circumstance occur between you and president trump, that you would go to a deputy attorney general rosenstein, not to the attorney general sessions. you have said that a number of times during your testimony today. why would you not go to senator -- ag sessions? >> unless there was something that the attorney general was recused from, i would talk to the attorney general as well. but as part of the organizational part, the fbi reports to the attorney general. and the contacts between the white house and the justice department directs that those kinds of contact should occur through the attorney general. so that is an appropriate place to start. >> in this instance, attorney general sessions has recused himself from anything related to the russia investigation, correct? >> that's my understanding, but i'm not familiar with the full scope of the recusal. >> and when deputy attorney general rosenstein sent a memo to comey, there was a memo from jeff sessions that recommended to the president that comey be fired. would you consider that appropriate for someone who recused himself from those matte

of circumstance occur between you and president trump, that you would go to deputy attorney general rosenstein, not to the attorney general sessions. you've said that a number of times during your testimony today. why would you not go to senator -- i mean, to ag sessions? >> well, i wouldn't -- unless there was something that the attorney general was recused from, i wouldn't rule out talking to the attorney general, as well. but the department's organizational chart, the fbi reports to the deputy attorney general. number one. and number two, contacts -- the policy that the department has that governs contacts between the white house and the justice department is -- directs that those kinds of contacts should occur through the office of the deputy attorney general. so that strikes me as the appropriate place to start in those conversations. >> and, of course, in this instance, attorney general sessions has recused himself from pretty much anything relating to the russia investigations. correct? >> that's my understanding. but i'm not familiar with the full scope of the recusal. >> and yet, on t

>> i did go into my meeting with deputy attorney general rosenstein and attorney general sessions, i met with them together. with a number of questions in my mind about wanting to be sure that i knew what i was getting myself into. and i was very comfortable with what i heard. there was not a discussion of comey's firing or the russia investigation other than deputy attorney general rosenstein making a comment to the effect that now that special counsel mueller has been appointed, that situation is more straightforward because there is an investigation going and special counsel mueller has that. from my perspective, the landscape that i was coming into at that point was different than it would have been without special counsel mueller having been appointed. >> did you come to a conclusion that you would not probably be having one-on-one discussions about the russian interference with the president as had occurred with the director comey because you had mueller there conducting an investigation? >> yes. >> you were reassured that he would be able to do your job. >> i was very comforta

>> i interviewed with deputy attorney general rosenstein and attorney general sessions together, at the same time. >> and did either of them ask you about the conduct of the russia investigation during your interview? >> no. >> attorney general sessions, as we discussed and you well know, is recused from and i quote any existing or future investigations of any matters related in any way to the campaigns for presidents of the united states, including the investigation into russian interference. as i told you when we met before, i'm concerned that attorney general sessions hasn't fully complied with the scope of his recusal. is it appropriate for the attorney general to make public comments on the ongoing investigation, to engage in decisions about its resourcing funding or staffing? is that an appropriate part of his management role of the agency as attorney general? >> well, senator, i'm not sure it's for me to speak to the attorney general's decision making about his own public comments. i would say that if he's recused from an investigation, that to me that means he shouldn't be parti

tonight in an exclusive to "the story," for the first time since he took office deputy attorney general rod rosensteins answering questions. about the comey firing, the russian investigation, and special counselor robert mueller. our conversation begins with another hot issue. attorney general jeff sessions reinstating get tough policy is on drugs and the people who traffic them. it's a whole new era at justice. >> asset forfeiture is a key that helps law enforcement defund organized crime. takeback ill-gotten gains from them, and prevent new crimes from being committed. >> martha: 's of the policy is not without controversy, which is exactly where we begin with deputy attorney general rosenstein. watch. deputy attorney, thank you very much for being with us. i want to jump right in on the issue of civil forfeiture, which i know you are discussing. john oliver recently sort of brought this issue on television, talking about a man who was pulled over and had $2400 confiscated from them by the police. i think for a lot of people, to present to hear that this is a practice that happens often and that the

>> i interviewed with deputy attorney general rosenstein and attorney general sessions together at thee time. >> did either of them ask you about the conduct of the russian investigation during her interview? >> no. >> attorney general sessions is recused from any and future investigations of matters related in any way to the campaigns were president of the united states. including the investigation into russian interference. as i told you when we met before, i'm concerned that attorney general sessions hasn't fully complied with the scope of his recusal. is it appropriate for the attorney general to make public comments on the ongoing investigation, to engage in decisions and funding and staffing? is at an appropriate part of his management role as part of being attorney general? >> it's not for me to speak to the attorney general's decision-making about his own public comments. i would say that if he is recused from an investigation, that means he shouldn't be participating in decision-making about the investigation, but of course, the attorney general has the entire justice departme

in this interview president trump also spoke about depth attorney general rod rosenstein, who is overseeing the russia investigation in attorney general sessions's place. he said after sessions recused himself, he asked who is your deputy? his deputy, he hardly knew, and that's rosenstein. rod rosenstein, who is from baltimore. there are very few republicans in baltimore, if any. trump also said his special counsel should never have been appointed in this case, but in an interview conducted with before the president's comments were published last night, rosenstein stood by his appointment of mueller and defended his fairness. >> i made the decision to appoint director mueller based upon his reputation. he had an excellent reputation. really bipartisan support for his integrity. that's why i made that decision. i'm not going to be able to comment upon what he may or may

my only discussion on topic at all was deputy attorney general rosenstein making the observation to me that at the time that i first was contacted about this position, by him, by deputy attorney general rosenstein, was that now special counsel mueller had been appointed to deal with that issue and that that in effect made for a better landscape for me to consider taking on this position. >> okay. and that was it? >> that was it. >> okay. let me go now to the things that we discussed in my office. my understanding is you served as the deputy attorney general's most senior advisor when the office of legal counsel issued the so-called torture memos in 2002 and 2003. one of the authors of those memos testified in 2008 before a house judiciary committee on june 26th that you were one of the justice department officials who would have received drafts of the memos and that those memos would not have been issued without the approval of the deputy attorney general's office. in fact, he said he believed that you provided comments on the 2003 olc memo, which concluded that interrogation tactics d

>> i interviewed with deputy attorney general rosenstein and sessions together at the same time. >> did either of them ask you about the conduct of the russia investigation during your interview? >> no. >> attorney general sessions, as we have discussed and you well know, is recused from and i quote, any existing or future investigations of any matters regulate e related in any way to the investigation of the president of the united states. is it appropriate for the attorney general to make public comments on the ongoing investigation to engage in decisions about resourcing, funding are staffing? is that an appropriate part of his management role of the agency as attorney general? >> well, senator, i'm not sure it is for me to speak to the attorney general's decision-making about his own public comments. i would say that if he's recused from an investigation, to me that means he shouldn't be participating in decision-making about the investigation. but, of course, the attorney general is the head of the entire justice department. and there is, as important as this particular investigati

general of the united states. who is someone he appointed to that job. rod rosenstein, who is now overseeing the trump-russia investigations at the justice department because attorney general jeff sessions is supposedly recused from them. in the same interview, importantly, the president also rips the attorney general himself, jeff sessions, who he has been seen as so close to, and who really did a huge amount toward making trump a republican candidate instead of just an iconic conservative free-floating nonparty affiliated candidate in the primary. in this new interview tonight, the president criticizes jeff sessions in such a way that in normal times, we would expect an official criticize this way by the president to resign before the evening is over. that said, these are not normal times. so who knows. we don't have a transcript of this interview yet from "the new york times" tonight. we just have their writeup of, which is basically their characterization and a few coats, a few direct quotes from the president. they did, though, release this one piece of audio. >>

general. in mr. rosenstein's memo, he lays out his opinion that over last year he said, the fbi's reputation and credibility have suffered substantial damage and it is affected the entire department of justice. you read the memo, i trust. he concludes, as you know, as a result the fbi is unlikely to regain public and congressional trust until it has a director who understands the gravity of the mistakes and pledges never to repeat them. i want to be respectful of the line you are trying to draw here. i need to know and i think the committee needs to know whether you understand the gravity of the mistakes made by the previous director and you pledge never to repeat them. >> senator, as we discussed whether we met, deputy attorney general rosenstein's memo, which i did read, the way he describes the department's policies and practices is consistent with my understanding of those policies and practices and the way i would intend to approach those policies and practices. it's not ever been my practice to blur the lin

>> my first step would be to call deputy attorney general rosenstein. there's a policy that applies to contacts between the white house and the department. it goes in both directions. in particular, it goes to any contact between -- with respect to a particular case. there obviously are situation where is the fbi director needs to be able to communicate with the president on national security matters, for example. but in my experience, it would be very unusual for there to be any kind of one-on-one meeting between the fbi -- any fbi director and any president. >> unusual, but it happened. and it happened to mr. comey. he decided he was uncomfortable being in the oval office alone with the president. so as unusual as it may be, would you meet in the oval office with the president with no one else present? >> i think it would dependent on the circumstances, senator. i think it would be highly unlikely, but i think there could -- i could imagine a situation where there'd be some national security matter where they might call for it. but i would, again, my

general, is going to do that. really, i think what ultimately the president is going to start doing is putting pressure on rod rosenstein, who is in charge of this investigation, is acting attorney general, and really try to get rod to maybe even cut the budget of bob mueller and do something a little more stagecrafty than the blunt instrument of firing the attorney general and trying to replace him. >> michael, many people say if the president were to get rid of sessions, that would be a step toward getting rid of special counsel robert mueller as well. do you think that's the end game here for him? >> well, it's clear that the president is very upset with the mueller investigation and that he seems unable to go forward with what is probably sage legal counsel which is to let mueller investigate and exonerate him. he just can't get over that. so he keeps doing these things in an effort to undermine the mueller investigation, which i think is only empowering mueller and giving him more support on the hill. legally speaking, rosenstein has some authority over the mueller investigation, but it's not day-to-day supervision

>> my first step would be to call deputy attorney general rosenstein. there is a policy that applies to contacts between the white house and the department, it goes in both directions. in particular, he goes to any contact with respect to a particular case. there are obviously situations where the fbi director needs to be able to commune again with the president on national security matters, for example, but in my experience i would be unusual to have any kind of one-on-one meeting between any fbi director. >> unusual, but it happened. it happened to mr. comey and he decided he was uncomfortable being in the oval office alone with the president. as unusual as it may be, would you meet in the oval office with the president with no one else present? >> it would depend on the circumstances. i think would be highly unlikely, but i think i could imagine a situation where a base on national security matter with them i call for it. my preference on presumption would be that there should be people from the department working through the office of the attorney g

rosenstein memo he wrote. and i understand there's an inspector general investigation. i don't want to ask you specifically about the facts of that. but you have in response to senator graham, suggested that you never would see it appropriate to hold a press conference about a criminal investigation and while declining directing prosecution disclosed derogatory information about the target of that investigation, is that correct? >> senator, as we discussed when we met, while i don't think it would be appropriate for me to comment on director comey's decision, i don't know what all went in his decision. but i can tell you in my experience, both as a line prosecutor and head of the criminal division and now as a lawyer in private practice, with the special appreciation for why some of those rules and policies are in effect, that i can't think of a time when anybody from the department much less the fbi director gave a press conference providing derogatory information about an uncharged individual. but i'm not an ensigh cloe paidic knowledge of the department history. >> t

the president suggests a special counsel robert mueller being and deputy attorney general rob rosenstein all have conflicts of interest that he may reveal at some point. gerri: not to do battle over health care. senate republicans urged to settle differences to repeal and replace obamacare. the president says the gop lawmaker should postpone summer recess until a deal is done. adam shapiro in washington with the latest. add-on. >> good morning, ladies. health care is back front and center. the president hosting several senators from the republican side over at the white house for lunch and urging them to not only repeal obamacare, but replace obamacare. here's what he told them. >> and ready to ask. i have pen in hand. i'm sitting in the office. you never had that before. for seven years you haven't easy route. we will repeal cover replacement is never going to sign it. but i'm saying that. inaction is not an option and i don't think we should leave town unless we have a health insurance plan. >> part of the message is still a washington until you get something accomplished. majority lea

to be seen as a zombie -- >> there you have questions to both the attorney general, jeff sessions and, of course, rod rosensteing about the president's interview with "the new york times." slamming both of those men, frankly. attorney general sessions was asked how can you continue doing your job if you don't have the confidence of the president and he said, we are serving right now. he said he plans to continue to serve, plans to carry out the priorities of the president of the united states. he said, went back as much as he could to cyber crime, something they were talking about today. rod rosenstein was asked, he's from baltimore and there aren't many republicans in baltimore, questioning his allegiance to the party. rosenstein said he is proud to be here today and then said he will only talk about the case that they were discussing on cyber crime today. there were no questions on that case. the press conference ended. with me is jeffrey toobin. doesn't sound like attorney general jeff sessions is going anywhere? >> absolutely not. he said the only thing he could say. he showed up at work today and is going

attorney general rosenstein is -- rosenstein, excuse me, is under the microscope, the negative microscope, and what's happening is they're trying to craft it saying that he is allowed, this special counsel, mueller, to go beyond his scope. they're saying that mueller's scope is limited. they're saying that he's going beyond his scope. now they're looking at rosenstein to see if, indeed, that they might be able to change out rosenstein, be it executive order from the president, to go to another person, and if it does go to another person, if you look at succession, it could go to rachel brand who is someone who is a supporter of president trump. and if, indeed, that's the case, she could actually rein mueller in possibly. they're looking at so many different options in this scenario. >> yeah. >> hey, don, could i add something quick? jeff mentioned a chilling effect as it relates to sessions and trump's comments about sessions. i think that part of the purpose of this, we now have the "washington post" and "the new york times" reporting very similar things which is they're essentially look

the president also lashing out at deputy attorney general, rosenstein suggesting he cannot be trusted. and the from the left open possibility of firing special counsel robert mueller who president said that is running a office rife with conflicts of interest. and setting a red line for mueller, warning him against expanding russia collusion investigation i if he were to include his family's finances, mueller may have already crossed that line. john roberts with our report. reporter: the white house said that president has no intention of firing his attorney general sessions, or does he' him to resign. he sure beat the stuffing out of him in public. at another even today, highlighting american manufacturing president trump ignored shouted questions when he continues to believe in his attorney general. >> thank you everyone. reporter: at the daily off camera briefing, press secretary sarah huckabee sanders answered for her boss. >> president said he was disappointed in attorney general sessions decision to recuse himself, but he clearly has confidence in him. >> sharply at odds with bit

he's attacked the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein, on twitter as well.ly complained about jeff sessions recusing himself from the russia investigation. so it is incumbent on somebody like christopher wray to be willing to stand up for its mission, stand up for its independence and stand up for its integrity -- the integrity of its investigations and i think that's what we'll see him be asked about today. >> all right, matt miller, thank you. andrea mitchell, i said earlier no public events for three days on the president's calendar. he leaves tonight for paris, for bastille day celebrations. what we've heard from the president again, three minutes ago on twitter, i'm hoping you can help me decipher this. why aren't the same standards placed on the democrats. look what hillary clinton may have gotten away with. disgraceful. do you want to take a whack at that? >> i'm trying to figure it out myself. earlier he called it a witch hunt, so he's still on the fake news or what the democrats are doing, that combo. perhaps this is a reference to e-mails, since hi

the attorney general and i share your goals. jonathan: rosenstein who was the federal prosecutor for maryland before becoming the deputy a.g. talked about reducing hate crimes. president trump declined an invitation to speak at t convention. michelle: a federal appeals court ruled against a d.c. law requiring people show a proper reason to get a concealed carry gun permit. by a 2-1 vote the court ruled the law unconstitutional and violation of the second amendment rights. despite the ruling the law is in effect while the d.c. attorney general decides whether to appeal the ruling to the full court. he could also appeal directly to the u.s. supreme court. larry: daredevils or something else? why two men scaled a huge bridge and who was then tasked with getting them down safely? >> there was a baby in the parking lot. alison: a newborn left in a parking lot. michelle: this is caught on surveillance camera and who the police have in custody. jonathan: don't forget to call the abc7 help center now to get your pet questions answered. 703-236-9220. they wi

. >> the memo made famous recommending james comey be fired, deputy attorney general rod rosenstein says he still stands behind that recommendation in that memo. opening in a fox news exclusive on the story with martha maccallum last night openly said he stood by his decision and disapproved of leaks such as the ones admitted by comey. >> i testified several times about this. we take confidentiality seriously. we have in the more and the about ongoing matters and an obligation to do that. >> rosenstein said if the department decides not to prosecute it does not make disparaging comments about those of under investigation. >> sebastian worker was on hannity talking about people love the mainstream media and their focus on russia because it is helping the president. >> a huge ratings boost. >> and helping the president because more people are recognizing the mainstream media is flawed. >> we love it because it is just an indicator of one thing. they are desperate. they are desperate. we have recaptured mosul, illegal immigration is down. the economy is breaking records and this is what the

deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. if the president can't persuade rod rosenstein to follow mueller, and it seems like he probably can't, then he could fire -- heco order rod rosen stein to fire him, and then if rod rosenstein says no, he could fire rod rosenstein, and then he would get into the cycle where he had to keep firing every other ranking person at the justice department from the top down until he found someone at some rank who would fire bob mueller. that is a hard path. that is potentially a long path. what became clear this week is that there is an easier and at least a shorter path for the president. quicker way to do it would be for him to just put someone new instead of rod rosenstein in charge of overseeing the mueller investigation. he may love jeff sessions, but if he fires or quits, trump could appoint a new a.g. who would not be recused from the russia investigation, who would not be recused from overseeing mueller, and then that new attorney general would be appointed to replace jeff sessions coul

the fbi general rosenstein forced to resign, that isn't true. it is true to this? sorry, but opposing hillary clinton is not treason, it's bad judgment. >> sandra: can i tap on your past experiences as a press secretary, what's happening there right now? an hour and a half before this press briefing, sarah huckabee sanders -- what's happening? >> meghan: how do you stop the bleeding at this point? >> ari: it's controlled mad chaos. that's what it is. meetings began on time and ended on time. you want to take the podium, but you keep getting more stuff coming into you. what do you do? i don't think the white house press secretary is calling donald trump, jr., and saying tell me all the facts because he is not a white house staffer and they probably shouldn't do that anyway. it's going to be a miserable briefing because the press secretary doesn't have a lot of knowledge. >> harris: sarah huckabee sanders standard answer in the past as i have not talked to the president about that. hopefully she's talking to the president about those. those questions are going to com

if he does, deputy attorney general rosenstein becomes the attorney general.ll not concern some ally. he will be worst off. i think it's important that sessions stay in the job. he took an oath to the constitution, not to trump. he's done nothing wrong. he followed the ethics guidance of the justice department in recusing himself. he's not accused of any inappropriate behavior. couple of questions about the campaign and russia contacts but those are minimum. i think he behaved honorably. trump is the one who is behaved in way that's disgraceful, not sessions. >> i agree. he's trying to humiliate him into resigning. oc obviously, it's not working. you have rush limbaugh, when he says the president has gone too far, is he worried at all about losing conservative media? >> i think he has to. anthony scare amucci made that statement. he advised the president not to fire robert mueller. the president should not try to fire muller. the president probably wanted jeff sessions to go. because he wants an eric holder or a bobby kennedy, jack kennedy, relationship. you c

deputy attorney general rosenstein. but the president is not happy with rosenstein. so if he does something, he can do it by executive order. and he could also look at firing rosenstein and bringing in the number three person who is rachel brand who is a supporter of president trump and would possibly bring in mueller as they're saying he has gone beyond the scope of what he is supposed to be doing. >> julia, that would be an incredible escalation in this fight. but you talked about this earlier. what's going on here? >> the last time i was on your show two days ago we were quaintly and innocently talking about the wall street journal editorial calling for radical transparency and it was clear we were talking about radical transparency through the rearview mirror. that something had happened and it became clear to me. i know how these cases unfold, especially these ones that implicate national security issues that firing mueller while an option is really messy and i think actually the pardon option and the presidential pardon option was one that would strike me and n

the president attacked his deputy attorney general rob rosenstein as someone from baltimore where where he noted accusingly, very few republicans. and he continue to disparage james comey. according to president trump, he did a great thing for the american people by firing comey. he said comey told him about opportunity documented dossier filled with salacious claims to hold it over the president's head. let's listen. >> i didn't know what to think other than this is really phony stuff. >> why do you think he shared it? >> in my opinion, he shared it so i would think he had it out there. >> as leverage? >> i think so. >> this morning the attorney general sessions was asked about the president's attack. let's listen. >> i have the honor of serving as attorney general. it is something that goes beyond any thought i would have ever had for myself. we love this job. we love this department. and i plan to continue to do so. as long as that is appropriate. i am totally confident we can continue to run this office in an effective way. >> i'll joined now by the "new york times" peter baker who

. >> with anyone in the white house, my only discussion on topic at awe was deputy attorney general rosensteinthe time i first was contacted about this position by him, by didty attorney general rosenstein, now special counsel mueller had been appointed to deal with that issue and that in effect made a better landscape for me to consider taking on this position. >> okay. that was it? >> that was it. >> okay. let me go now to the things that we discussed in my office. my understanding is, you served as the deputy attorney general's most senior advisor when the office of legal counsel issued the so-called torture memos in 2002, and 2003. john yu, one of the authors of those memos testified in 2008 before a house judiciary committee on june 26, that you were one of the justice department officials who would have received drafts of the memos and those memos would not have been issued without the approval of the deputy attorney general's office. in fact, you said, he believed that you provided comments on the 2003 orc memo, which concluded interrogation tactics don't qualify as torture unless they'

it hasn't recovered from that. >> monday you met with the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. >>ht. >> did you ask for a recommendation? >> what i did is i was going to fire comey, my decision. it was not -- >> you had made the decision before they came in the room? >> i was going to fire comey. there's no good time to do it, by the way. >> but in your letter you said i accepted their recommendation. >> well, they also -- >> you had already made the decision? >> i was going to fire regard lls of recommendation. he made a recommendation. he's highly respect, very good guy, very smart guy. the democrats like him, the republicans like him. he had made a recommendation. but regardless of recommend ace i was going to fire comey knowing there was no good time to do it. in fact, when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story, it is an excuse by the democrats for having lost an election that they should have won, and the reason they should have won it is the electoral college is almost impossible for a republic

president suggests special counsel robert mueller acting fbi director deputy director attorney general rosenstein, investigation. >>> a twist in president trump's travel ban impacting those from six muslim majority countries. the supreme court sided with a lower court order to temporary expand the list to include the grandparents of u.s. citizens. the justices also granted the trump administration's request to strictly enforce its ban on refugees. >> will o.j. simpson soon be getting out of prison? the nfl hall of famer goes before the nevada parole board today. simpson served the minimum of his nine to 33 year sentence for armed robbery kidnapping and other charges stemming from the incident at a las vegas hotel room in which he took back sports had been yes. if the parole board rules in his favor o.j. simpson could be free in october. >> a bit closer to home the search for a kill intersilver spring. montgomery county police say a.m. 21-year-old man was gunned down inside a home on belvidere boulevard around 9:45 last night. e hospital where he later died. the suspect ran from the home. right no

>> senator, i was contacted originally by deputy attorney general rosenstein, that was the first inkling that i had in any shape, way or fashion that this meeting would ever be happening. as is publicly reported, i think it was the day after memorial day, i had a brief meeting at the white house that was attended by several people from the white house, including the president as well as several people from the department. another similar meeting, and then i was announced as the intended nominee. >> okay. indulge me a second, for my second question, i have to lay a little bit of a foundation. and some of my colleagues have alluded to this today. but our country began as a self reliant lightly taxed debt averse union of states. but our country's changed a lot in a couple hundred years. i don't mean this to be a pejorative statement, i mean it to be factual. the power of the federal government, the united states government is breathtaking. and i don't think there's a single agency that is more symbolic of that power than the fbi. you can run people's lives. hopefully, when that happens, the

be attorney general rod rosenstein took over the russia investigation after mr.essions recusal was led to the appointment of robert f mueller the third, the former fbi director and special counsel, which in turn led to irrepressible presidential rage. seattle, independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. like jeffrey beauregard sessions should remain as attorney general. i feel like donald trump is the king. basically what we are seeing is the united states government is the constitution is it really is. it is only as good as the people who interpret it. donald trump is corrupt. jeff sessions is corrupt. they will do whatever they can to destroy america. does notn why he would want any investigation is because donald trump change the votes of the elections. everything he said his reverse psychology that he used. you will find out that those machines and those swing states were hacked. i can hack him -- hack them, and i want you to look this up, because i have been asked to do this in georgia. host: getting back to the discussion about jeff sessions, if h

clearly within the mandate that mueller was given by the appointment memo that deputy attorney general rosenstein signed with respect to russian interference in the election. i mean factually this is in the heartland of mueller's investigation, and legally as a department of justice federal prosecutor with authority to enforce federal criminal law, this statute is within his jurisdiction. so i don't see why he wouldn't be looking at this from that perspective. and the fec has enforcement capacity with regard to civil liability, but they're not a criminal prosecutor. just like a federal prosecutor can bring a securities case instead of the securities and exchange commission or an environmental case instead of the epa, there's no reason why they can't bring a criminal election case. and in fact, lawrence, i'm sure you recall that there was a raft of such charges that were brought during the clinton administration by a team of doj prosecutors that were put together to enforce election laws with respect to criminal violations involving the second clinton campaign. >> michael isikoff, your latest inva

met i met shortly thereafter with deputy attorney rosenstein andre general sessions together. then as has been publicly reported, i think it was the day after memorial day i had a brief meeting at the white house that was attended by several people from the white house including the president, as well as several people from the i department. another similar meeting and then i was announced is intended nominee. >> and owes me a second. for my second question i have to lay little bit of a foundation. and so my colleagues have alluded to this today.ded to our country began as a self-reliant likely tax debt averse union of states. but, our country is changed a lot in a couple of hundred lot years. i don't mean this to be -- immunity be factual. the power of the federal government, the united states government is breathtaking. i do not think there is a single agency that is more symbolic of that power, than the fbi. you could ruin people's lives.un hopefully when that happens they deserve it. at some point, who did what to whom in the last election is going to be a distant memory.

. >> reporter: the president also criticized deputy attorney general rod rosenstein who overseize robert mueller saying rosenstein wasn't sympathetic to the cause because he was from baltimore. the president suggested there should be limits to the scope of mueller's investigation. >> looking at your finances and the family's finances unrelated to russia. is that a red line? >> i would say yes. by the way, i don't -- it's possible there's a condo or something so you know, i sell a lot of condos. i don't make money from russia. >> reporter: christopher ray is another step closer to becoming fbi director. he received unanimous approval from the judiciary committee today. >> the fbi director must maintain strict independence, be committed to doing the job by the book without regard to partisan influence. >> reporter: now it heads to the full senate for a vote and the white house clarifying the president's comments on special counsel mueller saying that the president wanted to make clear that the special counsel should not move outside the scope of the investigation. of course, brianna, that

in addition, deputy attorney general rosenstein told members of congress that when he wrote his memo,resident trump had already decided to remove mr. comey as fbi director. based on press reports and the president's own words, the reason mr. comey was dismissed was because he would not pledge his loyalty to the president and he would not lift the cloud of the russia investigation. president trump said in a televised interview, for example, i was going to fire comey regardless of recommendation and, quote, when i decided to just do it i said to myself, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made up story, end quote. as the fbi's investigation into russian election interference and possible coordination with the trump campaign progressed, it appears the president became more and more concerned with director comey's unwillingness to cooperate in the flynn matter as well as the russia matter. all of this raises important questions for the next fbi head and particularly for his independence. first and foremost, the fbi is and must remain an independent law enforcement organ

my only discussion on topic at all was deputy attorney general rosenstein making the observation tame at the first time i was contacted about this position was now that special counsel mueller had been appointed to deal with that issue and it made for a better landscape for me to consider taking on this position. >> that was it? >> that was it. >> okay. let me go now to the things that we discussed in my office. my understanding is you served as the deputy attorney general's most senior adviser when the office of legal counsel issued the so-called torture memos in 2002 and 2003. one of the authors of those memos testified in 2008 before a house judiciary committee that you were one of the justice department officials who would have received drafts of the memos and those memos would not have been issued without the approval of the deputy attorney general's office. in fact, you said he believed you provided comments on the 2003 olc memo which included the interrogation tactics don't qualify as torture, unless they're intended to cause the kind of severe pain associated with organ failur

suggested special counsel robert mueller acting fbi director andrew mccabe and deputy attorney general andrew rosensteinave conflicts of interest in the russia investigation. the president says he'll reveal those conflicts "at some point." >>> the president's son-in-law jared kushner will speak to the senate intelligence committee donald trump jr. and paul manafort will testify before the senate judiciary committee. all three men are expected to answer questions about a meeting between members of the trump campaign and a russian lawyer last year. she was. expected to give them damaging information about democratic nominee hillary clinton. >> the trump administration puts a stop to long time -- to a long time cia program designed to arm and train syrian rebels. the program began under the obama administration and was known put pressure on the syrian government. russian leaders have been program for years. u.s. officials say the move is part of president trump's effort to improve ties with russia. >>> we're learning more about the gop's plan to repeal obamacare without replacing it and the impact it will

deputy attorney general rosenstein told congress that when he wrote his memo, president trump already decided to remove mr. comey. based on press reports and the president's own words, the reason why he was dismissed was because he would not pledge his loyalty to the president. and he would not lift the cloud of the russian investigation. president trump said in an interview, i was going to fire comey regardless of recommendation. when i decided to do it, i said to myself, this russia thing with trump in russia is a made up story. as the fbi's investigation into russian election interference and possible coordination with the trump campaign, it appears the president became more and more concerned with director comey's unwillingness to cooperate in the russian matter. all of this raises important question for the next fbi had regarding independence. the fbi must remain an independent law enforcement organization free from political influence. in the stars from the very top. the fbi director does not serve the president, he serves the constitution, law and the american people. the direc

the president also criticized attorney general rod rosenstein. a couple of headlines on the story. the first one breitbart news quoting deputy white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders. trumps disappointed but clearly he has confidence in a.g. sessions. the next from "buzzfeed." morale is low as the justice department is trump again attacks jeff sessions. at the cyber crime event attorney general sessions was asked about the president's remarks. we will also hear from deputy attorney general rosenstein. >> wind is department of justice will continue every single day to work hard to serve in the national interest and we wholeheartedly join in with president trump to deliver several directives. one is to dismantle transnational criminal organizations. that's what we are announcing today. dismantling of the largest site in the world by far. i congratulate our people for that. i had the honor of serving as attorney general, something that goes beyond any thought i would have ever had for myself. we love this job, we love this department and i plan to continue to do so as long