quote, theussian witch hunt hoax continues all because jeff sessions didn't tell me he was going to recuseself. i would have quickly picked someone else. so much time and money wasted, so many lives ruined and sessions knew better than most that there was no collusion. why is this president so fixated on jeff sessions? >> it is the original sin that the president cannot get over. and he must like the punching bag that -- the daily punching bag sometimes daily that at least weekly jeff sessions. he has repeatedly gone after jeff sessions in every way possible. he's emass kuehl ated him humiliated him and criticized him and jeff sessions made a conscious decision to stand up and just to keep doing his so we're told by people close to jeff sessions, this does not bother him as much any more as it used to. and it is actually giving him i think more of a badge of honor on the outside among some republicans and conservatives who think that he is standing and is not resigned. the question always is, is thep. and it seems to me up until this point, he's either afraid to or he thinks it is not a go

the thing is is, jeff session' is doing a good job for the president. ad down and goes to work every day. i think attorney general sessions has a thick hide and i think he sleeps easy at night because a, he believes he did the right thing on the recusal and b, when he recused, he gave the president a gift. which is that. when this investigation is over, if they find there's no usion and jeff sessions was not part of the investigation because he recused himself, he's taking a key argument off the board. can you imagine if sessions was still running this thing and they found no collusion? the democrats would be all over the president. >> so, paul, look, to scott's point, we know trump missdespic sessio russia. ump said the russian hoax continues all because jeff sessions didn't tell me he was going to recuse himself. so many lives ruined and sessions knew better than most that there was no collusion. so i guess if you look att measure, paul, the president held back today by thanking jeff sessions. >> yeah, he kind of wimped out e, actually. >> you know, ea

several of them are about his treatment of jeff sessions. we also know that because we know that mueller's investigators are asking white house staffers about the treatment of jeff sessions. what it speaks to and where it could potentially fit in to mueller's case is in order to be able to prove obstruction of justice, a key part of that is intent. well, we know from what jonathan has reported that trump has said that jeff sessions would be a hero if he sort of unrecused himself from the russia investigation. it doesn't take too much dot-connecting to figure out what trump wants here is for jeff sessions to take back control of the russia investigation in order to tamp down the russia investigation. that is certainly helpful to trying to prove obstruction. >> hey, jonathan, i have something i want to play for you. this happened during nicolle wallace's broadcast today. the fbi veteran frank figliuzzi was talking about the net effect and the takeaway from today's pardon talk. we'll watch it together. we'll talk about it on the other side. >>

i want to add one more thing about jeff sessions. an said if trump were to fire sessions, he would not hold a hearing on a replacement for attorney general. there is a sense with this president that republicans on catol hillould absolutely be opposed if he were to take that step and actually fire sessions. >> by the way, one of the great ironies is that so would democrats. not one of them voted for jeff sessions, but they understand if jeff sessions were fired and the president -- it would be along the road the president be trying to get rid of to get rid of mueller. also on this trump tweet on the doj inspector general, what he is saying directly is that he believes it's corrupt. his own justice department he thinks i corrupt. an inspector general's report of his justice department, he believes could be -- what was the word he used? changed and made weaker because of political interference. i think we need to remind everybody that this is his attorney general. this is his justice department. this is his fbi director. he is accusing t

jeff sessions has an agenda. and despite these attacks, persistent attacks from the president, he's getting things done at doj. >> katie, weigh in on this as well. i think you've written about it for the "times." you have kind of liberated jeff sessions in a way. carrie there enumerating things he cares about, policy positions he's taken for a long time. things he's wanted to change. the argument can be made by not having to deal with the russia investigation, for lack of better words, he has more things to deal with times he wants to deal with. >> absolutely. one of the ironies of trump's attacks, in many ways jeff sessions is trump's best foot soldier. he's a person who has very impactfully and forced some of donald trump's policies he loves the most, his base loves the most. he's cracked down on immigration, cracked down on gangs like ms-13. he talks about them all the time. he should be trump's favorite cabinet member, only because trump is obsessed with the mueller investigation is he not. he have this reall

so the president switched tactics from trying to fire jeff sessions to trying to get jeff sessions to reverse himself on his recusal from supervising the investigation of the president. earlier this week the "new york times" broke the news that two days after jeff sessions recused himself president trump quote berated mr. sessions and told him he should reverse his decision, an unusual and potentially inappropriate request. mr. sessions refused. the confrontation is being investigated by the special prosecutor robert mueller, iii, as are the president's public and private attacks on mr. sessions and efforts to get him to resign. and tonight axios is reporting, quote, president trump pressured attorney general jeff sessions to reclaim control of the russia investigation on at least four separate occasions, three times in person and once over the phone, according to sources familiar with the conversations. jonathan swan's axios report said quote the sustained pressure made several officials uncomfortable because they viewed it as improper and worried it could be politically and legally

on that front, sources tell cnn the president pressured jeff sessions on multiple occasions to reverse his decision to recuse himself multiple times. former white house strategist steve bannon says he is wrong where sessions is concerned. >>> and the top spy from north korea heads to washington. he will hand deliver a letter from kim jong-un to the president at the white house. oh, to be a fly on the wall that could read for that letter. this comes after secretary of state mike pompeo reports good progress in the talks with both sides. ahead and a potential summit days away. and president trump campaigned on china going after trade, but slapping more tariffs on u.s. allies than china. why is he doing that and what is the impact on american jobs? let's start with kaitlan collins live at the white house. kaitlan. >> reporter: alisyn and john? the president is in a forgiving mood. all of the people he is considering pardoning were all treated uai by the united states justice system and raises the question if the president sees a little bit of himself in them. president trump on a pardonin

why doesn't donald trump just fire jeff sessions? t, kate, to be honest. this goes back to the session that jeff sessions made to recuse himself and i think he should have had that conversation with donald trump and said, hey, if i recuse myself, i probably shouldn't continue in being attorney general. i think it has gotten to the point. i think donald trump needs to fire jeff sessions or jeff sessions needs to resign. i don't think this will last that much longer and really is starting to look like a very ugly breakup on a very public street corner, really getting awkward for everyone. i would hope that donald trump has a plan, he wouldn't do anything spur of the moment. i would like him to wait until after the midterms. i think there is a legitimate chance that maybe mueller clears trump, maybe in september. i think day by day, getting a better chance, republicans keep the majority in congress and in november, trump could go to jeff sessions and quite frankly rod rosenstein and say, i would like letters of resignation and move on fr

anger at the attorney general of the united states jeff sessions today. president suggesting he could have picked another gen to block the russia investigation had he known sessions was planning to recuse himself from the probe. former campaign manager paul manafort is facing more problems. he has until friday to respond to the witness tampering allegations from special counsel robert mueller. they are clearly trying to send a mas paul manafort is concerned. >> wolf, right. in the court filings they sent in last night and court case hearing in the district of columbia, manafort has been in touch with witnesses going back to february. a couple of witnesses using whatsapp and trying to coach these people telling them to perjury in the testimony as part of the investigation. that is the allegation from the special counsel. at this point, paul manafort's spokesperson has stopprespondeds be in t innocent and has until friday to respond total ga the allegation. it is interesting the special counsel is asking the judge to revoke his bail. last week, the special c

the russian witch-hunt folks continues all because jeff sessions didn't tell me he was going to recuse himself. i would have quickly picked someone else. so much time and money wasted, so many lives ruined, and sessions knew better than most that there was no collusion. and paul butler, here is a president who is being investigated for obstruction of justice, and he is saying if i knew that jeff sessions was not going to protect me from that investigation, he would n my attorney. >> the only way this is not smoking gun evidence of the presiden criminal intent or corrupt intent to impede the investigation is if you take the extremely expansive view that his legal team floated that nothing the president can do would be obstruction. otherwise, it's very time the president tweets, most time he tweets, he provides the most compelling evidence of his own criminal intent. >> yeah, matt, to that point, we're talking about lawyers representing cl surely, the president's lawy lawyers -- not rudy giuliani, because he is just the take tv lawyer, but real lawyers working for the president must have

well, i think i did say that jeff sessions, agreed with you, jeff sessions doing a good job. look. i don't agree with everything jeff has done and i think made a mistake on recusing himself and agree with the president and since attorney general he's done his job and he's done it in spite of the criticism. i don't know too many people to put up with that. as you said, he's very strong support on capitol hill. and the opportunity for, you know, for making a decision on jeff sessions before not after he was nominated and it's time for the president to move on and focus on getting a peace treaty with north korea. >> all right. next topic. >> i can't believe rick -- >> go ahead. if you can't believe something i want to know it. >> i just can't believe you would say that he did the wrong thing in recusing himself. it was like the one good decision that jeff sessions has made since being attorney general. he's -- i mean, jeanine pirro calls him the most dangerous man in america and for immigrants and other people he is but that was the one thing he did that was right. >> you disagree beca

jeff sessions has told aot of support, especially in the senate. he was a senator.dsey graham thing had to recuse himself, and i've heard that the senate leadership has communicated with the white househat they would be unlikely to confirm any other attorney general if donald trump di go ahead and fire jeff sessions. jeff sessions still kind of being hung out to dry by the president by maintaining a lot of support among his past colleagues. >>ret:om, the manafort team saying we're going to fight this in. we are hearing reports that there is a witness tampering allegation that the mueller folks are making. the communication early on manafort may have had with associates. how do you look that in the big picture about we don't know about the mueller probe? >> paul manafort has growing problems. the mind boggles as to why he would engage in this activity, if he did. it's not that hard to get inside these communications. more broadly on the part of the president, this effort to bring the mueller investigation, anything related to collusion into the public sphere where th

sólo contra la ilegal", afirmÓ jeff sessions.as. pero los nÚmeros del propio gobierno indican que los arrestos en la frontera son de los mÁs altos que en toda la residencia de trump, algo que indica que la estrategia estÁ funcionando. el propio presidente de la cÁmara baja paul ryan-- el partido republicano el dÍa sigue las directrices de trump mientras la onu dijo que esa separaciÓn familiar es ilegal. "no hay nada de normal mando se detiene a niÑos", declararon. algo que se escucha en cada marcha de personas que se oponen a la polÍtica de separaciÓn de familias. >> como madre me siento desilusionada. enrique: al regresar de la pausa religiosos catÓlicos crÍtica en ♪ enrique: luego de que se le negara el acceso al senador demÓcrata, el departamento de salud y servicios humanos finalmente permitiÓ que equipos de periodistas ingresarÁn a dos instalaciones en las que mantienen a menores que entraron sin la compaÑÍa de un adulto al paÍs pero tavin a quienes han sido separados de sus padres al ingresar a los estados unidos. hace cont

. >> this morning, the president is blaming jeff sessions for the russia investigation and saying that if he had known that sessions planned to recuse himself, he would have quickly picked a different attorney general. this coming as robert mueller accuses trump's former campaign chairman of witness tampering pending trial.ge to j him cnn's evan perez is here with more on that. these are pretty serious charges. >> they are, poppy. prosecutors want a judge to consider revoking paul manafort's bail for what they say were multiple attempts to get witnesses to lie in his case. manafort is the former trump campaign chairman and he's awaiting trial here in washington and in virginia, federal court, on financial crime charges, special counsel robert mueller said in court filings in washington last night that manafort used encrypted messages to try to encourage witnesses to perjure themselves in the ongoing investigation into russian meddling in the 2016 elections. prosecutors cited contacts that manafort allegedly made including some in late february when manafort, quote, repeatedly contacted

sólo contra la ilegal", afirmÓ jeff sessions.ilias. pero los nÚmeros del propio gobierno indican que los arrestos en la frontera son de los mÁs altos que en toda la residencia de trump, algo que indica que la estrategia estÁ funcionando. el propio presidente de la cÁmara baja paul ryan-- el partido republicano el dÍa sigue las directrices de trump mientras la onu dijo que esa separaciÓn familiar es ilegal. "no hay nada de normal mando se detiene a niÑos", declararon. algo que se escucha en cada marcha de personas que se oponen a la polÍtica de separaciÓn de familias. >> como madre me siento desilusionada. enrique: al de la pausa religiosos catÓlicos crÍtica en directv te da mÁs de lo tuyo, si quieres dejar el cable y necesitas una seÑal, aquÍ hay varias. hazle caso a las seÑales. si lo tuyo es dejar el cable. cÁmbiate a directv y recibe una tarjeta de reembolso de $100. más de lo tuyo. es lo nuestro. llama al 1.800.directv un beste es nuestro momentolas de la selección mexicana. pa arriba! pa abajo! al centro! pa dentro! vamos po

he's got steve miller, jeff sessions. he's got the people who are there to shock and play by his rules. now, mitch mcconnell who i've covered for 40 years going back to kentucky, he's my weather vane. that shows mitch is trying to protect the people. >> and probably the president. >> i just got a tweet from one of mcconnell's people, what makes you think trump would veto this? >> i'm curious, i'm going to play a mash up we put in. when we say that republicans are basically striking for the president to stop this, let me play the mash up. >> i support and all the members of the republican conference support a plan that keeps families together. >> all of us who are seeing these images of children being pulled away from moms and dads in tears, we're horrified. >> it's not american to do this, families and children coo we should keep them together. >> the white house should change this, and they should. this is mistake. >> the zero-tolerance policy is their making. >> there's no justification for families being separated. >>

is he going to tell jeff sessions to flip the policy? >> that would be a major climbdown. trump would see that as a huge loss. >> that kid in the red will grab a lot of hearts. these another one. julia, it's a standing situation when the first lady of the united states seems -- that's the picture, seems to be challenging the president. what gives? and rosalynn carter, as well and laura bush and all these -- i get they're speaking more for the country than trump is, my hunch. >> it's interesting that it's first ladies coming out. they're supposed to be showing the sympathetic side of america's moral character. this is a lot of people think is in jeopardy right now as the trump administration pursues this but apparently and as jonathan points out, that hasn't quite gotten through to the president at least not to the point he wants to change this policy. instead with this administration, they have doubled down on talking points. we had another press call today with all of the reporters covering this and dhs and health and hup services. and they keep trying to tell us if we co

one thing, before getting too hard on jeff sessions.reports to the president and to the white house. and he merely may be reflecting the policy preferences of the white house. and that is the job of the attorney general with respect to law enforcement policies such as immigration. >> i covered george w. bush for years and years. he liked to say family values don't stop at the rio grand river. this is a policy that seems to just fly in the face of that. >> well, again, i think we all understand there is great disappointment in this policy and certain circles in america. fortunately, it appears that it motivated congress to do something. i think that's very, very important. i think that's the way this should be handled. >> for someone who lived in texas for so long, tell me what your feelings are when you see pictures of the kids who have been separated from their parents. >> well, it's heartbreaking and very disappointing. and i realize we have laws that have to be enforced. we need a secure border. and i understand some people -- most p

meanwhile, attorney general jeff sessions used biblical passages to defend the bill. what's the latest there ed? >> reporter: good morning, alisyn the trump administration announcing they have plans to create a temporary shelter house undocumented immigrant children and the influx taken into custody since zero tolerance policy went into effect. it will be near a land port of entry, a temporary structure described to us by federal officials as a structure that will have soft sides, full heating and cooling equipment inside that, which of course will be needed in far remote parts of texas. temperatures will easily reach 100 degrees. these will have floors and doors. they are structures that can be popped up quickly. we suspect there are plans for more. all of this is happening as influx continues based on this zero tolerance policy. the trump administration, despite outrage and criticism that has emerged this this week of this program and zero tolerance plan, as you mentioned off the top here, attorney general jeff sessions very critical of the criticism of this zero to

attorney general jeff sessions called it a, quote, zero tolerance policy. i say it's a zero humanity policy, a zero compassion policy. this policy of persecuting families fleeing for their lives comes straight from the white nationalist fringe. it's been in the works for over a year, going all the way back to when chief of staff john kelly was secretary of homeland security. back in march of 2017, then-secretary john kelly said that, quote, the name of the game is deterrence. unquote. he said that if the administration began separating kids from their parents, they could deter migrants from traveling to our southern border. and we have since heard attorney general jeff sessions double down on the theme of deterrence. he said, quote, if people don't want to be separated from their children, they should not bring them with them. if you bring children, you'll be prosecuted. to those who spout this perverse notion of deterrence, i ask this question. how do you deter a mother trying to protect her child from the brutality of fortitude. how do you deter a father

the president writes, quote, the russian witch hunt/head coach continues all because jeff sessions didn't tell me he was going to recuse himself. let's begin our coverage this morning at the white house. that's where we find our kaitlan collins with more on the eagles' canceled visit, what have you learned? >> reporter: this seems to be what happens when you throw a celebration and people decide not to show up. the president instead of canceling it has changed the theme of this afternoon's celebration and instead of honoring the eagles who won the super bowl, it's going to focus on the country and the national anthem specifically. i'm told behind the scenes that when the president were told that very few players were attending he was infuriated. it's unclear how many players the president was told had made the decision to come. some staffers insidehe white house heard that only ten people were going to come and some heard only as few as four players were going to attend the celebration this afternoon. something that infuriated the president, he was well aware of what the optics would be i

and jeff sessions and pence are right side by side as are republicans. donald trump should sign an executive order and sign this policy. it's inhumane. and i and many people are crying when you play the tapes. that hasn't happened in this country since the time of slavery. it hasn't happened in the world since the time of nazis and donald trump is right there with him. i'm ashamed, and we need to be outraged and pay attention. we need to make a change. donald trump represents the worst of the american spirit. >> and white house as we have reported extraneously denies aspects of this, they certainly object to some of the historic comparisons. we've invited them on this show and offered them ample time, but they're not taking us up on that. clarence, you're view on this? >> if you're going to have a policy like this, own it. president trump ran for office on this immigration issue. he was distorting it from the day he announced his campaign. and now this policy has been implemented and the administration is getting some blow back, he wants to say it's all

attacking jeff sessions is actually a big hero for the conservative base. he's got a lot of old friends on capitol hill, in the senate. people like mitch mcconnell don't like hearing him talk that way. they may basically be witcapitol trump when it comes to the russia investigation. it burns needless capital. when it comes to the russia investigation, he just blows a gasket and doesn't kno what he's doing and doesn't think it through. >> joyce, we have been wan to talk to you since we read this on manart. it is one for us to go through it. certain parts read like a clear and present danger. it's active wording. how did it read to you? what did you take away from this? >> it's a really interesting pleading, brian. on the technical legal side of things, one of the conditions of paul manafort'as tt heotmit another federal crime. so now the government has brought before the judge probable cause to believe he's tampered with a witness, and that's a good reason to re his bond. in the two or times this happen in my career, everyone on the prosn got incredibly angr

we know how he treated jeff sessions.s is what it takes, apparently, to be able to hang in this cabinet. >> thank you very much for all the analysis. >>> ahead, we'll speak with congressman bob goodlatte. where does he think this is headed? what will he do to help these children separated from their parents? >>> we also need to talk about what is affecting markets today. that is president trump's new tariff threat against china. we are waiting and watching to see all of the ripple effect of this. >> markets are way down. how can we say when you book direct at choicehotels.com you always get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed? let's say it in a really low voice. carl? lowest price, guaranteed. just stick with badda book. badda boom. book now at choicehotels.com only remfresh uses keep 1 in ion-powered melatonin to deliver up to 7 hours of sleep support. number 1 sleep doctor recommended remfresh -- your nightly sleep companion. available in the natural sleep section at walmart. can make you feel unstoppable. ♪ but m

estados unidos reduce las posibilidades de solicitar asilo, jeff sessions, el fiscal general anunciaras restricciones para las vÍctimas de violencia domÉstica y de pandillas. la familia de un emrepara para defender su caso luego de que una jueza detuviera su deportaciÓn. comenzamos. locutor: este es su "noticiero univisiÓn: edición nocturna", con enrique acevedo y patricia janiot. enrique : reuniÓn privada de 45 minutos, donald trump y kim jong-un dieron lo que parece ser una nueva era las relaciones entre estados unidos y corea del norte. han mostrado el optimismo de llegar a un acuerdo. el encuentro se dio bajo intensas medidas de seguridad de un protocolo cuidadosamente coreografiado. pablo: esta es la isla elegida como escenario del apretÓn de manos que pasarÁ la historia. aquÍ donald trump y el dictador kim jong-un, se encontraron 45 minutos acompaÑado por los intÉrpretes. [habla en inglÉs] el entorno de donald trump no querÍa que el primer encuentro fuera sin otro presentes, igual primo esa modalidad. [habla en otro idioma] pablo: la llegada de ambos lÍderes al hotel en esta is

now, why did jeff sessions change his tune? i think part of the reason, part of the reason he gave that interview to i think it was the christian broadcasting network is that many, many people in his own church community -- >> 600 methodists signed a letter accusing jeff sessions and his posse of child abuse. >> exactly. i think that is an extremely interesting trend we're starting to see. when you see evangelicals at the southern baptist convention earlier this month protesting on the floor of the annual meeting, when mike pence is speaking, we're seeing an interesting shift i think happening inside the evangelical community. i think the fact the reason that jeff sessions changed his attitude is because of members of a church is quite telling anding. >> we know if flake actually blocks the appointment of judges, which is what the evangelical community loves, there might be a further rift. >> you know, sessions also said last night we never intended to do this. >> they absolutely did. >> we know from nbc's own reporting -- >> i

jeff sessions was instrumental in that not happening. >> and so was stephen miller. actually see, you know, playing out five years later exactly what they blocked five years ago. now they're trying to implement their own radical form of immigration policy and obviously it's playing out on our tv screens over the last two weeks, very detrimentally to both, i think, stephen miller and jeff sessions' image and, of course, that of the president of the united states. you notice in his talk in las vegas, president trump is trying to talk about what he did or did not accomplish in the summit last week in singapore. unfortunately, that's just not getting through anymore. what's getting through are these horrible images of separating young children from their families. >> ned price, i want to bring you into the conversation here. stephen miller has an advisory role. he has the ear of the president. what do you make of the level of influence he has? you were in the obama white house. he had many advisers, of course. it seemed like there was much more give and take, much more o

consequence of opening up jeff sessions' u.s. senate seat, whereupon the governor of alabama, in the midst of his horrific sex scandal and this bipartisan aggressive impeachment proceedings against him in the legislature that had only been halted by the intervention of his attorney general, that scandal-ridden barely holding on alabama governor looked around in that moment. frankly, he looked up in that moment and decided that of all the good people in the great state of alabama, the one who should get named to that now newly vacant u.s. senate seat was big luther. the attorney general who had taken over the investigation into the governor's sex scandal and thereby stopped him from being impeached. there didn't have to be an election. the governor just got to pick whoever he wanted to fill jeff sessions' senate seat. he picked big luther. the day luther was sworn in, luther strange announced actually his office had never had the governor under investigation in the sex scandal at all. he didn't know why anybody had had that impres

while the president repeatedly pressuring jeff sessions and people around the president to reach out to sessions about the recusal is going to raise enormous questions and the president was warned by people in realtime that this is problematic when he was doing that, some other people would just ignore him. the fact that sessions may not have handled the recusal in a sterling way is a real issue. sessions was very involved in the transition over the legal aspects of the white house when between the period of the election and the inauguration. sessions should have had a clear sense he was not going to be able to be involved and should have drawn a very bright line and he didn't. so that is -- i think this is always an issue with the president where his reactions tend to be nuclear, but there is sometimes a core of something real there and in this case two things can be true at once, how the president has handled this is not ideal and how jeff sessions has handled this is not ideal, not for the reasonshe president complaining about. the president, as we know, has felt as if sessions sho

father simmons tweeted to jeff sessions saying, "dear jeff sessions, are you aware that the argument13 was a central argument of the german christian movement over against the confessing church? i'm not saying you're a nazi, but you're interpreting the bible as one." interpreting is key. this is hard to recocitement for people. >> -- to reconcile for people. >> yeah. it's important that we read the bible in context. i would go back to jesus. in the gospels, there's only a few times that we're told he becomes angry. in mark chapter 3, jesus heals a man with a withered hand, and the religious and legal authorities of his time were angry with had him. jesus responds healing this person even though it's the sabbath which in their narrow and, jesus would say, incorrect interpretation of the law was not lawful. it says in the law that what upset him was the hardness of the heart, focusing on the narrow interpretation of the law that they couldn't see the human suffering in front of them. >> it is a topic so important because people are passionate about the faith they have and how it's inte

president trump wrote on twitter, quote, the russian witch hunt hoax continues, all because jeff sessions didn't tell me he was going to recuse himself. i would have quickly picked someone else. so much time and money wasted. so many lives ruined. and sessions knew better than most that there was no collusion. to say that our president cannot let this go would be an understatement. the attacks now come so frequently, it almost normalizes till notion of an american president regularly eviscerating his own attorney general. and jonathan lemire of the associated press reports the president's anger toward jeff sessions has hit a whole new level. >> he is so mad at jeff sessions still that he is actually in recent weeks, he has stopped using sessions' name. he won't say it. so senior aides in the west wing have copied that. they just go him or that guy or the attorney general. >> an incredible detail from jonathan lemire, who reports the president's animosity towards sessions is now permeating most things in his path. quote, on thursday, trump was on air force one returning from a trip to texa

back in april, attorney general jeff sessions announced what's known as the zero tolerance immigration policy. take a listen to what he said about the policy about a month later. >> if you cross the border unlawfully, then we will prosecution you. it's that simple. if you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you. and that child may be separated from you as required by law. >> that means all adults who cross the border outside the official ports of entry, even if they are seeking asylum, they will be criminally prosecuted. let's be clear here this is not a law, this is a brand-new policy from the trump administration. obtained notes from a dhs meeting which took place in february of 2017, 14 days after the inauguration, showing it was one of the methods discussed for deterring asylum seekers. this is a trump policy. but president trump and sarah huckabee sanders continue to blame democrats. >> if the democrats would sit down instead of obstructing, we could have something done very quickly. we could have an immigration bill. we could have child separation. we're stuck with thes

it is obviously based on this new practice by attorney general jeff sessions.ake a listen to sessions defending this zero tolerance practice which results from thousands being separated from parents since april. >> if people don't want to be separated from their children they should not bring them with them. we have to get this message out. we warn people to come to the country unlawfully bringing children with them that they can't expect that they will always be kept together. >> sessions and the justice department say they are doing this because they need to stop this undocumented immigration crisis at the border. what do you say to that argument that this is all about deterants and stopping people from coming into the country illegally? >> i really feel actually for the border patrol agents who are meeting these refugee and asylum seekers at their most desperate moment. we are asking those men and women to solve international problems, to solve our country's problems at the border with mexico. things have to be bad for you to travel 2,000 miles on top of, no

this is a choice of donald trump and jeff sessions. >> that's exactly right. this was an idea that secretary -- chief of staff secretary kelly when he was homeland security, tha went into play saying that was unlawful, and what the u.n. did today was marking what united states is doing as violating the rights of children. on may 7th, jeff sessions stood before the american people and decide td he would separate parents from children because he felt it was a way to detour people from coming to the border, and whayw americans need to understand are the children and families that are coming right now on the border are not normal immigrants. they are refugees, most fleeing violence and fleeing extreme poverty, and that they are traversing three to four countries to get to the border, and by law, we're supposed to be able to process them when they seek asylum. under the new licy, that's not happening. instead, what they are saying, the department of homeland security processes them as criminals and separating parents from families under that os missi, but it's cont

president is wrong, former trump adviser steve bannon calls out president trump while defending ag jeff sessions. and pardon motives. new comments from former attorney general eric holder on what he thinks is behind the president's pardons. >> the president is trying to send a message to some people who potentially might be involved in the russia investigation. >> plus, does holder have plans for 2020? that's straight ahead on msnbc live. >>> we begin with a new warning from senate majority leader mitch mcconnell to president trump as he gets ready to come face-to-face with kim jong-un months from now. >> i think for these situations to work, you have to not want the deal too much. if you fall in love with the deal, and it's too important for you to get it and the details become less significant, you could get snookered. >> meanwhile, new details in what appears to be a hurdle in theistical planning for summertime. the post says the presidential suede where the north korean leader wants to stay costs more than $6,000 per night. this comes following a historic meeting with the president and a whi

inhangare ing up for jeff sessions right now. to your question, i don't see the gain for the president. you know, he can call this a witch hunt. he can call it a hoax. he can say no collusion. he does it several times a day. fine. his base loves that. i don't see the profit in attacking jeff sessions who, you know, is actually a big hero for the conservative base. he's also got a lot of old friends on capitol hill, in the senate. people like mitch mcconnell don't like hearing the president talk that way. and again to that point of his former colleagues on capitol hill, you know, they may basically be with trump when it comes to the russia investigation. they want to have his back. i think when it starts to get personal with a guy that they know well, they thk is honorable, they hate to see him treated that way. it just sort of burns needless capital for the president. so i think to me, i just see it as an example of a president who not thinking entirely clearly or rationally. he can't restrain his impulses. and when it comes to t

jeff sessions says there is. why not take another crack at it again, the world is watching, you're on the record. go. >> we will separate those who claim to be a parent and child. >> oh, so you do separate families. those who claim to be a parent and child. why did you tweet on sunday, quote, we do not have a policy of separating families? >> parents can still communicate with their children through phone calls and video conferencing. okay. with a baby? maybe an infant? represented from her mother's arms? that's comforting from you. besides, nbc news reports that it's exceedingly rare for parents to be able to call their children in this situation, if it happens at all. >> members of congress of the democratic side say that you're using children as a lever to try to get them to take legislative action. what do you say to that? >> i say that's a very cowardly response. >> it is cowardly to do that. speaking of by the way the world is watching and you're on the record, for history to remember, forever. here's your

shame on donald trump, shame on jeff sessions.me on any republicans who are complicitous in this behavior. paul ryan must step up. do something have a moral responsibility that allows you to to articulate your concern as a human being. that's what's called upon today. >> i want to get to your book. you write about this 1963 meeting between robert f kennedy and james baldwin and a group of black leaders. you say it changed our position on civil rights with manufacture can americans. can you imagine a president this ska that do come people come around in affecting people of color? >> kennedy showed mat tutor to evolve over space and time. i don't think this president will listen to anybody who can bring him any kind of understanding and insight. you can't appeal to entertainers and athletes who agree with you already who are not challenging you. in order for this president to be challenged sit down with michael bennett, serena williams, swin cash, people of high intelligence, john legend, jay z, beyonce, to engage in a serious conve

is once again quietly being slipped into our law books on monday june eleventh attorney general jeff sessions abandoned it twenty sixteen decision by the justice department's board of immigration appeals that decided the victim of domestic violence was eligible for asylum sessions' claims he is negating this legal precedent because quote the applicant must demonstrate membership in a group which is composed of members who share a common immutable characteristic as defined with particularity and is socially distinct within the society in question and that quote the applicants membership in that group must be the central reason for her persecution but this ingle most disturbing and conspicuous things about sessions decision is how bleak the gender bias is he continually uses she and her when speaking in general terms about immigration law even going as far as to state quote an asylum application has the burden of showing her eligibility for asylum now sessions claims that the asylum laws are too broad and should include victims of what he calls private violence private violence according to jef

this comes as the attorney general, jeff sessions, is now using the bible to defend that practice. "the washington post" notes it's the same bible passage once used to justify slavery. >> let's bring in cnn political analyst and white house correspondent for "the new york times," maggie haberman. glad to have you here. let's start with the inspector general's report, the long-awaited inspector general's report. this is what president trump had been touting as, you know, was going to be filled with big headlines and it is filled with big headlines in terms of james comey's, i guess, wrong-headed behavior. they think he broke with protocol, that he was insubordina insubordinate. what does donald trump do with this? >> the report says he was insubordinate and broke protocol with regard to the hillary clinton probe. the president's lawyers are aware a lot of people are not going to hear that aspect. they're just going to hear insubordinate, colored outside the lines. >> and meld it with the russia investigation of the white house. >> correct. the president's legal team has. they are lo

when it comes to president trump, potentially ordering jeff sessions to do or not do something, the criticalt? did he do it because in his good faith he believed it was the right thing to do? or was it for what we call a corrupt purpose. and corrupt lee is defined as an improper purpose, something that advanced his own personal interests. that is the magic word in looking at all of this conduct. >> i wonder if it's legally subjective that the point well the president would say i didn't think i was asking him to do anything corrupt. >> he can always spin it that way. >> it's very significant. informati in fact the core inquiry is why were the actions taken. if there's a benign reason, no problem. but if they decide it was for a corrupt purpose. improper, personal gain or to protect yourself from criminal liability, now we're veering into the world of corrupt. but make no mistake about it, in the federal criminal context, two equal acts can be very different depending on what was in the person's mind, the other official's mind. >> is there any legal precedent to someone unrecusing themselves f

we can hear from jeff sessions, we can hear from the president this hour. let's see what they have to say about it. joining me now, two democratic members of congress, phil monavala, he's about to tour af york, congressman jerry nadler, he toured a detention facility in new jersey this weekend. some of your colleagues down there, they have met with some resistance getting into some of the facilities. do you know what you're going to be able to see today? >> well, behind me is southwest keys, which is a contractor with the health and human services. behind us here are 1500 unaccompanied minors, 10% are the children who have been separated from their families. listen to this. >> everyone needs to put down their swords and stop political grandstanding on the democratic -- in the democratic party, getting ready for midterms and instead focusing on actually fixing the problem. instead of going back to the districts, and instead of going back to their districts, and basically saying this is a bad problem, look at these horrible pictures, they could go back to the

this did not exist before jeff sessions announced it in april. the trump administration policy. it is not law. there is no law that says you must separate children from parents at the border. no law. as you know, he is urging congress to pass the law now to stop his own policy. now, we have congress member bob goodlatt coming on. he has an immigration bill to put a stop to this issue. wheels of congress stop slowly because it is not picking up the phone. and the explanations for why they are doing this. if you listen to kirstjen nielsen, it is one thing. if you listen to jeff sessions, it is another. if you listen to sarah sanders, it is another. we will try to get to the bottom of why they are doing this and is this really deterrence and what they will do in congress. we have congress member bob goodlatt and analysts and experts on for debate. and we have dan pfeiffer and the obama folks thinking about what is happening today. >> my understanding is goodlatt's proposal in the house and paul ryan's legislation address the problem and the head of