department of justice must be that place. i did not pursue this position, and when my name was first raised, i was reluctant to be considered. and, indeed, proposed a number of alternative candidates. i'm 68 years old, partially retired and nearing the end of a long legal career. my wife and i were looking forward to a peaceful and cherished time with our daughters and grandchildren. and i've had this job before. but ultimately, i agreed to serve because i believe strongly in public service, i revere the law, i love department of justice and the dedicated professionals who serve there, and i believe that i can do a good job leading the department in these times. if confirmed, i will serve with the same independence i did in 1991. at that time, when president bush chose me, he sought no promises and asked only that his attorney general act with professionalism and integrity. likewise, president trump has sought no assurances, promises or commitments from me of any kind, either express or implied, and i have not given him any, o

that over the long run the course of justice in this country has more to do with the character of the department of justice as an enduring institution than with the tenure of any particular attorney general. above all else, if confirmed, i will work diligently to protect the professionalism and integrity of the department as an institution, and i will strive to leave it and the nation a stronger and better place. thank you very much for your time today, and i look forward to answering your questions. >> thank you, mr. chairman. six quick yes or no questions. will you commit to no interference with the scope of the special counsel's investigation? >> i will -- the scope of the special counsel's investigation -- >> by not -- >> is set by his charter and by the regulations and i will ensure that those are maintained. >> will you commit to providing mr. mueller with the resources, funds, and time needed to complete his investigation? >> yes. >> will you commit to ensuring the special counsel mueller is not terminated without good cause consistent with the department regulations? >> absolutely. >> if

and then they refer it to the department of justice. i believe the department's policy when the department says zero tolerance, they are saying whatever dhs refers to us in the way of illegal entry prosecutions we'll prosecute. now what is being done because i think the administration has changed the policy, is dhs is not referring for prosecution family units that would lead to the separation of children from families. >> it's true that the president and administration abandon. ed the policy after there was a public reaction to the separation of these children. i want to go back to your university of virginia miller speech, which is -- >> it's a gem, isn't it? >> it's a classic. it goes back many years. you described your previous tenure as attorney general and you said after being appointed i quickly developed initiatives on the immigration issue that would create more border patrols, change rules, streamline processing. it would further more put the bush campaign ahead of the democrats on the immigration issue, which i saw as importan

soon after he took office, president trump ordered the department of justice to issue legal guidance to the executive branch on legal protections for religious liberty. in october of 2017, just about the same time i joined the department of justice as chief of staff, we issued that guidance, which explains the fundamental religious liberty principles in the constitution and in federal statutes like rifra. we've been putting that guidance into action by defending the rights of the american people in both criminal and civil cases. under president trump we have obtained 14 indictments and so convictions in cases involving attacks or threats against houses of worship and against individuals because about of their religion. under this administration we have indicted 50 hate crime defendants and in just the last fiscal year we have obtained 30 hate crime convictions. with regard to civil cases we have gone to court all across america to protect american citizens of a wide variety of faiths and beliefs. we defended parents in montana who claimed the state barred their children from a private

and then they refer it to the department of justice. i believe the department's policy when the department says zero tolerance, they are saying whatever dhs refers to us in the way of illegal entry prosecutions we'll prosecute. now what is being done because i think the administration has changed the policy, is dhs is not referring for prosecution family units that would lead to the separation of children from families. >> it's true that the president and administration abandon. ed the policy after there was a public reaction to the separation of these children. i want to go back to your university of virginia miller speech, which is -- >> it's a gem, isn't it? >> it's a classic. it goes back many years. you described your previous tenure as attorney general and you said after being appointed i quickly developed initiatives on the immigration issue that would create more border patrols, change rules, streamline processing. it would further more put the bush campaign ahead of the democrats on the immigration issue, which i saw as importan

department of justice must be that place. i did not pursue this position, and when my name was first raised, i was reluctant to be considered. and, indeed, proposed a number of alternative candidates. i'm 68 years old, partially retired and nearing the end of a long legal career. my wife and i were looking forward to a peaceful and cherished time with our daughters and grandchildren. and i've had this job before. but ultimately, i agreed to serve because i believe strongly in public service, i revere the law, i love department of justice and the dedicated professionals who serve there. and i believe that i can do a good job leading the department in these times. if confirmed, i will serve with the same independence i did in 1991. at that time, when president bush chose me, he sought no promises and asked only that his attorney general act with professionalism and integrity. likewise, president trump has sought no assurances, promises or commitments from me of any kind, either express or implied, and i have not given him any, o

conclude by making the point that over the long run, the course of justice in this country has more to do with the character of the department of justice as an enduring institution than with the tenure of any particular attorney general. above all else, if confirmed, i will work diligently to protect the professionalism and integrity of the department as an institution and i will strive to leave it and the nation a stronger and better place. thank you very much for your time today and i look forward to answering your questions. >> thank you, mr. barr. one thing i want to tell you is that i support the idea that politicians, nomatter what party should interfere with criminal investigations. once you go down that road then the rule of law collapses. there is another side to this equation. what about those in charge of enforcing the law? what about those with the power to bring charges against american citizens including people up here? i remember senator stevens' case in alaska. so we should always be on guard about the politician interfering in an investigation, but we should also have oversight of how the department works an

over the long run the course of justice in this country has more to do with the character of the department of justice as an enduring institution than with the tenure of any particular attorney general. above all else, if confirmed, i will work diligently to protect the professionalism and integrity of the department as an institution, and i will strive to leave it and the nation a stronger and better place. thank you very much for your time today, and i look forward to answering your questions. >> thank you, mr. barr. we'll try to break around 11:30 to get a quick bite and break up the day. i support the idea that politicians no matter what party, should not interfere with a criminal investigations. that makes sense to me. once you go down that road, then the rule of law collapses. but there's another side to this equation if i may say a two-way street. what about those in charge of enforcing the law? what about those with the power to bring charges against american citizens including people up here? i remember senator stevens' case in alaska. we should always be on guard about the politic

country has more to do with department of justice as an unduring constitution than of the wen you're of any attorney general. i will work dliligently to protect the integrity of the department as an institution and i will strive to leave it and the nation a stronger and better place. thank you very much for your time today, and i look forward to answering your questions. >> one thing i want to tell you, i support the that had that politicians, no matter what should, they should not interfere in investigations. that makes imminent sense to me. once you glo down the road, tgo road, the road collapses. what about those in charge of enforcing the law? what about those with the but we are to bring charges against american citizens, including people up here i remember senator stevens' case in alaska. so we should always be worried, but also have overside of how the department works athis tremendous power use that power. are you familiar with the january 11 "new york times" article? >> yes, mr. chairman. >> would you promise me and this committee to look into this and tell us whether or not,

in short, he must be willing to defend the independent of the justice department. so, my questions will be do you have that strength and commitment to be independent of the white house pressures, you will undoubtedly face? will you protect the integrity of the justice department above all else? thank you, very much mr. chairman. >> thanks. senator feinstein. senator hatch, welcome back. we truly miss you. you were a great chairman and an incredible member of this body and you are very welcomed to share your thoughts about mr. barr with this committee . >> thank you so much, mr. chairman and ranking member feinstein as well and members of the committee. it is my distinct pleasure to be here today to introduce william barr the presidents nominee to be attorney general of the united states. i have known and worked with bill closely over the years and i'm proud to call him a friend. bill has had a distinguished career in public service and in the private sector. he started his career at the central intelligence agency and while there he went to law school part-time at g

of justice is not the department of federal prosecution. it's the department of justice. >> i certainly agree with the pammists today that the public defender system is in dire feed. i served as a commissioner on the state of mississippi access commission and we reviewed this issue. mississippi is one of the poorest states similar to louisiana and what we found was a system so corrupt, it was one of the primary factors for prison overcrowding. you have a large number of individuals who are sitting in jail, pretrial detainees because they have ineffective or no counsel at all. there's an issue that i agree with my colleague that this could be a bipartisan issue we can work on because the need is definitely there. >> judge? >> senator, my experience i think is probably more limited than virtually the experience of all of the other panelists because my experience is largely confined to one district in the united states. >> right. >> that said, my experience with federal defenders in the southern district of new york was th

or a democratic department of justice. i don't want to see a republican fbi or a democratic fbi. what we should see, what the american people have a right to see and a right to expect is a department of justice that is committed to and faithful to the constitution and the laws regardless of political party and a corollary to that is a department that is willing to hold anyone who commits criminal conduct accountable regardless of that individual's political party or whatever partisan interests there might be. would you agree with that characterization? >> yes, senator. >> i would note as well during the previous administration there was concern by many including me on this committee, that the previous administration, in particular the irs, had targeted individual citizens and citizen groups for exercising their first amendment rights and had abused its power in doing so. the current justice department, i've been dissatisfied with their -- the degree of scrutiny they have given to that potential abuse of power, and i'm going

or a democratic department of justice. i don't want to see a republican fbi or a democratic fbi. what we should see, what the american people have a right to see and a right to expect is a department of justice that is committed to and faithful to the constitution and the laws regardless of political party and a corollary to that is a department that is willing to hold anyone who commits criminal conduct accountable regardless of that individual's political party or whatever partisan interests there might be. would you agree with that characterization? >> yes, senator. >> i would note as well during the previous administration there was concern by many including me on this committee, that the previous administration, in particular the irs, had targeted individual citizens and citizen groups for exercising their first amendment rights and had abused its power in doing so. the current justice department, i've been dissatisfied with their -- the degree of scrutiny they have given to that potential abuse of power, and i'm going

in short, he must be willing to defend the independence of the justice department. y questions will be, do you have that strength and commitment to be independent of the white house pressures you will undoubtedly face? will you protect the integrity of the justice department above all else? thank you very much, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator feinstein. senator hatch, welcome back. we truly miss you. you were a great chairman and an incredible member of this body. you are very welcomed to share your thoughts about mr. barr with this committee. >> nathank you so much, mr. chairman, ranking member feinstein and members of the committee. it is my distinct pleasure to be here today to introduce william barr, the president's nominee to be attorney general of the united states. i have known and worked with bill closely over the years and i'm glad to call him a friend. bill has had a distinguished career in public service and in the private sector. he started his career at the central intelligence agency. while there, he went to law school part time at george washington

that's the job of the department of justice. the department of justice can't be all things to all people. >> sir, but i would suggest to you that in the intervening almost 30 years since you were last attorney general, that there is consensus in the united states that when we look at the drug epidemic, whatever the narcotic may be, that there's now anticipa understanding that war on drugs was a failure, that america has a crisis of addiction and that putting the limited resources of our federal government into locking up people who suffer from a public health crisis is probably not the smartest use of taxpayer dollars. if confirmed, i would ask you take a look at the more recent perspective on the drug crisis that is afflicting our country. then i will move on. >> can i just say something in response to that? i was just making the observation that the job of the department of justice is enforcement. i recognize there are a lot of dimensions to the problem. that's why we have places like hhs. the department can't be -- can't do th

will you recognize that, then, there is a place for the department of justice which is supposed to protect the civil rights of americans, vulnerable communities, that there is a place for the department of justice to protect the civil rights of lgbt americans by banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity? >> if congress passes such a law, you know, i think the litigation going on now in title vii is what the 1964 act actually contemplated, but personally i think -- >> i'm sorry, you do believe the 1964 act contemplated protecting individuals from being discriminated upon -- >> no, i think it was male/female that they were talking about when they said sex in the '64 act. >> so protecting someone's basic rights to be free from discrimination because of sexual harassment is not something that the department of justice should be protecting. >> no, i'm saying congress passes the law, the justice department enforces the law. i think the '64 act on its face -- and this is what's being litigated, what does it cover? i think for flee or four decades the lgbt community was

here in the department of justice. for more than a year, the agencies represented behind me followed the evidence wherever it led. they have done great work already, and i am confident this team is going to finish the job and bring these cases to a successful conclusion. in a few moments, u.s. attorney donahue and first assistant hayes will provide more details on today's indictments. but let me just say two more things. first, when a bank's customers lie to it about their sanctions-related business, that exposes banks to the risk of violating the law, especially when they provide -- continue to provide those bad actors access to our u.s. financial system. and second, as i told high-level chinese law enforcement officials in august when i visited their country, we need more law enforcement cooperation with china. china should be concerned about criminal activities by chinese companies and china should take action. we are proud that the united states has the strongest economy in the world. i believe that it's no small p

the department of justice. thank you. >> agree with the panelists that public defender system is in dire need. mississippi is one of the poorest states. to louisiana. and what we found was a system corrupt, it was one of the primary factors for prison overcrowding. number of individuals pretrialitting in jail detainees because they have noffective counsel or counsel so i agree with my colleague that this could be a we can work one because the need is definitely there. >> judge? >> senator, my experience is thanbly more limited virtually the experience of all becausether panelists my experience is confined to one district in the united states. experience with federal defenders in the southern district of new york was that they were people of unparalleled skill. there was competition to get those jobs and they were highly valued. similarly, under the criminal justice act, we appoint private represent defendants. there's competition to get on list so you really get lawyers by and large in my court who represent ind

they refer it to the department of justice. i believe the dept's policy when the dept says zero tolerance, they're saying whatever dhs reefers to us in the way of illegal entry prosecutions we'll prosecute. now what is being done, because i think the administration has changed the policy, is dhs is not referring for prosecution a family unit that would lead to the separation of children from the family. >> it's true that the president and the administration abandoned the policy after there was a public reaction to the separation of these children. i'm concerned -- i want to go back to your university of virginia miller center speech. >> it's a gem, isn't it? >> it's a classic. it goes back many years. but you describe your previous tenure as attorney general. you said after being appointed i quickly developed some initiatives on the immigration issue that would create more border patrols, change immigration rules, streamline processing. it would furthermore put the bush campaign ahead of the democrats on the immigration issue. w

a democratic department of justice. i don't want to see a republican fbi or democratic fbi. what we should see, what the american people have a right to see and a right to expect is a department of justice that is committed to and faithful to the constitution and the laws regardless of political party and a core lilarry to that is, regardless of whatever partisan interest there might be, would you agree with that? >> yes. >> i would note as well during the previous administration there was concern by many, including me on this committee, the previous administration and the irs had targeted individual citizens and citizen groups for exercising their first amendment rights and had abused its power in doing so. the current justice department i'd been dissatisfied with their -- the degree of scrutiny they had given to that potential abuse of power. i'll ask you going forward if you're confirmed to examine that conduct. let me shift to a different topic. one of the most important safeguards of our liberties is the bill of rig

holder and lynch undermine the public's confidence and the impartial administration of justice of law at the justice department. under the leadership of my friend and our former colleague, jeff sessions, the department of justice has begun to right the ship and again separate politics from impartial administration of the law. and i'm confident mr. barr will continue to do the same. during his confirmation hearing, mr. barr reaffirmed that politicians should not interfere with criminal investigations, and he likewise committed to not interfere with the special counsel's investigation. he assured us that his allegiance will be to the rule of law and to the constitution and the american people, and that above all else, he will work to protect the professionalism and integrity of the department of justice and the thousands of dedicated public servants who work there. not only is mr. barr exceptionally qualified for the job, he's prepared on day one to step in and lead with distinction. the senate unanimously confirmed his nomination though three different positions at the department of justice, and i hope we can w

that's the job of the department of justice. the department of justice can't be all things to all people. >> sir, i would suggest in the 30 years since you were last attorney general, there is consensus in the united states that when we look at the drug epidemic, whatever the narcotic may be, there is now an understanding that the war on drugs was an abject failure. that america frankly has a crisis of addiction, and that putting the limited resources of our federal government into locking up people who suffer from a public health crisis is probably not the smartest use of taxpayer dollars. if confirmed, i would ask that you take a look at the more recent perspective on the drug crisis that is afflicting our country. i will move on. today -- >> can i say something in response to that? i was making the observation that the job of the department of justice is enforcement. i recognize there are a lot of dimensions to the problem and that's why you have places like hhs. the department can't do the job of everybody. >> sir, i would re

that's the job of the department of justice. the department of justice can be all things to all people. >> sir, i would suggest to you in the 30 years since you were last attorney general, there's consensus in the united states that when we look at the drug epidemic, whatever the narcotic may be, that there's now an understanding that the war on drugs was an abject failure, that america frankly has a crisis of addiction and that putting the limited resources of our federal government into locking up people that suffer from a public health crisis is probably not the smartest use of taxpayer dollars. so if confirmed, i'd ask that you take a look at the more recent perspective on the drug crisis that is afflicting our country. and i'll move -- >> can i say something? i was making the observation the job of the department of justice is enforcement. i recognize there's a lot of dimensions to the problem. the department can't do the job of everybody. >> sir, i would remind you what you said. i agree with it. you said earlier, the role

>> this is an area that, frankl frankly, wasn't very much on the radar scope of the department of justice when i was last there. i know -- it's been a area of criminality and i know the department and attorney general sessions have been focused on. they have put in place various programs and entities within the department to focus on and work with state and local law enforcement on it. i'm not sure with the major contributed contributed to it is. it's an area that i'm going to have to study when i get into the department, and see what are the factors contributing to it. >> okay. i appreciate that. as i mentioned in my question, as well, drugs and drug trafficking are also a very big industry. in fiscal year 2017, 65% of drug-related prison in iowa were related to methamphetamine. we talk a lot about the opioid crisis, but in iowa it still is meth. in 2016, there were over 1500 founded child abuse reports relating to methamphetamine being found in the child's body. according to the dea, most of the meth is being produced in mexico and smuggled across our southern border. how do you see the

of robert mueller? >> well, typically it's the department, the head of the department of justice who provides oversight bert mueller then provides a report that goes to the attorney general, provided to the white house and then they will have to have a decision made as to whether or not the report is provided to congress and if so, is it redacted will it be a summary so these are the kind of decisions that'll happen but yes, there's an oversight, there should be oversight on every official as a practical member and ideally that oversight is provided by the head of the department of justice. maria: so you'd expect william barr. will william barr be forced to recuse himself in the mueller investigation for any way? i know that has been an argument certainly out on the left. well he obviously wrote this memo to the department questioning the authority of the special counsel to investigate the president with respect to obstruction, and so that creates possible, an appearance of possible bias and prejudice and so if i'm bill barr i'm going to have a conversation with the career ethics officials at the depart

what we should see, what the american people have a right to see and a right to expect is a department of justicehat's committed to and faithful to the constitution and the laws regardless of political party and a corollary to that is a department that is willing to hold anyone who commits criminal conduct accountable regardless of that individual's political party or whatever partisan interests there might be. would you agree with that characterization? >> yes, senator. >> i would note as well during the previous administration, there was concern by many, including me on this committee, that the previous administration, and in particular, the irs, had targeted individual citizens in citizen groups for exercising their first amendment rights and had abused its power in doing so. the current justice department -- i've been dissatisfied with their -- the degree of scrutiny they have given to that potential abuse of power, and i'm going to ask you going forward if you are confirmed to examine that conduct and ensure that if laws were broken that individuals are held accountable. let me shift to a di

in short, he must be willing to defend the independence of the justice department. ll be do you have that strength and commitment to be independent of the white house pressures you will undoubtedly face. will you protect the integrity of the justice department above all else? thank you very much, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator feinstein. senator hatch, welcome back. we truly miss you. you were a great chairman and an incredible member of this body. you're very welcomed to share your thoughts about mr. barr with this committee. >> thank you so much, mr. chairman, ranking member feinstein as well, and members of the committee. it is my distinct pleasure to be here today to introduce william barr, the president's nominee to be attorney general of the united states. i have known and worked with bill closely over the years. i'm glad to call him a friend. bill has had a distinguished career in publish service and in the private sector. he started his career at the central intelligence agency. while there he went to law school part time at george washington university.

this is guidance in the department of justice. fortunately, we haven't had to test this so far, but as he said, the concern in the department of justice, you know, memorandum opinion is this would take away from the president's duties. you could see the indictment and the trial as being by if your indicated you know, processes or stages. so far there are some who believe that you could indict the president even if he postpone the trial till later because otherwise, you would effect tebly be able to be have someone immune to any kind of criminal liability for the entire time that they're in presidential office for up to eight years which wouldn't make a lot of sense means. >> asha, i want to turn now to news out of the department of justice. the acting attorney general matthew whitaker told a former ag that a u.s. attorney is investigating possible abuse of power by the fbi in surveiling former trump campaign aide carter page. whitaker says they're looking into whether the fbi should have done more to investigate the clinton foundat

the top democrat on the subcommittee, let me tell you what is happening at the department of commerce, department of justice and nasa and many other committees as a result of the trump shutdown. 95,000 employees at the department of justice and the f.b.i., d.e.a., a.t.f. and u.s. march shals are working without pay. more than 96% of nasa plays are not working. and 8 % of the department of commerce was furloughed without pay including employees like the economic development administration. law enforcement training programs have been stopped. the department of justice civil limited. efforts are these are real life consequences to the president's temper tantrums. this is basic governance. instead of working out a compromise they sent everyone "home for the holidays." we need to have the government re-open. provides j.s. portion important investments to the justice department, nasa and the national science foundation, among others. this rejects some of the president's worst policy proposals including efforts to undermine climate research and and eliminate the legal services corporation. it gives the senate no e

in short, he must be willing to defend the independence of the justice department. l be, do you have that strength and commitment to be independent of the white house pressures you will undoubtedly face? will you protect the integrity of the justice department above all else? thank you very much, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator feinstein. senator hatch, welcome back. you were a great chairman. you're very welcomed to share your thoughts about mr. barr with this committee. >> thank you so much, mr. chairman, ranking member feinstein as well, members of the committee. it is my distinct pleasure to be here today to introduce william barr, the president's nominee to be attorney general of the united states. i have known and worked with bill closely over the years and i'm glad to call him a friend. he's had a distinguished career in public service and in the private sector. he started his career at the central intelligence agency. there, he went to the law school part time at george washington university. following graduation, a clerkship with a federal judge on the d

be clear that the data you're talking about on the website references the employees at the department of justice or any other federal agency who were elected to the campaign to make contributions. that's not necessarily an accurate reflection of the overall political worldview essentially of the department of justice employees as a whole. but i think when we start talking about samples we have to be careful. with that we will conclude the panel and take a 15 minute break to give my friends a shout out. [ applause ] on saturday, holy and castro will announce that he will run for president in 2020. live coverage be quinn's on c- span . >> pennsylvania's midterms included a number of special elections to fill the seats of members of congress who left her the shifting boundaries. new district names and the addition of four women all democrats, to delegation that previously had been all mail. two of the women entered the house in november slightly ahead of the rest of their colleagues. representative mary kay scanlan's race included a special election to represent the seventh district for the last mo

of ideas. the justice department has recently referred to the ftc across the range of issues. while i'm hopeful the chairman will right the ship here, but maybe antitrust laws without meaningful consequences, here's my question, what role do you think the justice department has working with the ftc or independently to address anti-competitive conduct, potential bias and privacy violations by these big tech companies? >> well, obviously competition is of central concern to the antitrust division. there are things reached between them and trust division over who has jurisdiction. i would like to weigh in on some of these issues. i'd like to have the support of that effort to get more involved in reviewing the situation from a competition standpoint. i also am interested in the issue of privacy. and the question of who owns this data. and, you know, it's not an area that i've studied closely or become an expert in. i think it's important for the department to get more involved in these questions. >> just on the subject of ownership of data. as you know, facebook is currently subje

is anyone going to do that at the department of justice, fbi? ment of justice and fbi in this country that 99.9% of americans have trust and confidence in, that they're impartial, that they're not going to be political. maria: will william barr do it, the incoming a.g.? will robert mueller investigate this within his special counsel report? >> well, mueller definitely won't do it. i mean, they're so tainted already by this, i can't imagine that they would. maria: what about bill barr? the new a. g.? where's the accountability, congressman? >> i don't know if bill barr -- i hope so. i hope bill barr will do it, but remember, our investigation is not over. we continue every day to get more and more information, the walls continue to close in. let me mention something else that i think's very important. maria: real quick. >> we don't even know what mueller's doing. we haven't seen the scope memo, we don't know what he's been begin to do, right? maria: right, you. >> i think it's possible that the steele dossier, the clinton dirt is what's in that sc

we filed it with the new york bar and unbeknownst to us the new york bar punted it to the department of justice of professional response ability to decide it while the department of justice was defending esther wiseman on it and all of a sudden we get a letter from opr of course, finding absolutely nothing wrong even though mr. wiseman and his team had yellow highlighted evidence that they knew before the trial was favorable to the merrill lynch defendants completely favorable to them and the exact language we needed to defend them before the trial that exonerated them completely and they headed. mark: skates on the edge and it seems to get away with it. >> it was not even on the edge. it was in the circuit for a new trial appeal found the prosecutors plainly suppressed evidence favorable to the defense and bailed out the government by holding it. mark: in the fifth circuit court ruling, materially or not, the shows sketchy conduct, the supreme court reversal and you have this man who is told the dossier is tainted and winds up in the special counsel's office and you have these judges who claim

of the letter and got the data on which the letter was based on the new york department of justice but i told him this information had been of great interest to the department, we were at a loss to understand in view of affect the daily workers recognized and attacked mr. la follette and so on and so forth long story short, hoover continued to supply this derogatory information to the white house during the campaign. there was pretty good and evidence that information made its way to personnel elsewhere. having examined the records of the la follette family, which are at the library of congress, j edgar hoover made no effort to inform la follette he was basically being used by the soviets, the soviets were attempting to use him that really struck me, that particular episode very much struck me as a very salient example of the kind of thing, the kind of threat i think trump is referring to. the question is, how frequent does this happen? how frequently this has happened. at this point, i think it is very difficult to say. is probably relatively rare, i don't think there's ever been a co

there's some rules right now for the department of justice that say that department attorneys are not supposed to give credence and follow guidance from other agencies. i think it's an open question. one thing we could see would be an indictment of the president that remains sealed until he leaves office. that to me is a more likely possibility than seeing a president indicted and brought to trial and brought before the court system during the time he's in office. i don't think that's unlikely. i think the court would basically say he's got time to do -- he needs to be able to focus on his job. that's sort of a joke maybe, in this administration, but i think in normal circumstances they would say that the president should be able to focus on his or her job. but you could see an indictment sealed, held until the president leaves office and then brought out. >> asha, what do you make of speaker pelosi's comments? >> i think among legal scholars, there is actually some debate over whether a sitting president can be indicted. as michael just said, this is not a settled legal question. thi