trump very much wants that person he's always wanted as attorney general, his roy cohn, someone who is going to protect him. >> kim, i want to listen together to elijah cummings, a very serious voice, a senior member from maryland poised to become chairman of the oversight committee. we'll talk about it on the other side. >> he had already judged this situation, rachel, before he even knew the facts. i'm shocked that he has not already recused himself. most lawyers in this situation would voluntarily say, you know what? i don't want to even have the appearance of a conflict. >> that was the congressman tonight with rachel maddow. kim, how ugly does this get? >> it could get pretty ugly. i mean, it's a complex set of problems with this appointment, and one is the constitutional issue that you pointed out, which is an open question. you have the issue of whether the president had the statutory authority to appoint him when there was a deputy attorney general in place. but i think the most important issue is this one, this political issue, that it seems pretty clear that the president decided to put someone who he wa