joining us now is john archibald, a columnist for the birmingham news. nice to see you. thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you, rachel. >> did i basically get that right? are those sort of the dynamics here? >> yes, you did. the optics are terrible. but the ethics are far worse. >> so, for those of us who haven't been following the politics here closely, nut up for us why this particular appointment is so problematic. i was struck by a comment from the state auditor that of all the people who the governor was considering putting in that jeff sessions seat that the one that you should pray he doesn't pick, the one that was so ethically disastrous would be for him to put luther strange there. why has there been such concern? >> well, because this is a guy who's holding a special grand jury that is considering whether to indict the governor of alabama. and this is the guy who went to the govern nor of alabama, regardless of when that letter was filed, and said please give me this job. while i am considering whether to indict you or not. it is one of the most amazingl

john dean. i've read that the two gentlemen that resigned rather than fire archibald cox expressed relief when bourque did it. there was no one else who could have carried out that order. there would have been a sort of constitution sort of vacuum had there been nobody willing to do what the president said. do you agree with that? >> i have talked to billow owe about it. no question that they encouraged him to do so. they wanted him to follow-up. they just said we've made an arrangement and a promise to the senate judiciary committee when we were confirmed that we wouldn't remove the prosecutor except for cause. to honor that word and they indeed held forth and steady on their position. but they did encourage bourque to do the deed. because it did get very complex after that. >> absolutely. apparently he was offered a supreme court seat if he would do it. richard painter, come back to the point you made. i don't want it to be missed. you do have as a part of this executive order, the exclusion of country where donald trump does business. we come right back again to this problem. could that order be ma

john mitchell, the attorney general who got in such a bunch of trouble didn't have that. elliot richardson when asked to fire archibald cox because he made an agreement with the senate that he wouldn't do so except for cause honored his word and as a matter of principle wouldn't do so. here i don't think sessions has made any agreement with the senate that he will be independent. they might want to bring him back and get that kind of pledge out of him. >> very interesting idea. i think there are some democrats trying to make that happen. john dean, as always, a pleasure, thanks for your time tonight. >> thank you, chris. >>> joining me now in studio in new york state, attorney general eric schneiderman whose office is joining the aclu with a lawsuit on the ban of freezing refugees. states are another place there's some sort of binding constraint possibly on what the executive does. why are you joining this lawsuit? >> we're joining it because the executive order is flagrantly unconstitutional. >> do you think that? you think it's obviously unconstitutional? >> not only do i think that but 16 attorneys general represen

john mitchell, the attorney general who got in such a bunch of trouble didn't have that. elliot richardson when asked to fire archibald cox because he made an agreement with the senate that he wouldn't do so except for cause honored his word and as a matter of principle wouldn't do so. here i don't think sessions has made any agreement with the senate that he will be independent. they might want to bring him back and get that kind of pledge out of him. >> very interesting idea. i think there are some democrats trying to make that happen. john dean, as always, a pleasure, thanks for your time tonight. >> thank you, chris. >>> joining me now in studio in new york state, attorney general eric sni eric schneiderman whose office is joining the aclu with a lawsuit on the ban of freezing refugees. states are another place there's some sort of binding constraint possibly on what the executive does. why are you joining this lawsuit? >> we're joining it because the executive order is flagrantly unconstitutional. >> do you think that? you think it's obviously unconstitutional? >> not only do i think that but 16 attorneys general