with friends like donald trump and a lawyer like jeff sessions defending jeff sessions, jeff sessions does not need enemies but jeff sessions has enemies in washington and everything we know about the history of washington scandal and perjury investigations tells us that this will not slow down. there will be more leaks. that jeff sessions' troubles have just begun. joining us now, e.j. young and richard, former assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york and former assistant watergate prosecutor. richard, we always turn back to watergate in moments like this. it's hard to imagine that we could be on the verge of another criminal investigation of another attorney general, something referred to earlier with john mitchell and watergate. where do you see this stands tonight for the attorney general? >> well, i prosecuted john mitchell and so far, we don't have watergate. but what we have is a serious situation where an adversary, russia, has meddled in our electoral process, hacked into the dncs private communications. the question is whether there was help, whether the

>> yes, and that's the lifeline that jeff sessions will hold on to. this is why everyone hates lawyers, we parse words and battle over semantics. it's very hard to figure out whether somebody was intentionally nefarious in with holding the statement or whether it's an issue of amnesia, but it's not about the greater issue of russian interference, at this time the issue is whether or not the leader of the department of justice was honest under oath, a requirement we have for every defendant and witness in every courtroom and in every hearing. >> can i say one thing? i believe i'm the only one here who was actually in the hearing room when senator franken asked the question and senator sessions answered it. even knowing what we know now i will tell you there's no question in my mind that senator sessions answered truthfully and in the context of the question, there's no question of perjury, no question of a lifeline and this is made up. >> why does he -- john -- i hear what you're saying and certainly it sounds -- >> i was there. >> but the case that hi

jeff: good evening. i am jeff glor filling in for charlie rose. we begin with politics. after delivering a well-received address to congress, president trump and his administration are mired in controversy again. after delivering a well-received on thursday, attorney general jeff sessions recused himself from any investigation into charges russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election. this followed new revelations sessions met with the russian ambassador to the u.s. in the lead up to the election. sessions addressed the situation at a news conference late yesterday afternoon. >> i have decided to recuse myself from any existing or future investigation of any matter relating in any way with the campaigns for president of united states. i went on to say that this announcement should not be interpreted as confirmation of the existence of any investigation or suggestive of the scope of any such investigation. jeff: several top democrats have called for sessions to resign. president trump has remained stoutly behind him. joining us from washington is eric lichtblau and ka

jeff sessions responded with one word. no. attorney general sessions responded to the allegations with his own statement last night in writing quoting -- >> shepard: sessions says he and the ambassador did not discuss the campaign but so far the attorney general has not revealed what that i did talk about. officials tell "the washington post" that the attorney general does not remember the details. attorney general sessions last year had more than two dozen conversations with foreign ambassadors as a member of the armed services committee including ambassadors from the united kingdom, china, japan and germany. he talked to all of them to determine if any members met with the russian ambassador. according to the post,20 lawmakers responded and each one said no, including the committee's chairman, john mccain. one of senator mccain's closest colleagues is the republican senator lindsey graham that spoke about the sessions controversy last night on cnn. >> if there is something there and it goes up the chain of investigation, it

jeff: he has two issues.e has the testimony and the written response. >> i was at the press conference yesterday and asked him directly, did the campaign or trump's name come up? he said i don't recall, which is never a good line in washington. he said these ambassadors gossip about politics. it was in the middle of the campaign but i don't specifically recall politics being discussed. that seemed like an evasive answer. >> especially at that time. in washington, people were discussing the election with strangers in some way. jeff: one can understand why the administration would push back against a potential special prosecutor. it happened with bill clinton. it resulted in his impeachment. what might the timeframe be or where are these wells going -- the swells going as far as any potential special prosecutor involved in the russian investigation? >> first of all, there is no law now that allows the kind of independent counsels we saw during the clinton administration. it expired. it could not be thus sweepin

i'm jeff.ating my breakfast and all of a sudden a raccoon come up and ask me, "what are you eating?" i told him "johnsonville breakfast sausage, fully cooked." porcupine comes in and he says, "does that come in patties?" i said "yup" wolf comes in and says, "how'd you learn to talk to animals?" and i said "books" and we had a good laugh about that. [laughter] that's a commercial made the johnsonville way. with the deduction findingombine superpower of ibm watson? ah! you get more money. that's what you could get. h&r block with watson. get your taxes won. so we know how to cover almost alanything.ything, even a "truck-cicle." [second man] how you doing? [ice cracking] [second man] ah,ah, ah. oh no! [first man] saves us some drilling. [burke] and we covered it, february fourteenth, twenty-fifteen. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ i'm on it.ar does weathertech go to protect your vehicle? ♪ ♪ ♪ weathertech. m

>> jeff sessions keeps changing his story. first it was that he didn't have any communications with russians. then it was, he had communications but didn't know what he said. and then last night he said, well, he had the meetings but he definitely didn't talk about communications with the trump campaign. but in the congressional hearing, the question asked of jeff sessions was, did you have communications with russians, and sessions said he did not have communications. that's a lie. that's perjury. he needs to resign. an investigation needs to be opened up to see if he should be prosecuted. >> congressman, senators talk to ambassadors all the time, i checked in with senators this morning just to make sure. they do all the time. if jeff sessions clarifies that he understood -- he misunderstood the question to mean that it was talking to russians about the campaign specifically, would that be enough for you? >> no. because consider the context. first of all, no other member of the senate foreign affairs committee or armed servic

jeff sessions urnds fire. the attorney general speaking out exclusively to nbc. >> i have not met with any russians at anytime. >> the revelations he had contact with the ambassador to russia not once, but twice despite this claim under oath. >> i did not have communications with the russians. >> the response, recuse or resign? a growing chorus of democratic lawmakers forcing him to step back from the russia investigation, even step down. >> certainly should recuse himself. i think he should resign. >> plus, record run. the stock market on an epic rally, topping 21,000 after president trump's big speech. and snapchat going public today. will this push the market higher? >>> you know what we have to start with with, attorney general jeff sessions and the headache for the trump administration. we have the best team out in force. first, i want to break down exactly what we know. then senator, jeff sessions began working with the trump campaign heading up his foreign policy team. five months after that, the justic

jeff sessions is an honest man. he could have stated his response more accurately but it was clearly not intentional. the this is a way of saving face with democrats losing an election that everybody thought they were supposed to win. a total witch hunt. he said he had full confidence in michael flynn until he didn't. is there a point donald trump will abandon jeff sessions like he did michael flynn? >> frankly, i'm a little insulted. i seem to be the only republican who hasn't met with a russian. i want to put that on the table right now. this russian ambassador who seems to be a roly-poly kind of political plaque met with senators. he gets around. he likes meeting a lot of people. it's not the end of the free world. nobody cares about it outside of washington, d.c. and a couple of newspaper journal i haves. >> the president standing by jeff sessions, does he risk driving a wedge between the white house and gop law enforcement -- lawmakers in doing so? >> i don't think yet. but if this goes any further in terms of

so jeff sessions is going to be in on all of the information. he oversees the justice department and fbi. is it going to be incumbent upon him to recuse himself from investigation? >> i think republicans would be smart to try to get him to recuse himself only to protect themselves. at some point they're going to have to step away and no longer be defending jeff sessions. we don't know what was said and meetings could have been fine. could have been talking about anything. we don't know. that's where the investigation has to go -- >> could have been innocent but why not just say you met with him. could have talked about nothing. but still to margaret and other folks' points. did have meetings. to say you didn't meet with someone is just factually not true. but go on. >> i was getting to that. i agree with you. contextually, the timing and multiple occasions, meeting with russian ambassador at time when there was concern about russia having influenced our election. john mccain just said tonight, have no doubt what the russians tried to do to your

jeff is going to have to answer to this.here's facts that bear out there's actions to be taken, we'll have to vote on those actions. i will take the am quote vote to move forward and build trust in this government. people have to have trust in what we're doing. it's not about who you vote for, who you don't vote for. it's the facts. the intel committee will take us to where the facts are. the facts whether take us to the truth and the truth will lead us to make the decisions we have to make to keep this solid solid and whole and protected and people have confidence we're doing our job. >> another network just caught up with attorney general sessions this morning. he said once again, i know nothing about this. i didn't ever have any conversations with the russians about any campaign dealings what so efr. there's basically nothing to see. if you're calling for him to recuse himself, it doesn't sound as if he's open to recusing himself? >> alisyn, it's clear he should recuse himself. if the fbi is investigating mike flynn for h

what did jeff sessions do? did he tell the truth under oath about what he did and do the facts about what he did and said compromise his authority as the nation's chief law enforcement officer. >> this morning cnn learned jeff sessions who was a u. slt senator and trump campaign supporter met twice last year with the russian ambassador to russia. why might this matter? because repeated contacts between trump officials and ambassadors and senator sessions under oath said he was not part of it. >> and if there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the trump campaign communicated with the russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do? >> senator franken, i'm not aware of any of those activity. i have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and i did not have communications with the russians. >> i did not have communications with the russians he said then. now we know he did have communications with the russian ambassador. but a short time ago he defended this sworn te

he pressed jeff sessions about this initially. here is what the senator said today about all of this. listen. >> these are contradictory statements and i think that he should immediately recuse himself from any of this. i think that we should have a special prosecutor that is appointed by -- not only not by jeff sessions but not by anyone with any ties to the campaign, that we need an independent special prosecutor. >> and here now more reaction from some republicans. and joe manchin, moderate democrat. listen. >> reporter: does that require his reefcusal, congressman? >> i think it would be easier. >> jeff should recuse himself from all investigations with russian ties and investigations going on. >> could jeff have been more clear in what he said? yes. that was unfortunate but i think context matters a lot. >> and finally i got to play to you what jeff sessions said to us exclusively this morning about whether or not he would recuse himself. the full sentence is key. it's conditional. it not outright. >> i've said that whenever

this is a headline, "jeff sessions to recuse himself."xpected to give a press conference at four clock p.m., a little bit delayed now. secretary sean spicer said the president has not spoken to jeff sessions in the past two days. now we have a headline, recuse himself or among russian questions." lots of investigation into the trump administration whether there was improper contact himsr with russian officials. joe: it is one issue that does not seem to be going away with this administration. a lot of other politicians coming out today, either calling for sessions to recuse himself or resign. this is not a story going away. scarlet: not a story going away. we need to bring in kevin cirilli in washington right now. kevin, the headline, he would recuse himself from any kind of investigation when it comes to trump administration officials speaking to russia. am i reading that correctly? kevin: yes. it looks as though this is mr. is taking the advice of jason chaffetz, -- jason who tweeted earlier today that this is what he would like to happ

it was not the venue to discuss jeff sessions.nt though i think you're going to hear the president talk about it. but there may be some kind of choreography going on where the president lets jeff sessions speak for himself which i would argue as it should be and in order to answer all of these questions, i think he needs to, and don't forget these are questions coming from both sides of the aisle here and while the republicans are not calling for his head, they are calling for clarification. and i think when you have a ground swell of republicans starting to call for clarification, there's only one person who can do it and that's the attorney general himself. >> colonel what's your impression? someone obviously who's been very involved in gofrtd. what is your impression of what you are watching unfold here in this controversy where donald trump was enjoying some very positive headlines and now this has totally turned around. >> the president trying to do one mess saage and you always l to the president as the boss, to give you a w

they don't want jeff sessions to go the same way.that would be a way to staunch the are bleeding. democrats have to be aware of the fact if they continue to call for people's resignations every time something happens, that it's going to start to carry less weight and there's a fact set here. they should rely on that because it's fairly effective. >> the pressure from the democratic base is extraordinary. on thursday, if you're asking for a resignation. what do you ask for on friday if things don't go your way. you are watching marine one, air force one. the president arriving in virginia. he's heading to norfolk. >>> also waiting to hear from house intelligence committee chairman live on capitol hill about the big controversy s surrounding the attorney general. stay put. boost it's about moving forward not back. it's looking up not down. it's feeling up thinking up living up. it's being in motion... in body in spirit in the now. boost. it's not just nutrition. it's intelligent nutrition. with 26 vitamins and minerals and 10 grams of

that, of course fits jeff sessions to a tee. he started doing so several days ago before "the washington post" story came out on wednesday night and was headed in this direction and you kind of got hints of that when he was asked whether he was recused and he kept saying i'll do so when it's appropriate. >> i want you to help me with something. so many people want clarity. we know republicans want to take us back two days ago when president trump had a well received speech. we know so many democrats simply want jeff sessions head. yesterday, you specifically asked about his answer to al franken during confirmation and here is what he said. >> i was taken aback a little bit by this brand-new information, this allegation that surrogates and i had been called a surrogate for donald trump had been meeting continuously with russian officials. in retrospect i should have slowed down and said i met with the ambassador a couple times. >> for those of us seeking clarify, i didn't get any. do you think he cleared the air there? >> my ques

the charge against jeff sessions. this is unacceptable for someone trying to be the highest law enforcement officer in the land. where you need integrity and public trust. for him to have gotten there by withholding and misleading a senate judiciary committee. >> always nice to have you with us. thank you for stopping by. >> i'm grateful, thank you. >>> we'll hear from attorney general sessions at the top of the hour. we're expecting that in about 20 minutes. stay with us for that. >>> up next, republican congressman adam kin singer joins us. here's to the wildcats 'til we die... this i gotta try bendy... spendy weekenders. whatever kind of weekender you are, there's a hilton for you. book your weekend break direct at hilton.com and join the weekenders. everything your family touches sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox. for your pet, to do the best you should know more about the food you choose. with b

christine and dave. >> jeff zeleny at the white house. thank you. >>> president trump is not expected to rollout his travel ban today. it is still expected this week. at least one major change from the original version under discussion now. three of the president's top advisors. rex tillerson and james mattis and h.r. mcmaster are urging mr. trump to remove iraq from the list of seven banned countries. the revised ban was supposed to be unveiled yesterday. they delayed it to keep the signing on the positive buzz on the address on tuesday night. the president has been making the argument that the national security emergency requires quick passage of the measure. you get your cabinet in place and you have more decision making. we have such a presence in iraq with the national security structure. that is the least worry. those people are vetted. >> as for the timeliness, this is an interesting argument. he needed to keep the country safe. that's why it came on a friday night quickly and now delay it a day because of good press. >>> both side

that is attorney general jeff sessions.estimony on the hill saying that he had no contact with the russians or that he didn't know of anyone in the campaign having contact with the russians when he himself and his role at the very least as a senator did have a meeting or two meetings with russian ambassador sergey kislyak? >> as others have said today, it's a routine thing for senators and elected officials to have meetings with international diplomats and ambassadors here in washington. it would not be that unusual for senators to be meeting with diplomats from -- ambassadors from russia as well. it does seem, according to "the washington post" data they've collected so far, that meetings by u.s. senators with the russian ambassador were fairly infrequent. that does cause this one to stand out a little bit. i do think it is a key question as to why the meetings would have happened and denial they happened would have then followed. that just reminds us at the end of the day, this russia issue does cut to the integrity of ou

i'm jeff. and all of a sudden a raccoon come up and ask me, "what are you eating?" i told him "johnsonville breakfast sausage, fully cooked." porcupine comes in and he says, "does that come in patties?" i said "yup" wolf comes in and says, "how'd you learn to talk to animals?" and i said "books" and we had a good laugh about that. [laughter] that's a commercial made the johnsonville way. >>> and now for tonight's episode of "where is hillary?" today a senior at harvard college in her last semester noticed a bubble of people moving through harvard yard and curious to take a look at what that was all about she approached and was suddenly faced with the similar dilemma everyone else in the crowd was faced with -- try to shake hands or try to shoot video. luckily for us, she chose video. >> thank you. thank you. >> oh, my god! oh, my god! >> thanks to "last word" cambridge correspondent elizabeth o'donnell for giving up the hand shake in order to get the video. ♪ if you've got a life, you gotta swi

jeff sessions is an honest man. he did not say anything wrong. he could have stated his response more accurately, but it was clearly not intentional. what is the reaction to the president's words on this? >> i think clearly that he's doubling down and calling this a witch hunt. you know, the president's strategy, i think, or avenue from the get go on this was to not go after the alleged ties between the campaign and russia but rather to focus attention on leaks. there is some indication that his base appreciates that and that republicans may be more concerned about going after who is leaking and who is giving information to the press than you're hearing about what those ties actually are. and, of course, the democrats go ballistic about this. i'm out here in california where we have a congressman tweeting out links to how to leak better to reporters. so, the liberal side of things clearly sees this as an opportunity. >> well, the bottom line is somehow we are going to learn hopefully what involvement they did have, and we are also hearing that tw

let's get started with attorney general jeff sessions. the white house and the doj pushing back hard on reports that he lied to congress during his confirmation hearing. sessions, saying he never met with any russian officials during the campaign on campaign related issues, the white house calling the story "the latest attack by partisan." democrats want sessions to redesign and a special prosecutor to be repointed. here's chuck schumer. >> there can be cannot be the a of doubt about the partiality about the top general of the land. it's clear that general sessions does not meet that test. because the department of justice should be encroached for the good of the country, attorney general sessions should resign. >> meghan: john roberts joins us with more. john come anyhow. they've stone for us? >> what he said during his confirmation hearing, when senator al franken asked him about his contact he might have had with russian officials, what would he do about it if he learned this contact happen? senator sessions said i can commented on it,

he's now saying jeff sessions should recuse himself. we're about to hear from the house speaker paul ryan. this will be our first question to him. >> i have to say the people on the republican side who are calling for this are surprising to say the least. kas kasie, we'll get back to you a little long. i want to bring in tom perez, former labor secretary and newly elected chair of the democratic national committee. he is also former assistant attorney general for civil rights at the obama justice department. good morning. congratulations. >> thank you very much. it's good to be with you. >> are you prepared to call for jeff sessions to resign? >> absolutely. i had three tours of duty at the department of justice. each one was a privilege. i worked under republican and democratic administrations. and the rule of law is the rule of law. nobody is above the law. that's what jeff sessions said in 1999 during the clinton impeachment hearings. that's true. i totally agree with that. >> but what do you think he did that was above the rule of l

i'm jeff. up and ask me, "what are you eating?" i told him "johnsonville breakfast sausage, fully cooked." porcupine comes in and he says, "does that come in patties?" i said "yup" wolf comes in and says, "how'd you learn to talk to animals?" and i said "books" and we had a good laugh about that. [laughter] that's a commercial made the johnsonville way. only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol® >>> are there any ties between mr. trump, you or your campaign and putin and his regime? >> no, there are not. it's absurd. you know, there's no basis to it. >> i hear people saying it like it's a fact on television. it's not only inaccurate and false, but dangerous. >> can you say 100% confidence nobody in this campaign had conversations with russia during the campaign? >> no, i'm just telling you, it's phony baloney garbage. >> did any adviser have contact with the russians trying to meddle in the election? >> of course not. >>

christine and dave. >> thank you, jeff. with the attorney general recused for now, acting deputy attorney general dana bente will oversee any prosecutions related to the trump campaign but that may not be the end of it. he may have to bring in a special perreaultor at some point. we're also learning more about one of the meetings that sessions had with the ambassador and how it could impact the battle over sessions' job. joining us to explain, cnn us? tis reporter laura jarrett in washington. good morning to you, laura. what else have we learned about the september meeting that sessions had with the russian ambassador? >> good morning, dave. we now know it took place in sessions' office and he was accompanied by two of his staffers saying they talked about normal things, like a visit sessions had taken with a church group in the '90s and he didn't recall any political discussions taking place. we don't yet know whether anyone took any notes at this motoring or recorded it or who has that recording at this point. dave? >> so

so i take jeff sessions at his word on this.k that in terms of his meeting with him in senate capacity, just wasn't on his mind when he responded to the question. >> hilary, why are you laughing? >> first of all, we don't know what the conversations were. and you know, i think there's a bigger picture here. look, you've had experts on tonight and experts been on tv all day today who know a lot more about global affairs than i do, talking about russia is most significant global relationship the united states has. this is an important issue. but here's the bigger issuer i think for viewers and americans, who holds this president accountable? for actions of his -- his own actions and for his political appointees' actions? don't have investigative body that is neutral. run by political appointees. republican party dominating on capitol hill looking for their own agenda. who is going to hold those folks -- >> he had on -- >> dean like figure. >> said -- whether the democrats or republicans were in the majority, special prosecutor is

president trump's attorney general, jeff sessions under fire. recusing himself from any investigations linked to the trump campaign, denying reports he lied at his senate confirmation hearing about having contact with the russian ambassador twice before the election. tonight, explaining his two meetings with the russian ambassador. >>> the fighter jets buzzing the american destroyer. uss porter. what the pentagon is saying. >>> the deadly chase. the disturbing video now emerging. the teen pulled from his pickup truck, deputies tasing him, and the deputy with his knee on the young man's neck. why did they meet before cpr? he did not survive. >>> the damaging winds, and ice-covered highways. the blast of cold now moving in. >>> and video from inside this home and the warning tonight for families across the country when you put your house on the market. >>> good evening, and it's great to have you with us here on a thursday night, and we begin with the major headline from washington tonight. president trump's attorney general, jeff sessions, reveal

first of all, we've got one political jeff sessions. about confirm the next three people at the senate? why don't you allow him to assemble his team? if he decides that he wants to recuse himself, that's his choice to make. then he can have somebody else k competent to lead the charge. the democrats just look so partisan. the on thing i would say to the trump administration, and you know this from your days in the bush administration. do not get on defense for doing something that's in your job description. it's in the job description of senators to meet with foreign dignitaries all across the globe. >> dana: it's interesting you say that. there was one issue in particular that i wish i had never ever been defensive about because it was something that was obviously in the president's prerogative. i can't redo history. but it's something that i keep in mind. michael, let me ask you about the substance of the president's rashes. he was talking to a military audience about the increases that he wants, $54 billion increase for the military.

jeff sessions didn't do that today. he didn't volunteer to testify to the judiciary committee to clear his name. what would you do if if you were suspected of perjury and you knew what you said under oath does fit the legal definition of perjury? what would you do when almost half of the members of the judiciary committee sent a letter to the chairman demanding that you be called back to testify to the judiciary committ committee. you'd have to offer to at least submit so-called corrections to the record in writing to the judiciary committee and if you were guilty of perjury you wouldn't want to be in the open verbal cross fire of the judiciary committee again but giving them something in writing, something your friends on the committee could claim absolve you of any guilty would be the least you could do and that is what jeff sessions announced he would do today. the least he could do. what if he were chairman of the snu senate judiciary committee and you voted to confirm an attorney general now suspected of perjury, w

. >> in the world of>> rpoliticsc right here in washington.ah attorney general jeff sessionss recused from any trump campaign investigations butesti he's still accused of lying ln under oath about his contactth n with the russian ambassadormb during the campaign.aign. >> tonight he's denying anyes dy wrongdoing. this is what we're talkings what about. you can see i t on the rundowne ru side as much your screen. s hottest story at 6:30. 6 a lot of you have alreadyalady sounded off. use the #5at630 but let's get right to it. >> i have recused myself in i the matters that deal with the trump campaign.cam let me be clear. i never had meetings with wi russian operatives or russian intermediaries about the trump p campaign. and the idea that i was part of a "continuing exchange information" during thei campaign between trump is youree gates and inenter tmediaries fos the russian government is i totally false.lly >> so the big story theg story e growing calls for attorneytto general jeff sessions to stepsis down. of course it comes amid those revelations that session spokesk with the russian

jeff zeleny, we'll get back to you. we'll have live coverage of the presidents remarks there. >>> let's go to moscow. nic robertson is on the scene. what your hearing from russian officials about the attorney general's meetings with the russian ambassador in the united states? >> the position here is the russian ambassador isn't doing anything wrong. this is his job in washington to meet with politicians and meet with other diplomats. if he wasn't doing that there would be something wrong. the view from here is, and we heard this from the president's spokesman today, dmitri peskov, saying there's a highly charged emotional atmosphere in washington right now. that the united states doesn't interfere in the business of other nations. that it isn't involved in this, but it needs to wait until the situation calms down and normalizes before moscow can make a judgment about what's really happening here. however, we've also heard from the spokeswoman, the foreign ministry here criticizing journalists reporting here saying that

our senior white house correspondent, jeff zeleny is joining us. jeff is at the house. our justice department laura jarrett is with me in the studio. jeff, the president is in florida but he can't escape this entire russia controversy, can he? >> he cannot, wolf. he was leaving the white house this morning, right before he did there was an animated meeting going on inside the oval office. this is coming at the end of a week where the administration with you hoping to still be talking about his speech to congress earlier in the week. instead ending it of trying to get to these meetings that happened last year during the campaign with the russian ambassador. of course they're trying to contain the fallout from all of this here, particularly with the attorney general's recruisal yesterday of any investigation involving the 2016 campaign. but, this is something that administration officials are still trying to contain and figure out how many meetings happened last year. it's something that will be the course of investigations on capitol hill. >> multiple investigations up o

i don't know why jeff segs chose to answer it that way. i think people at home would say that michael flynn might have had valid reasons to talk to the rigs. jeff sessions may have had reason. what's with the coverup? that's what becomes the thing that -- the coverup is always the case -- i covered business for 25 years. it's always the case that the coverups worse than the crime. the crime of jeff sessions knowing a social raerk ambassador, i don't know that a lot of people would have a big problem with that ychlt did he say what he said to al franken. >> i don't mean to express astonishment that there's gambling going on but tonight's combined output of the newspaper industries presents an even more hyper partisan pib. it presents a picture of the waning days of the obama administration -- more that that, those people with security clearance and are thus kind of bound to treat it right and it also shows an assumption across the city that none of these investigations are going to get their full airing, because the republicans won the whit

. >> jeff sessions will not be investigating any of the ties to russia. he recused himself on thursday after disclosing his own meetings with the ambassador last year. ? president trump is defending sessions saying he did not say anything wrong. he could have stated his response more accurately, u but it was not intentionally. >> the democrats lost the election and now they have lost their grip on reality. here's what sessions had to say. >> i never had any conversations about -- with the russians about this campaign and putting them assisting in the campaign or anything like that. >> well, for more on sessions' decision to recuse himself, here's pamela brown. >> i have recused myself in the matters that deal with the trump campaign. >> reporter: just three weeks into his job as the nation's top cop, attorney general jeff sessions announcing he is taking himself off of any investigations regarding russia after revelations that he failed to disclose two meetings he had with russia's ambassador to the u.s. a man considered by u.s. intelligence to be one of

i'm jeff.'m eating my breakfast and all of a sudden a raccoon come up and ask me, "what are you eating?" i told him "johnsonville breakfast sausage, fully cooked." porcupine comes in and he says, "does that come in patties?" i said "yup" wolf comes in and says, "how'd you learn to talk to animals?" and i said "books" and we had a good laugh about that. [laughter] that's a commercial made the johnsonville way. "how to win at business." step one: point decisively with the arm of your glasses. abracadabra. the stage is yours. step two: choose la quinta. the only hotel where you can redeem loyalty points for a free night-instantly and win at business. >>> you remember this guy named barack obama? he and michelle obama just signed a 60 million dollar book deal, okay? previously, bill clinton got a $5 million advance for his post-white house memoir and george w. bush only got $7 million. meanwhile, tickets are 9 dollars a pop to see hillary's off-broadway production of "into the woods." >> that is ju

the topic the embattled attorney general, jeff sessions. he is accused of at a bare minimum misleading congress during his confirmation hearing in january. the source of the uproar, who contacts that then replican senator from alabama and trump campaign surrogate had with the russian ambassador last year during the campaign. this would be the same ambassador whose calls with exnational security adviser mike flynn ultimately cost flynn his job. republicans, democrats, sessions himself fighting it out all day over whether he should recuse himself or perhaps even resign. >> i have not met with any russians at any time to discuss any political campaign. >> the fact in a the attorney general, the top cop in our country, lied under oath to the american people is grounds for him to resign. >> i think part of what is happening -- i think democrats are lighting their hair on fire to get you to cover this story. >> based on what we've read. and the information is not complete. i think the attorney general should further clarify and i do think he is g

he's going to be the number two to jeff sessions.e will be the one that will be cha-in charge of this investigation. so i think that will be a confirmation hearing to watch. we'll see him come under intense scrutiny because as a lot of democrats now are calling for a special prosecutor and a bipartisan investigation, if that's not happening, rob rubenstein, who we'll see next week, will be the one in charge of these investigations over his potential new boss. >> ozzie, how much ownership i guess and basically control does the russian ambassador really have over the future of jeff sessions? because with jeff sessions and the lack of total recall, the russian ambassador thatcall ed gossipy can pretty much say anything. >> then it becomes a question of how much do we rely on this person. if meeting with him is so toxic and questionable, do we take anything at face value what he says. then we get into chess and anticipating the next move. it all comes down to what did jeff sessions say during the hearing. what did he intend to say. you t

jeff crossed the finish line like a new man. unbelievable.oday, he's still cycling, keeping the weight off and is more fit than he's ever been many his lifin his life. blood sugar is normal and ulcers have healed. he and his sons are reversing the course of the type 2 diabetes together. >> our relationship closer, we have terrible ba battles but cl for comfort sometimes but we all have a deeper level of relationship, definitely, so i think we spend more time together and understand each other, we really got. >> the last few years, it's made us all so much closer and that's only bauds of t only because of the project, really. otherwise, who knows. probably sit here regretting it. >> love them to bits and probably always would have done but what they've done for me, i could never thank them enough for. literally, they saved my life. >> jeff, anthony and ian are now sharg their experie with other families battling diabetes. they even have a trip planned to the united states and talks with the american diabetes association to mentor other familie

attorney general jeff sessions should recuse himself. let me say something to the republicans who need to see the bigger picture and understand the political games that the democrats are trying to play here. >> democrats and republicans. >> hold the line, let me tell you something, this is purely a political game. when you give in on the news. when you give a democrat an inch, they're going to take a mile. they don't care about the russians, don't care about anything, they want trump out period. >> i've got a message for everybody. let's put country ahead of everybody. >> you are not putting country ahead, john. trish: listen, john, i guess what's sad about this is it feels there are democrats out there that are wishing that this is true. they want this to be true. they want to find some kind of smoking gun that somehow links donald trump and his campaign to the russians. you know, in a way that i don't think is very healthy for this country right now. he is the new president of the united states, someone who deserves a little respect an

now some top democrats are calling for jeff sessions to step down. no surprise. they found an opening they think. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. the goodwill just lasted less than 24 hours. now some big questions for president trump. here's what is not in question this morning. attorney general jeff sessions met with russian ambassador to the u.s. twice last year. the question is did he in capacity of the donald trump campaign surrogate or as a member of the armed services committee. now facing acquisitions of misleading congress for making a devastating blow to the attorney general. the justice department confirming that twice last year, sessions met with the top russian diplomat in washington. once at the republican convention in july and the second time in september in the sessions' senate office. sessions a surrogate at the time of the meetings for the trump campaign with russian ambassador sergei kislyak. he is considered to be one of russia's top spies and not simply a diplomat. listen to what sessions said

what would jeff sessions be doing in it anyway, couldn't he just say, i'm out? and that's not having a special prosecutor and the white house could wash their hands of it, at least for the time being, easily. >> there's a compelling case for jeff sessions to step back from this investigation. as we've seen over the last couple of weeks, every time the story comes up, because they're seen as operating the machinery that runs this investigation, these are their questions to answer. it goes straight to the white house, straight to the attorney general every time. this is traditionally why presidents have used and prosecutors, that's going beyond recusal, but you go to a special prosecutor so you can say, this is an independent deal and i'm going to go about my agenda. >> let's talk -- go ahead. >> real quick, there are risks in recusal as well. you do lose a certain amount of political control. we saw attorney general lynch recuse herself and ultimately that i am sure had some weight on the scale in terms of james comey releasing his second -- his letter right befo

>> all right, jeff zeleny, another busy day and night for jeff. so, with the attorney general recused what happens next? for now the acting attorney general deputy attorney general will over see any investigations or prosecutions related to the trump campaign. but he may choose to appoint a special prosecutor to probe the trump campaign and its ties with russia. for that, three conditions must be met. that a criminal investigation is warranted, that the current probe presents a conflict of interest, and that an outside investigator is in the public interest. who would determine if these conditions have been met? attorney general jeff sessions. >> so, another option is being floated by some democrats reviving the old independent counsel law under which the attorney general asks a three-judge panel to name an independent counsel. that law was put in place after watergate and allowed to lapse after ken starr's lengthy probe of president clinton. house speaker paul ryan the idea of passing a new independent counsel law is going nowhere. >> two more hi

i think that's what jeff sessions did. most of the senators, i'd say all of the senators sitting there on that committee, that heard those questions asked and saw the answers of jeff sessions, and then they and their staff and the public, weeks went by. not a peep about anybody being concerned about the answer that jeff sessions gave. why? because all of those senators sitting on that committee listening to his testimony, and the other senators who were watching that testimony, either from in the room or around the hill on c-span, and their staff that was monitoring those hearings, they all understood that you have people from multiple countries that come into your office on an irregular basis, and in a manner of months one might meet with the greek, the russian, the french, the jemplens, pick your country in south america -- the germans, pick your country in south america or asia. there's a constant flow of people in my office and i know there's a constant flow of people from other countries coming through the office of p

he understood who jeff sessions was.understood that jeff sessions was a real, you know, insider with the trump campaign, and he wanted to get to know the people who were involved with that -- that possible new white house. no question about it. it's a distinction that the ambassador probably wasn't making in his own mind even if attorney general sessions made it today, the idea that you could be one and not the other. ambassador kislyak saw, you know, a person who was a rising star, somebody who was obviously going to be important in a new washington if there was going to be a new administration under donald trump and wanted to make contacts. >> did he have connections to kgb? was he kgb at any point? >> nothing in his resumÉ says he was. he was here in washington in the '80s as a young diplomat. he was the first ambassador to nato after russia emerged from the soviet union. nothing specifically ties him on paper at least. the embassy in washington for the russian federation, you know, it includes the secret services. it

now is jeff sessions supposed to investigate jeff sessions? i don't think so.his is going to be the gift that keeps on giving. this has legs. >> this russia issue keeps oncoming up over and over again. to review what evan perez was reporting. this isn't just our every day garden diplomat. he's a top spy, he's one of their top spy recruiters. he was at the republican national contention which is where one of the meetings took place. and jeff sessions couldn't recall meeting him? i mean, it does sound extremely suspicious. >> yeah. but senator sessions' integrity is nearly beyond reproach. over the history of his career to think he's having clan december tine meetings. >> it depend on who you ask. >> in the republican party he's held with high esteem. it seems a bridge too far. we need to get to the bottom of whether or not he had the meeting, but i'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt that if he did have the meeting, that his intentions were transparent. >> quickly. we want to get to the statement from the white house. this is the latest attack against t

i'm jeff.ing my breakfast and all of a sudden a raccoon come up and ask me, "what are you eating?" i told him "johnsonville breakfast sausage, fully cooked." porcupine comes in and he says, "does that come in patties?" i said "yup" wolf comes in and says, "how'd you learn to talk to animals?" and i said "books" and we had a good laugh about that. [laughter] that's a commercial made the johnsonville way. th...oh, baked-on alfredo?e. ...gotta rinse that. nope. no way. nada. really? dish issues? throw it all in. cascade platinum powers through... your toughest stuck-on food. nice. cascade. >>> president trump made heavy claims about undocumented immigrants that deserve scrutiny. here's what the president said tuesday night. >> we want all americans to succeed but that can't happen in an environment of lawless chaos. we must restore integrity and the rule of law at our borders. >> lawless chaos. those are heavy words. there's a lot of numbers out there and propaganda. what do we really know about u

donald trump said jeff sessions did nothing wrong with meeting with russia's u.s. ambassador in the 2016 presidential race. >> jeff sessions recused himself from any investigations into last year's election after he met with the russian envoy twice. he vowed to disclose those meetings. >> i don't recall any discussion of the campaign in any significant way. it was in no way a coordinating of an effort by doing anything improper and i don't believe anybody in that meeting would see or believe i said one thing improp onner or unwise. it was a sad thing to be attacked like that, but i think we explained it and we intend to move forward. >> a senior trump official said the president's son in law and former national security adviser michael flynn also met with the ambassador at trump tower in december. >> california talk radio host and california republican national committee member and attorney from seattle washington and former cnn bureau chief. thank you all for being with us. let's start with the president who is standing by the attorney general. >> mr. president do