matthew whittaker is 49 years old. he will have a long professional career after the trump presidency is over. he has to ask himself tonight, how much is he willing to risk that career by obstructing justice for donald trump? is he willing to risk getting disbarred as a lawyer? is he willing to risk becoming the third attorney general of the united states convicted of a crime, the previous two were both nixon attorneys general whose lives were ruined by their work as attorneys general for a criminal president of the united states. if matthew whittaker obstructs justice for donald trump he will not get away with it, and donald trump will not get away with it because the democrats won the house of representatives. joining us now are matt miller where an msnbc contributor, and ari melber and host of the beat, weeknights 6:00 p.m. on msnbc. ari, i want to start with the legitimacy of this transition here. the new acting attorney general being appointed under the federal vacancies reform act, which only applies if an attorn

senator conditions: matthew whittaker has been reported to have said that the h believes in the policy of nullification that he believes it's possible they are states to nullify laws. there a number of truly alarming statements matthew whittaker has made in the past he ought to come in front of the judiciary committee and explain why he's the appropriate person to serve as the acting attorney general of the united states. >> it seems like your best avenue for protection bill is through something with leverage. like the appropriation process. what's the likelihood you can get enough people on board to use appropriations process to protect mueller? senator flake: i'm an appropriator, i've discussed this with other appropriators, we're not there yet but jerry nadler who is likely the next chairman of the judiciary committee in the house has suggested an end of year appropriation bill may be the right vehicle. i think we've done what we can right now, saying we could have a floor vote today. we'll crs that bridge when we get toyota. i'd be willing to consider it as a vehicle. >> senator fl

how likely is this matthew whittaker could challenge the indictment >> matthew whittaker can the notm once they're filed. they're filed so they can't just be quieted at this point in time. they're already actually filed in court. they just are under seal. so what will happen is once the person is actually arrested and brought forward, they will unsealed by a judge. so as soon as the arrests are made, they'll be made public. now whittaker could take actions to make the indictments go away after that happens, but that's got to involve a judge. the public will at least know about the indictments which is going to be huge in this case. that's what we want to know. we want to know who has been indictmented we want to know the contents of the investigation. his efforts to quiet these indictments are significantly hindered because they're already filed in open court. >> one law expert told abc news 60% of criminal cases remain under saeal. how unusual is this practice. >> it's not unusual in federal court. it's very unusual in state court. state court an indictment is returned in open court

he installed matthew whittaker for one purpose, to end the investigation. there is bipartisan consensus this appointments violates the apointments clause of the .onstitution which trumps any as george conway and former solicitor germ wrote in the "new york times," mr. whittaker's installation makes a mockery of our constitution and our founders' vision. bipartisan. house democrats once again that in our negotiations on the omnibus bill that the g.o.p. leadership include -- join us in including language that would say the special counsel -- to protect any special counsel, the special couple cannot be fired without cause. he or she would be granted a three-judge appeal panel if fired. could only be removed by a -- replaced by a senate-confirmed attorney general or top senate justice department official. this is very important. whittaker would not qualify because such an appointment must be made by someone confirmed by the senate. that's a fact and has to be emphasized. and very importantly, the preservation of all the documentation so that the people an know

and he has this person, matthew whittaker at least for 210 days under the vacancy act. juncture in the presidency. you could call it a distraction from the midterms. i'm not sure it's that because he's always wanted to do it. but it creates a huge potentially constitutional crisis going forward. >> to sam's point here, the president has a good six months plus with matthew whittaker, who can be at the helm there of the doj. let's talk about what this means for the mueller investigation, the extent to which this person, the shifting of the guard can have an influence on the direction, the halting, the putting in roadblocks for the investigation. where does this leave us? >> in the immediate future, as i understand it, rosenstein for the moment is the acting attorney general until the new acting attorney general gets in and is confirmed. that's whittaker. he serves for 210 days and there's some wiggle room at the end of that time period under the vacancies reform act. but the power that he has eventually over the mueller investigation will be considerable. now, there are,

. >> there are report that is the new acting attorney general, matthew whittaker, will not recuse himself seeing the russia investigation. he said it's unlikely the president could be forced to testify if he were subpoenaed. in a surprise move yesterday, the president named him to become acting attorney general. >> 900 protests were scheduled nationwide today in opposition to president trump and his apointment of whittaker. >> reporter: frank and julie, the rallying cry at the rallies is no one is above the law. it was directed at president trump with concern about his firing of jeff sessions and replacing him with whittaker. protesters met in front of san francisco city hall. with songs and sign, their message to president trump, nobody is above the law. >> what happened yesterday was that the tution and the rule of law in the united states of america. >> reporter: protesters say they're worried about president trump firing jeff sessions and replacing him with matthew whittaker. >> we might never hear about it again. >> i think we need to actively protect democracy. i think if we step ba

matthew whittaker who started chief of staff. finishes as acting ag. over seeing the mueller investigation. are leaving the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein of the responsibility. whit ter the president found an ally. who questioned the scope of the investigation. i asked him last year why trump wouldn't say he would fire mueller. >> it's dangerous politically. legally there are certainly a way for that to happen. >> you don't think it's dangerous legally it's not obstruction? unless you it goes my way i'm going to fire you. >> no. i don't think that's obstruction. we keep using that term. >> whittaker also previously questioned the scope of the special counsel investigation saying examining the trump family finances would be would raise serious concerns that the special counsel investigation was a mere witch hunt. witch hunt. sound familiar? lots to discuss. executive producer of show time the circus on sunday night. also cnn global affairs analyst. susan glasser. good evening everyone. >> before we get started. about jeff sessions. matthew whit

investigation robert moore in the immediate future i think the approach will be to contain more matthew whittaker has the power to veto subpoenas and of course robert moore and his team to wrap up their inquiry want to subpoena donald trump to meet him face to face and ask him questions about what happened in two thousand and six change but that's not enough in the long run because more is going to continue he's not going to stop investigating and i think the open question we have right now is is matthew whitaker stay in the post or does donald trump try to bring in someone else and we can speculate on who that might be to finally fire moore if he does that will be the biggest constitutional crisis in recent american history even greater than that in the one nine hundred seventy s. when richard nixon tried to shut down the watergate inquiry it's got there's another question in washington today during the president's press conference yesterday there was a dispute between the president and a c.n.n. reporter jim acosta asked the president about the migrant caravan heading north that's in mexico righ

whittaker about it and again said he did not know him, reporting in washington, d.c. i'm ellison barber fox news. arthel: thank you very much, eric, over to you. eric: let's go to matthewformer justice department attorney general, senior fellow at institute. you heard the critics say, they think the fix is in with whittaker, democrats say he was picked to protect the president, how do you see it? >> well, i think he was pick today be acting attorney general and i think he is unlikely to take any traumatic moves, if the press reports are accurate, the mueller investigation is drawing to a close and i think it would be best to let it run its course and given that he's the acting attorney general it would be unusual for him to take any dramatic actions given that he's in that acting role but the quickest way to resolve this is to get a permanent attorney general in place and the president has a lot of good choices in that regard. eric: we will get to that in a moment after the commercial but in terms of his criticism of the mueller probe, is raising the issue of whether or not the president can even be indicted while in office and saying that the mueller probe should be l

determining that the gop had held on to the senate and that matthew whittaker was named acting attorneyell, i was a little bit surprised with regard to the speed. a little bit surprised that attorney general sessions wasn't allowed to stay until the end of the week, which apparently he had requested. and, frankly, mr. whittaker's credentials for the job are simply his personal and political loyalty to president trump. so i can only imagine how this is playing out with the workforce in the department of justice and the fbi. and i don't think it's positive. >> one of his credentials appears to also be disdain for the mueller probe. so he has expressed on television and in op-eds he thinks the scope is too broad. this smacks of a conflict of interest, and some people, including george conway have gone so far to call it unkobs constitutional and illegal. >> you have two questions here about the lawfulness of the appointment. legal scholars are pointing out that may indeed be unlawful, illegal and illegitimate and his actions that he takes will not have a force of law. then you have the wisd

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. >>> still ahead, president trump tells the press he doesn't know matthew whittaker, the man he pickedy general jeff sessions, but that doesn't seem to match what he said last month. >>> plus, a congressman. elect gets an apology on "saturday night live." mitzi: psoriatic arthritis tries to get in my way? watch me. ( ♪ ) mike: i've tried lots of things for my joint pain. now? watch me. ( ♪ ) joni: think i'd give up showing these guys how it's done? please. real people with active psoriatic arthritis are changing the way they fight it. they're moving forward with cosentyx. it's a different kind of targeted biologic. it's proven to help people find less joint pain and clearer skin. don't use if you are allergic to cosentyx. before starting cosentyx you should be checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms of an infection. or if you have received a vaccine, or plan to. if you have inflammatory bowel disease tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. serious allergic reacti

president trump's appointment of matthew whittaker is constitutional despite allegations from some criticsican and democrat according to justice department. he will be speaking shortly in iowa. laura, tell us what this legal counsel opinion says. how does it justify his appointment at acting attorney general? >> for days constitutional lawyers, professors, former justice officials have been weighing in on the question of whether whittaker's appointment was constitutional mainly because he hasn't been confirmed by the senate. because the attorney general is a principle officer he would require senate confirmation. the justice department in a 20-page memo to the white house today says this is constitutional. this is valid. and they offer a variety of different justifications for it. stick with me because this is something of a legal rabbit hole. they say there is a statute called vacancy act which says if you are a senior enough official, you are at a certain senior level you can stay as the temporary appointment for 210 days. they say because whittaker was high enough here at doj his appoin

trump's installation of matthew whittaker as acting attorney general is unconstitutional, illegal andeans anything mr. whittaker does or tries to do in that position is invalid. joining me now, the co-author of that piece, former acting solicitor general for president obama. why is it legal? >> the constitution flatly prohibits mr. whittaker from being the acting attorney general. our founders put in article 2 of the constitution the requirement principle officers and heads of department the attorney general this is quintessential case have to be confirmed by the senate. you have president trump reaching into the bowels of the justice department and appointing a constitutional nobody, somebody the senate has not confirmed to this task. it's one thing if it's an emergency. this is a situation the president already has his own people in deputy attorney rod rosen stein and solicitor general, people the president nominated but importantly the senate has confirmed to justice positions. whittaker has none of that. >> if he wanted to put somebody an active member confirmed in the justice dep

stories yes president donald trump has fired attorney general jeff sessions trump's chief of staff matthew whittaker will replace him been highly critical of the murder investigation into alleged russian interference in the two thousand and sixteen presidential election even democrats say he must recuse himself. sessions was announced just after president talked up his republican party's gains in the senate and midterm elections but he'll have to contend with democrats who will chap powerful committees in the house of representatives the opposition party secured a majority in the chamber. and president trump says he will have a much stronger opinion on the case of jamal khashoggi next week the journalist was murdered in saudi arabia's consulate in istanbul last month on that matter of more than a month since the death of mr show you know your list. very terrible thing do you think saudi arabia is guilty of of having to murder and if so what marginal your opinion on that subject over the next week and i'm working very closely with congress working together some very talented people and we're working

the white house says chief of staff matthew whittaker is going to be the acting attorney general we'll have more on this story at 5 and 6. >>> to the fire watch, pg and e warn that thousands could lose power, notifying customer ins parts of sonoma, napa, other county that is electricity service may begin to cutoff tomorrow because of high fire danger. mary has more on this red flag warning. >>> we're tracking the winds turning offshore and the winds will be picking up and that does mean a high fire danger. a live look at the tower camera looking east, mount diablo will be under a red flag warning the north bay and east bay hills under a red flag warning beginning at 10 p.m. all the way through friday at 7, gusts, elevations above a thousand feet, low helptive humidity. right now the winds are on the low side. as we go through tonight. we are going to see the winds pick up. so future cast wind gusts taking you through here stopping the clock here we are at 10 p.m. you can see the winds, those strong winds will see the strongest winds through tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. those purple colors ind

there are protests across the country in response to the president's appointment of matthew whittaker as acting attorney general of the united states. it's pretty clear why he did it, he is a function of the white house and made multiple derogatory statements about the whittaker probe will reportedly not recuse himself. two people close to whittaker said he has no intention of taking himself off the russia case and strongly believe he would not approve any request from mueller to subpoena the president. now that he's the acting attorney general, what is stopping whittaker from funneling all kinds of information about the mueller investigation directly to the president. before you get to those issues, it's still unclear it's legal for whittaker to have this job in the first place. a dream team of lawyers say mr. trump's installation of matthew whittaker as acting attorney general is unconstitutional, illegal and means anything mr. whittaker does or tries to do in that position is invalid. joining me now, the co-author of that piece, former acting solicitor general for president obama.

president trump has given acting attorney general matthew whittaker full authority over special council robert muller's russia investigation. >> it is going to be up to him, i believe he is going to do what's right. >> if he decides to curtail. >> i would not get involved. >> democrats have called upon whittaker to recuse himself from overseeing the investigation pointing comments whittaker has made in the past criticizing muller's probe. he was choosing for the purpose of interfering with the muller investigation. three democrat senators have sued to have whittaker removed saying the constitution requires senate approval for all principal officers such as attorney general. but the white house argues that whittaker is not considered a principal officer because he is only temporary. >> he is clearly a principal officer in the fact that he is a temporary principal officer, doesn't mean that that is any less subject to senate confirmation. special council robert muller agreed to submit written questions to president trump and the president is expected to submit his answers next week. but t

news tonight, new information emerging about the acting-attorney general of the united states, matthew whittakerhis role in the administration as president trump attempts to distance himself from whittaker. laura coates, let's get to this controversy. some people actually believe the appointment of whittaker to be the acting-attorney general after sessions was fired was unconstitutional. >> they would be really accurate, because what happened when this person was appointed it upended the line of succession. there's a reason it has to be a senate-confirmed person. there was a line of succession. the chief of staff was never there in the line of succession. you got the notion of how did the president have the authority to do so. normally you don't argue with somebody that can answer the question, you and what haerm, but, mr. president, is it the vacancies reform act you are using? no, that wouldn't qualify. though he was confirmed in iowa, that was years ago. you can't rely on that. number two, is the recess appointment. that is kind of a give and take, too. the president has done this action. i h

organized across the country after president trump fired jeff sessions yesterday and appointed matthew whittaker as his replacement. >> he could quash it and we might not hear about it again. i think we need to actively protect democracy. if we sit back trump will abuse his position and use our institutions for his own gain. >> whittaker has made comments in the media opposing parts oh it was mueller investigation and suggesting ways of shutting down the probe. the white house say there is is no inat the present time to disrupt the investigation. >> google aagreed to change how they handle cases of sexual misconduct. >> the company's ceo outlineed the changes in a letter to employees. >> reporter: a sign of change at google. the ceo sent a letter promising policy changings and more transparency saying we recognize we have not always gotten everything right and we're sorry for that. it's clear we need to make changings. he went on to outline several changes include including arbitration and more. he said the perpetrator in most cases have been drinking alcohol. >> it signals they're trying to und

matthew whittaker was a cnn legal commentator. here's what he said back in july of 2017. >> i could see a scenario where jeff sessions is replaced with a recess appointment and that attorney general doesn't fire bob mueller but he just reduces the budget so low that his an investigation grinds to almost a halt. >> to dwindle his resources. >> that same month whittaker also commented with donald trump, jr.'s meeting with a russian lawyer who offered dirt on hillary clinton. >> i mean, you would always take that meeting. we have no information right now to suggest he knew who this individual was he was going to meet with. they just knew that they must have been sold the fact there was some really good information they needed to hear. and having been in campaigns i know what that pitch looks like, and you would always some body from the campaign take that person and hear that person out. >> whittaker made his intentions clear, the headline, mueller's investigation is going too far. joining us now shimon procupez. >> the implications,

this comes as he defends his acting attorney general matthew whittaker. >> reporter: good morning. president trump says on his end he's ready for this russia investigation to wrap up. and should his new acting attorney general choose to limit the investigation in any way, the president says he's okay with that. special counsel robert muller has yet to reveal a timeline. but president trump says he has completed his written answers for muller. telling fox news, he wrote them himself. >> not my team. i'm preparing written answers. >> reporter: a sitdown with robert muller not likely. acting attorney general matthew whisker, he has the authority to limit the investigation. >> i would not get involved. >> reporter: adam schiff calls his appointment unconstitutional. >> ethically he should have nothing to do with the investigation. >> reporter: in response, president trump laughed at schiff on twitter calling his name an expletive and lashing out at retired admiral calling the president's attacks on the media the greatest threat to democracy. >> he's a navy s.e.a.l. >> it would have bee

sessions' replacement is matthew whittaker he's openly critical of the investigation and he may have the power to end it you're going to get hit with the hiring and firing attorney generals is commonplace in american politics but rarely has it been so controversial. for more let's bring in scott lucas professor of international politics and american studies at the university of birmingham scott what is likely to happen to them all or investigation now. well it depends on who wins the battle of what donald trump confirmed yesterday although we've learnt specht of this is that he and his inner circle are not going to stop until they can significantly limit and probably shut down the investigation we had expected that just sessions would be removed after the election what surprised me and a lot of others is how quickly donald trump moved yesterday he clearly was rattled that on tuesday the democrats took the lower house of congress in the u.s. midterm elections he knows that those democrats can support them or investigation and so he's acted this quickly by putting the enemy man as you

nickname for democratic congressman, adam schiff after schiff questioned whether his appointment of matthew whittakers constitutional. >> in the meantime, the president is now taking aim at the retired admiral who commanded the exercise that brought down osama bin laden. elizabeth hur joins us. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. we'll begin with president trump saying on his end, he is ready for this russia investigation to wrap up, and should his new acting attorney general choose to limit this investigation in any way, the president says he is okay with that. special counsel robert mueller has yet to reveal a timeline, but president trump says he has completed his written answers for mueller, telling fox news he wrote them himself. >> not my team. i'm preparing written answers. >> reporter: the president adding a sitdown interview with mueller, not likely. >> i think we have wasted enough time on this witch hunt, and the answer is probably that we're finished. >> reporter: as for his acting attorney general, matthew whitaker, who has been a vocal critic of the russia probe, this is wha

. >> pedro: you have a legal background what did you think argument of matthew whittaker taking the -- >> stacey: i think it negates the greats importance and of the departmentt of justice. i worked at the department of justice, worked for james comey, worked for larry thompson, under attorney general ash croft, and i think chris ray is a friend of mine and it disturbs me that someone who was not a senate confirmed is in that position when you have individuals down the line whether it be the deputy attorney general, the associated attorney general one of the dozens of assistant attorney generals that could have taken the position. >> pedro: but it violate the act as far as his appointment, do you think that's been violated from a legal background. >> stacey: from a legal background i think it's fuzzy. because i think that the president can appoint who he wants to appoint, but there is a point at which it needs to be senate confirmed. i think that in an emergency circumstances he would be allowed to do that. i do not believe we're in that time frame to which the president would have th

house in the midterms and have vowed to protect it was sessions has been temporarily replaced by matthew whittaker who's been openly critical of miller's investigation was or was the u.s. attorney for southern iowa from two thousand and four to two thousand and nine in that role he prosecuted white collar and drug trafficking crimes it tried to run for the senate in two thousand and fourteen but failed to win the republican party's nomination he then worked as a conservative legal commentator for c.n.n. before being hired as jeff sessions chief of staff in october last year to get more now from our white house correspondent kimberly so i mean obviously the jeff sessions firing had somewhat been predicted the two men him in prison for by and got on in a very long time so how realistic are these fears that this is going to eventually spell the end of the investigation. well it certainly is a realistic fear for democrats that's why they have penned a letter to the acting attorney general matthew would occur they're arguing event he they have concerns that he because of an editorial he penned saying t

don't think there is no i possibility mueller will complete his investigation and hand it to matthew whittakerttorney general leave it for him to decide what to do with it? you think there will be a new attorney general by the time. >> maria said possible this could happen before the end of the year obviously would be desirable to get this over and done with sooner rather than later i do think there is a -- i guess a sense that -- >> suggested going -- >> well -- >> -- what that is anything about the report -- >> the whole point it goes to him doesn't go to congress right so he -- >> two-step process but it is going to congress ultimately, will be released to the public i think that is inevitable the bottom line i think that this -- there are some things that -- >> wow shrimp, . >>> welcome back following breaking news this morning out of california 12 people including a sheriff's deputy have been shot and killed. mass bar shooting, the shooter also dead, we will bring updates as they come in we are waiting on a motive the identity of the shooter watching markets this morning things have worse

donald trump has made clear his displeasure with the attorney general and the man replacing him, matthew whittakersaying he thinks the robert mueller investigation into donald trump is going too far already. that it should just be about whether russia interfered in the presidential elections and shouldn't stretch to territory or a tax into donald trump's personal finances or family's finances. clive, you can see the battle coming up there, because of donald trump is thinking he can shut down the mueller investigation, the democrats on the hill who now run the house of representatives, they are very determined that is not going to happen. as we saw and chris's piece, also this other altercation that affect the nature of reporting on the white house, jim acosta, the senior white house correspondent at the white house was asking donald trump, saying this migrant caravan can't be constituted as an invasion, called an invasion, cannock, they are hundreds of miles from the border? that made the president angry, then you saw that moment where a young female staffer tried to ta ke where a young female sta

. >> reporter: matthew whittaker was well known as a reliable conservative when hef was hand picked.cgahn was behind his fihirg as sessions chief of staff and white house officials believe his loyalties would lie at the white house and not with sessions who had fallen out of favor with trump. he too recommended whittaker since jeff sessions need add strong manager and someone with credibility who had served the department. one source says it was way to keep things on the rails at the justice department and keep sessions focused. whittaker was encouraged by people close to trump to appear on tv to get the attention of the president. in 2014, whittaker told an iowa blog he thought the landmark supreme court ruling from 1803 that established judiciary ability to strike down laws to violate the u.s. constitution was one of the worst decisions in supreme court history. he said there's no many bad rulings. the courts are supposed to be the inferior branch of our three branches of government. we have off loaded many onto the court and they diddecided them. he said judges should adhere to th

. >> adam schiff giving fair warning he will not tolerate any interference from matthew whittaker.e's expected to become chairman of the house intelligence committee. his comments come with the special counsel investigation possibly entering its final chaj stag -- stages. mueller has been writing his report since august. still unclear is when lit be finished. is it really possible that matt whittaker could back channel information about the mueller investigation to the president? >> i think he could. the question is should he be doing that. would that be permissible. if he were sharing information about it, he could be exposing himself to charges of obstruction of justice. it's such an unprecedented territory to be in. i think that is a legitimate concern especially in light of very unusual nature of the appointment of matt whit chtake. we've seen the commentary that's been pro-trump and anti-mueller. >> talk about this unusual appointment. the question is how long can he will left there in. >> he can be left there for up to 210 days with wiggle room in the nomination is still pend

president trump telling fox news he will not overrule the account acting attorney general math matthew whittaker if he puts restrictions on the russian investigation. three senate democrats filed a lawsuit challenging whittaker's appointment. they argue the president sidesteps the constitution because the senate has not confirmed him. they say anybody who watch schoolhouse rock would realize that. the state of maryland is also filed a lawsuit arguing the president should have chosen the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. they say whittaker's appointment is lawful. in the past whittaker criticized mueller's investigation in the 2016 and talked bow the -- how the attorney general could cut funding. whittaker said there was no collusion between the russians and the trump campaign. the president agrees. he didn't know whittaker's stand in advance. the real question here is whittaker in charge as a partisan to protect president trump? john roberts reporting live from the white house. >> reporter: that is the question lot of people have. for the president's part, he's made no effort to hide his c

>> reporter: the president appointed matthew whittaker after jeff sessions was ousted in the hours after election day. and now whittaker is under fire for talking about what happened overs overseas. last year in a series of radio interviews, he bashed mueller's russia probe. >> there is not a single piece of evidence that demonstrates that the trump campaign had any illegal or even improper relationships with russians. >> reporter: on obstruction by president trump? >> if all he did was make a mere suggestion and not an outright command -- >> reporter: he also called mueller's appointment ridiculous and sounds fishy. >> i just hope it doesn't turn into a fishing expedition. that's the way it's supposed to be. >> reporter: he forcefully defended president trump. >> it is not helping this administration and not helping the federal government generally to have the president and his associates under the cloud of a federal investigation. i mean, it is -- it is very hard. >> reporter: unlike sessions, sources tell abc news whittaker will not recuse himself from overseeing the russia probe, som

as several lawmakers express concern that mueller's investigation could be jeopardized by matthew whittaker. >> this is someone who publicly said that he thinks you could starve the investigation so he could try to do that by cutting down on the money. >> house republicans, meanwhile, are trying to get former fbi director james comey t t doors. comey, who was subpoenaed last week, said he'll only agree to an open hearing so republicans could selectively leak his testimony. >> i don't get a chance to say it often but i think comey is right. leaks are counter productive. >> no word on when the mueller investigation will wrap up. the president has repeatedly called it a witch hunt. papadopoulos heads to prison on monday while paul manafort has a status hearing on his sentencing. manafort is cooperating with mueller's investigation. >>> also, tomorrow president trump will hit the 2018 campaign trail one last time. he is supporting republican senate candidate cindy hyde in mississippi's still undecided election. the incumbent faced harsh backlash by using "public hanging." president trump won th

we saw that matthew whittaker. we made public the comments criticizing the special counsel's investigation over past months before the president chose him to oversee that investigation. we also noted that he wrote a usa today op-ed titled i would indict hillary clinton. he went on to say when the facts in evidence show a criminal violation is committed the individuals involved should not dictate whether the case is prosecuted. now whittaker is president trump's appointee. does he have free rein to follow through on the threat? >> there are some serious concerns about his objectivity not only because of that op-ed and because of his questions on the mueller probe, but when he was the head of this conservative group he would frequently make charges about investigations into hillary clinton and the clinton foundation. so there are a lot of questions that need to be asked of this person. frankly, this is up to congress to really hold him accountable for the previous statements because right now you're right. he is the

how concerned are you about matthew whittaker now being in that position after jeff sessions was forced out because the president explicitly said many times over the course of many months because he didn't like the way he was handling the probe. >> i'm concerned about the fact there has been foot dragging on the hill about protecting mueller. people have said we don't need to do that. it's not going to happen. we don't know that now. it could happen on the whim of president trump. we know he has many whims. he has one a day at least. i think they have left the mueller investigation exposed and vulnerable to matt whitaker. >> is there any substance or any teeth behind this effort now by jeff flake, this threat in effect to stand in the way of judge -- votes on new judge nominations by this president. he would need other senators to come on board. i understand lisa murkowski has reached out to discuss more. what are you hearing from the hill as to whether there were enough republican votes to give that threat teal, in effect. >> there is bipartisan support for legislation to protect rober

it's already adding to already deep concerns that matthew whittaker can't be trusted to oversee the russiation. >>> and protecting the probe. as demonstrators march in defense of robert mueller, newly empowered house democrats fear for the future of the russia investigation after the president's decision to fire jeff sessions. >>> tonight we're learning more about how the special counsel is

the person now overseeing that investigation, matthew whittaker, the acting attorney general after jeffons submitted his resignation at the president's request. whittaker, session's chief of staff and former attorney finding his remarks under scrutiny. he suggested last year mueller and his team have too much power. >> i could see a scenario where jeff sessions is replaced and the attorney general just reduces the budget so low that his investigation grinds to almost a halt. >> reporter: he also called reports that mueller's team was looking into financial records related to the trump organization deeply concerning. >> i understand sort of following the money. but at the same time we cannot go on these fishing expeditions which are essentially casting a broad net looking for any crimes unrelated to the whole purpose of this investigation. >> reporter: those view seem to put him on the same page as the president whose relationship with sessions soured soon after the attorney general recused himself from the russia investigation because he campaigned for donald trump in 2016. >> he took t

back in washington this morning, and it's amid the calls for his new acting attorney general, matthew whittakerrecuse himself from the russia probe. >>> florida is recounting thousands of ballots in two races, and president trump said the florida election should be called in favor of the republican front runners. >>> looking at the roadways right now, south 101 past marsh, two lanes are shut down, and chp issued a traffic alert. you can see the activity in the live shot. slow and go conditions approaching the accident, and use 280 as the alternate. the drive time now 26 minutes down to university avenue, and slow for the commute this morning, and westbound, bay bridge, mccarthur to the maze, not backed up quite to the maze, but the metering lights are on. 92 before skyline, all westbound lanes blocked, and emergency crews expecting delay through there. 92, the bridge portion, looking okay. 880 to 101. 14 minute drive time to 101, and westbound 37, 80 to 101, give yourself time to make the drive. >>> gianna, check out the sunrise there, and you can see how smoky it is, live look with the tower c

. >> reporter: matthew whittaker is now the acting attorney i a during the bush administration, most recently he was sessions chief of staff. >> let's bring our political analyst, larry gersten to talk about it, is it really a surprise he asked for his resignation the day the democrats took over the house. >> he couldn't wait. i wouldn't be surprised if it was 8:01 last night he picked up the phone. this leads to a series of issues and questions about what happens next. first of all, whittaker himself may be tainted. if you have gone into his history, he's issued a series of statements about how the mueller investigation has gone too far. >> including an article. >> the question is does he need sn't recuse himself, there are other questions. for example, he doesn't have to fire robert mueller, all he has to do is cut back his budget. all he has to do is saying i don't want you going in this direction or that direction. mueller must get approved before he goes in any direction. there's a multitude of ways mueller can be hampered to the point that he's totally ineffective. that's the k

new audio released by the group the democratic coalition features matthew whittaker making claims thatllusion between the russians and the trump campaign. >> the truth is there was no collusion with the russians and the trump campaign. there was interference by the russians into the election, but that is not the collusion with the campaign. that's where the left seems to be just combining those two issues. the last thing they want right now is the truth to come out and the fact that there's not a single piece of evidence that demonstrates that the trump campaign had any illegal or even improper relationships with russians. it's that simple. >> the left is trying to sow this theory that essentially russians interfered with the u.s. election, which has been proven false. they did not have any impact in the election and that has been very clear from the obama administration. >> despite whittaker's claims that american intelligence agencies have repeatedly said that russia did in fact interfere in the presidential election. meanwhile, despite growing calls for him to recuse himself from ov

this comes as he defends his acting attorney general matthew whittaker.ongressman adam schiff called whisker's appointment unconstitutionally. >> it has to be stoupb. he miss spilled his name as an expleti expletive. he said muller was also not approved by the senate. >>> all right. you're never more than 7 minutes away from my accuweather forecast. frost in the north bay. ukiah, 33. napa, american canyon, 37. tiburo49 right now.sco.lyhe war. we have mid to upper 30s in the east bay valleys. is brentwood, tracy, 40. upper 30s in redwood city. cupertino. mid to upper 40s for most of the bay. our visibility, 2 to 4 miles because of the thick smoke you can see from south beach. mass transit, make sure you have a new mask today. the ferry is calm for now. come wednesday, it will get choppy when the rain starts to roll in. south bay, 46 degrees at 8:00. 20 degrees warmer just about at noon. mid to upper 60s until 4:00. 55 at 8:00. reset the time frame and go to the peninsula. 48 this morning. 61 at noon. from 1:00 to 4:00, in the mid-60s. but down in the mid-5

the buzz in washington is about matthew whittaker. there's paul manafort news. what is the expectation among those in the know and reporters about what's about to happen in the next few weeks after thanksgiving thanksgiving? >> we asked the white house if that was a typo or not and think never answered. the speculation around the mueller probe has picked up again after this quite period before the midterms has ended. the president has been talking about his frufrstrations about behind the scenes. this concerns perhaps about his eldest son. he's told people around him he feels like don junior may have inadvertently broken the law. there could be other shoes to drop. his effort to part of the idea with whittaker putting in a known critic and he was well aware of his position is that might help curtail the probe. he is growing concerned he may have to move sooner than he wants to make a more permanent post. >> there comes in filing for the manafort extension. there's one part that talks about needing to extend the talk to manafort and it says the parties believe a

replaced him not with rod rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, but instead with a loyalist, matthew whittakerhave acting attorney general whittaker squeeze or end the investigation by robert mueller, that would be an obstruction of justice action. there have been strong words by senators, republican and democrat, for months, cautioning president trump against interfering with the mueller investigation. many senators have said if the president is innocent, it's in his best interest to have this investigation go all the way to its conclusion. there were some more statements today by a senator-elect mitt romney, senator alexander, by senator susan collins, by many democrats, as well, saying the president should not interfere. but if, as your previous guest indicated, there's a step taken to curtail the reach or the funding or support of the mueller investigation, that would be a decisive moment, and we would need to match these words with action. i'm calling on the nat senate t take up and pass the bipartisan bill i introduced last year, with the three other senators. it's already passed the sen

the pnt tweeted that matthew whittaker is now takingr the president thanked mr. sessions for the service and wished him well, but ithe resignation letter, sessions said he's stepping down at the present's request. there's been a simmering tension between the justice department and white house. mr. trump was enraged when sessions rescued himself from the russian probe and all o washington wonders what this means for the future of the specialcounsel's russian investigation. >> matt whitaker will oversee the mueller investigation. it's not rosenstein doing this anymore once thisppointment is >> reporter: they said the investigation has to be protected and ending it or limiting it would spark a constitutional icrisis. this a story we'll update you on as we learn more. >> a right, thank you, scott. >>> that was just one of the big stories coming out of the white house today. >> right. because prior to that announcement, the president engagedn a wild a combative news conference with reporters. >> speaking for 87 minutes, his longest press conference yet, he took questi

. >>> top democrats in congress say the acting attorney general, matthew whittaker should recuse himself and they will use the new house majority to prevent him from interfering with that investigation. president trump named whittaker the acting a.g. after he forced jeff sessions to re-sign last week. democrats argue he is not legally in the job. the fox news senior judicial analyst, andrew napolitano agrees. he says he is not legally qualified because of precise laws after the nixon watergate break. he says the president has put the justice department in a dangerous spot by appointing whittaker. here is his argument. >> whatever he does as an acting attorney general is null and void and whatever other people in the d.o.j. do in response to what he does may be null and void. we really have a very dangerous situation here. >> already, the president appears to be distancing himself from the appoint tee the day after he named whittaker to take the job. the president said, i don't know matt whittaker after saying repeatedly before he does know him. he said so on this network. "the new york t

we have an acting attorney general now in matthew whittaker. the president said he's not in a hurry to replace that position. one possibility is he may be waiting for the mueller investigation to concludes before he names someone in that role. after a midterm especially one where there's losses and the president say we picked up a couple of seats it's a normal time to reshuffle a bit. we know how exhausting these jobs are. sometimes two years is enough for them. they may want to move on as well. this is one of the high stakes. it also tells us where his priority, allow is he able to do recruitment? do people want to be part of this administration? that's a big question. >> it is a big question. it has very significant implications for this president, for his policies. kelly talked about a couple of names we have been watching. homeland security secretary, jo and john kelly. what do you make of it? >> mike pence chief of staff might wind up being president trump's chief of staff. he looks the part, he talks the part and he knows the part. here i

. >>> plus, acting attorney general matthew whittaker is facing a new legal challenge as senate democrats was unconstitutional. argue his appointment was unconstitutional unpredictable crohn's symptoms following you? for adults with moderately to severely active crohn's disease, stelara® works differently. studies showed relief and remission, with dosing every 8 weeks. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection or flu-like symptoms or sores, have had cancer, or develop new skin growths, or if anyone in your house needs or recently had a vaccine. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems, including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems. these may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. some serious allergic reactions and lung inflammation can occur. talk to your doctor today, and learn how janssen can help you explore cost support options. remission can start with stelar