. >> well, matt whittaker -- i don't know matt whittaker. matt whittaker worked for jeff sessions and he was always extremely highly thought of and he still is. but i didn't know matt whittaker. >> very adamant there. i don't know matt whittaker. >> the president reiterated his claim of not knowing matt whittaker again on friday in a series of tweets while also praising him. it was similar to the praise the president gave him last month during an interview that challenges his own claim of not knowing matt whittaker. >> i can tell you matt whittaker is a great guy. i mean, i know matt whittaker. >>> the lawmaker expectsays he to call matt whittaker as that panel's first witness, saying he would grill the acting attorney general over protecting robert mueller's russia probe. >> the very first thing, obviously, is to protect the mueller investigation. the president's dismissal of attorney general sessions and his appointment of whittaker, who's a complete political lackey is a real threat to the integrity of that investigation. that investigati

i don't know mat whittaker. in all fairness to mat whittaker who i didn't know. >> okay. of course the president knows him. it stands to reason the he knows he has spoken out against the mueller investigation. he watches tv. he didn't know his entire history. that would require a white house staff that researched him. a little bit. that's what senior investigative correspondent has been doing. he reported on his ties to a company the federal trade commission shut down because it was running a sdam. tonight more about his past and time in iowa. >> when fired attorney general walked out of the department of justice and shook hands with the man who would take over at least temporarily. this iowa state senator was agast. >> initially i thought i can't think of a more ill qualified person to assume that role. based upon my experience with him. >> mat mccoy has a history with president trumps new acting attorney general. and it is not a good one. in 2007, mccoy was a young, gay rising star. in iowa's democratic party. whittaker was the young conservative republican u.s. attorne

whittaker is in a difficult position. you have trump basically signaling you have my blessing to shut down the russia investigation. he said in that interview with chris wallace, it would be fine with me if he wanted to interfere. there's other parts of the government that will hold whittaker accountable including for obstruction of justice. >> moderate republicans in the senate right now. >> a moderate republican. or a conservative republican with a shred of decency. we're talking about jeff flake. >> lindsey graham also saying he would support what jeff flake is doing so far. thank you to all three. good conversation. >>> turning to breaking news in california. displaced victims of the deadly camp fire may be forced to evacuate for the second time. this time from large tent city due to the pockssibility of flooding rain. the death toll stands at 76 with three more across the state in other fires. more than 1200 all set across the state are still missing. the camp fire which is still burning northeast of sacramento has t

i mean i know matt whittaker. >> reporter: prominent d.c. attorney john conway, husband of kellyanne conway, argued in a "new york times" op-ed that his selection is unconstitutional, it is illegal and it means anything mr. whittaker does or tries to do in that position is invalid. the president brushed off conway's concerns. >> he is just trying to get publicity for himself. why don't you do this, why don't you -- why don't you ask kellyanne that question, all right? she might -- she might know him better than me. i really don't know the guy. >> reporter: the democrats, who are about to take control of the house, are vowing to protect special counsel robert mueller. >> the american people spoke on tuesday. they want a check on abuses of power. that's, i think, one of the issues that was on the ballot. so we have a number of options. one, we're going to have a funding-the-government vote coming up in a couple of weeks, and we will insist we protect the mueller probe. >> reporter: even with all of that on his hands, the president is also spar

should have matt whittaker in senator flake: when you hear the statement he is has made in the past, not just about the special counsel but what he thinks of, -- but with regard to his own jurisprudence and what he thinks of, for example, marbury vs. madison, to say that was wrongly decided undercuts our entire system of justice here that we've enjoyed for a couple of centuries. so that's the type of thing that he would be asked if he were subject subjected to senate -- if you were subjected -- if he were subjected to senate confirmation. but he hasn't been. other than as u.s. attorney in iowa, they don't receive nearly the scrutiny that somebody who is going for attorney general would receive. cons: matthew: -- whittaker has been reported to have believes in the policy of nullification that he believes it's possible they are states to nullify laws. we fought a civil war over that. there a number of truly alarming statements matthew whittaker has made in the past he ought to come in front of the judiciary committee and explain why he's the appropriate person to serve as the acting at

now he would be going to whittaker. >> he would be going to whittaker. and also whittaker would have to be briefed on this entire investigation. we don't know know where that stands right now. >> it is important to point out at the time he was making comments on cnn and that stuff, he had not actually seen actual evidence. >> he had not seen evidence. we don't know he has seen evidence up until today. it could be the deputy attorney general briefed him finally today. the other question is he going to meet with mueller to get brief said on where the investigation stands? the implications also come from the report. and what does whittaker do with that report? does he limit the special counsel, where they can go, what they can write in this report? those are going to be the big questions. >> and it does it become public? >> right, there's are going to be the big questions. do i feel that whittaker -- whittaker could say i feel that here you've overstepped your authority so this is not an issue and we should not be investigating. >> today there was a call fr

matthew whittaker is 49 years old. he will have a long professional career after the trump presidency is over. he has to ask himself tonight, how much is he willing to risk that career by obstructing justice for donald trump? is he willing to risk getting disbarred as a lawyer? is he willing to risk becoming the third attorney general of the united states convicted of a crime, the previous two were both nixon attorneys general whose lives were ruined by their work as attorneys general for a criminal president of the united states. if matthew whittaker obstructs justice for donald trump he will not get away with it, and donald trump will not get away with it because the democrats won the house of representatives. joining us now are matt miller where an msnbc contributor, and ari melber and host of the beat, weeknights 6:00 p.m. on msnbc. ari, i want to start with the legitimacy of this transition here. the new acting attorney general being appointed under the federal vacancies reform act, which only applies if an attorn

those are the words whittaker used. he's already outlined that st strategy before. >> how do the career employees feel about this? >> they have known if this did not go to rod rosenstein after the firing of sessions, if he was not put in that acting position, that would spell a number of problems for the mueller investigation and really sour the justice department especially when they see that their boss, the president, is making that kind of decision. it would have the appearance of an ethics conflict. it's on whittaker himself to go to those ethics consultants. he could go to those inside the doj or office of government ethics. it's incumbent upon him to do that. a number of people says he has no plans to do that. he fully intends to toke over the mueller probe. >> there are questions about whether or not he can be independent not only from what he's said in the past about this investigation but the relationships he has with those being investigated. sam clovis has come up. they became friends when they ran unsuccessf

whittaker in conjunction with this case, would he be obliged to follow that advice? >> well, there is an ethics apparatus at the department of justice, in rod rosenstein's office. one of rod's senior staff people is the senior ethics official for the department. i happen to know that individual. he's a fine lawyer, a fine person, a long-time career official. if asked to, i'm sure he would produce a fine legal analysis with a recommendation. this is a more subjective kind of you know it when you see it. it should be so obvious that someone with statements atributed to him that before whittaker has, should have nothing to do with oversight of the mueller investigation. and so an ethics insurrection arises within the department where he is pressed on to recuse himself, it's improbable he's going to give any credence to recommendations that he recuse himself. and it's inconceivable that he would recuse himself, because the president installed him in this job to get rid of an attorney general who could -- who was recused. so it's just -- we are in this hall of mirrors her

now if matt whittaker does not recuse himself, matt whittaker will have that final say. >> if joyou're adam schiff, wha are you thinking? >> i think you're sending letters. you want to preserve documents. you're going to want to investigate this. clearly an overreach from the white house, from the trump administration. there's a lot of people who say trump doesn't know how washington works. this is clearly beyond the bounds. >> this is a very good example of why president trump should be taken literally and seriously. a lot of his critics says he says things he doesn't mean them. he has these instincts, some of them border on authoritarian. in this case the institutions seem to have hemmed him in. there's a pattern here where he is upset with people when they are part of institutions that are designed to be independent. jeff sessions was a good example of that. >> chuck, what should we be watching robert mueller to do next. you get a sense when they talk to the big fish, the president that this thing may be winding down. what does he do next? what should we be looking for? >> i think t

makes you wonder whether they want to support whittaker. run us through what the democrat, the argument the democrats are making and whether they expect to hear a ruling from the federal judge any time soon. these three democrats, all of them on the judiciary committee so the folks who have some jurisdiction here filed this lawsuit making the argument that matt whittaker's appointment as acting ag is unconstitutional because he was never confirmed to senate confirmed role. they say constitutional he's a nobody. it doesn't matter what his title was at doj. it matters he's confirmed or not by the senate. therefore, he should not be in the role. as i'm standing here waiting to go on air, just got an e-mail from chuck schumer says he supports the efforts of these democratic senators to do whatever nay can to stop whittaker. there's not a lot of enthusiasm for whittaker to be in this job long term even on the republican side. talked to a number of republican senators last week who said the president could put all this to bed if he just made a pe

now he would be going to whittaker. >> he would be going to whittaker and also the other thing is whittaker has to be briefed on this entire investigation. we don't know where that stands right now. >> we don't know if he's already been briefed. >> we don't know. >> it is important to point out that at the time he was making those comments on cnn and stuff, he had not seen any actual evidence. >> right. >> didn't know what mueller had. >> he had not seen any evidence. we don't know that he has even seen any evidence up to today. it could be the deputy attorney general briefed him finally today. the other big question is is mueller going to come in and meet with him? is he going to go meet with mueller to get briefed on where the investigation stands? the implications also go for the report which eventually everyone's expecting to come either in december or the beginning of the new year and what does whittaker do with that report? does he limit the special counsel where they can go, what they can write in this report? those are going to be the big questions. >> does it become public? >> vigr

whittaker. the president reiterated that on twicer friday evening that he had no social contact with the acting agn october president trump told fox news he knew him. >> i don't know matt whittaker, worked for jeff sessions and he was always extremely highly thought of and he still is. >> i can tell you matt whittaker is a great guy, i know matt whittaker. >> on friday reporters asked the president if he discussed the mueller probe with whittaker, president trump said he did not speak to matt whittaker about it and again said he did not know him, reporting in washington, d.c. i'm ellison barber fox news. arthel: thank you very much, eric, over to you. eric: let's go to matthew, former justice department attorney general, senior fellow at institute. you heard the critics say, they think the fix is in with whittaker, democrats say he was picked to protect the president, how do you see it? >> well, i think he was pick today be acting attorney general and i think he is unlikely to take any traumatic

didn't know matt whittaker. >> reporter: that's not what he told fox news a month ago. r > i can tell you matt whitta a great guy. >> reporter: with demonstrators rallying to be protecte they are calling on him to recuse himself. don't think we can expect matt whittaker can fairly oversee an investigation when he doesn't think it's necessary. >> reporter: as for a permanent a.g., the president says there is no rush. peter alexander, nbc news, the house. >>> as all that plays out, the president has just touched down in paris and already a swing at his host. kristen welker is there for us tonight. what's the latest? >> reporter: lester, striking that t is president trump is lashing out at french id prt emanuel macron. he's here to celebrate peace among allies, the world of world war i. this started when macron said europe should build its own military to protect against outside forces including the u.s. president trtwp ted out that's very insulting. they were ce so close their relationship was a bromance but that's fizzling, setting the stage for high diplomatic drama thi

whittaker will speak at the event in place of jeff sessions. >> meanwhile, calls continue for whittaker to recuse himself from over seeing the special counsel, robert mueller's russia probe. he has made critical remarks about the probe, the scope of it in the past. joining us now, our justice reporter who broke all of the news yesterday as it was happening. remarkable reporting by you and the entire team as this was going down yesterday, laura. what should everyone this morning waking up know about the man that will now oversee the entire russia probe. >> he has fiercely defended the president in the past, appearing regularly on tv, talking almost as a surrogate for him. i want to read a piece he wrote for cnn back in august of 2017 before he was sessions chief of staff where he talked about how he agreed with the president, that there would be a limit, perhaps a bridge too far that mueller shouldn't cross if he tried to go after the president's personal financial information. he says this, quote, the president is absolutely correct. mueller has come up to a red line in the russia 2016

can whittaker do anything to curtail those? >> what concerns me is that now he will know about those. a lot of that information comes to the grand jury process, which means it's secret under the federal secrecy rules. he cannot share that with the white house, what he learns. there's all kinds of budgetary games that can be played. the other thing that concerns me is that under the statute that mueller is working under, when something significant happens, he has to essentially go to approval or apprise the attorney general. let's say he goes to -- >> the acting a.g. >> -- whittaker and says i want to send a target letter to don junior and the acting ag says no, you're not. now we have the beginning of that crisis which we have known has been coming. it's coming. when he says no, what does mueller do, go ahead and do it? then he could be fired for good cause? and then what does congress do? all of this is coming to a head. we have this epic battle that is, on some level, the trump versus mueller, but on the big battle is really

whittaker from being the acting attorney general. our founders put in article 2 of the constitution the requirement principle officers and heads of department the attorney general this is quintessential case have to be confirmed by the senate. you have president trump reaching into the bowels of the justice department and appointing a constitutional nobody, somebody the senate has not confirmed to this task. it's one thing if it's an emergency. this is a situation the president already has his own people in deputy attorney rod rosen stein and solicitor general, people the president nominated but importantly the senate has confirmed to justice positions. whittaker has none of that. >> if he wanted to put somebody an active member confirmed in the justice department by the senate, that's fine but somebody who never has been confirmed elevating him to the highest justice position in the land, that you say is legal? >> that's correct. the attorney general has awesome powers. the power to put somebody to death or supervise the solicitor g

whittaker has been at the elbow of jeff sessions, so what's he going to do? obviously, we don't know. but he's not going to be acting unilaterally. if he does, it could be kind dangerous for him. >> tell me more about that because what makes you think he won't act unilaterally? i'm not sure we need to wait and see what happens, mr. starr. he feels that the mueller probe is possibly too far-reaching. he also feels that one way to starve it is to just start of starve it of its funding. here he was speaking about this. listen to matt whittaker. >> i could see a scenario where jeff sessions is replaced with a recess appointment and that attorney general doesn't fire bob mueller but reduce it is budget so low that his investigation grinds to almost a halt. >> that sounds like a preview. >> it is. it's a warning shot to say, okay, this is going to be watched. but the nation is not just going to standby and allow unilateral power to be exercised. >> what can the nation do? >> oh, it's called the congress of the united states. it's called the press. it's called the p

they say whittaker's appointment is lawful. in the past whittaker criticized mueller's investigation in the 2016 and talked bow the -- how the attorney general could cut funding. whittaker said there was no collusion between the russians and the trump campaign. the president agrees. he didn't know whittaker's stand in advance. the real question here is whittaker in charge as a partisan to protect president trump? john roberts reporting live from the white house. >> reporter: that is the question lot of people have. for the president's part, he's made no effort to hide his contempt for the mueller investigation. he is gone out of his way on many occasions to show the degree of contempt. but so far the president has not seem to make any moves to interfere with the mueller probe. he said he will not interfear with the investigation. we wants it to be wrapped up as soon as possible. however, he told chris wallace on friday that if the attorney general, matt whittaker, were to take steps to reign it in, that will be whittaker's deci

i didn't know matt whittaker. >> he clearly does know whittaker well enough to appoint him acting ag. he told fox news he knew whittaker last month. >> i can tell you he's a great guy. i know matt whittaker. >> i mean we have the tapes. come on. back in september the new york times reported on the good relationship the two men share. critics aren't concerned with him relationship with the president. they take issue with his history of partisan opinion about robert m mueller's investigation. >> truth is there was no collusion with the russians in the trump campaign. there was interference but that's not collusion with the campaign. that's where the left seems to be combining the two issues. the last thing they want now is the truth to come out and the fact there's not a single piece of evidence that demonstrates that the trump campaign had any illegal or even improper relationships with russians. it's that simple. >> we do know how he feels about it. whittaker has no plans to recuse himself from overseeing the russia investigation. joining me former u.s. professor at the university of

would be reporting to whittaker and rosenstein. the justice department has not said that whittaker is going to be the be all end all here. we don't know how this is going to work. i think a lot of the things like what the senate democrats are doing right now is in the service of pushing this toward a situation which may rosenstein has some authority over this. it's not a done deal yet. it's possible that he is going to take over the whole thing. we don't know. >> nancy, you're working on a different story. more internationally story ahead of the g-20? >> yeah. that's something i'm closely the watching. the president has been meeting with pompeo, john bolton, and the ambassador to china terry brandstad to talk about how he's going to approach this meeting with the chinese president and the g-20. it's going to be interesting to watch this discussion involvevo. >> i will be at the g-20. i'll see you there end of next week as i travel with my president as part of my other job. nancy and aaron, love having you on. thank you very much. w

and how long would whittaker be there? is whittaker the person trump wants to be the attorney general in the rung run? is he testing him out here or putting him there to keep him there even if congress won't confirm the person that he wants? there's a lot we don't know here and what the president's true intentions are. >> what about lindsey graham? does he want lindsey there sph. >> lindsey graham, chris christie, would those folks come in? and is trump going straight for mueller? does he want to have mueller fired? i think that would create a massive reaction that would be negative for the president. it's not clear -- i mean, the president often likes to do things to distract, and he probably knows deep down inside yesterday's election was not as great as he made it out to be. >> i see that number of senators as critical to his new confidence in this area. he doesn't need to two women for another confirmation, that there's a choice issue there in terms of women's right to choose. he's got enough republican males, to put i

he installed matthew whittaker for one purpose, to end the investigation. there is bipartisan consensus this appointments violates the apointments clause of the .onstitution which trumps any as george conway and former solicitor germ wrote in the "new york times," mr. whittaker's installation makes a mockery of our constitution and 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. whittaker would not qualify because such an appointment must be made by someone confirmed by the senate. that's a fact and has to be emphasized. and very importantly, the preservation of all the documentation so that the people an know

whittaker to do anything other than mr. mueller's job. >> our justice correspondent has more on our nation's top law enforcement official. the newly appointed attorney general and why democrats are so concerned. >> reporter: matthew whittaker was well known as a reliable conservative when hef was hand picked. don mcgahn was behind his fihirg as sessions chief of staff and white house officials believe his loyalties would lie at the white house and not with sessions who had fallen out of favor with trump. he too recommended whittaker since jeff sessions need add strong manager and someone with credibility who had served the department. one source says it was way to keep things on the rails at the justice department and keep sessions focused. whittaker was encouraged by people close to trump to appear on tv to get the attention of the president. in 2014, whittaker told an iowa blog he thought the landmark supreme court ruling from 1803 that established judiciary ability to strike down laws to violate the u.s. constitution was

to recuse himself from overseeing the investigation pointing comments whittaker has made in the past criticizing muller's probe. he was choosing for the purpose of interfering with the muller investigation. three democrat senators have sued to have whittaker removed saying the constitution requires senate approval for all principal officers such as attorney general. but the white house argues that whittaker is not considered a principal officer because he is only temporary. >> he is clearly a principal officer in the fact that he is a temporary principal officer, doesn't mean that that is any less subject to senate confirmation. special council robert muller agreed to submit written questions to president trump and the president is expected to submit his answers next week. but the president has been advised not to answer any questions about obstruction of justice. >> and nothing written or in person on obstruction. i would say probably. probably, i can change my mind but probably. i think we've waisted enough time on this witch hunt. >> mr. muller does have the power to subpoena to a

matt whittaker. i don't know matt whittaker. he worked for jeff sessions and was always extremely highly thought of and still is but i didn't know matt whittaker. he worked for attorney general sessions. he was very very highly thought of and still is highly thought of but this only comes up because anybody that works for me they do a number on them but matt whittaker is a very smart man. he's a very respected man in the law enforcement community. very respected, at the top of the line. and actually the choice was greeted with raves initially and still is in some circles. it's a shame that no matter who i put in they go after them. it's very sad, i have to say. but he's acting. i think he'll do a very good job and we'll see what happens but i will say this, matt whittaker's a very highly respected man and i didn't have any problem with matt whittaker when he worked with mat sessions. he's respected by law enforcement and is a strong law enforcement personality and person. i didn't speak to matt whittaker about it. he has a great

whittaker. >> reporter: the white house say there is is no intent to disrupt the investigation. >> the mueller investigation has gone forward using your tax dollars. we don't have an acting attorney general who is recused from it. >> reporter: the protest nationwide thursday at 5:00 p.m., a coordinated outcry from large crowds in time square to california where protesters proeffect id messages on the front of oakland city hall. >> we demand that whittaker recuse himself. >> we're going to support mueller not being fired. when the people speak the people speak. people speak. . >> reporter: some people say another point of concern is that whittaker is taking come of the department of justice, not having been through any kind of senate confirmation process or vetting. another call from democrats is they want some kind of investigation into administrati was any intent to medal in the mueller probe. >> a supreme court justice the hospitalized. still ahead, the injury suffered by ruth bader ginsburg. >>> california's new goff e electric, we caught up with him and he was feeding the hungry an

whittaker was on the advisory board. he served several years ago, issuing some of his own correspondents with consumers. democrats are raising questions about what was his involve. they are saying we didn't get a chance to vet this guy. we need to understand his role. this is just the first of many, many letters like this to come. >> a lot of letters. thank you. i really appreciate it. >> joining me now a discuss this republican congressman. >> democrats are challenging whittaker's appointment. critics are challenging it. they don't think it is constitutional. do you have concerns over his appointment with that regard that he hasn't been confirmed by the senate? >> i do not. this is a temporary appointment. you need somebody to fill the role. i think the most effective way to deal with this is have the senate agree. let's take up the nomination and not bog it down into legislative tactics and we get someone appointed to this position forth right. >> there is obviously a lot of focus, one of the big focuses is recusing or

democrats want whittaker to recuse himself from the russian investigation. some republicans argue there is a double standard when it comes to recuseals. katherine heritage reporting. >> reporter: congressman, jerry nadler, said acting attorney general, matt whittaker's past media appearances smacked of bias. >> he should recuse himself. he has expressed total hostilities to the investigation. he has said the investigation shouldn't go forward. someone who has said that should not be in charge of deciding on the investigation. >> reporter: also, in january, the republican chairman of the house intelligence committee, devon nunez, alleged surveillance on the trump campaign will hand the gavel to ranking democrat, adam schiff. he said that whittaker will be investigated. >> we are going to find out whether he made commitments to the president about the probe, whether he is serving as a back channel to the president or his lawyers about the probe, whether he is doing anything to interfere with the probe. >> it's worth noting that some other house republicans mai

they could subpoena whittaker himself. meanwhile back at the judicial branch in article iii there is a pending lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of his appointment. the argument there is that because whittaker is what's called a superior officer, he must be senate confirmed and he is not. the argument on the other side is no, no, an acting a.g. is just an interior officer and does not need to be confirmed by the senate. it will be interesting to see where this goes, which is surely to the supreme court. >> we know the president is going to submit the answers to the special counsel by thanksgiving. rudy giuliani said by july 4th and then here we are now. what's important here are these are questions not about obstruction of justice. they can choose what they're going to answer. >> they can. remember it's what they don't answer that is just as significant for prosecutors. here's the thing, prosecutors rarely have a situation where they give written questions to a defendant or suspect or anybody and get answers back f

and with matt whittaker as the acting a.g., it seems like he should probably move faster rather than later, because in june the money kind of runs out and then you have to have it reappropriated. >> we talked about florida early on in the show and we're going to get some more on the election results later on. the fact that the house has flipped to the dems and even in georgia newt gingrich's told city has gone democratic. there's that, yet the republicans picked up in the senate. what's the take-away here? >> i think with seven governorships that democrats gained with over 300 state legislative seats which are very important in terms of redistricting and drawing the maps for congressional districts. you know, stamped the losses in the senate. sinema is up by a view votes in arizona. i think the big picture is trump has a lot to fear in 2020 with losing the suburbs. so democrats can take places like colorado and virginia as basically safe for 2020 in terms of the presidential -- but ohio and florida are really tough with republican governors probably going to be there in 2020. that ma

now, whittaker has been quiet for the last 72 hours. i think that's a good idea. but i think we can all agree that rod rosenstein was a fire wall for the mueller investigation. that fire wall is now removed. and so the odds that we're going to end up in a political or perhaps even constitutional crisis have been increased with the appointment of mr. whittaker. >> all right. general, thank you very much. great to talk to you. >>> all right. is it deja vu of 2000 in florida all over again? a recount battle looms over the sunshine state. we have the latest vote totals for you next. cal: we saved our money and now, we get to spend it - our way. ♪ valerie: but we worry if we have enough to last. ♪ cal: ellen, our certified financial planner™ professional, helps us manage our cash flow and plan for the unexpected. valerie: her experience and training gave us the courage to go for it. it's our "confident forever plan"... cal: ...and it's all possible with a cfp® professional. find your certified financial planner™ professional at letsmakeaplan.org. >>> i will no

that's whittaker. he serves for 210 days and there's some wiggle room at the end of that time period under the vacancies reform act. but the power that he has eventually over the mueller investigation will be considerable. now, there are, of course, four cause provisions if he wants to outright fire mueller. but he also has considerable power as the a.g. over whatever mueller delivers to him ultimately. in the future what we may see is mueller continuing to speak with indictments, continuing to speak by handing off investigations to districts and united states attorneys in specific districts and leaving things out of the mueller team's investigation, there immunizing them from his potential firing. and by potential, i mean mueller's potential firing or the ending of the investigation by an attorney general situation thet -- sympathy thetic to the trum cause. >> the president feels emboldened by the midterm results. he's going to have face-to-favo senate control. are we hearing they may block a confirma

instead of rod rosenstein to serve as attorney general. >> mike whittaker has a background both as a u.s. attorney and as chief of staff at the justice department. that fully qualifies him to be our acting attorney general. the president thought he was smi t simply the best choice to do that. the american people can be very confident that the right steps will be taken. look, this administration has fully cooperated with the special counsel. we've literally provided i think over a million documents to the special counsel. i think the american people can be confident that we'll continue to cooperate. >> you just mentioned that you just saw vladimir putin last night. >> i did. >> you exchanged greetings. >> i did. >> why not express condemnation of russia's meddling in u.s. elections? fblgts >> we really didn't have the opportunity. he was literally across a broad table. look, we've been very clear about this administration's commitment to ensure that whether it be russia or other countries, that there's no tolerance for meddling in our elections. and we took decisive action over the la

whittaker is in iowa. he is there for an elder fraud conference today. acting attorney general fulfilling the duties. we haven't seen evidence that he will step aside. there have been a lot of questions about whether he would step aside from overseeing the mueller investigation which is the main investigation on everybody's mind. >> we are seeing matthew whittaker taking the podium there at that event. is the office of legal counsel nonpartisan? >> it is full of career officials. the main person at the helm is a political appointee appointed by the president. it is full of many lawyers who had been there for years and years. it is viewed as an office that is supposed to be impartial. obviously, it is the chief legal interpreter for federal agencies for the trump administration. it is providing legal advice. their advice was going to be consistent with what the president did last week. we didn't think we would see an opinion saying this was unconstitutional. the office is posed to provide its best legal advice based on the law. >> the question would be wh

attorney from iowa and bush administration and until today, ssions chief of e taff, whittaker will oversethe russia investigation taking o r from rosenstein. when he was a conservative commentator for cnn he was wary of givinghe ecial counsel too much power and said the russia investigation could be ldhrottled back. >> i cee a scenario where jeff sessions is replaced with a recess appoinent and that attorney general doesn't fire bob mu ler but reduces the budget so low that his investigation grinds to a halt. >> reporter: and he saw nothing wrong with trump's son meeting a russian lawyer that offered dirt on hillary clinton during the mpaign. >> i've run for public office twice and you certainly want to have any advantage and any legal advantage you can. >> reporter: the robert mueller retains special authority and atas to clear decisions withwhittaker. >> it means matt whittaker will overseemu boler's investigation if mueller needs to do something or seek tional authority or get permission to charge, mueller has to go through whittaker. >> reporter: whiaker has authority to fire mueller but

i'm not sure mr whittaker wa nts to charter. i'm not sure mr whittaker wants to go there. aside from the fa ct wants to go there. aside from the fact his appointment may well be illegal. under the constitution the appointments clause principal officers have to be confirmed by the senate. it is quite extraordinary to replace one cabinet officer and another person who has never been confirmed by senate whatsoever. assuming that is true, assuming, and remember also the statute under which mr whittaker was appointed provides for presidential interval appointments in cases of resignations or death, not speaking of filings. if you read jeff sessions‘s letter it is obvious he resigned under duress and was basically told. to the first point thatjeff sessions could be forced to give evidence to robert mueller, right, and whittaker could also be forced to give evidence but on your second point, isn't that the reason why mr whittaker is a temporary appointment, he has not been confirmed and as a result the president can put him in for several weeks or months, he can get away with t

whittaker does not belong as acting attorney general. he's not senate confirmed. he didn't met the succession requirements. his disqualified in terms of overseeing the russia investigation because of his opinions on it already and the positions he's taken publicly. this is a terrible mistake. the first thing i hope the judiciary committee will do once in democratic hands is to bring mr. whittaker before the committee and find out what happened with the firing of jeff sessions and how mr. whittaker was hired and what consideratves took place at the white house. >> i'm curious as we widen out from just the law, as a student or observer of donald trump, what do you think about the counter productive risk he's taking. he's beefing with john roberts, someone he can't fire who could have the final word on the mueller probe, efforts to subpoena trump and other big important questions. >> i mean what's really scary about this president is he continues to not just push the law but push norms. there by forcing congress, almost challenging them, daring them to stop him. poli

in any event, whittaker is a temporary appointment. no more than 210 days. even if they do have standing and the suit can go forward, it may not be resolved before the clock runs on matt whittaker. >> that wasn't too nerdy, the right amount of nerd. appreciate it. >>> after the break, monica lewinsky opening up in a new documentary 20 years after an affair with former president bill clinton. what she says she would say to hillary clinton if she saw her today, in clips just released. we'll bring them to you. in cli. we'll bring them to you. oh, look... another anti-wrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair® works in just one week. with the fastest retinol formula available. it's clinically proven to work on fine lines and wrinkles. one week? that definitely works! rapid wrinkle repair®. and for dark spots, rapid tone repair. neutrogena®. see what's possible. their medicare options... before they're on medicare. come on in. you're turning 65 soon? yep. and you're retiring at 67? that's the plan! well, you've come t

unless he's recused, whittaker has the ability to quash the report in the first instance. one thing that's important to recognize is under the rules, if he does that, he does have to report to congress that he did it. that gives a democratically controlled congress some transparency into the fact it's happened and then gives them the ability to try to go through their own process to subpoena witnesses and identify for themselves what that evidence may have been. having subpoena power matters a lot. i think this issue of what we have seen or know of robert mueller in terms of how he behaves. he's a by the books prosecutor. whether he would do that and take that route is the question that's open. >> don't forget that -- >> i got to fit in a break. robert mueller is by book and george helped write one of those books. george i hope you can come back another time. thank you so much. i want to turn back to the recount here in florida. for many americans all of this, well, it looks like deja vu all over again. >> those computers. this is the answer. get it right. >> they need flo

he named matt whittaker named him attorney general, and then turned around and said i don't even know him. he sent 15,000 troops to the border against an enemy invasion that doesn't exist. he accused george soros of paying for the caravan and i really love this one. he accused the people of florida coming to vote and getting in their car and changing their shirt and putting on a different hat and going in and voting again. anybody here -- [laughter] anybody here want to fess up to

he named matt whittaker named him attorney general, and then turned around and said i don't even know him. he sent 15,000 troops to the border against an enemy invasion that doesn't exist. he accused george soros of paying for the caravan and i really love this one. he accused the people of florida coming to vote and getting in their car and changing their shirt and putting on a different hat and going in and voting again. anybody here -- [laughter] anybody here want to fess up to

the lawsuit marks the third legal action challenging whittaker's appointment in less than a week. last week separate legal challenges were fired by the state of maryland and at the supreme court. all three are seeking a federal court to rule that deputy attorney general the rod rosenstein is the legal and constitutional successor to former attorney general jeff sessions. >>> as we talk about these lawsuits here, how far do you expect this fight to go? and what's the imin fact these sui -- impact these fights will have on the acting attorney general's future in the position? >> i think most likely if mr. whittaker stays in his capacity as the acting attorney general long-term, this is really going to have to be one of those fights they may make it all the way up to the supreme court in one form or another. i'm not exactly sure which of the lawsuits may get there, but my colleague todd rugger was reporting on this yesterday. this one that senator blumenthal and the other democratic senators have filed so far seems like it might be the most plausible challenge and that will really ma

matt whittaker. three democratic senators the latest to challenge the constitutionality of his appointment. pete williams is standing by. pete, walk us through this here if you can. >> this is the third legal challenge to the whittaker appointment. it was just filed in federal court in washington by three democratic senators. richard blumenthal, sheldon white house, and may si hirono. they say it violates a clause that says anybody serving in a cabinet level job has to be nominated by the president and confirmed by the senate. they say they have legal standing to sue because they were denied the right to vote on the nomination. the justice department defended this appointment on the same grounds they attack it on. they say it's true that he wasn't confirmed by the senate, but he didn't need to be because the office of abocting attorney general doesn't require senate confirmation because it's temporary. but they say in their lawsuit that that's a legal fiction, quote, it's a fiction that there exists

let's move on to matt whittaker. so he is the new acting attorney general. many -- some legal scholars, including george conway calls his appointment unconstitutional and illegal. do you agree? >> i don't agree, actually. i think the president does have the power to do this. but i think there are really two issues about whittaker here. one is is his appointment legal. there is basically no one who can file a lawsuit to challenge it. i mean, even if technically this is not a legal appointment, i don't think any court is going to remove him from office. no one would have legal standing to file that lawsuit. so that's mostly a theoretical debate about whether it's legal. the second issue is is he qualified? is he competent? is he appropriate person for the job? as more facts come out about his background, the stuff he has said about the mueller investigation, his views about the constitution which seem way, way out of the mainstream. >> talking about that marberry versus madison. >> the case that said the courts have the right to declare acts unconstitutional.

how likely is this matthew whittaker could challenge the indictment >> matthew whittaker can the not challenge them once they're filed. they're filed so they can't just be quieted at this point in time. they're already actually filed in court. they just are under seal. so what will happen is once the person is actually arrested and brought forward, they will unsealed by a judge. so as soon as the arrests are made, they'll be made public. now whittaker could take actions to make the indictments go away after that happens, but that's got to involve a judge. the public will at least know about the indictments which is going to be huge in this case. that's what we want to know. we want to know who has been indictmented we want to know the contents of the investigation. his efforts to quiet these indictments are significantly hindered because they're already filed in open court. >> one law expert told abc news 60% of criminal cases remain under saeal. how unusual is this practice. >> it's not unusual in federal court. it's very unusual in state court. state court an indictment is returned

. >> matt whittaker, david brooks, what do w make of him? the arguments that he's even constitutionally is even a constitution appointm ot. >> i thi of the -- i went election and his heard the word unraveling over and over again. aree racially together? are we economically together. are we morally together. are our institutionsth to. donald trump threatens the institution by personalizing power. t you don't ser constitution, you serve donald trump. he wants people to serve him. that's not how the attorney general's office is supposed to act. it's a threat to one of our institutions and ather one is the way with bark at the reves on the elections. and when you accuse somebody of corruption without any evidencer you're d 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. know , i think that you the president has gone after one anditution after the oth you see that in this call of corruption inelhese ections, not to allow an election to be settled. an