the investigation will now be led by former fbi director robert muller. the decision to appoint a special counsel made by deputy attorney general rod rosenstein happened just moments ago and just to get a little background on who bob muller is, he was a former fbi director himself, serving 12 years. he served under president busch iv 3 and served two more years, ten years under bush 43, two years under president obama. you may remember he first became -- first became fbi director just days before 9/11 and served as ten years under george bush and on to time with president obama. he is a former marine. he knows rod rosenstein because it's a very small club, probably knows him because they are both united states attorneys. rosenstein, a u.s. attorney before he became deputy director of the justice department. he was a u.s. attorney himself. nbc's pete williams has more. >> here with a major development in the investigation into russian influence as it may pertain to the trump white house and the trump campaign. we want to go right now to pete williams with

>> bob muller is doing a criminal investigation. the special prosecutor is doing an investigation of criminal are extremely t erious including possible obstruction of justice. no conclusion about whether there was but there are a number of pieces of evidence that indicate there may well have een and the investigation has to follow that evidence wherever it leads. the deputy d that attorney general means what he the mandate that he gave hat anything related to those allegations can be pursued and is more ursued, and it counterintelligence. >> senator, joe lieberman's name a top candidate for fbi director. do you think he'd make a good fbi director? is i'm not said going to comment on any special ndividual until someone is nominated. i believe in general the nominee director ought to be omeone with a background and expertise and experience in criminal justice, preferably a prosecutor. and ought to have no political ties.tions or and i believe that the -- >> that would rule out lieberman. i'm not ruling out anyone. that's just any pref

muller's investigation. he totally backed away from ever going back >> did he tell you may 8 was the day which he knew [inaudible] >> i missed the beginning of his opening statement. i cannot say for sure >> is it your impression based on the briefing that this has now crossed the threshold to a criminal matter >> he stress this is an investigation. he did not go beyond that. to say that it goes beyond that would prejudice people's opinion to the nature of it. >> will the appointment of the special counsel negatively impact the ability to investigate >> that was never raised >> is it your understanding that rosenstein knew that comay would be fired before he wrote that memo >> he said he did, that the president had made such statements already >> he said a special counsel could hurt our country terribly. do you agree with that >> i don't think it hurts our country >> what you make of the fact that the president knew he was going to fire comay before he had a conversation >> what he pointed out is that no act

robert muller seen as law and order type person. there is no suggestion of any kind from those in authority now that crimes have been committed, but there seems to be widespread agreement that there is need that there is need for an independent investigation, not connected to any political activity, and now this office of the special council has been created first time we've heard language like that in a long time. quoting jason shafitz who has been on the air and out front as these crisis been building, he says muller is a great selection impeccable credentials, should be widely accepted. the fact of the matter is, it will take us some amount of time for robert muller to get u investigation, already in the house and senate there have been demands for implies that may have been written. president trump wrote in a tweet and the white house refused to comment there may be tapes of the meeting. james comey describes the meeting as in the oval office. just after general flynn had been fired. there with other high level members, includin

i can't think of anything i toldn't clear on my schedule muller. with mr. schumer.or that should give me and the american people confidence of great is a man integrity and experience. second, after this meeting it's clear as ever that the intelligence committee in the has to continue its work full should continue throttle ahead and the need for to come rector comey testify in public soon is as ever.as thank you. >> that's it. >>> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states and the president of the republic of colombia. >>> thank you very much. it's a great pleasure to welcome president santos to the white house. is one of our closest allies in the hemisphere and we reaffirm a partnership be

la investigaciÓn de muller, podrÍa tardar meses e incluso aÑos.que: la designaciÓn de un fiscal especial, robert muller, para la investigaciÓn de la influencia rusa, se da desde el departamento de justicia por considerarse que esto es de interÉs pÚblico. el departamento de justicia lo autorizÓ para investigar cualquier vÍnculo y coordinaciÓn entre el gobierno ruso y la campaÑa del presidente donald trump. este fiscal independente, decidirÁ si la investigaciÓn amerita cargos criminales, funciona de manera independiente y el fiscal general, puede decir si sus conclusiones son varias o no. el fiscal utilizarÁ recursos del le permite justicia. -- departamento de justicia. la cÁmara de representantes comenzÓ a discutir una polÉmica iniciativa, que permitirÍa que agentes de ice, pudieran, no solamente portar armas, sino que portar armas automÁticas de alto calibre y ampliar el nÚmero de agentes que llevan a cabo deportaciones. reportero: si usted arriba estados unidos con una visa de turista, y se queda un dÍa mÁs, eso ya es motivo para que ice, conside

e appointment of forr fbi special muller as prosecutor is aood first st. the urgen of investating trump, russia and ble collusion terfering in our election. it also recognizes the grit he pridt'abe power in trying tohut down the fbi's investigation. form dector muller is a esptepuic svant of the highest teit everyone respects him the trump administration must give former dirto muller's and tion the resources indendceteeds. i'm ncned that director ubject to ill be the supervisn of th trump appoind leadership a the department we mus raivigilant to ntrity of muller's invtition. a sci psecutor cannota a truly independent outside commission that is rom the trump adminiration mdlg. a mmission is also necessary addsshe broader vulnerility of ourlectio nterferencen the future. thinstation that special muller isndtang is bout what has hapned anif the's wrg doing. we're saying weavto prevent this from happening inhe future s one of the rsoe osi iependent cose the justice daren independen oside commison the jti department haa ole to play and we respect that. e docrat

to remove muller. the argument is that muller is not going to do his job appropriately.ou can define out to process. gregg: even honest people can be influenced the ways they don't even understand. doug, if this end up being a he said, he said, how can muller fairly and impartially confess comey's credibility. while he believes mother his good friend over the man who fired his good friend i understand alex's point but at the same time i would cite to something you have cited yourself, great, if not just an actual conflict. to suggest that somebody with bob muller's background would necessarily adjust his focus may not be fair but what about the appearance of impropriety. that is something that is just as bad and that we need to deal with and ethics all the time. gregg: that's precisely why these ethical rules govern lawyers contacts in situations like this. alex and doug. that is really appreciate you being here. six all eyes are on the popular younger sister of the future queen of england, yes that is littleton. star-studded. gregg: a beautiful couple. i'm in. 7,000 pla

and i do have confidence that the director muller, former director muller will be able to run this investigation professionally, expeditiously. i think he will follow the facts and establish the truth and let the chips fall where they may. >> minority leader nancy pelosi saying she wants to see a full independent commission. but you are saying i think i am hearing you saying, that mr. moeller is the right person for the job and can get the job done. >> what i am saying is this, again, i felt that there was an inevitability to some part of independent investigation that i thought - nothing special counsel has been appointed, i think we have to let them do their work. by the way i served as chairman of the house ethics committee and i was involved with some very sensitive investigations. as was mike conway who is now the house intelligence investigation on a russian matter. and i will tell you, are there going to be times were members of congress are going to have to actually communicate with the justice department because when i was chairman of the ethics committee there were times that the justi

fresh out of law school until 1976, muller's career took him to u.s.ices including the san francisco office where he became chief of the criminal division. and then he again left the bay area in 1982, but came back in 1998 as the u.s. attorney for the northern district of california. and he held that position until 2001 when, as you mentioned, president george w. bush named him fbi director. muller gained fame leading the agency through the aftermath of the september 11th terror attacks. finally retiring in 2013. and after that muller was again back in the bay area working with stan ford university on issues of online networks

here's the important point about muller. his job is to look for evidence of a crime. not to expose to the public any wrongdoing. so if he finds no crime, and we don't know of any so far, he then must say found no crime, and i can't talk to you about any of the other evidence in the case. that occurred in the patrick fitzgerald investigation of the valerie affair. he was angry. what do you mean you can't tell us anything? sorry. i can only tell you about a crime committed in the scooter libby case. i can't tell you about anything else. so arguably a lot of evidence against trump could get buried. trish: tell me about muller. he has a friendship, does he not, with james comey? >> yeah. and this is a problem, and nobody has been talking about it. he has a serious conflict of interest. if, for example, ts investigation morphs into the comey case and alleged obstruction of justice, think about this. comey and muller were joined at the hip working together for years at the fbi. they were twins. they stood together in unison and the wiretapping case both of them threatening

or do you think that muller is different than all the others? >> i think muller is a good choice.est in washington. he brings bipartisan, and i think he has the trust of the american people, which i think is important. a lot of people have seen this turn partisan over the last few weeks. i think people are happy to see somebody brought in from the outside who to be frank i think the previous point is exactly correct. the capitol hill will still handle it, and i'm glad you see warner and berk coming together, but this helps depoliticize it, which i think is important at this time. i think the trump administration should welcome it. i think that having a neutral third person brought in to be honest, they should be happy with that decision, although i don't think they are. brian: now let's look at the president's tweet this morning. by the way, they didn't really speak about it last night, and were not given a heads-up. he says with all the illegal acts that took place in the clinton campaign and the obama administration, there was never a special counsel appointed. this is the singl

muller must have broad latitude to pursue the russia investigation. in the appointment order, it stipulates the special counsel is authorized to investigate, quote, any matters that rise directly or indirectly from this investigation, unquote. that's a really important power, given the recent reports about an active f.b.i. investigation into general flynn. i am heartened by the news of mr. muller's appointment, but in no way it diminishes the need tn active role in helping to get to the bottom of recent events. intelligence committee chair burr, ranking member warner should still pursue the congressional investigation into these matters with just as much vigor. that investigates has been proceeding in a -- that investigation has been proceeding in a bipartisan way, and it absolutely should continue with such. we should still seek testimony from mr. comey in both the judiciary and intelligence committees to discuss the events surrounding his dismissal and be given access to his memos and any transcripts or tapes of his conversation with president trump

muller may tell you guys to step down, no, rosenstein says it can go this way.ht be confused. what do you hear? >> obviously they want to hold their own investigation unencumbered by the new probe run by muller, this special counsel, and they had plans to call james comey up for a blockbuster public hearing about what happened in this conversation in the oval office about president trump, and whether or not president trump asked him to shut down the investigation to michael flynn. so there is some talk right here that they'll prevail, the congressional committees and the house committee might be able to get comey up next week, but there is more talk that robert muller is more interested in having those committees do their work quietly and not bring those people forward for testimony that are also witnesses in his investigation. obviously comey is in his probe, so if comey actually doesn't come up and talk, this whole thing is going to go quiet for a while. and that actually provides republicans and the president an opportunity to talk about policy again. i think

se trata del ex director del fbi, robert muller. pablo gato, tiene los detalles.muller tiene muy buena reputaciÓn en ambos partidos. " tiene mucha experiencia y las agallas para escapar de todas las influencias", afirmÓ este es senador demÓcrata. fue director del fbi, dÓnde permaneciÓ 12 aÑos en el cargo. " no hace falta un fiscal especial", dijo el fiscal. " tengo muchas ganas de que este tema, concluya pronto". este experto dice que es muy difÍcil que una corte formule cargos criminales contra un presidente. entras esto sucede, en la cÁmara baja tres republicanos estÁn produciendo la palabra "inpeachment". [habla en inglÉs] eso ocurriÓ, cuando por primera vez un congresista demÓcrata pidiÓ ese juicio en el pleno de la cÁmara baja, diciendo que trump estÁ obstruyendo la investigaciÓn de "rusia gate". el congreso quiere que comey, de -- testifique. " no podemos estar especulando e insinuando cosas". hay que centrarse de los hechos, dijo kevin mc carty. pablo: la cÁmara baja como el senado o mantendrÁ sus propias investigaciones. ilia: esto impacto la bolsa de un v

fresh out of law school until 1976, muller's career took him to u.s. attorney offices including the san francisco office where he became chief of the criminal division. and then he again left the bay area in 1982, but came back in 1998 as the u.s. attorney for the northern district of california. and he held that position until 2001 when, as you mentioned, president george w. bush named him fbi director. muller gained fame leading the agency through the aftermath of the september 11th terror attacks. finally retiring in 2013. and after that muller was again back in the bay area working with stan ford university on issues of online networks and international security. most recently he oversaw the distribution of the settlement money from the volkswagen emissions cheating scandal that, of course, was a case out of the federal court based here in san francisco. he was to be in charge of the handling of the takata airbag settlement as well. no word what will happen to that responsibility now, but muller has always been viewed as a settlement expert and som

, former fbi director is a strong choice for this role. >> unique background for robert muller. not only was the fbi head he was extended beyond the normal ten year term. he led the fbi during post-9/11. in naming a special counsel, recognize who the justice department is pulling out of this investigation. three men with huge local ties, rod rosenstein, deputy attorney general, the longest serving u.s. attorney up to this year for maryland. the head of the fbi now is andy mccabe who was part of the investigation into d.c.'s former mayor vince gray in 2014 and dana boente. he was handling part of this investigation. he's in virginia. you've got three local figures now off the at least temporarily as the special counsel gets on the job. >> he's been working at a local law firm in d.c. he presents a unique person seen as sort of a bipartisan figure which is pretty rare these days in washington. >> robert muller was on the short list of names being rumored to be the next fbi head to replace james comey, getting back to his old job. he's a local figure now replacing other local figur

all those options you mentioned like firing muller or ordering the deputy attorney general to fire mullerose those are things this would have to be forced into the sunlight and the president would have to justify what he's doing. that's the idea behind the special counsel regulations. >> justrying to be able to to imagine things before they happen but i've failed at all yearlong. if the president directed the deputy attorney general to do something related to this investigation and he said no, the president responded by firing him, would those responsibilities of the deputy attorney general fall to somebody else below him in the hierarchy or would the senate need to confirm a new deputy attorney general for robert muller to report to essentially as special counsel? >> they wouldn't need to confirm. it would go to the associate attorney general and then to the solicitor general. there's rules for special counsels and the first paragraph buys into that rule of succession. president could be doing things like using the ethics rules that are being reported on this week and the white house is

muller to that post. now, local police chief testified to the challenges that

. >> host: the news on that is that robert muller who will lead that investigation is staffing up his russia probe according to the wall street journal, noting he's bringing over two of those folks that he has been working with ine his current job at a law firm, the team has been assigned office space in a nondescript building in downtown washington. their job is to come up with a budget and start that investigation process.kly. certainly it's something they'll take a long time. >> guest: it is. at one point they didn't have a press contact, they didn't have any staff, nobody was working at it, but you really have to ramp up quickly.y. as opposed to the independent counsel that investigated someal of clinton scandals, this is within the jurisdiction of the justice department, it will depend on the justice department for the budget and funding, but it's expected that robert muller will be fairly unimpeded in terms of getting the resources he needs. >> host: these are just some of the issues the trump white house is returning to this's week. our guest is here to take your questions and

muller. >> that's exactly right. house intelligence requested the comey memos today. they have requested the memos from jim comey. they have made very clear, pelosi wants him to testify. i think the big question is as it moves forward, will anything run into anything else? will they get in the way of bob muller as the special council in what he is trying to do? most importantly, are these investigations going to be surface based? will they be undercut by everything that's going on or will they come to a real conclusion? i'm told when you look at what they are trying to do, think of it as a counter intelligence, that will be a focus. >> thanks very much. the new york times has a new article just out. president trump weeks after he took office and asked him when federal authorities were going to put out word that mr. trump wasn't investigation. this is reporting by the new york times. he told the president if he wanted to know details about the investigations he should not contact him directly

former fbi director robert muller has been working in the private sector working in a law firm since 2013 coming back as special counsel to oversee the investigation into russian influence in the election in the trump campaign. he will have a budget a staff and the ability to prosecute if he uncovers any crimes. muller also has bipartisan are from capitol hill. >> t's good that we a focal point of somebody that we all trust. >> have a body that is truly independent from political consideration and also has all the resources it needs and a single focus on the oversight of what russia did. >> reporter: president trump reacted saying he looks forward to this concluding quickly and he believes "that a thoreau investigation will confirm that there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity." now, you did mention that rod rosenstein will be on capitol hill today. so, he was invited by members of the senate to come in and answer questions, not only about robert muller and the appointment of him as a special counsel because that just happened but what they really want to get

proceedg mÜller is a very honorable guy. he is not going to leak anything and in the end he is going to find 2340 crime. end, he's maybe he'll issue a report whico find any in my view would be i am more ar because he only hears half the u evidence, the prosecutor's point part of the evidence.it the worst case scenario for the trump administration is maybe flynn gets indicted for lying. the president probably pardonsaa him att that point but it's two years o yr a year and a half frm now. in the meantime he gets a reprieve. if they appointed andhe whole independent commission the whole story would come out. the public would know but now it's going to be done in secret behind closed doors and all we e get in the end is no indictment or a lower level former official gets indicted and in the end that helps the trump that h administration not hurt them.els >> tucker: i want to get back to the first point that there was h no crime even being alleged.i'me i'm hearing democrats say it isv likely the trump campaign coordinated with th

former fbi director, robert muller is now a special prosecutor. his past, investigating whether or whether or not there are ties -- in last year's presidential election. if molar finds enough evidence, he'll have the power to prosecute people if he believes they committed muller is widely respected on capitol hill. but mitch mcconnell didn't have much to say. >> the justice department has a special prosecutor. all of this comes days after president trump fired fbi director, james comey, and word that the president might have leaned on comey to drop the investigation into ties against russia and former national security adviser, michael flynn. muller has a lot of work ahead of him. here are a few fast facts about him. a career prosecutor, and he was fbi director from 2001 to 2013. normally, serve a ten-year term, but president obama asked him to stay on two extra years. >>> denying any collusion between his campaign and russia. he hasn't tweeted about his thoughts since yesterday. he did share one today during hi academy commencement. >> look at th

first off, overall, are you happy with muller?turn it over to mr. muller and get back to the people's work back he's a good choice. first, his reputation precedes five we talked about the choice. is it time though for democrats to say, okay, it's in his hands now. now, we get back to the people's work rather than invest ginny mr. trump. >> this is a big step toward doing that. we need an independent commission to look at that noncriminal aspect of this, if there are any. if possible, i suppose, that the house committees and senate committees that are looking at that can accomplish that. the main point, i think, we should be focusing on these other questions. this ought to be taken out of the realm. leland: you say other questions, tax form. >> just last week i was trying to focus my attention on trade. this is one of those areas where the president and myself and maybe some other democrats could find some common ground. i did a news conference with other members saying, let's focus on the principles that are underlying this renego

pablo:el subprocurador de justicia que nombro a muller se reuniÓ con los senadores y les dijo que cuandoiÓn criminal",afirmÓ. marco rubio apoyÓ el nombramiento. el error fue decir que es una cacerÍa de brujas y que divide al paÍs. es una declaraciÓn indignante, dijo. los republicanos parecen comenzar a distanciarse del presidente sobre este tema, dejÁndolo cada vez más solo. >> es perfectamente apropiado nombrar a muller y serÁ una investigaciÓn independiente . >> el discurso de algunos republicanos es mÁs contundente. >> le pido a republicanos, demÓcratas, al presidente que cooperen con esta investigaciÓn. >>algunos dicen que hay inquietud y que es la oportunidad perfecta para que trump muestra que es un buen presidente. >> estamos deseando, no solamente que se lleve a cabo una investigaciÓn imparcial, que se haga lo antes posible. >> hay una gran expectativa por una posible audiencia pÚblica con el ex director del fbi para que revele mÁs informaciÓn. >> en junio del aÑo pasado mccarthey dijo que el gobierno ruso financiaba el gobierno de trump. luego dijo que era una broma. >> creo que

and the other thing is we know he's met with robert muller. bet he said to muller i would like to tell my side of the story. and muller said as long as you don't talk about the russian investigation itself, go ahead and talk about your conversation with the president, and they probably already gone over his testimony. trish: well, let me ask you this because we heard about the memo. the memo was leaked. james comey memo in which he said the president basically asked him to back off. i can't remember the exact specific wording. however, i would bet that they leaked the worst of the memo. >> probably. trish: so -- >> if that's it, it's not obstructed. obstruction might be stop the investigation entirely or you're fired. arguably, that could be obstruction. although, the president could always make the argument allen dershowitz, #law pssor has de tt the president has constitutional authority to hire and fire ody the executive branch and tell them what to do. we've had past presidents that have told the department of justice and the fbi stop this

i mean, why do you think he picked muller? >> because he's the perfect guy for this job. he has impeccable credentials. he has everything that comey has, plus a lot of additional experience within the fbi and what i think was a huge mistake on trump's part here was to fire comey thinks that was going to get him out of this investigation or in end the investigation early. what he's got now, he's got a special council dead state kated to one job and that is investigating this russia thing. so now the president and everyone in the trump administration, thaw don't have comey who's also got to run the fub looking at this investigation, they have one prosecutor dedicated to this job with almost unlimited staff and resources and so i think by getting rid of comey to end the investigation it's going to backfire. >> if someone was colluding with russians and the president didn't know about it because he said as far as i'm concerned. if he didn't know about it at the time could he still be guilty of break the law? >> no, if he had no idea of what's going on he's not guilty of break

counsel was much called for in this situation and former director muller is the right kind of individual for the job. >> we will discuss the controversy and what it means for the trip agenda with arizona senator john mccain, only on "fox news sunday." we will ask our sunday panel if mr. trump can use the appointment of the special counsel to turn attention to repeal and replace and tax reform. and our "power player of the week" ," iconic singer judy collins on the inspiration for the songs that defined a generation. >> it was music, it was exciting. >> all right now on on "fox news sunday" ." >> chris: hello again from fox news in washington. donald trump is on day two of his firstborn trip as president meeting with more than 50 muslim coalition to defeat isis to isolate iran, all this while the controversy escalates over possible links to russia, threatening the president's foreign and domestic agenda. we will drill down on both stories this hour, speaking in a few minutes with secretary of state rex tillerson and later with senator john mccain. let's bring in the anchor of special repo

there will be documents that are probably given over to the investigation and muller through subpoena. we will probably not all of them but i think that the american people probably have more confidence in the integrity of the investigation with muller at the helm.it will not become one of bipartisan debate. >> wavered from the president to step in the deputy attorney general. how important are these contradictions? >> i think the contradictions are important but at the end of the day they're going to be records about the meetings. there is going to be written transcripts of some of the meetings in some cases. notes that were taken. and these are all things that both in terms of the investigation and general plan in terms of the conversations between james comey and the president. the government does a pretty good job keeping test and would be interested to see what get turned over to the senate and house investigation and also what is turned over to the special counsel. i think there's probably a lot that we know already because unfortunately there has been a lot of flakes but i thin

e appointment of forr fbi special muller as prosecutor is aood first st. theacti sws

meanwhile at home, president trump reacting to robert muller being named special counsel in the rush investigations, tweeting this is the single greatest witchhunt of a politician in american history. a couple hours later, another tweet with all of the illegal acts that took place in the clinton campaign and obama administration. there was never a special counsel appointed. the firing last week of james comey as fbi director will be part of what robert muller will investigate. a special counsel this afternoon, deputy attorney general rod rosenstein briefed senators on his firing.

it leaves them only with the problem of whatever is in jim comey's memos to deal with and the mullergation, based on past special council, special prosecutor cases is likely to take months or even years to wind its way through. possibly leaving this presidency paralyzed but not necessarily to a resolution. >> what do you think of that, jennifer? i think secretly some republicans breathed a sigh of relief at muller and white house and republican staff got terrified. >> muller is exactly the kind of person trump doesn't want, absolutely pardon the expression, unimpeachable in terms of his character and knows what he's doing, a former fbi chief. i did write a rather harsh piece, ross, i thought you were being serious maybe you were kidding me disagreeing what ross outlined and talked about. i think it's a very bad idea. clearly, this is not incapacitated. he is able to discharge, he just discharges his duties miserably. if we to down this path of shortcuts we will never get to the place where we have a consensus in this country who is a legitimate president. if we get rid of trump throu

muller will have leeway to run the investigation as he sees fit. he will have all the powers of the u.s. attorney and will be able to impanel a grand jury. robert mueller became fbi director shortly before 9/11 and was at the heart of turning the fbi into a counterterrorism and counterintelligence operation. he extended his term, serving under presidents bush and obama. now he takes the reins of an investigation that led to the firing of his former deputy, jim comey. breaking news tonight. let's start off with chief white house correspondent john roberts. this does take change the dynac grace to go it is surprising, considering we heard from the acting director of the fbi, andrew mccabe, in testimony to the intelligence committee in the senate that the fbi has all the resources necessary to be able to conduct the russian investigation. we've heard increasing cost democrats on capitol hill and some republicans as well for the appointment of a special prosecutor. the american publicd be assured of this investigation is carried out appropriately and t

so, laura, what will the scope of mr muller's investigation cover? look at the papers around this investigation, it says any alleged links between russia's meddling in the us election and any links to that — now, that will also probably take in the alleged links between the trump campaign and russia, but the question being asked tonight is whether or not it will include what you mentioned earlier — this revelation that happened just 2a hours ago, that james revelation that happened just 2a hours ago, thatjames comey, the former head of the fbi, has a memo which states after a private conversation with donald trump that the president asked him to drop an investigation into his national security advisor and his alleged links to russia. now, no one has seen this memo. three separate senate committees have asked to see the memo and there is also calls for james comey to testify next week. so, the question is whether all of that will also be included within the scope of this investigation. laura bicker in washington, thank you for the update. so, robert m

publicly, that may not help muller's case.le there may ask his good friend james comey to please not do it. >> garrett tenney reporting live from washington. is it possible that comey does not testify before the senate intelligence committee? >> not only is it possible, several lawmakers are saying they would be surprised if he was even allowed to testify by newly appointed special counsel robert muller. last night senator lindsey graham tweeted out a statement saying in part, i very much appreciate james comey's willingness to publicly testify about his conversations with the president and other relevant matters. i am surprised he will do so given the fact we have a special counsel will likely be investigating matters related to the conversations. as special counsel robert muller is heading up the fbi's criminal investigation into russia's election meddling. because it could lead to criminal charges, that investigation takes precedents. they could ask him not to testify so as to not jeopardize the case. for now though or at l

so -- but doesn't muller already have that authority to include this? or does he actually need to get additional authority from the attorney generals office? i'm not sure. >> he does have the authority insofar as that the masking occurred of the russian collusion. that's the pretext for it. so he can move into that. now, the problem is that muller, and i've had experience with him, is a very political animal. he's very close to james comey. and as you know because i've been on the show and talked about it before. we brought forward a whistle blower named dennis montgomery who left the cia and nsa with 47 hard drives, 600 pages of information showing trump was surveyed when he was businessman, the chief justice supreme court, 156 judges, even yours truliy. comey buried for two years. gave all of this to the fbi and even testified under oath for three hours. comey has obstructed justice. so the bigger story here in addition to this scandal, which i believe is the biggest in american history is that comey should be endited for obstructing justice. cheryl:

robert muller. joining me now, a former federal prosecutor and attorney in california. today on a saturday. >> you're welcome. how's it going? >> not bad. tell me about the powers of special counsel. how do things change you? >> well, this is not the same independent counsel statute you may remember ken starr's white water investigation, so, muller will be still under the authority of the department of justice and ultimately, will answer to the deputy attorney general. however, the statute that roh vids for the appointment of special counsel is specifically to be used when there's a conflict with the doj, so the practice is this outside special counsel will be given a a tremendous amount of independence and latitude. he'll have his own budget and staff. he will be able to impanel a grand jury and take the investigation where it leads him. the important thing is the scope of his investigation, which covers the potential russian interference with the election and then any other matters that lead out of it. that's probably the most important point. because if we think back

robert muller is universally respcted...has an unblemished reputation...and now he's the person in charge. the investigation into possible collusion between the trump campaign and russia has taken an unexpectedtwist -- the appointment of a special prosecutor. in a statement, deputy attorney general rod rosenstein wrote "...special counsel is necessary in order for the american people to have full confidence in the outcome." reaction from capitol hill was swift -- espcially from democrats who had insisted on a special prosecutor ever since fbi director james comey was fired last week. rep. jackie speier/-d- intelligence committee: "everyone in this country should breathe a sigh of relief."sen. richard blumenthal/-d- judiciary committee: "a very solid and significant step"rosenstein -- who recommended firing comey -- has appointed robert mueller to lead the russian investigation. mueller is a former marine and doj official who served as fbi director until 2013 after serving 12 years. jeffrey toobin/cnn senior legal analyst: "this is the single most respected figure in american law enforceme

he said he needed to speak to muller first so that looks like it's going to be lined up.fox business who reports that president trump has begun to hire people for his private legal team. the first person named as his longtime attorney mark caso it's, who will deal with the independent counsel in this case. these two elements coming as former cia director john brennan earlier today became the latest to admit that today, there is no evidence of collusion. >> the evidence exists of collusion, coordination, conspiracy between the trump campaign and russian state actors at the time you learned of 2016 efforts? >> i can countered and i'm aware of information intelligence that reveals contacts and interactions between russian officials and u.s. persons involved in the trump campaign. i don't know whether or not such collusion existed. >> martha: here now, former chairman of the house intel committee and former spokesperson for the state department and the cia and fox news contributor as well. once again, we have somebody saying that they've been looking at this for ten months an

director muller was the director when loretta lynch met with bill clinton. there are lots of hand-written or personally dictated memos by direct comey that we need to get into the hands of the article i oversight authorities of the congress and let the chips fall, chris. let the chips fall. >> the most important investigation is going to be one by a special prosecutor. that has to happen. it can't be an investigation controlled by a tainted justice department. it has to be full, fair and professional and thorough. that's what happened in watergate. that's why we finally were able to bring a president to accountability. we had a special prosecutor. just like now, the special prosecutor was fired by nixon. >> when you look at this particular point in time, very different. 24-hour cable news, that didn't exist. tweets that didn't exist. social media that didn't exist. do you still have confidence in this congress that they're going to get to the bottom of this, that justice, whatever that means, will be done? >> i would not have confidence until and unless we h

that will be seenin and it's good, because that will be seen in the public domain whereas robert muller years. something that will not is the british election campaign. 0nly only three weeks left. tonight the prime minister talks to andrew neil on the bbc. and she is under pressure because the polls are narrowing. yes, when the election was called the conservative lead was generally around 20 points. now looking at a poll of polls the conservative party is on 46%. the labour party at 33% and the liberal democrats dropping to around 8%. but some polls have even brought the lead down to single digits. we have not rewritten the manifesto. the principles on which we have based our social care policy remain absolutely the same. we need to ensure that we have long—term sustainability in social care. we need to be able to ensure that we can fund social for the future. we are doing the honest thing about putting a proposal to the british people and they will make their choice on it. how can it be honest, prime minister, to reject a cap in your manifesto and four days later say, we are going to

reporter: tonight nbc news is confirming the justice department has named former fbi director robert mullerecial counsel to step in and handle the russia investigation. he's a long time former fbi director. he's the second longest serving in history. he was succeeded by now former director james comey who was fired last week by president trump. there was made by deputy attorney general rod rosenstien. this comes after weeks of pressure mounting pressure from lawmakers. we understand the white house counsel's office was briefed on this but after the order was signed. >> the white house did not know this special investigator announcement was coming. staff gathered in the oval office with the president after the announcement and then he issued a response. an official statement from the president reads as i have stated many times a thorough investigation will confirm what we already know, there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity. i look forward to this matter concludesing quickly. the president added i will never stop fighting for the people and issues that matter most