mr. conaway. this investigation i think is of such critical importance that we need to get fully back on track. it is i think worth noting that the investigation never went into hiatus. we've been continuing to develop our witness lists, to work out some of the logistics in terms of how we bring people before the committee, what the process will be. we continue to go through the documents, as i understand it now, the materials that the chairman viewed at the white house that i subsequently viewed are now being made available to the full committee. i think that's a very positive step well. so i do want to say i look forward to continuing to work with the chairman on the whole range of other issues that our committee has to deal with. we have i think worked together very well on a range of other issues, and obviously the russia investigation is important, but there are a whole host of other issues the committee deals with on a daily basis, including of course some of the preeminent threats to the co

mr. conaway and i thank you. reporter: when did he tell you e was going to recuse himself? [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org >> weekly briefing, paul ryan talked about a health care amendment amente at lowering remiums. the speaker: good morning, everybody. everybody is just getting off the bus right now. [laughter] the speaker: this has been a very productive week in the house as we continue our efforts to repeal and replace obamacare thfment promise is just too important and the consequences of inaction are too dire for american families. that is why over the last couple of weeks, we have encouraged members from across the conference and you see them represented here today, we encouraged members to find consensus. want to thank kevin brady and representative walden. while we have work to do to get there, we have made real progress. that's why we are here today. we have come together on a new amendment that we believe

mr. conaway. this investigation is of such critical importance that we need to get fully back on track. it is worth noting that the investigation never went into hiatus, we have been continuing to develop our witness list,

mr. conaway and the others in the investigation going forward.admiration and respect for mr. conaway and look forward to our continued work on that together and i thank you. >> shannon: ok. no further comment there. we got a written statement from congressman adam schiff the ranking member on house intel and said we have a fresh opportunity to move forward in a unified and non-partisan way in the way the investigation demands. though the democrats may be happy they have devin nunes off the investigation for now maybe it will take away the criticism that it would get done in a partisan manner. bill. >> bill: thank you. that to work its way in the capitol. this is mitch mcconnell. moments ago he sent the following tweet despite the filibuster no one has ever voted to filibuster a supreme court nominee, ever, period. end tweet. judge neil gorsuch is on the line today. will they have the votes or republicans go nuclear? that is next here on "america's newsroom." mom let me know she'd always be there for me. and she was. it's really hard to even think

mr. conaway.k this investigation is of such critical importance that we need to get fully back on track. it is i think worth noting that the investigation never went into hiatus. we have been continuing to help our witness lists to work out some of the logistics in terms of how we bring people before the committee. what the process will be. we continue to go through the documents as i understand it now the materials that the chairman viewed at the white house that i subsequently viewed are being made available to the full committee. i think that's a very positive step as well. so i do want to say i look forward to continuing to work with the chairman on the whole range of other issues that our committee has to deal with. we have i think worked together very well on a range of other issues and obviously the russia investigation is important. but there are a whole host of other issues that the committee deals with on a daily basis including of course some of the preeminent threats to the country pos

mr. conaway, and i look forward to our continued work on that together, and i thank you. >> mr. stuart: that has all the hallmarks of a political victory for the democrats, and i think it was played that way by the ranking member of the house intelligence committee, congressman schiff, who you just saw there. slight smile on his face because the chair of the house intelligence committee, mr. nuÑes, devin nuÑes, has stepped aside from the russia investigation. democrats really want that russia investigation full screen, headlines every single day, and now they may well have it. no effect on the markets, we're still just fractionally higher. i don't think that really had any impact, nor really did speaker ryan's press conference that was held earlier this morning -- literally a few minutes ago. do we have senator ayotte still with us? yes, we do. >> yes. stuart: senator, i'm terribly sorry that we interrupted our conversation. >> no worries. [laughter] stuart: i was asking when we go to a straight majority vote to approve judge gorsuch, way couln the road who impact -- what impact

mr. conaway. week we do have a closed hearing with admiral rogers and director comey and i anticipate the investigation going forward full force, rescheduling that public hearing and going on with the every day work that is before us. >> who else has the committee agreed upon in terms of witnesses that you want to hear from? >> yeah. there is an agreed witness list. there has been a bipartisan understanding not to reveal that ahead of time, just so we can do the proper vetting and get the preparation prepared for all of these witnesses. so that information will come out very soon. i anticipate these hearings will be scheduled in the coming weeks. >> now as we mentioned, the big headlines this past week were about michael flynn, the inspector general investigation into his paid speeches that he gave in russia that he didn't initially disclose and that he had not -- in fact he had been warned not to do. how does this development affect the house intelligence investigation? >> well, the only thing i'

mr. conaway. s investigation is of such critical importance that we need to get fully back on track. >> now that white house is now making available those documents that both mr. shift and mr. nunes saw those documents that got chairman nunes in a difficult position about that incidental collection of information as well as whether any officials were unmasked in their identities revealed within the intelligence committee. we are told that the full committee will start to look at this information. jim hines, the member of the -- democratic member of the committee told me he's going to review it today. some signs, wolf, that this investigation could be moving forward. now that devin nunes is stepping aside. nunes not answering any questions as he bolted out of the capital and left and got on a plane for the house recess. >> the fact that the ethics committee is even investigating a chairman of the house intelligence committee on potentially disclosing classified information, that is in and of itself

mr. conaway: for some reason this time he was arrested and charged as a smuggler. since his arrest, chinese officials have raided and reber of christian churches in several provinces. i urge the state department to seek pastor john's immediate release from chinese custody and to stop further raids before other innocent visit vids become -- innocent individuals become casualties of this aggressive religious prosecution. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman rom maryland seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one inute. >> mr. speaker, i rise to congratulate the hornets for winning their first state basketball championship in 36 years. after trailing by as much as nine points, the hornets under the leadership of coach chuck henry won the 1-a boys state title by a score of 65-52. mr. brown: the team of young scholars was resilient, played hard and never panicked. credit is due to coach henry, who has taken his team to the state championship after only two years on the job. he's a role mode

mr. conaway.estigation i think is of such critical importance that, we need to get fully back on track. reporter: fully back on track. he did say they never really stopped the investigation. it continued to review documents and develop a witness list. as for the susan rice part of this story, there are still calls, as you were starting off with, neil, for her testify. mr. schiff added he would be happy to hear from her if it came to that. rough ard burr, chairman on the senate side of the senate intelligence committee, the her testimony might be of interest to us. no word officially from her camp whether or not she will testify about the so-called unmasking the names. certainly pressure building for her to do so. neil: connell i think this thing goes on forever of the i don't think it ever stops. reporter: literally forever. i will be there every step of the way, neil. neil: you will be my age and still reporting on this thank you very, very much, connell mcshane. stocks at session highs. there ar

. >> reporter: but conaway himself has downplayed russia election interference on behalf of mr.rump. he likened it in january to mexican "soap opera star." the top democrat adam schiff says he's encouraged by today's turn of events. why do you think chairman nunes made this decision now? because for days he has been saying he would not step aside. >> i don't know the particular straw that broke the camel's back or whatnot, but i think he came to the right conclusion. >> reporter: schiff would not say whether he believed nunes improperly revealed classified information. he said that is now in the hands of the ethics committee. they will go ahead, scott, and review everything that nunes has said publicly about this issue, but we may not know what they decide under several months. >> pelley: nancy cordes on capitol hill. now, in addition to that house intelligence committee investigation, both the senate and the f.b.i. are looking into the russian effort to sway the election. jeff pegues has been following the investigation from the start. john dickerson, of course, is our chief wa

. >> reporter: but conaway himself has downplayed russia's election interference on behalf of mr. he likened it in january to "mexican soap opera stars" who campaigned for democrats in las still, the intelligence scff, s today's turn of events. why do you think chairman nunes made this deci nbeen saying he would not step aside. >> you know, i donparticular, you know, strt broke the camel's back or whatnot, but i think he came to the right conclusion. say whether he believes nunes improperly revealed classified information. he said that's now in the hands of the ethics committee. review everything that nunes has said publicly about this issue, but we may not know what they decide for several months. >> nancy cordes on capitol hill. now, in addition to that house intelligence committee investigation, both the senate and the fbi are looking into the russian effort to sway the election.s beenollowing the investigation from the start. john dickerson, of course, is our chief washington correspondent. jeff, where does the in >>> well, scott, as you know, the house intelligence committee

conaway. >> i think it will allow us to have a fresh start moving forward. i look forward to working with mr. i think the investigation is of such critical importance that we need to get fully back on track. correspondent: the house of representatives is not the only body not on track. republican and democratic senators collided over the president nominee for the supreme court neil gorsuch. after the democrats successfully blocked a vote on conforming gorsuch, republicans went for the so-called nuclear option. it lists the requirement for a majority of 61 votes in the senate. from now on 51 will be enough to confirm a supreme court justice. >> the nuclear option into the end of a long history of consensus on supreme court nominations. it weakens the standing of the senate as a whole as a check on the president's ability to shape the judiciary. in a post nuclear world, if the senate and the presidency are in the hands of the same party, there is no incentive to even speak to the senate minority. that is a recipe for more conflict and bad blood between the parties, not less. correspondent: for

mr. conaway and the other committee members. i have great admiration and respect for mr. conaway. i look forward to our continued work on that together. thank you. announcer: president trump ordered a military strike against a target in syria after a chemical attack that killed 2 billion, including children in northwestern syria. especially -- the president spoke about the strike from his mar-a-lago property in florida where he was meeting with the president of china. thursday, aump: on syrian dictator on state horrible

mr. conaway and the other committee members. i have great admiration and respect for mr. conaway. i look forward to our continued work on that together. thank you. reporter: when did you hear about this? announcer: following meeting with vice president pence, house freedom caucus chair said it what was offered in talks and up in the hill, the freedom caucus will not react. the events came during a conference hosted by politico. this is 30 minutes. >> before getting started, we want you to remind you to tweet us. we'll track them here on stage and would like everyone to use snapchat. join us in welcoming to the stage house freedom caucus members, justin amash of michigan, founding founder jim jordan of ohio and mark meadows from north carolina. >> let's get started. but start with simple basics. what is the definition of the freedom caucus? mr. meadows, start with you. mr. meadows: if we stay on script, i think we founded it -- i know you have founding members here. we founded it to give a voice to millions of america -- americans thought were forgotten and believe needs to have a

mr. conaway and the other committee members. i have great admiration and respect for mr. conaway. i look forward to our continued work on that together. thank you. announcer: president trump ordered a military strike against a target in syria after a chemical attack that killed 2 billion, including children in northwestern syria. especially -- the president spoke about the strike from his mar-a-lago property in florida where he was meeting with the president of china. thursday, aump: on syrian dictator on state horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians. using a deadly nerve agent, the president choked out the lives of helpless men, women, and children. death a slow and brutal for so many. beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. god should ever suffer such horror. tonight i ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in syria from where the chemical attack was launched. vital national security interest of the united states to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. that can be no disputing syria used banned c

mr. k forward working with conaway. this investigation is of critical importance that we need to get fully back on track. it is worth noting that the investigation never went into hiatus and we are developing our witness list to work out some of the logistics of how we bring people before the committee and we continue to go through the documents. the materials that the chairman viewed at the white house that i subsequently viewed are now being made available to the full committee. that is a very positive step as well. i do want to say, i look forward continuing to work with the chairman on a whole range of other issues that our committee has to deal with. we have, i think, worked together on a range of other issues and obviously the russia investigation is important, but there are a whole host of other issues that the committee deals with. i'm including some of the threats to the country posed by al qaeda, isis, north korea, iran, china, among others. so a lot of continuing and important work to do. i look forward to wo