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

the white house created this investigatory unit in the white house, and it didn't use subpoenas to acquire information. that's where the problem arises. here, a little bit later in 1971, the white house wants better political intelligence for the pending 1972 elections. the president appears was concerned about his re-election. and so here we have information laying out for you what we know and what one can know about the extent to which the white house sponsored what was then called a dirty tricks operation to undermine the campaigns of potential adversaries and launched an intelligence organization that would use wiretapping and surreptitious entry to acquire information about the president's adversaries. the exhibit is very clear about what we know and what we don't know. in fact, there's a whole panel here that lays out based on the trial testimony, on the tapes, on the documents that the watergate special prosecution force and the house judiciary committee looked at and we've looked at, and materials that we had in our collection, that we were able to release in the last few years. th

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 ma

the white house staff. i want to thank fred ryan and the white house curator.m pleased that my portrait brings an interesting symmetry to the white house collection. it now starts and ends with a george w. [laughter] when the british burned the white house, dolly madison famously saved this portrait of the first to george w. [laughter] now, michele, if anything happens, there is your man. [laughter] [applause] i am pleased that when you are wondering these halls he would now be able to the is that this portrait and ask "what would george do?" [laughter] i am honored to be hanging there with the man they gave me the greatest give possible, -- the greatest gift possible, unconditional love, no. 41. [applause] i want to thank john howard for agreeing to use his considerable talents to paint my likeness. you have done a fine job with a challenging subjects. in the portrait there is a painting called "a charge to keep" that hung in the oval office for the eight years of my presidency. i asked john to include it b ecause it reminds me of the wonderful people with who

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

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 men. they said "we wish to exhibit a grandeur of conception, a republican simplicity and true elegance of proportion that corresponds to a tempered freedom the good of little minds. contemporary counts describe the building a

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

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

>> 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

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 o

white house and hunt's number at the white house. so this is one of the reasons that alex very quickly got a call. alex, just follow me for a minute. when you heard about the break-in, what was your first reaction? >> we did it. no, really. i just felt i knew for sure that we did it, and that the president had to know about it. i'd been there three and a half years by that time, and that's the way things operated. i saw things -- everything that happened, nixon was the choreographer. he was the director of everything. and if he knew about it, haldeman knew about it. they were the two that had to know about anything that happened, and i still feel that white house aides don't go off and handle things willy nilly. they're as conscious as anyone or more so that anything they do reflects on the presidency. so i don't think there's a lot

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

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. >> w

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

that the white house wanted this out.seems that this investigation seems to be about whether or not the white house did let out national security information in order to make the president look like a stronger leader. what do you make of this right now? >> first you got to be very careful about creating a witch hunt for sources. and a witch hunt which you go after reporters because now more than ever we need real reporting on this presidency, on national security. on all these areas. the press is not the problem here. we got plenty of laws and if somebody inside is doing things with real national security secrets that they oughtn'tt be doing. let's be really careful before we start a witch hunt here. >> i completely agree with that. by having an investigation, was there real harm to the national security? i think that question needs to be addressed at a policy level and it's very difficult i know from doing stories like this where you are dealing with sensitive government secrets to modulate and be careful at the same tim

is sort of set itself up in the sense that as michael mentioned the white house is prosecuting true whistle blew the whistle blowers right now people who have disclosed information sensitive classified information at certain points to a great extent to their own self-sacrifice courageous acts to try to get the truth out the white house is simultaneously prosecuting those kinds of folks in a more aggressive fashion than any previous administration in contemporary history is creating this idea that anybody who disclose any information at all should be a target of law enforcement so they have set up a situation where now they're going to have to deal with the same kind of paradigm that they themselves have created they're going to if the president really just talk on disclosures of national security information all of a sudden his own staff is going to potentially be the target and that's a political problem i agree with michael. but let me of all that let me let me bring up omar thing too because we were talking about you know why is this something that's going to sell the presid

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 abs

so there is the most recent comment that we've had from the white house. apitol hill on the house side reminds us that the constitution clearly states, just as judge napolitano just said that executive privilege is the exclusive province of the president. it suggests that the president may have known of this. unless there is some other explanation that we may not yet have heard. we are keeping our eyes on it, martha. martha: thank you very much. we continue to go through this letter from eric holder requesting this. and we are going to have a lot more on it throughout the course of this morning. bill: congressman randy forbes grilled attorney general eric holder about two weeks ago. he is on deck live in a moment here. here is congressman darrell issa again moments ago inside that hearing room. >> the attorney general has refused to cooperate, offering to provide subpoenaed documents only if the committee agrees in advance to close the investigation. no investigator would ever agree to that, and as you can understand, the other information related to those

white house and hunt's number at the white house. so this is one of the reasons that alex very quickly got a call. alex, just follow me for a minute. when you heard about the break-in, what

not a lot of tapes but a handful, and then they get no more because what they do is they compare white house transcripts with the actual -- what the transcripts prepared by house judicial committee where they used people who had sight impairment, and so they had greatly sensitized ears to listen to these things. and it was pretty striking. i'm not -- i don't know how intentional this was. it's one of the things that you talk about unanswered questions. one of the questions i had, see, you don't raise your hand, you're going to get a talk. one of the questions i had in working on this project is i went to the archives and i noticed that sealed in the archives, the last trip i happened to make there in march of last year was one of the more extended trips to gather material. i have visited my papers before and stuff in the watergate prosecutor's office before, but i just noticed this time in some of the early papers there was nixon's grand jury testimony that i thought that could raise some really interesting questions. he was brought before the grand jury after he had been pardoned. he had on

>> it came from the atf. >> chris: you worked in the bush white house and they got into a battle withocratic house who were seeking documents about the firing of u.s. attorneys and the bush white house asserted executive privilege over those documents. how is this different? >> well, three thoughts. one i have been to that movie and a i know how it ends and all the documents will be turned over. >> chris: but they got turned over after the election. >> three things happened when the white house exerted executive privilege. one, they guaranteed that a story that unfortunately with few exceptions was being foll w followed carefully and closely by on the right, it wasn't b being followed as closely as it probably should have been by all media outlets and now it will. the white house has itself to blame for that. by 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 tha

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 a 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 or 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 sundae was special election for the seat once held by the injured congresswoman gabrielle giffords rush is defending its sale of arms to the syrian government but then accusing the

it was an invisible world, and here we would sgee the white house sboe ingo into the white house and get nothing. 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 monica restaurant right near capitol hill. they have paper -- cloth tops -- >> tablecloths. >> 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 made an organizational chart of the white house. the question was, here's nixon. here's dean. we knew from john's testimony john didn't have notes, material, little on the meetings with the president. there wasn't going to be paper documentation. we had to figure out who else would know so made a satellite chart of all the people in touch wi with nixon. all

it was johnson who showed nixon where the tape recorders were in the white house. it was one of the reasons why think nixon got the clubhouse, why he orchestrated johnson's birthday party, why he sent a jet down to the ranch with briefing papers every week. he really wanted to keep johnson and -- >> lady bird growth. they created a special force in california for lady bird to pay homage to johnson. >> he so nixon is reelected in a landslide and watergate is gaining force, and in january of 1973, nixon's men call johnson and say you know, you might want to call your press in the senate and just tell them to back off on this watergate investigation. rlc no we will reveal the fact that you were illegally surveilling, eavesdropping on us back in 1968, to which johnson says well, if you do that i will say what i learned when i was wiretapping you back in 1968. visits jordan and moment of mutual blackmail and you think how is it that this didn't all blow up? the reason was two weeks later nixon was inaugurated for his second term and two days after that lyndon johnson di

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 road

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 g

. >> jon: white house spin man jay karnney wants reports on context. who has the context, leaks, and congress's charge against the attorney general, commerce secretary hit and run accident after a seizure. all stories plaguing the white house and getting media attention. >> there will be no shortage of gas and controversies and so i briefly made my own unique contribution. (laughter) >> and the private sector is doing fine comment is getting coverage, the meaning of the mental. civil war in syria, relations with russia, tensions with iran and the economic meltdown in europe, all raising questions about mr. obama's foreign policies. but, have the media been glossing over the concerns. >> i would say in a hundred years, this country will be-- it's a stupid religion and a stupid country. >> liberal loud mouth bill maher attacks the religion and calls our nation stupid. and bush 41 gets the h.b.o. treatment. was it fair? >> on the panel this week, writer and fox news contributor, judy miller. richard grinell, former spokesman for the the last four u.s. amb

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. allegations of a coverup. executive privilege. all very similar. there are things about this that is -- are unique, it seems to me. a border patrol agent, brian terry is, was killed in 2010 and two of the weapons at the scene were gun-walked weapons. p and there is an attorney general in chihuahua state in mexico also killed, guns at that murder scene also linked to fast and furious. so that gives emotional resonance to this story. it gives a kind of thing that's not typical in washington. and from the eyes of the house republicans it justifies the level of inquiry on this matter. john: is it true and how relevant to republicans and others that a program similar to this was executed under the bus

senator mccain is among those who believe the white house leaked the information to help the presidentclaim the president denies. >> the notion that my whiept house would purpose -- white house would purposely release classified national security information is offensive. >> reporter: holder has appointed two u.s. attorneys to look into the leaks but some in congress say an independent special prosecutor should lead the investigation. the white house says the department of justice is fully capable. >> there is no need for special council. these things have been consistently investigated when it's appropriate. >> reporter: but many in congress say any investigation that is ultimately headed by attorney general holder cannot be trusted. >> the attorney general of the united states has very little credibility here and i believe because of fast and furious with the american people. >> reporter: fast and furious was a failed gun smuggling program headed by the a.t.f. in 2008 but the white house says holder and his team have

>> 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. follow the wings. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. foh

and he said he was going to the white house to get one. i said, that would have been helpful information. >> that's great. bill, you were working side by side with hillary rodham. in those days you guys were working closely with the bill and hillary was a different bill and hillary, right? talk about working with her in those days. both of you had front seat to some of the most colorful members of congress. >> not only an office in common, but a task in common. we were writing the book about what constitute s grounds for impeachment for a president. it took about six months. finally, we came out with a p p pamphlet. 25 years later, phone rings as i'm preparing a witness and john podesta said it looks like they're going to proceed against my client, which was president clinton. and he said there's two people that know more about impeachment than anyone, and one of them is disqualified by interest. so i need you to come and testify, which i was happy to do. the branches of political power offense. hillary rodham was a superstar from the get

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

, 18 years later i was in the white house. i was in the white house in the beginning of whitewater. i know. you might think the white house is a very efficient place with dozens of people who perform well. it's not true. so i don't even -- poor fred and jim st. clair and a handful of people in the white house, you know, whatever reason the transcripts they released were inaccurate and we made it our business to try to put together accurate transcripts and presented that to the committee to demonstrate what we were given is not accurate so they could draw whatever conclusions they want to draw from that. obviously we weren't in the business at that point of drawing favorable conclusions under those circumstances. >> so it's after the white house. >> i believe so. >> that you start the transcription process. >> correct. >> and how -- what kinds of checks and balances do you put into that process so that your transcripts are better? >> well, we just devoted -- we just devoted a lot of time. people really made an effort just to ge