and here is what william barr told neil cavuto back in may of 2017. listen here. >> the president is certainly entitled to his choice as fbi director, and while i admire jim comey a lot, i think that he has contributed a lot to the country. he is enormously gifted. he crossed the basic line in july. >> on the same page with the president when it comes to hillary clinton, seymour reese and to investigate hillary clinton because of the uranium one deal, and any collusion between the trump campaign and russia. telling "the new york times" in november last year, "to the extent it is not pursuing the matter is, they are advocating its responsibility." the other nomination that you mention, heather nauert for u.n. ambassador. we were told weeks ago that she had been offered the job. a lot of people came around and denied that. now she has been nominated by the president, so it looks like it was there all the time. she was the spokesperson in the state department, still is pretty since the days of rex tillerson. former fox news correspondent. not a great amo

i don't have the slightest idea. >> william barr on immigration issues? >> he certainly wrote an op-ed along with michael mckenzie and edney's praising jeff sessions. and one of the things he praised him for was for his tough response on illegal immigration. he was known to be tough on illegal immigration at the time that he was attorney general. he certainly knows how to respond to crises. when he became attorney general, there was a large spike in violent crime. i know that he transferred a whole bunch of investigators who had been doing counterterrorism work in order to address gang violence and violent crime. this is a guy who can recognize the administration priorities and make resources to address them. >> what lesson should william barr take from jeff savage -- jeff sessions, his time as attorney general and relationship with president trump? >> he should not recruit himself from oversight of the mueller investigation. but of course since he was not involved in the campaign and to the best of my knowledge had no discussions with the investors that

and william barr isn't quite that! think is a good choice but i don't think is the direction that the president would be going in. lou: what direction did you think he would go? >> at that he might go its own that he had a longer personal history. frankly, i think it is good to get someone that is independent, precisely because they will have the courage to stand up to him. lou: i hate when you prosecutors use the word independent. because that to me is just pure nonsense. >> you want independent! lou: the president is the boss, that department just like any other. an independent should not be synonymous with the word rogue. as that was what we witnessed. >> i agree that but i think it is the presence of law enforcement agenda. but at the same time you some of that is an honest person not afraid to call as he sees it and tell the president in some cases the law does not allow you to do this. lou: well, he has lawyers around him -- >> no shortage there. lou: what you think? >> i slightly disagree. the president tells th

we're following president trump as he eyes former attorney general william barr to replace jeff sessions the further into winter we go, the heavier i get. and while your pants struggle to support the heavier you, your roof struggles to support the heavier me. crash! and your cut-rate insurance might not pay for this. so get allstate, you could save money and be better protected from mayhem like me. mayhem is everywhere. so get an allstate agent. are you in good hands? ♪ ♪ the united states postal service makes more holiday deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. ♪ with one notable exception. ♪ >>> happening now, breaking news. raising the bar, as president trump looks or the for a new attorney general, we're told he is yieg someone who held the job in the first bush administration would. william barr protect or try to disrupt the russia investigation? >>> stone-cold speech. after declaring his plans to plead the fifth, roger stone is publicly railing against the russia probe tonight, even as he said he would testify before the united states senate with conditions. >>> filing

i think william barr will let it go forward. i think that president trump knows or has been advised by the lawyers on his team who are looking up for his best interest, but i do not think when rudy giuliani gets on the cable news circuit it is helping all that much. you cannot stand the way of this pit he is running his counter story to the mueller probe via twitter, he has made that clear. there are 87 pages of counter report already prepared. bob mueller will continue his work. what happens today will matter, we will know exactly what paul manafort did in terms of lying to the special counsel. >> harris: even if it is heavily redacted? >> brian: i don't think so pretty >> harris: you can hold a light up to and see the letters behind it. >> brian: that's exactly what we want to know. we will not get that, with so we will be left with a guy who has done stuff that is not related to collusion, and cohen, a liar. >> jessica: there are tons of collusion points, their emails talking about a deal, the trump tower and russia, and ivan

i would like your take on william barr. highly respected. you do have patrick leahy, democrat on the senate judiciary committee who has praised him before and said he would get his vote. and you do have the fact that william barr has said that the firing of james comey was totally legitimate because he says comey overstepped here, which i think you and the clinton team would agree on that point. >> the problem is donald trump didn't fire james comey because of how he treated hillary clinton because donald trump agreed with how james comey treated hillary clinton in the campaign. it's suddenly when he became his problem that he was sympathetic to hillary. look, that's my concern about this nomination. this is someone who is citing basically fake news around this uranium one allegation. it's from a book by a right-wing political activist that was totally debunked. and so i worry this is just another nomination from donald trump. i agree with scott that it's all about someone that the president has confidence in, but the problem is to have dona

>> michael, let me get your thoughts on the news that president trump is strongly considering william barre as the next attorney general. you served under barr. are you surprise beside think choice? >> well, yes and no. barr is 68 years old. he has already been there and done that, and i'm not sure why wants to go home again. but he is a good choice, i think. he is an honest broker. i think that he will bring experience and stability to the justice department. remember, when i worked for mueller and barr was the attorney general, we worked closely with barr because moneylaundering and asset forfeiture work were all the rage at the time. and that's what bob and i did together. i think that relationship was cooperative. i think that in respect of will barr come in and try to interfere with the mueller investigation, i think that's probably off the table now. so i think in many respects, i think it's a good choice that will probably get a consensus vote on the hill. >> kaitlan, once again, you cover the white house for us. how serious do you think the president is about barr as attorney gener

attorney general now william barr was previously u.s. attorney general he's held that post before what's most interesting is that william barr has expressed confidence in special counsel robert muller who is carrying out the investigation into alleged collusion between the trumpet ministration and russia it appears that william barr has called for a what he says is a more balanced investigation team regarding that effort so both of these appointments will have to be confirmed by the u.s. senate and as we saw with kavanagh in the supreme court confirmation hearings in the era of trump the confirmation hearings aren't always as smooth as some would expect. president putin has been hosting the greek prime minister today in moscow the told so with an axis of prospal it was a tense summit between the two countries when greece expelled two russian diplomats over allegations of and demining national security at medina caution of the details despite the diplomatic fallout between the two countries and the semi when greece expelled to several rus

william barr just might be the guy. he is the former attorney general under george bush, george h.w. bush. he has the biggest credential you can have. which is being senate confirmed to the same position decades ago. inh trump, he had a role basically shutting down the advocating probe by for a wave of pardons as the first george bush was leaving office. william barr was an advocate for having a big wave and that shut down the investigation. so, he has also been a critic of independent counsels. this is a special counsel. a little bit of a different thing. he had been critical of pieces of it last year. there are a lot of reasons for trump to think hey, he might be my god. .o rein in the mueller probe -- hey, he might be my guy to rein in the mueller probe. he expects him to be confirmed easily. he is an outstanding pick. they only need republican votes. it is a 53-47 senate. even though rand paul has said he is concerned about william barr on other issues. they don't necessarily need his vote. host: this happens in the

william barr is an institutionalist. will try to protect the department from a process standpoint, that's important. let's not forget the policies, tiffany talked about some of those policies, but the direction that this administration has taken, whether it's in terms of voter rights, criminal justice, immigration that hard right policies will continue. because that direction is being set by the president. so again, mr. barr is a conservative. he's an institutionalist. but let's not forget how conservative his policies are and as you correctly point out, those are out of step with where the people of this country are, where the history of this country is. >> tiffany, do you expect the democrats to really challenge william barr in the confirmation hearings on the areas that we are doesing heiscussing here, t of us are concerned about in. >> i do, actually. you and i discussed only your radio show, this is why it's important for people like camela harris to seep e keep her seat, which is in question now with the senate maj

attorney general now william barr was previously u.s. attorney general he's held that post before and william barr most interestingly has declared himself to be a supporter of the bob muller investigation into alleged collusion with russia now trump is announced both these appointments heather nauert for the u.n. and william barr as attorney general but the world is still waiting for the confirmation hearings the senate will have to then confirm the appointments and as we saw with kavanagh and that whole deal with the kavanagh supreme court justice confirmation hearings those confirmation hearings to get quite exciting me in the air of trump so the world is waiting to see what will happen next but now we have these two announcements from trump to new officials will be added to his administration if they can fast past confirmation. thanks for the. reporting from new york thanks. to meeting christian democrats voted just chosen i think went karen by as its new leader to step down from the roll off to eighteen is all of the reports from pan

i happen to have a very high opinion of william barr. he was a very good attorney general and could be a good attorney general in any administration. but he must recuse from the russia investigation and all the other investigations of the trump campaign, including the investigation of the southern district of new york. let's look at the facts. just today we've learned the prosecutors in new york, they believed the president of the united states has committed felony campaign finance robert mueller has already obtained kwiks of guilty pleas for the president's lawyer. we have the president's former campaign chairman, paul manafort, the vice chair of the campaign, mr. gates. we have the former national security adviser, michael flynn, a number of other guilty pleas, a bunch of them are cooperating with the prosecutors. president trump fired the director of the fbi, james comey, in order to stop this investigation. he's repeatedly tried to fire robert mueller. he fired jeff sessions because jeff sessions wouldn't shut down the investigation.

william barr. there have some questions raised about past statements he made defending the president's decisions. does this add up to enough reason for you to be concerned or do you think he can be the chief law enforcement officer of the country and oversee this probe without impeding it? >> it's certainly reason for concern. there's no question about his qualifications for the job, he's already had the job and i think great many people thought highly of himha but his comments about comey, his comments about the composition of mueller's team, most concerned to me that it's perfectly fine for a president to recommend prosecution of his political rivals and what is more justice ought to look into that. those comments raise questions about bias and about judgment. the confirmation hearings i think those need to be probed deeply. i think the senate also needs to exact a commitment from him that he will not interfere with the mueller investigation that he will be sure that the mueller report is ultimat

attorney general now william barr was previously u.s. attorney general has held that post before what's most interesting is that william barr has expressed confidence in special counsel robert muller who is carrying out the investigation into alleged collusion between the trumpet ministration and russia it appears that william barr has called for a what he says is a more balanced investigation team regarding that effort so both of these appointments will have to be confirmed by the u.s. senate and as we saw with kavanagh in the supreme court confirmation hearings in the era of trump the confirmation hearings aren't always as smooth as some would expect. president putin hosted the greek prime minister on friday in moscow the talks with alexis tsipras follow a tense summer between the two countries when greece expelled two russian diplomats over allegations of undermining national security and his medical team of a more. despite the diplomatic role now between the two countries and the semi when greece expelled to several russian diplomats

attorney general now william barr was previously u.s. attorney general has held that post before what's most interesting is that william barr has expressed confidence in special counsel robert muller who is carrying out the investigation into alleged collusion between the trumpet ministration and russia it appears that william barr has called for a what he says is a more balanced investigation team regarding that effort so both of these appointments will have to be confirmed by the u.s. senate and as we saw with kavanagh in the supreme court confirmation hearings in the era of trump the confirmation hearings aren't always as smooth as some would expect. the u.s. could be considering tearing up another arms treaty with russia the strategic arms reduction treaty also known as start that's the concern expressed by the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov. so that's one gets the impression that the ground is being late for the eventual terminations of ston three well earlier this week the number one diplomat in america said that russia has

attorney general now william barr was previously u.s. attorney general he's held that post before what's most interesting is that william barr has expressed confidence in special counsel robert muller who is carrying out the investigation into alleged collusion between the trumpet ministration and russia it appears that william barr has called for a what he said. this is a more balanced investigation team are regarding that effort so both of these appointments will have to be confirmed by the u.s. senate and as we saw with cavanagh in the supreme court confirmation hearings in the era of trump the confirmation hearings aren't always as smooth as some would expect. international attention is on the opec group of producing countries as they meet in the austrian capital vienna and that they have agreed to a cut in production all produces hope that opec summit will stabilize plummeting prices it was agreed to cut production by one point two million barrels a day effective a half a year iran venezuela and libya will be exempt from the cuts we

attorney general now william barr was previously u.s. attorney general has held that post before what's most interesting is that william barr has expressed confidence in special counsel robert muller who is carrying out the investigation into alleged collusion between the trumpet ministration and russia it appears that william barr has called for a what he says is a more balanced investigation team regarding that effort so both of these appointments will have to be confirmed by the u.s. senate and as we saw with kavanagh in the supreme court confirmation hearings in the era of trump the confirmation hearings aren't always as smooth as some would expect. the search and rescue ship the aquarius which is save thousands of migrants from the mediterranean has announced it feasting operations doctors without borders which runs the mission blames pressure from european countries initiated by it's really a charity said room has sabotaged efforts to save lives for the last two months the ship has been confined to a port in fronts following on occ

attorney general now william barr was previously u.s. attorney general he's held that post before what's most interesting is that william barr has expressed confidence in special counsel robert muller who is carrying out the investigation into alleged collusion between the trumpet ministration and russia it appears that william barr has called for a what he says is a more balanced investigation team regarding that effort so both of these appointments will have to be confirmed by the u.s. senate and as we saw with kavanagh in the supreme court confirmation hearings in the era of trump the confirmation hearings aren't always as smooth as some would expect a visit from ill be back with headlines in about thirty one minutes here with us as our to generation. what does the rise of the yellow vests lumen in france tell us about the state of the neoliberal order in europe are the protests in france the largest since one thousand nine hundred eighty eight just about a hike until prices and is the man you will approach the right person to be pres

is william barr correct in his memo? >> william barr is correct. it's outrageous.s memo ultimately is about article two power of the president. the irony is, the previous administration exercised probably the most robust power for the president that we have seen in decades. the idea that this should be disqualifying is absolutely wrong. we don't want an attorney general from mars who hasn't given serious thought to serious issues like this. let me say this: it's time for mr. barr or mr. whitaker to act appropriately under the regulations. regulation -- special counsel regulation 600.7 gives him the authority and obligation to demand an explanation for every inappropriate investigative or prosecutorial step for special counsel has taken. it's time for them to get on board. the regulations contemplate a person who gives it serious thought to reining in an outrageous special counsel. mr. whitaker, mr. barr need to do it mr. rosenstein has refused to do. >> dan: congressman goodlatte, with regards to rod rosenstein, he seems to be living in a government in and of himse

he announced he will nominate william barr to be the next attorney general. same capacity under president george h.w. bush. cnn has also learned prominent republicans urged barr to accept the job for the good of the justice department. mr. trump also announcing state department spokeswoman heather nauert is his nominee to replace nikki haley as ambassador to the united nations. nauert is a former tv host with little experience in international diplomacy. joining us now, democratic congressman gregory meeks. he's of new york. he's a member of the house foreign affairs committee. congressman, good to have you with us. first, your reaction to trump naming his nominees for the u.n. ambassador and attorney general. we also have the news that john kelly will resign in coming days as chief of staff. what do you make of the timing and ultimately, are these good or bad moves? >> i'm really concerned about what's taking place in our country right now. the fact that if you look at the proposed appointment at the u.n., someone who is basically a tv personality who has no

a second nomination for president trump this morning william barr as attorney general. firmed the second time at this position. he served as attorney general from 1991 to 1993. barr would step into a justice department and ongoing special counsel investigation of russian interference into the 2016 presidential election. he previously questioned the politics of some of the investigators with democrats likely to question him on their concerns about protecting special counsel robert mueller's investigation. sandra. >> sandra: rich edson. thank you. >> bill: let's bring in newt gingrich, fox news contributor. how are things and great to have you back today? we brought you in to talk about the headlines of the day and the latest headlines. bill barr, do you know him and like the pick? heather nauert at the u.n. >> i worked with bill barr back in the first bush administration and before that and i've watched him every since. he has great integrity. he is very smart. i think that he will be confirmed readily by the senate. he brings a level of stability and knowledge to the jus

to be fair, that is not what william barr is saying. i'm not attributing that to william barr.i think we should be -- unlike other appointments that we have seen this administration make, it is reassuring that he's actually appointing someone who understand the distinction between his law enforcement role and his policy role. >> i want to put -- sort of give you this, an article in "the washington post" from november 3rd, 2018, the president is the chief executive and if he believes there's an area that requires an investigation there's nothing on its face wrong with that, there's nothing per se wrong about that, barr said. i don't think all this stuff about throwing clinton in jail or jumping to the conclusion that she should be prosecuted is appropriate, barr added, but i do think that there are things that should be investigated that haven't been investigated. any clue, malcolm, maya, david, to what he means there? >> well, there's a whole myriad of things you can make up. is he going to start investigating the accusation that barack obama wire tapped trump tower? i mean the

team trump picks william barr to be the new us attorney general — a job he last did 25 years ago.ll oversee the russia investigation. there is no one more capable or more qualified for this role. he deserves overwhelming bipartisan support. french students clash with police as the country prepares for more anti government protests this weekend. and as the un declares more than half of the world's population now have access to the internet, we find out how one of the world's least connected countries, cuba, is trying to get online. hello and welcome to world news today. a top executive in the chinese telecoms giant huawei has appeared in court in canada where she was told she faces fraud charges in the united states. meng wanzhou is the daughter of the company's founder — and also huawei's chief financial officer. she now faces prosecution in the us, for allegedly trying to get round sanctions on iran. let's speak to michelle fleury who's live for us in new york. what more can you tell us about these charges? she has been appearing ina these charges? she has been appearing in a pac

william barr has done thisjob before elections.ne this job before under george elections. william barr has done thisjob before under george bush in the early 90s so he has a track record and he knows what he is doing and the senate, when it comes to looking to his confirmation, will have that to examine. he also in terms of president trump has been supportive on questions of the robert mueller investigation. he says it should be as partners and as it was. and he supported the president's sacking james comey, the former head of the fbi. he is a good pick from the president's point of view and with a decreased majority in the senate, the republicans hope to get in through easily. whether he is there to see —— to oversee the robert mueller enquiry remains to be seen. heather nauert is an unknown quantity. she was a fox news anchor, a spokesperson, and that is where she has impressed the president but she has impressed the president but she doesn't have any diplomatic experience, direct diplomatic experience, direct diplomatic experien

william barr, attorney general, president making that atphoupbment today. r so i just want your personal reaction to his pick and what changes he's gonna make in the trump administration and in washington moving forward. >> well, when i first joined the justice department under then attorney general william barr, his reputation was sort of a solid establishment, certainly conservative, but not radical attorney general. certainly qualified given all of his experience up to that point in the department of justice. under george h.w. bush, sort a more establishment moderate presidency. although he has made public statements that have been critical of the mueller investigation, not as harshly critical as matt whitaker, who is the acting attorney general right now. >> julie: you obviously want to have it seem as if somebody's coming in with an open plate and not bias than someone who is going to abide by the law and someone who the president will respect. seems that he's found that person. thank you very much. that's all the time we have, but thank you for coming

the president saying he'll nominate attorney william barr to lead the justice department.ere is peter navarro on this. >> the tradition of the trump administration for the two years i have been there. people come and go. it's time we get a change. change is good. it doesn't might's for the better. i wish the chief well. and we'll move forward the way we have been moving forward. eric: we go to ellison barber who is live on the north lawn. reporter: the president ended the week a bang when it comes to staffing. he announced his pick too replace outgoing u.n. ambassador nikki haley and to lead the department of justice. mark miley will be the next leader of the joint chief of staff. and john kelly is leaving at the end of the year. general kelly's departure came after months of speculation. he said john kelly is leaving and he would not call it a retirement. >> i am worried about john kelly leaving the white house. i think he was one of the people trying to influence the president not to fire mueller. there are concerns mueller may be on the chopping block. >> i am a fan of

and of course, if william barr is confirmed as attorney general, he would be overseeing robert muellerct investigation into obstruction of justice. so his opinion, pam, really does matter. what a source told our laura jarrett is that barr has discussed the fact that he sent this memo with the president. and of course, barr has told the president that it will likely come up as part of this senate confirmation process. so the president is fully aware. rod rosenstein also addressed it this morning, pam, and said that he didn't share any information with william barr and sometimes it's typical that these people send in their opinions to the justice department, but it does not affect the investigation. >> you mentioned he shared it with the president. no doubt, it's probably something the president liked, that he doesn't believe in robert mueller's obstruction probe and the premise of it. jessica, thank you very much. i want to get perspective now from cnn legal analyst, renato mariotti, a former federal prosecutor. thank you for coming on. i want to start with acting attorney general matt

i commend the president for this excellent choice. >> former attorney general william barr has served as the attorney general for former george bush and despite that he is still somewhat of an outsider to the trump administration. >> i did not know him until recently when i went through the process of looking at people. he was my first choice from day one. >> he is still seen more as an establishment pick and will likely enjoy the full support of senate republicans in the upcoming confirmation process. >> there is no one more capable or qualified for this role. he deserves>> tesidenso annou he is nomi one now working with mike pompeo and others at the state department. >> the former fox news anchor will replace nikki haley. >>> let's take you live to wall street where stocks are steeped in decline once again. the dow is down about 582 points. >>> opec agreed to cut oil production after u.s. gas prices reached their lowest level of the year. the national average for a gallon of gas is $2.44.is in a state. opec is still negotiating with russia to cut its output in a bid to boost pres. >

attorney general now william barr was previously u.s. attorney general has held that post before what's most interesting is that william barr has expressed confidence in special counsel robert muller.

remember, william barr has cast aspersions on the prosecutors in that bob mueller's office. >> harris to barr's not coming from the left. republican -- not only -- republican senator rand paul excess and concerns about barr and his stance on the patriot act. watch it. >> i am concerned that he's been a big supporter of the patriot act, which lowered the standard for spying on americans. even went so far as to say that the patriot act was pretty good but we should go much further. i am disturbed that he has been a big fan of taking people's property, civil asset forfeiture without a conviction. >> harris: what you think? >> mike: first of all, i thought this was a brilliant pick. when he was picked before, it was unanimous in the senate. you have to ask yourself, what has changed since then? i hate to say it, but i think the senate as an institution -- downstream of things that have happened in our politics -- has become hyperpartisan and politicized. people like this used to be overwhelmingly supported by both sides are now subject to this crazy hyper partisan tribal political process

>> william barr is correct, it's outrageous.iginally about article two power for the president, and they exercise the most robust power for the president that we seen in decades. we don't want an attorney general from mars who hasn't given serious thought to serious issues like this. let me say this, it's time for mr. barr or mr. whitaker to act appropriately appropriately under the regulation. 600.7 gives them the authority and the obligation to demand an explanation for every inappropriate investigative or prosecutorial step special counsel has taken. the regulations contemplate up person who give serious thought to reining in an outrageous special counsel. mr. whitaker and mr. barr need to do what mr. rosenstein has refused to do. >> dan: he seems to be living in a government in and of himself. i don't know if he's some extra constitution of power, and it doesn't want to go up on capitol hill and he doesn't want to talk. is anything going to be done? people said if i did this with my job i'd be fired. >> i hope he has a short

what's your reaction to the william barr trial balloon?ow who he is going to put in place. i haven't worked with him. i do think he is worthy of consideration. i am concerned he has said some negative things about the special counsel's office and some of the prosecutors he had in place. but that's all i know right now. again, what we want to see is a nominee so we want them to put someone forward so we can quickly start interviewing them, get their documents, figure out what's going on because right now we have someone who is a walking conflict of interest in mr. whitaker who shouldn't be there to begin with. >> with whitaker, obviously there is controversy over the fact that he's serving as the acting attorney general of the united states in an indefinite capacity without ever having come before the senate. >> yes. that's one problem. >> that's one problem. >> let's keep going. >> there is also his conflicts of interest. >> $1.2 million in which he spent a lot of the time going on tv going after hillary clinton. yes. >> also, he appears t

william barr served as ag under george h.w. bush for just over a year in the early '90s.can sort of look at him that way, look at it as sort of an establishment republican pick. another way to look at william barr is that he was the guy in the iran/contra constascandal w pushed for blanket pardons for everyone in the bush administration involved in that scandal. take your pick how you want to look associate that senator amy klobuchar joins us next. >>> june, may, next saturday, today, every week, tuesday, the 29th. 9:45 p.m. tomorrow. what the heck, how about a friday afternoon? >> watch whenever you wanton new msnbc.com. ♪ applebee's bigger, bolder grill combos are back. now that's eatin good in the neighborhood. about 50% of people with evesevere asthma k? have too many cells called eosinophils in their lungs. eosinophils are a key cause of severe asthma. fasenra is designed to target and remove these cells. fasenra is an add-on injection for people 12 and up with asthma driven by eosinophils. fasenra is not a rescue medicine or for other eosinophilic conditions. fasenr

william barr was attorney general before under the 41st president of united states.at, once you weren't there, he has written numerous things including about the meal or prosecution. they are identifying fairly strongly with the political party. i would've liked to see mueller have more balance. talking about the democratic party. those two statements alone, they are very positive. what about this choice? he is well respected from republicans and democrats. we don't know if it does a fact but it looks like it is heading that way. let's begin our panel. national security analyst, josh crush our, political editor for the national journal. josh, are you surprised by this? >> it is a little surprising. he week that we are honoring and commemorating with george h.w. bush. we have his former attorney general looked like he may be the next successor to jeff sessions. it is a reminder that president trump may talk a tough game about the investigation, but his instinct is to go in an established direction and he is a very established pick. he is someone who is not like jeff s

he's an outstanding man. >> reporter: william barr served as attorney general under george h.w. bush. he's been critical of the special counsel's investigation into russian meddling in the 2016 election. and, in an op-ed, publicly defended president trump's decision to fire former f.b.i. director james comey. >> he was my first choice from day one. >> reporter: the staff shake-up comes one day after former secretary of state rex tillerson told cbs news' bob schieffer he had to reign in the president. >> and i would have to say to him, "well, mr. president, i understand what you want to do, but you can't do it that way. it violates the law. it violates treaty." >> reporter: today, mr. trump tweeted tillerson was "dumb as a rock" and "lazy as hell." president trump also announced today he plans to nominate state department spokesperson heather nauert to serve as ambassador to the united nations to replace nikki haley. the decision quickly drew backlash. democrats called nauert unqualified, pointing to the former fox news anchor's lack of experience in foreign policy. jeff. >> glor

tell me how a candidate like william barr is the person who oversees the mueller probe? you pointed out, barr was on the white house radar screen from the get-go because he was one who immediately came out of the block and defended the president's decision to fire comey. white house officials brought him in and the president gauged him in being the top defense lawyer in the russia investigation. as you might remember, greg, a lot of turmoil in the trump defense team at that moment and they were having trouble recruiting top flight lawyers to take the job of being chief defense lawyer. barr emerged and said he'd have to think about it. he had other obligations, but it didn't stop there. in fact, for months and well into this year, he was still being approached about taking this job of being the top defense lawyer and it continued until earlier this year when rudy giuliani came along and eagerly offered to take it. so, you know, there was one set of conversations being the top defense lawyer and defending the president in the russia probe and then, there was another set of

attorney william barr to lead the justice department.resident trump: i want to confirm that bill barr, one of the most of respected jurists in the country, highly respected lawyer. he'll be nominated for the united states attorney general. hopefully that process will go quickly. he was my first choice from day one. respected by republicans and respected by democrats. lou: some radical dems already casting aspersions on the president's highly qualified choice. we'll be talking about former reagan white house political director, ed rollins. disgraced former fbi director james comey back on capitol hill with his patented smirk where he testified in a closed door hearing. the house judiciary committee heard about his refusal to speak about a number of cases. house republicans frustrated with comey's lack of cooperation. he refused to answer questions at the center of their so-called investigation. comey wasted no time in taking a shot at president trump and his criticism of the fbi and the justice department. >> the president's attacks on th

so now william barre. how do we take william barre. a guy who said there's too many democrats on the mueller team. a guy who has questioned the president should be awe loied to start an investigation if he wants referencing hillary clinton. this is a guy who did the are right thing with comey. this is what trump wants to hear. but he's an establishme menment. >> he's an establishment guy who joe biden praised in the '90s. he's someone who got a lot of praise for running the justice department in a professional way. he's not someone who would seem like an obvious political lackey who would just protect the president as trump said president obama had and eric holder as trump saw it. william barre doesn't seem to be that figure. so he's sort of maybe enough to kind of satisfy the president, satisfy the white house, which does want a permanent attorney general, but not the person who is going to give the president control over bob mueller. it does not look like that. it seems that's what the president was pushing at. >> he sees the headlin

>> well, president trump today said that william barr had been his first pick. look, he is seeing him as someone who is widely respected. and he has oobviously been a log time washington attorney, and served in that role before as you mentioned under former president george h.w. bush. but something that you touched on at the top is significant for this president. he is questioned why hillary clinton has not been coming under more scrutiny, and he has made more comments about robert mue mueller, and questioned the political motivations, and now in the confirmation hearing, all of the comments will be at the forefront and you can expect the democrats to pounce on those, but the are republicans insist that he has a long record and that record will stand, and ultimately it will be the reason why he gets confirmed. now, of course, the republicans have a majority in the senate. all of those factors led to the president's decision to no, ma'am name him, and you mentioned that he also intends to nominate heather nauert for the u.n. ambassador. she is of course, a fox ne

president has a lot of news following him around. >> reporter: that's right, ali starting with william barr. because in mr. barr president trump finds attorney general nominee with a unique set of characteristics. william barr is establishment republican. he checks that box. he haas also has sweeping views of presidential power and a hard liner when it comes to criminal justice issues. as you mentioned they are closing up shop in the hotel balance room in kansas city. but in the last hour or two president trump was here and introduced by matt whitaker, the acting ag. look at what president trump had to say >> a terrific man, a terrific person, a brilliant man. i did not know him for -- until recently when i went through the process of looking at people. and he was my virus kmois from day one. >> reporter: so that was actually president trump i believe speaking on the south lawn. he said that barr was his first choice from day one. well the question everyone wants to know is what does barr make of the russia investigation, because depending on how long his confirmation process goes be with h

thed president who is h of the president trump announced today that he will nominate william barr to the next attorney general. barr held that role in the 1990's under the late president bush. he would oversea the russia investigation, a safe pick for the white house? ongress that to they're not going to be a trump loyalist in there? >> as safe a pick as they could have had potentially he comes from the establishment legal community of the republican party here in washington. but he has made some controversial a statementut the mueller probe in the past that is sure to come up inis confirmation hearings. he's going to have to figure out how to navigate thens quest and demands from senators mostlr democratic sen but i think also some republican senators will he pdge to let mueller continue his investigation, will he pledge to be an independent actor at the justice dartment without being influenced on the russia matter orom the white house? and he's going have to figure out how to navigate while sll making sure that he doesn't get on the wrong side of the presidenin robert: i'm to foll