m matt whitaker was circumspect with his testimony. >> unlike in the hearing room, mr. whitaker did not deny that the president called him to discuss michael cohen -- the michael cohen case and personnel decisions in the southern district. two, while he was acting attorney general, mr. whitaker was directly involved in conversations about whether to fire one or more u.s. attorneys. three, while he was attorney general -- acting attorney general, mr. whitaker was involved in conversations about the scope of the southern district of new york u.s. attorney berman's recusal and whether the southern district went too far many pursuing the campaign finance case in which the president was listed as individual number one. those are the three takeaways from our -- from today. >> what do you mean that he did not deny -- the president -- he did not deny the president's involvement -- or the president interest ee e-- >> he did not deny it. >> the top republican on the committee had a very different ta takeaway from the same closed door session with whitaker. take a listen to what he

collins, the republican and be able to say without them being checked against any transcript of what matt whitaker actually said. >> and according to reporting, the president was unhappy that whitaker had to testify in front of congress in the first place. >> reporter: oh, yeah. he did not like seeing matt whitaker getting grilled and he liked doug collins in his view of things pointed out what he said was absurd testimony he was having to give and the president also didn't like his relationship with matt whitaker coming under such scrutiny. now whitaker would not answer questions about the president lashing out at him only pointing to the president's tweet. though of course we know from our reporting that that happened not just once, but twice when the president was rattled by the developments in the michael cohen probe in new york. >> kaitlin collins from the white house. thank you very much. >>> want to get reaction from the leading voice on the senate judiciary committee senator richard blumenthal of connecticut joins me. senator, what do you make of this? if chairman nadler's account is corre

because no one has said that the president directed whitaker to stop the investigation directly. they didn't say, you know what, matt, you need to put this to rest. get rid of this thing, end it. he didn't do it that way. he called whitaker and lashed out about how unfair it is, it's a load of baloney, how it doesn't make sense. that's what he says. when he says those sorts of things, that's what makes me wonder if what michael cohen had to say in his congressional testimony is actually going to be what this comes down to. here's michael cohen. >> he doesn't give you questions. he doesn't give you orders. he speaks in a code. and i understand the code because i have been around him for a decade. >> juliet, if this was in code, is there anything that would actually implicate the president in doing anything wrong? >> i mean, it could. i think that's right, i think that the president has learned to talk to certain people in this kind of code. i'm mad, i'm pissed off, you essentially in authority power need to do something about it. and what strikes me about whitaker, which i think is roly interesting coming out of this

a little bit as the public that relate to whether or not the president pressured or contacted matt whitakerhe was acting attorney general essentially asking whitaker to intervene in the southern district of new york if a different prosecutor could be put in charge of the cohen matter for example. you suggest in letters made public your committee has evidence that the president did in fact ask whitaker to lean on sdny. can you talk to us about that at all? >> i can't get into the specifics. but we have reason to believe that's the case and that's one of the reasons we asked whitaker to come back to the committee, which he will be doing shortly. >> shortly? >> i forget the date. in the next couple weeks. >> you have a specific date with him? >> i think so. >> is it important he left the justice department, the d.o.j. -- >> i don't know. i heard that for the first time on your show. i don't know what the impact of that is. or whether it has an impact. >> does it have an effect on whether or not you can get him to come back? >> no, it does not. he's subject -- he's agreed to come back and subje

it's not what matt whitaker said today. it's what he didn't say that is making news. the former acting attorney general meeting behind closed doors with top members of the house judiciary committee. a meeting to clarify whitaker's public testimony last month, testimony that, you remember, amounted to six hours of bobbing and weaving, designed to impress an audience of one. you know who that is, right? well, today, whitaker did not deny talking with president trump about michael cohen's case. listen to the chairman, jerry nadler. >> unlike in the hearing room, mr. whitaker did not deny that the president called him to discuss the michael cohen case and personnel decisions in the southern district. >> now, that may have been a bit more bobbing and weaving by whitaker, who seems to be an expert. he did not deny, did not say no when he was pressed about whether the president called him to discuss cohen's case. but here's what he said publicly in the hearing room. here it is. >> did you communicate to donald trump or any senior white house advisers about investigations fro

matt whitaker was hired because he talked about how he could privately cripple the mueller investigation and because i'm sure the president was confident he would not recuse himself. the ethics lawyers urged him to do so. he refused. then you have the new attorney general appointed, who refuses to commit to following the advice of ethics lawyers on that same issue, recusal. so is it plausible that the issue of the recusal of the prosecutor in the southern district of new york came up? absolutely. is it i think straining credit utility to think that if he did have conversations about that with others or the president that he would have a failure of recollection about it? that doesn't strike me as too credible. >> the president's response today, that he hasn't even thought about, not even thought about pardoning paul manafort. >> not the least bit believable. what i found really striking about the manafort sentencing today, and indeed manafort's conduct generally during this court process, is paul manafort made the calculated decision to lie about providing polling data to someone linked t

we need to know from matt whitaker what that conversation was. but the thing we talked about yesterday, nicolle, is this notion that somebody whob had recused himself because of the appearance of conflict or actual conflict, could unrecuse himself, i'm just not familiar with that. i have been around the justice department for a long time >> it's not a thing, chuck? >> it's not a thing in my experience. this notion of unrecusal, again, could be benign. a president who doesn't understand that simple concept or nefarious, get my guy back in because i need someone to protect me. >> the last point, we know what prosecutors and investigators look for sometimes is patterns. there is a pattern there. donald trump desperately wanted jeff sessions to unrecuse himself and his white house counsel don mcghan out to get jeff sessions to unrecuse. that's also one of the flashpoints in the obstruction of justice investigation being conducted by robert mueller. >> that's right. and you're right, we like patterns because pattern means content and content is how we

erica hill, thank you very much. >>> coming up, the house judiciary chairman says matt whitaker does deny talking with president trump about michael cohen. does that raise another red flag about obstruction? >>> right after a federal judge nearly doubled paul manafort's federal prison sentence, a new york prosecutor unveils state charges. are they pardon-proof? that rocking chair would look grahh, new house, eh?e. well, you should definitely see how geico could help you save on homeowners insurance. nice tip. i'll give you two bucks for the chair. two?! that's a victorian antique! all right, how much for the recliner, then? wait wait... how did that get out here? that is definitely not for sale! is this a yard sale? if it's in the yard then it's... for sale. oh, here we go. geico. it's easy to switch and save on homeowners and renters insurance. >>> happening now, whitaker revelations. he did not deny talking with president trump about michael cohen's case. >>> part-time new charges. paul manafort gets more prison time as he is sentenced here in washington. less than an hour later, t

matt whitaker told the judiciary committee in an open session that president trump never exerted anyvestigation or any other investigation, including the federal prosecution of the president's longtime former lawyer michael cohen. at that february hearing, mr. whitaker flatly denied public reporting that the president had lashed out at him on at least a couple of occasions after cohen pled guilty to multiple felonies when he was prosecuted in the southern district of new york. whitaker's testimony that day in congress denying that he'd been the recipient of any such pressure, denying that he'd had conversations like that with the president, that was soon thrown into doubt when "the new york times" reported that the president had, in fact, called matt whitaker late last year and asked him if somebody else could be put in charge of the cohen investigation at that federal prosecutor's office in sdny. well, matt whitaker was called back to the hill today to try to clear up whether any of that was true. the meeting was closed doors, so we didn't get to hear exactly what happened, but here

rod rosenstein, matt whitaker. did the right thing. >> do you think the president realizes it? because he was the greatest pillorier of all. >> i think that when he looks back on it, he's going to realize that those of us that were telling him to slow down, keep quiet, let the justice system work, were right. he didn't realize it at the time. >> you may have been right. but did the president, by saying witch hunt a couple hundred times. >> or more. >> 183 times. >> did he change the standard? did he lower the standard by which he would be judged? >> of course he did. he tried to sully the process in every step along the way. george, in 589 days, we, as americans, will go back to the polls. we know that the russians tried to interfere in 2016. we know that they attempted again in 2018. >> and they were encouraged. they were encouraged to do it. >> thank you. we know that much of what they hacked and stole and used and the fact that we did have a campaign chairman, i'm not pointing at you, sara. it's church time. i'm

it involves matt whitaker. he was acting attorney general under donald trump until recently. but he was called back to capitol hill today for a follow-up to his public testimony as delivered to the house judiciary committee that was a month ago. during that february hearing whitaker, you'll recall, was asked whether trump ever attempted to intervene in the southern district of new york case regarding michael cohen. >> the president did not ask for and i did not provide any commitments, promises concerning the special counsel's investigation or any other investigation. >> i want to know whether you talked to president trump at all about the southern district of new york's case involving michael cohen. >> congresswoman, as i've mentioned several times today, i am not going to discuss my private conversations with the president of the united states. >> now we fast forward to today. whitaker's appearance before the committee is over. that's when judiciary committee chairman jerry nadler, democrat of new york, comes out into the hallway and reveals to reporters what whitaker had s

matt whitaker is the one who e-mailed this. what doj did is they filed a sworn declaration under oath in court in support of a motion for summary judgment in that case where these documents were sought and they basically lied and said that the documents in writing didn't exist but again two days before matthew whitaker is to leave the doj, this letter is found. there are no coincidences. somebody who comes in behind matt whitaker was going to find it. they have a lot of explaining to do why they lied in their sworn pleading. >> appreciating your perspective as always, katie fang. thank you so much for joining us very early on this sunday. >> always. >>> just ahead, the issues driving the presidential campaign. who is saying what? up next, sound check 2020. >>> plus, snl's weekend update poking a little fun at paul manafort's sentencing this week. >> paul manafort, who looks like he was born divorced, faced up to 24 years in prison but only got 4 years, probably in a minimum security white collar facility with a bunch of his fri

men in government and he will have an administration that reflects the nation's diversity. >>> matt whitakerhis contacts with president trump about the michael cohen case. cohen has implicated the president in two federal crimes. whitaker met privately with members of the house judiciary committee wednesday to clear up some issues with his public testimony from last month. >> tat no time has the white house asked for nor have i provided any promises or commitments concerns the special counsel's investigation or any other investigation. >> after meeting with whitaker, house judiciary chairman jerry nadler called him out. >> unlike in the hearing room mr. whitaker did not deny that the president called him to discuss the michael cohen case and personnel decisions in the southern district. >> these new accusations raise questions about whether whitaker was given the job as acting attorney general because the president wanted to install an ally who could rein in all the federal investigations. top republican on the committee congressman doug collins of georgia pushing back against nadler, he cla

well, matt whitaker was called back to the hill today to try to clear up whether any of that was truethe meeting was closed doors, so we didn't get to hear exactly what happened, but here's what the chairman of the judiciary committee, congressman jerry nadler, told reporters thereafter. >> i think there were three main takeaways that we take away from today. one, unlike in the hearing room, mr. whitaker did not deny that the president called him to discuss michael cohen -- the michael cohen case and personnel decisions in the southern district. two, while he was acting attorney general, mr. whitaker was directly involved in conversations about whether to fire one or more u.s. attorneys. three, while he was attorney general -- acting attorney general, mr. whitaker was involved in conversations about the scope of the southern district of new york u.s. attorney berman's recusal and whether the southern district went too far in pursuing the campaign finance case in which the president was listed as individual number one. >> oh. so according to jerry nadler, whitaker doesn't deny talking

department of justice is disputing this. >> matt whitaker is a critical witness on the issue of whether or not the president of the united states tried to obstruct justice, tried to obstruct the n sdny investigation. it would have made sense to have a transcript, to have him under oath. so this conversation in itself may not be all that valuable. down the road, if whitaker did have this conversation with president trump and lied about it, he may flip with federal prosecutors toth cut his losses. >> thank you both. >>> coming up next on "andrea mitchell reports," running man. how willor beto o'rourke's dry into the 2020 pack change the state of this race? >>> and california democratic senator and presidential candidatean kamala harris joinss live ahead on "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. bookers book now and ask their boss later.. [do you want breakfast or no?] [definitely breakfast.] be a booker at booking.com this and even this.hark, i deep clean messes like this. but i don't have to clean this, because the self-cleaning brush roll removes hair, while i clean. - [announcer] sha

well, matt whitaker was called back to the hill today to try to clear up whether any of that was trueoors, so we didn't get to hear exactly what happened, but here's what the chairman of the judiciary committee, congressman jerry nadler, told reporters thereafter. >> i think there were three main takeaways that we take away from today. one, unlike in the hearing room, mr. whitaker did not deny that the president called him to discuss michael cohen -- the michael cohen case and personnel decisions in the southern district. two, while he was acting attorney general, mr. whitaker was directly involved in conversations about whether to fire one or more u.s. attorneys. three, while he was attorney general -- acting attorney general, mr. whitaker was involved in conversations about the scope of the southern district of new york u.s. attorney berman's recusal and whether the southern district went too far in pursuing the campaign finance case in which the president was listed as individual number one. >> oh. so according to jerry nadler, whitaker doesn't deny talking with president trump abo

he was better than matt whitaker.brief as to how to handle this case. >> well, he's certainly more skilled as a lawyer than matt whitaker. >> yes. and we don't reward skill. we examine it carefully. i've said on here as well that a white collar crime, you don't catch the geniuses. and barr is by far, and i don't mean to dis whitaker so much, a much better operator. and he did have experience helping another president avoid prosecution perhaps. >> sure. >> by arranging for pardons. >> can we show the viewers how you roll with your notes? >> yeah, sure. >> we've only gotten this recently. this is flannery. there you go. you got it? can you come in for it? >> nobody can read my handwriting. here we go. all right. you don't have steady? can we get steadicam? there we go. now thank you to the audience for bearing with me. what i'm trying to show you, and i think it's worth the wait is this is what mr. flannery has been doing all day. and this is a complex piece of lawyering. you're not giving as much credit as i am. i unde

that hearing with matt whitaker was over the top with michael cohen hearing was over the top. going too see more and moe of this. there will be a point where the american people are going to make a judgment. these people should not be given any more power because they can't be trusted with doing the job that we sent him there to do. do what's right for the country. >> sean: we've learneded again that we need to know how conservative works. >> absolutely. >> sean: all right. when we come back, steve scalise responds to congresswoman tlaib's vile remarks. also i'm going to make a closing argument tonight about selective moral outrage and our villain of the day straight ahead. your favorite restaurants now it doesn't matter dash. where you are. ♪ it doesn't matter what you're hungry for. it doesn't even matter how many you are. ♪ restaurants come to you. delicious at your door. download doordash. first order, no delivery fee. >> sean: we mentioned in myhe openingty monologue that the democratic part is now a part of hate. yet tweeting out hard to watch representative scalise bein

if this letter came from matt whitaker and not bill barr do you think everyone would be saying the fix is in? >> well, luckily we don't have to answer that hypothetical. >> that's a good answer. thank you. >> don, look, i do think what's surprising is given that the president and his attorney and his aides are rightfully claiming that this was good news for them, they seem to be going out of their way essentially to undermine the credibility of this report by the way in which its being handled with what appears to be a politicized way with very little offering of information to people. as you've pointed out tonight and many others have, we don't even know how long this report was. it was said to be very comprehensive on friday when it was delivered to the justice department. obviously we have not gotten any sort of comprehensive understanding of what went into this investigation, of what the facts are. and what i'm struck by is it seems that it's a government that doesn't feel accountable to the public. that the accountability that they seem to feel here, that attorney general barr fee

what we would need at some point is a public hearing ear public deposition of matt whitaker to know precisely what he was ask to do and what he did. i don't doubt mr. nadler. it's hard to hear it second hand and understand the conversations that took place between the president and his acting attorneygeneral. >> let me try to offer a version of this and see what you think of it. leltsz rr saw the president did call over and said what's going on in the southern district of michael cohen case? it may be far field of what they should do. are you sure the bosses are on top of things? how proper to improper would a conversation from the president about an investigation into -- that he has been nomed in be? >> so that's sort of the benign version. i real a luke this berman guy and i trust him and i'm wondering why he arecused. to the extent you'd help me understand that, i'd appreciate it. to the nefaurious, which is i need berman unplace to protect me and cull this cases. if you're talking bot the second one, very troubling. the men and women of the southern district of new york, the career prosec

and he found someone, matt whitaker, who maw have engaged unsubstantive discussions.s been doing hev a lifting frathe president. >> what do you think of obstruction of justice as heavy lifting? you're not supposed to call up and switch prosecutors if you got a guy who's in that case connected with you. in other words you serve to benefit if you're judge shopping. in this case prosecution shopping. that is obstruction. you're changing the prosecutor. >> yeah. he's a target of this potential probe. and therefore trying to corruptly influence theed a min straugz of justice might be construed as obstruction of justice here. and so i think it has to be havinged. >> i'm just wondering the u.s. attorn a in new york, why would he want this guy, jeff berman in there? >> you have to sume he thinks he's going to be running it in a way more conducive to what the president wants him to do. or why would he care? why did he care so much jeff sessions recused himself from the mueller investigation? he doesn't hide his motives very much. and the argument his supporters make is he's he

meanwhile, matt whitaker, has left the justice department. his last day on saturday. it's not clear what his next career move will be. cheryl: maker of oxycontin is preparing a possible bankruptcy filing. the wall street journal reports that purdue pharma is studying the idea as a way to contain liability from hundreds of lawsuits suggesting it fueled the nation's open yo opioid epi. some say the aggressive marketing helped hook the nation on opioids. perdue denied theal he lee gas . tracee: here are other headlines making news this morning. walgreens in hot water, the fda demanding a meeting with walgreens' leadership, saying the company is a major violator when it comes to selling e-cigarettes to minors. walgreens telling the new york post they would welcome a meeting. a may mayor breakthrough for te aids virus. researchers in london say they may have potentially cured a man of hiv. volvo putting a 112-mile-an-hour speed limit on all of its cars in all of its markets next year. the ceo saying it's to cut back on accidents. >>.and after four months, the ly winner of

. >> dana: former acting attorney general matt whitaker has officially left the justice department.r serve as the ad following the resignation of jeff sessions and until william barr was confirmed to the post last month. whitaker's appointment had drawn sharp criticism from democrats. his last day with the agency was saturday. >>> fiancee of a man shot to death last year by sacramento police is speaking out after prosecutors announce the officers would not be charged. stephon clark was killed in the back yard of his grandfather's home after polices responded to calls of someone breaking into cars. his fiancee said, she wants the laws change. >> please don't stop advocating for legislation and policies that could protect other families from suffering this overwhelming pain and sense of loss. please continue to keep my family in your prayers. >> dana: protests broke out in sacramento after the atphoupbment of no charges. city officials are also bracing for more possible protests at a sacramento kings nba game tonight. major drug bust in new york. federal agents raiding a home in westc

>> did matt whitaker tell president trump something that has led him to exude this kind of confidence? >> laura: dan abrams, cracked court reporter. >> well, i still see president trump attacking the witch hunt all the time. i'm not sure that i buy that. one of the problems with president trump, he's a political genius. but when he's talked about this investigation, i've said this before. he acts like somebody who has something to hide. it'll be incredibly ironic if there is no ultimately no collusion case and no obstruction case against him. but keep in mind, when you attack relentlessly prosecution teams, they are human. they feel it. they try to be professional to it as much as they try to, they feel it. any toss-ups in that report by mueller and his team, i think they are going to go against the president. they've been putting this up with this for two years. >> laura: guys, thank you so much. up next, ben carson. in exclusive you do not want to miss. he's going to be defending this administration against the attacks of racism. coming up, ben carson. ♪ book now and enjoy free unli

nadler yesterday, he told me very clearly he needs to hear what he says is the full truth from matt whitaker. >> well, he made a number of statements to committee, which we had reason to believe weren't entirely truthful, and we outlined those questions to him in the letter we sent, and we're giving him an opportunity to clarify. because it's very serious that you tell the complete truth to a congressional inquiry. so we're going to give him the opportunity to clarify that. and the subjects are in the letter we sent him. >> you don't believe he didn't have conversations with the president about the mueller investigation or anybody at the white house? >> we're very skeptical of that. >> reporter: another person who is clarifying his testimony before the house oversight committee is the president's former attorney, michael cohen. when he testified earlier this month before the committee, he said he never asked for a pardon from the president. it turned out there were discussions with the president about a pardon. in the letter last night from michael cohen's attorneys to the house oversight co

congress also heard from former acting attorney general and lex luthor pretending to be clark kent, matt whitaker( cheers and applause ) delayed reaction. whitaker gave closed door testimony to the house judiciary committee, and as soon as the door opened, we learned everything he said from committee chair and fun grandpa who teaches you naughty limericks, jerry nadler. last month, it was reported that trump asked whitaker to put an ally in charge of the cohen investigation. rumor has it trump wanted to appoint his closest ally: kim jong, un-ttorney at law. ( laughter ) ( applause ) yes, have you been injured in a labor camp? call now. putting a crony in as u.s. attorney over an an investigation you're the subject of is called... obstruction of justice. but that's nothing new for trump. if he doesn't obstruct justice every half hour, he gets an alert from his apple watch: "time to stand! and undermine democracy for one minute." gotta-- gotta close those rings. gotta close those... >> jon: close the loop, uh-huh? >> stephen: now, nadler says that in private testimony, whitaker did not deny talking

. >> before i get to the he said, he said on matt whitaker testifying before the committee, i want you to explain to people in your mind what is significant? why does it matter what president trump discussed with his then attorney general about the michael cohen investigation. >> what matters is if the president, in fact, discussed -- well, remember that jeff sessions was fired as attorney general for one reason only. he recused himself from involvement in the russia investigation. the president fired him for that reason. he said he wanted an attorney general who would personally protect him from the investigation. then he appoints whitaker who had no visible qualifications for the job at that level except that he had commented very negatively on mueller's investigation. he went in there specifically so as not to be recused. so the question obviously and in the testimony yesterday when presented directly with an opportunity to deny the president talked to him about the michael cohen investigation he refused to deny it. he evaded a lot of questions. he talked about while he was attorney

. >> he was better than matt whitaker.how to handle this case. >> test certainly more skilled as a lawyer than wit chitakewhi. >> i have said on here as well, a white collar crime, you don't catch the geniuses. barr is a much better operator. he did have experience helping another president avoid prosecutions by arranging for pardons. >> can we show the viewers how you roll with your notes? >> sure. >> we gotten this recently. we did not have enough prep time. this is flannery's note. can you come in for us? >> nobody can read my handwriting. >> here we go. >> you don't have steady? can we get steady cam? thank you for bearing with me. this is what mr. flannery have been doing all day. this is a complex piece of lawyering. i understand your point because you are saying -- >> it is a suspicious argument. if creative lawyering and careful quoting is being done to subvert the truth, you don't want to credit that. >> i am just pointing out that it is done in a very elegant way as senator blumenthal. it is not the last of it th

attorney general, william barr, dippy attorney general rod rosenstein, former acting attorney general matt whitakerfor a presentation on behalf of the former attorney general jeff sessions. the report was not delivered yesterday and those close to the process said it was unlikely given the timing of this very public event. the next steps are guided by the federal regulations, harris, as you know. there was a letter from the deputy attorney general, senator grassley, which really lays out that it's highly unlikely that derogatory information will be made public about individuals who are not prosecuted in these cases, harris. >> thank you very much. i want to bring in robert ray, former whitewater independent counsel and former federal prosecutor. great to see you. let's start with the new andrew mccabe texts. why they are significant given the fact that he is gone. >> it sure looks political. we talked about that previously. the bombshell part of this piece of news is not only that it looks political -- it was political. more importantly, the department of justice was involved. not just the fbi. and

. >> nadler yesterday, by the way, after our show said that acting attorney general matt whitaker whenacting attorney general did not deny the president had called him to discuss the cohen case. the department of justice has pushed back on that. they have issued a statement saying we disagree with representative nadler's characterization of the conversation consistent with his prior testimony mr. whitaker said he could not discuss prior conversations with the president and the president never directed him to do anything to affect the nvpgs. this seems like -- investigation. this seems like parsing of words on both sides. >> he didn't not deny it. there are too many negatives to keep track of what whitaker did speak to and didn't speak to. this is what we're seeing when you put this kind of scrutiny on congressional testimony, you have to ask yourself is this something that is a material and intentional misstatement, such that it rises to the level of perjury or a false statement to congress, which doesn't have to be sworn. so sworn, unsworn, it doesn't matter. >> not with green eggs an

department for nothing and it was just a couple of weeks ago when the justice department announced that matt whitaker would be staying on at the department. they found a job for him to land on. after leaving his post as acting attorney general. the fact he is suddenly gone is all the more intriguing given his reported promise that he would come back and clarify his congressional testimony to the judiciary committee. clarify his testimony specifically on the matter of whether or not he was in fact pressured by the white house to lean on the prosecutors in the southern district of new york about the michael cohen prosecution. so that clarification to congress over that testimony that he previously had given say live issue and increasingly intriguing live issue with this surprise news that whitaker as of this weekend is a former justice department official and not a current one. and and and. that's not all. today was the deadline for the white house to respond to a new urgent demand from the oversight committee in the house for information about security clearance and the security clearances and process

have been no instances, none, when the attorney general of the united states -- rod rosenstein, matt whitakerounsel. he has enjoyed, as a practical matter within the justice department, independence. that means we have a rule of law system here in the united states -- bill: and i think the two headlines late on friday that everybody's been chewing over all weekend, no collusion and no further indictments. if that holds up, that could be significant. how did you hear that news, professor? >> well, i thought that was very significant but determinative. i think it does show that the mueller commission, ultimately, has not been a success. it didn't uncover any of the crimes that were part of its original mandate by any american citizens. it had three categories of crime -- process crimes, crimes that involve money that occurred before the election and indictments of russians who will never be brought to trial. so that's significant. but we still can see investigations and prosecutions brought by the southern district of new york and other prosecutors' offices. in fact, what we may see in the repo

department, and i don't mean that to be damning with faint praise simply because his following matt whitaker and jeff sessions. bill barr came from that institution, he knows that institution and that institution knows him. i agree. >> whenever this happens, when they get the report, you seem to be suggesting that there will be different sections, that maybe some sections have to be declassified, that way the counterintelligence investigation, one section that might be the information we would learn about first may be any reporting on obstruction of justice. >> that's right. let me give you an example, when the mueller team indicted the russian intelligence military officials, the gru, and john brennan knows this as well as anybody on the planet, a report like that doesn't become public until the intelligence committee had a chance to review it, to make sure there's nothing in there to give away sources and methods, we're not giving away too much stuff. it was a remarkable indictment but also remarkable because it went through that process. ky imagine pieces of this report, if not large piec

like his recently departed acting attorney general matt whitaker.refused to recuse himself from the russia investigation, and a few weeks ago, he even insisted the investigation was winding down. although he seemed super nervous about it. >> before you came into your current role, you were publically very critical of the special counsel investigation. now since you have received your briefings, is there anything that you've seen or read that gives you concern about special counsel robert mueller or his investigation? >> you know, i've been fully briefed on the investigation. and, you know, i look forward to director mueller delivering the final report, but right now, you know, the investigation is, i think, close to being completed, and i hope that we can get the report from director mueller as soon as possible. >> seth: look at how sweaty he is. [ laughter ] he looks like a glass of iced tea on a hot summer day. [ light laughter ] somebody put that guy on a coaster. [ light laughter ] trump installed whitaker to get the various investigations of hi

>> there could be times matt whitaker acted as a conduit. they don't know if he knows what's coming but people around him suggest they don't know what's in there. there are some feelings on the right that there isn't going to be this smoking gun mueller hasn't revealed yet t will just be a recap of what's been out there so far, which in some ways is damning enough, but there isn't going to be another shoe necessarily to drop. but it will still be an ex-system moment f existential moment when it comes out, even if it wasn't 100 pages of the ken starr report, it will be a moment that bifurcates this president before and after the mueller report. there, of course, is anxiety there. this is also the first time, the last handful of days and last week or so, where the president is not necessarily the top news story all the time. he's suddenly competing for attention with 2020 candidates, beto o'rouke particularly the last few days, and that's feeding anxiety as well. >> you're twitching. >> i was thinking about southern districts of new york and i

instances where either deputy attorney general rod rosenstein or acting attorney general at the time matt whitaker or even attorney general barr, there were no instances where they put the kibosh on anything that mueller's team wanted to do. that was spelled out quite explicitly in this letter to congress afternoon. it says the special counsel regulations require that i provide you with instances if any in which the attorney general or acting attorney general concluded that a proposed action by the special counsel was so inappropriate or unwarranted under established department practices that it should not be pursued, and the attorney general here telling congress there were no such instances. so there was nothing that robert mueller's team came to the department of justice with that was actually declined. so that's pretty pertinent, pretty important as well. fredricka, the attorney general working hard here. this could be a swift turnaround. he just got the report, the confidential report, late yesterday afternoon. back at it this morning, arriving just before 10:00 this morning. it could be as s

were hurt. [ light hlaughte] >> seth: you -- there were reports this week that donald trump had matt whitakereone that was more loyal to the president. do you think he is right to be as wored as he seems to be about the michael cohen of this all? >> he should be very worried. i actually -- he should be really worried. [ cheers and applause ] you know, unfortunately, i think that the -- the mueller investigation is going to end up a little g unless they have him on the phone with vlad. "okay, vlad, i'll take the moow tower, you get ukrain and keep the pee pee tape to yourself. i mean, unless there's literally that line, that's go be great. what's going to take him down is -- and michael cohen will be one of the people very important to , th i believe the southern district and they're going to, erat i call r.i.c.o. him. which is the rackeg influence corrupt organization act. where if you're at theorop of an nization that anybody in it is doing illicit things, you go to jail. i think they will take him apart. i think they will take his buildings away. [ cheers and applaus] there will be nothing

. >> of course, william bar came before them in the midst of all this while matt whitaker was occupyinghat and this is what barr had to say in the opening state about what he saw as his role in public transparency. take a listen. >> i think it's also very important that the public and congress be informed of the special counsel's work. my goal will be to provide as much transparency as i can consistent with the law. i can assure you that where judgments are to be made, i will make those judgments based solely on the law, and i will not let personal, political, or other improper interests influence my decision. >> what are you looking for to make sure that is the case basically as we go forward here? >> i think it's got to be almost the entire mueller report except for the limited sections i said about classified information and conduct. i think anything short of that will be seen as a smacking of a coverup, and inconsistent with the transparency that he promised. and there's certainly no regulation. the special counsel regulations don't permit it and nothing in the doj policy when you h

comey he wants a private conversation to lay off michael flynn, with the acting attorney general, matt whitaker, about getting my successor to unrecuse himself in the michael cohen case. these are the type of conversations and reporting that's happened since to make me more comfortable with the decision i made not to return the call. >> do you think there is strong evidence of the elements of obstruction against the president in the public record? >> the way you ask that question, yeah, there's strong evidence based on the circumstances i know. i don't know everything that bob mueller knows. other arguments have been made. i haven't looked closely at the law in particular to other things they've found. there's good evidence, yeah. >> defendants like roger stone or rick gates were, say, poor minorities charged in new york, where would they await trial? >> depending on the circumstances, depending what they could put up, they might be incarcerated pending trial. >> and a lot of poor people are. in new york a lot of them are at reikers. you describe this as a broken hell hole, set by violence, vio

clinton, the clinton foundation, the uranium 1 issue, and you have that delivered courtesy of matt whitakero was the chief of staff for jeff sessions at the time, how is jeff sessions removing himself from anything of this? he's not. and you know, the fact that whitaker was about to lead the doj and they mirek mouaculously this letter two days before his departure speaks volumes of the veracity of our doj right now. the reality is there was a sworn filing that was done in this litigation in federal court where the doj swore under oath that the documents didn't exist. they did it in support of a filing to basically get rid of that litigation, and now we know that they lied. and that is a really alarming aspect of what happened under jeff sessions and our doj. >> all right, ladies, katie, ashleigh, thank you very much for the conversation. got to get to breaking news now. >>> this is regarding a plane crash that happened over ethiopia. ethiopian airlines has confirmed its flight et-302, it was heading to kenya, it has gone down carrying 157 passengers and crew. it happened about six minutes o

if you remember what happened with matt whitaker, the acting attorney general, he went up and testified on capitol hill, was viewed by many democrats as not being terribly cooperative. and really not a productive witness. and so the white house could go down that road, where they try to obfuscate and drag things out and perhaps flood the zone with as much documentation and information as possible, as a way to jam up this investigation. but i talked to one of the targets of this probe, one of the names on that list who didn't want to speak on the record, but was basically saying, listen, you know, if there's one cautionary tale in all of this, if you're going to go work for a campaign or an administration, it's best to hire a lawyer beforehand. and anderson, i would suspect, if you're a white-collar attorney here in washington, dealing with government corruption, defending clients who have been accused of government corruption, your phone is probably ringing off the hook this week. >> other white houses would set up elaborate war rooms staffed with a lot of people in order to deal with t

this is in part something donald trump fueled himself by being out there putting matt whitaker in a jobn a bizarre way and constantly talking about firing mueller. there was always speculation someone was going to get in mueller mueller's. now this letter says no one did. it also raises another question, okay, why didn't you try to interview president trump? if no one said we're not going to let you subpoena the president, we're not going to let you try to push for this interview, why if there was this investigation, did you not ever want to ask the president questions about what he's thinking, whether he was trying to obstruct justice? that's something he did not address in the written questions. >> will he address it in the report? yes, he can protect some stuff. it's a counterintelligence investigation. how did you find out about the russian meddling and troll farms. you need to protect that for the intelligence community. but the attorney general may determine that public release of these reports would be in the public interest to the extent the release would comply with applicable