robert: it's done. e mueller repors now in the hands of the attorney general. i'm robert costa. weome to "washington week. the special council has completed its investigation. the big question now, how much will be released to the public? plus, the president picks fights with houseemocrat who is want documents and answers. >> it's time for the congress, house and senate to grow spines and deal what is necessary to protect this democracy. robert: those battles come as he picks another fight attacking the late senator john mccain even as republicans urgeim h to stop. next. announcer: this is "washington week".

funding is provided by -- >> bble, a language program that teaches real life conversation in a new language such as spanish, french,talian and more. babble's 10 to 15-minute lessons are available online. more information on babble.com. anr: additional funding is pro vied by the yuen foundation committed to bridging cultural bridges in our community and by viewers like you. thank you. once again, from washington,to mode robert costa. robert: good evening. special councilobert mueller delivered his report to attorney genel lumbar general --

attorney general williamr. b mr. barr who was sworn in last month then sent a letter to congressional leaders advising them that he may brief them as soon as th weekend. he said he would consult with d.o.j. officials and mr. mueller to decide what will be released to congress. the attorney general wrote "i remain committed to asuch transparency as possible, and i will keep you informed as to the status of my review." joining me tonight, michael ter for political rep the "new york times." lisal desjardins, congressio correspondent for the pbs newshour. dan balz, chief correspondent for "the washington post." anita kumar,di associater for politico. what a reckoning, a test for

this new attorney general. wh do we know about how le handle this moment perhaps based on his testimony? >> well, based on both his testimony and theetter, the excerpt from which you just read, we know h thate will be care wonderful this. he recognizes enormous public hunger and will try to release as much as possible. the leadership, the democrats dehave dem that the entire report come out. in his testimony when he w before the congress for his confirmation. he said he would release as much as he could within the law, which gives him some wiggle room. and the letter tonight said that he will c wsulth special council mueller and the deputy attorney general and perhaps others to figure out exactly h much of it to release. but he's under tremendous entiretyto release the of the report. robert: insi thehite house,

are they hands on or hands off? >> they don't have a heads up on what's in there. they've been preparing for this for months. this is a white house that does notrepare very much. they're always short staffed. this is something they've been looking towards, waiting for it to come they've been working on talking point first all kinds o contingency plans for every possible thing that this report could have. they're hoping the president will be exodge rated. they're hoping for that more than anything else. bu they have talki points for inside the white house. they have statements ready to go for f when thed out what's geng to happen. robert: so that's the hope, michael, but what do we know so far about this report and what could be in it? >> you've seen the many newspapers in "the washington post" and politico and other places. you've had a lot of people charged an convicted. thers a l of paper out there. there's a huge trail of

evidence. we haven't seen i from robert mueller. how that adds up is how the white house should be worried about. robert: l's look at the investigation. 37 people and entities have been charged. seven people have plead guilty. and five people have been sentenceonto terms in pr as congress looks at this, especially congressional democrats, how are they going to push to make this public whatever it is? >> weit already saw whin basically the hour that it was announced this report had been handed over to the, we saw pelosi and schumer, the leaders offer the house and the for with a joint statement saying this must be made public. chuck schumer put together a news conference in which he also said p this ist of american democracy. there's a demand especially because the stakes are so high tor everyone to see this. it's important t not just the report be released, but democrats are stressing the supporting documents.e th an open question here. if as this is being reported n

there ar new indictments in this report, there's a question whether the president can be indicted. there's a question that democrats would want to further investigate. robert: are you saying that democrats might want to use the supporting material for impeachment proceedings? >> that's exactly right. thank you for getting me to the point. [lauter] they are curious if there are any impeachable offenses in thot. it's clear if special council mueller feels he can indict the president. they want to decide for eses if they should impeach the president or not. robert: that's what they want, bochael. but when you think the rules of the department of justice, if you're not pursuing prosecution, you could be limitedbout what you could release to congress. >> the democrats have a different path though. they have the power of subpoena. they can use it as a road map to draft their own subpoenas and get information in a differentw

it doesn't totally block them just because the regulations are in place.e >> insf the president's circle, he has ry giuliani, his lawyer. spoke to him this morning. he said there is a counter report ready. hat about republicans? are they in touch with the white house to mount a defense for whatever the white house has in it? >> yes, the white house has been working andheo has r.n.c. they are ready for the politicas talking po and so they've been in touch with republicans. they're going to give talking points to start parties. they're going to talk to sngressional republican about what they shoul. now, that's all if it's good news. if it's badews, you know, they've got to -- they've got to cope with that. and you're not going to see a lot of republicans wanting to stand with him >> what will define politically good news and bad news? is it no indictments? further indictments, dan? >> well, i think that the white

house and trump's allies will e the fact that there are no indictments coming in addition to what has already happened as good news for them. and if the findings are that there was no collusion or c certainly nolusion that the president was a part of, he will take that exonl ration and run with it. -- exoneration and run wt.h i mean, this has been a legal proceeding up till now. this investigation is legal. there's still a lot of legal matters that are ongoing in the eastern district of virginia, etc. this now becomes a politicaler ma this issue of impeachment is a political decision by electeds officials to whether the president in one way or another abused the powers of his oce. that's what democrats will be looking for. and they will - they will -- like i said, they will be looking at the underlying information. they've got difficult choices to

make depending on what's in the report. robert: on capitol hill the trump administration this week in aouattle with democrats over the judiciary committee president, n of the his campaign and businesses. the white house so faras rejected all" to hand over records with his talks with vladimir putin that's according to anita at polito. lawmakers are raising concern about jared kushner. who has been using a message service to communicate foreign leaders. >> does t wser just sit it out? do they wait to be faced with subpoenas? >> if they're looking at the history of the past 3,0 yea say. >> and even whe that rises to subpoena's being issued, knave

waited it out. >> this white house is claosing toim or not to claim it. it's making itlt more diffi for democrats. democrats' mission is to not get to the bottom but to raise questions about the tru administration. they see those as justified. we saw this from a quiet storm from democrat. none of this is one deadline. chairman elijah cummings said that he has been stonewalled on half a different investigations they are doing furious work in these committees on a large number of fronts including kushner's e-mails, including president trump's communication his attorney general about pardoning michael cohen. one other thing coming unthis week as parts of investigationse hontelligence will talk to a man called -- who worked with

hi on the moscow hotel deal. there's still more questions happening. > yeah, i totally agree with you. but i'm hearing something that's different this time around, which is no president wants to give documents over to congress. nobody wants that. but there is some reality that they can negotiate a little. 'll give you something but not everything. but what this whiteouse is doing, they're not even responding by letter. deadlines are coming and going. they don't send the courtesy letter back aying we've g your request. they're just ignoring them. >> i was told byavid bosse who went through this through bill clinton who said let them subpoena us. line and they're just going tot waitut. >> and that strategy is totally consistent with their witch hunt narrative. >> if robert mumeu mueller's

investigation was part of the justice departmatt that ini that investigation, if that is a witch hunt they're going to try to snone wall as long as they can. >> i think this was in part foreshows by two. >> from the very get-go. and the rhett reck on that has ramped up. >> i with looking at a polar reportability public opinion towaueer. and what we've seen democratic been is still strong. he's still basically at 5% support of what mule ser doing. the president has been able to cate a political polarization around this. but also the choice of eminent glad to to come into thehi house. he's a hard liner on issues of the power of the executive vs.

instincts. robert: anita,o they recognize the political challenge they face because the president has be slamming the d.o.j., that they need to get rid of these case os maim a political statement as well. >>early every house committee is investigating. i didn't really hear a realization from anyonan they pursue all of them. they can't subpoena everybody og all those t they'd be tied up in court all years. way past the president's term. i ev you had a second term, they had to pick the shots and go after what they want to go after. robert: when you think about this week, the president was in fighting mode day after day picking battles and making dramatic moves. it puts at. -- the mueller report puts all

of this in perspective. how the president's going about pursuing his aims. and during a visit to a military elannnt ohio, preside trump criticized the l arizona senator john mccain. president trump: i endorsed him at ues rst. and i gave him the funeral he wanted. and i didn't get thank you. not my kind of guy. robert: the "new york times" reported this week in mike's article, heat writes the army tank plan in lima in front of veterans the denunciations drew no cheers. reporters around washington were wondering why was the president going after senator mccain? why was he continuing to play to his base? the mueller report was always on the horizon. >> a lot of his fellow republicans wer wdering why he did this. it's as though he thinks the b

concentrate of 30% is what he needs because that's the kind of people who would t cheer ine about john mccain. every time he says something about mccain, it puts any g independent-leanter and a swing voter, most people would glee that there's a certain lack of grace when you speak ill about somebody who has passed. robert: usually, it wouldn't senator mccain is a republican nominee. he's a fallen war hero. someone who has recently passed away. mr. republica across the country revere him. >> late senator mccain is seen as a eshment and the president wants to be seen as anti-establishment.s ar i think i not a > i think it's not a coincidence that he launched these attacks after he awe is

largest rebellion when 12 republicans senators votedai t his emergency declaration. that's ver small minority. but that's a large amount to president trump and the truth is s there were to eight other republican senators, they had to workard. as rand paul told me it was a bloody fight behind the scenes. he's signaling to them, you g against mem me, i'm never going to forget it. i think that john mccain has represented the establishment. somehow because they say campaign fundraising wing, but i think when he lost toarack obama that part of the party has held against john mccain.he and tha stood up for barack

obama. >> i was struck of his performance. the bill of particulars that he laid out gherntse a --inst senator mccabe, calling that it was mccain who gave the steele doss yea to the justice department. in a context of a week whether everybodyhehought mueller report might land, that was clearly on his mind. m tioned the vote that mccain did to sink the repeal of amacare, which was in many ways a crushing defeat for the republican part as a whole but for the president. he desperaly want and early victory. his anger for mccain is so full at this point. and in the connection of the mule herbeport, it seemed to me that it was buell -- boiling over. >> was this just a personal grievance by president trump?

was this about the president also continueo rail against the late senator mccain. he picks these targets again and again. often his bailscheerls him on. >> i don't think we heard the end of this with senator mccain. i think he's going to bring it back up. he's more likely to bring it up in theexain rallies where people do clear. a loft his advisors maybe want to do -- to go around the country to do these economic events for his selection. but actually what he's wanting to do is itching to go back in the rally, >> he's the only incumbent president to not try to expan b hie. in fact, spends all of his time tryi to solidify s base. that's going to be one of their bigger challenges as that gohe into campaign r. --

campaign >> is that his strategy racket that a lot more. >> it's interesting why you would say something petty like mccain. >> i dn't pay for the funeral or say thank you. ar thatmade no sense. but he has that amen corner that so far has been immoveable. >> one of the things that veral have noted and they've been involved in campaigns that have been tgh companies. they have said that when trump does what he did and goes into a place,ou know, rallies his supporters, that has a big and it has a real effect on turnout. and the more that he's able to ramp up both the turnout and the margins in rural comenities, more it offsets what the

area is. robert: on foreign policy, we saw a lot of activity this week. the president met with brazilian president bosonaro. we saw theresident support israel in the u.s. golan heights. inside of the white house, why the moves on north korea on frid to make sure that the north korean don't have all these sanctions or these cron companies don't have these sanctions? and the recognition of the golan heights in israel. >> they took them by surprise. even mike pompeo waspr sed about north korea. >> you know, these two things, u know, presidents in the past

spend weeks and months deciding policy and how they might roll it out. in a couple of cases the president tweeted something, said something and just decide it. what you were talking about is a perfect example. . >> he pressed him personally. he took his whole administration by surprise. >> it was total gift by netanyahu. >> he is so forward in trying to be invved in another election. robert: it's not just all these issues abroad. he's also lookingt a situation with the economy. the federal reserve said they're not going to raise rate first theol rction of this year.

he's trying to get a trade dea the now revised of nafta. you have congressmen appearing to be intend on stopping that. >> i think that's right. >> i think flay r they realize that part from a scandal or, a miller report it takes, t company turning sour is their last hope in against this presidnt. >> there are signs that th company may be slowing down. there's a little tiny tick of we saw c.e.o.s in the business roun table down great their g.d.p. we have seen wall street rattle. and none of this is helped by theresident notting yet having to deal with china over that >> i s. >> he needs the north america ersion of this trade deal. but all the more democrats are they interested in blocking in

it. >> is this moment the real significant tests we've seen for president trump with all of this on his plate? >> he's got so much on his plate. one point on the he believed in reincarnation. he would want to come back likes l, the g really power bond market. wall street pays attention to on the yield cve in the bond market. and that suggestions a recession might be looming. >> what r why does that matter to most people in the market? >>ee because they that as a debt problem. they see that as a slowdown indicator. and they see tha as a contractions measure. >> about president trump, who and a half years ago, on this on his agenda,ll these challenges. >> you know, i'm tempted to say you're absolutely right. and you are. >> o the other hand we've had

on any given friday night we might be seeing the same thim thing. we would have reached for a long time for the muell report. we now move into a different phase. we don't know what's in thert reonight. we don't know what will happen as a result of that. but we're clearly moving into something different. think the president and the white house is going to be geared up to battle this. >> and ultimately this may notb omething that cock decides. it's going to be the american people in the election of 20206789 and we're a long way from having any sense of what that's going to look like. i >> don't think that even though they're not in the report this is what's going to be funny. >> democrats are going to say, there's something bad. but the president is going to say if he's exonerated. . the democrats will lose two more

ars and i'm sitting here d nng what ieed to be doing. >> i think we're going to see another phase of that. robert: we'll keep our eyes on all of these phases. this is just one tonight. w more newl happen this weekend. we'll keep reporting on all of it., thanverybody, for being here. our conversation will continue on the "washington week" website. starting at -- that's every friday night. while you're online, take our "washington week," 2020,ti el survey. tell us what are the issues affecting you and your community. i'm robert costa. have a great weekend. and we'll sou next time. announcer: corporate funding is

provided >> babble, a language program that teaches real life conversation in a new language such as spanish, french, german, italian andore. babble 10 to 15-minute le essons are available onr the app o online. >> additional funding is provided by ku and patricia yuen. committed to bridging cultures in our communities. by contributions from viewers like you. thank you. scomblr

i didn't want to really do anything but sleep because the dream was so good. i'd get up a s then i would go back ep and continue the dream. in the dream, i was on mars. armbrister: i've always wanted to be an astronaut. i thevery little kid wanted to be an astronaut, but getting there and thinking, you know, if it would ever be possible, i just thought was a fantasy. shirley: when i was0 years old, my mother took me to my uncle's graduation from medical school at the university of oklahoma, and on the program it said, "aeronautical engineering." and so i asked my mother what that was. she said, "oh, that's people who build airplanes." i said, "that's what i'm gonna do." lauer: that's kind of a man's world. i mean, the engineering side of things and nasa, we tend to think of it as a guy's world. did that your mind at all when you were a little girl? shirley: well, it didn't until i got to college