about who these people are, not pretending that there are open questions when they're not. >> jeffrey toobin, david chalian, thank you for joining us. i appreciate it. jeffrey fresh off his work on "the new yorker." finding time for tv. >> everyone should read jeffrey's article on rudy giuliani. >>> president trump's tweet to jeff sessions basically giving senators new questions to ask brett kavanaugh about the justice department, about presidential powers, about their separation. so senator chris coons is going to join us with his questions next. the all-new lexus es... ...is stolen. hijacked from dreams. pulled from decades of obsession. taken from the souls of artists. we confess. we stole everything we could. from everything we've ever mastered. and put it here. the all-new lexus es. every curve. every innovation. every feeling. a product of mastery. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. when we switched our auto and home insurance. with liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. hey! oh, that's my robe. is it? when you switch to liberty mutual, you could save

thanks to jeffrey toobin and evan perez as well. joining us, leon panetta.e served as defense secretary and cia director during the obama administration. thanks for joining us. let's get first of all to the report in "the new york times", which we've now confirmed not only did rod rosenstein discuss removing the president from office through the 25th amendment, but he also spoke about the possibility of recruiting other administration officials in that area. do you believe that this -- and the discussion about possibility using a wire to record the president, are these grounds to fire rosenstein? >> well, in many ways, wolf, this is not a new story. we've known about the chaos and erratic kba erratic behavior by the president. it was pointed out by bob woodward in his book. it was pointed out by an anonymous op-ed in "the new york times" which talked about the possibility of considering the 25th amendment, and it has been pointed out by others as well. the problem is that this president has been extremely critical of our law enforcement authorities, the atto

jeffrey toobin, thanks.on't miss "full circle," our daily analysis on facebook, you can see it week noo knig nights, 6:25 p.m. on facebook. let's hand it over to chris right now. >>> i am chris cuomo, welcome to prime-time. should i stay or should i go? no joe strummer, but the clash between rosenstein and trump is in full effect. the deputy ag's fate has been in question all day. first, we heard he resigned. then he had summoned to the white house, then he met with john kelly, and then they decided to decide later. and what day did they pick of all days? so on that loaded day, we may learn the fate of judge kavanaugh and the russia probe. think of that.

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jeffrey toobin joins us now. bar scene setting dynamism of this article, there's this nugget of news. let me read this quote for you. giuliani pointed out a little known aspect of the agreement that trump's legal team struck with mueller, the white house reserved the right to the public disclosure of information that might be covered by executive privilege. a deal? i'm not sure we knew too much about that. >> no, didn't. >> in the original deal, we will let you see 1.4 million documents, we will let you interview white house staffers, we reserve the right down the line to object to any public disclosure of material we think is covered by executive privilege. you, robert mueller, and your staff can hear the whole story, but we're not agreeing to everybody hearing that story. okay. fast forward ahead. mueller is going to write some kind of report. giuliani says, well, we may object to anything in that report that is covered by what we believe is executive privilege. rod rosenstein will get that report. rod rosenste

let's bring in jeffrey toobin, joans by cubic and david gergen. david gergen, not only is this so consequential, as all supreme court nominations are. this is the president's second pick in as many years, this is 62 days ahead of the midterms in a hyperpartisan environment. how much of today will be about getting to the nuts and bolts and getting into the mind of judge brett kavanaugh and how much will be about grandstanding? >> i think this is such an epic conflict both sides will play to the public. the republicans will present this folksy appealing figure and talking about his family the night he was announced was appealing, that rollout was well done but the democrats will say look below the surface. what you don't see is a neutral umpire. he talks in his opening statement about wanting to be an impartial umpire and the opinions he's given tell the democrats he's anything but. he's a hard line conservative. he already has pre-set views and this is a contradiction that is a tension in the hearings. i think these will be tense because everybody

jeffrey toobin, the polling cnn did for kavanaugh wasn't good anyways. he had 38% of americans overall irrespective of party. 31% of women believed that kavanaugh should be confirmed. >> remember, too, that the issues that came up in his confirmation hearing, chiefly among them roe v. wade, and the claim that he will be a vote against roe v. wade by democrats, he did not take a position one way or another. the idea that the government can allow states to ban abortion is not one that's popular and that's one that democrats tried to associate him with very significantly. the idea that the democrats would pay a heavy price for opposing him, giving polling numbers like this, seems incorrec incorrect. >> makes you worpd if that gives them more wiggle room. >> makes it hard to imagine that this makes kavanaugh more likely to be confirmed. he may well be confirmed but this certainly doesn't help. >> you know, you live and breathe this stuff, as does jeffrey. >> yes. and i remember so well when anita hill then did come forward with her testimony in a very steady

let me bring in jeffrey toobin.nt to get to what we learned and didn't learn yesterday because of the dancing and dodging we see from all of these contenders of the court. it was a long day yesterday. at the end of the night last night, senator kamala harris of california grilled judge kavanaugh on whether he discussed bob mueller's russia probe, the special counsel's russia probe with a lawyer from a law firm that for a long time represented the president and that's castwood, benson and torrez. let's listen to this exchange. >> with all that you remember, you've been speaking about all sorts of things you remember, how can you not remember whether or not you had a conversation about robert mueller or his investigation with anyone at that law firm. this investigation has only been going on for so long, sir, please answer the question. >> i'm just trying to think v think do i know anyone that works at that firm. >> that's not my question. my question is have you had a conversation with anyone at that firm about the i

. >> jeffrey toobin. >> i think we are an emperor's new clothes territory here. look at every account of the trump administration is the same. except in some detail. >> not -- not all of the accounts, certainly not the ones that are flattering from the sean spicers of the world. talking about michael wolfe, omarosa. >> every journalist that covers the white house. donald trump is uninformed, uncurious, irrational frequently, narcissistic and racist. all of that is -- and the question is -- >> homephobic and other stuff. >> also homephobic. so, you know, this is what the american people voted for. i don't think a lot of people who voted for him are shocked by this. i mean, you know, i mean, just -- >> it does seem like the daily turn. this is where i'm annoyed with this. annoyed at "the new york times" did this. to write an op-ed like this, that has a stature, resign and put your name on it because this is just gossip. this is gossip to me. >> jeff. you come out here. you state your peace. you say your mind. i respect that. right? someone to write a blind op-ed th

cnn chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin. carrie severino, at the judicial crisis network which is supporting judge kavanaugh. kirsten, clearly judge kavanaugh is categorically denying all the allegations. does it help him or hurt him going into thursday, do you think, to have done this interview? >> well, i think it will help him with the people that they were targeting which is the base. and so that's why they chose fox news. they knew it would be an easy interview and it would be a sympathetic interviewer which it was. i actually don't think he did that great of a job, if you're just an objective observer. repeating over and over that you want a fair process but not really answering the questions, i don't think necessarily bolsters him, but for the audience that they wanted to reach, i think it will have its intended effect which is to portray him as somebody who's being persecuted and it will rally the troops around him. that's what's really has kept the republicans on track is this fear of the base not turning out in the

. >> joining us now, we have cnn chief legal analyst, jeffrey toobin, and david chalian, and co-author of "notorious," welcome to you all. christine blasey ford said she is 100% sure that the person that assaulted her is brett kavanaugh, and kavanaugh said he is 100% certain it was not him. how are they to decide? >> the rule in the united states senate is the woman always loses. >> it did start to feel that way yesterday after the conversation. >> can you imagine if she behaved the way he behaved? if ranting and raving and taunting the senators and asking them what they drank? can you imagine this woman or any woman going before the united states senate and behaving that way? she told the story. nobody, even the republican senators really seemed to challenge it. i think the answer is they don't care. they are going to get somebody on the court who will overturn roe v. wade and allow corporations to do what they want under citizens united and other decisions. they don't care what kind of person he is. that is the only message you could get from yesterday's proceeding. >> we have been w

. >> maggie, our legal guru jeffrey toobin was on this last hour and he sees this in a different vein than other tweets. this is fact challenged as so many are but jeffrey sees this in a whole different category and he was sounding the alarm on our program. here's that moment. >> this tweet alone may be an impeachable offense. this is such a days grace. this is so contrary to the traditions of the department of justice. we wear ourselves out being outraged at things donald trump says but this one is different because it is such an affront to the values of the justice department. >> maggie, behind the scenes in the white house is the legal team -- all the lawyers around the president, do they recognize this? when he tweets something like this, it's in a different category, then what happens? >> a couple things, there's not all the lawyers around the president, there is like there, that's been part of the problem, within the white house, many of them are in bunker mentality and you won't hear them say this is particularly different. privately a number will acknowledge this is problemati

in this case, to our colleague jeffrey toobin in "the new yorker" saying that the white house may attempteep parts or perhaps all of the mueller report from being shared publicly or even with congress by invoking executive privilege. is that something that an administration could do? >> well, i think it is a question, it's a little bit unclear what giuliani is talking about. ordinarily, executive privilege is asserted against another branch. ultimately, they could try. that's going to be a question for our court to decide. now, they are unlikely to prevail the ordinary reasons why executive privilege would exist. doesn't necessarily apply here. it's overwhelmingly in the public interest. that said, if there is a report, and again we don't actually know there will be a report, but if rod rosenstein decides to refer that report to congress, i don't know anybody who worked with the united states congress who doesn't think that document would be leaked almost immediately. the notion they will be able to prevent this from coming to the public, i don't think that strategy is going to work. >> d

jeffrey toobin, how significant is all of this?g that the mueller team has wanted for months and they have worked very, very hard. they leaned on paul manafort like i have almost never seen. two cases against him, one trial, another trial coming up, and they got what they wanted. they got a complete cooperation agreement. obviously, the big question that we don't know the answer to is what does paul manafort know and about whom. he confessed to an extraordinary number of crimes. i mean this guy, paul manafort, was basically a one-man crime wave when you think about the number of different kinds much crimes he committed. now we need to know did he work with others besides his deputy, rick gates, who has already pleaded guilty and what does he know about people in the trump campaign. that remains a central mystery in the case, but it is one that at least the mueller team is going to answer for themselves. >> evan, i want to get back to you because you are getting some new information on a prominent democrat who potentially could be c

. >> let's continue the discussion, cnn chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin joins us. also cnn political analyst david geerg gergen and kirsten powers. what do you make of this knowledge judge kavanaugh has been questioned about five accusations? again, nothing's been proven. he's denied it all. i'm wondering what your reaction is. >> i would really discount the two anonymous allegations. i just think it is really unfair to judge kavanaugh to expect him to respond to a, you know, the rhode island and colorado cases. i mean, they are so vague. they are not -- there is no accusers. i think they are in a completely different category from the three named identified and identifiable women who have all volunteered to testify under oath about what judge kavanaugh did. that is extremely serious. the other two i just don't think in fairness to him he should even have to respond to. >> kirsten, do you agree to hat? obviously, as i said, i want to reiterate, kavanaugh has denied both of these newly made accusations, or revealed accusation, accusations, i should say, as he has th

cuomo's court is in session with jeffr jeffrey toobin and jim schultz. one more day, jim. do you give it to the doctor? >> i think i do. i think i'd give her one more day if i'm sitting in the chairman's seat at this point in time. look, they've been doing everything they can to make this accommodating so she can come in and testify, which is what she asked to do. that's very, very important to note here. and i also want to know how unfortunate it was that it got leaked to the public, which kind of thrust this all into the public limelight to begin with. i was glad to hear you say in your last segment, chris, that senator feinstein may have some culpability there. we don't know, but she may have some culpability there. i'm glad you acknowledged that. at this point in time given the fact it's not going to change whether or not the time frame for testimony, the time frame for a vote, i think giving an extra day isn't too much to ask, and it's something that we do as lawyers on a regular basis, give the other side a courtesy in order to make a decision. >> right. >> as you're

as someone who works here at cnn, jeffrey toobin is my colleague. the need to defend him and set the record straight. >> it's a fair point, and also toobin is far from the only person who said exactly that, including among major congressional leaders. don, thank you very much for setting the record straight. >>> i keep saying i fear what's coming because, as don was just saying, i've been in storms like this, and i know that the difference between a 2, a 3, a 4 is meaningless when you're on the ground. so if you're still debating whether to stay or go, i have a closing argument for you. please listen and consider. geico has over 75 years of great savings and service. with such a long history, it's easy to trust geico! thank you todd. it's not just easy. it's-being-a-master-of-hypnotism easy. hey, i got your text- sleep! doug, when i snap my fingers you're going to clean my gutters. ooh i should clean your gutters! great idea. it's not just easy. it's geico easy. todd, you will go make me a frittata. if you're waiting patiently for a liver transplant

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. >> jeffrey toobin, in your wheel house, the legal issues in this book. one of the things they're reporting is on january 27th the president's attorney staged a mock sit down between president trump and robert mueller, and it sounds like john dowd played robert mueller. dowd asked questions of president trump that responded with stumbles, contracontradict and lies, and it was then decided that john dowd told president trump this cannot happen, and mueller. >> this is consistent with my own reporting on what has done on here. but of course bob woodward is bob woodward and i trust him implicitly. i think every word in this book is true. in terms of the interview, this is what lawyers do. they look at their clients with a remorseless eye, and they say can i put this person in front of the prosecution. i don't think anything in this book -- it is all shocking but not surprising, does anyone really think that trump doesn't behave this way, of course he does, this is a richer more detailed por grant, and the lawyer said we're not going to put him in front of th

. >> jeffrey toobin on the show said yesterday, what is the goal? is the goal to get kavanaugh confirmed or is the goal to find out the facts? >> i think for republicans the goal is to get him confirmed so they have a great interest in doing this monday and letting everybody decide i believe her or him and go to vote. >> for professor blasey and people that support her, what is this is the only way for her to come out and tell her story publicly before a confirmation vote. if this is all that is offered to her, do you think she blinks? >> i don't know. i was struck by the distance between what her lawyer said yesterday and what they say today. i understand why. remember, the republicans initial impulse was to see if they could do it in private with a series of phone calls, and it's an opinion where they pushed this out to monday from thursday and to give everybody a chance to hear her in person. their goal is to confirm kavanaugh, but the problem with this new position is they believe what democrats want to do is delay the hearing and therefore poss

joining us now to discuss it is cnn chief legal analysts, jeffrey toobin, and john avalon, and cnn legal analyst and supreme court biographer, john. what do we do with this new information that we have? >> that's question number one. the vote in the judiciary committee is scheduled for thursday so there's not a lot of time the issue of at least what to do. the initial question is does that vote get delayed while it's investigated? does it get investigated just by the fbi in private or just by the judiciary committee and its staffers or are their more public questions? >> should it be delayed is the question? >> it's hard to imagine how any sort of credible explanation could take place between now and thursday since they are starting from absolute zero. you know, what is so fascinating about this is the cultural and political context. we are in the middle of a me too movement. 27 years ago clarence thomas was confirmed to the supreme court not withstanding the testimony of annetta hill. the facts of the story are out of nowhere and we don't know who is telling the truth. >> grassly does n

let's discuss this with cnn correspondent, dana bash and jeffrey toobin. lawyer says, good for michael cohen in providing critical information to the mueller investigation without a cooperation agreement. this is just out of the goodness of his heart he is doing this? >> not at all. he's doing it because he wants to get a lesser sentence once he is sentenced. but there is also -- that is why people cooperate. that doesn't mean they are not telling the truth, but his motives, i think, are mixed, obviously. >> why didn't they hammer that out before he cooperated. isn't that how it works? >> that's almost always how it works, and cohen thought he could throw his mercy at the court. it's an odd situation, but if his cooperation is significant he will get benefit regardless of whether he has a written cooperation agreement or not. >> it used to be prosecutors had him so cleanly they did not need to give him anything in that process. >> that's true. although the agreement has advances for the prosecution, too. a written agreement. it's unusual that they did it t

. >>> joining us now, jeffrey toobin, and carry severino, and you have fascinating reporting from over the weekend about how brett kavanaugh has been responding to the allegations from professor ford, that he was frustrated in practice sessions when pressed about his own drinking history. >> yeah, these practice sessions are designed to make him uncomfortable because judge kavanaugh and the white house even before we got the hearing officially on the books yesterday for thursday, they knew they would face questions from democrats, who have told me they are going to probe every corner of his personal life. typically before a big confirmation hearing, supreme court nominees go through the murder boards, and they are talking about legal decisions, but this time it discusses very personal details of his life, and there are sources that indicate that this was a difficult session for him. it shows how deeply they are preparing for this major dramatic confrontation that we are still on track to see this coming thursday. >> as far as we know this thursday at 10:00 a.m., we know a majority of t

and remind our viewers, jeffrey toobin, why this is so significant. why the decision by the u.s.ommittee and u.s. senate could have impacts not for four years or eight years but for 30 or 40 years. >> well, the supreme court has been divided much like american politics for the past couple of years. there are five -- there have been five republican appointees and four democratic appointees. but one of the republicans was anthony kennedy who won several important issues like abortion rights, like affirmative action, voted with the democrats and that is why and that is only why roe v. wade has survived as the law of the lan because anthony kennedy was on the court. today is the day we'll start to hear about the substance of the supreme court. will roe v. wade survive? will universities be allowed to use race in admissions? may bakers and other small business owners say to gay people, "you're not allowed in here" and the court says that's okay. >> just -- >> not true? >> the idea that there's a contention that bakers don't allow gay people in their shops, that's never been the issue

joining us now, cnn chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin and nia-malika henderson.hank you for being here. so much has changed in the last hour. >> yes. >> since we last saw you. >> good thing you didn't leave. >> this is a major development. dr. christine blaise-ford who on the record has accused a supreme court nominee of harassment -- >> sexual assault. >> thank you, that is an important distinction, sexual assault, saying she is willing to testify under oath in front of the u.s. senate. >> how do you not let her testify? how do you say thanks, but no thanks? i think it's very difficult for the republicans in charge. if they want to hold this vote on thursday, it seems almost impossible to be able to schedule that when you consider wednesday is yom kippur and the senate generally doesn't hold hearings on yom kippur. initially, the grassley plan was to simply have senators or staff talk to the two people on the telephone and then leave it at that. that seems like it's a nonstarter at this point. how does the schedule work? do the republicans actually allow her to

anymore and why if deputy attorney general rod rosenstein is gone, some folks including our own jeffrey toobininvestigation. there's a very big night ahead. we begin with the supreme court nominee ahead of crucial hearings going on national television, in this case, fox news, to defend himself against allegations of wrongdoing. >> i'm not going to let false accusations drive us out of this

. >>> i want to bring in white house correspondent, abby phillip, and david chalian and jeffrey toobin and this hearing is happening today. you can already see security milling about here, and there will be a smaller room than usual, which might paint a different picture than what we have seen in these type of hearings. david, before we get into the back and forth here, on a scale of 1 to 10, what are we looking at in terms of the impact here, the historical precedents? >> i clearly remember sitting in my college dorm room watching the anita hill hearings in 1981, and it's one of the political hearings in my life that made we want to get into the covering of politics. you know what a supreme court seat means. this is about reshaping in a more reliably conservative direction the balance of the court for a generation to come. so you have very high stakes around what this means for impacting american families going forward. there's little doubt about that. politically what it means that it is happening so close to an election, donald trump's report card coming up in just over five weeks

. >> kirsten powers, rick santo m santorum, and jeffrey toobin, thank you. >>> this blew up in his facend the real question is was he ever acting alone. ♪ and i don't care what we do ♪ just take me with you there are roadside attractions. and then there's our world-famous on-road attraction. the 2019 glc. lease the glc300 for just $469 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. get more value and get more performance. get more done when you shop kenmore at sears. now get up to 30% off appliances. plus free delivery. visit sears.com/kenmore to see how you can get more from kenmore at sears. agent beekman was one step ahead of them.dits stole the lockbox from the wells fargo stagecoach, because he hid his customers' gold in a different box. and the bandits, well, they got rocks. we protected your money then and we're dedicated to helping protect it today. like alerting you to certain card activity we find suspicious. if it's not your purchase, we'll help you resolve it. it's a new day at wells fargo. but it's a lot like our first day. ughhh! oh, boy. h

here with me is cnn chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin, nia-malika henderson, and joan. thanks for being here. nia, at the moment, and i just looked, the president has not tweeted about this. but when all of this started coming out, that's exactly the first place that folks are going to look, as you well know. as you heard from abby, there seems to be somewhat of a concerted effort from the white house in how they're trying to handle this and push this forward publicly. >> yeah, and it's very clear that, you know, they keep talking about the idea that professor ford should be heard. what they're not saying is the way in which she should be heard. should it be behind closed doors, should it be phone calls or should it be public? the only person talking about publicly testifying is professor ford. right? even i think kavanaugh put out a statement and said whatever form the senate deems appropriate, that's the forum he would be willing to testify in. so i think that's pretty telling. we'll see if what happens here, if they do it in private or in public. it seems politically

. >> we have standing by cnn chief political analyst gloria borger, and jeffrey toobin, shimon prokupecz, let's start with you. this cooperation deal on any and all matters. >> yeah. and what could that possibly be, right? that's what everyone is questioning and asking sort of. what other information, what information could paul manafort possibly be providing. this is a big get for the special counsel. this is someone that they wanted to cooperate from the beginning. certainly when bob mueller came in and took over this investigation, his team, andrew weissman, one of the lead prosecutors, stood up and announced paul manafort is now cooperating, this is something they wanted for quite some time. something seemed to change, perhaps because paul manafort spent all of this time in jail and the prospect of facing the rest of his life in jail now perhaps led him to cooperate. what's significant here also is that the government has agreed that based on his cooperation, if it is a successful cooperation and he does everything that he's supposed to do, they're going to write a letter to the judg

liz: now even cnn's jeffrey toobin is shredding michael avenatti. watch. >> michael avenatti's behavior so far has been irresponsible. for michael avenatti to throw out there unnamed people who are going to make these allegations, that is really not how the process should work. it is not fair to brett kavanaugh. it is not fair to anyone involved. it is publicity seeking of the worst kind, and unless he can come up -- if he has a person to attach to that, that's one thing. but simply to throw this garbage out with no name is awful. liz: and i think phil mud agreed with toobin. what's your take on that? >> well, i think avenatti is a clown show. i thought that before this ever arose, but i think that his allegations here are in a way of a piece with the other two allegations we've heard. what i mean by that, liz, we are at this point because the process has been abused. what should have happened here is these allegation should have been raised in due order in regular order in connection with the way the hearing worked out so they could have been vette

joining us on the phone is jeffrey toobin.we don't know whether paul manafort will cooperate with federal investigators. usually that's the case, isn't it? >> cooperation usually is the case. frankly, given manafort's lack of leverage at this point, i think prosecutors would almost insist on it. he has been convicted once. he is looking at likely being convicted again. both in the retrial in virginia and in the other trial in the district of columbia. he is looking at a disasterous scenario plus the legal fees and stress involved in going to trial again. the prosecutors are there. they are ready to try this case. they'll try it. it's not going to cost them anything extra. to give him any sort of deal, they're going to have to get something in return. the only thing he could really offer at this point is cooperation. whether he's had a proffer session with them meaning telling them what he would say if he did cooperate. that's something we don't know but it's very important question. it would be some -- cooperation deal at this

. >>> and federal prosecutor, jeffr jeffrey toobin and mia. chairman chuck grassley was working last night to try and set up calls with judge kavanaugh as well as the accuser, christine ford, so they could have private phone calls with members of the committee. senator feinstein says the staff calls are not the appropriate way to handle this. procedurally and legally must this happen in public? can it happen behind the scenes like this? >> this is not a legal proceeding, it's a political proceeding and it's up to the senate to decide what is adequate, a majority of the judiciary committee and senate. the question is will republicans, because there's a narrow republican majority, think that these phone calls are enough to allow the committee to proceed on thursday? the vote is currently scheduled for thursday. democrats certainly will not say that a handful of phone calls are enough. the big outstanding question, i think, at this moment, and you asked this, is will dr. ford agree to testify publicly? if she says no, i think kavanaugh is fine. i

watch for example as noted tv person jeffrey toobin reduces the complicated meteorological phenomenones to a single word, yes, racism. >> isn't the story that these people who died, apparently thousands of them in puerto rico, 3,000, as you point out, they are not white people and they don't count to donald trump as much as the deaths of white people. you hate to say that about someone, but look at his record, isn't that indicative of who he is and what he stands for? >> tucker: it's not an especially surprising point. lots of media people say things like this every day. what's so striking about this is that jeff toobin is doing it. he's not a bad guy. personally i've always liked him for whatever it's worth. and unlike so many other people you see on television, he is not stupid. he wants are of the single best account of the o.j. simpson trial. a book that these days he himself would likely dismiss as, you guessed it,th racist. and that's actually the point.l. like an awful lot of other d people, jeff toobin is a product of the current moment, which also happens to be the dumbest mo

i want to bring in jeffrey toobin, dana bash and phil mud cnn counterterrorism analyst. jeffrey, you know, director clapper, he doesn't think that the russia investigation is in jeopardy in any way, whether rosenstein comes or goes. you, sir, wrote a whole piece in "the new yorker" which i made sure to read the minute it went to press suggesting the exact opposite saying that the investigation is very much in doubt should roach stein go. >> well, you know, it's in danger in two ways. one is it is quite clear that the president has wanted to fire mueller several times during his year and a half in office and it has been principally rosenstein who has stopped that. rosenstein has been emphatic throughout that he has seen no basis on which to fire him and he's not going to fire him and they will have to fire rosenstein to put someone in who will fire him. but the less obvious peril and i think alisyn mentioned it in the conversation with clapper, is that rosenstein doesn't just have the power to hire and fire mueller, he has the power to supervise the investigation and limit

. >> jeffrey toobin and michael caputo. everyone on this panel is smarter than i am.m the start. what stood out to you? >> the democrats woke up and showed up and fought back. the key issue here is they don't have the votes. they can make noise and they had some very good arguments that it's absurd to suggest you can turn over 42,000 documents the night before and expect anyone to read them and this staff secretary which brett kavanaugh was was a very important job in the bush administration, but what will it add up to? i don't know. >> is it that unusual to have the documents releasid like they were? >> it is. the democrats had a good point that this is a considerable amount of do you means, but they have a problem with their own record. they will be complaining that he doesn't answer questions, but the ginsburg rule was actually forged under a democratic chairman and has been used by the democrats and it's going to sound like complaining about the weather. this is the way confirmation has gone. the best point? i think it was that these documents should have been pro

. ♪ >>> we're back with our political and legal specialists, and jeffrey toobin, what's the motive, righte these freedom caucus members among others pushing to get the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein, to testify about the accuracy, the voracity of that "new york times" bombshell the other day about invoking the 25th amendment, a wiretap and all of that kind of stuff? why are they pushing for him to testify in the next few days? >> because this is part of the consistent theme of the house republicans, which is to investigate the investigators. to try to discredit anyone who is involved in trying to determine what went on with russia, what went on potentially with obstruction of justice. the house conservatives have been -- you know, determined to do that from day one. and they do it in different ways with the fbi and department of justice. here they think they can discredit the larger investigation by showing that rod rosenstein was a member of the deep state out to get donald trump from day one. i don't think they can. but that's what they want to do. >> what do you think, dana? d

remember, as jeffrey toobin just said, this isn't about putting him in jail, this is about his characterderson. i think there are going to be a lot more wood to chop before this is over. >> that's about ten minutes from now. see you then. >>> just ahead, a lot of today's questions and answers centered around the drinking habits of judge kavanaugh, something that's likely never happened before on a confirmation for a supreme court justice. more on that ahead. ♪ as moms, we send our kids out into the world, full of hope. and we don't want something like meningitis b getting in their way. meningococcal group b disease, or meningitis b, is real. bexsero is a vaccine to help prevent meningitis b in 10-25 year olds. even if meningitis b is uncommon, that's not a chance we're willing to take. meningitis b is different from the meningitis most teens were probably vaccinated against when younger. we're getting the word out against meningitis b. our teens are getting bexsero. bexsero should not be given if you had a severe allergic reaction after a previous dose. most common side effects are pain,

. >> kirsten powers, rick santorum, and jeffrey toobin, thank you. >>> coming up next, how one kavanaughttempt blew up in his face. and the question, was he acting alone? what do you mean it's not working out, craig? i just introduced you to my parents. psst! craig and sheila broke up. what, really? craig and shelia broke up!? no, craig!? what happened? i don't know. is she okay? ♪ craig and sheila broke up! craig and sheila!? ♪ as long as office gossip travels fast, you can count on geico saving folks money. craig and sheila broke up! what!? fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. ♪ ♪ they're the moderne stone age family. ♪ ♪ from the town of bedrock. ♪ meet george jetson. ♪ ♪ his boy elroy. with instant acceleration, electric cars are more fun to drive and more affordable than ever. electric cars are here. plug into the present. the roasted core wrap. 3, 2, 1... not cool. freezing away fat cells with coolsculpting? now that's cool! coolsculpting safely freezes and removes fat cells with little or no downtime. and no surgery. results and patient experien

remember, as jeffrey toobin just said, this isn't about putting him in jail, this is about his characterto be a lot more wood to chop before this is over. >> that's about ten minutes from now. see you then. >>> just ahead, a lot of today's questions and answers centered around the drinking habits of judge kavanaugh, something that's likely never happened before on a confirmation for a supreme court justice. more on that ahead. you know, i used to be good at this. then you turn 40 and everything goes. tell me about it. you know, it's made me think, i'm closer to my retirement days than i am my college days. hm. i'm thinking... will i have enough? should i change something? well, you're asking the right questions. i just want to know, am i gonna be okay? i know people who specialize in "am i going to be okay." i like that. you may need glasses though. yeah. schedule a complimentary goal planning session today with td ameritrade. exbut are you gettinglot enough of their nutrients?, new one a day with nature's medley is the only complete multivitamin with antioxidants from one total serving

. >> we are joined now by cnn chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin, dana bash and jill abramson political columnist at the guardian who co-authored a book on the anita hill clarence thomas hearings. good to have all of your information and historical knowledge with us this morning. jeffrey, you said by monday and on monday we will know a lot more about this story. how can you be so confident? >> because i have confidence in american journalism. there are some of the best reporters in the country searching out information about this specific encounter, about -- you know, we know so little. where did it take place? other than mike judge, who else was present? all of that. we have a lot of people looking into and i am confident we are going to learn more. we're also going to learn more about the back grounds of ms. ford and judge kavanaugh as it relates to this specific encounter. i am completely -- now, i don't know which way that information will cut, in his favor or in her favor, but i do think we are going to know a lot more, especially the pace at which this story has been going. >> dan

. >> i want to get jeffrey toobin to weigh in as well. how do you see it playing out?k ron clane has a characteristically excellent idea. however, can you imagine all of these senators, including prospective presidential candidates like corey bookie and came kamala harris saying, 100 million people will be watching but i'll let a lawyer ask a question. i think it would be a good idea and it is a high-risk proposition for these senators to risk looking like idiots. let's not forget alan simpson talking about anita hill's proclivities when he was asking her. let's not forget oren hatch waving a copy of ""the exorcist" as if she got the idea for clarence thomas's harassment of her out of a book. >> right. >> senators can look terrible, but they have a hard time giving up the spotlight and, you know, i have my doubts about whether they're going to do it. >> for the white house it is going to come down to credibility and who seems the most credible because kavanaugh struggled a little bit during his hearings where they got really testy at some points and that will be the qu

and the public confidence in mueller, jeffrey toobin, is clearly increasing.onstrain the president's various options right now? >> well, his options have been constrained for a long time. and what can he really do? what options can he develop? he's got -- he can fire mueller. he can fire enough people in the justice department until he gets to someone who will fire mueller. that's one thing that even the republican base certainly in congress has said he shouldn't do. and that option appears to be off the table. the other option is, what does he do about this interview request? does he say he is simply not going to testify and then run the risk of a subpoena? he could fight a subpoena in court, and that could take months. and it certainly would be accompanied by a lot of public relations fighting, as well. but, you know, it's really an all or nothing option with the president. he can, you know, go to war with mueller, fire him. he can refuse to talk to him. but other than that, he really just doesn't have many options. mueller is an independent actor. and it ob

jeffrey toobin, you listened closely. how did judge kavanaugh do? >> what senator booker was trying to do is associate donald trump with brett kavanaugh and say, in effect, since he will have appointed you, shouldn't you get out of any case in which he is principally involved? now, that would be a good argument, i think, if kavanaugh had come out of the trump administration in the way that he came out of the bush administration to go onto the d.c. circuit. but he's been a judge for 12 years. every justice on the supreme court was appointed by some president, and that doesn't mean they have to recuse themselves regarding everything regarding that president. so i think ultimately judge kavanaugh got the better of that exchange, because the mere fact of appointment does not require recusal. that's never been the rule of the supreme court. >> don't you think what cory booker was alluding to was his question of whether you can subpoena a sitting president, which is something that kavanaugh has written on having served with ken starr and they did get bill

i want to bring in chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin, as well as carrie severe rin know from the justice crisis network supporting the nomination. both sides seem to be digging in their heels here. >> that's true. i think there's a factual matter worth putting out on the table. if she refuses to testify on monday, kavanaugh is getting confirmed. jeff flake has said that. susan collins has said that. if she maintains this investigation is a sham and i'm not taking part, he is getting confirmed. that may be unfair, may be a good thing, a bad thing. that's a factual thing. if she does testify, all the cards are thrown up in the air. he may well be confirmed anyway but i think everybody should be clear about what the stakes are of her decision to come forward or not before the committee. it's up or down. >> jeff, in talking to her attorney last night, the attorney made it clear that any fbi investigation would probably take longer than being able to be completed by next monday. tuck argue whether it's true or not. and seemed to make it clear without an fbi investigation, she didn't want to

jeffrey tu jeffrey toobin, i will turn to you first.ident was uncharacteristically toned town when he made comments earlier today, but one thing that stood out to me was he said he felt sorry for brett kavanaugh. he could not use the name christine blasey ford. again, it seemed a situation where the president stands with the accused and not the accuser. it just seems to be a pattern. >> it is a pattern starting with himself, who is a multiple-accused abuser of women. you know, he said he felt sorry for brett kavanaugh here, having to deal with the accusation. of course, no sympathy for the alleged victim. but, you know, the fact remains that if she doesn't show up on monday, this confirmation is going through. even though the republicans have set up a structure that is very much rigged to help brett kavanaugh with no other witnesses, in other investigation, it is really a take-it-or-leave-it proposition for her. we will see if she takes it. >> rebecca berg, jeffrey does make a good point. because if you are christine blasey ford and wha

and legal experts like our jeffrey toobin, well, they point out that's what's missing in what's being thursday. a real investigation. it might get us closer to the truth, to the facts. it might clear judge kavanaugh, or it might validate his accusers' accounts. republican senator lisa murkowski made the same point to our manu raju today. >> should there be a full fbi investigation into these allegations from kavanaugh's past? >> well, it would sure -- it would sure clear up all the questions, wouldn't it? >> but the white house will not ask the fbi to investigate. there is going to be a senate hearing, but only christine blasey ford, the accuser, and kavanaugh are testifying. no subpoena for mark judge, the only witness named by christine blasey ford. no testimony by the polygraph expert who tested for it or by trauma experts as ford has asked. and the senate judiciary committee is going to vote on kavanaugh just a day after the hearing. just a day. they already set it, put it on the schedule. why the rush, though? a lot of senate republicans are suggesting that the allegations are pa