rosenstein was crafting this memo about the comey firing, the president wanted rod rosenstein to put information in there about russia. and here's how andrew mccabe explained it. >> rod was concerned by his interactions with the president who seemed to be very focused on firing the director and saying things like, make sure you put russia in your memo. that concerned rod in the same way that it concerned me and the fbi investigators on the russia case. >> what's not clear, really, wolf, in the end, is why did the president want russia mentioned in this memo? it could be that the president wanted to say that he was not being investigated, that comey had said he was not a target of the investigation. it could be for, you know, a whole host of reasons, but it is particularly interesting that rod rosenstein would have this conversation withly clear to me why he would do that. certainly having that conversation with rod rosenstein set off alarm bells in andrew mccabe's head. >> that's a fair point. >>> another sensitive issue right now, roger stone had a post on social media about the fed

rod rosenstein in a position to consider invoking the 25th amendment. we know he wasn't. he wasn't a member of the cabinet. you have to be the vice president or a member of the cabinet. you never have suggested that rod rosenstein was in a position to invoke the 25th amendment. so what you have said is he participated in very serious discussions of it more than once and that he more than once participated in discussions and led discussions of should he wear a wire into the oval office? >> so i think you're absolutely right. i've read that statement. it is very carefully worded and i don't think there is anything in that statement that contradicts the statements that i've made in my book. i would caution you, though, rod's comments about the 25th amendment were strictly that. they were comments off the top of his head in the course of wide-ranging, frenetic and conversation about other things. it was a conversation like, look where we are. look at the sort of things we're having to think about and discuss and walk through, simply because our own presiden

that was rod rosenstein. that conversation happened in those critical 8 days. >> sean: what about comey's role in all of this, congressman? >> jim comey, too. right now we have two guys saying two different things. rod rosenstein and andy mccabe saying two different things. we need both of those guys under oath in front of our committee. this is how the system works. we can evaluate who is lying and who is not. two most important witnesses shawn's sean james comey signed on the first fisa warrant. he went to trump tower and said it's salacious the dossier but it's unverified. the bulk of information was the dossier. he lied tout president-elect or he lied to the fisa court and didn't all of them consciously lie to the fisa court because they didn't verify it. >> all true, sean, i'm not disputing any of that here's what we know, rod rosenstein said he didn't say that he was trying to invoke the 25th amendment actively pursuing removing the president from office. andy mccabe and two opener people we have depose

that was rod rosenstein. that conversation happened in those critical eight days. >> sean: what about comey's role in all of this, congressman? >> jim comey, too. right now we have two guys saying two different things. rod rosenstein and andyos mccabe saying two different things. we need both of those guys under oath in front of our committee. this is how the system works. we can evaluate who is lying and who is not. two most important witnesses >> sean: james comey signed on the first fisa warrant, october 2016. he went to trump tower and said it's salacious the dossier but it's unverified. the bulk of information was the dossier. he lied to the president-elect or he lied to the fisa court and didn't all of them consciously lie to the fisa court because they didn'tau verify it? >> all true, sean, i'm not disputing any of that. but here's what we know, rod rosenstein said he didn't say that he was trying to invoke the 25th amendment, actively pursuing removing the president from office. andy mccabe and two op

rosenstein because rod rosenstein does not dare to contradict one word that andrew mccabe actually said about him, and that is because rod rosenstein no doubt knows that andrew mccabe took careful notes of all of his conversations and all of those notes are in the possession of special prosecutor robert mueller. so if you're trying to judge andrew mccabe's credibility about what he has written in his book and what he has been saying in his interviews, the fact is that as of tonight, and now this could change, but as of right now tonight not one word andrew mccabe has written or said in his interviews has been contradicted by any of the people he is talking about in his book or in his interviews. >> i knew with this book i had the opportunity to give the american public the rare chance to peek behind the fbi curtain to understand who does this work, why do we do it, and how do we do it. how do we make these decisions? how do we decide where this incredible organization is going to go and what we're going to do? it's not the story that you've heard from the president. it is not the story

rod rosenstein in a position to consider invoking the 25th amendment. we know he wasn't. he wasn't a member of the cabinet. you have to be the vice president or a member of the cabinet. you never have suggested that rod rosenstein was in a position to invoke the 25th amendment. so what you have said is he participated in very serious discussions of it more than once and that he more than once participated in discussions and led discussions of should he wear a wire into the oval office? >> so i think you're absolutely right. i've read that statement. it is very carefully worded and i don't think there is anything in that statement that contradicts the statements that i've made in my book. i would caution you, though, rod's comments about the 25th amendment were strictly that. they were comments off the top of his head in the course of wide-ranging, frenetic and conversation about other things. it was a conversation like, look where we are. look at the sort of things we're having to think about and discuss ask wand walk through, y because our own presiden

did rod rosenstein give the special counsel the authority to investigate specific americans? >> congressman, mr. rosenstein acting as the attorney general because of mr. sessions' recusal gave authorization and jurisdiction to the special counsel and so, yes, urnder the special counsel regulations, that's the whole purpose of the special counsel. >> you said yes, so there are specific names two and a half months into the investigation that rod rosenstein gave the special counsel specific american names to go investigate? >> congressman -- >> because if that's the case, i hope you -- i want to know yes or no, i hope you answer it. >> this is the subject of an ongoing investigation. i spoke to you generally about investigations. >> but i'm asking you a specific -- let me ask it this way. can you give us assurances that there are not specific names under this 70% redacted memo that rod rosenstein sent to the special counsel? >> congressman jordan, i know this is -- >> you know why i ask this, mr. attorney general. because in this country we don't investigate people, we investiga

look, i think is what we know rod rosenstein's point of view to be. we saw it in the letter that he wrote when they fired james comey, which was the idea that if someone is not charged with a crime, in the hillary clinton case, for instance, with which the fbi director stood up and did this press conference saying there's not going to be any charges against her, but then said all of the different things that he thought she did wrong. take a listen to rod rosenstein today speaking on this issue. >> a knee-jerk reaction to suggest that we should be transparent about what we do in government, but there are a lot of reasons not to be transparent about what we do in government. just because the government collects information doesn't mean that information is accurate and it can be really misleading if you're overly transparent about information that the government collects. so i think we do need to be really cautious about that. if we aren't prepared to prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt in court, we have no business making allegations against americ

>>> this morning, new details about the timeline for rod rosenstein's exit from the justice department. this as the president lashes out over what he's calling treasonous behavior. across the country americans mark presidents' day by protesting trump's emergency declaration to fund a border d wall. moreer than a dozen states filee lawsuits challenging the ws president. >>> president trumpng issues a u warning to venezuela's military. he says all options are on the table when it comes to ousting the president's socialist president, nicolas maduro. eside. >>> good morning, everybody. it is tuesday, february 19, i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside a louis burgdorf. we'll start with deputy ag, rod rosenstein who spent the last 21 months overseeing the special counsel's investigation has aboutat three weeks left at the justice department. officials put rod rosenstein's date of departure around the middle ofnd march after a brief transition period under new attorney general william barr. reportsli indicate that barr settled on deputy transportation secretary jeffrey rossin as his replacement. t

rosenstein. >> rod was concerned by his interactions with the president who seemed to be very focussed on firing the director and saying things like make sure you put russia in your memo. that concerned rod in the same way that it concerned me and the fbi investigators on the russia case. >> he didn't want to put russia in his memo. >> he did not. he explained to the president that he did not need russia in his memo, and the president responded, i understand that. i'm asking you to put russia in the memo anyway. >> so let's start there with our cnn crime and justice reporter, shimon prokupecz. i mean, there had been reporting on this alleged conversation in the past so what more did andy mccabe reveal in that 60 minutes interview. >> you're right. there had been reporting on this in the past concerning that there was a memo that was written where rod rosenstein said that the president wanted him to put in russia -- put russia in writing in this memo that was put together in the firing of the former fbi director, but it was really about more that the president wanted him to say that the

>> when you decided to launch these two investigations, was the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein on board with that? >> absolutely. >> mccabe also noted trump's public comments linking his firing of comey to the russia investigation and that trump reportedly discussed it with russian officials in the oval office, no less. mccabe also told "60 minutes" about his conversations with deputy a.g. rod rosenstein and the possibility of secretly recording the president. >> we talked about why the president had insisted on firing the director and whether or not he was thinking about the russia investigation and did that impact his decision. and in the context of that conversation, the deputy attorney general offered to wear a wire into the white house. he was not joking. he was absolutely serious. and in fact, he brought it up in the next meeting we had. i never actually considered taking him up on the offer. i did discuss it with my general counsel. i think the general counsel had a heart attack. when he got up off the floor, he said that's a bridge too far. we're not there yet. >> the j

the commission, the context, all about the 25 amendment, and rod rosenstein. maybe he didn't really mean that says he. >> rod rosenstein was actually openly talking about whether there was a majority of the cabinet who would vote to remove the president. >> correct counting votes -- >> did he present that idea to other cabinet officials. >> not that i'm aware of. >> not that he is aware of, yes, he did, yes he didn't, we take up the mccabe contradictions after this quick break. former chief u.s. assistant attorney federal prosecutor andy mccarthy joining us, stay with us, we'll be right back. i switched to liberty mutual because they let me customize my insurance, and as a fitness junkie, i customize everything. like my bike and my calves. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ well now there's score!, time...from force factor,enin'. to rev your libido and maximize physical response. it's no wonder walmart offers score! in more locations than any other performance enhancer. un

did rod rosenstein give the special counsel the authority to investigate specific americans? >> congressman, mr. rosenstein acting as the attorney general, because of mr. sessions' recusal, gave authorization and jurisdiction to the special counsel, and so yes, under the special counsel regulations, that's the whole purpose of the special counsel. >> you said yes, so there are specific names two and a half months into the investigation that rod rosenstein gave the special counsel, specific american names to go investigate? >> congressman, as you know -- >> if that's the case, i hope -- i want to know yes or no. >> this is the subject of an ongoing investigation, and i spoke to you generally about investigations. >> let me ask it this way. can you give us assurances that there are not specific names under this 70% redacted memo that rod rosenstein sent to the special counsel? >> congressman jordan, i know this report -- >> you know why i'm asking you this, acting attorney general. because in this country we don't investigate people, we investigate crimes, and if there are spec

the commission, the context, all about the 25 amendment, and rod rosenstein. maybe he didn't really mean that says he. >> rod rosenstein was actually openly talking about whether there was a majority of the cabinet who would vote to remove the president. >> correct counting votes -- >> did he present that idea to other cabinet officials. >> not that i'm aware of. >> not that he is aware of, yes, he did, yes he didn't, we take up the mccabe contradictions after this quick break. former chief u.s. assistant attorney federal prosecutor andy mccarthy joining us, stay with us, we'll be right back. ♪ turn up your swagger game with one a day gummies. one serving... ...once a day... ...with nutrients that support 6 vital functions... ...and one healthy you. that's the power of one a day. to be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing it's best to make you everybody else... ♪ ♪ means to fight the hardest battle, which any human being can fight and never stop. does this sound dismal? it isn't. ♪ ♪ it's the most wonderful life on earth. ♪ ♪ but allstat

>> when you decided to launch these two investigations, was the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein on board with that? >> absolutely. >> mccabe also noted trump's public comments linking his firing of comey to the russia investigation and that trump reportedly discussed it with russian officials in the oval office, no less. mccabe also told "60 minutes" about his conversations with deputy ag rod rosenstein and the possibility of secretly recording the president. >> we talked about why the president had insisted on firing the director and whether or not he was thinking about the russia investigation and did that impact his decision. and in the context of that conversation, the deputy attorney general offered to wear a wire into the white house. he was not joking. he was absolutely serious. and, in fact, he brought it up in the next meeting we had. i never actually considered taking him up on the offer. i did discuss it with my general counsel. i think the general counsel had a heart attack. when he got up off the floor, he said that's a bridge too far. we're not there yet. >> the ju

i would hope to hear a more detailed accounting of this by rod rosenstein. >> please stay with me. we have much more on this breaking news, andrew mccabe in his own words of the moment when president trump was told of the intelligence, he said i don't care i believe putin. not just airline purchases? everything. hey, how'd you get in here? cross-checking. nice. what's in your wallet... oh, c'mon! it's a revolution in sleep. the sleep number 360 smart bed is on sale now, from $899, during the ultimate sleep number event. it senses your movement, and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. it even helps with this. so you wake up ready to hit the ground running. only at a sleep number store. during our presidents day weekend special, save 50% on the sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. plus, 36-month financing. ends monday. sleep number... proven quality sleep but some give their clients cookie cutter portfolios. fisher investments tailors portfolios to your goals and needs. some only call when they have something to sell. fisher calls regularly so you stay informed

deputy attorney general rod rosenstein is reportedly going to leave the justice department next month. this comes as former acting fbi director andrew mccabe, who will join us here tomorrow night, says that rod rosenstein participated in very serious discussions at the justice department about removing president trump from office by using the 25th amendment. and up with of those strange confidants of donald trump's who could never have access to any other president of the united states revealed who the next jeff sessions is, the president's bunching bag in the trump cabinet. that will be revealed at the end of the hour in tonight's last word. onight's last word ♪ turn up your swagger game with one a day gummies. one serving... ...once a day... ...with nutrients that support 6 vital functions... ...and one healthy you. that's the power of one a day. frstill, we never stoppedss wmaking it stronger.e. faster. smarter. because to be the best, is to never ever stop making it better. the new 2019 c-class family. lease the c 300 sport sedan for $429 a month at your local mercedes-benz deal

deputy attorney general rod rosenstein is reportedly going to leave the justice department next month. this comes as former acting fbi director andrew mccabe, who will join us here tomorrow night, says that rod rosenstein participated in very serious discussions at the justice department about removing president trump from office by using the 25th amendment. and up with of those strange confidants of donald trump's who could never have access to any other president of the united states revealed who the next jeff sessions is, the president's bunching bag in the trump cabinet. that will be revealed at the end of the hour in tonight's last word. ♪ turn up your swagger game with one a day gummies. one serving... ...once a day... ...with nutrients that support 6 vital functions... ...and one healthy you. that's the power of one a day. >>> we have breaking news about the justice department tonight. deputy attorney general rod rosenstein is reportedly poised to leave the justice department next month. this comes immediately after former acting director of the fbi, andrew mccabe, who will j

did rod rosenstein give the special counsel the authority to investigate specific americans? >> congressman, mr. rosenstein acting as the attorney general -- because of mr. sessions' recusal -- give authorization and jurisdiction to the special counsel. so, yes, under the special counsel regulations, that is the whole purpose of the special counsel. >> you said yes, so there are specific names, two and half months into the investigation, that rod rosenstein give the special counsel specific american names to go investigat investigate? >> congressman, as you know -- >> if that's the case, i hope -- i want to know -- >> as you know, this is the subject of an ongoing investigation. i have spoke to you generally about investigations. >> i'm asking you -- let me ask you this way. can you give us assurances that there are not specific names under this 70% redacted memo that rod rosenstein sent to the special counsel? >> congressman jordan, i know this -- >> you know i'm asking this, mr. attorney general? because of this country we don't investigate people. we investigate crimes. if

the commission, the context, all about the 25 amendment, and rod rosenstein. maybe he didn't really mean that says he. >> rod rosenstein was actually openly talking about whether there was a majority of the cabinet who would vote to remove the president. >> correct counting votes -- >> did he present that idea to other cabinet officials. >> not that i'm aware of. >> not that he is aware of, yes, he did, yes he didn't, we take up the mccabe contradictions after this quick break. former chief u.s. assistant attorney federal prosecutor andy mccarthy joining us, stay with us, we'll be right back. ♪ the first-of-its-kind lexus ux and ux f sport, with the latest safety system standard, best-in-class turn radius and best-in-class mpg. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. turn up your swagger game with one a day gummies. one serving... ...once a day... ...with nutrients that support 6 vital functions... ...and one healthy you. that's the power of one a day. when it comes to so,type 2 diabetes,.. are you thinking about your heart? well, i'm managing my a1c, so i

was he hearing it from rod rosenstein? i know lisa page was a piece of that, too. was he hearing this from? >> the testimony indicated it was mccabe and lisa page. don't forget, she was the attorney for mccain. they would have been right there. of course, it becomes hearsay because they had talked to rod rosenstein. i don't recall mr. baker saying that he had heard it directly from rosenstein. >> melissa: if you listen to the interview last night, one of the things that really struck me was that mccabe really hung it all on rod rosenstein. he was like -- "i was sitting in this room, and i thought, "how did i get here?" rosenstein is the one who's almost thinking out loud about this idea of invoking the 25th amendment. kind of drawing mccabe in. is that the way at the picture was kind of painted to you guys in the committee by james baker, or is this kind of a new way of framing things? >> that's not really the way i took it from the baker testimon testimony. i took it really that rosenstein was a big instigator, but that mccabe was in there, as well. don't forget,

first to you, pete williams, this is a very angry presidential response to rod rosenstein. he may be nearing the end of his tenure, but the mccabe details here that there was a second conversation about it and he talked about the wire with his general counsel. let's put aside right now all of the revelations about the 25th amendment and this is in some ways a more serious indicator, if you will, of rosenstein's reported concerns about the president and russia right after the comey firing. >> a couple of thoughts about this, andrea. first of all, this is not the first time we heard about this. remember "the new york times" heard about this this fall and then decided not to. what we were told at the time was if he went down to the white house and resigned it would look like he was doing something wrong and secondly, president's tweet, he says they were caught doing this will remember this was mccabe's disclosure and so no one was caught by some third party. the other point is when we first asked about this last fall, we were told we talked to some people in the room and their

and impleme want to read an exc from the book that deals with rod rosenstein. our viewers will remember he wrote that letter about firing james comey. he says he started talking about the firing of jim comey, he was obviously upset. he said he was shocked that the white house was making it look as if jim's firing had been his idea. he was grasping for a way to describe the nature of his situation. one remark stands out. he said, there's no one that i can talk to about this. there's no one here that i can trust. what does that say to you about rosenstein's mindset then and now, paul? >> it tells me that that's an extraordinarily human reaction. we knew jim comey, when we served as u.s. attorneys, he was our boss, a highly respected individual. i'm sure it's true that rod felt terribly about all the events happening to jim comey and must have felt some responsibility, correctly or incorrectly, about jim's firing. that anguish i'm sure was real. >> did rod rosenstein actually speak about wearing a wiretap, authorizing the use of a wiretap? >> not a wiretap but a c

rod rosenstein on one side urging the limited release of mueller's findings. others like congressman adam schiff saying absolutely not they will push to have as much of it made public as important, including possibly even calling on bob mueller to testify in front of the committee. walk us through what this showdown means for both sides. in fact, is that accurate to say this showdown is emerging? >> it is so far, presenting itself to be a showdown and i think what adam schiff is doing is making clear that people on both sides of the aisle actually do want to see this report that has been working, that mueller has been working on for at least two years and if they don't have him testify publicly, adam schiff suggested they will sue the trump administration to get that information public. people want to know what happened. if things are hidden it puts both sides in a position to have to defend what happened during the next election, having to prove that the positions that they are taking are the right one and also just spurs a lot of conspiracy theories. there's

chris wray, good man, rod rosenstein, fine guy. i had no difficulty knocking down the notion this was a witch-hunt. it's not a witch-hunt. never has been or will be with bob mueller at the helm. and if matt whitaker purports to know him the way that we do, he would be able to say that in front of congress under oath at any time. he couldn't do it. >> i want to get why that would be but i first want to go to the legal threats for the president lie and the answer i played at the beginning about the southern district of new york. he refused to stay he had not taken the step of trying to reassign individuals who work at the southern district of new york and he wouldn't say that he didn't try to do that. why would that be? >> yes, so first there's a predicate we ought to discuss, and that is everybody right now in the southern district of new york is a career civil servant. i believe the u.s. toernl is at not confirmed by the southern district. you cannot define any of them. reassigning career asas would be extraordinary. all of that sa

rod rosenstein's long tenure as u.s. attorney was marked by dramatic declines in murders and other violent offenses, attributed to effective enforcement but also to robust collaborations between prosecution, police and the community focused on crime prevention. equally impressive, he demonstrated his strong commitment to preserving public trust in the justice system by going after corrupt police officers, correctional officers and even elected officials as doggedly as he pursued violent repeat offenders and large-scale drug dealers. in 2017 he was appointed by president trump to be the 37th deputy attorney general of the united states where his responsibilities included advising and assisting the attorney general and programs and providing sprupervision to l of the departments. he appointed robert mueller as special prosecutor to ensure an independent and impartial investigation and until recently was the doj official responsible for supervising that. he protects public safety, to preserves civil rights to seek justice t

. >> how long is rod rosenstein in this position. >> you know, that's a decision for rod rosenstein to make. here's how you do it. spray and scrub anything with a stain. soak your nasty jersey. it stinks! wash the really dirty clothes separately. remember -hard work builds character! new tide pods with upgraded 4-in-1 technology unleash a foolproof clean in one step. aww, you did the laundry! but you didn't fold it. oh, that wasn't in the note. should have sent a text. #1 stain and odor fighter, #1 trusted. it's got to be tide. 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. guess what day it is? guess what day it is! huh...anybody? julie! hey...guess what day it is? ah come on, i know you can hear me. mike mike mike mike mike... what day is it mike? ha ha ha ha! leslie, guess what today is? it's hump day. whoot whoot! ronny, how happy are folks who save hundred of dollars switching to geico? i'd say

it was concernin ining rod at t time. >> rosenstein was actually openly talk about whether there was majority of the cabinet who would vote to remove the president? >> that's correct. counting votes or possible votes. >> did he assign specific votes to specific people? >> no, not that i recall. >> as you're sitting in this meeting in the justice department, talking about removing the president of the united states, you were thinking what? >> how did i get here, confronting these confounding legal issues of such immense importance, not just to the fbi, but to the entire country. it was -- it was disorienting. >> i'll say. you never see discussions like this reported out of the justice department. now after mccabe sat for that interview, his spokesman released a statement that tried to play down the reference to rosenstein counting votes. the statement says mccabe did participate -- did not participate in any extended discussions about the use of the 25th amendment and says he's is not aware of those discussions. now, what you're seeing there is just how volatile this whole thing is. m

the problem for rod rosenstein is mccabe kept memos. he has contemporaneous notes about all of this. not only does mccabe have memos but his top deputy, his lawyer at the time lisa paige who we have heard about from the president given her text messages, she also kept notes. there are more. the fact that he's seen as a problematic character now given what happened with the watch dog report at the justice department, the internal investigation is one thing. i think we have to balance that against the fact that he did keep notes. >> it's a good point. i was going to ask you about this. let's be clear the president and his surrogates call every witness a liar. with michael cohen, they used it with everybody. there is basis because michael cohen has a record of lying as there is with andrew mccabe. from a legal standpoint, does that affect how a court sees mccabe -- or a judge sees mccabe's testimony and how does a judge see contemporaneous notes? does he treat them as credible, as evidence that's credible evidence? >> contemporaneous writt

rod rosenstein and andy mccabe are such credible people, both of them, with long, distinguished -- >> they are incredible. laura jared said when it comes to mccabe, you have issues of lying with internal investigators because that happened. tell us. >> the record that was made to fire him was based on the inspector general report that indicated he lied to inspector general investigators. if we look at their career -- >> it was about -- >> providing information to the media, to reporters. which, by the way, was within the scope of his activities as deputy director at the time. i read the report. i think the inspector general's report, you could look at it in a couple ways. it wasn't very precise about the timing of meetings with mccabe. i have never worked personally with either one. i look at their careers and both of them have decades worth careers of honorable service in the department. i think, taking that, this is really, they had two different take aways from a meeting that took place. andy mccabe seems to have taken the words seriously when discussing the 25th amendment. legally

he said rod rosenstein talked to hill about it and rod rosenstein appeared to be serious about it. listen to what he said on "60 minutes". >> the discussion of the 25th amendment was -- rod raised the issue and discussed it with me in the context of thinking about how many other cabinet officials might support such an effort. >> now to the other issue. mccabe insists that rosenstein was serious when he talked about wearing a wire in his white house meetings with president trump. rod rosenstein has insisted that he was only joking about it, saying it sarcastically. president trump today going off on both mccabe and rosenstein. he said wow, so many lies by andrew mccabe of the he was fired for lying and now his story gets more deranged. he and rod rosenstein, hired by jeff sessions, another beauty, looked like they were planning a very illegal act and got caught. he goes on to say, this was the illegal and treasonous insurance policy in full action. but while the president was taking aim at mccabe and rosenstein, rosenstein tendered his resignation weeks ago but still at the departme

he and rod rosenstein looked like they were planning a very illegal act and got caught. there's a lot of explaining to do to millions of people who just elected a president who they really like and who has done a good job for them. this was the illegal and treasonist insurance policy in full action. mercedes schlapp said that mccabe has no credibility. he has lied on several occasions and that he is a partisan hack. i wouldn't be surprised if we hear the president say something about it in his address coming up in miami later on this afternoon. >> dana: 4 p.m. all right. john roberts, thank you. >>> democrats gearing up for 2020 are spending the long holiday weekend on the campaign trail. right now we're following cory booker and kamala harris in new hampshire. so what did cory booker tell you about paying for the green new deal just a little bit ago? >> reporter: dana, he suggested that it could basically pay for itself. i asked him about an item in "the wall street journal" that in new york just replacing light bulbs was costing about $2,000 per apartment. this is what

donald trump will react and rod rosenstein's fission? it seems like both sides arejust rosenstein's fission? it seems like both sides are just going to get more entrenched. the white house has been very defiant about this. the president, on twitter as usual, referring to this as a type of pollution, and that the focus should have been on hillary clinton in her campaign, and pointing to andrew mccabe's wife being a democratic party candidate here in the commonwealth of virginia. —— a type of collusion. that was during 2016. and for those who want to try to push this president out, what andrew mccabe is saying, and he is of course selling a book on the which has more revelations in it, this adds more fuel to the fire to demonstrate that this president is should not be re—elected or might even need to go sooner than that. right, the politics swirls on. steve herrmann, white house bureau chief of voice of america news. thank you. now to syria, where reports say jihadists have been blocking roads out of the last area the islamic state g

now we know rod rosenstein is telling people he plans to leave mid march. that tells us a little bit about what we are seeing is perhaps the end of the mueller investigation. we know one of the things rod rosenstein wanted to do was to stay in place until he knew the investigation was either done or almost done to protect the investigation. >> so the end because it is coming to an end not because he'll walk the plank. >> no, no. we anticipated it was something he was planning to do already. these comments from mccabe aren't exactly a surprise. >> okay. evan perez, thank you very much. >>> let's speak more about this -- andrew mccabe speaks to anderson cooper tonight on cnn at 8:00 eastern time. here with me now, sean turner, former director of communications for the national intelligence. and jeffrey toobin. sean, if i could start with you, given your years of experience in the u.s. intelligence community. when you have a former acting director of the fbi say the fbi had evidence to justify at least a question as to whether the president of the united state

the president telling "the times" the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein told his attorneys that when it comes to the mueller probe, quote, i'm not a subject, i'm not a target. but sounding a lot less certain about his legal status in the case of the southern district of new york, where he's been implicated as directing the hush money scheme. here's that exchange with the times. >> and two doj insiders telling me today that the president's account about his status in the mueller probe would represent a departure from the normal flow of information about the special counsel investigation. one senior justice department official tells me that any information about the president's legal status would have been delivered to the president's legal team from the special counsel's office directly, not from the deputy attorney general. this official adds that the president's scenario most closely resembles the dramatized scene from the showtime series "billions" than anything that would have been conveyed by rosenstein. a former senior justice official puts a finer point on the president's

no, it's not. >> i want to know how you describe rod rosenstein. what you write about him is that you went back to see him after the meeting you described, rosenstein wondered aloud if there was some way to collect specific evidence about the parent's motivations and put it unequivocally on the record. no option seemed feasible. in any case trump made the connection tw comey's firing and this russia thing with his comments to lester holt. did rod get used by the president to fire comey? >> i don't know. and i can't sit here with you today and say what was in rod's mind, what was rod thinking? i can tell you what i observed. i never saw rod indicate any regret with writing the memo or with the reasons he stated in the memo. i think rod was surprised by the white house's kind of rollout of the firing and rod's memo. and their effort to kind of put rod, to make it appear as if rod had initiated the effort on his own and was really the driving force behind it. that i understood was not the case. certainly not from the event that's rod related to me. >>

i can tell you one thing, i'm a great admirer of rod rosenstein. he was one of my successors when i became united states attorney. he was one of my successors. and he did a wonderful job as u.s. attorney, and i'm a great admirer of the courageous job he's done as the deputy under these very stressful circumstances. >> and now there may be a new leader. the expectation is coming in to the department of justice. bill barr, if, in fact, he's confirmed, that will move ahead that move on capitol hill. we've been showing live pictures of what's going on, on the hill. and, tim, you are writing in this new op-ed about the attorney general at the time of your investigation into spiro agnew. explain how important it was that ag richardson protected your investigation. the historical context and why that's so important to understand today. >> watergate was in full bloom when we uncovered the evidence that agnew was also corrupt. and there were attempts not only to obstruct watergate but there were attempts right in the white house between involving agnew and

if you pit rod rosenstein against mccabe, rosenstein will win that one. rosenstein has the credibility. people still believe him and he is a credibility person. rod rosenstein is very happy today. we have a new attorney general and he finally gets to quit. he gets to go home and quit -- >> bill: on the bill barr thing. he arief, at a justice department in a department needs an infusion of credibility. it has a shredded reputation and lost the confidence of congress and the public. >> yeah. listen, this is a tough question for me because certainly i like barr more than sessions and i like barr more than whitaker. as a democrat i'm not sure he would have been my choice but certainly i would agree with chris. it is time to literally have the department of justice and the f.b.i. not be this sieve of leaks continually. as an american this is not what we're looking for the f.b.i. and department of justice to be. >> bill: talking about the credibility. it is in tatters. >> it is. bill barr has his work cut out for him and we're championing him to clean house. wh

rod rosenstein expected to step down next month. the departure after former fbi deputy director andrew mccabe revealed an inside job to remove donald trump from office using the 25th amendment. griff jenkins live in washington with how the president is responding. >> reporter: the president is not the only one responding, we previously reported, bill barr took over. the confirmation that barr will replace rosenstein with jeffrey rosen. he previously served as general counsel and senior policy advisor for the office of management and budget under george w. bush, the dot prior to that, these changes in the wake of that firestorm by fired fbi director andrew mccabe suggesting rosenstein discussed the 25th amendment to drive donald trump from office, willing to wear a wire and claims the doj dismissed. the president was tweeting. the abuse of power and corruption scandal in our history is much worse than we thought. andrew mccabe admitted to doing this when serving in the fbi, before he was fired for lying and leaking. he knows sean han

>> that was rod rosenstein and myself. >> who spoke? did you speak at the briefing or did rod rosenstein? >> we both did different parts of the briefing. >> did you explicitly or rod rosenstein explicitly tell please members that it was a counterintelligence investigation into the president and russia? >> you know, i'm not going to say what -- the words that we used or relate explicitly what i told them, but i will say rod and i ensured that the gang of eight was completely aware of the steps that we had taken, of the current status of the overall russia investigation. and rod of course added the information about the appointment of a special counsel. >> do you have notes from those meetings, that meet? >> i don't have any notes at this point, i have no -- i don't have any of my notes or materials from my -- >> does robert mueller have those notes, whatever notes may have been taken? >> everything that i had, robert mueller has access to. >> so there were notes at the time taken, but you don't have access to them anymore? >> you know, i

>> and i'm not trying to judge rod rosenstein in that moment. he could have said no, he could have gone along with it. i don't think he probably understood the magnitude of what he was doing in that moment, but in retroretrospec i think even . thank you for spending time with us, we're grateful. coming back, america's richest man beats back a blackmail threat from a tabloid. that is next. a blackmail threat from a tabloid. that is next (burke) parking splat. and we covered it. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ so we improved everything. we used 50% fewer ingredients added one handed pumps and beat the top safety standards the new johnson's® choose gentle but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. your favorite restaurants now it doesn't matter dash. where you are. ♪ it doesn't matter what you're

plus, president trump accusing andrew mccabe and deputy ag rod rosenstein of pursuing an "illegal and treasonous plot" against his presence he. this after the explosive 60 minutes in interview. we've got all the details i had. >> we talked about why the president had insisted on firing the director. in the context of that conversation, the deputy attorney general offered to wear a wire into the white house." you might take something for your heart... or joints. but do you take something for your brain. with an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in clinical trials to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. need money for your family, call newday usa. a newday va home loan lets you refinance your home and take out 54,000 dollars or more to pay credit card debt, or just put money in the bank. it even lowers your payments by over 600 dollars a month. as a veteran, you've earned the powerful va home loan benefit that lets you refinance up to 100 percent of your home's value. and with home values rising, that can mean a lot more

fox news alert, rod rosenstein leaving the justice department within a matter of weeks. who is next in line? we are live in washington. >> this president is a legitimate threat. trying to bypass the will of congress. heather: presidents' day, democrats looking to th

fox news alert, rod rosenstein expected to step down as deputy attorney general next month. 's departure coming after former fbi deputy director andrew mccabe revealed an inside job to attempt to remove the president from office. rob: griff jenkins live with the latest on all of this. >> reporter: we have known and reported rosenstein intended to step down when the new attorney general took office but we have a better timeline, mid-march. confirmation, jeffrey rosen currently serving as deputy secretary of transportation, previously served as general counsel, policy advisor for the office of the white house management and budget under george w. bush and for that was general counsel at the department of transportation. this change comes with firestorm created by andrew mccabe who believes he was fired for opening an investigation to look into donald trump, claims rosenstein plan on using the 25th amendment to remove the president and rosenstein was willing to wear a wire. tweeting in response, the biggest abuse of power and corruption scandal in our history. it is much worse

we should have rod rosenstein and andy mccabe under oath with the oversight committee. to ask the questions everyone answers to. most importantly being who was in the room and they talked about wearing a wire and invoking the 25th amendment. we want to know that. lou: reasonable question i guess, you have to depend on the testimony of two liars. as you suggest it is quite a circus that the democratic committee chairman putting together. let's turn to, speaking of democratic committee chairman, adam schiff. who does not seem any longer to have any confidence in robert muller. suddenly he's talking about going off in his own investigations of russian collision. what is going on here? >> i will tell you this, lou, my main concern with chairmanship, two years ago i called for devin nunes to step down and step aside for a while as chairman. now we learned a few weeks ago that adam ischiff was meeting with simpson and colorado. and i do not hear, i don't hear anything from democrats more portly from the speaker of the house, only for him to step down. it seems a little hypocr

mccabe said rod rosenstein even offered to wear a wire in his meetings with the president. >> the deputy attorney general offered to wear a wire into the

in an interview mccabe claimed rod rosenstein discussed wearing a wire to record the president. and also invehicling the 25th amendment to remove him from office. >> discussion of the 25th amendment. was simply rod raised the issue and discussed it with me in the context of thinking about how many other cabinet officials might support such an effort. the deputy attorney general offered to wear a wire into the white house. he said i never get searched. he was not joking. he was absolutely serious. and he brought it up in the next meeting we had. >> the president called mccabe disgraced and said his story is deranged. then he accused the two officials of planning a very illegal act. and getting caught. he went onto claim this was the illegal and treasonous insurance policy in full action. mccabe and rosenstein disagree on what skb how things were discussed. they agree they didn't act on anything. even so, the president taking his queue from a conservative ally on the fox news. quoted him in a tweet. this was an illegal coup attempt on the president of the united states. trump unde