the other thing is if you're the president and you're thinking these things out, matthew whitaker ifs thinking clearly can't do the things you're asking him to do, so it's counterproductive the minute you ask him to do it, he can't do it. it defies any sort of logic that the president would get on the phone and demand that he get involved in these investigations because if whitaker is smart and wants to stay out of trouble himself, he then can't do anything the president's asked him to do. >> why would he get involved, though? i mean, what is -- >> i mean, the obvious issue here is except that the president wants to impede the investigation. it's because the investigation itself is such a great risk to the president that he's willing to take smaller risks to impede it. i mean, it seems -- we have these conversations in which the president, donald trump doesn't know what he's doing or, you know, tonight it's more like he's colonel mustard in the library, but the truth is it seems to me pretty abundantly clear that he is deeply worried about what the investigation will find because he'

intelligence committee, congressman adam schiff, stressing his concerns over acting attorney general matthew whitaker and the mueller probe. now, whitaker disregarded the advice of the doj ethics officials to step aside from overseeing mueller's russia investigation and it was all after he has been on the record criticizing the special counsel. this as nbc news reports that mueller's investigation could wrap up as early as mid-february. so joining me now now to discuss a ariana berg and cynthia ox knee, msnbc analyst. ariana let's start with you. you heard what congressman schiff had to say. if the president's legal team exert executive privilege to stop the release of mueller's report? >> it's a terrific question, very timely right now. under the special counsel regulations all that bob mueller is required to do is to provide a report to the acting attorney general or attorney general, whoever is in charge at the time, and if the reporting is accurate and it is february, it appears that it will likely be matt whitaker who is the one who he is reporting to. under the special counsel regulations, unli

new report claims that trump lashed out at acting attorney general matthew whitaker for not trying to exercise control over the southern district of new york's investigation into trump's former district attorney michael cohen. report cited made displeasure clear after cohen pled guilty to lying to congress about proposed trump tower project in moscow. then apparently again in implication over hush money scheme. in that instance trump reportedly pressed whitaker on why more wasn't done to control prosecutors in new york who brought charges in the first place, suggesting they were going rogue. as special counsel robert mueller continues to investigate whether or not trump obstructs justice in the russia investigation, new allegations could raise new questions about whether the president could be trying to obstruct the southern district of new york's investigation as well. panel will help me break down the allegations in new report and what it could mean for the president, next. it's understanding why that... will get him a body like that... move! ...that. your job isn't doing hard work.

he was livid about that and shared those frustrations with matthew whitaker.ause we already know that obviously president trump has come under plenty of fire for appearing to interfere in the mueller investigation. matthew whitaker has come under fire for appearing to have bias in the mueller investigation. this is another example of president trump looking at somebody who holds the attorney general position and say you're there to protect me and serve me and not serve the country. one thing we were talking about, the special counsel regulations to remember, the one thing they have to inform congress about is let's say bob mueller decides he wants to do something like bring charges against someone, and the attorney general, in this case, matthew whitaker says no, that has to go to congress. >> thank you. >>> the country indonesia reeling from a tsunami. hundreds dead. the death toll keeps rising. look at the pictures of devastation. now there are fears more tsunamis could strike within days and without warning. ♪ what a year. your home improvement "to-do list"

there is clear and obvious evidence of bias on the part of matthew whitaker against the special counsel's investigation. to allow him to retain oversight over that investigation without recusal is incredibly misguided. the congress and the american people must be informed of any instance in which mr. whitaker sought or is seeking to interfere with the mueller investigation. if mr. whitaker has sought any limitation on witnesses, funding, subpoenas, or any other limitations, we must be informed of it right now. we believe that matthew whitaker shouldn't be in the job in the first place. his appointment is potentially unconstitutional. his oversight of the russia investigation is hopelessly biased. it's clear that president trump is trying every way possible to appoint or nominate people to lead the justice department who could well impede the special counsel's investigation. i yield the floor. and i thank the gentleman from florida for patiently waiting. mr. nelson: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: madam president, syria has been a mess and has

and maybe even with matthew whitaker. but the tenor and tone are different, that experience playing a different role, but this takes the air out of the balloon for investigations at the top are democrats. some were going to really go after matthew whitaker. as i said, you may not have tha that. >> jessica: know, and we were talking about that the president will be smart to move it along quickly, which is what he has planned to do. lindsey graham was on the sunday show a few weeks ago talking about william barr. he was always at the top of the list for the formal replacement. in terms of taking the air out of the democratic investigation, i'm not sure how this will go. william barr has went on record saying a lot of the things similar to president trump and matthew whitaker bringing up uranium one. saying that is more about collusion -- >> harris: the democrats on the team of robert mueller, by the way, a lot of people have pointed that out. >> jessica: absolutely, but if you look at the damage done to bob mueller and its

. >> daniel, let me turn to matthew whitaker, the acting attorney general. i believe this week 400 former doj officials came out in opposition to his appointment. "the washington post" ed board sums up the still-unanswered questions around the whitaker appointment. did he examine the flynn sentencing memo? has he seen the material that mueller redacted from that document? has he sought the advice of justice department ethics experts on how much he should be involved in the russia investigation and, if so, what do those experts say? i guess if you have any insights into the answers of any of those questions is my first question to you. and the second part is, what kind of exposure does matthew whitaker have if he takes a wrong step. he seems young enough, ambitious enough and in buddying up to donald trump, craven enough to know better than to reach into the mueller probe and mess it up too badly. >> i think that's right, and i think matthew whitaker now, assuming this really significant powerful role, may look at things a little differently. from a technical

matthew whitaker has been cleared by ethics officials at the justice department to oversee special counsel robert mueller's investigation. democrats demanded whitaker recuse himself because of critical comments that he made about the mueller investigation when he was a conservative commentator last year. trump named whitaker to run the department of justice temporarily after ousting attorney general jeff sessions, who the president repeatedly criticized for recusing himself from the probe. earlier deputy attorney general rod rosenstein assured reporters that the mueller investigation would be handled, quote, appropriately. >> as we've described previously, we've continued to manage the investigation as we have in the past, and it's being handled appropriately. whether it's bob mueller or rod rosenstein or matthew whitaker or bill barr, that will be handled appropriately. >> if only we knew what handled appropriately actually means. joining us now is ken dilanian and loyola law school professor jessica levinson. ken, let's talk about this. what's the news in this decision from the ethics of

but the justice department has come out defending matthew whitaker. not going to recuse himself from over seeing the special couns counsel's russia investigation. in that, the department of justice sent that letter to paul ryan and nancy pelosi saying that matthew whitaker, though he did talk about the special counsel's probe in a derogatory manner before he came to the justice department as chief of staff for jeff sessions, they say he hasn't made any comments about the special counsel's investigation, that he has talked about what an upstanding probe it is. all indications are even though the president seems to be trying to put the pressure on matthew whitaker, it does seem like the acting attorney general has taken a step back. although, he will not be recusing himself from overseeing the probe. all signs are that he's still letting it play out. of course we'll see what happens when a report is eventually released from robert mueller, how much of that is released, if any. you know, if the white house exerts total executive privilege and decides not

so i think that really says a lot where we are with matthew whitaker.he spectacularly unqualified to be as even acting attorney general. he's unqualified to be as the manager of a waffle house, unqualified to be a slip and fall lawyer in a strip mall. he's an embarrassment. he's only there because he went on cable television, yelled as loud as he could how wonderful donald trump is and managed to the convince the president of the united states that he would be the one guy lold be there as an effective loyal political lieutenant and put the rule of law second and let the justice department be sub orrined in order to prevent trump from being investigated any further by robert mueller. that's why he's there in this position. he is a guy with his background alone is disqualifying. his statements about the mueller investigation before this are disqualifying. he's there illegally. he is not in the chain of command. rob rosenstein is in the chain of command to be the guy who should in that position as acting. this is purely a political move on the president's

new attorney general and based on our reporting, the chances are not likely that it will be matthew whitaker a stamp on in or will this have concrete results? >> i think it could have concrete results. under the vacancy reform act mr. whita whitaker can serve 210 days. decisions every day by the attorney general signing off on fisa warrants and some of the most important agencies in the government. the fbi, the dea, the general's office and there's the possibility that because he's not there legally that his actions are not legal. so, we think it's important to press this issue and to press it now. >> stuart, i appreciate you coming on to share your perspective. >> thank you for having me. >>> lindsey graham joins the list blaming. >> there's not a smoking gun, there is a smoking saw. you have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organized by people under the command of mbs. when we'll be th. saving you time for what you love most. >> kids: whoa! >> kids vo: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪ and like my dad, you might want medicare supplement

neutrogena® >>> new details on matthew whitaker and rejecting a top official's advice. overseeing the russia investigation. why is he disregarding that investigation and what does it mean for the special counsel's investigation? what is the advice that whitaker got and why isn't he following it? >> the reason he is not following it is he learned whitaker never sought a formal recommendation, but instead got guidance according to a source. as part of that guidance, a senior career ethics official told whitaker he should recuse himself because of his extensive public comments disparaging the probe before he joined the justice department. the reason they suggested he recuse is people might question his impartiality. that was an opinion that was not binding and they recommended he not recuse, especially because there was no actual legal conflict like a personal relationship like jeff sessions had with the trump campaign and no family member that was involved in the russia probe. those were the reasons for not recusing. matthew whitaker decided since it was a close call here

reporter: matthew whitaker, do you have confidence in him? mr. comey: no comment. thank you all. announcer: when the new congress takes office in january, it will have the youngest, most diverse freshman class in recent history. new congress, new leaders. watch it live on c-span. starting january 3. several government agencies are running on temporary funding that expires friday at midnight. between now and then, the house, senate, and white house must come to an agreement on seven incomplete spending bills to avert a government shutdown. one issue that remains unresolved as president trump's proposal for $5 billion in border wall funding. which democratic leaders have openly opposed. you can watch the process unfold this week with the house live on c-span and the senate live on c-span two. a government shutdown will happen friday at midnight if a spending deal cannot come together. theupdate this morning on latest on those negotiations. we turn to jeff mason, white house correspondent for reuters. good morning. how optimistic as a white house and is congress that the shutdown ca

decisionses by robert mueller need to be or could be challenged by either rod rosenstein or matthew whitakerctually, justice department officials are telling us that rod rosenstein will play the leading role in that oversight, but matt whitaker retains the decision to make the ultimate decision. >> so when whitaker says, whatever happens in the mueller investigation is going to be treated appropriately, not that we have any reason to doubt rod rosenstein's integrity in this, but what does that actually mean, appropriately? isn't it true that whitaker or barr could take mueller's report and put it in a drawer? >> yeah, they definitely play an important role here of oversight. and recusal is all about guaranteeing the appearances and public trust in justice and what's happening and independence and objectivity. so when you have someone like whitaker, who's been -- it's been recommended to that he ought to recuse, it isn't so much for having a direct conflict of interest, in that he has some monetary relationship or something that could be compromised, but based on prior statements that any dec

so i think you might see a bifurcated report maybe as joyce is suggesting. >> matthew whitaker has rejectedhe ethics official advice that he recuse himself from overseeing the mueller probe. how does that look? >> nobody inside of the justice department rejects the advice of the career ethics and the reason for that is a good one. d.o.j. is only as good as the public reputation it holds for integrity. one of the way d.o.j. prosecutors across the country preserve the department's integrity is by applying strict ethical guidelines to themselves. here we have an acting attorney general who says it's a close call so i'm going to ignore the guidance. it doesn't make sense. it will harm prosecutions all across the country and the worst part is that there doesn't appear to be any mechanism, internal or external, for holding whitaker accountable. the real mechanism is that he serves at the pleasure of the president. this president is pleased by an attorney general who ignores ethical guidance. >> but here's something interesting. you've heard the reports, guy, that the president has lashed out at w

other names still in play tonight, including attorney general matthew whitaker. he is in the acting role right now. john ratcliffe and also former governor of new jersey, chris christie. the question on everyone's mind, how would he handle the oversight of the special counsel robert mueller? he is wait and passed on this come on the perceived bias of the team when asked about it. telling "the washington post," i would have liked to see mueller have more balance on this group in answer to a question about composition. he also wrote that the firing of mueller was understandable and said this on our air last year. >> he crossed a basic line back in july, a fundamental line in the departments. what is a concern, certainly what appears to have concern to the, it was not so much the transgression, but a steadfast refusal to acknowledge that he had transgressed those limits on his power. >> martha: we have a big lineup for you. carl rhodes, jason wiley and juan williams. but first, the fox news senior analyst 20 me now. good to see you. want to get your opinion on him a

donald facing backlash he officially in charge of ag matthew whitaker is not probe. we

acting attorney general matthew whitaker is free to oversee the russia investigation.fficials at the justice department advising whitaker about that. a rod rosenstein is currently overseeing the investigation, saying today it doesn't matter who's in charge. >> we continue to manage the investigation the way that we have in the past. it has been handled appropriately. bought me a letter or a rod rosenstein, whitaker, bill barr. it has been handled appropriately. >> dana: catherine herridge is live in washington. >> this story broke this morning, they have revealed more details about the deliberations, painting a more nuanced picture of the decision-making. the ethics review concluded that there was no actual conflict for matt whitaker to oversee the mueller problem. however, a senior ethics official was concerned over the objects that whitaker made previous negative comments about the case. recusal was "a close call," and they recommended in favor. they considered it an issue, we are told, recommended against recusal. today, rod rosenstein, pardon me, asked separately a

the doj announced acting attorney general matthew whitaker will not recuse himself from overseeing specialspite calls from democrats to step aside whitaker come under fire for critical comments he made about the mueller broke when he worked at cnn and doj officials cautioned that the recusal decision was a close call. fbi director rod rosenstein defended attorney general nominee william bar against democratic claims he tried to undermine the special counsel prior to being nominated by president trump. could either of these developments radically alter the russian investigation? attorney emily is with us. emily, let's start with - let's start with whitaker. he is in the clear and ethics clear him, right? >> yes. yes he is in the clear and they did. this should restore faith by iraqi people in this investigation that there's someone asking at the home and the armchair about being on the attorney side calling for his recusal and as you stated, now we know it was misplaced. what should restore faith not only for the president in the position he finds himself in but the fact that comments made

josh, we can't forget that president trump recently fired jeff sessions put in the acting ag matthew whitaker who democrats see as a stooge. what's going on inside the justice department with whitaker as it investigation just chugs along? >> you hit on it. obviously he was the subject of a lot of reporting we were doing. this baggage he brings to the office of the acting attorney general and that is his past comments on the investigation being highly critical of mueller. i think that and this may be possibly a positive sign that the more mueller is able to do his work, the more we see filings and documents, the more we see enforcement actions tells us that whitaker isn't necessarily trying to impede his work because presumably as the person overseeing this, he would have to approve or at least know what's going on as mueller moves forward. i suspect that part of that is because a lot of attention that was paid to his past making a lot of these statements known to the public essentially kind of boxing him in, if he was brought in to take the legs out from under mueller, now there's the giant s

people with "acting" in their title, just like patrick shanahan, "acting" defense secretary and matthew whitaker, acting attorney general. t the. >> you would think it would be chuck schumer. i can tell you, based on conversations i've had as recent as this morning, it seems like nancy pelosi is actually the leader, minority leader in the senate. and so they've come at an impasse. this is all about trying to make sure that donald trump does not secure the border. >> u.s. senator, though, from the president's own party disagrees saying this partial government shutdown affecting so many federal employees at christmastime is a childish, political stunt. >> this is a made-up fight so that the president can look like he's fighting. but even if he wins, our borders are going to be insecure. >> you're saying president trump, if he wants that money for the border wall for border security, he can get t if he makes a deal but he just wants a campaign issue, am i hearing you correctly? >> it has to be that because this is like falling off a table. the democrats easily would support more border funding or b

it's the same law that applies to matthew whitaker. >> why is it this different this time?ical way he can do it. either he says i will honor the ethics code, head the department of justice. these are honorable people that serve, or i will be unethical. one choice or the other. >> he can't be forced? no one can force him? >> what's that? >> no one can force him? >> i think since he is the acting attorney general, he is the boss, but it seems to me congress can examine that through congressional hearings, and it seems to me also that sooner or later this ethical issue has to surface. if not in the executive branch, certainly before congress. >> okay. and -- >> he's got more -- >> okay. go ahead. >> i'm sorry, he's got ethical issues from iowa. they have departmental grievance complaints against him. he may end up getting disbarred eventually. who knows what's going to happen with him. but right now he sought an ethics opinion from the department of justice, and someone told him from the department of justice you must recuse yourself, and he says, no, i'm not going to. he cont

but what about matthew whitaker?my friends from washington say day in and day out of all of the scandals that have unfolded during donald trump's almost two years in the white house, having a guy like that as your acting attorney general may be the greatest, that he is woefully ill equipped to be the top law enforcement officer in this country. >> i think that's the idea that one, president trump can't get people to work with him because there are people that i've talked to, lawyers that we talked to at pbs who literally said the white house tried hire us and we said no because we understand that the client isn't going to listen to us. there's this idea that donald trump while he's president, he's also his own chief of staff, his own communications director, his own secretary of defense. he's thinking as long as i can say we're winning and as long as i can make it took as though it's a great smooth transition in this white house, a smooth operation then maybe people will believe that. . what we're seeing is obviously

know that the person who introduced him interestingly enough was the interim attorney general matthew whitaker. and as the president now has made a new nominee, a new nomination for the role of attorney general and william barr, we will talk about that and monitor this, and if you toggle back from the safe neighborhoods conversation to some of the items that the president has been making big news on today, we will take it back alive. i want to bring in who has been standing by, darrell issa on the house judiciary. and again, the president they are introduced, and i want to talk politics for a second, because the democrat said, oh, we are going to start investigations on some of the things he said, and the president has taken that out of the hands of his political opponents or critics, we should say. and now made a nomination that a lot of people are feeling that they can get behind today. >> that is exactly right. this is someone today it would be unheard of, but even then it was rare, unanimous appointment, the important thing is that it is not just a superb senior attorney who has been some

under matthew whitaker, the president's personal attorney, micha michael cohen, went to court pleading mueller probe. i do want to also talk to you about this memo from the president's new pick for attorney general, william barr. he sent this unsolicited memo to the doj criticizing the special counsel probe as grossly irresponsible, fatally misconceived. what does that tell you? >> you know, it was really interesting read for me this morning. and i have to say, my initial reaction is, wow, there's 19 single space pages. that must have taken him a long time to put together. i will tell you, when i write things like that for my clients, you know, that's the sort of thing that would cost a client tens of thousands of dollars. so why did he feel so strongly about making these views known? as you pointed out, unsolicited to the justice department, and the "wall street journal" also reported he sent it to trump's legal team. was he angling for a job? did he just have very strong and heated feelings about the mueller obstruction investigation? it's really unclear. >> renato mariotti, thank yo

donald facing backlash he officially in charge of ag matthew whitaker is not probe. we start with uncertainty at the white as the president will he or won't he shut down it's the multibillion dollar questi lindse offered the >> i encourage the president to phi were him, i would stand firm. >> sign it. i can understand picking a fight on border security to get more that's a fight worth having. >> last night that the caucus >> mr. president, we are going bill, we will be there. more importantly, the american >> we need to sit up here as if it's the next six months, sit up here until we get it. >> now is not the time, when is? >> the border crisis is for real. it's time for us to act. >> you have go to be kidding me. really campai raju. it is ways from the capitol to the white house, but the >> he did. that criticism has gotten under last night, president trump unfoll ann coulter on she would not vote for him in 2020 if there is no wall built now we see president trump februa he is furious over the criticism from his reliable allies, sarah sanders said right now at it's

. >>> also, acting attorney general matthew whitaker refuses advice from his own ethics office to step away from the mueller probe. a probe he's been vocally critical of. so what now? >>> and here's a good news story for you. one ceo giving all when it comes to the season of giving. a migraine hope to be there... for the good. and not so good. for the mundane. the awe-inspiring. the heart racing. the heart breaking. that's what life is all about... showing up. unless migraine steals your chance to say "i am here." that's why, we created aimovig.. a preventive treatment for migraine in adults. one dose, once a month. aimovig is proven to reduce the number of monthly migraine days. for some, that number can be cut in half or more. the most common side effects are pain, redness, or swelling at the injection site and constipation. these are your days what will each one bring? doesn't matter, as long as you can say... "i am here." talk to your doctor about preventing migraine with aimovig. and be there more. my mom works for chevy. my dad works for chevy. we're all part of the chevy family.

matthew whitaker is an acting person in this position with the a.g. i mean, as the a.g.iam barr to be looked at for confirmation. as katie just said. so it might be a differential of a few weeks. why so much focus on whitaker? >> because democrats, the number 1 priority for democrats when it comes to dealing with the oversight authority going to the new congress is to make sure that the special counsel, the bob mueller investigation is protected. >> why do you think it won't be? >> because of the comments that matthew whisker has made. >> you think he's going to kill the investigation? you think he can? >> well, yes, i think as acting attorney general, he has a lot of authority and power. ultimately democrats will be looking, i'm looking forward to the barr confirmation process and democrats will be looking as part of that process to make sure that his top priority is being the attorney general of the united states of america, not the attorney general for donald trump. >> what if he did kill the investigation? what then? what would democrats do? >> they would be extremel

ethics officials advise the acting attorney general to recuse himself from the russia probe but matthew whitakernot to take that recommendation. we'll explain, next. take your razor, yup. alright, up and down, never side to side, shaquem. you got it? come on, get back. quem, you a second behind your brother, stay focused. can't nobody beat you, can't nobody beat you. hard work baby, it gonna pay off. you got this. with the one hundred and forty-first pick, the seattle seahawks select. alright, you got it, shaquem. alright, let me see. i got beaten up because i was different. based on a true story... so, i created a world where i can heal. about the power of friendship. are all of the dolls people you know? yeah. i got your back. to the women of marwen. they have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps.com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the amazing services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the p

report would be made public, but then it has to go through the acting attorney general, now matthew whitakerright? so does making this report public, is that an easy process for the special counsel to do? >> the special counsel in this case, mueller, is certain to follow the regulations. and in doing so, the detailed report he prepares will go to acting attorney general whitaker. what whitaker does with it is up to him. he will brief congress with some information about it, but he will ultimately decide what if anything to make public. so it's very possible we will not see the official mueller report ever. however, we have been hearing from mueller throughout this entire investigation as he indicts individuals that he has believed to have committed crimes with very detailed indictments. they're nomly documents that are bare bones telling only the amount of information necessary so as not to reveal anything else about an investigation. but mueller has departed from this rule and revealed very, very detailed factual indictments provides lots of information about the kind of work he and his tea

investigation is going to be handled appropriately by the department of justice. >> reporter: now that matthew whitaker has officially decided not to recuse, it's expected he'll be briefed on the mueller probe since he was never updated during the ethics review process. jake, we do know that whitaker was given a heads up just before the president's former personal attorney michael cohen pleaded guilty up in new york a few weeks ago. >> jessica schneider, thanks so much. >>> trump says we've defeated isis one minute and next he says other countries will need to fight isis instead of the united states. so which is it? the general who helped lead fight against isis joins me next. stay with us. ♪ ignition sequence starts. 10... 9... guidance is internal. 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... ♪ what's critical thinking like? a basketball costs $14. what's team spirit worth? (cheers) what's it worth to talk to your mom? what's the value of a walk in the woods? the value of capital is to create, not just wealth, but things that matter. morgan stanley hey uh, quick question. do you like paying for things you don't nee

i don't think it's broken through, nicolle wallace first reported that matthew whitaker is not in the day to day charge of the investigation. the justice department has not pushed back on that, what they have said is that whilt kerr hasn't recused, he's nominally in charge, i don't think he wants any part of this. >> all we can see is how much of the information, ordinarily in these types of memos, when i've written many of them. you don't go into pages and pages of detail, it doesn't read like an indictment. it's conclusory summary fashion what information they've provided against whom, why it's relevant, why it's important, but this to me reads like pretty significant information that of course because it's redacted we don't know. there is a lot here that mueller has and is dealing with, a lot of testimony from michael flynn that we don't know and that is it's conclusory summary fashion what information they've provided against whom, why it's relevant, why it's important, but this to me reads like pretty significant information that of course because it's redacted we don't know. the

listen to matthew whitaker on cnn right before he joined the justice department. >> well, i was concerned when i read the cnn reporting which you mentioned that they were -- that the special counsel was looking at trump's finances unrelated to the 2016 election and unrelated to russian coordination in that regard. and i think that is a red line. >> the question now is will he act on those words? will mueller be allowed to continue his job? today the man in line to head the house judiciary committee spoke directly with the acting a.g. let's find out what he told him. congressman jerry adler, democrat from new york, welcome to prime time. good to see you. >> good to be here. >> so did the acting a.g. allay your concerns? >> no, he did not. elijah cummings is the chairman of the investigation and oversight committee and i had a phone call with mr. whitaker. he agreed to come to a hearing of our committee to a public hearing in january. and we asked him a number of questions and all i can say -- all i'm ad lib ert to say is that he said he was and would continue to -- to adhere to the protoco

attorney in iowa, despite everything about matthew whitaker.nd now with alex acosta, who was also appointed by george w. bush to be a u.s. attorney, in his case in miami and now with what alex acosta has gotten himself into, there is a reason why the george w. bush unqualified political hack u.s. attorney scandal was a gigantic scandal at the time. the public never cared all that much about it, but what george w. bush did with u.s. attorney appointments is still coming home to roost even today. because those jobs tend to be stepping stones to bigger jobs. when you put people in those jobs who should never be in those kind of jobs, when they use them as stepping stones to higher office, in higher office, sometimes the explosions are bigger and worse and more traumatic than if they had been weeded out by a real vetting process that was supposed to pick qualified people who had the important character and p k background for an important job like federal prosecutor. during alex acosta's tenure after he was appointed by george w. bush, he became fam

and so i think there's a -- i think it's very hard to argue that it is a good idea for matthew whitakerbe supervising this investigation. and to ask for the input of the ethics people and then to disregard their advice strikes me as very ill advised and very inappropriate. >> jill, this barr memo, it's a 20-page memo on some of the legal issues, particularly around obstruction of justice, it's sent to the white house counsel and to people at the department of justice. and it sure looks to me like a job application given that we know this is the front of the president's mind, oh, by the way i'll just drop off this 20-pager dashed off with some thoughts. here you go. do you think it's inappropriate? >> i think it was very inappropriate. it's hard to explain because it was completely unsolicited. he just volunteered to write this memo, taking exactly the position that the president wants. and if whitaker auditioned for his job by going on television, then barr auditioned by sending this memo saying you can't indict the president for obstruction. and i've had a chance to review very quickly

including north carolina congressman mark meadows, nick mulvaney and acting attorney general matthew whitaker. a series of court filings from special counsel robert mueller linking president trump to campaign finance crimes has some democrats talking impeachment or even time behind bars for the president. errol barnett reports. >> he may be the first president in quite some time to face the prospect of jail time. >> adam schiff expected to chair the house against -- gins committee next year said president trump maybe guilty of felony crimes outlined in friday's sentencing memo of his former lawyer michael cohen. federal prosecutors said cohen paid off trump's alleged mistresses to influence the 2016 presidential election in coordination with and at the direction of president trump, he referred to as individual one. >> there's a real prospect that when he leaves office they may indict him. >> republicans like marco rubio are withholding judgment. >> these are things that are to be taken into account and seriously and i would caution everyone to continue to wait till all this plays out. >> the

north carolina, office of management and budget director mick mulvaney and attorney general matthew whitaker. the president may also soon be looking for a new secretary of homeland security. he has been unhappy with the current secretary who is a protigi of john kelly. >>> u.s. marines have called off their search and declared five missing crewmembers dead and warplane crash of japan -- off japan's close. a fighter jet and refueling aircraft collided during training and crashed into the pacific. one crew member was rescued, one was found dead and five others missing. >>> crews rescue a 19-year-old man stranded on a cliff in san francisco in the dark. is happened after 8 pm, firefighters arrived on scene and found the victim who was taken to the hospital and is expected to be okay. >>> pg&e has a list of new safety measures to prevent wildfires. the plans to inspect 5500 miles of transmission lines, they have checked 350 miles worth in last week's. and by 2022 they plan todr ns m they are facing several lawsuits related to recent wildfires including last months camp fire. because of the fire

. >> reporter: also in the mix, budget director mick mulvaney, acting attorney general matthew whitaker, former deputy campaign manager dave bossy, and former new jersey governor chris christie. >> john kelly will be leaving -- >> reporter: the president abruptly announced kelly's departure saturday. >> we'll be announcing who will be taking john's place. it might be on an interim basis. i'll be announcing that over the next day or two. >> reporter: nick ayers, mike pence's chief of staff, was the leading candidate but took his name out of consideration. >> it's tough under any circumstances. under this kind of white house, extremely difficult. >> reporter: lawmakers on capitol hill realize the next chief of staff will have his or her hands full. a house of representatives controlled by democrats, and the russia investigation will keep the white house on edge. >> the president needs to find somebody who he's got confidence in and whose judgment he trusts and knows how to manage a complicated office. >> reporter: the new chief of staff will be the president's third in under two years. an

sessions' chief of staff matthew whitaker is currently the acting attorney general. >>> a draft reportbtained "the new york times" says the show 60 minutes was allowed to operate independently from cbs news and that led to trouble. lawyers were hired by the cbs board to investigate. 60 minutes executive producer jeff fager was fired in september after he threatened a cbs news reporter looking into allegations about his behavior. investigators reportedly concluded that fager's firing was justified. they said engaged in acts of sexual misconduct with colleagues and failed to stop misbehavior by others. in response, fager said it was the first time he was hearing some of the allegations about his personal conduct. investigators also reportedly revealed that cbs continues to pay out a settlement to a woman who claims that former 60 minutes executive producer don hewitt sexually assaulted hir and destroyed her career. in total, cbs has agreed to pay the former employee more than 5 million dollars. >>> the trump administration plans to eliminate an obama era rule cutting carbon emissions at

congressman mark meadows of north carolina, office of management and budget director attorney general matthew whitaker. >>> france's president said he has heard the anger of protesters and is taking action. president emmanuel macron said beseiged paris and other french cities. they started a few weeks ago as a revolt against fuel taxes, then grew into a larger rebuke of mr. macron and his government. now he says that next month he will raise the minimum wage, eliminate taxes on overtime pay and scrap a tax hike for retirees. >>> also overseas brexit is on hold. there is strong opposition to the deal theresa may cut with the european union last month. pro brexit lawmakers say the plan keeps britain bound too closely to the eu. meanwhile pro eu politician say it throws up barriers between the uk and its biggest trading partners. may is under pressure to renegotiate the deal. >>> a sigh of relief for u.s. investors today, the dow ended up the day 34 points, but at one point it was down more than 500. nasdaq closed up 51 points. s&p was up 4 percentage points. big tech companies helped the stock market er

if coep acting attorney general matthew whitaker. heather nauert is being appointed to be to replace nikki haley who resigned in october. today mr. trump praised secretary of state mike pompeo and criticized his predecessor tweeting, "rex tillerson didn't have the mental capacity needed. he was dumb as a rock and i couldn't get rid of him fast enough and he was lazy as heck." the president's twitter follows remarks from last night where he said in texas the president tried to get him to do things that were illegal. >>> still to come we've seen pictures from mars, but now we're hearing sound from mars. >> we'll play you the first ever audio taken from the martian surface. find out what's making those fumbling sounds on the red planet. >> plus a salmon run in the middle of downtown, the bay area city where creeks are now thriving. >> appeared to be intoxicated and then began to continue running with the wise man in his hands. >> a bay area grinch caught in the act carrying a piece of one of the church's nativity sfx: tinny headphone mu

for. >> they haven't said whether he is supervising this investigation because matthew whitaker was on this network and denigrating it and there is an ethics issue about that. they haven't told us who is doing it. >> would having an opinion on the case be a basis of recusal? >> often types it can be. the ethics oflgs will rule if you have taken public positions on something, i recused when i was at the justice department from guantanamo which i had taken public positions on in the past. even though i didn't have any involvement with the cases that were pending. that's a standard thing. the shocking thing is that the justice department four weeks in, we don't even know who is the acting attorney general. is it whitaker or rod rosenstein. >> michael, this can't be over. let me ask you, though, in terms of what you are looking for, this, the cohen memo coming out later this week, the manafort one, which do you think is the most interesting? >> i think the cohen and manafort ones could be more interesting than this. i'm hoping there won't be as many redactions in those. >> i didn't expe

republican congressman rk meadows, budget director mick mulvaney, and acting attorney general matthew whitakerstigationssia and dealing with a new congress are two challenges they will e ce. but abovl it is about keeping donald trump happy. no doubt that chief of staff is one of the toughest jobs in politics.wh for more o is happening in the white house these days, i was joined earlier by alexis simendinger of "the hill." i began by asking her about nick ayers, who said he wouldn't take the job, and how the job of chief of staff will be a tough slot to fill. alexis: you can tell already that the unveili did not go as planned, and it will be a tough job to fill. in previous presidencies, it is not unusual to change the chief of staff, but you get itll prepared beforehand before you are making the change. t s case president trump has a couple of things that are stiff headwinds. one is that we know that congress will give the president and the white house a real going-over next year. any candidate knows that. they know that the president himself is very mercurial and difficult. some chiefs of sta

counsel moller the thing about bill barr is that while his views are very little different than matthew whitaker he holds extreme views about the power of the presidency he has conspiratorial views about hillary clinton he's basically no better than matthew what occur but he has this longstanding history in washington d.c. and so he is considered to be a more serious figure even if his views themselves are not actually very serious views and so i think that makes him a much more dangerous threat to special council mauler than whitacre who's such a weak person in his current position what are the chances of him being approved with that still very still a narrow republican senate majority that will take their seats in january. i think it will depend on what comes out from the mower investigation in the next four to eight weeks before that confirmation process for barr gets going i think if muller continues to advance the information about trump in russia and that information reflects badly on the trump administration in the legitimacy of the two thousand and sixteen presidential election i think b

do you have any thoughts on acting attorney general matthew whitaker's opinion that marbury versus madison was wrongly decided, meeting the branch does not have the authority to declare legislation or constitution? >> i think it would be unwise for me to comment. [laughter] on what he thinks or what he doesn't. >> ok. [laughter] [applause] of the us about some questions the court will be deciding that relates to the future of democracy. >> we do have a case of consensus and how you take the senses. challenges they can bring to the senses. there's a case i think we will probably revisit lemons versus kurtzman and the idea of what the standard should be for once acceptable or not acceptable for the government to do and on government property in terms of religious expression. in this case, it's a giant cross on government property. cases,re may be other the asylum case. the office seems to be intent on racing cases off to the court to try to get -- to stop things from happening in the lower court. it's been a little bit successful, but not as successful as they would like it to have been. it'