so this is the difference, so mr. gowdy believes that he's been told by the department of justice on several occasions that mr. trump's not he's not part of this; however i don't think that's the case here i just think that it's impossible to believe in normal america, if you open up into the trump campaign, you absolutely are opening up into donald trump himself. that's my opinion. mr. gowdy doesn't think so. he's a lawyer, he's worked with doj, i don't know whose right but it's one of the things that we have to get to the bottom of. maria: you you are investigating the state department right now to try and understand how the information that flowed ultimately getting to the fbi to launch this investigation. what can you tell us about your investigation into the state department? >> well that was the new information i was referring to just a little bit ago is that the new york times have reported th mr. downer the australian high commissioner had brought this information through official channels through five eyes intellig

i yield back. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from south carolina mr. gowdy for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. the russia investigation has been going on for almost two years now. special counsel's investigation has been going on for over a year now. for most americans it's important to know what russia did to our country in 2016 and with whom they did it. when a foreign state interferes with our democratic lelectoral process, it should be the chance of a lifetime for a law enforcement agency to investigate that, except apparently the one that was actually picked to investigate it. that was peter strzok. fbi agent peter strzok was picked to lead the fbi's investigation into what russia did in july of 2016. it was a counter intelligence investigation begun in late july 2016 and he was leading it. and about the exact same time he was picked to lead it, this dispassionate and fair fbi agent was calling trump a disaster, destabilizing for the country. i'll leave out all of the f adjectives he used to describe that. i'll just go with disaster and destab

>> if you listen to mr. gowdy seems to make it very clear that he's making the judgment based on what rod rosenstein and christopher wray said to him. he talked about how important trump appointees, loyals, makes distinction, i don't think they've seen the vast documents related to informant-spy. paul: let's say gowdy is right and had ample reason to get informant, why don't you tell trump campaign or canned gait that they have an obligation to do that? >> absolutely. that's why i'm not willing to say they were right. there's so many dots to connect. it's very hard to follow this. but the main question we don't know is we don't know what started it all. devin nunes saw the electronic communication that was the official start, we have an official start of the investigation at the end of july, but we have these things going on earlier, may or june, we don't know. why are they fighting so hard to keep congress from seeing it. if the fbi did everything correctly, why shouldn't they let the committee see it and why did

majority whip were mr. gowdy, mr. goodlatte all calling for a second special counsel and the silence from our speaker is deafening. speaker ryan needs to step up, join news a call for a second counsel and stop defending the fbi collection of evidence op the trump campaign when they renews to givrefuse to give us e investigation. we know that fbi b their procedures. bruce orr broke procedures when he didn't discloses that his wife had a moonlight job for fusion gps. rod rosenstein didn't discloses that christopher steele had been terminated by the fbi for lying. and yet asking a court to rely on his statements. we need stronger leadership from our speaker supporting the work of those fighting in the trenches to get real answers for the american people. lou: let me ask you, congressman, why in the world would your conference not say 's enough, mr. lame duck speaker, get the hell out of the office. you're going to send us to destruction in the midrm elections. this man doesn't have a plan. he doesn't have a sategy. he di

the irony of mr. gowdy making the accusation when he himself pursued the benghazi investigation well beyond the sell-by date speaks for itself. >> let me correct myself. 2.5 years for the benghazi investigation as you correctly point out. iran-contra went on for six or seven years like the whitewater investigation during the clinton administration. what's your bottom line assessment of what's going on now in the house judiciary committee? >> i think it's clear. it's very clear that this is an effort to discredit the fbi, to discredit the justic department, and ultimately to discredit the mueller investigation. no matter what mr. mueller brings forward, he and anyone involved in the investigation are somehow delegitimized. as a result, whatever they find is delegitimatized. it's been clear it's been going on for a long time. today is just another chapter in that long-standing effort. >> go ahead. >> wolf, the investigation has already produced results. we've had the campaign chairman indicted. the former nat

but i agree with mr. gowdy that america is being torn apart by these outrageous and increasain attacks for partisan purpose. all of this presents a huge threat to the rule of law in america. one party controls the house of representatives, as you have seen today. united states senate. the white house. and the supreme court, obviously, after the sand bagging of president obama's nomination of merritt garland to the supreme court, so they control house to, the senate, the white house, supreme court and they seem to want to control the department of justice and the fbi. so i just want to ask you, can you restate what you think the role of law enforcement is in terms of upholding the rule of law against attempts at partisan interference and manipulation. mr. wray, can i begin with you? >> our mission is to protect the american people and uphold the constitution and that is our only loyalty. >> mr. rosenstein? >> congressman, i understand the concerns about the controversial nature of this investigation. and the thi

mr. gowdy talked about how long there's been a special counsel. we started asking for information in july of last year and some of that is still not given -- still hasn't been give to the congress. still has not been give on the the committee charged with defending the judiciary committee. so, i > appreciate what you do. i want the information and we're so frustrated there's a resolution on the floor of the house that will be voted on. resolutionsave any on what you have to vote on. >> i know you don't. >> the gentleman will suspend. the time is now the attorney general's. >> if you're interested in the truth, mr. jordan, the truth is we have a team of folks that are trump appointees and career folks and they're doing their best to produce these documents. director wray explained the process. he's got hundreds of people working around the clock trying to satisfy these requests so whether you vote or not is not going to affect it. you're going to get everything that's relevant that we can find and produce to you. i support this report, sir. i'm not

mr. gowdy votes yes. mr. labrador? mr. collins? mr. desantas votes yes. mr. buck? mr. ratcliffe votes yes. miss robbie? mr. gates? mr. johnson of louisiana? mr. biggs votes aye. mr. fof fort votes aye. miss handle votes yes. mr. rothfus votes aye. mr. ladler? miss laugh green? miss jackson lee votes no. mr. cohen votes yes. mr. johnson of georgia? >> don't understand russian yes. mr. cohen votes no. mr. johnson of georgia? mr. johnson votes no. mr. duties votes no. mr. gutierrez votes no. miss bass? mr. ri mr. rich man? mr. jeffries? mr. cyst lynn ee votes no. mr. swalwell? mr. lieu? mr. lieu votes no. mr. raskin? miss ghia poll votes no. mr. schneider votes no. miss demings votes no. >> has every member voted who wishes to vote? >> mr. chairman. >> gentle woman is recorded wom no. >> we are going to wait another minute or two for the ranking member. so are you recorded? the gentleman is recorded. mr. chairman, how am i recorded? >> the gentleman from luis is not recorded. >> yes. >> mr. johnson votes yes. >> mr. chairman. >> gentleman from california. >> no. >> mr. sw

what i say is if you don't have anything to hide, the deputy attorney general knows that mr. gowdy would love to exonerate the department of justice and the fbi. the media has tried to make a bigger deal than it is. what trey gowdy is specifically talking about is the small slice of the investigation we are looking at as it relates to whether or not informants, an informant or informants were used. that's what he is referring to. that we've talked about. the president is not a target of this investigation. i believe that mr. gowdy ows we have to return to former bill clinton. back in the news and overstayed his house. and heed a brand book. so let the grandfather of today's me, too, movement. clinton failed to realize it is 1996. and his buddies can't give him a free pass on his hflt of rampant horrific sexual misconduct. the interview with nbc news. the former president was pressed on how he mishandled the monica lewen sky. paul jones said he dropped his pants and got naked and touching them in the oval office. and watch this. >> clinton saidritics are pouncing in light of the me,

. >> mr. gowdy. >> yes. >> mr. labrador? mr. collins? mr. desantis. >> yes. >> mr. buck? mr. ratcliff? >> yes. >> ms. roby? mr. gates? mr. johnson of louisiana? mr. biggs? >> aye. >> mr. rutherford. >> aye. >> miss handle. >> yes. >> mr. nadler? ms. lofgren? ms. jackson-lee? >> no. >> mr. cohen? >> yes. >> mr. johnson of georgia? >> mr. cohen votes no. mr. johnson of georgia? >> no. >> mr. deutsche? >> no. >> mr. gutierrez? >> no. >> ms. bass? mr. richmond? mr. jeffries? mr. cicilline? >> no. >> mr. swalwell? mr. lieu? >> no. >> mr. raskin? >> ms. jayapal? >> no. >> mr. schneider? >> no. >> ms. demings? >> no. >> has every member voted who wishes to vote? >> mr. chairman? >> the gentle woman is recorded as no. >> we're going to wait another minute or two for the ranking member. so are you recorded? the gentleman is recorded. >> mr. chairman? how am i recorded? >> the gentleman from louisiana is not recorded. >> yes. >> mr. johnson votes yes. >> mr. chairman? >> the gentleman from california. >> no. >> mr. swalwell votes no. >> chairman, may i make a parliamentary inquiry? >>

chairman, earlier in his questioning, in his statement, mr. gowdy had some interesting things to say. he said that he acknowledged that russia attacked this country and they should be the target. then he went on to say, but russia isn't being hurt by this investigation, we are. the country is being hurt by this investigation into russia's meddling in our election. i would ask attorney general rosenstein, director wray, what is the purpose of this investigation? >> congressman, think there are two different issues. the first is this investigation, which is an historical investigation of interference with the 2016 election. the second question which i think is of tremendous importance, is what's happening now and what's going to happen in the future. and i think it's important for the american people to understand, this is not a one-shot deal. there are foreign countries that on a regular basis are attempting to infiltrate the american computer systems and interfere in our democracy. and the fbi has a task force that is focused on this problem. it's w

mr. gowdy talked about how long there's been a special counsel. we started asking for information in july of last year and some of that is still not given -- still hasn't been give to the congress. still has not been give on the the committee charged with defending the judiciary committee. so, i > appreciate what you do. i want the information and we're so frustrated there's a resolution on the floor of the house that will be voted on. resolutionsave any on what you have to vote on. >> i know you don't. >> the gentleman will suspend. the time is now the attorney general's. >> if you're interested in the truth, mr. jordan, the truth is we have a team of folks that are trump appointees and career folks and they're doing their best to produce these documents. director wray explained the process. he's got hundreds of people working around the clock trying to satisfy these requests so whether you vote or not is not going to affect it. you're going to get everything that's relevant that we can find and produce to you. i support this report, sir. i'm not

. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from south carolina, mr. gowdy, for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. the russia investigation has been going on for almost two years now. special counsel's investigation has been going on for over a year now. for most americans it is important to know what russia did to our country in 2016 and with whom if anyone they did it. when a foreign state interferes with our democratic electoral process, it should be chance of a lifetime for law enforcement agent to investigate that. except, apparently, the one that was actually picked to investigate it. that was peter strzok. fbi agenter peter strzok was picked to lead the fbi's investigation into what russia did in july of 2016. it was a counterintelligence investigation begun in late july 2016 and he was leading it and about the exact same time he was picked to lead it, this dispassionate and fair fbi agent was calling trump a disaster, destabilizing for the country, i'll leave out all of the f adjectives he used to describe that. i'll go with disaster and desta

mr. gowdy votes yes. mr. labrador? mr. collins? mr. desantis? mr. desantis votes yes. mr. buck? mr. ratcliffe votes yes. ms. robie? mr. gates? mr. johnson of louisiana? mr. big votes aye. mr. rutherford votes aye. ms. handel votes yes. mr. rothfus votes aye. mr. nadler? ms. lofgren? ms. jackson lee votes no. mr. cohen votes yes. mr. johnson of georgia? mr. cohen votes no. mr. johnson of georgia. no. mr. deutsche votes no. mr. gutierrez votes no. ms. bass? mr. richmond? mr. jeffries? mr. cicilline? mr. cicilline votes no. mr. swalwell? mr. liu? mr. liu votes no. mr.s are a kind? ms. jayapal? ms. jayapal votes no, mr. schneider votes no. ms. demmings votes no. >> has every member voted who wishes to vote? >> mr. chairman? >> the gentlewoman is recorded as no. >> we're going to wait another minute two for the ranking member. are you recorded? the gentleman is recorded. >> mr. chairman, how am i recorded? >> not recorded? >> the gentleman from louisiana is not recorded. >> yes. >> mr. johnson votes yes. mr. swalwell votes no. >> may i make a parliamentary inquiry? >> the gentlewoman wil

when mr. gowdy says, i quote, whatever you have up. finish it the hell can you tell me the way the fbi conducts investigations, and doesn't operate on a timeline that permits it to gather evidence in full, or does it operate on a timeline established by members of the united states house? are not going to do our investigation subject to any political influence by either side. we are going to do our investigations as expeditiously we can.onsibly as we are going to play straight and buy the book and that would extend to every investigation we have responsibility for. congressman: general was in stock, you submitted a letter to senator grassley, chairman of the judiciary committee in the senate, and to speaker ryan, about the resolution. you actually take great length to explain the way you have been complying with congressional oversight, working diligently to provide unprecedented congressional access to members of congress that may have been relevant. since there have been so many accusations, i thought it might be helpful for you to s

we have the majority whip and mr. gowdy and chairman. judiciary committee all calling from the special council and the silence is deafening. he needs to stop defending the f.b.i.'s collection of evidence on the trump campaign when they refuse to give us the documents to show whether or not they broke the law. we know they broke their own procedures. and bruce orr broke the law. and rod rosenstein violates the woods procedure when she didn't disclose christopher steele was terminated biept f.b.i. for lying. and we need strongerdership from our speaker supporting the work of us fighting in the trenches to get answers for the american people. >> lou: why in the world would your cash not say that is enough. you are sending us to perdition and te instruction mr. speaker? and this man doesn't have a plan or strategy and he doesn't raise money that any other speaker couldn't raise. and he is not a strategic thinker and anti- trump and has been show throughout. and he is a disaster if he is left in the speakership. >> i have never heard a single

>> mr. gowdy is all over the map depending on which way the wind is blowing.e appears to shift position. he's the same man who brought us that fabulous 11-hour benghazi hearing which was a disgrace. with respect to devin nunes. i think he's fighting but he's a one-man show slugging away. i think he's got the right direction, the right spirit. but he's got an uphill battle. he's fighting people who are supposed to be on his side. lou: that's true of anyone in the house to cares about the trump agenda and is working for the speaker of the house. chris farrell, thank you very much. former british spy christopher steele, the author of that phoney trump dossier just concluded a four-hour videotaped deputy snition london today. his long-delayed testimony part of a lawsuit filed by a russian technology oligarch against steele and "buzzfeed" for smearing his name and two of his companies. trump blasting dems, vowing to turn the united states into a migrant or regula refugee holdig facility. county if the democrats would sit down and work on this we could have somethin

goodlatte and mr. gowdylly read the entire application on the carter -- the fisa application along with the accompanying documents took me all day. i canceled all my appointments. it is very obvious why that material should not be in the public arena. there are people i think who would certainly lose their lives if their identities were made known. and it is an example of the requirement that you labor under but also that the committee labors under. i want to mention mr. jordan is here and he'll correct me if my understanding is incorrect, i understand mr. jordan accused you mr. rosenstein of threatening the hipsy staff if they attempt to hold you in contempt for failing to comply with document requests. i think it's important we put this on the record. have you, mr. rosenstein, ever threatened congressional staff, including but not limited to house intelligence committee staff as it relates to requests for your -- for you to produce documents or any other matter for that? >> people make all kinds of allegat

. >> the time proximity, as mr. gowdy pointed out, is significant. >> correct. and in fact there are other text messages in roughly the same time period. >> sean: unbelievable. now we'll have more on that huge development in a minute. first take a look at this clip of chairman gowdy turning his attention to horowitz' findings about the disgraced former director james comey, the leader of the pack. look at these blistering remarks. >> we see jim comey and jim comey alone deciding which d.o.j. policies to follow and ignore. when he lost confidence in the trump justice department, he memorialized private conversations, he leaked them,ed a milted he did so to spur the appointment of special counsel because he didn't trust the career prosecutors at the department of justice. when he lost confidence in the obama justice department, he didn't make special memos. he didn't share them with his law professor friends. he didn't leak the information. he didn't lift a finger to get special prosecutors. instead he appointed himself, fbi director, attorney general, special cou

an agreement was signed with mr. gowdy and mr. goodlatte. staffers at the department of of justice and fbi looking at the records. i think that's moving along pretty well. >> laura: they are out of patience. general sessions, i hate to interrupt. some of these documents end up showing up in the ig report congress asked for months and months ago. you were in congress. you know what it's like to try to do oversight. it's really frustrating. they are hold rosenstein in contempt. then what? >> we have a responsibility to respond to congress. we intend to be responsive tons congress. if we are running behind in production, will take efforts to step it up.e we have a responsibility to produce the documents that are properly disclosable and we intend to do so. that's my direction to the department. >> senator sessions, attorneyhe general sessions, one moreed question.ne are you involved at all in discussions about a possible recusal of rod rosenstein of mueller, given the fact that he signed up fisa warrant. it's a big controversy in this case. >>

. >> it has gone -- what, two years, mr. gowdy investigated benghazi for two and a half years for context. and this morning julianne set ser. this was a contentious five hours. this one stood out from jim jordan pressing rod rosenstein, listen. >> i don't know why you won't give us what we've asked for. >> sir, i hope your colleagues are not under that impression and that is not accurate, sir -- >> it is accurate. we've caught you hiding -- >> mr. chairman can we allow the witness to answer. >> mr. chairman, point of order. we could go to the press conference to hear from him but we came here to hear the witness. >> you're statement that i'm keeping information from you and concealing information. >> you're the boss, mr. rosenstein. >> that is correct. and my job is to respond to your concerns and we have, sir. >> did you threaten staffers on the house intelligence committee? media reports indicate you did? >> media reports are mistaken. >> sometimes this is what they said, having the nation's number one law enforcement officer th

. >> you have to remember that mr. gowdy believes the presidt and t tget of the investigation, his campaign's. >> nun says he wants the fbi and justice department to release the record so that concsis can bhed based on data. >> we've been waiting almost a year for documents from the deputy attorney general. rosenstein could provide all the documents, all the information we need this week. >> congressional investigators say the records may be accessible wednesday. the justice department had no immediate comment on the timing. >> shannon: any reaction from congressman gowdy? >> neither congressman gowdy nor his spokesperson returned calls and email seeking comment. fox news has confirmed that the calamities are scheduled to meet tomorrow to quiz the fda and i is second command was peter strzok who was removed for anti-trump bias. >> shannon: catherine herridge, thank you. former president george h.w. bush has left a hospital in maine after being treated for low bread blod pressure. the president is 93. up next, kim jong un cle

they know how to call myself or mr. gowdy. if i were them, i would let us know what happened. they probably ought to tell us whether or not they were involved in this or they have a major problem. >> maria: the washington post is reporting that roger stone reveals new contact with russian national during the 2016 campaign and yes, you're right, it was in may of 2016 when roger stone says that he was met with a russian -- he's call him an informant, wanting money for information about hillary clinton that he says that he wants donald trump to pay for. you think that this is a new meeting that you didn't know about and you should have been told about this by today from the doj? >> well, we should have been told about this about eight months ago, okay, let's start there. in compliance with the subpoena that we issued last august. but for sure a couple months ago when we went -- when we began to ask, hey, we asked questions about -- we had a company and we wanted to -- we had a subpoena and we wanted to figure out what they were doing, right before and right after the opening of t

i believe that mr. gowdy knows and he's been instrumental in helping us getting to the bottom of the fisa abuse that occurred. to be what we peel back the onions of the deep state and dismantle it and we are doing it night by night, brick by brick. believe it or not, the former president bill clinton back in the news like an unwanted houseguest, bill clinton back in the public spotlight making money, pushing a brand-new book that is off to a horrible start. what the -- we can call him the grandfather of today's #metoo movement. he fails to realize it's no longer 1996. his buddies in the mainstream media can no longer afford to give them a free pass on his history of rampant, horrific sexual misconduct, an interview with nbc news, the former president was pressed -- they could have done this before the election, but, of course, they wanted hillary to win, but he was pressed on how he mishandled the monica lewin ski scandal, and almost on believably clinton, who was impeached under like under oath, said he did

>> surprising, mr. gowdy is a former federal prosecutor. either he never did a big, sophisticated white collar case or forgot how long they take or is making stuff up for political gain. i've done big sophisticated white collar cases as prosecutor, kristin. they take a long time. particular will when talking about documents and witnesses that are overseas. one year is a bleink of an eye for this type of investigation and he should know that great to see you, as always. >>> that does it for this very busy edition of "andrea mitchell reports." remember to follow the show online, on facebook and twitter @mitchellreports and follow me @kwelker, nbc, and craig melvin sup live from annapolis where he's been all morning long. craig, good afternoon. >> reporter: kristen, good afternoon to you. thank you. enjoy your weekend. good afternoon to you as well, as kristen mentioned there, we are live here in annapolis, maryland. 1:00 here in the afternoon. we start here. another day in america. another mass shooting. another community grieves and asked, w

mr. gowdyresigning reportedly because he thinks he has what it takes to be a federal judge instead of a member of congress. the only let-up from the roughly five-hour screaming match today was when the committee took a break so all republicans in congress could head over to the house chamber to pass a resolution demanding that the justice department turn over all documents that republicans are demanding from the ongoing open russia investigation. republicans say in their resolution unless they get everything they want from that ongoing investigation by next week -- friday next week, they might pursue impeachment of the deputy attorney general which would be handy if they find a way to remove him from office that way. presumably the president could try to install somebody new presumably to try to shut down the robert mueller investigation all together. it is clear what is going on here. republicans are screaming at the justice department and the fbi to hand over documents that those institutions

to mr. gowdy i would say when you lie to investigators, when you tamper with witnesses as paul manafort has done and when you refuse to sit in the chair even when you've been given the questions that the fbi wants too ask you it's going to take longer so if you do that, we could finish it the hell up. >> is the president going testify this year or not? >> no, i don't think he would ever do that, no. i don't see him ever doing that. he's never met the truth in his life and he doesn't want to meet this investigation team. >> thank you so much. michael schmidt, great reporting, eric swalwell and barbara mcquaid, we rely on your expertise. >>> with president trump on the attack, it's time for the resistance to fight back. democrats are facing a five-alarm fire when it comes to the supreme court. even president obama is warning about this and warning his party personally. >>> plus, new reporting that white house chief of staff john kelly is on his way out the doodoo door. it's no wonder trump has decid

mr. gowdy. >> thank you. >> mr. horowitz, i'm trying to understand the drafts of the comey memos indicated that the missing element was the failure to expose the material to potentially hostile actors and i'm going back to the press conference and the consequence testimony said the missing element was intent so i want to put on your old hat. it's rare when your job is to prove intent that you have a defendant or a suspect who walks in and has a card out and says to who it may concern. i would like to admit that i had the intent to commit a violation of each and every essential element of the offense charged beyond a reasonable doubt. i've never had that happen, have you? >> can't recall that happening. >> you have to prove intent with -- usually it's circumstantial evidence. rarely do you have direct evidence of intent. is that fair senator. >> although there are time people do things on camera. >> they do. >> and add mitt things in a wiretap. >> those don't go to tile that much. those plead. >

what's more certainly with my committee and i think mr. gowdye government reform committee, the whole purpose of seeking it is not to try to do oversight, it's to help the president's defense. so it comes out of an improper motive. but in terms of whether it will ultimately have that impact on the investigation, that depends on whether those that receive the information abuse it. i have to hope that they won't, but the record of some of the people making the request is not very fortuitous in that regard. >> congressman adam schiff, the top democrat on the intelligence committee, thank you very much for your time tonight, sir. it's good to have you here. >> thank you. >> all right. lots more to get to tonight on what as i said has been a blockbuster news day. senator elizabeth warren is going to be here live in studio in just a moment. stay with us. it took guts to start my business. but as it grew bigger and bigger, it took a whole lot more. that's why i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on