affect the joining me now from new york is the chairman of the house judiciary committee, democrat gerald nadler, congressman nadler, welcome back to "meet the press qwe" sir. >> good morning. >> what do you believe is the definition of principal conclusion? >> well, i don't know. i don't know what's in the mueller report, and we'll just have to wait and see, but here's what i do know. what i know is that it's critical that everything in that report and the underlying evidence be in the public and be open to the american people and that transparency is key. america needs answers as to what's been going on and i hope the department of justice will not leave things hanging by seeking to keep things secret. i also know that the department of justice believes that it cannot, under any circumstances indict a president for anything. >> sitting president accountable and accordingly, the only other institution that can is congress and congress must get all of the evidence that the department of justice may have in order to exercise our function of being able to hold the president accountable. if we don'

is he going to be able to read the report before gerald nadler? >> that is their expectation?think they can see it first? constitutionally i guess they do. >> they think so because they do think there are significant questions about executive privilege. will that happen, though? we'll have to see, what is barr going do? that's why you have leadership saying we cannot start talking impeachment yet and it's too soon it will wckfire. >> o the president showed -- is to atta john mccain. it is directly related to mueller and it is allin john mchat got james comey to investigate and here is hise tastof increasing anger at mccain throughout the week. >> i was never a fan of john mccain and i never will be. >> not my kindof guy. badly hurting the republican party, badly hurting our tion. he was horrible what he did with repeal and replac what he did to the republican party and to the nation, but you shouldn't have brought it up. actually i thought you weren't supposed to bring it up, but yoat's okay. know, fake news. >> it was interesting there. not expecting the mccain question. i wa

just a week ago gerald nadler who is chairman of the judiciary committee said the president is undoubtedlystice. when he was asked well, if that's the case, why aren't you impeaching him right now. chairman nadler said we have to organize the evidence and we have to get a communications campaign. >> bret: to convince. >> to convince the american people. >> have bipartisan support. >> that's what he did. that's what the communication campaign was for. he said we are not there yet. it was absolutely clear with the demands to 81 people, very wide ranging demands, for information from them. plus, the idea of sort of setting up new investigations just in case mueller didn't come through for them. they were ready to go. >> bret: in the meantime, the star witness who was the star witness, michael cohen could be facing more charges, a possible referral. take a listen to one of the key democrats on that committee. >> i would imagine that in the -- you know, in the panic that was going on when you are about to go down, right, that you are going to say like, yeah, let's physician out whatever you can

here is gerald nadler. >> this invitation goes far beyond collusion. we've seen all the democratic norms we depend on for democratic government attacked by the demonstration. the scene attacks on the freedom of press called the enemy of the people and attacks on the department of justice and fbi in attacks on judges. all of these are corrosive to liberty and the proper functioning of government in our constitutional system. all this has to be looked at and the facts laid out for the many people. >> to think the president is obstructing justice? >> yes, i do. it's clear that he is obstructing justice. 1100 times reserved to the mueller invitation as a witchhunt and tried to protec protect -- fired james comey in order to stop the russian thing as he told nbc news. he dangled -- he's intimidated witnesses in public. >> if that is the case the decision not to pursue impeachment right now political? if you believe he obstructed justice? >> no, we have to do the investigations and get all this. we do not now have the evidence all sorted out to do and impeac

committee chairman gerald nadler insists it's not the start of an impeachment.resident trump insists it's all a ho. there'no con >> reporter: president trump shrugged off the democratic move today, but its scope was sweeping. 81 individuals and institutions, a who's who of trump world, were given two weeks to hand over financial documents, e-mails, and memos, anything related to, among other things, russian loans and investments, presents from foreign governments, the firing of f.b.i. director james comey, and hush money payments to two or more women. >> are you going to cooperate with mr. nadler? >> i cooperate all the time with everybody. and you know the beautiful thing? no collusion. >> reporter: the request, backed by subpoena power, went out from house judiciary chairman jerry nadler to the president's sons, his 2016 campaign officials, current and former white house aides, executives from trump organization, and some associates who have already been charged with crimes. nadler told all of them he is investigating "allegations of obstruction of justice, pu

how judiciary committee chairman gerald nadler is about to make donald trump long for the days when they people were investigating him were the secret prosecutors in the mueller probe and southern district of new york. the scrutiny of donald trump's businesses, white house and family is about to be the primary focus of the house judiciary committee. and if the mueller problem is something that has donald trump frenzied and wild-eyed, the house investigations may very well be his undoing. house judiciary

>> his attorney sent a letter to gerald nadler.information from any one individuals or entities. this letter says -- >> so at this point roger stone won't be handing over documents or appearing before the house judiciary committee, shep. >> shepard: mike emanuel, thank you. the news continues after this. i would like to take a moment to address my fellow veterans, because i know there are so many of you who have served our country honorably. whether it's two years, four years or thirty-two years like myself. one of the benefits we as a country give our veterans is eligibility for a va loan for up to 100% of your home's value. so if you need money for your family, call newday usa. with automatic authority from the va, we can say yes when banks say no. call 1-833-844-6703 if you're a veteran homeowner who needs cash, call newday usa. home values are rising, and with newday's va cash out home loan, you can borrow up to 100 percent of your home's increased value. you could get 54,000 dollars or more and lower your payments by over 600

gerald nadler is not holding back, launching a broad investigation that goes beyond the scope of themanding documents from 81 people associated with the president, from the white house, to the campaign, in the family business, saying it's clear laws have been broken. >> well, our goal is to hold the administration accountable for the obstruction of justice, the abuse of power and the corruption. our goal is to vindicate the rule of law, protect the rule of law in this country. >> reporter: when asked by reporters, president trump says he will cooperate. >> are you going to cooperate with mr. nadler? >> i cooperate all the time with everybody. and you know the beautiful thing, no collusion, it's all a hoax. >> reporter: chairman nadler says it's too early to start talking about impeachment before they have all the facts. however, members of his own party disagree, maxine waters tweeted this, saying for the faint of heart who have been waiting for every t to be crossed and i to be dotted, now is the time to demonstrate patriotism, support impeachment. kevin mccarthy blasting nadler's p

the committee's chairman, gerald nadler of new york says he's requesting documents from 81 people and organizations linked to the president and his associates. they include the trump campaign, the trump foundation, the trump organization and the trump transition team. they also include president trump's older son and some of his former associates charged in robert mueller's russia investigation. chairman nadler says they're looking into accusations of obstruction of justice, corruption and abuses of power. catherine herridge reporting live in washington. >> fox news obtaining this letter from house democrats to former trump foreign policy adviser carter page. he's one of more than the 80 individuals and entities tied to the president that are now under congressional investigation. the letter from page asks for records from the president's son where russians promised dirt on hillary clinton and didn't deliver. discussion of the republican party 2016 platform as it relates to russia and ukraine and the sharing of any campaign polling data among other issues. during a white house event,

with the house intelligence committee what is happening in the house judiciary committee with gerald nadlerhe sent out the letters to 81 different trump associates. seems like the game is shifting away from mueller regardless of the report. >> that's a fair observation. it's a natural consequence of the fact that last november democrats took the house. now with the democratic-controlled house, they're going to be more aggressive in their investigation. really that's not unusual. these kinds of things like with the clinton and nixon impeachment controversies, there's parallel tracks. there's the congressional investigation track and there is the special prosecutor track. the latter may be focused strictly and narrowly on are there technical violations of the law. the congressional track can be broader and can speak to the larger question of are there any impeachable offenses or even offenses that if they're not impeachable nonetheless we need to see the light of day on so we can take appropriate regulatory action. >> ed: steve mulroy, thanks for your insight. >> thanks for having me. >> ed:

. >> the judiciary committee chairman gerald nadler saying that he's goal is to exercise congress' oversight role. >> our goal is to hold the administration accountable for the obstruction of justice, the abuse of power and to corruption. >> with the mueller report expected to be delivered soon, the attorney general william barr says he's not going to recuse himself despite demands to do so and despite having written a memo to the doj that was critical of the special counsel's investigation. a spokesman saying -- >> and fox news has confirmed that michael cohen's former attorney, stephen ryan approach's the president's legal team to ask about as the idea of a parton for cohen. if he didn't have a pardon, he may be forced to cooperate with mueller. while rudy guliani would not say if he asked for a pardon, he did tell fox news that his standard answer is the following: "the president has said he will not consider any pardons now. that doesn't mean his diminishing his constitutional power to make those decisions in the future." during his testimony before the house last week, cohen said he nev

. >> the committee, chaired by democratic congressman gerald nadler is requesting documents from 81 individuals and entities, a sweep from presint trump's business interests to his political activities before and after his election. >> nadler said the committee is oncussed on questions that concern obstrucf justice, public corruption and abuses of power. blayne alexander has been digging through the list a joins us with the latest. hi, blayne. >> doreen and leon, good evening to you. this is something we've been expeing to seeince november. remember after the midterms last year we heardte repy once democrats controlled the house we would see a lot of new sweeping investigations into the president and his affairs. well, it appears now that's exactly what we're seeing and democrats are apparently justd. getting star today the house judiciary committee launching a sweeping new investigation into president trump, his white house, and his campaign. requesting documents from at leastes 81 entiith ties to the president. including, the white house and the fbi, along with the trump organization, the cam

the official confirm william barr told house judiciary committee chairman gerald nadler about the lengthne call on wednesday. congressional democrats have blasted barr's four-page summary as insufficient, urging the report's full as well as underlying evidence by early next week. a separate contact tells fox news that the mueller report is jammed with grand jury materials that cannot be public as well as evidence derived from sensitive sources and methods and that may explain why the release is going to take weeks. we remain in a holding pattern for a firm timetable from the justice department. all of this unfolded as calls for schiff to resign came to a head this morning at the public hearing. a former cia officer turned republican congressman urged his colleagues to see the big picture. >> our election is going to go down in history as the russian intelligence greatest covert influence operation. why? because their goal is to erode trust in our democratic institution. >> the anger also spilled over to the leadership. >> it's now up to nancy pelosi to remove chairman schiff. we need to

but house judiciary chairman gerald nadler insisted the400 page special counsel report must be handed over to congress by tuesday. that deadline still stands. but president trump has a different deadline on his mind. >> i'll just close the border. >> reporter: repeate cyiming he could lock down the u.s./mexico border this coming week, frustrated by the flow of illegal migrantand wasted no time to deliver a surprising decision, cutting foreign aid to central america. >> i ended payments to guatemala, to honduras, to el here dor or no money goes anymore. >> reporter: complicating that abrupt move, american lawmakers from both parties are visiting el salvador to evaluate u.s. financial aid. democrats on that trip said in a statement they are extremely disappointed. addinging the president's approach is entirely counterproductive. at a rally in el paso, beto o'rourke challenged the treatment of detained migrants ld just blocks from his campaign kickoff event. >> they are our fellow human beings and deserve to be treated like our fellow. human bein >> reporter: new this morning, the presid

house judiciary committee gerald nadler sent out a document or request for documents saying this weekend he would add subpoenas if necessary to over 80 people and entities, reaching out from the white house to the department of justice to members of the trump organization and beyond. a name that quickly came up. allen weisselberg. this guy is a long-time chief financial officer of the president's company. he's spoevg ento federal prosecutors in manhattan following cohen's guilty plea there and is expected to be called before the house intelligence committee soon. nadler and the judiciary committee are skrcrutinizing weisselberg over this check which cohen claimed was part of the hush money paid to stephanie daniels, alleging the trump organization was involved in a potential campaign finance violation. also set to receive a request request, donald trump, jr., the president's son, also allegedly signed this check to cohen, which fits the set of $35,000 payments laid out in the southern district of new york's criminal information that cohen pleaded guilty to in 2018. but the clearest pictu

how judiciary committee chairman gerald nadler is about to make donald trump long for the days when the only people were investigating him were the secret prosecutors in the mueller probe and southern district of new york. the scrutiny of donald trump's businesses, white house and family is about to be the primary focus of the house judiciary committee. and if the mueller problem is something that has donald trump frenzied and wild-eyed, the house investigations may very well be his undoing. house judiciary committee today launching a massive investigation into donald trump. nbc news reporting, quote, committee chairman darryl nadler said the request issued to 81 individuals and entities would help the committee probe three main topics, obstruction of justice, including interference by the president into criminal investigations, public corruption that includes violations of the emoluments clause. and abuses of power, including a tax on the free press, judiciary and law enforcement agencies. the president was asked today if he would cooperate. >> i corporate all the time with everybody.

official also confirmed that attorney general william barr told house judiciary democratic chairman gerald nadlerbout the length of the report during a short phone call on wednesday. meantime, congressional democrats continue to blast barr's four-page summary as insufficient. urging the report's full release as well as underlying evidence by early next week. a separate contact tells fox news the mueller report is jammed with grand jury materials that cannot be released as well as evidence derived from sensitive sources and methods and that may explain why the release will take weeks and we remain in a holding pattern for a more firm timeline from the justice department. earlier today during our really incendiary hearing on the house side, one republican said the findings are not great for mueller. they are very conclusive. >> it wasn't a suggestion of there was not enough evidence. he said there was no evidence. and so to refute the claim that there was evidence because there may be something in the other 300 pages is not going to be there. this is the same innuendo that has been used for the las

judiciary chairman gerald nadler is asking these 81 people and entities for information about a gazillionsh money payments to the trump tower meeting with the russians to details about the inaugural committee. it's a ton of stuff. some people who were targeted with these document requests have apparently said they're not going to comply, but nadler's office tells us they actually think they're getting a good response so far. they say they've also been working with people who might need a little bit more time, if not potentially a friendly subpoena. but, again, deadline for all of them is on monday. we shall see as of monday what they get. have a good weekend. that does it for us now. we will see you again monday night. now it's time for "the last word" with ali velshi sitting in for lawrence tonight. >> i'm

congressman gerald nadler chairs the committee and joins us now. congressman, thanks for being with us. first of all, a lot to talk about. these comments from the president talking about mueller shouldn't be able to write a report because he's never got votes. does this -- >> that makes no sense at all. mueller is a special counsel, appointed under regulations of the department of justice, to investigate certain matters, which it was decided were a conflict for the department to investigate, because the president, who appoints the highest officers of the department of justice is himself a subject or a target of the investigation, which was focused on suspicions or allegations that the russians, while we know the russians interfered in the 2016 election, with the intention of helping trump win, and the questions are whether trump or people around trump con spired with the russians to do that and did they violate the law in so doing? that was the main reason for the appointment of mueller. and that's a standard operating procedure, to appoint the spe

jerry came on to talk about gerald nadler's request -- >> he's talked about all of this before on television numerous times. >> he has, but we're not getting into it now. we have a judicial order. roger stone is out there saying things. we're not going to violate that gag order. >> what mr. toobin believes or doesn't believe is not my problem. what we testified to, i spent 20 hours -- i wrote this in "silent no more," we spent 20 hours with the special prosecutor going over everyone i've been in contact with in 2016 and 2017. my attorneys begged the special prosecutor, if you know anyone we were talking to, tell us. i'm confident i had no contact with julian assange directly or indirectly. i did connect the dots and figure it out. whether people believe it or not is not my problem. >> mueller has laid out claims that you lied multiple times in your interview with his office. you rejected the plea deal they offered. where do you stand at this point with them? do you think they're going to -- >> anderson, he has not laid out claims that dr. corsi lied. he has not. in fact, that's the reason th

judiciary chairman gerald nadler is asking these 81 people and entities for information about a gazillion different scandals and issues, everything from the president's hush money payments to the trump tower meeting with the russians to details about the inaugural committee. it's a ton of stuff. some people who were targeted with these document requests have apparently said they're not going to comply, but nadler's office tells us they actually think they're getting a good response so far. they say they've also been working with people who might need a little bit more time, if not potentially a friendly subpoena. but, again, deadline for all of them is on monday. we shall see as of monday what they get. have a good weekend. that does it for us now. we will see you again monday night. now it's time for "the last word" with ali velshi sitting in for lawrence tonight. >> i'm alley velshi in for lawrence o'donnell. the president is condemning the horrific terrorist attack in new zealand, where a white supremacist killed 49 people in an attack targeting muslims. the killings are sparking a wor

. >> you heard my interview with gerald nadler. he intends to keep investigating not only other issues but also to keep investigating collusion, obstruction of justice, all of the issues the special counsel was looking at. estimatesall we had all they have. they really don't have a policy agenda. it have an agenda against the president to win 2020. they think they can go into the judiciary committee and have a limited budget limited staff and go up against an investigation that lasted 22 months, unlimited power, unlimited subpoena power, and they think they can find something more than what they did, i think they are mistaken and the american people will see through that. >> i hope it's made public. bill barr says he's going to make as much public as he can in consultation with ron rosenstein and bob mueller and we will read the report. it's been an amazing 2.5 years and i think the american people appreciate that and i know the central charge of the special counsel investigation and there has been zero evidence of any type of coll

the chairman of theouse judiciary committee democrat from new york, gerald nadler said cohen's testimyear the president obstructed justice in the russia investn and he plans to request documents from more than 60 people.on unday president trump lashed out at what he called presidential harassment by quote, crazed democrats. >>> tax season looking a little brighter for those who look forward to refunds. after one month of processing the internal revenue service says the average refund is a little more than $3,100. that's $40 more than this time last year. refunds had been averaower than last year during the first three weeks of tax season. >>> this friday is international woman's day on "tod," so com to the plaza. join us. we have a special city sponsored ve event. we are going to celebrate awe inspiring women from all the country along with a concert you don't want to miss. we are starring country music superstar maren morris. come down friday on the 8th. >> bundle up, too, right? >> you got a boost? >> could not affor to miss algebra class on friday. his wife had to run errandse an co

but one of the lawmakers leading the call with her, the house judiciary chairman, gerald nadler told us what might be coming next, a subpoena for robert mueller. >> if it is not made public in its entirety, we will take -- we'll use compulsory process and subpoena the report and if necessary we reserve the right to call mueller before the committee or maybe even barr before the committee. >> reporter: so lawmakers who asked americans for patience while robert mueller investigated are now asking americans to withhold judgment until they can get a look at the evidence and interviews that helped the seasoned prosecutors in the special counsel's office arrive at their decision not to indict anybody else. and republicans now say that they believe there's a real risk in democrats discounting this man they've been building up for two years. >> i think the democrats are going to look fairly silly, i think certainly adam schiff, chairman of the intelligence committee is going to look silly if he continues to jump up and down and claim that trump is a threat to our national security with respe

gerald now wants to move forward with his own obstruction of justice investigation after the internal general wrote the evidence is not sufficient to establish the president committed an offense. nadler says he will subpoena the attorney general and will report if necessary. >> i would in fact wonder if the attorney general's pressure the special counsel to not making the final so that he could make the finding. lindsey graham will investigate the special counsel's origin including is warrant abuse, surveillance of trump officials and unverified trump-russia dossier. >> what makes no sense to me is all the abuse by the department of justice and the fbi. the unprofessional conduct, the shady behavior. nobody seems to think that is much important. >> reporter: the to attorney general bar is scheduled to testify before the house appropriations committee about the budget. but he will likely be asked about the special counsel's report. in washington, ray bogan, fox news. >>> attorney michael avenatti was arrested and charged with extortion and an alleged shakedown scheme. new york prosecutors say that he and another lawyer contacted nike executives last week and threatened to hold a press