andrew weissmann, first of all, the incompetence.know where to start but this was an incompetently executed firing by the attorney general of the u.s. attorney because it's my understanding an attorney general can't fire a u.s. attorney. is that right? >> in this situation, that is correct. here the u.s. attorney was actually [ inaudible ] >> andrew weissmann, we are going to work on your audio, so hold all of those thoughts. we're going to come back with the same question and have you make all those points again. mike schmidt, can you just take everyone through? it has been a while since the southern district of new york has sort of been at the center of the trump story. can you just take us back to everything that is still, as far as we know, under investigation by that office? >> well, the big thing that that office was looking at were the connections between rudy giuliani, these two gentlemen that were working for him, and the efforts to pressure the ukrainian government around these investigations that the president wanted. if y

markings, no time stamp, but it did have the meta-tagged initials of the person who wrote it, andrew weissmann no. >> -- undisputable evidence that cnn had advance notice because that document was sealed s and it one unsealed -- it wasn't unsealed until 9:30 that morning. why is this significant? here's one good reason, because when they executed my arrest warrant, they also executed a search warrant. and tipping someone as to the governor's plan to execute a search warrant is a felony, to be very specific. so this isn't investigative reporting or some hunch, they were tipped, and they should admit it. now they're getting an award for humiliating me and my poor wife in a totally unnecessary gestapo-type raid. i have no previous criminal record. lou: by the way, the fbi -- >> later they asked for no cash bond at my arraignment. lo justice department should apologize like hell to both you and your boyfriend and to the -- your wife and to the country for behaving like they have behaved. too often over the course of the past, well, at least four years. roger stone, thanks for being with us. look f

joining us now by phone is former fbi general counsel and msnbc contributor andrew weissmann.much for making time. >> no problem. glad to be here. >> do you know anything about this, and what is your reaction to it? >> so i know what you know. so there are two reactions i have. one is as you know, the southern district is known as the sovereign district of new york because it's fiercely independent. and so this is a real slap at that independence. it's the first time i can think of in memory where someone has been nominated and someone's going to be the acting u.s. attorney who has not actually come from that office. and the second is it's pretty -- depending on how you look at it -- ingenious or devious because the nomination isn't really the key thing because that may or may not go through. but simultaneously the attorney general has announced that he is going to have an acting u.s. attorney that's the u.s. attorney in new jersey, and that person gets to act for six months. so if you do the math, that gets them to the election. >> andrew, i'm going to tread carefully here an

what was andrew weissmann's role in the special counsel investigation? mr. zelinsky: he was a senior assistant special counsel, i believe, was his title. mr. cline: were you aware that he sent an email to then-deputy attorney general sally yates saying he was, quote so, proud and in awe, end quote, of her, after she disobeyed president trump? were you mr. ayotte: wear of that? mr. zelinsky: i'm familiar with that press report, yes. mr. cline: do you in this compromised the appearance of an independent investigation? mr. zelinsky: i think that the office did our job and we did our job fairly and truthfully. mr. cline: so you don't think that that email compromised the appearance of an independent investigation? mr. zelinsky: i think the investigation was independent and i am not able to comment beyond the confines of the report. but i can tell you that -- [indiscernible] -- we follow the law. mr. cline: what did special counsel mueller do after he found out about the email? he didn't remove him, correct? mr. cline: -- mr. zelinsky: -- i'm sorry, remove her. n

what was andrew weissmann's role in the special counsel investigation? mr. zelinsky: he was a senior assistant special counsel, i believe, was his title. mr. cline: were you aware that he sent an email to then-deputy attorney general sally yates saying he was, quote so, proud and in awe, end quote, of her, after she disobeyed president trump? were you mr. ayotte: wear of that? mr. zelinsky: i'm familiar with that press report, yes. mr. cline: do you in this compromised the appearance of an independent investigation? mr. zelinsky: i think that the office did our job and we did our job fairly and truthfully. mr. cline: so you don't think that that email compromised the appearance of an independent investigation? mr. zelinsky: i think the investigation was independent and i am not able to comment beyond the confines of the report. but i can tell you that -- [indiscernible] -- we follow the law. mr. cline: what did special counsel mueller do after he found out about the email? he didn't remove him, correct? mr. cline: -- mr. zelinsky: -- i'm sorry, remove her. n

what was andrew weissmann's role in the special counsel investigation? mr. zelinsky: he was a senior assistant special counsel, i believe, was his title. mr. cline: were you aware that he sent an email to then-deputy attorney general sally yates saying he was, quote so, proud and in awe, end quote, of her, after she disobeyed president trump? were you mr. ayotte: wear of that? mr. zelinsky: i'm familiar with that press report, yes. mr. cline: do you in this compromised the appearance of an independent investigation? mr. zelinsky: i think that the office did our job and we did our job fairly and truthfully. mr. cline: so you don't think that that email compromised the appearance of an independent investigation? mr. zelinsky: i think the investigation was independent and i am not able to comment beyond the confines of the report. but i can tell you that -- [indiscernible] -- we follow the law. mr. cline: what did special counsel mueller do after he found out about the email? he didn't remove him, correct? mr. cline: -- mr. zelinsky: -- i'm sorry, remove her. n