we are talking about rod rosenstein. the president asked him quote are

rosenstein, and the fact that he is sort of dangling rod rosenstein's job, and the firing of rod rosensteinn my view would be an act of obstruction of justice just as firing bob mueller would be and it is further evidence that what happened with james comey was not an isolated act. to me, that is a very definite part of a pattern of obstruction of justice. >> and james, would you agree that there is a are removal of rod rosenstein by way of the president firing him, is that tantamount to obstruction of justice or constitutional crisis? >> fred, i'm a cautious skeptic in these thing, because for 25 yees i served in the fbi, and the thing that is paramount in the fbi is that it is not always what you know or what you think that you know, but it is what you can prove. and in this instance, ob are struck shun of justice is such a difficult, and there is a high bar for it, because you have to be able to prove intent. the president has the right to fire an fbi director, and the president has the right to fire an attorney general, and the if the president sees fitt to have the deputy attorney gene

how close is rod rosenstein to getting fired? if that happens, do we expect that's the start of the end of the russia investigation? stay tuned. the night is young. don't we need that cable box to watch tv? nope. don't we need to run? nope. it just explodes in a high pitched 'yeahhh.' yeahhh! try directv now for $10 a month for 3 months. no satellite needed. olay regenerist shatters the competition. hydrating skin better than prestige creams costing over $100, $200, and even $400. for skin that looks younger than it should. fact check this ad in good housekeeping. olay regenerist. ageless. for my constipation, i switch to miralax. stimulant laxatives forcefully stimulate the nerves in your colon. miralax is different. it works with the water in your body. unblocking your system naturally. save up to $5 on miralax. see sunday's paper. sucthey read more.have one thing in common. how do they find the time? ... with audible. audible has the world's largest selection of audiobooks. for just $14.95 a month... you get a credit good for

i don't know rod rosenstein.to see him go? >> i'm saying i don't know. i don't know him. you just brought up nikki haley, and my point is i know nikki haley, so i'd be sad personally. i don't know rod rosenstein. if he left tomorrow, life goes on, and we'll continue to make the country great again. but i mean the president has no desire to fire rod rosenstein. >> all right. so the president put out that statement. we played it a little bit earlier talking about the memo. he says it shows a lot of bad things are going on in america. and then this morning he put out a statement that said the top leadership and investigators of the fbi and justice department have politicized the sacred investigative process. who? who are the top leadership at the fbi and justice department he's talking about? >> look, i think we've said this many times, and the president's been very clear. he has extreme confidence and respect for the rank and file members of the fbi and the doj. subsequent reports and reviews have come out and we'v

did rod rosenstein know? he has a lot of questions to answer. >> rod rosenstein according to the fox news channel is the point of that republican memo. all of that hype, all of that consternation, this will be the biggest thing, watergate times 1,000. their take away from that republican memo is rod rosenstein must be fired. now, in its substance, rod rosenstein has no role in the plot of the memo. the fbi is part of the counter intelligence investigation into the russia attack on the election and whether the trump campaign conspired on it after page left the campaign. they obtained a warrant. it was then renewed. then it was renewed again. then it was renewed again. rod rosenstein was one official who signed off on the final renewal. republicans haven't even alleged anything specifically wrong about that final renewal or specifically about rod rosenstein's role on signing off on it but as long as you don't bother reading it and watch fox news to count on them to tell you what is in there, it's clear what tha

i think rod rosenstein is in some jeopardy but i also think that you know, rod rosenstein is the personresident would have to go to if he wanted to fire bob mueller. and i think that as a result, he may stay unless he gets fired. if you take a step back here, this is a president who is playing a very dangerous game. because he came into office running against old norms and old institutions. that really worked in the election. here he is now running against institutions. pushing up against congress. pushing up against the judiciary. against his own people at the department of justice and that's a dangerous game for him to play. if bob mueller wants me to sit down with him, i have now proven these people are corrupt and i can now say with the american public, and they will agree with me, why should i? they have conducted a corrupt investigation. and he believes that he can push back against he this institution successfully. >> so do you think rod rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, survives all of this? >> you look at the president, the body language as he answers the question and yo

but the reality is this isn't about rod rosenstein. if he happened to step down tore be pushed aside, that would not end the mueller investigation. rachel brand the number three at the justice department is also from the bush administration era, that's where she came from, so she would continue. so the mueller investigation is continuing regardless of who is in that position. so the white house says standing by, that might be the situation, but i'll wait for the president to say it for himself next week. >> that's a fair point. let's go back to our panel. the president today sadist gr e said disgraceful was the word he used. what i don't understand is, you'll call him disgraceful and do all these abuses that you allege, don't you have to fire him unless you are admitting this is all politics? >> i think he does mean it t i think he will fire rod rosenstein or push him aside. this president has pushed through every norm of behavior that we have assumed presidents abided by. i don't think it's a done deal. when rod rosenstein gets fired

christopher wray went to the white house with rod rosenstein.remember, a donald trump appointee, saying this is not good to release. we have grave concerns about it. this is misleading, it is not true. but donald trump would rather listen to cable news hosts? this is donald trump leaving for the event kristin walker mentioned a moment ago. ashley? >> this is sort of a combination. not only did christopher wray and rod rosenstein go to the white house, but we reported five fbi agents including one in the counterterrorism division went to the white house to make their case. obviously the fbi and the department of justice released public statements. and the way we understand it is that president trump first heard about it from two allies in a phone call, two members of the house freedom caucus who said there's a memo that could help you politically. you should declassify it. and then as soon as he learned about it, and you're exactly right, he did learn about it watching it on tv. he heard a reading in the papers, but we heard at one point trey gau

because if he were to ask rod rosenstein, say, to fire bob mueller, rod rosenstein probably would not do that. but that's a story for another day, okay? right now rod rosenstein is in his crosshairs. his name might be in this, we don't know, but the president looks at this, and i can't emphasize this enough. he looks at this through his own personal lens about what it means for him. he has never had any loyalty to institutions. shimon talks about the fbi. you talk about the justice department. he got elected by busting norms and being against institutions. so now that he's in washington and he's taking on institutions, it doesn't matter to him. it's not as if he has any loyalty to that or any sense of history about it. it is about how will this work for him in front of the special counsel, period. >> so true, so true. as we wait for this memo to be released, i want to go back to the white house to jeff zeleny. jeff, i want to talk about something that you reported at the top of the show about the question about redactions, meaning blacking out anything that is in this memo for whateve

so is trump's next act to fire rod rosenstein? three white house officials tell nbc news there have been no discussions or considerations about firing rod rosenstein, but when trump was asked this afternoon if he had confidence in his deputy attorney general, he didn't give a good answer. >> you figure that one out. >> so put a question mark next to rod rosenstein's job status. there are other consequences of the nunes memo, consequences that may be long lasting affecting the fbi and justice department. james comey said it best calling out house republicans who destroyed trust with the intelligence community, damaged relationships with the fisa court and exposed classified investigation of an american citizen. very degreed gentlemen with me here tonight. paul butler first i want to get your response to this new reporting that says another element of the memo has proven to be incorrect that, in fact, the justice department did tell the court of the political leanings of some of the folks providing them information and that the dnc

that would be rod rosenstein. the memo is being used by the president to smear the fbi and justice department. >> i think it's terrible. you want to know the truth? i think it's a disgrace what's going on in this country. i think it's a disgrace. the memo was sent to congress, it was declassified. congress will do whatever they're going to do. but i think it's a disgrace what's happening in our country. and when you look at that, and you see that and so many other things, what's going on, a lot of people should be ashamed of themselves, and much worse than that. so, i sent it over to congress. they will do what they are going to do, whatever they do is fine. it was declassified. and let's see what happens. but a lot of people should be ashamed. thank you very much. >> are you not concerned the fbi -- >> thank you very much. >> [ inaudible ]. >> you figure that one out. >> we'll get to that, which is a disgrace later. but a former top intelligence official under democratic and republican presidents telling me today

rod rosenstein: that is a very good question. i think it is important for you to understand how they are being used. the primary responsibility for processing suspicious activity reports lies with the treasury. we make use of the information in two ways. first of all, reactively when conducting an investigation and we believe there is reason to believe there could be relative evidence in those sar's. that is persons in the department that have approved access because the information is closely controlled. and then we also have proactive initiatives because the information you are collecting can be relevant for us and show us where we should be focusing our attention. who are the drug couriers, who are the cyber criminals, who are the money launderers and there is information within those reports so we are able to run proactive queries, or actually have employees who sit down and read the sar's, and are able to access that information. one of my goals is to work with the treasury and to ensure that information is useful to us. two

rod rosenstein is in place and he is not going anywhere. >> if rod rosenstein called the president tomorrownd said hey, i am out. i am submitting may resignation, do you think he would tell him f not to? >> i don't know. >> if nikki haley quit tomorrow, do you think the president would be happy about that? >> i can't get into his head. i would be sad to see her go. but that is not my decision. >> would you be sad to see rod rosenstein go? >> i wouldn't be sad -- >> you wouldn't be sad? >> i don't know him. you brought up nikki haley. i know her personally. the president has no desire to fire rod rosenstein. >> all right. so the president put out that statement. we played it earlier talking about the memo. he says it shows a lot of bad things are going on in america. this morning he put out a statement saying the top leaderships and investigators of the fbi and justice department have politicized the sacred investigation. >> the president has extreme confidence and respect. subsequent reports and reviews have come out and we have seen there has been an apparent clear political bias. >> by wh

we are talking with florence romero, director of stewardship -- and rod when they are is, -- rod lanark. they work in tandem. florence is talking about stewardship as a way of life and sharing of gifts with others. you have seen examples of that, having you? >> i have seen extremely vivid examples of that. it has been inspiring to me. a couple of note -- and i was not aware of any of these prior to my journeys. saint anthony in redwood city, six days a week, feeds 700 people. no questions asked. st. charles and san carlos -- for 25 years, they have gone to mexico to build homes. saint rita and fairfax has gone to help with tutoring programs. it is really a very vivid and vibrant demonstration of people sharing their time and talent. and it was inspiring to me. i think it is a great source of pride for all of us. it is wonderful. >> you mentioned that the stewardship initiative is somewhat new. the concept seems to be somewhat new, at least to me. you have a historical model on how this works. >> it is the diocese of wichita -- >> wichita, campus -- kansas? >> yes. they have been doing t

rod rosenstein fired. look at this exchange between trump and a reporter yesterday. >> >> you figure that one out. >> so i'm going to ask you to interpret that. have you figured it out? will we see at saturday night massacre? >> i would bet that the president is after rod rosenstein. i think it's fairly plain to say he is. and of course if he goes after rod rosenstein, then he gets to appoint somebody in rosenstein's place, and that person could see reason to fire robert mueller, which would trigger a constitutional crisis. mueller cannot be fired. his investigations should be allowed to go on unimpeded. rosenstein is clearly in trouble here with the president. >> i'm curious how the -- and i will get this to zerlina first. the response from christopher wray. here's part of the memo he released to the fbi community yesterday saying we speak through your work. we do that work and we stay laser focused on doing great work, even when it's not easy, because we believe in the fbi. clearly it has got to be a mor

rod rosenstein the deputy attorney general. another option president trump considered was dismissed the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein and elevating the number three official to oversee mr. mueller. mr. rosenstein has overseen the investigation since march when attorney general jeff sessions recused himself. yesterday speaker paul ryan said he had confidence in rod rosenstein. today the president said, i'll let you figure that out. what do you think this means for rod rosenstein? >> right. i'm not the one to define the comments of the president because it could change six more times by the time we get off the air. but, look. it's not a shock to think that rod is drawing fire from both the left and right. i know the guy pret pretty well. i know he's a pretty professional, objective person. i suspect there are still fair questions to ask, but i think i know the answers when it comes to rod's motivation and confidence. but he can be the most confident squeaky clean guy to ever set foot in washington. that doesn't mean he

is rod rosenstein next?ric columbus, you've been considering rod rosenstein's position in this, you wrote a piece about it in "the washington post" yesterday. why is the president obsessed with rod rosenstein? >> rod rosenstein is robert mueller's boss. and any decision that robert mueller makes can be overturned by rosenstein in his capacity as the acting attorney general, given that jeff sessions is recused from everything. so anything that mueller does can be overturned by rosenstein. and if rosenstein were gone and someone more compliant were shifted into his position we could see a different path for the mueller investigation. >> barbara mcquad, how do you get someone more compliant? let's suppose rod rosenstein is forced out, goes the andrew mccabe route, can't take it anymore and quits, who then becomes the deputy attorney general, and, in effect, acting attorney general in this matter. >> i think next is line is the associate attorney general, rachel brand. i don't know her but what i know about her

>> rod?dent, rod rosenstein. >> because that would be a tougher job. >> rod rosenstein. >> rod is a principled and objective guy. i've known him for a long time. i think he know what is the job should be, and he excels at it. i also think he doesn't get distracted by the politics of the moment. there is more to dig into the the whole situation. nobody should stop at one memo and feel they've answered all the questions around fbi abuse, omissions, what it means for court proceedings. there is a million questions. but on rod's mind, i think he's probably just doing his job. he may have all sorts of internal communications with mueller that we don't know about, in terms of where this investigation has been and where it's going. but i just don't think he is the type of person that crumbles under pressure or concern about the future. >> evan, you tweeted this out today. i know and respect some of the house republicans on the intelligence committee which is why it's so disappointing they would inte

we'll see if he has anything else to say about rod rosenstein. that question hangs overall of this today. >> you heard chris stewart, a member of the house intelligence committee, republican from utah, say to us a little while ago, he wants -- he certainly wants the russia investigation to go forward, even though the president, as you and our other reporters have all pointed out, he would like to see it simply go away. jeff, stand by. there's more information coming in. pamela brown, our senior white house correspondent is with us as well. pamela, a reminder to viewers what the memo says about george papadopolousling charged as part of the mueller probe. >> george papadopoulos was charged for lying to the fbi and the russia probe and it's interesting because in the last page of this memo, wolf, it makes reference to papadopoulos, that his name was in the fisa application for carter page. in the memo, the argument was made that there was no evidence that carter page and george papadopoulos had talk ed or thee was any sort of cooperation or conspir

the president tells reporters you figure it out when asked if he has confidence in rod rosenstein. "the 11th hour" on a consequential friday night begins now. good evening once again from our nbc headquarters here in new york. this was day 379 of the trump administration. tonight the president has arrived in florida. here's a number for you while we watch that. the president has now spent 123 of his 379 days as president at a trump branded property. tonight we now know what's in that top secret house intelligence memorandum that's been used to accuse federal intelligence of bias and discredit the russia investigation. it was released today despite strong opposition from the fbi and justice department. devin nunes helped to write the document, has been pushing for it to be made public. a party line release set it to be released in motion, and the president signed off on it. carter page, alleging that the warrant was wrongfully obtain by the fbi and the justice department. it refers to christopher steele who compiled the now infamous dossier on trump. republicans say the dossier was

and i th think that one goal wao remove rod rosenstein from the position.here are only certain persons who approved the fisas against carter page, and two are left in government and the rest are out of government now. and those two, and one is now the fbi general counsel, and the only other one left is rod rosenstein, and so the extent that there is any political interest in trying to infer that something or trying to argue that something was done wrong in the applications, that could be left at the feet of rod rosenstein, but there is nothing coming out with the memo given the omissions that makes the case that rod rosenstein did anything wrong in the carter page surveillance, and in fact a clip with representative nunes saying that the fisa targeted the trump campaign, and it did not. it targeted carter page based on -- >> who is no longer a member of the trump campaign at the time they got the warrant. >> and his counter intelligence investigation of him. >> thank you, ladies. >>> up next, the father of three daughters who were sexually abused by larry n

from christopher wray to deputy ag rod rosenstein, it goes on. these aren't clinton shills. these aren't left wingers, these aren't even democrats. >> they're his appointees. mccabe who basically got pushed out was a republican who voted in the 2016 gop primary. i have to say, alisyn, i'd be more surprised if it wasn't for the track record of, well, the last year. think about it, last summer you've got the president on a daily basis -- i'm not exaggerating -- basically trolling his own attorney general and shaming him in a very public manner. so am i surprised that he's at odds with his fbi director? no. he's at odds with his own ag who is one of the earliest supporters of his campaign. so it's hard to be shocked, alisyn, at this point in the trump administration. >> look, the president says 100% that memo is coming out when he's leaving the state of the union. according to sarah huckabee sanders, he hadn't even read it yet. we're journalists, we always want more information. we want it to we can read it and test the people who put it out if nothing else. they're pushing som

if trump gets rid of rod rosenstein, does he have to get rid of dana boente too?ld rod rosenstein have to go and not dana boente? someone explain it to me. we'll be right back. not cool. freezing away fat cell with coolsculpting? now that's cool! only coolsculpting is fda-cleared to treat and freeze fat cells, non-surgically. diet and exercise alone just shrink those cells. coolsculpting gradually eliminates them, with little or no downtime. visit coolsculpting.com today... for a chance to win a free treatment. coaching means making tough choices. jim! you're in! but when you have high blood pressure and need cold medicine that works fast, the choice is simple. coricidin hbp is the #1 brand that gives powerful cold symptom relief without raising your blood pressure. coricidin hbp. >>> i hereby wish you a very happy super bowl weekend and i hereby wish you gastro intestinal relief now that this memo has dropped. the ones that our friends at the fox news channel and republicans and those at the white house had hyped and suggested would be the get out of jail free ca

if trump gets rid of rod rosenstein, does he have to get rid of dana boente too?rod rosenstein have to go and not dana boente? somebody explain it to me. we'll be right back. waysthe roasted core wrap. fat. (robotic voice) 3, 2, 1... not cool. freezing away fat cell with coolsculpting? now that's cool! only coolsculpting is fda-cleared to treat and freeze fat cells, non-surgically. diet and exercise alone just shrink those cells. coolsculpting gradually eliminates them, with little or no downtime. visit coolsculpting.com today... for a chance to win a free treatment. but their nutritional needs (vremain instinctual.d, that's why there's purina one true instinct. nutrient-dense, protein-rich, real meat number one. this is a different breed of natural nutrition. purina one, true instinct. for 100 years, heritage and innovation have made gillette the #1 shave in america. now get gillette quality at lower prices -- every day. brought to you by 1200 workers in boston -- we're proud of giving you our best. gillette. the best a man can get. >>> i hereby wish you a very h

he has considered firing rod rosenstein, he has vented about firing rod rosenstein. there are times he has wanted to fire bob mueller and fire everyone around him at one time other or another. it buys them time. in the sense that you think rod rosenstein rose to this moment acting as the attorney general, i think a lot of people will look at the president's reaction with disappointment today and say this is still someone obsessed with his elect oral victory and how he got into the oval office, not the weight of governing, not what this means about the vulnerabilities of americans' election system and the question of is russia an l ally, an adversary, something in between? and how do you deal with that relationship from what you know from intelligence and now from this report from robert mueller. >> they say that they've seen evidence that they are meddling in 2018. >> this is just one organization. there are probably other organizations. having covered these kinds of cases before, these national security division cases where we indict people from other countries or s

now if rod rosenstein were to step down or to be fired, the next person who would be in line would be noh francisco. there's been a lot of speculation about what would happen if the president goes through with his various threats and his anger at rod rosenstein who oversees the investigation. rachel brand has never really tried cases. she is a national security law expert. she has served in various capacities. in area. but these times of investigations is not really her forte. there's been a lot of speculation about whether she would stay in the job and oversee the mueller investigation. we've talked to people at the justice department who said she was uncomfortable with that idea. and certainly if rod rosenstein was on the firing line, we didn't know whether or not she would stay at the justice department. now the idea that she is stepping down is very surprising. obviously, nine months in, people don't just resign that way. we have to hear from the justice department what they say, what the cause is for her decision to step down. >> katie, on the phone right now, has she given an ex

, he picked rod rosenstein.veillance -- is he part of the deep state cabal too? >> is a natural tension between the executive branch and elective branch. i spent 22 years in the legislative branch fighting with the executive branch on the national parks service -- >> this is all within the executive branch. >> wait a second. >> congressman, this is the executive branch against the executive branch and two people that the president appointed. >> no, it is not. it started when the -- >> yes, it is. >> it started when the fbi ignored subpoenas from the house intelligence committee trying to get this information. and they have not been cooperative, ask bob goodlatte, ask trey gowdy, ask devin nunes, even adam schiff, he will say the fbi was not responsive, neither has the doj been, in terms of giving information to these committees which are charged with finding this information out. so i -- i think the other thing is with he know people like james comey, they're very political. i don't think christopher wray is, he

the fate of rod rosenstein? >> drepty press secretary walked back the president's comments this evening. he was on cnn saying that the president had full confidence in the deputy attorney general. and there would be no changes at the department of justice. sources close to the president have confirmed that saying right now the president is not considering firing rod rosenstein. we should point out, john, officials in the administration have been told they have the full confidence of the president before. only for them to be shown the door shortly after that. beyond that, sources familiar with the president thinking tell kren that part of the reason he's hesitant to fire rod rosenstein is he believes firing the deputy attorney general could prolong the russia investigation. whether it's firing of james comey. reports that he's upset with attorney general jeff sessions for recusing himself from the investigation. or reports last week that the president wanted to fire robert mueller only to relent at the advice of

the first is rod rosenstein approved the last extension of the carter page.e's a tape of me asking late last year what happens if rod rosenstein had to recuse himself. >> what happened if mr. rosenstein, god forbid gets hit by a bus or gets recused? do you take it over then? >> in the order of succession, yes, but i don't want to engage in hypotheticals. i'm focused on doing my job every day, which does not include that. >> so andrew mccarthy, rod rosenstein co authored with pete sessions urging comey be fired. and now it turns up he is enter 2009ed with this whole thing. do you think he ought to recuse himself from supervising mueller. >> it depends on what this whole thing is. if this whole thing is what it was represented to be from the beginning by the testimony that former fbi director comey gave and from everything that was described to us at the beginning, that is to say this is a counterintelligence investigation, the principle aim of which is to get to the bottom of russian efforts to interfere with an american election, i don't see any reason why ro

this time rod rosenstein, are you on my team? and timing matters. in december he was up there to talk about his testimony on congress about what was going on with the investigation. rosenstein supposedly answered, we're all on your team, mr. president. technically right. he is part -- >> supposed to be on the same team. >> but this is another one. by itself, people will write this off as trump being trump. and a really ignorant idea about how people from new york speak. 0 to prosecutors, it could be a piece in a puzzle of corrupt intentions. why is he asking this question? what is he trying to get out of these executives. >> this is clearly part of a pattern. this is loyalty oaths part,000. sit not a verbal tick from a guy from new york. >> why not? this is how he divides the world. are you on my team or not? >> are you going to do a nice story on me. is he saying are you going to help me get out of this investigation or not? >> i get it. >> it is about america versus the world when it's george bush. with donald trump, are you investigating me and a

they're going to find an excuse to fire rod rosenstein, but even there, there's a problem. rod rosenstein, there actually completing reports about when the last of these applications was submitted. it was either march or april. "the new york times" reported it was april after rod rosenstein became deputy attorney general unable 26. but if that is the case, regardless of which it is, it means that two applications using the dossier had already been approved by the fisa court. one of which came after the dossier was made public. city the rod rosenstein, all he did was sign the last application that has party gone through approval processes in march when he came in a study attorney general, or he wasn't involved at all. but they are searching for some excuse that they will be of little remove rod rosenstein, therefore, get to robert mueller. amy: explain exactly what that last part is. why they want to get rid of rod rosenstein and how that will get them to robert mueller. >> the only way you can remove --ller is if his supervisor not the only way, but the only way that isn't

rod rosenstein is still there. he pleaded with the president not to release this. he is, of course, the person, if the president wanted to fire bob mueller, he would have to go to rod rosenstein to do it. so what the democrats are saying in this letter to the president saying that they are alarmed by reports that you may have released this document as a pretext to fire rod rosenstein, they are putting him on notice that they would consider this a constitutional breach. >> two of the people who signed off on these fisa warrants for carter page are people that trump himself put in their positions. rod rosenstein, for example, he put him in the position or appointed him, nominated him for deputy attorney general. dana buente, he was overseeing the national security convention, he was brought over from the division office. these are two people that trump himself put at the department of justice. something else that sort of stuck out to me was this is all about the fisa warrant for carter page. if you recall, up until this point, the trump administration has distanced t

the president tells reporters, you figure it out when asked if he has confidence in rod rosenstein. the 11th hour on a consequential friday night begins now. >>> and at the end of another week, good evening once again from our nbc headquarters in new york. this was day 379 of the trump administration. tonight the president has arrived in florida. here's a number for you while we watch that. the president has now spent 123 of his 379 days as president at a trump-branded property. tonight we now know what's in that top secret house intelligence memorandum that's been used to accuse federal law enforcement of political bias and discredit the russia investigation. the three and a half-page memo was released earlier today despite, as you know, strong opposition from the fbi and justice. house intel chairman, devon nunez, a trump ally who once worked on the transition helped to write the document, has been pushing for it to be made public, a party line vote in the committee set the release in motion. and the president who had the power to prevent it signed off on it. the core of the memo

charles: rod rosenstein. would it be obstruction of justice or a constitutional crisis if the president decides to fire him? >> the president obviously has the authority to have whoever he wants as deputy attorney general. but recognize in the political process if he takes that action it has consequences. i don't know about a constitutional crisis. but you have to put someone else in and that person has to be approved with the vims and cone sent of the senate. charles: the other major story, the markets. one of the things you won't read about is the evidence that this economy has begun to roar. the wages surging. construction spending at record highs and the job market very powerful. the big question, can it all last? chief economist' publisher and editor. this your first time making money. i'll start with you. strong jobs numbers. the economic number. it feels like this hasn't happened in a long time. everyone is talk can about the feds enoughing this one out. it feels like we are in the midst of that. >> th

if this arose during the investigation, fair game, at least according to rod rosenstein. let's talk about the abby lowell denier. abbe lowell who defended a whole lot of very powerful people. o there has not been a single question asked or document sought on the 666 building or kushner company deals. this is a pretty broad denial. you would think the special counsel would be asking questions here if it were something he was seriously interested in. >> absolutely. i think it's very much worth paying attention to, what abbe lowell said. it is also true that these investigations don't evolve immediately and you certainly -- if you are investigating a

and deputy attorney general rod rosenstein.denied tonight that rod's job is on the line but denied that the president ever tried to fire special counselor robert mueller, which we now know he did. people have been calling this a slow motion saturday night massacre. after nixon cleared out the justice department to try to stop the investigation against him. joining us now is our friend michael besh squlosh. thank you for being with us. put this in context in terms of magnitude and how big a deal this is and how strange it is. j just as you have been suggesting, we could in the next few days seeing the firing of rod rosenstein, which could load to an effort to constrain robert mueller's investigation or even shut it down. so i suggest the next couple days we all sleep with one eye open because we don't know what's going to. happen. even a larger context, this is a guy donald trump who since the time he was elected has talked about attacking some of the most vulnerable aspects of our democracy. and at the beginning and also in rec

he also asked rod rosenstein -- he wanted to know if rod was, quote, on my team. we're told rod rosenstein was surprised by the question and didn't directly respond to the question. keep in mind, this is the latest episode to come to light where questions from the president potentially cross the line. these could further raise questions about whether trump was seeking to interfere in the russia and obstruction of justice investigation. >> shimon, a lot going on right now including a development overnight first published by "the new york times." the special counsel focusing in on this air force one memo meeting where the president along with key aides were apparently drafting response to the trump tower meeting where donald trump jr. was promised di dirt. hope hicks -- >> this is before the current legal team took over, when the russia investigation was first transferred to the special counsel. mark corallo was the spokesperson. we've been told about these conversations. there's been concern and this has been a focus of the special counsel investigation. "the new y

will rod rosenstein be forced out? will this memo give an excuse for that? if that happens, if wray leaves or if rosenstein is out, what will happen to the russia investigation? >> well, i don't think that either one is going to be leaving their position because of this memo. i think chris wray will stay in his position as fbi director and we even saw that speaker ryan came out and said there is nothing in this memo that implicates rod rosenstein. the speculation, this is part of the problem where i think republicans on the messaging side are losing a bit in the fact that the longer this drags on and schiff, even though i disagree with him completely on every possible issue i think on the planet, i do think he's done a fantastic job of talking about obstruction, obstructing this thing and delaying it. we start talking about process things like who might be mentioned in the memo and who might not be as opposed to actually really getting into -- get thing thing out there which it should be. the longer this goes on, then we're talking about things like, you kno

that's deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. well, tonight cnn was first to report that abc was first to match, they have all confirmed this reporting that rod rosenstein, deputy attorney general, the guy who's leading, overseeing the mueller investigation, he is the latest law enforcement official involved in the russia investigation who the president appears to have pressured, directly, about it. quote, deputy attorney general rod rosenstein visited the white house in december, seeking president trump's help. rosenstein, the top justice official in the russia investigation wanted trump's support in fighting off document demands from devin nunes, but the president had other priorities. trump wanted to know from rosenstein where the special counsel's russia investigation was heading, and he wanted to know whether rosenstein was quote, on my team. deputy attorney general appeared surprised by the president's question. sources say he demurred on the direction of the russia investigation and responded awkwardly to the president's "

you saw what he just said about rod rosenstein. rachel brand is a justice department veteran, she has impeccable credentials for her job, she had custody of certain issues in the justice department that were relatively uncontroversial. it certainly suggests there was something going on that there that she didn't like and didn't want a part of anymore so she left after just nine months and that's unusual when you look at the tenure of people in that -- at that level in the justice department. >> another very sensitive story, you heard jim sciutto's reporting, how unusual is it that dozens of trump administration officials at the white house, including jared kushner, the president's son-in-law, still don't have permanent security clearances. >> as jim sciutto reported, it was very unusual and potentially troubling, here's why. it's not an usual for an fbi background information to last up to a year, that's not unusual. it's thorough, they literally go through your entire life to determine if you're suitable for access to classified i

especially when it comes to deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. take a listen. >> do you have confidence in him? >> you figure that one out. >> rod's had 27 years in the department. rachel's had a number of years in the department previously. so they both represent the kind of quality and leadership that we want in the department. >> so confidence in rosenstein, sessions is backing him. the president says you figure it out. let's talk about it now. michael zeldin, cnn legal analyst and former assistant to robert mueller. patrick healey, cnn political analyst and "new york times" editor, and david sworlic, assistant editor at "the washington post," and tom fuentes, law enforcement analyst and former fbi assistant director. good to see you all. good morning. michael, you first. president trump and attorney general jeff sessions having contradictory messages here on rod rosenstein. so what does this signal to you that sessions would try to essentially get the last word here on rosenstein? >> well, i think that jeff sessions is trying to protect donal