don mcgahn. he was white house counsel for the first two years of the trump administration. one of the signal moments in the scandals and investigations that have plagued this presidency from the start was the somewhat inexplicable decision by president trump to allow don mcgahn to give totally unrestricted testimony to the investigators who were working for robert mueller. "the new york times" was first to report this last year. quote, last fall -- so meaning the fall of 2017 -- mr. mueller's office asked to interview don mcgahn, to the surprise of the white house's counsel's office president trump and his lawyers signaled they had no objection, without knowing the extent of what mr. mcgahn was going to tell mueller's investigators. mr. mcgahn was stunned, as was his own attorney william burke, who mcgahn had recently hired out of concern knowing he need helped to stay out of legal jeopardy. mr. mcgahn explained to others he told white house advisers they didn't appreciate the president's legal

it looks bad that don mcgahn rebuffed him. if you read the article, which i only looked at 90 seconds before i came on air. mcgahn's lawyer says a dip employeemat m-- diplomatic thing. they didn't take it as a threat and thought it was a professional -- i don't have the language in front of me. a professional request seeking to put a gloss on it that it wasn't something awful and nefarious. i think it was a poor move and looks not good. >> there's more details now coming in from the new york times which has not only matched the wall street journal report but has additional details as well. let me read a few sentences from the new york times story that was just posted. white house officials asked twice in the past month for the key witness against president trump in the mueller report. the second to say publicly that he never believed the president obstructed justice according to two people briefed eed on the request. one of the people said his reluctance anger who believed mr. mcgahn showed disloyalty by telling investigators

also breaking, the administration is blocking former white house counsel don mcgahn from appearing before the house judiciary committee tomorrow morning. the justice department claims mcgahn has immunity from testifying about his work for the president. mcgahn, a pivotal witness in robert mueller's obstruction investigation and could be the next insider to face a contempt vote in congress. this hour, i'll talk to the former fbi lawyer during the russia probe, james baker. and democratic congressman go gon' -- john garamendi is standing by. >>> first manu raju. this is a significant ruling for the financial records. tell our viewers about that. >> so just a short while ago a federal judges here in washington, d.c. ordered that donald trump's accounting firm may turn over records that the house oversight committee that they thought go back to 211. in this opinion the judge makes it very clear that he believes congress is well within its rights to seek this information. now, donald trump and his company had sued to block the subpoena. now, the judge's ruling, very clearly here he thinks that

now we've got don mcgahn. don mcgahn is supposed to come tomorrow. he no longer works at the white house. he's essentially now a private citizen. he has been called to testify. today the department of justice puts out a 15-page document basically saying no, he has to listen to the president. the president says he can't do it. how broad, how aggressive is this move by the white house, harry? >> so it's very aggressive, although it's not that much more aggressive than other white houses have done. but the real big move here is to say that it applies in the case of former officials. they cite no legal authority because no court has decided it with one exception. a district court previously ruled against basically the identical argument in the harriet meyers case. that was then settled out on appeal. but this is a tough one. i think the previous argument is going to prevail across the board at the d.c. circuit. this is one whether or not there's a testimonial privilege that applies to former close advisers that likely will go all the way to the supreme c

so don jr. testified that he didn't tell his father about that trump tower meeting to get dirt on hillary clinton. and yet in the mueller report on page 115 it states that michael cohen recalled being in a meeting where don jr. and trump talked about a meeting to get adverse clinton information. >> you know, i think if you're don jr. that's why you don't want to go testify. there are things that you said, probably may have said even in your previous interview with the committee staff and those might not line up with other statements and other information that's come out. we know that michael cohen has also togld investigators that donald trump jr. has more knowledge about the moscow project than he's previously let on. and you've got people on the senate intelligence committee saying he came once for a staff interview, the plan always was to get him on the record in public in front of senators. so they don't see what this excuse is about. it will be interesting to see how this plays out. is he t

the white house steps in to prevent former counsel don mcgahn from testifying to a house panel, arguing that he has immunity. does that mean mcgahn's chair will be empty at tomorrow's judiciary committee hearing? will he be held in contempt? >>> impeachment threshold. a republican lawmaker is the first to say that president trump's behavior has met the threshold for impeachment. congressman justin amash of michigan is doubling down tonight, sending out a fresh round of tweets, even though he's already facing a primary challenge for speaking out. >>> and loose lips? president trump may never have heard the phrase "loose lips sink ships," known for his unguarded moments, it seems the president may have again given away some sensitive u.s. intelligence. >>> i'm wolf blitzer. you're in the situati"the situ." >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >>> breaking news. the white house moves to block congressional testimony by former white house counsel don mcgahn, claiming that as a former presidential adviser, mcgahn is immune from testifying. jerry nadler has made it clear if mcgahn ignores

this is our big story tonight sources telling cnn that the white house asked don mcgahn, don mcgahn is the former white house counsel, asked him to publicly state that the president did not obstruct justice. mcgahn refused. the source goes on to say that the president was upset by mcgahn's refusal to say what the president wanted him to say. i'll bet he was. the white house has since ordered mcgahn to defy his subpoena from democrats. sure doesn't seem like the president believes his own line that he was -- he's been 100% exonerated from the mueller report. if he really thought that, why would he need don mcgahn? this is all the more reason the american people need to hear from don mcgahn and from robert mueller. in their own words. and there's more today. i told you. a top lawyer, the top lawyer at the fbi, when the russia investigation began, is saying that he feels compelled to speak out. his name is james baker. and he says the investigation was open for "lawful legitimate reasons" and he calls conspiracy theories like those pushed by the president and the attorney general "bs." oh

sara, let's talk about don mcgahn. he says he's not testifying but in a new letter tonight chairman nadler is telling him there will be serious consequences if he doesn't appear. what's this about? >> that's right. don mcgahn's attorney essentially provided a letter saying our understanding is that don mcgahn is essentially immune from congressional testimony because of his role he had as a senior adviser to the president, the president is now asking him not to testify. and, you know, as his former client, the president -- the president was his former client and so don mcgahn will not be showing up and now jerry nadler is saying, okay, we are going to proceed in essentially a hostile fashion. we don't expect the vote to happen until tomorrow, it's not going to happen tomorrow, it's going to happen later down the road but i think this is indicative of how the white house has approached all of these issues. they're not going to give congress what they're asking for at the first take and ultimately i think this could agai

what sources tell us is don jr. had agreed to come before the committee on two separate occasions to answer these questions but then he balked. part of the reason he balked we're told is because sources told us he didn't want to have a re-do of the testimony he's already given. he testified before them and two other committees, one in the house and one in the senate. the concern is they want to retread this ground. there's a concern this could be a perjury trap because they're so focused on this. they were asking him to come in and they wanted to have a follow-up on this but when they got into the nitty-gritty, they wanted to cover 12 topics with no ground rules. >> one scenario you're hearing is maybe he would be willing to answer questions in writing, sort of the way his father did with the mueller investigators. >> yeah, that's right. one issue on the table is that there is a possibility that his lawyers will be open to don jr. answering questions about the trump tower meeting and the plans to develop in moscow b

i'm don lemon. the white house is in chaos with the president shooting from the hip and making decisions that could put us in peril. we're now in the middle of an escalating trade war with china and more and more americans are feeling the pain. but here's how the president described it today. >> we're having a little squabble with china. we've been treated unfairly for many, many decades, for actually a long time, and it should have been handled a long time ago, and it wasn't. and we'll handle it now. i think it's going to be -- i think it's going to turn out extremely well. we're in a very strong position. >> a very strong position, yet sources tell cnn trade talks with china have come to a halt after china slapped tariffs on $60 billion in american exports yesterday in retaliation for trump raising existing tariffs on chinese goods. "the washington post" reporting tonight that the president's telling advisers he's not backing down because a trade fight with china is popular with his base and will

chad, you have the potential as contempt charges against don mcgahn. i expressed potential for that. house democrats are pursuing the contempt charges against the sitting attorney general. these are extraordinary times. >> keep in mind, what they would have to do. the house of representatives, the full house itself have not voted to hold william barr in contempt. it's not officially on the schedule. if the judiciary committee wanted to do this with don mcgahn, if he fails to show tomorrow, that would have to move through committee and that would have to come to the floor. there's some thought that maybe they were waiting to move the contempt of congress resolution against bar waiting to see what would happen with mcgahn. this situation with don mcgahn is eerily similar of what happened to harriet meyers from the george bush administration. the bush administration took the position that senior white house advisers had a special level of immunity when the president asserts privilege. that's what they're doing with mcgahn and what they did with harriet mi

he's just written a letter to don mcgahn in response to be don mcgahn's lawyer as you know, of course, saying that don mcgahn won't show up tomorrow because the president told him not to and the justice department said that's okay because he has complete immunity from any kind of congressional subpoena. he points out that memo from the justice department isn't really citing case law so much as citing itself. citing memos from that legal office over the decades. and chairman nadler points out that one of the justice department rules that is completely ignored in that memo is he says the justice department's own be long-standing policy is that "executive privilege should not be invoked to conceal evidence of wrongdoing or criminality on the part of executive officers." amazing how that would have been left out of that memo today. >> well, and you know, for the white house to be asserting that people should defy subpoenas in the abstract because the white house believes or they can get the office of legal counsel to state or the president's lawyers aver something is true is one thing. bu

i'm don lemon. and let's talk about the president's own summon, his name steak, makes a deal, reverses. don junior and the committee agreeing he's going to appear in private. that's going to happen in midjune. these are the parameters the interview limited to 2 to 4 hours. don junior says questions about trump tower moskow and that trump tower meeting with russians promising dirt on hillary clinton only limited to follow-ups. can you imagine telling investigators i'm only going to talk about this much and that's it? see where that gets you. listen, sources close to the committee says the president's son will have to answer questions about discrepancies between his past testimony and what other witnesses have told the committee and mueller's team. so let's remember how all of this went down. the president's son threatening to refuse to cooperate, then cleaning up a mess of his own making by agreeing to testify after all. and let's remember don june, had twice agreed to testify and then he backed out.

don jr. now. is the president taking this too far on all of these inquiries saying no, no, no, no, no? >> both branches have constitutional interests at stake. congress has a right to conduct congressional oversight and the president has the right to keep some things secret, such as i would say discussions between him and the white house counsel. what the supreme court has made clear what president trump can't do is declare blanket resistance to refuse to send any witnesses to the hill to allow any documents to be produced. the supreme court has made clear it's an issue by issue, document by document process. you can't say i'm producing nothing. i think both sides here from i see rushing they want to have some kind of constitutional confrontation rather than stepping back and reaching a deal which is the way most presidents and congress settle these conflicts. >> thank you very much. david, before we go, happy birthday. >> happy birthday. >> thank you. thank you. >> you don't look a day over 50. >

and it doesn't mean don mcgahn don mcgahn is in the clear just yet. before this news broke, house judiciary chairman jerry nadler threatened to hold don mcgahn in contempt if he doesn't comply with a subpoena to come before the committee. >> we've subpoenaed don mcgahn and we're expecting him to show up on the 21st. and if he doesn't, he will be subject to contempt. unless he has a court order telling him he can't, which i don't think he would get. and we have -- he has to respect the rule of law like anybody else. >> this threat of contempt is just one example of the democratic gloves coming off. house democrats fed up with the trump administration's attempts to stone wall congressional oversight are mounting an increasingly aggressive campaign for him to comply. as the constitution demands. tonight the chairman of the ways and means committee in the house subpoenaed the treasury department and the irs for six years of donald trump's personal and business tax returns. chairman richard neal said while i do not take this step lightly, i believe this ac

my other point is i'm uncomfortable with all of this respect don mcgahn is getting for not loying p don mcgahn only was in the white house, look into this guy, whole background has always been to get conservative judges on court. >> and he did very well. >> don mcgahn will be more responsible for turning america into gilliad in the handmaid's tale more than anybody else. let's not give him too much credit. >> let's go back to the issue specifically that we've seen that kind of post white house career white washing, whether it's anthony scaramucci. and kyrstin nielsen suggesting in reporting she's pushing for more interest in election interference and white house staff telling her not to do that. we are seeing that again. there's a revarnishing, whitewashing here of don mcgahn. >> it's very easy after the fact to say i was there and tried my best to stand up to this president. end of the day you chose to be part of the white house and all of the policies that came with it. i'm with you, pete, every time i hear the word loyalty, it makes me shutter a bit. it doesn't mean loyalty to the co

don mcgahn rebuffed the request. the "times" adds white house officials asked twice in the past month for don mcgahn to make that public statement. nbc news has since confirmed this reporting. it seems we have finally found the one person in donald trump's orbit while he was perfectly willing to put his reputation on the line by associating himself professionally and in history with donald trump, would not risk being disbarred for donald trump. it's a pretty low bar. and it doesn't mean don mcgahn is in the clear just yet. before this news broke, house judiciary chairman jerry nadler threatened to hold don mcgahn in contempt if he doesn't comply with a subpoena to come before the committee. >> we've subpoenaed don mcgahn and we're expecting him to show up on the 21st. and if he doesn't, he will be subject to contempt. unless he has a court order telling him he can't, which i don't think he would get. and we have -- he has to respect the rule of law like anybody else. >> this threat of contempt is just one example of

>> don, i don't know that. but, you know, everybody knows when you have a trade war the price of everything is going to go up. and it's going to hurt some areas of, you know, our economy more than others. i mean to say this doesn't hurt us, listen to the farmer you had on last night from ohio. it is a devastating blow to agriculture, and what people say is, well, we'll just hang in there and get it right. i'm not convinced they're going to get it right because frankly, if we make a deal with china, this is something that hasn't come out in the news, if we make a deal with china and we exclude the other members of the world trade organization, they can sue to nullify the agreement. and if we walk away from it, then we say there's nothing but chaos in the world markets. the way to fix this, get with our friends, be tough negotiators and by the way we know we've also kind of weakened the idea that investors in companies can sue when they get ripped off. it was weakened in the canadian-mexican agreement and it's re

now, legally it doesn't matter what don mcghan, a witness, thought. but politically and in keeping the president calm. the president's lawyers thought it would be really great to have mcgahn put out a statement after the report comes out. it would take a lot of the air out of it. and the white house, before it's released goes to mcgahn's lawyer and asks will they put out this statement. they considered it, then the report came out and they saw all of the obstruction and they thought it would be pretty weird to actually put out such a statement and they didn't and trump got upset. >> so, robert costa, why if you're the president are you now harassing on twitter someone who, if any sort of investigation comes to pass, if impeachment proceedings come to pass on capitol hill, don mcghan will be a witness in the obstruction investigation. >> talking in confidence to president trump it's clear the president believes privately that don mcghan would be central to any congressional case made against him on obstruction. and as capitol hill pursues that testimon

democrats huddle as don mcgahn joins william barr in defying the panel subpoenas. a vote on holding barr in contempt is hours away. >>> mitch mcconnell tells congress it's time to move on prompting a sharp rebuttal from

halle jackson asked account president about don mcgahn today. >> should don mcgahn be held in contempt of congresses? >> i don't know anything about what's going on. >> yesterday trump attacked fbi director christopher wray who the president appointed to the job after he fired comey. he tweeted the fbi has no leadership -- the director is protecting the same gang that tried to overthrow the president through an illegal coupe. that is not true, no one attempted to overthrow throw the president. that has never happened. american history. donald trump is one of the very few presidents who has been the subject of a criminal investigation by a special prosecutor work within the justice department. that is a legal and constitutional process. the reason for the president's sudden attack on his own appointed fbi director is that the fbi director disagreed with what has become the trump way of describing the fbi, a description echoed by the president's new attorney general william barr. here is fbi direct ker christopher wray refusing to say the trump magic word "spying." >> when fbi agents con

don mcgahn doesn't work at the white house anymore. don mcgahn is subject to contempt. he is a lawyer in good standing who might put that good standing at risk if he doesn't. don mcgahn has been called a liar by the president. he may have reason. i wouldn't expect him to go willingly, but my prediction is that he'll say if you subpoena me, i will show up. >> yes. >> my point, john, and i'm sorry if i sound like they have broken my spirit. >> that's what it sounds like. that's the goal. >> it's worked. i think i am channelling many members of the american public who feel the past two years have been disheartening for people who believe in justice. the reason i say that is because you see in the mueller report ample evidence laid out of obstruction of what robert mueller considered obstruction, but nothing happens. you see violations of the emoluments clause and nothing happens. nepotism >> emoluments is going forward in the courts. >> there is a feeling of exhaustion. we know it from polls, from voters turning away after the mueller report that they think congress will c

they need to see don mcgahn. they need to see donald trump junior. they need to see how many times he will say i don't remember. they need to see jared kushner. >> should they still be fighting this with subpoenas over court. the senate select committee had hearings. they need the get the facts presented. then you can start, depending on the public response, then you can start the inquiry, which is how redid we did it in the hous. you unseated a house veteran when you came into the house. she honored you on twitter. the first honest shoe leather destroyer. no one saw her coming. queen of kings county. do you see yourself in her? >> i see some similarity. i'm excited a young woman was elected. >> it took 42 years for that record to be broken. i was very sad about that. we need energy, the excitement. i'm really glad about that. i think it was great she got elected with a grass roots support. that's how i won the political pundits gave me no chase. she was able to raise a little more money. i was idealistic. she wanted to get social informs. we need pe

will don junior show up? and later, speaker pelosi says impeachment should be rooted in patriotism not partisanship. what about precedent? politzer prize historian john feature meacham is coming. "the 11th hour" just getting started on a wednesday night. did you know comcast business goes beyond fast with a gig-speed network. complete internet reliability. advanced voice solutions. wifi to keep everyone connected. video monitoring. that's huge. did you guys know we did all this stuff? no. i'm not even done yet. wow. business tv. cloud apps and support. comcast business goes beyond at&t. start with internet and voice for just $59.90 a month. it's everything a small business owner needs. comcast business. beyond fast. >>> the president said it, that they will resist all subpoenas this is stonewalling information with respect to the russian attack on our democracy in 2016. >> tonight, nbc news reports the president's eldest son, donald trump junior has been subpoenaed to appear before the senate intelligence com

will don junior show up? and later, speaker pelosi says impeachment should be rooted in patriotism not partisanship. what about president? politzer prize historian john mechem is coming here. "the 11th hour" just getting started on a wednesday night. alright boys, time for bed. listen to your mom, knuckleheads. hand em over. hand what over? video games, whatever you got. let's go. you can watch videos of people playing video games in the morning. is that everything? i can see who's online. i'm gonna sweep the sofa fort. well, look what i found. take control of your wifi with xfinity xfi. let's roll! now that's simple, easy, awesome. xfinity xfi gives you the speed, coverage and control you need. manage your wifi network from anywhere when you download the xfi app today. >>> the president said it, that they will resist all subpoenas that, this is stone walling information with respect to the russian attack on our democracy in 2016. >> tonight, nbc news reports the president's eldest son, donald trump junior ha

whether it was don mcgahn who defd defied his subpoena today. our colleagues, laura jarrett over at the justice department, laura jarrett and manu raju has discovered that the special counsel's team has been reticent to send imto capitol hill. they don't want him to appear political after saying two years saying almost nothing relating to his investigation. the investigation is ongoing and and william barr has said it's up to bob. that's a direct quote with an interview with "the wall street journal" as to whether or not he testifies. there's been some talk about having testimony in a closed-door setting. that may be a way to secure the. i've talked to democrats up here who say they want that testimony at least in part to be in public. and as of that moment, that has not been secured. >> phil mattingly up on capitol hill, thank you very much. let's go to our chief white house correspondent, jim acosta. jim, the president and his team, they're not giving an inch in this battle. and now these two new subpoenas are coming forward. any reaction, fir

he shows them a documentary that he made about don. >> having not seen don for years and probably not seeing don again, i do not care for don. >> he was talking how he won't fart in front of her. >> he takes the speech and tries to get the reactions of a comedian. >> what would i do? >> yeah. >> first thing i would do is i would throw the whole speech out and get rid of it. toss it. >> just get drunk and wing it. >> yeah. >> that's a great idea. >> how could i give a great speech about don and katherine if i didn't have anything to say? i went to the wedding redd to disappoint my best friend. i worry that my speech is not going to live up to honor our relationship. >> okay. >> to my surprise, don didn't mind at all. >> the thing is, best friendships have endured long distance. don's relationship has also been a long distance relationship. >> don and i have made it this far, there's got be something there. you know, mate, you're right. go for it. >> don cares deeply about the people in his life. he cares so much that he gives katherine the courtesy of leaving the room when he has to fa

the violence is rising, don. >> yeah. so the people who study this, the authorities, do they have any insight as to why this is happening? >> they do. there are people who have been studying this for a long time and who have been tracking hate in this country for a very long time. there are a few trains of thought, if you will. the toxicity of politics right now. the president certainly did not create racism or anti semitism, but when experts look at what's happened they feel he has emboldened people who do feel that way. when you have a president who on the one hand has, and we've seen this two or three times now, strongly condemned anti semitism, but on the other hand he talks about being a nationalist or retweeting anti semitic memes or far right group's hateful messages there's a dog whistle that's loud and clear. and those mixed and double messages are seen by some white supremacists as the president saying one thing because he has to publicly but really believing in their cause. there's another big influence here th

on the don jr. subpoena piece, just like mueller said, just like trump said the mueller report exonerated him and it say it exonerated his own son don jr. and surprised by the subpoena. but is he going to fight it? >> reporter: brook, this is the president letting -- letting loose on a lot of different things but watching the president's face as he speaks about his son don jr. shows you where he is on this. it was almost a pained expression on his face as you talked about his son getting dragged into this stuff in washington. you talk about how don jr. offered to help him on the campaign and now he's being dragged potentially before the senate intelligence committee. but there is a big question right now about whether the president or don jr. or both of them will try in some way to fight this, to resist having to testify. the president talked about the 20 hours of testimony that don jr. has already given on the subject. but the question is if they do that, how? in the past on other matters, the pres

meets for what was meant to be an illuminating day of testimony from the former white house counsel, don mcgahn. just like the attorney general, less than a month ago, mcgahn intends to defy the panel's subpoena which will very likely earn him a contempt citation and a court fight and thereby add to the pressure facing house speaker nancy pelosi from democrats in her own party, democrats eager to start impeachment proceedings against this president. for now she is standing firmly against that. >> i know you've heard this word a lot, maybe getting sick of it, subpoena, but subpoenas do matter, part of the constitution, congressional powers to check the executive. that message jumping off the pages of a brand new ruling from a d.c. federal judge rejecting the president's bid to stop his former accounting firm from turning over documents to the house oversight committee, this is key in an ongoing investigation of the investigation. manu raju is on capitol hill this morning. let's start with mcgahn, the white house counsel. what happens next with his absence and why is the panel so focused o

now, don, jr., could not run out from this subpoena, his former trump lawyer don mcgahn think he will be able to? i take that question to my panel beginning with brittany cooper, professor at rutgers university. good to see you both. brittany, i begin with you on the political science of this. which this is not just about subpoena rules, it's an inner-branch clash. what does it tell you as we come on the air tonight that don, jr., actually buckled in the part of this clash? >> you know, what i'm more concerned about is the way that the white house is attempting to bully and subvert our separation of powers and checks and balances process. so yes, i am heartened by the fact that don, jr. has had to submit to this process. but the fact that the trump administration is fighting congress at every level is all about this sort of broader problem of obstruction of justice. the trump administration believes that they should not be held accountable to the american people to any levels of government. there are clear indicators and evidence that significant crimes and breaches of protocol have b

once again, don mcgahn said no to that request from president trump. he refused to put out that i didn't think it was obstruction statement. "the wall street journal" has since matched. the times actually adds that the president asked don mcgahn to make that public claim that he didn't think the president obstructed justice. not once, but twice. the news that don mcgahn said no, that he refused this demand from the president to publicly vouch for the president on obstruction issues, that of course comes as the white house continues to say that don mcgahn will not be allowed to obey a subpoena that requires him to testify before congress. the house judiciary committee wants him to come testify and to provide documents to him -- documents to them about what he testified to robert mueller about. the committee has subpoenaed him for those documents and for his testimony since he has defied the subpoena thus far on the first part of it, which was the documents part of it, they have threatened to hold him in contempt. the white house says they're going to bl

jr. >> but don jr. is not in an executive role. >> what about the special counsel, abby, as you reported that for months and months trump attacked him and members of the team and today he sat there and insulted mueller himself, going back to saying it is up to barr to determine whether he testifies but did you catch what he referred to the mueller report as? >> yeah. the bible. brooke, this is the president trying to have it both ways on the mueller report. he spent a lot of his time today attacking mueller, the 18, 17 angry democrats on that investigative team who put together this report that he also calls the bible and said exonerated both him and his son and all of the associates around him who were in charge. so the president is trying to say that mueller can't be trusted but at the same time the mueller report is the final word on all of these matters and i think it is a difficult position to have because there are some matters that were left undecided particularly when it comes to obstruction of

jackie let's talk about don mcgahn. the thing that's stunning about the president's tweet is that don mcgahn is the guy who was responsible for doing all of the things that conservatives say they love about the trump administration. it's don mcgahn who packed the courts with conservative judges to include the two justices that donald trump got in the supreme court. so what do you make of the fact now that the president and the white house frankly is trying to press don mcgahn to get on the same page as president trump when it comes to the mueller report. >> yeah, i think this is another example of the president taking action in a way that doesn't necessarily positively serve himself. you know, this president is at the end of the day very concerned with perception, and it's clear that he's consistently wanted mcgahn to correct the record to reflect what the president wants the public to believe, whether or not that's, you know, accurate. clearly don mcgahn does not agree with that and has refused on a number of occasions

president trump won't let don mcgahn testify before congress. at the center of the mueller report, what is trump afraid of? steven moore said he was all in. about an hour later the president announced later moore as his fed pick was out. let's go "out front." good evening. i'm erin burnett. "out front," war with barr. democrats firing on all fronts. the house democratic

"yes." >> reporter: don was in the middle of moving. the movers tried to calm him down. >> and the guys says, "we don't know that she's dead." i said, "count on it, he killed her." and i got there and, you know, she was gone. >> reporter: he was right to begin with. rachel was dead. the horrific news spread. >> i got a call from a friend and i said, "it can't be." and the next thing i knew, i woke up on the floor. >> reporter: you fainted? >> i completely blacked out, hit the floor. so i called the sheriff's department and asked them if they knew what was going on. and they said just stay right where you're at. >> reporter: james' daughter katelynn got a message at school. >> i walk outside, and i call a family friend, and he goes, "are you sitting down? i think you need to sit down, katelynn." i was like, "what's going on?" and all i remember is just dropping to the ground. >> reporter: rachel's friend shannon couldn't believe what she read online. >> i found out through facebook. i was scrolling and saw someone post something, "r.i.p.

i'm don lemon. president trump saying tonight he'll block don mcgahn from testifying before congress. >> they have had him testifying already for 30 hours and it's really -- i don't think i can let him and tell everybody else you can't. especially because he was a counsel. they have testified already. i can't say the one can and the others can't. >> so is it done? >> i would say it's done. >> don mcgahn was interviewed for more than 30 hours. there's a big question, whether or not the president can invoik executive privilege to keep him from testifying. he has been subpoenaed by the house judiciary committee in its investigation into possible obstruction of justice. meanwhile, the attorney general william barr was a no-show today at a house judiciary committee. committee chair jerry nadler is threatening to hold barr in contempt of the congress, not because he failed to appear but because the justice department has not complied with the subpoena to turn over the full unredacted mueller report. house

what i mean is that don mcgahn doesn't have to follow a lawless order from the white house. he knows. he's a lawyer. he's a seasoned lawyer. that the privilege was already waived when he handed those documents over to the mueller team and also that this assertion that sometime in the future, he may be in a position that would implicate executive privilege. has already been ruled on by the courts as not asserting executive privilege. and so he should just come and be the first person in this administration who raises their right hand and does the right thing and tells the truth. >> one of the dynamics at work here is that since the mueller report in its redacted form was made public and don mcgahn's name is all over it and he's listed more than 150 times, his repeated interviews with the special counsel's office and the fbi are cited over and over and over again in terms of telling the narrative about what was happening around obstruction of justice in the white house. since that all came out, the president has been denouncing don mcgahn as a liar saying he these things that

we know that the president has already basically called don mcgahn a liar, saying, oh, what don mcgahn reportedly said in that report, i never did that. this would be a chance for don mcgahn to clear his name, because it makes no sense, why would don mcgahn lie to robert mueller and risk criminal indictment against him, ruining his reputation, when we know the president has lied over and over, and he also let don mcgahn speak to bob mueller, which he did for hundreds of hours. >> so, i do think that don mcgahn will make the decision. and i absolutely think that he cannot ignore a congressional subpoena. the president can order don mcgahn all he wants. he's no longer an employee of the president's. and that is an important legal distinction. what i remember from my time on the senate judiciary committee is we were investigating the firing of u.s. attorneys in 2007 and 2008, and the bush administration didn't want to produce harriette myers, a former white house counsel, to testify. it went to court. and the court found that she should not be shielded from having to testify in front of c

will don junior show up? and later, speaker pelosi says impeachment should be rooted in patriotism not partisanship. what about president? politzer prize historian john mechem is coming here. "the 11th hour" just getting started on a wednesday night. hog started on a wednesday night on a john deere x300 series mower. because seasons change but true character doesn't. wow, you've outdone yourself this time. hey, what're neighbors for? it's beautiful. run with us. search "john deere x300" for more. >> tech: you think this chip is well sooner or later... every chip will crack. >> mom: hi. >> tech: so bring it to safelite. we can repair it the same day... guaranteed. plus with most insurance, it's no cost to you. >> mom: really? >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, ♪ safelite replace. woman 1: this is my body of proof. man 1: proof of less joint pain and clearer skin. man 2: proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis... woman 2: ...with humira. woman 3: humira targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation th

i'm don lemon. if you want to convince people nancy pelosi isn't getting under your skin, this really isn't best way to do it. roll it. >> i don't think nancy pelosi understands the deal, it's too complicated. she's a mess. look, let's face it, she's disintegrating before us, a nasty type statement from an extremely stable genius. >> okay, the speaker tweeting, because that's definitely the way to get inside this president's head, tweeting, when the extremely stable genius starts acting more presidential, i'll be happy to work with him on infrastructure, trade and other issues. now, let's be clear. the president's reaction is nothing to do with trade or infrastructure or any other of the things that he's supposed to be focused on. it's all about the man who is supposed to be the leader of the free world, supposed to be the leader of the free world absolutely losing it in public because the speaker of the house is shading him, because she's saying things like this, questioning who's in charge in the