mr. rosenstein lays out a compelling rational why director comey refused to recognize those mistakes and why public confidence could not be restored to the department of justice or the fbi until a director would acknowledge those and pledge not to repeat them. that's the purpose of my questions. thank you for your answer. why is it important to have a separation between the fbi and the department of justice when it kwcomes to the decision to prosecute a case? >> well, it's been a system that's been in place since time in memorial, as near as i can tell. it's the same system that occurs in state and local, the difference between the police and district attorney's office. >> is it a check on potential for abuse of power? >> i do think -- right. the theory is that the prosecutors can evaluate the legal compliance, constitutional protections, compliance with the rules of evidence, exercise prosecutorial discretion, which is very important. if you collapse prosecutor and investigator into one role, you know, it's one step away from having judge, jury and execution rolled into one. >> i couldn

mr. rosenstein's memo, he lays out his opinion that over the last year, he said the fbi's reputation and credibility have suffered substantial damage. it's affected the entire department of justice. you read the memo, i trust. and he concludes, as you know, he said as a result, the fbi is unlikely to regain public and congressional trust until it has a director who understands the gravity of the mistakes and pledges never to repeat them. i want to be respectful of the line you were trying to draw here, but i need to know, and i think the committee needs to know, whether you understand the gravity of the mistakes made by the previous director in your pledge never to repeat them. >> as we discussed when we met, deputy attorney general rosenstein's memo, which i did read, the way he describes his department's policy and practices is consistent with my understanding of those policies and practices in a way that i would tend to approach those policies and practices. it's never been my practice to blur the line between fbi investigator and department of justice prosecutor. it's never been my p

mr. rosenstein's memo he lays out the opinion over the last year the fbi's reputation and credibility have suffered substantial damage. and it is affected the entire department of justice. you've read the memo, i trust. and he concludes as you know, as a result the fbi is unlikely to regain public and congressional trust until it has a director who understands the gravity of the mistakes and pledges never to repeat them. i want to be respectful of the line you're trying to draw here, but i need to know and i think the committee needs to know, whether you understand the gravity of the mistakes made by the previous director and you pledge never to repeat them. >> senator, as we discussed when we met, deputy attorney general rosenstein's memo, which i did read, the way he describes the department's monthliy c policie practices is consistent with my understanding of the policies and practices and the way i would intend to approach those policies and practices. it's not -- never been my practice to blur the line between fbi investigator and department of justice prosecutor. it's never been my p

mr. rosenstein. >> yeah. >> and appointing a more complicit deputy ag. so he's got options. >> then we get into a summer more reminiscent of the mid-'70s than 2017. mr. schmidt again, another thing interesting about covering this crowd are the bedfellows created, sometimes short term for the task at hand. tonight, we are led to leave it is messers mcgahn, bannon, and priebus who are on the talk him down team and it's the trump family caught up in the russia investigation themselves who are on the get rid of sessions team. >> my sense on the sessions issue is that everyone is sort of on the same page. i think it's pretty clear to them the impact that this would have. and that everyone sort of understands that. we've seen so many different issues with this white house where indeed they do break down sort of on the republican line and line of folks from new york and people in the more democratic line. i think this one is pretty crystal clear. they're trying to avoid a situation like comey. if they could go back and put the toothpaste back in the comey jar, i

mr. rosenstein. >> oh, okay. chris, chris. >> he didn't say he did it because comey wanted it and you have republicans stand up and say this was a great move. >> yeah, chris, do you think that it's okay for james comey, the fbi director to take the notes of his conversations with the president and then release them? a conversation he had with the president of the united states on multiple times, you think that's okay? >> i don't think it qualifies as a leak unless it's confidential information. you take government property which is this and, by the way, the government's take in the position that it's government property temporary to james comey and you distribute that that's a violation. >> how come -- how come the doj doesn't act on it? >> how do we know they're not? >> how do we know they are? we don't know is the answer. i get what you're answer but at the end of the day. you still wind up where you are and what we just learned about we learned about a couple of different ways. one is from donald trump jr. him

mr. rosenstein making an observation to me. and that in effect made for a better landscape to take on his position. that was it. >> you served as the deputy attorney general senior advisor when the torture memos were issued. one of the authors of the memos testified in 2008. that you were one of the officials who would have received drafts of the memos. in those memos would not of been issued without approval of the deputy attorney's office. he believed that you provided comments on the memo which included that interrogation tactics don't qualify as tortur torture. what was your role in reviewing or proving that memo? regarding the treatment. some of us were trying to get a hold of those memos during that time. we couldn't even see the memos. this looms big in my mind. >> i recognize and respect the issue. my view is that torture is wrong and unacceptable. both of my predecessors had a policy that the fbi is going to play no part in the use of any torture techniques. thirdly, one of the things we did was investigate and prosecu

mr. rosenstein's memo, he lays out his opinion, that over the last year, he said, the fbi's reputation and credibility have suffered substantial damage and has affected the entire department of justice. you read the memo, i trust. as a result, he said, the fbi is unlikely to regain public and congressional trust until it has a director who understands the gravity of the mistakes and pledges never to repeat them. i want to be respectful of the line you're trying to draw here, but i need to know -- and i think the committee needs to know -- whether you understand the gravity of the mistakes made by the previous director and you pledge never to repeat them. >> senator, as we discussed when we met, deputy attorney general rosenstein's memo, which i did read, the way he describes the department's policies and practices is consistent with my understanding of those policies and practices and the way i would intend to approach those policies and practices. it's not -- never been my practice to blur the line between fbi investigator and department of justice prosecutor. it's never been my practice

mr. rosenstein who oversees, he's the acting in this regard, rod rosenstein.mp went after rosenstein for not firing mueller. that's a bombshell, an explosion. neil: can you imagine if we did, that we'd have a very different market reaction. we're going to have the debate all day long what type of white house this is. it's not normal. none of this is normal. i was struck by pat buchanan's description to you about what normal was, and what white house being run by a communications director be it him or somebody else normally looks like. that's not what we're dealing with here, and to vince's point, sean spicer wasn't comfortable with the job, it was obvious, literally from day one, when he was asked to go out and talk about a crowd size, which seemed like a small point. if you listen to interviews and we dealt with them in the transition. sean, what's the most important part of being press secretary? the trust of the press corps. what is the first thing he was asked to do? go out and say something that wasn't true. he was never comfortable in the job. neil: you'

mr. rosenstein lays out a pretty compelling rationale of why the director refused to recognize those mistakes and why public confidence couldn't be restored at the department of justice oro the fbi until a director would acknowledge those and pledge not to repeat them, so that's the purpose of my questions and thank you for your answer. so, why is it important to have a separation between the fbi ani the department of justice when it comes to the prosecution, the decision to prosecute a case? >> it's been a system that's been in place since time immemorial as far as i can tell it's the same system that occurs if the difference between the police and the district attorney's office etc.. >> is it a check on the potential for the abuse of power? >> i think the theory is that prosecutors can evaluate via legal compliance and the constitutional protections, compliance and the rules of evidence, exercise prosecutorial discretion, which is very important and i think if you collapse the prosecutor and investigator into one role, it's just one step away from having the judge, jury and executioner in o

mr. sessions. be attorney general rod rosenstein took over the russia investigation after mr.essions recusal was led to the appointment of robert f mueller the third, the former fbi director and special counsel, which in turn led to irrepressible presidential rage. seattle, independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. like jeffrey beauregard sessions should remain as attorney general. i feel like donald trump is the king. basically what we are seeing is the united states government is the constitution is it really is. it is only as good as the people who interpret it. donald trump is corrupt. jeff sessions is corrupt. they will do whatever they can to destroy america. does notn why he would want any investigation is because donald trump change the votes of the elections. everything he said his reverse psychology that he used. you will find out that those machines and those swing states were hacked. i can hack him -- hack them, and i want you to look this up, because i have been asked to do this in georgia. host: getting back to the discussion about jeff sessions, if h

rosenstein. he also faulted mr. sessions. mr. sessions said he had not met with any russians even though he met at least twice with ambassador serve yay sis kislyak. he gave his bad answers to the president and he gave some sample questions to which what should have been simple answers but western. so he wouldn't happen with that testimony. >> no, there are a lot of people that jeff sessions -- simple questions about what was your contact. so i think it's not surprising that the testimony is frustrated and upset by that moment. i think what's more remarkable is hearing him being so hopely critical on the record saying he wouldn't have chose him. >> but isn't it interesting, everyone thought it was behind us, because we asked if he had confidence in jeff sessions at the time during that questioning and one he had to recuse himself. and he said yes, everyone at the warehouse said yes, and called it fake news. apparently, even though it's been months ago, sometime ago that looks like it was not true. >> i don't actually remember the

rosenstein either. >> right. >> because he's from baltimore or whatever. so he doesn't like -- >> there's too many democrats in baltimore, unlike new york city where mr. ump is from. >> so he doesn't want to elevate rosenstein. what does rosenstein do, does he stay, does rosenstein quit? does he ask rosenstein to fire mueller and rosenstein refuses? and on and on. and if he wants to fire mueller, i guarantee you his legal team would quit. i can't imagine the president's legal team saying, you know, it's okay -- >> jason, do you think it would be hard to get another attorney general? >> i think there is one thing that's a little bit different with this president and this administration, we've got to take a step back. if we rewind a couple months ago and we heard the talk about firing comey and it would be the sky is falling and how can we come back from this? >> but it did. >> no, but i think look, this president has the authority if he wants to go fire somebody in his administration, he can. that's his right as president to do so. so he invariably will fire people at various points in his administration. and i think we need to take a step back and real

mr. political pleasure? >> i did go into my meeting with deputy attorney general rosenstein and attorney general sessions, i met with them together, with a number of questions in my mind about wanting to be sure that i knew what i was getting myself into. and was very comfortable with what i heard. >> what was it that you heard? >> i'm sorry, there was not a discussion of comey's firing or of russian investigation other than, other than, deputy attorney general rosenstein making a comment to the effect, that now that special counsel mueller has been appointed, that situation is more straight forward because there's an investigation going and special counsel mueller has that. so the landscape that i was coming into at this point, would have been different had special counsel mueller had not been appointed? >> so did you come to the conclusion that you would not be having one-on-one kmpx with the president about director muller. >> i was very comfortable i would be able to do my job after that meeting, yes. >> at the time that you had a meeting with jeff sessions and deputy director rosenstein, did you indica

mr. sessions goes and then you end up with rod rosenstein.the president doesn't like jeff sessions, then he doesn't like rosenstein better. >> rosenstein made a decision to appoint mueller. i'm not sure this has been game out by the white house unless they have a plan that no one is sure about, i think there will be a lot of pushback to protect attorney general sessions. leland: some of the video of sessio sessions, some in el salvador talking about taking on ms-13. he doesn't seem to be going against the president, he seems to go going about his job. and this is an interesting tweet after the back and forth with sessions, right after reince priebus that took this out of the headlines. and this is from cody keenan. and reince is fired and hello, it's bob mueller. does firing the chief of staff change anything about the russia investigation other than reince priebus would change his motivations a little bit? does mueller have different access, if you will? >> i don't think so. i think that reince priebus has been around town. they would speak

mr. mueller. i think you will do a good job. by the way, trump said rod rosenstein was from baltimore -- he is not. by the way, rosenstein and trump went to the same school, university of pennsylvania. fromump, rosenstein is you, not baltimore. presidenthe way, the was in norfolk, virginia for the dedication and christian thing andthe uss gerald r fold -- christianing of the uss gerald r. ford. he was there to tour the gerald r. ford, the only president appointed, serving nine months as vice president before serving two-and-a-half years as president. so trump along with ford family members and the virginia governor, terry mcauliffe. on thejoined independent line -- trust robert mueller? caller: not for a single minute. not even a second. this investigation going on in washington is such a farce. the election, and they are trying to get rid of trump any way they can. solid supporter of c-span. i have been watching you for years. but lately, every time i turn you on, you are reading an article that is such a mental to to trump. detrimental i am getting sick of it. the

rosenstein in the interview. also sidestepped commenting on that criticism. >>> not just jeff sessions and deputy president trump is targeting for criticism. in the interview with the times, had a warning for special counsel mr. mueller. fbi director would be crossing the line if the information reached into the family's finances. also a report president trump is now looking into his powers while his ways to limit mueller's probe. >>> plan to vote on hhbi next t analysts say more gop members could shy away after federal budgeters said people could lose coverage under the measure. also the votes to pass the bill could be hinders froheabnce of recovering from surgery to remove a brain tumor. >>> o.j. simple was granted parole. what's next. digging deeper to what happens when he gets out of prison in october. officials could release him as early as october 1. won't be completely free. first need to report to a supervising parole officer and need to submit written monthly reports to that officer until his parole ends in 2022. simpson told the parole board he would like to move back to florida to spend time with his family. the state of florida will need to determine whether simpson is eligible to serve his parol

in addition, deputy attorney general rosenstein told members of congress that when he wrote his memo, president trump had already decided to remove mr director. based on press reports and the president's own words, the reason mr. comey was dismissed was because he would not pledge his loyalty to the president. and he would not lift the cloud of the russia investigation. president trump said in a televised interview, for example, i was going to fire comey regardless of recommendation. and, "when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made up story." as the fbi's investigation into russian election interference and possible coordination with the trump campaign progressed, if it appears the president became more and more concerned with director comey's unwillingness to cooperate. in the flin matter, as well as the russia matter. all of this raises important questions for the next fbi head and, particularly, for his independence. first and foremost, the fbi is and must remain an independent law enforcement organization. free from political influence. and this starts at the very

in addition, deputy attorney general rosenstein told members of congress that when he wrote his memo, president trump had already decided to remove mrcomey as fbi director. based on press reports and the president's own words, the reason mr. comey was dismissed was because he would not pledge his loyalty to the president and he would not lift the cloud of the russia investigation. president trump said in a televised interview, for example, i was going to fire comey regardless of recommendation and, quote, when i decided to just do it i said to myself, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made up story, end quote. as the fbi's investigation into russian election interference and possible coordination with the trump campaign progressed, it appears the president became more and more concerned with director comey's unwillingness to cooperate in the flynn matter as well as the russia matter. all of this raises important questions for the next fbi head and particularly for his independence. first and foremost, the fbi is and must remain an independent law enforcement organization, free from political influence. and this

mr. mueller to conduct investigation. instead this is two days in a row. at first he puts sessions on the record and say i didn't like that you recused. bob rosensteins from baltimore, the only democrats. it's like he has no regard for law and order in the process and he thinks he can talk his way out of this. >> jesse: kind of like hillary hillary. >> kimberly: okay, greg. >> greg: not every places like the united states if you're looking for corruption in russia it's like looking for lint in a laundromat. it's the way it is right now. it's going to take a couple of decades and perhaps longer before it's not a lawless place. it's deadwood meets west world, anything could happen, you could die there in a business transaction. when you go to russia you have to deal to certain things. at the same way that hillary clinton when she took money, she took money from places their prime turf is human rights abuses. she took money from places that abuse people. in russia, they are dealing like the old westford the thing that also gets me mad is how the media reports the stuff about trump. trump rages, heat fumes, trump slams sessions. they all share the same

rosenstein. they also backed grassley over trump. setting up a prospect that would be unthinking in any other administration. members of the president's own party sitting him down and saying mr. president, you have done such a bad job with the doj, you don't get to run it by yourself anymore. these republicans are putting donald trump on a kind of doj p probation and they're not mincing words. >> will the senate take up a attorney general if attorney general session s to be fired? >> according to the chairman of the sew djudiciary committee, t answer is no. >> this effort to humiliate the attorney general is not going over well in the senate. if jeff session is fired, there will be holy hell to pay. >> this is not just senators red acting to media questions either. ben sass marched to the senate floor to in his analogy call bull on the bull. >> if you're thinking of making a recess appointment to push out the attorney general, forget about it. the presidency isn't a ball aul this country isn't a china shop. >> whatever one think of jeff session's policies, in the stand out of with trump he's having a departed moment. >> look, the guy does his job. you must be the other guy.

mr. trump says session's decision was very unfair to the president. in the same interview the president suggests special counsel robert mueller acting fbi director deputy director attorney general rosenstein, investigation. >>> a twist in president trump's travel ban impacting those from six muslim majority countries. the supreme court sided with a lower court order to temporary expand the list to include the grandparents of u.s. citizens. the justices also granted the trump administration's request to strictly enforce its ban on refugees. >> will o.j. simpson soon be getting out of prison? the nfl hall of famer goes before the nevada parole board today. simpson served the minimum of his nine to 33 year sentence for armed robbery kidnapping and other charges stemming from the incident at a las vegas hotel room in which he took back sports had been yes. if the parole board rules in his favor o.j. simpson could be free in october. >> a bit closer to home the search for a kill intersilver spring. montgomery county police say a.m. 21-year-old man was gunned down inside a home on belvidere boulevard around 9:45 last night. e hospital where he later died. the suspect ran from the home. right no

in addition, deputy attorney general rosenstein told membersy of congress that when he wrote his memo, president trump had already decided to remove mr. comey as fbi director.ha based on press reports and the president's own words, the reason mr. comey was dismissed was because he would not pledge his loyalty to the president and he would not lift the cloud of the russian investigation. president trump said in a televised interview, for example, i was going to fire comey regardless ofid in a recommendation. end quote, when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story, end quote. as the fbi's investigation into russian election interference and possible coordination with the trump campaign progressed, it appears the president became more and more concerned with director comey's unwillingness to cooperate. in the flint matter as well as the russian matter. all of this raises important questions for the next fbi had, and particularly for his independence. first and foremost, the fbi is and must remain and independent law enforcement organization, free from political infl

sessions, say hello to acting attorney general rod rosenstein for the rest of the whole year, which would be apparently donald trump's nightmare. i take mrent has gone away with things. i think we are past the moment of norm shattering without accountability. >> you say, hold on one second, michael, you use the terms shattering norms, that's a very positive term and that's what trump won on. i think we're in a different category here. i think we're shattering hope. we're shattering the hopes of his faith, he's shattering the hopes of the people who voted for him t. people who want their lives improved t. people who feel left oust t. people who want the swamp drained. none of that is hang. nothing is getting done. some would argue the president is failing on every level of trying to give hope and something to hold on to, to the very people who voted for him. he's not shattering norms. he's shattering hopes. he is shattering the institution, the democracy, along the way. why do we keep using this term norms? bucking the trends of washington? >> i was going to say, i think i was right. there are storms gathering, clouds gathering for trump.