now, legally it doesn't matter what don mcghan, a witness, thought. but politically and in keeping the president calm. the president's lawyers thought it would be really great to have mcgahn put out a statement after the report comes out. it would take a lot of the air out of it. and the white house, before it's released goes to mcgahn's lawyer and asks will they put out this statement. they considered it, then the report came out and they saw all of the obstruction and they thought it would be pretty weird to actually put out such a statement and they didn't and trump got upset. >> so, robert costa, why if you're the president are you now harassing on twitter someone who, if any sort of investigation comes to pass, if impeachment proceedings come to pass on capitol hill, don mcghan will be a witness in the obstruction investigation. >> talking in confidence to president trump it's clear the president believes privately that don mcghan would be central to any congressional case made against him on obstruction. and as capitol hill pursues that testimon

we're seeing that with don mcghan. -- >> can't top that. >> for sure. don mcghan is somebody who had a profound impact on the policies the administration put forth -- >> he's right. don mcghan came in, he was part of the team that had the federal society list of jurists who were going to be acceptable to conservatives to choose for the supreme court, you mentioned kavanaugh, but also the lower courts. it was part of mcghan's list. in his own way he severaled the goal that he had set for himself. he wasn't going to just walk the plank for trump on his entire reputation. he's been through the white house, in trump's mind betrayed the president, could cause problems down the line. you don't want to get in the cross hairs of the president of the united states. >> help me understand, we know my friend across the aisle, distinguished gentleman, et cetera, et cetera, we're seeing that in the back and forth over don mcghan's part of the committees, his lawyer characterizing the documents from the president one issued cordially

and he is now attempting to essentially prevent or deny mcghan the opportunity. >> do you think mcghan wants had -- >> i think this is the big question, does mcghan want to. >> yeah. >> he's been silent on this issue. >> right. >> but having been called a liar now repeatedly, i would think he would want to clear his name. mueller found him credible, at least the special counsel's office said in the report. we weighed both sides, and obviously the president has another side of the story even though they didn't get to interview him. i would think that mcghan would want to get that in the clear. it's also not clear that mcghan might have some things that would put the president in a good light. he did work there even after the president continued to put pressure on him. i think that there could be some issues there that congress would want to tease out, as well. >> i think this president more than others knows the power of television and knows the power, you know, maybe some people didn't read the mueller report. maybe they didn't read anything about it. and then you'd have don mcghan say

she's devoted to don mcghan, the white house counsel.d him into the white house as his chief of staff. helping manage a large group of lawyers. and basically she was the scribe for what i would describe as the most tempestuos, chaotic and angst filled moments in the oval office. she was writing down in real time what don mcghan was hearing the president say about how he wanted to stop the russia investigation. >> i read all the footnotes and all of her notes. if you think of don mcghan as the narrator of donald trump's efforts to obstruct justice and the flash points that mueller investigated are all things that mcgahn witnessed. annie donaldson is the screen writer if you're trying to writer if you're trying to understand the story. but what she adds is obviously some analysis took place once the fireworks between mcgahn and trump stopped. they would write obstruction question mark, the end is near, question mark. what did you learn about their state of mind about the likelihood that donald trump was obstructing justice? they seemed to

mcghan and his counsel. nadler said barring a court order, mcghan has to provide the documents and testify. now they initially proposed that testimony for later this month. i think the date was may 21. the white house notably has not announced its position on whether it would seek to block mcghan's testimony as well. >> so let's talk about the house judiciary committee, what you're hearing from the chairman and members there, kelly, about the next step for mcghan. >> we will see it play out, and certainly over these days, there's a frustration because mcghan, of course, is in many ways one of the largest figures looming in the pages of the mueller report. >> no one was mentioned more, no single individual. >> exactly. >> and it's his account, his memory, his contemporaneous documentation that gave a roadmap. there were others, of course, as well. but because of his position as white house counsel and close advice and proximity to the president, that makes him this huge figure. there is an expectation there's

and don mcghan is a real lawyer. he was not going to do that. >> this is not the role of white house counsel either as we heard don talk about it. >> certainly not. he's been part of the circles for a long time so he knows his way around washington. he's a pro's pro and a good lawyer. i notice how careful and diligent he was, how he reacted and acted to trump's orders and actions. he not only saved trump but isolated himself legally and ethically, and you can argue in the media by doing things he did, including as "the washington journal" talked about earlier today. and let's not forget, don mcghan is probably responsible for the most lasting achievement of the trump presidency, all the judges. president trump should be grateful to don mcghan for that. >> what's the next step here, because really the president is putting don mcghan here in a tough spot between congress and the executive branch. this is going to be a tough one. >> the house judiciary committee is eager to hear from him. i talked tonight to a source of

does it make it more or less likely that mcghan will testify? >> i think what's significant about this revelation it shows the length the white house was willing to go in order to show their belief that president donald trump did not fact obstruct justice in the wake of the report special counsel robert mueller put out, which obviously is something democrats on capitol hill are using to continue their investigations into this president. i think we're waiting to see whether or not he will indeed testify but i think it certainly isn't -- this revelation will not do anything to kwas the tensions on capitol hill between democrats and republicans, as democrats continue to investigate this and as republicans like senate majority leader mitch mcconnell declared this is case closed on that report. >> liz, what do you make of the response from mcghan's side? do you think it's an effort to downplay the drama, especially that he can be held in contempt by house democrats? >> yeah, mcghan is a real interesting figure in this drama and has been from the very

democrats aredemocratanding tha mcghan appear.cy pelosi was pushed by members of the house committefo to move rward with an impeachment inquiry if mcghan does not testify. so far, pelosi has pushed back saying there are unexhausted's still to pursue. more coming up on "today." >> peter alexander live for us fromhe white house. thank you. again, peter's full report is coming up next on "today." >>> also happening today, history will be made when the archdiese of washington get a new leader. he first african-american will be installed as archbishop of a region's more than half million catholics. >> news4's justin finch is live at the basilica in northwest washington where the installationill take place. big day for the catholic community. >> reporter: a really big deal. there hospital -- there's a new changl when wn gregory is installed. wilton gregory would become, again,the fi african-american archbishop of the washington archdiocese. iginally m chicago and was jordaniordained in 1973. he's now 71 years old and is the formerrcisho

the white house says don mcghan has imnity from any congressional testimony.talk about that inhe xt few weeks. thiss after a battle finh the white house and the hresident. se democrats get somethingwhat was a win when -- somewhat of a win when the judge ruled the white house m turn over seven years of financial recore democrats have been seeking. back to you >>rim rahris boswell on the hil mthanks. >>>lon alexander was convicted of raping at least three women including an 86-year-old in a senior living home. the crimes happened between 2007 and 11 in germantown and boirg. >>> you may -- gaithersburg. >>> you may see this the next time you fly out of dulles. the fbi posted warning signs on monitors that say sex defaults abalrd flights are feder crimes. the d.c. field office has an airport liaison team assigned to handle airborne crimes. the i-team reviewed an fbi affidavit. it showed a massachusetts man is charged with sexuallss alting a 19-year-old woman who was next to him on a flight to dulles from tokyo last summer. a grand jury indicted george seregin with

even with don mcghan on the outside he has an ally, someone who sees it the same way, being the point person in negotiating with congress as they make their request. and emmet flood, more than anyone is drawing the line for president trump and how this is going to move forward. that's what the attorney general, william barr, was referencing yesterday in his testimony knowing how emmet flood is proceeding at this moment. >> mark karalo is another one in that circle, he quit donald trump's team. his red line was attacks on robert mueller, his character, the conduct and character of the investigation. do you think anyone pauses or stops or thinks about what jim comey wrote about how people who go to work for donald trump sell their souls. do you think emmet flood had any problem with attacking robert mueller's conduct? >> and carolo was uncomfortable with how the trump tower meeting was explain bid the white house, the "air force one" story, others involved in that statement about donald trump jr., he left the legal team. but in terms of the bigger picture question. so many people in pre

you know, don mcghan could say, i'm going to go ahead and show up and testify. i don't think anyone believes that will actually happen. but we are not talking about a routine inquiry into a president being advised by his senior advisers. we're talking about alleged criminal conduct by the president of the united states, his white house counsel was apparently privy to some of the alleged obstruction. to keep that from coming before congress seems to me should be something to make us all stop and treat this differently from any similar process. >> congressman amash seemed to get through the second volume of the mueller report and detail on twitter over the weekend what he thought amounted to high crimes and misdemeanors. a lot of that holds -- would seem to be incidents that don mcghan who's cited 157 times in that second volume could testify to. could you just remind our viewers how central don mcghan's testimony and interviews with robert mueller and his investigators are to that second volume? >> he's essentially the narrator of that part of the report. and he

this after president trump told mcghan to defy a subpoena. democrats want to hearhi from m because he was a key witness in the special counsel investigation. more on this coming up in a few minutes. >>> and it's nfisecret traf on the beltway can be a nightmare. vdot is proposing a solution to making your commute throughrt ern virginia easier. it would include three miles of new i-495 express lanes in each direction from the dulles toll road interchange to the maryland line. the environmental assessment test for the project is expected to be completed in the fall. >>> it is not looking good for the skinsal ady. just minutes into yesterday's first team workout of the offseason, lacker reuben foster suffered a potentially devastating injury. youan see him there. sources tell nbc sports washington foster may have torn the acl in his left knee. that is a serious injury. hijust the t play of the day. he went down in obvious pain there and grabbed his knee as he was carted off. it was a destating turn. events for the skins as foster was expected to

in that case mcghan also rejected the president's request. the former white house county had been subpoenaed to testify before congress. white house advisers were trying to stop that from happening. the chairman of the house judiciary committee tweet this -- the president cannot keep mcghan from testifying. francesca, let me start with you. you cover the white house day in and day out. help me to understand the degree the white house tried to shape this narrative, not from the release of that redacted report but what we've seen overnight. >> and what we saw in the report by the way matches up with the new reporting, which is president trump repeatedly tried to get these officials to say i never did this sort of thing. and it seems as if the facts the attorney general -- and even robert mueller, he did not rule this the i the president had obstructed justice. so what does he turn around and do? he takes up similar behavior again because why not? they already decided he didn't break the law and so he believes he's not breaking the law. but one

we also know that democrats in lycongress desperaant don mcghan to. they think he will be a very important witness toake their case to the american public. mcghan for now at the wstruction of the hite house and his own view is that he's t thereng to testify, bu may come a time where he becomes si important witness in any kind of congral inquiry moving forward. >> woodruff: john carlin,co ng back to the russia, the part of this that started the whole investigation in the first place, was there anyollusion, cooperation, conspiracy between the trump campaignnd the russians, and you have the special counsel saying we were not able to prove a broader conspiracy, but, again, you point back -- you look at the mueller report, they describe deleted text messages, failure to talk to witnesses, they couldn't get to people like donald trump, jr., they called the president's written answers to their questionse inquate. so you get the sense that they didn't get everything they wanted to know. >> i think that's clear from the report, and he reiterated again, based o

mcghan for now at the instruction of the white house and his own ew is th he's not going to testify, there may come a time where he becomes an important witness in any ind of congressional inquiry moving ufrward. >> woo john carlin, coming back to the russia, the part of this that started theve whole tigation in the first place, was there any collusion,p ation, conspiracy between the trump campaign and the russians, and you have thl e specunsel saying we were not able to prove a broader onspiracy, but, again, you point ba you look at the ribller report, they de deleted text messages, failure to talk totnesses, they couldn't get to people like donald trump, jr., they called itten answers's w to their questions inadequate. so you get thhasenset they didn't get everything they wanted to know. >> think that's clearom the report, and he reiterated again, based on what they did find, they didn't find the crimi evidence to support a criminal conspiracy charge, but what they found was troubling in terms of an amazing russian campaign rected by russian military intelligence officers to target

this after president trump told mcghan to dfy the subpoena. the justicdepartment argues mcghan should have immunity from testifying about his work while he was working for the president. droocrats want to hear fm him because he was the key witness in the special counsel investigation. >>> 4:06. it's no secret traffic can be a nightmare especially on the beltway. it can feel like the traffic will never end. vdot is proposing a solution too make yourute easier. three miles of now i-495 express lanes in eact direion from the dulles toll road interchange to the maryland line near the american legion bridge. there was a community meeting to tell people about than and get feedback. >> you're intending to make it wider, that puts itself into places where pople have homes. >> we do notip anticate having any total residential relocations. we will need take some right of way along the corridor. we don't have those exact numbers. >> vdot'son envirmental assessment test is expectedeo be complin the fall. >>> good news for commuters this morning. b looks l

don mcghan turns out testified proo privately in his 30 hours of testimony that that's what it felt like on the inside. we have members of congress talking about a constitutional crisis. that is what it feels like. >> i don't think this is bill barr's decision. i don't think he's in the driver's seat. i think this is president trump's decision to basically say to the congress that we're not going to abide by the constitutional order that has governed our country. there's one simple reason, because he knows when his attorney general goes and sits before committee, the republicans lose a lot of yardage, bill barr got benched he testified in front of the senate and had to admit he misled the people with his four page letter, misled congress that bob mueller had not expressed concerns with the way bill barr did the mueller report. and then hey, the president didn't try to fire the special counsel, he just tried to have him removed. the president saw that and said my guy is not going up there, we're not going to play ball with the congress because we'll lose a lot of yardage if we do. >> let

what has replaced don mcghan? >> in that report the thing that is so striking is that there are people who are constantly saving the president from himself. frankly, in an effort to save themselves they inadvertently -- >> if you think the president is committing obstruction of justice and you stay and help him, you too are legally exposed for committing -- you're part of a conspire to obstruct justice. it's not all benevolent. >> right. it's 100% self-interested but it had the affect of saving the president. so there's the irony some of the people the president is most furious at he should be thanking them. a lot of these people there have been replaced by people whose world view, like barr, is very much in line with the president, even with his new acting chief of staff, it's a trumpian world view, pushing that line in terms of public relations, let trump do what he wants, and if there were ever a moment with less people to temper him, that's now. the president on foreign policy said i'm tempering some of these

to see tl r's firing, at least how mcghan tells it, and when became known in the press he ordered mcghan to write a fal memorandum so say it never happened, mcghan refused. that is an effort to obstruct justice and tamper with a witness' memory thato me meets the bar of obstruction of justice. others we could name, the apparent threat to michael cohen in advance of his testimony, that bad things might happen to him and they might open upis parents' his family's history. that's, again, a an obstructive act intended to cow mr. cohen and prevent him from testifying, for starters. >> reorter: you say this is crystaclear that as forer prosecutors you could have brought a case on these, yet robert mueller didn't seem to say in his report the thought these were crimes why not? >> you have to ask mr. mueller that. >> reporter: we tried. to be fair, he said, if the had found evidence that exonerated the president hay would have so stated, and tty did o state. he alluded to difficult issues. i assume that those are issue of legality, mostly, relating to both then noindictablety of presidents and p

and that's the problem -- >> from don mcghan, nothing. >> that's not deal making with any adversary.t. >> when it comes to that, that's when he falls short. >> rex tillerson is interesting because he's one of many. these are all the people that the president hired and then the president attacked. don mcghan who delivered on the things you just described, judges, deregulation, kept him out of the criminal side of obstruction. fbi director chris wray, who he's been attacking. jeff sessions who was his attorney general, rod rosenstein, steve bannon, gary cohen, am ma rosa. sorry. the point is, these are the witnesses that we were talking about because he attacks the people he hires. >> in the case of rex tillerson, since he left the state department, he's largely stayed quiet. even by this own report, he didn't go there looking to cast aspersions against the president in this meeting. he was answering the questions that were being posed to him about the preparedness, and he answers them. it goes to two things, the skin thinness that we've seen, the comment rex tillerson made two years a

it would now include treasury secret mnuchin, don mcghan, sitting attorney general william barr, don mcghan's documents, i guess the contempt citation goes there, but there is a growing list of people that could be held in contempt in short order. is this part of the white house's strategy? >> the white house's strategy is pound sand. that's literally their strategy. it's pound sand. >> is it a strategy or reflex? >> whatever you want to call it. use whatever word you want. their strategy is we're done. >> with what though? what have they given? >> they say we've given these documents -- >> to whom? >> mueller. basically what they're trying to do is blur mueller together with every other investigation. what they're trying to do is create this giant mueller-shaped cloud over everything that the democrats are doing. trump's tax returns have nothing to do with mueller, but look there was this giant investigation now it's done we get on with governing and it creates a pretext to get on with everything else. >> i have not accepted it's a strategy. i think it's a reflex. >> you can use wha

democrats want to grill mcghan about his testimony in the mueller report that mr. justice department says senior white house officials like mcghan have immunity from testifying committee chairmen jerry nadler is threatening to hold mcghan in contempt, and several committee members are pressing house speaker nancy pelosi to move forward with an impeachment inquiry. >>> the ntsb is investigating the second deadly sea plane crash in the last week the pilot and passenger were killed when they crashed into the harbor in southern alaska. last monday, six tourists died when their sightseeing planes collided in midair just 20 miles from that spot officials say the same flight operator was involved in both accidents. >>> new york state lawmakers will consider making it illegal for pedestrians to text or look at their phones while crossing the street fines under a new bill would range from $25 to $250 for repeat offenders exceptions would be made for emergencies. a similar bill was introduced last year without success. but the sponsor of this latest attempt says that if noth

told the anchor he was not willing to let don mcghan testify. after last week where he vowed to fight all subpoenas. here's the president last night. >> i had him testifying already for 30 hours. >> is the answer no? >> i don't think i can tell him, and then tell everybody else they can't. they testified many hours -- >> as far as you're concerned it's really -- >> i can't say one can, the others can't. >> is it done? >> i would say it's done. >> there's the president, it's done. effectively saying i'm not going to help in way. if i'm not going to let don mcghan do it i'm not going to let anyone do it. the desire would be to stall this out, lengthen the process in a way, one, i would describe this person as an associate of the president described to me this week is the bottom line we think americans are going to eventually move on. >> it's not new that congress and the president are fighting, democrats and the president are fighting, the president and nancy pelosi don't see eye to eye. does this feel different? they describe this as war, somethi

no, he cannot stop mcghan from testifying. it's as simple as that.if mcghan refuses to testify because he's threatened by the president, which we know the president is not above, or below, i'm not sure which is the proper analogy here because the president will do anything, really in realistic terms he can and should testify. he must show the bravery that america deserves. >> he certainly cooperated with the mueller investigation speaking about don mcgahn. another former watergate prosecutor of yours authored a "the new york times" op-ed saying while these investigations, similar, mueller had a steeper hill to find because he didn't have the physical evidence that archibald cox had. do you agree? in 2018 you tweeted there's so much more evidence needed to prove obstruction, all needed to prosecute that part of the state. jill, does your offer still stand? >> it does still stand. any prosecutor would be proud to take this seat. nick possibly misper speceived evidence. he was not part of the obstruction team all. he's focusing on the trial of the burgl

testify. >> we've subpoenaed mcghan, and we're expecting him to show up on the 21st.contempt. >> a new report calls it the most expansive white house obstruction effort in decades. the white house is blocking more than 20 congressional

i think this was around an incident he asked don mcghan to push back against a story written by mike and his colleagues in the "new york times" about efforts to fire special counsel robert mueller. let's watch that. >> you still have a situation where a president essentially tries to change the lawyer's account in order to prevent further criticism of himself. >> that's not a crime. >> so you can, in this situation, instruct someone to lie? >> no. it has to be -- well, to be obstruction of justice, the lie has to be tied to impairing the evidence in a particular proceeding. mcgahn had already given his evidence. and i think -- i think it would be plausible that the purpose of mcgahn memorializing what the president was asking was to make the record that the president never directed him to fire. and there is a distinct between saying to someone go fire him. go fire mueller. and saying, have him removed based on conflict. >> this is not -- this is what the mueller report said. chris christie recalled a telephone conversation with the president in which the president asked what he thoug

attorney general testifies tomorrow before the senate judiciary committee and possibly we hear from don mcghan or robert mueller? host: the first question for is why did you get an incomplete? why did he not decide to make a to obstructionas of justice? why did he only do half the job? that is the hardest to obstructn of question robert mueller has to answer. is concerned, he has answer why he came to the conclusion that there is insufficient evidence for obstruction of justice. n will be asked didn't he feel he had a responsibility to protect some of the confidences while he was counsel to the white house. there will be discussion about the episode where he and the president apparently had a disagreement and people will have to make a decision about who is more accurate. was he told specifically to fire mueller? the president had complete authority to fire mueller, just like nixon had complete authority to fire archie. it was totally lawful. the president under the terry executive has the authority to fire anybody. that was decided by the supreme court after the andrew johnson impeachment tha

and today, the trump administration made it clear it does not want don mcghan cooperating with congressional investigators, ordering him not to comply with a subpoena demanding his records from the mueller probe. democrats are enraged. >> every day, he's obstructing justice by saying this one shouldn't testify and that one shouldn't testify. >> reporter: mcgahn played a key role in the special counsel's investigation into whether president trump obstructed justice. cited more than any other witness in the mueller report, 157 sometimes. he told report mueller's team the president repeatedly asked him to have mueller fired. mcgahn said he refused and also refused to lie about it later. and he documented it all in extensive notes. today, in a letter to the house judiciary committee, the current white house counsel wrote mcgahn was allowed to share his records with mueller with clear understanding that the records remain subject to the control of the white house for all purposes. the president has already implied he'll try to block mcgahn from testifying. >> i don't think i can let him and then

. >> don mcghan also face add deadline to turn over documents or to face a contempt of congress vote.contempt means going to the courts and where we've seen that occur in the past, it can take months and months. if we go back in history, congress has an inherent contempt authority. there's a jail in the congress, in the capitol. the believed send out capitol police or u.s. marshals and arrest the attorney general, in theory, and put him in jail. >> trevor: yeah, that human muppet is right. ( laughter ) the house democrats on the verge of holding the attorney general in contempt of congress, which means, technically, he could get arrested, and i know it's extremely unlikely, but, man, wouldn't that be exciting? wouldn't it be exciting if this whole thing ends in a standoff in the white house, the capitol police storming the oval office, trump and people taking a final stand like scarface, and trump pulls out a hidn jeff sessions, say hello to my little friend! am i the only one who didn't know congress has a jail? i feel like congress is telling us everything about america. a congress

getting people like don mcghan in.ssing that and winning in the courts right now. >> why do you think you can't convince a majority of house democrats it's time to impeach him. >> it's moving towards that. it's going to p demand it, it is. >> nancy pelosi is fending off the impeachment wave but going further than she's gone before. take a listen. >> the white house is crying out for impeachment. that's why he flipped yesterday. the president's behavior in terms of his obstruction of justice, the things he's doing is clear. it's in plain sight, it cannot be denied. ignoring subpoenas, obstruction of justice, yes, these could be impeachable defenses. >>> joining me now democratic senator don byers. representative thanks for being with us. you know speaker pelosi because you listened to more than we showed here. she went further to say that she hopes those around the president would have an intervention with him, family as well as those around the white house. what does this say in terms of your discussions with leader pe

. >> i think the problem is that mcghan is at the center of the most problematic episodes in the reportn the house and congressional democrats escalate. the treasury secretary and irs commissioner are on the receiving end. congress should know how irs performs audits of sitting presidents. he's defining

mcghan's testimony, even if we have to go to court to secure it.can people from hearing from this witness. >> susan, the white house is daring democrats to commence impeachment, an inquiry into it. they're saying we're not going to answer subpoenas. we're going to instruct people not to testify. we're going to invoke executive privilege. we're going to put up that stonewall. what are you going to do about it? if you're a democrat in the leadership position, nancy pelosi's been very careful about the questions of impeachment saying slow down, follow the facts, but some democrats are getting reckless in that caucus now. >> they are getting reckless and they should be. it's been over a month since the mueller report became public. at this point i think it falls upon the democrats to do something about it. if they feel that are there are reasons to impeach the president, if there are things in the second part of that report that are impeachable offenses, go and do it. i say this as a republican who called on other republicans in the senate to do the ri

subpoenas for hope hicks, andy donaldson, she was the chief of staff to former white house counsel, don mcghan, she took notes, "the washington post" had a story about how annie donaldson's notes could be the nixon's tapes of the mueller report. this does seem to hinge around some vehicle, tactic to bring this into people's living rooms. and the person who seems to get that is donald trump. donald trump's exertion of privilege -- i doubt he's read the whole report. it seems to have as much to do with keeping that television hearing drama from coming to pass as anything. >> donald trump knows television, the power of images. he was in show business for a number of years, prior to that, real estate developer new the use of a stunt to get press attention, he knows the power of that. your point is exactly right. i was in vietnam with him this february, and michael cohen's appearance for congress upstaged a summit with kim jong-un. that was what people cared about. it was so different than reading the words or reading the testimony. it was cohen taking the oath, sitting in front of congress and del

don mcghan, chief counsel for the white house, was interviewed over 30 hours. everybody that they wanted to talk to from the trump campaign on the ground, they were able to talk to. the president submitted himself to written interrogates. so to the american people, mr. mueller was the right guy to do this job. i always believed attorney general sessions was conflicted out because he was part of the campaign. he was the right guy with ample resources and the cooperation he needed to find out what happened was given, in my view. but there were two campaigns in 2016 and we'll talk about the second one in a minute. so what have we learned from this report? after all this time and all this money, mr. mueller and his team concluded there was no conclusion. i didn't know, like many of you here, on the republican side, we all agreed that mr. mueller should be allowed to do his job without interference. i joined with colleagues on the other side on legislation that the special counsel could only be removed for cause. he was never removed. he was allowed to do his job. n

. >> mcghan's lawyers say he will quote, respect the decision -- one new england democratic congressman said today if that's the case the house needs to act. >> if mr. mcgahn doesn't testify tomorrow i think it's appropriate for us to move forward an impeachment inquiry to make an informed judgment. >> and more on that later in our broadcast. house judiciary chairman nadler says the committee will meet tomorrow. in a letter sent to mcgahn late tonight nadler says he expects mcgahn to appear and if he does not the committee is "prepared to use all enforcement mechanisms at its disposal." meanwhile a federal judge's ruling that trump's accounting firm cannot keep his financial records from the house oversight committee is the first big court test, really, for the president's efforts to resist all incoming subpoenas. without a stay from a higher court, this one will be the tough one to beat. tonight trump hinted at that and pointed to his predecessor when responding to questions about this judge's decision. >> we disagree with that ruling. it's crazy because you look at it, this never happ

. >> why are you asking don mcghan to defy a congressional subpoena?as i understand it, they are doing that for the office of the presidency, for future presidents. >> stephen: that is optimistic ( laughter ) he thinks there will be future presidents. ( as trump ) "after me, i'm thinking we're going to go with ivanka, then maybe robo-meatloaf, then my defrosted head stitched on to a gorilla's body. we wear the same suit size." one person who was not happy about this was house judiciary committee chairman jerry jeff nadler, who said this: >> our opinions are not optional. mr. mcgahn has a legal obligation to be here for this scheduled appearance. if he does not immediately correct his mistake, this committee will have no choice but to enforce the subpoena against him. >> stephen: stern words... if he didn't direct them to an empty chair. ( laughter ) "okay, i'm done with mcgahn's chair. now i've got some serious questions for donald trump's lay-z-boy, by which i mean, his son." ( laughter ) ( cheers and applause ) but there is a little good news on the

after that, the direction to don mcghan to lie about it and create false records when that story was covered i think by the "new york times." efforts to limit the mueller investigation and pressure on sessions to do something chuck rosenberg tells me isn't a thing, un-recuse from overseeing the mueller investigation. can i ask you what those incidents would look like if congress would do what everyone agrees mueller is asking them to do, which is to open an investigation, take the football football, which is the text and letter of his report, tour guide to witness list, possible lines of questioning, a lot of those transcripts are in the mueller report, volume two, what would it look like if mueller were to examine those six incidents in public hearings? >> it would look like obstruction of justice committed by the president of the united states. it's just that simple. there's an effort to obstruct, it's related to ongoing proceedings, and it's done with a corrupt intent. the corrupt motive that prosecutors talk about to influence the outcome of those investigations. so it's not exac

believe the treasury secretary is under subpoena, mueller report's report is under subpoena, don mcghan and his notes are under subpoena. where are we? >> what chairman neil is doing is going after the argument there's no legitimate purpose. he's not saying we need to see the tax returns to know if he's levered by foreign interest. he says the congress should know how irs does audits with presidents. i think the law generally is on the side of the congress of this, but it could be litigated for years. chairman kneneil striking out w that position. but every time you respond to the white house you play in their field. impeach the treasury secretary because it's a matter of such great consequence. do it and watch the president's head explode. >> to put into context the importance of the tax returns. there's a question on the table, a question the fbi viewed as open, there was an effort to sort of better understand the financial ties, the mueller report turned up a lot of lies around the president and his family's negotiations with russia over trump tower. there's a question about whether

my sense of mcghan is he has tried to do what's right by the lu. i think your point he is caught in a vice is probably the right one. he would be there if he could. >> but the law is complicated. executive privilege covers that conversation. but don already maybe has given up some privilege by talking to robert mueller. robert mueller is in the executive branch. this is the legislative branch and it's a different thing. so the courts have been reluctant to referee these disputes and that's why they have taken so long. perhaps federal judges will take a different look at this. some think we are in a constitutional crisis resisting all these demands from congress. >> ken, thank you very much great to have you. >>> still ahead, mixed messages about where we stand with iran. the president says he doesn't want war, but his tweets send a different message. >>> plus efforts to identify children that st t separated raising questions about the competence at the border and elsewhere. >>> trump heads to pennsylvania as he tries to shore up his rust belt suppo

and i think don mcghan decided not to put in a statement that he didn't obstruct justice once he saw the fuller picture of the second volume. the president is lashing out about the idea of impeachment. let me show this to you -- >> he could have reached a conclusion. the opinion says you cannot indict a president while in office. he could have reached a conclusion, but he had his reasons for not doing it, which he explained. i'm not going to argue about those reasons. but when he didn't make a decision, the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein, and i felt it was necessary for us as the heads of the department to reach that decision. >> well, he seemed to suggest yesterday there was another venue for this and that was congress. >> i'm not sure what he was suggesting. you know, the department of justice doesn't use our powers of investigating crimes as an adjunct to congress. >> mr. barr we're going to get to you but this is the sound i wanted to show you first, folks. >> i don't see how they can, because they're possibly allowed. although, i can't imagine the courts allowing it. i

and hope hicks what the president intended to do when he bullied jeff sessions and made calls to mcghanbout maybe firing robert mueller is they can dig into intent and maybe they can go beyond what mueller concluded in his own report. >> sarah sanders said it this morning. the president has said it. this is a witch-hunt. democrats are wasting their time and they're not serving their constituents. is there any example of that? can you point to an example where democrats aren't focused on a legislative agenda? are they shirking their responsibility and just focusing on this or is that just a narrative? >> you have to pay attention to speaker pelosi. what is she doing? going to the white house to meet with the president on infrastructure, she's trying to talk about prescription drugs. she knows the tamerican people, based on my conversations with democrats and friends, wants to face the president on implace policy. we know she can deal with him on two fronts, infrastructure and the investigation. >> they will talk infrastructure today. that's something the democrats absolutely want to get

you remember the about the president asking then white house mcghan to fire the special counsel. i swear i read that somewhere. "the new york times" january 2018. president trump called that fakes news. and there was the part the statement don jr. gave on the russia meeting, the one the white house said he had no role in writing but dictated the entire thing, that was reported back in july 2017. president called that fake news too. look, i can go out but we have the rule of threes and that's all i had time to make my point here. but it seems the fake news isn't really all that fake after thr. it seems fake news is not that big after all, is it? years of reporting at the trump white house proven accurate by investigators. these these folks for the most part gotten it right and it needs to be recognized. when fake news will call something else. the truth. whatit happe and if you've got cut-rate car insurance, paying for this could feel like getting robbed twice. so get allstate... and be better protected from mayhem... like me. ♪ here'sshow me making it. like. oh! i got one. the be

we know the president, of course, has tried to invoke and said he won't allow don mcghan to testify. there's been speculation that there's been that interference going on. we're still working on that to report it out. >> kasie hunt on the hill. thank you. harry litman, who is still with us. harry, in plain leenglish, who' going to stop mueller from testifying? >> nobody except his own rectitude there. that letter, as we said, was a strong rebellious act for him, but it was still internal to the attorney general and still respectful. one point i want to add, by the way, it doesn't matter so much did barr provoke it or not. it mattered that mueller said the public is being confused and barr should have acted completely. when mueller testifies, and i think he will, his strong instinct will be to stick to the written record and not put the knife into barr or anyone else. on the other hand, gloves are sort of off and people are beginning to talk. i think people on mueller's staff will be beginning to talk in leaks to the papers, et cetera. we'll learn more information, but i don't think m

. >>> but next, the president throwing around executive privilege to protect don mcghan but where the president may not be able to use that. >>> and before we go, the world is still talking about "the new york times" report on trumps taxes. and you knew seth meyers would dig in. >> the stock market suffered its worst day in four months yesterday due to increased economic tension with china and threats of a trade war. don't worry, i know what i'm doing, said the guy who lost $1.2 billion. how do you lose a billion dollars? did you go to vegas and put it all on blue? [beep] you should be mad your neighbor always wants to hang out. and you should be mad your smart fridge is unnecessarily complicated. but you're not mad, because you have e*trade which isn't complicated. their tools make trading quicker and simpler. so you can take on the markets with confidence. don't get mad. get e*trade and start trading today. don't get mad. and i don't add trup the years.s. but what i do count on... is boost® delicious boost® high protein nutritional drink has 20 grams of protein, along with 26 essent

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something i've noticed abouts don mcghan ithat he always has the same facial expression take a look at it's always the same [ laughter ] l it looksike he's a dad meeting his daughter's prom date doesn't it look like that? [ applause ] here's another big story this week a federal judge ruled that despite what trump says, congress is allowed to investigate a tting president. then trump was like, okay, but what if i'm in a hammock [ laughter ] some more political news, there are rumors that donald trump jr. wants to run for mayor of yo new city. [ booi ] oren bill de blasio was like, "yeah, you'll be mays soon as i'm president." let'[ -- ughter ] [ applause ]ht yeah, don junior migun for mayor of new york. i guess he's serious cause he's already working on some campaign slogans >> steve: oh really? >> jimmy: check these out. first there's don junior, i'll actually make you miss bill de blasio [ laughter ] then there's don junior, at least i'm not eric [ laughter ] there's also don junior, i want it, so like come on just give me it. [ laughter ] and finally, there's don junior, i'll fix th