and that mr. mueller and mr. barr have a long-standing working relationship, and that he is going to respect mr. mueller, work that mr. mueller's work. one thing he's not going to do is bargain away his district that his discretion to attorney general. let the going to president or anybody else take over being attorney general. he's not going to let senators take over the job of being attorney general. you may not like the fact that i'm not going to get my discretion away when it comes to recusal. the bottom line is i thought he i will fall the regulation. here's what i would tell the .ublic it's mr. mueller and mr. barr working together, that is about our countryutcome could hope for. they've known each other for very long time. they are cut from the same cloth and i am confident that mr. mueller's report will be treated respectfully and will get to the bottom of all of this. >> i wanted to ask you about the shutdown. day 25. what happening? >> good question. so what's happening? i've come to conclude democrats

mueller. >> sean: so am i. you are not? >> look, the bottom line here there was no trump collusion but there was hillary fbi department of justice collusion and four people on mueller's special counsel team involved. >> sean: and also we know that they literally lied to fisa court and committed fraud. all right, when we come back, whoopi goldberg going

would you say you have a close relationship with mr. mueller? >> i would say we were good friends. >> would you say that you understand him to be a fair-minded person? >> absolutely. drew hadd do you trust him to be fair to the country as a president and as a whole. when his report comes to you, will you share it with as much as possible? consistent with the regulations and the law, yes. >> do you believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt against anybody. >> i don't believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt. >> what the is circumstances that would allow a special counsel to be appointed, generally speaking? >> i appointed three, mr. chairman, as personal counsel. and something comes up, an issue comes up that needs to be investigated, and there are good reasons to have it investigated by a special counsel outside the normal chain at the department, someone usually of public statute that can provided additional insurance -- >> do you believe senator sessions had a conflict because he worked on the trump campaign? >> i'm no

and it was all braise by mr. mueller's story. neither to confirm or deny. >> you know when you do that to many people it is a confirmation. >> i understand either way you can intera nondenial denial. since he is the subject of the story, he talked to mr. mueller at length and he instructed me not to confirm or deny and he had nothing to do with it. >> if this story is true, it will lead to impeachment of the sitting president of the united states. if the story is not true don't you have an only indicati l obl us. >> i have to honor and respect bob mueller, to be a nominee in possible future attorney general respects bob mueller, and anything, as much as the media would like michael to say yes or no or maybe, anything to do with the mr. mueller investigation he does not want to comment on nor will he on the february 7th hearing that is planned. >> is it definitely planned? you said he was concerned about his safety and by the way safety from whom? >> mr. trump again called out his father-in-law and there is fare that mr. trump has

and mr. mueller would say no, it wasn't, mr. attorney general. and bill barr would have said why didn't you refute it? and mueller would have said well, mr. attorney general, we don't do that. and mr. barr would have said well, mr. mueller, you're fired. >> sean: you really believe? i know there are people that i know -- i don't know bill barr. i don't know william barr. i know what he wrote about the investigation earlier, but i also know that apparently his family and the mueller family are friendly together, which is fine. but there are people like yourself that are showing such confidence in him. why? >> because i have known bill barr for 30 years. he actually asked that i be appointed the independent counsel in the clinton passport file search during the daddy bush administration and i was pointed an independent counsel. bill barr is a man of great legal and ethical stature. i can assure you that the scenario that i just painted for you is exactly what would have happened and it is exactly why mueller issued his statement tonight. he knows t

but i don't know. >> i understand you know mr. mueller. do you? >> yes, i do. >> is he big enough to take care of himself? >> he's a marine. >> yeah. someone had tried to interfere with his investigation, based on your knowledge of mr. mueller, would he have something to say about it including but not limited to in a court of law? >> yes, senator. >> i want to try to cut through some of the innuendo here. did president trump instruct or ask you once you become attorney general to fire mr. mueller? >> absolutely not. >> did he ask you to interfere in mr. mueller's investigation? >> absolutely not. >> has anybody in the white house made that suggestion to you? >> absolutely not. >> has anybody in the western hemisphere made that suggestion to you? >> absolutely not. >> okay. i want to associate myself with remarks of mr. blumenthal about the fbi being the premier law enforcement agency in the history of the world, in my opinion, and the highest esteem in which we all hold the department of justice, but i have a question for you. this counterintellig

i would hope we would get material as quickly as possible, but that's up to mr. mueller. he has to make sure he doesn't compromise the investigation he's doing and that he can present it in a way where it's credible and that we'll be able to use it for an effective accountability. >> but just so i'm clear -- >> and we try to interfere in that. >> i understand you want the full report. but what would show his cards even look like right now? >> i don't know. that's why the mueller has such integrity. he's kept this close to vest. he has not -- there hasn't been leaks. clearly we hear from what mr. cohen, i don't think what he said is surprising us. but we would like to have all the information in order to see whether, in fact, that we can establish what is being said. so there's no question that mr. mueller is a true professional, he understands the responsibility he has, he understands how important it is what he's doing for our country. so let's give him a chance to get the report to us and let us be able to do our responsibility with a full report from mr. mueller. >> if

. >> i understand you know mr. mueller, do you? >> yes, i do. >> is he big enough to take care of himself? >> he's a marine. >> someone had tried to interfere with his investigation, based on your knowledge of mr. mueller, would he have something to say about it, including but not limited to in a court of law? >> yes, senator. >> i wanted to try to cut through some of the innuendo here. did president trump instruct or ask you once you become attorney general to fire mr. mueller? >> absolutely not. >> did he ask you to interfere in mr. mueller's investigation? >> absolutely not. >> has anybody in the white house made that suggestion to you? >> absolutely not. >> has anybody in the western hemisphere made that suggestion to you? >> absolutely not. >> okay. i want to associate myself with the remarks of mr. blumenthal about the fbi being the premier law enforcement agency in the history of the world and in my opinion and the high esteem we all hold the department of justice. i have a question for you. this counter intelligence investi

mueller praised mr. cohen while also obtaining a guilty plea for the lies regarding the moscow tower matter. praised mr. cohen for cooperation even the southern district of new york prosecutors praised him for being credible and the judge did as well. i'm hoping, yes, the answer to your question is that by looking at the actual length of the sentence, he's taken responsibility to all of the crimes he confessed to. but the lengzth of the sentence to me together with his testimony and his commitment to the truth. and let me remind your audience, he already said he would not accept a pardon from donald trump if it was offered and i am sure it won't be offered. he's committed to the truth and the michael cohen truth fund, i have to give that a plug again. it is about helping him and his family as he goes off to prison for now a three year term that i hope will be reduced. >> i think there is two ways to look at. that one is you're doing your job, advocating for this individual you represented and he and his

he has a high opinion of mr. mueller, believes what mr. mueller is doing a professional job, will do a professional job and will be fair to the president and the country as a whole and has no reason for mr. mueller to stop doing his job and is committed to allowing mr. mueller to finish. >> let's dive in to all of this. john avlon is with me and paul callahan is here. so, guys in the red ties, both to see -- good to see both of you, the money question is that rod rosenstein is leaving, does that indicate he is really confident in barr or that he is thinking, all right, robert mueller, he's good to go? >> reading the mueller timeline tea leaves, it's been a really tough job for folks, probably not profitable to get in to it, however rosenstein has really stuck through hard times. everyone thought he was going to get canned toward the end of last year. didn't. now that he's leaving, it does create a sense of urgency but as being surmised a sense that this is winding down. lindsey graham's comments are significant because barr who's widely re

mueller would be involved in a witch hunt against anybody? >> i don't believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt. e> reporter: barr did send an unsolicited memo to d.o.j. officials last summer, arguing that mueller's obstruction theory is "fatally misconceived" and "legally insupportable." >> it sounds like it was an effort on your part to ingratiate yourself with an administration, which is now nominating you for attorney general. to i can assure you i was not trying to ingratiate myself with anybody. >> reporter: republicans argued that concerns about presidential pressure are overblown. >> did he ask you to interfere in mr. mueller's investigation? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: has anybody in the white house made that suggestion to you? de absolutely not. >> reporter: has anybody in the western hemisphere made that suggestion to you? sp absolutely not. ( laughs ) >> okay. >> glor: nancy, did barr shed any light on whether the final mueller report would be released in full? >> he was actually asked aboutej to therusttion of demo meli wouldn't comto r

>> yes, mr. chairman. >> mueller. you say you have known mueller a long time. would you say you have a close relationship with mr. mueller? >> i would say we were good friends. >> would you say that you understand him to be a fair-minded person? >> absolutely. >> do you trust him to be fair to the president and the country as a whole? >> yes. >> when his report comes to you, will you share it with us as much as possible? >> consistent with the regulations and the law, yes. >> do you believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt against anybody? >> i don't believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt. >> what are the circumstances that would allow special counsel to be appointed, generally speaking? >> i appointed three special counsel. generally, when something comes up, an issue comes up that needs to be investigated and there are good reasons to have it vaeg investigated by a special counsel outside the normal chain of the department, something -- >> do you believe that attorney general sessions had a conflict because he worked on the trump c

>> i think only mr. mueller and his team knows the answer to that question. if you're dreki indirecting sen official, there aren't very many suspects. whether that was mr. trump himself, don junior or somebody else, we don't know. i think we have to wait mr. mueller's final report to get the answer to that question. these grand juries are ongoing. the investigation is ongoing. i know acting attorney general whittaker says it's about to wrap up but we don't know that. again, we have to wait to see mr. mueller's even very me thods c -- methodical. he's gotten a number of guilty pleas. this was a culture of lying, corruption. i think the house of lies are really beginning to fall in on themselves. >> i want to ask you about the 2020 campaign. i don't know if you heard howard schultz. he was talking about medicare for all and why he will consider running. his political adviser was just on as well. question to you, should schultz run? >> no, i don't think he should run. i heard bill say he's not doing it for the money. i guess he's doing it because the weather is

mueller would be involved in a witch hunt against anybodymi don't believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt. >> barr is expected to be easily confirmed. deputy attorney general rod rosenstein announced would step down once barr is confirmed. and in just the past few minutes, would not go after marijuana states where cannabis is legal. >>> core stop jail i will brand, democrat elected for second full term last year has been a fierce advocate for the "me too movement" and vocal critic of president trump. >>> new at noon a federal judge in new york has struck down the trump administration effort to add a citizenship effort to the consensus, it's unlawful for amul at this tide of independent reasons, critics said the citizenship question would discourage participation in the census. >>> developing out of nyrobi, a hotel under siege by suspected terrorists. gunfire and gun bombs people from the scene while the attackers continued to shoot. right now the gun men are hold up in the upscale hotel. government troops are working to flush them out. it's a susp

mueller would be involved in a witch hunt against anybody? >> i don't believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt. >> reporter: barr did send an unsolicited memo to doj officials last summer, arguing that mueller's obstruction theory is fatally misconceived and legally insupportable. >> it sounds like it was an effort on your part to ingratiate yourself with the administration which is now nominating you for attorney general. >> i can assure you i was not trying to ingratiate myself with anybody. >> reporter: republicans argued that concerns about presidential pressure are overblown. >> did he ask you to interfere in mr. mueller's investigation? >> absolutely not. >> has anybody in the white house made that suggestion to you? >> absolutely not. >> has anybody in the western hemisphere made that suggestion to you? >> absolutely not. >>> the longest gover nmring d 26. 800,000 federal employees are not being paid, and a lot of them are still working, but you know it's not only government workers who are feeling the pinch. carter evans has more on that story

attacking mr. mueller. attacking the integrity of the investigation. what we need to do is people who are committed to preserving our democracy and protecting mr. mueller is pass legislation to protect him from any interference to complete his work. >> the president calls if the investigation a hoax and a witch hunt again and again. has his response slowed down, hindered, hurt, america's ability to defend itself against this happening again? >> i think it undermines our ability to protect against it. hen this happens to our country, when we were attacked in 2016 rand our democracy was attacked, the president should have committed to doing everything possible to make sure it doesn't happen. convening a national commission, developing a strategy to make sure that russians or no other foreign adversary will interfere with a presidential election and speak loudly and strongly about the consequences. the president has done everything he can to undermine this and call it a hoax and say there's nothing there. it's the same argument the russians are may recoll

mueller to stop doing his job and is committed to allowing mr. mueller to finish. >> now again, democrats want to push on this front and push barr to promise to release all of the mueller report. not just pieces of the mueller report. but given the headlines this week, mr. barr's promises steam have greased the way for his confirmation. >> those comments are important. barr is not the first trump nominee to show some distance. it's important in this confirmation hearings for them to show some independence from the president. what's going to matter is once he gets into office. but as -- in the sort of context of these russia questions, and as the president answers questions and sort of seems to get himself deeper every time. not denying that he's a russian agent. if there is any hope right now, or i should say optimism in the white house, it's the new team coming in. he's going to have a new attorney general, finally. and he has a new white house counsel who has put together -- restructured the office, added a dozen attorneys in there, and i know

of robert mueller. >> do you believe mr. mueller would be

mueller is now at the stage where he doesn't necessarily need to work with mr. cohen further, and -- and, but on the other hand, we know that mr. cohen is still potentially cooperating with mr. mueller and the southern district of new york. >> yeah. congressman, thank you for your time. >> thank you. thank you, don. >>> the president is hiring more lawyers as we learn that robert mueller is looking into potential obstruction of justice from the president and his team. the former director of national intelligence, james clapper, tells us what he thinks about all of this. that's next. what makes this simple salad the best simple salad ever? great tasting, heart-healthy california walnuts. so simple, so good. get the recipes at walnuts.org. [[clap, clap]] ♪ hey, jen, which tie says, "trustworthy but also fun"? gold down, oil up. oil down, gold up. this is too busy. we need to make sure people can actually use this stuff. which one says, "hours of free live streaming coverage without cable or subscription fees"? aluminum, aluminum? you ready, zack? oh, we're ready

mueller is now at the stage where he doesn't necessarily need to work with mr. cohen further, and -- and, but on the other hand, we know that mr. cohen is still potentially cooperating with mr. mueller and the southern district of new york. >> yeah. congressman, thank you for your time. >> thank you. thank you, don. >>> the president is hiring mor potential obstruction of justice from the president and his team. the former director of national intelligence, james clapper, tells us what he thinks about all of this. that's next. decorate. whatsyamatter tanya, i thought you loved being spontaneous? i do. and if you've got the wrong home insurance coverage, i might break the bank too. so get allstate, and be better protected from mayhem, like me. the best simple salad ever?d great tasting, heart-healthy california walnuts. so simple, so good. get the recipes at walnuts.org. at&t provides edge-to-edge intelligence, covering virtually every part of your finance business. and so if someone tries to breach your firewall in london & you start to panic... don't. because y

the rules of engagement with mr. mueller had not yet been defined. my understanding is we made overtures, the committee staff, to the mueller organization. we have not had a definitive response from mr. mueller. and that's a work in progress. but clearly, there will be some boundaries, and we will respect them. because we don't want to jeopardize the criminal investigation. >> yeah, congressman, i appreciate your time. thank you. >> my great pleasure. thank you for having me. >> everyone else is going to stay was here. we have a lot more to discuss about the conversation, this remarkable day. later, we'll get veteran white house correspondent sam donaldson's take, a new report kellyanne conway and leaks. our broccoli cheddar is made with aged melted cheddar, simmered broccoli, and no artificial flavors. enjoy 100% clean soup today. panera. food as it should be. kick off the new year with the new iphone included from t-mobile. the amazing iphone xr is perfect for all those new year, new you selfies. and only t-mobile has unlimited with iphone xr inclu

. >> i understand you know mr. mueller. do you? >> yes, i do. >> is he big enough to take care of himself? >> he's a marine. >> someone had tried to interfere with his investigation, based on your knowledge of mr. mueller, would he have something to say about it, including but not limited to in a court layoof law? >> yes, senator. >> i want to try to cut through some of the innuendo here. did president trump instruct or ask you once you become attorney general to fire robert mueller? >> absolutely not. >> did he ask you to interfere in mr. mueller's investigation? >> absolutely not. >> has anybody in the white house made that suggestion to you? >> absolutely not. >> has anybody in the western hemisphere made that suggestion to you? >> absolutely not. >> okay. i want to associate myself with the remarks of mr. blumenthal about the fbi being the premier law enforcement agency in the history of the world, in my opinion, and the highest esteem in which we all hold the department of justice. but i have a question for you. this counterin

but they defer mr. mueller not have a witness testify about things that mr. mueller may want him to testify at trial some day. >> you wonder if michael cohen is -- he might be on a witness list. you wonder if they use what he has. >> shepard: he does have a problem with a truth. all flippers have a problem with the truth. the question is he corroborated by documents. we saw that with mr. gates in the manafort trial. mr. manafort is going to jail. >> shepard: remember, most of what has been cited here, it's our understanding, is not from cohen testimony. not from what cohen has told them. not singularly but from a bringing together of all the evidence. remember the raid on the office and the apartment and the hotel room and all the rest. they got a lot of documents. somewhere there's a safe as well. >> that's correct. >> shepard: thanks, jeffery. i've been telling our viewers breaking news. two-minute warning so in two minutes, we'll have the play-back. we know president trump said one thing. we know president trump said the state of the union is cancelled and

mueller, and given your experience with mr. wiseman you expect this report to be a fair report that lays out the different responses or do you respect this report to be the sort of thing that mr. wiseman is known to do in the courtroom at sentencing hearings, withholding some information and underscoring certain information to what do you expect from this report? >> mr. wiseman could write a report that would make giving your mother a nice christmas present sound like a federal criminal offense. mark: your own experience with this fellow and his record and he will be writing the report and isn't that why pelosi and the other democrats in the media say let's wait for the report and let's wait for the report because they know who will be writing the report and i suspect they know some of the things frankly, that will be in the report? wasn't mr. wiseman at the hillary clinton victory party? >> i have heard that is true. mark: i heard she lost and it upset him very much. >> yes. [laughter] mark: did he send a communiquÉ to sally

do you believe mr. mueller mr. mueller would be involved in a witchhunt? >> i don't believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witchhunt. >> in the opening remarks, william barr told the judiciary committee he intends to let the mueller investigation continue without interference. >> the country needs a credible resolution to these issues. if confirmed, i will not permit partisan politics, personal interests or any other improper consideration to interfere with this or any other investigation. >> reporter: the hearing, the first time a high profile nominee came before the committee since considering brett kavanaugh for the supreme court last fall. if confirmed, william barr would replace matthew whitaker, tapped by the president in november to temporarily had the justice department after jeff session and announced he was stepping down. >> top of mind for all of us is the ongoing mueller investigation and importantly, the attorney general must be willing to resist political pressure and be committed to protecting this inion. >> reporter: if confirmed, this will be william barr's

he has a high opinion of mr. mueller. believes in mr. mueller's professional job and he'll do a professional job as a whole and has no reason for mr. mueller to stop doing his job and is committed to allow mr. mule tore finish. >> manu raju is live on capitol hill. that from lindsay graham. bill barr will have to say that directly to calm the democrats at his confirmation hearing and this is critical work for the president's choice. >> reporter: this will be essential after winning confirmation because there are some republicans who are concerned about his writings and about what he may actually view about how the mueller investigation should proceed and in order to get confirmed, of course, in the senate you cannot lose in this new senate more than three republican votes. right now 53-47, senate and several republicans are watching those words very closely and today's remarks essential in order to calm those republican nerves. in addition to making it clear that he believes that the mueller probe should go on according to lindsay graham

mueller would be involved in a witch hunt against anybody? >> i don't believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt. jo >> jimmy: we'll see. all we know is in the movie he'll be played by john goodman. over the summer he wrote a letter unsolicited to rod rosenstein sharply criticizing the investigation. and now we find out he's close friend of robert mueller. what if back when it was obvious trump was going to fire sessions he won't to his buddy and said i need an attorney general i can count on. you write a letter, send it to rosenstein and let me have it. say anything you want about me. he'll show it to the president. the president will nominate you and will nail this guy. i know this sounds crazy, but if i told you the president thought it was hamberders you'd that i was crazy, too. [ applause ] >> jimmy: mike the situation, remember him from "jersey shore shore"? he reported to prison today. the situation was sentenced to eight months for tax fraud. he got more than $5 million in endorsement deals in 2010 and 2011. and this is true. he was offered a sub

the claim that mueller is on a witch hunt. >> do you believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt against anybody? >> i don't believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt. >> reporter: a william barr insisted he would resist any pressure from president trump. >> i will not be bullied into by anybody, whether it be editorial boards or congress or the president. >> reporter: democrats pressing barr, asking him, "would you fire mueller if the president asked you to?" >> ag inume erthinno good cause. >> i would not carry out that t american people ever see mueller's report? barr saying today that under justice department guidelines, mueller's findings would be seth his own thd t buenn r iaa and congress. he did, however, say thaict blpu neither trump nor his lawyers would get to edit mueller's report. >> he could take this own spin on it, correct it before its release. do you commit that would not happen if you're attorney general? >> that will not happen. >> reporter: but it was barr himself who wrote the justice year, rais a memo ju

>> yes, mr. chairman. >> mueller. you say you've known muler a lo -- him a long time. >> i would say we were good friends. >> would you say that you understand him to be a fair-minded person? >> absolutely. >> do you trust him to be fair to the president and the country as a whole? >> yes. >> when his report comes to you, will you share it with us as much as possible? >> consistent with the regulations and the law, yes. >> do you believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt against anybody? >> i don't believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt. >> what are the circumstances that would allow a special counsel to be appointed generally speaking? >> well, i appointed three mr. chairman as special counsel, and generally when something comes up, an issue comes up that needs to be investigated and there are good reasons to have it investigated by a special counsel outside the normal chain at the department, someone usually of public stature that can provide additional assurance of -- >> do you believe th

mueller, you say you have known mueller a long time. you say you have a close relationship on mr. mueller. >> i would say we were good friends. >> would you say that you understand him to be a fair minded person? >> absolutely. >> do you trust him to be fair to the president and the country as a whole? >> yes. >> when his report comes to you, will you share it as much as possible? >> consistent with the regulations and the rule of law, yes. >> do you believe he would be involved in a witch hunt against maybe? >> i don't believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt. >> the white house says president trump was keeping an eye on the confirmation hearing for his attorney general nominee. press secretary sarah sanders told nbc news the president watched some of the proceedings when pressed on notable discrepancies in his views of the mueller probe compared to how the president sees it. sanders would only say that barr quote is a very honorable man doing what he believes and the president respects that. president trump thinks he will be a great attorney general. >> all right. l

. >> do you believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt against anybody? >> i don't -- i don't believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt. >> reporter: barr assured the judiciary committee that he would not allow outsiders to interfere with his department's work. >> i am not going to do anything that i think is wrong, and i will not be bullied into doing anything i think is wrong. >> reporter: barr is all but certain to be confirmed. cabinet nominees require just a simple majority, and republicans currently hold a six-seat advantage in the senate. democrats have pressed barr about an unsolicited memo he sent to officials at the justice department last year. in it he argued that mueller's obstruction theories are legally insupportive and inconceived. >> it sounds like an effort to ingratiate yourself for an administration that is trying to nominate you attorney general. >> i am not trying to ingratiate myself with anybody. >> reporter: if confirmed, this would be barr's second tour of duty as attorney general. he served in the post between 1991 a

comesen this report believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witchhunt against anyone? >> i don't believe. his family works for the department of justice. thank you committee based on feeling more secure that he would be independent and give the mueller probe the air it needs to be public. math take us through the on the confirmation. guest: he starts with a leave because it is 53-47. 12-10.committee, it is the new members of the committee don't look l the new members of the committee don't look like they would vote against him. you have some republicans who have not made up their minds yet. he would have to lose three members of the republican party and that does not look very likely. host: what is susan collins waiting on? what does she need to know? caller: -- guest: i just saw that she said she is undecided. she likes to talk to the nominee or wait for the answers from the written questions that are yet to come. there are some outstanding things that diane feinstein said her vote depended on. here is his exchange with senator amy closure. there is something to the -

mueller would be involved in a witch-hunt against anybody? >> i don't believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch-hunt. >> sean: maybe we can assume bar is trying to placate democratic fears giving the benefit of the doubt. not rushing to justice. a in the until proosm guilty. we know roberts mueller is on a witch-hunt. look no further than the people mueller hired. multiple big time democratic voters those who made tens of thousands of dollars combined in contributions to the campaigns of obama, kerry, clinton, and other democrats. mueller he hired zero republicans. not one attorney worked for hillary clinton who worked for hillary clinton. how could you hire hillary clinton's attorney at the clinton foundation? and mueller's so-called pit bull according to the "new york times" andrew weissmann? he actually attended hillary's election night party. and weissmann has also come under fire for his aggressive prosecution tactics withholding if you withhold. excacan a pa tore evidence. one case forced to close their doors, tens of thousands of people lost their job

. >> do you believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt against anybody? >> i don't believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt. >> all right had, so, fair to mueller, but sandwiched in the middle there, that consistent with the laws about transparency, it's a red flag. no matter your partisan transcribe, mr. barr did not fully commit to publically releasing the full mueller report. senate judiciary committee member of rhode island was of there today, he is a former state ag and a former u.s. attorney. perfect guest for tonight. senator, thank you for joining us. >> good to be with you. >> well, another day, another filing by mueller. this one thickening out of the basis of proof for the allegations they have made against paul manafort, this comes from jeffrey wiland, a member of the team, 31 pages and heavily redacted. but clearly they believe they have sum and substance that backs up their allegations. >> krkt. . and the conclusions that one might draw from the extent of the redacted information is that despite a certain amount of chatter in th

mueller would be involved in a witch-hunt against anybody? >> i don't believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch-hunt. >> reporter: bar was asked what he would do if the president asked him to fire mueller. >> assuming there was no good cause? >> assuming no cause. >> i would not carry out that instruction. >> reporter: he assures senators from both parties that he'll make mueller's conclusions public. >> i am going to make as much information available as i can, consistent with the rules and regulations that are part of the special counsel regulations. >> reporter: barr defended a memo he wrote in june that attacked mueller and called fatally misconceived the idea that a president can be charged with obstructing justice for firing his own fbi director. >> some have said, on both sides of the aisle, that it looked like a job application. >> that's ludicrous. if i wanted the job and was going after the job, there are many more direct ways of me bringing myself to the president's attention. >> reporter: and barr said at this point in his life, when he planned o

would you say you have a close relationship with mr. mueller? >> i would say we were good friends. >> would you say that you understand him to be a fair-minded person? >> absolutely. >> do you trust him to be fair to the president and the country as a whole? >> yes. >> when his report comes to you, will you share it with us as much as possible? >> consistent with the regulations and the law, yes. >> do you believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch-hunt against anybody? >> i don't believe mr. mueller would be>> involved in a witch-hunt. >> sean: maybe we can assume barr is trying to placatelv democratic fears, giving the benefit of the doubt. not rushing to justice. a belief in innocence until being proven guilty. because we know, in fact, robert mueller is an witch hunt. you need look no further than the people-h that mueller hired. we are talking about multiple, big time democratic donors, those that made tens of thousands of dollars combined and contributions to the campaigns of obama, john kerry, clinton, and other democrats. mueller,

are you committed to making sure mr. mueller can finish his job? yes. >> reporter: senator lindsey graham says barr told him he is confident mueller would be quote, "fair to the president and to the country." >> and pierre, rod rosenstein's decision to resign soon is being seen by many as a sign that the mueller investigation may be close to wrapping up? >> reporter: that's right, david. sources are telling me that mueller is in the final stages of the russia investigation, and my sources say they do not believe rosenstein would leave unless he felt that mueller was in good shape and near completion. david? >> pierre thomas on this again tonight. thank you, pierre. >>> a former commander of the u.s. navy base at guantanamo bay has been charged with obstruction of justice in the mysterious death of a civilian worker at the base. captain john nettleton was removed from command after the body of christopher tur was found in the water in 2015. nett nettleton is now accused of failing to tell investigators that he fought with tur, and was having an affa

the rules of engagement with mr. mueller had not yet been defined. my understanding is we've made overtures, our committee staff to the mueller organization. we have not had a definitive response from mr. mueller, and that's a work in progress. clearly there will be some boundaries, and we will respect them because we don't want to jeopardize the criminal investigation. >> congressman, appreciate your time. >>> everyone else is going to stay with us here. we've got a lot more to discuss. and later we'll get sam donaldson to take a new reporting about kellyanne conway in leaps. see that's funny, i thought you traded options. i'm not really a wall street guy. what's the hesitation? eh, it just feels too complicated, you know? well sure, at first, but jj can help you with that. jj, will you break it down for this gentleman? hey, ian. you know, at td ameritrade, we can walk you through your options trades step by step until you're comfortable. i could be up for that. that's taking options trading from wall st. to main st. hey guys, wanna play some pool?

mueller would be involved in a witch hunt against anybody? >> i don't believe mr. mueller would be involved in the witch hunt. b2 katie, there are so much more that goes on in the department of justice. we are still talking about eric holder and loretta lynch paid some people still talk about janet reno and john ashcroft. this can have quite a legacy if you don't pick the right person for the job. are these senators correctly pressing william barr where they should? >> katie: this question has been answered by everybody and anybody on the mueller thing. they are so obsessed with it. mueller is not going anywhere. lindsey graham is protecting him, the senate has voted out of that committee to protect the mueller probe, the president come if you wanted to fire mueller, would have done so by now. as he's completing the investigation over the next six month or whatever it is. the justice to permit has a big job, they impact people's lives in a very local level, actually. it's one of agencies in washington, d.c., the deals with crime in all these other things. one thing

i also hope mr. barr, if he's our attorney general, will release whatever is found, good or bad, from this inquiry for the american people to see it. that's part of our democratic process. >> senator, are you concerned that the president keeps floating the idea of withdrawing from nato? >> the president is unfortunately not sensitive, being careful of my wording, to the importance of nato alliance for the last 70 years. and i think that nato alliance needs to continue for peace for the future relationships between the united states and europe. >>> a break in the the hearing of william barr, prump's nominee to be the next attorney general. the senate judiciary committee in the midst of the first scheduled break in the hearing until about 12:15 eastern. the hearing expected to last up to ten hours today and will likely reconvene tomorrow. by the way, if you missed any of the testimony today, you can watch it in its entirety on the c-span networks. while we wait for it to resume, we'll show you highligh

. >> i asked mr. barr directly, do you think bob -- mr. mueller's on a witch hunt? he said no. do you think he would be fair to the president and the country as a whole? he said yes. and do you see any reason for mr. mueller's investigation to be stopped? he said no. do you see any reason for a termination based on cause? he said no. are you committed to making sure mr. mueller can finish his job? yes. >> but what about rod rosenstein? at his confirmation hearing next week, william barr will probably be asked if he intends to fire rod rosenstein. after the president fired jeff sessions as attorney general and created the opening to nominate william barr, the president tweeted this, accusing rod rosenstein, among others, of committing treason. why would president trump leave in place a deputy attorney general who he says has committed treason? why would donald trump allow rod rosenstein to continue to help robert mueller complete his investigation? today's reports about rod rosenstein's intention to stay in his job until robert mueller completes his work came from sources close

the claim that mueller is on a witch hunt. >> do you believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt against anybody? >> i don't believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt. >> reporter: and william barr insisted he would resist any pressure from president trump. >> i will not be bullied into doing anything i think is wrong by anybody, whether it be editorial boards or congress or the president. >> reporter: democrats pressing barr, asking him, "would you fire mueller if the president asked you to?" >> assuming there was no good cause? >> assuming no good cause. >> i would not carry out that instruction. >> reporter: and will the american people ever see mueller's report? barr saying today that under justice department guidelines, mueller's findings would be confidential, but that in the interest of transparency, he would then release his own summary of the report to the public and congress. he did, however, say that neither trump nor his lawyers would get to edit mueller's report. >> he could take this investigative report, put his

mr. stone have nothing to do with the president. that is what i'm clear on. >> you keep telling me you are clear on that. you will not answer whether it was the president who directed a senior trump campaign official to contact roger stone. >> i have answered the question several times. you just don't like my answer. >> did the president know or t not. i can tell you are the charges brought against mr. stone have nothing to do with the president and the white house. i think those same questions that you are asking you can ask any people you work with. cnn reached out. >> you say it had nothing to do with the president. >> at the same time you say it had nothing to do with the president you can't or won't tell me whether or not it was the president who directed this action. did the white house get a heads up from the justice department that this arrest was going to take place this morning? >> not that i know of. i'm not aware of notification ahead of time. >> this is the sixth individual c

what i heard mr. barr say yesterday, he hasn't talked with mr. rosenstein or mr. mueller. but his understanding the justice and fbi rules say mr. mueller will make a report to mr. barr and mr. barr will make some kind of report to congress. but he was even uncertain on that. he said that's one of the first things i'm going to look into. i think it is really important that this report be made public. people are smart enough to figure it out. they heard so much about it and they have listened to the spin on both sides. this is an unusual circumstance and the american people need to see this report. >> to be clear, the idea that he would provide a filtered report not really good enough for you? >> i would rather have the original report. i don't know how -- whether it's a statute. mr. barr was unclear on that. i think he doesn't really know. i don't know whether it's a statute or a protocol or a rule. to me, this is an unusual circumstance and i think mr. mueller ought to write his report knowing that it's going to be released to the american people and then everybody can mak

mueller can finish his job and time will tell what mr. mueller finds. >> reporter: the quick note from graham about the grand jury being extended here is important. the actual evidence that we have from mueller is not necessarily the same as what whitaker is saying. but it's certainly -- the comments have gotten the attention of a lot of folks on capitol hill from both parties who do want to see mueller finish but want to see him operate independently. this is something we'll be watching closely. it will be interesting to see how this plays on the bill bar nomination. democrats may not love bar, but i think they like him much better than matt whitaker being in charge of the investigation. i'm interested to see as i continue to talk to more folks how that might impact their votes on getting bar into that job sooner rather than later. >> another question for you on bar. i want you to stand by. i want to get anna and jeff in on this conversation surrounding matt whitaker, the comments that the mueller investigation may be close to wrapping u

mueller's boss, the guy overseeing probe, would oversee mr. mueller, the guy conducting that probe and he wants to make sure the probe gets out, even though he had earlier claimed that the original investigation was totally misconceived he fully supports the right of the guy who is now heading it to complete that investigation. president of course is famously called it more often than not a witch-hunt. to attorney and legal analyst, emily campaign and axis reporter , kent kite. saying talking about the mueller probe, not to disrupt it, not to fire the guy, technically he could, is that even a possibility anyway? >> you know, frankly i doubt it's a possibility. i agree with you that he said all the right things. i want to point out for viewers, when he said transparency issue, within the confines of the law, that is up for debate too. after the report is issued, after the investigation hopefully concludes in the near future, that will be the subject of a future debate. and it is in the best interests of the public obviously to have the most tra