jane: susan blumenthal, thank you for joining me. ms. blumenthal: you're welcome. thank you.a new report says bashir our shot was responsible for a deadly gas attack that killed dozens of people. by the prohibition for chemical weapons says it was delivered by an airplane. russia maintains a searing airstrike was not responsible. violent protests in kenya disrupted a rerun of the presidential election. millions went to the polls today, but the unrest forced the election committee. it is a second election in less than three months. the supreme court on the old the first result because of irregularities. the bbc reports from nairobi. >> it was a day of striking contrast. and a vastly different reality. nation, seemed farther away than ever from unity. as the polls opened, the overwhelming sense was of weariness. for months, the canon electorate haveatched as groups bitter exchanges. this was downtown nairobi, where the heated the president's call to turn out. >> i'm here to vote and make the way. this kenya is ours and we have to fight for it, so it is a must. i have to make it

senator blumenthal: mr.torney general, i am going to follow-up on this line of questioning in another forum. do you have under consideration any analysis of a potential pardon for any of the following individuals -- jared kushner, donald trump jr., or paul manafort? a.g. sessions: i am confident -- i don't think it is appropriate for me to comment on the pardon process. a.g. sessionssenator blumenthal? a.g. sessions: it is an investigation that probably should not be discussed in this forum. i will review it if i am wrong. senator blumenthal: would you agree the president, even though he has broad pardon power, does have the power -- does not have the power to pardon himself? to pardon himself. a.g. sessions: i have not researched that. senator blumenthal: on the emoluments clause, i have joined 199 colleagues in a lawsuit against the president. blumenthal versus trump. he is taking foreign payments and benefits without coming to congress for consent. the department of justice is defending him in court. thes

r blumenthal i'm interested in looking forward how consumers will be protected. will arbitration be required of them? will compensation be given to them for a sense of security that has been lost? will there be a compensation fund? will there be insurance against that kind of law, and i'm talking about a compensation law -- fund that applies to them because of that loss of privacy. whichkinds of questions, you are unable to answer because you no longer are with the company, are as profound and important as any investigative effort looking back, and i you are here without the authority to make these decisions, but i think someone from the company has to make them. mr. smith: i understand your point. you,or blumenthal: thank mr. chairman. we have a vote, so i will end of my questions there. excellent this hearing. senator flake: thank you, and unfortunately, i have to go and vote as well. before ending this portion, i will recess for the next panel so i can vote. the hearing that we had two years ago and the thread that goes between that one and this one is reflect

senator blumenthal: mr.torney general, i am going to follow-up on this line of questioning in another forum. do you have under consideration any analysis of a potential pardon for any of the following individuals -- jared kushner, donald trump jr., or paul manafort? a.g. sessions: i am confident -- i don't think it is appropriate for me to comment on the pardon process. a.g. sessionssenator blumenthal? a.g. sessions: it is an investigation that probably should not be discussed in this forum. i will review it if i am wrong. senator blumenthal: would you agree the president, even though he has broad pardon power, does have the power -- does not have the power to pardon himself? to pardon himself. a.g. sessions: i have not researched that. senator blumenthal: on the emoluments clause, i have joined 199 colleagues in a lawsuit against the president. blumenthal versus trump. he is taking foreign payments and benefits without coming to congress for consent. the department of justice is defending him in court. thes

[gavel] chair grassley: senator blumenthal, seven minutes. you,or blumenthal: thank mr. chairman. welcome back, mr. attorney general. committee,k to the and i want to pursue a question that was asked before the break, which i don't believe was answered. counsel contacted you regarding a potential interview or testimony? well, maybe we should just leave that with the special counsel. blumenthal: the fact of the matter is that he has contacted you. is that a fact? a.g. sessions: i am not aware. center blumenthal: you are not aware that the special counsel has contacted you? how are you aware of who the special counsel has contacted? senator blumenthal: are you aware of them requesting an interview with you by the special counsel? no a.g. sessions:? -- yes or no? a.g. sessions: i don't think so. senator blumenthal: you don't think so? no a.g. sessions:? a.g. sessions: iowa will he to respond to the special counsel in any way, but i don't recall that i have been contacted. i certainly have not spoken with anyone directly with the special counsel. senator blumenthal: but the fact is th

you just had dick blumenthal on.ama is basically at an adult daycare center. we would go bananas. giant story. now, this is a big story, but it speaks to trump has made everything within the republican party, he has broken it, he has torn it asunder. these things fly under the radar. i think if you ask, there are 52 republican senators, if you gave them truth serum, my guess is 45 or 46 of them would say something quite similar to corker. the rest of them aren't retiring. the question for me is how far -- jeff's reporting trump wants to take this more to corker. we've seen him criticize mcconnell. we've seen him actively criticize lindsey graham, we've seen him criticize jeff flake. i counted i think it was a dozen republican senators as of august that he has attacked. at some point, he's at full-out war with roughly the republican establishment. >> you look at the -- >> where does that come to? what happens? >> the adult daycare center. is he saying the president's senile? >> he's a child. it's one of the two. >> wh

blumenthal: mr. attorney general, i'm quite a follow-up on this line of questioning in another form. considerationder any analysis of a potential any of the following individuals. , donald trump jr., paul manafort? a.g. sessions: i don't think it is appropriate for me to comment on the pardon process is at this time. that an investigation probably should not be discussed in this forum. i will review it if i am wrong. sen. blumenthal: would you agree the president, even though he has brought pardon power, does not have the power to pardon himself. a.g. sessions: i have not researched that. i have beenhal: joined by 199 colleagues in a lawsuit against the president. blumenthal versus trump. he is taking foreign payments forout coming to congress consent. the department of justice is defending him in court. benefits are a violation of the clause. the department of justice is challenging that lawsuit on the basis of our standing even though the law clearly requires he come to us for a consent. when you a

>> i don't know, senator blumenthal. i've never researched that.it said, i know you've served in the department of justice as united states attorney and you may well be more familiar than i with it. but i have understood that my understanding is that a pardon can be issued before a conviction occurs. do you understand it that way? >> i'm going to, since i'm over my time, i'll come back to this issue in our subsequent questioning. thank you. >> another tense exchange between this time senator richard blumenthal of connecticut and the attorney general jeff sessions. blumenthal suggesting that sessions already has been asked to do an interview with the special counsel robert mueller. you just heard got a statement from a staff member saying there's been no such request. our own jessica schneider, justice correspondent just got a statement from the department of justice saying that sessions has not been interviewed by the special counsel robert mueller and has not been asked for one either. and you heard senator -- attorney general sessions say go to b

blumenthal: that's right. not infrequent in class action or individual cases where a plaintiff is willing to persist and takes it aspirins many -- as principle and will spend whatever it takes, if he or she has the resources, and some have done it as a matter of conscience to vindicate consumer rights even though their ultimate payback in monetary terms may not have actually been worth it, but injunctive relief is often the key to fairness and justice. mr. whitehouse: it is fair to say that the measure we're about to vote on will indisputably have the effect of shifting enormous powers from consumers to corporations that engage in high valium but -- high volume but low dollar fraud? mr. blumenthal: that's right. that is the essence of what the effect will be today of this vote if it is to roll back this rule and, in effect, enhance the overweening power of companies and corporations that force consumers to engaged in arbitration that they do not know will be the result and cannot change because it is a fixed t

joining us now, senator richard blumenthal. i appreciate your time. thanks for being here. >> thank you. >> there is a number of things i want to talk to you about. the first one is the subject of that questioning, that moment that you with had attorney general jeff sessions. we can't find any other instances of presidents meeting with u.s. attorneys while considering whether or not he was going to be appointing them to jobs. senator sessions didn't answer your question on that, have you turned up other incidents besides what president trump has done this year? >> there is no precedent, rachel, for the president of the united states interviewing potential nominees for the u.s. attorney. the reason is simple, because it smacks of political interference and conflicts of interest. does certainly in these incidents when the jobs have -- property. money laundering investigations ongoing involving trump associates and potential prosecutions of trump campaign associates if those kinds of cases are referred by the special counsel. so there are lots of good re

democratic senator richard blumenthal is joining us. he's a member of the judiciary and armed services committees. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> the president said the only thing you guys, the democrats, are good at is being obstructionists. can you prove him wrong and work with republicans and get something significant done for the american people? >> absolutely, wolf. in fact, there are talks ongoing right now between senator alexander and senator murray that -- >> lamar alexander, the chairman of the committee, and patty murray, the ranking democrat. >> exactly. i'm very supportive and have been involved in a number of these meetings. and there could well be a meeting of the minds that advances and builds on the affordable care act without repeal and replace, which is cruel and irrational. and on tax reform. >> by the way, on that, patty murray, lamar alexander legislation, it looks like an interim measure, the president might even go along with it. >> and he should because what will be produced is bipartisan compromise.

senator blumenthal who has just left, he and i joined a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the task force called protect our children act. i appreciate the support and consultation we've had in getting as far as we've had. the strong signal it sends that congress, the administration in all of us standing together to fight this terrible scourge. the two minutes i have left, i want to revisit 706 and 702. many of us have been working on this because we've been told by people like you and the fbi director and others in the intelligence community that this represents the crown jewels of our ability to detect terrorist ability and to prevent attacks and keep america safe. there's some who worry about this capability of the federal government. as you pointed out, it's focused exclusively in foreign targets. just like a wiretap that an officer may get access to, there may be more than the person whose phones that's tapped actually comes of the line. the fact that somebody else who is it the target comes on the telephone and you happen to hear their conversation doesn't mean that represents illeg

but blumenthal said is completely correct. it is furious. how can you not be. question is what is the answer? i don't see the answer is obvious as he does. answers are much more complex, much more difficult in this type of pandering in the public arena is just really unbecoming. stuart: may also show our viewers casino stocks. mandalay bay hotel is part of the mgm group in casino stocks this morning are down to .7%. again, i don't want to get into a shooting and look at the casino stocks in gun stocks. we have to do that because they are reacting to what we saw last night. the dow industrial of 27 points. 22,434 despite what happened last night in las vegas. can you show the big-name technology stocks? a lot of our viewers tune in. where are they? that is throughout the money has been flowing the past 18 months. they have a little bit of a force recently. all of them except for apple on the upside. facebook or 171, amazon 956. microsoft is 74, nearly 75. alphabet 975. ashley: one last on the markets, wasting rotations. for why they broke out and people were tak

sidney blumenthal, thank you.e photographer who took portraits of the queen ten years ago, and who unwittingly featured in a bbc documentary film scandal in which footage was edited to falsely look as though the queen had stormed out in a huff. it would be a pity if that's all you know of leibovitz, though. her portraits are highly valued by subjects and viewers alike, from the beautifully intimate, to lavish, over—the—top constructions. and a new book of them has just been published — portraits 2005 to 2016. odd title, as some of there are actually portraits from years either side of those dates. but when i sat down with annie leibovitz i didn't ask about that. we talked about some of her photos, and inevitably, the politics behind them. annie leibovitz, let's start with hillary clinton, because you'd planned to finish the book, so to speak, with a portrait of hillary clinton in the white house. yeah, it was almost worse than that. i actually really thought about doing the book, a good reason to do the book at th

senator graham: senator blumenthal. senator blumen that'll: thank you to our chairman graham and ranking member whitehouse. we don't need to lecture you on social responseability, i'm convinced you are well aware of it and i'm convinced you understand the perniciously malign effects of abuses such as we've shown you. and you've provided to us. in fact, they are a cancer on ur democracy and they will metastasize into distortions of our democratic process unless we throttle them. by disclosure. in this realm, the cure for untruth is in fact more truth and disclosure. that's why i've joined the bill that's been offered by senators klobuchar and warner but also am crafting my own bill to provide for even broader disclosure, not limited to the political realm because just as you said the internet is borderless, it is also largely anonymous and it is ill defined in terms of subject matter. o i want to first show you something that i find maybe the most kind of reprehensible sign of what can go wrong in this ealm and it is fro

let's go now to richard blumenth blumenthal, who sits on the senate judiciary committee.e's the former attorney general for the state of connecticut. you just heard sarah reporting. the president is worried about this impacting his upcoming trip. his former campaign chairman is under house arrest. will paul manafort turn on trump? >> that's a big unknown. but one point is clear. these indictments and convictions show why i fought so hard for a special council. and very tellingly, to answer your question, is cnn's report about what was said at the papadopoulos plea proceeding, there is a larger investigation in which this agreement is a small part. this investigation is in a sense just beginning, it's the end of the beginning. not the beginning of the end. and we can expect to see more indictments. >> so on the issue of george papadopoulos, this is what goes to the heart of collusion. the former policy adviser for the trump campaign has pleaded guilty about lying to his contacts. in great detail here from the e-mails, russian agents said they had dirt on clinton clinton, t

colleagues, particularly sherrod brown, our ranking member of the committee, and senators whitehouse, blumenthal, and franken and so many others who have spoken so eloquently on this issue. i don't think it's coincidence that many members on our side have spoken and very few on the other side. it is one of those instances where the powerful will get more powerful. everyone knows it and people are not out there beating their chests about this if they are trying to support it. it may be a little bit of being ashamed. now, this is what's happened here. we finally have an agency to protect the consumers against large institutions, most of which are good institutions, but some of which typically take advantage of the average person. they do it in a whole variety of ways. we saw with equifax, the idea that they didn't have to protect people's information and were almost nonchalant about it. we su it with wells fargo -- we saw it with wells fargo where people came up with a scheme. but we see it all the time and the average consumer doesn't have the lawyers and the time and the ability to study what's

plus, neil blumenthal of warby parker with some insight on what you can do to hold on to your best employees. let's grow fast and work smart. that's coming up next on "your business." >> announcer: "your business" is sponsored by american express open. helping you get business done. >>> hi, everyone. i'm jj ramberg. welcome to "your business," the show dedicated to helping your growing business. over the past five years, the business of body cams has grown significantly. as we've seen in the news recently, body cams have played an important role for police forces around the country. today we meet the man behind wolf com body cams who's worked diligently with law enforcement to come up with products to help them do their job. >> open the door! >> he's running. >> when los angeles based wolfcom entered the police body camera space in 2011, the little known company quickly became an industry leader. >> at the time, there were only two other competitors. we were the big three in the united states. >> founder peter is the force behind the booming business that built its reputation on technologica

they continue discussing unesco i'm joined now by author and investigative journalist maxim blumenthal thank you so much for joining mac. now you as you as you know the u.s. has withdrawn from nasco claiming the organization participates in anti israel by now what do you say we actually heard israeli defense minister avigdor lieberman call the unesco an anti semitic organization which means that it opposes all the world's jews apparently so this is inflammatory language and what we've seen with the u.s. leaving as it appears to zero five hundred million dollars to unesco. you know it doesn't have to pay off this organization to pay its dues to this organization but what we see is a case of donald trump's america first agenda being really revealed as ali abunimah put it at the electronic intifada as an israel first agenda can we imagine the united states withdrawing from unesco or any other world body because of anti french bias or anti german bias no on no other circumstance with the u.s. they kate a major world body within the u.n. so this is actually a very revealing episode and it m

time there thank you so much for your and say that was all there an investigative journalist max blumenthal think something's for having me. to go for you know where firefighters are calling this outbreak of blazes the worst and california's history of art isn't talk to sweet as a live in our los angeles bureau with the latest natasha. that afternoon actually you know despite all the devastation that we've already seen fire officials predict that the worst is yet to come the national weather service has issued a red rock red flag warning saying that once could pick up on friday saturday and sunday and as you may know winds already got up to seventy miles per hour scattering the fires now burning at least one hundred seventy thousand acres that toll now climbs to twenty three and now at least forty five hundred homes and businesses have been damaged or destroyed this includes fifteen wineries which is a huge part of napa's livelihood and so many people go there to vacation or get married and the p.g.a. golf tour was just there last week and some one hundred thousand jobs are winery based as

senator blumenthal, thanks very much for joining us. i want to quickly go to our white house correspondent sara murray. we're beginning to get reaction from the president, sara? >> reporter: that's right. we did hear from sarah sanders, the white house press secretary. she informed reporters that the president has been briefed on the situation in new york. he was briefed by chief of staff john kelly. the president took to twitter to say this, in nyc looks like another attack by a very sick and deranged person. law enforcement is following this closely. not in the usa. of course, this is unfolding on the streets in the united states of america and in new york city right now is the first lady melania trump. she was there today for meetings. she also took to twitter to say her heart is breaking for new york city. so send out her thoughts and prayers and sympathies for those families who are affected. now, while all of these events were unfolding, while this was initially happening, the white house did call a lid, which would suggest that w

blumenthal: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. blume thank you, mr. president -- mr. blumenthal: thank you. mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator will suspend. the senate is in a quorum call. mr. blumenthal: i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: mr. president, we have been here before in the wake of virginia tech, sandy hook, orlando, and numerous other mass shootings and now las vegas. we can all agree here that our thoughts and prayers and condolences go out to the families of loved ones who have suffered this senseless, horrific violence. we can also agree that many of the details are unknown about the shooter and a lot of investigation will be done. we can can all agree that las vegas was struck by evil. call it pure evil. we know what it looks like in connecticut because we've seen it firsthand in newtown. we have lived through the heartbreaking, unspeakable violence of that day just a few year

attorney richard blumenthal.drew reaction from an attorney in southern district who president trump fired. take a listen. >> my understanding is that the president of the united states has interviewed a number of candidates for united states attorney positions around the country, including new york; is that correct. >>> i believe that's -- yes. we've done quite a number. >> to my knowledge, no president previously has ever interviewed the chief federal prosecutor in any united states attorney history. i consider it quite unusual. how many other attorneys general candidates has the president interviewed. >> i'm not aware. i'm not sure i remember whether he had interviewed for new york, but if you say so, i assume so. >> here's what you've got. you've got the first president not to divest personal holdings. the first president not to disclose taxes. and now you've got a president personally interviewing the candidates who oversee the offices that could possibly investigate him. think about that. >> senator blumenth

democratic senators chris murphy and richard blumenthal of connecticut are about to stand with the brady campaign named after reagan appointee james brady who was permanently disabled in the assassination attempt on president reagan. they're about to call for a change in background checks, not a lot of details here, but it comes in the wake of the most deadly gun attack in u.s. history. problem is, it's now been revealed gunman stephen paddock at leasted 30 fbi background checks, but what about the new revelation of a money trail that may lead to a real answer of where to go on this? breaking news on that. of course, gun stock may be jumping but the gun industry not the only one taking hits on the hill at this hour. equifax's ceo richard smith facing down the house after the company exposed the private information of 146 million americans. congressman who led that hearing, republican bob latta of ohio has exited and heading to our cameras. what he learned and what all of us should learn from the equifax cyberfail. >>> the bulls fiddle and play and aim for the second straight day of recor

stonewalling,o democratic senator richard blumenthal from connecticut argued that sessions was stretching the concept of executive privilege to the breaking point. there is a challenge here from democrats, which is, in order to action with any contempt against jeff sessions, you need the cooperations of republicans, chuck grassley, the chairman of the judiciary committee. and there is no sign the republicans are buying in. >> my question has to do with, she just had a comment about comey exonerating hillary, that there was no evidence of any intent. when you i understand, disclose national security information it does not matter about intent. and i refer to a case where you person on a nuclear submarine took a photograph in the control room of his friends. that got out and from what i understand, he was prosecuted. not because he had any intent to do vault security information, but because it happened. then-fbi director said onlyjuly, he could find one instance of prosecutions in the last 99 years, with respect to the statute under which hillary clinton had been investigated. and he said,

. >> up front now senator richard blumenthal, this raid up front and center for you.don't know a lot about the raid. it's been two weeks. part of the reason it became a massive story is the president's silence on it for 12 days until asked about it. senator john mccain said the trump administration is not being up front. he said they are not. here is what he told us today. >> does the committee need to know in terms of details -- >> everything. >> reporter: can you be more specific? >> everything. >> reporter: what steps? >> maybe require a subpoena. >> do you feel the administration has been forthcoming? >> of course not. >> pretty infinitive, of course not and may require a subpoena. do you think the administration might be hiding something, somewhere? >> i agree with senator mccain. the administration needs to be more forthcoming. there may be a reason for subpoenas. certainly, there is a need for a classified briefing as soon as possible, not weeks away but next week and i believe, also, the american public has a right to know. there ought to be open hearings. the

. >> senator richard blumenthal, democrat from connecticut, site of the sandy hook shooting almost five years ago. first your response to your colleague's advice to "get small," that people should think about their personal actions in how to avoid getting shot. >> chris, america is not small. we have big events, we take pride in our sports and entertainment and concerts. and it's on us to take action to eliminate gun violence. and as for now being premature, our thoughts and prayers certainly go out to the families today and yesterday were absolutely painful in recalling that day in newtown years ago. i was with a number of the families tonight. but we should honor the victims by action. we should honor the families by stronger measures, to make america safer, and it's within our power to do so, not think small. >> i want to present what seems to me the only sort of salvageable core point, and it's a profound one, of people being very honest about the price of freedom. the idea that in a free society, you do not have a police state, certain risks will happen. you want to have, for insta

senator blumenthal, you are up first. >> thank you. mr. chairman, in order to give my colleagues perhaps more of a chance, i'm not going to make any further remarks. i think i've said why i so strongly support this legislation which i hope to craft and we tried to do it carefully and we tried to listen to the industry. we tried to listen really closely to some of the concerns that have been raised this morning by mr. goldman, for example, the idea that this legislation will cause sex trafficking to proliferate is hard to believe. what do you think, and will this measure cause sex trafficking to proliferate? >> i can't agree with what professor goldman has said. i think it's just the opposite. if we have a standard in place then i believe the stakeholders within the internet community will come forward in ways that we've seen before, but even more vigorously because they will understand what the standard is and i think that's so very important to make it clear for folks. the most important thing, senator, i think senator booker pointed this

. >>> web ear going to bring in democratic senator richard blumenthal of connecticut and as we do we should say we heard from sarah huckabee sanders, we'll play that and talk to the senator on the other side. >> this is an unspeakable tragedy. there's a time and place for a political debate but now is the time to unite as a country. there's currently an open and ongoing law enforcement investigation, a motive has yet to be determined and it would be premature for us to discuss policy when we don't fully know the facts or what took place last night. >> so you heard what was said from the podium, senator, as we welcome you on the broadcast. you happen to believe this is the time to have this discussion? >>. >> the president called what happened in las vegas pure evil. if he believes it was pure evil, now is the time to lead. we saw this evil in newtown just a few years ago, nothing has changed since newtown. congress has been complicit. we ought to honor the victims by acting and our condolences, hearts, prayers, grief, go out to the families and i saw those images and i've seen them a

here's what she said when fareed asked about that. >> senator blumenthal says people should give back the money he donated to him. he donated to you directly and indirectly. would you give the money back? >> well, there's no one to gif it back to. what other people are saying, what my former colleagues are are saying is that they're ging to donate it to charity. i give 10% of my income to charity every year. this will be part of that. there's no doubt about it. >> mark? >> well, 10% plus, right? or is this 10% there of. the bottom line is hillary clinton, other democrats, was on the receiving end of a large amount of money from harvey weinstein as well as those people who had supported him and had backed him and he would hold fund-raisers. it's not just the amount of money that came out of his pocket. it was the people that would show up that he would hold. the problem is that you have to answer for the misdeeds of others and in this case, democrats happen to be on the short stick of this one and they had to pony up and address it. you see the body language there. she didn't seem to w

fareed: senator blumenthal says people should get back the money -- give back the money he donated to them. would you give it back? no person toe is give it back to. i will give this income to charity. are you expecting this to move forward, involving the money and politics in this case? helpfult wasn't very for her. people were critical of the strategy of appearing with hollywood actors and getting their support. it wasn't what voters wanted to see. hollywood will always be reliable as long as these candidates have to raise a lot of money. industry isnment hopeful that weinstein was an aberration to some degree. the industry is going to do more soul-searching. be more examples of people happen to apologize for appropriate remarks. host: tulsa, oklahoma. republican. hi, coleman. caller: a little speculation. elected,y had been would we be hearing any of this? the democratic party takes care of its own, regardless of corruption. we have seen that with so many things. alignedow everybody behind bill clinton from the , with his attacks on women in the white house. it is a culture in the

. >> democratic senator richard blumenthal sees a pattern of behavior here. listen to what he says. >> what's so striking about the president again intervening in the department of justice, is it's part of a pattern of politization of the department of justice. he fired jim comey, he's interviewing u.s. attorney candidates in the southern district in new york where he has property, and where there are investigations into money laundering by his associates, so this skind of interference in the department of justice is deeply troubling to me. >> he's calling foul. he brings up some other examples. what can they do about it if democrats are towing this line? >> well, look, call him out on it. that's -- you actually saw that senator blumenthal during a hearing with the attorney general jeff sessions really press him on one of the points he made there on the president of the united states being involved in the selection of u.s. attorneys. it's not, as you would say, illegal. there's nothing criminal about it. >> important to point that out. >> something that presi

i think we have a little bit of sound that we can show you from senator risch ard blumenthal who was speaking earlier this morning about his frustrations around this. take a look. >> the delay as much as the none disclosure is a cause for very grave concern. the military has an obligation to be prompt and comprehensive to us so that we can hold accountable anybody who may have been responsible for deaths that could have been avoided. >> reporter: i think one of the main questions lawmakers have, you heard this from senator john mccain and others, what exactly were they doing so far forward with the military in niger. so i think you're going to -- you should expect a day of increasing pressure from up here on capitol hill. >> yeah. >> reporter: richard blumenthal, a member of the armed services committee. we're here outside the foreign relations committee to try and pri you some more answers. >> john mccain as well, right, he's been pretty outspoken about this too. >> reporter: and he, of course, is the chairman of the armed services committee, so you would think that that would be so

he has been questioned here so far by connecticut senator richard blumenthal.ure who's doing the questioning right now. oh, there we go. look at that. they must have heard me. anyway, we can confirm once again that the attorney general apparently a few moments ago indicated that he had touched base with his office, his office insisting passing him a note that he is not in fact been contacted by bob mueller, the special counsel who's conducting the investigation, the wide ranging investigation into russia's role in the presidential election. that was a question he had been asked initially by vermont senator patrick leahy. there's some back and forth, attorney general sessions confirming a few moments ago that, again, he has not been asked to testify -- excuse me, questioned yet by the fbi special counsel. >>> meanwhile, we are also keeping a very close eye on the podium not far from here at 30 rockefeller, commissioner roger goodell expected to take some questions any moment now. the controversy over player protest and national anthem has focused attention on th

thanks for holding this hearing. >> thank you, senator blumenthal. unfortunately i have to go vote as well. just before ending this portion, though, i'll go ahead and recess for the next panel. so i can go vote. two votes we have to do right now. just to -- the hearing that we had two years ago and the thread that kind of goes between that one and this one kind of reflected in the questions that i asked with so little of the company's revenue, 10% in your view customer facing. it seems that part of the problem we have with the data broker industry is that frankly there's just too little priority given to protecting consumer information when you don't face the consumer that much. when simply aggregate data, personal data and then store it or sell it or market it to other companies, then it seems that privacy of individuals is given the shaft. and that's just from my view and i think a lot of other people's view. can you dispute that? >> senator, mr. chairman, i'll go back to where i was earlier on. data privacy protection regardless of it being a cons

and for that, we are joined by democratic senator richard blumenthal of connecticut, and senator, thank you for joining us. i want to ask you about this new information that the shooter was apparently able to modify some of these weapons in order to make them even more lethal. what does that say to you? >> if evidence of the use of a bump stock as well as semi-automatic weapon, a weapon of war, along with a high-capacity magazine shows the need to ban those devices, which are designed simply to kill and maim other human beings. they have no legitimate wreck relational or -- recreational or hunting purpose. what it shows me very dramatically is nothing has changed since the tragedy of newtown, connecticut, when the same kinds of weapons, semi-automatic, were used to kill 20 beautiful children and six great educators. >> woodruff: what could be done about these so-called bump stocks, this relatively inexpensive device? >> very simply they should be banned. we have a bill to do so which we'll introduce, as well as banning the semi-automatic, which were designed as weapons of war along with

democrat richard blumenthal pointed to a shortfall and questions the mission of the 6,000 troops stationed in niger. >> one of the reasons for this tragic ka at the trophy in niger may well have been lacking resources in intelligence that could have permitted them to avoid that ambush. >> investigators still do not know how sergeant la david johnson got separated from the other men. >>> defense secretary jim mattis visited south korea this morning. during a visit to the demilitarized zone, mattis said they were building a nuclear arsenal to threaten others with catastrophe catastrophe. questioned the u.s. imposed sanctions on organizations. >>> and there is growing outrage in congress over a $300 million contract awarded to a small montana firm to restore poir in puerto rico. a congressional committee has asked that records concerning the hiring of whitefish energy be handed over to congress. the two-man company which relies on subcontractors is located in the hometown of energy secretary ryan zinke. >>> tampa police released new video showing a person of interest in the three related murd

. >> joining us now, senator risch ard blumenthal. to you, senator, what if anything, is the significance of cambridge analytica reaching out to wikileaks. >> it is significant because it demonstrates evidence of potential collusion between the trump campaign and the russian interference. there's no question according to the intelligence community, that there was russian interference. the president has called the special counsel's investigation and the investigation of the judiciary committee into that alleged collusion with it as a hoax, but here we have more evidence of a pattern that has been established of collusion and perhaps of obstruction of justice. >> the statement put out by the trump campaign saying -- basically distancing themselves from cambridge analytica saying, look, any suggestion that it was anything about rnc data, that's what we relied on most heavily. does that pass the smell test given that they're spending $6 million. >> not in the least because they have spent $6 million to hire cambridge analytica as a consul

week a brave and moral decision because you nascar has become a quote of the absurd journalist max blumenthal voiced concern that instead of preserving history the organization distorts it this goes back all the way to twenty eleven in congress withheld funding for your nasco because you know it's go allow the palestinian authority membership and congress is very very easily influenced by the pro israel lobby whereas traditionally the state department and the u.s. mission at the u.n. have not been so this is the first time we've really seen the state department kind of get in line with the congressional elements that are funded by pro pro israel lobby and easily influenced by it and i think this really reflects the weakness of the trumpet ministration. they will fast. and students as a friend in russia's black sea resort of sochi this week long cultural event is expected to attract the points of the twenty thousand visitors from around the world here are some of the highlights from the opening ceremony. welcome to the nineteenth world fest. deveau of youth and students in sochi. as you can se

democratic senator richard blumenthal co-sponsors the bill. have you had discussions on the other side of the aisle? >> there is receptiveness that i think is very, very significant. >> reporter: at least two republicans say they would back a bump stock ban. one texas lawmaker, a gun owner, says there's no reason for the devices, which senator bill cassidy wasn't familiar with until now. >> who wants to see another las vegas? on the other hand, there's not going to be a single law which stops somebody determined to do something bad. >> reporter: gop leaders say they want to learn more, but no hearing's been scheduled yet. for democrats an uphill battle. for some republicans, a slippery slope. >> it's not just about bump stocks. it's about ultimately getting rid of the second amendment. >> reporter: that's echoed at the clark county shooting complex a half hour from the vegas strip. >> there should not be any restrictions whatsoever on gun rights. >> reporter: but in washington they are talking. the question now whether that talk will turn to a

you know asco has become a quote a theater of the absurd which distorts history journalist max blumenthal told us that the pro israel lobby in washington was ultimately responsible for the decision . this goes back all the way to twenty eleven congress withheld funding for your nasco because you nasco allowed the palestinian authority membership and congress is very very easily influenced by the pro israel lobby whereas traditionally the state department and the u.s. mission at the u.n. have not been so this is the first time we've really seen the state department kind of get in line with the congressional elements that are funded by pro pro israel lobby and easily influenced by it and i think this really reflects the weakness of the trumpet ministration. the world festival of youth and students has opened in russia's black sea visible to. the week long cultural event is expected to attract over twenty thousand visitors from around the world here's some of the highlights from the opening ceremony. welcome to the nineteenth world festival of youth and students in sochi. as you can see behi

democratic senator richard blumenthal co-sponsors the bill. >> there is receptiveness that i think is, very significant. >> reporter: at least two republicans say they would back a bump stock ban. one texas lawmaker said there's no reason for the devices, which senator bill cassidy wasn't familiar with until now. >> who wants to see another las vegas. on the other hand, there's not going to be a single lay but stops somebody determined to do something bad. >> reporter: gop leaders say they want to learn more, but no hearings have been scheduled yet. an uphill battle for democrats. for some republicans, a slippery slope. >> it's not just about bump stocks, it's about getting rid of the second amendment. >> reporter: echoed at the clark county shooting complex a half hour from the vegas strip. >> there should not be any restrictions whatsoever on gun rights. >> reporter: but in washington, they are talking. the question now, whether that talk will turn to action. hallie jackson, nbc news, washington. >>> let's switch gears and head to bill carins for our weather. >> the weekend forecast