rosenstein: yes. senator coons: on that same day attorney general sessions then sent a memo to president trump relying on your memo where the attorney general recommends director comey be removed, is that correct? mr. rosenstein: i believe that's correct. senator coons: during his january 10 confirmation hearing, a.g. sessions said stated he would recuse himself from any matters involving any matters involving campaigns for president of the united states and specifically investigations into secretary clinton's email server. is that correct? mr. rosenstein: that's my understanding, senator. senator coons: why did you write a memo to attorney general sessions exclusively discussing a matter that, as i understand it, attorney general sessions explicitly told us in congress he was recused from. why was that an appropriate basis for him to make a higher fire recommendation to the president. mr. rosenstein: i don't think that's a question for me to answer. i have said in my previous briefings of the senate

up in a sort of plot to get rosenstein to sign off on trump firing comey when rosenstein didn't actually know all of the facts about comey and trump's relationship, right, and part of this i think is comey's fault f.comb he gone to rosenstein and hadn't kept his -- what he thought was the troubling parts part of his relationship to trump himself, maybe roents inwould not have written that famous memo that trump used to cite when he fired comey. what looks to me from the outside is that rosenstein after comey was fired and after he learned the facts of how trump told him to back off the flynn investigation and pledge loyalty and all the rest rosenstein appointed the special counsel and went to congress and said even if the president says i should fire the special counsel i won't do it and that sequencech events i think has enraged trump where you get this tweet. he's basically saying i thought this guy was on my side in getting rid of comey and now i'm realizing he's not as pliable as i hoped he would be. >> the whole issue of loyalty is very, very powerful. jamie dimon, as you remember t

rosenstein would be politically dangerous. i'm joined by nbc news intelligence and national security reporter ken, marcus is a reporter, and national security reporter adam. let me start with kent. try to put this together for a person trying to figure out what the hell trump is up to. why would he put all his fire power in the direction of rosenstein, who is basically a career servant, not a politician, why is he focusing all the attack and anger on him? >> chris, i don't know. that tweet seemed like a primal scream of frustration. it may, though, have the effect of putting pressure on rosenstein to recuse which would put this in the hands of rachel bran the number three at the justice department but that's not going to change anything. chris, donald trump cannot stop this investigation by firing people. he would have to fire 14,000 fbi agents and even then he would have congress to deal with and he can't fire them. it's not clear what the strategy is beyond donald trump's immense frustration with this whole thing. >> second

rosenstein, the firing of mr. comey, then say why are they not investigating loretta lynch for obstruction of justice because she did give a directive to james comey and he followed it. lou: congresswoman marcia blackburn, thank you for being with us. up next. draining that swamp in washington, d.c., draining all of those swamp creatures who inhabit it. we are going to talk with steve forks and ned ryun about whether firing robert mueller might be a step in the right direction. stay with h h h h my business was built with passion... but i keep it growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on all of my purchasing. and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands dollars each year going back into my business... which adds fuel to my bottom line. what's in your wallet? ♪ whoa that's amazing... hey, i'm the internet! i know a bunch of people who would love that. the internet loves what you're doing... ...so build a be

rosenstein claims that's not true. you have the two post stories very damaging leaks that put people inside the investigation. he wanted to send an employees to cut it out. statement you're right. it's also sending a message to donald trump who is probably wondering what are you guys doing about the leaks. this is is his way of saying here's what we're doing. >> adam. >> it's very strange the way he worded that especially the first sentence where he says especially officials who may not be identified as americans. >> who is he talking about? >> he was trying to muddy everything up. >> you guys are breaking a story and says sources close to the white house it's not moscow or london or mexico city. we know it's from around here. >> we didn't think we needed to clarify in our stories. >> he's mocking news stories. he's mocking the press saying they could be sources from -- >> the tone is set from the top. this is what trump has done all along. the statement issued late last night was reminiscent of the pledges of loyalty

rosenstein would be dangerous. ken delaney, ruth marcus a columnist with the walk post, "new york times" jeremy peters and reporting from the washington post alan entess. try to figure out what the police chief bleep trump is up to. why would he put his direction in rosenstein, who is a career servant, why is he focusing the attack and anger on him? >> chris, i don't know. that tweet seems to me as a primal tweet of frustration. it may, though, have the effect of putting pressure on rosenstein to recuse, which would put this in the hand of rachel brand, the number three at the state department. chris, donald trump would have to fire all 14,000 fbi agents and even then, he'd still have congress to deal with. he kaptd fire them. so it's not clear what the strategy here is, beyond donald trump's immense frustratestration with this thing. >> second, why would he feel the need personally to recuse himself if trump keeps the heat on him? rosenstein? >> well, that wouldn't been the direct reason, that adds to pressure t.

rosenstein, the firing of mr. comey, then say why are they not investigating loretta lynch for obstruction of justice because she did give directive to james comey and he followed it. lou: congresswoman marcia blackburn, thank you for being with us. up next. draining that swamp in washington, d.c., draining all of those swamp creatures who inhabit it. we are going to talk with steve forks and ned ryun about whether firing robert mueller might be a step in the right direction. quit smoking. but when we brought our daughter home, that was it. now i have nicoderm cq. the nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release technology helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. it's the best thing that ever happened to me. every great why needs a great how. and the wolf huffed like you do sometimes, grandpa? well, when you have copd, it can be hard to breathe. it can be hard to get air out, which can make it hard to get air in. so i talked to my doctor. she said... symbicort could help you breathe better, starting within 5 mi

he blames mueller on rosenstein. i do think one overlooked facet of this week is that when rod rosenstein was testifying at a congressional hearing earlier this week, he said that he would not face any pressure -- he would not submit to pressure if he was pressured by the president to fire mueller. i have to imagine the president was aware of that, the president as we know watches these hearings. he watches the testimony as a show. i wonder how much of that has been on his mind. i understand the white house is saying on some level, this is a strategy by the president. he is taking this into his own hands. no lawyer would tell him to do that. his attorney had -- was said to have told several people that he believed the tweeting was going to be tamped down. we have seen no evidence of that. >> rod rosenstein's testimony was fascinating. if you read between the lines, he was threatening to quit if he was ordered to fire robert mueller if he did not see cause. that was a clear implication of his words. you know rod rosen

should rosenstein be recused at this point? >> at this point he can supervise the investigation by bob mueller of the russian espionage in the united states, who coordinated with the russians and any obstruction of justice. he is not doing the investigating, he is merely setting the budget for the investigation and also taking any complaints there might be about mueller's conduct in the investigation, but mueller has conducted himself professionally, he is going to do a good job here. rosenstein should not be involved in the substantive decisions about the investigation, but then again, neither should any, none of the political appointees in the justice department should be involved in this substantive decisions at this point. it is bob mueller's job to find out what happened. my concern is that president trump is trying to push aside rosenstein in order to get someone else in there who is then going to pretend to make an independent decision to fire mueller, and that's exactly what president trump wants to try to pull off. >>

rosenstein, the firing of mr. comey, then say why are they not investigating loretta lynch for obstruction of justice because she did give a directive to james comey and he followed it. lou: congresswoman marcia blackburn, thank you for being with us. up next. draining that swamp in washington, d.c., draining all of those swamp creatures who inhabit it. we are going to talk with steve forks and ned ryun about whether firing robert mueller might be a step in the right direction. stay with h h h h horseheadswivellychair.com it could be the next big thing i should totally get that domain name... get your great idea online too... get your domain today, and get... ...a free trial of gocentral from godaddy lou: in our online poll we asked, should the department of justice appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the clinton email scandal, the clinton meeting with loretta lynch, lynch's collusion with the f.b.i. director. 96% of you said yes she should be investigated. joining me, steve forbes and the founder of ameri

is this another bad idea to fire rob rosenstein? >> the problem isn't so much with rob rosenstein, i think it's with these leaks coming from the department of juice. we saw jeff sessions bringing this up earlier in the week, saying there were several ongoing investigations, we saw the statement from rob rosenstein, talking about leaks that people are seeing outside the media. i think that's what the department of justice is dealing with at the moment. i think from the president's aspect, he's probably frustrated that there seems to be a daily set of leaks that are coming out. >> i appreciate what you're saying, but that's not what the president was saying this morning when he seemed to be going after the attorney general there, i'm being investigated for firing the fbi director by the man who told me to fire the fbi director, not a single mention of leaks in that sentence. i'm asking if it's a good idea, bad idea to taunt the deputy ag like that? >> i think ultimately the bigger picture going on this week, at the beginning of the we

rosenstein testified his memo to congress. he said notwithstanding my personal affection for director comey, i thought it was appropriate to seek a new leader. it was rosenstein who then chose comey friend and former colleague robert mueller to be the special counsel which is clearly a breach of requirements that there be no appearance of conflict of interest of any kind, including being colleagues and friends of the appointed special counsel. now rosenstein dares to warn us about leaks. urging americans to exercise caution on left-wing news stories attributed to anonymous officials which is just about the bulk of their political reporting. i believe the deputy attorney general now has only one honorable path in the mess he helped create. rosenstein i believe should fire robert mule per and then resign as deputy attorney general. that would end this mad sorry destructive chapter in the justice department and f.b.i. history. and of course it would end the special counsel and the distraction that it has become. our quotation of

>> first of all, rod rosenstein is a professional. and one of the reasons he yielded to and thought it was appropriate to hire a special counsel, because he did submit a memo that allegedly mr. trump read but then, of course, went on national television and said it was about the russian thing. i think what is important is rob rosenstein as a professional assess where he might be in this proceeding. i believe the special counsel mueller, as he precedes, will make it very clear that rob rosenstein recuse himself and if he feels it's appropriate under the law. the department of justice is a particular eat. it deals with laws by statue and it adheres to two documents, the stauchl tore documents and the constitution. >> and your committee -- oversight over the -- >> absolutely. >> do you think its inevitable he'll have to recuse? >> well, i think that as the proceeding proceeds he will determine that, but i think he might just have to recuse. he's right in the middle of it. he employed the special counsel, he wrote a memo, he's been engage

he was -- >> rosenstein appointed. >> and rosenstein appointed him. that's not -- the person who would normally do that recused himself because he had conversations that he didn't disclose. this fell to rob rosenstein. it's not as though he seized it. but donald trump tends to look somebody to play who is not him or his meet family. it's sometimes steve bannon, wrients priebus, any one of a number of people, jim comey. in this situation it feels like it's don rosenstein. you said i had to get rid of comey and now i have to deal with this investigation. he's not leading this investigation. he's the boss of bob mueller who is the special counsel who he apointsed but he's not leading it. bob mueller is leading its. rosenstein is knots involved in any way others than he's ultimately bob mueller's boss. >> rosenstein put out an interesting statement as well. it had to do with anonymous sources. saying don'tside anonymous stories. was it surprising for you to hear this from rosenstein? what do you think this is about? >> yes, in a word it is surprising. it

he was surprised by this announcement by rosenstein and now we know that rosenstein himself may end up having to be a witness in this investigation. >> so listen, is there a good chance that we could see the deputy attorney general rosenstein recuse himself in what do you think? >> look, i think we're walking very quickly towards that point. as i mentioned, he very well may become a witness in this investigation because he wrote the memo that president trump used to fire james comey, the fbi director. and it's widely believed that the firing of comey is going to be a part of mueller's investigation into whether or not the president was trying to interfere with or obstruct the justice department's investigation. so all of this is going to come to a head pretty quickly, pretty soon because we believe that mueller, once he's done staffing and looks at all of the evidence, will make a decision as to whether or not this becomes a full-blown investigation of the president, don. >> evan, thank you. stay with me. i want to bring in cnn political analyst carl bernstein, senior white house corre

rosenstein, the firing of mr. comey, then say why are they not investigating loretta lynch for obstruction of justice because she did give a directive to james comey and he followed it. lou: congresswoman marcia blackburn, thank you for being with us. up next. draining that swamp in washington, d.c., draining all of those swamp creatures who habiit. we are going to talk with steve forks and ned ryun about whether firing robert mueller might be a step in the right direction. quit smoking. but when we brought our daughter home, that was it. now i have nicoderm cq. the nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release technology helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. it's the best thing that ever happened to me. every great why needs a great how. looking from a fresh perspective can make all the difference. it can provide what we call an unlock: a realization that often reveals a better path forward. at wells fargo, it's our expertise in finding this kind of insight that has lead us to become one of the largest inves

she actually -- she and rosenstein appeareding to and rosenstein answered most of the questions. i directly asked her some questions. i had a pleasant meeting with her in my office but i was concerned about her in this job and she now has a job and i respect that. and i think you've got to take the words of lindsynindsaey gra. and the words of lindsey graham this week is if the president were to fire rosenstein or mueller, it would be a disaster. mueller has not even started to do his job. and i would hope that rachel brand, who does have legal experience here, would understand that and even if for some reason this went into her hands, would do the right thing for the justice department. >> all right. senator amy klobuchar, i'm going to leave it there, democrat from minnesota, thanks for coming on. appreciate it. >> thanks, chuck. >> okay. >>> coming up, resign, recuse, fired. what is next for the acting attorney -- well, the acting -- the deputy attorney general who oversees this investigation? we'll have more in a minute. we'll be right back. but there . it comes when your insu

rosenstein, the firing of mr. comey, then say why are they not investigating loretta lynch for obstruction of justice because she did give a directive to james comey and he followed it. lou: congresswoman marcia blackburn, thank you for being with us. up next. draining that swamp in washington, d.c., draining all of those swamp creatures who inhabit it. we are going to talk with steve forks and ned ryun about whether firing robert mueller might be a step in the right direction. stay with h h h h liberty mutual stood with me when this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night. hold on dad... liberty did what? yeah, liberty mutual 24-hour roadside assistance helped him to fix his flat so he could get home safely. my dad says our insurance doesn't have that. don't worry - i know what a lug wrench is, dad. is this a lug wrench? maybe? you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. but when we brought our daughter home, that was it. now i have nico

it wasn't rosenstein. and the memo that rosenstein wrote was the president said not the basis for his firing. and now he's saying that rosenstein is to blame. i think it's bizarre . it's the kind of behavior from the president that leads us to conclude that he just tweets random and in contradictory ways. this is not what we want from the president. but the investigation needs to continue. and mueller has put together from all our understanding a really great team of people who mean business. they are not engaged in a witch hunt. these are professional people who are going to do the job to get to the bottom of the investigation. and trump teams, any kind of relationship or collusion that may have occurred there. >> earlier in the week, senator, rosenstein said that he wouldn't be -- he wouldn't fire the special counsel robert mueller but if rosenstein recuses himself could his replacement fire mueller? dianne feinstein, a colleaguef f yours said she is concerned that would happen. >> i hope that wouldn't h

rosenstein, the firing of mr. comey, then say why are they not investigating loretta lynch for obstruction of justice because she did give a directive to james comey and he followed it. lou: congresswoman marcia blackburn, thank you for being with us. up next. draining that swamp in washington, d.c., draining all of those swamp creatures who inhabit it. we are going to talk with steve forks and ned ryun about whether firing robert mueller might be a step in the right direction. stay with us. so tell us your big idea for getting the whole country booking on choice hotels.com. four words, badda book. badda boom... let it sink in. shouldn't we say we have the lowest price? nope, badda book. badda boom. have you ever stayed with choice hotels? like at a comfort inn? yep. free waffles, can't go wrong. i like it. promote that guy. get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed. when you book direct at choicehotels.com. book now. still clean their dentures manywith toothpaste. but they have to use special care in keeping

rosenstein to address that. mr. rosenstein: thank you, mr. chairman. i am sensitive to your desire to keep our answers brief. my brief answer from my perspective from the donell d.o.j. and i have been there for 27 years. mr. mccabe also is a career employee at the department of justice, our default position, when there is a justice department investigation we do not discuss it publicly. that's our default rule. so nobody needs to -- senator warner: is that the rule for the president of the united states as well because that's what the questions are being asked about, reports nobody laid to rest here that the president of the united states has intervened directly in an ongoing f.b.i. investigation and we have got no answer from any of you and we heard from director coats and admiral rogers they have not been asked to recuse an answer because of director muler and i don't understand why we can't get that answer. mr. rosenstein: i am not answering for director coats and admiral rogers. i am answering for the department of justice. senator burr: senator la

today the president attacked rod rosenstein. and so as we approach the sixth month of the trump presidency, donald trump's impulse, his need to lash out has done nothing but leave his presidency with self-inflicted wounds. >> i am so thrilled to be back here with all of my friends in little havana. >> what is the president doing tweeting this morning about the investigation? >> i am being investigated for firing the fbi director by the man who told me to fire the fbi director. witch-hunt. >> i can just see the special investigator say make sure we got a copy of that one. >> he confirms he is under investigation and he seems to be threatening rod rosenstein. >> what he really seems to be doing is throwing gasoline on the fire. >> i don't mind that's it 110 degrees up here. >> obstruction of justice, potential financial crimes, and wrongdoing. the list keeps going and going. >> the vice president just got a lawyer. the president's own lawyer got a lawyer. >> it's very routine. >> very routine. >> it suggests a world of hurt for th

multiple reports say the president has grown agitated with rosenstein over the past week. increasing speculation that he may want to fire the deputy attorney general. ( marty ) still ahead. the bay area's own andre ward was in the ring, was he able to stay undefeated.. and we'll explain why steve kerr is apologzing to steph curry. sports. after the break. (vo) shop all makes, models and colors in your neighborhood... all with worry-free ownership. head to your neighborhood enterprise car sales and let the people who buy more vehicles than anyone... shift your thinking about buying your next one. [ inhales, exhales ] [ announcer ] cigarettes are not just dangerous when they're smoked. [ rat squeaking ] they're dangerous long after. cigarette butts are toxic. they release chemicals that poison our water... and harm wildlife. and millions... are polluting our environment. [ sniffing ] [ seagulls squawking ] bay area native andre ward beat sergey ko-vah-lev in their first light heavyweight world title bout in controversial fashion. so, they fought again on saturday. early on k

rod rosenstein sent this standard with the interview with the a.p. earlier this month, he said if anything i did winds up being relevant to mueller's investigation, i will recuse. he wrote the letter on which the white house initially said that the president based his decision to fire comey. is this a question of when and not if now? >> it absolutely is. this is an investigation about integrity. you want to make sure that no matter what the special council's findings are, they're respected. and that they're respected by both sides of the aisle. you know the partisanship in washington. you know the entrenched sides and position in washington. as a result of that, i don't think, you know, if it becomes relevant, and it is relevant. clearly he wrote a memo. that memorandum contained the basis for which comey was fired. if that was the basis for which comey was fired -- and the president says it wasn't, that he would have fired him any way. the appearance of any conflict of level rises to the level wherein he will step aside and leaving ms. brand, the th

rosenstein wrote the memo led to james comey's firing. that's what president trump seems to be alleging to when we wrote the tweet. joining me to talk about what this could mean, cnn republican commentator doug hi and julia cyan. yule ya after the tweet there finestein says she's becoming concerned president trump will try to fire rosenstein and mueller. is it possible the president is trying to force rosenstein to recuse himself you think? >> that may billion possible. or it may be possible he understands rosenstein will not fire mueller and trump will have to fire both of them. rod testified earlier this week saying he will find without probable cause, mueller is beginning to stay put. i think part of this is president trump creating a narrative that the investigation is corrupt or taking too long or focused on the wrong things, and he's fighting this in public. meanwhile, of course you have his lawyers as well as the prosecutors looking at the facts and evidence and making sure those are not subject to i think a lot of political flurry

so just on that basis alone, rod rosenstein is a key witness in this case. >> so when you say rod rosenstein is a witness and mueller's russian investigation, you're saying he is a witness to how president trump fired jim comey and why? >> because it all the resulted in an obstruction of justice. if you look at the entire pattern of what occurred here from the time the trump white house was warned about michael flynn, and the fact that he was subject to bribery and blackmail by the russians, the fact that trump sat on that for 18 days until the press finally put the heat on him, and then at that point he fires him. the next day he meets with comey and asks comey to back off the investigation, and then when comey asks for more resources to put into this investigation, and announces that there is an investigation before the u.s. senate, what does trump do? he fires him. >> you're a prosecutor. you know if you're going to make a case, you need a statute and you need a target. when you say there's an obstruction case, who is the target? >> the target would be the president of the united states a

that implies rod rosenstein. where does this leave rod rosenstein? is he in jeopardy based on that tweet alone? >> i don't think he is in jeopardy. there is an important decision to make whether or not to recuse himself. many don't want him to recuse because he supports mueller and he went shutdown the investigation. i understand that. he is a known quantity on the hill and people trust him. he has tried cases and this is in the grand jury and he is obviously capable of supervising the investigation. on the other hand, he has a big problem. he is a witness in the third section of the investigation that has to do with whether or not the president obstructed justice. he did write the cover fake memo on why comey should be fired. he did have conversations with the president on the firing. he probably had con vargs versa with the attorney general on the firing. i believe he will end up recusing himself. what happens? the third person is not a prosecutor. she is a smart lawyer. she never tried cases. to my knowledge, never put a witness in grand jury. is

rosenstein sees now reason now to step aye said. if he did the investigation of the russia probe would fall to rachel brand. >> congressman diane feinstein is a fellow representative of the state of california very strong words. a violation of the oath of office. what's your response to that? >> i agree with senator feinstein. all americans regardless of party agree no one is above the law. if president trump would fire deputy attorney general rosenstein and got special counsel mueller fired i believe congress would begin impeachment proceedings. >> you think it's that clear? that would be a trip wire, a point of no you were if he were to do that even for republican members of congress? >> absolutely. that's what president nixon did. that's a principal our nation upheld during water gate. if you're going to fire everyone who's investigating you congress will impeach. >> there was a lot of words this morning the president confirmed he was under investigation. this was from nbc. the president hasn't been notified he's under investigat

donald trump is starting to undermine rosenstein to he can fire rosenstein and put somebody in there who will fire mueller. that's what this is about. the beginning of a takedown of rod rosenstein that will let him do what he's eventually going to want to do inevitably which is fire his special prosecutor. >> okay. we're supposed to do this later in the show. >> sorry. >> no, no, let me tell you about the man he wants to fire, bob mueller. won a bronze star with valor. earned weeks after arriving in vietnam in 1968 after his platoon came under heavy fire. that was -- he also won a purple heart and a month later was back on patrol in the jungles of vietnam. talk to me about the political idiocy of trying to bring down a man like that. >> i mean, to really go after bob mueller, someone who has all kind of respects from -- respect from all quarterses i think is just like playing on the third rail. and i agree with john, i think that's the goal here. the reason you can't get normalcy in this white house is you can't get normalcy out of the president. >> he's just not normal, right, al? >

that is rod rosenstein. you see him seated right there, papers in tow, binders in tow, about to testify this hour in public and out loud. and he will be certainly asked about reports that the president is considering an action so drastic, it could trigger outrage from both parties. >> we're going to hear some from lawmakers any second. speaker paul ryan and other house republican leaders are about to hold a news conference. they no doubt will be asked about the flurry of news, the white house, the president considering asking for the firing of robert mueller as special counsel. and then there is more huge testimony on capitol hill. attorney general jeff sessions will appear before the senate intelligence committee. he will face a flurry of questions, among them, what role did he have in the firing of james comey, did he have a third undisclosed meeting with the russian ambassador, did he offer his resignation to president trump last week? we have a lot to cover this morning. let's get straight to capitol hil

mueller, and if rod rosenstein refused, he would have to fire rod rosenstein, and then he would have to find his successor, someone in the department of justice who's been confirmed, and ask him or direct him or her to do it. so, it would be a blood bath. >> i mean, and if it went down the route a la watergate and how that played out, diane, what would the fallout be? what would happen to the investigation? >> well, if we look at history, we know that the firing of special prosecutors by president nixon was essentially the watershed moment that led eventually to his resignation. it really becomes as much as anything a political question of what the reaction would be, particularly from the members of congress who have the power to impeach to this kind of behavior. >> can we just take one moment? chris, as we're kind of -- we're three steps in, because that's where the news is -- let's take two steps back, if we could, chris. here is what we knew as of this morning. we basically knew that the president -- no one knows where the president's thinking is in terms of keeping or firing robe

but mueller answers to rosenstein within the confines of the justice department and only rosenstein has the authority to actually fire mueller. so he's -- i think the president is now obsessed with rod rosenstein and is going back looking at the rosenstein memo, which recommended firing -- well, was critical of comey. >> that is one plausible thread here. steve to you, number one, the president confirms he is under investigation in this statement, which is a major development right there. if that is what the president meant to do. but number two. if paul is right, and he's trying to stick fingers in the eye of the deputy attorney general right now, what is the game here? is he trying to force rod rosenstein out? we had that bizarre cryptic memo from rod rosenstein last night. is he trying to pressure him maybe to resign? >> maybe. i think it is always trying to get inside the president's head and more dane rouse to try to get inside his tweets. but this could be part of laying the ground work for firing rod rosenstein and that of course would change who was in charge of overseeing speci

it came from rosenstein, would rosenstein put out a statement at the direction the white house or at the direction of the president? who knows? i'm -- it's rank speculation because i really have no idea what that was supposed to mean. >> i wondered if when he was talking about the country, if he is referring to not saying u.s. officials in front of -- or u.s. official in frontan an anonymous source. and i think it's really interesting and this point has been made before that this administration is talking about anonymous sources and casting doubt on anonymous sources when it is a tool that they use repeatedly at the white house and elsewhere in the administration when speaking to reporters. >> and with a government communication, frankly, we shouldn't be forced to wonder what the reference to country is in a department of justice statement. it should be clearer, i think. indira, finally, some people kind of ascribed a last-ditch nature to the president's tweets today. they were really aggressive. and we're nowhere near that point. we are under 150 days. >> there's nothing last-ditch

it is rosenstein. if you need a npneumonic, diane feinstein if you need a reminder of how to say it. it is implausible at this point the special counsel investigating obstruction would have contacted the president about this at this point. i think at this point the special counsel team is just trying to learn the facts from others who can corroborate what james comey said. >> even if he's not being informed separately, is he just basically accepting as true that he is probably under investigation if he's taking -- >> so it would seem. i would seriously doubt that he has any independent information on which to verify it. and the only other point i would make is on this question of anonymous sources, of course, that goes on all the time. the official objection is to anonymous sources about investigations. that's what rosenstein is complaining about, not just anonymous sources in general. i guess i would only make one other point about the president's tweet. he says he's being investigated for firing the

do you think rosenstein should recuse himself? >> if there is any evidence that this investigation is about obstruction of justice in the firing of jim comey, then he has to. i mean, that is a direct conflict. but i took rod's strange tweet -- he didn't tweet. that was the president that strangely tweeted. the statement from last night about not believing the leaks and the unsubstantiated sources and unknown sources that we shouldn't trust those, i took that to mean that there wasn't an obstruction of justice investigation going on. >> we have -- president trump added another lawyer to his team. i discussed it in the last segment. plus, we've seen a number of associates of the president lawyering up. and there they are. what does that tell you? >> well, first of all, because of what bob mueller is doing by adding a dozen lawyers to his team, this is an expanding investigation and the response to that is, as you would expect, those who think that they may be in the crosshairs of this investigation, getting lawyers, but these are pe

they blame all of this on rosenstein. it is interesting that, and abby phillip, i want you to come into this conversation. the president tweeted this morning when he said he is under investigation. the aides suggesting he is washington post story not . necessarily that he has been officially informed by mueller or anyone else that he is under investigation. what do you make of that? >> you know, they are saying that he is just reading the news just like everybody else. watching tv. seeing reports. and is commenting on it. and that is actually, i think, a pretty reasonable belief. i think it is reasonable he won be informed that he was necessarily under investigation unless he needed to have contact with the special prosecutor for that reason. at the same time, why make a comment or statement that implies that the story is true. when i went to trump's personal attorney's office, asked him about that, they characterize "the washington post" story as based on anonymous illegal leaks. which implies that the story, the foundat

you know, rod rosenstein is the person who would fire bob mueller directly right there. it seems strange, but it really is reasonable to wonder right now if the president is not just attacking the special counsel, but also his deputy attorney general. >> certainly, if you listened to any of the testimony of rod rosenstein this week, many of the senators were actually most curious about not whether he would fire the special counsel, but what would happen in the event that the president fired him, right? so, it is reasonable to wonder and is perfectly within the president's constitutional authority to fire rod rosenstein and to fire robert mueller. i mean, we don't have a j. edgar hoover fbi anymore. but beyond this, what you just said and what the president said is that this is a political fight and he's going to fight it on his own terms. this is much more than a political fight. this is now a legal fight, this is a special investigation. because of the widening scope of this investigation and its broadened terms, the vice president now has a white-collar criminal attorn

now, rosenstein is under scrutiny. tunstitutional law professor jonathan turley says rosenstein should recuse himself because of his interactions with mr. trump. >> i can't imagine the special counsel completing this investigation without hearing the testimony of the deputy thtorney general. so once you think that you may be a witness, it's time for you to remove yourself. >> reporter: and, turley notes, the president's tweet could come back to haunt him. >> well, any statement the president makes in any form can be evidence that can be used in an obstruction prosecution. >> reporter: in fact, white y use press secretary sean spicer has said the president's tweets should be taken seriously. >> the president is the president of the united states. .o they're considered official statements by the president of the united states. >> reporter: the justice department says rosenstein has se plans to recuse himself. scott, last night, he issued a statement echoing the president's own sentiments about press coverage of the russi

rosenstein is not really involved other than the fact he's ultimately mueller's boss. >> now rosenstein put out an interesting statement as well, it had to do with anonymous sources saying don't believe media stories. we of course heard the president say something similar before. was it surprising for you to hear this from rosenstein, what do you think this is all about? >> yes, in a word it was surprising. it also came out on an odd time thursday night where it wouldn't clear that rosenstein was responding to any one thing. "the washington post" reporting a few thing including the president was under obstruction for justice. what it is about i believe with or without unknowing, this is an educated guess, is that rosenstein is in a difficult position. he wants to keep his job as deputy attorney general. at the same time he knows trump is not happy with him for doing something i think rosenstein felt was absolutely necessary in aappointing a special counsel after jim comey's firing. so he puts out a tweets saying what trump saying, anonymous, fake news don't believe any of it. i think yo

and today the president attacked rod rosenstein. and so as we approach the sixth month of the trump presidency, donald trump's impulse, his need to lash out has done nothing but leave his presidency with self-inflicted wounds. >> i am so thrilled to be back here with all of my friends in little havana. >> what is the president doing tweeting this morning about the investigation? >> i am being investigated for firing the fbi director by the man who told me to fire the fbi director. witch-hunt. >> i can just see the special investigator say ooh, make sure we got a copy of that one. >> he coirms he under investigation and he seems to be threatening rod rosenstein. >> what he's really doing is throwing gasoline on the fire. >> i don't even mind that it's 110 degrees up here. >> obstruction of justice, potential financial crimes and wrongdoing. the list keeps going and going. >> the vice president just got a lawyer. the president's own lawyer just got a lawyer. >> it's very routine. >> very routine. >> very routine. >> it suggests a worl