, quote, this is rod rosenstein, i give the investigation credibility, rosenstein said, in the words of one official, quote, i can land the plane. these comments were made in september of 2018, a full six months before robert mueller would tell the justice department that he was finished with his probe. for six more months under rosenstein's supervision, mueller would continue interview witnesses and bringing cases. this took six months before mueller decided he could not exonerate trump on obstruction of justice. six months before bill barr decided he would let trump off the hook anyway. that's where we begin with our favorite reporters and friends, ashley parker who just broke this story. former u.s. attorney and msnbc contributor joyce vance joins you, and national analyst john hileman -- joyce is not with us. we're going to start with you, ashley. i'm going to read more of your colleague's report, which crossed our wires a few minutes ago. rod rosenstein was in danger of losing his job. the "new york times" had just reported that in the heated days after james comey was fired as

rosenstein was trying to save his job. you may remember "the new york times" account about him wearing a wire. you see the headline in the post. i can land the plane. how he tried to mollify trump and save his job. he made that effort or at least try to resign with dignity. he began by one account, getting teary eyed as he had a call with president trump. right before that, you'll see it here. he had a meeting with trump's chief of staff and he tried to diffuse the volatile situation that he may have talked about wiretapping the president. he told the president, look, i'm on your team. this is something that we should know bob mueller never did. it is something that jeff sessions never did. the post reporting that rosenstein used his access to trump to try to mount his own career survival. saying it would be resolved and he told the president, he would make sure that trump would be treat fairly. he said, he said i give the investigation credibility. and this is the quota lot of people are talking about. i can land the plan

rosenstein is a tough person to pin down. at some point you got the sense that rod rosenstein understood his place in history, that he was witnessing events that were very disturbing and he needed to be concerned about doing the right thing for the american people. and that makes it all the more disturbing and bizarre that at other times he seemed to have forgotten that. he stood stone faced for example when bill barr made false statements from response to questions from our own laura jarrett and others. so very bizarre behavior by rod rosenstein. >> elliot, i don't know why i'm so obsessed with it but the president tried to get rod rosenstein to just lie in a press conference that he was the one pushing for comey to be fired and the white house press office was trying to get the same thing. >> as we learned the president tried to do a lot of things that were not appropriate even if they couldn't be charged with a crime. it's just a pattern of inappropriate behavior, even if it's not explicitly criminal. he tried to get rosen

rosenstein actually got teary.id president trump ever find out about that? i remember hearing in woodward's book the president told giuliani he needed his diaper changed. >> that was on the evening it was reported in "the new york times" that rosenstein offered to wear a wire and meet with the president. he was summoned to the white house by chief of staff john kelly at the time to talk about the article, and he grew very emotional and for about ten minutes he begged for his job and said i'm happy to go, i'm happy to resign but i don't want to be fired via tweet, i don't want my reputation tarnished, but at the end of the day the president didn't fire him. >> when you read the mueller report president trump tried to get rosenstein to hold a press conference and claimed that he, rod rosenstein, was the one responsible, who came up with the idea of firing comey and pushed for it. and the white house press office also tried to get the department of justice to issue a statement to that effect. and rosenstein said, look

tell us about the phone call between trump and rosenstein and what it appears that rosenstein was tryingsh here. >> so it is in the context of the "new york times" breaking this huge story that rosenstein, according to the account of deputy director andrew mccabe broached the idea of wearing a wire to monitor the president or to use the 25th amendment to oust him from office so rosenstein goes over to the white house to explain what happened. and first he has this meeting with the white house chief of staff, he won't get into a lot of details and then he gets on a call with the president. and essentially he's trying to diffuse the situation in some measure he's probably trying to protect his job and he ends up offering the president some vague assurances about the mueller investigation. he said that he's on the president's team, he said that he's going to land the plane, according to one person that we've talked to sort of familiar with this call. it is hard to know exactly what that means. what he was trying to convey. but that is what he said. his mission seems to be two-fold which is

the "new york times" said rod rosenstein talked about wearing a wire and that he was -- in rod rosenstein's view it might have been a joking matter but there was a question whether or not his loyalty to the president was at all in doubt. so he went to the white house that day, in september rod rosenstein did. he had a phone conversation with the president. that's where he made the case. why this is is interesting because he ended up being along with bill barr saying the president didn't obstruct justice. the two of them signed off on all of this. the president has this odd relationship with the report. he claims it vindicates him while at the same time it was an attempt to remove him from office. >> this was a coup. this was an attempted overthrow of the united states government. they are trying to infiltrate the administration to, really, it's a coup. it's spying. it's everything that you can imagine. this was an overthrow and it's a disgraceful thing. and i think it's far bigger than watergate. this was a coup. this wasn't stealing information from an office in the watergate apartments. t

rod rosenstein read this investigation for two full years.lowed it closely and i've written about it. i cannot think of anything that rod rosenstein did in two years other than that memo he wrote, that first or second night when trump said justify my firing of james comey. i can't think of anything in two years that would cause people at the justice department to be anything but mightily proud of his leadership and the way he handled the mueller investigation. in the last month, attorney general barr has made at least four or five critical moves that cause a lot of us who were in professionals in law enforcement to scratch our heads and say, why did he do that and the answer seems to be he has a different notion of who his client is than perhaps rod rosenstein -- >> you say for -- i assume you're talking about the release of the four-page summary and the testimony he gave -- >> and waiting a month for the redactions. >> it shouldn't have taken that long. >> it was very convenient it is released in the middle of a two-week congressional recess

on the road, rod rosenstein, what do we know about what went down there? >> that's one of the key questions about this, what assurances did rod rosenstein give the president on whether or not he would land the investigation a certain way? he said i'll be able to land the plane. we should all know this is being reported by "the washington post" and not independently confirmed this but we know rod rosenstein was emotional at the time and there was tension at times between him and the president. rosenstein was speaking to us just the other day and here's what he had to say talking about what he thought the media's responsibility in all of this was. >> some of the nonsense that passes for breaking news today would not be worth the paper it was printed on if anybody bothered to print news these days. one silly question that i have yet from reporters is is it true that you got angry and emotional a few times over the past few years? heck, yes, didn't you? >> so that's a lighter approach to some very serious, weighty issues, philip. i think what we may learn here

rod rosenstein offering public support for bill barr. we're going to speak with a reporter who interviewed him. we'll ask why rosenstein supports barr's summary of the muller report. but is less vocal on barr's talk of spying. >>> also, retaliation plot. nbc news has new reporting on the white house plot to bus migrants to sanctuary cities and why it was directed at people like nancy pelosi. >>> faith in politics. vice president mike pence and a candidate inject two interpretations of their faith. >>> we start with rod rosenstein. speaking out, defending his boss, attorney general, bill barr, over his handling of the muller report. in his first interview since the release of the four-page summary of the two year long muller investigation, rosenstein said barr is being as forthcoming as he can. the notion that he's trying to mislead people, i think it is just completely bizarre. his comments coming days before the time when barr said he's going to release the entire muller report with redactions, of course, to congress. joining me now is

and rod rosenstein had a role in that.aps he did play a key role in having justice brought out, at least that far. on the other hand, the way he handled, wolf, the firing of jim comey, offering the may 9th memo that gave hillary clinton asa e plausible reason why jim comey should be let go by a republican president, i think he got rolled by the trump white house. >> by the president himself. >> so, again, hero or goat, i don't know. >> we just -- the thing about him is, he's so central, and yet we don't really -- there's been so much reporting about him, but he doesn't, with the exception of the speech last week, he doesn't talk publicly all that much, so there's so much that we don't know. he was alleged to have wear a wire, bringing up the 25th amendment. they say he was joking. there's reporting that says he wasn't joking. we don't really -- you can't pin him down, he's not waiting, i guess the rosenstein memoir is not that far away. >> let's see if he testifies before the house and/or senate judiciary committee, some t

he removed rod rosenstein who was the target of that ire. >> look at rod rosenstein. >> he left with a love letter. do you as a former fbi official, do you think that someone like congressman schiff, the democrats who see the world and see these principles as worthwhile of protecting, do you think they can move public opinion along in their way? >> i think sunshine is the best disinfectant to use a cliche. i think if we begin hearings and we air out the key witnesses and we can get them to the table without going to the supreme court each and every time, i think the american people will begin to see and it will resonate with many that this is a krumt president. ironically impeachment may be the way not only to target a corrupt president, but as it's been said, to actually ensure we're not redefining the presidency. that's what's happening here. like it or not or under it or not, the president is trying to redefine what being president means. trying to have three branches of government where one is more powerful than the other. if the only way to safeguard that and preserve our equal

quote, i give the investigation credibility, rosenstein said, in the words of one administration official offering their own characterization of the call. i can land the plane. this call happened, according to the "washington post," shortly after "the new york times" reported rosenstein discussed secretly recording the president. in response to the story, rosenstein tells cnn, quote, the only commitment i made to president trump about the russia investigation is the same commitment i made to the congress, as long as i was in charge, it would be conducted appropriately and as

everyone had been expecting rod rosenstein to go.ething of a surprise that he didn't resign late last year, when it was revealed that at one stage he'd actually suggested wearing a wire to secretly record president trump. that was just one thing that had made him unpopular with the president, his involvement with appointing robert mueller to head up investigation into rough nonaggression interference,. his constant defence of that process, that investigation, was another thing that made him unpopular with the president, even though at one stage he is alleged to have said that he would make sure the president was protected from that investigation. so rod rosenstein has been a figure who throughout, really, his two years in office has trodden a difficult tightrope of trying to maintain the support of the president, to retain hisjob, but also trying to maintain the impartiality of the law and the office that he held as number two in the justice department. but in terms of the russia investigation, he was a more important figure, because

so rod rosenstein really had been facing a ticking clock.the us. —— let's stay in the us. presidential hopefuljoe biden has kicked off his campaign for the democratic nomination. the former vice president addressed a rally in pittsburgh, laying out his vision for the country's middle class. mr biden announced his 2020 bid last week and opinion polls suggest he is currently leading the democratic field. the head of boeing has defended the safety of the 737 max aircraft, saying he is sorry for the loss of life and insisting the company has a duty to eliminate risk. dennis muilenburg made the comments as he appeared in front of shareholders just hours after it was revealed the us aviation regulator has received four phone calls from current and former boeing employees about the safety of the aircraft. indonesia's president has announced plans to relocate the country's capital city. jakarta is on the crowded main island of java, and is plagued by flooding and subsidence. the indonesian planning minister says the new site for the capital has yet

here we will very this report on rosenstein tonight. in effect, fighting for his job according to the white house sources and it sounds like saying whatever he needed to say to hold on to that job with the president. >> it's very troubling. and i think what we have to do in congress is fight for democracy. seldom in recent decades has is democracy faced a danger as great as donald trump. and his sleazy gang. we have to be there, standing up for democracy. recognizing that rod rosenstein and mr. barr are not going to be any help here. i think our patience should be at an end. investigate, do it respectfully but when people do not show up to testify, arrest them. get the jail ready and get the fines ready to insure that there's enforcement. >> congressman huffman, this is our first chance to talk since the reports about speaker pelosi's conference call with democratic members about how to proceed at this point in the investigations of the president. what can you share with us about your contribution in that call? >> in that call and in ot

so has rod rosenstein. his new comments tonight on how the mueller report is being handled. >>> we got a rare glimpse of julian assange today. the problem for him is it came as he was arrested, dragged off to the slammer, indicted in london, and in this country, trump has now changed his tune on wikileaks. >>> and an exclusive in "the washington post" tonight about where the white house wanted to send the people coming in over the border as "the 11th hour" gets under way on a thursday night. >>> well, good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. day 812 of the trump administration. and as we await the release of the mueller report, days away, there are increasing questions about whether attorney general william barr sees the american people as his client or the president. after barr said in an open hearing yesterday that he thinks the trump campaign was spied upon, barr received the president's full-throated endorsement today. >> are you pleased that your attorney general yesterd

rosenstein told trump, i can give the investigation credibility rosenstein said in the words of one officialering their own characterization of the call and i can land the plane. this coming on the heels of the reporting that rod rosenstein offered to wear the wire and he is being told or it has been suggested that he is going to have to resign or get fired. he's now trying to convince the president you have to keep me. i'm good for you. >> that's right. the report goes into detail about what that moment looked like. it's hard to imagine having your boss hear these things about you and being the sort of person who is going to publicly call you out on it. there was tension and two conflicting tensions. obviously the fact that he wanted to keep his job, but he respected initiative in part because of the concern of how the russia investigation could be protected. part of rosenstein was trying to ensure he was able to maintain the protection. there is a lot of complexity here and goes on to note that rosenstein has been generous to trump even after he announced he is leaving that a lot of people

rosenstein. and the questions about him tonight like how savvy and inside player is he really? this career federal prosecutor, harvard law graduate who was in internship was for a massachusetts u.s. attorney named robert mueller, this man who the president has privately called mr. peepers. has he been currying the favor of the president all along to keep his job? here is what raises all of the question tonight. "the washington post" today detailed that rosenstein reportedly told trump something certain to remain in charge of the investigation. it focuses on the fallout and the article from "the new york times." you will recall it september 2018 we reported on it widely at the time. it's sad that after the 2017 firing of james comey he suggested wearing a wire to secretly record the president. he talked about the 25th amendment. the "post" now said after that rosenstein was called on the carpet and he was forced to explain himself to a furious white house and was reportedly teary-eyed in a meeting

rosenstein in the approval of mr.ller's special counsel operation despite not only rez rosenstein's conflicts but mueller's conflicts of interest. he was talking with andrew mccabe who was fired for misconduct wearing a wire on the president of the united states in an oval office. there was dispute as to whether he was quote joking or not, but again why doesn't congress question mr. rosenstein, i hope it is a new day at the justice department that the veil will be lifted and these documents as the president seemingly has promised will begin to be released and declassified certainly on the fisa warrant applications portions of which are still classified and many believe the portions that are still hidden show more deep state corruption targeting and abusing president trump. david: very quickly, i want to make a pivot to attorney general barr and the request so far to have him appear in front of jerry nadler's committee. do you think he will be a no-show? >> i think he will show up because the democrats will back down f

rosenstein has had to walk in the last two years.ia probe, but he's also, at the same time, a trump administration official. he is a trump appointee. i do find it interesting, when and if democrats will really turn their focus on rosenstein at this point, we haven't had that too much yet. but, as you both pointed out earlier, he did have a role with the attorney general, whom democrats are furious at, over how he's handled the rollout of the report. and other issues related to the investigation. he was part of that decision making to not pursue obstruction of justice charges. right now, democrats obviously are going after barr, they do want to speak to mueller soon. and when they -- do they turn their attention to rosenstein at some point, we'll wait to see. >> i want you to take a listen, jeff, to president trump denying that he told white house counsel don mcgahn to fire special counsel robert mueller, which mcgan testified under oath about to robert mueller and provided contemporaneous notes and a contemporaneous account to his la

rosenstein. we heard during the attorney general's performance and public that the american people and not the president are supposed to be the client of the attorney general, of the deputy attorney general, and doj. do you think this raises legitimate questions as to who rosenstein saw himself working for? >> well, i think mr. rosenstein has bought himself an invitation to testify before the house judiciary committee, thing appropriately, brian, should look at the role of the department of justice leadership in bringing the mueller report into the department, in summarizing it and holding that press conference, as well as the revelations in tonight's post story about reassuring the target of the investigation that he's going to be okay that he's going to land the plane. look, i think if rod rosenstein had said anything to the target of the investigation, the president, or i should say the subject of the investigation, to be more precise, he should have said mr. president i cannot discuss this in

gabe, this is, again, no suspense over whether rod rosenstein would be leaving.re was a little bit about when. obviously this in some ways closes a major chapter in this era of washington. >> an extremely long, convoluted chapter with many sections and plot twists. the rosenstein tenure, as you said, this is not something we're used to talking about, deputy attorney generals are not people we're used to knowing about. but he's someone who had such a varying relationship not only with the white house, attorney general whoever that was at the time, with mueller, with the press, with the national conversation about him, it's a long, complicated journey but by the end, as we know now, it does seem he was in good standing with the president. what we just heard was very interesting, it will be interesting to figure out what happened there. as for the future of the justice department now, these are people left there who are on the president's good side and have been from the start. i think it's very interesting and it will be very telling when it comes to actually what

memo that introduced rod rosenstein to the nation. he introduced james comey and testified to congress that the trump campaign was one of the targets of the investigation. trump lost his mind and summoned rosenstein and said write a memo for why i should fire comey and put the russia stuff in it. rosenstein instead of saying no when he was pushed on a certain issue or kt mcfarland said no, he said i can't go in that direction, but i will give you what you need to fire comey. there was an uncertainty in may of 17. why would rod rosenstein knowing that the president was angry that comey had fingered him, turn around and justify the wholesale firing of the fbi director. hopefully barbara is right and rosenstein has an opportunity to explain this more, but it injects a lot of uncertainty learning that rosenstein continues to suggest to the president, i can land the plane when all of this started by him agreeing to fire or justify the firing of comey by donald trump. >> isn't that a metaphor for how they did it? pay landed the plane so saf

now, at times rod rosenstein has appeared to be loyal to the president. have taken actions to protect the president, especially in relation to the mueller enquiry into russian collusion. that is the investigation that he himself, rod rosenstein, was in charge of, was overseeing, after the attorney general, jeff sessions, had to step back from that because of potential conflicts of interests. so it looked like rod rosenstein would be forced out, but president trump allowed him to stay on, i think, really, until the mueller enquiry was actually concluded and dealt with, and now that that has been finished, it is time for rod rosenstein to move on. indeed, the new attorney general, william barr, had already recommended a replacement when he came into office back in february, so came into office back in february, so rod rosenstein's time in office really has been overdue, really. everyone was expecting him to go, but he has announced today that he will go in the next two weeks. his letter really i think is an attempt to defend thejustice department and the po

rod rosenstein's unblinking stare held viewers captivated.0 seconds in between. it looks like he just came from the tax i determinist, like he was added later in photoshop. rod rosenstein's eyes got their own twitter account, hostage to the department of justice is my soul now with chris christie's a reference to another famous blank stare over president trump's shoulder. >> it's abysmal. >> reporter: how abysmal? >> he's actually the deputy attorney general did adjust his glasses. >> i will now have a few questions. he even eked out a couple weak smiles, for instance when his new boss think he was over his other shoulder. >> thank you, rod. >> the mystery bearded guy inspired a comparison. he's edward ocallahan, principal associate deputy attorney general. colonel sounds higher, but it was rosenstein is winning a staring contest against all of us right now, when it comes to an unblinking gates, rosenstein almost beat the eagle, and in a blink someone added a soundtrack. ♪ hello darkness my old friend >> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn. ♪ i've com

rod rosenstein directly and say -- saying he was watching fox news and he wanted rod rosenstein to dod he said this is not a good idea because if he was asked he would tell the truth that it was not his idea. and there are ten separate incidents where the president tried to hinder the investigation but whether or not the actions are criminal, mueller left that decision up to congress and house democrats are hoping to hear from mueller themself. the intelligence committees have invited him to testify. deny hek is a member of the house intelligence committee. thanks for being with us. if, and when, mueller testified before your committee, what is the biggest question you have for him? >> so, anderson, the predicate before his rival, is that i think we have to have a mass american consumption of this report, digest and process and a lot of conversation amongst ourselves as americans, as to what it actually means. but the truth is, and i've begun that, it is my weekend reading. it is like the sheet music without hearing the song and it is time to hear the song. and the song would come fro

we're talking about rosenstein. when we talk about that matter what more do we know what exactly went down? >> reporter: morgan, good morning. we are learning this morning about what rod rosenstein told the president back in september when his loyalty was questioned. now a lot of this is coming from both the "new york times" and "washington post". this morning "the washington post" is basically saying rod rosenstein promised something to the president. i can land the plane. i give this investigation credibility. the question is, how far did he go? did he promise the president a certain outcome in the mueller investigation? we obviously don't have a direct transcript of this call. what we're doing is relying on "washington post's" reporting. they have people familiar with the matter. rosenstein was trying to save his job. remember back in september the "new york times" reported that rosenstein had suggested wearing a wire. now on thursday night an event up in new york rosenstein admitted he was under a great deal of

he wanted rosenstein to say firing james comey was his idea, rosenstein's idea. >> retroactively. >>ling the mueller report to read it because it reads like a story. it's not boring. this is not like reading something boring. this is fascinating. okay that night the white house press office called the department of justice and said the white house wanted to put pout a statement saying it was rosenstein's idea to fire comey. rosenstein told other doj officials said he would not participate in putting out the false story. >> what an interesting character not only does he have to push back against the president but has to stand behind the attorney general yesterday as he is delivering his prepress conference before the report gets delivered. he has been put in an unbelievable situation, rod rosenstein has. he almost looked like he was like a prisoner, stuck behind the attorney general. >> we have a whole special segment on that later on. >> i know, it is. but i will tell you this. you're right. that what the president has done is he has put an incredible amount of fear into people. that

rod rosenstein, the man who appointed special counsel robert mueller submitting his resignation effective may 11th. rosenstein personally delivered his resignation letter to the president writing we ignore fleeting distractions and focus our attention on the things that matter because a republic that endures is not governed by the news cycle. we keep the faith, follow the

rosenstein. we heard during the attorney general's performance that the american people, not the president, are supposed to be the client of the attorney general, the deputy attorney general, and the d.o.j. >> do you think this raises questions. >> i think he bought himself an invitation to testify before the house judiciary committee. bringing the mueller report into the department, in summerizing -- sum mmarizing it. i think if rod rosenstein said anything to the president, he should have said mr. president i cannot discuss this investigation with you. the appropriate way to discussion this with the department of justice is in bob mueller's witness chair. >> does this just add to the petina of questions and dirt surrounding what should have been the fair dealing of administration of this investigation? >> well i think that the charitable interpretation and the prevailing wisdom was that rod rosenstein was on a tight rope walk here. he was trying to keep it going without adisal cataclysms. bad f

we'll see if rosenstein is called to testify before congress. easily see the president invoked executive privilege. >> and you could see officials calling him there to capitol hill. hans nichols, thank you. >>> for more let me bring in the panel, congressional reporter molly hooper and commentary writer and editor at the washington examiner siraj hash and craig unger and the author of the "house of trump, house of putin" book. welcome to you all. >> great to have you. so craig, let me start with you. the attorney general, based on your reporting, what questions should lawmakers ask barr this week? >> they should try to get to the bottom of the mueller report and this whole thing is classic trump and it is deny, deny, deny and attack and attack and barr is the president's personal lawyer and what he should not be and he has to be the lawyer for the american people. and the question should go to that. they should go to how did he come up -- what kind of -- conversations went on between him and mueller. what -- his characterization -- barr's charac

he's going to have standing next to him rod rosenstein. rod rosenstein's place in history will forever be appointing robert s. mueller. if he puts a toe in the conspiracy pool with rod rosenstein standing next to him who signed the reauthorizations for carter page who are the source of the conspiracy theories, it will be another human drama to what has already been. we are talking about barr today, not mueller. and mueller is the man who has done the work. mueller is the man with integrity and credibility. and mueller is the man who after 22 months explicitly did not exonerate donald trump on the question of obstruction. what we should be talking about is why not. why not. a former national security official said to me today, if there is even a reference to the trump campaign unwittingly aiding the russian effort to interfere, that should be the banner headline, and we didn't spend enough time contemplating the narrowness of mueller's question. mueller's question around russian collusion wasn't whether or not it happened. it was whether or

rod rosenstein is not all one thing.s got a lot on enforcing the law, you hear that in all his speeches. then he has bizarre lines about the president's courtesy and humor and their personal relationship, making it seem like they're so close and buddy buddy. he almost lost his job because of reporting about the fact that he contemplated wearing a wire on the president after the firing of fbi director james comey. the president tweeted a picture of him behind bars. he is one of the more complicated multi facetted figures of the entire investigation i think. >> jeffrey toobin, what do you think? >> you know, deputy attorney general is usually a pretty obscure role. i don't think there's any doubt that rod rosenstein is the most famous deputy attorney general in american history. because as laura said, he is all over the place in this story in some respects. he acts like he's trump's pawn. he comes up with this ridiculous memo to justify the firing of james comey, just a completely preposterous document, and then turns arou

according tohe report, rosenstein then to rosenste rosenstein told -- even as the president called it a witch hunt. roin did so first in an interview with a news 4 i-team. are you satisfied with what you've seen so far office of special counsel? >>. yes when we conduct investigations, as you know, just as true in maryland, we don't talk about the investigations while they're ongoing, so what the american people see is only if and when a case is charged. >> though the president is not charged, dozens more people have been. russian operatives, former white house n ional securityadviser, and the president's former campaign manager and campaign aids. at t live desk, i'm scott macfarlane. back to you. >> scott, thank you. our coverage of the release of the mueller report continues through the evening. coming up at 6:00, politicaldi ctor and "meet the press" chuck todd will join us live to discuss the political ramifications of it all. open our nbc washington app to dive into thete redac report yourself. >>> we all watched this week as fire engulfed the historicda noe cathedral in paris. bu

rosenstein is not just defending barr. he name checked him in a letter about the analysis that barr decided trump didn't obstruct justice by firing comey or taking any other related actions. of course, the conclusion is potentially conflicted at best, as he witness in the obstruction case. remember, he came to work for trump and wrote the memo providing the pretext to fire comey, which trump later admitted was a cover story. aka a lie. and at worst, they say rosenstein was pooled, knowingly or not, into contributing into an element of potential obstruction of justice. i'm joined now by john flannery and i need your help. just walking through a factual history was kind of a mouthful. my apologies when you get to all the layers of it. what is your view of these tantalizing morsels, and is there anything wrong? >> i sort of think of them as a nested russian doll. one supporting each other. you had bar saying i don't want to talk about the letter and then you have rosenstein go out and talk about it. and as you said, protectin

is saying what he's saying. >> i think rod rosenstein has some skin in this game. don't forget he was sitting with the attorney general when they decided that there should be no obstruction charge, number one. so he's going to defend the attorney general. he's leaving. the attorney general is his boss. what he would not comment on is just as interesting maybe because he wouldn't comment on barr talking about spying going on. don't forget. rosenstein was the one who said okay to the application for a fisa request on carter page that was going to go to the fisa court, so he was the one who did that. >> the genesis of the investigation. >> exactly. >> that barr is now investigating. >> really amazing. i mean, i think i think rod rosenstein is one of the most fascinating players in all of this. this is a guy who would survive a political nuclear war. he was a political appointee under bush. he was a political appointee under obama. he was a political appointee under trump and his fingers touched so many pieces of this, and he supervised the investigation and he worked

this show, it exposes rod rosenstein for who he is. i think he's worse than just an opportunist, i think he's somebody that has no convictions and no principles. you're nodding on that. why? >> i think this white house is almost about survival. it's almost like "game of thrones" in this white house and who can outlast the others p it's amazing to watch all of these people flip around and now you find kelly conway is an ardent supporter and her husband anti-trump, calls him deranged, omarosa, so many people who put their careers on the line for the white house and i don't know why any sane person would do that, and then you see something like this. obviously the guy would want to wear a wire and to your point everyone gets fired or blamed as a scapegoat as things trump does and says. that's the number one problem there. >> i do want to read a little bit more from "the washington post" article. it was an interesting point there where rosenstein points out in fighting for his job, told "the post" he said, the only commitment i made to the

and that's true of the rod rosenstein story. >> can i just say something about rod rosenstein. it's interesting, by the way, that rod rosenstein was one of the people who decided there was no obstruction, and he is a witness, a very important witness in this investigation so far as it comes to obstruction. >> it's fitting that he was standing behind but not talking. he is the zelig of this story. >> exactly. >> he is there everywhere. and of course he is the one who appointed mueller in the first place. >> he looked like he wanted to throw up at some point. >> he did. >> the president is using the term no obstruction. that is not what mueller is saying. >> to the contrary, this is a narrative about a vast, sprawling, insidious cover-up by the president of the united states. that's what it is, and we see the act of the president, you just read it, one act after another, covering up, lying, making up stories, directing his aides to cover up. this is a terrible event, and it is all there in this report that the company has waited for. reading this report is exactly what the countr

rod rosenstein weighed in on that today. we'll talk about what he and others said when we continue. ♪ pardon the interruption but this is big! now at t-mobile buy any samsung galaxy s10 and get a galaxy s10e free! turn up your swagger game with one a day gummies. one serving... ...once a day... ...with nutrients that support 6 vital functions... ...and one healthy you. that's the power of one a day. i'm craving something we're! missing. the ceramides in cerave. they help restore my natural barrier, so i can lock in moisture. we've got to have each other's backs... cerave. now the #1 dermatologist recommended skincare brand. or psoriatic arthritis, little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats differently. for psoriasis, 75% clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. for psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. and the otezla prescribing information has no requir

remember, mueller was appointed by rosenstein.s a passive observer in all of this. where i think there has been a tone deafness on his part is not understanding why people would be concerned, especially given the reputational damage to the department for a variety of reasons, given comments that bill barr has made in hearings why people would be concerned about the level of candor that they're getting. he described that letter to congress from bill barr as, well, these were just the top line conclusions. they weren't just the top line conclusions. barr added his own conclusion in what he described as his and rosenstein's at the end. again, i just think there has been this remove from the public interest aspect of this that has been surprising. >> he doesn't address at all his own role with barr in saying there's not enough evidence. >> no. he acts as if he's a spectator and he was not a spectator. he's a very active participant in every aspect of this. >> shan, why do you think rosenstein is going out of his way to in this case de

even weirder was rosenstein standing there.nk or move. >> reminded me of chris christie standing behind the president and everyone focused in. rob: both of them together. you almost didn't notice william barr. what else comes from the report? >> a lot of folks were joking how much was going to be read acted. look at this meme from a physicist, that is what i call a sharp image of a black hole. another person posted this meme that showed the lyrics to never going to give you up. a lot of funny stuff. most of it was unreadable so you can read almost the whole thing. jillian: only 36 pages were read acted. rob: we get the just. thanks so much. 24 minutes after the hour. democrats circling the wagons vowing to get to the truth by calling on special counsel robert mueller to testify before congress. >> the intelligence committee has requested that mueller come and testify. i anticipate mueller will testify in the next couple weeks. jillian: our next guest says mueller's 400 page report is enough and this is gone too far, we are comi

rosenstein, to my knowledge, i'm not aware of any time rosenstein used the word spying to describe judiciallyuthorized surveillance the way that bill barr did. having barr be the person who's the new face of the justice department's management of the way the russia investigation finally closes up, shows that there's definitely going to be a change and potentially tougher relationships between fbi headquarters and main justice. >> chuck rosenberg, explain this to me. they are about to release the most politically charged report in recent doj history. if there's something this consequential that's come out of doj in recent months or years, i can't think of what it is. they're about to do that. they need all the credibility they can muster if they're going to redact a word. we know they're going to redact more than that. the sitting attorney general throws the deputy attorney general, who's out yesterday for reasons still a mystery for me, spinning as fast as he can for barr. it's his signature on the fisa reauthorizations that barr said amount to spying occurring on the trump campaign. what's g

it was barr and rosenstein that made the call. not an underlying crime of collusion and had to find evidence of corrupt intent. a very high legal bar and showing that the actions were taken to disrupt or block an ongoing criminal procedure or one that was an anticipated litigation. so to me it's significant that attorney general barr and the deputy attorney general will be appearing. we hope to have more information on whether the public release of the report will come before, during or right after that event, neil. >> neil: thank you very much, catherine herridge. notice catherine pointed out 9:30 a.m. that's when the markets open. if you are sort of a trader that goes on minute by minute, tick by tick developments, you hold off on what you do? one of the world's most successful became a billionaire doing that. that could be a big problem for you. ken fisher is next. this is loma linda, a place with one of the highest life expectancies in the country. you see so many people walking around here in their hundreds. so how do you sta