mr. burman.n fact, he was investigating several of the people very close to this president, which has led to the open speculation of many of us that this may have something to do with the removal of mr. burman, particularly the way it was done and the way mr. burman had initially responded. i am a avid reader of your columns. i can't wait to hear you explain what you think happened. so i won't wait. i'm going to ask you now. >> well, i mean, one of the -- it's difficult, because this president is corrupt in so many different ways. there are numerous cases that he could have wanted to shut down coming out of sdny. obviously, sdny has been investigating his personal lawyer, giuliani. we don't know where things stand with that. in you read the john bolton book, john bolton talks a lot about trump trying to quash an investigation into a turkish bank as a favor of turkish president erdogan, and that prosecution is also coming out of sdny. there's other reasons -- sdny is the prosecutors that put micha

mr. burman was investigating donald trump's personal lawyer, mr.liani, i think a number of us have been worried that mr. giuliani may have been knowingly or unknowingly manipulated by individuals coming out of ukraine that may be manipulated by russia, so there seems to be a pattern froms administration that the president and his henchmen, mr. bar are willing to get rid of anyone who is investigating people who get close to donald trump .. >> brennan: well, cbs has reported that rudy giuliani is under investigation. but do you have any reason to believe that deputy in the southern district office, her name is audrey strauss, is not capable or wouldn't pursue those investigations? >> no. it appears he is a career professional and i think it was appropriate for mr. verman to push back against what was totally inappropriate firing by first barr and then itred donald trump himself. but we have seen this pattern. i have seen it in the intelligence community, where literally six trump appointed intelligence officials had either been pushed out or fired b

mr. burman or if something improper happened in the past during burman's tenure, will he be free to discuss out of the u.s. attorney's office? >> so one way that he could easily be free to do that is he could be subpoenaed by the house and then any claim of privilege that could be asserted would be on much shakier grounds. and i also think that there are not independent career people in the southern district of new york that you'd be likely to hear about it. >> former justice department official, thank you very much for your time tonight joining us on zero notice on a friday night. i really appreciate it, andrew. >> no problem. >> all right. that is going to do it for us tonight. but, you know what, it's friday night. anything could happen. now it's time for "the last word." good evening, ali. >> we'll pick up the story where you left off. have yourself a great weekend. we'll see you on monday

mr. burman, who tweeted i have not resigned and have no intention to resign and i will step down when a presidentialee is confirm ed by the senate until then our investigations will move forward with or without delay or interruption. so it's unclear, neil, how this ends, because the u.s. attorney serves at the pleasure of the president, not necessarily at the pleasure of the attorney general, so president trump could fire him, barr announced the head of the sec would replace burman, but right now, he isn't leaving and you had a senator on earlier who made the point president trump can fire who he wants and often does so quite quickly when he gets upset with people but this does bring up the very important issue of what is it going to look like if you fire a u.s. attorney in the middle of an investigation. one thing when it comes from the attorney general another thing if it comes from the president. neil: wow all right, leland, thank you very much my friend and leland is coming up right after the show with his broadcast and i want to check in with the former assistant u.s. attorney for the southern

mr. burman did not want to leave his job in the southern district when you agreed to accept the nominationother words, did you know he was going to be fired to make room for you instead for the job? >> i'm not going to get into that here. >> okay. okay, if you are eventually confirmed by the senate for this job, would you commit to recusing yourself from all of that office's current investigations into president trump and his associates? >> here's what i'm going to say. that's a process that's way down the road. whatever, in my current position and in any position i take, i commit to doing it independently without fear or favor and in the pursuit of justice. there's nothing -- >> excuse me, back. that's not what i was asking. i was just asking for a commitment to recuse yourself should you be appointed from the investigation involving the president or any of his associates? as i have to say the circumstances of the firing was very suspicious and raises a will the of questions about whether the president is interfering in ongoing criminal investigations. so i personally think the american p

statement here remembering illinois state senator art burman be placed in a separate part of the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i listened to the statements made this morning by the republican and democratic senate leaders about the job ahead. i think it goes without saying we're in the midst of a health crisis an economic crisis in this country. we did respond. we responded on march 26 in the senate with the cares act. it was a bipartisan measure, a measure that engaged the leaders of the house and the senate, democrats, republicans, mr. mnuchin, and the white house. in eight days we crafted a measure which may be one of the costliest individual -- costliest measures ever passed by the senate. some $3 trillion. it was an enormous investment in america, but it was desperately needed. it was, of course, crafted in a way to provide help for research and medical care but also to invest in the people of america. we understood then, and i hope we still do, that small businesses struggling to reopen, struggling to survive need a helping hand and we provide it with the paycheck protection program. hundreds o

mr. trump. thank you, susan. now a live look at the white house as the president vows to take new action on daca. let's bring in blake burmandent saying over the weekend that the president, he hopes to have, rather, a compassionate solution as he put it for dreamers. we are also keeping our eye on additional measures as it relates to immigration, as the president told fox news there could be action most likely today on additional restrictions going forward. you will remember back in april, the president put a halt on green card applications as a result of covid-19. well, the president saying that the additional restrictions could include restrictions on skilled workers, seasonal workers and those who are in the country conducting research. the president did say, though, that there would be some exemptions. >> we have plenty of people looking for jobs. i think it's going to make a lot of people very happy and it's common sense to me, to be honest with you. reporter: that announcement expected today ahead of the president heading to yuma, arizona tomorrow. a border town in that state. ashley? ashley: i know it well. i used to