fair warning he will not tolerate any interference from matthew whittaker. in january he's expected to become chairman of the house intelligence committee. his comments come with the special counsel investigation possibly entering its final chaj stag -- stages. mueller has been writing his report since august. still unclear is when lit be finished. is it really possible that matt whittaker could back channel information about the mueller investigation to the president? >> i think he could. the question is should he be doing that. would that be permissible. if he were sharing information about it, he could be exposing himself to charges of obstruction of justice. it's such an unprecedented territory to be in. i think that is a legitimate concern especially in light of very unusual nature of the appointment of matt whit chtake. we've seen the commentary that's been pro-trump and anti-mueller. >> talk about this unusual appointment. the question is how long can he will left there in. >> he can be left there for up to 210 days with wiggle room in the nomination

matthew whittaker who started chief of staff. finishes as acting ag. over seeing the mueller investigation. are leaving the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein of the responsibility. whit ter the president found an ally. who questioned the scope of the investigation. i asked him last year why trump wouldn't say he would fire mueller. >> it's dangerous politically. legally there are certainly a way for that to happen. >> you don't think it's dangerous legally it's not obstruction? unless you it goes my way i'm going to fire you. >> no. i don't think that's obstruction. we keep using that term. >> whittaker also previously questioned the scope of the special counsel investigation saying examining the trump family finances would be would raise serious concerns that the special counsel investigation was a mere witch hunt. witch hunt. sound familiar? lots to discuss. executive producer of show time the circus on sunday night. also cnn global affairs analyst. susan glasser. good evening everyone. >> before we get started. about jeff sessions. matthew whit

morning after jeff sessions admitted his resignation at the president's request, chief of staff met whittaker tapped to be temporary replacement, what does this mean for doj moving forward and who should take the reigns of the department, some names being floated around are people that we know very well, alex azar, health and human secretary, pam bondi, the attorney general of florida, william barr who was the attorney general under previous administration, even chris christie of new jersey, what do you make of names seeing on the screen here? >> a lot of them are not surprising, long road to sessions' resignation, some has played out in the media, as of now matt whittaker is acting attorney general, trump will be seeking permanent replacement, now he has 210 days to make that nomination, have person confirmed by senate, all of those names obviously all very viable candidates, a lot of the analysis is going to be who will have a smooth confirmation. cheryl: doesn't this kind of need to happen quickly considering that there's a lot going on at the justice department, the mueller probe comes to

. >> matt whittaker, david brooks, what do we make of him? the arguments that he's evenns tutionally is even a constitution appointment. >> i think one of the -- i went to 23 states this election and heard the word unraveling over and over again. are we racially together? are w economically together. are we morally together. are our institutionsge er. donald trump threatens the institution by personalizing poweve you don't she constitution, you serve donald trump. he wants people to serve him. that's not how the attorney general's office is supposed to act. 's a threat to one of our institutions and another one is the way with bark ates the r on the elections. and when you accuse somebody of corruption without any evidenes, you'reoy the social fabric to some degree. we've seen a lot of that this week. we're seeing the decay. >> what do you make of that? >> i agree with david. i mean, i think that you know the president has gone after one institution after the other and you see that in this call of corruption in these elections, not to allow a

we saw that matthew whittaker. we made public the comments criticizing the special counsel's investigation over past months before the president chose him to oversee that investigation. we also noted that he wrote a usa today op-ed titled i would indict hillary clinton. he went on to say when the facts in evidence show a criminal violation is committed the individuals involved should not dictate whether the case is prosecuted. now whittaker is president trump's appointee. does he have free rein to follow through on the threat? >> there are some serious concerns about his objectivity not only because of that op-ed and because of his questions on the mueller probe, but when he was the head of this conservative group he would frequently make charges about investigations into hillary clinton and the clinton foundation. so there are a lot of questions that need to be asked of this person. frankly, this is up to congress to really hold him accountable for the previous statements because right now you're right. he is the

of birmingham thanks for being with us scott what will happen now to the moeller investigation will whittaker defunded well we wait and see but this is clearly the set up by donald trump for the final showdown with the investigation robert moore in the immediate future i think the approach will be to contain more matthew whittaker has the power to veto subpoenas and of course robert moore and his team to wrap up their inquiry want to subpoena donald trump to meet him face to face and ask him questions about what happened in two thousand and six change but that's not enough in the long run because more is going to continue he's not going to stop investigating and i think the open question we have right now is is matthew whitaker stay in the post or does donald trump try to bring in someone else and we can speculate on who that might be to finally fire moore if he does that will be the biggest constitutional crisis in recent american history even greater than that in the one nine hundred seventy s. when richard nixon tried to shut down the watergate inquiry it's got there's another question in

respected man. >> reporter: then he added -- >> i don't know matt whittaker. he worked for jeff sessions. i think everybody looking at a permanent position in any department has done many shows. does that mean we can't hire anybody? >> reporter: the president appointed matthew whittaker after jeff sessions was ousted in the hours after election day. and now whittaker is under fire for talking about what happened overs overseas. last year in a series of radio interviews, he bashed mueller's russia probe. >> there is not a single piece of evidence that demonstrates that the trump campaign had any illegal or even improper relationships with russians. >> reporter: on obstruction by president trump? >> if all he did was make a mere suggestion and not an outright command -- >> reporter: he also called mueller's appointment ridiculous and sounds fishy. >> i just hope it doesn't turn into a fishing expedition. that's the way it's supposed to be. >> reporter: he forcefully defended president trump. >> it is not helping this administration and not helping the federal go

so trump, he knew -- >> matt whittaker, the acting attorney general was working for the company that was marketing time machines. put it awe together, rick. >> all coming together. it's q anon. but -- so, he understands the buttons he is pushing. he understands the racial inflections underneath these things. he understands that when he doesn't come out and say the people in cheryl lost veiling scum bags who should be whipped, he notes what he is doing. down can tell machine he pulls back and the pull the leash back you can sell when hey has a read a teleprompter statement, how miserable he is his game got caught. >> i briefly disagree with what -- i development think it's all conscious lies. think he actually to some extent believes his own bs. >> about himself for sure. >> things in the world as well. for example in bob woodward's book he talk out honor gary cohen the economic adviser tried to explain how trade deficits work and we're not actually losing money when he have a trade deficit because they're giving us stuff in return but he could not compute that and said this is what i

whittaker as a witness. we have asked -- we have sent letters asking for document retention that all documents be retain retained. it will be a criminal matter to destroy them. the first priority is to protect the mueller investigation. we have a lot of other priorities too. we have to enact legislation to deal with voter suppression. we have to deal with the dreamers. we have to have an investigation into how it came about that the united states could tear mothers -- tear children out of arms of their mothers at the border and still have several hundred kids not been reunited. we have to do something about gun control. we have massacre, mass shooting every two weeks in this country. we're told by the nra and others it's a mental health problem. if you look at europe or japan, nobody has more than 150, 170 guys a year. we have 33,000. we're now 10,000 times more mentally ill as the people in japan or europe. that's a sugar landlander on thn people. >> what about impeachment proceedings? >> that's far down th

. >>> tonight democrats suing to block matt whittaker from serving as attorney general. the appointment is unconstitutional. out front now, one of those three senators, richard blumenthal of connecticut, the former attorney general of the state sits on the judiciary committee. i appreciate your time. let's be blunt here, is this all about politics or do you genuinely think you can win a case? >> we can win this case, we should win this case, we will win this case. it's the highest law of the land and it provides that he very simply cannot install a person like matt whittaker, who is his lackey and lap dog when the office really requires qualifications. and matt whitaker lacks the key qualification. he's depriving us of doing our job, he's depriving the american people of a system of checks and balances, which is designed to protect against this kind of unqualified nominee. >> your case has been assigned to judge trevor and mcmadden. he's a trump appointee. you voted in favor of him. does this mean you will trust his ruling no matter what he do does? >> if he rules agains

when asked about matt whittaker, trump quickly shifted to talking about mueller, saying whittaker is just somebody who's very respected. i knew him only as he pertained you know, as he was with jeff sessions. you know, this is an investigation that should have never been brought. it should have never been had. it's something that should have never been brought. it's an illegal investigation. and you know it's very interesting because when you talk about not senate confirmed, well, mueller is not senate confirmed. the answer is being compared to trump's may 27 response about the firing of james comey. >> when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. >> we've just learned he is delaying updates on two high ranking members of the president's 2016 campaign team. let's bring in heidi prprzybyla. what's going on? >> in a new filing the special counsel's office asked for a delay in updating a judge about former campaign chairman paul manafort's cooperation in the russia investigation, saying they will have more to report in ten d

but the political accountability for whittaker would be very severe. i don't think that's as likely h as others think it is. >> we're in this period where it's essentially a lame duck congress but there's a testimony expected to take place with james comey and loretta lynch. what's the objective here? what could possibly be achieved in this remaining few weeks of this congress other than just grandstanding and a little bit of posturing? >> this new mission to have comey and/or lynch appear to testify before congress even in a closed deposition is of questionable value, because you'll recall that comey has said for many, many months i'm available, i'm willing to talk and i would like to speak publicly. comey's indicated he would resist efforts to subpoena him for a closed door private deposition. but historically speaking, those who oppose congressional subpoenas meet with very little success. congress has tremendous power to subpoena individuals to come before them. however, what is the goal at this halate stage? it's possible that comey and lynch coul

. >> a new warning for matt whittaker to not undermine the investigation he has criticized publicly. >> he was chosen for the purpose of interfering with the mueller investigation. he auditioned for the part by going on tv and saying he could hobble the investigation. this is an attack on the rule of law. >> i think most republicans on capitol hill and democrats believe that mr. mueller should be allowed to do his job. and i have no indication he's going to be interfered with at all. >> president trump also addressed for the first time the content of the tape-recording that captured the brutal killing of jamal khashoggi. >> we have the tape. i don't want to hear the tape. no reason for me to hear the tape. >> why don't you -- why don't you want to hear it, sir? >> because it's a suffering tape. it's a terrible tape. i've been fully briefed on it. there's no reason for me to hear it. in fact, i said to the people, should i? they said, you really shouldn't. there's no reason. i know exactly what went on in the tape without -- >> what happened? >> it was very violent, very vicious and v

whittaker was trying to appease the president but did not seem to cross any lines. do our experts agree? joining us author carl bernstein, john dean, and former fbi special agent josh campbell who served as special assistant to james comey. josh, on that front you have news. you've just spoken, i understand to james comey. what's his reaction to this news that the president was asking to prosecute him? >> i was just chatting with him earlier this evening, john. tonight he's shaking his head. this is the kind of stuff that had him so worried when he was the fbi director. you think about the incidence of him sit bfting before the presit and the president demanding loyalty. and the president is attempting to interfere with the fbi's criminal investigation into michael flynn, the national security adviser. this is what had him worried then. this is what he's been so vocal about now and speaking out. he wrote a book about it. i think he's also pleased the new york times made clear that president trump and his allies have been lying when they claimed he divulged classifie

you have heard some of whittaker's public comments criticizing the mueller investigation. he's also made other comments that are drawing some concern from democrats and from some republicans, frankly. i want to play one of those comments now for your reaction. have a listen. >> if that happens, then we're going to do the same thing and government comes to a halt. they got nothing, zero. you know why? because there is nothing. they can play that game, but we can play it better because we have a thing called the united states senate. >> sorry. that was not -- that was not the clip. let me just briefly -- i do want to get your reaction to the president, but briefly summarize what he said. he said that judges, and i'm paraphrasing some here, that judges need to have a biblical sense in terms of making their decisions. what do you make of a comment like that? i like to see the world view, what informs them, are they people of faith? do they have a biblical view of justice? >> i think the acts attorney general or any attorney general should be mindful of laws and the constitutio

if we sit back trump will abuse his position and use our institutions for his own gain. >> whittaker has made comments in the media opposing parts oh it was mueller investigation and suggesting ways of shutting down the probe. the white house say there is is no inat the present time to disrupt the investigation. >> google aagreed to change how they handle cases of sexual misconduct. >> the company's ceo outlineed the changes in a letter to employees. >> reporter: a sign of change at google. the ceo sent a letter promising policy changings and more transparency saying we recognize we have not always gotten everything right and we're sorry for that. it's clear we need to make changings. he went on to outline several changes include including arbitration and more. he said the perpetrator in most cases have been drinking alcohol. >> it signals they're trying to understand what are the factors that are actually causing this kind of a disfunctional culture. >> meg is the interim associate dean for under graduates of business. she said the announcement says google heard their employees and

one thing that's outstanding is how long this acting attorney general whittaker will be in post and if the president move ahead of trying to name permanent position getting confirmed by the senate. maria: i was expecting right after midterms. chuck schumer is upset and the democrats are all in this morning saying, oh, you know, we don't like the timing and we don't like the fact that the president has pushed out jeff sessions, when is enough is enough for the robert mueller investigation? here we are 2 years in, we don't have any evidence of any collusion between donald trump and the russians, we don't have any evidence of any wrongdoing in terms of obstruction or collusion or anything else, i mean, all of the indictment that is we have seen have nothing to do with that story, so, i mean, what do you think -- how long does this go on? >> i have no idea, only one person knows that and that's robert mueller and haven't told anyone at axios yet, speaks to what chuck schumer was talking about, more important than schumer's position is nancy pelosi, they will be in majority, they will have

sessions chief of staff matte whittaker will serve as acting attorney general. a doj official says he will oversee all matters, including the russia investigation led by special counsel robert mueller, something he's called a political fishing expedition. >> it would create a constitutional crisis if therapy a prelude to ending or greatly limiting the mueller investigation. >> the justice department says whittaker's oversight of the special counsel will be subject to review by federal ethics officials. >>> the other big story out of washington tonight, jim acosta has been banned from the white house. >> reporter: this is just acosta, i'm in front of the white house, secret service officers asking for my hard pass. obviously no hard feelings to the officer, but i'm now getting my hard pass and giving it to the secret service. >> reporter: acosta tweeting this video after being denied entrance to the white house this evening. here's the incident that start today all. >> that's enough, that's enough. >> reporter: can i ask -- the other folks -- pardon me -- cocoa b

an >> reporter: justice department ethics lawyers will advice whittaker whether he should recuse from the russia investigati but there is no sign he intends to. pete williams, nbc news, washington. >>> tonight suprem court justice ruth ginsburg is hospitalized after suffering a nasty fall in her office. andrea mitchell has details. >> reporter: she's the rock star of supreme -yeart justices, 85r-old rbg. liberal icon, star of the screen, stage and opera, not at a ceremony for justice falling in her office yesterday. feeling discomfort and hospitalized, tests showing she broke he three ribs oleft side and staying for observation. he she had surgery for lon cancer, pancreas cancer, two broken ribs, a heart procedure, all without missing a day at the court in 25 years. >> she's tiny and looks frail but she's very strong. >> eporter: her twice a week workout, stephen colbert tried to keep up. >> i'm cramping. i'm working out with -year-old woman. >> reporter: now recovering, admirers hope quickly. andrea mitchell, nbc news. >>late word tonight the fda will ban the - will impose a ban on t

democrats sent a letter to the top ethics official at the justice department, and they are demanding whittaker recuse himself since he publically opposed it in the past. >> we are confident he will lead with integrity. >> if he stay there is, he will create a constitutional crisis, and congress has to act. >> senate minority leader, chuck schumer says the democrats will try to attach protections to things like the spending bill, and it will be more likely to pass. >>> it's 6:09, and the new burglary prevention unit, and one bay area police department is already paying dividends. >>> a historic new outbreak of the ebola virus. eve the best technology should feel effortless. like magic. at comcast, it's my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. my name is mike, i'm in product development at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. >>> good monday morning to you. smoky skies, and unhealthy air quality for the bay area, and this is diamond heights, looking down on downtown san francisco there, and you can see it's hazy to start off the day. we will tel

the guy he's put in place to supervise mueller, matt whittaker, who cannot legally perform that role, because of the appointments clause of the constitution, which really in this circumstance requires a senate confirmed attorney general. the guy he put in charge is someone who has publicly said we don't have to fire him, we can just starve him out by -- >> can i -- >> can i just -- >> by approving his indictments? >> can i just play that sound so our audience can hear him say exactly what you just said? >> uh-huh. >> i can see a scenario where jeff sessions is replaced. with a recess appointment and that attorney general doesn't fire bob mueller, but he just reduces the budget so low that his investigation grinds to almost a halt. >> well there you are. laying out a methodology that you just said. and we have reports that whitaker does not plan to recuse himself as sessions did. >> he was actually in that clip that you ran. auditions for the very job the president gave him. from the beginning the president said despite all the rules that would require sessions to recuse himself, that

. >> pedro: you have a legal background what did you think argument of matthew whittaker taking the -- >> stacey: i think it negates the greats importance and of the departmentt of justice. i worked at the department of justice, worked for james comey, worked for larry thompson, under attorney general ash croft, and i think chris ray is a friend of mine and it disturbs me that someone who was not a senate confirmed is in that position when you have individuals down the line whether it be the deputy attorney general, the associated attorney general one of the dozens of assistant attorney generals that could have taken the position. >> pedro: but it violate the act as far as his appointment, do you think that's been violated from a legal background. >> stacey: from a legal background i think it's fuzzy. because i think that the president can appoint who he wants to appoint, but there is a point at which it needs to be senate confirmed. i think that in an emergency circumstances he would be allowed to do that. i do not believe we're in that time frame to which the president would have th

i think it's important to unz sco -- underscore we haven't heard from whittaker. we did hear from jeff sessions when the president was making statements about that. jeff sessionins who campaigned with donald trump, a big trump ally for so long, even he would push back on some of what the president would say when it did cross the line. chuck rosenburg, i want your top line thoughts about this. >> it's deeply disturbing. we do have a tradition in the department of justice to keep it and its work and its men and women insulated from politics and politicians for the reason ken said. when we go into court, people believe, people trust we are prosecuting crimes because crimes were committed. it's not just in court where it matters. when fbi agents are on the streets and they need to talk to peop people, when confidential informants want to come forward, they have to believe the institution is krecredible and trustworthy. this notion we would go after our political opponents undermines all of that. >> there's if question of what the doj would prosecute either one of them

so how on earth does hell know about the inner working in by the way, matt whittaker is now acting attorney joan and can probably read owl of mueller's files. so if this is happening, this is obstruction of justice to the n-degree' why eightsome favor january cannot come soon enough for the house democrats to take over and start issuing subpoenas and get to the bottom of this. [applause] >> that is all they time we have. thank you so much for an enlightening discussion. [applause] >> this week personal michelle's own bone's auto biography was released, called "becoming pile and she is speak doing sold out arenas across the country on her book tour. she kicked off tuesday in chicago at the united center. here's a portion of the program. >> she made us always feel like the white house was really our house, the people's house. she is your hometown girl from the south side of chicago, welcome michelle obama! [cheers and applause] [cheers and applause] >> okay, everybody. >> wow. >> united center. have a seat. >> we're home. >> we're home. >> yeah, feels good. >> i have to say, every time i fly

whittaker does or tries to do in that position is invalid. now i'm not a lawyer. do not take my advice. i couldn't get you out of a parking ticket if you got a parking ticket while you were on a pogo stick. i can not help you. but if you want to know what explains all the three-inch-all the headlines about what trump just did here right after the election, how he was able to actually get the election results off the front pages of newspapers across the country, right, if you want to know what's got those three-inch headlines and what's got people out in the streets in a thousand different protests tonight, and what's got all these serious legal minds and these law enforcement veterans all saying this is the crisis we have been expecting, the reason people are freaked out is because what the president has done here basically has -- again, i'm not a lawyer, but what we're seeing the arguments here are constitutional concerns and criminal concerns. constitutionally, what should have happened here under normal circumstances is if the attorney general was going to quit

i think what happens if we have -- we know it can't be whittaker, legally it can't be whittaker because he would have to be removed from the acting position lawfully to then be nominated to be permanent. so we don't expect that to happen right now. but if it was someone whittaker-like, what you would see one a lot of career attorneys who have been bipartisan, not focused on politics, who have been in it for the career, for law enforcement, for the rule of law, leaving. and that actually would be devastating because then you could watch a department essentially become shaped by new attorney general. >> to that point, natasha, a lot of people understandably probably think the department of justice is what donald trump has outlined to it be, my attorney general, this is my department of justice, rod rosenstein come down to the white house and we'll have a meeting whether you can stay on or not. but it's much, much more than that. the every day activities of the career professionals in doj perform a function that goes underestimated by the american public and the danger is that if a lot of

i heard folks on your show talking about whittaker and what happens next. the realty is i don't think you can do much in the way of ending the mueller probe without certain things happenings in the house. even if he were to somehow be fired congress will very immediately be able subpoena anything that any report that mueller has issued. and i think more broadly here's the real issue, the president chooses to fight everyone. and in this instance you're talking about members of congress who woke up every day and gave their all. and at a certain point in time you don't always have to agree with what everyone says or does, but there's a certain base level of respect that i think everyone serves. and what the president did in the white house today showed a total lack of respect for the members of congress, many of who are my friends, and it's just entirely inappropriate. >> do you think it goes to donald trump's moral character, and do republicans need to stand up to that in. >> well, certainly it's a character issue. but in terms of republicans standing up to h

democrats expressing some nervousness about that and hoping to limit whittaker's information. >> they haven't gone into congress and already, yeah we have this to deal with. >> yeah. >> head of policy research here. so dan, how are you translating this news of jeff sessions to investors? any market or policy implications >> i don't see any market or policy imply cases we have known for weeks jeff sessions would probably be outdoors in the campaign so my sense is we have to wait and see. there is no whittake is going to witness this i would add that mueller has done a significant portion of his work at this point it's not that we are not going to see something even if they limit this special council mueller could release his findings outside that. it gives people something to talk about what we care about is earnings and interest rates and hold up it could impact different sectors. i think it's a much more different story for investors today. >> not to labor the point given what you just said he said any attempt by the president to interfere would be obstruction of justice sit when tru

leland: acting attorney general matt whittaker, what they are threatening. >> president trump are printed to the g20 in argentina this week. will he be able to work out new deals to help on american workers? welcome to america's its headquarters from washington on the tail end of this thanksgiving holiday weekend. i'm kristen fisher. leland: still some leftovers in the fridge. i am leland vittert. not going to lunch at her house. president trump tweeting out threats to shut down the u.s. southern border if necessary is migrant caravanserai that the borders ports of entry. more from west palm beach to hear what the president is saying to heading back to washington. >> hi, lee lynn. the incoming minister of mexico said in a silent deal was in place between countries and according to the steel immigrants traveling seeking asylum in the united states the united states evacuated in mexico while their cases went through the process of the u.s. court in the united states which could take months or if not years. this morning the same mexican official is denying that there is an agreement. the inc

those two indictments come down any time soon is going to be the first indication of how firm arraign whittaker has taken over the mahler investigation indeed and i'm sure you victoria would both like to be flies on the wall in those car doors of power in the coming weeks unfortunately carby but thank you very much for your time and your insight from new york. for more than four decades japan sterilized about twenty five thousand of its own people who are suspected of having disabilities or mental illnesses after years of silence victims of the controversial program and demanding an apology and also want compensation from the government has more from tokyo. as a boy. was regularly abused by his foster parents because of his polio. in one hundred sixty aged eighteen he was admitted to a psychiatric ward at a hospital in sapporo where he was basin given electric shocks and forcibly sterilized. i remember what the nurse said clearly mr you have schizophrenia you have a disability so people like you should not have children and. lawyer has medical evidence showing his scars are consistent with the

that is where the appointment of acting attorney general wh whittaker becomes very important. the exercise of real substantive authority. whether or not it serves as a subpoena on the president could be decided by the acting attorney general. he is in a questionable legal perspective. a questionable legal appointment. it is hard to understand with all of the other senate confirmed senior officials who could have been and should have been appointed as the acting attorney general, that position becomes quite important. >> he only agreed to answer questions about events during the campaign. he has said he is not answering questions about the firing of comey or any of the acts he made as president. >> really appreciate it, next we have breaking news, what the cia concluded about who ordered the murder of jamal khashoggi. instead, he's the tallest guy in his office.l basketball player. yeah, eric's had to compromise a lot in life. ah yes, you need travel insurance when you travel. so, should i set some... hello? but not when it comes to cutting the cord. fubo gives him all the spor

. >> reporter: sessions will be replaced with his chief of staff whittaker. president trump stating online, he will serve well. whittaker questioned the scope of the russian probe and democrats are voicing their concerns. >> protecting mueller and his investigation is paramount. it would create a crisis if there was a prelude to ending or greatly limiting the mueller investigation. and i hope president trump and those he listens to will refrain from that. >>> nancy pelosi likely to be the new speaker of the house went a step forward tweeting in part, given his records of threats to under mine and weaken the russian investigation, whitaker should should recuse himself from the mueller investigation. sources tell fox news they are working to ensure that neither whitaker nor the president stifling the investigation. this could be just the start of a major staff shake up. at the white house, doug mckelway, ktvu fox 2 news. >>> protests are planned today in response to the resignation of jeff sessions. the protests had been planned for months in anticipation that

it's already adding to already deep concerns that matthew whittaker can't be trusted to oversee the russia investigation. >>> and protecting the probe. as demonstrators march in defense of robert mueller, newly empowered house democrats fear for the future of the russia investigation after the president's decision to fire jeff sessions. >>> tonight we're learning more about how the special counsel is

first of all, whittaker himself may be tainted. if you have gone into his history, he's issued a series of statements about how the mueller investigation has gone too far. >> including an article. >> the question is does he need sn't recuse himself, there are other questions. for example, he doesn't have to fire robert mueller, all he has to do is cut back his budget. all he has to do is saying i don't want you going in this direction or that direction. mueller must get approved before he goes in any direction. there's a multitude of ways mueller can be hampered to the point that he's totally ineffective. that's the kind of thing people are going to be watching in the days to come gl people talking about the his -- to come. >> people talking about the histrionics, and some parameters, rules of engagement here. >> i think they can work together. the question is how much does each of them really want to work together. democrats have a problem. they can't get too cozy with republicans. they're the other side. if they do, they put them

whittaker's installation makes a mockery of our constitution nd our founders' vision. bipartisan. house democrats once again that in our negotiations on the omnibus bill that the g.o.p. leadership include -- join us in including language that would say the special counsel -- to protect any special counsel, the special couple cannot be fired without cause. he or she would be granted a three-judge appeal panel if fired. could only be removed by a -- replaced by a senate-confirmed attorney general or top senate justice department official. this is very important. whitaker would not qualify because such an appointment must be made by someone confirmed by the congress -- by the senate. that's a fact and has to be re-emphasized. and very importantly, the preservation of all the documentation so that the people can know the truth. i don't know if you saw an op-ed the other day by former leader daschle, jointly, democrat and republican, saying that the starr documents was eleased -- the starr report was released, did vote in the congress to do so. so, too, mueller documents. any questions

the white house says chief of staff matthew whittaker is going to be the acting attorney general we'll have more on this story at 5 and 6. >>> to the fire watch, pg and e warn that thousands could lose power, notifying customer ins parts of sonoma, napa, other county that is electricity service may begin to cutoff tomorrow because of high fire danger. mary has more on this red flag warning. >>> we're tracking the winds turning offshore and the winds will be picking up and that does mean a high fire danger. a live look at the tower camera looking east, mount diablo will be under a red flag warning the north bay and east bay hills under a red flag warning beginning at 10 p.m. all the way through friday at 7, gusts, elevations above a thousand feet, low helptive humidity. right now the winds are on the low side. as we go through tonight. we are going to see the winds pick up. so future cast wind gusts taking you through here stopping the clock here we are at 10 p.m. you can see the winds, those strong winds will see the strongest winds through tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. those purple colors ind

whittaker as acting attorney general takes controversial actions. people can challenge those, challenge regulations, challenge personnel appointments, challenge immigration decisions. it will get caught up in litigation and will cause a problem for the president. the president could have avoided all of this by picking a senate confirmed position if he was so frustrated with the deputy attorney general, he could have picked the solicitor general or an assistant attorney general, and there would not have been all of this fuss, and potentially put the president's legal agenda into peril. >> to those who say, you shouldn't prejudge what matthew whitaker will do regarding mueller, once he's in this different office. how do you get past what he's said publicly, for instance, challenging the legitimacy of one of the first supreme court decisions, marbury versus madison? >> i don't know mr. whitaker, and he served as a u.s. attorney in the bush administration in iowa, and as far as i know, served well. the statements he made on the senate questionnaire were

yes president donald trump has fired attorney general jeff sessions trump's chief of staff matthew whittaker will replace him been highly critical of the murder investigation into alleged russian interference in the two thousand and sixteen presidential election even democrats say he must recuse himself. sessions was announced just after president talked up his republican party's gains in the senate and midterm elections but he'll have to contend with democrats who will chap powerful committees in the house of representatives the opposition party secured a majority in the chamber. and president trump says he will have a much stronger opinion on the case of jamal khashoggi next week the journalist was murdered in saudi arabia's consulate in istanbul last month on that matter of more than a month since the death of mr show you know your list. very terrible thing do you think saudi arabia is guilty of of having to murder and if so what marginal your opinion on that subject over the next week and i'm working very closely with congress working together some very talented people and we're working

whittaker could simply cut the budget of the investigation. there is no question in my mind that the timing and orchestration of this acting attorney general was directed very fispecifically by the president to keep an option. >> he could step in the way of indictments and step in the way of subpoenas which is why i ask you if you have seen evidence. in theory, he does have that power which is why some senate democrats filed a lawsuit declaring his appointment as attorney general unconstitutional saying that such an appointment requires senate confirmation. do you think their lawsuit has merit? >> well, congress should stand up and say not withstanding the litigation that will occur around the appointments clause of the constitution and whether this is a principle officer or not. it is clear that he should be senate confirmed. the other thing here is that whittaker is on record talking in an adverse way about this investigation. so whether or not the courts decide that he needs to be senate confirmed it is clear that given that he goes into th

president trump installed matthew whittaker as acting a.g. for one purpose -- to end the investigation. there's bipartisan consensus that this appointment there is bipartisan consensus this appointments violates the appointments clause of the constitution which trumps any statute that the administration awyers have cited. as george conway and a former solicitor general wrote in "the new york times," mr. whitaker's installation makes a mockery of our constitution and our founders' vision. ipartisan. house democrats once again that in our negotiations on the omnibus bill that the g.o.p. leadership include -- join us in including language that would say the special counsel -- to protect any special counsel, the special couple cannot be fired without cause. he or she would be granted a three-judge appeal panel if fired. could only be removed by a -- replaced by a senate-confirmed attorney general or top senate justice department official. this is very important. whitaker would not qualify because such an appointment must be made by someone confir

and again, i think it's very -- matt whittaker is a highly respected man, but i didn't know matt whittaker. but he's a highly respected man. [ inaudible question ] neither has mueller. excuse me. you talk about the senate process, mueller is doing a report. he hasn't gone through the senate process. you're saying whitaker hasn't, but whitaker has. because he was a really distinguished u.s. attorney in iowa. and he was approved by everybody. because to be u.s. attorney, that's top of the line. he was a highly respected -- in fact, i'll tell you. the ambassador to china as you know terry branstad who used to be the governor of iowa, he told me what a great choice that is. that he is one of the most respected people in all of iowa. and that was coming from terry branstad who was the governor. look. mueller, a big complaint people have, mueller was not senate confirmed. so he's doing a report. he wasn't senate confirmed. whitaker was senate confirmed. he was senate confirmed at the highest level when he was the u.s. attorney from iowa. [ inaudible question ] but mueller was not senate confirme

we have an acting attorney general now in matthew whittaker. the president said he's not in a hurry to replace that position. one possibility is he may be waiting for the mueller investigation to concludes before he names someone in that role. after a midterm especially one where there's losses and the president say we picked up a couple of seats it's a normal time to reshuffle a bit. we know how exhausting these jobs are. sometimes two years is enough for them. they may want to move on as well. this is one of the high stakes. it also tells us where his priority, allow is he able to do recruitment? do people want to be part of this administration? that's a big question. >> it is a big question. it has very significant implications for this president, for his policies. kelly talked about a couple of names we have been watching. homeland security secretary, jo and john kelly. what do you make of it? >> mike pence chief of staff might wind up being president trump's chief of staff. he looks the part, he talks the part and he knows the part. here i

this comes as he defends his acting attorney general matthew whittaker. >> reporter: good morning. president trump says on his end he's ready for this russia investigation to wrap up. and should his new acting attorney general choose to limit the investigation in any way, the president says he's okay with that. special counsel robert muller has yet to reveal a timeline. but president trump says he has completed his written answers for muller. telling fox news, he wrote them himself. >> not my team. i'm preparing written answers. >> reporter: a sitdown with robert muller not likely. acting attorney general matthew whisker, he has the authority to limit the investigation. >> i would not get involved. >> reporter: adam schiff calls his appointment unconstitutional. >> ethically he should have nothing to do with the investigation. >> reporter: in response, president trump laughed at schiff on twitter calling his name an expletive and lashing out at retired admiral calling the president's attacks on the media the greatest threat to democracy. >> he's a navy s.e.a.l. >> it would have bee

this individual named whittaker. whittaker is viewed as an ally of the president. he might not be there if there is such a purpose to kill the robert mueller investigation. he mayjust be there to block a subpoena. that subpoena will have to go through the acting attorney general. a 2-stage process? yeah, but what with the implications be for matt whitaker if he took that route? it would not be good. a numberof route? it would not be good. a number of people would cry obstruction. the question is, what would they be able to do at that point? if the democrats want to proceed towards impeachment, they may be losing run way to get that off the ground. they only have two years. they will have to move. any move towards impeachment would require an investigation. subpoenas ta ke require an investigation. subpoenas take time to get through the courts. time is on the side of the white house right now. you're could be written answers he is sending in this week, could there be a perjury trial in those answers for the president, even though it might not be followed up with a f

if that's the case, there's no opportunity for whittaker to harm it in any fashion. the family was mentioned in the plea. mueller throws out these little tidbits about who may be being investigated and what's happening because we don't know who or what will see the light of day in terms of his final report. >> what's your take on all of this? >> the president is in an extremely rough and politically and legal position. i think going forward, as some have suggested, there's a lot more to what michael cohen probably told bob mueller after 70 hours of conversation with the special counsel. the markets may shrug off these political concerns. they may accept what appears to be a deal with china, for lack of a better description. ultimately i think the markets will respond to some of the president's political troubles and they will probably get deeper before they get better. i still am of the mind this president may not serve out his term. bob mueller may have enough there's intense legal and intense political jeopardy for the president of the united states. >> that will m

matt whittaker. ben carson. betsy devos. administrator linda mcmahon. ambassador lighthizer. and acting administrator who i will tell you is going to be made permanent, he's done a fantastic job, i want to congratulate him, e.p.a. andrew wheeler. congratulations andrew, great job. thank you very much. [applause] thank you as well to senator amy klobuchar for being here. where is amy, by the way? where is amy? for five decades i have to say the presidential medal of freedom has been given to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to american life and culture. this year it is my true privilege to award this honor to seven extraordinary americans. senator orrin hatch, the late, great justice antonin scalia, miriam adelson. roger staubach. allen paige and two more recipients who are no longer with us, but whose legacies will live on forever, legendary babe ruth, legendary elvis presley. true legends. the first recipient is one of the longest-serving senators in american history a great friend of mine, orrin hatch he liked me from the beginning and therefore i like hi