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

>> yeah, there's a way in which you could look at jeff sessions as a prototrump on issues of immigration trump came along and dovetailed what sessions had been talking about for a long time. >> you write about the breitbart wing, and bannon and miller being a part of this, do you consider this breitbart versus the washington wing, sessions obviously very much a washington player. >> now he's the attorney general, but he was always sort-of a political outsider because his beliefs did not track with established republicans, and he -- i would describe him as part of this breitbart wing of the administration, he certainly people in his office literally had very close relationships with breitbart writers and with bannon himself. >> he's someone who has in a way that steve bannon has -- do they in your estimation share this idea of the changing demographics and immigration into the u.s. not being something they find positive? because it seems like sessions has this background of opposing immigration, not just illegal immigration. >> i would definitely say sessions and bannon share this sort of

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

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 services committee had this meeting with the russian ambassador. this was sort of the issues that were happening. you don't really forget about a meeting with the russian ambassador. and then not only has he not clarified, he's changed his story. so it tells me that he is not telling the truth. i sit on the house judiciary committee. we have oversight over the departmen

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

statement from jeff sessions.er met with any russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign. i have no idea what this allegation is about. it is false. i never met with any russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign. i have no idea what this allegation is about. this is false. this is january. in hearings. >> 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 activities. i've been called a surrogate at a time or two during the campaign and i did not have communications with the russians and i'm unable to comment on it. >> mentioned he had been called a surrogate a time or two and "washington post," to be clear about this, when sessions spoke with kislyak, senator was senior member of the influential armed services committee as well as top trump adviser. played a prominent role on the stump after joining in february of 2016. not just surrogat

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

the democrats want to make this about jeff sessions. the white house saying ambassador flynn had to correct the record on the one point. misled the vice president. now senator sessions misled the united states senate during his confirmation hearing. could they make this even bigger. nancy pelosi said this isn't just about the trump administration. it's about how republicans on capitol hill conduct themselves. >> the question is to them, what are they afraid of in the tax returns, in the investigation of the russian involvement to undermine our democracy, to repeat that in other countries, to combat here and do that again. what does it say about them that their chief law enforcement officer, the top cop in the country lied to his colleagues and to the american people, a person who himself knows about prosecution and knows about the law and knows about perjury and its penalties. so what is it about the republicans that they want to hide the truth from the american people? i call it stonewalling. >> we are in the early days of march 2017.

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

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

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

if there's nothing there, then jeff sessions has nothing to recuse himself from. od of the country, we need a process that people can believe in. that process in my view would have somebody other than attorney general sessions advising the fbi and eventually recommending how to dispose of the case. the one thing i don't want to happen is for the fbi director to say there's not a case. his job is to investigate and to work with the department of justice prosecution team to determine if they should move forward. >> shepard: senator, you serve on the armed services committee. when is the last time you met with the russian ambassador? >> when hell froze over is that so you never met with him? >> john mccain and lindsey graham are last on their list. i don't know why he would want to talk to me. i believe his country is run by dictator, thug and killer. he's not come into my office. the fact that jeff met with him at the cleveland convention, ambassadors attend the convention. just look at it this way. if he had something to hide, would you invite the guy to come to you

developed this morning, calls from senator chuck schumer and other democrats from attorney general jeff sessions to resign, calls for some republicans to recuse himself from any investigation into russia's election interference and calls from some republicans to basically leave this alone saying sessions did nothing wrong, arguing that he was speaking during his confirm's hearing when he decide this conversation with the russian ambassador as a person who was involved with the trump campaign, not as someone involved on the senate armed services committee. lots to break down. as we wait for nancy pelosi, congressman, thanks for joining us as you're there on the hill. i want to talk a little about your tweet last night. you said if the attorney general lied under oath, he might resign and face the consequences of committing perjury. we heard senator schumer back off on any distinction of whether he can commit perjury or not. do you believe the attorney general lied under oath? >> i think it's very clear. this is the chief law enforcement officer of the united states. if he in fact lied to the amer

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

president trump stepping forward with a powerful defense of attorney general jeff sessions just hours after sessions recused himself from any

what has jeff sessions said about russia and when? d donald trump for president and days later named to the national security advisory committee. they confirmed sessions made contact with the russian ambassador at the national republican convention. by december the two had met in sessions' washington office in d.c. he denied he made contact with the russians at his confirmation in january. at the time the attorney general was under oath, raising the question, is sessions guilty of doing the same thing he accused bill clinton of back in 1999? we're going to play a sound bite about that later, but straight we go to newport news, where you see president donald trump taking the stage right now. ♪ ♪ proud to be an american where at least i know i'm free ♪ ♪ and i won't forget the men who died who gave that life to me ♪ >> while we wait for president trump to take the microphone, we'll see if he does, let's go to a couple of our guests. matt miller, former justice department spokesperson, and ethics lawyer under george w. bush, richard paint

the director decline todd to an those questions. >> i want to bring in someone demanding that jeff sessions resign, democrat joe crowley of new york, and the highest ranking position in house leadership. welcome to you. >> thank you. >> you have some high profile republicans called on sessions to recuse himself in potential ties between the campaign and russia, sessions is now open to this, is that signal that he's going to recuse himself at the very least? >> i think judicial ethics require him to recuse himself, it's not whether or not sessions gets fired by donald trump at this point if he doesn't resign and even beyond that it's about how deep do the tenlt constitutionals of the campaign reach into russia, that's what the american people just don't have answers to yet. >> and donald trump just told reporters that he has total confidence in jeff sessions. >> as he did with mr. flynn as well. >> i think actually at one point that may have been kellyanne conway who said that, but certainly at a point he did. i wonder when you hear democrats saying they want a resignation, republicans now l

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 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 senate judiciary committee and you voted to confirm an attorney general now suspected of perjury, what would yo

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,

you look at this, the testimony there, senator franken is not asking specifically about whether jeff sessions met with the russians. sessions offers that up. but it is in the context of the campaign as a campaign surrogate. so the trouble is that sessions doesn't go back and correct the record and say, i did meet with the russian ambassador as a senator. that stuff happens all the time. and it's interesting to watch washington's head explode about this. it is serious. there are questions to be asked, and there are investigations that we're obviously covering as well. but to see the senator from missouri come out today in a tweet this morning and say, i have been on the armed services committee for ten years. no call or meeting with russian ambassador ever. it turns out that senator mchaskell did meet with the russian ambassador. there are pictures of them meeting. when confronted with that she said i meant to say no meeting one on one. i ran out of twitter characters. you cannot make this stuff up, dana. this is washington today. i think it's not over. >> dana: it was curious to me as a forme

testimony. >> reporter: democratic lawmakers gathered outside the department of justice demanding jeff sessionssign following revelations that he met twice with the russia ambassador during the 2016 campaign. the president is standing by him. >> do you still have confidence in the attorney general, sir? >> total. >> reporter: sessions says his meetings were not as a campaign official and appropriate as a senator. >> there is nothing unappropriate with the senator meeting with the russian ambassador. there is something very inappropriate to dramatically mislead congress. >> reporter: judge for yourself. here is sessions under oath in his own words. >> if there is any evidence this anyone affiliated with the trump campaign communicated with the russian government ghourcourse e campaign, what will you do? >> senator franken, i'm not aware of any of those activities. i have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and i did not have communications with the russians and i'm unable to comment on it. >> reporter: sessions said he answered honestly. >> let me be clear. i never had meet

they weren't looking at the real power which was actually jeff sessions. rdinarily close. steven miller, a former sessions man. now at the heart of running the white house. >> we often talk about the so-called two steve's running the white house right now. bannon and miller. long before steve bannon and steven miller came to trump's orbit, there was jeff sessions and then the baum senator, i was with sessions and trump in august of 2015 when they were together in mobile, alabama. in trump, sessions saw a person who could really carry his own agenda forward, a nationalist agenda on trade and immigration and been a constant at trump's side, especially politically, if not personally, over the last year and a half. and this is why i'm told, yesterday, when the president was going to his event in virginia and on the way home back to the white house, hwas talking constantly on the plane about sessions, about how he was going to stick by sessions, about what he saw as a witch hunt against his attorney general. because this isn't just another cabinet member for pre

right now on msnbc reports, breaking news, democratic leaders calling for attorney general jeff sessions to resign. and now key republicans saying he should recuse himself. a firestorm afternoon after the "washington post" reporting that then senator sessions met with rs's ambassador while a key

attorney general jeff sessions met twice last year with russia's ambassador to the u.s. senior administration official says the white house only learned of it when the news broke wednesday night on thursday sessions recused himself from any investigation into the trump campaign relationship with russia. >> sessions not the only trump adviser who met with the ambassador. a senior official says the president's son-in-law also a white house adviser, and former national security adviser michael flynn also had a brief meeting with him at trump tower in december. >> and then there's this. mike pence reportedly used a private e-mail account to conduct official business as governor of indiana. >> joining us now, ted johnson. >> and gina loudoun in san diego. and matthew litman is here in los angeles. >>> let's start with mike pence and the fact that he routinely used a private e-mail account when he was the governor of indiana. according to the indy star, there are concerns his e-mail account may have been hacked. listen to this. >> the vice president's office sent us a statement

they went through line by line as opposed to what jeff sessions is saying, i tonigdon't really remember, trump surrogates are now parsing individual meetings. we've had carter, sessions, flynn, campaign manager, don jr. getting paid $50,000 in december by russian businessman for a speech. there's just been this consistent connection with russia. and instead of jeff sessions getting on tv today and saying yes, there ought to be a thoughtful look at this, we understand why the american people might be concerned, instead of the president doing that, we have them parsing this back and back and back. >> let's say maybe they didn't talk -- talked about grandkids, who knows. benefit of the doubt but question here is that he said something that wasn't true, whether it was intentional or not, when he was under oath in oral and written statement. and just today after that ron, we hear that white house disclosed that jared kushner, michael flynn, met with kislyak at trump tower. so why all these connections? why all these meetings ron? >> well, let's be really clear on this, that is that the russi

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

here is what the democrats have to say, chuck schumer going as far as calling on jeff sessions to resign. at the very least there are calls from both sides of the aisle for sessions to recuse himself. >> stay with us, manu. >> we'll bring in sunlen serfaty for the latest on exactly what senator sessions is said to have done and the conversations he is said to have had, with whom and when, sunlen. >> reporter: reaction to those very questions is coming fast and furious. as manu said, a growing number of not only democrats but republicans really getting on the record this morning in the halls of congress. some democrats calling for senator sessions to resign, but notably, we're hearing from increasing republicans saying that senator sessions should at the very least recuse himself, including notably kevin mccarthy, who was a top trump supporter during the campaign, member of the house leadership. he came awfully close to saying that senator sessions should recuse himself. his office seeming to back off that a little bit, but here is what he said earlier this morning. >> i think the trust o

to the president involving embattled attorney general jeff sessions. moments ago sessions held a press conference announcing he is recusing himself from any investigation involving the trump campaign. >> i asked for the candid and honest opinion about what i should do about investigations. se certain investigations. my staff recommended recusal. they said that since i had involvement with the campaign i should not be involved in any campaign investigation. i believe those recommendations are right and just. therefore, i have recused myself in the matters that deal with the trump campaign. >> sessions' announcement comes after a growing chorus of republicans joined countless democrats in calling for the a.g. to step aside from an investigation into contact between trump campaign officials and russian officials. many democrats even wanting him to step down. the fury comes after the department of justice confirmed reports that sessions met with sergei kislyak. he said under oath, quote, i did not have communications with the russians. the president told re

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 white house and both houses of congress. the new york times story chronicles the way the obama officials tried to get the analysis left quickly before they left and s

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

donald trump stepping forward with a defense of jeff sessions hours after he recused himself from any investigations into the trump campaign. there's a growing call from democrats that sessions resign that he met with the russian ambassador during the campaign. sessions denied any wrongdoing saying that he told senators he never spoke with russian officials about the trump campaign. >> i was taken aback a little bit about this brand new information, that allegation that surrogates and i had been called a surrogate for donald trump had been meeting continuously with russian officials and that's what struck me there and that's what i focused my answer on, an -- and retrospect if -- i should have slowed down and said but i did meet one russian officials a couple of times. that would be the ambassador. >> all right. sessions telling reporters he plans to mention his meeting with the russian ambassador in a statement to supplement his congressional testimony, essentially amending that testimony with details of the meaning. potentially new trouble. the campaign finance record show his sip t

and jeff sessions, senator sessions, answered it correctly. i'm not aware of the activities and don't want to comment on a hypothetical. senator leahy sent a written comment have you had conversations with the russians about the 2016, he said no. he acknowledges he met twice with the ambassador but met as his role as the senate armed services member but not as a campaign member. trish: he was on the armed services committee, you would, as a member of the armed services committee meet with ambassadors from various countries at any given time. isn't that sort of what you got to do? >> well -- trish: they were talking about the campaign, and he's made it clear. no, they were in different capacity. >> looks, it doesn't happen a lot. you would anticipate having taken a high-profile role, it's a national security issue adviser to candidate trump that ambassadors would be trying to climb over the walls and get a meeting with him. this is just -- a lot of this is abject politics. my personal favorite is senator claire mccaskill in missouri who got all

as we've learned more today, senator, any change in your view on what jeff sessions should do? >> i think we should make sure we do things that can be done right now. and should be done. attorney general sessions said, if appropriate, he would recuse himself. well, that's not his decision. the justice department is very, very clear on what must be done. there is no question. it's crystal clear under this circumstance he has to recuse himself. it's ironic that the white house trots out their press secretary to defend him. this is not a white house matter. this is the department of justice. their rules are very clear. he has to recuse himself. of course, i'm curious that it appears he did not tell the truth in answer to my question or to senator franken's. but the bigger question is, what is russia doing? i know president trump says he didn't talk to russia for years and, yet he brags about the fact that he had his friends in there listening to him talk to vladimir putin just a few weeks ago. there seems to be a blind eye on russia. but we americans should worry about whether we a

should jeff sessions face charges of perjury for that moment in the session that when al franken asked this question. >> if there is 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 activities. i have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and i did not have communications with the russians. i'm unable to comment on it. >> i know that you are well aware of the law, but the supreme court said it must be false testimony rather than confusion, mistake or faulty memory. how would you prove willful intent. >> that was not intentionally making a false statement. that's the problem with the case. he thinks it's okay to say i didn't intentionally lead the american people. the real issue is it's not his decision to make. this should be fully investigated and there were other people in the room when these conversations took place. he said i don't remember and i don't recall which is should be given that he told the detailed story a

the the recusinghe recusi issue is the same with respectmt to loretta lynch or jeff sessions.why i don't think het thi was waving back and forth fr saying he would recuse himself s if appropriate.ppr it was appropriate when itpria came known that he had contactad with the russian ambassadoramb that he should not be involvedid in any investigation involvingog the trump ad that is exactly whatio loretta lynch did when she had thee had meeting with bill clinton onl the tarmac she did recuse herreu self from any investigationany and just decided that whateverwa the fbi came up with, wh, regarding the clinton e-mails e that that she would stand bywouy that. there was no hesitation on her r part at that time.pa >> now, with loretta limplore though that investigationnvestio continued within the justicestie department. should this investigation stayso there or should there be some sort of independentsort investigation sort of like the 9/11 commission.iion. >> exactly there should exa thel definitely be an independentdept special prosecutor that shouldos be appointed. i meeca hathink t

answers questions about contact with russia. >> the justice department revealing attorney general jeff sessions met with russian ambassador twice during president trump's campaign in 2016. contacts sessions did not disclose under oath at his senate confirmation hearing. >> i have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign an i did not have communications with the russians. i would say to you that have i no information about this matter. >> releasing a new statement saying quote i never met with any russian officials to discuss issue with the campaign. i have no idea what this allegation is about. it's false. but the justice department revealing that sessions met with them last july on the side lines of the republican national convention. >> make america great again. four months after sessions was named chairman of the trump campaign's national security advisory committee. sessions met again with him last september in a senate office. the white house blasting allegations by leading democrats that he mislead congress as partisan politics in a statement saying quote sessions met wit

jeff sessions.his story is not about illegal talks between trump and his campaign people and the russians. this story is barack obama and the democrat party attempting to sabotage the trump presidency. >> bill: rush went off. fiery words from limbaugh. are obama loyalists trying to - >> they're trying to keep repeating the same story and trying to get this coverage going. there is nothing new that we have seen here. >> bill: friday morning. record setting week on wall street. did you see this thing move? the dow pulled it back a bit yesterday. what has triggered this week's rally? want to bring in maria bartiromo. it's the taxes, regulation, the trump bump. all of that. >> that's what's behind this market rally. people are looking at the potential for a roll back in regulations and the impact on earnings. they're looking at a corporate tax rate of 15 to 20% and equating that to a double digit move in corporate earnings for the s & p 500. i told shannon yesterday one analyst is looking for 20% increa

thank you, christine. >>> the justice department revealing attorney general jeff sessions met twice withussian ambassador last year while he was an advisor for donald trump's campaign. however, senator sessions failed to disclose that in his confirmation process. let's discuss this and more with cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr and cnn national security commentator mike rogers. hi, mike? >> good morning. >> if you were the chairman of a committee and during a confirmation process a senator said something wrong and said he had no communications whatsoever with russian officials and it turned out twice he did, how would you feel? >> if he was answering the question thinking he was answering about did i meet with the russian official in direct connection with the campaign, i think he should clarify that. that's easily clarified. >> why didn't he clarify? >> i don't know. i was the chairman of the intelligence committee, i met with russian ambassador. >> you met with two they believe is a top russian spy. why did you meet? >> in afghanistan there was a drug flow problem in the north.

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

david: plus standing by jeff sessions.y rush limbaugh says the democratic outcry about something completely, about something completely different. next, ed meese, former attorney general under president reagan, sounding off on that. this is the silverado special edition. this is one gorgeous truck. oh, did i say there's only one special edition? because, actually there's five. ooohh!! aaaahh!! uh! hooooly mackerel. wow. nice. strength and style. it's truck month. get 0% fincing for 60 months plus find your tag and get $5500 on select chevy silverado pick-ups when you finance with gm financial. find new roads at your local chevy dealer. david: even after attorney general jeff sessions announced that he is recusing himself from the russia probe democrats are pushing for more, a lot more. joining me on the phone, ed meese, former attorney general under president reagan. mr. meese, a real pleasure to have you on. i remember 1986, watching you on television in a newsroom for a newspaper i was working with, as you announced you

he stands behind jeff sessions. sessions said clearly yesterday he didn't do anything wrong.egally perjury is very hard to prove. a lot of the things you're talking about hard to prove so where do you go from here? >> what's not hard to prove is why did flynn resign? why is -- if this is not a witch hunt. his own staff appointment, mr. sessions, has recused himself. this is his son have said that russia is a very large player in their economic success. those are not witch hunts. those are facts. >> there are intelligence committee investigations. do you not trust the intelligence committees to do their job? >> there should be a bipartisan hearing that should be going on right now based on all of the facts that we need to find out what is going on here, what is the connection, how influential is russia in our government right now? and that should not be pushed back. this is not about a witch hunt. the president of the united states has a responsibility as well to ensure the people of this great country that we are not under siege by an outside threat, an enemy of ours. and thi

right now on msnbc reports, breaking news, democratic leaders calling for attorney general jeff sessions to resign. and now key republicans saying he should recuse himself. a firestorm afternoon after the "washington post" reporting that then senator sessions met with rs's ambassador while a key adviser to the campaign despite denying it under oath. nbc caught up with the attorney general exclusively today. >> are you able to comment on the nature your meetings with the russians over the summer? >> well, i have not met with any russians at any time to discuss any political campaign. and those remarks unbelievable to me. are false. and i don't have anything else to say about that. so thank you. >> what about calls to recuse yourself from your agency's probe of the election? >> i have said whenever it's appropriate i will recuse myself. there is no doubt about that. >> do you think that time will come? thank you, sir. >> breaking ranks. top republicans now calling for the attorney general to recuse himself from the investigation into russia's election-year hacking. >> i think attorney gene

so what is next for attorney general jeff sessions? get to "the bottom line" with cnn political director david chalian. good morning, david. >> good morning, alisyn. >> another day, another russian intrigue. maybe there is nothing there as attorney general sessions just said to nbc news when they caught up with him this morning. let me play this for you. >> well, i have not met with any russians at any time to discuss any political campaign, and those remarks are unbelievable to me and are false and i don't have anything else to say about that. so thank you. >> what about the calls to recuse yourself from your agency's probe of -- >> i've said that whenever it's appropriate, i will recuse myself. there's no doubt about that. >> david, what does that mean, whenever it's appropriate? >> i imagine that's not going to be operative for very long. when you have jason chaffetz and al franken on the same page saying you need to clarify and recuse, i imagine it's not going to be too long before attorney general sessions makes that clear. he has

not jeff sessions. >> sean: thank you both. coming up, newt gingrich would join us to weigh in on jeff sessions and his recusal. later tonight, former advisor austan goolsbee is here along with lou dobbs to talk about the big impact that the donald trump has had on the economy. that and more on this busy night on "hannity" ." ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: get on your feet for the nastiest, most terrifying bull in the state of texas. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (crowd cheers) ♪ >> sean: as we continue on "hannity," joining us now with reaction about attorney general jeff sessions recusal. newt gingrich. i keep going back to the statement. he is answering al frankenstein's question. they could not be any more clear what he is saying here and we see the hysteria, the breathlessness. i want your reaction. what do you think is going on here? it is deeper. anyone with common sense would see that it is. >> no, no. first of all, donald trump had a great day in the media yesterday. his speech was a home run. everything was going well and surprise, surprise. another

jeff sessions will stay in his

what's the likelihood of that happening and what are the options here >> jeff sessions said yesterday he's going to in fact write a letter to the committee explaining what his. was all about. when you look at the exchange between franken and sessions, franken did not ask what his own contacts were, he asked what he would do if he discovered other members of the team have had contact with the russians. sessions unprompted offered up this denial. he was affirmatively putting out a denial he wasn't asked for. you saw sessions yesterday say very clearly, that was not my intent. he didn't mean to mislead senator franken because he was answering an entirely different question. very interesting to watch the relationship between the yes and answe -- question and the answer. >> you're a guy who knows capitol hill. i know it's a slow day given a lot of lawmakers have gone home for the weekend. do you think the story will be the same on money or will the temperature cool down a little bit? >> it's going to depend on reporters. this is a reactive town. washington has been reeling in the wake of r

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