the justice department is an interesting place and a lot of issues we are constantly conare fronting.ays busy here. >> i know why it's especially busy, everyone is debating whether or not this is discrimination, whether or not this is something we shouldn't even be talking about. >> the justice department has a unique responsibility inñ that regard. we're the enforcers of the voting rights act of 1965 and in particular section five of that act which deals with the whole question of voting and so we've been active in that regard. we file suits against certain states where we thought the practices that they sought to introduce were." inappropriate. we have precleared other states where we think the changes they have made are in fact appropriate so we have a good number of lawyers in our civil rights division who are engaged at this moment in just that subject. >> help walk me through this, because you know, there are many people who are saying that the voter i.d. law that are being introduced are unfair that, they violate the spirit of the voting rights act. >> vote something a fundame

. >>> the fbi and the justice department are standing by their handling of the petraeus case. our justice correspondent pete williams is outside the justice department tonight, pete, good evening. >> reporter: brian, officials here concede there are no rules for reporting the discovery that the senior member of the intelligence community is having an affair. but they say there are rules against disclosing what is going on during a criminal investigation. law enforcement officials say the fbi began by tracing where those threatening e-mails sent to jill kelley were coming from. which cities, which hotels? and eventually discovered the name, paula broadwell fbi got access to her e-mail account and found she sent them. but they said her e-mail account also included what appeared to be suggestive e-mails from david petraeus, that first they wondered if somebody hacked into his private account. interviewed separately, both admitted their affair, officials say. broadwell, in late september, petraeus, in october, low-level documents were found on her computer. agents eventually determ

. >> at the very highest level at the department of justice, they knew what was happening. >> eric holder was sent.... >> i heard about fast and furious over the past few weeks. >> ten months before that. >> a cover-up and deception. >> allowing people that are not citizens of the united states to vote. >> these ballots are being in the name of the dead. >> he is registered to vote. >> it would require identification before they went to the i.d. against the poor, elderly. >> how the structure is putting in place. how they are distributed. whether it has an impact on people of certain race. >> why would it? >> it feels like a lot of these laws are in search of solution to a problem. >> would that be of interest in the f.b.i.? >> sean: welcome to that to a special edition. that was movie called district of corruption. we'll be showing you clips throughout the hour tonight and current administration was supposed to be most transparent in history. it's turned out to be anything but the. now, we have another four years to look forward. so can we anticipate corruption until 2016. joining me is

host: now we will talk about the justice department's role in monitoring elections. us is john greenmount, -- john greenbaum. as we face election day tomorrow, it was the basics on what the -- what role the justice armand place in modern elections. guest: the justice department plays a role in a couple of ways in every election. the justice department in a number of jurisdiction will send federal observers to watch what is going on in the polling place. and they send federal observers to places where the attorney general candidate from a list of jurisdictions that are covered under the special voting rights act. and another is they have a federal agreement saying they have permission to be in the polls. they are literally observing. they are watching what is going on. they are not interacting with a poll workers or interfering at all, but they are watching what is going on. they are reporting what is going on. they are the eyes and ears. host: when election day rolls around and we see all this takes place, why would a state governor need to call a monitor? and what i

lawyers for the justice department and house republicans will meet soon to talk about a potential setmenty secculo is chief counsel at the american center for law and justice. good morning to you. >> good morning. bill: they are going to meet in the near future. i don't know if it's this week, a week from now or a month from now. what are you hearing on the date for the meeting and why would that be significant? >> well, what's happening right now is major hearings are going to start coming up after the first of the year. what you've got -- it's pretty typical in this kind of litigation. it's to see a period of time right before the major motions are argued that you try to resolve the conflict, and the resolving the conflict here would be the production of numerous documents that congress has rightfully asked for. i think the justice department does not want to go through a full contempt proceeding if they could avoid that. i think what you'll see, like you said, bill it could be next week, it could be at the end of the month, it could be late december, early january. there is a major hea

. >> at the very highest level at the department of justice, they knew what was happening. >> eric holder was sent.... >> i heard about fast and furious over the past few weeks. >> ten months before that. >> a cover-up and deception. >> allowing people that are not citizens of the united states to vote. >> these ballots are being in the name of the dead. >> he is registered to vote. >> it would require identification before they went to the i.d. against the poor, elderly. >> how the structure is putting in place. how they are distributed. whether it has an impact on people of certain race. >> why would it? >> it feels like a lot of these laws are in search of solution to a problem. >> would that be of interest in the f.b.i.? >> sean: welcome to that to a special edition. that was movie called district of corruption. we'll be showing you clips throughout the hour tonight and current administration was supposed to be most transparent in history. it's turned out to be anything but the. now, we have another four years to look forward. so can we anticipate corruption until 2016. joining me is

we do not share outside the justice department. outside the fbi, the facts of ongoing investigations. we made the determination as we were going through the matter that then was not a threat to national security. had we made the determination that a threat to national security existed, we would, of course, have made that known to the president and also to the appropriate members on the hill. as we went through the investigation, looked at the facts, and tried to exam them as they develop. we were very -- we felt very secure in the knowledge that a national security threat did not exist that warranted the sharing of that information with the white house or with the -- when we got a point in the investigation, it was very late in the investigation after a critical interview occurred on the friday before we made that disclosure. when we got to that point, when we thought it was appropriate to share the information, we did so. >> thank you. >>> friday on washington journal, republican wisconsin senator ron johnson on the fiscal cliff n

and it's ultimately the justice's department decision whether to prosecute or issue a declaration. basically they'll decline to prosecute. that's where they think this will go now. >> all of the talk over the last few days over who may or may not have classified information. if it turns out that no laws were broken, is all of this, the fbi resignation of petraeus basically just over some jealous e-mails? >> yeah, if you look at the time line just the weeks before the election, petraeus had met with the fbi, and it was obvious they knew about the affair, and he thent we-- he then went to m his boss, the national director of intelligence, jim clapper, i'm told with a heavy heart. advised director petraeus to go ahead and submit his letter of resignation. ultimately, not accused of any wrongdoing, not accused of giving out classified information. never a serious charge against him. so ultimately, it was his decision to go ahead and offer his letter of resignation, and the letter that he issued to the employee of the cia the day he did it he made very clear. i've made mistakes, failed

but under that memo, the right path would have been from the justice department, the attorney general or the deputy over to the white house counselor or the deputy there. clearly that didn't happen. when the president talks about the fbi has a protocol, from the fbi's perspective, they followed it, but clearly it didn't make its way all the way up to the president. >> still questions about why the investigation began, whether it was appropriate for the fbi to even investigate this based on just the idea of harassing e-mails. if they were even that. fran townsend, appreciate it. suzanne kelly. >>> there is new information in the finances of jill kelley and her husband scott, the florida couple caught up in the scandal. they started a cancer charity back in 2005, shortly after they moved to tampa, dissolved it a couple of years later and they are facing several lawsuits over money problems. drew griffin who is part of the cnn special investigation unit joins us with more on that what have you learned? >> another twisted part of the tale, anderson. public records show as jill kelley was

-- why didn't the justice department tell the white house what was going on? >> if they had we would all be screaming cover-up. one of the things griffin bell insisted on is that he be told when a high level people were under investigation but he did not tell the president. the whole point was to have an honest investigation without compromising the president or the investigation. >> margaret, there was an election going hundron. >> there was, and i agree with nina. you have to be careful not to put yourself in the position of the cover-up. what is conduct worthy of blackmail? the director of national intelligence, what we all say it is. there is this addvicious circle. petraeus to be blackmailed by it if he could be fired by it. >> in the defense of the fbi agent, he just thought he was doing his duty -- >> he is sure this and he goes to a congressman because he doesn't think -- he is shirtless he goes to a congressman -- >> only person who comes out of this looking really good is eric cantor -- >> no, no, no, absolutely not! absolutely not. eric cantor was g

i'm here with the assistant attorney general from the justice department and the security and exchange commission of enforce. and head of deep water verizon task force and announcing the latest step forward in our ongoing efforts to achieve justice for those whose lives and livelihoods were impacted by the largest environmental disaster in the history of the united states. and to hold accountable those bore responsibility for this tragedy. today in united states state district court here in louisiana in new orleans the department filed a 14 count information charging b.p. with eleven counts of felony manslaughter. one count of felony obstruction of justice and violations of the clean water and migratory bird treaty acts in connection with the deep water horizon oil spill that began in april of 2010. b.p. has agreed to plead guilty to all 14 criminal charges including responsibility for the deaths of eleven people and the events that led to an unprecedented environmental catastrophe. the company has also agreed to pay $4 billion in fines understand penalties. this marks both the largest

i'm here with the sstnt attorney general from the justice department and the security and exchange commission of enforce. and head of deep water verizon task force and announcing the latest step forward in our ongoing efforts to achieve justice for those whose lives and livelihoods were impacted by the largest environmental disaster in the history of the united states. and to hold accountable those bore responsibility for this tragedy. today in united states state district court here in louisiana in new orleans the department filed a 14 count information charging b.p. with eleven counts of felony manslaughter. one count of felony obstruction of justice and violations of the clean water and migetoir bird treaty acts in connection with the deep water horizon oil spill that began in april of 2010. b.p. has agreed to plead guilty to all 14 criminal charges including responsibility for the deaths of eleven people and the events that led to an unprecedented environmental catastrophe. the company has also agreed to pay $4 billion in fines understand penalties. this marks both the largest single crim

but as i understand it, the it is probably the people near the attorney general or justice department knew about it early on and made the decision unless there were national security information that should be acted on, it should go the normal route and not treated any differently. as i understand it, the national intelligence community was not notified until wednesday and the president was not notified until thursday. >> thank you, mr. craig, for coming on. >> glad to be here. >> and another man who knows about crisis, president clinton's special counsel lenny davis. trying to find a better job can be frustrating. so at university of phoenix we're working with a growing list of almost two thousand corporate partners - companies like microsoft, american red cross and adobe - to create options for you. not only that, we're using what we learn from these partners to shape our curriculum. so that when you find the job you want you'll be a perfect fit. let's get to work. >>> when they go after the u.n. ambassador, apparently because they think she's an easy target, then they have a proble

of course, piers, that is for the department of justice to decide if charges will be brought against her and not up to the fbi. >> and finally general allen read a statement saying he full willy intends to cooperate with the inspectors and sincerely appreciates the support of the president and the members of the public, and he says he is in the clear, and that e-mails he exchanged with jill kelley are innocuous. >> yes, he was confident and didn't sound like it was coming from a person who was worried a about anything coming out that would be damaging to their care career. it is possible at the end of the day, general petraeus was really the casualty of an affair of, you know, how he had even phrased it himself a as an incredible lack of judgment. ultima ultimately, it was his decision to step down from the job, and of course, the dni, jim clapper recommended that he do it and with a heavy heart to recommend th that, but it could be at the end of it, that he is the biggest casualty of all of this. >> thank you. >> pleasure. >> joining me is one of the senators taking on president oba

with regards to the specific instances here, i think you need to address your questions to the justice department and the fbi or the defense department. the president's focused on doing the work that the american people re-elected him to do and he's continuing to do that. >> the white house have reason to believe national security was ever breached or threatened at any point in either of these instances? >> you know, i think that questions like that which go to matters under investigation, i would refer you to the investigative bodies. the president is focused on the work he needs to do. i think there's been substantial reporting on some of this and, you know, the president spoke with and met with general petraeus and agreed with his decision he could no longer lead the cia and accepted his resignation. he has great faith in the acting director and the president is focused on the agenda he wants to carry out. >> on another topic, i know you're not going to address personnel matters does the president have confidence that -- i know he's a big fan of ambassador susan rice. does he have confidence s

and justice department might decide differently with regards to some mergers and acquisitions. quebec concerning -- would that concern you, if there were more consolidation in the wireless industry, for example? >> the way in which we evaluate mergers, the way in which we digest information, the way in which staff processes information, that part will not change. as you mentioned, whoever is named head of the department of justice, whoever i their remains or is named head of the -- i their remains or is named head of the -- either remains or is named head of the fcc will take on some of the characteristics of the presidency. but in terms of the way we govern ourselves and the way we that willformations, never change. i am always mindful of a more consolidated eco system, with the means, what that means in terms of its independent voices, in terms of diversity, in terms of small communities. it really came home for me when i saw an newscast where an individual -- i will say that english was not his first language. he did not know the system was going to shut down its 7:00. how i

as the federal government stands, the justice departments says it's only reviewing what the voters said on election day. in oakland, ktvu news. >> leaders in latin america are calling for a mexico, honduras, and in countries leaders say that had legalization of marijuana in washington and colorado will have critical implications in international efforts to end drug smuggling. >>> well, forget the iphone five, apple's workers are already starting trial production of the iphone 5-s. a new ipad will come out in the second quarter of 2013. but boy, they generate a lot of talk among apple followers. a. >>> a leading british medical is questioning the effectiveness of a flu drug. bmj says that there's no evidence for the effectiveness of tamiflu, last year why can tamiflu was organized. i couldn't. >> defending himself, against accusations he had sex with an underaged boy. kevin clash says that he did have a relationship with his accuser, but both of them were over the age of 18 at a time. his confuser says that the relationship started when he was 16 accuse the nights has believed arrived fo

passing ballot initiatives last week to legalize marijuana but are president obama and the department of justice ready to let them roll the reefer. here is mitt romney trying to figure out the name of that thing that many americans call a tony. i'm sorry i'm just a guy here's what he said. you know what that is my chair so. that's what he was saying. the future isn't a liberal chris. conceivably but it's. you know the corporate media distracts us from what you and i should care about because they're profit driven industry that's. garbage he calls it breaking news i'm having martin and we're going to break that. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else here sees some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm sorry welcome to the big picture. in the us to the rest of the news among the biggest winners in last week's election where those of us who want to put an end to richard nixon's failed drug war voters in washington state and colorado took a bold steps last tuesday to approve ba

up next why did the justice department keep the president in the dark about the petreaus scandal. plus the investigation of paula broadwell the mistress who led to the investigation. will she be prosecuted the latest on that ahead. [ male announcer ] nature valley sweet & salty nut bars. ♪ [ camera clicks ] ♪ it's hard to resist the craveable nature of a nature valley sweet & salty nut bar. it's hard to resist the craveable nature when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. i have a cold, and i took nyquil, but i'm still "stubbed" up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] it doesn't have a decongestant. no way. [ male announcer ] sorry. alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fas

the justice department with all that i don't know why they did it. >> margaret? >> these things are done clandestinely until they are not. love is fleeting, gmamiil isn't. we are addicted to e-mail and we put things in it we don't want to be seen, but we hold the cia director to a higher standard. but i wonder with our military and political figures, to -- if it is in somewhat to elevated now. divorce is soaring in the military. these deployments are hard on families. people are weak and we are stupid in the throes of a romantic affair. do we want to get rid of people like general petraeus when there is no national security breach? the person who should be fired is that fbi agent and all the people who let that go up the chain of command. >> what do you make of that, nina? >> i hope his career is ruined, because in the normal course of events, human beings are frail. if we get rid of every person in government who has an illicit affair, we will lose some of the best people around, even though we don't like their private conduct. let me just finish. having said th

passing ballot initiatives last week to legalize marijuana but our president obama and the department of justice ready to let them roll the reefer. free. education free school which you just read. me. video for your media project. r t v dot com. in the best of the rest of the news among the biggest winners in last week's election where those of us who want to put an end to richard nixon's failed drug war voters in washington state and colorado took bold steps last tuesday to approve ballot measures the legalize marijuana for all purposes and regulate and tax marijuana just like alcohol and already the passage of these new marijuana legalizing ballot initiatives is having a profound impact on that failed drug war in washington state two county prosecutors have already moved to add and dismissed more than two hundred misdemeanor marijuana cases providing much needed relief to an already overburdened criminal justice system in two thousand and ten alone more than seven hundred fifty thousand americans were charged with possession of marijuana and virtually all of those arrests take place on a state

the attorney general said that the state department -- excuse me -- the department of justice did not notify the president. but we don't know if the attorney general did. >> you think the president knew? that's news. that the president knew before election day. >> i didn't say that. >> there is no evidence of that. >> the attorney general knew months before this. there was no formal notice to both congress or the intelligence community. >> right. >> i find it -- we just have to ask the question. i hope he'll come out and talk to us about it. >> i spoke to the attorney general. >> we could resolve this very quickly with a conversation in the intelligence spaces if he did have that conversation with the president. >> final comment, senator? >> well, i spoke to the attorney general. he explained the process, that the fbi carried out, and that there's a reason for that. and the reason for not disclosing it is so that there is no manipulation, that there's an ability to move ahead without any political weighing in on any side. >> all right. more to come on this. thank you both very much. >

by late summer they went to senior people in the justice department. the attorney general, the deputy attorney general. they said, listen, we have this criminal case. we're not really sure whether to bring charges at this point. but it doesn't look like petraeus was involved at all in the harassing emails. we have however discovered an affair. >> ifill: once he was told about the emails he called her and told her to stop and the affair ended. >> what we have found is that he sent her an email. they weren't directly emails to each other. was some kind of situation where they had a drop box. they were sending the emails to a drop box. they both had alias names. it wasn't paula and david. it was these alias names they had set up sort of in different accounts. he let her know in no uncertain terms that they should stop the harassing of this woman. >> ifill: frederick, sari raises the question of why it is is that harassing emails should raise particular red flags. as a former c.i.a. inspector-general, was there an immediate question that intelligence would

we do not share outside the justice department, outside the fbi the facts of ongoing investigations. we made the determination as we were going through the matter that there was not a threat to national security. had we made the determination that a threat to national security existed, we would, of course, have made that known to the president and also to the appropriate members on the hill. >> now, with a pair of four-star generals being investigated, defense secretary leon panetta ordering a review of all military ethical standards, meanwhile, the fbi agent who helped trigger the initial investigation explaining that shirtless photo he sent jill kelley, one of the women at the center of the story. frederick humphries telling "the seattle times" he sent the photo to dozens adding it was meant to be a joke and not sexual at all. he could have kept his shirt on. in the image he's posing with target dummies. it reads which one is fred? i think he's the guy in the middle. now, ten days removed from the presidential election, a growing number of leading republicans are trying to distance

justice department. but the oil producer still faces a costlier battle for the pollution unleashed when the drilling rig exploded in the gulf of mexico and caused the worst offshore oil spill in u.s. history. they will plead guilty to 11 felony counts of seaman's manslaughter, admitting its workers we are neglect when they omitted a key well safety test. the company will also plead guilty to one felony count of obstruction from congress stemming from the false information it gave about the rate that the oil was leaking from the well. comments already coming in from facebook this morning. about that spill and that penalty announcement. mark beady writes in on facebook, pay it and move on. host: and we're taking your calls this morning. the lines are open. we have a special line just for gulf coast residents. point you to the front page of the financial times this morning, talking a little bit more about what else, b.p. spill faces in this case. they still face action for civil penalties and damages federa

the justice department has reached a huge settlement with oil giant bp.nd it's bigger than a lot of people thought, too. bp is going to be paying out a record $4 billion over five years to resolve criminal and sec claims over the 2010 deepwater horizon incident. you'll remember that the explosion of the drilling rig killed 11 workers and resulted in one of the worst oil spills in history. in a moment, i'm going to speak to ed lavandera who not only worked and covered that oil spill for days, but also who is covering this aftermath and this remarkable settlement in this story. that's coming up in just a moment. >>> in the meantime, you have been hearing a lot about the fiscal cliff. we've been doing this countdown. we're at 47 days still the fiscal cliff shows up. most of what we hear about the fiscal cliff is panic and alarm and tax hikes and spending cuts and all of this is set to kick off at the beginning of the year. face the dire consequences or else. get your parachute. guess what, there's somebody who knows a thing or two about money who doesn't see

we do not share outside the justice department, outside the fbi the facts of ongoing investigations. we made the determination as we were going through the matter that there was not a threat to national security. had we made the determination that a threat to national security existed, we would, of course, have made that known to the president and also to the appropriate members on the hill. >> now, with a pair of four-star generals being investigated, defense secretary leon panetta ordering a review of all military ethical standards, meanwhile, the fbi agent who helped trigger the initial investigation explaining that shirtless photo he sent jill kelley, one of the women at the center of the story. frederick humphries telling "the seattle times" he sent the photo to dozens adding it was meant to be a joke and not sexual at all. he could have kept his shirt on. in the image he's posing with target dummies. it reads which one is fred? i think he's the guy in the middle. now, ten days removed from the presidential election, a growing number of leading republicans are trying to distance