barr was attorney general. talk about his resume before his job and since. >> an interesting tidbit, i happen to be in the rose garden on an unrelated matter when president bush nominated me to be the attorney general. so -- >> did you know him before that? but i didn't but i knew of him. it happened we went to the same high school and college. he is from new york and his parents are professors at columbia university. he got undergraduate degree there and a graduate degree in government and chinese studies. he worked as an intelligent analyst and a legislative aide at the cia for 4 years so he has an intelligence background while he was going to law school at night at george washington university. he was a private practice for a while and during the reagan administration for a bit of time he served on the staff of the white house domestic policy staff. then during the time of president hw bush, he was first assistant to the attorney general. the man in charge of the office of legal counsel. which is the body wi

jewelry from tara's home was found in the possession of phil barr. >> anyway, barr told investigatorsand his helper left her house that afternoon. but questions went on and on, and phil barr who had a business to run didn't appreciate that kind of attention. barr complained to a local nbc reporter about it. >> it's been very stressful. i realize the police are doing their job, and they're, you know, looking into things, but nonetheless, i feel like i've been, you know, harassed. >> and several times, he, himself confronted the detectives, insisted he was innocent. all the talk was unfair. >> i had nothing to do with this girl's disappearance. >> it was a problem. detectives certainly had their suspicions but evidence? there was none. and most everyone they questioned who knew barr was, well, a bit shady. hard to believe. prosecutor feinberg concluded he simply didn't have enough to make a charge stick. >> the dna evidence in this case that was collected from the residence either came back to the family or was not relevant to this case. there was no indication that the perpetrators had

barr? >> i think that he saw a world of experience, and that it's very important to the president at this time. and in some ways he is trying to stabilize certain areas. and the doj has not been necessarily cooperative with congress in the oversight and he's looking for somebody who understands the relationship and has a long-term experience to be able to qualify that relationship and meet congress halfway. >> harris: you know, barr has criticized part of that investigation, and i just want to get to your quick thoughts, because it looked like earlier that may be the mueller investigation was toning down, we would see it in. we do not know, because we do not know what he had. >> we have no idea what mr. mueller is going to do, that is part of the problem. i'm not sure, nobody has seen an unredacted scope letter, so we do not know what rod rosenstein gave him authority to do. so he has been wondering all of the sudden. that does not have anything to do with conspiracy and the effect of the e

barr was a private citizen at the time.the question whether he was acting as an informal adviser on the russia investigation, of course weighing in on such a sensitive issue as obstruction that is still under investigation by the special counsel, who if he is confirmed, barr will supervise him. his opinions on this are a serious matter and democrats are sure to pounce on this, jim, as they were already concerned about some of the things that barr had said publically about the mueller investigation, calling it asinine to the hill in june of 2017. of course, this is only going to raise what was already a contention confirmation battle into something far uglier, jim. >> does it sway the lines of republicans? former trump white house lawyer james schultz joins us now to discuss. thanks for taking the time this morning. >> my pleasure. >> let me ask you this. william barr wrote a memo that said that mueller's obstruction probe was asinine. should barr's public dismissal disqualify him as ag? >> let's start out by saying that wil

barr is 68 years old.already been there and done that, and i'm not sure why wants to go home again. but he is a good choice, i think. he is an honest broker. i think that he will bring experience and stability to the justice department. remember, when i worked for mueller and barr was the attorney general, we worked closely with barr because moneylaundering and asset forfeiture work were all the rage at the time. and that's what bob and i did together. i think that relationship was cooperative. i think that in respect of will barr come in and try to interfere with the mueller investigation, i think that's probably off the table now. so i think in many respects, i think it's a good choice that will probably get a consensus vote on the hill. >> kaitlan, once again, you cover the white house for us. how serious do you think the president is about barr as attorney general? >> it seems that people surrounding the president are pretty serious about bar. but still an open question what the president thinks about

would barr end the russia investigation? stick around.upport the heavier you, your roof struggles to support the heavier me. crash! and your cut-rate insurance might not pay for this. so get allstate, you could save money and be better protected from mayhem like me. mayhem is everywhere. so get an allstate agent. are you in good hands? ♪ ♪ the united states postal service makes more holiday deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. ♪ with one notable exception. ♪ >>> happening now, breaking news. raising the bar, as president trump looks or the for a new attorney general, we're told he is yieg someone who held the job in the first bush administration would. william barr protect or try to disrupt the russia investigation? >>> stone-cold speech. after declaring his plans to plead the fifth, roger stone is publicly railing against the russia probe tonight, even as he said he would testify before the united states senate with conditions. >>> filing friday. in a matter of hours we expect new revelations from the special counsel robe

i'm not defending barr. barr has said things in television and in print about the mueller probe and how it's going too far. when this guy takes the oath of office with his hand up in the air and sits in the room with career prosecutors, i think six months from now, bill barr is going to have a nickname and trump is going to be pretty pissed with him. i would have kept whitaker. the guy is just to quadruple down on guilty. he just put jared as the attorney general. what's the difference? >> philippe, thank you for joining me tonight. >> thank you, ali. >> coming up, an accused russian agent pleads guilty and agrees to cooperate with federal prosecutors. the brings into look the depth and i'll break it down after this. today is the day you're going to get motivated... get stronger... get closer. start listening today to the world's largest selection of audiobooks on audible. and now, get more. for just $14.95 a month, you'll get a credit a month good for any audiobook, plus two audible originals exclusive titl

barr is outlining things that look like things donald trump has now done. >> barr has done something that i would tell any first year law student not to do which is make assumptions based on facts that you don't have. he's laid out this 19 page memo but he's operating in the dark. he doesn't know a lot of things that are happening and he doesn't know what's yet to come. as you say, the president has done a lot of things that may seem like acts that would fall into some of the things outlined by barr in that memo. so he's auditioning for a job that he may not want. >> there's no question. first of all, he doesn't take into account the whole myriad of facts that we have after this date of this memo, which is june 8th, all kinds of things happened after that date. but if you look at this memo, this looks like something that was written by a second or third year law student who never -- >> he is the former attorney general of the united states. he outranked you, sir. >> he certainly did, but i'll tell you something, if i got this from an associate in my firm i would be horrified. >> you

bill barr is a respected up attorn attorney. he has a long career in both government and private practice. he was a lawyer at the cia, he was in the reagan white house, in the justice department before becoming attorney general during the george h.w. bush administration, and since then mostly a corporate lawyer working for telecommunications companies. one key difference is, unlike jeff sessions, who was forced out as attorney general, barr wouldn't have any reason to recuse himself, that is to take himself off the russia investigation. he didn't campaign for president trump, something sessions did. as you heard this morning, the president said he only med barr just a few days ago. so as garrett said, the timing is notable. the prevail thought here was that the administration would let matt whitaker serve as attorney general under the mueller report came out, but then nominate someone so the confirmation hearing would not be what it is going to be, which is 127 questions about how independent are you going to let robert mueller

and william barr isn't quite that! think is a good choice but i don't think is the direction that the president would be going in. lou: what direction did you think he would go? >> at that he might go its own that he had a longer personal history. frankly, i think it is good to get someone that is independent, precisely because they will have the courage to stand up to him. lou: i hate when you prosecutors use the word independent. because that to me is just pure nonsense. >> you want independent! lou: the president is the boss, that department just like any other. an independent should not be synonymous with the word rogue. as that was what we witnessed. >> i agree that but i think it is the presence of law enforcement agenda. but at the same time you some of that is an honest person not afraid to call as he sees it and tell the president in some cases the law does not allow you to do this. lou: well, he has lawyers around him -- >> no shortage there. lou: what you think? >> i slightly disagree. the president tells th

first, bill barr, president h.w. bush alum, but someone who has been very public in his criticism of the special counsel. he has said the uranium one case is more substantial than the collusion case. he has argued for a whole -- even argued for the possibility of investigations of clinton and elsewhere. obviously, echoing points the president has made himself. is that the right person for the attorney general of the united states at this time? >> well, the person needs to have the confidence of the president. this is a cabinet officer that is subservient to the office, but the issue, whoever gets it, and it looks like barr, they're going to have go through a confirmation process. all the issues you raised, all your public statements, every in your past will be vetted and gone over in a confirmation process. i would be surprised if someone went through a confirmation process without having to answer to some of this and maybe make some promises about what they will and won't do in this job. i think the white house need

bill barr, heather nauert.sident is with acting ag whitaker and jared kushner on marine one which is kind of interesting. perhaps the president is having some of those conversations as he's headed to joint base andrews before going on to kansas city, steph. >> very busy morning. congressman, let me get your reaction. >> this is an administration of chronic chaos. by the way, the departure, reported departure of the chief of staff would be the 27th high level departure. because people believe presumably he should manage things. the new attorney general is the perfect candidate for president trump. >> does that mean democrats are going to agree with you? >> well, we'll see. actually, there's been tremendous pressure on the administration to name a replacement to whitaker. this is somebody who's been auditioning for the position. he has the perfect profile for the president. he wants an investigation of hillary clinton, while downplaying collusion. >> i think it's a strong pick. i don't know very much about him. l

, and i think barr has the better of the argument. so even if he had told the president of it before, i would not view that as a disqualification, but certainly if the persons nominated from the first, that he is an extraordinary man with an extra new background. former attorney general of the united states, somebody who has done great work in the private sector. he is the perfect nominee for attorney general. i think it would be irresponsible for the democrats not to give the president's person. also, there's been some discussion, but we have to recuse himself? of course not. you don't recuse yourself just because you have strong views about the subject, he has no involvement other than as a private citizen. he expressed them as the way we want them to you, and a discreet confidential memo to the attorney general which somebody leaked. if he had been leaked, nobody would know about this except the people who received the memo. i think this is an interesting story, but at the end, i don't think it will be have any impa. it certainly s

barr, a very different story. a very distinguished attorney.eral is because he criticized mueller. he is a perfect example of why he should be recused, but he didn't do it. he knew that was what jeff sessions got fired of, because he recused himself. >> one was in the justice department, and you know what it's like to work in the justice department. should whitaker asked for an official ethics review? >> yes. i think the processes and procedures of the justice department are terribly important. those procedures have integrity and it's very wise to follow those procedures, turn square corners. we expect that of government officials. i take a different view than jeffrey with respect to bill barr. i served under bill barr under bush 41. he has been the attorney general of the united states. there are a precious few of those, and moreover he conduct the himself with great honor and integrity, and we will probably get to his memorandum, and then to put whitaker with bill barr with his record is unfair. >> i will get to bill barr in a second, but i w

barr and mueller have a relationship.er was chief of the criminal justice department and worked together on major cases. the locker b bombing, the prosecution of emanuel noriega. they have a relationship that's going to affect how this plays out, if and when barr is confirmed. >> appreciate your reporting and mimi doing double duty on this monday. thank you. >>> here's something to make you start your week with a smile. when the campfire ravaged paradise, california, andrdrea s forced to leave behind her dogs. a month later, andrea returns home and she was met with a special surprise. her dog madison sitting in the rubble of what was once her home, standing guard. miguel also returning safely after being found by a rescue organization. their family finally reunited for the first time since that fire broke out. >> it's like a sigh of relief. it was like an affirmation that these dogs are survivors. >> andrea lost her house in that fire but is now able to find comfort knowing that her two best friends are safe. we'll be rig

william barr, heather nauert, james comey. the president made his case for william barr for a.g.ill it go over? >> i think very well. indeed william barr was attorney general during the presidency of george h.w. bush and it's fascinating to me, sandra, that donald trump for the past week has been described as the anti-bush, the -- william barr represents h.p.'s values. integrity, sense of public duty and the president said it was my original choice all along he does not completely reject those ideas. >> sandra: he said he has enormous respect, bipartisan support in the past and a lot of experience. we'll see. heather nauert spokesperson for the state department dating back to rex tillerson's days. she is smart, quick. is she is right person for the job >> i believe she is. she was my choice all along. she has been in the state department since april of last year. she was the department spokesperson. she has been operating at the highest levels with all of the issues confronting the united states on a daily basis. then as undersecretary. she has the confidence of secretary of stat

i think william barr will let it go forward. i think that president trump knows or has been advised by the lawyers on his team who are looking up for his best interest, but i do not think when rudy giuliani gets on the cable news circuit it is helping all that much. you cannot stand the way of this pit he is running his counter story to the mueller probe via twitter, he has made that clear. there are 87 pages of counter report already prepared. bob mueller will continue his work. what happens today will matter, we will know exactly what paul manafort did in terms of lying to the special counsel. >> harris: even if it is heavily redacted? >> brian: i don't think so pretty >> harris: you can hold a light up to and see the letters behind it. >> brian: that's exactly what we want to know. we will not get that, with so we will be left with a guy who has done stuff that is not related to collusion, and cohen, a liar. >> jessica: there are tons of collusion points, their emails talking about a deal, the trump tower and russia, and ivan

let's talk about this guy, william barr. joining us is justice correspondent pete williams and counsel expert at the justice department hoi chen. william barr breezed through the confirmation in 1991, unanimously reported out of the committee, confirmed by a voice vote, but a senate that was controlled by democrats about a month after that. is this going to be easy for him this time? >> no. i don't think so. because, of course, the number one question for anybody nominated to be attorney general can be summarized in one word. mueller. so he's going to be asked -- you know, he's clearly not going to have to -- i assume clearly, from everything we know, no reason to recuse himself from running the mueller investigation or overseeing it. he doesn't unlike jeff sessions, for example, he didn't campaign for the president. the president said today he only met bill barr just recently. but the question, number one question of the confirmation is, what is your attitude going to be? will you let mueller do his thing? what will you do

barr? >> i think he is far more in the mainstream conservative legal circles and well established as bona fide have been well established, not just because he was the attorney general for bush, but in his subsequent career. i think we need to take a lot of these comments with a little bit of a grain of salt because it's very different to be a commentator on the outside and then go on the inside, and for example, with his comments about firing comey or the investigation, once he sees the evidence it's a very different job that he has. it's a very different calculus that he's making, and i think that what is good about him, notwithstanding any policy disagreements people may have, is that he believes in the institution. he believes in the justice department. he blooefrs in telieves in the . in this day and age with trump that is essential to anyone taking that position. >> natasha, how could he influence the mueller investigation? >> well, it depends on whether or not he is advised to recuse

barr was previously offered a position as trump's defense attorney.e president met privately with barr in the spring of 2017 and asked if he would serve in the position and help defend him against robert mueller's russia probe, which barr has been a critic of. barr reportedly said he had other obligations but added he would think about it. a long time friend tells yahoo that barr rebuffed numerous offers from the white house to be attorney general in large part because he didn't want to be attacked on twitter by the president, adding that something changed his mind. >>> joining us gabby orr. hit's pick up on that last story, trump announcing biing w barr has his next attorney general. how might barr's open krechl cr of the mueller probe when he was a private citizen become an issue for the ongoing investigation? is there going to be pressure from capitol hill before his confirmation that he recuse himself over the mueller probe? >> i think that's going to be a key question that comes up during his confirmation hearing if not before that in meetings wi

you just can't do that with a bill barr.portray him as a march w-- maverick who will be looking to slap the president around. he can't do that and won't do that, but i think he will gird against any attempts to, for the department to be breached in the way it has been over the last few years. >> is it at all worrisome however that mr. barr has been critical of the mueller probe and that's why he might be appealing to president trump? >> well, i think this is a possible appeal for the president. and as i mentioned, i can see specific points where he and mueller would have principle disagreements, of course, as you mentioned, barr was there when mueller was the head of the criminal division, and surely share, i was there at the time as well by the way, and he surely shares the universal respect for mueller's professionalism, which trump denigrates daily. can you see ways in which it would peck at the margins? yes. nevertheless, given where we are and where we could be, the fact that you will have somebody at the helm who under

senator lindsey graham, david, has said barr would be easy to confirm. do you think that's the case? >> well, remember, the senate is going to be coming back with an even bigger majority than it has. it takes 50 republican votes, if you want to use mike pence's vote there, if there were somehow a tie, but it takes 50 republicans to get this confirmed. in that sense, they're going to have 53 republicans. and yeah, it seems to me that something new would have to enter the information stream for some republicans to bail on this, and by the way, pat leahy, a senior democrat on the judiciary committee, former chairman of that committee, has said very favorable things about william barr. i think you're going to see a slew of democrats be interested in confirming barr to this position as well. i don't think any confirmation process in the current washington climate you can say is like slam dunk and easy, but we recently saw gina haspel who had lots of controversy around her nomination, the numbers and the math are around the president. >> on heather nauert, nom

william barr, attorney general, president making that atphoupbment today.rr so i just want your personal reaction to his pick and what changes he's gonna make in the trump administration and in washington moving forward. >> well, when i first joined the justice department under then attorney general william barr, his reputation was sort of a solid establishment, certainly conservative, but not radical attorney general. certainly qualified given all of his experience up to that point in the department of justice. under george h.w. bush, sort a more establishment moderate presidency. although he has made public statements that have been critical of the mueller investigation, not as harshly critical as matt whitaker, who is the acting attorney general right now. >> julie: you obviously want to have it seem as if somebody's coming in with an open plate and not bias than someone who is going to abide by the law and someone who the president will respect. seems that he's found that person. thank you very much. that's all the time we have, but thank you for coming

i think there is no question in my mind now that barr was -- that barr was doing what a lot of peoplen the outside do. they're on tv, they're saying the right things, so he sends it. and think what reynardo was saying. this is the former attorney general writing to the deputy attorney general. i'm very dur ycurious, did the department of justice reply and what was their reply? i know in government when i worked at an agency, if they wrote something, we would have to reply because it's just something you have to do. i'm curious if there is a reply about what they think. but just going back to barr very quickly, i take the view, and i know others do, too, that it's probably too late to restrict everything that mueller has unleashed. and that's including the state ag's who are obviously very active as well as the new york federal courts. but nonetheless, he can make life very difficult for mueller, and this should go straight to his ability to be attorney general at this stage. and i think it is right of republicans and democrats to raise serious concerns at this stage. >> you're getting

you where i in now women barr who is expect -- william barr, who is expected to be the attorney general. when have you the southern district of new york charged of a crime and collusion being a part of the real, as tiffany cross said, the reality of what has come out now. how does barr come in and deal with this in a way that does not further harm the perception of the integrity of the justice department? >> mr. barr is one of the more experienced people that the president could have chosen to be attorney general. but there are some serious questions that need to be asked him at his confirmation hearing. now, web he was first confirmed back in 1991, he talked about the independence of the justice department. since then, he's frankly sounded a lot more trumpian. he's suggested that the president could investigate his political enemies, including hillary clinton. he's been dismissive of the allegations against the president and so these are issues that will have to come before the u.s. senate and it does speak more broadly to the need to the mueller investigation. senator flake is holding

so now william barre. how do we take william barre. a guy who said there's too many democrats on the mueller team. a guy who has questioned the president should be awe loied to start an investigation if he wants referencing hillary clinton. this is a guy who did the are right thing with comey. this is what trump wants to hear. but he's an establishme menment. >> he's an establishment guy who joe biden praised in the '90s. he's someone who got a lot of praise for running the justice department in a professional way. he's not someone who would seem like an obvious political lackey who would just protect the president as trump said president obama had and eric holder as trump saw it. william barre doesn't seem to be that figure. so he's sort of maybe enough to kind of satisfy the president, satisfy the white house, which does want a permanent attorney general, but not the person who is going to give the president control over bob mueller. it does not look like that. it seems that's what the president was pushing at. >> he sees the headlin

in peril. >> barr was a.g. for george h.w. bush. also wrote that trump asking comey to let go of the michael flynn investigation and firing comey were both within his powepower powers as head of the executive branch. according to a justice department official, barr's memo was unsolicited. deputy attorney general rod rosenstein said this on wednesday. many people offer unsolicited advice and barr's memo has no impact on the investigation. >>> the house intelligence committee trying to decide if turning over roger stone's testimony to robert mueller. this has been a focus of the special counsel investigation. mueller looking to the back channels with wikileaks during the campaign. a vote to give to mueller would raise the legal stakes for stone. several republicans and democrats tell cnn they are willing to turnover the transcript of the special counsel's team. >>> south carolina republicans could forgo the presidential primary in 2020 to show support for president trump. the move would be designed to frustrate t

what's your view on bill barr?ut anybody that trump appointed because right now his main concern is getting somebody that will take care of him, be his roy. bill barr has made statements about too many democrats being hired, people that showed their democratic support through contributions by the special counsel. he's questioned going -- that -- he said that you could go after hillary clinton on uranium one. all these right wing conspiracies he's bought into. the statement about firing comey, based on rosenstein's statement if that was the basis for his firing that he had gone too far in his july 5 press conference and taking authority that was really loretta lynch's about the investigation and the statements he made, those were not part of the fbi policy. those were very unusual circumstances. comey has explained that as he's explained the reopening of the investigation in october which was real close to the election, as being necessary to protect the integrity of the fbi and he is being the head of the fbi, his i

barr's view.s not clear that it will affect what robert mueller ultimately does. >> let me come back to you to wrap up final thoughts. you started this conversation with carol's reporting in the washington post. what does it mean now that the intel committee will release these? >> not a good sign for roger stone. >> you have to be a little worried if you hear that news. he will talk to stone, get stone's testimony, compare it. they may be looking for perjury. they may be looking for obstruction issues. the way i see it, this may be the final piece of the puzzle that mueller needs to fit in. >> tom, carol, ken, thank you. i want to go back now to the hill. kasie hunt, our correspondent, is joining us with yet more breaking news, kasie. what's up? >> you bet. continuation of what we were talking about earlier this hour. we were expecting to hear from paul ryan and other republican leaders at 10:00. that leadership press conference has now been canceled. the official explanation is that they are upst

in peril. >> barr was a.g. for george h.w. bush. according to a justice department official, barr's memo was unsolicited. deputy attorney general rod rosenstein said this on wednesday. many people offer unsolicited advice and barr's memo has no impact on the investigation. >>> some voters in south carolina could forgo their primary in 2020. the state's gop chairman asking why taxpayers pay for a primary when the party totally supports mr. trump. the decision is expected by next summer. this would not be the first time republicans nix the first in the state's primary. they does for reagan in '84 and 2004 for george w. bush. one difference, the primary was paid by the state, but now it is paid by taxpayers. they would have all of the press asking them questions for that entire time. they would have the national stage to themselves. >> we will know soon. >>> the catholic church abuse scandal is widening in illinois. new accusations that diocese failed to release accusations against 500 priests. today is the day yo

it's a nature of a conservative jurist as is barr.now if that's a goods thing unless mueller has the evidence to convince him. he is a lawyer, not a politician. >> here's what he said in may. he was bob mueller's boss and knows him well. his appointment is good news. i am confident mueller will keep his eyes on the inquirey and not let him keep his eye on the sprawling witch hunt. here's what he said a month later to the hill newspaper. barr called the obstruction investigation aconine and warned that the risks taking on the look of a political operation to overthrow the president. which is it? >> i think bill barr is like a lot of conservatives and nervous about where this is going. you are seeing that in the interviews he has given. i will tell you this. talking to conservative lawyers, they are thrilled about this. people inside the justice department and career people and appointees are relieved. inside the department right now, the dysfunction of having acting attorney general and a deputy attorney general who don't trust reach o

and he doesn't know barr. now, who knows, maybe that person was just someone who wanted someone else to be the attorney general. that's kind of the way it works around here. the caveat that comes with all of these trial balloons is, until the president tweets it, it's not a done deal. >> all right. with that as our north star, kathryn, it is -- this is a strange one because barr is one of the pillars of the gop legal establishment in washington. he is a brooks brothers enthusiast and a horn rim glasses enthusiast. he looks the part. he's got the resume for the part. the problem is some quotes recently about things like the man who used to report to him, robert mueller, the russia investigation, and that's what's giving people a tough time figuring this one out. >> yeah, i think the thing we really have to go back to is we just don't know how serious this is until president trump makes an announcement. we know he is a contender, but there's been a couple people they have been talking about and we have to see ho

barr has previously called for more investigations of the clintons.t includes his comments a year ago that there was actually more basis to investigate hillary clinton for the uranium one deal than there is to investigate president trump for potential collusion with russia. barr has given the president a pass on firing fbi director james comey, saying it was okay. like trump,barr has criticized the political donations of the prosecutors on robert mueller's team, saying they are too left leaning. and bar has also refused to judge trump harshly for calling for specific investigations, including ones affecting him and his political opponents. he suggested that was okay for a president as long as the decision was made with respect to the actual evidence at hand and not for political reasons. given his criticisms of the special counsel's team, it should be noted robert mueller actually served as the head of the justice department's criminal division when barr was attorney general. >>> and president trump is expected to announce heather nauert as the next u

what has bill barr said publicly on mueller and russia?big barr has been a little critical of the make-up of mueller's team, saying he should have been a little bit more balanced in doing that. he has defended the president at times and said the president should be briefed on an investigation. but he hasn't said a whole lot. he has not been one of the leading commenters. he obviously is a respected lawyer, at kirkland and ellis for his career, he was at verizon, he was in the government, he's had decades of experience. he's not been one of the most v virulent commenters on the probe one way or another. >> thank you for all of your great reporting. >> major developments are expected to drop tomorrow from the special counsel robert mueller. we'll discuss what his court filings could reveal about the scope of this russia investigation. also here's two words you may not want to hear in reference to the white house -- winging it. my next guest has insight into president trump's legal team strategy and how they plan to respond when mueller's fin

do we know what barr thinks about that? >> barr is a long-standing proposant of an extremely sweeping vision of unfettered executive power. when he was brought into the george h. w. bush administration in 1989 he initially led the office of legal counsel which decides what the law means for the executive branch. and he wrote memos in that capacity, calling for much more pushback against what he saw as congressional encroachment on executive power after watergate and after the iran contrascandal. he is clearly skeptical of congressional requests for internal executive brafrm information. clearly skeptical about congress's ability to put limits on the ability to fire subordinates like the mueller protection bill that continuing to kick around congress. he in general is a proponent of a president who can act with greater independence and less oversight from the other branches than some other people who are worked in government. >> thanks for the reporting on this. charlie savage is the waerkt correspondent at the "new york tim

barr didn't have.eing those actual facts, if he were to be confirmed as ag that he would know this investigation has turned up important things? >> i think he is. and i think also from an institutional point of view, rosenstein is laying the foundation for barr to be able to back off those opinions so there could be a reconciliation of his role as attorney general. i think it's interesting because to me barr as well as whitaker, the only reason they have been put there is because they're expected to do the work of trump's bidding in terms of anything negative being quashed. barr has already been ag. that's why they're being put there. of course, with both men, you may see both the political realities. barr has been a former attorney general. ultimately, the weight of the institution may come back on his shoulders and he may hesitate to act in such an overtly political manner. >> thanks very much to both of you. >>> 2018 became the year of the social media activist. our look at the top trending stories

barr didn't have. i didn't share any confidential information with mr. barr. non-public information to him, and that memo had no impact on our investigation. >> two very quick questions. number one, can you give us a sense of the number of groups like this operating in china that are attempting to steal information? my second question is on the rule of law. the president of the united states tweeted a photograph with you behind bars, talked about a cooperating witness as being a rat. can you assure the american public that this department will make sure it operates directly on the rule of law? >> the second question first. this department operates under the rule of law. that means we make our decisions based on the facts and circumstances of each individual case and without regard to partisan political considerations. on the first question, it's important for people to understand this group is referred to as apt-10. advanced persistent threat 10. it's not the only one. i think director wray can talk a bit about what the fbi does not only to prosecute perpetrat

chuck schumer said that barr must meet the two requirements.cial counsel's investigation will proceed unimpeded and the final report will be made available to congress and publicly immediately upon completion. the president also announcing today that he's elected heather nauert to replace nikki haley as ambassador to the united nations. nauert left fox news in 2017 to become the state department spokes american. critics question her resume. for example, the center for american progress saying today "to nominate someone with zero diplomatic negotiating experience is yet another reminder that the trump administration, which has placed generals in charge of foreign policy and gutted the state department, does not prioritize diplomacy." the president said nauert is very talented, very smart, very quick. charles? >> charles: democrats are already lining up against the president's nominations. phillip wagman is with us. let's start first with the u.n. ambassador. a lot of outrage there. a lot of people are obviously upset, at least saying as much. wh

barr need to do it mr.s refused to do. >> dan: congressman goodlatte, with regards to rod rosenstein, he seems to be living in a government in and of himself. i don't know if he has extraconstitutional power a member of the justice league, whatever it may be. rod rosenstein seems to be telling you all to -- he doesn't want to go on capitol hill, doesn't want to talk. is anything going to be done? common sense people say, if i did this in my job, i would be fired. >> i hope he has a short shelf life because i would think that the new attorney general would insist on having a new deputy attorney general. we have a lot to speak to mr. rosenstein regarding this meeting that took place before the special counsel took place. we wanted to talk about his involvement late in the fisa warrant process with regard to carter page and other matters. we had it set up in early october, it did not suit everyone on capitol hill, and the timing in terms of the amount of time available to ask. dozens of pages of questions we h

there's an acting attorney general, rbert barr -- i'm sorry -- william barr who served in the administrationpresident bush, george h.w. bush, is now being aked by president trump to become attorney general. what do we know about him? w >> well, whe know is william barr is looked at as a attorney and democrats and republicans signaled they could support him as attorney general. from 1991 to 1993, he wa attorney general for the late former president george h.w. bush. he was, howinever,volved in the controversial iran contra he worked at the c.i.a. in the 1970s and executive at vines.'s ow practicing law in washington, d.c. people who i talked to today told me he was an establishment republican. not someone who is a trump loyalist. the trump has at tmes filled the cabinet members and the white house with people who are loyal to him personally, but this is something that marco bio might have picked for his attorney general. he's had past conversations with special counsel and investigations. from the "new york times" on november 14,017, the "new york times" published an article dhere they said,

barr's hearing.st: i suppose my comment to , i think the commons of bill barr made about the investigation were fairly tame. and he may than as a private citizen. he had not access to any of the tears that bob mueller had. he knows bob mueller very well, by the way. they travel in the same circles among washington elites. bob mueller was the head of the criminal division at the time bill barr was attorney general. they probably met together daily. i'm sure he will answer the questions, whether it satisfy senator leahy or not, no one should make an image to anybody. when he was at his confirmation hearing to be attorney general, he was asked about his loyalty to president bush. he said let me be clear, my loyalty is to the constitution. we are talking with john malcolm of the heritage foundation about the president's nomination of bill bar to be the next attorney general. if you want to join in on the conversation, (202) 748-8000 if you are a republican. (202) 748-8001 if you are a democrat. (202) 748

. >> barr has been critical of certain aspects of the mueller probe. me get the political play here of one of the president's newest tweets this morning that fascinates me. i'll paraphrase for you here. he's saying that, you know, rudy giuliani, his personal lawyer is crafting a counter report to the mueller probe and the mueller report that 87 pages of it, john, are already done and he said we can't finish it until, you know, mueller is done with his work. politically, john, what's the play here? that they would feel the need to write a report responding that is already 87 pages long and they have started doing so before the mueller report. >> this has been reported that basically they want to offer their counter factor, the alternative facts to whatever the mueller report comes down with. then this was actually dismissed in an interview that rudy gave last night. that's what the president is trying to correct, in offering this specific number 87. it shows there is a high degree of chaos in the white house when it comes to their plan, their strategy t