in 1996 i worked with senator bob graham and other friends across the aisle to create section 529 in the first place. five years later i sponsored legislation to let families tap into 529 plans tax free. it ended up in the 2001 tax cuts, again a bipartisan affair. but this time is different. no democrats in the house or the senate, not a single one voted for this historic tax reform law. they tried to block this law to help families across america afford schooling of their choice. this time republicans had to do it all by themselves. fortunately, we got it done for american families.

but first, i have the great privilege of introducing our keynote speaker today, senator bob graham. during his remarkable career as a public servant, senator graham made it his mission to make life better for folks in his home state of florida. he's served as a member of the florida legislatetuure, 38th governor of the state of florida and as a member of the united states senate. and while in office, senator graham helped to redefine the term, civic engagement. as governor, he spent nearly 400 days working in a wide range of jobs from police officer to construction worker, from fisherman to teacher, so he could better understand the challenges facing the people he represented. since leaving the senate, senator graham has devoted his energy toward training the next generation of civic leaders. he's founded the bob graham center for public service at the university of florida, to teach young people the knowledge and skills of democratic governance. he's also opened the florida joint center on citizenship to strengthen civics education in the sunshine state, and to rally its legislature

in 1996 i worked with senator bob graham and other friends across the aisle to create section 529 in the first place. five years later i sponsored legislation to let families tap into 529 plans tax free. it ended up in the 2001 tax cuts, again a bipartisan affair. but this time is different. no democrats in the house or the senate, not a single one voted for this historic tax reform law. they tried to block this law to help families across america afford schooling of their choice. this time republicans had to do it all by themselves. fortunately, we got it done for american families. the presiding officer: under the previous order the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to h.r. 1865, which the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to the consideration of h.r. 1865, an act to amend the communications act of 1934. to clarify that section 230 of such act does not prohibit the enforcement, and so forth and for other purposes. mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding off

former florida senator bob graham leads off, and talks about his efforts. the center

that the white house was surprised by how strongly fellow republicans rushed to defend bob mueller, lindsey graham even going so far as to say this is the end of the -- or the beginning of the end of the presidency if he were, in fact, going to fire robert mule snerp is it enough to deter the president hearing criticism from his own party about that decision? >> there's been running tension for months and months between republicans in congress who have a general sense that there is no collusion and trump needs to wait with out this mueller probe. and the patient, who is very impatient for the probe to be over quickly. it's a tension that is not going away at least until the investigation is over. i don't think that they were surprised and i don't think that's -- i don't think that's -- they are going to be necessarily making up their mind based on what republicans in congress say, but i think they make a pretty strong case to the president that he should wait it out. >> i'm wondering if that is why ty cobb did release that statement last night. >>> let's turn to the firing of andrew mccabe. he was

so people like lindsey graham and bob corker and even folks like orrin hatch. he didn't use the words constitutional crisis, but a number of republicans, not just democrats, republicans out lighted the words constitutional crisis. and the media ran with that. along with the cambridge analyticca issue. charles: some are saying the president shouldn't lash out at robert mueller, let this thing run its course. it's generally acknowledged mccabe was fired by a.g. jeff sessions at the request of the inspector general at the fbi. >> it is undeniable that president trump and his team have cooperate with the mueller investigation in unprecedented ways. 37 witnesses, 1.4 million pages of documents from the campaign. this idea he's going to fire bob mueller and create a constitutional crisis is a fake story. the media is acting irresponsibly when they can move markets with a fake news story. they have extraordinary power in make up stories with no basis in truth. charles: i think the media likes the market turmoil. the amount of coverage point way up versus the amount of

>> brennan: susan, you are hearing from jeff flake in the past you've heard from senator graham don't go near bobuler that is a red line here. is that for show? marc short was saying they haven't heard that kind of outcry. >> what we have heard from congressional leaders like thexi speaker that they have confidence in mueller's investigation, they don't support any effort to interfere with the investigation. i do think that the interpretation of the president's reaction to mccabe firing does seem like there is acceleration of his frustration towards mueller. i don't know what happens if the president really does try to close down this investigation or go further with firings at the justice department. congress has been under republicans quiet largely abut how the president has handled this. they have in the been very confrontational with him. it has been described as a red line, that's fair. senator angus king said something along those lines would be like a constitutional crisis. i think he's accurate in that. i think it's a concern that republicans at this stage continue to keep private, did no

facebook and all of that, i want to ask you both, individually, this reaction to lindsey graham calling the firing of bob mueller an impeachable offense. senator kennedy, do you see it that way? >> he hasn't been fired. i mean, before, chuck, we get all mooged up, i think we need to wait to see what happens. look, i think the president said in his tweets the president likes to think out loud, as the president said earlier today. the president clearly grows anxious when he has an unexpressed thought. that's his management style. but he hasn't fired mueller. i don't expect him to fire mr. mueller. >> okay. >> the president's lawyer said sunday night that he wouldn't fire mr. mueller. and i don't think mr. mueller will be fired. i think mr. mueller ought to be allowed to complete his investigation. now, if that changes, i'll be glad to do a deep dive into it. but until then, we're just speculating. >> all right. senator klobuchar, where are you on this? >> bewell, i think what senator graham was talking about is if the president breaks a law, and a law says, a rule says was put in place after the saturday n

orrin hatch and bob corker and jeff flake. lindsey grahamt voice warning the president not to do this that is not running for re-election. >> joining us this morning is david drucker from "the washington examiner." what does the personal attorney with deep state inclinatioincli what does this signal to you? >> the interesting thing is whether or not president trump will deploy mr. digenova out in the media other berating the investigation. as we saw this past weekend, going after mr. mueller personally. there is nothing wrong with defending himself. it is the manner in which the president goes about that which is problematic. at least for republicans running for re-election. >> you are right about that. david, you say the president confirming house republicans worst fears about the depth of the mid term woes. how so? >> for republicans to be what are historical or traditional mid term head winds. when your party is in control of the white house and you are running in congress, you will have head winds. that is how it works. the president as

essence, lindsey graham is acknowledging that these actions in the course of his presidency if made for his own self-preservation are impeachable acts, it doesn't have to be just the firing of bob someone should get ahold of lindsey graham and say but what about all these other things that he has been up to? so i think the republicans are chasing their own tails here. they're trying to simultaneously avoid the issue at the same time trying not to look like utter hypocrites. and i don't think they're doing a very good job, nor are they fooling the american people into believing they're actually doing their job. >> ezra, speak to jennifer's point. essentially, if you're talking about firing law enforcement officials for the criminal probe, it's already happened. why is there a celebrity aspect around mueller when these other people were also important? >> i have often wondered what it is exactly that we are waiting on mueller to prove. i think a lot of people are expecting something to be revealed that has not been revealed. and i think there are a lot of details that are. but in the question of whether or not there has already been a obstruction of justice, of course there has.

lindsey graham said it would be a disaster to fire bob mueller.he only precedent we have for that was watergate with richard nixon, which did not turn out well. this would be a very serious mistake, because the russians are trying to interfere with the united states. the russians are trying to influence us, as they are a lot of other countries. the mueller investigation may be the one thing where you had people stand up and say yes, that is happening. let's do something about it. i -- many of us are speaking out on what a bad mistake they would legislation would be difficult, because of course the president could veto legislation and you need two thirds majority. i hope that wouldn't be necessary, but if it looks like it is possible, they might do it. we -- pass that legislation. >> senator leahy, thank you for being our guest. newsmakers is back with anna edgerton of bloomberg, andrew taylor of associated press. we just spoke with senator patrick leahy, billy democrat on the appropriations committee. a $1.3 trillion omnibus bill -- and no one see

carolina airport they will meet and greet and then proceed to the funeral of the reverend billy graham. bobo you. the market sell-off we're down 300 as we speak. is this all about tariffs? is that the reason for today and yesterday's decline? >> that's certainly the latest chapter stuart. remember we had a lack early in february related to concerns about rising interest rates and rising inflation and then we came back oh, so fast, it was too fast, we hadn't healed, and now we're selling off again and tariffs are the excuse sadly it's a legitimate excuse, tariff s are not good news for markets. stuart: are we on the way down some more? right now we're at 24, 200. can you see us breaking much further south? >> i think the lows of a few weeks ago on the s&p that was roughly 25.25 probably will hold this is a test of that pattern which is not a lot lower in down terms either stuart and then will bounce and see what the character of that looks like, but we've got to get past this period. a tariff is a tax and while you're trying to protect somebody, you tend to hurt a bunch of other people and t

. >> we played sound from several republicans, including lindsey graham, warning the president about firing bob mueller. how do you think members of the gop party will react if he goes ahead and fires bob mueller? >> i think there's a great concern. first of all, any sort of agenda regarding the republican party, who, if you remember, is in control of the white house and the congress, it would be a political catastrophe. and i'm sure there are republicans across the spectrum who don't want that to happen. and people have been saying since the beginning, the best way to move forward is to let the investigation go forward. let it conclude. and to keep hands off of it. so far, until yesterday, that's what the president has been doing. but this seems to be the latest example in the trumpification of the white house. the president is taking control of the narrative, over the approach, whether in policy or tack ta tacti tactics, listening to himself rather than his advisors. anybody who has graduated from law school for a day would advise him not to send out the tweets he's doing. he doesn't care. he

bob mueller's investigation? is it gaining ground? >> we heard senator lindsey graham say red line, if trump touches mueller, his republican colleagues believe that would be a red line for them, yet, we haven't really heard much from them so it's unclear. some legal experts say trump continues to float these balloons and to push the limits, see what he can get away with, see what republicans are willing to push back on. so far the answer is not much. another former sdny prosecutor also said mccabe could have a case for retaliation. it depends if he can prove there was no lack of candor. so far the timing of his firing is questionable, the tweets surrounding it. it's amazing when you take a step back how much is being done on twitter. twitter is the place to be if you're following the investigation right now. that doesn't help the president because the president spent a great deal of time fweeting about and trying to discredit andy mccabe. >> natasha, what do your sources say about how in peril the investigation is? in shelby's report, the nbc news talking about bob mue

no way this president can or should fire him and lindsey graham perhaps going the furthest, do you fear that the president might move to fire bob mueller and is there protections that are needed? >> you know, i agree with lindsey graham's remarks over the weekend. and feel -- i personally support legislation to make sure that in administration, this president doesn't interfere with an investigation that i earlier mentioned was much larger than just focusing on donald trump. it is about a foreign adversary's interfeerrence with our democracy. i'm encouraged that more of my republican colleagues have taken firmer stances on this. you mentioned senator kennedy of louisiana, we certainly heard from senator flake and senator mccain. but more need to stand up, and it looks like they are. we cannot let this investigation that is really at the core of our democracy protecting it come to an end and so we have to step up. >> senator, let me ask you a question, finally, on the opioid crisis. we heard the president roll out his plan, his strategy for trying to combat the opioid crisis. part of that is, of course, the death penalty, he says

we've heard from senator lindsey graham, orrin hatch, jeff flake, and others. bob corker.ouse speaker paul ryan issued a payment statement voicing support. mcconnell has stayed virtually quiet. do you think your fellow republicans, more of them, including leadership needs to say more? >> do i. i've been surprised more people haven't been willing to speak out in a stronger way. i was pleased to see both he john mccain and lindsey graham along with marco rubio and jeff flake all saying they had concerns about what was happening. people need to be very definitive. this is unacceptable. we are, as lindsey graham said, a nation of laws and we believe no one is above the law including the president. if there is wrongdoing found, he should be held accountable. if there is not, great. we should all go forward. we need to get truth out. >> you said if the president fires mueller, would it spur a constitutional crisis. if it does happen, the president gives the order to the justice department and they fire mueller, one way or another. and the investigation is scuttled. what options

gloria, most recently led me add to the graham, flake, rubio statement, now you have senator bob corker warning of a, quote, total upheaval in the senate if trump tries to fire mueller. he's calling for a bill to protect mueller and tie it to the must-pass spending bill. and we just heard from orrin hatch, quote, it's the stupidest thing that trump could do. >> so what do orrin hatch and bob corker have in common? >> they're leaving congress. >> yes, hello. a lot of these people. flake, corker, hatch, they're leaving. easy for them. >> free to speak. >> easy for them to say. ryan put out a statement saying over the weekend, mcconnell ought to -- i mean mueller ought to stay there. but mcconnell and other republicans, i think they're kind of waiting. i think they're afraid. they don't want to do anything right now. these are not profiles in courage here. and i think you're right. if you had a vote, if you did have a vote you would know where the republicans are. i don't think that's trump's strategy, but it would be interesting to see how they line up. >> david, what do you think about t

i'm also calling on bob mueller if he can to give some idea, you know, what his time schedule is, you know, for this investigation. and also, some of the republican, not lindsey grahamhey are not friends of the president anyway. bob mueller was given this investigation. i think he was given too much of an open field here. if they are going to go back over every aspect of donald trump's life. that's an investigation that can go on for the next 20 years. they probably won't find anything. again, if you give somebody that type of power and people's lifsz ruined in the process. again, i keep emphasizing, this after all these months, after 18 months of fbi investigation. over, i guess, 10 months now of special counsel investigation, auto kno i'm note of any collusion of trump campaign and russia. >> sandra: congressman pete king great to have you on this morning. >> bill: 11 minutes after the hour now. check it out. awaiting a news conference in austin, texas now. police there will talk in a moment after a fourth package explosion in three weeks. what we are learning about the victims of this attack. and do police have a suspect? we will bring that you news conference wh

bob mueller at this time. he would have a lot of problems. even lindsey graham has said that could lead to many problems down the road, especially if the democrats take over control of the house and the senate. >> let's talk about h.r. mcmaster being replaced with john bolton. what's been the reaction on the hill to the president's decision given the stark contrast in personalities between a widely respected h.r. mcmaster and to say the least a controversial john bolton? >> well, pardon me from chuckling, but it depends on who you ask. if you talk to bob ma hnendez, he's up in arms. he thinks it's a terrible ideas. questions about john bolton's, you know, with previous statements on foreign affairs and basically says, you know, i'm going make sure that we have oversight hearings on what's going on with our national security and really ramp it up if john bolton does, in fact, come into this position, as he's been appointed to. but then you talk to somebody like steve russellel on the house side, a republican, former combat veteran, knows john bolton, who says, li

bob because i thank. god that i was a. unique was on stage and it was like we rehearsed it. a week was. sad and he's happy that i i. i. am grahamdid beat box to keep the rhythm going on leonard play trumpet that meant we were in the game and did a performance for ten minutes show them the same you know an act that. i could see how instance they got the system back up for the last song we had exactly six minutes left we played one song and then it was over. it was amazing. amazing is also the apt way to describe the huge popularity of e.d.m. electronic dance music with deejays from germany very much at the forefront. khufu. what keeps us in shape what makes us sick and how. my name is dr. i talk to. watch them at work. and then discuss what you can do to improve your health. stay tuned and let's all try to stay preaching the demon spawn. is positive. she was infected at birth. she probably won't live to the age of five. the program dream aims to prevent the mother to child transmission of the virus. hiv positive women give birth to hiv negative baby's. mother project is a hugely effective strategy in the battle against. more tha

bob mueller, calling him out by name. i want you to listen to what he said on republicans lindsey graham and trey gowdy, who have been critical of the president on his twitter feed. >> lindsey graham, also a republican from south carolina, said that if the president were to fire -- >> maybe we need to work on our south carolina members. >> chris, care to comment? >> what do you say to that? i don't doubt for a second that this is a president for whom there really are no lines. i discuss in my paperback how jeff sessions resigned when he was belittled by trump on may 17th and reince priebus had to chase him down the parking lot and drag him back inside. i don't doubt that donald trump may try to fire sessions and mueller. that will be a defining moment for the trump presidency for the rule of law and for john kelly, who needs to throw his body in front of any decision like that. >> it was lindsey graham who said if the president were to try to do that, it would be the beginning of the end. the big question has been, what's up with the reticents? a.b., we just now heard from mitch mcconnell. he has just weighed in after days of

graham said it would be the beginning of end. i think there would be more than a two-thirds majority in congress to institutionalize bob mueller'sffice of special counsel. but congress can't appoint him because he is in the executive branch. this will aggravate more than two-thirds of both houses and they can get away with almost anything. >> neil: i wonder the separate effort of republican and democrats who want to protect mueller from that happening. >> i am of the view that bob mueller is a responsible, honest, intelligent and above boortd guy he is in an awkward position after the president is throwing trumpian tweets and bob mueller has respect on both sides of the aisle. but god only knows if the president said that is it. he has to order the attorney general. he has to order rod rose rosenstein to do it and if the solicitor general has to do it. and he fired archbald cox. >> neil: it is a longer chain of command. >> there is one more person in the hierarchy. >> security guard? >> that office is now vacant. >> neil: where do you think it is it going? what is the time line. >> bill hemmer asked me. if you asked me a month a

bob mueller. the thing that i always say to people who say he will never do it. it would be political suicide. listen to lindsey grahamor orrin hatch. he revels in doing things people tell him not to do. does that include this? i don't know. but i do think we should avoid the idea that donald trump won't do something with lindsey graham and orrin hatch might not like it. that's not who he believes his constituency. >> the deputy white house press secretary told reporters today aboard air force one, like to new hampshire, it is pretty clear there are no conversations or discussions about removing mr. mueller. given the president's tweets though, some of the rhetoric from his legal team. it is by no means clear at all that there's been no discussion at all. >> it is not clear at all. hogan gidley isn't there for every conversation the president is having. we already know at least this past summer, it is something the president was actively discussing. it was impeded by a white house staffer. we do know that. we also know that it is not clear that the president has an easy path to firing bob mueller. he needs he a person

>> when have you bob goodlatte and when the calls for something, when chuck grassley calls for something and lindsey graham, all of whom are fans of the department of justice, when folks on your own side are saying you need to look at this, i think jeff sessions will take their perspective seriously and communicate to chairman goodlatte at some point. practically, it'd be wise to consult. >> bill: in a moment i'll talk with the white house press secretary sarah sanders at 9:45 eastern time. sandra, as you can imagine, the list is long for topics for sarah sanders. we'll have that in about 30 minutes. >> sandra: a lot happening in that building behind you. >>> more coming up, we're following for you the justice department is officially suing the state of california for it's illegal sanctuary city policy. can the lawsuit produce real results? our panel takes this one up. plus this -- >> me? no. nobody got that. i think they are sincere but i think they're sincere also because the sanctions -- >> sandra: president trump said he's cautiously optimistic about the prospect of denuclearization talks with north ko

graham saying if he moved to fire the special counsel, it would. but there isn't, by any means, any sort of chorus or recommend many of the president's reactions toward bob mueller. a very small group of people, jeff flake, for instance, isn't going to run for office again. trey gowdy launching criticisms against the president. he's not going to run anymore. but yeah, there is a -- if the president find someone to fire bob mueller. rachel brand, the number 3 person, has already left the justice. if he finds someone to fire mueller, then he's got to appoint a new deputy attorney general and make the decision about who to appoint. if he appoints somebody to replace mueller, which he has to do under the regulations, that is seen as sort of a crony or lackey, someone who is not logical to discuss. >> listen to this tape. he has some advice for the president and his lawyers as far as mueller is concerned. >> given the independence to do his job, and if you are innocent, if the allegations colludes you with the russians, if you're innocent of that, act like it. >> does he have a point? >> trey. . i think if bob mueller is fired, it goes up to a block party. if

remains to be 16 seen, but certainly, lindsay graham suggests that they would so i think it would be a disastrous thing for him. in an odd way, i worked closely with bob time in government, and in a way, otd way out there, bob mueller may be his best friend, he will fairly and objectively pursue this, if he doesn't find anything that amounts to collusion or obstruction, he will say so. on the other hand, if he comes out on the other side, people will believe him. >> yeah, you would not have gotten that, that he may have been president trump's best friend, given what president trump has tweeted about president trump. >> that's been the major change in all of this, is trump's focus on him personally about a week ago, which i thought was a grave mistake, but evidently, i suspect that's one of the reasons. >> why john dowd. >> is stepping aside, yeah. >> matt, let me ask you quickly the white house indicated digenova and thompson may not be on the legal team. they may be advising the president from the outside. we were talking about this in the commercial break. how bizarre or maybe not bizarre in this presidency that you have a president who reached out

senator lindsey graham, republican of south carolina, senator jeff flake, republican of arizona, senator cory gardner, republican of colorado. senator bob menendez, democrat from new jersey. we came together. we came together and decided on a bipartisan basis to draw up a bill to try to solve this problem, to be fair to these young people, and give them a chance to stay in america and earn their way to citizenship. when we proposed the bill to president trump, he rejected it. in fact, he rejected six different bipartisan proposals to solve this problem. and so the deadline was looming and passed last week on march 5, and the program by the president's proclamation was finished. were it not for two federal courts that intervened and said no, mr. president, you may have overstepped, you may have done more than you can legally do, so we are going to protect these dreamers, these daca young people until we resolve the question about your authority, your constitutional authority to make that decision. so at the current moment, 780,000 of these young daca recipients are protected by a court order that required that they reopen daca eligibilit

graham, say this would be the beginning of the end of the trump presidency. but what actions do you think republican lawmakers would actually take in the event that the president does fire bob mueller? >> they likely take a loss in the upcoming midterms. more than six in ten americans are confident in how mueller is handling this investigation. and those numbers are rising just from january. there's a genuine concern that the president may be perhaps trying to obstruct this investigation from the american public and the optics of making a move like firing him, even from many conservatives, would suggest that he is not as innocent as he claims he is. >> and it's important to note that decision would ultimately come down to rod rosenstein. all right. we'll touch base with you in a little bit. stick around. >>> the supreme court has refused to take up a challenge to the newly redrawn pennsylvania election map. the 2011 map was ruled to be unconstitutionally areaerry mannedered in order to benefit their party. the map in question reported in a 13-5 congressional district advantage for republicans and had districts drawn in strange and awkward shapes, including one dubbed, quote

lindsay graham just heard from devon nunes this morning and we know that you and your colleagues and judiciary as well as devon nunes' committee have been stonewalled for months and months obviously boboodlatte and your committee have subpoenaed the documents in the hillary clinton investigation. what do you want to see 1.2 million documents is what you've requested you've only gotten 3000 from the fbi? >> well i want more information and be able to prove that the fbi investigation of the clinton e-mail scandal was a sham, that the lead investigator, the lead fbi agent hated trump, supportive of clinton, they whitewashed the e-mail scandal. if you'd done what she had done, you'd probably be in jail now and to hold the fbi accountable for not doing their job correctly, that comey i think the fix was in and when it comes to the dossier that was used by the department of justice to get a warrant against carter page, it was prepared by paid informant of the democratic party, a foreign agent with ties to russia, it is completely un verified, and it should never have been used as a basis for a fisa warrant and i want a special counsel to look at all of this like mueller's looking at trump.

graham, south carolina. cory gardner, republican of colorado. joined with myself and michael bennet, democrat of colorado, bob menendez, democrat of new jersey, and we put together an approach which gave these young people protection and a fighting chance to prove that they deserve to stay in america. we felt pretty good about it. the president called a meeting in the white house on january 9. i remember these dates, i will always remember them. january 9 of this year, with about 24, 25 members of congress, democrats and republicans, house and senate, and he held an open press conference for an hour. it was unusual, rarely done in the white house. and we talked about daca and we talked about dreamers, and we talked about what was going to happen next since the president had given us a deadline of today, march 5, to do something. and the president outlined what he wanted to see, and then he said in front of the television cameras you send me the bill and i will sign it. i'll take the heat on this one. that was january 9. so a number of us, the six that i mentioned earlier, came together immediately that same day and said let's finish this bill, le

graham since 1971. how did you meet him? >> well, a very auspicious beginning. i was his caddie. i always said i was his favorite caddie. playing golf with the bob hope. he was a pro that day. we had a lot of fun. i was 22 years old, right out of college. and after that time, i worked with campus crusaders. from there, i was with him on many, many occasions. the crusades. worked with him for years. so i just had a great love and respect for dr. graham, and the life that he led. a remarkable family. five children. they carried the same torch of christ. >> sandra: speaking of his children, his son was on fox news this morning and said that the president called and offered the national cathedral for this service today, and the family politely declined and said no, we would rather have this and and in a tent. >> perfect, exactly why 300,000 people came there out in los angeles. his entire ministry. and i think it is so fitting that we have a tent. see two we are looking at life pictures of those in attendance. the president and the first lady will be there today, as well as the advice of president and his wife, karen pentz. we are looking at those who are