jeff sessions and james comey. a source tells nbc news the former fbi director was interviewed by robert mueller's team late last year, the focus, comey's memos about his interactions with president trump. jeff sessions, meanwhile, also spoke to the special counsel's team last week. let's go back to nbc's ken dilanian. ken, this is all breaking as we have been on the air, but bring us back up to speed. james comey being interviewed, jefr sessi jeff sessions being interviewed, how do they tie together? >> that's right. in some ways this is not very surprising news. it's obvious to anyone who has been following these investigations, even a bit, that these men would be key witnesses in this robert mueller special counsel investigation, but it's nonetheless deeply significant. in comey's case, it really shows that mueller is continuing to pursue this question of obstruction of justice, because the heart of what comey can talk about are these memos that he wrote detailing what he believed were troubling interactions bet

he was greatly disappoint odd jeff sessions. it's because jeff sessions made a judgment call. this was not something contradictory. this was not a lay down hand that he had to turn over -- >> i get that. that's not my question. my question is is it the attorney general's job to protect the president? >> i think it's the attorney general's job to do his job. in my opinion, he wasn't doing his job. he should have taken control of this investigation. >> right. but when the investigation involves the president, does the attorney general have to protect the president? >> well, no, i don't think that's the principle role -- >> of any role? >> yeah. in this respect, i think the appointing a special prosecutor doesn't protect the president as donald trump and doesn't protect the presidency. and i think that is important. i think that allowing special practice, as you are seeing now. all the reports are coming out saying it doesn't look like there is much collusion here but there could be obstruction of justice. what does that mean? had this not taken place to the scale it was, we woul

jeff sessions, attorney general, not there. the white house says, look, don't read anything into that. but the defense secretary is there. the secretary of state is there. the education secretary is there. they say it's about the 2018 agenda, and the attorney general is not necessarily part of that perhaps. the reality is, bottom line tonight, the president still has be not given up anger at jeff sessions at the decision nearly a year ago to recuse himself from the investigation which, of course, touched off all these events which are still unfolding. anderson? >> yeah, appreciate that. thanks. the eye of the beholder, the obstruction of justice is in the eyes of the reporter. and currently, teacher of law at the university of minnesota joining us. former virginia attorney general ken cuccinelli. professor, how much does it change things in your opinion now that according to cnn's reporting it wasn't just the white house counsel who was urging sessions not to recuse himself? does it rise to obstruction of justice in your mind?

he held up his vote on jeff sessions until jeff sessions gave assurance that is the trump administration would not go after it. he tuesday could not be a priority. in a mid 2016 interview, it should be up to the states. there are assurances coming from the trump team that they wouldn't do what he did. that is essentially walk back the rules that lighten the prosecution load. saying we are buying and selling. >> in states like colorado, both democrats and republicans were not that psyched about it being legalized, but now they see that the money is coming in in a big way and it's a big part of the economy. colorado is an extreme example, but 30 sit states legalized pot recreationally or at least for medicinal reasons. >> trying to retain the house and the senate, this scrambles the politics. most care about this. colorado and nevada and california and florida, all states that are purple and the house members need to protect the district. it puts a policy at the forefront. it's kind of dangerous. you are pushing back aggressively. >> gardner holds the senate majority and he told me, pun in

susan, you said jeff sessions is the president's attorney. i think a lot of americans hearing that say he has an obligation to the president, loyal to the president this is a president who values loyalty above almost everything else. just to be clear here, though, sessions, does he have any responsibility to the president here? he is the attorney general working for the american people, first and foremost, no? >> exactly. so jeff sessions is the attorney for the people of the united states of america, he also has certain obligations to the office of the presidency. donald trump has his own white house counsel, private attorneys. the nature of that relationship is dramatically different. >> guys, if you will, please stand by. we're getting much more information on this and we're dwoeg going to want to lean on you for legal interpretations. let's talk about the politics of this. joining us now, errol lewis. the attorney general of the united states, he's a senior ranking cabinet official. anytime a cabinet official speaks to a special counsel o

the president lobbying jeff sessions. the president telling the dir t director dan coats to press the fbi, to stop the russia investigation. the president telling the fbi director he needed to remove the cloud of the russia investigation over the trump presidency. he needed to lay off the investigation into mike flynn. he needed to be loyal to the president. the president firing james comey when comey didn't agree to any of that. once robert mueller was appointed, he pressured thom till tillis. so that stuff received a lot more attention, the president trying to shut down the fbi investigation but if the president had once upon a time been worried that the investigations in congress also might pose a real threat to him in terms of exposing what really happened with russia, those worries, it's safe to say have probably been resolved. because one year on, basically what these republican-led committees turned investigations into are full-time battering ram efforts to protect the president from the fbi, to protect the preside

one person who is not going to be joining him is jeff sessions. do we know why? >> well, we don't know exactly why. i talked to a senior administration official earlier this evening about this who said, listen, the attorney general will be involved in other events with the president in the days and weeks ahead. the attorney general is not on this trip and he was not invited on this trip, but this official said this should not be looked at as a snub. the white house said earlier this evening, despite the fact you have various cabinet officials, you have top congressional officials and as well as top members of the president's staff, not to mention the vice president, despite the fact that they're all up there, that this should not be read as any kind of snub or message to jeff sessions. the white house said earlier this evening that the white house stands firmly behind jeff sessions. of course that statement coming from the white house did not say the president stands firmly behind jeff sessions, they're only saying the white house does at this point, anderson. >>

i understand jeff sessions, attorney general jeff sessions's opposition to marijuana, of legalization of marijuana. i oppose the legalization of marijuana in colorado but this is about a decision by the state of colorado and we were told that states rights would be protected and not just by the attorney general, then the nominee to the attorney general. we were told by then candidate donald trump. in colorado in july of 2016, president trump was asked this question. when asked if president trump then candidate trump would use federal authority to shut down sales in states like california, he said, "i wouldn't do that." when asked if he, then candidate trump thinks colorado should be allowed what to do what it's doing, then candidate trump said "it's up to the states, absolutely." that was then candidate trump's position. i would like to know from the attorney general why, what has changed? what has changed president trump's mind that the memorandum would be reversed and rescinded? why is donald trump thinking differently about today of what he promised people of colorado in 2016? -- t

but jeff sessions comes into the attorney general's office months after that. we know now from the lester holt interview that that certainly wasn't the president's primary concern, whether it was in fact jeff and rod rosenstein, the deputy attorney general. what's the state of mind that the president had when this firing happened. >> michelle and joyce, thank you both. trump has faced many lawyers but none quite like mueller. chris hayes who has done a few russian interviews of his own, is here to talk about potential cross-examination and what's next in the probe. at social med. she buys stocks in companies that "stand for something." you like her. she's always up on the latest trends. she got in early on the whole goat yoga thing. and her sunsets are always #nofilter. you like her. but you'd like her better if you made more money than she does. don't get mad at @just_marea. get eátrade. it happens when reality exceeds expectations. sail with the #1 cruise line in alaska, princess cruises, come back new. (gasp) (singsong) budget meeting! sweet. if you compare

let's talk about attorney general jeff sessions from recusing himself. and we now know more officials were involved, don mcgahn, and reince priebus and ex-secretary sean spicer. they were involved in phone calls we understand with the justice department. the white house is not commenting does this add another brick to the question of obstruction of justice? >> it depends on the circumstances around those phone calls. now, we've known for months that donald trump did not want jeff sessions to recuse himself. and in fact was quite angry about it. but the question is, did those phone calls come after legal guidance had come, for example from the justice department, that sessions had to step aside because of the russia investigation. did they come before that? see, if before that, we'd like you to stay, jeff, we'd like you to investigate this, no problem. but the legal process is the attorney general has to step aside and white house officials keep pushing for him to stay on, them you've got possible obstruction of justice. >> let's move on to the book "fire

and certainly jeff sessions trying to get back in his good graces. >> jeff sessions doesn't have to look that far to find out what donald trump thinks of andrew mccabe. he was advocating andrew mccabe get rid of. it is trump pressuring sessions publicly and saying -- this water trickles downhill. he doesn't, to jackie's point, he does not respect the traditional separation between the executive branch and law enforcement. he feels his purview is sort of everything, they work for me, don't they, they're -- technically in the sort of, you know, the hierarchy chart of the government, yes, they do. but most presidents have avoided that he is not -- kaitlan mentioned the comment about the fbi being in tattered. he's attacked andrew mccabe, james comey and fired jim comey. the cia and intelligence community, the unwillingness to accept the unanimous conclusion that russia actively sought to interfere in our elections to benefit him and hurt hillary clinton, called it a hoax last week. this is a -- this not a one off, two off, three off. he voiced there are deep state actors emwbedded in the fe

and jeff sessions would be of value on both of those fronts. obviously he had a very significant role in the firing of james comey, the fbi director, and he was somebody who was intimately involved in the trump campaign, and there are a number of reasons, you know, he was part of that meeting in march of 2016, the national security meeting where george papadopolous raised the prospect of brokering a meeting between russian president vladimir putin and then candidate donald trump. he had meetings with then russia's ambassador to the u.s. and he was a fixture on the campaign trail almost daily. he was a very high profile surrogate. so for any number of those reasons, jeff sessions would be very significant value to prosecutor. >> also interesting here, some of the comments, the stories obviously about the relationship between the president and jeff sessions, talking about on the campaign, going from his earliest and sort of most trusted supporter and adviser to maybe an acrimonious relationship. trump in december talking to michael schmidt, the s

schedule a complimentary goal planning session today. >>> it is time for jeff sessions to go. at least that's what two conservative lawmakers are saying in a new op-ed out. the mark meadows and jim jordan call the allegations of russia collusion, russian collusion manufactured hysteria. and they claim the attorney general has lost all control of the nation's premier law enforcement agency who they blame for leaks. it's time for sessions to start managing in a spirit of transparency to bring all of this improper behavior to light and stop further violations. if sessions can't address this issue immediately, then we have one final question needing an answer. when is it time for a new attorney general? ohio republican congressman jim jordan joins me now. congressman, thanks so much for being here. >> you bet. good to be with you. >> given the reporting out right now with donald trump saying that he wants his attorney general to protect him and unhappy about the recusal, do you think it's jeff sessions' job to protect the president? >> i think jeff sessions shouldn't have recused

jeff sessions, attorney general, not there. the white house says, look, don't read anything into that. but the defense secretary is there. the secretary of state is there. the education secretary is there. they say it's about the 2018 agenda, and the attorney general is not necessarily part of that perhaps. the reality is, bottom line tonight, the president still has not given up his anger at his attorney general, jeff sessions for that decision nearly a year ago to recuse himself from this investigation, which, of course, touched off all these events which are still unfolding. anderson. >> yeah, appreciate that. thanks. the eye of the beholder, the obstruction of justice is in the eyes of the reporter. and currently, teacher of law at the university of minnesota joining us. former virginia attorney general ken cuccinelli. professor painter, how much does it change things in your opinion now that according to cnn's reporting it wasn't just the white house counsel who was urging sessions not to recuse himself? does it rise to ob

cnn is confirmed white house counsel done mccann tried to persuade jeff sessions not to recuse himself from the russia investigation. the "new york times" reports that he acted on the orders of president trump who was furious when sessions recused himself anybay. also tonight, the author of a stunning expose is claiming that everyone in the president's inner circle, 100%, question his intelligence and fitness for office. when asked about his mental health, he would say he -- former trump strategist by saying he's lost it. as that new tell-all went on sale today, president trump has been lashing out tweeting that the book is phony and full of lies and denying he spoke with the author. michael wolff stands by everything in the book and has recordings and notes to back it up. breaking tonight, the secretary of state rex tillerson insists he's never questioned the president's mental fitness describe reports he once called him a moron. tillerson also tells cnn that he expects to stay in his job at least through the coming year. we're covering all of that and much more this hour with our gue

but not jeff sessions. and this is not like some official event. it's not like a state of the union thing where they need a designated survivor. where they need to to keep somebody somewhere safe in case something bad happens. it's not like that. he wasn't invited maybe you feel bad for jeff sessions maybe you think it might be cold up there. it is cold from weekend. he is from alabama maybe that would be hard for him. but i don't know. i mean if this is a big summit because something important is about to happen, and if it is a deliberate and important decision that jeff sessions is conspicuously not there, well, i think there might be at least be reason to brace yourself for this weekend in terms of what might be happening here. last night "the new york times" reported in a bombshell pete from michael schmid that the president personally orred the white house counsel to go to the justice department this past spring to try to persuade jeff sessions to not recuse himself are from the russia investigation. this is important for a couple of wreens. o

jeff sessions still has his job. but jeff sessions has lost the faith of the president in most ways. as pointed out just there, he was a key early endorser, a wing man on the campaign, was given attorney general. but after the decision to recuse himself from the russia probe, the president has gone after him both publicly and privately. publicly in these tweets, you may recall, over the summer. broad sides calling his own attorney general weak and beleagured. even to the point they were talking about succession plans. sessions remains very popular among the conservative base, he remains very popular among his former colleagues in the senate, and that there was a fear that -- and a lot of republicans feel like he's doing good things in doj. trump has backed off a little bit on the idea of firing him, but he's still mad, to the point where even he blames sessions in part for the roy moore debacle in alabama. thinking, well, if i had known jeff sessions was going to recuse himself, i never would have made him attorney g

the president lobbying jeff sessions. -- lobby jeff sessions to not recuse himself. the president telling the director dan coats to press the fbi, to stop the russia investigation. the president telling the fbi director james comey that he needed to remove the cloud of the russia investigation over the trump presidency. he needed to lay off the investigation into mike flynn. he needed to be loyal to the president. the president firing james comey when comey didn't agree to any of that. once robert mueller was appointed special counsel, we know the president also pressured republican senator thom tillis to drop his legislative efforts. so that stuff received a lot more attention, the president trying to shut down the fbi investigation but if the president had once upon a time been worried that the investigations in congress also might pose a real threat to him in terms of exposing what really happened with russia, those worries, it's safe to say have probably been resolved. because one year on, basically what these republican-led committees in congress have turned the

smo . >> i like jeff sessions. i want you to do your job. we expected a different process and treatment and a different justice department when you took over. >> joining me republican congressman dana rohrbacher of california. thanks for being here. sessions facing calls to resign from meadows and jordan over the russia probe. you and others are angered over his latest action on marijuana. does sessions need to resign? >> let me put it this way, the american people and now are getting a taste of what people in washington have known over this last year and that is jeff sessions betrays the people who have had faith in him. faith in him to do his job and faith in him not to succumb to pressures from the outside like from cnn and other news bureaus to try to do their bidding. this is -- when he recused himself from this whole russia thing, he knew he was setting in motion the establishment of a special prosecutor and a special prosecutor as happens in washington, we understand is just giving unlimited power to someone to go after you. and not j

jeff sessions was just there yesterday. he met with the president. we don't know. our sarah sanders, the press secretary, said she doesn't know if they shared testimony with the special counsel. but we do know that this has turned into a great deal of tension with the president furious with jeff sessions for recusing himself, among other things. what do we expect from the president when he says my national security counsel was not cooperating -- general flynn -- now my attorney general is in the witness chair. >> we talked a little bit to the president about this in our interview in the oval office. he said, as you know, there is no collusion, and therefore there can't be obstruction since there is no collusion. the white house has done a pretty good job of retaining this. to see the white house's reaction, to see trump's reaction, i don't think he'll look much further than his attorneys. we saw jay sekulow on "hannity." what they're pivoting now to are these missing e-mails to the fbi agents. his quote last night was that five months of missing text messages is a

but we start with the neew abou jeff sessions. pete, we've confirmed that he was interviewed by the general couns counsel. what do we know? >> well, that is 50% of it. the other 50% is that it happened last week and lasted several hours. obviously the justice department or the special counsel's office is not going to talk about what they talked about. but in shouldn't surprise anyone that this happened. we've been asking the justice department repeatedly when is this going to happen, when is this going to happen and obviously they have decided not to let us know until after it was over. the "new york times" first got wind of this this morning. we've confirmed it as well. but it was foregone conclusion that at some point the special counsel would want to talk to jeff sessions for a couple reasons. number one, if it is correct as is widely assumed that one of the things the special counsel is looking at is potential obstruction of justice in the president's firing of comey, jeff sessions played a role in that. we know in writing a m

jeff sessions still has his job. but jeff sessions has lost the faith of the president in most ways. as pointed out just there, he was a key early endorser, a wing man on the campaign, was given attorney general. but after the decision to recuse himself from the russia probe, the president has gone after him both publicly and privately. publicly in these tweets, you might recall from over the summer, sort of unprecedented broadsides calling his own attorney general weak and beleaguered and privately musing about firing him. even to the point they were talking about succession plans. there are those in the white house who talk the president out of that including steve bannon when he was still there. sessions remains very popular among the conservative base, he remains very popular among his former colleagues in the senate, and that there was a fear that -- and a lot of republicans feel like he's doing good things in doj. trump has backed off a little bit on the idea of firing him, but he's still mad, to the point wher

no doubt those discussions covered jeff sessions' own meeting with the russian ambassador jeff sessions' own role in meetings during the trump campaign that involved george papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty to lying about discussions he had with russians. also the issue of obstruction of justice. what does jeff sessions know about how, why and when the fbi director james comey was fired. let's get right to our justice reporter for the very latest on this. shim mo shimon, what are you learning? >> this took place last wednesday and as you said went on for hours. now what is important here is that sessions has been part of probably two of the central issues in this investigation. that is the russia contacts, also he was running the foreign policy team during the campaign and we know that much of that team is now under scrutiny, some of on that team, george papadopoulos, have pleaded guilty and are now cooperating with the fbi. he was also in on the comey firing, helped draft a memo that ultimately was used as justification to fire the fbi director. so there are two central issues here that

laura: is jeff sessions foldable -- is jeff sessions vulnerable because of what he could not recall in his hearing? the reason jeff sessions has been under such scrutiny is he gave testimony that turned out to be inconsistent about revelations that came out about it contacts with russian representatives. whenever you are not telling the full truth to congress, it always raises questions about your credibility on other issues. robert mueller will put the threat of the law on jeff sessions and he probably got more direct answers than jeff sessions was willing to give before congress. laura: the president said today that he was not concerned about the interview but his tweets would suggest otherwise. josh: the president's best interest is to stay out of this and not comment on the legal maneuverings of robert mueller, but sometimes he cannot help himself. laura: you can't indeed, -- he can't indeed, and back here on earth, the government is tried to stay open, but there is another drama looming. josh: we punted the spending battle, and democrats took a political hit in washington. they tr

that is exactly what jeff sessions should not be doing. he's recused himself, properly, because he was involved in contacts with the russians and potential collusion between the russians and the trump campaign. that is the subject of the mueller investigation, he should not be a part of it, he should not resign because it would disrupt the special counsel investigation and that is part of the concerted, coordinated, concentrated agenda of the trump sycophant defenders to demean and discredit the mueller investigation. >> if he doesn't resign, the president presumably, if he wants to, he could fire sessions, right? >> the president could demand his resignation, but it should be seen as a step discredit and sometimy and stop the special counsel of the investigation. i think it ought to prompt the uproar that followed the saturday night massacre, firing of the special counsel in that instance and then the attorney's general acting attorney's general who refused to fire the water gate special prosecutor. >> let me get your thoughts on a decisi

the new evidence raises questions about jeff sessions' future as attorney general. the white house suggests he's still safe. >> right now, he's focused on doing his job. we're focused on doing ourselves. we don't have any reason to see there's anything different today than there was yesterday. we feel like we're in a great place and we're moving forward and the attorney general is going to continue showing up to work this week and next week just like he has every day since we started and keep doing good work and moving the president's agenda forward. >> the white house has started calling out the press amid questions about jeff sessions' future. sessions was not invited to camp david this weekend, despite the fact that this eight other cabinet members will be joining the president for meetings on the 2018 legislative agenda. when cnn asked why sessions wasn't invited, a white house official issued a stinging reply saying this, the press should stop using a long-planned meeting with congressional leaders to take cheap shots at the attorney general. so now it seems th

we learned that jeff sessions was interviewed by special counsel mueller's team. so clearly these interviews are ongoing. what form the interview will take with the president and mueller's team is unclear. sources say there could be a hybrid situation where he's interviewed in person, as well as in written questioning. certainly, if and when this happens, wolf, it will be a significant development. >> certainly will be. pamela brown, thank you. joining us now, senator sheldon whitehouse, a member of the judiciary. thank you for joining us. >> happy to. >> "the washington post" reporting that robert mueller plans to interview president trump in the coming weeks, particularly about his firings of his national security adviser michael flip and the fbi director james comey. is he building a case potentially for obstruction of justice? >> yeah, and probably has been for a long time now. >> you speak as a former attorney general of rhode island. tell us why you believe that. >> well, because there has just been such an abundance of evidence pointing towards that, whethe

jeff sessions is at the heart of both of those issues. he was a major player in the campaign, the most nationally recognized politician to endorse the president. he had several meetings with russian officials, including the ambassador. when he became the attorney general, was at the center of the comey firing, and has been criticized by the president publicly and privately for recusing himself, stepping aside from the russia investigation. the president saying privately he needs someone at the justice department that will be there to protect him. sessions is someone that touches on both of those huge issues that mueller is focusing in on, and how the president truly saw the russia investigation. >> if sessions met with mueller or mueller's team last week, what did the white house know and when? >> i'm not sure what the white house knew. the lawyers that are representing these different witnesses, white house officials, the campaign officials and stuff, often will share information with each other about what's going on, but i do not know w

but jeff sessions' position is his job is to enforce the law. and he plans to enforce the law, of president obama, even the 2013 memo did have exemptions in terms of hus attorn s of u.s. a into marijuana-related crime. and there were some exceptions to that. but i think what a.g. sessions is saying, look, congress has to make these changes, just like with da car and i think it's the right approach. >> so, david, there are a lost of people thinking can i go buy marijuana in my state. is it legal? to that you say what? >> well, it's always been illegal federally. and the sessions memory gave some comfort level to businesses that they were not going to be raided overnight. the federal government still has the right to enforce federal laws but i think the problem with jeff sessions in removing this memo is that it gave businesses protection. it prioritized. we should be looking at terrorism and things like that and not picking on a certain boutique industry. but i think one thing that jeff sessions' memo has done and will do is that a lot of republi

jeff sessions becomes the first trump cabinet member that we know of to be questioned. that was first reported by "the new york times'" michael schmidt and confirmed by nbc news. nbc news is also reporting that the special counsel has interviewed former fbi director jim comey about his memos. those memos were contemporaneous notes that he has testified under oath to have taken after every single interaction with donald trump. these twin developments are reigniting speculation in washington, d.c., today about bob mueller focusing in on potential obstruction of justice by the president and his associates. something jim comey was asked about under oath. >> i don't think it's for me to say whether the conversation i had with the president was an effort to obstruct. i took it as a very disturbing thing, very concerning. that's the conclusion i'm sure the special counsel will work toward to try to understand what the intention was there and whether that's an offense. >> in his interview with lester holt on nbc, the president said, i had dinner with him, he wanted to have dinn

i think this is fantasy fulfillment for jeff sessions more than jig. i don't know who this caters to other than members of the cricriminal market. >> eric you cited the polls out there but we have to point out that this is something that could be recollect if id on the congressional level. as far as things stand right now whether or not you agree with the idea of states rights, it's still -- it's still illegal so isn't jeff sessions just, you know, even though this may be his fantasy in your eyes, he's doing his job. >> well, in a way but, you know, the attorney general has the ability to give a lot of prosecutial discretion to his u.s. attorneys and there's a lot more important matters to be addressed than going after people that are abiding by state law and actually following regulations and you are absolutely correct, it is imperative that the congress acts and removes marijuana from the controlled substances act. so we can clean upll problems and this tension between state and federal law because it's untenable as it is and unfortunately i think th

ultimately jeff sessions does decide to recuse. you know, there is sort of this tidbit in there that is not hugely developed about sessions trying to dig up dirt on comey. that's certainly a story a lot of reporters in washington, d.c. right now are picking up the phone to talk to their sources because it seems that's the kind of things that is a red flag for other really, really inappropriate conduct that might have significant ramifications for attorney general sessions. >> a lot of questions about don mcgahn, whether as white house counsel as opposed to being the president's personal attorney was authorized to go to sessions and try to convince sessions on behalf of the president not to recuse himself. >> and what about keeping information from the president? which was also in this piece about the legality of firing comey. you know, don mcgahn and the president have had a very rocky relationship going back months. i don't think this is going to endear mcgahn to the president anymore if, in fact, and he's the only one in the hier

two republican members of congress called for jeff sessions to resign. well, tonight, we have just got a third. chris stewart, congressman from utah, is now the third republican member of congress calling for jeff sessions to resign. and the attorney general not invited to the sleepover at camp david this weekend. now growing calls for resignation of congressmen. watch this space. that does it for us tonight. see you monday. now lime for "the last word with katy tur." >> in the words of donald trump that is not nice. he came out and endorsed him. a big deal. >> here's one thing this might be nice about it. alabama never gets as cold as camp david is going to be this weekend so it's possible he's a delicate flower. >> well, there's that. >> and the president wanted to spare him. >> usually i do the awkward handoffs with ari melber and can be awkward and not sure how to throw you off your game, though. >> oh, there's -- i can give you infinite possibilities. you just sit here and look at me weird for a few seconds and i crumble. see? okay. there you go. by

jeff sessions was interviewed for hours last week. james comey was reportedly interviewed before the turn of the year last year by special counsel robert mueller and his team. as republicans and congress keep up their attacks trying to undermine the fbi and senior leadership over the russia investigation amid reports that the attorney general himself has been pressuring the new fbi director to get rid of senior officials at the fbi, "the washington post" broke the news that shortly after a fired fbi director james comey, president trump summoned the deputy director andrew mccabe into the oval office. once mccabe was there, the president reportedly demanded that mccabe tell him who he voted for until the 2016 -- in the 2016 election. the deputy director reportedly responded that he did not vote. this matter, this conversation, is now reportedly a matter of interest to robert mueller. amid these breaking news stories today, we also learned in the washington post, robert mueller wants to talk to the president in coming weeks about perhap

jeff sessions announcement today will make the problems worse. people don't understand what it means if you get a felony conviction for possession. this is a lifetime sentence in america. not only affecting they individual's ability to get a job you cannot get a a hell grant lung -- a pell grant that many use. you cannotfo get a business license for a felony conviction. you can't get public housing or food stamps. it devastates individuals economically but also their families. it has destroyed the lives of children who now are not guilty then no more than my colleagues but they have to pick up the pieces after the parent is sent away tomi prison. one or two days a work means losing your job not making the car or rent payment.e we know children who had a father arrested and is five times more likely to be expelled or suspended from school. this enforcement is devastating which is the fundamental building blocks and it is devastating communities. one study found not for the mass incarceration explosion for the war on drugs the poverty rate would be

or jeff sessions. this thing continues to grow as something that gets to be more than just circumstantial evidence and gets right to the core question of whether or not donald trump and firing jim comey and using donald mcgann was trying to shut down the russia investigation. >> senator marky, thanks for joining us. >> thank you all. >> the secretary of state rex tillerson giving a rare interview talking about the president's mental fitness and nuclear taunts against north korea and we just sat down. we are about to release some of that interview. the day after chemo might mean a trip back to the doctor's office, just for a shot. but why go back there, when you can stay home, with neulasta onpro? strong chemo can put you at risk of serious infection, which could lead to hospitalizations. in a key study, neulasta reduced the risk of infection from 17% to 1%, a 94% decrease. applied the day of chemo, neulasta onpro is designed to deliver neulasta the next day, so you can stay home. neulasta is for certai

two republican members of congress called for jeff sessions to resign. well, tonight, we have just got a third. chris stewart, congressman from utah, is now the third republican member of congress calling for jeff sessions to resign. and the attorney general not invited to the sleepover at camp david this weekend. now growing calls for resignation of congressmen. watch this space. that does it for us tonight. see you monday. now, it's time for the last word with katy tur in for lawrence this evening. >> in the words of donald trump that is not nice. he came out and endorsed him. a big deal. >> here's one thing this might be nice about it. alabama never gets as cold as camp david is going to be this weekend so it's possible he's a delicate flower. >> well, there's that. >> and the president wanted to spare him. >> usually i do the awkward handoffs with ari melber and can be awkward and not sure how to throw you off your game, though. >> oh, there's -- i can give you infinite possibilities. you just sit here and look at me weird for a few seconds and i cru

why don't you fire jeff sessions? >> one thing president trump is getting credit for is the war on isis. are they still a threat in 2018? i'll talk to graham wood. he's the author of that provocative essay which explained what isis really wants. >>> and it's the first major awards ceremony of the me too era. besides the actresses all dressing in black. how else will tomorrow night's golden globes cope. i'll ask red carpets expert melissa rivers. >>> first, one of the excerpts from president trump's book calling into mind president trump's fitness for office. and also mental fitness. the last one treads into territory that troubles me. let me explain in 1964, a magazine called "fact" polled health professionals on barry goldwater's fitness to serve as commander in chief. the magazine published a cover story claiming many found him unfit. after the election, goldwater sued the editor for liable and won.engendered a debate in the mental health community. even if that person is a public figure. eventually this led to the

jeff sessions did the right thing. it would be impossible for him to look into the trump campaign activities with the russians. mr. mueller had to be appointed as special counsel. but we need a second special counsel to look at the way the department of justice conducted themselves. >> all right. before i get to that i want to ask you, does vladimir putin throughout his first year in office at all raise any suspicions with you? >> i've always -- i've always said he had a blind spot to russia but things are changing for the better. he finally allowed the ukraine to be given defensive weapons. but when it comes to russia, i've said on your show a million times he has an attitude toward putin that i think is counterproductive. the president does believe his intel agencies. he is firmly telling the world he didn't collude with the russians, and we're not going to let him be the final authority on that. we're going to let mr. mueller tell us whether or not this campaign colluded with the russians. i will do everything i can

jeff sessions did the right thing. it would be impossible for him to look into the trump campaign activities with the russians. mr. mueller had to be appointed as special counsel. but we need a second special counsel to look at the way the department of justice conducted themselves. >> all right. before i get to that i want to ask you, does the president's behavior towards russia and vladimir putin throughout his first year in office at all raise any suspicions with you? >> i've always -- i've always said he had a blind spot to russia but things are changing for the better. he finally allowed the ukraine to be given defensive weapons. but when it comes to russia, i've said on your show a million times he has an attitude toward putin that i think is counterproductive. the president does believe his intel agencies. he is firmly telling the world he didn't collude with the russians, and we're not going to let him be the final authority on that. we're going to let mr. mueller tell us whether or not this campaign colluded w

, jeff sessions really has a reservoir of good will among the immigration hard liners. >> he goes to the anti-mueller investigation and it's going too far. it gets into that context. there was an idea that sessions would run for the senate again. it's hard to imagine that jeff sessions would give up a senate seat to be ag and leave after a year. he has shown he's in a fight to keep this job for a long time. he's going to fight to keep it and if trump has the guts to fire him, he knows it will be a big problem politically. jeff sessions is unlikely to move, but conservatives are willing to push. >> for creates a huge problem and you would have to get somebody else nominated to be attorney general and you have a narrower margin in the senate and that job would be almost impossib impossible. >> even before we saw this come out from the house lawmakers and a little bit of of a split and very little appetite. that would be against the justice department. it might be obvious that they are pushing against a justice department. it was okay with eric holder and barack obama, this is their own

jeff sessions was interviewed for hours last week. james comey was reportedly interviewed before the turn of the year last year by special counsel robert mueller and his team. as republicans and congress keep up their attacks trying to undermine the fbi and senior leadership over the russia investigation amid reports that the attorney general himself has been pressuring the director to get rid of senior officials, "the washington post" broke the news that shortly after a fired fbi director james comey, president trump summoned the deputy director andrew mccabe into the oval office. once mccabe was there, the president reportedly demanded that mccabe tell him who he voltvol voted for until the 2016 election. the director responded that he did not vote this matter, this conversation is now reportedly a matter of interest to robert mueller. amid these breaking news stories today, we also learned in the washington post, robert mueller wants to talk to the president in coming weeks about perhaps the two highest profile excites from his adm

[heartbeat] >> ♪ >> senator jeff sessions, you love jeff sessions. >> [cheers and applause]. >> he is doing a good job. >> we have been weakened in our investigation into very important concerns at the department of justice and the fbi because jeff sessions is not able to take the reins to direct that investigation. >> i believe it may be time for him to step aside. >> right now, he is focussed on doing his job. we are focussed on doing ours. we don't have any reason to see anything different today than there was yesterday. >> bret: talking about the attorney general jeff sessions under fire from some lawmakers for handling the investigation from the justice department and the fbi. now the white house lawyer is under scrutiny after a "new york times" story showing trumps struggle to keep grip on the russian investigation. . what about this development? the russia investigation and we will talk about the other investigations that the justice department is involved. our panelle. -- panel. byron york, and matt. let's start with the story. there was an effort not only him but other offici

pressuring jeff sessions. we've seen the pressure on jeff sessions. i've never seen, i don't think any of us have ever seen a president openly humiliate his attorney general on twitter. if he's openly humiliating his attorney general twitter and calling him weak, i would like to know what he's saying behind closed doors. so yes. i think that conversation with attorney general sessions where he is forced to be honest, and not to put spin on things, could be very, very instructive before the the kinds of pressure which are inappropriate from moment one but could rise to the standard of obstruction, that this white house, this president has put on the department of justice. i'll tell you what i do see. i see the house intelligence ongoing effort, and in particular, chairman nunes' effort to damage the credibility of the fbi. most recently with this memo, this constant drum beat of allegations that the fbi has not been straight up. so not just the white house but the house intelligence committee. that they've been doing everything they can to discredit th

jeff sessions was considered the consummate conservative ton capitol hill. he had incredible number of allies. and to see them now come out and, as you said, seems to be some kind of mounting campaign to try to pressure jeff sessions to get out. now what we do know is jeff sessions did offer resignation at one time to president trump and then that was not accepted. >> that's right. >> i don't think that jeff sessions for what he has been through is going to be pressured by house members of congress telling him that he needs to step down. now, could the pressure increase if it happened in the senate is this we saw more and more republican senators come out and do that. potentially. but i don't think that jeff sessions is going to be listening to house republicans telling him that he needs to leave. >> yeah. okay. let me hit pause on this conversation because i want to bring you back and get a quick break in. but coming up next we are learning at cnn that feds are looking into corruption allegations in the clinton foundation. what we know about that ahead. >>>