that nobody knew about. we were talking about it today and talking about it throughout the day on the channel. >> we want to thank 1-800 flowers for what they provide on our set every day. >> we'll put our running shoes on and we'll meet you up there. >> bill: jam-packed morning unfolding on capitol hill. today is the sequel to the james comey testimony. today justice department officials are in the hot seat on two important hearings. we'll take you through that and figure out what we need to know. what's important and what's not. good morning, everybody. i'm bill hemmer live in "america's newsroom." here we go, shannon, again. how are you? >> shannon: there is a lot of information for us to sift through. i'm shannon bream. deputy attorney general rod rosenstein faces a senate committee. hours later his boss, jeff session, testifies in front of

the senate intelligence committee. the firing of former f.b.i. director james comey and russia. >> bill: team fox coverage this morning. john roberts live at the white house and james lankford is here in a moment. first catherine herridge begins our coverage back in the hearing room on capitol hill. catherine, what will happen today? >> good morning. our expectation is that the attorney general jeff sessions will address at least two key issues that were raised during last week's testimony from the fired f.b.i. director james comey. the first takes us back to mid-february of this year and this discussion between comey and president trump about former national security advisor mike flynn. you'll recall based on that meeting comey testified that the president told him he hoped he would let go of the flynn investigation. mr. trump has disputed the characterization of comey's testimony. in any event comey said he did not take the matter to his boss, the attorney general, because comey had either evidence or intelligence that

told him that soon the attorney general would take himself out of the russia investigation over his contacts with the russians. >> when it comes to the president i took it as a direction to get rid of this investigation because we're not going to follow that request and so we decided we have to keep it away from our troops but is there anybody else we ought to tell at the justice department? as i laid out in my statement we considered whether to tell the attorney general, decided that didn't make sense because we believed he was shortly going to recuse. >> lawmakers will press the att of contacts he had with the russians and whether it goes beyond the two he has already declared in the summer of last year and september 2 and what role he played in the firing of james comey. sessions had taken himself out of the russia case, the president indicated that the firing or comey indicated he believed he was fired over the russia case. what role exactly did sessions play in that event?

>> i think it's a reasonable question. if, as the president said, i was fired because of the russia investigation, why was the attorney general involved in that chain? i don't know. i don't have an answer for the question. >> session supporters say he will set the record straight after comey's testimony last week. we'll hear from the deputy attorney general. a routine funding hearing but we expect the questions to turn to russia, bill. >> bill: nothing is routine, right? rosenstein and especially sessions have an opportunity here to set the record straight. we're waiting on all that. thanks, catherine herridge on capitol hill. >> shannon: let's bring in one of the lawmakers who will ask some questions on the hill, senator james lankford. i want to save plenty of time for a religious freedom issue that's getting lost in some headlines. what will be your question, what is your key inquiry you

have for senator jeff sessions, now a.g. >> three issues. did he have any conversations with russians. the accusation has been there that at that time senator sessions, every time he passed by or met with the russian ambassador should be brought up for questioning. quite frankly it's absurd to say if there was -- was there planning or collusion is a legitimate issue. was there any passing conversations, senators have passing conversations with people all the time. what was his role in the firing of james comey? was there any russia connection to that directly is an obvious question. the departure of james comey and anything that happened during that time period as well. they're all pertinent questions. i'm glad jeff the coming to lay things out. the attorney general can clear the whole thing out by laying out the conversations. >> shannon: what about the representations the former

f.b.i. director made last week he expressed concern saying don't leave me alone with the president, those kinds of things. will you probe those conversations as well? >> that should be probed. when that came out i thought it was an odd statement for jim comey to make. it leaves the impression that sessions was trying to. sessions was in the room waiting with comey when the president said he wanted comey to stay so sessions did what he should have done. the president asked everyone else to leave but comey. that's not a position that jeff sessions can say to the president no i'm going to stay. jeff won't be able to say to comey no, i won't leave you alone with the president. if the president wants to meet alone with somebody you allow the president to meet with someone alone. that's not the issue. this whole conversation about this was russia related. it seemed apparent from comey's testimony last week the president asked him three times to say publicly what he said privately and comey refused to

say you aren't under investigation publicly. only privately to the president and the president said i'll move on. that's not russia related in the sense he is trying to quash the investigation but seemed to be a frustration of the president that comey will say one thing privately and not publicly. we'll allow it all to come out. >> shannon: i want to turn to a hearing last week that didn't get much attention because of the big headlines involved senator sanders questioning somebody who was a nominee for deputy director for the office of management and budget and pushing him on his christian faith and what it means for his ability to serve in a government position. here is a bit of the interchange. >> are you suggesting all of those people stand condemned? do jews stand condemned, too? >> senator, ifm owe a christian. >> i understand you are a christian. i understand that christianity is the majority religion but other people of different

religions in this country and around the world. >> shannon: senator sanders said this isn't the kind of guy we want serving in our government. what did you make of that dust up? >> it was a chilly statement to say this person is not qualified to be able to serve in government. article 6 of the constitution says there is no religious test. no qualification for any officer or any person serving in the public trust. that can't be required to say i want to know more about your religion before you get in the public setting. the nomination was for an accounting role within the office of management and budget in an economic role. basically senator sanders was saying i know you're applying for economics but because you're a christian you can't also serve in government. the teachings he was trying to say and he was trying to quote john 3:18. you can be a christian and serve in government as long as you don't believe in the teachings of jesus. those two things are inconsistent. >> shannon: should he apologize or resign? >> no, sanders should apologize

but not resign. that would be putting a religious test the other direction to say you are opposed to a certain religion. he should apologize and make a clear statement i'm not trying to put a religious test on people. people can believe what they want to believe and it doesn't preclude them from serving in government. >> shannon: thank you so much for your time. >> bill: the white house now firing back against the report that president trump was considering firing special counsel robert mueller. what about that this morning? jeff white house correspondent john roberts running that down on the north lawn now. what did you find out? >> what about all that? you might have read a lot of stories this morning about the president considering firing the special counsel robert mueller because he doesn't like what's going on. it is the lead story of today's "new york times" and the front page of the "l. a. times." outrage from democrats. schiff saying if the president were to fire mueller congress

would reappoint mueller. it all seems very horrible this morning except for the fact -- it's a very sticky fact, it's apparently not true. all of this reporting and all of this outrage was based on a statement that a friend of the president's made on pbs last night. listen here. >> i think he is considering perhaps terminating the special counsel. i think he is weighing that option. i have think it's pretty clear by what one of his lawyers said on television recently. >> a lot of people thought that because he was speaking to the president about it. sources close to trump's legal team said his statement was based on watching jay sekulow on the program this week on sunday in which sekulow never said any such thing. listen to this exchange here. >> will the president promise

not to interfere, not attempt at any time to order the deputy attorney general to fire robert mueller? >> the president -- the president of the united states as we all know is an executive. the president is going to seek the advice of his counsel and inside the government as well as outside. i'm not going to speculate what he will or won't do. right now the role of the president is to govern the united states of america. he will do that and leave anything else to the lawyers. but i can't imagine that that issue will arise. >> sekulow said it is something the president might consider talking with his attorneys about if there was a basis. it's a huge leap from that to he is considering firing robert mueller. certainly the president would like an apology for all the coverage surrounding this tweeting out fake news is at an all-time high. where is their apology to me for all the incorrect stories?

he reminded people in a tweet. attorney general lynch made law enforcement decisions for political services and gave hillary clinton a free pass and protection. totally illegal. i will imagine he will watch session's testimony on air force one. >> bill: john roberts from the white house. what's coming up here? >> shannon: more on all these developing stories throughout this hour. former attorney general michael mukasey, judge andrew napolitano and senator rand paul and later this afternoon join us for a personal edition of "america's newsroom" for live coverage of the jeff sessions hearing, the attorney general taking the podium and we'll start and kick it off at 2:00 p.m. today. >> bill: nothing going on. that's not the only matter today. president trump focusing on repealing obamacare and calling out democrats in the process when he said this. >> we'll have zero backing from the democrats even though they

should get in and do something. we expect to get zero. >> bill: are we getting closer to getting a bill passed in the senate? house majority leader kevin mccarthy is live on that. >> shannon: former nba star dennis rodman heading back to north korea again. the motives behind the trip? hum. >> bill: the top story. a.g. jeff sessions before the committee today. yesterday judge napolitano said on our program he had some big concerns about that happening. so how does he feel about this today? >> it's a very dangerous position for him to be in. he is not testifying as the chief law enforcement officer in the land as the attorney general. he is testifying as a witness because he doesn't run the russia investigation. i don't know why i didn't get screened a long time ago.

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ykeep you sidelined.ng that's why you drink ensure. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you. >> it depends on the scope of the question to get into a hypothetical at this point would be premature. >> bill: sean spicer responding to a question about whether or not president trump will invoke an executive privilege to curtail jeff session's testimony. based on everything we know it isn't going to happen. the hearing will go forward. mike mukasey with me in studio. been waiting for a while to talk to you. thank you for your time today. what is a very important day. analyze this from jeff session's position. what is the opportunity for him today? >> i think the opportunity for

him is to clear up a couple of misconceptions and distortions if you will about what he has said and done in the past. starting with the number of times that he had encounters with the soviet ambassador, with the russian ambassador. he was asked during his confirmation in a question that mentioned people acting as surrogates who had contact with the russian ambassador whether he had had a contact with the russian ambassador. that was the context of the question. there was no reason for him at that point to recall this other meeting that he had in his office that was set up by the way by the obama state department. it was one of about 20 or 30 meetings that they arranged with foreign diplomats including the russian ambassador and many others. >> bill: may i pause you for a moment. at the confirmation january 10th you were there. this is how the answer came out after the question. >> i'm not aware of any of

those activities. i have been called a surrogate a time or two in that campaign and i did not have communication with the russians. >> bill: what's the distinction in the answer. i was a surrogate for the campaign. >> that was the way senator franken asked it. he asked about people who acted as surrogates for the president having contact with the russians. and so he said well, i was called a surrogate but i didn't have contact with the russians. there was no reason for him at that point to have remembered a conversation that he had when he was in his office that had been set up by the obama state department. they set it up because he was a member of the senate armed services committee. >> bill: two meetings with this russian ambassador. >> meetings in having a conversation. as far as i know, one. in his office. he had other encounters with

the russian ambassador. they run into each other at a speech. the guy comes over and says hello. you call that a meeting? i don't. >> bill: what's the down side to his appearance today. >> the down side is people trying to push him into a situation where he has to invoke executive privilege so he looks like he is hiding something, i guess. i don't know of any other down side. i don't know of any down side from the standpoint of asking him what he did. i know he -- based on conversations with people who have spoken to him i know he is eager to testify and eager to clear up some misconceptions. another one, by the way, has to do with why he recused himself. he didn't recuse himself over the russia investigation. he recused himself because there is a section of the administrative code that speaks about people who work on campaigns should not be involved later in decisions about whether people acted properly in those campaigns or not. he did work on the trump

campaign. >> bill: you are saying he can explain it away. did he want to testify today or did his boss, president trump, want him there today? >> i don't know what president trump wants or doesn't want. i know he definitely wanted to testify and wanted to testify in open session. >> bill: you're a professional colleague of his. you've had contact with him. >> right. >> bill: what is the crime here? >> the crime where? seriously. i don't see evidence of any crime having been committed by anybody in relation to this investigation. the only crime was committed by the russians when they hacked into the democrats' emails and disclosed them. that was the crime. that was complete when the russians did it. >> bill: was there obstruction that you have found? >> based on what i've seen, no.

there is no obstruction of any investigation. >> bill: or collusion in this case? >> as far as i can tell nobody has found any evidence of collusion. if there were it wouldn't be a crime. >> bill: if that's the case on those three questions with your answers where is this going? >> you would have to ask the senators who are doing it but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere productive. >> bill: thank you for your time. we're 40 minutes away from the next hearing. thank you, sir. mike mukasey, former a.g. >> shannon: we get word of a deadly attack at a georgia prison. inmates killed two guards and then escaped during a bus transport this morning. we're following the very latest developments. that manhunt is now underway. a russia investigation pushing much of president trump's agenda to the back seat. one of his main priorities repealing and replacing obamacare still front and center for many lawmakers. the house passed its version.

the white house waiting for the senate to act. >> i'm worried that the outline has a lot of obamacare in it. if it's obamacare lite that will be difficult for me.

>> bill: fox news alert now. 25 past. a new report that shows obamacare enrollment is declining and shows 2 million more americans have dropped out. the house, you remember, passed a version of a new bill about five weeks ago. the action is now in the senate. earlier today i talked to kevin mccarthy about all this. kevin mccarthy, thank you for your time. >> thanks for having me on today. >> bill: we have a lot to get to here. on this russia matter, what is that doing to the progress in the house? >> in the house, if you look at what's gone on, we've passed

158 bills. that's the most bills of any first new president coming in since h.w. bush. larger than his and signed into law 37 bills. yes, there is distraction but it is not if you take the merits of what has happened in the house and the number of bills signed, this is the most all the way to h.w. bush. >> bill: you are saying it's not getting in the way. >> it's not getting in the way. some things are happening. if you watched last week while we were passing the choice act that actually helps more capital, creates more jobs, community banks, at the same time they are covering the comey hearing and no one is talking about what's happening here in the house. today we're going to pass the v.a. accountability bill. how many will watch that? actually change the v.a. we have a lot of great employees over at the v.a. caring for our veterans but we also have bad ones and they aren't able to get rid of them. >> bill: a very important topic and the reason you came on

today. i want to play this for our viewers from yesterday during this i guess you would call it a board meeting where the president said this about your colleagues on the democratic side. >> if we had the greatest bill in the history of the world on healthcare we wouldn't get one vote from the democrats because they are obstructionists. that's what they want to do. they think that's their best political game. >> bill: that's been the message from the white house for a week now. are they obstructionists? >> not just for a week. this president, it was the longest time ever to get a cabinet since george washington no president has ever had to wait this long. in the senate where the democrats actually run this clock out, they even resisted back in may to having committee hearings in the afternoon. so they are using every stall tactic possible to try to make this president not successful. again -- >> bill: you have the majority.

>> we do have the majority. in the house we've passed more bills than any other time going forward. more than 158. he has signed more. twice as many as president obama in the first 100 days. more so than bush, more so than clinton and h.w. bush. so we have had some success. in the senate there are different rules and unfortunately those stall tactics, because the senate has to make confirmations. there are 1200 positions that have to be confirmed with a new administration and what schumer is doing is stalling it out. what did schumer do yesterday? he took the time to take his staff and try to mock the president for having a cabinet hearing. is that really the best use of the minority leader over there? can he be working to make sure what we continue to hear of the millions of americans who are now not going to have healthcare because the exchanges have collapsed, 94 out of 99 counties in iowa won't have healthcare. we got a new cms study that shows two million people who

signed up for obamacare aren't paying in. why? because the premiums have become too high. that's 19 million people have taken the penalty and waiver and only 10 million signed up for obamacare. it is collapsing. it's time to work together to find common ground and actually have a solution for america. >> bill: it's significant what's happening in the senate. you mentioned the v.a. this is very important. you'll put a reform bill before today. what will that do for the veterans who need that help? >> this is so critical. this is a bill that we passed in 2015, we passed last congress. finally got it through the senate to come back to us. if you look at the history there are great employees over at the va but there are some bad apples that harm the entire system. an individual had to go to jail but was able to take time off and come back to work. an individual was found drunk and actually performed surgery. a psychiatrist was actually

working with a veteran but watching inappropriate videos as he was performing the work he was supposed to do. none of those individuals could be fired. this will empower the v.a. secretary to get rid of the bad apples so the good employees can actually rise to the occasion and make sure we care for our v.a. -- for our veterans. it will also protect whistleblowers so they can actually bring forward those places that are not doing well inside the v.a. and we can solve this problem once and for all. >> bill: will the president sign that bill? >> the president is tweeting waiting for this bill to get to him. we'll move it off the hill today. >> bill: thank you for your time. kevin mccarthy from earlier. right now there is breaking news from the associated press. by way of rex tillerson, the secretary of state.

he is now saying that the north koreans have released auto warm -- from jail in north -- north korea. if that's the case this young man has been saved 15 years hard labor in north korea from the university of virginia, crew up in cincinnati, ohio. his family has been caught between going public and staying private. worried day after day and hour after hour about their son's fate. according to the associated press, north korea has released the jailed american student otto. let's hope and pray that's the case. dennis rodman is in north korea as we speak. was there a connection? there could have been. we're waiting more details on this crossing the wires right now. we're trying to reach out to the family and get in touch with them. >> shannon: secretary tillerson

is in the middle of remarks he is giving with another saudi arabiaian leader and that's where this comes from. as we await the jeff sessions hearing later today the attorney general facing a dizzying array of questions about his role in the campaign, russia and much more.

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serious allergic reactions may occur. see me to know... ...clear skin can last. don't hold back... ...ask your dermatologist if cosentyx can help you find clear skin that lasts. >> bill: 9:35. washington, d.c. jeff sessions isn't the only one on the hot seat today. we're monitoring numerous hearings. mattis and did you know ford will testify before the senate armed services committee. next hour secretary of state tillerson appears before the senate foreign relations committee covering president trump's budget and likely to get a number of questions of the russian matter and the firing of james comey. stand by. we're on all that for you today on "america's newsroom." >> shannon: a very busy day in washington on capitol hill we're awaiting that deputy attorney general rod rosen stein hearing.

supposed to be about funding but we guess it will go into other territory. jeff sessions testifies to the senate intelligence committee later this afternoon in an open hearing. there is no denying the hot water will be wading into. he will be wading into it. let's bring in judge andrew napolitano. good to see you, judge. you said yesterday this was a dangerous position for him to be in testifying under oath and in open setting now. how do you feel today? >> i feel the same way today because he is not testifying as the person in charge of these criminal investigations and intelligence investigations. he is testifying as a witness. and he has three issues to concern himself with. the president of the united states who appointed him, the justice department which he still heads even though he is not responsible for these investigations, and himself. because the democrats are going to come out very hard and strong and accuse him of perjury because of what i think

was honest misunderstanding of the nature of a question about his relationship with ambassador kislyak which in my view was harmless and routine. nevertheless the answer he gave about how many times he met or was acquainted with or came across ambassador kislyak, he gave the answer under oath and it is inconsistent with the factual record. right off the bat his back is to the wall. what does he do when there is a conflict in his brain about how do i answer this question? it could help me and hurt the justice department, help the justice department and hurt the president. he is a very bright lawyer and knows how these things go but it is fraught with danger. >> shannon: nearly every administration dating back to george washington has used executive privilege. it wouldn't be unusual.

>> it's the ability of the president of the united states directly or through people with whom he interacts to refrain from revealing communications involving military, diplomatic or sensitive national security matters. it would be very odd, shannon, for the attorney general, who asked for an open public hearing, to decline to answer some questions on the basis of executive privilege. if it happens i have think it will be damaging for him or the president. this may not be the reality, but the perception will be that he or the president have something to hide after they asked for a public hearing. >> shannon: our colleague gregg jarrett, also an attorney. we'll start a firm. but anyway, it would be based out of fox. he has written some excellent pieces in recent weeks pointing out a lot of the technicalities going on here. he talks about the conflict of interest potentia counsel muell

with respect to comey. their close relationship. he really details that and says essentially there is no way he can be objective and really if he was going to do the right thing he should recuse himself. what do you think? >> i view it differently. from my own experience with law enforcement. prosecutors aren't neutral. they believe their targets are guilty and their job is to amass evidence against them. prosecutors also become friends with the police or f.b.i. agents who investigate their cases and then testify as witnesses. judges have to remain neutral and in an ivory tower and shouldn't be evaluating the credibility of evidence from a close friend. it's a different story with prosecutors. >> shannon: what if he stumbled upon something that could be wrongdoing on the part of former f.b.i. director james comey? what would the special counsel do with that? >> i don't know what he would do with it but he would be duty bound to bring it to rod

rosenstein, the number two person in the justice department and his boss. he may be duty bound to investigate james comey who right now appears to be one of his witnesses. maybe his star witness. if the witness has defects, as a lot of witnesses do, and the government prosecutors learn that, they have to do something with it. they either have to reveal it, investigate it or get off the case. >> shannon: nearly every witness has some kind of flaw you deal with in the process. good to see you. kicks off special coverage at 2:00. >> bill: we have a little more on that right now. the associated press breaking this news 10 minutes ago. this young man on screen, otto warmbier has apparently been released from a prison in north korea. rex tillerson in prepared remarks in 20 minutes from now as he testifies on capitol hill. secretary tillerson says warmbier is on his way back to

the united states, reunited with his family. the state department secured his release at the direction of president donald trump. tillerson adds the state department continues talking about three other detained americans with north korea. it also comes again as the former nba player dennis rodman is paying a visit to north korea. he has been there before. warmbier grew up in cincinnati, ohio, in the community of wyoming. you might remember that tearful confession and apology that he gave on camera shortly before he was led away to the prison camp. the rumor was that warmbier was picked up at the airport while leaving pyongyang with reports of a stolen state poster in his suitcase. the other report from the family is that he merely touched a poster on the wall in his hotel room. whatever the truth might be according to secretary tillerson, otto warmbier is yet

again a free man and what a great day that is. stand by, more when we get it right here, shannon. >> shannon: we are waiting for the hearing of rod rosenstein and then jeff sessions answering questions of the firing of james comey and the russia investigation. we have more next. >> this is an investigation for its own sake and to produce a lot of smoke. president has contributed, you're right, with the tweets. but so far up until now -- i'm open to evidence. it's all smoke. the nicoderm cq h unique extended release technology helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. it's the best thing that ever happened to me. every great why needs a great how.

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>> former f.b.i. director james comey, some of his testimony last week. want to bring in senate rand paul. good day to you. we have three topics to get to. let's start with russia. i have two essential questions that apparently are coming from democrats. what contacts before the election, what role if any did he have in firing james comey. clear it up. from your perspective what's important now? >> it was time for comey to go. i don't think there has been any f.b.i. director whoever politicized the department more than he did. every democrat in the land thought he went too far in being vocal about what clinton did and every republican in the land thought of all this things he said about her were true why didn't he indict her? f.b.i. agents shouldn't be having press conferences or talking about politics and so visible in the middle of a presidential election. he made a lot of mistakes and it was time for him to move on. with regard to whether the

president can do it, absolutely. you work for the president at his will. president can fire you for any reason and i think even comey's testimony vindicated the president because comey said look, he told me he hoped i would end the investigation. that doesn't sound like strong arming to me to say you hope he will be done and finish his job. if there is no investigation of the president, tell the people. so that's the most important part of this that came out for me. comey confirmed that there was no and as far as he knows is no investigation of the president. >> bill: jeff sessions has a chance to defend. we haven't heard from him yet. that's a big part of the story we can all concede that. that comes up later today. topic number two, obamacare on screen. here is the map. individual market premiums. you can see the various states. utah is up 101. wyoming is up 1 07. south dakota 124. arkansas -- tennessee 176.

it's extraordinary. >> it's out of control. >> bill: i know you want full repeal. will you accept anything less than that? >> you won't get prices to go down if you keep the obamacare regulations. they add to the price and what caused the adverse or the death spiral of obamacare. the republican plan from the house doesn't fix it, it subsidizes it and throws taxpayer money in there. what they don't explain there is no federal money. we're $500 billion in the hole every year. we have a $20 trillion debt. where does all the money come from to stabilize insurance? i don't want to give anybody to insurance companies. they make $15 billion a year. why would the taxpayer get them a penny? >> bill: this is very important stuff. without getting too far into details, do you think given the composition of the senate today, knowing republicans have a two-vote majority, can you get it passed or not today?

>> my current impression is they've taken the house bill and probably will include more subsidies and include more federal money and more federal government in healthcare. that's the wrong direction and that will lose me. but i'm still in the mix. i'm still open to voting for something but it has to get better, not worse. the house bill would have to improve, not get worse. >> bill: you have a big meeting with mitch mcconnell coming up. the reason you came on today is you are opposed to the $350 billion arms sale to saudi arabia. why? >> number one, the saudis have been funding terrorism. hillary clinton in one of her emails said we have to put pressure on the saudis because they are supplying financial and logistical help to isis. the secretary of state saying this. the saudis were funding isis and we'll give them weapons? and now they're bombing the heck out of yemen, 17 million people are on the verge of

starvation in yemen. saudis have block cadeed the ports. yemen gets 90% of food from outside the country. a terrible idea for the united states to get involved in another war and terrible for us to be allied with someone getting ready -- there is an impending famine in yemen and i can't be a part of that. we may win today. it will be very close. >> bill: senator, thank you for your time. rand paul, the republican from kentucky. >> shannon: breaking news. american university otto warmbier will be released from a north korean prison. we're getting more confirmation about what's happening. a live report with the latest just ahead. at angie's list, we believe

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>> shannon: north korea has reportedly released otto warmbier. he was arrested in 2016 on a tour for allegedly -- the state says stealing a political banner. the announcement comes as dennis rodman is returning to north korea. been there many times before. we are joined live from london with benjamin hall. >> this is a story we've been covering for the last year. otto warmbier, the 22-year-old student jailed for 15 years hard labor in north korea for allegedly trying to steal a propaganda poster from his hotel has been released according to the secretary of state and flying home to see his parents in ohio. great news for him. the tearful confession many people think he was forced to give. this is an issue that many people have been following.

he has been released. this comes as you say on the back of this visit by dennis rodman to north korea. he has visited the country twice now and he was mobbed at the airport on the way there and left a cryptic message. not connected to the release but he said he was going there to open doors and that president trump was probably happy that he was there. >> i'm pretty sure he is pretty much happy with the fact i'm over here trying to accomplish something that we both need. >> dennis rodman last visited in 2013 and took the harlem globetrotter team with him. on that occasion he was seen exchanging jokes and vodka with kim jong-un. the visit -- critics say that rodman's appearance whitewashes the dangerous policies and forced labor camps and torture

and the detention of u.s. citizens. let's not forget there are three more u.s. citizens being held by that country. very uncertain whether or not dennis rodman's appearance had anything to do with it there. this is great news for otto warmbier heading home to see his parents after a year in a north korean prison. >> shannon: what a celebration it will be. >> bill: two big hearings about to begin in the midst of the breaking news on otto warmbier. secretary tillerson will testify. will he speak to this matter? it might be in his opening statement. we'll await more. deputy attorney general rod rosenstein takes questions and clears up matters on russia coming up in another jam-packed hour here on "america's newsroom." do not move.

there's nothing more important to me than my vacation. so when i need to book a hotel room, i want someone that makes it easy to find what i want. booking.com gets it. they offer free cancellation if my plans change. visit booking.com. booking.yeah. >> shannon: breaking news out of north korea. fox news now confirming american student otto warmbier will be released from a north

korean prison. secretary of state rex tillerson will appear on capitol hill. other testimony from rod rosenstein before another senate committee this hour. it is a busy day and a busy big hour of "america's newsroom." ifm owe shannon bream. >> bill: good morning to you. >> shannon: buckle up. >> bill: never take it off. bill hemmer, good morning. a day for pointed questions and dramatic testimony about to happen. a normally dry hearing on budget matters morphing into an opportunity for senators to grill the deputy a.g. about the russia matter and the decision to fire f.b.i. director james comey. at the same time a high stakes hearing when his boss later this afternoon, jeff sessions, steps in front of the senate intelligence committee just days after comey testified before the same committee. >> shannon: peter doocy is tracking it all for us on capitol hill. is rosenstein planning to talk much about russia?

will he have to either way? >> he is coming here to ask for more money. i've seen a copy of his prepared remarks. they don't mention russia once. if he sticks to those prepared remarks, he is not expected to name anything about the russia investigation as a top funding priority, at least not in the beginning. he is expected to kick off the proceeding by stressing the importance of having funding for fighting terrorism and tackling the opioid epidemic and removing aliens from the country. he is still the highest ranking justice department official able to talk about the russia investigation because the attorney general has recused himself, jeff sessions. an appropriations committee staffer told me this morning they're anticipating a lot of russia questions from democrats. this morning it's also going to be his first opportunity to respond publicly to questions about these reports that president trump may be

considering dismissing the special investigator for the russia matter, bob mueller. and rosenstein would be the guy to ask about that. bob mueller was appointed by rod rosenstein who is expected to start speaking any minute behind us. >> shannon: he has taken a seat there. what do we expect to hear from the attorney general this afternoon? >> that's a good question. we don't expect to see his remarks ahead of time, which is very unusual for something as high profile as this. we don't know this morning a few hours ahead how hard he may plan to push back against these reports about his involvement or not involvement with the russia investigation. but the bulk of that hearing is going to be questions. the chairman and ranking member will get 10 minutes and the rest will get 5 minutes a pop. it is not expected to be one of those hearings where there will be a wild question and the attorney general may have to tell lawmakers that's something we can talk about in a classified setting, in a closed

setting. there is no closed session scheduled not right now. whatever lawmakers here from the attorney general this afternoon is what we're going to hear. that's it. then he is expected to leave. >> shannon: we'll be standing by peter doocy live on capitol hill. >> bill: we're back to the breaking news out of north korea. rich edson is running down oh lot on this on the state department. >> we can tell you that otto warmbier has been released from north korea. he was arrested in january of 2016 and sentenced later in march of 2016 for apparently stealing a propaganda poster and become one of four americans held in the country. last month north korea seized a couple more americans associated with the pyongyang university of science and technology. so warmbier is a university of virginia student from ohio. right now people in the government are getting briefed on the latest details on all of

this. we can report as first report evidence by the associated press that otto warmbier according to a source close to the situation has been released by north korea and you throw on top of this news that dennis rodman, the former basketball player, is making another trip to north korea, unclear what the relation could be there. no one at the state department is saying anything in regard to that. to throw out there the former basketball player is in north korea as this is happening. >> bill: let me try to ask you something. warmbier is on a plane coming back to the u.s. had rodman -- had he landed before the release or can we say that? >> it is unclear if he was there yet and the timing on all this. it is very close. the news came out late last evening that rodman was headed there and we heard this morning that warmbier had been released. the secretary of state said nothing about this. he is headed to testify in a

short while now before two separate sen rat congressional committees. >> bill: the one camera is live with secretary tillerson. what is he expected to say with his testimony, rich? how much do you have on that? >> this is supposed to be a budget hearing but the first time that rex tillerson as secretary of state has appeared before a committee since his confirmation hearing before the administration started. he will be defending the administration's budget and be asked about the latest on the qatar situation. the secretary of state has talked to about a dozen foreign minister and counterparts in that region as the diplomatic crisis continues in that region. he met with the saudi foreign minister who claimed there was no blockade of qatar. it was its sovereign right as the president has called out qatar over the last week and a half or so. he will be asked about that and if the u.s. and secretary of

state can play a neutral arbiter role here. the senate last evening came out with a list a bipartisan bill a strong list of sanctions they'll try to place on russia that would hamstring this administration's ability, if it wanted to, to pull back sanctions against russia. so we have not heard from the administration or the secretary of state on that as well. you consider all that has happened in foreign policy and what the president has been saying since he has been inaugurated over twitter and otherwise. the secretary of state will be asked about all that, not just the budget. >> bill: rich edson live at the state department. >> shannon: a lot to monitor this morning on "america's newsroom." a very busy day. washington is just getting started. right now with all of these things playing out let's bring in guy benson, political editor for town hall.com. what in the world -- there is so much bubbling out there.

the president is tweeting about jobs. last week infrastructure. are they able to get any spotlight on that message with all these other things playing out? >> good luck. in the house of representatives they'll probably pass significant v.a. reforms today that are welcome, by the way. i think it's good legislation. i interviewed speaker ryan earlier this morning on a radio show talking about the va and their agenda in the house. i had to ask him about the robert mueller question and how he would react if the president fired robert mueller as at least is being floated as a trial balloon. so with that happening and with the attorney general voluntarily showing up in an open hearing later this afternoon, any hope of the wisconsin event and the jobs message of dominating the news cycle is zero, right? it's not going to happen. >> shannon: as these hearings are playing out, we know that today, even though it was

supposed to be about appropriations and numbers crunching they'll get to questions about russia and conversations. there have been questions how the white house and president may feel about the attorney general willingly going there and testifying openly as judge napolitano talked about last hour. he may find a conflict of interest for him to decide whether he answers the questions with his own self-interest in mind or the white house. how tricky for him? >> very tricky. keep in mind we saw reports a couple of days ago, right, that attorney general sessions at some point had offered to tender his resignation to president trump over some apparent disagreements or not seeing eye-to-eye. if he is asked about that, how do you answer? do you deny it? do you deny or refuse to talk about internal deliberations? there will be a lot of tricky,

difficult issues for him to try to navigate today. not the least of which is how many times he met with russian officials and didn't fully disclose those during his testimony in his confirmation hearings? i think you can let him off the hook for perjury. the way the question was asked months ago was different. now they will be much sharper, more finely honed question for him and i think he volunteered to come. he said i want this to be public and want to do it on my own terms. clearly he knows that the democrats are going to be loaded for bear and firing from a lot of different angles i would imagine. >> bill: mike mukasey was here last hour. a former attorney general. he has a longstanding relationship with jeff sessions. he said there was only one meeting and the second meeting passes for a handshake. and the reports of some third meeting that was not reported before, he says that's not the case. he has no knowledge of it.

>> bill: unconfirmed. those haven't been confirmed. >> bill: a report suggested in private testimony delivered that information. we will see if any of that is concerned. jeff sessions can defend himself and he has yet to do that, guy. >> this is a chance for him to do it and why i looked at the statement yesterday from the justice department spokeswoman sarah flores who speaks on his behalf until today. she said the attorney general wants to do this. let's not make it private. let's make it public. i want to defend myself and tell the truth. that's an aggressive stance. there will be questions also going back to shannon's previous question with this whole robert mueller question and the at least suggestion that maybe the president is considering firing him or moving that process forward of ending the special counsel investigation. you've got sessions who has recused himself from all things russia but he might still be asked about it. what would you do, mr. attorney

general, if the president shuts down the special counsel investigation? would it sit well with you? would you resign in protest? i wouldn't be surprised to see those type of questions as well. >> shannon: do you think as much as we saw last week with the questioning of the former f.b.i. director, it seemed the democrats and republicans had two different tracks of questioning. they all say in a bipartisan way they want to get to the bottom of what has happened with russia but at the same time they have maybe very different ways of getting to that information. >> yes, there will be a partisan divide no doubt. i think what you just asked is really important. what we've seen just in the last few hours are reports that there appears to be progress on a bipartisan basis on new sanctions against russia and that comes as bloomberg reports this morning that russia's attempts to hack into various elements of our electoral system across the country were far greater than reported into 39 different states. the russians definitely have their hands very dirty in what

they attempted to do in 2016. both parties want to get their arms around that. i think the republicans are more likely to use their question time to drill down on those issues whereas the democrats have maybe a different agenda, different priorities since sessions is sitting there in front of them under oath. >> shannon: guy benson, thank you for your time today >> bill: we're watching a lot of things right now. the senate hearing underway. the deputy attorney general when he takes the mic and starts addressing some of the relevant matters we've been talking about for the past hour and 10 minutes we'll take you there. stand by for that. >> shannon: later today attorney general jeff sessions who was supposed to testify in the first hearing will testify before the senate intelligence committee because it is going to be about russia. his contacts with the ambassador during the presidential campaign and beyond. >> he believes that the sooner we can get this addressed and dealt with, there has been no

collusion, he wants this to get investigated as soon as possible and be done with it so he can continue with the business of the american people. if you have medicare

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>> bill: a busy day. house speaker paul ryan now live on the hill. >> i won't get into -- i just said i think the best thing to do is let robert mueller do his job. the best vindication let the investigation go on thoroughly. the best thing to do and that's what i think hopefully will happen. [inaudible question]. >> the question is about the budget. with a new president in the first year you always have an abbreviated budget season. that's just the way budgeting with a new administration works. we knew we had a constricted season. we're having a debate now about

how much we can assist the pentagon and the military. not a question of more resources for the military, just a question of the degree of how much more resources we can dedicate to the military. that's what the big debate is about. then we'll have the debate about what kind of -- what we call reconciliation is necessary not just for tax reform but other things we need to make sure we get the budget trajectory heading the right direction. the purpose of this budget. get us on a path to balance. work on our debt problem. a long-term problem. rebuild the military and put the tools in place to maximize economic not growth. the crown jewel of growing this economy, tax reform. we think tax reform is critical to get 3% economic growth to get higher wages and people going to work. we have lots of priorities we're having debate. the find of family conversation you have every year when we have a resolution on that

you'll know. [inaudible question] >> i don't know his team. i have confidence in bob mueller. [inaudible question] >> there is no debate going on here. >> you are creating a debate that is not happening >> there is not a big debate occurring on this. it's a rumor you heard last night. you are creating debate that is not occurring here. this is something that was a rumor that came out last night. >> you're creating a rumor that is bt happening. >> we found out three years ago

veterans were dying on these waiting lists that were occurring at the v.a. in arizona and then all around america. we uncovered a scandal and realized when we were uncovering the veterans scandal we couldn't even fire people who were grossly negligent in their jobs. we're fixing this problem today. what did we do last week? we passed the choice act. we repealed and replaced do*ud frank and brought needed regulatory relief to help small businesses get credit and grow. next week we're working on the skills gap so people can get good jobs. the point i'm making is let's put it in perspective. we're focused on solving people's problems. what the american people want to know is that canary government is working. these issues. i'm not saying this isn't important. these investigations are important and need to go where the facts go but we also have a duty to serve the people that elected us to fix the problems

that they are confronting in their daily lives and that's what we're doing. thank you. >> shannon: you heard from house speaker paul ryan they want to focus on the agenda they have, the things they've accomplisheded talking about the veterans affairs system and overhaul that and many things they are working on. they're fielding a lot of questions on many other things. we'll cover all those things as we stay on it. >> bill: kevin mccarthy last hour. he did concede that some of this russia deal is getting in the way of what they're doing but was insistent we've done this and this and continue to move our agenda forward. there is a big deal coming up for the veterans of america that should pass the house later today. when that happens we'll bring it to you. we're waiting on all this and watching the monitors for rosenstein. we'll bring you that as it continues on the hill. we are learning new details about the american imprisoned

in north korea, otto warmbier is on his way home. there are some reports that his health is in a poor state. we'll try and run this down. we'll bring it to you when we can. what we know is that the family has confirmed they are awaiting his arrival by way of airplane later tonight in cincinnati, ohio. it all came to light 50 minutes ago when rex tillerson delivered a statement in writing about warmbier. >> that is the statement that was released. >> we look forward to your opening comment and questions. thank you for being here. you can begin with that. >> this was a statement. we caught the tale end of it. he said at the direction of the president the department of state has secured the release of otto warmbier. he will be reunited with his family. the department of state continues to have discussion with the dprk regarding three other u.s. citizens reported detained. out of respect for the privacy

of mr. warmbier and his family we have no further comment. his parents, fred and cindy have been rocks throughout this entire ordeal. speaking to them a month ago they were concerned about their son's condition. they said that oftentimes when they spoke publicly the ransom for his release went higher. they were trying to get the release of their son and they also said here in mid town manhattan that a month ago they were not even sure their son was alive. so you imagine the amount of faith and hope that goes into securing his release and getting him back home and given these reports now shannon about him being in poor health. we're trying to nail this down and we'll bring it to you when we get more here. >> shannon: it has been awful for all of us to see as he gave what most believe was a forced confession and see how heartbreaking for his family to watch and not know about their child. great news for him today. we look forward to his return.

>> bill: quick break here. more on that and everything else that's moving in washington, d.c. right after this. you don't let anything

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and a new culture built around customer service. it all adds up to our most reliable network ever. one that keeps you connected to what matters most. >> shannon: it is a big day for hearings and breaking news. a busy morning. deputy attorney general rod rosenstein appearing before a senate subcommittee live. we're listening in. secretary of state rex tillerson appearing before the foreign relations committee as we get word of the release of otto warmbier from north korea and covering it all mike emmanuel live on the hill. cabinet secretaries there defending budget choices by the trump administration. we would imagine it would fear into other territory and headlines. >> no question about it. we're hearing a range of cabinet secretaries on capitol

hill defending some of the budget choices made by the trump administration essentially saying they're focused on key priorities at this point. we have the treasury secretary talking this hour and he says that they are focused on a key legislative priority to get the economy fully growing. >> tax reform will play a major role in our campaign for growth. it has been more than 30 years since we have had comprehensive tax reform in this country. this administration is committed to changing that. we have over 100 people working at treasury on this issue. >> we're seeing democrats take swipes at these cabinet secretaries for the russia probe while the senate intelligence committee will get a chance to ask questions of attorney general jeff sessions this afternoon, it is clear a number of the other committees would also like their opportunities as well. >> shannon: a lot of talk about russia and the probe today and about whether that is stalling

the agenda all these different investigations and hearings. what are we hearing from republican leaders on that front? >> how republican leaders say they're passing a series of bills. they have been very active and getting a lot of things done including healthcare reform. they're focused on tax reform and being asked about the robert mueller probe and here is paul ryan from moments ago. >> in the best case for the president is to be vindicated by allowing this investigation to go on thoroughly and independently. the best advice would be to let robert mueller do his job. >> house lawmakers are actively passing bills they're getting questions at every turn about comey, mueller and sessions. and so there is certainly a lot of questions everywhere they go. >> shannon: finally, against this back drop they are still working on healthcare. any word out of the senate? >> that's right. you have 13 republican senators going to the white house at noon today to talk with president trump about

healthcare reform. this as individual components of healthcare reform are being sent to the congressional budget office for assessment. they're trading ideas back and forth. here is a key player on healthcare reform talking about that aspect. >> you know there will be a process sending things to cbo and things come back and if it works or doesn't work. part of it is how many people are covered and what are the premiums. so i'm not disturbed sending things to cbo. that's part of the process. >> leaders are hoping to vote on a healthcare reform package by the fourth of july recess with 52 republicans. they need 50 to pass a bill. they're trying to find some sort of consensus. >> shannon: mike emmanuel live on the hill. >> bill: political town hall editor guy benson back with us. as you look toward these hearings now this reporting overnight about bob mueller being fired, the white house is shooting it down in a significant way.

at this point we don't expect that to happen. >> it really shouldn't happen. even if the president is frustrated that the special counsel exists, which we know he is, at this point to say i'm shutting it down, i'm totally innocent, this is all lies from news but i'm shutting it down from this respected former f.b.i. chief. it would look terrible. i have think you would see a backlash from conservatives on capitol hill and republicans on capitol hill. the democrats and media would go bananas and would look like the white house was unfurling a banner over the white house that says we're guilty even if they're not. you have someone with a sterling reputation. let him do his work, by far the smartest play unless you are trying to hide something, which trump insists he is not. >> bill: when sessions testifies today, we don't know if he is going to share information on his private

conversations with the president. because in one of the hearings last week that was a point where they would not go and would not touch. as i ask that question rod rosenstein is on the topic now. the deputy attorney general who pursued the special counsel with bob mueller. that's where we are right now. let's check in. >> including violation of departmental policies. the attorney general shall inform the special counsel if writing of the specific reason for his or her removal. as i understand, mr. rosenstein, in this matter you are actually the one exercising hiring and firing authority because attorney general sessions is recused, is that creek >> yes, that's correct. >> at this point have you seen any evidence of good cause for firing of special counselor mueller? >> no, i have not. >> have you given the special counsel full independence from the justice department to conduct his investigation?

>> yes. i appreciate that question. at the last hearing i attended, i explained it would require a long time to explain exactly why i am confident that he has full independence. the short answer is, though, that regulation as you may know was written and implemented during the clinton administration under the authority of attorney general reno. i know the folks who wrote it to deal with these sort of situations and i'm confident that he will have sufficient independence and it's theoretically possible the attorney general could fire him. the chain of command for the special counsel is only directly to the attorney general in this case the acting attorney general. nobody else in the department would have authority to do that and you have my assurance that we'll faithfully follow that regulation and director mueller is going to have a full degree of independence he needs to conduct the investigation appropriately. >> is there a record that gives him that full independence? is that done in a letter or order from you as the deputy

attorney general? >> yes, senator, it is done in the order which i believe was issued on may 17th and the order references the regulation from which you have read and so that is the source of his authority. >> thank you. you mentioned in your opening comments about the importance of the budget request for 230 assistant u.s. attorneys. i agree that's important. i am concerned, however, that we still -- we had an en masse firing of u.s. attorney in the country and in new hampshire we haven't made any nominations to replace the person who was fired. can you tell me how many u.s. attorneys have been nominated throughout the country? >> i believe, senator, that the president announced his first set of nominations yesterday and i believe there were seven or eight in the first round. what i can assure you is that

we're moving expeditiously and there has been some press somewhat misleading about that. i think we'll be ahead of most recent administrations at the speed we're appointing u.s. attorneys. i spent 12 years serving as a u.s. attorney and i know how important good u.s. attorneys are for the department of justice. the last two saturdays i've spent in the department interviewing candidates for 10 districts each weekend. we anticipate by the end of the summer we'll see a large number of u.s. attorneys nominated throughout the country. >> i'm glad to hear that. it is my understanding in new hampshire we haven't seen wholesale firing of u.s. attorneys in the way that we did in this administration. was there a reason why every u.s. attorney in the country was fired on the same day? >> senator, i'm pleased to tell you not everyone was fired. i was one of the u.s. attorneys that day. there were four who weren't fired. i was not in the department at

that time. i learned about the firings after the decision had been made. i have no insight into why that decision was made. >> you mentioned in your opening statement the tragedy in georgia and the officers who were killed, murdered. it is a reminder those who work in our prisons do have a very difficult job that is very dangerous. and i am troubled by the fact that while the administration's hiring freeze was lifted in april, that the department of justice has been under a self-imposed hiring freeze since mid-february and while there was a blanket exemption for positions relating to public safety and national security, it doesn't include the bureau of prisons, which is still under a freeze. and in fact, in new hampshire, they had extended conditional

offers to seven potential employees, five of whom were correctional officers but due to the imposition of the hiring freeze, those positions were canceled by doj so they weren't able to go forward with that hiring. as you point out, this is a difficult job. can you explain why we continue to have a hiring freeze on correctional officers within the bureau of prisons? >> i appreciate that question. i think there may be some misunderstanding about this. the department froze the hiring at the headquarters in washington and at the regional administrative offices. my understanding the department allowed bop institution essential to continuing hiring up to their staffing levels. if people left they could fill the vacancies. i believe we've left the discretion to dop to hire what is most critical to its

operations. there has been a decline in the number of prisoners and less of a need for personnel but i'll go back and talk with director cain about that and make sure we do have proper staffing for that prison. as far as i know, he does have discretion to fill those positions if he thinks it's appropriate. >> i appreciate your willingness to do that and i would urge you to follow through because it's my understanding that because the positions were not officially filled by the time of the february guidance, that they were canceled by doj. >> i will look into that. >> senator collins. >> deputy attorney general. mr. rosenstein, i just want to follow up quickly on the two questions that senator ask you about the special counsel. has the president ever discussed with you the appointment of the special counsel or discussed the special counsel in any way? >> no, he has not.

>> and second, if president trump ordered you to fire the special counsel, what would you do? >> senator, i'm not going to follow any orders unless i believe they're lawful and appropriate orders. under the regulation, special counsel mueller may be fired only for good cause and i'm required to put that cause in writing. and so that's what i would do. if there were good cause i would consider it. if there were not good cause it wouldn't matter to me what anybody says. >> thank you. i want to turn to the opioid crisis which plagues my state and so many others. >> bill: susan collins was the one who asked the question to james comey to admit he leaked his papers. special counsel no he has not. did he order the firing of bob mueller, only -- would he? only if lawful and appropriate.

depends on that, etc. that's as close as we've gotten to all this. >> shannon: it's about accounting this hearing, but it's not. it's going to a lot of other places. >> bill: rex tillerson is talking and the big moment is today at 2:30 when jeff sessions appears. stay tuned. we are over working on that stuff for you as we go throughout the morning. but entresto is a medicine that helps make more tomorrows possible. ♪ tomorrow, tomorrow... ♪ i love ya, tomorrow in the largest heart failure study ever, entresto helped more people stay alive and out of the hospital than a leading heart failure medicine. women who are pregnant must not take entresto. it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren. if you've had angioedema while taking an ace or arb medicine, don't take entresto. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure...

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booking.yeah. >> shannon: we want to listen in a little bit here now. secretary of state rex tillerson is engaged in questioning from a senator from colorado. talking about north korea the number one foreign threat right now. >> one of these companies, one, just one of those companies controlled 10% of total imports from north korea. some of these companies were even found to have satellite offices here in the united states. the second report i want to highlight was a report released

by the royal united services institute in the united kingdom last week concluded the report finds that not a single component of the united nations sanctions against korea enjoys -- they assessed that pyongyang's networks overseas were increasing in scale, scope and sophistication. do these reports undermine the administration's claim we're exerting maximum pressure on pyongyang? >> they shed light on how complex and difficult applying pressure to north korea is. but what we are doing is we're calling on everyone, the chinese government we're calling on governments around the world and there is not a bilateral discussion i have with any government anywhere in the world whether in eastern europe, southeast asia, sore central and south america that

we do not talk about their relationship with north korea. and asking them to examine all of those ties and even when they say we only have $5 million worth of business i said make it two. so we're at least at this stage making clear to people around the world and governments what the u.s. policy and position is. the report that you cite which i have not had an opportunity to review in detail but familiar with it, i think does illustrate how sophisticated and complex getting at north korea's sources of revenue are. that's why we're also working with china and russia to put pressure more on how commodities are delivered into north korea because that is very visible. the intricate financial networks that they have established around the world are challenging but they are not impossible to address. so we're working closely with the treasury department. where we can substantiate.

we don't want to take inadvertent action against someone we're not confident is violating the sanctions. we're moving. we reveal it to the host government. we say to them we have this information. we're confident with this information. we're going to ask you to deal with this within your own country so that we're not to the extent possible interfering with their own ability to manage this. but we've also told them if you do not deal with it or if you don't want to deal with it, we will certainly be willing to deal with it ourselves. so we're in a stage where we're moving into this next effort of are we going to have to in effect start taking secondary actions because countries that we've provided information to either have not or are unwilling to, don't have the ability to do that. but i think you have highlighted how challenging this is and that's why we're going to have to move to work

with others to begin to deny north korea basic needs like crude oil supplies, petroleum and fuel supplies, things that are fairly -- or at least easier to monitor whether we're getting cooperation with people or not. >> would you support an iran-style global embargo on north korea getting the international community to deny things like petroleum and other exports into north korea? >> we have to work closely and careful which with their two principal suppliers, china and russia. if they said we're never going to vote for a global embargo. that has been their position for reasons i think we all understand. then it would be ineffective. >> do you believe china is living up to the agreements they have made? >> bill: important stuff. we're bouncing around hearings and trying to bring you as much as we can. rosenstein was asked the

question about recusal. >> what matters the attorney general is recused from? >> it would be inappropriate for me to do that because he is recused from department of justice investigations and we don't talk about the subject matter of investigations while they're ongoing. it would interfere with what our investigators are doing. where there is a recusal there is a memorialization of that recusal and delineation of what is in and out of that recusal and also a process by which we can determine whether or not there is compliance with that recusal. is there such a document? >> the way the department operates is very different from a law firm. >> is there such a document? >> no, because it's not necessary because the department is a hierarchy. nothing gets to the attorney general if he is recused from unless they come through my

office. >> what if they come from the oval office? >> i don't know how they would get there. >> it could be my lack of a law degree and maybe there are a couple of lawyers on this panel who can help me to understand the most basic question here which is that the attorney general had a press conference and said given all of these challenges, given all this controversy i'm out. i am recused from these matters. now the question becomes what matters? which matters? i'll ask one final time if you can just try to describe for the public, for the lay person, for the person who is following this but may not possess a law degree, what is the attorney general allowed to be involved in and what he is not allowed to be involved in and who makes that determination and how do we know whether he is complying or not? >> i appreciate that sincere question, senator. i want to try to explain. you're right. i spent 27 years in the

department of justice and i think about these things differently than people not lawyers or not in the department. what is important for me to explain in this matter i'm acting as attorney general of the united states. it means a lot to me. one of the things it means i have a responsibility not to talk publicly about what or who we're investigating because that could adversely effect the investigation and because it would be unfair to people who may be under investigation. >> is it possible that the attorney general is a witness in this investigation? >> if he were, senator, i wouldn't talk about it. >> what about you? >> i'm not going to be talking about the investigation. the purpose of my appointment of special counsel mueller was to ensure there would be public confidence in the outcome of that investigation and he now has responsibility for that. i think if there are any questions they should be directed to him. i know he will do the right thing as i would and defend the integrity of the investigation.

>> one final question because i'm over time. if you become a witness in this investigation do you think there is a conflict of witness there? >> i won't answer hypothetical questions. i'm working with career professionals who know the rules and are responsible for enforcing the rules and i can assure you that we'll defend the integrity of this investigation. >> put before the committee the recusal and how it works. you have to worry about not referring to an investigative process. the public deserves to know how it all plays out. i can't imagine you can't describe it even in the abstract so we're assured there is a fair and thorough investigatory process. thank you. >> i appreciate the question and we will make an effort to do that in writing in a way that may be hopefully better than my efforts. as i said i want to assure you and everybody that's what i'm

about here is making sure that the rule of law is followed and that we reach a fair result in which people can have confidence and i'm working with career professionals in the department who will help me to do that. >> senator lankford. >> thank you, mr. chairman. you've testified in front of every senator in closed sessions, you've testified in front of the intelligence committee in open sessions and have had lots of conversations on this and we'll go through some budget areas. i want to help clarify one thing. i read with some interest in the paper that there was some secret plan to be able to privately remove the special counsel who you just put in place to be able to see that. all i could think about was jim comey's statements saying how many times he read newspaper stories with unnamed sources that as he read thethought these were completely false. is there anything to some secret plan out there from you or anyone in the administration

to try to go and remove the special counsel? >> there is no secret plan that involves me. >> no one in america is above the law and no one in america is not faced with accountability in checks and balances. every one of us has checks and balances, every judge and member of the cabinet and us have checks and balances in the system. i can't understand the fascination to create special counsel. the only person in america that has no accountability in structure for anything. i would assume everyone has a check or balance somewhere but doesn't mean it's under consideration in the process. i appreciate you trying to clarify that for us. i want to thank you and the department of justice, senator warren and i don't agree on everything but last year we started working on a process for the department of justice to stop these slush funds in the background where the department of justice was forcing businesses to be able to spend money on third party groups or not revealing the

nature of those settlements. the department of justice just last week announced that you are stopping that process and i just want to say thank you. that's something we've worked on for a couple of years trying to get accomplished legislatively. the previous administration would not work with us on and you just implemented that. i want to say i appreciate that. let me also say that i have a question about the crime victims fund and the recession. help me understand the rescission back to the treasury of a part of the crime victims fund. >> bill: susan collins. has the president talked about a special counsel with you. the answer was no, he has not. >> shannon: he was also asked i believe also by her that if you were asked to fire him, would you do it? he said he would only do something that was legal and correct and i wouldn't go along with any order that i didn't think met those guidelines. we're getting some interesting information out of this

appropriations hearing that is going into different territory. let's bring in our panel to talk about. leslie marshall and john mccormack. welcome to you both. leslie, you have had a chance to look at this and we're looking ahead to the attorney general's testimony this afternoon as well. what piques your interest and what questions do you have and hope to have answered? >> the question i really have been happy with that were answered specifically is what you and bill were just discussing because as you know we've heard a lot of rumor in the past 24 to 48 hours with regard to allegedly a firing of special counsel mueller and that the white house and even the attorneys for the president are advising him to stay clear of that. i think that's wise. as an american citizen i'm happy with that decision. i think looking forward, though, with regard to the attorney general, we have to find out was evolved in the

firing of former f.b.i. director comey and why was there the recusal? he has back pedaled saying more it was his involvement in the campaign and was there a third meeting with the russian ambassador which was insinuated by former f.b.i. director comey in his testimony? i think those questions need to be answered and i hope somebody asks him when he said i made a mistake. if you say something that's not true under oath, you are lying under oath. i don't care who you are or what party you are part of. i hope somebody presses him on that as well. >> shannon: something the former f.b.i. director implied there was more we didn't know and we would find out about the attorney general saying something like we knew he would recuse himself or moving in that direction. things that pointed to that. and people can read that a lot of different ways. how far do you think, john, that the attorney general goes

today in trying to clear his name? >> you know, that's a big question. i don't think anyone really knows what former director comey was talking about. sessions might talk about today is from the fact the very beginning back in the confirmation hearings he was saying he would very likely step aside from any investigation touching on the campaign that he was involved in. so i don't really see there was a need for there to be more connection. that there had to be these meetings between russians officials and senator sessions. he was part of the campaign. the real question i think he will get is whether or not -- why he changed his tune about director comey. >> shannon: we'll see. we'll have our popcorn and be ready to go at 2:00. >> bill: think about the relation between jeff sessions and donald trump. they were locked early on in the campaign. a quick break here, back in a moment.

>> it is a very busy day. it will be back later for special coverage. >> 2:00, we'll get ready for jeff sessions together. have a great afternoon, we'll see you then. bye-bye. >> jon: fox news alert on an action-packed day on capitol hill. rod rosenstein is testifying right now, just hours before lawmakers hear from his boss in the nation's top lawyer, jeff sessions, the attorney general. good morning, i'm jon scott. >> heather: fasten your seat belts, i'm heather childress. jeff sessions, one of many getting ready to face some rough questions about the recent controversy plaguing the trump administration, including the russia investigation and the firing of fbi director james comey. that is set for 2:30 p.m. eastern time.