indian republican governor eric holcomb at -- indiana republican governor eric holcomb. may 1993ook back to for president ronald reagan's remarks at the citadel. watch commencement speeches monday on c-span. watch online anytime at c-span.org and listen on the free c-span radio app.

the independents came into the republican primary 6-1 for me. i am a fiscal conservative. they know that. they like that. on the other hand, i am far more tolerant and open on social issues than even the national republican party is today. i was the pioneer for gay and lesbian rights, i have been staunchly pro-choice my entire career, and a lot of people are for that, particularly in new england. >> let me turn to david drucker of the "washington examiner." >> governor, i wanted to ask you about the politics of this, because i think it is inescapable. you are running in a primary against a sitting president who has the overwhelming support of republican primary voters. the president's approval rating with that cohort is anywhere from 85% upwards of 92%, depending on the poll. they have been very pleased with his work on appointing conservative judges to the court. they have been pleased with the tax bill. they have been pleased with the number of other portions of his agenda, and so usually when there is a primary challenger, there is a bit of unrest within the party. i th

fellow republicans and republican conference on the mueller report, says trump committed impeachable acts. let's break it down with some smart people onset. er lean a maxwell, msnbc political analyst, john today todd -- todd horowitz. he is on the house judiciary committee. gabe, he said if don mcgahn doesn't show up tomorrow and doesn't look like don mcgahn is showing up, he is calling for house democrats to begin impeachment inquiry. that would get the ball rolling to impeachment. >> absolutely and that's a significant thing he told you there. the question that you asked him, will overseen yor members of the judiciary committee or senior members of leadership go that far. and the broader question that cicilline and other members of the house caucus, do people understand the difference between impeachment inquiry and impeachment overall. big part of what they said for months if not years, we're not going forward with impeachment unless the overall country can stand for it. i don't think that the vast majority of people understand the difference, that an inquiry is asking the questio

here we get silence from the republican party.g us from the russians who are tacking into our system and actually co. . ing and. going into our system in terms. infrastructure. instead, he is raising this as an issue to denigrate immigrants, to denigrate people coming here in. . asylum. one other thing i want to mention because people are focussed on this. the president said. his sick idea to take the round up the asylum seekers and send them to the cities. united states. ua . uary cities. assuming they are trau and he sent them to an american city to spread it? that's unconscionable. >> this is. . . we will try to hear from more. you. a real republican. former secretary. . did, william cohen. . m . mcconnell. you are. ing "hardball." u are. ing "hardball. my body is truly powerful. i have the power to lower my blood sugar and a1c. because i can still make my own insulin. and trulicity activates my body to release it like it's supposed to. trulicity is for people with type 2 diabetes. it's not insulin. i take it once a week. it st

, most republicans, actually agree. they think it's time to move on, but not all of them. >> it appears that mr. mueller would like to testify, and i think would give the opportunity for the public to get additional views and clarifications on some parts of his report. >> i'm fine hearing from bob mueller. >> the president saying he wants it, you know, i'd be for that. if it doesn't happen, i don't think it's going to change the dynamic. >> i agree with the chair. >> cnn's manu raju live from capitol hill. you've been talking to republicans all day. what's trying the division and how big is it? >> well, it's significant because the -- most of the republicans are concerned if bob mueller were to come forward he would only give ammunition to the democrats push going forward to further investigate the president. what the republicans are not speaking much about on capitol hill are the ten episodes outlined in the investigation about potential obstruction of justice at the white house. the president apparently trying tonight

daniel: will there be a debate in the republican primary? mr. weld: well, president trump has said he is not going to debate bill weld or anybody else, which is just another example of him basically hiding, going into a ball and saying let's that's already the election. "i do not want any primaries." he does not want a debate, either. republicans want to see their candidate before they get him their votes for president. i would feel like the people of the united states would not follow that, either. it is just too ridiculous. it is like him saying i am the state, you have to go with me, because i am the power. he hollows out each department, state, defense, homeland security, there is nobody there, or they are acting, and the effect of that is to weaken the united states and expose us to danger abroad, and of the same time, because there is nobody lve power back into the hands of the president. he wants all of the power. dictatorial maybe too strong of a word for how he wants to react. you see that in his reaction foreigntion with leaders. he pr

but that's what republicans, that's what the republican party is doing, where they have control in thetates. they're not moving anymore to limit abortion. they're moving to ban it all together, full stop. it's happening all at once in a new radical republican party wide draconian effort that we have never seen before. and that sounds unconstitutional, right? because you're not supposed to be able to been abortion that would be against the law. that's of course the entire point here, though. with republicans being very pleased with their position on the supreme court right now with the merrick garland nomination from president obama having been denied as improper by mitch mcconnell as the republican leader in the senate and mitch mcconnell calling that one of his proudest moments in the senate since the current president put brett kavanaugh on the supreme court, for the first time conservatives think they've got a solid right wing majority on the high court that will overturn roe v. wade as long as they get the chance. they have to get a law up to the supreme court that they believe wil

why is mitt romney the only republican standing up, on occasion against the republican party? more after the break. more after the break so, what are some key takeaways from this commercial? did any of you hear the "bundle your home and auto" part? -i like that, just not when it comes out of her mouth. -yeah, as a mother, i wouldn't want my kids to see that. -good mom. -to see -- wait. i'm sorry. what? -don't kids see enough violence as it is? -i've seen violence. -maybe we turn the word "bundle" into a character, like mr. bundles. -top o' the bundle to you. [ laughter ] bundle, bundle, bundle. -my kids would love that. -yeah. bundle, bundle, bundle. for people 50 and older colat average risk.ing honey have you seen my glasses? i've always had a knack for finding things... colon cancer, to be exact. and i find it noninvasively... no need for time off or special prep. it all starts here... you collect your sample, and cologuard uses the dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers. you can always count on me to know where to look. oh, i found them! i can do this test now! ask

we're going to learn how many republicans -- rank-and-file republicans, how many of them are uneasy about this. >> is he the right vehicle? >> he's got his flaws, but he's the right vehicle in the sense that he really doesn't care and he has an aristocatic -- >> there's a small government thing to him that you like. >> exactly. he knows why he dislikes trump. and he'll laugh at him. the one thing mr. trump cannot stand is laugher and he's going to get some of that from bill. >> what about on the media front, charlie? i know some of the folks working with you on one hand, one of my favorite lines from one of your colleagues is saying, the great thing about the trump era is you found out who's really a conservative and who's really trying to make a buck. >> yes, we found out how lightly held some of those principles are. the reality is outside of congress, the conservative -- if you want to be a conservative or a quote, unquote conservative right now, if you want to matter, be relevant, you need to get on board with the trump train. but i do think that there are people out there who are kee

republican, a kind of return to republicans of the past.ertainly an appetite for that in washington, amongst more academic republican circles, among the base on the trail that's not something i've seen reflected and i don't think that's something justin amash would want to do. >> astead, sabrina, thanks very much. >>> president trump wasting no time going after his top democratic rival, but former vice president joe biden he's got an interesting response to those attacks. that is, no response. (paul) great. another wireless ad. so many of them are full of this complicated, tricky language about their network and offers and blah blah blah. look. sprint's going to do things differently. and let you decide for yourself. they're offering a new 100% total satisfaction guarantee. try it out and see the savings. if you don't love it, get your money back. see? simple. now sprint's unlimited plan comes with one of the newest phones included for just $35 a month. so switch now. for people with hearing loss, visit sprintrelay.com welcome to seattle. w

republicans use 202-748-8921. and for all others, 202-748-8922. sdp as the committee got underway at 9:30 this afternoon, the committee had written to president trump at the white house this morning requesting that the president make an assertion of executive privilege over all the material covered under the mueller report, and that's exactly what the white house did shortly thereafter. a statement from the white house and a couple of tweets here. the attorney general has been transparent and accommodating throughout this process, including by releasing the no collusion, no conspiracy, no obstruction report to the public and offering to testify before the committee. the attempts to work with the committee have been flatly rejected. they didn't like the results of the report and now they want a re-do faced with chairman nadler's blatant abuse of power and the attorney general's request, the president has no other option other than to make a protective assertion of executive privilege. that's from the white house. again, we're going to go back to th

is bipartisan one republican? it still is significant to hear him coming out and saying these things. >> a quick question to you both. melanie, i can get your answer first. on the abortion matter, do you think he needed to get on the record after his 2020 spokesperson came out and made the statement that we heard earlier? >> there's a lot of pressure for republicans to come out and distance themselves from this specific law and showing they are still pro-life. >> what do you think, kevin? >> i think what you had was a situation where, this is a president in charge of the republican party. and the republicans want to know where the party stands. what you heard from mccarthy was a preview in terms of the politics of this and how much of an issue it was for the president than what we heard from kayleigh. >>> new reports on how frustrated democrats are in their stalled investigations into the president. man mcgahn is supposed to testify on tuesday. but no word on whether he will show up. >> they are going to try to pr

he's the seniormost republican on the finance committee. rep. mchenry: thank you for having me. our reporters will be asking the questions, from the wall street journal and a federal reserve reporter for the new york times. glad to have you here. >> we are curious to hear about your take on the recent fed nominations. jobs butd for these not formally nominated. i'm also curious to hear you talk about what they would like to see out of future nominees. rep. mchenry: the senate is in the nominee business, and we in the house are not. i do not spend much of my time obsessing about the nominating process. i watch it like most people in washington. pretty closely. more closely within my jurisdiction. those two offerings from the white house, they represent a different view out of the white house which is the polar opposite of the obama administration view. president obama put labor leaders, this was an attempt to balance that out in a different direction. as my senate colleagues look at the details of individual nominees backgrounds, i do think it is interesting, the makeup of the fe

amendments aloud. 45% of the amendment wide receivers democrat, 38% were republican, in our republican majority and 17% were bipartisan. so when you compare last congress when we were in the majority, we actually let more democrat amendments to the floor than republican amendments, so far we have seen a complete reversal of that where our amendments have been shut out at a very high level. again 74% to 14%. i would just ask the the gentleman can look at addressing this problem and try to bring some parity to the floor process as it relates to that disparity and i yield. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for his comments. of course what the gentleman didn't say is the last congress has the -- had the most closed rules of any congress in which i have served and had the most closed congress that we've served in, according to outside observers. but mr. mcgovern, chairman of the rules committee, there were 30 amendments available to this bill. i'm not sure how many were asked on the democratic side or the republican side, frankly, but having said that, there were republican amendments made i

they are a republican. the republican party changed.entgot mostly democrats over to the republican party and democrats, went over to the republican party, and took it over. i think the republican party is a disgrace. to an apple's,o maryland. patrick, republican. napolis,ple lists -- an maryland. patrick, republican. caller: as far as people frustrated with how long this investigating was going on. i remember when clinton was adding investigated. i love clinton. people were bad mouthing him and i thought if someone is that high into the government, i want is.ind out what it obama is the only president in my lifetime that i actually loved like people love kennedy -- loved kennedy. something -- if he did something bad enough to be and ieached -- be impeached, would be sad but i would want him gone. host: yesterday, c-span caught up with members of the house judiciary committee, after they voted on the format for today posse ring. hearing. -- today's we talked with a florida republican and asked him what he would ask the attorney general i

he's had problems with establishment republicans now, now with trump republicans, so he's taking quite political risk by doing this, and i think that most republicans and i suspect the democrats don't see a lot of advantage in impeachment right now. the democrats would rather beat trump at the ballot box, litigate in the 2020 election and impeachment might actually harm their electoral chances politically so that's why everyone is dancing around impeachment. >> actually it brings up a good point you made about justin amash, and a lot of people may be outside of washington aren't super familiar with justin amash. he writes very lengthy kind of recitations as to why he votes how he votes which often runs counter to where republican leadership is and where one charlie didn't might be, but can you explain his place in the republican conference. that would be helpful for people towns where he's coming from here. >> i've always looked at justin amash, a very sincere and earnest guy. he's very libertarian, similar to what a ron paul would have been in the republican conference. i believe he's

what it may do though is create space in the middle in the republican party for those republicans who want to move closer to the mitt romney category, who want to criticize the president more openly but say, we are not calling for impeachment. but we want to be openly critical of him. that may not be what amash was intending to do. >> i love seeing mitt romney talk about donald trump even indirectly. you can just tell how much he loathes him. that quote. you could just see he was barely suppressing his loathing for donald trump. >> the word choice was fascinating. michael smerconish, what do you think of the word choice? courageous. courageous to say the president committed impeachable defenses. i was struck by that. >> right. i guess if amash were courageous then romney was not insofar as amash was willing to say he sees obstruction of justice and mitt romney doesn't and he wanted to make sure people knew he thought it was the preferred path even if he weren't ready to go there himself. >> let's talk about 2020 candidates. pete buttigieg did something interesting this weekend. he wen

republican congress justin amash got standing ovations in his republican district in michigan earlier this week after publicly announcing his support for impeaching president trump. congressman amash is the only republican in congress who supports peachment. the only republican in congress who takes the mueller report seriously. he is the only republican in congress saying we can't go on like this with a president committing obstruction of justice. in american fiction, the enduring model of the one person trying to get others in his community to see the light is atticus finch, created by harper lee in our 1960 novel "to kill a mockingbird." jeff daniels is playing him on broadway. at the end of this hour, we will show you some dramatic and moving moments from the play that will leave you no doubt why jeff daniels is nominated for a tony award for his performance. jeff daniels will join us at the end of this hour to discuss why the courage and strength of atticus finch in trying to lead people to do the right thing resonates so powerfully with today's audience who are living with today

will other republicans follow his lead?ey will be here in moments to respond. >>> and middling. with the 2020 count up to 23, democratic front-runner joe biden makes it official. >> consensus is not a weakness. >> as a ruby red governor

out against him it wasn't single republicans it was a group of republicans.ey sought cover by moving together. that's why at the moment one can't say it's a movement. congressman -- congressman amash -- what he is doing is extremely -- extremely significant because he is saying things that democrats haven't been saying. >> he is taking it further. >> but unless we hear from another republican -- and we won't -- we may. but unless we hear from another republican soon that's not the beginning of a move in any direction toward impeachment. but what it might be is the beginning of republicans perhaps taking a different view of hearings on capitol hill. right now, the republican party is basically supporting the president as he stone walls any public discussion of the mueller inquiry finding. amash, if he is followed by other libertiarians like him that might be an opening for real discussions in congress. right now it's only the democrats pushing for them. >> paul, he says most lawmakers haven't even read the full report. and see alarming. >> that's really shocki

that's not all republicans.ike a governor like charlie baker in massachusetts for whom my daughter worked by the way, who i think is doing a great job. just got reelected to a second term and is somebody who is not partisan but is just about how do we serve people the best way ecowith. that's a republican that i like. that's the kind of person that i like. >> but we've not seen, christina, republican leader come out and just forthright say this is wrong and take the stage and become the face of republicans saying i'm a republican but this is wrong and we cannot start eroding women's rights. >> i've called republicans sycophants. they've been millimouthed on issue after issue. there are women who can uphold patriarchy in ways we can't imagine. the architect of an alabama bill, a woman and the governor who signed it into legislation, a woman. lots of pundits are saying women will backlash against the republican party for these policies. there are a lot of white women who voted for kemp, a lot of white women who vo

principled republicans. richardson was elected lieutenant governor of massachusetts in the 1960s and ten attorney general of massachusetts before he joined the nixon administration serving in two cabinet positions including secretary of defense before becoming attorney general during the investigations of president nixon. when on a saturday night president nixon ordered elliott richardson to fire special prosecutor archibald cox, he refuse anderson resigned in protest. in that moment of standing on principle against the president of the united states, elliott richardson became the model of integrity for every attorney general who has followed him. some of whom have clearly not lived up to the richardson standard. one of those ras ronald reagan's attorney general edwin meese who was accused of using his public office to enrich his friends. bill weld resigned from reagan justice department in protest of the republican attorney general's conduct. >> indications this morning that the legal problems surrounding a

he likes to work with republicans and republicans like to work with him. don't think he is going to go easy on barr in this hearing. host: stephen dennis watches the senate for bloomberg, reporting and talking to us about what to watch for that hearing. thank you for your time. guest: thank you. host: let's get our viewers justions to what they heard from stephen dennis about how this may play out this morning when the attorney general sits in that chair at 10:00 eastern time. c-span3 is where you will find our coverage. c-span.org or the free c-span radio app. randy in ohio, democrat. good morning to you. what are you expecting to hear from the attorney general this morning? hear nothingect to but filibustering from the attorney general barr. i think what is most important here is that the democrats don't grandstand. they put as many questions in as possible. he needs to be questioned on why he cherry picked mueller's quotes and only put in the bottom half, where the top half was the most important part. reports thaten barr's wife and mueller's wife are v

what does it mean to be a republican if you are up for reelection? >> yeah, i think it will be really interesting. i guess on one hand, the president has handed republicans the best talking point available, which is a very strong economy. the trump tax cuts and spending package have fed into stronger growth. we saw a move up in gdp relative to what we had been seeing. it actually happened as expected. if you see that sustained into the election, that will be an easy thing for republicans to talk about. who does not like growth and jobs? the problem will be if this proves to be a fiscal sugar high and wears off. then you have the divisions we are talking about and weaker growth to contend with. >> and it is hard to keep the president focused on the economy. even when he is seeing good economic numbers, the attention of the country and lawmakers get focused on other things instead. even though republicans would love to talk about the economy all the time, they do not manage to do that. host: that is it for our time. thank you for being our guests. >> t

we talked to one republican who voted for amash and longtime republican supporter. she said she came to hear what he had to say. she was disappointed in his for impeachment,eller report but then after the event we caught up with her again and shi said that he opened her eyes. >> i don't have a problem with proceeding. i'm a republican. but i will see what happens. though in the back of my mind, i know it's not going to be passed in the senate most likely, two-thirds vote is not going to pass but if the process has to go this far, i think that's fine. go ahead. >> it's about reaching the american people and telling them the truth. transparency is everything. leigh anne caldwell, thank you very much. >>> we are digger deeper on stories that mean so much to you. starting with the town hall and something afterwards about the mueller report that will shock you. >>> later, the chinese war is much more than the battle of tariffs. we will talk about the future of technology and who runs the internet. you consider it a utility in your life, how that is at stake now. make fit

but this is the problem for republicans outside of trump.is not a front and center winning issue for you broadly. and i think what this says to the republicans that 2020 the white house has hit the panic button. they've seen the results from 2018 where they tried to run on the economy. what president would take these economic numbers and not talk about them every day? what president would take these economic numbers and instead of talking about this economy turn to such an insinuary issue like this? it's not about broadening or expanding the trump base. this is all about doubling down on his base. >> all right. what is the downside of taking this head on? what are you giving up if you basically concede -- because i think he would like to have this culture war debate in 2020. what side of the wall are you on, right, whether it's immigration, it's about who is in america, it's not about the laws, right? it's about who is an american, who is -- what is the risk of democrats? >> you're talking to the wrong democrat. you see a lot of voters, chuc

how do the republicans come at the 2020 and define what a republican is? >> i understand her concern here but he's a republican. you know what, he has every republican but maybe where you know in all of congress supporting all of his crimes. that if barack obama or bill clinton or any democratic come anywhere near them, they would have impeached them. all of these republicans are supporting this president in every possible way, rhetorically, legislatively, judicially. they are supporting his whole agenda. trump is the whole republican party. either you are in or you are out. >> you're a strategist take trump off the table. is there not a fear if many republicans that make quietly or privately disagree with him that they can't do it publicly because they would get a primary and republican voters would vote against them. >> of course it's that. it's elementary and it's simple because this party does a good job of dounifying when the times right. they kick those of us to the curb that don't get in line. where we're at is we have allowed our values, our messag

i am a recovering republican. reagan.r the republican party not what it was. back to civility, there won't be these commentators, these talking head are promoting divisiveness. host: that is mark in new york. rep. bacon: thanks for your service in the navy in vietnam. i think commentators on both sides get there following and their money from having very divisive programs. i get commentary from folks in the district after watching whether it is msnbc or fox news, and they are angry. i think it helps create more followers when they have these kinds of shows but it is not healthy for a country in the long run. it's important to look at different tv stations to get a more broad balance of what is going on, not just one perspective. i agree with you, our media is exacerbating the partisanship out there. i don't put all the blame their but it is just exacerbating it. how do we change it? we start with ourselves. i can't change another person but i can sure be a better person myself. my job is to try and be as respectful as i can, and do things our country needs and

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republicans, rhino republicans and without the courage to speak straightforwardly or plainly.aughing all of the way are the radical dimms who mock the rino republicans and their spineless responses to outrage after outrage. the radical dimms pulled off the biggest political heist in our country's history, stealing the 2012018 midterm elections in the house of representatives as they do so, all the while the republican capitol hill leadership just dithering and drooling. our first guest tonight says the mueller witch hunt was an attempted coup to remove the president. joining us tonight is congressman louie gohmert. a member of influence freedom caucus. great to have you with us. your blood must be boiling as you watched all of this unfold. >> well you're a breath of fresh air hearing you. you know, lou, you're so e give equivocal. you can't make up your mind about how you feel about things. it's bad enough that this thing has gone on for two and a half years since the election, much less now we're finding out more and more was done before the election to try to keep donald tru

for republicans, 42 to 58. >> mr.nston, no. mr. kennedy. mr. kennedy, no. >> the job was to cut this guy down. get bork. it's now in the dictionaries oft the states and, and the world, it's called "getting borked." >> ...senator from kentucky. >> narrator: it was a searing experience for first-term senator mitch mcconnell. enraged, he took to the senate floor. >> and so to robert bork, you happened to be the one who set the new senate standard that will be applied, in my judgment, by a majority of the senate prospectively.y, unfortunatt got set over your dead body, so to speak, politically. narrator: mcconnell threatened that he and his republican colleagues would use the same tactics when it mattered.do >> we're going tt when we want to. and when we want to is going to be whethe president, whoever he may be, sends up somebody we don't like. >> he'll be darned if he's going to allow them to just get away with taking somebody out witut paying a price for it later on down the road. >> and if we don't like the philosophi

i am a recovering republican. reagan.r the republican party not what it was.ack to civility, there won't be these commentators, these talking head are promoting divisiveness. host: that is mark in new york. rep. bacon: thanks for your service in the navy in vietnam. i think commentators on both sides get there following and their money from having very divisive programs. i get commentary from folks in the district after watching whether it is msnbc or fox news, and they are angry. i think it helps create more followers when they have these kinds of shows but it is not healthy for a country in the long run. it's important to look at different tv stations to get a more broad balance of what is going on, not just one perspective. i agree with you, our media is exacerbating the partisanship out there. i don't put all the blame their but it is just exacerbating it. how do we change it? we start with ourselves. i can't change another person but i can sure be a better person myself. my job is to try and be as respectful as i can, and do things our country needs and s

now, democrats obviously didn't agree with that, but now that the republican here, the republican-led committee has issued this subpoena for the president's son, that gives democrats a talking point that even members of the president's own party aren't ready to wrap all these investigations up and that's causing frustration in the president's inner circle and back at the white house. >> they will do what they have done in the past and call him a fake republican as a result. let's discuss with jack quinn, a former white house counsel for the clinton administration, and josh dawsey, white house reporter for "the washington post" here. jack, you know, the white house clearly is not shy about just up and saying no to a whole host of congressional subpoenas here. looks like don jr. may do the same. so what does congress do in that case? >> so congress has some options here. one of them, i think, that should probably be off the table or won't get them very far would be to hold him in criminal contempt. it's unlikely at the end of the day the department of justice would take steps in court t

he's known as a republican obviously.resident himself several years back. is that going to weigh with voters? >> i think it do, and i think gates and biden have a history here. >> right. >> robert gates wrote in his book that joe biden has been wrong on every foreign policy and national security issue for the past four decades, so i think there's -- he may not be pre-disposed to vote for biden regardless of his age, but he is hitting upon a point that democratic voters speak to a lot which is a generational change. they want somebody different to challenge president trump and insight some new energy into the party and biden doesn't do that. >> he seemed to be answering the question of whether or not he can handle the duties and if you look at joe biden and donald trump and bernie sanders, all of them are pretty invigorating, they are not low-key candidates any of them or in office the president. but the question about what the age of the candidates is what views they represent. it's more of a generational issue, not wheth

, jim comey life-long republican.other people in the fbi life-long republicans, all got together and coup d'etat. this is purely a political -- politically motivated part of the president. a president who has historically bad approval numbers over the course of the first two years in office, who recognizes that for a sitting president looking at the data in front of him that re-election will be extraordinarily difficult. in order to in his mind to win, he's going to need an enthusiasm that he was able to get in 2016 by shouting "lock her up." he doesn't have hillary clinton to lock up anymore. it's going to be lock barack obama up, lock jim comey up, i swear we will get there. second special counsel or not, this is going to be a core element of the president's re-election strategy and we'll hear it from now until november of 2020. it is to your point way more dangerous kind of rhetoric than personal invective. this is incredibly destabilizing to the united states. >> i just want to add a personal note. i worked for bo

and later, a republican challenging donald trump for the republican nomination for president is here live for the first time. so a lot to get to. >>> but we begin with the legal and political hurricane that has been heading towards trump attorney general bill barr. they say elections have consequences. i'm sure you've heard that. tonight democrats are saying deadlines also have consequences. critics arguing that mr. barr has used his short but very controversial tenure to already become one of the most questionable appointees of this entire trump presidency. and today mr. barr gave them more ammunition, blowing past congress' long known deadline to provide the full unredacted mueller report. house democrats are not having it. they are moving towards a vote this week to hold him in contempt. now if that happens, mr. barr would become only the second attorney general ever held in contempt in u.s. history and the first to be held in contempt during his very first year on the job. chairman nadler issuing a 27-page contempt report against barr. it sites impeachment for the very first time

the significance that this is a republican-led committee the day after mitch mcconnell, the republican leader in the senate said case closed on trump and mueller. >> yeah, i think this is a really significant step. for a couple reasons. one you just mentioned. this is not house democrats, this is senate republicans. this is the chairman of the committee richard burr of north carolina coming a day after mitch mcconnell saying let's wrap things up. this isn't the mueller report. this is their own senate investigation but the president and white house would like to feel republicans are on their side. this is a committee chairman going on with his committee. this is the first of the trump children to be subpoenaed. obviously, we've seen some other jared kushner, the son-in-law, some other people have come, voluntarily come to the committee. this is the first subpoena. people outside the white house like donald trump junior don't have some of the same protections that you do have in the white house. this puts them at a, you know, in a bind, really. we don't really know what donald trump jun

that has republicans questioning his loyalty.y poi to his vote opposing the president's attempt to end the affordable care act in court. >> oh i've heard about it. when i voted you know that weo need tke sure we keep pre existing conditions found it interesting that he said that was the number one priority. and then people who said, hey you know denver you're not supporting the republican ticket by voting with this. i said we need to talk to some of the others who are in trumps distrio voted this way also. >> desjardins: his trump district is active, full of signs on a big local issue. personal relationships matter here, as you see at wood ridge virm brewery in nelson county, where locals are d over how their area is doing. >> it's probably at the top of it's been i think it's doing pretty well. >> the biggest issue that nelson lot of always finding employment. bu and looks like the vineyard ness is doing really great but other parts of the farming industry are notoing too good. >> desjardins: for others, the issue is health care

republicans on the hill are having to walk a fine line. how does this position as the republican party seeks to reclaim the house of representatives? >> they are trying to increase women and the more diverse candidate pool. he talked about that. the challenge has been getting those republican women through the primaries. that is an interesting question to watch as we see the primary next week, and as those come in it was a because focused to get women to the primaries but we do not have a lot of examples of that being successful yet. anna policy standpoint, the point you are making, what does it mean to be a republican if you are up for reelection? >> it will be interesting. on one hand the president has handed republicans the best talking point available, which is a strong economy. the trump tax cuts and spending package have fed into stronger growth. we saw a move up in gdp relative to what we had been seeing. if you see that sustained into an election, that will be easy thing for republicans to talk about. who does not like growth and j

and another anti-trump republican will join us former republican massachusetts governor bill weld who is challenng donald trump for the republican presidential nomination. bill weld does not have to win that nomination to do very serious damage to the trump candidacy. every incumbent president who has been challenged within his own party in the primaries beyond the new hampshire primary has then lost his re-election. in the general election. bill weld will tell how far he plans to go beyond account new hampshire primary. and it's worth a reminder that presidents do not publicly attack members of their cabinet. that may come as news to teenagers who have been paying their first attention to the presidency during the trump years. donald trump did it with attorney general jeff sessions while he was still in the cabinet and he has done it repeatedly with his first secretary of state rex tillerson. the president called rex tillerson dumb as a rock today again today because rex tillerson spent seven hours in a closed-door session with the house foreign affairs committee talking about donald

he is a libertarian republican. his views, while he is very conservative on many issues when the tea party was very big, his views now, not just in this case, but lot of his votes are not reflective of where the republican party is right now. and he right now has a primary challenger and it's not simply because he's pissed off the president. it's because who's not reflecting the people of his district. >> i'm not laughing at you, alice. i'm laughing at angela's reaction. you think a tea party conservative is notconservative enough? is she saying a tea party conservative is not conservative enough for the party? that's an interesting position to be in. >> he's swayed more to the libertarian edge off this. he's got primary challenger. forerse goes to show he's not representing the people of of the third district of michigan and that's why he's in real trouble. >> so i think a few things. one is it's fascinating. what was really happening in my mind, don, is the was unwhich people contort -- if there was physical repre

you don't see other republicans joining me.nd this is someone who has been a frequent critic of president trump. he has broken with his party a number of times. that's why you have that sharp criticism from president trump calling him a lightweight and a loser and accusing him of just wanting to make headlines. will amash add fuel to democrats who are calling for the president's 350e7impeachment? that remains to be seen. how does the president feel about that? this is someone who even though it is the democratic primary that we are focussed on, he is very focussed on his own reelection and he sees all of this talk of impeachment as something he can use on the campaign rail to energize his core supporters saying i'm under threat here you got to get out to the polls. i think it cuts both ways. what we will be watching for is to see how democrats respond to this. >> this is not landing well with republican colleagues and leader kevin mccarthy said this yesterday. >> you have to understand justin amash. i think he only asked one qu

republican lear.ally, majority leader. >> there's nobody who's more focused on political conquest than he is. there may t have been anybody who has spent his entire life calculating. he knows more thanverybody else. it was how much he could win and homuch power he could achieve. >> narrator: mcconnell had real power, and still holding on to that grievance about what happened to robert bork, he waited for the right moment to use it. >> this is cnn breaking news... >>reaking news just in to here at cnn. united states supreme court justice antonin scalia has dieds >> scaliound dead in his, in his bed one day. and what to do in this m. in thent of crisis becomes probably the defining moment of, of mitch mcconnell's career. . >>d breaking news, u.s. supreme court justice antonin... >> narrator: mcconnell immediately understood the political implications of scalia's death. >> the stakes are enormous, because if you replace scalia with a... an obama appointee, then you probably have five justices on thcourt

but what's more important here to me is as a republican who called for republicans to stand with democratssident trump's call for a national emergency to have the funds moved for the wall because it was their constitutional responsibility, i feel the same way about the democrats in the house right now. it is clear that they can move -- should move, at least based on the findings of the mueller report, to impeachment hearings. that's their constitutional responsibility. it's a different choice to make a political decision. but you can't call on republicans to stand up because it's constitutionally right and not call up on democrats to do it as well. >> can i ask both of you, bill, first and then alaina, is this all just politics that is keeping the democrats from pushing even harder for impeachment? >> i just got to say, i think partly politics. i think it's really they don't want to divide the country knowing that it's never going to work. by pursuing the hearings, seeing what is there, bringing that evidence out to the american people, i think is the better and safer approach. >> is that'

, cnn political commentator and republican strategist alice stewart and former republican congressman for pennsylvania and cnn political commentator charlie didn't. good to sigh both. >> hi, fred. >> romney says he is not on board with impeachment, so charlie, what kind of impact do you think amash's comments will make on the party? will this open up floodgates? >> actually i don't think it will open up any floodgates, fred, for a few reasons. one, i think most republicans, and i think a lot of democrats, realize what mueller has done. he's spoken, and he said there was no criminal conspiracy and was inclusive on on trucks, so i think it's going to be hard for congress to go down name people route when i think most members of congress, both many democrats and certainly republicans, think this will automobile litigated in the 2020 election. justin amash has some guts and is libertarian and right to point out that the president behaved badly but i don't see him people scenario picking up a whole lot of momentum in light of his comments. >> the report did reveal there were step attempts

, republicans who voted for big budget.ot more ideologically consistent on this issue of obstruction of justice, what impeachment means, when the president acts oncertain way, whether the democrat or republican, thaw should be called out. and >> so he's a young man with old school political values, right? because he's not falling in line with all the old oer guys who seem to be falling in line with this president. >> and they loved him when he attacked the republican leaders that they disagree would. but now these guys don't like when they're attacking trump because they're so survile to him. >> so you said that republicans are not concerned alice. that no one is saying -- stapding along side of him and no one in the party is worried? >> absolutely not. and we saw that throughout -- for whatever reason he decided to dive head first into deep end of the impeachment pool and who's a lone republican. and for anyone who says this is the first step in the race to impeachment is simply not the case. he is a lubberitarian republic

the seminar was republicans.they were regretful that those groups to that.ho in a presumably alternative universe then quit. do you think they go back to a restaurant or park. in park --dash like pop the corks on the champagne w? >> i do think it is true. you talk to a lot of members privately. there was certainly a lot of democrats that have a knot of love lost for obama when he was president. i was here before them and i'm going to be here after him. that is the true testament of where a lot of members see that their careert will be ten to 20 years long. and have a much longer legacy in some ways than a president that will be here for years or eight years. let's just be honest the president he says 90 something approval among republicans. he has very high approval ratings. it's probably in the high '80s. members of congress go home. they exist in the political moment. they are talking to constituents why are you standing up to him even more. i know in dc and new york and la and san francisco people say are thes