and unlike the early part of the clinton administration we have a family issue that's driving a lotnd the president did speak to what do you do with people turning themselves into border patrol agents and immediately seeking asylum and the president spoke to that by changing the standard that border patrol agents get to apply in terms of who gets to the second round and who guest past them. >> he's going to have a problem with that. that's a huge element. >> well, not really. there's two -- there's two reasons this is really beneficial. one, obviously speed. but two, once you actually apply it you deter other people from using the same pipeline. >> if you return them. >> if you return them. that sends a bigger message than even a wall that they're coming back and people say well it's not worth it because what we were told isn't true. >> fine score points on that. i was never in that bags ket. i always knew it was there because i have been there so often and talked to these people so often. they have needs of building accommodations and having more judges and more caseworkers and mor

i enjoyed very much the clinton administration, really quite enjoyable working with not only president, but hillary clinton. the person who was the warmest of them all, an amazing gentleman, was george h w bush when he was president. he was the first when i got to know as a president. i got to know reagan, but not much. george itched of the bush extended himself to me when he wanted to learn about what hiv was because he wanted to do something about it. david: what would you say are the characteristics that make somebody a leader? dr. fauci: if you are leading an organization of some sort that has a purpose or a mandate, that as the leader you have to articulate to the people you are leading exactly what your vision is and where you want the organization to go, because i have seen issues in which there was not good leadership, where an organization don't know where they are supposed to be going. if you let them know which revision is, hire the best people, and don't get in your way, that is the quality of a good leader. david: let's suppose i get an infectious disease and want to be on

let's discuss with jack quinn, a former white house counsel for the clinton administration, and josh dawsey, white house reporter for "the washington post" here. jack, you know, the white house clearly is not shy about just up and saying no to a whole host of congressional subpoenas here. looks like don jr. may do the same. so what does congress do in that case? >> so congress has some options here. one of them, i think, that should probably be off the table or won't get them very far would be to hold him in criminal contempt. it's unlikely at the end of the day the department of justice would take steps in court to enforce that. it's entirely possible that the house could move to hold him in civil contempt. which would carry with it the possibility of stiff fines for as long as it takes to get his compliance. the next step here, look, two important things to understand here. number one, the trumps expect special treatment in all of these investigations and in life generally. you see that in this remarkable discussion about whether or not a heads-up was given to people about this com

ambassador to mexico who work order nafta under the clinton administration he is currently chairman of monarch global strategies. and so if you both don't mind, i'll use your first names to differentiate you. >> that is okay. >> and michelle caruso-cabrera is also with me. you're our ambassador to the world. let's start with you this is strictly meant to be a weapon to change next copy's behavior on illegal immigration because the white house is upset that congress hasn't done anything >> i think that absolutely the president is extremely frustrated by what is going on at the border. he thinks he could solve some. problems by changing the structure, but he needs congress and that is not happening. so he has gone to the other method he loves tariffs for everything. and they are trying to use the national security justification which would in theory give them legal justification for about doing this it will be tough for mexico though mexico itself -- the mexican president this morning gave a news conference 7:00 a.m., he is just as frustrated about the search in migrants from central ame

case, you can see news coverage of the repeal of don't ask don't tell, the policy of the clinton administration that allowed people to serve in a military as long as they were required about who they were and what their sexual orientation was. here you see the gavel that nancy pelosi used to announce the repeal of don't ask, don't tell in 2010. protests.newall comes they were called -- because they were provocative, designed to get press coverage and attention to what the activists were fighting for you have groups. like the gay raiders out of philadelphia who got themselves into the cbs evening news with walter cronkite, had a protest and disappeared as americans watched their evening newscast. cronkite took time after the newscast to talk to them and it changed the way cbs covered the gay movement at the time. various groups and nationalities that were not best their stories were not being told by the mainstream press, they would start their own newspapers and magazines. here you see gay activist and commit many publications rose up -- here you see "the gay activist" and other publications th

i enjoyed very much the clinton administration, really quite enjoyable working with not only presidenton, but hillary clinton. the person who was the warmest of them all, an amazing gentleman, was george h w bush when he was president. he was the first when i got to know as a president. i got to know reagan, but not much. george h.w. bush extended himself to me when he wanted to learn about what hiv was because he wanted to do something about it. david: as you look back on your career what would you say are , the characteristics that make somebody a leader? things i: one of the tell people, because i feel it strongly as if you are leading an organization of some sort that has a purpose or a mandate, that as the leader you have to articulate to the people you are leading exactly what your vision is and where you want the organization to go, because i have seen issues in which there was not good leadership, where an organization don't know where they are supposed to be going. if you let them know which revision is, hire the best people, and don't get in your way, that is the quality of a

prescription drug costs with the previous health and human services secretary during the clinton administration

library because of your 8 years of work at the health and human services department in the clinton administration. what lessons did you take from that job to this job? >> it is pragmatism, it is a deep understanding of the politics around every idea that everyone has has, and a desire to find a way to improve the life for all americans, improving their health without politics division. >> how could you grade alex azar and how he is doing in that job? >> i'm a tough grader. i like alex, but i don't think he is running health policy, i think it is being run out of the white house frankly. so i'm deeply concerned about what their doing with the children that have come in and been separated from their families, there are 3,000 that will be in south florida. they're being warehoused and we have not put kids in orphages for decades. but we're diverting resources. we should be focused on taking care of those children. of all of the things we can do we can make sure children get to safe homes. >> we spent the first half hour today talking about immigration, any thoughts on this proposal we're expecting t

bush and the bill clinton administration. we're also fortunate twe are ale one of the leading journalists to moderate the conversation, susan glasser. [applause] susan's background in domestic and foreign policy gives a unique perspective in addition to writing the column in the new yorker, she's been an editor at one of the most influential publications and served as the editor in chief before the policy magazine and editor at the "washington post" and rollcall. i appreciate he did his very best to exact as much news as possible. [applause] it is the professional peace processors so i'm going to turn it around for the first question and say two questions for everybody in and opening round i'm not sure there was a big headline out of this did you hear something in the conversation this evening that made you feel a settlement was actually more likely than you thought coming into the dinner this evening? i guess it's only fair to start with those that have been on the ground most recently so i will go ahead and give you the fir

this is the first big change since the clinton administration. the first lad invited some children of secret service agents to help break in the new bowling alley. >> i like it. yeah. >> got to brighten it up, put in new furniture, let the kids play. >> a great idea. >>> chuck bell -- yesterday, i was waiting for it to warm up, and the clouds never really -- >> that makes two of us. >> yeah.ap >> i was that it was nice and cool. >> it wasn't a bad day. >> i said it wouldn't rain, and did didn't rain.ha so ts a -- and it didn't rain. so that's a win. it was a spectacular bust on the high temperature forecast yesterday. we struggled mightily to make it to 70, richmond, virgina, was 88 yesterday. the warm air was lie flooding waitment just down to the south of fredericksburg,bu perrys stayed in the low to mid 70s where i thought especially from stafford southbound through oredericksburg, i thought we'd be well int the 80s yesterday. that wedge of cool, cloudy air off the atlantic just stayed in place. it'sl remained in pe overnight. warmer air is st

janet reno, this says janet reno first said that in explaining why the clinton administration would notsomeone available to congress, and the justice department in this memorandum says this is a position that justice has taken under both republican and democratic administrations, under the clinton and obama administration and under the george bush administration. so they basically say you have to think about this as could congress summon the president himself to appear, the answer is no. and by analogy, the opinion of justice department has consistently been since 1970 that applies to the senior advisers as well. i guess there's some question about what mcgahn was talking about was part of the president's constitutionally assigned duties or not. that may be one place the white house may push back on this. the answer is this is the white house position, the justice department position. this is the executive branch's position. if congress wants to fight this, they have to go to court. this opinion of the justice department is an executive branch opinion, the internal view of the governmen

the ensuing $1994.00 violent crime control and law enforcement act passed with enthusiasm clinton administration pressure would consign millions of black americans to a life behind bars so if someone with an addiction problem gets caught with crack and it isn't that their own body isn't that they're like if if they're going to have their own body do you really have to lock them away destroying their life even further you could argue getting 42 genital piercings and a life sized tattoo of matt lauer across your stomach are poor choices for your body far worse or than far worse than crack but i don't want to lock that guy away either you know what happened to the right to be in any in this country right there where yet if you aren't. harming anyone else. i'm not saying legalize it but we should decriminalise our country is based on our god given right to be moral. you know whereas if you arm other people then that's a different story i think you should be punished if you. water you destroy lives to predatory lending or i don't know maybe if you lock up a 1000000 black people because you're out of

because of your eight works at work the at health and human services department during the clinton administration. what lessons did you take from that job to this job? >> it is pragmatism. it is what you can get done. it's a deep understanding of, for example, in health care, of the culture of health care, the politics around every idea that everyone has, and a kind of, a kinds of desire to find a way in which we can improve life for all americans, particularly improve their health, without creating a politics of division as opposed to people coming together. >> you know, the hhs secretary job well. how would you grade alax azar and how he is doing in that job. >> i am a tough grader. i like alex, but i don't think he's running health policy. i think it is being run out of white house frankly. so i'm deeply concerned about what they're doing with these children that have come in that have been separated from their families. there are 3,000 of them that are going to be in south florida. they're being warehoused, and we haven't put kids in orphanages in decades in this country. we need to get them

. >> people know you, you served in the clinton-obama administration. >> i did. >> you have a lot ofome issues that involved serious things. there were people that lost their lives in benghazi and other issues that turned object to be nothing, like the allegations the irs was targeting people. i watched that, in the end they weren't. barack obama never took the position that people's business or governance would have to stop. here's what speaker pelosi ted to you about that today. >> he came that the room and said he was engaged in a coverup and he couldn't possibly, couldn't possibly engage in a conversation on infrastructure as long as we are investigating him. now, we have been investigating him since we took the majority. so there is nothing new in that. >> that's how she put it and for your analysis, we did check and even during the darkest days of richard nixon will show the legislation that actually did happen. some of it would be considered centered left today, protecting endangered species. they worked on the budget, the war powers resolution, which is the reaction of the ov

they did site events from the clinton administration, the george w. bush administration and obama.se are cases in which they really don't want to go to court. they don't want to decision, both sides, congress and the white house would have a lot to lose in this especially in the bush case, congress subpoenaed harriet myers, white house counsel and karl rove in 2007. into the obama administration, finally they agreed to go talk but with extreme limitations that had to be only on the subject at hand which was the firing of the us attorneys and they would not talk about any conversation they had had with the president. don mcgann goes under those conditions democrats will be very unhappy. >> house judiciary chairman jerry never threatened to hold mcgann in contempt of congress. how about something later? jeopardy's reigning champ racking up the 23rd straight win, telling alex trebek that his success doesn't come from college. >> our champion, ladies and gentlemen, some people have wondered how you know so much. >> i went to the university of illinois and online poker. >> where you a g

you ook at the north korean game plan, they are pursuing the same plan they pursued in the clinton administration, during the bush administration, and it's one where, you know they sort of demand concession after concession after concession and they never actually -- from us, and they never actually produce on their end of the bargain. i think you have to give this administration real credit for saying we're not going to do that anymore. that's where we are now. i think that the president was right to walk away from the table. and i think that, you know, the north koreans have to recognize and understand that we're not going to play that same game again. in the past, you know, we saw that and i say this with -- scooter was very involved on the correct side of this issue during the bush administration, we had some who weren't, but the fact of that -- the fact of that sort of negotiating tactic is one that we can't allow to continue and i think making sure that the chinese know that we're serious about the sanctions, and making sure we continue to work with the japanese work the south koreans, to h

general at the department of justice was very critical of how he handled things during the clinton administration him things like insubordinate and serious errors in judgment were made. so for him to be on his high horse on this, if i were advising jim comey, i would tell him not to do it. >> josh, jim makes the accurate point that the inspector general was critical of comey in how he handled the press conference and the clinton stuff. would it be logistically possible, given how long of a bureaucracy the fbi is, to get that many agents, who, you know, have taken an oath to defend the constitution, to conspire to carry out an attempted coup as the president is alleging? >> well, you hit on it. and as james comey has said, as i've said, as other people have said, anyone with a brain can understand, this notion that there was this deep state cabal that was out to get the president, the president-elect of the time, doesn't survive the first contact with logic. all it takes is one iota of critical thinking to understand just how ridiculous this is. it's like a breeze on a house of cards, it comes cra

lou: i am curious to decades going back to the clinton administration and we are putting up antiaircrafturity forces over 20 years in this president now has a situation to contend with that bush and clinton obama before he ignored? what in the hell have our intelligence agencies been doing before trump was elected? . >> putin is an opportunist and thinks strategically. lou: that sounds like a great description for any country of the world. >> he moved into ukraine with no opposition moved into syria with no opposition. he calculated he can make those moves and be successful and as a result with syria he has influence in the middle east only the united states has had now a big strategic move with venezuela he was to have influence in the western hemisphere at the expense of the united states this is very serious business. lou: i could not agree more. we are also engaged with the chinese according to the most pentagon report the assistant defense secretary said. >> china seeks to erode military advantages and seek to gain and maintain influence and with significant resourcing which transla

the clinton administration trade people after clinton orchestrated a proposal with china, their people pointed out what could happen. there was a great article in 2000 that laid out what could and probable would happen in the wto. bush sustained it. it's not political. it's policy. congress got it wrong. over half of them. they allowed china to come into the united states and work by their rules. >> laura: rick, the people who say this is not the way to go. okay i say to them: gives your blueprint. we had obama for 8 years and things got worse and worse in stealing our intellectual property and the dumping of state sponsored industry. how do we right this? obama could not do it. it got worse under bush. >> president bush tryed it in 2002. the steel tariff didn't work. >> laura: we didn't stick with it long enough. >> -->> we tried washing machines. that's not working. >> laura: that's not the case. we have some growth. >> the growth is terrific. right now it costs 817,000 dollars per employee. >> laura: what is the answer? do you want to keep doing business? the business as it's been g

and in the 1992 to 1994 process in the bush 41 administration and the clinton administration as it relates to labor, we expect that to nafta labor rates along the u.s./mexico border would rise over the years as productivity increased and opportunities increased, both benefits and compensation. and then really just did not increase like i think people expected. so in this agreement, as you say, to set and manufacturing minimum wage in mexico, it will reduce pressure on people trying to move across the border for work, and it will make their families better off in mexico, and it will reduce the imbalance between production costs in mexico and the u.s. which is good for u.s. manufacturers, as you note. and i agree, it's a long-term process, and it's not simply a transaction, but good comments. >> independent line. newport richie, florida. ann, hello. >> caller: hi, good morning. how are you all this morning? >> morning. >> caller: i'm kind of nervous, so i just want to say one or two little things. i'm in florida. and on this program and others, there's been a long list of many little things

point man on arab israeli diplomacy in both george hw bush and bill clinton administration. we are also fortunate to have with us one of washington's leading journalists to moderate the conversation, susan glasser. susan's background -- [applause] susan's background in domestic and foreign policy gives her a unique perspective on the trump peace plan. in addition to writing the column trumps washington in new yorker she has been an editor at one of washington's most influential publications political. she previously served as editor-in-chief for foreign policy magazine and editor of "the washington post" and rollcall. susan, the floor is yours. thank you. >> thank you and good evening to everyone. it's a dangerous thing to stand between an audience and desserts left back forgive us an advance and i have to say i want to thank rob on behalf of all of us. especially the journalists in the room can appreciate he did his very best to extract as much news as possible and that. [applause] i am particularly delighted to have this panel of professional these processors this evening

with the former white house general counsel from the clinton administration. the former assistant director of the fbi's office of congressional affairs. then we will about the unrest in venezuela. c-span'so watch washington journal, live at 7:00 eastern friday morning. join the discussion. c-span cities tour is on the road exploring the american story. with the help of our comcast cable partners, this weekend, we take you to palo alto, california. >> it is not in my opinion a place. it is a state of mind. >> this garage is where hewlett-packard did their experiments in 1938. it is called the birthplace of silicon valley. announcer 2: known for its connection to silicon valley, it is home to stanford university, the all of water of president herbert hoover and the institution he founded in 1990. >> dedicated to the use and preservation of the collection of books and manuscripts on war, revolution, and peace. >> reflecting on the personal sacrifices and the challenges in which journalists and the civilians played in the war. how we can build upon understanding t

since 1983, i have been a judge by appointment of the first arabian administration and the clinton administration. i am curious as to what the result is perceived to be on neighboring states, uae. does this have a flow over affect that is noticed? kuwait, i would add to that. anne: would you like to address that? >> it has spilled over. it has been a volatile situation. it has been for several years. i do not know as much as qatar and kuwait as far as internal dynamics. if you go back and look, the ties between these countries go back centuries. they are hard to break. they are not conducted in the same sort of modern way we do. there is transmigration of people. by boats, we saw an instance of it today. those are dangerous waters. i do not have specifics on the other countries. >> for the gulf, it was said a country brokered countries between the west and iran. kuwait was less friendly to iran. qatar was less friendly. after a crisis, egypt, saudi arabia, bahrain, and uae pushed a country closer to iran. that is the dynamics in the gulf. anne: yes? chairmanm miller, the on the board of national

he said during nixon and clinton administration, major legislation still got through washington. >> the u.s. government says the new $20 bills feature harriet tubman won't roll out until 2028. the decision to replace former president andrew jackson by harriet tubman happened during the obama administration. the fate has been endowed since the 2016 campaign. then candidate donald trump criticized it as pure political correctness. steve mnuchin says it's being delayed because the $10 bills and $50 bills must be redone first. >> stocks finished lower over the uncertainty of trade policies and earnings. the dow dropped 100 poignants, nasdaq develop 3 had known points. qualcomm dived almost 7%. >> now to morrin county where a multicourse gourmet dinner was served tonight. this dinner was prepared at san quentin by inmates who graduated from the quentin cooks culinary program. the 12 week program teaches them the skills they need to work in a fast paced restaurant. organizers say the course focuses on teamwork, discipline and acounted built forgeting the job done. those are all skills needed

what the memo stated under different administrations, republicans and democrats citing the clinton administrations from a broader perspective and arguing this is not just about this administration but the previous senior advisors have been protective by the president this doj has set in not being forced to comply with the subpoenas because it's a direct advisor to the president >> mike: we heard from the leadership team and to use the word impeachment. what are your thoughts? >> they trump administration is building a line of argument that was used by the obama administration and there are some mixed history on this under the george w. bush administration. there was a court decision that said he would have to go comply with the subpoena and appear before a congressional panel but they are in line. this is part of a broad effort by the trump administration to defy congressional investigations on every front and that is enormously frustrating and it does feel the desire by some house democrats to move forward with impeachment. >> mike: what of those france is trying to get the president's tax retur

during the clinton administration, there was defiance of this body. and my view they were wrong. >> the assertion wrong. it cannot be sustained in the current force. a certain type of prevent i have assertion has never been tested in court. >> that preventive assertion with respect to a specific subpoena. never before that an administration would stone wall all subpoena ises and requests for documents. >> the president believes congress has a political agenda. >> that's not a legitimate legislative interest. but the fact that congress might have political motives in addition to legislative motives is not only that, but it's not surprising. so that motive doesn't tell them anything. the only is the legitimate interest as well. in this instance, you do. >> mr. rosen? >> i would ask you the same question as well. can executive privilege and have you seen it in your experience. >> no, that would be most unusual. congress always has some political motive that that's what you're here for. the committee clearly has legitimate interests both as the chairman s

you look at the north korean game plan, they are pursuing the same plan they pursued in the clinton administration, during the bush administration, and it's one where, you know they sort of demand concession after concession after concession and they never actually -- from us, and they never actually produce on their end of the bargain. i think you have to give this administration real credit for saying we're not going to do that anymore. that's where we are now. i think that the president was right to walk away from the table. and i think that, you know, the north koreans have to recognize and understand that we're not going to play that same game again. in the past, you know, we saw that and i say this with -- scooter was very involved on the correct side of this issue during the bush administration, we had some who weren't, but the fact of that sort of negotiating tactic is one that we can't allow to continue and i think making sure that the chinese know that we're serious about the sanctions, and making sure we continue to work with the japanese, work with the south koreans, to help to ensure

if you read the book, i talk about criticism of the obama administration, the clinton administration,inistration, for missing these threats in the past. fact is, the president, certainly on russia, not willing to articulate a strategy or call out russia for some of its bad behavior. that's different from what you hear from the submarine commanders, the guys flying the spy planes, the guys fighting cyberattacks in the nsa. that disconnect is important. >> it's a great book, if you haven't bought it yet, "the shadow war." jim's new book. we'll keep talking about it. >> still ahead, presidential hopeful senator kamala harris unfailing her plan to close the gender pay gap. it would shift the burden from working women to large corporations. we'll tell you how next. [music playing] (michelle) i know what it's like to be in a financially struggling family. we had a lot of leftovers...[chuckles] i couldn't have asked for better parents, but like most people they didn't have anyone to teach them the best financial habits. so we changed that. as a financial health coach, i help people every day

if this had happened under bill clinton's administration, bill clinton would have been impeached in 1998case closed. >> right. >> now, things are different. >> it is not just giuliani going to ukraine to dig up dirt. the president saying it would be appropriate for him to speak to attorney general bill barr about launching an investigation into biden or his son, hunter. ron, do you see that as a sign that the president is growing more and more worried about biden's chances, possibly running against him in 2020? >> well, yes. i think, you know, the president has kind of put his heart on his sleeve, in the sense of giving you what he thinks on twitter, that they are concerned about biden, particularly his ability to win back the three blue wall states in the midwest and the rust belt. pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin. what strikes me about the comments from the president is the crickets from republicans in congress. five-year 45 years of the watergate hearing. there was a commitment to uphold the rule of law and stick with the truth. we've seen republicans almost abdicate any interest in

. >> going to the courts with both the clinton administration and the obama administration, ultimatelyoblems -- >> took a while. >> years. eric holder held in contempt and congress won that battle but after obama was out of office. >> do you think we'll see mueller testify on the hill? >> i think we will. the concern here is that the attorney general is still his boss. so if the attorney general says, mueller, don't testify, i think mueller will respect his boss's orders so then it's a question of how long barr gets to remain the boss. if mueller leaves office and subpoenaed to testify i'm sure that he would come and tell the american people what we have a right to know. >> tom, this headline of "the washington post." trump finds in barr the attorney general and shield he long sought. there's a real question here over whether the attorney general has been left damaged in the wake of this. is he? >> i think it is fair to say that the barr honeymoon is over as far as the democrats are concerned if it ever existed. when barr was appointed he had bipartisan support. lukewarm but nonetheles

this was going on during the clinton administration, cory booker in newark, in obama administration withrne duncan as part of the department of education, really embracing reform. i said to her, in 2008, what would have happened if there erre teastrikes then because she was noting how pleaseshe was how many democratic candidates were tweeting out support for the l.a. teachers. i said would any democrats tweeted support for teachers in 2008, she said absolute not. she said w st we'n in the last 10 or 15 years is unions were on their back feet even among democrats, and this blue bloom has sort of come off the rose in the last few years as charters have not lived up toth r promise and the teacher strikes, i think, put the focus back on teachers a the real consequences of what budget cuts mean to most school children. >> woodrufon so the ques about whether some of these candidates are campaigning, the ruso belt. we saw joe biden, tam, over the weekend in philadelphia, big rally, talked about the importance of unity, bringing democrat together. lo and behold trump late today is headed for pen

mcgahn's testimony came from office of legal counsel and famously back in 1999 during the clinton administration, the office of legal counsel rendered an opinion sitting presidents cannot be indicted. we're seeing here harris, office of legal counsel cuts both ways and in neither case is congress which was controlled by republicans are now controlled by democrats like what else he has to say. >> harris: it is interesting to see democrats talking about it, the bucket of kfc. they say they are serious about getting this information. john roberts, thank you. republican congressman tom mcclintock, i understand you were at today's hearing. i'm anxious to get a report from you. >> i think the whole thing is silly. president, pretty much every president since harry truman have directed and the courts have backed them every single time there is a reason for that. executive legislative branches are independent, separate and co-equal. let's put the shoe on the other foot, for example. could president trump compel jerry nadler general counsel to come to the white house and testify under oath to his discuss

putting it in context i remember during the clinton administration there were 44 different committeesbcommittees that were looking for documents or testimony. in some sense it's not a lot. but it does -- sure. this is a political fight, a challenge for both sides to get the message out. the president has the bully pulpit, twitter. democrats have to make sure that there is a rationale behind going after each of these things, coordinate each of these things, so it doesn't look like it's a fishing exhibition. they have done a good job so far. nancy pelosi did a good job having it coordinated and rolled out. you look at the list and there are things that have little to do with politics. they have to do with traditional oversight. puerto rico, immigration, things like that. the idea that the administration has said, we are not going to talk to you at all, is not only an affront to the democrats, it is an affront to the constitution >> it sounds as though president trump feels like they cooperated for about 18 months with robert mueller and so he's done. that's basically been his position.

attorney who was appointed in the past by janet reno during the clinton administration, by eric holdera administration. no you he's going to examine whether the law was broken in the opening of the russia investigation. when only last week the fbi director chris wray testified he is aware of no evidence of illegal activity. what's happening here? is this barr doing the president's bidding here or are there substantial questions to be answered? >> it certainly looks like it's simply barr doing the president's bidding. in terms of what we have seen publicly there is no basis to open up yet another investigation about the origins of mueller. the results speak for themselves, there were convictions, there were guilty pleas and more importantly we have seen nothing to suggest other than the points that the president's backers make that there is something wrong with that initial commencement of the investigation. so it really seems that barr is just continuing to do what the president wants him to do. i mean, the bright side is, you know, the prosecutor is experienced and has not appeared to

and i want to get your perspective since you were former white house chief of staff in the clinton administrationcontentious times, the beginning of the whitewater independent counsel investigation. >> want to get your take on this standoff between president trump and congressional democrats. white house is refusing pretty much any and all requests for testimony and documents that pertain to investigations of the president. how do you see this situation? >> well, i think our forefathers are turning over in their grave right now watching this. because our forefathers were very clear that they didn't want power to be centralized in one branch of government particularly in a king or a president and not in the legislative branch and not in the courts so that is why they established our system of checks and balances. this president is basically taken a position he won't adhere to that system of checks and balances. and for that reason, it obviously jeopardizes the way our democracy functions. so at some point the courts will have to rule, i think they will rule in favor of our system of checks and bal

attorney general barr's testimony this week with the former white house general counsel from the clinton administrationf the fbi's office of congressional affairs. then we will talk about the unrest in venezuela. be sure to watch c-span's "washington journal," live at 7:00 eastern on writing morning. -- friday morning. join the discussion. >> once, tv was simply three giant networks and a government supported service called pbs. 79, a small network with an unusual name rolled out an idea: let viewers decide what was important to them. c-span brings you unfiltered convent -- content from congress and beyond. in the age of power to the people, this was troop how -- true people power. there is no monolithic media. broadcasting has given away to narrowcasting. youtube stars are a thing. but c-span's big idea is more relevant today than ever. its nonpartisan coverage of washington is provided as a public service. online, c-spannd is your unfiltered view of government, so you can make up your own mind. >> next, oral argument in the supreme court case of mitchell versus wisconsin. justices will decide whether