bob mueller sent a letter to the attorney general stating as much, and when bob mueller came out and made his 8, 9 minute statement a couple of months ago, it was just that, a statement without question. now, members of congress will get to ask the questions many americans have had on their minds since the release of the report. 448 pages worth, which let's be frank, most people in the country have not read. this is a chance for democrats to tell a story, and with the help of bob mueller to lay out in detail the cases of obstruction of justice. he said in volume one there was no evidence to support a criminal conspiracy, what about collusion, what about all the instances when the trump campaign welcomed the help of russians, and then line by line, those 12 cases that represented obstruction of justice, did bob mueller view those as obstruction of justice and just that he could not prosecute because of justice department regulations and policy. >> it's going to be interesting is i'll tell you mika, i agree with willie, and the facts bear it out, most americans haven't read this report

elite as a brilliant choice. >> there is no more respected figure in american law enforcement than bob mueller. he's got a reputation for no nonsense. >> he is a pro, he will follow the facts where they lead. >> this is big stuff and mueller is the guy to do it. >> this is going to be resolved by one man sitting quietly at his desk named robert mueller. >> bob mueller completed another tour of duty. >> laura: at the time i might've been the only one not buying it. i am sick of hearing what a great prosecutor bob mueller is. they should stand up and say let's see where this goes. >> it' should have bought lotto tickets that day. where did this all go? we found out today that when we saw a man who we thought was going to be well-prepared wasn't. >> i don't have it in front of me. i take your word. i'm not certain of the person who originally copied that quote. i don't know that for sure. i can't answer that question without knowing more about that question. >> laura: a man who wasn't well-versed in the details of the investigation. >> i would like to ask you the reason again that you did not ind

well, bob mueller should have investigated the russians. nunez nailed mueller to the wal tonight.id you investigate the fact that his two-sided primary sources for his document we're to russian disinformation specialist. he doesn't want to investigate russian collusion he wants to investigate trump russian collusion not the real collusion . >> why don't we all agree, dan, that we can have significant security around our election they are being presented to the that would do just that and mak collusion illegal. they don't want to because they know why. >> that could've been could hav been done with a simple investigation with people who aren't conflicted by their bias in their hatred of the president , correct? >> that's my point. in made that point earlier, you did not need an independent counsel. >> laura: next up, this is going to be fun are body language expert is here to brea down mueller testimony. my goodness. what will she find? stay there. aisle in stores everywhere. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. when didwhen i needed ton? jumpstart sales. build attendance for an

take a look. >> i have no objection to bob mueller personally testifying. >> what about bob mueller?? >> i've already said publicly i have no objection to him. >> i'm joined by former prosecutor glenn kirschner who worked directly for bob mueller in the washington attorney's office. what do you make of mr. barr's shift? >> you know, ari, i see this last-ditch attempt at the bill barr department of justice to try to muzzle bob mueller by sending the letter, the two-page letter that was sent yesterday. i would say it's a letter of do's and don'ts, but it's really just a letter of don'ts. when you read that two-page letter, it's surprising how many prohibitions they could actually cram into just two pages. let's just tick through them really quickly. they say bob mueller, you better stick to the four corners of your report, and here's what you're prohibited from doing. don't talk about grand jury materials. don't talk about redactions. don't talk about ongoing investigations. don't mention uncharged persons. don't talk about executive privilege. don't mention the deliberative process. d

>> because you trusted bob mueller to find the answer. >> bob mueller is your boy. >> he's not my boy. >> he's a minted republican. >> let me speak for myself about that. i did the first political check on james comey. i'll start there. he was not a rock ribbed republican. >> i'm talking about mueller. >> bob mueller might be a registered republican but he was a trump hater. someone we call a never trumper. >> he interviewed to be head of the fbi right before he did this. >> yeah, why is there an obstruction of justice to get rid of james comey who he would have replaced? he never brought that up to the president. >> why would bob mueller ask the president the day before he's picked to be the special counsel for the job of fbi director -- >> he was asked to come in to interview. he didn't ask for the job. that's not my understanding. he was asked to come in by a mutual friend. >> you don't come in and talk to the president about being the fbi director unless you have an interest. >> i'm not saying he didn't have an interest. >> if he thought what he had just done to james comey was un

when the legal questions boiled down is president trump a cook, bob mueller would answer it's not for him to say. when those security questions, particularly in the second hearing boiled down to should the president act better than a crook are, mueller's answer was under oath and in public today to america, yes, he should. if you listen closely, when mueller was asked direct questions about this criminal evidence on trump like did he interfere with the probe, did he say yes. in fact, some of the most important answers today were those short confirmations from fact checking trump top stating under oathing that welcoming russia's meddling is unpatriotic. >> your investigation is not a witch hunt. >> it is not. >> when the president said the russian interference was a hoax, that was false. >> true. >> your investigation found evidence that russia wanted to help trump win the election, right. >> >> that would be accurate. >> knowingly accepting foreign assistance during a presidential campaign is and you ethical thing to do. >> and a crime. >> we can agree that it's also unpatriotic? >> t

that's not an indictment in any way on bob mueller. know, when jim comey testified we thought that was the moment. when michael cohen testified, we thought that was the moment. when the mueller report was published, we thought that was the moment. all of these things were not the moment. >> and, in fact, onthat be, if you look at it, i think a lot of republicans would now say the democrats, you've exhausted everything you wanted. you had a two-year investigation, tens of millions of dollars, you got the report. judiciary got the underlying evidence. you got bob mueller to testify. you got everything you wanted. make your choice. are you going to pursue impeachment? what's the move for democrats and what does the internal fight look like inside the house with nancy pelosi? >> i think for a long time mueller was either going to lift the cloud of this russian probe, or it was going to send us barrelling down the road to impeachment. i'm not sure either happened. i think we're in a stall. i think the debate within the democrats is still hap

you now have the department of justice saying to bob mueller, you better stay in your lane and stay to the contents of the report which mueller has always said he would do, because of executive privilege. and the president, of course, is going on about this today. this certainly sounds like there is concern. >> reporter: well, the president certainly seems to be annoyed by the prospect. the letter from the justice department also seems to be a warning to robert mueller that they do not want surprises in this hearing in part because they know that that would prompt the president's fury about this whole situation which has been ongoing for months and months. and it has not waned even after the mueller report has been released. president trump claims he is not going to watch it or maybe not watch very much of it. this white house has many televisions almost all of which are trained to the president's favorite channel. he will be traveling. it is rare that those tvs are not on. i think we can expect him to be paying fairly close attention, but at the same time, his aides, one of his outsid

about to crash into mueller. >> dear viewers, if somebody at this moment is not making a meme of bob mueller and bill barr standing in the bow of the boat with celine dion singing i'm going to be really disappointed in you. donna, how about this? robert mueller wants to be confined to the four corners of the report. how frustrating is that for democrats, given bill barr doesn't confine himself to the four corners. the president doesn't. steve mnuchin not releasing the president's taxes, kellyanne conway ignoring the hatch act. if you're a democrat, how do you feel about robert mueller doing the right thing? >> you know what? i'm actually not concerned. i've read the report. you have. but the american people haven't. what's within that report is damning enough. i think what's really important for democrats is to ask their questions and get out of the way. enable bob mueller to walk through the evidence that's in his report. you know, i'm disappointed there is not staff counsel guiding that in a very professional way but i'm convinced that if democrats stick to a script, you know, follow their

bob mueller's job was to report back to the department of justice. his findings. it was not to have a call to action from congress. if that's exactly what he did in the report, and i think that's fair, i think for many americans, that's when he looks like he's getting political. i can't find anything. hey, fellas on the hill, why don't you find something. i watch a lot of media. i read a lot of media. we have covered this issue ad nauseam for two years and there's not a sint ilya of wrongdoing except some believe when trump fired jim comey, that equals obstruction. >> six or seven. >> i don't agree with that. that's a constitutional question about whether or not the president has the ability to fire people that serve at the pleasure of the president. people who don't like that decision making don't have to vote for him. that's what you do. to carry on a mulligan investigation and start all over again with these people who have spent hundreds of thousands on lawyers. >> the money can't be the issue. >> why destroy people to go through the meat grinder one more time

the rest of the time, most of the time, bob mueller is more tight lipped and taciturn. week he testifies about congress about a probe that is the most anticipated hearing of the trump era. only mueller knows what he intends to say, but right now we have a special report for you on mueller under oath with some clues on his approach, and some reporting on hai bob mueller testifies at hearings. because despite his secretive reputation, mueller's long career means he's testified many times. in fact, you see right here some of them. we scoured decades of his hearings, over 60 appearances before congress from his service at the fbi and d.o.j.. and we studied how he deals with assertive questioning, how he avoids certain things within his obligation ands how he lives up to a long-standing rep as the ultimate rule follower. now, we found many similar responses from mueller going back to his first fbi director confirmation hearing. this was 2001, and he spard wre with a u.s. senator about a controversial memo that was related to a previous investigation. >> the short answer, sen

he's not necessarily going to be a witness but he's going to be the council to bob mueller. w significant is this? >> on the one hand, robert mueller is going to be aided by having someone that he trusts nearby, maybe even to help him or remind him or point to areas -- remember, robert mueller didn't personally author the entire mueller report. he had a team. so, with a team like that, it's always good to have your r right-hand person there. you know, i've been thinking about that, too, this whole time, how will robert mueller navigate his own report so quickly? it's a lot of pages, he doesn't have it committed to memory. he might need the help. >> it's interesting it's a last-minute change. they've been preparing for this for a couple weeks. we've known that bob mueller was going to testify for a couple weeks. actually, it was last week and the date got switched to this week. moved a week later. it's interesting that this change happened so quickly, just 24 hours before he's set to appear. >> the way i perceive is this, robert mueller is a private citizen. he doesn't want to

bob mueller walked that back.t this, the most vulgar tweet out there by a democrat is from michael moore. it's vulgar but it's michael moore. the same token, it's the most honest assessment of today, let it go. >> neil: so what happens now? if you're in the marks, you're looking for some continuity, whatever that can be. it's straight on to the election there. >> straight on to the election. they did the budget this week. it's not the budget that traditional republicans always said that they wanted. every time they got a chance to put one in, it never looks -- >> neil: neither party is very constraint. >> that won't be an issue. mueller won't be an issue. right now looks like it's really clear sailing with respect to the economy and the stock market. it's just a matter of keeping it going to 2020. >> neil: thanks, buddy. charles payne read on that. the president is still talking, too. you know the drill on that. he speaks, they rush the tape back. maybe it's not taped anymore. it's all digital. when he's done, the

bob mueller is the one who ers on the side of not commenting and disclosing. it was mueller who stayed quiet while barr released letters and excerpts which mischaracterized the mueller report of about it was released. when barr is demanding less disclosure, it stands out. of course, it was barr's justice department that flat out purnd mueller's top prosecutors not to testify at all. and barr has opined against this week's hearing knock being it as an unnecessary public spectacle. for all this talk about how wednesday's hearing could end up being a or dry or redo, it does appear that people inside the trump administration are still concerned about mueller and his team talking. because even in his careful style, bob mueller was, in one sense, blunt in his last and only public remarks to date, saying, his probe simply did not allow him to conclude donald trump did not commit a crime. >> as set forth in the report after that investigation, if we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so. >> and they didn't say so. n

. >> great line, bob mueller -- >> thank you very much.ghter] >> bob -- it was no bob mueller's purview, i love that word, i people are looking up purview. >> you will use bailey wick too. >> it was in his realm to investigate the trump tower meeting, oh, my god, where there was a russian lawyer about to give information about dirt on hillary which she never gave, and yet it was not not in his purview to investigate that russian lawyer met with fusion gps, a word he's never heard of, the night before the meeting at trump tower and the night after the meeting at trump tower, oh, not in his purview. >> led the investigation of a president that the purpose was specifically to overthrow this -- this president's attention to remove him from office. as you watched him stumble and stammer the bewildered looks on his face, if you do not take into effect the tool of radical dems, party of hate, two years and continuing with their assault on the president, you could feel sympathy for him but what evil he has done over the course of 2 years, joe. >>

it wasn't because bob mueller wasn't the central figure in this. don't think mueller is going out there trying to make a case, trying to put out there more information in some kind of subtle which or even in an obvious way. >> but to your point, bds i understand he doesn't want to make it about him. i get it. i'm saying it is about him even though he doesn't like it because it's called the mueller report, number one best seller. >> smur. >> what i'm saying he cares about it if it's misrepresented do doepts he oowe to himself and us as the american po explain it correctly. >> what i expect will happen is the democrats will troy to get him to say out loud the things in the most damning so there is video with rob mueller his credibility and integrity saying what the things. what the expect the republicans on the doing is trying to challenge him and miskarngz the findings of roster. on those issues i expect bob mueller tories that's not what the report says. i'll read it to you if you can't read it, mr. congressman because this is exactly what it says,

>> my thought is i have to disagree with bob mueller. when i read volume 2, it was designed for congress. he turned himself into an independent counsel, with the reporting obligation to the congress of the united states. >> martha: ken, as i turn to the panel here can be found 13 charges of impeachment against bill clinton? is that correct? >> 11. >> martha: 11. it's interesting -- let me go to the panel now, andy mccarthy -- it's interesting, he said he didn't want to talk about impeachment. "impeachment was not a part of my purview." it's interesting to note, would he go back to the ken starr investigation, there were 11 articles of impeachment found. >> not only that, but in his statement on may 29th, which i think he teed up -- he was trained to help the committee, he teed up impeachment for them they are better than he does in his report. he is very clear, saying that in our system it's not for federal prosecutors to be the ones to regulate misconduct by the president. that the constitution as another vehicle for that, and another l

bob mueller is somebody who people work with respect immensely. he models behavior and models integrity. squun and one of the things i think is most important for him to today about peter struck and all sorts of allegations made by the president is to forcefully reject those allegations, defend the integrity of the investigation. people need to hear it from bob mueller himself. >> and it's going to be a significant development, laura, when we watch all of this unfold because mueller as we've been saying he didn't want to have to do this but he's been doing it. >> it is. and he didn't want to have to write a letter to william barr saying please present my summaries i gave to you. i think it lays the groundwork to say any statements on the integrity base claim, to defend the honor or career legacy of his team is going to be viewed as him simply trying to preserve himself as opposed to the american people. >> the democrats, they've been practicing, they've been rehearsing. they've had mock hearings. >> you know what they should practice the most? shu

i did not expect to see that side of bob mueller today. that's a different man than i used to brief. however this was the bob mueller that we expected in terms of what he did with the substance. he promised us he was going to stay within the report as much as possible. he said i don't know to testify read the report everything is in the report. if i testify it will be the report. this is my testimony. and he generally stuck to that. so while his delivery was halting and while he had problems sometimes getting the right word to characterize what he said. >> didn't have facility with the written word of what was on what page and what it concluded. >> right that prevented him at times from doing what i expect he would have done back at fbi director where he would give a no, but this. sometimes that pause led the member who was on a very tight time schedule to jump right in with the next question and made him look more hesitant to answer than he was. >> you were surprised he didn't push back more aen. >> particularly at the beginning of the ju

, watching bob mueller than i do, but the two-year public perception of bob mueller -- i mean, what's, you have to step back. bob mueller never spoke, with very few exceptions, in two years. it wasn't like -- he wasn't seen in public much, don, so there was sort of a sphinx-like who this guy was portrayed as sort of the uber prosecutor. he's got the receipts. and certainly in the house judiciary committee a little less so in the intelligence committee, but certainly that perception didn't marry up with what you were watching. it doesn't take away from what he said -- >> exactly. i agree with that. but it was jarring when you looked just even in the early to mid-2000s, some of the testimony he had and watching the performance today, that was the sort of juxtaposition that i was -- >> people i talked to today that know mueller, worked with mueller, people at the fbi, retired now, close to him were very surprised. >> yeah. >> no one expected this today and i think that is what is in the end is going to be partially the story line here. we were expecting a much more crisp kind of -- >> ye

there's legal precedent where bob mueller can say whatever bob mueller wants. but why a brush-back pitch from the trump justice department. >> if you remember, attorney general barr did not abide by those rulings when he decided to testify. he talked about all issues outside of the report. he explained his decision and why he decided that the president was not guilty of obstruction of justice so he's applying different rules for bob mueller. but this has been the strategy of the trump administration to limit the amount of people coming up to testify about the mueller report, limit the amount of information that can be shown on television about the mueller report, limit the amount of testimony that can be put forward about what's in the mueller report because the mueller report is damning for the trump administration. even though he has no obstruction, no collusion, it is not a positive picture of what is happening within the white house. >> that's what he says, not what the report says. >> democrats are leaving nothing to chance. they really want to sell the te

bob mueller, the mueller report, was not authored by bob mueller, the investigation was not run by bob mueller, it was run by these deputies, and the fact of the matter is, this is what -- rudy and i know this, and her colleagues, we know this, they did not abide by the so-called olc opinion, as rudy just said. untiler the summer of last year, so this nonsense that they knew from the beginning -- that is why he had to correct it because it wasn't true. so whether it was intentional or unintentional, irrelevant. you can't defend the indefensible. >> sean: would this be a fair characterization? we now found out last week that all the hiring was done by andrew weissmann, who has a history of prosecutorial misconduct, withholding exculpatory evidence, we can all read -- mr. mayor, we can read the grade book by sidney powell, "license july -- >> we kind of memorized it. >> sean: tens thousands of americans lost their job, four people to jail, he was in charge of everything. here's my point. he's the biggest, most corrupt prosecutor he could have with the most abusively biased, one-sided dem

. >> i think bob mueller was a very reluctant witness. he was either not well verlsd or briefed on what was in the report or he didn't actually oversee this investigation. his deputy, weissmann who clearly ran this. every time a member of congress asked him a question he said i can't talk about that. and they said it's on page 97 or 95, and he said i will refer to the report. a member of congress asked about me and the supposed interaction i had with the president and he said i don't know who this is. if there are only 10 potential incidences of obstruction that the president was potentially involved with, bob mueller didn't know my name which i appreciate and i am grateful for. but he didn't steam clearly versed on what took place. trish: clearly he wasn't watching television. we have a cracker jack team. here we go. let's run it for the viewer. >> the president asked others to help limit your investigation. >> correct. >> was corey lewandowski one such individual. >> can you remind me -- >> corey lewandowski is the president's former ca

we begin with this fallout from bob mueller's testimony. democrats are now eyeing a key witness turning to trump's finances highway the mueller hearings did belong to the chairs of intel and judiciary, today it's the democrat in charge of formal oversight of the administration, elijah cummings authorizing new subpoenas to trump world, figures like steve bannon and former nsa adviser kt mcfarland, mick mulvaney and jared kushner and ivanka trump. this is also a request for those people's personal communications and that might sound broad even to some harsh, but remember, several of these people including donald trump's family memberses in office have already been caught using personal accounts to avoid potential accountability. democrats noting the hypocrisy given these same people's focus on hillary clinton's infamous personal e mail account. now, having deployed a subpoena to make yesterday's hearing happen, chairman nadler says he's about to enforce a subpoena against a witnesses that mueller cited most, former white house counsel don mcga

>> i agree with byron and look, i don't think any of us knew that bob mueller was so fragile. one could have seen from the day the mueller report came out. it was clear for most americans this was about a conspiracy with russia to undermine our democracy and once it was established by the mueller report that that did not happen then the democrats should have said case closed, let's move on. there was a poll in april and may when this moved out, herbert harris poll, 80% of americans say they want their congressional representative's work and more in infrastructure, and immigrations than investigations of donald trump. they decided not to do that and focus on this and it's completely overshadowed their agenda. "washington post" reported that the democratic congressional campaign committee did focus groups which show that americans believe they are preoccupied with investigations and it's completely overshadowing their agenda. that's why pelosi was the winner today, i agree with amy, because she's been trying to push them off of this and get attention on the agenda she wants so sh

i think today it was -- republicans want to undermine bob mueller. that's what the president had been doing, calling witch hundred hopes. in some sense, you'll hear that mueller wasn't the author of this effort. you'll hear that he didn't appear to be familiar with elements of his own report. i would point out to you the fact that he appeared so frail, martha, bret, does not say that there's an ongoing effort to interfere in american elections. when he points out no, i didn't see any evidence here of efforts to somehow barely taint this president to the contrary, he said it's not a hoax. he had trouble. i come back to something that bret said. conspiracy. collusion. he would -- trying to say that actually the law is about conspiracy. he couldn't bring it to mind. to me this is a sad moment for bob mueller. someone i know. when he was fbi director, i thought it was a sad end note. it's not the case that therefore the entirety has been proven to be all about partisan or all about madness. they said exoneration. you can't exonerate any more than you can

so much so that bob mueller had to contradict him. i think it's important to revisit that and say, here's what this report really said and didn't say. because it didn't say that the president was exonerated of obstruction of justice. very much the contrary. and people need to understand that from the guy who actually investigated and wrote the report. >> earlier today, the house speaker nancy pelosi tried to quash this growing dispute with some of the freshman democrats, including congressman ocasio-cortez, who accused nancy pelosi of singling out the newly elected women of color. her words. why has this become so contentious? >> i kind of wish this was not the language that my colleague from new york had used. nancy pelosi is not in any way, shape, or form racist and i think you had tape earlier of alexandria ocasio-cortez acknowledging that. here's what's happening, wolf, it is not some news-worthy gulf within the democratic party. we are a huge and dwiiverse par. we have people from all over the country, gay, straight, white, black

>> i would imagine by this time bob mueller will have cracked. [laughter] he will have acknowledged that the doj policy would've indicted the president and will say, in fact, because william barr told me i could reach that conclusion i'm not ready to reach a conclusion. i'm joking. [laughter] i hope that where we are at this time tomorrow is with a better public understanding of the gravity of what the russians did and the systemic nature of what the russians did and the gravity of what the trump campaign did and what our own president did and how unethical it was and how unpatriotic it was and whether it could be proved to meet all the elements of the crime of conspiracy to willingly invite, make use of, foreign help and not just foreign help but help from a foreign adversary in a country that wishes us ill. and then to obstruct the investigation into that foreign interference for reasons of selfish protection of reputation or a desire to avoid criminal culpability, regardless of what it does to the country and how it leaves the country vulnerab

new clashes with a week to going from bob mueller's public testimony. trump's border chief under fire for denying reported facts about conditions at trump administration migrant facilities. he will also testify next week. and democrats rallying around this new challenger to mitch mcconnell. wait till you hear how much money she just raised. we have all that in the show. but begin with new clashes over the mueller hearings. one week away as of tonight. for months, trump and his attorney general claimed they were fine with mueller testifying and if he does, it wouldn't be a big deal. that are bluster though is already giving away to some kind of palpable fear. including this new report that the trump doj wants to silence mueller's deputies from testifying it at all even in closed session and now giuliani joining trump allies to blast these hearings before they begin. >> a bunch of unethical disgraceful prosecutors which is what they are and all this lionizing of mueller is disgraceful. he was a hit man. >> when it comes to mr. mueller's testimony, a lot o

i heard comments about whether bob mueller was quick enough or sharp enough or forceful enough. the report was not undermined a wit today. in my mind it would mean the president could be indicted. that all stood up. you had dozens of republican members of the house ask question after question after question with a lot of gusto to try to get bob mueller to back off of them, and he didn't. in fact, many of the questions went to things that were collateral and peripheral. but many people engaged with the conclusions in the report, the facts in the report and all other things in the report that talked about the ways in which donald trump probably broke the law. and that remains. if someone thinks that bob mueller right out of the box makes a statement about how he did not exonerate the president which undermines the falsehood that the president has been saying for a long time, and all the other conclusions in the report remain unscathed, i don't know how you call that total victory. >> he specifically also, jim sciutto, he made it clear that he believes the president could be indict

his media mechanism ran with it, and so tomorrow you get a chance to have bob mueller unfiltered. i don't think we should set enormously high expectations. he's going to be a by the book guy. i think we should have a real filter that the republican guys are going to try to set their asses on fire and try to distract people from the weight and gravity of this testimony, but that -- so that show tomorrow is going to be one that is going to hold america pretty transfixed. it's going to get a ton of media coverage, and you're going to be able to weigh and assess it by how damaging it is by the degree to which trump loses his mind on twitter. >> bill kristol, when historians look back at the role of the attorney general in playing mr. mueller in effect, getting out ahead, taking that body blow, will it be said that he might have saved the trump presidency from trump? >> that's a good question. maybe. thinking about this over the last 48 hours and thinking about the testimony, it seems we use the metaphor, the movie, the movie script tomorrow. like a show. why are movies interesting? be

so far so not so good for bob mueller. a lot of democrats by not having a stronger performance today. some republicans who wanted him to explain what prompted his investigation in the first place today. neither side got that. let's go to blake burman live at the white house, how the white house is taking all this in. hey there, blake. reporter: neil, robert mueller right off the bat in his prepared testimony before even started taking questions he would not answer questions on a couple issues. one of then being the origination of the russia investigation and also he said he wouldn't answer questions as it relates to the steele dossier, the thinking or reasoning for mueller earlier today, those topics are currently under review by the department of justice. however, it was this exchange right here with republican congressman steve chabot who left many with questions afterwards. watch. >> when you talk about the firm that produced the steele reporting, the name of the firm that produced that was fusion gps. is that correct?

bob mueller and his prosecutors are not.he gives this very authoritative sounding opinion with respect to the powers of the presidency. i think he got a lot have it wrong. i think he got a lot of the analysis wrong on obstruction of justice. the presentation of the facts, just raises the question, again, was this a fair presentation and balanced presentation of the facts. at this stage i say no. >> sean: ken starr, thank you. how many lawyers go we have? four, that's a lot. you're a lawyer, start with you, judge, we love dearly. that 9 1/2 minutes that was a disaster for mueller. go ahead. >> it was a disaster. first of all that report as ken starr just said is a report that was supposed to go to the attorney general. the attorney general can decide what if anything he wants to do with it. he didn't to have disclose it, release it -- >> sean: he said no collusion in part one. >> he said no collusion in part one. and then as it related to obstruction he says i can't really acquit the defend, the president. yeah, of obstructio

he began to punch back a little more in the second half. >> standard charges against bob mueller. granted, if you were looking for a made for tv kind of character, mueller was not that, perhaps, today. but on those issues, over time, if you kept track, he hit back the 14 angry democrat saying, which we heard frequently from republicans. no, i only chose based on ability. and very clear terms, i never asked their party affiliation. that's not done. on the idea he wanted fbi job, something that the president has repeated without founding, he said no. i was asked to give input on what that job would take. he contradicted that charge. >> steve banon backs him on that, by the way. >> steve banon does back him on that. republican congressman, i don't think, meant to go here. he reminded her, look back at my march 27th letter where he said, mr. barr, your report did not fully get the context, nature and substance of his report. so, again, in the midst of this very long four-hour hearing, he did hit back at that. >> he did. it took him a while, i think, to get there, to finally hit back. y

listen, give bob mueller credit. he is a vietnam veteran, a good man, a prosecutor's prosecutor, but prosecution and politics don't mix. what we saw yesterday was a mix of prosecution and politics and it doesn't work. >> sandra: it was really something, guy. appreciate your reaction this morning. a heck of a lot more coming up on all of that. thank you, guy. as we mentioned democratic senator chris koouns will be joining us in a few moments. jim jordan, who questioned mueller at yesterday's hearing will also join us in 20 minutes from now. and next hour former congressman and prosecutor trey gowdy will be our headliner so lots more reaction coming up. >> jon: now this fox news alert from puerto rico where celebrations have replaced protests after governor ricardo rossello announced his resignation. demonstrations demanded he step down. bryan llenas is live in san juan with more. >> puerto rico ex hailtion after two weeks of tensions. the governor resigned, the first governor to do so in puerto rico history but not wi

because it is clearly not bob mueller. they have their own agenda and kept saying this republican, if fbi director war hero meanwhile they were going to town maybe perhaps with their agenda. let me ask you something, mr. speaker, while the speaker of the house talks impeachment maybe not impeachment when it comes to what had the mernl people care about, immigration is now reigning through roof and had had it comes to the economy, about 52.of the country approve of where 4 point up from where it was in may '19. >> now i think the fact is, that the president is in pretty good position to be reelect and every time democrats have a debate, it gets to be in a better position. they're taking a series of very radical positions. decriminalizing breaking the law by cross the american border. basically having an open border. providing tax paid health care for illegal immigrants. being for abortion and 9th month in some states and for -- you go down taking away your right to have private health insurance. you go down item by item and

>> what did bob mueller say today?he have the authority to fire jim comey for whatever he wants? yes. >> he said no, it depends -- >> no, that was asked to him. could you fire james comey for any reason? >> he does not. he elaborates. it depends what it's about. >> do you think the president of the united states has the authority to fire the fbi director for whatever reason he wants? >> no. corrupt intent has to be taken into consideration. >> they tried that. it didn't work out. >> it doesn't mean it's not right. >> you don't think -- >> enough. enough. we're back 50 years. i'm saying this, do you think we can get to a place, and i'll say it to you now. you have to remember this. jay sekulow and his legal team did this president right. i know that's going to upset a lot of you. they knew if they put him in the chair, there was going to be trouble. they kept him out of the chair even though the special counsel says some of the answers weren't that helpful. >> he never sent a letter that said they weren't truthful. >> i

it the way you laid it out, if bob mueller just laid it out as you said it and talk about how significant those things were, that will be a momentous thing. >> i want to welcome our viewers all around the united states and around the world. we have live special coverage of robert mueller under oath. he is set to testify publicly about his investigation into russia's attack on the 2016 election here in the united states and allegations of obstruction by the president. i'm wolf blitzer. >> and i'm jake tapper. it is a doubleheader, of course. he'll before the judiciary committee. democrats there would like mueller to say whether president trump would have been charged if he was not a sitting president. but mule har has made it clear he wants to stick to the 448-page report and not deviate from it in any way. >> the judiciary hearing is expected to last about three hours and then the intelligence comittee will focus in on russia's election influence. >> this could potentially be a do or die moment f. for republican, on the other hand, it could be a chance to close the book. for president tru

if bob mueller says he can't investigate it, give me a break. i thought matt gaetz did a great job. he mueller report and the mueller testimony on its face. they will continue the investigation to impeach trump. what you see in congress is two sets of democrats. one who hate president trump and another group who will try to impeach them. they know smart politics is emotional politics. but what's happening is they are being challenged from the left. they are pry married from the left with candidates who say we'll need to impeach donald trump. we need to take him out of office in the primary. now they are saying i am going to lose my seat from the left. i have to support the impeachment of donald trump. the problem for the democrats is most americans don't agree with that. these democrats are going to lose their elections, republicans are going to win the house, nancy pelosi will have the galveston for two years because of the crazies in her party and the crazies in her base. david: think all the congressmen from red states. they came out in 2018 and they can be out easily in 2020. >>

. >> bob mueller's presentation was not detailed. >> this was not the robert mueller i knew. >> bob mueller is not a made for tv guy, we live in a made for tv society. >> you do not have that viral -- >> they fumbled the entire accountability mission, on optics it was a disaster. >> look who winning now, it looks like donald trump is winning. kennedy: not chuck todd's beard. it was not mueller who had a bad day, she said it was president, channeling win stone -- winston churchill. it will is the end of the beginning. >> a renewed interest by congress in hearing from the people who were on mueller's team and did the work beyond the sort of distant figure head figure of mueller himself, second thing. that i think sort of comes out of today's hearing, i think we're already seeing, will be a renewed focus by democrats, on figuring out the money side. figuring out the financial side. kennedy: show them the returns rachel. said that mueller laid out a fantastic case to impeach and maybe lock up the president, lock him up? was she watching the same hearing as everyone else? how will left wing medi