch. maybe it was the day your baby came home. or maybe the day you realized your baby was not a baby anymore. every subaru is built to earn your trust. because we know what you're trusting us with.

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>> bill: disturbing video sparking investigation. california showing a fisherman reeling in a great white shark off the huntington pier in california. that's a little too close for comfort for me. wow, you see it dangling off the side? great whites are an endangered species. if you get one you are supposed to throw it back.

now authorities want to figure out what happened to the shark after it was caught. >> shannon: i caught a hammer head shark one time off the coast of florida born and raised. we have lots of sharks there. it will be renamed the entire species in your honor the hemmer head. >> bill: two things hemmer doesn't like in this world, sharks and snakes. >> shannon: we're on the same page. i'm agreeing with you on that. >> bill: keep them away from bream and hemmer. >> shannon: no thanks. department of homeland security is working with jewish communities following a recent rash of anti-semitic incidents across the country. laura engel is live to tell us the latest. >> john kelly announced his department is ready to offer up security assessments for jewish community centers facing these increased threats across the u.s. we've been seeing. as we've reported there have been multiple waves of bomb threats called into jewish day

schools, community centers and offices across the country since january. as secretary kelly said yesterday, the department of homeland security will work with jewish communities in a variety of ways releasing a statement which reads in part dhs has protected security advisors in all 50 states who serve as liaisons to government, industry and community leaders and who provide expertise on protective measures. threat reporting and security awareness. the dhs says community centers can take active shooter and bomb prevention training. in fact, over the past 18 months dhs has conducted workshops with jccs in san francisco, cherry hill, new jersey and miami, for example, with more sessions planned in ohio, north carolina, and philadelphia. the need for action making it into president donald trump's address to congress tuesday night. >> president trump: recent threats targeting jewish community centers and vandalism of jewish cemeteries, as well as last week's shooting in

kansas city, remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all of its very ugly forms. [applause] >> as federal officials work to assist local communities, they're rambling up their own security and gathering local leaders together to come up with ways to protect people and prevent these incidents in the first place. >> bill: big story we are ore watching is the story around jeff sessions. some republican lawmakers are joining democrats asking the ag to recuse himself looking into investigations between the trump team and russia amid reports he had two conversations with a russian ambassador leading up to the election. he is casting it in a different light today. we'll tell you what he is saying about that as we join you again top of the hour on america's newsroom.

>> we run forecasts in each country and for a range of tax scenarios.

>> shannon: new details on the obama administration's efforts to set up -- it's breaking this morning. welcome to a brand-new hour of america's newsroom. i'm shannon bream for martha maccallum. >> bill: i'm bill hemmer. good morning. "the new york times" reports officials in the obama white house raced during their final days in office to preserve information on any possible communications between russia & associates within candidate trump and his team. and then ensured that as many people in washington saw it as possible. catherine herridge following that. what is the latest now on this connection? let's start there. >> thank you, bill. good morning. a former intelligence official confirmed to fox news the outgoing obama administration was determined not to let the russia issue die and to that end intelligence about moscow's interference in the u.s. election was circulated broadly. this intelligent assessment released in december by the

director of national intelligence was highly unusual because intelligence assessments are typically shared privately. meantime the white house is confirming that at the request of the senate intelligence committee the white house counsel's office sent a memo to staff on tuesday instructing them to preserve any and all materials that may be related to russian interference in the u.s. election or communication with russian officials. the administration's position is deputy director andrew mccabe and mike pompeo both told the white house there is no evidence to back up reporting there are contacts between trump campaign officials and people connected to russian intelligence. >> >> bill: democrats accusing the a.g. about his confirmation hearings. what's the explanation now? >> let's listen to that section with the confirmation hearing with the question coming from al frank en. >> if there is any evidence

when that anyone affiliated with the trump campaign communicated with the russian government in the course of this campaign what will you do? >> i have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and i didn't -- i did not have communications with the russians. i'm unable to comment on it. >> attorney general acknowledges he had contact with a russian ambassador twice insisting it was a routine part of his job on the senate armed services committee and the contact wasn't connected to the trump campaign. this morning attorney general sessions explained what happened. >> i have not met with any russians at any time to discuss any political campaign and those remarks are unbelievable to me and are false and i don't have anything else to say about that. thank you. >> what about the agency's probe? >> i said whenever it's appropriate i will recuse myself, there is no doubt about

that. >> the white house issued a statement saying the democrats are pushing these stories to undercut the president's successful address to congress, bill. >> bill: thank you for that. reporting from washington shannon has more now. >> shannon: now we've got more on these reports about the obama administration. efforts to collect this information. marie harf is with us. good to see you this morning, marie. okay. so to this end do you think there would have been this much activity and flurry of gathering this intel if the white house was confident that mrs. clinton was ultimately going to win? you heard catherine herridge say it is highly unusual that it would be disseminated in the way it was. normally it would have been done privately with a select group of people. >> a couple points here, first, the reason that not just obama white house officials but career nonpartisan intelligence officials felt it was important to put this information out publicly. some of the information out was because what the russians had

done in our election was so unprecedented. and that the american people have a right to know what the investigation looks like and what evidence we have. but i've talked to a lot of career nonpartisan former colleagues in the intelligence community over the past few days about some of these issues. they felt that it was important given how severe this interference in our election was by a hostile foreign power to investigate it, to put the evidence together. and all you have to do is look at the reporting on jeff sessions over the past 24 hours to know that there are a lot of unanswered questions here. that's why you'll see more calls for investigations and i think that's why this is probably the tipping point for getting a special prosecutor. >> shannon: the f.b.i. has been investigating for more than a year. those investigations were already underway. they were fully in process. so why did the white house feel it so necessary to make sure this information was pushed out more publicly and to a broader audience and to more people if there was -- was there not

confidence the f.b.i. had this under control? >> i think we need to put this into the broader context that the white house and the career officials in charge of our nation's security did feel like it was important once we had a unified intelligence assessment to tell the american people that the russian government had purposely undertaken steps to influence our election. that's a really big deal and something that i think most voters in this country should believe they should know. so obviously the sensitive sources and methods of how we know this are not disseminated that widely. they aren't disseminated to most people in the intelligence community quite frankly but the assessment is so vital to a key part of our democracy in this country that it is not surprising that a lot of people who are in charge of our security felt it was important to document this and to investigate this. >> shannon: in addition to what has been going on with the f.b.i. for more than a year. there are multiple investigations going on on the hill. some of that information is

being shared. so far we have no assessment of any kind of criminal investigation going on by the f.b.i. everyone on both sides of the aisle who talked about this has said they'll go where the facts lead them. are you confident? do you feel like with all of those things in place that we'll get the answers that we need? >> i think the american people deserve those answers and i do think this is probably going to be the point at which where we have a lot of calls for a special prosecutor. chaffetz, who is not friendly to democratic causes certainly this morning said we need one. and there is still unanswered questions about jeff sessions' behavior. he says it was only as a member of the armed services committee. why was one of those meetings at the republican national convention on the sidelines? >> shannon: the facts we know about that at the sideline event a group of ambassadors approached him to talk about some things his staff said there were no commitments made, nothing of gravity discussed there. but it was a group of people

who approached him to say hello or to have a brief discussion. is that the kind of thing that he should immediately walk away from and say i can't talk to any of you ambassadors and the fact he had contact with some 25 ambassadors in 2016, you know, is that conversational meeting that happened at the rnc with a group of other people? isn't that a stretch to say it's something that was improper? >> i think we need more information. when you sit in front of a congressional committee in a hearing to be confirmed to be attorney general and volunteer the language that you did not have conversations with the russians and now that's been shown not to be true, whether or not those were in the context of his work as a senator, this is part of the overall story. and it just underscores that there are a lot of unanswered questions about the russian interference in this election and people like marco rubio have said this isn't partisan. next time it could happen to republicans. we as republicans should not

shy away from investigating this. and that's what i think if you talked to most of the american people, they don't want the russians interfering in our election no matter who it helps and they want to get to the bottom of this. and that's i think what you are going to see happen. >> shannon: a lot of agreement on that point and a lot of bipartisan agreement about these investigations as well to give people the assurances they get the full answer. marie harf, good to see you. >> bill: president trump shining a spotlight on defense spending in miss plans to rebuild our military. the president leaving the white house a bit later to inspects the uss gerald r. ford. the next generation aircraft carrier. kevin corke live in newport news, virginia. good morning to you. what's the message there today? >> bill, good morning to you. you're right. the white house says it's about two words, promises kept. you, of course, have talked about this at length. the president made no secret during the campaign he wanted

to increase u.s. military expenditures and investment in our fleet and the back drop we'll be showing today as he makes a visit to newport news, virginia. the president has talked a great deal about what can we do to help the navy? that would certainly include a new class of super carriers, the gerald r. ford as you pointed out. elite ship joining the fleet in 2017. it is named after the 38th president who served in the navy in world war ii. the president telling a joint session of congress this week that he wants to boost by $54 billion u.s. military expenditures and expansion of the naval fleet to 350 vessels. that also by the way, bill, means plenty of jobs for this region and that's part of the priority we expect the president to lay out in his comments today. >> bill: no more news overseas out of north korea. what is the administration's reaction to the latest provocation? what is it doing and what is the white house saying, kevin? >> i tell you what, this is

something that they're watching very carefully. we have heard on a number of occasions that the president is watching what happens in north korea with great interest and if an internal review is to be believed we could be looking at a major shift in u.s. policy toward north korea in the days, weeks, months and years ahead. let me share a bit about what the review is sharing. if it's to be believed, bill, the administration could change the way it approaches what has been happening in the north among the many issues we've been talking about is what should be the response when north korea does something that is provocative like testing an icbm which you have been talking about on air. that happening this week. we saw kim jung uncelebrating something that is believed to reach the west and nikki haley said north korea needs to be held accountable. for now, back to you. >> bill: thank you, kevin.

he is live in virginia. shannon, what's next? >> shannon: the future of obamacare front and center this week. >> president trump: tonight i'm also calling on this congress to repeal and replace obamacare. [cheering and applause] >> shannon: how republicans are expected to unveil their plan today but some critics are already raising red flags. we'll talk to congressman steve scalise and then there is this. >> there is widespread destruction and a rash of tornadoes hitting the south and midwest. closer look at the damage in a moment here. >> shannon: inside the mind of an isis fighter. our own benjamin hall sits down with a terrorist to get answers on what drives some of them to kill. >> i was in the car with a bomb and parked near a busy cafe close to traffic police. i then got out. walked away and called a number on my phone on blew it up.

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>> shannon: extreme weather in parts of the south and midwest wreaking havoc. at least 23 tornadoes spotted in tennessee and other states. three weather-related deaths reported so far including a young man whose vehicle was blown right off the highway. onus the heavy winds just ripped his barn to

shreds. >> it looks like some straight line winds came through and just got the top and just lifted it right off and set it out in the road. >> you could see the hail hitting the cars outside. seeing one of the cars, alarms were going off. >> shannon: storm system losing power out in the atlantic. >> bill: inside the mind of an isis killer. benjamin hall just returned from iraq where he met with several islamic state fighters face-to-face and their rational and answers are stunning. benjamin is back in london with more on these extraordinary interviews. what did you learn, ben? >> bill, it is so hard in general to get information out of isis. there are very few informants in the group. the facility we visited was a gold mine of information. more than that it was terrifying to look into the eyes of isis fighters. listen to them talk about killing hundreds of women and

children. behind each of these doors is an isis prisoners guilty of killing many people. some show remorse. others feel no guilt at all. this man, 25, started as a guard at a checkpoint no mosul arresting women who weren't veiled but moved up the ranks to making and setting bombs. he calmly told us about one of his many deadly attacks. >> i had a car with a bomb and parked near a cafe close to traffic police. i then got out. walked away and called a number on my phone and blew it up. >> he said that he heard the screams of that bomb created afterwards and that the devastation left by it. he was there and saw it but he had a license to kill. we also spoke to another prisoner who said he had come across american fighters inside isis. take a listen. can you tell us about the americans you met? >> there were two or three of

them among the foreigners fighting and training others. they were more radical than the others. they were in charge of threats against the west. >> so we've always known there were foreign fighters in isis but we also thought french and germans and known they wanted to attack the west. listening to this concrete evidence they had a cell targeting directly threats against the west. it was quite amazing. >> bill: two years ago benjamin when we first met and you were on the trail of isis in syria and iraq, when you met these killers in jail in iraq today, have they changed or progressed, or is there much difference between your discussions now and what you found and discovered two years ago? >> bill, their rational for committing these crimes remains the same. they say it's a global war that god has allowed them to. the caliphate will take over the world. the big changed i noticed they

are morphing. they are preparing to become an insurgency. a lot of the people we spoke to come from sleeper cells inside baghdad who are preparing to launch attacks. that's what is what's going to happen. two years ago i saw them taking territory they're looking ahead. how to survive once being defeated on the battlefield. >> bill: was there any moral clarity in this or any sense of remorse from any of those you spoke with? >> you know, the only remorse i heard were from people who did say we wish we hadn't done it now. we know it was wrong. i find it hard to believe many of them in these cells. they want their freedom but among others they said this is what we were tasked to do. it came from above. we'll keep fighting. again, always america. that was the country that invaded us. they're our enemies. that driving force behind them. that you see in their eyes. >> bill: benjamin hall. good reporting there with the

insight from iraq. thank you, ben. shannon. >> shannon: house republicans are reportedly ready to unveil their version of obamacare. why are some conservatives already saying that oppose it? steve scalise is here with us on repeal and replace and what's next in the battle over healthcare. >> bill: jeff sessions facing heat today surrounding his communication with russia and sworn testimony apparently to the contrary, or not. democrats and now some republicans calling for an independent prosecutor. >> bill: now this is senate minority leader chuck schumer talking about the controversy around the attorney general. >> he needs to recuse himself from any investigation between contacts between the presidents and his associates on the campaign and transition and russia. for weeks i made clear that i

believe attorney general sessions' close relationship with the trump campaign requires that he recuse himself from the executive branch investigation into ties between the trump campaign and russia. it's a matter of department of justice guidelines that i've read to you several times that are very clear. the guidelines are clear as day. yet attorney general sessions has demured. the information reported last night makes it clear beyond the shadow of a doubt that attorney general sessions cannot possibly lead an investigation into russian interference in our elections or come anywhere near it. with these revelations, he may very well become the subject of it. it would be of alice in wonderland quality if this

administration were to sanction him to investigate himself. recusal should have been given. but this goes beyond that. he had weeks -- attorney general sessions had weeks to correct the record that he made before the judiciary committee but he let the record stand. there cannot be even doubt about the fairness of the attorney general. the top law enforcement official of the land. after this, it's clear attorney general sessions does not meet that test. because the department of justice should be above reproach for the good of the country, attorney general sessions should resign. but whatever one's views are on

resignation, the most important thing we must do is ensure the integrity of the investigation. has it already been compromised? what can we do to ensure it moves forward in a way that ultimately leads to the unvar nished truth? to that end i am calling for three things today. first, the justice department must immediately appoint a special prosecutor. given that attorney general sessions' impartiality is compromised, that responsibility will fall to the acting deputy attorney general, dana boenti. a career civil service originally appointed u.s. attorney by president obama. it is incumbent upon the acting deputy attorney general to

select as special prosecutor an individual who is beyond reproach, completely impartial, without any significant ties to either political party. the choice for special prosecutor will be scrutinized. even a hint of partiality in that choice, even the hint that this person will not be able to get to the bottom of these troubling questions, would be disqualified. the prosecutor must be of great experience and unimpeachable impartiality. now, this is not just common sense. this is what the justice department regulations require. they say that a special counsel should be appointed when a standard investigation, quote, these are the justice department's words, when a

standard invest would, quote, present a conflict of interest for the department or other extraordinary circumstances and it would be in the public interest to appoint an outside special counsel. the regulations also require that a special counsel be a lawyer with a reputation for integrity and impartial decision making. there cannot even be the shred of a connection between the attorney general, mr. sessions, and this department of justice investigation into the events of 2016. second, if the justice department drags its feet and refuses to appoint a special prosecutor or select someone with insufficient independence, there is another route. we will then urge senator

mcconnell and speaker ryan to work with democrats to create a new and improved version of the independent counsel law which would give a three-judge panel the authority to appoint an independent counsel. this was a law that was on the books put in place after watergate to avoid a repeat of events like the saturday night massacre. it was designed for this purpose. unfortunately, it was not drafted with enough constraints. congress allowed the authority to expire after ken starr's investigation in whitewater went out of control. he tested the boundaries of the authority he was given. the law, the independent counsel law, went too far.

sorry, the law, the independent counsel law was not drafted tightly enough. but in this case, cognizant and wary of this history, we would work to craft a narrow authority with specific guidelines for this investigation to prevent this from becoming a political witch hunt. we hope that if the administration fails in its responsibility that senator mcconnell and speaker ryan will rise to theirs. finally, third, the inspector general of the department of justice must immediately begin an investigation into the attorney general's involvement in this matter thus far to discover if the investigation has already been compromised. the inspector general doesn't

need any permission from either anyone in the administration or the congress, and he should go forward immediately. we know the attorney general met with the president several weeks ago. what did they discuss? have there been other contacts between the president or senior administration officials and the attorney general regarding this matter? have there been any attempts to interfere with the investigation in any way? have the a.g. or his close associates personally managed the work of career officials at the department of justice or f.b.i. in the course of the investigation? the inspector general has the ability, the right and the obligation to find out answers to these questions and more. the revelations that we learned about last night are extremely

troubling and raise even more questions about the president and his associates' contacts with russia. did the president know about the meetings between then senator sessions and the russian ambassador? were these the only two meetings between the attorney again -- the now attorney general and the russian ambassador or other russian officials? did the attorney general disclose these meetings during the f.b.i. background check for his nomination? there has been revelation after revelation. mistruth after mistruth, stories shifting like quicksand. if there is truly no there there, why won't they tell the truth? the bottom line is we have an obligation to get to the truth. we must evaluate the scope of russia's interference in our election and assess if agents

of their government have penetrated to the highest level of our government. nothing less than the sanctity of our dear democratic process, the prime -- primacy of rule of law and the integrity of our executive branch is at stake. an independent, impartial special prosecutor with no tie to the administration. if the administration is unwilling and unable to manage that congress should alaw us to bring in a special counsel to do it for them. ready for your questions, yes. >> why isn't it enough for him to recuse himself? why does he have to resign? >> look, the attorney general is the chief law enforcement officer of the land and already his integrity and independence

has been questioned. it would be better for a country if he would resign. the main point i am making here is we need an investigation to get to the bottom of this. better for the country if he resigns, but let's get a real investigation going. >> shannon: you've been listening to chuck schumer talking about the fact that first he says it's time for the attorney general not long ago sworn in to resign in his estimation saying he has been compromised and questions about his integrity. but in lieu of that he wants an independent special prosecutor appointed by the justice department to let that process begin and start. if not, he is asking a republican leaders mitch mcconnell and paul ryan to step in and recraft the independent counsel law so they can work together to find a way to get one appointed. in the meantime he says it's time for the inspector general of the justice department to launch an investigation to find out what contacts the attorney general sessions may have had

with the russians, how he has been involved with the investigation into russia thus far. so you heard it there live and we'll see where it goes. >> bill: want to get reaction from the republicans. steve scalise, house majority whip standing by live on the hill. good morning to you. where are you on this story that is apparently in the early stages, sir? >> i think the press conference is an example of why nobody should be rushing to judgment before they know the facts. to be calling for resignations and special prosecutors, we don't even know what the facts are and i think this is an opportunity for the attorney general to address this, not for somebody to be calling for special prosecutor. i think he is jumping way ahead of himself there. it wouldn't be the first time. >> bill: some of your colleagues on the republican side earlier today suggested he should recuse himself. where are you on that? >> this is an opportunity for the attorney general to address this, not anybody else to be rushing to judgment before they

know the facts. >> bill: he did address it earlier today apparently when he was getting into his vehicle en route to work. if we get that queued up we'll play it for you and get your reaction. the white house said this today. this is the latest attack against the trump administration bipartisan democrats. general sessions met with the ambassador in an official capacity as a member of the senate armed services committee. it is no surprise senator al franken is pushing the story after president trump's successful address to the nation. what do you make of that? >> there is a lot of truth to that. chuck schumer and a lot of his democrat colleagues in the senate have been blocking every one of president trump's cabinet picks. the fact that there are still cabinet picks there is no controversy around that haven't been confirmed because democrats are trying to block the agenda. you saw just the other night when president trump gave what i thought was an inspiring

address to congress you had democrats sitting down not applauding when he said we need to keep terrorists out of america. we want to bring jobs back to america. they are even blocking makes y are they on when they're against bringing jobs back to america and keeping terrorists out of our country. we'll be focused on our job, getting the economy back on track. creating jobs and repealing and replacing obamacare. >> bill: let me come back to obamacare. i'll come back to that. this is the ag from earlier today that i referred a moment ago. >> i have not met with any russians at any time to discuss any political campaign and those remarks are unbelievable to me and are false and i don't have anything else to say about that. thank you. >> how about recuseing yourself in the agency's probe? >> i said whenever it's appropriate i will recuse myself, there is no doubt about that. >> bill: that was from earlier

today. and we contrast that with what the minority leader just said a moment ago. should there be an investigation or not at the moment? >> i thought that was pretty definitive by the attorney general. he made it clear there has been no discussions about political activity. i haven't heard suggestions that political activity was involved. what was interesting when senator schumer listed his demands for what a federal prosecutor could be sounds like chuck schumer himself wound even qualify because he has a relationship with jeff sessions when they served in the senate. way premature to be calling for a lot of these things. seems like every week chuck schumer has been calling for a special prosecutor into one thing or another. he hasn't been able to work with us to create jobs, get the economy on track and that's why donald trump was elected president. some people want to still deny that donald trump was elected but the fact is he was and the american people have gotten beyond that and are excited that he laid out a very positive optimistic vision for

our country the other night in the house chamber. while some of them might have sat down and didn't support getting terrorists out of our country and getting our economy back on track most americans support that agenda and we're moving forward. >> bill: i'm seeing senator schumer leave the podium on the other monitor. that's wrapped and we'll get reaction from that throughout the day. there is another significant story on obamacare. what are house republicans to make public today on that, sir? >> you know, we've been working for months on our plan not just to repeal obamacare because it has failed the american people, but to replace it with reforms that actually focus on lowering costs. as president trump said the other night unelected bureaucracies in washington shouldn't tell you what to buy. people with pre-existing conditions can't be discriminated against but families get to choose the best plans for them. they ought to buy them across

state lines like any other product. interesting to see just about every democrat sat down and did not support the idea of letting people buy their insurance across state lines. they want the government to tell you what you can and can't buy for your family. i think americans are feed up with that. it's a failed experiment that led to higher cost and fewer options. we'll have a plan starting to move through committees next week. you can see it on c span. today we've been working through for the last through months with our members on the details. the details are very important. as you see the committees actually take up legislation and start voting on that next week people will like what they say unless they want government running their healthcare decisions because we're changing that. >> bill: thank you for your time today. we're juggling a lot of things now. thank you for being flexible and love to bring you back when we get more details. steve scalise, thank you from the hill there. >> shannon: let's talk about this now with the panel. cindy marshall and ed martin president of the eagle forum.

former chairman of the missouri state republican party. welcome to you both. a busy morning. our news breaking minute by minute here. you heard senate minority leader chuck schumer say live for of all asking for the attorney general to resign. secondly he wants some kind of independent investigation. if it doesn't happen automatically he says it's time for republican leaders to step up on the hill and give these laws some tougher fangs essentially and make sure an independent prosecutor is brought in for just this kind of situation. >> first of all it's typical schumer overreach. he called for the resignation of a cabinet member who just got confirmed. it is outrageous of schumer to do. it is classic left wing destabilizing of government and he should be embarrassed and backed way off. now look, what we have is a senator now confirmed as attorney general who is by all accounts an honest, decent guy. there was a political process that elected a president and

got us here. if there is a moment where there needs to be recusal we can expect it to happen like loretta lynch did when she got caught in a box and ongoing investigation. politics that happen in an election, we have to let the results stand for themselves and go forward. so this is typical schumer and it is not going to amount to much. we need to keep going forward. the justice department has a lot of work to do to get things under control. >> shannon: leslie, a bit of the white house reaction to it. the latest attack against the trump administration bipartisan democrats. general sessions met with the ambassador in an official capacity as a member of the senate armed services committee consistent with his testimony. we talked with max thornberry the chair of the house armed services committee and says he has these meetings with ambassadors all the time. >> it's not that he met. it's not that he met with the ambassador. there are a couple of issues here. first of all he lied under oath not only to his colleagues but

to the american people and he is the head of -- >> shannon: he was being asked in the context -- let's make it clear. he was being asked if the context of whether or not there was contact between the trump campaign and russian officials. leslie, just -- he gave the answer he gave and will have to explain that but so folks have a context of how he answered. let's let leslie answer. >> with regard to what -- he didn't have the recollection of the meeting. with regard to what was discussed in the meeting, no notes, they don't know if any notes were taken and we can't just take anyone's word for it. say this as an american, not as a democrat. because the american people, the overwhelming majority so say the polls want to know if russia was involved in our elections and any tampering in our elections. they don't want it to happen in the future. if this were a democratic president in a democratic regime in washington, you guys would be calling for this as

well. this is not about left and right. this is about right and wrong. and i feel a recusal from the attorney general is the minimum at this point especially with anything regarding russia with any investigation that's ongoing with the f.b.i. >> shannon: we're hearing that from people on both sides of the aisle. we're out of time. but thank you for weighing in. good to see you both. >> bill: where is the evidence of wrongdoing? does it exist? we'll get to that in a moment. also in a moment questions about the timing of any report on the ags contact with russians. >> it's amazing how the story comes out after a great speech by the president and the timing. look, in his role as senator, he is going to meet with a lot of ambassadors. that's his job. he was not working for the campaign at any given time. >> bill: where does this go from here if anywhere? senator mike lee is live from the hill. we'll talk to him next.

>> bill: we have news from the hill. the u.s. senate now confirming ben carson to lead housing and urban development. that vote coming in just moments ago. the outsider once a contender for the republican nomination himself has now been confirmed to lead hud. that story just breaking from the hill. wanted the share that with you right now. 15 minutes before the hour. >> shannon: attorney general jeff sessions responding to a new outcry over his contact with russian. recent reports revealing he met with this russian ambassador twice but didn't disclose either meeting during his confirmation hearings. utah senator mike lee is a member of the senate judiciary committee. thank you, senator. what do you make of all this this morning? we're getting tidbits of information. one of these meetings may have been a grouped approached him on the sidelines after an event of the rnc. an office meeting, an official one is one of these.

we heard it's one of the parts of the his job. how much of a burden does he have to come forward and explain. >> it's important to remember that senator sessions now attorney general sessions indicated he will recuse himself any time and every time it's warranted by the circumstances. this is someone i trust. i trust him enough to make that determination to know when that needs to be made. and i've got full confidence that knowing senator sessions as i have over the last 6 1/2 years, he is someone who would never willfully mislead anyone. the question he was trying to answer was a question about whether they had been coordination between the campaign and the russian government. >> shannon: he has made another statement this morning that does make a bit of that clarification caught in a parking lot he said i didn't talk with any russian officials with regard to political campaign issues. was it just an oversight he didn't mention this during the confirmation hearings based on what we know so far? >> look, i don't know. all i do know when i look at the statement and read it in

context i see a question that was getting it whether or not there was coordination between the trump campaign and the russian government. his intent was to answer that in the negative. now, that really doesn't get to the heart of any other meetings he might have had as a senator but i think that's what he meant to say. >> shannon: i want to play a little bit of what congressman jason chaffetz, the same party as you, what he had to say just moments ago. >> based on what we've read and the information is not complete. i think the attorney general should further clarify and i do think he is going the need to recuse himself at this point. >> shannon: to that point you may have been busy. we carried live chuck schumer talking about this. he started with resignation and says that's what jeff sessions needs to do is resign. he went a step further beyond. you should be on board with a special prosecutor or independent counsel of some kind. some of your republican

colleagues, a couple have come forward to say that is something they think would be helpful. would at least it change the appearance or the conversation and give added confidence to the american people if the foreign general was to step away and allow that process to proceed? >> look, again, i want to point to what senator sessions said this morning. which was that he would in any and every case where it's warranted step aside and recuse himself. and i have full confidence that he will make that determination on a case by case basis. if it's warranted he will do that. >> shannon: i want to ask you about a couple other hot topics. no shortage of activity there on the hill. we've had a lot of discussion today about obamacare, the plans moving forward, whether they come from the white house, the house, different faxes within the house. what you have going on in the senate. a lot of moving parts. what is your believe or understanding about things moving forward on repeal and replace at this point? >> well, i think that we need to do what we have promised to

do, which is repeal obamacare and move forward with a set of step-by-step reforms that would put the american people back in charge of their own healthcare decisions rather than having those decisions made by government bureaucrats in washington the first and most important step, the threshold step that will allow the rest of the reforms to take place is for us to pass the repeal bill. start with the repeal bill, the same bill we passed in december 2015 that was vetoed by president obama and we need to pass that. and at that point i think that will open the door to other reforms that we can consider in an interim process where the american people can be invited to participate rather than having the american people shut out as they were when obamacare was passed where members of congress themselves were told they had to pass something in order to find out what was in the bill. we don't want to do that again. >> shannon: to be clear let's get this thing repealed right now and figure out the replace later. >> that's right. there are a lot of proposals dealing with replace. some of them are individual

bills, some of them are aggregated bills. but the threshold question that has to be answered first is are we going to repeal? i think we have to actually repeal in order for the reforms to take place. >> shannon: all right. senator mike lee, always good to have you on. good to see you. >> bill: one governor declaring a state of emergency over opioids. what can be done to stop this epidemic? this from tuesday night. >> president trump: we'll stop the drugs from pouring into our country and poisoning our youth and we will expand treatment for those who have become so badly addicted.

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>> bill: the governor of the state of maryland declaring a state of emergency in response to the opioid crisis in america. president trump promising to do something about the epidemic.

the f.b.i. is weighing in as well. peter doocy live in annapolis, maryland to report on what the governor is doing there. how is this different from a state of emergency that you would find for a natural disaster, or it is peter? >> it's not, bill. governor hogan is treating it like you would treat a hurricane or a riot like we saw a couple years ago. he says that this is just such a public health emergency that it needs $50 million over the next five years for treatment and prevention. a big announcement yesterday in maryland where the governor said this is taking an all hands on deck approach so we can save the lives of thousands of people from maryland. they are averaging 29 overdose deaths for every 100,000 people. 14th in the country. some democrats representing maryland in d.c. are praising the state's republican governor. >> i was glad to see the governor declare this to be an emergency. the opioid epidemic is an emergency not only in maryland

and around the nation. >> the f.b.i. did say yesterday that a lot of the drugs here in maryland and elsewhere are coming from mexico. >> bill: more to come on that. peter doocy live in annapolis, maryland. >> shannon: nancy pelosi speaking out on the issues involving attorney general sessions, the allegations. she has called for his resignation. no surprise that's probably the line of conversation she is now having in this press conference as well. we'll keep an eye on it and keep you informed. >> 100% of house democrats have signed onto it.

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because the time to think about tomorrow is today. >> what you are listening right before the break they are to nancy pelosi talking about the sessions matter that developed overnight. her message is very similar to chuck schumer from 30 minutes ago. we'll see where this goes. we know where the white houses on this, because they put a statement out at 5:30 this

morning reading "this is the latest attack against the trump administration by partisan democrats." what spicer is saying, the only known piece of information that has come to light is that the obama administration is trying to come up with an excuse for their defeat in the election. that is in direct response to the allegations with results from november. we are trying to track and collect as we follow and go along here in real time. >> and we keep getting new nuggets and statements from people, republican senator said it is time for recusal. just to give confidence to the american people and put this to bed, recuse. >> as an attorney, you would

explain it how? you would take yourself out of the investigation? >> if you leave it within the justice department, you will still have critics. democrats say they won't stop short of getting someone who is independent. >> we have to run, "happening now" starts now. ♪ >> jon: continuing our coverage of epic story of the day, trump administration bases mounting criticism this hour after reports that the attorney general, jeff sessions, met twice with the russian ambassador to the united nations, i'm sorry, to the united states, after the presidential campaign. >> jenna: the story is developing, and moving very quickly. we'll get you caught up with where we are right now. attorney general sessions did not disclose as conversations during a con