mr. sessions: mr. speaker, at this time i'd like to yield three minutes to the distinguished gentleman, the chairman of the energy and commerce committee, the gentleman from hood river, oregon, mr. walden. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. walden: my colleagues. let's set the record straight about children's health insurance program, funding for community health centers, stopping the cuts on our low-income hospitals, extending the special diabetes program for native americans. chairman of the energy and commerce committee, i can tell you we did our work. we held hearings, we held markups, we bought a pack -- brought a package to the floor and approved it on november 2. tragically, only a dozen or so democrats voted for that package at that time. it was fully funded. community health centers would have two years funding. the children's health insurance program, phi years and the largest funding amount ever accorded to chip. special diabetes program, funded. we c

mr. sessions: mr. speaker, i thank you very much. i think republicans are on the floor of the house today to make sure that what we're attempting -- ffer to the american the speaker pro tempore: members, would you clear the aisles and remove conversations from the floor. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. sessions: mr. speaker, things are sensitive on both sides. the government's shut down. republicans are going to offer today advice to the american people about where we stand about getting us back to where we not only open up the government but doing it in a way that is favorable to not only the american people but to the people who protect this great country including children of this country that need health care that republicans attempted to pass in the house and senate. i resmb. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: thank you, mr. speaker, and i thank you for yielding me the customary 0 minutes and i yield myself such time as i may consume. today is one-yea

mr. sessions: mr. speaker, i thank you very much. i think republicans are on the floor of the house today to make sure that what we're attempting -- ffer to the american the speaker pro tempore: members, would you clear the aisles and remove conversations from the floor. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. sessions: mr. speaker, things are sensitive on both sides. the government's shut down. republicans are going to offer today advice to the american people about where we stand about getting us back to where we not only open up the government but doing it in a way that is favorable to not only the american people but to the people who protect this great country including children of this country that need health care that republicans attempted to pass in the house and senate. i resmb. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: thank you, mr. speaker, and i thank you for yielding me the customary 0 minutes and i yield myself such time as i may consume. today is one-year anniversary of a complete cont

mr. sessions: mr. speaker, thank you very much. there was a question about the president, the president doesn't vote in the house or senate. those people who vote yes were for funding the government. those that voted no for were -- were for shut do you think the government. the president of the united states through what's called statement of administrative policy advised the rule committees january 17 he would be signing the bill. the president said he was for the bill. mr. speaker, the armed services network, armed forces network is operated by the u.s. armed forces which broadcasts popular television programs to the united states government civilians an their families, especially those at bases and overseas including ships at sea. because of the schumer shutdown, armed forces network services will go off the air. that means that tomorrow, the nfl championship sunday, our service american all around the globe will be unable to participate in the things we do here in the united states. yet another example of why a yes vote would h

yes he should be because he is criticized or ridiculed mr sessions in public mr sessions and he was once so disappointed he offered his resignation so mr trump cannot expect that mr sessions are going to fall on his sword with him and he will in my judgment protect himself and characterize the communications in the intent in a way that will exonerate mr sessions even if it implicates mr trump and that's is the problem that mr trump has i think elsewhere he's alienated so many including mr bannon and others that they have no incentive where you have some ambiguity to interpret them in a way that's favorable to the president that could come back to haunt him very much bruce fein thank you very much indeed for your time the u.s. senate has approved president donald trump's nominee jerome palled to be the next chairman of the federal reserve paul have support from republicans and democrats to lead the nation's central bank the lawyer and former investment banker bill starts next month he succeeds jonathan yellen who was the first woman to leave the federal reserve. a coalition of more than a

mr. sessions to resign. mr. sessions sent his resignation letter to the president the following day and mr. trump rejected it sending it back with a handwritten note at the top, not accepted, the note said. tonight's "the new york times" reporting intersects with michael wolff's new book on a central point in the investigation of obstruction of justice and that is the president's role last summer in telling white house employees what to say to "the new york times" when "the times" discovered that donald trump jr. had a meeting in trump tower in the presidential campaign with russians who claimed to have dir on hillary clinton, a meeting attended by the president's son-in-law jared kushner and campaign chairman paul manafort. from air force one president trump dictated what the response to "the new york times" should be. tonight "the new york times" is reporting, quote, mr. mueller has also been examining a false statement that the president dictated on air force one in july in response to an article in "the times

mr. sessions was a senator from alabama at the time. in fact, his staff, mr. ssions' staff and his senate office, moved over to the campaign. that's where stephen miller came from and senator sessions, then-senator sessions' chief of staff also moved over and played a prominent role in the campaign. because of that, it meant that he was probably always going to be a part of any russia investigation that occurred given the role he played both as a foreign policy adviser and ald viz -- adviser on immigration and somebody who was just very much at the center of the campaign and one of the first really only republican professionals who understood real politics and real campaigning that was there. in that regard it's not surprising at all. >> it sort of sets the stage, though, because the next level would be the president of the united states going in for some questioning. >> i think mueller is getting to the real deep end of his investigation. in an investigation like this you usually start with the lower level peripheral people. you start out and work your way in.

mr. sessions to resign. mr. ssions sent his resignation letter to the president the following day, but mr. trump rejected it. this story on the front page of the new york times this morning. onwill talk about it here "washington journal." also, a close associate of mr. comey's had his podcast last night where he talked with new york times reporter michael schmidt about the piece. one thing you alluded to in the story but don't say explicitly is that this sequence of events seems to be a matter of active investigation by the mueller people. are you confident of that, that this sequence is something his people are actively looking at? >> these are all things that mueller has learned through documents provided to him by the white house office or through interviews with white house officials who were there through all of these events. these are things they have been questioned about and that investigators are asking about and documents they are looking at. that is how we got to where we were in understanding what rob

mr. sessions: i rise in support of this rule and the underlying legislation. this resolution which we will present today is necessary, it'

mr. sessions approached asking whether the staffer had any derogatory information about the fbi director. the attorney general wanted one negative article a day in the news media, about mr. comey. now, we knew that the white house instructed rosen stein and others to find cause to fire comey. but going to dig up dirt, an aide of the attorney general going to dig up dirt so there are negative news stories day in and day out. >> it's scary that we are discussing that in this day and age. when you look at it on the face of it, it speaks to the depths of depravity we're seeing from this white house. >> well, first of all, the doj says that didn't happen. >> have we seen anything like this? >> youen wot even -- >> this is only the third day of the year. >> what's interesting about this, this sounds a lot like what the white house is doing to james comey today. >> yes. >> and has for several months. it sounds like a consistent strategy, they've been attacking his credibility since the moment they fired him as well. >> are you talking about the former director who leaked his confidential work pr

mr. sessions: think you, tracy. -- thank you, tracy. it is very good to be with all of you. it is good to see state and local law enforcement officials here, too because we are , partners. the executive gave his order right off the bat, and he can be pretty direct, and he said to the department of justice, your goal is to reduce crime in america. i have given a lot of thought to that. we have embraced that goal, but if you look at how crime is fought in america, 85% is state and local, and we have to do this together. that is our goal, our vision, and what we intend to be partners. i think properly applying techniques of law enforcement, we could make america safer and reduce crime in america, and that is what we are determined to do. tracy, thank you for your team. i appreciate their work. there is no doubt that this district is recognized as one of the finest and most productive offices in america. i mean that sincerely, and you have done great work and do a lot of national security cases, in addition to a lot more than any district in the country does, so that is a specia

mr. sessions refused to answer that question. >> on what grounds?he just refused to answer that question. >> i thought it was on executive privilege. wasn't it on a potential exercise of executive privilege by the white house? >> now you stated it the way we're sort of understanding it. the president hasn't exerted executive privilege yet, and the manner in which it is being talked about, which is sort of a maybe, is really in effect a de facto gag order of monumental elements, right? steve bannon said, i'm not going to answer questions after i left the campaign. why? because the white house told me not to. >> did he actually say that, or did you guys -- did he actually say that to you guys, that the white house told him not to answer questions? >> white house counsel told him not to, exactly. >> and do you believe the same about corey lewandowski? >> i believe the same is true -- absolutely. the circumstances, and i was part of that questioning, mr. lewandowski, i believe was told by the highest level of the white house not to answer any questions

mr. sessions' aides asked a congressional staff member whether he had damaging information about mr. comey. part of an apparent effort to undermine the fbi director. it was not clear whether mr. mueller's investigators knew about this episode. i want to ask you ken dilanian, we know from donald trump telling lester holt he was going to fire jim comey the whole time, that that was what was in his mind, at least at the time he was interviewed by lester holt. but we also know there was a lot of consternation about not just the optics but potentially the legal exposure for the president if he fired the man running the fbi while it was investigating potential ties between trump's orbit and russia. can you speak to whether what in this new reporting sort of builds on and adds to your understanding of how much exposure there is for the president and his aides around this firing of jim comey? >> i think it absolutely does. this is great reporting and hats off to michael schmidt. it absolutely adds to the picture. and one of the questions it raises is, can you bumble your way into committing

mr. sessions and investigations into russia. earlier i spoke to josh kraushaar of "national journal." how significant a development is this, the president attorney -- the president's attorney general being interviewed by robert mueller's team? josh: this is a significant development, because jeff sessions has been by donald trump's side both from the early days of the campaign and as his attorney general and one of his closest confidants early on in the administration. the fact that he is seeking an interview with the attorney general suggests that there are leads that could lead mueller to conclude that obstruction of justice took place. laura: right, well, on that point, "the washington post" has reported tonight that mueller's team want to question about the departures of michael flynn, the former national security advisor, and as you were just mentioning, james comey, the former fbi director. how serious a line of inquiry is that for the president? josh: it is a real risk for the white house because the president has a tendency to exaggerate and even outright make things up, which

mr. sessions recused himself, he did so because he thought he might be a witness. what did we learn today? he was, in fact, a witness. it looks like he did exactly the right thing. could i just add one point -- >> please. >> -- to robert's observation? and your question to him. the reason you want to see people in person, whether it's jim comey or jeff sessions or the president of the united states when you're an investigator or a prosecutor, is to gauge their body language, their tone of voice, their inflection. you want to look somebody in the eye just as you do on television, nicolle, and gauge their response. and doing it in writing might be a great idea for the folks in the white house, but it's not going to fly with the prosecutors. that's not how they do business. >> let me ask you the other half of that question, then, what would the intent be to putting an answer in writing? >> well, when you put it in writing, you have lots and lots of time to reflect on it -- >> reflect or -- or what? >> well, perhaps i'm using reflect as a euphemism, but you run it by a

mr. sessions was not invited to this weekend's retreat. the president also blaimedz blaims his former strategist, steve bannon, for allowing the "fire and fury" author into the white house saying, "that is request 'sloppy steve' is looking for a job." reena. >> ninan: errol, thank you very much. one of the alabama women who accused former u.s. senate candidate roy moore of sexual misconduct has lost her home in a fire. tina johnson accused moore of groping her at his law office back in 1991. her home was destroyed this past wednesday, the same day that moore's democratic opponent, doug jones, was sworn in as senator. the fire is being investigated as arson. officials say they are questioning a person of interest, but there's no indication the fire had anything to do with moore orlet allegations against him. more than half the country is seeing a spike in flu cases. the c.d.c. says 26 states are reporting high activity. in all but four states, the flu is widespread. john blackstone has more on the national outbreak. >> reporter: emergency r

sessions against recusing. when mcgann was unsuccessful, mr. trump erupted in anger saying he needed his attorney general to protect him. the president lashing out at sessions after then fbi director james comey's may 3rd congressional testimony. >> is there an investigation of any leaks of classified information relating to mr. trump or his associates? >> i don't want to answer that question. >> reporter: two days after comey's testimony, the "new york times" reports that an aide to mr. sessions approached a capitol hill staff member asking whether the staffer asking if the staffer had any derogatory information about the fbi director. the justice department denies this account. according to "fire and fury" author michael wolff, he called him jarvanka. a nickname coined by bannon to describe eye advantaivanka and . the first family shared a contentious relationship described as a death match due in part to the conviction that bannon had played a part in many of the reports of kushner's interactions with the russians. wolff writes they exhibited

mr. hoyer after speaking with chairman sessions, i did speak with mr. hoyer as well as several members that are in the body. i can say that the remarks that i make are purely from my point of view and not from the point of view of all of the membership. i do believe i can answer the gentleman's question as to whether there is something substantively. my fellow floridian, mr. rooney, has a measure i am fully supportive of. he will explain it himself. more specifically, it would allow the army core of engineers as well as another agency to be able to receive earmarks. i think all of us would agree that would be helpful. mr. newhouse asked a question of mr. hoyer, and i think i can answer it more directly than you. you tell me if i'm in error in this regard. the biggest thing that is needed and what we should have learned from history is transparency and accountable. mr. newhouse asked, what should we do? you, mr. hoyer, as well as others that have been here for a protracted period of time, mr. young, countless others, mr. schuster's dad. you all authored

sessions legal l bogarts it. i'll can former congressman rand paul. here's one of his recommendations. >> mr. esident, why don't you fire this guy? why don't you fire jeff sessions? >> one thing president trump is getting credit for is the war on isis. are they still a threat in 2018? i'll talk to graham wood. he's the author of that provocative essay which explained what isis really wants. >>> and it's the first major awards ceremony of the me too era. besides the actresses all dressing in black. how else will tomorrow night's golden globes cope. i'll ask red carpets expert melissa rivers. >>> first, one of the excerpts from president trump's book calling into mind president trump's fitness for office. and also mental fitness. the last one treads into territory that troubles me. let me explain in 1964, a magazine called "fact" polled health professionals on barry goldwater's fitness to serve as commander in chief. the magazine published a cover story claiming many found him unfit. after the election, goldwater sued the editor for liable and won.engendered a debate in the mental health communi

mr. sessions personally, he's been neutralized and he needs to step up the game and take affirmative action in and reassure the public and president he will be tough on law breakers or get out of the way. >> lou: should the president fire him? >> i don't know that firing is the immediate task. >> lou: someone needs to run the justice department that is not aligned. rod rosenstein is aligned. and many in the fbi and justice department and we know their names now. and that place needs to be cleaned out. the top floor of the fbi and the justice department? >> you are correct. it is it ripe with subversion and there needs to be, i don't want to call a ultimatium. that is too strong much a word. it needs a heart-to-heart. take open a gleszive law enforcement action or get out of the way. >> lou: thank you for being with us. and good interesting counsel. we'll be right back with more, stay with us. the president committed to building the wall and putting an end to chain mi dpragz. >> we are going to have a wall. and legislation must end chain migration. it must end the visa lottery. >> lou: we'll

mr. sessions' aides asked a congressional staff member whether he had information damaging mr. comey. this is an aide of jeff sessions going to congress, going to staffers on congress looking for dirt on the fbi director. have you ever heard of such a thing? >> maybe you would have to go back to roy cohen to come up with a precedent for that, katy, and that might have been the most startling detail in that incredible story. as peter said, in some ways that story adds flavor to our understanding of donald trump in the white house in these early months, but it's consistent with things we knew. that trump was telling people the russia investigation was phony, he was trying to get his name cleared, he was pressuring people to drop the charges. there are a lot of startling new details. but they're consistent with this picture of donald trump thinking that the federal government is like the trump organization, that people are there to serve him and defend him, serve his pleasure, as long as they're loyal to him, not necessarily the constitution. but that particular detail is something differ

mr. sessions: mr. speaker, i ask that it be in order at any time to take from the speaker's table h.r. 195 to the senate amendment to the house amendment to the senate amendment thereto, and to consider in approximate the house without intervention of any point of order a motion offered by the majority leader or his designee that the house concur in the senate amendment to the house amendment to the senate amendment. that the senate amendment and the motion be considered as read. that the motion be debatable for 10 minutes equally divided and controlled by the majority leader and the minority leader or their respective designees. and that the previous question be considered as ordered on the motion to its adoption without intervening motion. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, pursuant to the order of the house of today, i call up the bill h.r. 195 with the house amendment to the senate amendment t

sessions empowered u.s. attorneys to start enforcing the federal restrictions. how's this gonna end? well, ron paul is here and he thinks he has a solution. >> mr. esident, why don't you just fire this guy? why don't you fire jeff sessions? i realize that ah, that $100k is not exactly a fortune. well, a 103 yeah, 103. well, let me ask you guys. how long did it take you two to save that? a long time. then it's a fortune. well, i'm sure you talk to people all the time who think $100k is just pocket change. right now we're just talking to you. i told you we had a fortune. yes, you did. getting closer to your investment goals starts with a conversation. schedule a complimentary goal planning session today. >>> attorney general jeff sessions pushing back on states legalizing marijuana. recreational pot now legal in eight states and the district of columbia, another 22 states allow only medical marijuana, and 15 allow a lesser medical marijuana extract, but this week sessions sent a memo to u.s. attorneys, he reminded that federal law prohibits the possession and sale of marijuana. this effectively repeals the 2013 obama administration policy that refr

mr. sessions for the good of this investigation looking at the fbi, looking with the department of justice, we need a director there that could take the reigns and could be assertive than that. he cannot do that when he's recused. i believe it is time for him to step aside. >> lets talk it over with the former presidential adviser to nixon, reagan and clinton. sessions did the right thing with his recusal of the russia problem. what do you think is behind the outrage of republicans? >> i think the republicans are anxious and the process that we see on capitol hill and various investigations out of the three. investigations are under way at least two are becoming highly partisans. we are waiting for the intelligence committee on the senate to see if they can pull through. they're impatient because they want to get on with things. they see this continuing the investigation is a cloud over 2018 with our elections. i think this is all about politics and the fear that their pressure and knowing how displease the president have been with his recusal. we have seen it cracking down for marijuana,

mr. sessions' aides asked a staff member whether he had damaging information about mr. comey. what's your reaction, tim? >> when people are under stress and weep saw this when richard nixon was under stress, the public line he'll take is the line he thinks is the easiest to defend. in the watergate period, what they kept pushing was the president had no foreknowledge of the break-in. a lot of the other president's abuses of power they couldn't defend. but what they did was they figured out something for which there was no evidence. richard nixon did not know before the break-in at the watergate. it may be that this defense that this current president is following is about something he knows he didn't do and no one could prove. the other things, whether it's money laundering, whether it's obstruction of justice, the things that he may well have done, he's not talking about. so we've seen this before. i'm not saying it's the same story or it's going to have the same outcome. but the nixon white house focused on certainly they knew they could defend successfully. and everything e

mr. sessions. when you hear he had meetings, a meeting is come into my office and let's spend a half hour together and take noeds. one of these was in passing at a hotel and he forgot about it and when you see his come in his confirmation hearings, it was clear he was answering the question as he understood it. he doesn't think that saying hello would qualify as a median. i am so disappointed he is recused, i am convinced. >> it was his decision. >> i understand that. >> even though the president didn't want him to recuse himself and others didn't, but that was his decision. this explosive charge in this "new york times" report and i don't know if you want to respond to it. that sessions went to a congressional staffer seeking to get information that could discredit the former director, james comey. i wonder if you wanted to discuss it. >> once again, the department denies that. i had experience after experience after experience that i knew at the time were not true or we learned later were not tru

mr. sessions' aides asked if he had damaging information about mr. comey, part of an apparent effort to undermine the fbi director. what's your opinion of that? >> one of the classic signs of obstruction of justice is the effort to intimidate, frustrate and undermine witnesses so they can't truthfully testify. and what reporting that i had with co-authors and op -ed, all of this evidence deepens the pattern of an emerging obstruction of justice. it will take bob mueller and donald trump sitting across the table from each other and bob mueller will have to judge whether trump's intents are pure or not. but when you're doing those kind of character assassinations and smears, the "times" reported they wanted one negative story a day about comey. >> the justice department has denied that, though. >> in fairness -- in fairness, this administration denies a lot of things that later turn out to be true. so we don't have a lot of confidence in the truthfulness, starting with the president of the united states just 16% of what he says true or mostly true acco

mr. sessions is not. the white house says don't read anything into that. they are still fully behind him. jeff zeleny, cnn, the white house. >>> the clinton foundation back in the spotlight. u.s. authorities are once again investigating allegations of corruption which is bill and hillary clinton's charity. the fbi and prosecutors are looking into whether donors for the foundation were promised political favors or special access to hillary clinton while secretary of state. you may recall, an initial inquiry stalled prior to the 2016 election. a representative for the foundation is dismissing the allegations. calls them unfounded. let's talk through the day's political headlines this hour with scott lucas. scott is a professor of international politics at the university of birmingham. typically via satellite in the united kingdom but this day here on set with us here in atlanta. great to have you, scott. let's talk about attorney general jeff sessions from recusing himself. and we now know more officials were involved, don mcgahn, and reince priebus and ex-s

mr. sessions to meet with us. i've asked to meet with him on several occasions. he refused to do so because a rational decision-maker that was a genius would look at the evidence, and he has not bothered to look at the evidence what we have demonstrated. and what we have demonstrated is that the fears of increased usage have not come to pass. look, i actually opposed this initiative when this was voted on in the state of washington because i had concerns about that but we have now tested this and found it has not resulted in increase youthful usage and not resulted in additional crime and it's freed law enforcement to go chase rapists and killers rather than people using this in their homes. and this is not just recreational. the attorney general also rescinded the policy involving medical marijuana, people with cancer. i had dinner last night with a friend who uses this for some of her difficulties with cancer treatment. he's tried to destabilize the medical marijuana. now, we're going to move forward because he actually has not given a directive to the local at

mr. sessions, you do not want to mess with a 12-year-old girl.'s probably twice your height and she's on that demon weed. watch out! we'll be right back with noted pot opponent, curtis "50 cent" jackson! ( cheers and applause ) ( band playing ) if you could see your cough, you'd see all the sickness you're spreading. robitussin cf max. nothing lasts longer and treats more symptoms for your cough, cold and flu. (elevator bell ringing) robitussin cf max severe. because it's never just a cough. robitwe can'twhy?y here!. flat toilet paper! i'll never get clean! way ahead of you. (avo) charmin ultra strong. it cleans better. it's four times stronger and you can use less. enjoy the go with charmin. ( cheers and applause ) ( band playing ) >> stephen: hey, everybody! ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the show! my first guest tonight is a grammy-award winning rapper, actor and entrepreneur who has sold over 30 million albums. please welcome curtis "50 cent" jackson! ( cheers and applause ) ( band playing ) >> stephen: nice to meet you. happy to be here. >

mr. sessions approached capitol hill, a capitol hill staff member asking whether the staffer had any derogatory information about the fbi director and the attorney general wanted one negative article in the day about comey according to a person with knowledge of that meeting. you read this and what is significant to you? >> two things. one of the reasons why the white house sort of put forward as justification for firing jim comey is he lost public confidence and confidence in the bureau, and now they are secretly working to undermine that confidence and that undermines the legitimacy of that story, and there's a detail that somethings that maybe rod rosenstein was also involved in the effort or had communications with hill staffers at the same time. the deputy attorney general is currently overseeing the special counsel investigation, and it raises questions and puts rosenstein in a far more central role in the firing of comey and raises the question of mr. rosenstein is a witness here. it raises reasonable questions about why rosenstein has not recused himself and whether or not he will need

mr. sessions, you do not want to mess with a 12-year-old girl. probably twice your height and she's on that demon weed. watch out! we'll be right back with noted pot opponent, curtis "50 cent" jackson! ( cheers and applause ) ( band playing ) if you could see your cough, you'd see all the sickness you're spreading. robitussin cf max. nothing lasts longer and treats more symptoms for your cough, cold and flu. (elevator bell ringing) robitussin cf max severe. because it's never just a cough. we can't stay here! why? flat toilet paper! i'll never get clean! way ahead of you. (avo) charmin ultra strong. it cleans better. it's four times stronger and you can use less. enjoy the go with charmin. olay regenerist shatters the competition. hydrating skin better than prestige creams costing over $100, $200, and even $400. for skin that looks younger than it should. fact check this ad in good housekeeping.ay regenerist. ageless. i love you, basement bathroom of solitude but sometimes you stink. febreze air effects doesn't just mask, it cleans away odors. be