i want to bring in cokie roberts as well. big news here, cokie roberts. one of the most stunning things here is the timing. just 118 days into the trump presidency. >> it is remarkable timing. and looking back at the nixon situation, where of course president nixon won an overwhelming landslide as the watergate story was unfolding. but then in january when his approval ratings were almost 70%, some of his aides were convicted of conspiracy in the watergate break-in. two of his top aides in april were forced to resign. and then in may, it took until may for a special prosecutor to be named. and it was the same day, by the way, that the watergate committee convened. so it all happened at the same time. the congressional hearings, the special prosecutor. and keep in mind that special prosecutor can be issuing indictments all along. and that becomes a story too. we don't have to wait for that report. so, you know, as we both well know, george, special prosecutors, special counsel in this case gets named, it can go anywhere. >> cokie roberts, thanks very much.

former vice president joe biden, pulitzer prize-winning historian david mccullough, and journalist cokie roberts. this is about an hour and 40 minutes. ♪

cokie roberts, ana navarro are standing by.ynchburg virginia we'll kick things off at and david wright. >> reporter: the crowd just starting to gather at liberty university where president trump is going to give the commencement address later this morning. the white house is really trying seismic shock of the president's firing of the fbi director. and the aftershocks keep coming. even though former director comey declined an invitation to testify before the senate intel committee, the president opened up a whole new can of worms by tweeting this. james comey better hope there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press. say what? does that mean the white house secretly recorded trump's meetings with comey? judge jeanine piero on fox news asked him about that in an interview to be broadcast today. >> i can't talk about it. i won't talk about that. all i want is for comey to be honest and i hope he will be and i'm sure he will be, i hope. >> reporter: which is not exactly a denial. >> president trump,

best-selling author of "histories of american women" and political commentator for abc news and npr, cokie robertssts and supporters, and especially the young people here today, i have a message. history has its eyes on you. it's true that as general washington said in the song, that you have no control over who tells your story, but it's important that his story and that of the other heroines and heroes of the revolution be told, and of course, that's what we're celebrating here today. you know, there are many stories of bravery on the battlefield during the eight long years of the american resolution. but there are many other stories of people not in combat but in support of the cause, the cause of the idea that became america. take martha washington. she was a prime hostage target. she had to brave diseases and the discomforts of cold and poor rations to join the troops at camp not just the awful winter of valley forge but every winter of the long war. and she did it despite her very strong desire to stay home and tend to her duties in mount vernon. but she did it, because the general, as she p

matthew dowd, and cokie roberts from abc. former obama treasury official, steve rattner.a fagen, contributor to cnbc. i want to start in political question. big sixtiry for the white house and the republican this is week. will it look like a victory in 2018? >> well, i think there's a difference between passing a bill and a victory. i think those are two separate things in this. i'll give donald trump -- i'll say he's right about something. that our health care system is broken. and he's right that something needs to be done. but both on affordability and access. all of us have personal stories. i have a brother and a sister who are doctors. i was on the board of a charity hospital. i had two daughters in the hospital for nine months. cost $2 million in their care in this. and i think until we fundamentally address, this bill doesn't do it. it makes affordability and access worse in this. until we address those concerns, the american public is going to keep crying about this. >> the question of a victory. i was struck by paul ryan saying i'm proud of this. yes, they feel

let's bring in dan abrams and cokie roberts as well and, dan, everybody is trying to wrap their heads around there and heard from carter page there but tim kaine saying flat out this is trying to block the investigation into russia. >> now the question is what happens now. and you hear a lot of people saying, well, it's time for a special prosecutor. the problem there is that typically a special prosecutor would be appointed by the attorney general. in this case that's not going to happen. he may say he's even recused from that decision then it goes to the deputy attorney general. it's pretty clear the deputy attorney general isn't going to order a special prosecutor so then the question becomes, can congress put enough pressure on the administration to appoint a special counsel, and that's going to be a political decision. it seems unlikely at this point that that is -- that something like that will happen but that's the way it would occur. so it's not really a purely legal question in the end it becomes a political one. >> in some ways unchartered territory and, cokie, our resident