who is robert mueller and why was he picked for special counsel? is a lifelong career prosecutor, mostly here in washington in the justice department. he spent most of his career working his way up the various u.s. attorney's office, head of the criminal division for the u.s. department of justice under george h.w. bush, and then was deputy attorney general under george w. bush for becoming fbi toldtor and has now been he was the longest-serving fbi substandard over himself. to first since hoover complete the 10 year term of an fbi director and then he actually was so popular and so respected that he was extended for an additional two years by president obama and a bipartisan act of congress. host: what made him so popular and respected? guest: he is a ramrod straight former marine straight shooter. in a city that seems like he gets more partisan and more politicized with every passing year, he is completely apolitical, completely nonpartisan and very well respected on both sides of the aisle. host: what was he known for doing at the fbi, in terms

who is robert mueller? guest: he is a lifelong career prosecutor, mostly here in washington and the justice department. he spent most of his career working his way up through various u.s. attorney's office, head of the criminal division for the u.s. department of justice under george h.w. bush, and then was deputy attorney general under george w. bush before becoming fbi director. as has been told over the last couple days, he was the longest-serving fbi director since j edgar hoover himself. the first since hoover to complete the 10 year term of an fbi director, and then he was so popular and so respected that he was extended for an additional two years by president obama and a bipartisan act of congress. host: what made him so popular and respected? guest: he is a ramrod straight , former marine straight shooter. in a city that seems like it gets more partisan and more politicized with every passing year, he is completely apolitical, completely nonpartisan, and very well respected on both sides of the ais

a bit more on robert mueller. the 72-year-old served as fbi director for nine years serving republican and democrat presidents. the second longest tenure behind j. edgar hoover. he is widely regarded as a credible law enforcement official. he has a history with the man who succeeded him. james comey. >> in 2004, comey was acting attorney general while his boss john ashcroft. seriously ill in the hospital. comey and mueller worked side by side fighting the bush white house attempt to renew the controversial warrantless wiretap program. they raced to ashcroft's hospital bed when they learned others were rushing to the hospital to renew the order. it was a race to the bedside. comey took very careful notes and felt strongly to make sure justice was done. >> drama at the time. mueller and comey threatened to resign and the white house eventually backed off. one other note. a special counsel is not fully independent and can be fired. without the protection of the independent counsel law, president trump can order rod r

president obama then chose james comey to replace robert mueller. in 2013. when james comey began what was supposed to be a ten-year term as fbi director for him. tonight robert mueller is now charged with investigating, among other things, the conversations that donald trump had with fbi director james comey, including the conversation that was revealed yesterday by "the new york times" that james comey described in a memo he wrote after that conversation, the smoking gun in that memo is the quotation of donald trump saying to the fbi director, quote, i hope you can see your way to letting this go, to letting flynn go. he is a good guy. i hope you can let this go." if robert mueller believes that president trump was trying to get the director of the fbi to stop investigating michael flynn, president trump's fired national security adviser, then robert mueller will present evidence of a case of

robert mueller is solid ground. i saw kings, prime ministers, secretaries of state, cia directors, former attorney general in new york said he is one of the best. he is not one of the best, robert mueller. he is the best i ever saw. leadership, judgment, decision making he would hate me to say this, the man has heart and sense of humor. there is nobody better at doggedly pursuing a target without being subjective to any pressure from congress, president, media, anybody in the fbi. attorney general, deputy attorney general. there is nobody better, wolf. i can't say it any clearer. >> rod rosenstein, deputy attorney general, who made this decision. >> you have to applaud the decision. let's point out the scenario of anyone who want to argue against mueller but against a special counsel. if the fbi walked four in three months, four months, six months and said we decided no charges are appropriate in this case who would have believed them? i didn't think they had an option because the scenario you play out over time, pa

guest: one thing is robert mueller -- has a very strong faith tradition. he grew up in the episcopal tradition. went to st. paul's in new hampshire for prep school. that has always been a very important part of his life. to the caller's point about russia, i think one of the things that's really important in this is to understand precisely, at least as far as we know right now, what russia did and what it didn't do. and really, there were three separate lines of what they call active measures that russia took against our election system last year. three separate avenues of attack . all, again, with the goal of undermining the legitimacy and confidence of our election system. the first was you have the attacks on the dnc and john podesta's emails. an active hacking effort and then those emails leaked through wikileaks out into the press. we have an understanding from the intelligence community that there were similar penetration attempts made on republican campaigns, but we never saw any of the material become public. the second thing -- the second nexus of

that person is former fbi director robert mueller. now, the president has fought hard to put this story that he that he sees essentially as an emperor who has no close situation behind him. but now, just four months into his presidency, he has a special prosecutor's case. the deputy attorney general sent the statement out a short while ago. "iy

. >> did the deputy attorney general give the commitment that robert mueller will have the resources that he need. -- that he will need. >> he did. i said the special prosecutor ,as to have the independence the resources, and the unlimited mandate to follow the evidence wherever it may lead. >> we just completed an hour and a half session with the deputy attorney general. i think it helped inform a lot of the members that may not be on the intelligence committee. the biggest take away for most members was that the appointment of robert mueller as the special counsel, special prosecutor. that the deputy attorney general is going to give him very wide consequently did not answer specifics on virtually any question that was asked. in terms of questions about the memo or otherwise. i will just leave it at that and take one quick question. >> senator blumenthal has just told us that this has now become a criminal investigation. is that your takeaway? >> as someone on the intelligence committee and perhaps open to much more information than many of the other members, i do not want to comme

robert mueller is now the man in charge. special counsel by deputy attorney general rod rosenstein with russian ties to the campaign of meddling in the 2016 election. the decision was not offending parents have been committed by requires someone be independent from the normal chain of command catching the wte house website with little advance notice. the president responding with the statement as i've stated many times, for investigation will confirm we are doing out there is no collusion between my campaign in any foreign entity. i look forward to the matter concluded quickly. i will never stop fighting for the people and issues that matter most to the future of our country. mueller's appointment receiving wide bipartisan support on capitol hill. top democrat on the senate minority leader chuck schumer saying director mueller has exactly the right kind of individuals for this job. i now have significantly greater confidence and follow the facts wherever they lead. republican house oversight committee jason said by assessing

it doesn't get any better than robert mueller. i also agree i don't think they should have appointed somebody. >> tucker: why did they? >> i think they are feeling the political heat. maybe they are watching too much television and reading too many newspapers. i have not seen any evidence of actual collusion. where is the actual crime they think they need a special prosecutor to prosecute? i haven't seen that. there's been a lot of flailing but that flailing started before january 20. >> tucker: did you expect this? >> i'm very surprised by it. no heads up. i don't think the speaker's office get got a heads up. it cost us out of the blue. >> tucker: we were supposed to have someone from the white house on site from on anr topic, and they canceled. i tried to call over there. you have seen other special prosecutor investigation go far afield from where they started and tied up an entire presidency. it happened to president reagan, president clinton. >> nobody knows what the lanes of the special counsel are going to be and my unders

robert mueller will do a good job. i actually wanted to see an independent investigation, probably an independent commission similar to the 9/11 commission. but now that we have a special counsel, i'm -- i accept that, and i accept that robert mueller will do a good job. >> but a commission would have no legal authority to prosecute. >> i'm sorry? >> a commission would be like, you know, something out of brookings, something out of the truth and justice commission. it wouldn't indict anybody. it wouldn't carry any criminal penalty. why would you be for something that wouldn't catch the bad guys? >> well, chris, up to this point i thought we were talking about a counterintelligence investigation, not a criminal investigation. but now that a special prosecutor has been appointed, it appears maybe they're moving in a different direction. >> well, an fbi investigation is a criminal investigation for spies. you're looking for spies and you put them away for life. what do you mean it's not a criminal investigation? it's catc

former fbi director robert mueller now in charge. both republicans and democrats praising the decision. but the white house blindsided. the president bracing for a battle. >> you have to put your head down and fight, fight, fight. >> stocks plunge and the market facing its biggest drop since trump took office. now as he prepares for his first trip abroad, a top republican joins us on "gma." >>> not guilty, protesters taking to the streets. >> no justice, no peace. >> after the police officer who shot and killed an unarmed manned in oklahoma. >> looks like a bad dude too. >> is acquitted in a case making national headlines.

robert mueller knows what he's doing. >> jonathan, your thoughts on this? do you think that the russians have shared maybe with iran or someone else the information that they gleaned from the oval office, from the president of the united states, sharing classified information with them? >> you know, mr. putin comes out of the spy racket, compartmentalization is very important to them. i'm going to tell you, don, my take is a little different. first of all, maybe it's just selfish. i fly russian airlines. i want to be safer. some of the leaders of isis are people who have come from the former soviet union. they've got more to fear in moscow with isis and its success and the cadres that are getting trained in isis that could come back to haunt the russian motherland than we have. and you know, the last big story i covered for cbs news was the school crisis where they killed 188 children. they know what terrorists can do and they want to protect their people. and we have good reasons to try, no matter what's going on in this country, to beat down, in little wa

that came after the department of justice's quick move to appoint former fbi director robert mueller as the special counsel in the investigation. and in brazil, a scandal within a scandal. the president says he will not as -- will not resign despite allegations he was recorded discussing payments to silence people in a massive corruption case. ♪ brent: i am brent goff. it is good to have you with us. donald trump has lashed out at the appointment of a powerful special counsel to investigate his administration. he took to twitter again today, making unsubstantiated claims of both hillary clinton and barack obama overseeing illegal acts that warranted special investigation. he said he was the victim of the single greatest political witchhunt in american history. the outburst comes as the justice department named robert mueller as its special counsel to probe russian influence in the 2016 presidential election. for the perspective, we also have the power to look at other issues arising from the white house's handling of this and many other crises. reporter: this is the man who will be

it doesn't get any better than robert mueller. i also agree i don't think they should have appointed somebody. >> tucker: why did they? >> i think they are feeling the political heat. maybe they are watching too much television and reading too many newspapers. i have not seen any evidence of actual collusion. where is the actual crime they think they need a special prosecutor to prosecute? i haven't seen that. there's been a lot of flailing but that flailing started before january 20. >> tucker: did you expect this? >> i'm very surprised by it. no heads up. i don't think the speaker's office get got a heads up. it cost us out of the blue. >> tucker: we were supposed to have someone from the white house on site from on anr topic, and they canceled. i tried to call over there. you have seen other special prosecutor investigation go far afield from where they started and tied up an entire presidency. it happened to president reagan, president clinton. >> nobody knows what the lanes of the special counsel are going to be and my unders

-- having robert mueller? sen. cortez masto: not at all. they are looking to uncover what happened and bring to light to the general public activity that was going on. they can still move forward on the same track an investigation should go forward. david: a couple of questions about the hearing, the treasury secretary talked about the white house's tax reform proposal. fre you satisfied in terms what thetours of the tax proposal plan are? sen. cortez mao: we heard a bit. and that is it. they to grow the economy. that was it. there was nothing else. i was disappointed. what i heard was someone dancing around all the questions that were asked and not focused on what they were going to do to help working families in this country. or what they were going to do to protect consumers, homeowners, seniors, service members when they are engaging and going back wall street reform. david: you look at the role nevada played. housing reform is big for you and your constituents and you asked the secretary-treasurer about that. what did he have to say ab

a closer look at former fbi director robert mueller next. finding time to get things done isn't easy. but we've got the digital tools to help. now with xfinity's my account, you can figure things out easily, so you won't even have to call us. change your wifi password to something you can actually remember, instantly. add that premium channel, and watch the show everyone's talking about, tonight. and the bill you need to pay? do it in seconds. because we should fit into your life, not the other way around. go to xfinity.com/myaccount >>> it may have come as a surprise to the white house and the country that a special counsel had been nape e named. lawmakers say robert mueller is a good choice. he is well respected. gary tuchman has more. >> reporter: in the summer of 2001, president george w. bush declared -- >> it's my honor to nominate robert s. mueller of california to become the director of the federal bureau of investigation. >> reporter: it was exactly one week before the terrorist attacks of september 11th, 2001 that robert mueller be

attorney in baltimore and knows robert mueller. everybody in law enforcement knows him and respects him, i believe, from the people i've interviewed. i think any request for resources, if it's reasonable will go through. they're coming wake up a budget in the coming days for this investigation. although technically rod rosenstein could fire mueller, i don't think we will see that happen. we do know from the order that president trump cannot fire him. he can only be dismissed by the attorney general. rod rosenstein is acting in that role right now. >> sari horowitz, this was very clarifying, thank you. i hope you come back in the days ahead and i inevitably get confused how this works. >> i'd be glad to. >> joining us now congressman schiff ranking member on the intelligence committee. >> rachel, i can't hear you. i'm sorry, i had someone else talking in my ear, please go ahead. >> can you hear me now? >> yes, i can. >> great. let me say as a matter of introduction, i had said earlier in the show we expected rod rosenstein the deput

we saw robert mueller come on to the scene then. he was out of government obviously after leaving that position, but we'll see him back into the time being >> there's been a lot of turmoil as you know going on within the white house. a lawmakers going back and forth overwhat we've seen in the last week or so, we know the president fired james comey for what he of the hillary clinton investigation and since then there have been calls to appoint some special count counsel to look into the possible collusion between the trump campaign and the russians as it affected the outcome of the election >> special prosecutor is different than counsel, that would be kenneth star in the white water investigation more offed into the impeachment of president clinton. it changes rapidly. we have a request in michael hop kins, and we want to point out first things first that you are a democrat. i would believe that you want to get that out of the way first things first. we had another guest back and forth you're here. i want to get your take on all of

president obama then chose james comey to replace robert mueller. in 2013. when james comey began what was supposed to be a ten-year term as fbi director for him. tonight robert mueller is now charged with investigating, among other things, the convertions that donald trump had with fbi director james comey, including the conversation that was revealed yesterday by "the new york times" that james comey described in a memo he wrote after that conversation. the smoking gun in that memo is the quotation of donald trump saying to the fbi director, quote, i hope you can see your way to letting this go, to letting flynn go. he is a good guy. i hope you can let this go." if robert mueller believes that president trump was trying to get the director of the fbi to stop investigating michael flynn, president trump's fired national security adviser, then robert mueller will present evidence of a case of obstruction of justice to the united states house of representatives for their conversation as a possible bill of impeachment against the president of the united states

director robert mueller will not lead the f.b.i.'s russia probe. he is widely respected in washington serving 12 years as f.b.i. director under both presidents bush and obama. the president taking to twitter this morning saying this. a couple of things. with all the illegal acts that took place in the clinton campaign and the obama administration there was never a special counsel appointed. >> bill: we have team fox coverage. our team throughout the city of washington and new york. kevin corke standing by at the white house there. steven hayes has analysis but we start with catherine herridge. >> those who worked for robert mueller tell fox news he is an independent leader not afraid to take on politically charged assignments. over the course of the next decade from 9/11 he changed it to a counter intelligence bureau with agents globally. the new assignment he will have broad power to investigate and prosecute. bipartisan support for the selection. >> i think he has a long history of honorable service. i think he was a good choice. he needs suffici

and then suddenly poof, here's robert mueller as a special counsel. makes you wonder if there was a connection. >> this date back in 1973, was the first public hearing of the senate hearing on the president yalt -- presidential campaign hearings. joining me now, 44 years later to the day, two people who were major figures in watergate, carl burnstein and john dean. as someone who worked in a white house that was under siege and investigated by special counsel, what do you imagine the mood is like in the west wing? >> i would imagine it's not a very happy mood tonight. during watergate, that nixon white house was highly compartmentalized, need to know, and work went on when other sections were more obsessed than those directly affected by investigations. so it probably in the trump white house isn't quite that smooth. they're still working out their staffing and it's -- this has happened very early in their presidency, so i'm sure it's a real ripple going through the operation. >> people in the white house, do they now see the special counsel as the en

listen, robert mueller's getting bipartisan praise and rightfully so. his report should be submitted to the doj but submitted to congress and threat judiciary committee do their work. ken starr did his work, submitted it to congress and you saw the judiciary committee ultimately pass articles of impeachment if you agree or not. >> i keep asking rhetorically which coal minors went back to work, which americans got better health care, which seniors got better tax plan? that is to say there's no work product and tonight there's this. washington post house majority leader kevin mccarthy made a politically explosive assertion in a private conversation that trump could be the ben fishiary of payments and this would have been our lead story tonight. "there's two people i think putin pays, congressman hor balker and trump." al according to the exchange stened tand verified by the washingtoning post and a congressman who is a california republican. house speaker ryan stopping the conversation from further exploring mccarthy's assertion. he quickly added swear to

president obama then chose james comey to replace robert mueller. in 2013. when james comey began what was supposed to be a ten-year term as fbi director for him. tonight robert mueller is now charged with investigating, among other things, the conversations that donald trump had with fbi director james comey, including the conversation that was revealed yesterday by "the new york times" that james comey described in a memo he wrote after that conversation, the smoking gun in that memo is the quotation of donald trump saying to the fbi director, quote, i hope you can see your way to letting this go, to letting flynn go. he is a good guy. i hope you can let this go." if robert mueller believes that president trump was trying to get the director of the fbi to stop investigating michael flynn, president trump's fired national security adviser, then robert mueller will present evidence of a case of obstruction of justice to the united states house of representatives for their conversation as a possible bill of impeachment against the president of the united stat

former fbi director robert mueller will be heading up that investigation. he'll have the broad authority to subpoena records bring criminal charges against people he is also able to decide what he wants to disclose to the justice department during his probe. hm. >> so it will be interesting to see exactly what comes out. it's going to be a long process i'm sure but he has a lot of respect also on the hill to see what happens here. >> absolutely. >> democratic house minority leader nancy pelosi still calling for an independent commission to lead the russia probe. many republicans still say they don't think a special counsel should have been appointed. >> that is reason to believe that the president's pandering to russia citizens bank endangering our nationality security our economy and our democracy. >> i believe that the professionals at the justice department need to do their jobs independently objectively and thoroughly and i believe the special counsel which is robert mueller now helps them do that. >> do you think it interferes with the congressional in

former fbi director robert mueller has been named. president trump immediately says he hopes the matter will be concluded quickly. the doj says an independent inquiry is in the public cost interests. public's interest. the speaker says he has full confidence in president trump. lawmakers must follow the facts wherever they lead. he was trying to sway republican unease after claims about the president. he told party figures on capitol hill that their job is to be responsible and focus only on the facts. the bond market seems to be saying the upheaval in washington could throw the fed off its rate hike plans this year. the chances the bank raises rates next month is about 60%, based on the current rate. it is down from 80% a week ago. the chances of a hike in september are also falling. notfed's future market is pricing in a full height until november. until november. allegedly diesel emissions failed. negotiations continue and may result in agreement. the case alleges the use of illegal device is to disable pollution controls and enhan

his name is robert mueller, he will have sweeping powers and a broad man date. effort he wants to interview jim comey, he can do that. if he wants to interview the president himself, he can, he can ask for the president's tax returns. details on all of it on the program starting with chief national security correspondent jim sciuto. what exactly does this mean? he's in charge now? this is the fbi investigation we're talking about? >> in one fell swoop, the deputy attorney generation has removed politics from the russia investigation, at least from the attorney general's office, the enormous concern had been, first of all on the hill, politics getting in the way, partisanship, but from the justice department, led by jeff sessions, an appointee of the president, is still involved, even though he's been recused, could they without bias pursue this investigation, so you bring somebody from outside who has enormous respect from both sides and broad powers, that takes away concern that republicans in private were starting to express. >> so does that mean that the fbi

. >>> so, the new man of the hour is robert mueller, right, who actually ran the fbi before comey. and he had been enjoying himself in private law practice. i can only imagine him sitting at home watching all this comeyt part of this anymore. i'm just like, la, la, la, hello, oh, for god's sake. what it help if i said i'm too old for this [ bleep ]? see you in an hour. >>> the justice department names former fbi director robert mueller as special counsel overseeing investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election. this morning the reaction over that move from the white house to capitol hill. >>> new questions emerging over former national security adviser michael flynn and who in the trump team new what and when and his ties to turkey. >>> demonstrators take to the streets in tulsa, oklahoma, after a police officer is acquitted in the shooting of an unarmed black man. >>> good morning. it's thursday, may 18th. i'm ayman mohyeldin in washington, d.c. jasmine is in new york alongside louis burgdorf. a high-profile special counsel will take over the justice department's in

he is former head of the fbi robert mueller. he will consider any collusion between russia and the donald trump campaign team. an islamic court in the province of aceh has made two men suffer lashes for being homosexual. and two british men have been arrested in bangkok for allegedly selling on line access to football broadcasts. they caused $2.5 million worth of losses to rod casting companies.

what's your response on robert mueller. >> very good appointment. it means for the first time in his presidency that donald trump is clearly on the defensive. up until this moment he's been able to control almost every new cycle. going to forward he loses that control. once you get special council on your trail a lot of things we haven't even heard of are going to be exposed. the three special councils were richard nixon and watergate which resulted in impeachment. and then the iran contra crisis. and then bill clinton. my point is this is a long process. not good new for donald trump. he's now on the offensive. by the way so is the republican party they knew going in that donald trump had bad judgment, was unprepared, had a really steamy temper and was ethically challenged but they made a cynical deal if you will, you know what we can get things done to help us get reelected. they have an increasingly lot to answer for now. by the way at the coast guard academy graduation president trump said no politician has been treated unfairly untrue but what

he's a former head of the fbi, robert mueller. there've been big falls on us stock markets which have dragged down asian shares over fears the political controversy surrounding president trump will weaken his ability to deliver tax and regulatory reforms. the venezuelan government has reinforced its military presence in the state of tatchira, along the colombian border. the defence minister says 2,600 troops are being sent to quell looting and rioting. real madrid have edged closer to winning the spanish league title for the first time in five years. they beat celta vigo 4—1 to go top of the table with one game to go. real will playjuventus in the champions league final next month. now it's time for world business report. from trump bump to trump slump. us markets have their worst day since the presidential election as turmoil grips the white house. plus — alibaba goes west. china's $300 billion e—commerce giant looks to america — but can it take on its us rivals? welcome to world business report. i'm sally bundock. also i

i mean i'm surprised he had anything good to say about robert mueller, but i think that mr. rosenstein did not only the right thing but the only thing that he could do under the circumstance, with all of the stories that were coming out, i mean, there was -- it was really the only thing that he could do, is to appoint a special prosecutor. robert mueller, you can't find one person to say anything about his character, his integrity. they're both unimpeachable. hopefully now we're going to get to the bottom of whether or not there was any collusion. >> the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein, told senators today that he knew the former fbi director james comey would be removed before he wrote his recommendation. here's the question. do you still have trust in rosenstein? >> do i -- yeah. i think that -- look, let me put it this way. he's talking to a bunch of senators and he said what we know is true, because it was confirmed even by the president. everyone believes and the president himself confirmed that the original reason for giving -- for firing comey was not true, th

robert mueller. former head of the fbi is going to be the special counsel. they say he is the right man for the job. what kind of independence does he have? the attorney general, the doj, capable. this was all about keeping something separate. what's the ability? we discuss. ♪ experience the first-ever 471-horsepower lexus lc 500 or the multistage hybrid lc 500h. experience amazing. are you one sneeze away from being voted out of the carpool? try zyrtec® it's starts working hard at hour one and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. stick with zyrtec® and muddle no more®. fothere's a seriousy boomers virus out there that's been almost forgotten. it's hepatitis c. one in 30 boomers has hep c, yet most don't even know it. because it can hide in your body for years without symptoms, and it's not tested for in routine blood work. the cdc recommends all baby boomers get tested. if you have hep c, it can be cured. for us it's time to get tested. ask your healthcare provider for the simple blood test. it's the only way to know for sure. tech:

anybody who knows robert mueller, as a federal judge and director of the fbi. to characterize any undertaking by him is a witch hunt and is totally unfair. >> did he shed any light on the comey memo? >> the comey -- >> effectively talking about -- >> no. no conversation about that. >> was he asked about that? >> not directly. >> thank you. >> mccain is coming, guys. >> senator durbin there giving a lot of questions about what was revealed in this secure briefing and we heard from senator claire mccaskill a few minutes ago and she said one of the big things coming out of that meeting was that the deputy attorney general knew that james comey was going to be fired before he sent that memo that was sent up by the white house really outlining why they were going to fire him. of course, that, jake, was used as original justification coming from the white house why comey was going to be fired and a few minutes ago we heard from a senator lindsey graham, who believes this has shifted to a criminal investigation. >> sunlen, thank you. >> it was a good decision to pick

robert mueller. the shot to the body is that it is now considered a criminal investigation and congress' conductto investigations of all things russia has been limited. i think a lot of members want the special counsel to be appointed but do not understand

critics complain that robert mueller has not been given enough power. what is he investigating? it breaks down into three main areas. russian influence on the election, looking at possible hacking and leaks, russian collusion with the trump campaign, meetings with financial ties between the two, and obstruction of the russian inquiry, looking at whether donald trump tried to get the former fbi director to drop key parts of the investigation. after the president fired the last man leading the inquiry, the russia investigation can get back on track. there are many who feel that donald trump is not behaving like a man who wants that. senators were briefed by the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. many came out to speak. our reporter was on capitol hill following it all. what have we learned? reporter: the briefing, the closed door session, has lasted about an hour. there are two main takeaways. the first is what some democrat etc. does have been saying, that rod rosenstein told them that he -- he to that james comey would be fired the day before he wr

robert mueller. not just for the introduction, but because bob has led the bureau during incredibly challenging times. >> mueller has most recently been a partner in a private law firm and a visiting professor at stanford. he now will leave those positions to take on this new and important responsibility. gary tuchman, cnn, atlanta. >>> and the cnn analyst worked with mueller, who was his chief of staff in 2009. is he the right person for the job? >> absolutely, there is no one better suited in this country for this role at this time. >> why do you say that? >> because if you look at the authority that the deputy attorney general exercised here and what is required under the statute. the person has to be outside the department of justice, has a reputation for integrity and partial decision-making. and be guided by only doj policy, that is the department of justice policy and the law in exercising his authority. that is the person -- bob mueller is the epitome of those characteristics. >> what in term

i think the appointment of robert mueller was a very good 1. but as good as that appointment is, there's a lotbetter. it does not leave the congress and the house to say, okay, our job is done. we don't have to investigate this. we do. >> does a special counsel make that independent investigation tougher going forward? >> no. we have two different things. the special counsel will do their investigation. they have tools and abilities that congress might not have. but the american public has every reason to wonder what is happening to our government. why are we being manipulated by russia, a country that does not have our best interests at heart. >> thank you, senator. >> shepard: senator cardin now. no, this is john cornyn. they are all lined up it would appear. >> your take away -- >> we just got through with a very important briefing from the deputy attorney general who has appointed robert mueller the former director of the fbi to head up the investigation into the russian issue. one of the issues i raised with him is my concern that we have

former fbi director robert mueller will now lead the investigation. democrats and some republicans had been calling for this move, the news coming just 24 hours after we learned that former fbi director james comey, who was fired by president trump, kept notes about his meetings with the president. the department of justice saying just moments ago, a special counsel is necessary for the american people to have full confidence in the outcome. abc's senior justice correspondent pierre thomas leading us off. >> reporter: tonight, a bombshell announcement -- the department of justice appointing a special counsel to take over the investigation into russia's interference with the 2016 election, including possible collusion with the trump campaign. the man now leading the investigation, former fbi director robert mueller. saying in a statement tonight, i accept this responsibility and will discharge it to the best of my ability. he'll have all the authorities of a u.s. attorney, including the ability to take the matter before a grand jury and the ability to

he's a former head of the fbi, robert mueller. making the announcement, the us deputy attorney—general said it didn't necessarily mean crimes had been committed. and mrtrump claimed: "a thorough investigation will confirm what we already know — there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity." our correspondent in washington, laura bicker, has more. he was appointed by george w bush. his senate confirmation hearing was held a few days before the september 11 attacks. he was kept on under president obama for another two years and retired in 2013. he was the predecessor and of the now sacked director of the fbi, james comey. tonight you cannot find a single republican or democrat who will criticise this man. he seems to be well respected by both sides. so when it comes to appointing this particular prosecutor, although the name ‘prosecutor‘ is there does not necessarily mean that prosecution will follow, or crimes will be committed, but it does seem that he is well respected by all parties. is it clear why

robert mueller is the right choice? >> it sounds like the right move and choice to put confidence back. someone was saying winston churchill was saying america will do everything right after they try all else. special prosecutor will do his job. we will see where it goes. we will make sure we uncover and have transparency. let the intel take you to the facts and facts will take you to the truth. >> it is good to have republicans and democrats agreeing on anything let alone something sensitive as this. if there is not consensus about the move, there is consensus of the man. the move is suggestive of reality. mandate of a special counsel as you know and the american people will learn is because there is a perceived difficulty in doing it through the normal challenge. there is a concern about conflict and interference from the normal channels. in this case, that seems to mean what we have seen with the former fbi director all the way up to the president. there have been efforts if not inclinations to affect the investigati

robert mueller appointed special counsel of the probe. he has the power to investigate, question, issue subpoenas and prosecute federal crimes if any are discovered. mueller appointed to the job by the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. >> the appointment comes following the series of headlines like the firing of james comey and the divulging sensitive information to russian officials. >> on capitol hill, the news of the special counsel is greeted with relief. especially by republicans. we begin with the justice reporter laura jarrett live in washington. laura. >> reporter: it came together quickly, christine. this is a really significant move here. i have to under score. this has only happened once before in history. this regulation has only been used once under attorney general reno. the deputy attorney general put out a press release in a one-page order that highlighted the unique circumstances we find. stating my decision is not a finding that crimes have been committed or prosecution has warranted. i have made no determination.

he is robert mueller. maybe the foremost law enforcement officer in this country today. he is the former head of the fbi, where he took over just before 9/11 and was kept on by president barack obama. bob mueller is something of a hero figure at the justice department and within the fbi, which he ran for 12 years. in all of american history, only j. edgar hoover served longer as head of the fbi. mueller was selected by rod rosenstein, the deputy attorney general. the attorney general himself, remember, took himself out of this case because of past meetings with the russians. and the reason we know the name rod rosenstein is it was his three-page memo that the trump white house put out as their false cover story for why the president fired james comey as head of the fbi. tonight make no mistake. the future just got darker for president donald trump and all the people in his orbit. no administration wants to see what happened to this administration today. before we bring in our panel to start our broadcast tonigh just a little more on the life and times of robert mueller.

director robert mueller. >> well, i was surprised. i was surprised in a good way. i think this is the right thing to do. the reason i called for it today with the revelations of the supposed memo yesterday, the questions that have been arising, i just came to the realization-- and i've always said from the beginning it's american people deserve the facts. whatever they are, whoever they exonerate or whoever they indict. the american people deserve that. and this had become way too political. any new story, any new piece of information that had come out, you know, the left screams-- some on the left mention impeachment right away, some on the right say it's fake news, and neither is true. so we need to get to the bottom of it. we need answers, and we need them in a nonpartisan way. and my hope is this is the beginning of the process of saying let's all tack a deep breath. let's aggressively find out the truth of everything and the facts and we can move ahead and the american people can have faith again in the institution of government. >> yang: do you think this is

he's a former head of the fbi, robert mueller. he'll also consider any collusion between russia and the trump campaign team. an islamic court in the indonesian province of aceh has ordered two men to be given eighty—five stokes of cane in public for having gay sex. the sentence by a sharia court is expected to be carried out next week. two british men have been arrested in bangkok for allegedly selling online access to illegally streamed football broadcasts. they are accused of causing damages worth more than $2.5 million to the broadcast rights holders. that's all from me for now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk — new measures to fund social care and curb immigration are understood to be among the pledges in the conservatives' manifesto

robert mueller, james comey's predecessor taking over the investigation into the possible collusion between russia and the trump campaign. remember, it was just days ago when president trump fired comey sending shock waves around the country. and tonight, the shock waves triggered a political tsunami, a tsunami one of the president's own making, one that he can't blame anybody but himself. so we have all the cnn reporters covering this. i want to join us now with pamela brown, pam, justice department, naming the former fbi director as the special counsel, what else can you tell us? >> rod rosenstein, the deputy, saying he has chosen bob mueller, the former fbi director to take the reins of the special probe. so essentially the department of justice is now out of the equation, and bob mueller will run the investigation, and have the same jurisdiction as the grand jury. he can interview the president, anything he deems necessary in this investigation. and what is so interesting here, don, rod rosenstein and his team did not give much advance warning to the white house or the attorney general,