joining me is senator chris coons. it's good to see you after -- i feel like it's been too long since i saw any of you in the halls of the capitol. it's been a whirlwind couple of weeks with the election. thank you for being here. i want to start with that legislation you have with senator flake. mitch mcconnell seems to be on the record. he was saying there's nothing to worry about. mueller is not in any sort of jeopardy. do you agree with that assessment, and what should they be doing? >> this is a bill, a bipartisan bill that passed the senate judiciary committee back in april by a strong bipartisan margin of 14-7. my co-sponsors on the republican side, senators graham and tillis and co-sponsor on the democratic side, senator booker, have all urged this not just to protect this special counsel but future special counsels. to make sure that it's clear in law that you can't abruptly and for no good reason fire the special counsel. as he mentioned in the lead-in, we are hoping the special counsel is concluding his inve

still, that prompted significant concerns from jeff flake, along with senator chris coons of delaware, who went to the floor to raise their concerns about the way this investigation is going and the person who is now overseeing it. >> with the firing of the attorney general and in my view the improper installation of an acting attorney general who has not been subject to confirmation by this body, the president now has this investigation in his sights and we all know it. >> so that acting attorney general, matt whitaker, someone who has been a critic of the mueller investigation. i asked jeff flake at a press conference here just moments ago whether or not matt whitaker should recuse himself from the russia investigation. he said he should recuse himself. that's breaking with most republicans on the hill who don't have concerns with matt whitaker. now, at the same time, flake and chris coons called for hearings to discuss with matt whitaker exactly how he views the mueller investigation, chuck grassley, who is currently the chairman of the senate judiciary committee, told me earlier t

and that is what led chris coons and me last week to do what we did. chris and i have traveled together a lot, particularly in africa, where we both spent part of our youth. and i know chris and trust him, and he says the same, and so i think we need more of that. i don't know how many of us can maroon ourselves on deserted islands, but we ought to spend more time with each other and trust each other a little more. steve: let me take that one step further. how did you and senator coons develop that relationship? senator flake: we serve on the foreign relations committee, he chaired the africa subcommittee before i got to the senate and the first two years it was here. and when republicans took control i chaired it. and we traveled and we have sponsored legislation together on wildlife preservation, economic sanctions to try to push zimbabwe in the right direction, so we worked together on these things, as well as some others on the judiciary committee. and so i knew him well enough that when he gave his speech, i knew that was intended for me, and he a

. >>> chris coons is the democratic senator on the senate judiciary committee.wn for his bipartisan, good faith relationship with his colleagues. that made it that more striking to see the hot fire which he respondened when news broke today that the president fired attorney general jeff sessions and installed a white house loyalist named matt whitaker to take over the operations of the justice department and the mueller investigation, specifically. he responded online, quote, if there's any indication that the president has fired the attorney general and named mr. whitaker as acting attorney general to influence or end special counsel robert mueller's investigation, that would make today's action an historic attack on the rule of law. quote, that is a red line, which president trump has been warned not to cross by republicans and democrats alike. joining us now is senator chris coons from the great state of delaware, member of the senate judiciary committee. thank you for making time to join us tonight, injury. >> thank you, rachel. >> you called this action by

the question, of course, is whether, yes, chris coons and also jeff flake who is saying that he will not vote on any further judicial nominations until the senate votes on protecting the mueller investigation is where the action is. that is of course secondary to this issue. you know, most americans believe that this investigation should proceed. the president should believe that even though he is trying to delegitimize this, and there is one thing, and with one thing only that the president believes is true that there is no collusion, and so most people understand that it needs to go forward and so what manafort is doing is not about the investigation but playing for the presidential pardon which is the one conceivable way that he does not spend the bulk of his life behind bars. >> what is the role of manafort and what it says about the investigation and whether the investigation has been co compromise and badly damaged by blowing up the e plea deal? >> well, manafort is obviously badly damaged as a witness in the mueller investigation. he has shown to be a serial liar even when he

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there was a floor vote that was blocked that flake and chris coons is pushing. >> flake says legislation is necessary after the president fired jeff sessions and named matt whitaker as acting attorney general. whitaker has been openly critical of the mueller probe. >> with the firing of the attorney general and in my view, the improper installation of the acting attorney general, who has not been subject to confirmation, the president has the investigation in his sights and we all know it. >> other senate republicans say the measure is not needed because the president is not about to fire mueller. >>> democrats gaining two more seats in the house of representatives as races in california and new jersey are called. that brings democrats total pick ups in the house to 32 with eight races still to be called. democrats poised to hold 227 seats in the new congress. there is a new wrinkle in nancy pelosi's bid to get the gavel for the house speaker. 17 democrats signed a letter saying they will not vote for her. >> five additional democrats pledging not to support pelosi. if they all stick to

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. >> yesterday, senators jeff flake and chris coons talked about their bill to protect special counsel robert mueller from interference by the white house. shortly before this news conference, mitch mcconnell blocked the floor vote on the bill. this is 15 minutes. >> thank you for being here. we have asked for unanimous consent to bring special counsel act to the floor. this passed april 26 in a 14-7 vote, it's rare there's such bipartisan legislation in the committee but it passed. it's languished here ever since. in the intervening time, we have sent 49 nominations, district and circuit court judges to the senate familiar for a -- floor for a vote. 50 have received a vote. it's not that everything from the judiciary committee has been waiting here for action. we've done a lot. these have been good votes. we've needed to move these judges through. this is priority now. the justification given in april for not bringing it to a floor vote was that nobody was being fired, nothing to see here. special counsel mueller was not in any danger that clearly is not the case now. the attorney gen

chris coons suggested there surely has got to be room for a television show that goes along seinfeld's jerry getting coffee. senators in elevators with advocates. there is an old joke that says when you are serving in the house of representatives, you run toward the press at every opportunity. when you are in the senate, you run away from the press as fast as you can. my experience has been that's not a joke but an ax inch om. let me get serious for a couple of minutes here. i would like to say a few words tonight about the search for truth, which is what all of you here tonight are all about, it's what defines your profession. near the beginning of the documents that made us free, our declaration of independence, thomas jefferson wrote, we hold these truths to be self-evident. so from our very beginnings, our freedom has been predicated on truth. the founders were visionary in this regard, understanding well that good faith and shared facts between the governed and the government would be the very basis of this ongoing idea of america. without truelingt and a principled fidelity to tr

senator flake has tweeted about it, saying "when the senate convenes next week, chris coons and i will unanimous consent to bring s2644 to a vote on the senate floor. after the firing of the ag, it is more important than ever to protect the special counsel. "18 state attorneys general, also calling for his recusal from the probe. top democrats are looking to preserve all of muller's investigative materials. the pushback and response to his past public criticism of the probe. the acting ag calling it "a little fishy. ridiculous last year." an opinion president trump double down on this morning. watch it. >> the russian investigation is a hoax. it's a phony hoax. i didn't -- i was a much better candidate than hillary clinton. i worked much harder, i went to the right places. she went to the wrong places. because she didn't know what the hell she was doing. she didn't do a good job. this didn't have to do with russians -- it's a russian hoax. >> chris: democrats are wrong to think that everybody who doesn't agree with them has to recuse themselves from any position overseeing something. t

joining me now is senator chris coons. a member of the senate judiciary committee.. today you tweeted the president crossed a red line by firing sessions. doesn't the president, though, have the authority to fire anyone within his cabinet? >> anderson, he does have the authority to fire members of his own cabinet. what he can't do is fire members of his own cabinet and replace them with partisan loyalists going around the succession procedures for the department of justice in an attempt to influence or impede or end the special counsel's investigation. so if it's done for an improper purpose, he shouldn't be doing this. >> cnn is reporting tonight that for whitaker, ending or trying to stop the russia probe, for now you say he should recuse himself. if he isn't trying to shut down or suppress the investigation, why would that be necessary? i guess do you have any faith in him? >> well, i'm concerned because of comments he made, actually ironically, on cnn. just over a year ago in 2017 when he was hypothesizing about exactly this scenario. when he suggested that the

." >> melissa: onto business, democrat chris coons, cory booker, and retiring republican jeff flake. they want to use the procedural maneuver to force a vote on the bill to shield from interference. it has failed once before and it may feel again. he senate majority leader mitch mcconnell says he will block it. but chris coons believes he has an advantage. >> what i think the republican majority leader ought to do is simply allow us to have a vote and move forward. senator flake, i will remind you, has steadfastly refused to vote for any presidential nominee for judicial post, either in the judiciary committee or on the floor, until we get this vote. that gives us some leverage. >> melissa: said that majority leader mcconnell says the bill is simply unnecessary. >> the president is not going to fire robert mueller. nor do i think you should, nor do i think that he should not be allowed to finish. >> will you repeat what you did? [interesting question] >> i probably would, yeah. >> melissa: all this has president trump rims of his criticism of the probe. he says "the disgusting fake n

senator chris coons, thank you so much forjoining me. thank you.ramme of the international relations think—tank chatham house. she has given evidence before the uk parliament's brexit select committee. welcome. there are two regulatory superpowers in the world, the eu and the us. if you align yourself with the us. if you align yourself with the eu, does that automatically rule out trade with the us? it does not, but obviously it constrains your ability to shake that trade agreement. but that is a choice. if you look at a lot of our big businesses in the uk, they already conform with eu standards, and export more to the eu market anyway. so actually they would probably want to continue that regulatory alignment instead of starting from scratch and try to treat —— deviate. they would constrain our ability, but does not exclude free trade with the us. let me put it a different way, this political declaration is a sliding scale. they say you can have deep and meaningful relations with us, perhaps norway style agreement, a single market customs union, o

senator chris coons joins us live to talk about his bipartisan effort to

senator flake joins us for a live interview alongside democratic senator chris coons.ng joe" comes right back. hris coons when "morning joe" comes right back we've frozen out...out... and forgotten... by a white house and washington mired in special-interests politics. but we can take our country back with a democratic agenda for the people. that means lowering healthcare costs, increasing pay through rebuilding america, and cleaning up corruption. and it means having the strength to stand up for our values. it's time to make washington work for the people again. with my bladder leakage, the products i've tried just didn't fit right. they were too loose. it's getting in the way of our camping trips. but with a range of sizes, depend fit-flex is made for me. with a range of sizes for all body types, depend fit-flex underwear is guaranteed to be your best fit. that skills like teamwork, attention to detail, and customer service are critical to business success. the kind of skills, that work for you. >>> susan, as historically bad as last tuesday night was for republicans

judiciary committee because today when jeff flake rose on the senate floor with democratic senator chris coonsfor a vote on their bipartisan supported bill to protect robert mueller, mitch mcconnell blocked that vote, and that was the breaking point for jeff flake. >> why are we so sanguin about this? yet when we have the opportunity to past legislation to say protect the special counsel, we fail to bring it up on the senate floor? why? bring it to a vote. and until we do the 21 nominations that are in the judiciary committee waiting for a vote there will not receive a vote, nor will i give my vote to the 32 nominations that are sitting here on the senate floor. >> that is what the power of a single senator looks like. those nominations cannot paz the senate judiciary committee without the vote of every republican on that committee. senator flake took his stand today after the justice department of legal counsel released a 20-page memo attempting to justify president trump's installation of matthew whitaker as a so-called acting attorney general. assistant attorney general wrote, quote, this o

this morning, chris coons even suggested there surely has to be room for a television show that goeslong the line of jerry seinfeld's comedians in cars getting coffee. a decaffeinated version like senators in elevators with advocates. wait for that one. there is an old joke that says when you are serving in the house of representatives, you run towards the press at every opportunity. when you are in the senate, you run away from the press as fast as you can. my experience has been that is not a joke, that is an axiom. let me get serious for a couple of minutes here. i'd like to say a few words tonight about the search for truth. which is what all of you here tonight are all about. it's what defines your profession. near the beginning of the document that made us free, our declaration of independence, thomas jefferson wrote "we hold these truths to be self-evident." from our very beginnings, our freedom has been predicated on truth. the founders were visionary in this regard. understanding well that good faith and shared facts between the governed and the government would be the very

. >> reporter: two senators, jeff flake and democrat chris coons said they will push for a floor votehen the senate convenes next week. legislation would protect special counsel robert mueller. consideration of the bill required consent of all senators. >> who will the president nominate to replace jeff sessions and will that person get confirmed? chris christie who happened to be at the white house today. pam bondi and south carolina senator lindsey graham met the president today though he doesn't want the job. the power panel is here to weigh in. dog show in and guy benson and associate editor at real clear politics, welcome to all of you. there are other names along with christine, pam bondi, scott walker, rudy giuliani and you mentioned chris kobach who would be a bold pick. >> he just lost a racing canvas to the democrats. there was a third-party candidate as well who took some votes from him but he led the president's unsuccessful voter fraud commission and an ally of the president and several white house officials said on background that he might be under consideration. it is t

republicans block a second attempt by lawmakers to protect special counsel robert mueller, jeff flake, chris coonse on a bill that would save mueller from getting fired by donald trump that utah republican mike lee objected calling it unconstitutional and it died. jillian: a deployed soldier gets the welcome home greeting of a lifetime. i can't get enough of this. cassandra was showered with kisses at the sacramento airport. she feared her furry friend wouldn't remember her, the dog always remember. they always remember you. we love this. >> i could watch that on a loop over and over. i love dogs and soldier reunions. rob: the purple on that. >> we have cold air coming in from canada. not as cold as yesterday in new york but it is setting the stage for another winter storm that will affect the central us over the next couple days. the past 24 hours a quick clipper system moving across the midwest and great lakes moving eastward and the next big system will originate from the west. that is where we will see light snow activity across the midwest and great lakes but then we are dealing with several

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the point at issue, jeff flake, a republican that is retiring along with chris coons is a democrat fromdelaware and booker trying to pass a provision to protect mueller from being fired by the president or at least have congress intervention if the president tried to fire mueller. it gets to one of the many dramas playing out in town. he's a conservative author. haes friend of roger stone. mueller trying to piece together whether they had inside information about the e-mails. the russians shacked from the democrats. they say why aren't all of these people in prison? james comey is there, hillary clinton is there. i think that's hillary clinton's aid that's there and rob rosen sterose rosenstein. would you come to work today if the president says you should be behind bars? >> welcome to the trump administration. >> exactly. they are day by day stumbling towards what will be some kind of a showdown here. at some point mueller will come out with indictments. the president is going to be alarmed or more alarmed than he is now. i think that's what concerns senators that he will then try to s

chris coons spoke to reporters afterwards. >> i think it is time for us to send a strong signal to ourdi arabia, that actions that violate our core values like participating in the murder of a u.s. resident journalist, have consequences. mark: pompeo says there is no intelligence connecting the the journalist to the saudi crown prince. he also spoke to reporters after the briefing. global news, 24 hours a day on air and on tictoc on twitter, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i am mark crumpton. this is bloomberg. caroline: mark, thank you. the rent of trade war between u.s. and china has delivered i delivered i hit to the markets of cars and carmakers. some waited on the impact of tariffs earlier today at the l.a. auto show. think even the conversation of tariffs and trade wars and all of these debates ring instability and bring unknowns. of stability and unknowns is not a good thing for business. , fairieve in free trade trade, an open marketplace. 10,ake investments that are 12, 15 years cycles and you cannot have the chess pieces moving a

there was a small group, store cory booker, chris coons and jeff flake, they went to the floor trying to protect this from being blocked. they're trying to do this through unanimous consent. the rules say that one senator can block it so it does not go forward. it will not have a vote on the senate floor. republican leadership here in the senate has been essentially against this bill. mitch mcconnell as recently as yesterday said he doesn't think it's necessary, he said he doesn't see any indication that president trump is moving towards or inching towards firing robert mueller. this is a point that republican senator jeff flake when he was giving his floor speech proposing them to move to this bill, he argued against it. he said president trump's tweets just in the last few days, here's what he said. >> somehow it warranted a tweet from the president earlier this week, one of several, calling special counsel mueller a, quote, conflicted prosecutor gone rogue and claiming that the, quote, $30 million witch hunt is doing nothing but ruin lives. to be clear, this is the same investigati

joining us to talk about that is chris coons of delaware.efore our eyes here, senator. let me ask you, the president in a tweet this morning said yeah, i was a businessman and i was trying to do business while i was running for president for a while. there was a deal that was in the works with russia. we didn't decide to do it so it went away. what is the problem there? is there any legal problem there in your mind? >> john, first that makes it clear that now president trump was flat outlying as candidate trump when he said and tweeted repeatedly i have no business interests in russia. he did not say i just wrapped up a business deal and he didn't say just a few days ago i stopped communicating with the kremlin and he said categorically i have no business with russia. that's not illegal but it says something about the character of then-candidate donald trump. but it's complicated and has legal consequences for individuals like michael cohen who came before committees of congress and submitted spoken and written testimony and then agreed to c

. >> in a tweet, jeff flake and democrat chris coons said they will push for a floor vote when the senate convenes next week on legislation that would protect special counsel robert mueller. consideration of the bill would require the consent of all senators. >> bret: thank you. the favorite parlor game in washington has officially started. who will be the new attorney general nominee. sources say three names are being talked about, former new jersey governor chris christie who happened to be at the white house today, florida attorney general pam bondi, and south carolina senator lindsey graham who also met with the president of the white house. the administration is issuing new guidance for handling asylum claims by migrants trying to enter the u.s. at the southern border. it would limit the claims to people who approach designated ports of entry. the goal is to reduce what it says are meritless claims for asylum. still unknown, where the government will house people at the points of entry should they show up in large numbers and precisely who the new rules will apply to. meantime, feder

jeff flake says that he and chris coons, he plans on bringing up their bill that would supposedly protectr. mitch mcconnell said something going that he will be a very, very short term acting attorney general, we expect that. is that mcconnell's way of saying i don't want to bring this to the floor? >> i think that may be mcconnell's way of signaling to the president that you need to nominate someone for this position. look, the important of the mueller protection legislation is not whether it passes or not. trump r tru trump will for the fail to act against mueller. the point is the signalling of seriousness about this matter by coop. a -- congress. and if they signal that will he with act, that is a constraint on the president. the willingness to pass it is much more importance than the significance of the legislation itself. >> all right. ben, you have a george conway piece. he writes with a lot of people. >> but his first public writing was a law fair. >> and that piece about the constitutionality of the mueller probe. very interesting. thanks very much. >>> up ahead, do democrats hav

especially shameful according to senator chris coons, more than 60 votes in the senate to pass the so-calledill. mcconnell is blocking a bill because he knows it might pass and some republicans who supported the bill seen as suddenly weakening of spine to pass the big. even if vetoed by the president, clarifying a vote would send a strong messaging a checks and balances, and that's your reality check. >> thank you. heard from chris cooms earlier wants to see it passed by early december. unlikely to say the least. >>> and this week's "cnn hero" found out kids in his community were sleeping on floors he gave up his high-paying job to be sure kids across the country have beds to sleep on. >> mattresses sheets. >> i'm just a farm kid from idaho. i grew up here. i didn't know there's kids next door who are struggling. >> had kids sleeping on the floor. >> i was making six-figure salary, but i fell into this need that i discovered wasn't fulfilled by anybody. >> bottoms or tops, i quit my job because i wanted to do this full time. the need i have isn't financial. it's seeing the joy on kids' faces

twitter a little while ago, senator jeff flake, the republican from arizona announced he and senator chris coons, a democrat will be dropping legislation next week when the senate reconvenes that will protect mueller's special counsel probe. connell? connell: not the first time we've seen those two names. melissa. melissa: here is react, brad blakeman, former senior staffer to president george w. bush. what do you think about this, the last bit we had there, the legislation that will be dropped in order to protect the mueller probe. do you think that is necessary? >> useless. these guys certainly have something better to do but apparently they don't. it is not going anywhere. there is no need for it. there is no threat either by the president or anyone else, especially the acting attorney general to remove anybody. the president said it i am self. that should be -- himself. that should be enough. he should be doing something else. melissa: do you think too much is made of the op-ed whitaker wrote or do you think it is fair to say his opinion is out there against the mueller probe, maybe, there a

jeff flake and chris coons tried to bring the vote to the floor yesterday but were prevented from doing mcconnell's decision, senator flake says that he will not vote to confirm any more of president trump's judicial nominees until the senate votes on the mueller bill. the move and the need for flake's critical vote, complicated mcconnell's top priority of confirming dozens of conservative judges before the end of the year. the senator from arizona says he is ready to stand firm with his threat. >> i've used this leverage once with regard to judges. it was to receive a vote on tariffs, which we did. and i didn't vote on any until we received that vote. i'm fully prepared to carry through with this. >> senator flake appears to have swayed one of his colleagues on the matter. lindsey graham says he supports the mueller bill after previously arguing it was not needed. >> according to a new report, special counsel robert mueller is investigating whether long time trump advisor roger stone has tried to intimidate and discredit a witness who is contradicting his version of events about his co

republican senator jeff flake said today that he will introduce a bill tomorrow with democratic senator chris coons to protect the office of the special prosecutor, robert mueller, from interference by matthew whitaker or anyone else in the justice department. >> this is a difficult thing to object to. you know, prior -- the leader has always said there's no need for this because nobody has been fired. special counsel is fine. i don't think anybody can say that after jeff sessions' forced removal. so it's not that easy to object to this. but if somebody does, we can bring it back again and again. so, i think we plan to do so. >> joining us now, congressman adam schiff, the ranking democrat on the house intelligence committee. thank you very much for joining us tonight, congressman schiff. really appreciate it. >> good to be with you. >> what made you decide that today was the day to put matt whitaker on notice in writing in the washington post? >> well, it's very important, i think, to get that message out before he does any damage to the mueller investigation or tries to. but also if he doesn't re

being voted on after senate majority leader mitch mcconnell blocked flake and democratic senator chris coonsoted on by the senate. now chuck grassley is throwing his support behind flake's push. and one of their judiciary committee colleagues is reiterating his support for a vote. >> i think it's legitimate that the bill be brought up. i don't think it's going to do any good or any harm. if it satisfy -- it would satisfy me if it became law because i voted for it. i'm not going to be in the fore front with flake advocating that the leader do so-and-so, but i wouldn't do anything to stop it. >> as to the legislation, i actually supported it because i wrote it. i think it would be good for the country. we'll leave it up to mitch and the leadership as to how to take that but i hope they step up. >> senator graham spoke out yesterday on acting attorney general matt whittaker and his prior comments criticizing the mueller investigation amid fears that whittaker may try to shut down the probe. watch this. >> he was paan opinion journali. he can have any opinion he wants. he understands that his jo

he spoke alongside democratic senators chris coons and cory booker. now, the republican line up until now has been that there's no danger to the mueller investigation whatsoever, so why would anybody take any steps to protect it? that's been the line. now that the attorney general has been pushed out and the deputy attorney general has been pushed aside and the president has instead installed his own guy to take over, it is hard to see how that republican argument still holds about mueller being totally safe and sound. but senator flake today was trying to push the issue to its limit on his way out the door in the u.s. senate. so we will see what the senate reaction is to flake throwing down that gauntlet. that said, the other thing that we sort of expected to see happen right after the midterm elections is that we expected the mueller investigation itself to spring back to life in a visible way. justice department rules discourage public action by prosecutors just before election time if those actions might be construed to have an effect on the elect

chris coons and jeff flake. jeff flake is obviously out the door.s really the ultimate lame duck right now. they have now raised this legislation again that they have been for for a while. they want to put through the united states senate. trump, naturally, the president, has sent a tweet already attacking jeff flake-y, flaky flake for his opposition to the mueller probe. he doesn't want to protect the non-senate confirmed special counsel. he wants to protect his future after being unelectable in arizona for the crime of doing a terrible job. a weak and uneffective guy. don't even comment about the tweet. >> oh, come on. it's too much fun not to. the old dog barks the loudest. >> are there enough republicans to make this -- are the republicans going to be there to make this happen? >> i don't think the leadership is necessarily on board. lindsey graham was for this. this will be a good test of will the real lindsey please stand up. >> susan collins came out. >> but i am all for it and morally, it's a no-brainer. they have to. but there is no way to

bill, brought by republican senator jeff flake of arizona with support from democratic senator chris coons of delaware and other democratic senators, was blocked by majority leader mitch mcconnell, who argued the investigation is not under threat. senator flake vowed to withhold his vote on judicial nominees if the republican leadership continues to block a vote protecting robert mueller. in britain, prime e minister theresa may received the backing of her cabinet wednesday on the draft brexit deal, arrived at earlier this week after talks with the european union. in spite of may's announcement, two members of the prime minister's cabinet resigned today in opposition to the deal, including brexit secretary dominic raab. israeli defense minister avigdor lieberman resigned wednesday in response to the egypt-brokered ceasefire between israel and hamas-led factions in gaza. lieberman will retain his position as foreign minister and prime minister benjamin netanyahu will take over the position of defense minister temporarily. lieberman's resignation may imperil netanyahu's leadership by weakeni

here's chris coons of delaware talking about the possibility of trump trying to move about mueller. >> i don't know what would give me the idea that president trump might do something unpredictable. he does it almost every day. >> the president in his written answers to the mueller team said roger stone did not tell him about wikileaks. the source said he made clear he was answering to the best of his rec. that's the kind of thing a lawyer tells you to say so you have some wiggle room. the president spoke to would he try to undermine the special counsel by pardoning? it was never discussed but i wouldn't take it off the table. why would it take it off the table? why would the president take it off the table? that's a good question. why did the president decide to answer the posed question in that way? if his answer is seen as enticing manafort to lie for him, holding out the idea he might reward manafort for his help after the fact. that is the kind of thing that can get a president impeached. i'm reading from facts in the nixon impeachment case. it's really just a fancy way of saying

already bipartisan legislation out of the judiciary committee to the full floor which jeff flake and chris coons are trying to do and on the house side build momentum. this should have been done yesterday. >> and my last read, mitch mcconnell was not a fan of protecting robert mueller with legislation. another one of the president's allies, we could cover the president with a buddy movie, but another one of his buddies, jim jordan is the president's pick to be the ranking member of the judiciary committee. your thoughts on why that might be. >> same reason that he picked matt whitaker to lead the department of justice. because he sees that he would, you know, protect the president and obstruct bob mueller's investigation. but again, that's not going to happen. a new day is coming to congress and presidential immunity is over. >> famous last words. i hope not. thank you congressman. peter baker, frank figliuzzi, chuck rosenberg. >>> when we come back, brand-new reporting about president grumpy pants and how his obscured view of reality may be contributing to his midterm election blues. >>> also,

. >> finally, last question very quickly, the muellerprobe, jeff flake and chris coons said when ey come back from the lame duck they're going to get for unanimous consent to get this bill voted on. do you think it's necessary? do you think mueller needs protection? mitch mcconnell doenot. what say you, cory gardner? >> i support the mueller i know i've heard senator mcconnell say he supports the mueller investigation. it's important for the american people. it's important we have this for transparency and i think it's important for the president to have this information out there fully, transparently and accurately. the president has said he waees to this investigation moving forward and i believe that's the way it will go. >> does it needrotection legislatively, though? do you need to do that in the senate >> mueller i not going to be stopped. it's going to continue and it should continue. >> all right, butdn you say whether it was necessary in the senate? >> well, i think it's going to continue. if it continues -- >> you don't need --hy >> do something if it's actually continuing. >>v

in the senate, republican jeff flake of arizona and democrat chris coons of delaware said they will push for a floor vote on a bipartisan bill to protect mueller's probe. meanwhile "new york times" op-ed , a published thursday, claims that trump's appointment of matthew whitaker as new acting attorney general is unconstitutional. the op-ed was written by neal katyal, the former acting solicitor general under president obama, and george t. conway, a high-profile litigator and husband to white house counselor, kellyanne conway. they write -- "constitutionally, matthew whitaker is a nobody. his job as mr. sessions' chief of staff did not require senate confirmation. for the president to install mr. whitaker as our chief law enforcement officer is to betray the entire structure of our charter document." this comes as trump is reportedly considering former new jersey governor chris christie, florida attorney general pam bondi, and labor secretary alexander acosta for attorney general. meanwhile thursday night, demonstrations were held in over 1000 cities and towns calling for the protection o