chuck todd, the breaking news right now, donald trump saying he will talk to special counsel bob mueller under oath. this news is coming in, nbc's kristen welker is reporting it as we speak, donald trump basically saying here on the record that he will talk to bob mueller, of course there's no date for this face-to-face yet, but his lawyers are telling him two to three weeks. this breaking news comes, of course, amid donald trump's clash intensifying and bob mueller zeroing in on possible obstruction of justice. mu trump asked -- and officials say that mcgabe basically told the president he didn't vote and also found this political conversation with trump disturbing, it's also reportedly drawing the interest of special counsel robert mueller who now is getting ready to interview donald trump, according to tonight to donald trump. nbc news reports donald trump says basically he doesn't recall asking mccabe about that voting record. the white house doesn't deny that trump, though, asked the question. >> does the president have a habit of asking career government officials their voting habi

firing bob mueller. >> is he setting, is he setting the stage for firing bob mueller? >> no, chuck, no, there's -- >> there's no way -- >> there is no conversation about it whatsoever in the white house. >> does he endorse his legal team's efforts to undermine robert mueller's credibility? >> again, the president has absolutely nothing to do with any of the allegations that are being made. >> have you thought or thought about considered leading the dismissal of special counsel? is there anything bob mueller could do that would sends you in that direction? >> i haven't given it any thought. i mean, i've been reading about it if from you people. you say i'm going to dismiss him. i'm not dismissing anybody. i want them to get on with the task. but i also want the senate and the house to come out with their findings. >> whether we call you liars, now you know why. for months, the president, his staff have insisted special counsel robert mueller's job was safe. from behind the scenes it may have been hanging by a thread. it is all part of what the washington post philip bum

why bob mueller should be fired. one of them is years ago when mueller was a member of the trump national golf course in virginia, there was a dispute over fees. mueller left the club over that. the second reason was jared kushner was using lawyers at a washington law firm where bob mueller was a partner. the third reason, the potential conflict the president used as rationale for wanting to fire mueller was mueller had been interviewed to be the fbi director under trump the day before he was named special counsel. so those were the reasons that the president had told don mcgann he wanted him to direct the justice department to fire mueller. mcgann disagreed with that and threatened to resigned. our crack research team has gone back and said since august, the president, the white house and aides have denied eight times that the president ever considered or contemplating firing mcgann. it's very interesting today to see trump calling this fake news. we'll see what the white house has to say later today. >> the preside

the firing of the fbi director led to the appointment of bob mueller. and sort of getting into this middle of this whole wray, mccabe thing, not beneficial, the tweets, that if the president's ee's goal is to get agenda moving, he needs to move on. let them do their jobs. >> any idea why so much on this story is breaking right now? >> i just think that things are heating up and i think things are intensifying, i think an interview of jeff sessions shows you that they are really in the inner circle now and they're really looking hard at senior officials in government. i think it's going to get bus r busier. we were talking about they're talking about a trump interview in a matter of weeks. >> and i mentioned that huge report at the top of the hour and i have more after the break. thank you each for your expertise. >>> ahead, how is the white house prepping for what we just mentioned, a face-to-face with mueller which could be under negotiated terms next week. >>> the first leaks about mueller's investigation into comey and why does it appear that some so

you do that to me all the time. >> we have heard nothing from bob mueller. we have no idea what he knows. it's been nothing but partisan back biting. the yours truly of what we heard enough about collusion, there's no proof of collusion. that's all b.s. we don't know anything. the questions are out there. the conclusions will come. the timing of this report to say it's distraction, there's no basis for that, sounds like the suggestions about the fbi that president and others are saying it's not trustworthy on the basis of nothing. talking about text messages that they had to back off of. notions of a secret group they had to back off. saying texts were missing when it was a cover up and they knew it wasn't true. don't say that the reporting can't be believed because of the timing. deal with what it is on its face. >> you're not listening. i didn't say -- chris. i did not say that the reporting cannot be believed. >> you just said -- >> i was listening. i said it's a red herring. he never fired mueller. >> what's the difference? >> hold on a second. the presi

and two, if that can include a special counsel investigation like what bob mueller is doing. and/or if it's possible to hold any white house staffer who is an employee, someone whose sally rhode island is pa -- salary is paid by the u.s. taxpayer to such agreement. >> let me start by saying what a snowflake. can you imagine the president you worked for or i worked for ever threatening to sue a former aide because of something that happened while in the white house? i mean this a presidential tantrum, not the threat of a lawsuit, i think. and precisely for the reason you get at. whatever steve bannon talked about during the campaign, perhaps that could be enforced, although i still question whether he would file a lawsuit. given that that could lead to the president himself being deposed. when you work for the government as steve bannon did, all those conversations are not conversations that donald trump owns. they can't be enforced by a nondisclosure agreement. those are conversations that steve bannon had, information steve bannon had when he was working for the public, when

bob mueller knows they're the known unknowns. let's look at one of the places where they dug themselves a hole in terms of the veracity, the truthfulness, if you will, of those comments, was around what was behind the decision to fire jim comey. let's watch some sessions testimony. >> specifically, what was your designated role in the decision to fire director comey? >> it is -- it's a manner that i can share some information about because the president, himself, has talked about it and revealed that letter. he asked that deputy rosenstein and i make our recommendations in writing. we prepared those recommendations and submitted it to the president. senator feinstein, i don't think it's been fully understood the significance of the error that mr. comey made on the clinton matter. >> so, chuck rosenberg, that would be a fine and good thing to say under oath if it were true, but we know from donald trump's interview with lester holt that he fired jim comey because he didn't like the way the russia investigation was going. what does

that he made to other people who bob mueller has interviewed. so, the president probably doesn't remember everything he said in a meeting six months ago, three months ago, two months ago. but staffers will often have much more memory of what the principal said. it's a searing thing when the principal said something, especially if it's something inappropriate. they remember that. if they've told it to bob mueller, the president is going to be asked about that. if his recollection is different, he may very well commit a false statement. >> steve schmidt, i want to get your thoughts on this, but i want to play one more piece of sound from this remarkable press event yesterday. this was about acting fbi director andy mccabe. let's watch. >> did you ask mccabe who he voted for? did you ask him that? >> i don't think so. krong i did. >> you did not? >> i don't know what's the big deal with that. who did you vote for? [ laughter ] >> i don't think it's a big deal. but i don't remember that. i saw that this morning. i don't remember asking him that ques

it seems like bob mueller is taking his time. that, too, rubs the white house and the president the wrong way, but what is the time frame you'd guess that talking to the president might be important to the special counsel? >> we're hearing a lot about obstruction of justice and the notion that maybe mueller wants to talk to trump some time soon about that. that may be true. the obstruction of justice case goes over a shorter period of time. it's a smaller number of witnesses, and it's out in the open. it's people we know about. the collusion and conspiracy aspect is hidden. so i think we should be very cautious about what we don't know about that case. what witnesses are calling, and the hiring of this cyber expert is interesting. we shouldn't write off the collusion part. here's the thing about the collusion aspect. i've talked to a lot of legal experts who say you cannot get to the bottom of collusion until you have the testimony of paul manafort. you may not have that testimony unless you convict paul manafort and that could b

. >> did you ever see bob mueller during your interview? >> my interview was in chicago, with the fbi agents in chicago. we were in coordination with washington with a microphone. >> and how long did the interview last? >> two hours or so. >> and what did they want to know? ? >> if i had information, even concerning me personally, and my experience, my background was interesting because i used to work for the european parliament, i was extremely nervous. it was very wild, i said, okay, i go by myself, i will try to understand first of all what they want and help them. >> and you think bob mueller is interested in accuracy? >> i think he is doing a very accurate job. >> there have been allegations that it's a quote, unquote, witch hunt? >> i definitely never found, they just wanted to meet to clarify certain number of things and i never felt that they were making false allegation or they were doing an unfair job, never. >> simone met george popadopoulos after a lot of this went down and she says she went from the trump team describing him as

do you have confidence in bob mueller? >> yes. >> 100%? >> i have confidence in mueller. i have questions about others within the fbi and the doj, especially what's come out in the texts, especially what it's been based on. i think it's the responsibility -- we have an intel committee. that's raced a great deal of question. >> is there a red line the president could cross with you in his treatment of bob mueller? >> the president and his team have fully cooperated. you're making hypotheticals. right now -- >> it's not a hypothetical. we have records that he ordered to do it and don mcgann threatened to quit if asked to carry out the order. >> this is a place i have not been a part of. i have not heard that. the only thing i have seen is cooperation is where we intend to end up. >> would you open if there's bill that protects -- you know, there's a couple of bills in the senate, one would be having a three-judge panel review a decision if the president did fire mueller to see if it was done on fairgrounds. would you be open

she was chief of staff to bob mueller when he was at the fbi as director. she also served as homeland security adviser to president obama. always good to see you. all right. so much to discuss. all right. so let's talk about the headlines, all right? bob mueller, special counsel, does want to interview the president in the near future. surprising, no. why? >> not at all. and that's because if reports that we've seen are true that bob mueller and his team are vestigating obstrtion of justice, including conversns with jim comey over potentially leaving the mike flynn matter and letting that go by the wayside, that means the president is a witness in a potential obstruction of justice investigation. so it makes total sense that bob mueller and his team would want to interview the president because he's a witness. now, to be clear, the president -- this president, like any president, is not just any witness. he's got a big job, so it's also not surprising that his lawyers, as reports indicate today, may be trying to negotiate the terms of any interview, and tha

if i were bob mueller, i would want the president tomorrow. because there is so much information and i would want to be able to sit and go through it all really methodically. that being said, the one caveat is that we don't know what else bob mueller is doing so what you want before you go in with the president, who is -- the subject of this question of did he obstruct justice and potentially also will be questioned on the -- the campaign and russian interference in the election, you want to have all of your ducks in a row. >> i was going to ask. you want one interview and you want to do it all at once and not split it and do obstruction now and campaign and trump organization later? >> i see a lot of reasons why you want to split it and do multiple interviews so if you were talking about the garden variety case the short answer is you might do that. i think it is more complicated when it is the president of the united states and you already have his lawyers pushing back on having him come in. so if i were mueller, i would assume i would get o

so ty cobb comes in, john dowd comes in and there was a whole enough tact with bob mueller, which is he is our friend, he is not our enemy. so that changed. >> the fact that shawn turner is with us as well, former director of communications for u.s. national intelligence, the fact that mueller knew about this attempt last june to actually -- by the president to fire him, he didn't go through with it because of a threatened resignation by his counsel, it gives me the sense and i suppose it gives you the sense, there's so much going on that's really come out now that we really don't know the thrust of mueller's investigation. >> i think the one thing for sure is the only person who knows how far this investigation will extend is bob mueller. i talked to people in the fbi who have suggested that we're kind of moving on to this question of obstruction of justice but mule are aeller andm aren't down with other areas such as business dealings, paul manafort and one of the things we stopped talking about that the president keeps saying never happened is this issue of collusion. i talked to

report on bob mueller's russia probe. and my panel will explore what mueller taught trump this year and why he's not done for 2018. two of our favorite lawyers and our favorite journalist with a law degree. first question, what did bob mueller teach trump about your republic this year? quick tour of the key moments that turned probe from aides to federal probe encroaching on the west wing itself. >> under siege from day one, michael flynn is out. >> flynn lied to president and vice president. >> flynn's resignation not end of the story but beginning. >> sessions held press conference announcing recusing himself. >> president trump has fired james comey as director of the fbi. >> former fbi official described as shocking, insane and questions whether it could amount to obstruction. >> it president trump pressure comey to drop investigation into michael flynn? >> i hope you can let this go. exact words? >> correct. >> i was going to fire regardless. this russia thing is made-up story. >> legislative agenda of republicans de

anything that bob mueller could do that would send you in that direction? >> i haven't given it any thought. i've been reading about it from you people. you say i'm going to dismiss him. i'm not dismissing anybody. >> mark. >> a couple of things. one, of course, it didn't happen, and robert mueller is still leading the investigation. but i think it is important as intent is very much front and center here and there is a pattern. we saw him fire the fbi director because he didn't, you know, like the fact of how he was pursuing the investigation. he wanted jeff sessions fired because, eventually did not accept his resignation when jeff sessions offered it, he didn't like the fact that jeff sessions recused himself from the investigation. what is important here, i think, is that president trump wants loyalty to himself and not necessarily to the country. and when we take a step back, and look at how this is affecting everything, we are going to roll into right now two weeks of another government shutdown and effort to try to fix the immigration system at the s

they have mulled over firing bob mueller. clearly that would create crisis. some republicans said it already that they are going to make sure that bob mueller is protected and they will support legislation to protect them. i think it is the right thing to do. they have been going forward in these budget talks. and republicans ought to support them. you have cornyn and congressman ryan, graham, a bunch of them saying, indeed, no matter what we may think, we have to respect the rule of law and the mueller investigation has to be protected. so they're right to do that. and i hope that they continue to work with democrats to get that done this week. >> you know, rick, democrat senator mark warner is vice chair of the senate intel committee weighing in on the significance of the reports that came thursday night that the president wanted to fire bob mueller. let's listen to what he said. >> bob mueller should be allowed to finish his job. this president should not be allowed to fire him just on a whim. i agree with the president's lawyer. if the president had carri

now whatever it is, bob mueller knows about it. he's cut his deal with flynn. >> there's something else. there's smlg else the president may say when he looks mueller in the eye. in any interview that happens. i want your take on this. a the tile he was appointed we heard nothing from president trump about why the guy was unfit or conflicted. with know according to to the reporting he was having his prior lawyer marc kasowitz and others. make a case. if he wanted to move on you because you quit a golf course over a dispute over fees. you were the member of a firm that represented jared kushner. and number three, you just interviewed to be the director of fbi and i wasn't going to use you and you were appointed special counsel after. that's why i don't trust you. is that enough to clear a legal standard in your opinion? >> listen, i'm not a lawyer. >> let's go to -- >> i'll say it's a political standard that matters here. congress would have to see that this that he is reached this threshold that makes him politically unfit to remai

why on earth would bob mueller take written questions -- >> he wouldn't want to. there is executive privilege, there is the executive branch against the judicial branch. trump can say, i'm not going to answer these questions. i mean, that is perfectly within his purview. >> everything is within his purview, elise. george w. bush was interviewed by pat fitzgerald in the valerie plame. bill clinton testified. presidents ultimately yielding -- >> i'm sorry -- it made me laugh so hard. >> we made elise cry. >> the idea of donald trump giving honest testimony and not bringing himself into even a greater world of hurt. also the idea that that donald could take the fifth and he'd be okay with that. he sees himself as completely able to go and win over the room in any situation. he's not going to just be able to take the fifth. >> because he tries to win over the room. he is incapable of stating a fact of doing that thing that children do, let me correspond with ho you describe it. and it is enhancement of the truth is what i do. that is what he does. and that is why bob

you mentioned the wiretaps in mafia cases, we don't have wiretaps in this case, but what bob mueller has is conversation after conversation that aides to donald trump can reproduce. he's taken the aides and braugtd them in for interviews. and to the extent he ever said if james comey doesn't stop this investigation, i'm going to fire him. and the likelihood that he talked to an aide like that, is intent. >> we're going to squeeze in a break here. adam chief, the ranking member of the intelligence committee will join us next. any object. any surface. if you've got a life you gotta swiffer i had severe fatigue, became diagnosed with hodgkin's lymphoma. he was a good candidate for immune therapy, which is allowing his immune system to attack the tumor. learn more at cancercenter.com >>> here's what happened in the house of representatives today when reporters tried to ask the republican chair of the judiciary committee about the president trying to fire the special prosecutor. >> what's your reaction to reports that president trump ordered special counsel mueller fired. >> i'm here for

it was pointed out to me to the degree any of it is relevant to the russia probe, bob mueller likely already knows the answer, or if he is first learning of any of these observations, he soon will. let me read you some of what's in here on the topic of russia. this is quote from bannon. in the book he says, quote, if he fires mueller it just brings the impeachment quicker. why not? let's do it. let's get it on. why not? what am i going to do? am i going to go in and save him? he's donald trump. ashley, any reaction from the white house today in that analysis? >> the white house as we saw privately and publicly in today's press briefing has participated it as patently false and untrue. i think that's an overly broad assessment of the book. it's certainly convenient for them. i will say i haven't read the entire book and i don't have first-hand reporting on every detail of the book. but my sense it deeply tracks with what i've reported and "the post" has reported. they're not forced to grapple with those russia allegations, which are perhaps beyond again the juicy gossip, the most prob

the president is not discussing firing bob mueller. we are cooperating with -- he is not even discussed not -- he's not discussed firing bob mueller. >> is he going to rule out once and for all firing robert mueller. >> i'll address the second question first. the president said last week, i believe last week and several times before there is no intention or plan to make any changes in regards to the special counsel. >> is he setting the stage for firing -- >> chuck, no, there is no -- >> there is no way? there is no way he's going to fire him. >> there is no conversation about that. >> for the 1,000th time, we have no intentions of firing bob mueller. >> so matthew, as you heard, there was no intention of firing bob mueller. what was the white house saying today because as we've learned from lawyer friends on this panel, this was a constitutional story. >> what is most spectacular is the silence saying as kellyanne conway saying in august, there is no discussion of firing bob mueller. trump ordered that in june. look, we know these are

was the president's request to have bob mueller fired wrong? >> again, one thing i would have to know, understand fully is what is the purpose behind this order? is the president concerned -- it may be that i don't agree with the president's assessment that the investigation is out of control. he may truly believe that. or is this an effort to stop an investigation of possible wrongdoing? it's not as easy as simply laying out the question. i think it requires some very careful soul searching and fact-finding before making a decision as to whether or not it was wrong. this will be a conclusion reached by bob mueller. >> alberto gonzales, we appreciate your perspective. >>> in the midst of all of this this morning, the president any minute will walk on that stage and address world leaders at the world economic forum. how will he, will he at all address the situation now and the new questions arising here in the united states as, once again, he travels overseas and questions about scandal bubble. we'll carry that speech for you live next. i don't

a report on bob mueller's russia probe. and in a moment my special panel and i will explore what mueller taught trump this year and why he's not done for 2018. you'll notice two of our favorite lawyers there and our favorite journalist, who has a law degree. my first question, though, is what did bob mueller teach trump about our republic this year? as part of this report i want to begin with a quick tour of key moments that turned the probe from aides to federal probe en12k3wr0i67b8g9 >> under siege from day one, michael flynn is out. >> flynn they say had lied to the president and vice president. >> general flynn's resignation is not the end of the story. it is merely the beginning. >> moments ago sessions held a press conference announcing he is recusing himself from any investigation involving the trump campaign. >> president trump has fired james comey as director of the fbi. >> i've just heard from a former fbi official describe this as shocking, as "insane" and question whether it could amount to "obstruction." >> di

that's what bob mueller is looking at. what do they have if anything? shouldn't republicans be concerned about whether or not president putin is able to exert influence over our democratic system to undermine it and compromise it and to say it's fake and rig and participate in that and why would any member of congress want to be part of trying to shut that investigation down? look for the truth and the truth whatever it is, make it factual, not fictional and or bannon's book. show me the facts. >> you speak on this sensitive issue with unique perspective. many years ago, you were a young republican congressman from the state of maine. >> something happened even before that investigation took place. during the course of that investigation, it turned out that we had learned that president nixon tried to influence the trial of daniel elsburg and by going to the presiding judge on that that was an outrageous act to try to influence the system. i remember the time they became president ford that said not to influence the judicial system. i reacted negatively

. >> trump is scared of bob mueller. he will not testify to bob mueller and trump wants this investigation to be stopped or slowed down or impeded or made more difficult or discredited as much as possible. >> there is another high-profile witness slated to speak with the mueller team and that's steve bannon. a source familiar with the discussions is telling nbc news trump's former chief strategists is expected to meet with mueller's team by january 31st, that's wednesday of next week. bannon was quoted criticizing trump and his family as you may have heard in the book it "fire and fury" which led to a very public fauout with the white house. that's left a number of people wondering what exactly bannon will tell the special prosecutor when that interview does take place. a lot to get to. a lot of questions. let's bring in the lead off panel for a friday night. matthew nussbaum, white house reporter for politico, jennifer rogers here with us, former assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, now executi

is bob mueller biased? ken: no, i don't ink so. i have great regard for bob mueller. i do have concerns about some of the ents, fbi special agents, who were on the investigation, and 2 of them are now off. there are also, i think some legitimate concerns raised about his veryenior lawyer, who was a very avid hillary clinton devotee. but the point is, it is important to leave politics at the door. in our traditions in the united states, a prosecutor who comes from the other political party, the opposite political party of the president, is selected for that reason among others. you do not want someone from the president's own party investigating getting the -- investigating the president. that is our tradition in this country. it makes perfect sense. christian: mr. starr, the president's counsel today said that the president is eager to speak to robert mueller. last week he said that because there was no collusion, he did not see the point of an interview. who is calling the shots, ty cobb or robert mueller? ken: [laughter] it will be bob mueller. bob mueller has the a

he actually ordered his lawyer to fire bob mueller. the independent counsel. now, add that to this chain of events. trump also asked jim comey for his loyalty. he also asked jim comey to drop the flynn probe after he knew flynn had committed a crime. when flynn wouldn't do it, he fired jim comey, the fbi director. he then pressured his attorney general not to recuse himself from the russian investigation. he then pressured his attorney general, jeff sessions, to fire the acting chief of the fbi, andrew mccabe. he then pressured his intel team and top members of congress

you mentioned the wiretaps in mafia cases, we don't have wiretaps in this case, but what bob mueller has is conversation after conversation that aides to donald trump can reproduce. he's taken the aides and braugtd them in for interviews. and to the extent he ever said if james comey doesn't stop this investigation, i'm going to fire him. and the likelihood that he talked to an aide like that, is intent. >> we're going to squeeze in a break here. adam chief, the ranking member of the intelligence committee will join us next. average lasagna? not in this house. 'cause that's no average family. that's your family. which is why you didn't grab just any cheese. you picked up kraft mozzarella with a touch of philadelphia for lasanyeah! kraft. family greatly. we can now repair complex at saortic aneurysmsare, without invasive surgery. if we can do that, imagine what we can do for varicose veins. and if we can precisely treat eye cancer with minimal damage to the rest of the eye, imagine what we can do for glaucoma, even cataracts. if we can use dna to diagnose the rarest of diseases, imagi

bob mueller knows that. does donald trump? tbd. in the knicnixon case the prose ultimately turned from his firing to the white house tapes and dealt a stinging loss to president nixon and many americans felt a win for democracy. >> good morning, the supreme court has just ruled on the tape controversy and here's carlson who has that ruling. >> it is a nonmaus decision, doug, just as rehnquist took no part in the decision, ordering the president of the united states to turn over the tapes. >> wow. that's what one end of a constitutional crisis can look like. you heard the reporter say unanimous decision and the anchor noted nixon appointee rehnquist because rehnquist worked for recused today because we have rules. now that nixon case of course, turned on secret tapes which the courts forced the president to turn over. we don't know what the mueller case will turn on. it's not over. there could be secret evidence. it could excull pay the donald trump and make him look more innocent. we don't know. this week's evidence makes him look

we've seen already that bob mueller is charging people with lying to investigators. we've now had two guilty pleas on that. so they do not want to send the president in there -- >> and two others indicted. >> not for lying, but the point is if -- >> and bannon suggesting that money laundering went all the way to the top of the trump -- basically a criminal -- there's a book on. we can't disconnect these conversations. there is a book on the stands right now, michael wolff has steve bannon basically suggesting that a money laundering enterprise, a criminal enterprise was under way in the kushner/trump families. what lawyer lets donald trump sit down with anybody investigating anything. >> you'd want to negotiate parameters. what would be the questions asked, the topics contained. how much time would you have? and we don't know whether or not a prosecutor can compel a president to speak under these circumstances? in the past, president clinton voluntarily went along with giving an interview to ken starr in order to avoid a subpoena. that could have been litigated up to

i think bob mueller is the right man to do this and continue to have respect for him. but when this is over, it is time to get back to the normal business of governing and let donald trump, the elected leader, do the job he was elected to do and the democrats need to recognize that. >> sandra: always good to have you on the program ari fleischer. good morning and good to see you. >> bill: it certainly is. half a million without power at puerto rico works to recover from the hurricane disaster. now there is a major new push underway to get the lights back on for everyone. customer satisn over cable for 17 years running. but some people still like cable. just like some people like pre-shaken sodas. having their seat kicked on an airplane. being rammed by a shopping cart. sitting in gum. and walking into a glass door. but for everyone else, there's directv. for #1 rated customer satisfaction over cable, switch to directv and get a $200 reward card. call 1.800.directv >> i'm jon scott. ahead more fallout from the government shutdown. what both parties need to do before was

because it led to the appointment of bob mueller. that wasn't about dues at the golf club. that was about the president perceiving the russia investigation as a threat and wanting to act on that. >> in the sessions case, you also have michael wolf and other sources quoting the president as saying things like where's my roy and usining the word protec. it strikes me the use of that word protect would be of special interest in an obstruction case. >> i think that's exactly right. the president made clear that what he believes he's entitled to in an attorney general is not someone who is loyal to the department, not someone loyal to the american people but someone who is loyal to him. not just on garden variety issue but the russia investigation that's paramount to him. all of this does go to intent. he's been interviewing all these people in the white house and around the president. i think ron is exactly right. there's probably a lot that we toents know that the special counsel does. >> how secure is bob mueller's job in the view of congress at this point. i know when he was

. >> we have no intentions of firing bob mueller. we're continuing to work closely and cooperate with him. >> is the president going to continue to cooperate? >> there's no way he's going fire him. >> there's no conversation about that whatsoever in the white house. >> you know, you covered this team. it's sort of awkward now that we know that back in june, the president went to his jeef counsel over there at the white house and told him i was i'm going to go ahead and fire him. >> that's right, not only did the president discuss this, the only reason he backtracked was because the whout counsel threatened to quit and it's this running story that the president often contradicts his own spokesm spokesman. white house officials, those who aren't the face of the white house, but every white house official, the president consistently contradicts them. we see that time and time again. but here, it's not just the president contradicting his own spokesman. he's contradicting himself. it's a lie. he's saying he never considered it. never gav

bob mueller's boss. he would have to go to rosenstein and say fire bob mueller. if rosenstein refuses to do that or if rosenstein is fired himself, what happens? who goes in that job? who gets that job? does rachel brand move up to that position? would she fire bob mueller if he were -- who knows if, as you peel the layers of the onion here, who knows -- we don't know what's going on, really, as this affects the fate of bob mueller or bob mueller's investigation. and what does bob mueller do if rod rosenstein is fired? i presume he just goes on with his work. >> i don't know. >> that's right but, you know, rosenstein, in his testimony before congress, has been consistently saying, i see no basis to fire robert mueller. i am not going to fire robert mueller. if rosenstein gets fired, presumably president trump will want a more compliant figure in that job. >> right. >> and someone who is not going to have to -- you know, who will do his bidding and that becomes a -- you know, that nomination, if there is

according to the source, that the president tried to fire bob mueller back in june. that means mueller was just weeks on the job. he was appointed to lead the investigation on may 17th after president trump fired fbi director james comey may 9th. while the president claims the story is false, i want you to check out this interview that his friend chris ruddy did with chris cuomo in june last year. >> do you believe that the president is seriously considering getting rid of bob mueller? and why do you think that? >> i think it's a consideration the president has had because mueller is illegitimate as special counsel. >> let's start with my friend, abby philip there in davos, switzerland, where the president has been. so, abby, you know, we heard the president denying the story there in davos. what about don mcgann, this inventory who says he was would quit if the president wanted him to do this. what is he saying today? >> that's right, brooke. there's been some conspicuous silence from some of the people involved in this, including don mcgahn. he said absolutely noth

it sounds like, what we know of bob mueller's investigation, has moved o. bob mueller moved on from collusion. we don't know what he will have concluded on that. but in terms of the built pleas and in terms of the dilates, it's about things like lying to the fbi, phenomenal crimes. there has been talk about whether there's a case for obstruction of justice. so the president is distracting about collusion? is that why he is talking building? >> we have following the contrails of the investigation to define what he has. we have no way of knowing that. he is looking at whether there is evidence of illegal collusion between trump campaign and the russians, obstruction of justice, financial relationships between donald trump or others in the campaign and russia. so there is a lot of things he's looking at. we don't know what the end point of that is. the president pronounces thrg no collusion is his position. we have no way of knowing any of that. there is no evidence to date that would suggest he was involved in anything like that that led to the interference i

he can fire bob mueller. it is not illegal for him to do either of those things. i think -- i think the comey firing politically speaking was a gigantic mistake because i think it opened up the conversation about obstruction of justice. i think the consideration of the mueller firing a month later is more fuel to that. but he has the right to do these things, the question for me is why do we keep on a lot of different fronts as it relates to the russia story, getting versions of events later on that either direct or in part or mostly contradict things that we have already known. again, i try to always say, just because there is a lot of smoke does not mean there is a fire, right. the mike flynn plea deal, the george papadopoulos plea deal, the charges against manafort, and gates. those things, you would not want those things to be in your white house, democrat, republican, whatever. they do not add up to the fact that, yes, there was willful collusion bit president or his senior aides in this. i think the fact that the story keeps getting fuller in a way that in t

going to undermine bob mueller. if you are bob mueller and the president's lawyers say we don't want to talk to you. and only the president knows why he fired comey. >> let's go back to wolf blitzer. >> kate bennet is with us. it is also an important night for the president and also for the first lady. >> it certainly is. the first lady has driven separately from the president. she is actually already there. we got a statement as to why from her communication director saying mrs. trump is honoring her guest for the true heroes they are. she is accompanying them to the capitol. an intimate meet and greet. this is a break from tradition. we often see the president and the first lady exit the south lawn doors head to the limo and head to the capitol. >> it does happen. the first lady was supposed to go to davos and she canceled that. and went to florida instead. there have been reports of tension between the couple ever since the story broke of the president and the porn actress. >> correct. since then we haven't heard

and one he doesn't, bob mueller tightening his grip. on the first story, trump's own fbi director making waves tonight with his rare public rebuke saying this memo is reckless and even dangerous and mueller's story moving forward with key interviews, including that man, his former advisor. >> i'm mark carillo and this is ma mark cassowi krshs s. >> corolla was going to be the sean spicer of trump's criminal defense team. then he quit. now news breaking trump will interview him and he is a man who saw inside donald trump's legal defense strategy and he left at the time that the elements of the obstruction case were taking shape. that's the mueller story. now back to the story that republicans want to focus on tonight, trump could just be heard on a hot mike talking about, yes, the memo while leaving the state of the union. >> are you going to release the memo? >> don't worry, 100%. >> but the other story is right there, mueller closing in on the white house and now trump's lawyer balking at the presidential interview, that's john dowd, a

bob mueller is going to get him in there. >> speaking of bob mueller, it noted, a longtime trump political sshz said the following, using the clinton special play book, kill the investigator, obfuscate the charge. this is the government against the people's president. it's an easy narrative. steve, i'm going to start with you, since perhaps you participated in that narrative in 1998 or perhaps not as a democratic strategist, and we all remember -- >> i participated. >> -- some of those. it seems like in many ways you look add house republicans. it was house democrats back in the day that did it on behalf of the president. some of these republicans, true partisans who have nothing to fear politically, going after mueller, going after the fbi. muddying things up. is it going to work? >> so i would say the playbook is similar, if not exactly the same, that will give them that. but the underlying, one of the reasons that the outrage on the left was so severe in that case is you were talking about consensual sex in the oval office. it was inappropriate, it was sexual harassment, all those thing

president saying he is willing to talk to special counsel mitch mcconnell bob mueller. just before leaving for the summit in davos, switzerland. surprised reporters. they were being briefed by immigration reform by other members of the white house. the president opened the door and waukds in. you'll hear all that he had to say. because he took quite a few questions but here he is when asked about willing to speak with mueller's team. >> i'm looking forward to it. >> there has been no collusion whatsoever. no obstruction whatsoever. and i'm looking forward to it. i do worry when i look at all of the things that you people don't report about, with what's happening. if you take a look at, you know, five months worth of missing texts, that's a lot of missing texts. and as i said yesterday, that's prime time. so you do sort of look at that and say what's going on. you do look at certain texts where they talk about insurance policies or insurance where they say the kind of things they are saying, you have to be concerned. but i would love to do that. i'd like to do that as so

to end your investigation here. >> but that's not going to apply with bob mueller. >> bob mueller will only then have a choice. does he accept these limitations placed on him by the new deputy chief or does he resign? that's not a position the country or bob mueller should be put in. that would prompt a crisis. >> it sounds like we are headed towards a constitutional crisis of support. >> i don't know, but i do know that what the house is doing right now makes it more likely, not less. at a time when members of congress should be speaking out in both parties and telling the president you need to leave this investigation alone. you already fired the fbi director over russia. you did everything you could to push out the deputy director of the fbi. you have done everything you could to push out others within the department of justice including our own attorney general. all the russian investigation, you need to back off because if you do this, if you commit your own saturday night massacre, this will bring down this administration. >> what do you think the president says 100% you can put

bob mueller's team is thorough. they have details and dates. donald trump's strength is not choosing his words carefully. paying attention to details. he cannot approach an interview with bob mueller the way i could, for example, with press. he has to be cautious and careful or there could be serious consequences. >> sandra: the white house response has been we are cooperating. high level white house people have already been interviewed. many inside of the house have already been questioned by mueller. >> melissa: oh though by judge napolitano's logic they should never talk to anybody. they could create a perjury trap for anyone that goes and talks to them. that's the truth. but, at the same time, you know, at some points you have to go forward and present your case. i don't think he is pretending to be confident. i think he is very confident. it looks like he does believe he has nothing that he has to hide. he could certainly trip on his own words. it seems like he is going to go do it and from there we will see where they are heading. >> sand