lewandowski to decide. it is my view that he should not answer. >> we are not interested in your views. we have a hearing to conduct. chairman nadler: mr. lewandowski will answer all questions if he has a legitimate privilege to assert. he may assert the legitimate privilege. other than that he is under subpoena and will answer all questions. this is being done pursuant of the committee's rules. if this counsel does not like it you don't interpret our rules. with all due respect. >> these are unauthorized questions. >> mr. lewandowski, did you ever become concerned that the president had asked you to do something that could expose you to criminal liability? did you ever become concerned that the president of the united states had asked you to do something that could expose you to criminal liability? mr. lewandowski: was i concerned that the president asked me to do something? not to the best of my knowledge. >> were you ever concerned that the president had asked you to do something that had put you in harm

lewandowski. a speech not for mr. lewandowski, but for attorney general jeff sessions deliver.e secretly told mr. lewandowski to put the following words in the a.g's mouth, quote, i am going to meet with the special prosecutor to explain this is very unfair and let the special prosecutor move forward with investigating election meddling in future elections so nothing can happen in future elections that quote is from volume 2, page 91 of the robert mueller report as the mueller found, limiting the investigation to future elections would have brought out the investigation of any past conduct and struck at the heart of the special counsel's mandate. it would have ended the investigation of the president's conduct. the evidence found by the special counsel met all of the elements of obstruction of justice. mr. lewandowski was nervous about this demand from his former boss as he should have been it raised serious questions about criminal conduct forbidden from doing anything with regard to the mueller investigation, he was certainly not allowed to curtail it. so mr. lewandowski trie

tried anything like that with bob mueller who made lewandowski admit that trump asked lewandowski to try to get the attorney general to curb, yes, the mueller probe, to limit its jurisdiction mueller categorized all of that as part of the efforts to curtail the mueller investigation, the special counsel's investigation. so right here you take a step back from lewandowski's bluster and see the outlines of the hiding hide the stories in public, delay as long as possible. in lewandowski's case, to be fair, ultimately tell mueller the truth. of course that's partly to avoid having to go to jail but then come back and hide it again when asked about it under oath today >> the white house has directed i not disclose the substance of any discussions with the president or his advisers to protect executive branch confidentiality. the white house has directed i not disclose the substance of any discussions. the white house has directed i not disclose the white house has directed i not disclose the discussions -- i will not disclose any conversations i had with the president. i am respecting the

lewandowski. you, who had asked no role in the white house, to deliver a message to attorney general sessions. the president could have picked up the phone himself at any time and called the attorney general. the president also had a full staff of executive employees right down the hall. this made me wonder. if the president thought what he was doing was legal, why didn't he pick up the phone and call the attorney general? why not ask any member of his staff who worked right down the hall to deliver a message? it is clear to me the reason he went to you, mr. lewandowski, is because everyone said no. i'm going to ask you about that. two days before meeting you, the president had called white house counsel mcgann at home on a saturday to fire the special counsel, saying, you can see on the screen, robert mueller has to go. call me back when you do it. plain and simple. but don mcgahn refused. when the president ask you to deliver that message, did the president tell you two days before your meeting

corey lewandowski. we were told 20 minutes ago he would be arriving in the next 1. a lot of activity at the far end of the hallway, if you panned down this way. i can't see whether lewandowski has finally arrived. in advance of the hearing, the white house has told the committee that they are invoking something called "constitutional immunity." they say this is designed to protect the office of the presidency, whether it's a republican or a democrat. in other words, that the conversation between the president and his closest aides remain confidential. on that basis, they have instructed two former white house aides, rob porter and rick dearborn, not to appear today. but corey lewandowski was never former to formally a part of the administration. he was part of the campaign. so he doesn't have that immunity. but he has been directed not to answer questions that go beyond what he told special counsel robert mueller. earlier today we heard from white house spokesman hogan guilty who laid out there argument

corwin lewandowski was told not to answer any questions about that exchange, but since lewandowski never worked for the administration, he can't reasonably claim immunity, but that doesn't mean he won't try. manu raju is on capitol hill. manu, what are you expecting? >> reporter: we expect a pretty feisty appearance by corwin lewandowski to push back against the allegations of the president obstructing justice. he's made that very clear in all his comments in the run-up to this hearing. in this hearing the democrats plan to question him extensively about what was detailed in the mueller report, and those are the conversations that lewandowski had with the president and when the president urged lewandowski to set up a meeting with jeff sessions to urge that individual to recuse himself and limit his scope so it would exclude the trump campaign and instead focus on future presidential campaigns. that meeting never happened. lewandowski tried to relay a message from the president to the attorney general, even trying to set up another meeting. he set up a meeting through rick dearborn who is

lewandowski? when jim comey was asked that same question sitting at that same table, he gave the same answer. bob mueller was asked that same question sitting at that same table, he gave the same answer. falsely accused, the president falsely accused of colluding with a foreign agency. james comey said after ten months of investigation, we didn't have a thing. bob mueller gets named special counsel. he wastes $30 million of taxpayer money, 22 month investigation. he sits there just a few weeks ago and gives the same darn answer. these guys over here, they don't care. they don't care. they don't want to figure out how the false accusation happened. they just want to drag people in front of this committee and keep trying to find some way they can go after the president. go back to the process that the ranching member raised. did you testify in front of the senate intel committee in 2017? >> yes. >> you testify in front of the house intelligence committee in 2017? >> yes. >> and you went before the s

lewandowski? >> i think it would be a great idea. >> maybe the american people would be better served than spending more time investigating something that's had 32 months of investigation from both james comey and the fbi and bob mueller and the special counsel. you know a great place to start? a great place to start would be the inspector general's report that was issued just three weeks ago, the scathing report about jim comey. that would be a nice place to start. when i asked the chairman when we might have an opportunity to question mr. horwitz, he said, i don't know, i haven't thought about that. of course you haven't thought about that. too busy trying to impeach the president. too busy slapping subpoenas on corey lewandowski. i yield back. >> the gentleman from georgia. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. lewandowski, you are about like a fish being cleaned with a spoon. it's very hard to get an answer out of you. but let me ask you this, sir, based on the president's past statements, everybody

all lewandowski expected any moment.ivilege late last night, saying he cannot answer anything outside the bounds of what has already been reported in the mueller report where he was a key witness. let's check in with nbc's geoff bennett on capitol hill. geoff, this is unprecedented it's never been exerted successfully for a nonstaff member nor over rick dearborn, the former deputy chief of staff and rob porter, two former staffers who don't have absolute immunity and such a thing doesn't even exist, but they're not even showing up so, what do you expect from the hearing? this is the first impeachment hearing. >> reporter: you're right about that, and as i speak to you, i'm keying my head on a swivel because we expect lewandowski to come in a minute the white house is claiming privilege where none exists and the reason that lewandowski is such a key member for this panel to testify before this panel who the white house has not fully blocked from testifying publicly this hearing as the house democrats push their inquiry, t

because lewandowski knew it was wrong. he made up various explanations about well i went on vacation so i couldn't talk to the attorney general which seemed per p eed preposterous. several people do not follow the president's instructions because they know it's wrong. and that is -- you know, you don't have to exceed at obstruction of justice to obstruct justice. >> that's vital. because otherwise he could say, well, he never did it. we never delivered the message, so it wasn't obstruction of justice. you're saying the law doesn't see it that way. >> the law is very clear on that point, yeah. >> abby, you predicted all of this. you did. you were on yesterday and you said he's not -- >> there's the victory lap right there. >> that's it. take a bow. he just said he wasn't going to play along. here's a moment where he would not read from the script that the democrats were hoping he read from. so watch this. >> i simply ask you is it correct that as reported in the mueller report on june 19th, 2017, you met alone in the oval o

lewandowski? >> i don't. >> it is in the public record, your job is to be a political enforcer, correct? >> no, i don't believe so. >> are you the hit man, the bad man, the look out, or all of the above? >> i think i am a good-looking man, actually. >> okay. president trump told you on juny deliver a message to attorney general sessions that would've ended the criminal investigation to the trump campaign, correct? >> i don't believe that's what the mueller report states, no. >> president trump wanted attorney general sessions to limit the investigation to future incidents of election for an interference, true? >> which pages that on, congressman? >> that is in the public record, in this hearing and in the mueller report. the white house has a legal protocol for presidential statements under the presidential records act, they must preserve all memos, letters, emails, papers, like the note that he dictated to you. so you wrote on the president's message, which he then stored in a safe in your home,

lewandowski? >> no, congressman as i've explained in a letter from the white house dated september 16, 2019, to my attorney -- >> that letter -- >> mr. lewandowski's conversations with the president and senior advisers to the president are protected from disclosure >> stop the clock again for this obstructive behavior >> the white house has directed not to disclose any discussion with the president and cannot comment. the white house has directed i not disclose the substance of any discussions with the president. i can read you the exact statement again if you'd like me to the white house has directed that you -- >> when you're in the overtime office -- >> i can't discuss a private conversation with the president p. it is in the report, sir the white house has directed me that i not disclose the substance of any conversations with the president >> you are not -- >> again the white house has directed i not disclose the substance of any discussions with the president again, at the advice of white ho

lewandowski. even though we've thrown a flawed subpoena at you and as we go forward we will see how this moves forward. this is concerning and i will take this for the moment. it's okay to be frustrated, but it's not okay to overrun house rules. it's not debatable. you may not have got your last question, but you have a lot more discussion , there's plenty of time to get that last question that you didn't get asked somebody else. is it worth breaking the rules? i know some of you don't care? but you're accusing the president of high issues that we need to look at. dragon and through this committee for 18 months. following procedures is something you have to look at. >> point of order. your time has expired. >> good morning mr. lewandowski the president asked you who had no role in the white house to deliver a message to atty. gen. sessions. the president could've picked up the phone at any time and call the atty. gen. president could've picked up the phone at any time and call the atty. gen. he al

lewandowski. i'm questions you right now. thank you. the president asked you who had no role at all in the white house to deliver that message to attorney general sessions. the president could have just picked up the phone himself at any time and called the attorney general. the president also had a full staff of executive employees right down the hall. so this made me wonder. ed president thought what he was doing was legal, why didn't he just pick up the phone and call attorney general sessions, or why not ask any member of his staff who worked right down the hall to deliver a message? it is clear to me that the reason he went to you, mr. lewandowski, is because everyone said, no. i want to ask you about that. two days before meeting you the president had called white house counsel mcgann at home on a saturday to fire the special counsel saying, and you can see that on the screen, mueller has to go. call me back when you do it. plain and simple. but mcgann refused. when the president asked you t

corey lewandowski in the witness chair.mocrats, he did confirm that mr. trump asked him to try to help limit robert mueller's investigation. this hour, i'll talk to house judiciary committee

lewandowski to tell mr. sessions to pare down the russia investigation and if he wouldn't take that meeting he'd be fired and that was an obstructive act and it took me 30 seconds to explain that and it took him hours to cop to that and it goes to the obstructive behavior that we've seen from this white house. >> when you talk about it taking a long time, it did. in a lot of ways i have to say there were humorous moments and as an american citizen it was pretty depressing. you knew he was going to be like this, and he said as much on twitter and it didn't go anywhere. here's one of your exchange wes lewandowski and i'll play it. >> mr. lewandowski i'll put a slide up and it's the words that president bu president trump dictated to you on july 19, can you read what you wrote down. >> >> i'm happy to have you read it. >> why don't you want to read it, mr. lewandowski. >> you should afford me the same privilege that you afforded mr. mueller. >> are you a shamed to read it. >> you can read it if you like. >> are

he got lewandowski to do it. he did that because he knew it was against the law and found somebody to do it. at the last minute liewandowski got cold feet and chickened out and passed it off to deerborn who also didn't do it. he is showing he lied. >> we heard from sources that democrats weren't necessarily fully prepared for lewandowski to stone wall today the way he did. if that's the case r, why go through with this hearing? >> i think we knew he would stonewall and opportunities to claim he had executive privilege to not go beyond the four corners of the the mueller report. we didn't know he would do some kind of a -- have to want to get the mueller report to confirm he was there. that was just trying to kill time. that was beyond anything we have seen from any witness the whole time i've been in judiciary in 13 years. this witness was beyond stonewalling. he was just trying to kill time. >> what, if anything, can you do about that? >> well, i think we could hold him in contempt of congress. >> will you? >> i

lewandowski? >> well, i think at least two weeks. >> but you were summoned again to the white house on july 19, 30 days after 9 original june 19 meeting, true? >> i believe that is accurate, yes. >> so you weren't on vacation the entire ti entire time? >> i said i was on vacation two weeks, congressman >> but you still failed to deliver the message and it nothing to do in part to your so-called vacation the july 19 meeting was a few dates a fter new information cam to light and you still hadn't delivered the message to jeff sessions you said to the president you would do it soon according to volume 2 page 93, correct? >> if that is what the report says, that is accurate >> president trump also asked you to deliver a message to attorney general sessions that if you didn't do what was requested, he would be fired, correct, volume 2, page 93 >> i think that is what was reported, yes. >> president trump wanted you to intimidate attorney general sessions, correct? >> you'd have to ask president trump t

corey lewandowski was noncommittal and never acted on the request. it doesn't mention dunkin' donuts. why are you bringing that up? it makes it seem you do remember something specific. >> i have a very, very special privilege which is talking to the president on a fairly regular si i don't disclose those conversations, but i will tell you this. i don't ever remember the president ever asking me to get involved with jeff sessions or the department of justice in any way, shape, or form, ever. >> you say it didn't happen on the july 4th. the article doesn't mention dunk dunken donuts. >> corey lewandowski offering that very suspiciously specific denial was a tell, as we emphasized in our coverage, and he was lying. you don't remember the call, how did you know it happened on the way to dunkin' donuts? now some of this sounds almost absurd, but obviously, the underlying issues is potential of obstruction are important. now we try to hear all sides here. we confront people with facts. we do follow a fact checking. when the mueller report came out in april

according to the mueller report trump directed lewandowski, that man testifying, to deliver a message to sessions, the attorney general asking sessions to squash the special counsel investigation into trump's dealings or be fired that was the message to the a. g. trump even dictated a public statement he wanted sessions to deliver. but lewandowski did want deliver the message in part because he didn't want a paper trail of his visit to the department of justice. here's what he said when asked why he wanted a secret meeting with sessions to deliver trump's message. >> you didn't want to meet in the department of justice because you knew if you wept into a government building that there's a public log of the visit. so why is that why didn't you want to leave a paper trail of your visit? >> well, jeff and i are friends socially and i wanted to have an opportunity to have a meal with jeff and relay the conversation which the president asked me to ask jeff to consider giving. >> sole you're a private citizen and you're delivering a message to the attorney general to limit the investigation

lewandowski? >> no, congressman as i've explained in a letter from the white house dated september 16, 2019, to my attorney -- >> that letter -- >> mr. lewandowski's conversations with the president and senior advisers to the president are protected from disclosure the white house has directed not to disclose any discussion with the president and cannot comment. the white house has directed i not disclose the substance of any conversations with the president. i can read the exact statement again. the white house has directed that i not disclose the substance of any conversation with the president i can't discuss a conversation with the president the white house has directed that i not disclose the substance of any conversation with the president the white house has directed that i not disclose the substance of any conversation with the president i can't answer questions that would be privileged and i respect that privilege >> that's how much of the first half of the hearing played out that said, d

i mean, that was very much by lewandowski's design. i mean, his invented legal theory was that he could only talk about what was in the mueller report. but as that hank johnson exchange showed, the congressman from georgia, the hearing -- hearing lewandowsky talk about how the president instructed him word for word, writing down the instruction to go tell jeff sessions to ease off the mueller investigati investigation, it was dramatic business, but it was not anything substantially new. >> and kirsten, if the idea of this was to sort of open the eyes of the american public about what's actually in the mueller report, i understand maybe some people took that who were watching it so closely, got that from those exchanges that we just cut together. but if you just tuned into this thing, it was a bunch of people yelling back and forth and being passive-aggressive to each other and i mean, it didn't -- >> yeah. >> it wasn't something that was, you know, informing the american public every second. >> yeah, it wasn't something that would insp

l lewandowski didn't follow through. there's about all the democrats could get from their stone walling and at times hostile witness. >> mr. lewandowski is it correct as reported in the mueller report on june 19th, 2017, you met alone in the oval office with the president. >> i would like you to refresh my memory by providing a copy of the report to follow along. >> i request that the clock be stopped while this is sorted out. >> mr. chairman, you have to stop the clock. >> no, i don't when he's filibustering. >> that's across the hall. >> the white house has directed i not disclose any discussions with the president congressman, i would be happy to answer your question or you can have a conversation by yourself. if you would like to ask a question don't ask a question if you don't want to hear my answer >> this is a house judiciary, not a house party. >> why did it take so long, and you never delivered it. >> i never delivered the message. >> you chickened out. >> i went on vacation. >> in a letter from the white house,

and the president likely saw from lewandowski live tweeting his former aide's appearance lewandowski is a witness, though, to some of the most flagrant acts of obstruction of justice. detailed in the mueller report including trump's effort to enlist then-attorney general sessions and corrupting the investigation into russian interference mueller writes this in his report, "trump dictated a message for lewandowski to deliver to sessions. the message said that sessions should pub licly announce the investigation was, quote, very unfair to the president, that the president had done nothing wrong. and sessions planned to meet with the special counsel and let him move forward with investigating election meddling for future elections." lewandowski said he understood what the president wanted sessions to do that was all according to lewandowski's testimony to robert mueller lewandowski wouldn't answer questions about that, or much of anything else that mattered in his testimony today. instead, for much of the last three hours he's been repeating this refrain >> i'm trying to adhere to the w

lewandowski. that's just the trump style. they haven't had to have any consequences for that as of late, and yes, i think, you know, just like you want more cow bell, give us more burke he was very, very good >> mimi roka, one of the things you don't have in a courtroom is the other side in the middle of your questioning jumping up in all sorts of histrionic ways if you want to object to something in a courtroom, you better be doing it based on the rules of evidence. the democrats had not just a witness problem, but they had these other -- these republican members on the other side who were willing to play games at every moment of this hearing and interrupt in any way they felt like at any time >> right, that's absolutely right. in a courtroom you have a judge policing it in the moment. here republicans -- as long as they're willing to sort of give up pride, basically, and look foolish, they can object on any basis for as long as they want it broke the flow, and particularly in the first part of the hearing, it really, i thin

lewandowski. jim comey should be sitting in that chair for not giving you the briefing you are entitled to. i yeield back. >> the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from new york. >> before i begin, let me remind you, mr. lewandowski, this is not a republican primary campaign. you are not on the campaign trail yet. this is the house judiciary committee, act like you know the difference. you never worked with the trump white house in any official capacity. correct? >> that's right. >> but you do speak with president trump with some regularity. true? >> i think that's a fair statement. >> income, during the summer of 2017, according to testimony of special counsel you can summoned to the white house by president trump on at least two accounts? >> i don't believe the report said that. >> you met with the president in june and in july 2017. correct? >> yes i believe that's accurate. >> okay. try to get clarity what exactly you do for donald trump since you're not a government employee. you stated th

corey lewandowski.is joining us live in the 8:00 hour. >> he will not be under oath during that interview. so given corey's admission about lying, can the administration be trusted with telling the american people the truth about something important like the attacks on the saudi oil fields? who's behind it? how do you know that the president's telling the truth? we're going to suss the credibility crisis facing the trump administration on the world stage next. saturdays happen. pain happens. aleve it. aleve is proven better on pain than tylenol. when pain happens, aleve it. all day strong. (client's voice) remember that degree you got in taxation? (danny) of course you don't because you didn't! your job isn't understanding tax code... it's understanding why that... will get him a body like that... move! ...that. your job isn't doing hard work... here. ...it's making her do hard work... ...and getting paid for it. (vo) snap and sort your expenses to save over $4,600 at tax time. (danny) jody... ...it's t

-- showed lewandowski, not made him -- somehowed lewandowski to be a complete liar it was so obvious to everyone watching that. there were some good points, though, even before burke. i think this point about lewandowski, you know, have said to mueller that he didn't want to meet with sessions at the doj because of the log, and now he's totally trying to disclaim that. that's a really important point, and frankly, he may have perjured himself about that today because he completely contradicted what he said to mueller. >> and congressman swalwell, you also caught him in an inconsistency between the mueller report and his testimony today. >> that's right, lawrence. so, he told the mueller team -- let's just back up can you imagine if corey lewandowski acted like this with the mueller team we know he didn't because he gave him so much information he gave him so much information because he had other witnesses that knew what happened. he told the mueller team this was the only time he had ever written down something the president told him to do that's how important this message was. then

lewandowsky, that letter -- >> mr. lewandowsky's conversation with the president and with senior -- >> can we stop the clock again for this obstructive behavior. >> it's fake news. >> can i reclaim my time >> not if you continue in the vein -- >> mr. collins, this is not a reality tv show. >> i have been asked several times today whether the committee will hold you in contempt that is certainly under consideration. >> he took the time during that recess to launch his senate campaign website with a tweet, and i think that fact says an awful lot about the witness's motivation to appear here today, and i've heard enough. >> as the congresswoman mentioned, in the middle of the hearing, lewandowsky did, indeed, post a message promoting a website for his possible potential senate run once lawmakers were done, house democrats used a career lawyer and a courtroom veteran, a professional at this kind of thing, serving as counsel to question lewandowsky and this attorney, barry burke, did get lewandowsky to admit he's been less

lewandowsky frustrating democrats, refusing to answer lots of questions.please. >> either you were willing to break the law for politics and mr. trump, or you're some kind of a forrest gum relating to corruption. so maybe let me ask you this. did the president pick you his enforcer? he thought you would play whatever role he wanted because it was illegal? is that possibly why he chose you to take this message to sessions? >> that would be a question for the president, congressman. >> what did you think, rick? did democrats get played by trump, team trump? >> they got rolled like a cheap rug, don. this guy was in contempt from the hot second he walked in the door. he acted in a -- he lied to their faces. he went right up at them. he did everything but take a dump on nadler's desk today by pushing the contempt that he showed that committee at every turn. he has no privileges. he has no immunity. he has no shield of protection against testifying. and this guy went up there today and got away with it. they didn't put pressure on him until the end when the prof

lewandowski. i think you have to look at mr. lewandowski as an adverse witness. he had no interest in complying with this actual subpoena outside of showing up. he intended to obstruct justice once again, frankly, by not being willing to give answers to questions by the democrats. i think if i were mr. nadler right now, i would be slapping mr. lewandowski with an inherent contempt order and calling him in front of the house of representatives and fining him. because he is a key witness. because in the mueller report there were ten incidents where mr. mueller said, but for the department of justice decision, the guidance that they would not file an action against the seated president, that there would not be an indictment made, this is one of the key elements that shows the president was attempting to obstruct justice by giving corey lewandowksi a script that he was supposed to turn over to then jeff sessions, the attorney general, to stop the mueller investigation. >> so congresswoman, that kind of feeds into the next question i have, which is i've seen a lot of

>> it probably didn't help lewandowski.hink the one talking point for men that probably is going to come back to haunt him, especially since he's doing television interviews, he's basically admitting that sometimes he fibs on television. and he doesn't owe anyone the truth in the media. i thought ultimately he had an interesting point, that they don't treat them fairly. but if you've already said that on tv i feel like the attack ads are pretty clear what they are going to do. you are admitting to lying, you won't be honest on the campaign trail. new hampshire is a funky stage when it comes to some of these races, so who knows what ends up happening? to be fair, i think democrats would look forward to going up against corey lewandowski. >> harris: democrats, again, today. taking their rounds, talking about impeachment, impeachment, impeachment of kavanaugh, impeachment of the president. what is the fascination with impeachment, politically? >> i think they are trying to play into the base. the base is clearly anti-trump fro

. >> coming up final 5 lawmakers weren't too thrilled with cor lewandowski. president loved his performance. trump 2020 campaign making millions fromandful of fundraising events president is attending in calirnia. wants to solve the homesness crisis thinks it's - sgrsh. worse poll numbersome states and two candidates pulling away. >> ♪ ♪. >> ♪ . >> i made it justn time. this show is usually hot on the web right. if you ever wondered what literally hostile witness looks like i think t formerrump campaign corey lewandowski did a etty dam good jobf showing it today. called to testify in front of e.use judiciary committe part of impeachment don't call it that impeachment yet investigation. ite house has to answer the wh questionbeyond information disclosed in mueller report. here's the thing. lewandowski neverorked for the white house.al they ever no authority to direct him on what to say. he did work for now former candidate trump, now president trump. he was campaign manager january 2015 uil fires june of 2016. white hoineg to invoke il executive prive over lew

lewandowski -- >> mr.h senior advisers to the president protected from disclosure. >> can we stop the clock again for this obstruction of behavior. >> i not disclose the discussion with the president, the white house has directed i not disclose the discussion with the president. >> i can read you the exact statement again. the white house has directed i not disclose the discussion with the president. i can't discuss a private conversation with the president. the white house has directed me i not disclose the substance of any discussions with the president. again, at the advice of white house counsel i can't answer questions that would be privileged and i respect that privilege. >> that was pretty much what house judiciary committee democrats got from former trump campaign manager corey lewandowski in yesterday's impeachment hearing. welcome back to "morning joe." we have branding and marketing expert donny deutsch, host of "the beat on msnbc, ari melber is with us, politics and journali journalism professo

lewandowski, that letter -- >> mr. lewandowski's conversation with the president and senior advisers from the president respected -- >> can we stop the clock from this obstructionist behavior. >> that's fake news. >> can i continue -- >> not in the -- >> this is not a reality tv show. >> i've been asked whether the committee will told you in contempt it is certainly under consideration. >> he took the time during that recess to launch his senate campaign website with a tweet. and i think that fact says an awful lot about the witness's motivation to appear here today, and i've heard enough. >> as the congresswoman mentioned in the middle of the hearing lewandowski did indeed post a message promoting a website for his possible, potential senate run once lawmakers were done, house democrats used a career lawyer and a courtroom veteran, a professional at this kind of thing, serving as counsel to question lewandowski and this attorney, barry burk did get lewandowski to admit he's been less than honest, at least with the med

lewandowski. good morning. >> good morning to you. >> okay. did you accomplish what you set out to do yesterday? >> yeah, my goal was to show up and answer the questions that the house requested under congressional subpoena. and i've been very clear about this. i've now testified in front of congress on four separate occasions. spoke to the special counsel's office on two separate occasions. they could have just asked me to come, and i would have been theep do so. they chose to subpoena me and change the rules last week. >> yeah. but, i mean, you -- i'm sorry. >> i'm still there. >> but you said you accomplished your goal to answer their questions. but you didn't really answer many of their questions. >> i answered every question i had the obligation to answer. >> well, you said you couldn't answer it. you cited executive privilege many times. >> but that's not my privilege. i don't have the privilege. i'm not the chief executive officer of the united states. and so it is his privilege and the whi

corey lewandowski is an ally of the president.ahn, someone who in the mueller report described situations that would be -- that would be damaging to president trump, so he's going to sing from the hymnal today when he get offense that stand. >> the gospel of trump. >> the gospel of trump, and it's not going to be what democrats expect. in some ways, this is the danger of going down this pathway, and i think this is what republicans have been saying which is what more are democrats trying to find out than is in the mueller report? i think that's a real question to be answered today. there are a lot of lines of inquiry for democrats to press the trump administration on a lot of things that are going ton. i'm not sure that pressing corey lewandowski about what's already written in the text is going to be that helpful. >> we'll see how noisy of a song bird or quiet of a song bird he is today. >> song birds typically aren't quiet. that's why they're called song birds. >> he may be a reserved song bird. >>> israeli president benjamin ne

have they not seen corey lewandowski on television? >> i respectfully disagree with frank in that i don't think this was a great day for corey lewandowski. this was a guy who went on tv, announced to the world apparently at the same time that he's also trying to fund raise for a senate campaign that he lies most of the time except when he's under oath -- >> even promoted it. >> yes, he promoted it during one of the recesses today. he announced he lies under oath, which is presumably most of the time including when he's talking to members of the media and talking to perspective voters one would imagine. this is guy who i thought he came off as really shurlish among other things but this was a hearing ostensibly about obstruction of justice. so, yeah, the democrats not seeming terribly prepared, but i didn't come off thinking that lewandowski himself be -- you know, did anything other than embarrass himself. >> i had congressman jamey ras kn on last hour and i said to me the american people got nothing out of it. he said one of his bigge

lewandowski's testimony.important is to continue to talk about all the other work we're doing in the other committees. we have passed more than 400 bills thus far in my eight months in congress only 50 made it to the president's deck for signature or considered in the senate. i need to make sure we're pushing forward on all responsibilities of the congress not just oversight responsibility and educating the public this is a very active and busy congress that's working very hard on issues that we were elected on. health care, jobs, the economy. the environment, gun safety. all of those are things we have legislated on effectively in the house and it's the obligation of the senate and our president to take those up and consider them. >> congresswoman chrissy houlihan joining us a short time ago. >>> any minute we should be hearing from canadian prime minister justin trudeau, this on the heels of him in blackface emerging. just ahead of that country's elections. stay with us. ( ♪ ) only tylenol® rapid release ge

dearborn and porter were also subpoenaed to testify tomorrow alongside corey lewandowski. we're starting to think that neither of them will show up. we have letters from their lawyers tonight indicating that their are not going to show up because of the president's assertion that anybody who has ever worked in the white house is absolutely immune from ever having to testify. that said, corey lewandowski is definitely expected to testify tomorrow even though he never worked in the white house. the thing about this is weird is that tonight, the white house is saying that dearborn and porter won't show up at all, but the white house is saying that even with corey lewandowski who didn't work in the white house at all, who has never been a government employee, the white house is nevertheless asserting tonight that they have advised mr. lewandowski to limit his testimony. and not talk about his conversations with the president. right? it is unclear on what authority the white house might be trying to limit lewandowski's testimony, again, he doesn't work for the white house, does

corwin lewandowski was told not to answer any questions about that exchange, but since lewandowski never

lewandowsky would come and tell the truth.in fact, in living color the story that was told in the mueller report the american people haven't read the mueller report they got to see a living character who was actively engaged, although he was not an employee of the united states government, he was not an employee of the white house, but he was used by the president to sidestep the laws of the land. and that, i believe, throughout the entire day, was very clear it was very clear in his use of the letter that was given to us on the 16th that clearly was inappropriate because the confidentiality provisions they -- to go and tell someone to change the mueller investigation to elections in the future are not policy. it is obstruction, and we clearly watched mr. lewandowsky as well create a pathway for the story of whether or not the president of the united states was trying to obstruct justice, which was all about what director mueller had in volume two. remember, now, he said, i cannot exonerate him, and it was all about the issues

quote, lewandowski recalled lewandowski told him if sessions did not meet with him he should tell him he was fired. lewandowski said he thought it was a joke the second thing and really the bigger problem for democrats is that lewandowski is pretty far down the list of the most important witnesses in this matter and just today there were two witnesses, the house judiciary committee called who were not there because the white house is asserting they can basically stop anyone they want to from delivering testimony to a congressional oversight body joining me now fresh from today's hearing congresswoman sheila jackson lee what was the goal of today's hearing and did you feel you accomplished it? >> we absolutely did and the goal of course was to take the american people and take the record down the journey of obstruction as you well know, chris, the third article of impeachment for richard nixon was obstructing congress now, that was not necessarily our start. we thought that mr. lewandowski would come and tell the truth. he was in fact in living color the story that was told in the muel

l lewandowski admitted that was false. on fox news, he incorrectly claims the question was not about sessions. here is the full clip in fairness, so you can see for yourself. >> lewandowski, you told prosecutors he never acted on president trump's request that he push jeff sessions to fire bob mueller, but the panel played video of lewandowski saying something very different to msnbc's ari melber. >> i don't remember the president ever asking me to get involved with jeff sessions or the department of justice in any way, shape or form ever. >> that wasn't true, was it, sir? >> i heard that. >> and that was not true, was it. >> i have no obligation to be honest to the media, because they're just as dishonest as anybody else. >> i spoke with the president's former campaign member from new hampshire. corey lewandowski, welcome. >> thank you, thank yous for having me. >> let's start at your declaration at the hearing, i have no obligation to be honest with the media, because you consider them to be dishonest. why should anybody