mueller would never, ever, ever do that. i mean, mueller's inclination, i would presume, is to do less rather than more, but we know where barr is on that. what we don't know where he is is on this notion of the public's need to know after this saga has played out for the last two years. and how much information he wants to -- he wants to put out there. we do know, though, what we will learn, which will be interesting, i think, is if mueller went to the attorney general and say he asks for a subpoena for the president to -- to testify and mueller said, no, i want him to -- i want him to talk to us and he won't. >> yeah. >> and mueller -- and the -- and the justice department said, no, rosenstein said no, we will learn that. so we will learn if mueller made requests that were turned down by the justice department. he may have. that will be interesting. >> it will certainly be interesting. think about another level of complexity here. the attorney general barr says, well, you can't put out derogatory information about people w

you take this 2015 mueller report. you look at it tonight while everyone wonders what's coming next. and they wonder, what approach will mueller use to a report that could be the most pivotal powerful thing in the trump era? will it be the mueller of the rice investigation? even more aggressive given mueller is in a different role? there is a person who has some insights into this, into mueller as an investigator and the rice investigation. he is making his first-time appearance on the mueller on friday. a former federal prosecutor. peter ginsburg who represented ray rice. we will get into it and how mueller works when we're back in just 30 seconds. k in just 30 seconds. every day, visionaries are creating the future. ( ♪ ) so, every day, we put our latest technology and vast expertise to work. ( ♪ ) the united states postal service makes more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, affordably and on-time. (ringing) ( ♪ ) the future only happens with people who really know how to deliver i

it was mueller time. >> the national football league has hired mueller to investigate how the league handled the ray rice domestic violence case. >> robert mueller, very respected. >> l robert mueller -- >> former fbi director mueller will now look into this. >> and look away he did. that environment of skepticism and pressure. this was, let me be clear, mueller's most recent public report, so it's relevant as everyone's focused on how mueller might write his russia report. some of what mueller did then is very familiar. you'll notice he ran a tight ship. very little information leaking out. reports at the time talked about how he worked in obscurity and didn't have any deadline for the report to be released, an echo of bill barr tonight, but there was no question about his thoroughness. reports highlighting mueller's in-depth examination of evidence. nfl employees handing over scores of documents to investigators. beyond the documents, mueller specifically tapped office gossip, rumors, potential clues, he interviewed every female employee, contractor, vendor or intern who had any ac

bob mueller? and i told him how well i knew bob mueller and, you know, the barrs and muellers were good friends and would be good friends when this was all over and so forth. and he was interested in that, wanted to know what i thought about mueller's integrity and so forth and so on. and i said bob is a straight shooter and should be dealt with as such. >> does their relationship factor into all of this? >> well, i'm sure it does. i don't think we know how exactly. i mean it's kind of amusing that, you know, trump has gone on and on about how comey and mueller are supposedly best buds whereas apparently they're not really friends. and it turns out that barr and mueller actually are friends and it's not clear trump realized that because he obviously picked barr because barr sent him this memo very critical of mueller. so, surprise, they're actually friends. i don't know how that's going to shake out. i would just hope that barr does his duty and makes sure that the american people get the relevant

preparing for mueller report. the post puts the timeline at, quo quote, the coming days, a significant advancement of the story we've been covering all evening. i want to turn to two experts who follow the probe a lot for us, jason johnson from the root.com, and former federal prosecutor john flannery. we just got this from "the washington post." it echoes the reporting at the top of the hour it does advance it, john, puts it in days. who knows? one, post reported moments ago trump's inner circle has, quote, palpable concern that there could be damaging material in the mueller rrt that's not technically illegal but is, quote, damaging to him and, two, reports that people who are on mueller's team, top prosecutors, have reportedly begun talking to old bosses about future jobs when they leave this office, an office known to avoid leaks. that's a conversation that sooner or later people would have. your reaction, john? >> my reaction is when the white house is saying these are technical crimes that we shouldn't give

he is quilose personally to robert mueller. they were friends and he has the utmost respect for him. he used the word inconceivable about the possibility thate would ever see cause to get rid of mueller so i think even some of the keanlts senators who voted against him felt like would the belles they could get under president trump. robert: when you think about the barr decision and t mueller report, part of the frenzy this week wasn't just about the timing of the reports but about what's going to be in the report and mark and his colleagues at the times published an in-depth account of what they called the president's sustained and secretive assault on federal law enforcement. it spelled outle exa after example about how the president has tried to undermine and discredit not just the mueller probe but theew district in york about hush money payments in 2016. the mueller report underscoruc the obson side of this whole situation, not just the collusion and the russian interference but the corruption and that could erbe a real sw

maybe they can support mueller? i don't know at this point because we haven't gone through this before but i think all of these options are sort of hanging out there while the american public wants to know what the special counsel was doing for these couple of years. >> absolutely. absolutely so perhaps the public will learn in time. you get the feeling that it's forth coming but let's keep our information in check to shimon prokupecz's point and remember that whole sdny investigation has a whole other life of its own. >> and so do the courts. >> gloria borger, thank you. thank you. >>> listen, as all of this is going on, the former number two at the fbi says the president may be a russian asset. but what did the gang of eight at the time in congress know? >>> plus, the man president trump never seems to criticize just threatened to attack the united states with new russian weapons. you are watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. th and sensitivity... and so is our hair. if fragile hair is part of your blend, we have a bl

a big win for bob mueller tonight. here's the takeaway, the prosecutors are no longer bound to any lighter sentence. that means paul manafort now faces the prospect of a much heavier jail sentence. we have a great guest to go right into this with, someone who's talked about these issues a lot and is in leadership in the democratic house, a member of the judiciary committee, congressman hakeem jeffries. congressman, this news broke literally moments ago. we just alerted you about it. i know you haven't had a chance to read the underlying material in all fairness but what does it mean, what is your response to the news that a federal judge is siding with mueller and dialing up the heat on manafort and that he faces potentially a lot more prison time? >> well, it's continuing evidence that the trump campaign and associates who were involved in it have engaged in lies, deceit, manipulation and an unwillingness to be truthful about what actually took place during the trump campaign and whether there was a conspiracy between

will you subpoena mueller to testify before congress? >> well, the thing is that we do not control our ability to issue subpoenas but on the other hand the house does. so i think the house committee will be very interested in having the mueller report disclosed to the public. i'm pretty sure that three chairs, the oversite chair, the judiciary chair would be very interested in questioning barr as to why the report is not being made public. >> you're absolutely right. the democrats in the majority of the house. they have subpoena power. the democrats are in the minority. they don't have subpoena power. if a sitting president -- >> we will certainly raise our voices. >> i know you will. >> we'll certainly raise our voices. >> that's porcht but subpoena power is much more important. >> of course. >> if justice department guidelines is they shouldn't share damaging information about unindicted individuals are you concerned about sharing the findings. it is about the president. >> we should look at the mueller report. there are a lot of other

mueller's work is about to wrap up. i noted with great interest some comments you made to one of our producers. you're a contarian on this and you're not sure at all that it's coming to a rapid end? >> i asked myself why now? why would this be the time that mueller would choose to conclude his investigation and issue his report? he's just indicted roger stone. roger stone could someday be a cooperative witness. mueller would be crazy to ever put roger stone on a witness stand because the man is a walking credibility gap. but stone could give him an amazing road map to what the president told him, what he said to assange, what he said to corsi, lay it all out and give mueller the ability to then go and develop the further evidence, classic technique, why end when the roger stone story isn't done. we had that supreme court case over in d.c. circuit case over the last several months litigating mueller trying to get evidence from a state-owned foreign corporation. he hasn't gotten that evidence yet. you got the corsi piece

for the mueller report. >> they're waiting for robert mueller's report. >> with robert mueller said to be wrapping up still so many unanswered questions. what did president trump know about the infamous trump tower meeting? was there coordination between the trump campaign and russia? most of all, why does it seem the president doesn't want to get to the bottom of what russia did? we'll break it all down with neal katyal. acting solicitor general. sol wisenberg. democrat jim himes. and arkansas governor asa humpenson. >>> also, that coast guard lieutenant charged with plotting to kill democratic politicians and journalists. >> the sheer number and force of the weapons recovered from mr. hassen's residence, coupled with the disturbing nature of his writings appear to reflect a significant threat to the safety of our community. >> how widespread is this kind of violent white nationalism? and why did the government stay quiet about the arrest? my guest this morning, former homeland security secretary jeh johnson. >>> and off and running -- >> our campaign is about transforming our coun

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mueller's work is about to wrap up. i noted with great interest some comments you made to one of our producers. you're a contrarian on this and you're not sure at all that it's coming to a rapid end? >> i asked myself why now? why would this be the time that mueller would choose to conclude his investigation and issue his report? he's just indicted roger stone. roger stone could someday be a cooperative witness. mueller would be crazy to ever put roger stone on a witness stand because the man is a walking credibility gap. but stone could give him an amazing road map to what the president told him, what he said to assange, what he said to corsi, lay it all out and give mueller the ability to then go and develop the further evidence, classic technique, why end when the roger stone story isn't done. we had that supreme court case over in d.c. circuit case over the last several months litigating mueller trying to get evidence from a state-owned foreign corporation. he hasn't gotten that evidence yet. you got the corsi piece

mueller honest? congressman, i have been on the record about my respect for bob mueller and his ability to conduct this investigation. >> do you believe his honest, yes or no? >> i have no reason to believe he's not honest, so, yes, i do believe he's honest. >> do you believe he's conflicted, yes or no? >> congressman, the conflict analysis is for the individual lawyer to make once a matter is before them and i'm sure that whether it's bob mueller or -- >> the president has called him conflicted. the president's called him conflicted and you oversee the investigation, do you believe that mr. mueller's conflicted. >> congressman, as acting attorney general i have followed regular order at the department of justice and i suspect the agents that work for me follow regular order and as i sit here today, i don't have any reason to believe that. >> so you don't believe -- you believe he's honest, you don't believe he's conflicted. can you say right now, mr. president, bob mueller is honest and not conflict

so mueller may write a report. he may send that to bill barr, but that doesn't end the larger criminal investigation. >> in terms of what mr. barr may receive from mueller, again, if this reporting is accurate, and a lot of this reporting in the past has been inaccurate. this point in -- this alleged point in the process has been predicted many times now and they've been wrong every time. but if this is going to happen, it seems to me the end of the range of what we might expect from mr. barr is that we get what he describes as his summary of mueller's report. it lists all the people who have been indicted. it says my declination to not indict, everybody not involved on this list. it says nothing about the bare minimum of who he's already decided to bring charges against. but there is reason to believe that mueller actually gave barr quite a lot more information and information that relates to the administration or the president or his business or anything else that would be considered sensitive, that barr has deci

. >>> overseeing mueller. we're getting exclusive information about how the president's pick for attorney general is preparing for his confirmation and his role in the conclusion of the russia investigation. >>> looking for land mines. that's what president trump says he is doing as he refuses to commit to a deal to avoid a government shutdown. will he blow up the agreement or will he sign it? >>> long gone. the head of fema calls it quits, joining the swelling ranks of follower trump administration officials. why is brock long leaving now months after a controversy over his travel? we want to welcome our viewers in the united states 5and aroun the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you are in "the situation room." >> this is cnn breakinging breas in the russia investigation. we're standing by for a ruling in the special counsel's case against paul manafort. a federal judge set to decide if manafort lied to investigators in violation of his plea agreement. robert mueller's office says one of the lies involved a meeting

let's assume it's a final report from mueller. then that goes to the attorney general and then the attorney general is to provide a second report to congress. and it's contemplated in the regulations that that report should be public if the public administration of justice so requires. so, two different reports, but most importantly, these are only about mueller. this is in his investigation, which is a very limited one into russia counterintelligence and then obstruction of justice, the firing of comey. it doesn't have to do with the southern district investigation, the trump foundation, the other things congress is looking into and the like. so that's all separate. so we should just, as we talk about the mueller investigation, remember that's just one piece of a much larger inquiry. >> neal, do you believe a brief summary is in the president's best interest? >> i don't. i actually think that if it is a brief summary, it actually could be counterproductive to the president, because it won't resolve anything. and i think, you know

, knows robert mueller very well in robert mueller's previous job as director of the fbi. and this is what andrew mccabe said today, what he told ari melber about what he expects in the mueller report. >> i expect that director mueller's team will produce an all-encompassing report that details exactly what they found and exactly what they think about it. i think it's unbelievably important that that information is shared with congress. and i'd also like to see it shared to the greatest extent possible with the american people. >> and congressman jeffries, that's someone who has worked closely with robert mueller, knows his work methodology. >> it's incredibly important because we know a few things. all of the president's men are going down in flames, from manafort to gates to papadopoulos to cohen to flynn and now roger stone. it's often said where there's smoke there's fire. there's a whole lot of smoke emanating from 1600 pennsylvania avenue. we need some clarity. the mueller report can provide that. there appears to be a triangular relationship between the trump campai

the mueller report is coming. the president seemed all good today in the oval office, but this is going to get ugly. the more i learn about what won't be released and why it's going to get ugly. you've got to be ready for what's coming, and you have to remember what the focus should be. that's the argument next. if you have moderate to severe psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis, little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats differently. for psoriasis, 75% clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. for psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if th

mueller hasn't said, of course. but trump's team leaks a lot and there was a leak that a lot of legal experts said didn't look like it came from mueller's team about, yes, donald trump's written answer to that exact question. cnn reported it, nbc has not confirmed it, but it's relevant tonight. because cnn cited two direct sources who told mueller in writing, roger stone did not tell him about wikileaks. whoa. i'm going to leave this up on the screen for a minute. there's a lot going on. i want it to sink in. that as president, trump told mueller in writing that stone never told them about wikileaks. now, if that's true, fine. but if it's not true, it could be a new crime. i repeat, a new crime committed by a president in office. the kind of direct lies to a special counsel that ken starr so insistently used against another sitting president, you might remember. and if that's true and trump did deny this to mueller, you know who else backs up this version of events? even after roger stone was indicted, he didn't den

with robert mueller. it seems like the debate of executive privilege has been add and robert mueller got the information he was looking for. if you can weigh in on your response to the congressman's comments. >> matt whit kerr can't invoke executive privilege. overtime the president can invoke executive privilege. what he may say like jeff sessions when he testified prior in the senate, he said i had conversations in anticipation of a possible invocation of executive privilege by the president, don't know if he's going to do that but let's assume he will, i won't answer your question. and that's where the committee said i will subpoena him. i'm not sure i agree with harry it was a mistake in tactic. i just don't know it will be effective in actually getting whitaker's jaw to move and say words that would fill in exactly what he's trying to hide. but for all of your viewers at home, if he says tomorrow something like, in anticipation of executive privilege, quack, quack, quack, we know he's trying to hide

mueller. we start with the cases out of new york which many trump allies believe represent a grave legal threat to the president. from the "times" today, "as federal prosecutors in manhattan gathered evidence late last year about president trump's role in silencing women with hush payments during the 2016 campaign, mr. trump called matthew whitaker, his newly installed a.g., with a question. he asked whether jeff berman, the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, and a trump ally, could be put in charge of the widening investigation." that's according to several american officials with direct knowledge of the call. the "times" also writes this, "mr. whitaker, who had privately told associates that part of his role at the justice department was to, quote, jump on a grenade for the president. knew that he could not put mr. berman in charge since mr.e er e berman had already recused himself from the investigation. the president would soon sour on whitaker as he often does with his a

>>> delayed by mueller. former trump fixer michael cohen postpones testimony before a second house panel for what's being described as the interest of the investigation. is that a clue about robert mueller's next move? >>> and lack of support. more than half of americans say they are not likely to back president trump in 2020 as more democrats are preparing to reveal their white house plans. we'll tell you who's on top in our exclusive new poll. >>> we want to welcome our viewers in the eyes and arnold the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you here in the situation room. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >>> house democrats launch a sweeping investigation into the president undeterred by his state of the union attack on their new oversight powers or is complaints of presidential harassments. adam schiff promising to go beyond the rux election interference and possible collusion with the trump campaign. he now says the committee dig deep into the president's finances and whether russia has leverage over mr. tru

. >>> another mueller friday. as mueller's prosecutors win a new ruling to gag roger stone. that just happened. and it's big. mueller also dropping the hammer on paul manafort. he's making a new push asking the federal judge to sentence manafort to prison immediately. those developments obviously ominous for several trump figures in the russia probe and they come as president trump used this ramabling and bizarre press conference, and i say that even by 2019 standards, to claim a, quote, national emergency at the border while also undermining himself. that's a story i mentioned with chuck and we'll cover it later on tonight. we begin with today's ruler against trump's longtime adviser roger stone. it goes right at what roger stone prizes most, his ability to make his case in public. this federal judge finding mueller won the arguments for a partial gag order. that means it bans stone and his lawyers from public remarks that would prejudice jurors as well as even talking at all when they come and go from the court. anyone watching stone's recent conduct knows that will requir

mueller's office stayed silent. like many, many reporters, i checked in with mueller's office during that news cycle to basically see if they wanted to add any context or comment and they declined. the only reason week report mueller will go past this week, his new boss announced friday mueller will go past next week. that reinforces unlike some chattier people in law enforcement, ken starr or james comey, there are only two sources of firsthand information we get on the probe. the filings, material he releases, and information released by people that interact with mueller, witnesses, defendants and their lawyers. that's it. if you want hard intel on the probe, things that people saw or experienced, you immediate those witnesses or their lawyers. that's why on the beat we turn to people with firsthand experience whenever possible, regardless of politics or choices. we interviewed a member when he defied mueller, he later backed down. he was a firsthand source. we interviewed two roger stone associates that describe

this is an odd duck case among all of the mueller and mueller derived investigations thus far. it's ultimately important to know, though, about this concord management case that at every turn, at every incremental step that we have been able to see thus far in the case, concord management and their u.s. defense team have lost against mueller's prosecutors. everything they fought on, they have lost. today was no exception. today the judge in the concord management case issued her order on yet another request by concord management that they should get yet more discovery materials as part of this case. the judge ruled flatly no, ruled against them full stop. no, they cannot have those new discovery materials they're asking for. they have lost at every step of this case thus far, including today. that same theme, that same little melody also seems to be applying when it comes to the new case of roger stone, the long-time trump political adviser who was arrested at his home in florida two weeks ago. stone was charged with seven felony counts for allegedly lying to congress and tramp

barr said he's more inclined to issue his own report on the mueller probe not the mueller report itself. so laura, obviously so many people in this country they want to see it, get their hands on it. what's this whole thing been about. how much of the mueller report do you think the public will see? >> at least initially probably not much if anything, brooke. the key word for barr is discreti discretion. it's totally up to him. he's more than aware of how the public is chomping at the bit for this report and that congress even more so will be up in arms when he tries to withhold anything but at the same time the justice department doesn't put everything out there in the typical investigation. understanding this isn't the typical investigation, but barr above anyone is trying to get back to the old days, trying to avoid the model of former fbi director comey isn't going to want to put out investigation on people who have been uncharged and the way the mueller report works is that he has to lay out not just his prosecution decisions but his decisions not to prosecute and i think that's wh

the mueller report. >> they're waiting for robert mueller's report. >> with robert mueller said to be wrapping up, still so many unanswered questions. what did president trump know about the infamous trump tower meeting? was there coordination between the trump campaign and russia? most of all, why does it seem the president doesn't want to get to the bottom of what russia did? we'll break it all down with neal katyal. acting solicitor general. sol wisenburg, and jim himes. and arkansas governor asa hutchinson. >>> also, that coast guard lieutenant charged with plotting to kill democratic politicians and journalists. >> the sheer number and force of the weapons recovered from mr. hasson's residence, coupled with the disturbing nature of his writings appear to reflect a significant threat to the safety of our community. >> how widespread is this kind of violent white nationalism? and why did the government stay quiet about the arrest? my guest this morning, former homeland security secretary jeh johnson. >>> and off and running -- >> our campaign is about transforming our country. >> b

he is quite close personally to robert mueller. they were fends and he has the utmost respect for him. he used the wor inconceivable about the possibility that he to get rid see cause of mueller so i think even some of the keanlts senators whoga votedst him felt like that would the belles they could get under president trump. robert: when you think about the barr decision and the mueller report, part of the frenzy this week w just about the timing of the reports but about what's going to beor in the r and mark and his colleagues at the timesn published in-depth account of what they called the president's sustained and secretivessault on federal law enforcement. it spelled out example after exreple about how the psident has tried to undermine and discredit not just the mueller probe but the district in new yorkbout hush money payments in 2016. the mueller reportor under the obstruction side of this whole situation, not just then collus and the russian interference but the corruption and thacould be a real swepter -- specter for this

. >>> "outfront" next, mueller about to make his move. cnn learning he could wrap up the russia investigation as soon as next week. will mueller have a smoking gun? >>> plus, the white house bracing for a shakeup. could the director of national intelligence be out? >>> and breaking news, the "empire" actor who claimed to have been the victim of a racist, homophobic attack, is now officially a suspect. let's go "outfront." >>> good evening. i'm erin burnetburnett. "outfront" tonight the mueller report, after one year and nine months, sources tell cnn that attorney general bill barr is preparing to announce the russia investigation is done. now, we have learned this could happen as soon as next week. the big question, is there a smoking gun? and will we, the american people, see mueller's report? today, president trump tried to act like it's all fine, it's all fine. he doesn't care. >> should the mueller report be released next week? >> that will be totally up to the new attorney general. he's a tremendous man. a tremendous person who reall

mike: you say let mueller be mueller. but axios has reported quite extensive blueprint that house democrats have for an investigation into trump and russia, involves multiple committees, likely public hearings, more witnesses. you use the phrase last night, you said you will be building a record for the american people. what is the goal is or what you intend to have that process which could continue into 2020 is over? mr. jeffries: well, i think it's transparency as to what has or has not happened as it relates to the executive branch. and as i mentioned before, that's not the hakeem jeffries playbook. that's the james madison playbook. like, he clearly indicated the legislative branch is supposed to be a rival to the executive because the founders of this country did not want an out-of-control monarchy. they wanted to rein that in. they decided the constitutional fabric that could enable that to happen is the separate and co-equal branch of government. mike: what should this record include? mr. jeffries: well, you know,

we've seen some of the prosecutors who worked on the mueller team depart the mueller team. so we've been seeing a willowing down of the team that's been doing this investigation and shimon and laura have talked about i think one of the things that we've seen the pieces of this investigation have gone to other offices. we only know about a few of them, but there are many more pieces that have been farmed out to another u.s. attorneys office. here is the deal. i think mueller and certainly the justice department leadership is very aware that they cannot have a special counsel that goes on forever. so it was one of those things that they've been trying to do is figure out how to make sure that the nucleus of this investigation that mueller was really appointed to do, right, which is what happened in 2016 and sort of that part of the investigation is handled by mueller and then the things that are more complicated and things that have to do with perhaps financial issues and perhaps can be handled by the southern district of new york and the u.s. attorneys office in washington a

this is an odd duck case among all of the mueller and mueller derived investigations we've seen thus far. it's ultimately important to know, though, about this concord management case that at every turn, at every incremental step that we have been able to see thus far in the case, concord management and their u.s. defense team have lost against mueller's prosecutors. everything they fought on, they have lost. today was no exception. today the judge in the concord management case issued her order on yet another request by concord management that they should get yet more discovery materials as part of this case. the judge ruled flatly no, ruled against them full stop. no, they cannot have those new discovery materials they're asking for. they have lost at every step of this case thus far, including today. that same theme, that same little melody also seems to be applying when it comes to the new case of roger stone, the longtime trump political adviser who was arrested at his home in florida two and a half weeks ago. stone was charged with seven felony counts for allegedly lying to con

let's assume it's a final report from mueller. then it goes to the attorney general and then the attorney general is to provide a second report to congress. and it's contemplated in the regulations that report should be public if the public administration of justice so requires. so two different reports, but most importantly, these are only about mueller. this is in his investigation, which is a very limited one into russia counterintelligence and then obstruction of justice, the firing of comey. it doesn't have to do with the southern district investigation, the trump foundation, the other things congress is looking into and the like. so that's all separate. so we should just, as we talk about the mueller investigation, remember that's just one piece of a much larger inquiry. >> neal, do you believe a brief summary is in the president's best interest? >> i don't. i actually think that if it is a brief summary, it actually could be counterproductive to the president because it won't resolve anything, and i think, you know, the inv

i think rosenstein's calculus was, everyone's going to love bob mueller. bob mueller is one of us. he's a republican. he's rock-ribbed guy. they're going to love him. but it's not compelling policy to hear we've got to be careful about classified information when jim jordan and all the brothers on the right were happy to blow up every fisa application and let go of all kinds of sources to reveal what they wanted to about the fbi. but let me ask you something else, chris christie says, if i'm with trump, i'm more worried about what they're doing at the southern district and eastern district than mueller. why? >> well, i think chris christie's absolutely right about that. because, look, that, again, chris, you said it earlier. that's not a political process at the end of the day. those are prosecutors in the southern district of new york and the eastern district of new york that are looking at the conduct of the trump organization and certainly the president and the folks at the trump organization who are being interviewed have to be concerned about that. anytime there's subpoenas se

you might expect to see mueller before the house judiciary committee as well. we have seen him on tv. he has been the subject of a lot of speculation. to hear him fauk abotalk about findings. >> right. >> we'll see if he does. we do know that mueller in this special counsel team have already farmed out a lot of these investigations to the u.s. attorney in new york or here in washington d.c. around the country that we don't even know about. >> it was with one of the ways mueller sort of insulated the investigation just the case things went south. you can want fire southern district of new york. some didn't fall within his jurisdiction. some of them did fall within his jurisdiction. as lon as the investigate ifr body is complete he can hand them off. we won't see them do the trial of roger stone. >> is that the normal way it is done? they farm out to regional u.s. attorneys the job of prosecute are individuals once the special counsel's operation is completed? >> we have a limited set of counsels into this but it isn't uncommon. they are investigating one issue,

mueller honest? >> i have been on the record of his ability to conduct this investigation. >> do you believe he's honest or no? >> yes, i do believe he's honest. >> do you believe he's conflicted? >> congressman, as i mention regarding recusal for the individual lawyer to make once a matter before them. i am sure whether it is bob mueller or rosenstein. >> do you believe that mr. mueller is conflicted? >> as acting attorney general, i follow regular order at the department of justice. i expected that the lawyers and the staff that work for me follow regular orders. as i sit here today, i don't have any reason to believe that. >> you believe he's honest and you don't believe he's conflicted. can you say mr. president, bob mueller is not conflicted. >> i am not in public to repeat what you said. >> are you able to say it? >> i have answered your question of what i believe of the special counsel. >> can you say it to the president though? >> i don't think man, i am not here to repeat term and words that

robert mueller? >> i asked william barr whether he would allow robert mueller to testify, he was noncommittal. i asked william barr if he would object to a subpoena for the mueller report, he was noncommittal. but i think there will be subpoenas. >> can you subpoena robert mueller? can your committee subpoena robert mueller? >> a senate or house committee can subpoena anyone. the department of justice may resist it, but here's the really important point. the american public and you showed it a couple of times already this morning, 87% believe they have a right to know. and i think congress will be hard put to resist the outpouring of public support for this bill that senator grassley and i have submitted the it's bipartisan. i've been absolutely amazed by the interests on the part of my colleagues in it and i think you'll find a lot of support. >> our cnn reporting is that the mueller report could come as early as next week. is that what you were hearing? >> only mueller knows, number one. number two

mueller honest? >> congressman, i have been on the record about my respect for bob mueller and his ability to conduct this investigation. >> so you don't believe -- you believe he's honest, you don't believe he's conflicted. can you say right now, mr. president, bob mueller is honest and not conflicted? >> congressman, i'm not a puppet to repeat what you're saying -- >> are you able to say it or do you not believe it? >> congressman, i'm not here to be a puppet to repeat terms and words that you say that i should say. >> can you say that to the president? >> whitaker's goal through a lot of this may have been to evade and try to grind down the hearing into a parsing petty foggy haze that, frankly, exhausts the people participating or watching. and we've seen that tactic before. when a witness does that, they can achieve a kind of tactical progress, even though they also look bad. they look kind of uncooperative. there were, i can tell fwrou from going over this, a lot of moments of petty fogging toda

mueller's team has been fighting him. there is a subpoena for an unnamed corporation that is owned by an unnamed foreign government that's gone up to the supreme court and back down. they are fighting that. that is not resolved. there is the seizures of roger stone's material. none that of is resolved. what do you make of the fact that there appear to be loose threads just right there, and it also looks like he's headed towards some kind of conclusion? >> i think there are some things that we may never know, and that has to do with national security. one of the big gaps we've talked about before, and we still don't know about is wikileaks. look, if you want to push a collusion conspiracy, wikileaks sets between stone, stone's associates and everybody in between. you to put that russia connection together. and the same thing with kilimnik. when they went to the filing, they said person a in 2016 is acting as an agent on behalf of the russian intelligence service that has not been closed out either. this will go into nation

while mueller has a very limited scope, right? sdny investigates crime. >> whatever they find in new york. you're saying in this theatrical analogy, khuzami is the bear, the prosecutor? >> yes. his office is the bear. >> and donald trump is leo? >> at best. he better hope he is leo. he better hope he has the wiliness. >> let me ask you this. if he is leo, what about "catch me if you can?" is he maybe a con man in catch me if you can? >> khuzami is tom hanks. and don jr., his stuff. don jr. is the guy who wanders into the middle of the movie and asks what's going on. he is completely out of his element, and he has no idea. i'm trying to be funny because it's so maddening what's going on. but don jr. has absolutely no idea that he is the weakest link. it's don jr. and eric and ivanka who to my mind are going to be the first, the first people over the falls in terms of what sdny is investigating and what have you that. >> goes to the overlap with mueller and then i'm going bring joyce in on this. you look at don jr. and the reports h

waiting for the mueller report. >> they're waiting for robert mueller's report. >> with robert mueller said to be wrapping up, still so many unanswered questions. what did president trump know about the infamous t trumpower meeting? was therecoordination between the trump campaign and russia? most of all, why does it seem the president doesn't want to get to the bottom of what russia did? we'll break it all down with neal katyal.ac ng solicitor general. sol wisenberg. democrat jim himes. and arkansas governor asa humpenson. >>> also, that coast guard lieutenant charged with plotting to kill democratic politicians and journalists. >> the sheer number and force of the weapons recovered from mr. hassen's residence, coupled with the disturbing nature of his writings appear to reflect a significant threat to the safety of our community. >> how widespread is this kind of violent white nationalism? and why did th governmen stay quiet about the arrest? my guest this morning, former homeland security secretary jeh johnson. >>> and off and running -- >> our campaign isbout transforming our count

now what was true then is very relevant now in the mueller probe. picking weissmann meant you would get very tough prosecution and maybe controversially so, because he is widely known for being effective and controversial. and that is based on three major tactics. keep an eye out for these as we see where this whole thing goes. one, he supersizes even seemingly small offenses to play hardball. two, he has managed to flip even hardened criminals into cooperating witnesses and he targets entire corporations or defendants' own family members. i repeat, defendants' own family members. now those first two tactics are pretty widely used. the third, as you may know, isn't. and during the time that this enron prosecution was going on, there was a top doj official james comey, someone of course who is relevant now in the russia probe as a doj official who stood up to trump which we know the president didn't like. >> james comey was unfair to the people of this country. i think what he did was a disgrace. i think he goes down as the worst fbi director in hist

the mueller models are all over the map. the democratic models have a direct hit on the white house, legal experts are modelling a once in a century storm that makes land fall multiple times. and then there is a mod from from trump loyalist that have an unexpected turn over to hillary clinton's house. and then there is an increasing sense of panic that the administration will fight like heck to keep the whole thing out of public view. joining me tonight is tom winter and nick ackramen. and greg bower, a former u.s. attorney ae congressional congry s -- liaison. we got official report that there will be no mueller report next week. is this what every friday will be leek? >> in your new role of the jim cantore of politics, i like that one. i think we would have been a little surprised if this report would have come out next week or we would have gotten notice of it and i think for a key reason, the president is out of the country next week and he is out of the country for a very important reason, he is meeting with kim jong un

mueller. he said he in no way interfered with mr. mueller. he said he has not communicated to the president or any officials at the white house anything he learned about the mueller investigation. so if you want to bottle all that up, the democrats are suspicious. they want to know why the president picked the chief of staff to jeff sessions to replace jeff sessions when he fired him. they're suspicious because of the president's constant attacks on jeff sessions and the justice department and the investigation, but anybody who wants to jump in -- the roll call is just about done. he has done nothing to give the democrats a reason to advance suspicions of him, is that correct? >> that's right. even saying during the hearing he has not talked to the president about the mueller probe is allaying those suspicions. what hasn't been brought up yet is the sndy probe, and we're looking to see if they're back in session. >> let's get back to the hearing. karen bass, democratic senator of california, asking her questions. >> you recommended that facts

on the mueller piece, each of you are legal experts in various ways, but on the mueller piece, john, what would bob mueller want to know from this person who plays a spokesperson role? would she have the juice on anything else? >> well, i think you need to ask and expect them to thoroughly and diligently investigate the facts as they have to ask her, often the person in that role is privy to conversations with the principles inside the white house. so it's an opportunity to learn what did she know before she made certain public statements that might appear to be designed to influence people outside of the white house and explore what the basis was for those statements. >> interesting when you put it like that. let's take a look, then, a some of what she was saying about all of this controversy. >> the statement that don jr. issued is true. there's no inaccuracy in the statement. he certainly didn't dictate. >> the outside counsel did weigh in saying yes, the president did dictate the statement. do you want to correct the record on your statement from august when you said he certainly

we don't know what mueller has found. mueller is operating a grand jury investigation largely in secret. congressional committees are designed to bring information to the public. so while there may be some overlap, and i don't really know that there is, just how the information comes out and whether it comes out is very different. >> garrett, your piece, what robert mueller knows and isn't telling us, what isn't he telling us? >> well, what has been so striking when you look at this -- the court filings that mueller has put out both in terms of sentencing documents and then the indictments including the roger stone one, is the silence, the conspicuous silence on what has been said in the conversations that mueller is reporting on. for instance, he -- in that roger stone indictment in that amazing paragraph 12 lays out that a senior trump campaign official was directed to contact roger stone and talk about wikileaks. and so, you know, there's mueller saying that he knows about the internal decision-making process of the tr

leaving mueller's team. we have different sources in different parts of the law enforcement community saying they see suns this report's coming soon. we reported in december and january it would be around mid to late february. we're past that point. i think it's -- everybody can guess about what could happen. but to my mind the most interesting thing is going to be why -- what does mueller find about why all these people lied? what does mueller find about what donald trump knew when? that's to me the big reveal. it may be that he finds a series of interesting connections and a nexus among all of these advisors that doesn't touch donald trump, that doesn't touch the president. but that is the central question. why did they lie? why are they all tight with him and lie about things that relate to the campaign and what did he know e? >> in my line of work when a pulitzer prize winner gives you a great closing quote, it's time to close the segment and so we will. to terrible defense attorney, thank you all very m