wyden: yes. have led the effort in the intelligence committee on the follow the money issues, that intersect with my responsibilities as ranking democrat on the finance committee. hear what you're looking at is possible shell corporations or money laundering or property transfers. we have a lot of work to do. we are in talks with the treasury department now about getting access to key documents. we have a lot of digging ahead. david: what have you seen that makes you want to ask those questions? why are you worried about those potential ties? sen. wyden: we have a stack full of reports from your colleagues in the press that have certainly offered a fair amount of documentation suggesting a whole host of financial connections between the russians and those in the trump campaign. so what i believe you do is you go where the facts lead. that is where i staked out this ground. by the way, a veteran fbi man, recently said when i asked, he said, "senator, you are right to follow the money. you should a

senator wyden: the states are going to pay for more it. we will have more analysis on -- butortly, what overall the medicaid cuts are deeper. you know this whole construct, this whole arrangement is set up to try to give people a sense that they have fixed from this stuff that went over so badly with the american people. and the reality is that on key issues like medicaid and that's why i mentioned the kids and the baby boomers and all of those who are walking on economic tightropes, overall, the cuts are going to be deeper. senator schumer: i think people who have coverage, seniors, parents in nursing homes, well, maybe the states will give it to us after the feds cut it off. that is a small consolation. reporter: as long as you have been here, both parties have been talking about entitlement reform and -- bipartisan desire, but never being able to do it. do you think the medicaid program needs to be changed and is there a way to do it --? senator schumer: they are not trying to change it but cut it. the are always willing to look at ways

it is not senator murray's fault and it is not senator wyden's fault. make your own deductions. i want to thank them for doing the fabulous job that they are doing. now, when the white house passed their health care bill, a bill that president trump called mean, i thought would it be possible for the senate republicans to conjure up a bill even worst than that one. unfortunately, that is what they have done. meaner. can you read it? o i have to color it in? r. murphy: yeah, you do -- senator murray: yeah, you do. [laughter] senator schumer: how's that? meaner. ok, the senate version of trumpcare is even meaner than the house bill. there is a lot to unpack in this bill, but it's general outline is very simple and very clear. and they are getting up and saying it's a draft. but i asked mitch mcconnell on the floor is there anything that i said that is not in that draft and he just sat down and he didn't answer. so my guess is, it's all in there. the bill takes dollars out of health care from millions of americans and puts them right back in the pockets of the wealthy. it cuts heal

senator wyden: mr. director, my time is short and i want to ask you about one other 702 -- director coats: well, i'd like to answer your question. what i pledged to you in my confirmation hearing is i'd make every effort to try to find out why we were not able to come to a specific number of collection on u.s. persons. i told you i would consult with admiral rogers. i told you i'd go to the national security agency to try to determine whether or not i was able to do that. i went out there. i talked to them. they went through the technical details. there were extensive efforts on the part of -- i learned -- on the parts of n.s.a. to try to come -- to get you an appropriate answer. we were not able to do that. senator wyden: mr. director, respectfully that's not what you said. you said, and i quote, we are working to produce a relevant metric. now, let me go to my other question. director coats: but we were not able to do it, to achieve it. working to do it is different than doing it. senator wyden: you t

enator schumer: senator wyden. senator wyden: the leader and senator murray have said it very well. if i were to summarize it, once again, here is a republican health proposal that's going to hit millions of working people and seniors like a wrecking ball. ou just look at the numbers. $772 billion in doubts medicaid. hundreds of billions in tax breakers in wealthy and corporations. and what a lot of people haven't picked up on and i was struck over the weekend, i was struck over the weekend when i saw a number of republican senators saying that the obama tax policies in the obama health care plan were punishing the american economy. that is just nonsense. they're making retroactive the tax breaks. some pointed out, you've got a $1 million capital gain in february uric get a $38 thourblings tax break. you're not creating any jobs. you're giving somebody a windfall. a windfall that, for example, is going to deal yet another bdy blow to the nation's older people. i have been talking to them pretty much nonstop through the weekend, the leader and i have been discussing these issues, jus

chairman burr: senator wyden. senator wyden: mr. comey, welcome. you and i have had significant policy differences over the years, particularly protecting americans' access to secure encryption. but i believe the timing of your firing stinks. and yesterday you put on the record testimony that demonstrates why the odor of presidential abuse of power is so strong. in talking to senator warner about this dinner you had with all insident, january 27 one dinner the president raised your job protect, asked for your loyalty, and denied allegations against him. all took place over one supper. you told senator warner that the president was looking to, quote, get something. looking back did that dinner suggest that your job might be contingent on how you handled the investigation? director comey: i don't know that i'd go that far. i got the sense my job would be he felt i upon how conducted myself and whether i demonstrated loyalty. i don't know whether i'd go so far as -- senator wyden: you said the president was trying to create some sort of patronage rela

there are none, senator wyden. there are none, i can tell you that for absolute certainty. you tell -- this is a secret innuendo being leaked out there about me, and i don't appreciate it. >> that was senator ron wyden of oregon. i spoke with him shortly before we went on air. >> senator, you accused attorney general sessions of stonewalling. do you have any evidence that shows that he wasn't, in fact, following proper procedure? he claims he was following long-held policies at the department of justice. >> he refused, anderson, to address the most basic issues today, why didn't he recuse himself sooner, what did the president say to him about firing director comey. look, the bottom line is that we have had one of these trump officials after another and they basically say they're not going to respond to questions because they don't feel like it. >> i mean, he did take an oath to answer questions and executive privilege was not being called in, so is there any recourse, you or any other senator can take to actually get him to answer questions that he wouldn't answer, or are

there are none senator wyden. there are none. >>> a fiery day on capitol hill as jeff sessions denies any collusion with russia. >>> certainly was fiery. good morning and welcome to "early start". i'm dave briggs. >> good morning i'm christine romans. it's wednesday, june 14th, 2017. it's 4:00 a.m. in the east. breaking news overnight from london. look at these images. hundreds of firefighters are battling a blaze that's consumed a 24 floor apartment building in west london. you're looking at live pictures of this huge fire. authorities are tight lipped saying there have been a number of fatalities. cause of this fire is not known. cnn is on the scene. we'll go there shortly but this broke out about 1:00 a.m. local time with presumably dozens if not hundreds of people asleep in that building. >> every new yorker's worst nightmare. life shot. >>> first attorney general jeff sessions anally denouncing claims he may have colluded with russian officials during the election calling them detestable lies at the senate in

wyden: mr. president. the presiding officer: who seeks recognition the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: mr. president, before he yields the floor, i just want to thank senator warner for his insightful comments. as a governor, he really understands why a medicaid cut of hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars is going to permanently damage the lives of so many people. he saw it in virginia. i thank him for his comments. let me yield now to senator menendez. mr. menendez: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey seek recognition? mr. menendez: i do, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey is recognized. mr. menendez: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that my full statement be included in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. menendez: unfortunately i have a group of nordic parliamentarians i'm hosting in a minute. let me first say i join

wyden: mr. president, it has been a rough day at the office for the senate republican health care plan. my take is that it's going to be even tougher over the next few days. there are going to be a lot of senate democrats home meeting with folks in open meetings. we'll see if any senate republicans have the courage to do that as well. earlier this morning, the whole senate had its first opportunity to look at this bill in the light of day. the debate that unfolded on the floor made it clear that our colleagues are committed to a partisan scheme to jam this bill through at any cost. there isn't going to be a full debate. there isn't going to be any bipartisan input. if you read through the fine print in this destructive proposal, as the american people have had the chance to do over the last several hours, it becomes clear why my colleagues on the other side have kept this bill hidden and want to jam it through as quickly as possible. this proposal is stunning in its sameness to the cruel house b

chairman burr: senator wyden. senator wyden: thank you. thank the four of you. this has been a very valuable panel. here in our inquiry i focused on what i called the follow the money issues. and concerns about moscow's funding of pro-russia political is ies and groups in europe not new. two years ago they directed the national intelligence office to submit an intelligence assessment on this issue. what is different now is we're looking at this attack on european democracies to help us understand what has happened to our democracy. i want to ssarts, start with you because you have studied moscow's financing political figures. let me see if we can go through a few questions here. have you been able to determine if vladimir putin employs particular strategies to develop relationships and curry favor with political figures in europe. if so, what would those strategies be? director sarts: first there are two strategies to insight different -- insight different political actors across europe into cooperating with russia. first is financial incentives. it can work fir

ron wyden got angry today, i'd like your reaction to ron wyden, watch. >> mr. comey said there were matters with the respect to the recusal that were problematic and he couldn't talk about them. what are they? >> a oo why don't you tell me? there are none, senator wyden. there are none. i can tell you that for absolute certainty. >> we can -- >> this is a secret innuendo being leaked out there about me, and i don't appreciate it, and i tried to give my best and truthful answers to any committee i've appeared before, and it's really people are suggesting through innuendo that i have been not honest about matters and i've tried to be honest. liz: quick thoughts, jay, going to break soon, go ahead. >> the quick thought is it was james comey who said he only learned about the recusal with a memorandum or explanation and the department of justice the day he testified said that's not true. memorandum issued on march 22nd, it was addressed to james comey. james comey had a history of having to correct his testimony. not exactly a credible witness. liz: jay sekulow, go

>> senator schumer, thank you, senator wyden. today it has become abundantly clear why senate republicans have been hiding this trumpcare plan from patients and families from democrats and even many republicans because based on what we are now learning, their trumpcare plan is every bit as bad as what the house pass ed. it is mean, to quote president trump meaner. it's hardless and it is an enormous broken promise to people across the country. they're ashamedover of their plan and rightly so. after helping families getting better health care, they're obstructing progress, playing partisan political games even when it hurt their own constituents, what republican leaders have put forth is shameful and it needs to be stopped. and i have to say it speaks volumes that only today with just days to go before they plan to vote on their trumpcare bill did republican leaders think it might be a good idea to release their plan which would impact the health and well-being of people nationwide and nearly a sixth of our economy. just today. no

we just had senator wyden and i asked about the politicals who came out against this.ks they're just posturing. >> i've been talking to democrats and republicans in the last couple days and nobody knows what mcconnell is up to. there is a school of thought that he actually doesn't want the bill to pass and it's better for his caucus if it is blocked. on the other hand, democrats especially like wyden and really think this is all a kooky drama for the cameras and the senators get to express their reservations up front, they get some cosmetic changes to the bill and they say they can support it, they'll bring something to their constituents and the bill will pass just like they said it would. >> i'm in the first school of thought. mitch mcconnell does not want to make people vote for a bill that is 60% unfavorable and 40% favorable. everything bad that happens in health care with premiums and everything else in the next 18 months, voters will say, well, you changed obamacare, congratulations. let the conservatives go. he'll show up wednesday or thursday and say, it's ter

wyden: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, senator merkley and i come today together to discuss our resolution honoring heroes of the portland attack. on may 26 in portland, our hometown, our community lost two very brave people. ricky best and tolishen murden kai mesh. they stood up bravely against terrorism and with core oregon american values of tolerance and freedom, along with micah, david cole fletcher, who was seriously injured, these three extraordinary samaritans stepped in to protect two girls who were being terrorized on public transit by a man menacing them because he thought they were muslim. these three oregon heroes did not run when they saw danger. instead these three advanced towards the danger. paid my respects last week at the beautiful memorial that my fellow portlanders created at the transit station where this attack occurred. and i can assure my colleagues that the message of the memorial could not be more clear. the heroes of portland stood up to terror, and we ought to be willing to call out

she was very dogged but not anymore than ron wyden was. would you say that? >> my opinion -- i think she was hysterical. i dent think senator widen was trying to get to the bottom of answers either. >> but he wasn't hysterical and she was. >> she was up, down and i thought it was way out of bounds. >> she didn't shout, actually but even if she did, they both were asking a lot of tough questions and i think calling her hysterical is probably -- >> hysteria is a neutral quality. >>. >> and yet it's women called hysterical. i'm hysterical right now for example. i think she was asking a lot of questions and he wasn't being forthcoming and there was frustration on the part of the senators and it wasn't all democrats. >> so in your idea she was making a legitimate effort to hear. >> you may not like the questions she was asking but yeah. >> and you didn't view it as her talking over the top of him? >> i think he was talking over the top of her. like i said i think senator widen's was by far the most aggressive of the questioning and there's nothing wrong with that.

they are none, senator wyden. are none. >> reporter: senator wyden declined to discuss private conversations with president donald trump about the firing of fbi director james comey. >> i believe the american people have had it with stonewalling.>> senator wyden, i am not stonewalling. >> reporter: sessions claimed there is a policy that prevents him from answering certain questions because the president might claim those communications are privileged. , let harris hammered him on that claim. >> the policy is vague. >> you were asked that it be shown to you. >> the policy is based on the principle that the president -- >> sir, i'm not asking about the principle. >> i am unable to answer the question. >> did you not ask your staff to show you the policy that would be the basis for your refusing to answer these questions? >> reporter: during the past few hearings, senator harris is the only member of the committee to be interrupted and now twice while questioning witnesses. melissa ken, kpix 5. >>> senator harris tw

senator wyden: i asked former f.b.i. director whether your role in firing him violated your recusal given that president trump said he fired comey because of the russian investigation. director comey said this was a reasonable question. so i want to ask you just point-blank, why did you sign the letter recommending the firing of director comey when it violated your recusal? attorney general sessions: it did not violate my recusal. it did not violate my recusal. that one would be the answer to that. and the letter that i signed representing my -- represented my views that had been formulated for some time. senator wyden: mr. chairman, if i can finish, that answer in my view doesn't pass the smell test. the president tweeted rerepeatedly about his anger at investigations into his associate, the day before you wrote your letter he said the collusion story was a total hoax and asked when will the taxpayer-funded charade end. attorney general sessions: i think i should be allowed to briefly respond and say the letter, the mem

he gave ron wyden his hat, and he gave him pretty -- hurt him he did well.but wyden has been there foreverooming our. we had him on the show a couple of weeks ago. he has been in congress since the 80's. a lot of these guys have worked with sessions for years and years, and how they could possibly think that he would collude with the russians is beyond me. they have moved beyond the collusion thing now and are moving into the obstruction of jeffreything, and gundlach made an interesting comment during his podcast -- this was simply an attempt to run up the clock for trump. hope this thing will end soon, and i think it will hurt the in thets, quite frankly, 2018 election. people are sick of it. they want solutions to their own problems and not baseless investigations. mentionfore you go, you new followed ron wyden when you were living in organ. what do you think of him in his work in this investigation and some of the other panel members as well? who has asked the best questions here? who has done a good job in their oversight response abilities? caller: i would say that cotton -- senator c

they're obstructionists. >> joining us now is democratic senator ron wyden of oregon.ood morning, senator. >> good morning. >> have you any sense of the meat of what's in this plan? >> look, here is what we're dealing with. senate republicans are playing with numbers, forgetting those numbers are people's lives. we're talking about, for example, a baby boomer who has had a stroke and needs nursing home care, special needs kids, disabled folks. what we know is this is going to look a lot like the house bill and is going to mean a lot of pain for millions of americans. >> are you democrats in that case preparing some sort of rapid response team to react to this? what's your plan once it's unveiled today? >> yes, we are all in. our big job as i just indicated, is to actually make clear what this means for people's lives. for example, tomorrow a number of democratic senators are going to have a day of action in their home states. we're going to do it on the floor of the united states senate. we're talking to provider groups, particularly those in places like rural america.

senator schumer: one point i would add to senator wyden. they put reconciliation in on january 4. they put in the budget, they don't want democrats to work on -- work with them on january 4. so much for bipartisanship. green tie. reporter: you mentioned that your concern is that this bill does not protect coverage for pre-existing conditions. can you talk about that a little more in specificity and why you believe your read of the bill -- senator murray: my read of the bill is very clear. people will not have the protections of pre-existing conditions. there are opt--outs in there, and we will go back to the time when people want to buy insurance and find out it does not cover what they thought it did. and believe me people don't want to go there or they will not cover pre-existing conditions. in one way, by not covering them, in another way charging them more. so all of a sudden you find out that if you want to buy maternity coverage for mental health, you will have to pay as much as $1000 for maternity care to get the coverage. that is not what we have today. they are taking awa

we will hear from senate minority leader chuck schumer and senators murray and ron wyden. >> thank you for coming. i would like to welcome my colleagues here today to discuss this jaw-dropping report from the congressional budget office. what wereport confirms have been saying for unix, costs,re leads to higher less care, and tens of means of americans left without any insurance. for weeks, senate republicans tried to tell us that their bill would be better than the house bill. it would be different than the house bill. many house members said they only voted for the house bill because they said the senate will would make it better. cbo's report today makes it clear that this bill is every bit as mean as the house bill. this cbo report should be the end of the road for trumpcare. republicans would be wise to read it like a giant stop sign, urging them to turn back from that would be disaster for the country, middle-class americans, and for their party. there is a lot to unpack, but i want to look at a few key things. it cleare cbo makes that many americans would pay a lot more for thei

we expect senator wyden in a few minutes but we will start. i would like to thank my colleagues for joining me here today to discuss this jaw-dropping report from the congressional budget office. today's report confirms what doc or is,, patient advocates, democrats and republicans have been saying for weeks. trump care will lead to higher costs, less care and will be to tens of millions of americans left without any insurance. for weeks, senate republicans try to tell us that their bill would be better than the house bill. he would be different than the house bill. many house members even said they only voted for the house bill because the senate bill would make it better. cbo's report today makes it clear that this bill is every bit as mean as the house bill. the cbo report should be the end of the road for trump care. republicans would be wise to read it like a giant stop sign urging them to turn back from this path that would be disastrous for the country, for middle-class americans and for their party. there is a lot to unpack in this repo

in which wyden came out and asked him about former fbi director james comey saying that he knew that sessions was going to recuse himself and there was another issue that was somewhat problematic, and wyden asked sessions to explain just what was problematic, and his answer was there are none. there are none. there's nothing that's problematic and then he got very upset and talked about secret innuendo that's being leaked out there about me and i don't appreciate it and wyden went back and forth with him and basically said that doesn't pass the smell test. so you had general sessions up there today saying all of this is completely wrong, although, you know, saying he didn't quite recall another meeting with ambassador kislyak at the mayflower. he started out a little firmer on that at the beginning of his testimony. i would argue than he was at the end of his testimony allowing that perhaps there was one in a group but he just couldn't recall it, but really defending himself here saying that he had done nothing wrong, including participating in the -- in the firing of james comey bec

there are none senator wyden. there are none, i can tell you that for certainty. >> reporter: sparks flying after senator wyden accused him of stonewalling. just want answers for the american people. >> we're the committee with the legal obligation to do vigorous oversight. officials can't say they're not going to answer because they don't feel like it. >> reporter: among the topics, questions about russia and meetings with the russian ambassador. >> recused myself of investigations into the campaign against the president but not against defending my honor against skury lus and false accusations. >> reporter: at white house president trump declined to discuss comments about possible firing of robert mueller. but one person who could fire him testified that the white house could not make that call. >> if not good cause, doesn't matter what anybody would say. >> reporter: also asked if the president did have secret white house tapes about conversations with james comey. sessions said he didn't know. more than a mont

there are none senator wyden. there are none, i can tell you that for certainty. >> reporter: sparks flying after senator wyden accused him of stonewalling. just want answers for the american people. >> we're the committee with the legal obligation to do vigorous oversight. officials can't say they're not going to answer because they don't feel like it. >> reporter: among the topics, questions about russia and meetings with the russian ambassador. >> recused myself of investigations into the campaign against the president but not against defending my honor against skury lus and false accusations. >> reporter: at white house president trump declined to discuss comments about possible firing of robert mueller. but one person who could fire him testified that the white house could not make that call. >> if not good cause, doesn't matter what anybody would say. >> reporter: also asked if the president did have secret white house tapes about conversations with james comey. sessions said he didn't know. more than a mont

senator wyden: as part of the senator finance committee markup. there aren't going to be any democratic amendments this idea that somehow this was just a repeat of what happened in 2009, that's just not right. senator murray has already outlined, for example, the numbers of difes hearings we had, number of joint markups, i can tell you 14 republican amendments were accepted in 2009. senator schumer: i'll go after this one if you guy cans stay. >> with senators johnson and heller signaling they're going to go against a motion to proceed, how confident are democrats that you can slow it on that. senator schumer: that's our first job, to try to kill the bill, to make sure the bill doesn't pass because it does such harm ott american people. i said yesterday i think it's about 50-50. i don't count senator mcconnell out. but this is such a bad bill that even his legislative wizardry is having a rough time here. so -- and i would say this. if the bill goes down, we want to do two things. first, we would demand that the president and our republican collea

sessions and ron wyden had a heated exchange when wyden pressed him on why he recused himself from theussian investigation. >> mr. comey said that there were matters with respect to the recusal that were problematic, and he couldn't talk about them. what are they? >> why don't you tell me they are none, senator widen there are none i can tell you that for absolute certainty. >> we can -- >> you tell -- this is a secret innuendo being leaked out there about me, and i don't appreciate it >> sarah huckabee sanders said the president thought sessions did a good job overall i would have to say another encouraging day for the markets in light of a big test for the trump administration in terms of politics on the hill. markets with a strong day. shrugging it off >> president trump had a lunch meeting with several republican senators yesterday to discuss healthcare reform. senate aides tell nbc news that the president described the bill recently passed by the house as mean senator john thune, who attended the meeting said trump wanted to ensure the bill protects people with pre-existing condit

going hard against senators wyden and heinrich prayed for his part, president trump seemed unconcerned with the events unfolding. meeting in wisconsin with more of what he described as "victims of obamacare." and focusing attention on the jobs left open because workers lack the skills to fill them. the president may know what he thinks is the important issue, tweeting: attorney general lynch made law enforcement decisions. "president taking fire for a statement made by a friend of his. suggested president trump was considering the removal of robert mueller. >> considering terminating the special counsel. >> it drew outrage from democrats. >> i don't think congress would let the president pick his own investigator. mueller is widely respected by people on both sides of the aisle. >> testifying before the senate judiciary committee, rod rosenstein said any demand to fire him would have to pass a high bar. stick a senator, i'm not going to follow any orders and less i believe they are lawful and appropriate. special counsel or mueller may be fired only for good cause. if there were not go

senator wyden and senator harris repeatedly asked director comey about attorney general sessions' voflt in the investigation -- involvement in the investigation before he recused himself. director comey didn't have direct knowledge of his involvement but made clear that he suspected that the attorney general needed to recuse himself weeks before he actually did so and that he could not share the reasons for that in an unclassified briefing. so we need to know the answer to a number of questions regarding the attorney general. the senate intelligence committee investigation and special counsel mueller ought to get to the bottom of this matter. in conclusion, mr. comey's testimony has been very enlightening, but there is much work ahead for investigators in congress and those under the direction of mr. mueller. thank you. i yield the floor and notice the

. >> it's not senator wyden's fault so make your own detections. i want to thank both of them. our ranking members on health and finance for doing the fabulous job they are doing. when the white house passed their health care bill, a bill president trump called mean, i thought it wouldn't be possible for senate republicans to conjure up a bill worse than that one. unfortunately, that is what they have done meaner. can you read it? do i have to color it in? >> that stands for emergency room, too. >> how's that delight? meaner. i have another career as an artist. okay, the senate version of trumpcare is meaner than the house bill. there's a lot to unpack but its general outline is very simple and clear they're saying it's a draft but i asked mitch mcconnell on the floor is there anything i said which i say now that is not in that draft and he just sat down. the bill takes dollars out of health care for millions of americans and puts them right back in the pocket of the wealthy. it cuts health care for those who need it most just to give a tax break for those who need it least. se

and this senator ron wyden with cia director mike pompeo.et's listen to this. >> did you have any indication, secondhand, any sense at all that the national security adviser might be vulnerable to blackmail by the russians? that is a yes or no question. >> it's actually not a yes or no question, senator. i can't answer yes or no. i are he gret thregret that i'm do so. >> ned price, we now know the answer to that is yes. >> let's remember that ron wyden is the king of asking leading questions. in 2013, it was ron wyden that asks clapper whether there were any programs that captured all of the met adata in this country and that answer was later revised after edward snowden came to light. i have a feeling senator wyden was doing something similar here knowing that mike flynn was in the position he was for 18 days and continued to receive the pdb even after sally yates, the acting attorney general at the time, warned the white house. but let's also remember that the white house, don mcgahn, the white house counsel, was warned even before preside

there are none, senator wyden. there are none. >> and the questions attorney general jeff sessions would not answer. president trump did not invoke executive privilege. the attorney general wouldn't answer questions which is frustrating to martin heinrich. >> there is no appropriateness bucket. can you tell me whether these long-standing doj rules that protect conversations made in the executive without invoking executive privilege. >> senator, i protect team the constitutional right by not giving it away before he has a chance to view it. >> there is praise from republicans on the committee and richard burr says all of this is very important because of the gravity of the investigation. back to you. cheryl: out of shapiro from attending the bid efforts to repeal and replace upon the care. trump told lawmakers the health care bill passed in the house as mean and called on senators to make their version trained there. >> the senate is working very, very hard and specifically the folks in this room i appreciate what y

but we still, having done that, could not get to an accurate number, the number that senator wyden was trying to get us to. my pledge to him is i would go out there, try to fully understand why it was we couldn't get that. they'll be detailed discussions on that and the closed session with the staff and the technicians from both nsa and from senate staff here and others relative to all of these that have been made to try to answer the question. and as i said in my statement it, even if we were to take people off the regular jobs and say get on this issue, even if we could put other measures in place, we still would not be able to come up. it's hard to explain how difficult this is or why this is the case. but that is what is going to be discussed in the closed session because all of this is classified information this afternoon. i assume the staff of members, all the members here will be there. but my pledge was to do the best i could to try to get to some answer. and the result was we couldn't get to an answer, number one and number two, trying to get to an answer would totally disrup

kennedy: he gave certain senators some pushback including ron wyden and kamala harris. sessions was supposed to be in legal jeopardy. judge andrew napolitano said that sessions could be in a lot of trouble here because he could get the president in trouble or himself in trouble because he wasn't testifying as the attorney general. is that an explanation for why he invoked executive privilege? gregg: he was obligate to invoke a privilege, not executive privilege. for 30 years since the supreme court ruled on executive privilege. it's only the president can invoke it. not sessions. there is a procedure that you follow. if you have a conversation with the president and you think it might be executive privilege, you decline to answer it. if congress wants it they move to compel, then the president can invoke it or not. and if they still disagree, it goes to a federal judge. sessions was following the law. in particular ron wyden came across as a legal blockhead for not understanding that when sessions tried to explain it to him. kennedy: i wanted to get back to comey. sessi

and i have tried to be honest. >> senator wyden joins me now from washington. welcome, senator, thank you for joining us. >> thank you, david. >> let's start with today's news on russia which is a little bit different. russia sent some woreisome signals about the war in syria that is was treating american planes as aerial targets after the united states shot down a syrian plane this weekend. how worried should we be about escalation between the united states and russia. >> david, i've had a hard rule that i would only talk about russia after we talked about health care first. and i gather that you are willing to commit to our having some good time on health care if i get into russia first. so with that, let me tackle your question. i think that this is a troubling set of events that has been unfolding and i continue to be concerned about the prospect of an escalating american role in syria. the reality is that on the intelligence committee we haven't had a briefing yet with respect to this weekend's activities. but let me say i think weekend developments are ca

another democrat on the committee who's expressed concern about this is oregon's ron wyden. he has sent a letter to the chairman and vice chairman asking that any session with sessions be open to the public. and of course, we know that aggression ycongressional invese a lot of questions for the attorney general. among them, we could expect them to touch on the issue of his involvement on the firing of james comey as fbi director. comey has said he believes he was fired because of his handling of the russia investigation, and sessions, of course, was supposed to have recused himself from the russia investigation, anything related to investigating the campaign of which he was a part. so, we're still waiting for answers on whether we'll see sessions testify, but we know there are going to be a lot of questions for him if and when he does. back to you guys. >> athena jones, thank you. >>> president trump escalating his defiant response to fbi director james comey's testimony that the president asked him to drop the michael flynn investigation. the president tweeting sunday, "i b

there are none, senator wyden. there are none. i can tell you that for absolute certainty. >> some republicans backed sessions up, stressing it was an event attended by many people. >> the trump campaign did not -- >> tom khan taking a colorful tact. >> have you ever heard after plot line to ridiculous that a sitting senator and foreign ambassador colluded in an open setting with hundreds of people to pull off the greatest caper in the history of espionage? >> thank you for saying that, senator cotton. it is just like through the looking glass. what is this? >> and earlier hearing featuring deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. official in charge of appointing special counsel robert mueller. he made assure uns mueller is not in danger of being fired even though mueller said he is. >> have you seen good cause for firing of special counsel muler? >> no, i have not. as long as i'm in this position, he won't be fired without good cause. >> another in the sessions testimony wolf was a lack of hard line on russia. senator john mccain,

there are none, senator wyden, there are none! >> reporter: sessions also declined to discuss his private conversations president trump about the firing of fbi director james comey. >> i believe the american people have had it with stonewalling. >> senator wyden, i am not stonewalling. >> reporter: sessions said there is a policy that prevents him from answering certain questions because the president might claim those communications are privileged. california senator harris hammered him on that claim. >> the policy is vague -- >> it would be shown to you. >> the policy is based on the principle that the president -- >> sir, i'm not asking about the principle. >> well, i am unable to answer the question. [ crosstalk ] >> you would rely on that policy. >> mr. chairman -- >> you do not ask your staff to show you the policy that would be the basis for your refusing to answer the question -- [ crosstalk ] >> the witness should be allowed to answer the question. >> during the past few hearings, senator harris is the only member of the

there are none, senator wyden. there are none. i can tell you that for absolute certainty. this is a secret innuendo being leaked out there about me and i don't appreciate it. >> reporter: now sessions did not respond to a number of questions that democrats had particularly about his interactions with president trump, what he discussed with president trump with regard to the firing of james comey, whether or not the russian investigation was discussed in anyway. question after question jeff sessions would not answer and he would not say if there was executive privilege that was claimed by the white house instead saying there was some sort of department of justice policy that prohibited him from discussing this matter with the committee. democrats will point to that provision within the department of justice guidelines. jeff sessions struggled to do that and would not commit to answering questions behind closed doors, so after the hearing democrats very frustrated they did not get their answers to some key questions. republicans trying to move on to other areas of the invest

comey has said in his testimony. >> senator ron wyden, democrat from the intelligence committee.ig day tomorrow. thanks for being with us tonight. >> thank you. >> much more ahead. you totanobody's hurt, new car. but there will still be pain. it comes when your insurance company says they'll only pay three-quarters of what it takes to replace it. what are you supposed to do? drive three-quarters of a car? now if you had liberty mutual new car replacement™, you'd get your whole car back. i guess they don't want you driving around on three wheels. smart. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, we'll replace the full value of your car. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ it's not just a car, it's your daily treat. ♪ go ahead, spoil yourself. the es and es hybrid. experience amazing. i'm the one clocking in... when you're clocking out. sensing your every move and automatically adjusting to help you stay effortlessly comfortable. there. i can even warm these to help you fall asleep faster. does your bed do that? oh. i don't actually talk. though i'm smart enough to