during a couple of months, i spent a period of time in the white house with john podesta and rahm emanuel. he calls me up in 1999 and says looks like they are going to impeach my guy and hearings in the house. nearest we can tell, a couple of guys in the country that know a lot about impeachment of a president. the other is disqualified about political interest. you have to testify, which i was happy to do and did. >> tell us about that experience, just doing? >> well, i think i went in with a bunch of other former u.s. attorneys who were also republicans. a pretty impressive panel, and i had the additional background of knowing the law of impeachment, and i said sex is not an impeachable offense. it just isn't. it has to be something that touches and concerns the office or use of power. this is a nonstarter as a matter of constitutional law and they said well, what about perjury? you brought a lot of cases when you were a prosecutor in boston? yes, but as i said earlier, a perjury prosecution partakes the color of an underlying offense. i once prosecuted a guy for perjury for denying he

former clinton white house chief of staff, john podesta, and jody cantor of "the new york times." we're expecting to hear from president obama in just a few moments on this momentous day for his administration and, of course, the country. in a 5-4 decision. the supreme court upheld the affordable care act. validating the president's most important domestic achievement. but republicans are not giving in on their vow to fight the law. house majority leader eric cantor's office has scheduled a vote for a full repeal on july 11th. and just a short time ago, mitt romney spoke in washington. >> i disagree with the supreme court's decision, and i agree with the dissent. what the court did not do on its last day in session, i will do on my first day if elected president of the united states. and that is i will act to repeal obama care. >> joining us now from new york, is nbc's chief legal correspondent, savannah guthrie, and out on the west coast, host of msnbc's "the last word," lawrence o'donnell. great to have both of you guys with us today. savannah, i want to go to you first in terms

finally, we came out with a p p pamphlet. 25 years later, phone rings as i'm preparing a witness and john podesta said it looks like they're going to proceed against my client, which was president clinton. and he said there's two people that know more about impeachment than anyone, and one of them is disqualified by interest. so i need you to come and testify, which i was happy to do. the branches of political power offense. hillary rodham was a superstar from the get go. >> we did invite her here tonight. she couldn't be here. you look 40 years ago at the white house, inquiry staff and congress, there were very, very few women and she was one of the very few at the time. bill cohen, since they've got some good stories, i bet you do, too. how much was the pressure and what was it like to be a republican member of congress? it wasn't as partisan as it is now, is that right? >> it was fairly partisan. not to the degree it is now. but i recall one specific moment when we were watching the program earlier. and president nixon was in the oval office and he had a stack of edited transports behind him.

you talk about george soros in the book and the seed money he gave to john podesta's group, center forn trust of the democratic -- >> sean: which is the brain trust. you talk about media matters in here. a lot of the groups are supposed to be 501c3s. walk us through the political debate and how it's propaganda arm of democratic party. >> you wouldn't have obamacar obamacare. national healthcare was defeated in the clinton administration. all the democratic candidates in 2000. al gore said he was against it. john kerry said in 2004 they were against it. yet, it became the center piece of the obama administration. which he turned his back on the economic crisis instead of focusing on jobs. suddenly we have a program. is it a grassroot swell we need canada healthcare system? no. the new le vie than -- leviathon. permanently there and accountable to nobody no. one. >> sean: how much money are we talking about? how much influence do you think unbeknownst to the american having on the election and the electorial system. details in book. >> billions of dollars. >> sean: billions. with a "b"?

and of course john podesta for barack obama.but not always leads you to white house chief of staff. in this case, it might be a personal counselor. so mike leavitt may be the valerie jarrett if barack obama is -- if mitt romney is elected. >> close adviser from inside the state of utah. let's talk about that jobs number from friday. the 69,000 jobs added. how is the romney campaign using that number and the previous two months to push its campaign forward? >> well, for one thing, they have a new slogan. and this is a little cheeky, a little naughty. their new slogan, you saw it behind romney on cnbc on friday, the only interview he did friday. you saw it on his podium in las vegas. putting jobs first. and of course, putting jobs first is a play on the clinton-gore slogan from '92, putting people first. so in addition to new slogans, this is given a buoyancy to the romney campaign we haven't heard. it's also putting pressure on president obama to do a new economic plan. we're told that for the moment, the white house, the obama c