instance, a former speaker, snoout ding rich today, this is a speaker that back in may treated robert muler has a s superb joyce. he is the tip of the deep -- so -- >> who cares what he said. obviously they have changed their stun. what we really need is an outside and independent commission. right now we have mooul who are is highly respected. when you respect someone for objectivity, it doesn't change the way this is -- newt is being political -- >> the president is calling it a witch hunt. >> i understand, this should be a message to the american people. a highly respected person accepted that responsibility. i respect him as well, but i said we should have an independent commission. this is one path, a good path, i think, but none the less inside the trump justice department. then we have the investigations from the congress. were the investigations and congress should be doing house and senate, but it is inside of the congress. we need an outside objective review of the events and have the people know. the russians, it's a fact, hacked, altared, and definitely leaked information to cha

. >> special counsel robert muler is expected to meet with senior members of the senate judiciary committee members and others on the hill to make sure there is no conflicts between his investigation and their probes. >> scott lucas is a professor of substantial politics at the university university of birmingham he is also the editor and founder of eau. >> what do you make the new revelations relating to michael flynn and the trump administration. >> well this is layer upon layer. so we have no known now for weeks that there are issues not only about flynn's conversations with the russian ambassador, sergey kizlyak last dies but lengths before that with russian a and turkish interests he did not disclose. added to that is the information he took a trip to the middle east to try to arrange a u.s. russian deal to put nuclear reactors in saudi arabia. but remember flynn is only one part of an investigation which has many moving parts. beyond flynn we've got the question of other trump administration officials and how deep their contacts with the russians went. that includes administration off

yes, we have a special prosecutor robert muler. he will look for evidence of crimes. you were discussing with joe tripe whether there was obstruction of justice. along side that the fact this has been a cernel intelligence investigation in weather the rushians were meddling in the election and how they were doing it. that does not necessarily involve criminal activity by anybody on the american side. so, if is a complicated issue in that the counterintelligence piece is here say, it is conversations that occurred between people and that is a very difficult political thing for the white house to try to get arms around, there is no concrete evidence so far that anything happened. >> i reminded viewers in 2012 upon obama while president and candidate obama deride romney for suggesting the russians were biggest faux. it was as if peace had broken out all over. now people on capitol hill decided the russians are bad actors. >> they are bad actors and indeed trump during the campaign raised the possibility of forming a coalition with the russians to fight terrorism. we know

. >> now sessions also added that he has confidence informer fbi director robert muler to head the --e could not say if president trump is confident in mueller. now session's testimony is being held in the senate intelligent committee and current democratic senators said they also want to ask him about why he participated in helping trump come to the conclusion to fire former fbi director when had he already recused himself from that investigation. >> thank you. that hearing of course continues right now, we are show it to you live on ktvu plus. >>> oakland motorcycle police officer was hurt last night after being hit by a car. on international boulevard around 11:30 when the crash occurred. the driver of the car was arrested for drunk driving. we don't know if this was related to any of the warriors victory celebrations. the officer was transported to the hospital. no word yet on the condition of that officer. >> as we mentioned earlier here, thousands of warriors fans took to the streets to celebrate. oakland police say some 500 spectators and dozens of vehicles participated, office

. >> i want to point out robert muler is a registered republican. the president is firing off this tweet that may be an effort to redirect attention from the russia investigation. "hillary clinton colluded with the democratic party to beat bernie sanders. is she allowed to collude? unfair to bernie." i want to bring in athena jones. the president addressed the russia probe in a new interview taking a swipe at president obama. >> reporter: he did. let's play what he had to say on fox. >> obama knew about russia a long time before the election, and he did nothing about it. but nobody wants to talk about that. if he had the information, why didn't he do something about it? he should have done something about it. >> reporter: so there you hear the president sounding like he's acknowledging what u.s. intelligence agencies concluded months ago, that russia did, in fact, meddle in the u.s. election in 2016. and then placing the blame squarely on president obama. it's important to note that while critics of the obama administration's handling of this entire

according to the washington post, robert muler is ta er mue steps to determine whether the presidentcted justice. we will have details later. in addition to that, we are continuing to cover our breaking story, our main story. late developments in the wake of this morning's shooting that left two people badly wounded, including congressman steve scalise. the president is visiting the hospital tonight where the congressman is being treated. an official warning we might only spend time with the congressman's -- with the conman's family because the congressman may be in no condition to be seen. he and the others were round on a ball field this morning in alexandria, virginia. the would be assassin opened fire on anyone he could hit as he tried to turn a baseball diamond into a killing ground. after a shootout with authorities, he is dead. [ gunshots ] >> shots being fired. there are people running, possibly victims involved. >> 7:09 a.m., shots fired. >> i still got shots being fired. >> it was a congressional baseball team practice for a charity game. that abruptly turned into a morning

. >> i want to point out robert muler is a registered republican. the president is firing

"the washington post" reported on wednesday special counsel robert muler is investigating the president for possible obstruction of justice. on thursday the president took to twitter to blast this new focus on obstruction of justice as phony, that is one of the words that he's used to describe the russia investigation. day later friday the president took to twitter again to announce his 32 million plus followers that he is being investigated, but a source familiar with the president's thinking said that he was only talking about these news reports. he wasn't saying that he had personally been informed that he was under investigation. listen to how jay sekulow one of the attorneys on the president's legal team explained this on "state of the union." >> should we take that tweet as confirmation the president is under investigation? >> the president is not under investigation as james comey said in his testimony the president was not the target of an investigation on three different occasions. the president is not the subject or target of an investigation. that tweet was in response to a "

president promise not to interfere, not attempt at any time to ordered deputy attorney general to fire robert mulerresident -- the president of the united states as we all know it's a unitary executive. the president is going to seek the advice of his counsel, and inside the government as well as outside and i'm not going to speculate what he will or will not do. i can't imagine that issue will arise but that is an issue that the. the with his advisers would discuss if there was a basis. >> paul, is that startling to you he would not rule out definitively that the president would not basically through rosenstein order that mueller be fired at some point? >> it's startling absolutely. the president obviously has the power to have him fired, but to say this publicly, it creates a chilling effect i think on the entire staff of the justice department. what everybody is sitting in justice now saying if we cross trump we're going to get fired. we've got to be careful about this investigation. it's a really terrible way and terrible example to set about an objective investigation, which is what the presid

. >> now we have robert muler who is going to investigatthe folks who hired him. >>he eire thing has been a witch-hunt. >> is the white house going to revoke executive privilege to prevent james comey from testifying? >> have i not spoken to counsel yet. i don't know how they're going to respond. >> the president make that decision. >> pro tip. if you want to exert executive privilege, don't fire the guy, oh, i was going to fire, regardless. >> and breaking tonight, robert mueller, the special counsel running the investigation into possible ties between donald trump's campaign and russia is broadening his mandate. tonight the associated press reports that mueller has assumed oversight of the justice department's ongoing criminal probe involving former trump campaign chairman paul manafort and the investigation. quote, may also expand to look into the roles of the attorney general, jeff sessions, and deputy attorney general rod rosenstein in the firing of fbi director james comey. deputy ag rosenstein confirmed to the ap press there is a chance robert mueller could

robert muler is superb choice to special counsel. reputation is impeopleable for honesty and integrity. media should calm down then latest tweet on this republicans are delusion alif they thirpg the special counsel going to be fair. hook who he is hiring. they can check fec reports time to rethink. >> people with what jace isn't doing is a service right now because we keep in mind that donald trump has a pattern of doing certain things like this. the judge kurl thing. you had the firing of james comey. those were surprises to us. they just happened. the tweet, the kurl tweet and the firing of james comey hammond without warning. in this case we have what could serve as a trial balloon. maybe donald trump is putting the idea out there. he is going to hear from friends and allies it's a bad idea. that would be good for the country if he takes that message. >> maybe it's not a trial balloon maybe it's a direct attempt to intimidate the special counsel. i'm not saying that's doable. hear you have the cht of the united states we know how

russia probe and could that clear the way for the president to make a move against special counsel robert muler? >> well, wolf, rod rosenstein sunday pressure from all side as the special counsel weighs to look into the obstruction of justice. questions are being raised about whether the deputy attorney general should recuse himself from the investigation and renewing concerns that trump might get rid of rosenstein, the only man who can currently get rid of mueller. the deputy attorney general could be the next department of justice official to recuse himself from overseeing the special counsel's russia investigation which rod rosenstein himself set in motion by hiring robert mueller to lead the probe. >> director muleler have a full degree of independence that he needs to condition duct that investigation appropriate lip. >> reporter: rosenstein's role is under scrutiny now that it appears mueller's probe may have broadened to investigate obstruction of justice which could include the president's firing of fbi director james comey. rosenstein played a role in that decision. his memo is critica

. >> tom, before you go, it's been reported that robert muler is going to be meeting with dianne feinsteintomorrow, and many people have said he doesn't need to say anything. he can keep his head down, mouth shut, and keep on chugging. what do you think of that meeting? >> it's a little unusual when i heard about it. we'll see if there are any reports about what he discloses but i think the bright line here is i certainly would not expect muler to disclose anything that could jeopardize the integrity of the investigation. i mean, look, we have been plagued by laebs from every source, every way for the last few months, and i can't imagine that the special counsel would want to do anything that would somehow feed into that environment and let out information into the public sphere which should be kept confidential at this stage of the game. >> all right. thank you both. this investigation is not going away anytime soon. >> oh, no. >>> up next, senate democrats seize the floor to complain about the way the new health care bill is being constructed. but can they really do anything to stop it?

promise not to interfere, not attempt at any time to order the deputy attorney general to fire robert muler>> look, the president, the president of the united states as we all know is a unit terry executive. the president will seek the advice of his counsel and inside the government as well as outside. i'm not going to speculate what heal or will not do. >> i'm not going to speculate. he might, he could. that's jay sekulow who is now working as a private lawyer for the president in dealing with the russia investigation. if jay sekulow looks familiar to you, he's a famous and accomplished attorney for the religious right. he started off working for like the tell evannal gist side of the religious right and now does religious liberty and religious civil rights cases for a very conservative law firm. he's a very accomplished attorney in that field. but defending a sit sitting president on constitutional issues like this, that is very far removed from the kind of law he has done his whole career. that's also the case with the president's other personal lawyer, marc kasowitz who again is an acco

recuse himself from overseeing the special counsel's russia probe which he launched by hiring robert muler. >> director muleler have the full independence he needs to conduct the investigation appropriately. >> reporter: mueller and his growing team of prosecutors are planning to interview top intelligence officials and the clearest indication yet that the probe could expand to include obstruction of justice in the firing of fbi director james comey in which rosenstein played a role but a justice department spokesman told cnn as the deputy attorney general has said numerous times, if there comes a point where he needs to recuse, he will. however, nothing has changed. thursday night rosenstein issued a peculiar statement saying americans should be skeptical about anonymous allegations. >> are you under investigation by the fbi. >> reporter: president trump took aim at rosenstein tweeting i'm being investigated for firing the fbi director by the man who told me to fire the fbi director. witch-hunt f.rosenstein does in fact recuse himself or is fired outright by president trump, then associat

. >> mika, briefly -- "robert muler is a superb choice to be special counsel.author of that quote, newt gingrich, may 17th. >> different newt gingrich. >> he knows better. >> really sick. really sick. >> the rnc said the same thing. >>> joining us now, chairman of the republican senate conference, republican senator john thune of south dakota. thank you so much for being on the show. >> thanks, mika. by the way, mika, i haven't had a chance to express my condolences to you and your family as well. your dad was a wonderful public servant who loved this country greatly and inspired so many people. we're all going to sure miss him. >> i do. i think we all miss him now more than ever, for so many reasons. given the conversation we just had, i'm not going to ask you to comment on newt gingrich's tweets, or even the president's. but the political climate and where we stand. what can you say? paul ryan had some pretty strong words in the house yesterday about stepping up and leading. it seems that we need members of congress and senate more than ever. >> i agree, mika

should robert mueller feel safe in his job? >> the day before muler was appointed special council, he met with the president that was speaking with the man who made him fbi director. it seems he should have disclosed that immediately to see, i think there is a real conflict and the public needs to see this as a agenda getting the president -- nobody in the white house has ever he needsed -- needed. it s a constant strain about the white house missing something. >> i about robert mueller is secure in his job? >> i don't want to make a judgment, but he was appointed special council without any legal basis. it says there has to be an underlying probe. i do think it is a good point, but i think the public needs to have a full disclosure of the facts here. what is the evidence of it? they keep saying the investigative agencies are saying there is no collusion, but you have to ask yourself why do they keep hiring prosecutors. >> let's get to the investigation, the focus today, i know based on my reporting that the president was very frustrated. do you think

robert mueller. he made assure uns mueller is not in danger of being fired even though mueller said he is. >> have you seen good cause for firing of special counsel muler? >> no, i have not. as long as i'm in this position, he won't be fired without good cause. >> another in the sessions testimony wolf was a lack of hard line on russia. senator john mccain, a member of the same party as sessions and former colleague of his asman of the committee asked sessions if we had been told by the administration and his capacity of the armed services committee after a number of u.s. concerns about russia. did he raise think any of these? only one, ukraine. really bringing in question just how effective sessions had been on communicating foreign policy to the russian ambassador. >> good point, brianna, thank you. brianna keiler up on capitol hill. refusal to talk about his conversationes with the president, let's go to senior white house correspondent jim acosta. he is at the white house. what are are you hearing from the trump team? >> wol, the white house said jeff sessions did not discuss with kids over here wlorp the president was not envoccing it so sessions

robert mueller on wednesday. also new, acting fbi director andrew mccabe says his agency is providing a, quote, substantial number of personnel to support special counselor mulern the russia probe. and democrats on the house oversight committee are questioning why the white house has not suspended the security clearance for top adviser jared kushner after he failed to disclose his contacts with the russian ambassador on his security clearance forms. joining me now, a man who certainly knows about these kind of laws, attorney bob bennett. he faced off against special counsel when he remitted bill clinton during the paula jones and monica lewinsky scandals. also the author of this, read it this summer, perfect timing, "in the ring,: the trials of a washington lawyer." washington lawyers working overtime right now. when you hear senator grassley say everything is on the table, how do you read that? >> i take senator grassley literally. it's all on the table and mr. mueller is nothing if not thorough. i think all of the major issues that have been raised are going to be looked in in great detail by bob mueller, who i know. >> you told "vanity fair" you didn't' obs