. ♪ >>> former attorney general eric holder is reportedly mulling a potential run for president this der has not yet said one way or another if he is going to run, but the fact he last talked to reporters about that possibility while he happened to be visiting des moines, iowa, tells you that he is definitely thinking about it. tonight, however, former attorney general eric holder has just made some news for a different reason. since we have been on the air tonight just a few minutes ago amid this cascade of news about the president's former lawyer, michael cohen, testifying in open session tomorrow to what we're told to expect will be alleged criminal conduct by the president while president trump served as president, while we have been talking about that anticipated testimony tomorrow from michael cohen attorney general eric holder has just tweeted moments ago, quote, a sitting president can be indicted. he wrote the quote, the constitution does not anticipate allowing a president who used prod to obtain the office to remain in power. executive branch paralysis during the criminal p

and, no, eric holder is not from des moines, iowa. f year when political figures mysteriously turning up in iowa always means the same thing. attorney general holder has not announced that he is running for president in 2020, but he was there in iowa last night giving that speech and then afterwards talking with reporters about a number of things, including the mueller investigation and congress' responsibilities in light of that investigation. holder says he will decide whether or not he is running for president soon. by next month. of course it would be fascinating to have the guy who very recently used to run the justice department hanging out on the campaign trail every day, available to weigh in on whatever new developments there are, not just in our politics in general, but also in the trump-russia investigation as it comes to this crucial phase. we'll find out next month about that, whether or not he's going to run. in the meantime, though, there are continuing develops -- develops. there are continuing developments in the russi

there's something called fast and furious, i think that eric holder was grilled a few times. i covered the benghazi hearings and they went on for four years. the final installment was 11 hours. mike pompeo was a member of that committee. >> it is possible for congress to overreach in its investigations. you only have to look at the clinton administration. for all the investigating house republicans did over six years, they never produced one single criminal charge, there was never a referral to the department of justice against anyone. whatever the president's personal criminal liability may be, and it appears to be great, six of his associates have already been indicted or pleaded guilty to crimes. you have had four cabinet members resigned in scandal, two sitting cabinet members continue to be enmeshed in scandal. the justice department will start an investigation into a plea deal that alex acosta, the labor secretary, signed off on that allowed a sex offender to get off with an extremely light sentence. that's not even to mention the policy scandals, one of which we're hea

by democrats, janet reno, the ag, deputy ag eric holder, after the star investigation. if they were designed to make the special counsel more accountable to the public. and now ironically, the same people who are outraged at stars authority and the release of that report are the same ones wanting to give mueller free reign over president trump, by the way, the next week the president and we will be with him about an important summit of the denuclearization of the korean peninsula and kim jong un paid would it not be wholly inappropriate to actually release the findings when the president is out of the country? participating in these high-stakes negotiations on such an important topic? we also know, and i have always suspected, maybe i will be proven wrong, that mueller's team of democrats would love to undermine the president in any way that they can. we will have more on this later in the show. also, huge breaking developing news by sara carter and john solomon. her first joining us now with more on the lawsuit and what is a medium mob, i got to know him in 1996, one o

a judge has declined the house committees bit you have attorney general eric holder held in contempt court and possibly to turn overiling documents related to operation fast and furious. but amy berman jackson also denied holder's request for an indefinite stay of her prior order that the attorney general must turn over any nonprivileged documents the house and oversight -- house oversight and government reform committee subpoenaed as part of an investigation into the botched gunrunning investigation. the judge previously ruled that holder must give the panel any documents that were not both pre-decisional and delivery of in nature.erative holder called the panel entire jackson called the house contempt motion entirely unnecessary and said it was evident that she was considering the government's motion to lift her prior order. let's go to maxwell, who has confidence in the justice department. caller: good morning. i have confidence in the justice department, but i don't have confidence in the acting attorney general. he was so arrogant, he was so the actingi think attorney general is

attorney in san francisco, fired by the clinton administration, and a year or two later, calls eric holder, who then was the u.s. attorney in the district of columbia, to ask to be a murder prosecutor in the local side of the u.s. attorney's office in d.c. he could have been making seven figures at a private law firm anywhere he wanted to, and he chose to do that. that tells you the seriousness with which this guy takes public service. i think he's a credit. i don't think this is a witch hunt. now, it doesn't mean that you're gonna find russian collusion between russia and the trump campaign. and i don't believe, as i write in the book, that it happened, but -- >> but what you say in the book is you don't think the trump campaign was coordinated enough to have pulled off collusion with the russians at the highest level. >> right. >> that doesn't mean there couldn't have been bad actors within the campaign apparatus who were, actually, willfully working with foreign adversaries. >> well, there could have been bad actors who were, even unwittingly, operating in a way that was inappropriate.

that some of these folks have stalking horses amine the latest we heard is former attorney general eric holder might get in the race well obviously you know served in the obama administration interest you know we have julian castro in the race he served in the obama administration we have bait o'rorke out there possibly getting in seen as you know a new obama type and so there's a lot of exciting people here and i would certainly suspect that some of these folks are tied to these candidates bernie on the other hand is not tied to any one and bernie is tied to the ideas that he's been espousing for well over forty years whether you agree with his ideas or not that's another thing to discuss but he's been consistent with those ideas now you mention a green new deal in that's certainly a huge issue in politics and not only in america but around the world the climate change and the existential threat that this poses but i wanted to ask you about another issue that seems unique to america and seems like there should be some urgency around and that is the life expectancy of americans is rapidly decl

lou: eric holder. >> and now we have people obviously coming of their own volition and, you know, it's only going to get more interesting as we get closer and closer to the election. lou: i think the dimms will do themselves as great a disservice as they did today. the more hearings, the more we see the toxic venomous hostility. >> and the more the president sticks to speeches like the one he gave at the state of the union address. as long as he stays on that, he gets re-elected. lou: and as long as he keeps doing what he's doing, achieving more than any president in modern history. have a great weekend. up next. more on adam schiff. we love to talk about adam schiff, and his collusion with fusion. we'll be right back. ♪look into my eyes ♪you will see ♪what you mean to me ♪don't tell me it's not worth trying for♪ ♪you know it's true ♪everything i do ♪i do it for you ♪yeah, i would fight for you♪ ♪i'd lie for you ♪walk the wire for you ♪yeah, i'd die for you ♪you know it's true ♪everything i do ♪i do it for you lou: the head of the house intel committee, adam schiff, and fusion gps. the

was there an attorney general more political than eric holder? >> absolutely not.nessed the weaponization and politicization of the department of justice and the fbi under obama. mark: all of this happened under obama. loretta lynch. the russian interference in the election. obama. it's been an enormous pleasure to have you. thanks for all the work you do. join us next time on "life, liberty & levin." jesse: welcome to. "watters' world." i'm jesse watters. virginia democrat governor ralph northam showing no signs of resigning after this photo was revealed from his yearbook showing a man in black face and another in the kkk robe. he first said that was him and he apologized. >> i took an oath to serve the people of this commonwealth to the best of my ability. as long as i believe i can effectively fill that task, i

mark: any attorney general in recent times more political than eric holder? >> absolutely not.on and weaponnization under president obama and the worst ever under the department of just its and the fbi. mark: all these activities, russian interest force in the election. under obama. ladies and gentlemen, join us next time on ""life, liberty & levin"." [♪] jesse: welcome to. "watters' world." i'm jesse watters. a dumpster fire on the left. the media won't tell you, but the democrats had the worst week they have had in year. elizabeth warren busted for racial identity theft. this is a texas state bar admission registration card where she claimed her race was american indian. the former executive editor jill abramson is repdl

mika, a couple things on your other two stories you talked about, one with eric holder.y, the more the merrier. i hope eric holder jumps in, still waiting to hear if steve bullick will jump in, another great candidate and great to have kamala and kirsten and elizabeth warren. the bigger the field the better it is for the eventual winner. i'm curious, why can the chinese and japanese put bullet trains all over our countries and we can't even build one? >> come on now. >> seriously, seriously, why can't we do that? you're talking about a "new green deal". my god, think about -- just think about the pollution from all of the cars going up and down the highways, just in california alone, it's insanity that the chinese have bullet trains built all over the country as do the japanese and we can't even build one? something is terribly wrong there. >>> up next, legendary movie director, spike lee, joins us, as he looks to make history at the oscars later this month. "morning joe" is coming right back. right back i'm 53, but in my mind i'm still 35. that's why i take osteo bi-fle

he says that's what eric holder did for president obama. he thinks that's the job and not as independent body or investigative body. peter baker, ben whitis and ken dilanian. >> we'll explain in a moment. right after this, how michael cohen testimony gave lawmakers a road map for where to look next. . our broccoli cheddar is made with aged melted cheddar, simmered broccoli, and no artificial flavors. enjoy 100% clean soup today. panera. food as it should be. stroke and heart disease? well, if you don't have symptoms, doctors usually won't order them because, often, insurance companies won't pay for them. and that's unfortunate, as 4 out of 5 people who have a stroke, their first symptom is a stroke. and 80 percent of all strokes and heart disease are preventable. that's why life line screening has made preventive screening quick, easy and affordable... so you can take control of your own health. if you're over 40, call to schedule an appointment for five painless screenings that go beyond annual checkups. life line screening uses ultrasound

the nation, for crying out loud, whether it's benghazi, whether it's the justice department of eric holdert he politicized to the point of becoming simply a political arm of president obama. >> no, look, clearly the unthinkable happened, and that is hilary clinton lost the election. and suddenly their whole house of cards started to fold under them. then when the president did the smart thing, which was by the way probably the most bipartisan thing in washington, d.c., and that is the firing of james comey, suddenly, all the protective blankets that were on these people went away, and they were worried about being exposed. that's why they planted this counterpunch in trying to come up with an investigation to protect themselves, and, you know, and then you see what's happening here. but these people they've got to be prosecuted. the inspector general did a fabulous job a year ago detailing why mr. mccabe should be in jail. lou: i concur. you mentioned the inspector general. where the hell is he now? and why haven't we heard from him? and what has happened to the special counsel with portfo

president obama's attorney general eric holder hit the road today testing the waters for his own 2020announce his decision very soon. the virginia scandals are the least complication for democratic party some see as losing itself declared moral high ground over republicans. peter doocy looks at the fallout from a very difficult stretch. >> in a time of trump democrats are trying to claim the moral high ground. >> you are either complicit in the evil, contributing to the wrong or you are fighting against it. >> the tax scam is a moral of 70. it is immoral to allow politicians to harm women and families to advance a political agenda. >> reporter: the tables have turned, that one democrat as commercial, some critics i as a defense of infanticide is overshadowed by questions whether he was the one in blackface or klansman uniformity with your book. >> it keeps us out of the papers. i like it. have to find a few more guys like this one. >> reporter: congress consumed by questions about racism in the virginia governor's past and allegations of sexual misconduct in the lieutenant governor's

. >> we have heard that he is the fact that he didn't have an eric holder or kennedy to protect him thehat holder protected him. >> it is to be the u.s. attorney was there. he talked first and decided for whatever reasons he didn't want to keep it. there's never been a time where a president interviewed u.s. attorneys. in that exact office so he had to recuse himself, this is textbook obstruction of justice. it may be false. the president may be right. he is entitled to the presumption of innocence. >> i want to read this passage which details how the president wasn't concerned. he said he assured him that the cohen investigation had nothing to do with him. he is recounting it was about mr. cohen's business dealings. they asked if he was deliberately misleading him to keep him calm. it was a decent suspicion. >> i think there's plenty of things that trump is worried about being embarrassed by. it does not mean that the biggest are real. i think there are real things he is concerned about and he does not observe rules or limits on what he is allowed to do. it has the power to figure all

. >> president obama's attorney general, eric holder, resisted a subpoena from congress for information. he was held in contempt of congress, and that case went to court, and it's taken years and years, i think about six years, for that to wind its way through the system. it's a long process. >> still your honor the umbrella of the investigations, although it kind of went off into another tangent involving the southern district of new york. we're talking about the president's lawyer and fixer michael cohen. he will be testifying in front of three different committees and schiff believes he has a lot to offer on the overall big picture. take a look at what schiff had to say. >> michael cohen is going to appear before your committee behind closed doors on thursday. what do you hope to learn from him that you don't already now. >> starting with why the false statements when he first disappeared? did they go beyond moscow trump tower into other areas as well? who would have been aware of the false testimony he was giving? what other light can he shed now that he's cooperating on issues of o

. >> former attorney general eric holder laid out a special time line for a 2020 bid last night iowa.his former boss. >> at president obama urged you? >> let's just say i won't talk about my conversations with my favorite person. >> have you had a conversation with him? >> yes. >> since leaving the obama white house,holder has been advocating for voter rights and against jerjeger rymanderring. joe biden has the highest net favor ability, and elizabeth warren is a six. warren is the third highest favorable rating, but the third highest unfavorable rating among democrats sitting just in the 20s. we'll. back with more mtp daily after this. california phones offers free specialized phones... like cordless phones, - (phone ringing) - big button, and volume-enhanced phones. get details on this state program. call or visit and accessoriesphones for your mobile phone. like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. - ( phone ringing ) - get details on this state program call or visit >>> well, we have not got p ten yet. we will get it, we're going to look for land mines. we will take

tweets from joe biden, hillary clinton, obama, attorney general eric holder, cory booker, eric swalwell, all calling on him to resign. the virginia legislative black caucus also saying he should step down, and the democratic governor he succeeded and once served under as lieutenant governor said this. >> it's not about ralph anymore. this is about who we are as virginians and how we move forward. >> except according to our new reporting, governor northam apparently has chosen to make it about himself, about being seen as a racist if he resigns now before clearing his name. if, in fact, that's even possible. if he's right and he truly did not don a klansman outfit or wear black face for a yearbook photo, he still wore black face on another occasion that very same year, and whether you consider his behavior as a medical student in his mid-20s unforgivable or not, he is now a man in his mid-50s, backing away from what was at first a centerpiece for a plea for forgiveness. we're joined by former virginia democratic congressman jim moran. congressman, thank you for being with us. do you thin

i mean, contrast that with eric holder who politicized the department to the extent never seen before going to be, william barr's going to be very concerned about possible prior abusive behavior by fbi officials. i just find it absolutely shocking that the number two person at the fbi would so not understand his role, that he would think that he has the ability to try to invoke the 25th amendment against the president? that is just crazy. lou: he didn't care about the law. he didn't understand the law or the constitution or chose simply to ignore it for the crudest of partisan purposes. hans von spakovsky, as always, great to see you. thank you. >> thanks for having me. lou: up next, the white house says the economy is firing on all cylinders. the market agrees. let's see what "the wall street journal"'s james freeman has to say about us all. he'll be with us next. st liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. great news for anyone wh- uh uh - i'm the one who delivers the news around here. ♪ liberty mutual has just announced that they can customize

eric holder, president obama's , did issue anal executive order to justify the so-called fast and furious operation, which had to do with guns and the war on drugs. some claim that was outrageous cruiser patient of congressional patient --- looser usurpation of congressional authority. thank jim forto pointing that out. valerie, california, go ahead. caller: why isn't nancy pelosi worried about these people trying to get in illegal aliens, emigrants, why isn't she worried about them? their lives? she says she does not want a border wall but nobody has talked about these people dying every day, these people that are over there now waiting weeks and weeks, when it takes years to get in this country? it should be done legally. why isn't congress, and everybody talking about these people, instead of the president -- why isn't he being judged? all the way they have found no russian collusion, evidence whatsoever. that is all you hear, all you people talking about how that our president is. congress going back to what you said initially, should be in the driver seat? guest: it should be and it

and matt miller, former chief spokesman for attorney general eric holder.eter, since you were in the room, tell us about his comments about roger stone and the investigation. you also made a lot of news on his approach to robert mueller. >> yeah, no, as you played just now, he did deny talking with roger stone or having anybody else talk with roger stone. roger stone was arrested, the indictment said that, you know, there was somebody who had directed roger stone to communicate about wikileaks, and we didn't know who that person was that was doing the directing. there was a lot of specification that speculation that it was the president, he says it wasn't him. he did make some other denials that were important. he said that he did not in fact talk about the moscow tower project as late as his own lawyer, rudy giuliani, said he did in 2016. he said rudy is wrong about that. he denied that these tweets that seemed very threatening against michael cohen, his former lawyer who turned on him, were meant to be witness tampering, even though he couldn't say exactl

meanwhile, former attorney general eric holder will make a decision on a presidential run by march.ident barack obama to discuss a presidential candidacy. he served under president obama from 2009 to 2015. this morning's survey found the top two 2020 democratic contenders haven't declared their candidacy but they're on the top. joe biden leads the field, 29%, senator bernie sanders follows closely with 22. lufthansa airlines is suing a passenger that tried to game the system in an unprecedented case. the passenger booked a cheap flight with a layover in frankfurt and switched planes in frankfurt. he's being sued for $2,200. they said you can't game the system that way, switching planes, not taking other flights home. but it worked. [ laughter ] gerri: concerns are on the rise that the national debt hits a new milestones. democrats are pointing the finger at president trump's tax cuts. many democrats are backing the green new deal that could cost, get this, $2 trillion. so who to blame? you're watching "fbn: a.m.." ♪ i want to dance with somebody. ♪ i want to feel the heat with someb

eric holder was the attorney general of the united states. for documents on the fast and furious issue, refused to provide those document documents, got a contempt citation from congress and it went through the courts and nothing eventually happened. these fights between the attorney general of the united states and congress, including subpoenas, it's not unprecedented, necessarily. >> no, it's not unprecedented. and as you point out there, i think, with the holder/obama situation with fast and furious, that gun running investigation, it can drag out for years. they want his testimony on the record while he's still the acting attorney general, if they follow it through in court as they did in the holder/obama situation, that could take a really long time. by that point, bill barr is already here. the whole point of this was supposed to have an oversight hearing on justice department issue issues at large. communications between whitaker and the president are foremost in their minds. their first big issue, first big subpoena for something like

. >> reporter: in november 2009, then-attorney general eric holder said the five suspects would be chargedral court. after fierce opposition, holder reversed the decision and sent the case back to guantanamo. >> if we got them in federal court right here in new york, this thing would be over in six months. >> reporter: after the private meeting, hanson didn't get the news she'd hoped for. >> they told us they're moving closer to a day. we didn't get a definitive day. >> there'll be justice for my kids. >> reporter: the families told fox every president has a special responsibility to see a trial through. lee hanson, who never saw justice in his lifetime, was recently laid to rest alongside peter, and christine. sue and christine. catherine herridge, fox news. jon: it's been almost two decades. and we'll be right back. audible members know listening has the power to change us make us better parents, better leaders, better people. and there's no better place to listen than audible. with audible you get a credit good for any audiobook and exclusive fitness and wellness programs. and now, you'

joining me now is matt miller, a former official with the justice department under eric holder and lisaening to both you have. >> good evening. >> why was it hard when as we showed some of the answers did come through? >> i think ehe was trying to ply this game where he was saying very clearly, i'm not going to talk about kfrgtconversations w the president but when the answers were acceptable, he would talk about it. you'll see this sometimes with witnesses and it's a tell. when you say there's a red line in some areas that you won't discuss and you breach this line in some areas and you don't in others, pit's clear sign in the other areas there's information that you are trying to hide. when you look at the answers about the southern district of new york, it's been reported the president weighed in and asked why more wasn't being done to control the prosecutors after they named the president individual one. he refused to say whether he had conversations with the president about that. >> i thought thatconfirmation. >> i can't go that far. what do you think of that? all this crazy stuff

candidates looking to defeat donald trump including kamala harris, maria butina, elizabeth warren and eric holderork mayor bloomberg. obama has told candidates he's concerned about the potential of a damaging primary fight and has urged them to avoid attacking each other in ways that could help trump. >>> joining us again, editor-in-chief of politico magazine, blake is back with us again. let's first talk about this obama story that louis was reading through. the decision to wait until after the primaries to endorse a candidate. how could this either help or hurt democrats running for 2020? >> well, i think definitely louis put his finger on it, the candidate that could be most damaged by this is biden, his vice president. if you recall, in 2016 obama made it pretty clear that he preferred hillary even though he was proclaiming neutrality. he made it clear to biden and his people he didn't think it was a great idea for him to jump into the race. if you're vice president biden you're hoping your old boss works you know, cheer for you. and i think proclaimed neutrality on obama's part suggests that

. >> sean: by the way, democrats, janet rangel, eric holder, they were pushing that. trump earlier today making it clear that it is up to the attorney general william barr on whatever release or no release of mueller's findings. tonight we do have major developments. hannity watch on the deep state. unelected bureaucrats caught trying to undermine president trump. first to prevent him from getting elected and then to undermine his election. and undo the will of the american people. and their blind loyalty to james comey. with our reports tonight, sara carter and john solomon reporting former top fbi lawyer james baker believed the clintons use of a private server was in fact enough to secure an indictment and charge her for violations under the espionage act and i will add the leading subpoenaed emails is nothing. baker suspiciously changes his mind after discussions with comey. of course a clinton lover, another senior officials. disgraced fbi official fbi official andrew mccabe ramped up his efforts to undermine the president after comey was fired in may 27. don't f

trump deputy campaign manager and fox news contributor and former speech writer to attorney general eric holdertlemen for being here. jake, let me start with you. did you think they acquitted themselves well in there? >> i think that the democrats did some legitimate oversight that's been missing from this administration over the last two years. i don't think that acting attorney general whitcher acquitted himself very well. at one point somebody accused the democrats of selling his character which is a little ridiculous considering that the acting attorney general was previously the pitch man for fraudulent company that sold toilets and time machines. he didn't put his best food forward for sure. he didn't come in with the highest of expectations he certainly left having crawled under the bar that had been set for him. he didn't answer questions. he was angry. he lashed out at members of the committee at the chairman. it was a bad showing for him. but it was a really important example of oversight that this administration is going to have to get used to. >> martha: david? >> well, the politics

former attorney general eric holder traveling to another key state, iowa, reportedly making a decisionn for president over the course of the next two weeks. then today, interesting, entering a different race in 2020, is retired astronaut mark kelly, husband of course of former congresswoman gabby giffords. he is running for the late senator john mccain's seat out in arizona. the democratic contender, will take on republican martha mcsally there. the winner of this race will finish out the last two years of senator mccain's term. melissa: another potential 2020 contender, receiving unexpected backlash, howard schultz speaking out on the hostility he said he and his wife are experiencing since hinting at possible run for the white house. >> we were not surprised by it. i think the extent of it has taken us back a bit. i think anytime you try to go against the grain and take the road less traveled, challenge the status quo, that is something i've been doing my whole life, not at this level, clearly we'll going to have some resistance. we expected it not as acute as it has become. connell:

my bosses were eric holder and loretta lynch. in 2017, i was fired by the current president, which worked out fine for me in the end. so, the reason i think i was asked to moderate this panel this morning is that, for the seven and a half years that i was a united states attorney in new jersey, i and many of my colleagues around the country were very heavily involved in criminal justice reform in all sorts of different ways. some on the front end, some on the backend. we are going to talk about the difference between those issues this morning. i ended up working with lots of both nonprofit organizations, people in government who were similarly interested. my particular focus in the end was on prisoner reentry, which i will talk about in a minute. let me introduce the panelists first. robin, seated to my right is the director of the bail project and former director of the public defenders. -- the bronx public defenders, which is the best public defender program. i know we are on television so please don't play that part of it. pro

eric holder recused himself for a number of investigations. think the biggest one he recused from is the john edwards investigation. which he was confused from. he had vetted him as a potential vice presidential nominee. there were others he recused himself from, because his law firm, when he's in private practice had represented someone. it is a fairly common thing, and it's a fairly common thing for people down the line to recuse themselves from investigation. what is unusual, of course, and beyond unusual. this kind of thing never happened to the justice department while i was there, and i would dare say didn't happen in previous administrations going back, except for nixon. it's for the white house or someone else who is the subject of a criminal investigation. to weigh-in on the justice department. of course, it's more so for the white house, because the president has the hiring and firing power. implicit in this push to whitaker for the u.s. attorney in the southern district to unrecuse himself. a term i've never heard before. is the imp

the democratic president, when you don't see those kind of generic resolves, you see, let's hold eric holder in contempt, and that personalizes it and makes people only think of that dispute, and where are they going to be on the question, as opposed to the scholars have the right to these fast entries documents? does congress have a right to the molar report? do they have a right to document that will be useful to legislate, and decide whether to impeach someone? i would say yes, but if you always focus on a particular context and word your resolution in a particular way, it invariably will seem partisan. maybe that's a suggestion, to abstract a little, and state principals on a broader way, that people aren't only focused on the particular fight. >> unfortunately, i have to end this discussion to make sure you all have time to take a break, we're going to try to start hopefully at 1:30 with the next panel, but i want to thank the professor for that fascinating talk. >> tomorrow, on c-span three, the house ways and means committee holds a hearing on legislation that would require the presid

eric holder. the former mayer of new york, all talking to barack obama.ratic party politics for years on presidential campaigns with the congressional black caucus on the hill and on so much more. doug, always good to have your insight. based on the "times" reporting here, president obama not expected to endorse a candidate, even in this primary. joe biden says he didn't expect a backing from president obama if he decides to get into this race. what leadership advice, what advice in general could barack obama be providing behind the scenes? >> look, he's won, you know. he won the presidency. he got re-elected. he knows what it takes to make it through a primary. he knows what it takes to compete in iowa. he knows what it takes to get delegates. he knows what it takes to be president. he is the most popular figure in the democratic party right now. he sort of ascended to the yoda of the party. you know, he's the person that everyone is going to talk to, to pick his brain, to get his advice. because, quite frankly, he is the most recent person to make it th

he felt that president obama and eric holder, his attorney general, had someone who was on the team who was loyal and would protect the president. a misreading of that relationship because there is a natural independence of a justice department and certainly of the fbi, why an fbi direct torp h dictor has a ten-year term so they're immune from politics. in this case he wanted someone who would be loyal and he wanted this investigation to go away. in all those case thads you js t mentioned, the white house counsel, corey lewandowski who was a total supporter of trump, and more recently in matthew whitaker who had been critical of the president on television which know doubt got him the job in the first place, they all said that's a little too far, mr. president, you can't do that. and that is, i think, shocking, shockingly positive in that this is where certain stand-up people, even if they may be partisans or institutions are doing their job here against a president who wants to potentially violate the law or abuse his power. that will be for others to judge. but, but seeking to undermi