rod rosenstein is leaving soon. do you think he wants to have his say after he leaves after all this? >> if he does i want to be his agent, but i don't think so. he's the kind of guy that's were long run historical minded so i don't think he's a big fan of kiss and tell contemporaneous account of events. i could be wrong, but my guess is he'll move on to the next job with the same kind of what i would call quiet dignity he has now and he's not going run around and try to be his own advocate or sell books. this is a pretty extraordinary situation on a lot of levels but twha that top fbi officials are doing kiss and tell books is a rare moment in history. i think a lot of people would agree with me. >>> up next, breaking news -- roger stone just submitting an apology to his judge after posting an image of her with crosshairs next to her head. will the apology be enough to keep him out of more legal trouble. plus, several states are about to see the trump administration over the president's emergency declaration, but d

rosenstein has sent to mr. mueller that we don't know about and if we did, would be redacted like the one that happened on august 2nd, 2017? >> congressman, as you know, the investigation is ongoing and it would be inappropriate for me to talk about any other memos related to that. >> we already know there's been some modification of the broadest order i think you can have with this august 2nd, 2017 memo. all i'm asking is, are there any other modifications, any other changes to the parameters of an investigation into the president of the united states? >> the time of the gentleman has expired. the witness may answer. >> congressman, just to be clear, the special counsel understands the scope of its investigation and is complying with all the regulations and orders related to that. >> thank you, mr. chairman. general whitaker, you and i are both lawyers. my first day of criminal law, my professor came in and said, if someone asks you a yes-or-no question, don't repeat the question, just answer the question. in

rosenstein: -- organizations like interpol? mr. rosenstein: well, this is pretty sophisticated. you probably appreciate all this but i don't know all americans appreciate the extent we engage in countries which are our rivals including china and russia. i have visited china myself as part of an interpol conference about a year and a half ago and we have positive working relationships with law enforcement officials in all of these countries. but the point, the underlying point, which i emphasized in my remarks, we need to understand that they're coming from a different culture. they're coming from a system that has different values. what we need to do is find a way to engage, promote american interests and american values while recognizing the limitations that our partners -- that is our law enforcement colleagues in other countries have as a result of the system under which they operate. we have folks in our government who understand that well. people who suzanne and i traveled with and who participate when we meet with representatives of foreign countries and i think it's impor

that was rod rosenstein. that conversation happened in those critical 8 days. >> sean: what about comey's role in all of this, congressman? >> jim comey, too. right now we have two guys saying two different things. rod rosenstein and andy mccabe saying two different things. we need both of those guys under oath in front of our committee. this is how the system works. we can evaluate who is lying and who is not. two most important witnesses shawn's sean james comey signed on the first fisa warrant. he went to trump tower and said it's salacious the dossier but it's unverified. the bulk of information was the dossier. he lied tout president-elect or he lied to the fisa court and didn't all of them consciously lie to the fisa court because they didn't verify it. >> all true, sean, i'm not disputing any of that here's what we know, rod rosenstein said he didn't say that he was trying to invoke the 25th amendment actively pursuing removing the president from office. andy mccabe and two opener people we have depose

rosenstein has sent to mr. mueller that we don't know about, and if we did, would be redacted like the one that happened on august 2nd, 2017? >> congressman, as you know, the special counsel's investigation is ongoing, and it would be inappropriate for me to talk about any other memos related to that. >> mr. whitaker, we already know that there's been some modification of the broadest order i think you could have with this august 2nd, 2017 memo. all i'm asking is, are there any other modifications, any other changes to the parameters of an investigation into the president of the united states? >> the congressman's time has expired. the witness may answer the question. >> congressman, just to be clear, the special counsel understands the scope of its investigation and is complying with all the regulations and orders related to that. >> thank you. mr. sherman. >> don't just repeat the question, answer yes or no, otherwise people in your career will think you're not a good lawyer. we know you're a good lawyer. let

and current deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. jessica schneider explains.the president -- on a twitter tirade against andrew mccabe, insisting the former acting fbi director was "fired for lying" and calling mccabe's tell-all"deranged."mccabe was fired from the fbi last march....one day before he was scheduled to retire. his ouster came after the inspector general concluded mccabe misled investigators about his role authorizing the release of information to the wall street journal.now, mccabe reveals, he believes he was actually forced out for his role investigating trump. andrew mccabe/ former fbi director"he made it quite clear that he wanted me gone before i could retire. i believe i was fired because i opened a case against the president of the united states."the president is now echoing conservative commentators.(nats) "this was a coupe attempt, there's no doubt about it."calling mccabe's discussions with deputy attorney general rod rosenstein about possibly using the 25th amendment to remove trump from office -- "an illegal coup attempt" - with senato

but for right now, we have not heard, really, from rod rosenstein. we've heard from representatives of rod rosenstein, but andrew mccabe says that this was a pretty serious idea. >> and we're learning more from mccabe also about that memo that rod rosenstein wrote recommending that james comey be fired. >> yeah. so this came up as well in the interview on "60 minutes," and what andrew mccabe says and was that in the memo, the president when rod rosenstein was crafting this memo about the comey firing, the president wanted rod rosenstein to put information in there about russia. and here's how andrew mccabe explained it. >> rod was concerned by his interactions with the president who seemed to be very focused on firing the director and saying things like, make sure you put russia in your memo. that concerned rod in the same way that it concerned me and the fbi investigators on the russia case. >> what's not clear, really, wolf, in the end, is why did the president want russia mentioned in this memo? it could be that the president wanted to say that he

i imagine rod rosenstein also wants to write a book, much like andrew mccabe. why wouldn't you? and then we will find out what really hand behind the scenes with that. this is the statement that you read before the department of justice has to put out, whether you believe it or not, they have to continue to support the president of the united states and that makes total sense. but rod rosenstein will either confirm andrew mccabe or he won't. >> how much credence do you give to the justice department's ig report? and how much doubt does that cast on mccabe's credibility? the one who said he may or did lie? >> it's around important thing to look at because it really did cast some doubt on his integrity coming out of this job. and his version of events, of course, in the book is at odds with the ig report on this matter. and in the book he basically tries to say, i was caught off guard and in this confusing conversation i didn't answer the right way, the ig report points to four specific incidents when he fails to answer that question clearly on his contacts or hi

she reported directed to rosenstein. the ag should have somebody come of the liaison with the nsc, should report directly to the ag and not go through rod rosenstein. especially when they are sitting them up to be harmed. and then anthony ferrante, i know currently he's the senior managing director of fti consulting. he was another one that some considered a career position at the doj. let's see -- he had jordan kelly there, who is currently director of cyber security policy. the nsc, the white house. there were reports that she met routinely with the mueller investigators. between these people like tashina gauhar just thought yates was wonderful. i would hope that in wisdom, as acting director, wisdom in the incoming attorney general, will be to look at the background, look of the people who are political hacks, and figure out, "there give me advice on this? this is not for my well-being. this is to hurt the president of the united states." i know you may just have another beat, but i would encourage you that, as people

he points out rosenstein and says sessions appointed rosenstein. that's not true. donald trump appointed rod rosenstein. that's how it works. when you talk about a deep state or bureaucratic coup or anything like that that lindsey graham is talking about, these are people that the president appointed who are supposed to be part of the deep state and the pure karatic coup against him. that is ridiculous. >> part of the criticism against mccabe -- he was fired from the fbi, accused of essentially lying about interactions with the media. there's a new op ed out from matt lewis. it says andrew mccabe is not a hero and unelected operatives do not get to unseat a president. does that have merit? >> i don't think mccabe -- it seems like the discussions have gotten muddied around the 25th amendment. mccabe said i did not bring it up. it was part of a discussion i was part of. what we need to focus back to the mueller investigation is what made these two people rod rosenstein and andy mccabe so concerned about what was going on that they felt they needed to take extreme mea

if you pit rod rosenstein against mccabe, rosenstein will win that one.credibility. people still believe him and he is a credibility person. rod rosenstein is very happy today. we have a new attorney general and he finally gets to quit. he gets to go home and quit -- >> bill: on the bill barr thing. he arief, at a justice department in a department needs an infusion of credibility. it has a shredded reputation and lost the confidence of congress and the public. >> yeah. listen, this is a tough question for me because certainly i like barr more than sessions and i like barr more than whitaker. as a democrat i'm not sure he would have been my choice but certainly i would agree with chris. it is time to literally have the department of justice and the f.b.i. not be this sieve of leaks continually. as an american this is not what we're looking for the f.b.i. and department of justice to be. >> bill: talking about the credibility. it is in tatters. >> it is. bill barr has his work cut out for him and we're championing him to clean house. what struck me about t

do we expect precipitous action from the white house against rod rosenstein? rosenstein?from the white house perhaps rosenstein? >> frdoes your customersperhaps connecting to the wifi ever slow down your business? yes, it does slow things down. aggravating. it's a nightmare. so our gig-speed network is fast. and we go beyond fast by making it easy to create separate networks for your business and your customers and even control how much bandwidth each of those gets. so your business won't miss a beat. this is a big game changer. this is the new wave, and whoever doesn't get on, i think they would be left behind. just one more way we go beyond at&t. right now get fast, reliable internet and add wifi pro for a low price. comcast business. beyond fast. >>> they weren't able to get congress to fund items they wanted it doesn't work that way and this president seems to not get it that he's bound by the rule of law just the way the rest of us are and his office, as powerful as it is, is constrained by the constitution. >> and i should also point out that the acting defense secr

what rosenstein said about the wire and the 25th amendment as well as rosenstein's role in firing of comey, do you think rosenstein should have recused himself from oversight of the mueller probe? >> i don't know. that's something that the deputy attorney general has to determine for himself. i can say this. it was an incredible time. and the simple fact that the deputy attorney general and the acting director of the fbi were trying to figure out how to navigate a situation in which we thought the president of the united states might be involved in obstruction of justice, and might be doing that to cover up some sort of inappropriate relationship with the russians, i mean, it was a head-spinning moment. >> would you have recused yourself if you were in rod rosenstein's position? >> i was nots in rod's position and i don't want to answer a hypothetical like that. i will say that despite all of these conversations, you know, the mention of the 25th amendment and the offer to wear a wire, all these things that have become so kind of topical in the last few days, i think we have lost sig

was he hearing it from rod rosenstein? i know lisa page was a piece of that, too. was he hearing this from? >> the testimony indicated it was mccabe and lisa page. don't forget, she was the attorney for mccain. they would have been right there. of course, it becomes hearsay because they had talked to rod rosenstein. i don't recall mr. baker saying that he had heard it directly from rosenstein. >> melissa: if you listen to the interview last night, one of the things that really struck me was that mccabe really hung it all on rod rosenstein. he was like -- "i was sitting in this room, and i thought, "how did i get here?" rosenstein is the one who's almost thinking out loud about this idea of invoking the 25th amendment. kind of drawing mccabe in. is that the way at the picture was kind of painted to you guys in the committee by james baker, or is this kind of a new way of framing things? >> that's not really the way i took it from the baker testimon testimony. i took it really that rosenstein was a big instigator, but that mccabe was in there, as well. don't forget,

in the past, rosenstein pushed back on this. again, today, the department of justice saying, on his behalf, the deputy attorney general rejects mr. mccabe's as incorrect. they never authorized recordings he references. as the deputy attorney general stated, based on dealings with the president, there's no basis to invoke the 25th amendment nor was the dag in a position to consider invoking the 25th amendment. the dag never pursued them or advocates for this. it wasn't a realistic possibility. the issue is mccabe's credibility. he has been fired from the fbi for lying to internal investigators. he kept notes. it's been a war of words, once again, between rosenstein and

with rod rosenstein after comey was fired where rosenstein offered to wear a wire into the oval officech more detail. let's watch what he said. >> we talked about why the president had insisted on firing the director and whether or not he was thinking about the russia investigation and did that impact his decision? the context of that conversation, the deputy attorney general offered to wear a wire into the white house. he said i never get searched when i go into the white house. i could easily wear a recording device they wouldn't know was there. he was not joking. he was absolutely serious. and, in fact, he brought it up in the next meeting we had. i never actually considered taking him up on the offer. i did discuss it with my general counsel and my leadership team back at the fbi after he brought it up the first time. >> the point of rosenstein wearing the wire into a meeting with the president was what? what did he hope to obtain? >> i can't characterize what rod was thinking or what he was hoping at that moment. but the reason you would have someone wear a concealed recording adv

donald trump will react and rod rosenstein's fission?rosenstein's fission? it seems like both sides are just going to get more entrenched. the white house has been very defiant about this. the president, on twitter as usual, referring to this as a type of pollution, and that the focus should have been on hillary clinton in her campaign, and pointing to andrew mccabe's wife being a democratic party candidate here in the commonwealth of virginia. —— a type of collusion. that was during 2016. and for those who want to try to push this president out, what andrew mccabe is saying, and he is of course selling a book on the which has more revelations in it, this adds more fuel to the fire to demonstrate that this president is should not be re—elected or might even need to go sooner than that. right, the politics swirls on. steve herrmann, white house bureau chief of voice of america news. thank you. now to syria, where reports say jihadists have been blocking roads out of the last area the islamic state group holds, preventing hundreds of civil

rosenstein is a republican. he is looking at the same thing we all saw which is the president fired the fbi director and then went on national tv a couple of days later and said i did it because of the russia investigation. that looks like textbook obstruction of justice. it macks you wonder what is this president doing. >> what does it say about the status to your mind constitutionally of justice department which seems to be kind of the core question here? it is part of the executive. it's under the articles of power of the president. in some level we want it to be independent. here you see the mccabe account is people wrestling in real time with where their responsibilities and loyalties lie? >> this president raises all sorts of different constitutional issues we have never encountered because no one has ever broken this many norms from the fake national emergency to the actions he has taken to really attack the justice department, attack law enforcement. when you look at the constitution, nothing in there sa

rosenstein said was the -- is the standard that may be used. i think the american people expect and want to see the mueller report. if there's any intelligence questions there that may undermine our means or methods, those can be redacted. other than that, it seems to me that everything should ultimately be made public and i am convinced that there will be effort, if it's not, there will be efforts in congress to make it public. >> well, should lawmakers subpoena the report? >> if it doesn't come voluntari voluntarily, i have no hesitation to support a vote in subpoenaing for the report. >> and when rod rosenstein says, look, some of the information may not be accurate, it was collected, they can't confirm it, should that kind of information also be presented to congress? >> well, i don't know what would be in the report that bob mueller would put that isn't accurate and can't be confirmed. i would think that the report, based upon the number of indictments, guilty pleas, actual trials that it's had, that's led people to ultimately be found gui

rosenstein was caught off guard when mr.he firing and he began telling people he feared he had been used. everybody is back. chuck, remind people who andy mb cane is in this story. his book comes out, he will join us when it comes out. and i imagine andy mccabe finally telling his side of the story is going to be a real trigger for this president, who's still under investigation for possible conspiracy with the russians and possible obstruction of justice. >> andy mccabe was a career fbi special agent. he started working on the streets of new york on organized crime cases. he had worked his way up through the fbi, serving as the assistant director in charge of the washington field office, became deputy director under director comey and when jim comey was fired, andy became the acting director of the fbi. i think he would tell you he made some mistakes, but on balance he's a fine, decent and honorable man. he's also a credible man. i believe that andy is telling the truth when he describes in his book the way that rod rosenn

which rosenstein appointed. remember, he's the one that did it nearly two years ago. and, please, stop me if you have heard this before, and i know you have, it could also be a sign that mueller is wrapping up his investigation. back in january, nbc news reported, quote, a source close to rosenstein said he intends to stay on until mueller's investigator and prosecutorial work is done. the source says once mueller's work is done, the special counsel's report to the justice department would follow two weeks later and rosenstein would likely be gone by then. despite new allegations from andrew mccaccabe that rosenstei offered to wear a wire into the oval office, that does not appear to be a factor as to why he was leaving. a spokesperson called thes a serations factually incorrect. second of all, his departure has been in the works for quite some time. he said a month ago he wanted to ensure a smooth transition to the new attorney general. now that barr has been officially confirmed, it paves the way for rosenstei

bill bar will take jeffrey rosen to replace rosenstein as soon as this week. timeline for rosenstein's departure the uproar by and mccabe's comments. they are not connected. he said he was fired because he opened an investigation into the president, lying to investigators about media links this inspector general found. katherine herridge tells us what she has learned. >> counting votes or possible votes. >> reporter: the former fbi director said the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein discussed how many cabinet members invoking the 25th amendment to remove the president. but james baker, working with mccabe and lisa page about their conversations with rosenstein testified the effort went further, quote, i had the impression the deputy attorney general, with two members and the president's cabinet, they were on board with this concept already. on twitter the president responded to mccabe, quote, now acting fbi director andrew mccabe, he and rod rosenstein looked like they were planning a very illegal act. mccabe and others say the president's may of 2017 fi

it was concernin ining rod at t time. >> rosenstein was actually openly talk about whether there wasy of the cabinet who would vote to remove the president? >> that's correct. counting votes or possible votes. >> did he assign specific votes to specific people? >> no, not that i recall. >> as you're sitting in this meeting in the justice department, talking about removing the president of the united states, you were thinking what? >> how did i get here, confronting these confounding legal issues of such immense importance, not just to the fbi, but to the entire country. it was -- it was disorienting. >> i'll say. you never see discussions like this reported out of the justice department. now after mccabe sat for that interview, his spokesman released a statement that tried to play down the reference to rosenstein counting votes. the statement says mccabe did participate -- did not participate in any extended discussions about the use of the 25th amendment and says he's is not aware of those discussions. now, what you're seeing there is just how volatile this whole thing is. mccabe's

rod rosenstein in a position to consider invoking the 25th amendment. he wasn't. he wasn't a member of the cabinet. you have to be the vice president or a member of the cabinet. you never have suggested that rod rosenstein was in a position to invoke the 25th amendment. so what you have said is he participated in very serious discussions of it more than once and that he more than once participated in discussions and led discussions of should he wear a wire into the oval office? >> so i think you're absolutely right. i've read that statement. it is very carefully worded and i don't think there is anything in that statement that contradicts the statements that i've made in my book. i would caution you, though, rod's comments about the 25th amendment were strictly that. they were comments off the top of his head in the course of wide-ranging, frenetic and conversation about other things. it was a conversation like, look where we are. look at the sort of things we're having to think about and discuss and walk through, simply because our own president may ha

he said rod rosenstein talked to hill about it and rod rosenstein appeared to be serious about it.t he said on "60 minutes". >> the discussion of the 25th amendment was -- rod raised the issue and discussed it with me in the context of thinking about how many other cabinet officials might support such an effort. >> now to the other issue. mccabe insists that rosenstein was serious when he talked about wearing a wire in his white house meetings with president trump. rod rosenstein has insisted that he was only joking about it, saying it sarcastically. president trump today going off on both mccabe and rosenstein. he said wow, so many lies by andrew mccabe of the he was fired for lying and now his story gets more deranged. he and rod rosenstein, hired by jeff sessions, another beauty, looked like they were planning a very illegal act and got caught. he goes on to say, this was the illegal and treasonous insurance policy in full action. but while the president was taking aim at mccabe and rosenstein, rosenstein tendered his resignation weeks ago but still at the department of justice

mccabe says it was rosenstein who offered to wear a wire into the white house, and rosenstein who initiallypointing a special counsel. >> mccabe: he was concerned of what would happen to him if he appointed the special counsel, that if he did, it might mean that he would lose his job. and then we would no longer have a senate-confirmed official at the justice department to oversee all these efforts. >> pelley: eight days after comey was fired, rosenstein appointed special counsel robert mueller. mueller had been a career prosecutor who was appointed f.b.i. director by george w. bush. so far, mueller has obtained public indictments, convictions, or guilty pleas involving six trump campaign associates, including the campaign chairman, plus 25 russian intelligence agents. >> mccabe: we survived those crazy days in the wake of jim comey's firing. you know, we got to the point of having a new director appointed and come ened that we needed opened, we got the special counsel and probably the best special counsel we possibly could have hoped for in charge of an investigation that i think everyone

>>> this morning, new details about the timeline for rod rosenstein's exit from the justice department. this as the president lashes out over what he's calling treasonous behavior. across the country americans mark presidents' day by protesting trump's emergency declaration to fund a border d wall. moreer than a dozen states filee lawsuits challenging the ws president. >>> president trumpng issues a u warning to venezuela's military. he says all options are on the table when it comes to ousting the president's socialist president, nicolas maduro. eside. >>> good morning, everybody. it is tuesday, february 19, i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside a louis burgdorf. we'll start with deputy ag, rod rosenstein who spent the last 21 months overseeing the special counsel's investigation has aboutat three weeks left at the justice department. officials put rod rosenstein's date of departure around the middle ofnd march after a brief transition period under new attorney general william barr. reportsli indicate that barr settled on deputy transportation secretary jeffrey rossin as his replacement. t

rosenstein was actually openly talking about whether there was a majority in the cabinet who would voteo remove the president. that is correct. as the battle against islamic state draws to a close, what will happen to captured is fighters? inside venezuela — we meet some of the people struggling to survive as the standoff over humanitarian aid continues. loud explosion. and, going out with a bang — the world war two bomb that took 75 years to explode. a republican senator has vowed to investigate an alleged discussion to remove president trump from office. lindsay graham chairs the us senate judiciary committee. he says he could issue subpeonas to get to the bottom of claims that, in 2017, the deputy us attorney general, rod rosenstein discussed getting support for invoking the 25th amendment, which could declare the president unfit to serve. the claims were made in a tv interview by the former acting head of the fbi — andrew mccabe, who also claims mr rosenstein offered to wear a wire to record conversations with the president. the discussion of the 25th amendment was simply, rod raise

mccabe also had claims rosenstein offered to wear a wire into the white house.isten to this. >> we talked about why the president had insisted on firing the director and whether or not he was thinking about the russia investigation and did that impact his decision. and in the context of that conversation the deputy attorney general offered to wear a wire into the white house. he said, i never get searched when i going into the white house, i can easily wear a recording device. they wouldn't know it was there. now, he was not joking. he was absolutely serious, and in fact he brought it up in the next meeting we had. >> as cnn has already reported rosen at the scene denies that he pursued any recording and a source that was in the room for the conversation says that rosenstein was being arcastic. there's also this. lindsey graham says his panel is going to investigate mccabe's claim that rosenstein raised the possibility of ousting the president through the 25th amendment. a senator from south carolina calls the statement, quote, beyond stunning. >>> the trump adm

what's really not ultimately clear, i think, even from this interview is why rod rosenstein was having this conversation with andrew mccabe about this. certainly it put some things into andrew mccabe's mind. obviously they were already heightened after the former fbi director, after james comey was fired and then hearing this, i'm sure, heightened him even more into launching ultimately an obstruction investigation and a counter intelligence investigation. but i'm not entirely clear why rod rosenstein felt the need to have this conversation with andrew mccabe, and it's not clear from that interview. >> the other clip that i want to play is mccabe talking about what he and rosenstein did discuss after james comey was fired. >> we talked about why the president had insisted on firing the director and whether or not he was thinking about the russia investigation and did that impact his decision and in the context of that conversation, the deputy attorney general offered to wear a wire into the white house. he said, i never get searched when i go into the white house, i could easily wear a

andrew mccabe never said that rod rosenstein authorized the wearing of the wire.t talked about it and talked about it more than once. so there you have rod rosenstein in effect with that statement confirming that he talked about it because he doesn't deny that he talked about it. in the statement that the justice department issued. in interviews andrew mccabe has also revealed that deputy attorney general rod rosenstein more than once conducted serious discussions about the possibility of using the constitutional procedure of the 25th amendment to remove the president from office. the justice department statement says the deputy attorney general previously has stated there is no basis to invoke the 25th amendment, nor was the deputy attorney general in a position to consider invoking the 25th amendment. exactly. there's no conflict there because andrew mccabe did not say that rod rosenstein was in a position to invoke the 25th amendment because everyone knows the deputy attorney general cannot invoke the 25th amendment. it can only be invoked by the vice president

that's what rosenstein said last night.wasn't just the people in the room, that one person says it's a joke. rosenstein apparently went and told the general council. so a lot of people that was in on it. >> carley: my antennas went up twice during this conversation paid one time when he was asked when the 25th of them in conversation came up, and he said he couldn't remember. you can't remember when that happens? that's like a flash forward to when the hearings are going to start. i'm sure that'll be his answer for a lot of things. also, when he started the obstruction of justice charge. he said it was because he was going to get fired, he wanted to make sure that none of these things went away. but that's not how this works, as i'm sure you can attest to. investigations don't just go away because somebody gets fired. he knows that, so for him to try and sell that to the american people is a big question, as well. ethic we need some clarification on that point. >> melissa: and that begs the question, will we get clarificati

rosenstein has said he was joking about that. and he points out in a statement in a shot at mccabe that mccabe did not tell the truth, according to the inspector general. we also have devin nunes, the ranking member of the house intelligence committee explaining his take on the rosenstein situation. i think we have some sound. let's take a listen to that. >> look. we've tried to bring rod rosenstein before congress so that he can be under oath to answer these questions so we only know what's been leaked to the press. so you have a he said/she said in this case. but look, any talk of the 25th amendment is outrageous. >> so mccabe, you know is a controversial person within the fbi and outside of the fbi. but he is saying some fascinating things today that we're all going to pay attention to, hallie. >> that is for sure, ken. ken dilanian, thank you. >>> let me bring in somebody who worked with andrew mccabe. greg broaugher. you know this man. what do you make of what he's been doing talking about this so publicly today. >> good mor

do we believe mccabe or rosenstein because one is lying? >> absolutely.nt process. the only reason a warrant was should was because of the dossier. the dossier was prepared by a foreign agent and paid for by the democratic party. comey gave it to the president saying you need to know about this. that's the same document they used to give to the court and spared it was reliable. >> sean: the announcement of rosenstein's replacement could come this week. barr picked rosen as the deputy ag? quick reaction? >> that would be a good pick. this investigation is just beginning. we will get to the bottom i promise. >> sean: you and the attorney general, if we are going to have equal justice under the law and equal application and a constitution, you need to get to the bottom of this. a big responsibility on both of your shoulders. coming up next, we have an important about the jussie smollett case and so much more. don't go anywhere on this breaking news night. with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to

>> i think rosenstein was serious. look back at what happened with james comey, in the different meetings he had with president trump, that he thought were suspicious, that he thought were a cause for concern. and he took very careful notes of those meetings, because he wanted some proof of what was taking place, and he wanted to make sure to remember thinkings. and i think it's the same line of thinking for rosenstein, he wanted some evidence, some proof of the misdeeds of the president, to be able to understand further the level of obstruction of justice that was taking place, and possibly other events. >> right, and just shifting for a moment, on friday, president trump declared a national emergency over funding for his border wall. but he admitted he didn't need to do this. let's just listen to how stephen miller justifies this. >> i didn't need to do this. how does that justify a national emergency? >> what the president was saying is, like past presidents, he can choose to ignore the crisis, as others have. but t

the president telling "the times" the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein told his attorneys that when it comes to the mueller probe, quote, i'm not a subject, i'm not a target. but sounding a lot less certain about his legal status in the case of the southern district of new york, where he's been implicated as directing the hush money scheme. here's that exchange with the times. >> and two doj insiders telling me today that the president's account about his status in the mueller probe would represent a departure from the normal flow of information about the special counsel investigation. one senior justice department official tells me that any information about the president's legal status would have been delivered to the president's legal team from the special counsel's office directly, not from the deputy attorney general. this official adds that the president's scenario most closely resembles the dramatized scene from the showtime series "billions" than anything that would have been conveyed by rosenstein. a former senior justice official puts a finer point on the president's

what i do find interesting is the debates between rosenstein -- it sounds like between rosenstein and mccabe about what to do next. i can't trust people inside this building. rosenstein i've always felt just from the outside he must have gotten set up to be the fall guy for the comey firing. how do you negotiate through this. there were other remarkable points in this. the president calling andrew mccabe on an unsecure phone. i mean, this, to me, you know, from counterintelligence perspective is like alarm bells. how many phone calls has the president made on unsecured lines that could have been intercepted from abroad? as far as the deliberations, i wonder about the 25th amendment discussion has been popping up and down. based on the rules, it doesn't seem like that's a likely way to go to remove the president, but what is it that keeps prompting them to think they need to go to maybe someone should wear a wire? maybe the 25th amendment should be invoked. we need a special counsel. is there something so serious that we just don't know about here in the public that created such alarm

that rosenstein was saying that ingest. i was watching with cbs this morning, it is not consistent with what she knows about rod rosenstein either. as a prosecutor, how do you weigh these two statements? >> well, i think the response from the justice department has been carefully warded in terms of not taking action on the wire. i mean i also worked with rod rosenstein and i agree with that assessment. he's a professional and he believes in the rule of law and he's apolitical of how he executes his job in the political justice and personally and professionally i have complete confidence that this was not done in a silly manner. let's remember the 25th amendment is part of the united states constitution which is the law of the land. it is the law of all laws in this country. a suggestion of a discussion of the 25th amendment would be improper on behalf of department of justice officials who are seriously concerned not only the potential obstruction of justice committed at the highest but there were intelligence concerns. thi

rob: who will replace rosenstein, live in washington with more on that. thousands of liberal demonstrators protesting the trump administration's national emergency is democrats in power look to the ninth circuit court. jillian: will their latest legal battle be enough to rock the white house border policy. how many bath towels do you have at home? rob: "fox and friends first" continues right now. ♪ rob: i tell you what, not a bad song. higher love on this -- big steve winwood fans here. you are watching "fox and friends first" on tuesday morning. jillian: thank you for starting the day with us. fox news alert, rod rosenstein expected to step down as deputy attorney general next month. 's departure coming after former fbi deputy director andrew mccabe revealed an inside job to attempt to remove the president from office. rob: griff jenkins live with the latest on all of this. >> reporter: we have known and reported rosenstein intended to step down when the new attorney general took office but we have a better timeline, mid-march. confirmation, jeffrey rose

i do wonder if rosenstein denies that characterization. what would it take for the deputy attorney general to raise this possibility with the deputy director of the fbi? >> an awful lot. it is incredibly precipitous step to wear a wire to the president. the deputy attorney general wearing a wire or anybody recording the president is kmeetly unprecedented. i think getting that insight from mccabe reflects poorly on a lot of people, first of all, the president. the president's behavior was so concerning that they were talking about taking these extreme measures. and also the fbi doesn't look great here. i think the talk of the 25th amendment and wiring up against the president are drastic and not quite called for legally. i think what the fbi did that was right and smart and correct was setting up those investigations of obstruction of justice to protect themselves in case the president started firing people, shutting things down. they knew they needed to have that security in place. >> does it surprise you that when mccabe said at the end o

as was rosenstein.y, shared history working together at the justice department explains why he might have wanted do. >> knowing the facts that andrew mccabe had in front of him. how justified was he in >> having done this when i was in is justice department the fbi brings in a case and they must have a legal predicate. mccabe was very careful. used the word predicate and laid out the facts. and he went through it. and we can argue whether or not it was enough. but he certainly laid out the predicate to open -- to justify open up these cases it. doesn't mean the president was guilty of collusion. right? but it is just an investigation. >> as mccabe laid out the story for the first time in full or near full, were there parts of the conversation that gave you pause? >> yeah. look. let's be clear. we at cbs offered him the opportunity when he was first fired to come on here. he's promoting a book right now first. second. >> do you doat h sa you think it is all about promoting a book. >> no i don't think it

so look at rod rosenstein.s the one who's recommending firing comey, he signed the last fisa application, the third renewal, the fourth one in total. we have mccabe who filed the ig report, who lied five times,t do we believe mccabe or rosenstein come because one of them is lying, correct? >> absolutely. let's get back to the warrant, the mueller warrant process. the only reason a warrant was issued was because of the dossier. the dossiersi was prepared by a foreign agent paid for by the democratic partyfo and comey gae a dossier to the president after he was elected, saying, you need to know about this. we can prove any of it, we just want you to know. that is the same document they used to give to d the courts, swearing under oath. how do you swear that? >> sean: last question, the announcement of rosenstein's replacement could come as early as this week. trump administration official tells fox news the attorney general bill barr has picked jeffrey rosen as a deputy ag. quick reaction? got to go. >> i don't k