don mcgann is no longer there. jeff sessions is no longer running the doj rod rosenstein is no longer the one in charge of the mueller investigation the guardrails for this sort of behavior, this sort of presidential overreach, are quickly disappearing >> you're right about that but what also strikes me from this "new york times" reporting is they may not have done any good to begin with if this was in the spring the president was contemplating trying to order the justice department to go after jim comey and hillary clinton, he was already under investigation by bob mueller. you would have thought by then after more than a year of experience in office and understanding some of these limits, he might have felt a bit chastened by asking something as extraordinary like directing the department of justice to do this but in a sense, you know, it is not surprising as ned said he talked openly in the campaign about going after hillary. he said if i'm elected, i'm going to have you investigated it appears he made good on t

the fact the president didn't do anything may be, according to the story, because don mcgann, white houseounsel had white house lawyers write up a memo that there will be by political consequences, if you do this you will be accused of abuse of power and it could lead to impeachment so he did his job as he saw it in protecting the president. >> now don mcgann is gone. >> not suggesting that these -- >> i'm not saying, the absence of that potential check and balance is no longer there and that is significant. one thing i did notice in all this is the issue of the acting attorney general brought into this matt whitaker and he actually according to these unnamed sources said he was ready to talk about this issue but at the same time wanted to placate trump but didn't want to cross a line. i'm fascinated there is more coverage on matt whitaker in these conversations. >> there's been some critical coverage. some of that will come back and also because the president submitted written answers to mueller's questions and made pretty clear he did not plan to testify in person. does the story in the

with the times, it's suggesting that the president, by mentioning it repeatedly to don mcgann, we'll see if somehow there's pressuring, don't mcgann or the dmj to pursue his political enemy. that's the tone of the piece. it's more complicated than that. citing sources "the times" said the president repeatedly asked rod rosenstein and mcgann what progress the doj may have been making for possible violation of the law. there are possible crucial points i want to share with you. the notion that asking about or wishing something would happen doesn't necessarily constitute an order to do so. but the innuendo was there in the piece because he asked about it. they're suggesting there may have been an implied pressure to do something. to that end mcgann penned a memo, doing his best to disavow the president of any notion that he should do that and obviously that's mcgann's role as white house counsel. this also gets more complicated if the mueller probe, we're just throwing it out there, it hasn't found any russian collusion. but if it looks at those comments and decides maybe that's destruc

times" reporting overnight that president trump last spring spoke to his then white house counsel don mcgann about prosecuting hillarymelinton and comey, his fired fbi director. well, according to "the time" mcgann told the president he didn't have the authority to do that, and furermore if he did try to take that step, according to "the times," held c open himself up to impeachment. we reached out to the white house and we didn't hear anything and we reached out to mncg but he did tell "the new york times" this, quote, mr. mncg pointed out that he neverre or anyone prosecute hillary clinton or james comey. the foreign policy controversy, he's saying he didn't believe the cia report thathe crown prince ordered the killing. he let saudi arabia off the hook. he had no plans to seriously puni that country. that's because of bipartisan calls because of the president's action again saudi arabia. and there are a lot ofeuestions that may be too cozy with the saudi crown prince. we'll have all of that and a lot re coming up on "today." >> we'll see you then, kristin welker for us in palm beach flori

now don mcgann w is the white house counsel at the time, he is gone, talked the president out of thisll of this coming from a couple of unnamed sources in "the new york times." mcgann told him this could lead tons accusatf abuse of power and that could leave to impeachment action. that talked the president out of it and from ordering it, but we did hear, aaro eun, the president has continued to talk about this prospect since. >> suns mcginnis, thank you. >>> traders on wall street are hoping for some relief when the markets open this morning. the dow jones fell more thanin00 yesterday erasing nearly all the gains for the whole year. the ndaq dropped 5%. te giants like apple and microsoft took hits along with retail stocks after target posted disappointing profits. this allft comes aer big selloffs last month over concerns about rising interest rates and trade tensions. >>> right nowooolice areng for a man who exposed himself to a student on the university of maryland campus. the female student says this happened on mday night at mckeldon library. she and others chased after him but we

bombshell "new york times" report saying that last spring, the president told white house counsel don mcgannnted the justice department to prosecute former presidential candidate clnt clnt a hillary clinton and former fbi director james comey. mcgann reportedly convinced the president not to act, saying accusations of abuse of power could lead to impeachment proceeding "today in the bay," you might be getting ready for your flight to thanksgiving dinner. stick around for two more minutes with travel tips that holiday rush. >>> but first, happening now, in san joearly quarter of immigrants in the real estate market are homeowners, as "the mercury news" reports that's the second highest rate of any major city in the u.s. online loon market tree studies found four other cities made the top ten list for home ownership rates for immigrants, including san francisco, los angeles, riverside and san diego. more news after the break. still fresh... ♪ unstopables in-wash scent booster ♪ >>> welcome back to wednesday morning edition of "today in the bay." we are tracking storm movement through the bay a

the report says that the white house counsel don mcgann told the president that he had no authority toh action and had the lawyers write a memo for trump warning that if he asked law enforcement to investigate, he could face several cops sequences including possible impeachment. could this be considered abuse of power? >> this harkens back to the concept of what we call in coat crimes, crimes of attempt. and although this isn't a crime, the concept is similar. the idea that how far did president trump go in inquiring about or actually trying to prosecutor investigate comey and/or lynch? if he just was musing aloud during a meal or over coffee, then maybe it doesn't go to the level of attempt, but if he took substantial steps, significant enough that his attorneys felt the need to issue a memo telling him why he could not do that, now we get further and further into the substantial step towards the activity that could qualify for attempt, at least the way legal minds think of attempt. and if it is an abuse of power, that is an impeachable offense, even if it is not a crime. >> danny, th

this story takes it a step further to suggest that he mentioned to don mcgann that he wanted the department of justice to go after comey and clinton. according to "the new york times" ," he tookt seriously enough that he had his attorneys draft a memo for the president outlining for him all of the horrible things that would happen to his presidency if he were to order such an investigation. >> bret: john roberts live on the north lawn. president trump has answered the question special counsel robert muller submitted in his probe into russian interference in the 2016 election. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge is here to tell us where things stand tonight. >> within the last hour come the president's legal team issued a brief statement confirming the president's written responses are now a special counsel robert mueller. the firing of fbi director james comey as any obstruction investigation, it has been our position that much of what has been asked raids serious constitutional issues and was beyond the scope of legitimate inquiry. this remains our position today. the presi

don mcgann spoke to the special counsel's office for some 30 hours or so.t is why rudy giuliani indicated that he thinks there could be more questions. the question is do they need this information from the president or does bob mueller and his team have this information from other people? so you do get the sense, john, even though we're nearing the holidays and the end of what was supposed to be wrapped up a year ago may not be wrapped up at all. >> jeff zeleny, thank you very much. >>> former trump white house lawyer james schultz and cnn legal analyst laura coates. let's game out the scenario we were talking about. say robert mueller does want to ask the president questions about why he fired fbi director james comey, say he does want to ask obstruction of justice questions and his attorneys say he shouldn't have to. what argument would the mueller team make that he does? >> besides, yes, you do need to do so, you're not above the law. they would have to argue the notion of explaining why executive privilege does not apply in this context. the president

what i worry about is right now the white house counsel don mcgann has left.acement is emmitt flood, who you and i both know from our time at the white house. very smart. very top flight lawyer. the problem is that the white house counsel's office is about half the size it ought to be, about 20 some people, when it should be 40 or 50 people. and preparing that kind of report, and emmitt's a very able guy, capable of very tense work. but that requires some assistance. lots of things now will be pulling that. as you and i both know the white house counsel's office plays a role most people don't understand. it is one of the most power packed and demanding inside the west wing. >> dana: can you just expand on that for the last question? it's not just that there's a mueller investigation, it's just that the democrats have said they're going to investigate a lot of different things. so that's another reason -- i think the bush white house we doubled the size of the counsel's office. >> after the democrats took control in 2006 the size of the white house counsel's of

another story that broke late in the day, suggesting that the president had floated the idea with don mcgann that he had wanted to prosecute hillary clinton and james comey, what do you think about that? >> i don't think we really know what's gone on there but i think it would be red meat for's adversaries if he tries to do that. again, what's happening is both sides are staking out their territory and there's a question about whether they are going to be able to work together. i think if the democrats decide that this is going to be all-out war, we are not going to let him achieve anything, i think that is going to be a tactical and strategic error on their part because people elected them, they don't like donald trump but they really want some answers on things like health care and the stagnation of wages which are caused by the high cost of health care and i think also immigration. >> martha: quick thought on the handwritten questions. it was easy for me, i had no problem answering those questions, there is no pollutio pollution. >> i think that's probably right but recall that last week

times" this happened last spring the report goes on to say that at the time white house counsel don mcgann told the president hi not have the authority to make that order. in a memo to the president white house lawyers warned the president that if he asked law enforcement to investigate his rivals, he could face serious consequences including impeachment. criticizing hillary clinton's use of private e-mail server main themes during trump's presidential campaign. >>> the president also defended his daughter's ivan use of private e-mail to send messages about government business last year. the president said his daughter's e-mails did not contain sensitive information and were not deleted. some republicans and democrats want more information about whether he mix public business with private interest. >>> backlash is growing over president trump's decision n to further punish saudi arabia for the killing of washington post journalist jamal khashoggi. he walked into the consulate on october 2nd and according toig inveors was murdered and dismembered. intelligence agencies concluded that crown

key witnesses who had spent a lot of time with mueller's prosecutors, don mueller's prosecutors, don mcgann and reince priebus, former white house chief of staff. "the new york times" reported that the president asked both of them detailed questions about their interactions with the special counsel to try to glean information from them about the status of the investigation. talking to witnesses about their testimony to the special prosecutor. but now, with this new development with manafort, now the president is doing that with a convicted felon, to whom he's also openly dangling a pardon. i mean, if you had been sealed in a vault for the last two years, and you came out today and somebody handed you that litany of basically uncontested detailed reporting and evidence about the president's efforts to obstruct this serious ongoing criminal investigation into himself and his administration and his campaign, you would think you were reading a bombshell indictment, right? that signaled the end of a presidency, or at least the middle of impeachment proceedings, right? but instead that's just the

white house counsel don mcgann told the president that such a move could lead to accusations of abuseers write a memo saying it could lead to impeachment. rienzi kee ryan zinke he said they brought efforts. he wants congress to give the government more authority to control fire second clear underbrush. andy hall is predicting a recovery for crude. he says opec will probably reimpose supply cuts to help draw down growing stockpiles. intermediate is now trading in the bear market after plunging formate four your high in october. -- four-year high in october. global news 24 hours a day on air and on tictoc on twitter powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i am taylor riggs. this is bloomberg. tom: thank you so much. oecd has been, greatly respected for reviews forward on the global economy. they have been strengthened by the work of catherine mann, now at citigroup, and now laurence as the oecdin paris chief economist. we are thrilled to have her with us this morning. it is a dark and gloomy report. winter is coming. , ort a defeat of capitalism is

[cheers and applause] >> have you ever discussed with don mcgann or anybody -- >> my question -- >> i do not give legal advice. the only thing i said of advice is on television, i said to the president i will give you four pieces of advice, don't pardon, don't commute, don't tweet and don't testify and he has not really followed very many of those. i don't give advice except to clients and the president is not my client. >> this can go into another civil war and what i'm asking you is do you believe that that's possible. >> i don't. i think that the structures of checks and balances of the country is secure. i think this is a constitutional challenge not a constitutional crisis, i think we are a stronger country for surviving this constitutional challenge and i have great confidence in the american public that this too -- this constitutional issue too will pass. >> it hate to be agreeing with alan on final note when we end but i think that the chicken little sky fall is falling is bit much. in 2 years, 8 years, this shall pass. >> perfect way to end the panel. thank you. >> thank you.

and don began who was white house counsel at the time, the president pressuring began to do something. and william a burke's attorney, mister mcgann pointed out the president never to his knowledge order anyone prosecuting hillary clinton or james comey. and wanted something to happen. >> he talked about it openly. don began is quite right that he should not get into a public discussion of deliberations and discussions with the president and from the beginning, by weighing in investigative matters and their ongoing, investigations he would like to see happen and having been a prosecutor for 20 years it doesn't make the prosecutor's job any easier because if you have good evidence that would support a case the public nevertheless thinks the case being brought because of political pressure rather than evidence. shannon: there was a memo saying these were problems and potential minefields if you go down this road. you can't tell the doj to prosecute anyone but launching the investigation will probably cause you more trouble than it is worth. >> i agree with that. once you cross the line and have the president directing prosecution di

to then white house counsel don mcgahn, mcgahn rejected the proposal and wrote a memo warning that trump could face a range of consequences, including itch peachment. now mcgann is gone. whitaker's views on clinton have been clear to the media on several occasions. he wrote an op ed in 2016 titled i would indikt hillary clinton. for the latest joining me now is white house correspondent kelly o'donnell. also with us intelligence and national security reporter ken delaney. kelly, this is interesting. the report is that the president asked his white house counsel and the white house counsel thought to memorialize it in a memo to say no, you can't ask for a prosecution. you can't even ask for an investigation of your political rivals in america. >> many a memo to document this for history for his own protection, and to educate the president on his views on this matter. of course, we know don mcgahn did cooperate and submit for an interview with the mueller team and documents that might be deemed relevant would be a part of that. we don't know if this specific document is possessed by the mueller team. but that would be within the realm of foreseeable things. and