separately some sort of 9/11 style commission as some have called for. something different than the two branches. is it in congress, in the trump administration or something seen as a broader independent inquiry. >> we'll see you at the other end of the broadcast day for the 11th hour. now "mtp daily" anchored by katy tur. if it's thursday, the attorney general recuses himself. but will it calm the firestorm. tonight white house crisis, calls for attorney general jeff sessions to recuse himself or resign over his meeting with the russian ambassador. late today sessions responded. >> i have now decided to recuse myself. >> this after tough words from democrats. >> attorney general sessions should resign. >> grounds for him to resign. >> and who is this russian ambassador who has already cost michael flynn his job and has the white house scrambling today? this is "mtp daily," and it

starts right now. good evening. i'm katy tur from new york. in for chuck todd. to the president involving embattled attorney general jeff sessions. moments ago sessions held a press conference announcing he is recusing himself from any investigation involving the trump campaign. >> i asked for the candid and honest opinion about what i should do about investigations. se certain investigations. my staff recommended recusal. they said that since i had involvement with the campaign i should not be involved in any campaign investigation. i believe those recommendations

are right and just. therefore, i have recused myself in the matters that deal with the trump campaign. >> sessions' announcement comes after a growing chorus of republicans joined countless democrats in calling for the a.g. to step aside from an investigation into contact between trump campaign officials and russian officials. many democrats even wanting him to step down. the fury comes after the department of justice confirmed reports that sessions met with sergei kislyak. he said under oath, quote, i did not have communications with the russians. the president told reporters that he had full confidence in his a.g. >> do you still have confidence in the attorney general? >> total. >> should he recuse himself? >> i don't think so at all. >> when do you think senator sessions spoke to the

ambassador? >> i don't think he should do that at all. >> when were you aware he spoke to the russian ambassador? >> i wasn't aware at all. >> do you think he should have spoken truthfully? >> he probably did. >> in his press conference moments ago sessions was adamant that he did not mislead congression during his confirmation hearings when he spoke with russia in an exchange with senator al franken. >> if there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the trump campaign communicated with the russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do? >> senator franken, i am not aware of any of those activities. i have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and i did not have communications with the russians. and i am unable to comment on it. >> very well. >> now here is the attorney general's defense of that answer just moments ago.

>> my reply to the question of senator franken was honest and correct as i understood it at the time. i appreciate that some have taken the view that this was a false comment. that is not my intent. that is not correct. i will write the judiciary committee soon, today or tomorrow, to explain this testimony for the record. >> here is the political reality. let's put it up on the screen for you. you are looking at what appears to have forced sessions to step aside. this is the growing chorus of republicans who joined numerous democrats in calling for him to recuse himself from the investigation into russia. and as i mentioned earlier, a lot of democrats were calling for him to step down. the list goes on and on, so long, in fact, that we don't really have time to continue scrolling it during the show. our nbc team of reporters are covering every angle of the story. hallie jackson is at the white house. ari melber is msnbc's chief

legal correspondent here with me in new york. andrea mitchell is nbc's chief affairs correspondent. hours ago president trump said he had full confidence in jeff sessions. what has happened? >> with the president, i don't know that anything has changed. we haven't heard anything from the president since those remarks made inside the aircraft carrier in southern west virginia. we understand the president is back at the white house. his aides are working their way back to the white house. we know that his administration was notified, according to the deputy press secretary. one of the press secretaries here, that jeff sessions would recuse himself from any investigation involving the trump campaign or involving russia's investigation into election meddling relating to the 2016 election. the notification to the white house came just before the press conference. so there was not an advanced

notification of many hours prior to the attorney general making pib li public the fact that he would recuse himself. this is likely to take some of the pressure off some of the republicans who had come out calling for the recusal. people like, i am thinking of jason chaffetz. lindsey graham, who had raised questions. graham now saying he also has confidence in the a.g. >> now that he has recused himself, what happens next? >> that's the big question, right? you watch the press conference and are almost left with the feeling of, oh, i guess we're a done erhohere. who takes over. it's the deputy attorney general. so the acting attorney general, a spot vacated when sally yates disagreed with the administration over defending the travel ban and was filled by another career person picked by trump. ultimately, when confirmed, the new deputy attorney general will be a trump appointee but won't be, presumably, a surrogate the way jeff sessions was.

>> will they be able to investigate it in an independent manner if it is a trump appointee? >> that's a great question. the person owes their job to president trump. and as deputy attorney general that person will be dealing with people who may ultimately be targets or persons of interest in the investigation if there is an investigation. i am reminded of the ronald reagan wording of be careful of the bear if there is a bear. this says does not confirming there are investigations into the campaigns. that is a point to note as journalists. there has been wide reports that there are inquiries. i'll speak fast because we i know have a lot of news to cover. does this include what happened just before election day or after. the fbi was doing meetings with general flynn about conduct in the transition period and during the administration. does campaign say basically, i have decided to recuse myself

from existing or future investigations of any matters related in any way to the campaigns for president of the united states. would a lawyer read that as ending at election day? that's when campaigns usually end. or does it contemplate other activity that might happen pursuant to a campaign, say a am pro promise made between a campaign surrogate and a foreign power that occurred later. then the biggie. a significant recusal. will there be a special prosecutor appointed as was done for the issues around scooter libby. >> andrea, the recusal might essentially calm the waters but for how long? after all, the "new york times" reported last night american allies including british and dutch provided information

describing meetings in european cities between russian officials and others close to russia's president vladimir putin and associates of president-elect trump. andrea. >> first of all, these kinds of investigations, they may start small, but they will spread. you can be sure that any contacts, wherever in europe, elsewhere around the world as well as intercepts of communications from moscow to washington, perhaps to the ambassador or the ambassador's report back to moscow after he met with senator sessions. the content of those meetings. we also had the frustration expressed today by adam schiff, the top democrat on the house intelligence committee, after a meeting with fbi director comey, who ultimately reports to the -- to attorney general sessions but not from here on out because of this recusal, saying that they've only seen a fraction of what the fbi already knows and that, if it continues that way, if their questions are not answered, the democrats will pursue other options.

they could either walk and say this is not a proper investigation, they could demand a special prosecutor. they don't have the votes for the legislation for that. that would have to go to president trump to be signed. there are a lot of issues for the democrats in their frustration. but they've found so far that public pressure, that the politics has worked. it was clear from earlier today when we were interviewing members of the senate and the house and particularly the senators from the judiciary committee that this was not going to fly. angus kings and others, saying in reading the guidelines from the justice department that ari knows so well. the guidelines, senator king saying to me at noon, were almost written for this kind of situation. it was an unavoidable outcome. it makes someone wonder why didn't someone in the general counsel's office at the white house brief the president before he was asked questions. the president now is in contradiction to what jeff

sessions has said he needs to do. the president saying that he didn't see any need for recusal. and the attorney general suggesting he wasn't forced into this by pressure that they had the meeting already scheduled and were going over the procedures and would likely have come to this conclusion. >> you are right to point out there doesn't seem to be much coordination between trump's cabinet members and others on these issues. joining me now, virginia senator and former democratic vice presidential nominee tim kaine. thank you for joining us. >> you bet. >> you were personalply affecte by the russian hacks. do you think the recusal was enough. >> there is more to be done. the recusal was necessary. your commentators pointed out the statement was recusal concerning any investigation into contact between the russian

government and the trump campaign. he needs to recuse with any investigation into connections between the russian government, the trump campaign, the trump administration in formation during that period, between election day and inauguration day, and also contacts between russia and the trump administration itself. he needs to recuse because of all of that. the department of justice rule i think is very clear. but the news this morning about his misleading comments at the confirmation hearing suggest that. that's number one. second, i think the judiciary committee should bring him back before the committee. put him under oath and ask him questions about the answers that he gave both in his verbal testimony and in his written answers to questions that were prepared -- presented by senators. >> even without jeff sessions, do you believe that the justice department can conduct a fair investigation into russia's interference into this election? >> i think this will be very, very difficult. i do believe that there ought to be an independent prosecutor,

and i certainly believe that this is something that congress has to take very seriously. currently the intel committee in the senate is taking this very seriously and moving ahead. whether that will be sufficient, i think determines -- will be determined by the products of the intel committee's work. i was very, very worried a few weeks ago that the administration and the majority would try to stop this or sweep it under the rug. but i think the resignation of gv general flynn crossed a rubicon on this. it was no longer just about the campaign but it was about the activities of the chief sitting national security adviser to the president. so we have michael flynn had to resign because of his contacts with the government of russia and now jeff sessions contacts with the government of russia. >> speaker ryan says there is no law mandating a special

prosecutor. should congress pass one? >> this will be a test of is congress serious about the integrity of the american electoral system. remember, the watergate break-in in 1974 was a bungled attempt to get into a file cabinet and plant a few listening devices. it didn't affect the election. it was a landslide in 1972 but congress cared enough about the integrity of the american electoral system that it embarked on one of the most searching congressional investigations in the nation's history. whether or not it is mandated. congress needs to own up to the article 1 responsibilities and investigate this for the purpose of protecting our electoral system. >> the attorney general has recused himself from everything involving the trump campaign. arguably this is one of the most important investigations that he could do. if he can't do this, should he be stepping down? >> i really do think -- i am holding on that because i want him to come back to judiciary

and answer questions about the misleading statements. you can't have an attorney general, that particular position, you can't have somebody who is misleading members of congress. you just can't. so i think the right thing for him to do is to come back, be under oath, and publicly explain both the verbal and written statements that he made. because if you just read the transcripts, i had no communications with the russians. they're just not true. particularly given the kinds of communications. he met -- the time line would suggest -- with the russian ambassador in september, in his senate office, three days after president obama said we are going to continue sanctions against the russians for their behavior in the crimea. to meet so quickly after that tough announcement by president obama raises a lot of questions about what was going on, and we've got to be able to get to the bottom of it. >> are the russians trying to manipulate american politicians? >> the combined intelligence of all of our intel agencies suggest that they made a

decision to try to influence the outcome of the american presidential election, to disadvantage secretary clinton, to help president trump get elected. they made that as a formal decision. and they undertook steps to do it. that's the conclusion of all of the intel agencies of the united states as of january 7th. and more information has come out since then that would suggest that's definitely the case. >> the american public only knows about this because of leaks. some may call them whistle blowers. paul ryan has harsh words for them. many calling for investigations into the leaks themselves. do you think, if these leakers are found, that they should be prosecuted? >> we need to protect whistle blowers. there are federal whistle blower protections. and i participated in trying to expand whistle blower protections in the past as a member of the armed services committee. the folks who are doing this, i -- i think they're doing it because they are so gravely concerned about what it means that the nation that general dunford, the head of our joints

chiefs of staffs, says is the principle american adversary in the world right now was able to do this. we have to get to the bottom of it to protect our electoral system. >> thank you senator tim kaine. to texas republican, congressman wil heard. what's your reaction to what you heard from a.g. sessions earlier? >> i think he made the right decision in recusing himself from this. any potential impropriety or perceived impropriety, you don't want that in future investigations. it's so important in talking about the integrity of our election systems. >> we are living in a hyper partisan environment right now because of that. do you believe the american public deserves an independent investigation into a matter like this? >> well, this is going to be an independent investigation. it's important that what's going on in the house and in the senate is bipartisan, that it's

th thorough and comprehensive. >> shouldn't an independent investigator be appointed considering all of the political drama there is on capitol hill, all of the fighting between the two sides? >> well, here is how this is going to roll out. the acting deputy attorney general can make a decision to use one of the 92 u.s. attorneys to be in control of this investigation. many of those 92 u.s. attorneys were appointed by president obama, and previous presidents. so these are -- these are men and women that are committed to protecting the constitution, that are committed to protecting the integrity of our government. and i also believe that the folks on the house intelligence and the senate intelligence committee are committed and understand the importance of this and it's going to do it in a bipartisan way. we also have to remember that our -- our federal law enforcement have not -- have not

finished their investigations. so it's important to allow our federal resources and federal agencies to do their investigation and then we investigate to make sure that it was done properly. >> are you confirming that there are federal investigations into the white house right now and its connections into connections with russia? >> i am confident that the fbi is doing everything they should be doing in order to protect -- in order to fulfill their role within counter intelligence and with counter espionage. >> the fbi hasn't officially confirmed they're looking into the white house, have they? >> they shouldn't be confirming this. we should be protecting sources and methods. if there is an investigation that they have the ability to prosecute down the road, and that you also don't drag people's names in that aren't being brought in front of a jury. so this is something that all law enforcement agencies are supposed to do. this is something -- this is why i appreciate what the men and

women in our law enforcement community have to do. and they're doing the right thing. i know people are frustrated because they would love to get information immediately. but we have to allow the professionals to do their jobs thoroughly and ensure that they're doing it right. >> given everything that's been happening with this administration, just in the past 40 days, general mike flynn, now attorney general jeff sessions, why should the public trust anybody in this administration right now to police an investigation between it and what happened with russia, interfering into our election? >> that presupposes that everybody in this administration was picked by the current president. and that's not the case. >> who was not picked by the current president? >> the acting deputy attorney general. many of 92 u.s. attorneys were not picked by the current president. i don't think the president has picked any u.s. attorneys. they haven't been confirmed by the senate. the members of congress weren't

selected, or the senate, or the house were selected by the president. so this is why we have separation of powers. and this is why we have been organized the way we are. and i am confident that both republicans and democrats can work together to ensure the integrity of our election systems. >> if hillary clinton were in the white house right now, would you be calling for a special investigator? >> no. i would be calling for the fbi to continue or our law enforcement to do their work. this came up during the issue of the server in her basement. i don't think anybody is going to ever say that director comey and i agree on much. he and i have had some battles over the last two years. because he and i disagree on many things. but when it came to the issue of hillary clinton's server, the goal was to make sure that law enforcement did and completed their investigation before we did any further oversight.

>> congressman william hurd of texas. thank you very much for joining me. >> thank you, katy. >> more to unpack. our panel joins me next. stay with us. s? break through your allergies. introducing flonase sensimist. more complete allergy relief in a gentle mist you may not even notice. using unique mistpro technology, new flonase sensimist delivers a gentle mist to help block six key inflammatory substances that cause your symptoms. most allergy pills only block one. and six is greater than one. break through your allergies. new flonase sensimist. ♪ bring you more ways to helps reduce calories from sugar. with more great tasting beverages with less sugar or no sugar at all, smaller portion sizes, clear calorie labels, and signs reminding everyone to think balance before choosing their beverages. we know you care about reducing the sugar in your family's diet,

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the senate intelligence committee is considering seeking testimony from that former british spy who compiled a dossier of unverified claims about the trump campaign and russia. we have confirmed the fbi reached a deal to

big day. thank you for joining me, number one. >> good to be here. >> is recusal enough? or do we need to see a special prosecutor? >> jeff sessions is hoping recusal is enough. i think a lot of republicans are hoping the same thing. what usually happens in these scenarios is that you take the intermediate step that you don't really want to take but you're okay to take to try to staunch the blood flow so you don't have to take the bigger step of a special prosecutor. republicans are wary of special prosecutors because of the reverse experience of ken starr and how that went all over the place. they really don't want someone sniffing around all of this stuff. to simply say, no, nothing to see her. this is nothing but partisan attacks.

it's not. we now have two cabinet officials who said something different when they were asked directly about it than what was the truth as it relates to russia. that's not an insignificant thing. that's not a partisan thing. it could be as jeff sessions said today he misunderstood al franken's question or was shocked by it. >> how could he possibly have been shocked by it? wouldn't he have been prepared for the question? >> yes is the answer. he might have been prepared for kristian or whatever report cited by al franken but he was prepared for questions about russi russia and contacts with them. that's what's hard here. i think they're hoping this slows this story down. this is not going to stop the story. because, again, this is not an isolated incident. michael flynn, lots of other reporting coming out. donald trump's -- what he has

said about vladimir putin. there is a whole lot here. there is a lot of smoke. that doesn't mean there is fire, but when there is this much smoke, katy, it's not a partisan thing to say, we should investigate whether there is fire. >> jen, does this prove that public pressure is enough to sway this administration, and republicans? >> i think that there -- chris was talking about the recusal as an intermediary step. i have worked in a couple of administrations. i know how that dance can go. i don't think -- this is no the a recusal from my perspective. this is blood in the water. i think they thought this was the least that -- the easiest step they could take at this point to try to deal with their problem. but i don't think it's going to be enough. and you know, people talk about in washington, it's not the crime, it's the coverup. but i think, for sessions and the trump white house, it's important to know it is both. for sessions, it's the coverup.

it is lying to congress about meeting with the russian ambassador that is leading people not to just question whether or not he should recuse himself and have a special prosecutor but his fitness to serve. the coverup means he lied to congress. i believe it means he is not fit to serve as our attorney general. that's the coverup for him. the crime is -- detailed well last night in the "new york times" story about intelligence that seems to show actual collusion between the -- between russia officials and people associated with president trump. so that is -- and remember, i think what's interesting about the fact that sessions' meeting happened in september. september was a very active month as far as russia and the campaign. >> you should know. >> -- was concerned. and on capitol hill. september is when the head of the intel committees, the chairman and the ranking democrats and the leadership,

got their briefing about russia's involvement in the election. as you'll recall. senator feinstein and congressman schiff wrote a letter saying we were so concerned by what we learned we think you need to investigate this. presumably what they learned is what we read about in the "new york times" last night, which is actual evidence of russians saying we talked to people associated with trump. so this is not just about the coverup. don't be distracted by it. senator sessions has a lot to answer for. i think he needs to resign for what he said to congress. what the crime is and what's really of concern and why i think oveveryone with the trump administration will be conflicted. i believe this is about whether the trump campaign were coordinating with the russians. >> i want you to join in this

conversation, danielle. i want to first play what we played at the top of the show. it's a good reminder and refresher for everyone. here is what senator sessions, at the time senator, told senator al franken during his confirmation hearings. >> if there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the trump campaign communicated with the russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do? >> senator franken, i am not aware of any of those activities. i have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and i didn't -- did not have communications with the russians. and i am unable to comment on it. >> very well. >> january 10th, a month and a half ago. now here is today. >> in my reply to the question -- my reply to the question of senator franken was honest and correct as i understood it at the time.

i appreciate that some have taken the view that this was a false comment. that is not my intent. >> danielle, does that make sense to you? >> i think what he said makes sense. you know, if you want to parse what he said, then he was asked about coordination between the campaign and the russians. he said that he wasn't aware of any. he clearly didn't coordinate for the campaign when he met with the russian ambassador. i also think he did the right thing in recusing himself. he never should have been in the position of investigating his own president's connections. i think the democrats are going too far. who have they not called upon to resign at this point. >> respond to that, jen. do you think the democrats are using this to their advantage in keeping the pressure on the trump campaign? >> i think democrats have an obligation to keep pressure on the trump administration to

continue to investigate this and have it done independently. this is not your -- this is not a -- this is not your normal political back and forth between a democratic congress and a republican white house. this is a we know as a fact that the russians tried to influence our election in order to help donald trump. we know that to be a fact. even our president accepts that to be true now. you have had in the first 40 days of this white house, you have had the national security adviser have to resign because he was -- because he had lied, was unforthcoming about his -- about his own conversations with the russian government. now you have the attorney general in very deep trouble for the same situation. this is not just he got -- again, like, i don't -- we shouldn't get too caught up in the -- if the administration is trying to cover things up. what is deeply troubling here is just this is all -- this all

goes back to russia trying to influence the election and help donald trump and whether or not the trump campaign was -- you know, was involved in that. i am not sure -- i cannot recall -- i have been in politics for 25 years. i cannot recall a more serious issue. democrats should be using every leverage they have to continue to draw attention to this and force the trump administration to take it seriously. >> we have to go to a break. danielle, chris and jen, stick with us. we'll come back to you i promise. still ahead, who is russian ambassador sergey kislyak. we'll bring you new insight into this central figure in this political firestorm. keep it right here.

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coming up, just who is this russian ambassador who is at the center of yet another controversial meeting with a trump official? that's ahead. first, here is hampton pearson with the market wrap. >> back to normal after yesterday's high. the dow is down 112 points. s&p off 14. nasdaq dropping 14 points as well. snap incorporated, the company behind snapchat, in its first trading day, up a whopping 44%. the company accounted for about 10% of the growth on the new york stock exchange today. china continues to make large investments in u.s. companies.

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welcome back to "mtp daily." just tonight nbc news has confirmed a "new york times" report that president trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, jared kushner met with ambassador kislyak and ousted national surser michael flynn in december. the white house calling it a brief meeting and officials believe it was the ambassador who requested it. who is this russian ambassador that is causing all this trouble? joining me now, peter baker chief white house correspondent for the "new york times." he lived and worked in moscow when he was the moscow bureau chief for the "washington post." peter, in your opinion is sergey kislyak a diplomat or is he a spy? >> well, look, in the russian system it's essentially without a difference. if you are the ambassador from

russia in washington it's your job to meet and cultivate american officials and to collect information. whether he had any formal ties or not, i don't happen to know. what he was doing here in washington is what ambassadors have done for a long time. the problem is he did it with officials from a campaign that wasn't yet in office who then didn't necessarily tell the full truth about their contacts. that's what's gotten both michael flynn and now jeff sessions in trouble. >> is there reason to believe kislyak was meeting with sessions because he was a senator or because he was part of the campaign? the "washington post" contacted all 26 senators in the armed services committee and none of them had met with kislyak except for sessions. >> he is a smart guy. he understood who jeff sessions was. he understood that jeff sessions was a real, you know, insider with the trump campaign, and he wanted to get to know the people who were involved with that -- that possible new white house. no question about it. it's a distinction that the

ambassador probably wasn't making in his own mind even if attorney general sessions made it today, the idea that you could be one and not the other. ambassador kislyak saw, you know, a person who was a rising star, somebody who was obviously going to be important in a new washington if there was going to be a new administration under donald trump and wanted to make contacts. >> did he have connections to kgb? was he kgb at any point? >> nothing in his resumé says he was. he was here in washington in the '80s as a young diplomat. he was the first ambassador to nato after russia emerged from the soviet union. nothing specifically ties him on paper at least. the embassy in washington for the russian federation, you know, it includes the secret services. it includes the security services. he clearly knows those people even if he wasn't particularly -- >> did he have some overnight over the security services? >> the ambassador here in washington does have a role to play. it's also an opaque system.

we don't understand exactly who runs what where. he understands how the services work. >> the "new york times" reporting jared kushner also had a meeting with kislyak and michael flynn back in december. so how damaging could this be for jared kushner? just another person in the trump transition that had a tie or a meeting with this ambassador. >> well, i mean, again, the real reason why general flynn and jeff sessions got in trouble because they didn't volunteer or fully answer questions asked of them about htheir contacts with ambassador kislyak. it raises questions about what were the larger ties between the trump circle and russia, and people have wondered about that given the hacking and given the other issues we had during last year's campaign. >> at the very least, a whole lot the coincidence. peter baker of the "new york times." thank you for joining me. still ahead, the president's

cabinet gets two new confirmations. stay with us.

welcome back. two more of president trump's cabinet nominees were confirmed today. this morning retired neurosurgeon ben carson was confirmed as the new secretary of housing and urban development by a vote of 58-41. you see it right there on your screen. this afternoon the senate confirmed former texas governor rick perry as the new energy secretary by a vote of 62-37. most of the democrats who joined with republicans on both of these votes are up for

reelection next year. many of them in states that the president won. we'll be right back with the lid. the all-new carfax.com that might help. show me the carfax. now the car you want and the history you need are easy to find. show me used trucks with one owner. pretty cool. [laughs] ah... ahem... show me the carfax. start your used car search and get free carfax reports at the all-new carfax.com.

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. time for the lid. and the panel is back. daniel, since you were late to the game, we want to start with you now. i want to pick up where you left off. you believe democrats are going over board with this. when there's smoke and smoke and smoke and smoke, isn't there going to be fire? >> i don't think jared kushner news is relevant. all meet with foreign ambassadors. when you are being disengenius

about it -- >> if they are going to complain about the russians they are going to reelect donald trump. they need to be talking about the issues confronting the issues that helped get him elected in the first place. i get the game. this is not productive. i don't agree with the administration with russia. but this is not a guy way to go about our business. >> daniel, i think you have a great point. people were not paying attention to the daily controversy. when you talk to people looking for their better jobs they are not talking about donald trump's campaign ties to russia. chris, does daniel have a point with that? >> look, i do i think there's a

possibility that the deep d dislike, i won't say hatred, would blind them, sure. i think we saw that in the campaign. the idea was no one is going to vote for this guy and lots of people voted for him. that said, there's just in my mind, no russia expert, no petter baker here, looking at what we know about misunderstanding of jeff sessions with the question from al franken with mike flynn telling mike pence, there's just enough there it seems to me the responsible thing to do, responsible capital d democratically what is best way we can assure the public that

we got to the bottom of this. that doesn't mean that the economy doesn't matter. that immigration don't matter, these all matter. i don't think we can say we're 99.9% sure that the russians tried to influence it's election to hurt hilly clinton. there's too much spoke moke the say this is plain old politics. i struggle to say let's move on, rather than you're republican or democrats. what a special prosecutor do that, wipe the slate clean, and then let the country move on from it? >> i think it's investigation --

bottom of this. i think these are reasonable questions. i'm not fond of the special prosecutor. i think it's invest an individual with enormous amount of power. they are not helpful to governorness. the justice department should look into this, determine what happened, determine what the russian efforts were, and ensure we are never effected by this again. >> jen, would that be enough nor you? >> i think a special prosecutor, yes, to have enough protection about them -- >> they are telling me that i have to go. i apologize. love to continue the conversation another time. thank you for being here. next, we'll break from the political drama, you wouldn't

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incase you missed it, the new interior secretary was chom ping at the bit. he trotted on a horse. a gelding. we're not sure if this was a spur of the moment decision based on d.c. met tro system or ponying up after a bet.

it's unclear how the secretary plans to get to work for the rest of the week and no word yet from tanto whether he going to bale him out. for the record with greta starts right now. mr. president, do you still have confidence in the. [ inaudible ] >> total. >> i don't think so. >> were aware that he spoke to the russian ambassador. >> i wasn't aware at all. >> he did probably did. >> president trump says he has total confidence in the attorney general. announcing to recuse himself from the investigation into trump campaign. that