and the white house is getting fbi reports because a friend of the fbi is -- a friend of the white house is the acting director, but also the fbi assumes that, you know, that the white house ought to know about this. so you have, in a sense, the white house being tipped off as the fbi continues its investigation, the white house is trying to figure out a way to stop the fbi investigation. so here the president is talking to john ehrlichman, his domestic adviser, about what jeb macgruder, is going to have to do to stop the investigation. at this point in july of '72, it's assumed he's going to have to take the fall. the president then suggests what he should say to investigators. >> well, the story

>> between the bush white house and the obama white house, i'd say 14, 15 times. >> since the 1705 has been in place, how many times have you been to the white house? this administration, how many times have you been to the white house? >> i'd say six or seven times. >> who did you talk with when you were at the white house? >> well, i was a part of a large group. once meeting with president obama. >> did you talk about this loan guarantee program when you met with president obama. >> we talked about climate change. >> who else have you talked with at the white house? >> vice president biden. there i spoke with him about the clean energy standard. but mainly, i spoke with carol brown or with -- once with valerie jarrett. that was all about the nuclear guarantee program. >> you guys are also involved with the bright source project as well, correct? >> that's ivan project. >> are you familiar with this e-mail? this was brought up in our last hearing when mr. woolard was here with bright source. the e-mail from mr. woolard to mr. silver at the department of energy asking him to edit and p

and that would pull the white house directly into the watergate scandal. now, the president is being told about the fbi investigation

the white house didn't have very many. i mean, i can't -- scarlett hills, i can't remember who they might have had. >> the secretarial staff. >> the secretarial staff. this is the point act sexism that was made last night. it was an invisible world, and here we had -- we would go into the white house and we'd get nothing from these senior -- from higbee, or higbee had a higbee. the deputy assistants and whatnot, but if you talked to their secretaries and they felt comfortable, weren't represented by somebody from the white house staff that worked outside, including remarkably john's own secretary, who was a very forthright person and gave us enormous help. that's when we began to realize we could reconstruct things. so there was a day, i remember going to the monical restaurant right near capitol hill. they have paper -- cloth tops over -- paper -- >> tablecloths. >> table cloths over the regular white tablecloth, and we sat there and said, this is not the way to investigate. i was systems analyst among other things and mad

doug mcelway is at the white house. mike. >> reporter: the assertion of executive privilege happened here at a time as the house oversight committee was about to begin its hearing on a vote to hold the attorney attorney o attorney general of the united states in congress. the meeting was delayed as republicans hupb republicans huddled behind closed doors to determine what they should do now. it's opened up a whole lot of questions. a spokesman for jon boehner says an assertion of privy sepbgs alley suggests that the white house was involved in the fast and furious or in solved in the cover up. now they are asking a lot of questions. another leading republican on this panel asked this question, check this out. >> now the president of the united states has claimed executive privilege. that brings into question whether or not eric holder knew about it, and how much did the president know about this? why would the president claim executive privilege unless there was something very, very important that he felt should not be

scandal and executive privilege from the white house. bill: no one can predict what happened over the course of the last 90 minutes. no one can predict what will happen throughout the day. stay tuned on fox. we'll catch you tomorrow. >> fox news alert game changing developments in the fast and furious investigation. i'm gregg jarrett in for jon scott. jenna: good to have you, gregg. this after a attorney general eric holder could not cut a deal on the department of justice records sought by congressman darrell issa who is currently on your screen there. he is the chair of the house oversight committee. let's go ahead and take a listen. >> if the gentlelady would allow me to continue, when it comes to the question of postponing today, had the attorney general yesterday turned over the documents he said he would return over in return for essentially an ending of this investigation, had he turned over those documents we would not be here today. we would be evaluating those documents but until we evaluate documents that tell us that we can br

the madisons decorate the white house. this image right here on the very front is actually the earliest known published image of the white house from a travel book. at this time when the madisons came into the white house, only part of the white house was finished. before the british came marched into washington and ended up burning the city to the ground. next slide. its original architect james hobin won the competition set forth by washington and jefferson in 1792 to build what washington envisioned for the president's house, i would design a building that should look forward and execute no more of it at present than night suit the circumstances that shall be first wanted. a plan more than executed in a future president when the wealth, population, importance of it shall stand upon a higher ground than they do present. washington really understood that the white house may evolve just as the united states may. the city's commissioners went to france looking for builders. they are commissioned to the city looking for mason

first the white house. what did the burning of the white house mean? the invasion and destruction of the capital city galvanized the american people. all opposition in america to the war vanished and i argue that it was dolley's work in making the capital city and in particular the white house a place in the american mind. that was both real to people who had never seen it and also a symbol. so when it was attacked the americans took it personally. second, the role of the unofficial sphere in the relocation debates. so when james and dolley come back to this crisis, they actually have a new crisis waiting for them. the capital city is in ruins and there's a movement to relocate the capital to new york or philadelphia or a number of places, which could have in hindsight been disastrous. i would need another speech to discuss the relocation debates, but in the end the congress vote to stay and it is my theory that dolley with her unofficial sphere made this town such a town for politics that even though everybody complained about the weather and the roads

of life in the white house. e acquire something on the east and west we will havethe oe association is to preserve the white house public room and it's remarkable collection of fine arts. over the last 10 decades, the association as provide -- proud to provide financial support for river fishing -- for refurbishing. it is a wonderful tradition that our country honors those who have honored us. the tradition began with the acquisition of george washington's portrait in 1800. it was viewed as such an important national treasure, it was the object of dolley madison's raise concerns when the white house burned. in our digital world, where so many images are mere flashes on the screen, these enduring portraits of korean-americans by acclaimed artists are lasting tribute to our presidents and first lady and will forever be part of the white house collection. today, the portraits of president george w. bush and first lady laura bush will be added to this unique collection of those who have occupied this house and served

and the white house is getting fbi reports because a friend of the fbi is -- a friend of the white house is the acting director, but also the fbi assumes that, you know, that the white house ought to know about this. so you have, in a sense, the white house being tipped off as the fbi continues its investigation, the white house is trying to figure out a way to stop the fbi investigation. so here the president is talking to john ehrlichman, his domestic adviser, about what jeb macgruder, is going to have to do to stop the investigation. at this point in july of '72, it's assumed he's going to have to take the fall. the president then suggests what he should say to investigators. >> well, the story basically is that -- so that macgruder when you say take a slide, he can't. >> no, i don't think so. i don't think so. >> because they'll convict him. >> oh, they'll convict him by somebody else's testimony. he doesn't gain anything. >> so what the hell, what does he do? >> no, he has to go in and say well, i did this and it was a bad thing to do and i got carried away, and i feel terrible abou

before burning the white house. it's probably for books, because wightman was a book seller and he was dragged in to represent the humiliation of the americans. he was the only american in the white house, the british bandit, and so i knew knowing more about the providence of this check that it was going to be very valuable. of the fact that wightman was the only person in the white house who wa an american. he later became mayor of washington. he was a notable grand mason, and so that's why i brought it. >> how long had washington been the seat of government by 1814? how long had it been the -- >> 1800. john adams came down in 1800, because the capitol ual used to in philadelphia, and he was the first president to live in the white house. every president has lived there except george washington. >> what was the city like in 1814? >> it was a mere embryo of what testimony aspired to be. it was a gawky village. it was so forgone that there was a british diplomat who wrote back to his mother after he saw the president

this is not from the white house collection or from the white house suite. you can see here, obviously, the antiquity influence. the splayed legs. also, another chair the finlays created as well. what also you'll see as a huge trend here is the caned seat. the 40-piece suite of furniture the finlays made were painted and lacquered in white and gold. here is one of those examples which you'll be able to see closer up later on. but this is one of the couches that the finlays created that latrobe designed coming from the grecian examples he saw and used from thomas hope's book. here's a close-up of that design. these are all on display for you to see afterwards. here's an example from what the cushion looks like that you could see formerly on the last design we saw. more of that. okay. and the -- some of the furniture was also grained in imitation of highly figured mahogany. mahogany at this time was not a native wood of the united states. it was mostly imported and very expensive. fancy furniture, although it was very fashionable, was also sort of budget savin

the nomination. symbolically white was the new frontier personfied. young, physically vigorous, brilliant, committed to family and public service. politically, confirmation was a snap. as deputy, white had charmed the senate judiciary committee when he presented his judicial nominee. his confirmation hearing lasted only 90 minutes, and he was confirmed by voice vote that afternoon. compare and contrast as we say in higher education. the hearing produced a moment to those paying attention. a senator asked white whether the supreme court legislates. he replied, i think it is clear under the constitution that the legislating power is not vested in the supreme court. it is vested in the congress, and i feel the major instrument for change to laws in this country is the congress of the united states. the business of the congress is that of changing the law. afterward a reporter asked white to define the constitutional role of the court. his reply was chilly. to decide cases. a bystander later recalled the statement was both a brush-off and a statement of ph

the white house has itself to blame for that. exerting executive privilege they made a lot of the voters they are going to be trying to appeal to in november deeply suspicious of the white house and justice department. there is no one in obama's cab be net with a worst relatio relationship with congress and both sides than holder. so they really exacerbated those existing tensions. and third, when the white house was called to turn over documents in the u.s. attorney case there was not the life of an american federal agent lost. this is so much more serious and the stakes are so much more dire and grave in this situation. >> chris: jeff, how does the romney campaign feel about this confrontation? because there is talk that whether they are entitled legitimate hi tly to the docums or not it plays into the narrative that republicans are obstructionists and involved in washington gotcha games. i haven't heard much from the romney campaign or boston hea headquarters in the last week? >> this ising to that governor romney's campaign i

the rule of law does not stop at the white house door. watergate demonstrated that. [ applause ] >> i am jim layer of the pbs newshour best known on this evening as the fellow co-anchor of the senate watergate hearings. first time my partner robert mcneil and i worked together. so here we are and the question is what was watergate? what is it now? what will it be tomorrow and all the tomorrows still to come. in the beginning as mary said and as you all know it was in fact just a piece of real estate. this particular building. unless somebody demolishes it, it doesn't like like it's going to happen anytime soon, it may always be the watergate as a building. but it was always a crime. a crime not of passion. a crime not of greed. but a crime of corruption. political corruption of constitutions by individuals high and low who saw the need and/or the opportunity to violate laws and standards of personal conduct. their lives were changed forever by what they did. most paid an enormous price in a loss of liberty and a loss of reputation. some of

but the white house was stonewalled the committee. and did stonewall the committee to a large extent. the mistake the president made was having an independent counsel and special prosecutor who then took him to court and secures the tapes. in effect. although it's my view as i expressed to you on another occasion, that the supreme court and the united states supreme, nixon probably made the wrong decision in ordering the tapes. that the president's executive privilege, except in impeachment. it probably wouldn't have come out but the way it came out what i considered a right was was followed. the president did decide to turn over the tapes. probably historic from his point of view. and turning over the tapes resulted in the impeachment of the president. if he destroyed the tapes he probably would not have been impea impeached. maybe i'm wrong. actually i hope i'm wrong on that. who knows. he did turn them over, we did get them and presented them to the committee but he laid it all out. the tapes combine, all colated. not only to take

which was a lot different than the white house or the senate at that time. stl so there was a skepticism. and i remember the first day of work i interviewed haldeman and ehrlichman who just resigned and they went back and said they had been interviewed by a group including a panther, and bizarre. within a day or so i realized how divided things were. >> at the committee. >> at the committee. john had come in and begun to tell the majority staff, the democrats, what was really going on and didn't have a road map. john was providing a road map to it and we were -- at least my position was, we were skeptical. we had to find out what was really going on. but the partisanship, john reported that howard baker, who was the senator, who was the minority co-chair of the committee, had a bad channel to the white house, and had had conversations with john and other people there, and so this was quite astounding, the notion that we were running a committee and yet there was this back channel to the white house that there was -- had republicans terms, and baker stopped h

well then, the white house reporter who's being an apoll gist for the white house. and the 7,600 documents. that's a selective distribution. selective information to the committee. this is a committee with investigative jurisdiction. again, over the department of justice which has been involved an incident at which a federal agent was murdered with weapons that supplied by the department of justice. this isn't a game. and again, we should get each and every document relating to this incident. not some game played last night or some injection by the white house today. and if the white house knew any time from february 4th, 2011, to current of what was going on, then there's really big trouble. >> sir, when we talk about the fact that the investigation by the department of justice goes up until that date of february the 4th, you are not entitled to the document that is are after that date so is it just sour grapes and looking like an ax to grind -- >> we're entitled to any and all documents relating to this case. period. >> not if the president issues -- >> that's abso

the transition that showed with a tape recorders were in the white house. was one of the reason why they got that pilothouse and orchestrated johnson's birthday party, why he sent a check down to the ranch with briefing papers every week. he wanted to keep johnson attend. >> the greatest social florist for a baby bird to pay homage to johnson. >> so watergate is now gaining for us and in january of 1973, nixon's man called johnson and say, you know, you might want to call your friends in the senate and just tell them to back off on this watergate investigation. we will reveal this fact issue were illegally surveilling,, eavesdropping on us in 1968, to which johnson said, well, if you do that, i will say what i learned when i was illegally wiretapping you back in 1968. [laughter] this extraordinary situation of illegal but no. how did this come up with? about two weeks later, nixon is inaugurated for a second term in two days after that, lyndon johnson died of a heart attack. and at that moment, the rather perilous moment in the presidency, there was no clot

was a panel with michael hastings and david sirota looking at the leaking scandal that's engulfed the white house this week happens to be forty years since the watergate scandal began with the break in so we can compare the reactions then and now we'll have all of that and more for you tonight including a dose of happy hour but first let's take a look what the mainstream media decided to miss. i'm going to try and keep this sweet and short today let's just say that there is a lot going on in the news and so the mainstream media is all over the place. jamie diamond explaining how j.p. morgan chase lost more than two were billion dollars attorney general eric holder facing new fire from republicans over the fast and furious botched gun sting programs president obama and mitt romney trade barbs over who understands the economic suffering of americans more caramel of a kid not being greedy and saying your traditional ice cream sundaes movie star sure march into the seat once held by the injured congresswoman gabrielle giffords russia's defending its sale of arms to the syrian government but the

the white house. it's probably for books, because weightman was a book seller and he was dragged in to represent the humiliation of the americans. he was the only american in the white house when the british burned it, and so i knew, knowing more about the providence of this check, that it was going to be very valuable. one day i might donate it to the white house, but i'm fearful that it might end up in a drawer or something where the public can't see it. but it really is a remarkable find, because of the fact that weightman was the only person in the white house who was an american. he later became mayor of washington. he was a notable grand mason, and so that's why i got it. >> how long had washington been the seat of government by 1814? how long it had been the seat of the federal government? >> 1800. john adams came down in 1800, because the capital used to be in philadelphia, and he was the first president to live in the white house. every president has lived there except george washington. >> wh

the white house. through the portrait of our presidents and first ladies, it is a wonderful tradition that here, in america's house, we honor those who have honored us. the tradition began with the acquisition of george washington's portrait in 1800. it was purchased by the united states government and viewed as such an important national trevor that it was the object of the white house historical association has commissioned a portrait of every president and first lady and acquired historical portraits of those previously missing from the white house collection. in our digital world, where so many images are mere flashes on a screen comedies enduring portraits of great american's by acclaimed artists are lasting tribute to our presidents and first ladies and will forever be part of the white house collection. today, the portraits of george w. bush, and first lady laura bush will be added to this unique collection of those who have occupied this house and served our nation with distinction. to those gr

the surface. consider this. it says byron white retired, the supreme court has invalidated more than 50 acts of congress, more than twice the number of the inner war courts of the 192s and 1930s. judicial restraint is dead. and byron white is gone, and largely

>> the white house feel its every day. when there is that pressure every day, they feel it, they do something to relieve the pain. right now, the obama white house has no real motive to do that? >> to date, viheard no objection from the white house about these leaks. not only that, i think that obama is politicizing this issue. look at the economy and the unemployment, it's going in the wrong direction. so this is a way to bolster his image and it's the wrong move to make. >> sean: we have a great group here. thank you for being with us tonight. a lot of ground to cover. coming up, the chairman of the house, homeland security committee congressman king is here. he says the leak scandal is worse than watergate. he's next. later, just days before they will decide the contempt of congress charges, well, facing eric holder, 3 members of the house, oversight committee will be here to preview this historic vote as this special edition of "hannity" continues. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. fohalf the calories pl

. >> what are you doing with the white house, with the johnson white house? >> i'll get to the point. my specific job, i was a military assistant to the secretary of defense, joe cal fan know, for white house matters. i was frequently over there. joe said, every time the secretary goes to the white house, you go with him, even if you have to run alongside his car and jump in while it's moving, you make sure you get over there with him. oftentimes mcnamara left me. i'm this little lieutenant colonel that he hardly recognized. so i eventually spent -- i won't exaggerate, at least 20 hours a week in the johnson white house, got to know everybody there. i was usually there doing some errand for the secretary. there's an awful lot of interplay between the defense department and the white house as everyone knows. >> so you got to understand sort of the basic and broad mechanics of the way the place operated. >> yes, i did, especially around the oval office. i came to know johnson a little bit and all the key people. then joe himself was picked up. johnson called mcn

that has been signed off on by the white house now. of information that has just come through. the request from attorney general eric holder that these documents requested be under executive privilege so they would not have to turn them over, and the white house has indeed put that executive privilege on those documents. that's how we start a brand-new hour of "america's newsroom." a lot going on this morning. i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. if morning, this 11th hour meeting between the attorney general and th chairman fell flat. this just in from the attorney general eric holder. martha: it says i respectfully request that you assert executive privilege over the identified documents. bill: william la jeunesse first to los angeles and william who has covered this story from the very beginning. what does this mean, william? >> reporter: it means we will have a big showdown between the executive and legislative branches because we do expect shortly that the house oversight committee will indeed approve the contempt citation,

wanted to show the nixon white house that they had selected the wrong guy and that they had to select a hoover krony to come back in and take this transition period and it's pretty clear. now, why did he get so much information wrong? i don't know. i actually -- this scholar happened to notice i posted -- i was taking a long trip one day. a 17-hour flight. i happened to carry all the president's men with me, and i plucked out everything that felt had said, and i knew the historical record well enough to say this is right or wrong, and particularly stuff that related to me and from the tapes and what have you, and felt is about 50% wrong in the information he gave bob woodward, and that's pretty striking for your source. i don't know if he has an agenda. you know, bob couldn't check this out for years, and now it's irrelevant to really check it. he doesn't want to impeach his source, so it sits there. it's still misquoted often as being source material, although it's clear who it's from. so felt is a bad source, if you will. he is a clearly motivated source to move his temporary boss p

the show. thank you for having me. >> anna, why no love for white voters in the campaign? plenty of love. mitt romney is doing a bus tour through ohio and pennsylvania. i have been to new hampshire and ohio and there is a lot of white people there. they are getting plenty of love. it's a good voting group for republicans. we actually have a white male gap that obama has to overcome. >> trust me, i was at the iowa state fair. your point is well taken. a new survey finds the president pulling in 38% support among white voters. is that a white voter problem? you wrote about that this week. >> it is. it is a big problem for president obama. i wrote the story because as you said, everybody talkses about the latino and the black vote and the soccer mom vote, but no one ever looks closely at the biggest voter block of all which is still whites. it's 70 to 75% of the electorate. when i started to look at the numbers in the polling, low and behold, it shows that barack obama has a white voter problem that is worse than it was back in 2008. let me say this. i believe there is no ques

but the white house was -- stonewald the committee and did stonewall the committee to a large extent. the mistake the president made was the special counsel who then took them to court and secured the tapes in effect. though it's my view as i expressed on another occasion that the supreme court and the united states v. nixon probably made the wrong decision in ordering the tapes to be turned over that the president's executive privilege is absolute except in impeachment proceedings. that's the right way. it probably wouldn't have came out the way it came out if what i considered the right way was followed. the fact is the supreme court did rule. the president did decide to turn over the tapes which in retrospect was probably an historic mistake from his point of view and turning over the tapes resulted in the impeachment of the president. if he destroyed the tapes he probably wouldn't have been impeached. maybe i'm wrong on that. actually i hope i'm wrong on that. who knows? he did turn them over. we did get them and we did present them to the committee. we laid it all out. the tapes

virtually all of the white students attended private schools. and the blacks who remained in the county, many of the blacks actually sent their kids out of the county, but black kids who remained in the county received no education at all for those three years. i use prince edward county only because i want to give you a sense and it's hard to imagine in 2012 this kind of reaction i want to give you a sense of what would happen and what in fact did happen after the brown decision. as i said before, virginia pass ad law to deny funding to inefficient schools and inefficient schools were the schools that were declared racially integrated but what's even more interesting and maybe in some ways more sinister in the wake of the brown decision new organizations arose that would make it their business to prevent not just the desegregation of the schools, but the desegregation of all of southern society. there were a host of these organizations, i'll give you a couple of names. i'll give you three names. one of the names you may be familiar with, the whi

you worked in the bush white house and they got in a battle with the house.and the bush white house asserted executive privileges over those documents. how is it difficult? >> three thoughts i have been to the movie and i know how it ends and the documents were turned over. >> three things happened when the white house excerted executive prive ledge. it was a story follow would carefully and closely on the ride. it was not followed as closely as it was by the media outlets and now it has. the white house hases their self to for that. they made voters deeply suspicious of the white house and justice department . no one in obama's cabinet with a worse relationship with congress than holder. and third, when the white house was called to turn over the documents, there was not the life of an american federal agent that was lostt. this is so much more serious and the stakes are dire and grave. >> jeff, how does the romney campaign feel about the confrontation. there is talk whether thiare entitled. this plays in the narrative that republicans are obstructionist and

falipian who was working at the white house. and i was in destine, florida, on vacation with my family. he said, there's something i think you should read. i think he maybe described it as the smoking gun. so i got on a plane, flew back in. he met me at the baltimore airport. it's the only way i could get in in july of 1974 that there are senate come to the president and say to the president it's time that he leave. the president decides to resign. he gives a speech on august 8 where he says, i will resign at noon tomorrow. then he gives another speech, which is actually the better-known speech, he gives this speech to his members of the staff, to his close associates. this speech is in the east room of the white house. some of you watching or listening today will recall the speech. because what the president says about the lesson that he learned about how one treats one's adversaries. >> always give your best. never get discouraged. never be petty. always remember others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you

house republicans in the obama white house -- and the obama white house have been at war for a long time and this week it got worse. the reason? the since-abandoned gun walking program. the justice department refused to turn over some documents, the white house complamed executive privilege and now the committee has voted to hold attorney general eric holder in contempt. major, how did we come to this? >> this is about a 16-month investigation. the house government and oversight committee has subpoena power. this line was originally started in the senate by charles grassley. a very stern, competent bipartisan investigator but he didn't have subpoena power so he handed it off to the house. for a long time the white house position was don't call us about this, we have nothing to do with this. in dribs and drabs information has come out that indicates or at least raised a significant be suspicion to house republicans that people in the white house did know more than originally remented about this program. there are are a lobt things typical in washington in investigating scandals. allegatio

falipian who was working at the white house. and i was in destine, florida, on vacation with my family. he said, there's something i think you should read. i think he maybe described it as the smoking gun. so i got on a plane, flew back in. he met me at the baltimore airport. it's the only way i could get in that night. i read it by car light on the way back to washington. and it was obvious to me now, at that point, that one article of impeachment for obstruction of justice was going to be unavoidable. >> so when the smoking gun transcript is released to the public on august 5, 1974, the last line of defense for the president crumbles. the leadership, the republican leadership in the house and the senate come to the president and say to the president it's time that he leave. the president decides to resign. he gives a speech on august 8 where he says, i will resign at noon tomorrow. then he gives another speech, which is actually the better-known speech, he gives this speech to his members of his staff, to his close associates.

six months ago i think the white house had it firmly in their column. it's up in the air but really very much left up not just to republican or conservatives but to the swing voters who elected me by a larger margin to say, if governor romney can show that he's got clear plan, a plan to take on reforms we need to make, particularly for our kids. i think that can win in wisconsin i think it can win in other swing states. >> bob: thank you so much for being with us this morning. we really appreciate you answering the questions. and we're going to turn now to maryland governor mark o'malley he would be a democrat and richard who is the head of the afl-cio who represents 12 million workers you took a big part in that recall election out there. i got to say, any way you cut it it was a defeat for -- >> it was defeat for the people got hurt the working people on the ground in that state. it's true that the people in wisconsin didn't recall governor walker, but he spent over $50 million on this, he has lost control of the state senate so his agenda is stopped d

that is the white house. it is also a very difficult job and one who can do it successfully can be wounded by it and their burdens for having done it and there are very few people they can talk to about it. the one thing they want one another to know is basically yeah i get it. you can call me, i understand, i get it. i know how hard it is my won't give you a hard time. that is what we saw here and it's what we saw all through history and i think it's a model may be that many of us can take back with us in whatever realm we are operating. so thank you very much. we'd be happy to take your questions. [applause] >> you nancy and michael have been gracious enough to allow a few minutes at the end here for some question so all i ask is if you have a question if you can raise your hand. we have people in the aisles with mycra phones. just wait for the microphone and we will start right over here. >> in the situation with the first first lady, like the president -- >> it's interesting how a lot of people have been

i am chairman of the board of the white house historical association. ion was founded 50 years ago with two specific missions, the first is to educate and inform the public about the history of the white house and the distinguished groups of americans who have the -- inhabited it. it is an exciting time for us. we marked our 50th anniversary. to the north of the white house we have just launched the new national center for let us history. the next year, to the south, we will open a new white house this their center. it will give millions of visitors -- the visitor center. it will give millions of visitors a new understanding. if we acquire something on the east and west we will have the police surrounded. -- place surrounded. [laughter] are proud to have provided funds for financial support. -- the association is proud to provide $40 million for refurbishing and making important acquisitions for the white house. through the portraits of our presidents, it is a wonderful tradition that here, our country honors those who have honored us. the tradition bega

senate and the white house is looking at this as and john mccain calling for an investigation is not looking at this as let's find out the legality of the kill list looks lined up pretty well what the president's doing is unconstitutional not he's actually what he has explicitly said is he doesn't want leaks of unconstitutional potentially unconstitutional behavior because he wants that behavior to continue quite literally he says he doesn't want this information out there because it would jeopardize future similar ongoing operations yeah that's a that's a very scary reality that you know i mean what do you think michael in terms of why democrats are getting involved i mean still you know it is their guide is their prize and i know it's an election year maybe people want to look tough maybe i don't they don't appear israel off because of what was revealed in the second step that story look look there's this bipartisan national security consensus and they everyone feels like they have to fall in line behind it and if you're on these intelligence committees like senator dianne feinstein

but the white house had a legitimate concern about establishing the precedent that white house staff could be routinely subpoenaed to appear before the congress to discuss items that involve internal white house deliberations. on the other hand what the white house had offered was they said look we underand it that you want to hear from ro e rove. we will provide rove. i have have a private hearingd swear him in so that if he doesn't tell the truth he can be prosecuted for doing so and he will tell you everything that you want to know about his involvement or noninvolvement in the u.s. attorney situation but that way we protect the form of the president's privilege while giving you the substance of what you want which is complete unfettered access to rove. that is probably why the house never took it up because the white house made this offer and i suspect some in the house democratic leadership said we are not going to look good if they offered us this. they finally took the bush white house up on the offer in march of 2009 and had we spend two days testifying in front of the hapless

and what is the white house running on? that's is key. >> the economy between now and the time he inherited it. >> that is one case mitt romney can win by not running for anything. >> he doesn't have to. >> it can obama-omicses that failed. >> something we said at this table, this bain strategy might not be a good idea. listen. >> and i think he had a good business career. if you go in and you try to save a failing company, you can go into a company, have cut-backs, try to make it more productive with the purpose of saving it. and when you try, like anything else you try, you don't always succeed. so i don't think that we ought to get into the position where we say this is bad work. this is good work. >> whoops. >> here's the problem why he's not going to get re-elected, obama, because he doesn't get it. if he had a little bit more clinton in it, a move more toward the center more sensible about the economy and try to tag team on romney with this bain thing which is failing. >> are you saying he's not getting re-elected righ

how would the white house have learned about operation fast and furious if not from you? >> well, through my staff and the interactions that we have with the white house -- >> okay. when did your staff inform the white house about operation fast and furious. >> i don't know. >> were you ever curious about that? >> well, my focus was on dealing with the problems associated with fast and furious. >> seems to me that you wouldn't want to know -- wouldn't want white house officials to know what was going on in order to correct the problem. my time -- >> tactics and trying to solve the problem and not concerned about the knowledge was in the white house. that's my responsibility. >> i understand, but i think the white house would have been informed. the gentleman from michigan, ranking member is recognized for his question. >> thank you, chairman smith. attorney general holder, would you pull your mike up just a little bit closer, please? >> you have made reference to the ats multiple failed reporting program for certain types of rifles in states along the southwest border. thi