and rosenstein is still there. and in case the people watching don't know a lot about him, he was just confirmed by the senate, rod rosenstein. he's a long-time u.s. attorney from baltimore. highly respected by the democrats and republicans. he has served in both democrat and republican administrations starting with clinton, bush and obama. >> and sorry to interrupt you. but who did he make that threat to? >> we don't know. we know that he made the threat. we know he's still there. >> when did he make the threat to resign? >> after tuesday night when the narrative came out of the white house that it was -- that white house officials said comey was fired because senior justice department officials concluded he had violated the doj principals and procedures last year in the hillary clinton investigation. what of course we are now hearing is this really had to do with the russia investigation and the idea that comey was not loyal and supportive president trump felt to him. >> sara, do you know why rod rosen stin did n

rosenstein recommended mr. comey's removal for many of the very reasons that they consistently complained about. two investigations are currently ongoing. the senate intelligence committees' review of active measure and intelligence activities and the fbi investigation disclosed by director comey. today we'll no doubt hear calls for a new investigation, which could only serve to impede the current work being done to not only discover what the russians may have done, also to let this body and the national security community develop countermeasures in war fighting doctrine to see it doesn't occur again. partisan calls should not delay the considerable work of chairman burr and vice chairman warner, too much is at stake. deputy attorney general rosenstein was just confirmed on a bipartisan vote 94-6. 94-6. that sort of fair consideration should continue when the senate receives an fbi director nominee. as i said yesterday, once the senate receives a nomination to fill the position we'll look forward to a full, fai

vote on rod rosenstein and say he cannot a fair. that he has some -- somehow an appearance of a conflict of interest necessary to point a special counsel. which, by the way is also reports to the leadership at the department of justice. give mr. rosenstein a chance to demonstrate that he is capable of leading that the departmentf of justice understanding that our role in congress is not to pursue a criminal investigation and case. that is the job of the department of justice but our forin parallel fashion oversight reasons and to let the american people and ourselves know exactly what happened. that is why the investigation of , selectrtisan senate committee on intelligence is so important. in addition to the hearings we are having on the judiciary committee which the senator from a soda and i happen to be on as well. bottomeed to get to the of what happened and i am confident we will. it is our duty and we will get the job done. democraticning, the cause for this caucus met to discuss the consequences of mr. comey's dismissal. ther

rosenstein and mr. comey -- mr. -- and attorney general sessions were involved in this firing when there are so many questions swirling about. they must come before us to answer questions. i hope leader mcconnell will understand the need for that and answer the plea i made this morning about that. furthermore, the fact that mr. rosenstein, which came out after i made my request -- the fact that mr. rosenstein, by all reports, had a meeting with director comey where comey asked for more resources makes it all the more important for rosenstein to come because that might be the reason that he was fired because he was pursuing the investigation in an accelerated way that was very much needed. so what we're seeking, the tone thing we're -- the only thing we are seeking, is that the investigations are carried out in an impartial and independent way, that we get all the facts, that we get to the very bottom of it. all we are seeking is some assurance that the subject of this investigation is not able to influe

rosenstein recommended mr. comey's removal for many of the reasons they consistently complained about. two investigations are currently ongoing. the senate intelligence committee's review of russian active measures and intelligence activities and the f.b.i. investigation disclosed by director comey. today we'll no doubt hear calls for a new investigation which could only serve to impede the current work being done to not only discover what the russians may have done; also to let this body and the national security community develop countermeasures and war-fighting doctrine to see that it doesn't occur again. partisan calls should not delay the considerable work of chairman burr and vice chairman warner. too much is at stake. deputy attorney general rosenstein was just confirmed on a bipartisan vote 94-6. 94-6. and that sort of fair consideration should continue when the senate receives an f.b.i. director nominee. as i said yesterday, once the senate receives a nomination to fill this position, we'll look forwar

rosenstein's impartiality. are many reports director comey met with deputy attorney general rosenstein last week to make a request for more resources for help with the investigation into the trunk campaign ties to russia. that would make the timing of this firing even more suspect. nameosenstein signed his to a highly political memo arguing for director comey's dismissal and made no complaint about the involvement of the attorney general who would recuse himself from all matters relating to the russian investigation in recommending the firing of the man leading it. it is hard to believe a season prosecutor without bias would have allowed sessions to be part of this and hard to believe that a season prosecutor would write such a memo, which seems highly political, and not and the language, not with the kind of annotation prosecutors normally write in. the decisionlear to appoint a special prosecutor should go to the highest ranking civil servant at the department of justice. mr. rosenstein and other political ap

so rosenstein came into the job. he looked at comey's behavior relating to the clinton e-mail investigation last year. he found it wrong, he found it deeply troubling and he recommended that since comey has refused to admit his errors he should be fired. he recommended that to jeff sessions and passed it on to president trump. end of story according to the white house. here are the problems according to those who are skeptical of this decision and this president. president trump shares exactly zero of rosenstein's concerns about how unfair comey was to hillary clinton. the only problem that president trump has ever had about comey's behavior relating to hillary clinton was that he did not charge her with a crime and president trump clearly loved it when comey essentially reopened the clinton case late in the campaign. it's as if we're expected to have all been blinded by that flashy memory eraser thing from men in black. we wouldn't remember all the things that trump expressed concern that comey didn't charge hillary

rosenstein was just confirmed on a bipartisan vote 94 to six. that sort of consideration should continue when the senate receives a director nominee. as i said yesterday, once the senate receives a nomination to fill this position we will look forward to a timely confirmation process. that isa critical role particularly important as our country continues to face serious threat at home and abroad. sen. schumer: yesterday, the president fired director of the is leadingmey, who an active investigation into the trump campaign's collusion with russia. he provided no reason for the firing other than he had the recommendation of his attorney general, who was -- has already had to recuse himself from the russian investigation for being too close to the president and his deputy attorney general. mr. president, there is little reason to think that mr. rosenstein's letter is the true reason president trump fired director comey. why? because if the administration truly had objections to the way director comey handled the clinton investigation, they would ha

rosenstein in mr. comey attorney general sessions were involved in this firing when they were so many questions swirling about. they must come before us to answer questions and i hope later mcconnell will understand the need for that and it typically i made this morning about this. furthermore, the fact that mr. rosenstein came out after he my request, by all reports had a meeting with director comey were comey ask for more resources makes it all the more importante for transport to come because that made me the reason that he misfired because he was pursuing the investigation and the accelerated way that was very much needed. so, what we are seeking, the only thing we are seeking assurances that this investigation is carried out an impartial independent way to make it all the facts, that we get to the very bottom of it while they are seeking. they are not able to influence or god forbid clashes to the topic of this investigation is very serious. the possibility that the investigation was impeded or ta

rosenstein. >> right. >> did you ask for a recommendation? >> what i did, i was going to fire -- my decision. >> you had made the decision? >> i was going to fire comey. there is no good time to do it, by the way. >> because in your letter you said i accepted their recommendations. you had already made the decision. >> oh, i was going to fire him regardless of recommendation. he made a recommendation. he is highly respected, very good guy, very smart guy. the democrats like him. the republicans like him. he made a recommendation. but regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey. >> the president might have changed the white house story because of a report in "the washington post" saying that the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein threatened to resign after the narrative emerging from the white house on tuesday evening cast him as a prime mover of the decision to fire comey, and that the president acted only on his recommendation. the "wall street journal" reports rosenstein pressed

rosenstein recommended mr. comey's removal for many of the very reasons that they consistently complained about. two investigations are currently ongoing. the senate intelligence committee's review of russian active measures and intelligence activities and the fbi investigation disclosed by director comey. today we'll no doubt hear calls for a new investigation, which could only serve to impede the current work being done to not only discover what the russians may have done, also to let this body and the national security community develop counter measures and war fighting doctrine to see that it doesn't happen again. partisan calls should not delay the considerable work of chairman burr and vice chairman warner. too much is at stake. deputy attorney general rosenstein was just confirmed on a bipartisan vote 94-6. 94-6. and that sort of fair consideration should continue when the senate receives an fbi director nominee. as i said yesterday, once the senate receives a nomination to fill this position, we'll look

lou: as you mentioned rosenstein the deputy attorney general, rosenstein p. is one of the most applauded prosecutors in washington d.c., the longest-serving u.s. attorney in justice department history. and attorney general jeff sessions himself impeccable in his accomplishments and the respect and regard of his colleagues rather -- whether the senator the justice department. ambassador bolton thanks for being with us. up next at was only two months ago the comey said he was in it for the next six and a half years. >> you are stuck with me for another six and a half years so i'd love to be invited back again. lou: the white house searching for new director of the fbi. a live report from the white house next. much more straight ahead as we continue our reporting on the firing of director james comey of the woman: i rescued toast from a shelter in 2011. i love toast because she's a lazy diva. [camera's shutter clicking] toast makes me laugh. [snoring] [laughs] when i walked into the shelter, i knew she was special. [toast snoring] lou: breaking news at the white

rod rosenstein did it according to the book. stand by, i want to get more reaction from capitol hill republican reaction this time senator james longford of oklahoma is joining us. a member of the intelligence committee. give us your reaction, senator, to this news. >> it is positive. conversations about a special investigator is typically an outside group. they hire separately. they have to set up. that drags down the investigation. nonpartisan career officials to continue on with their investigation until it's done. this allows for robert muler to step in to be able to lead an investigation. they are using assets to the fbi to conduct that and so the investigation can continue. and try to get to a conclusion. everyone wants to get to an answer. if you go back to iran can contra, six years. no one wants to see it drag on like that. ken star was three years. they can continue to move this in a methodical and professional way. >> but he has an open-ended investigation now, new special counsel. he is not only investigating russian

rod rosenstein appointing robert mueller to oversee the investigation. rosenstein signing the order before an hearding jeff sessions and giving the white house an hour's notice before making it public. the announcement comes after mounting pressure from the deputy ag to appoint a special prosecutor after the memo rosenstein wrote as the basis he fired james comey. >> he made a recommendation. regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey. >> reporter: one source telling cnn rosenstein is throwing president trump overboard with the special counsel. the move the white house opposed. >> no need for a prosecutor. you have two senate committees looking into this. the fbi is conducting their own review. >> reporter: a statement from rosenstein explaining the public interests requires me to place this investigation under the authority of a person who exercises a degree of independence from the normal chain of command. the move follows back-to-back bombshells for president trump. including a damning memo from comey where he documented private conversat

deputy rosenstein today briefed the full u.s. senate. senators say he revealed he knew james comey would be fired before rosenstein wrote his memo recommending the dismissal. senators indicate the investigation is a criminal probe and note that kongs investigators may take a back seat to the special counsel. i'll talk to senator dianne feinstein. he's top democrat on the judiciary committee. and democratic congresswoman catherine rice of the homeland security committee and correspondents, specialist guests are standing by with today's stop stories. more tuning comments from the president. let's go to our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. jeff, the president opens up to reporters. tell our viewers what he did. >> reporter: he did, wolf. and a decision that's been widely approved and wikileaks comed by many republicans in washington, the president is seething over this decision to name a special counsel to look into any allegations of russia meddling in the 2016 election. now, he talked about this for the first time in a -- you

he can order rod rosenstein to fire mueller anytime. trump can fire rosenstein. dave, they already started hiring up. several associates at the law firm. they all resigned and getting -- starting to hire. he has to get space. make sure they can get that information and hire clerks and make sure people have the right classified status and begin investigation. >> a lot of questions. will we hear from james comey next wednesday when they want him to testify in front of congress in a public hearing. >>> a senior gop source telling cnn mueller's appointment for the special counsel over the investigation makes it unlikely comey will testify before congress publicly. the committees were trying to get comey to appear as early as next week. the source now saying quote this shuts the whole thing down. >> lawmakers want comey to testify about the investigation into russia election immediamem. they are pressing the director on his memo asking him to shutdown the michael flynn pr p probe. the source described rod rosenstein angry and exasperated with the white house. believes

rod rosenstein, we just had doj release rosenstein's opening statement to the senate and the house in these house briefings. in this opening statement, rosenstein told lawmakers that he learned on may 8th, that would be the day before the firing, that trump intended to remove comey and that trump sought his advice and input. and here's a quote, "notwithstanding my personal affection for director comey, he said "i thought it was appropriate to seek a new leader." he says that he chose the issues to include in my memorandum." so, we are now getting -- this is some important, new information, because the key has been when did -- what was the reasoning behind the firing of james comey, right? we've heard two different things from the white house. one thing came out from the white house, that it was rod rosenstein's memo, and then the president, of course, said he had russia on his mind and he was going to do it regardless. this seems to suggest the latter, that rod rosenstein said they knew he was going to fire him before the memo came out. >> this is really troubling. i'll let you go, jo

rosenstein has played a central role in these events. he could help clear questions about where the decision to fire mr. comey originated. so, later today, separate and apart for my request to come before the senate, i'll be sending mr. rosenstein a letter with a list of questions for him to answer publicly. america needs to hear them. many democrats it voted for mr. rosenstein few weeks ago because he had a reputation for integrity. assured us to be an independent force inside the department of justice. ninety-four senators voted for him. but the events of last week have made many of us question that belief. he owes it to the u.s. senate, he owes it to the people hee supervises and the justice department and the fbi. s he owes it to the american people to provide some answers.c so we demand that appointment o. a special prosecutor. we want to hear from mr. comey and we are asking the majority leader to hold separate all senators briefings with the attorney general and the deputy attorney general. wou this would help us get a hold on wha

and he's changing his story on rod rosenstein. i know there are a lot of americans out there, a lot of reporters out there that are very frustrated by the fact that the truth doesn't matter to donald trump. and reality doesn't seem to matter to this white house. they change their stories every day. one of the good things about bob mueller being appointed is, facts do matter to him. he's a just the facts, ma'am, sort of guy. and he writes it down and he's going to follow it. so, donald trump can change his story on rod rosenstein as much as he wants to. it only impeaches his credibility even more as this investigation goes forward. >>> coming up on "morning joe," we'll be getting a look at the politico playbook with jake sherman. mruts the weekly standards and adam kinzinger is here on set. i am benedict arnold, the infamous traitor. and i know a thing or two about trading. so i trade with e*trade, where true traders trade on a trademarked trade platform that has all the... get off the computer traitor! i won't. (cannon sound) mobi

rosenstein, america depends on you to restore faith in our criminal justice system. which is going to be badly shattered after the administration's actions today. this is part of a deeply troubling pattern from the trump administration. they fired sally yates. they fired reed ferrera. and now they fired director comey. the very man leading the investigation. this does not seem to be a coincidence. this investigation must be run as far away as possible from this white house and as far away as possible from anyone that president trump has appointed. given the way the president fired director comey, any person who he appoints to lead the russian investigation will be concerned that he or she will meet the same fate as director comey if they run afoul of the administration. the american people need to have face that it investigation serious as this one is being conducted impartially without a shred of bias. the only way the american people can have face in this investigation is for it to be led by a fearless, independent special prosecutor. if deputy attorney general ros

rosenstein viewed the whole process as something mr. mueller will speak on, not him. >> are you satisfied with the answers you received about the firing of former fbi director comey? >> mr. rosenstein talked about why he voted -- wrote the memo, the fact that he briefed that what the fbi director did in june was inappropriate, that he stepped out of his lane. >> was he tasked to write that memo? >> he did not. i'll let you ask him that question. now that we have a special counsel about all things related to the process of the memo, i think you'll need to talk to mr. mueller about. i've got to go. >> thank you very much. >> senator lindsey graham with lots of questions. there's been a closed-door meeting with rod rosenstein, the person who appointed the former fbi director robert mueller to be the special counsel in this russia probe and so carl bernstein, tim natali, you guys are still with me. the headline out of that, carl, is that senator graham says it seems no longer will this probe be seen as counterintelligence but as a criminal

eporter: sir, your impression, rosenstein take any responsibility for the firing of jim comey and the memo he wrote and if not, where does the responsibility lie? >> i think obviously he stressed the responsibility of the decision for the president. it's an executive branch decision and it was an executive action. senator cassidy: his memo was written within the context of it. he very much avoided giving specific answers as to circumstances around the writing of the memo and if someone helped him, did someone review it, saying that should be the province of mr. mueller 's investigation. he totally backed away from kind of ever going there. reporter: did he tell you that may 8 was the day the point which he knew f.b.i. director -- senator cassidy: i missed the beginning of his opening statement. i cannot say for sure. reporter: follow-up -- is it your impressioned based on the briefing this has now crossed the threshold from a countertenls to a criminal matter? senator cassidy: he said to go beyond that would prejudice people's opinion. he said there is no predetermination someone comm

it's rod rosenstein as deputy a.g. it's his decision, attorney general sessions having recused himself. he made the decision and then after he made the decision he informed the white house. >> that's right. and i think what this is for rod rosenstein -- >> stein or stein? >> stein, i guess. is a resurrection of his reputation of being a straight shooter himself. i think he got sucked into this unfortunately with that hillary clinton protection memo, and that's the basis for the fire. i think this gets him out of that and puts him back where he always has been, which is well respected, middle of the road prosecutor who also likes to make things by the books, by the law, with integrity. so i think that's good for him, good for the system. >> ron, do you think with all the breaking news and all the upheaval going on the last couple of days, is in any way impeded the investigation by the special agents who are actually doing the work on this? >> i don't. i think that, as we've discussed before, there was great confidence a

rosenstein. you know, who was so vilified because he got dragged in by the president and jeff sessions writing that statement when comey was firebird. this w b -- fired. he had the way in making the appointment. he turned to mueller, because he must have assumed, as others have said, bob mueller is so highly respected that he did not feel this would influence the outcome. >> john, what do you think happened? as pamela pointed out. rob rosenstein said a special prosecutor was not needed, right? he said so as recently as last friday, as we understand, telling people he didn't see any. since then we've learned of trump telling classified information in 2 white house and we've learned of comey memos. those are the two big pieces of news that happened between now and friday. >> those are massive bombshells in this accelerating news cycle but i think the presence of the comey memo forces the handled. the calculus has changed on capitol hill. i do think that while this is a great reminder that we are a

to fire comey and rod rosenstein responded the way dana said he did. he made himself unfireable and became the most powerful person in the justice department. i would say this is a mixed blessing. for the american public, it's not such a good thing, we probably won't learn anything from this investigation, it's going to be secret, we will never hear from a witness, in the end we will either hear no indictment or an indictment. to the extent that we want to know what really went on, an independent investigation commission of the kind of 9/11 or the challenger, would have been better for the american public. and i think president trump could have avoided a special prosecutor if he had pressed for an independent commission earlier. >> some democrats still want an independent commission. is that possible? >> absolutely. as gloria was saying earlier, the fact that you have a congressional investigation and a law enforcement investigation at the same time can generate controversy and conflict. the most dramatic example being the issue of immunity. congressio

he was in that briefing by the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. so it was the deputy attorney general who chose robert mueller to head up this investigation. are you satisfied with that choice? >> i think it is bipartisan, the approval of the selection of mr. mueller for this role as special prosecutor on the special counsel in this case. that was reflected in the applause that the number two at justice received when rod rosenstein said that wasn't mueller. that really -- we all should be focused on, democrats and republicans, regardless of party inflation, is the attack of russia upon our democratic institutions. >> jon: are you absolutely convinced that there was some kind of collusion? because at this point, there has been no evidence that i am aware of, and people like chuck grassley, senator chuck grassley have said he hasn't seen no evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and the russians. >> evidence in terms of what will be gathered through this process is different than the conjecture that has been laid out through the media. i d

only rosenstein legally can remove a special counsel. who is rosenstein's boss? the president of the united states. can mueller deal with the particular politics of the situation? >> absolutely. i saw him maybe 1,000 times or 2,000 times. i don't know how many around the table doing personnel decisions and threat briefings and strategic direction for the fbi. we met every more than for four and a half years. i sat down the hall from him in the fbi. i sat with him with many attorney generals. democrats or republican. i never heard him make a political statement. i cannot tell you how many times i have heard him discuss those issues. when he would do student conversations or speeches. people would ask him what defines you. he would say i was a u.s. marine. you can expect him to identify objective and pursue the objective. i know people talk about whitewater and how it got off the rails. he will never swerve. >> go ahead. >> he will not be intimidated by the president or anybody else. he was a marine. he wasn't just a marine. he won two bronze stars in the vietnam w

he is required to present a confidential report to rod rosenstein, who rosenstein at that point can make it public. you are not going to see bob mueller going out before the cameras, like comey did, doing a press conference on his own, releasing his own report. that will not be what happens. he will be working with people he brings in or the fbi investigators. >> in terms of the resource question, you made very clear he will be making those requests to rod rosenstein. >> my sense talking to people about mueller and his 12 year tenure at the fbi and political capital he has, it seems people i talked to today if he makes a resources request, unless it is insane, if he makes any resources request or makes a request to expand his investigation, he's the kind of person who rod rosenstein both politically and personally would have a very hard time saying no to. is that a fair assessment what that dynamic, how that dynamic would work? >> i think that's exactly right, rachel. i think rod rosenstein formerly a u.s. attorney in baltimore and knows robert mueller. everybody in law enforcement knows

rosenstein. but i think rosenstein now has a duty -- i think we're going to have to do two things. one i think we need to to have the independent commission as congressman swalwell and i put forward. but we also have to make sure that an independent counsel is appointed by rosenstein because some kind of way you basically have to have both one checking each other. >> i want to ask you dwresman about -- a little bit more about the deputy attorney general since i recommended in firing because of how comey handled the clinton investigation. pointing to comey's press conference on clinton pointing to the letter before the election. but i want to you listen to president trump when all that happened. then we'll discuss. >> i respect the fact that director comey was able to come back after what he did. it took guts for director comey do make the move he made in light of the kind of opposition he had where they're trying to protect her from criminal prosecution. >> he has become more famous than me. >> so congressman, the president -- the didn't mind how it was alanda then so what changed?

rosenstein viewed the whole process as something that mr. muller will speak on, not him. >> were you satisfied with the answers you received about the firing of director co me? >> mr. rosenstein wrote the memo, the fact that what he believed the fbi director did in july was inappropriate. >> senator, was he tasked to write that memo? >> he did not. i'll let you ask him that question. now that we have a special counsel about all things related to the process of the memo, i think you'll need to talk to mr. muller. i have to go. >> thank you, senator. >> shepard: lindsey graham speaking on capitol hill. so much to get through. catherine herridge is live with us. catherine, to you. >> senator graham was in the briefing with the deputy general. his bottom line is that based on what he heard from the deputy attorney general, that this fbi investigation has crossed a critical threshold. it has moved from a counter intelligence investigation to a likely criminal investigation and senator graham said this will limit the ability of congress to obtain

rosenstein recommended mr. comey's removal for many of the various reasons that they consistently complained about. two investigations are currently ongoing. the senate intelligence committee's review of russian active measures and intelligence activities and the fbi investigation disclosed by director comey. today we'll no doubt hear calls for a new investigation, which could only serve to impede the current work being done to not only discover what the russians may have done, also to let this body and the national security community develop counter measures and war fighting doctrine to see that it doesn't occur again. partisan calls should not delay the considerable work of chairman burr and vice chairman warner. too much is at stake. deputy attorney general rosenstein was just confirmed on a bipartisan vote 94-6. 94-6. and that sort of fair consideration should continue when the senate receives an fbi director nominee. as i said yesterday, once the senate receives a nomination to fill this position, we'll lo

rosenstein answered yes, i do. if there was ever a time when circumstances warranted a special prosecutor, it is right now. mr. rosenstein already expressed concern that director comey affected the f.b.i. the attorney general has had to recuse himself from being too close to the president for tin vest gaition. if mr. rosenstein believes this investigation must be, quote, fair, free, thorough and politically independent, if he believes as i do that the american people must be able to have faith in the impartiality of this investigation, he must appoint a special prosecutor and get his investigation out of the hands of the f.b.i. and far away from the heavy hand of this administration. mr. rosenstein has the authority to appoint a special prosecutor right now. he needs no congressional authorization. this would simply be a step that he could take as outlined in the department of justice guidelines and in a law passed after watergate to get an independently minded prosecutor insulated from various special prosecutor.

rosenstein. >> to dispose of that first claim about him being unpopular. acting fbi director mccabe said that was not true and he was widely respected. "keeping them honest" to somehow the president describes it. the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein wrote a memo and he read it and persuaded to one extent to fire comey. that was his account today. so was this just seven days ago. >> i was going to fire comey. there's no good time to do it, by the way. >> because in your letter, you said i accepted their recommendation. you had already made the decision. >> i was going to fire regardless. >> i was going to fire regardless. the president also said russia was on his mind when he made that decision. this was last thursday saying it was all him not rosenstein. rewind your brain to a couple days before that interview with lester holt to the day comey was fired, tuesday, on that day according to white house surrogates, it wasn't president trump's idea, it was all rosenstein. as you can see, all ro

and you see rod ro n rosenstein tapping bob mueller. >> did rosenstein give a heads up to attorney general sessions? >> from what we understand, there was not much of a heads up before this announcement came down, from what i understand that an administration official, rod rosenstein signed this order naming bob mueller as a special prosecutor and thin white house counsel don mcgahn was notified and very soon after that informed the president of the united states that there was a special prosecutor looking into this, and this also happened with attorney general jeff sessions, that is almost more interesting than the white house not getting much advanced notice. but apparently after that order was signed and when this was all announced to the world was less than an hour, according to administration officials so that is why the statement from the white house came fairly long after this rosenstein announcement bombshell. >> they only had less than an hour's heads up? >> they had less than an hour's heads up. also with us, someone who's worked with director mueller, hill mudd. how important is

rod rosenstein made a return visit to capitol hill. he briefed house members behind closed doors on the russia investigation and the comey firing. one lawmaker described it as frustratingly cautious. in a briefing yesterday senators say rosenstein reveal the decision to fire comey was made before he wrote a letter critical of the fbi director. president trump's first foreign trip comes at the end of the week for his administration. the administration is hoping i assume that this trip will provide a break from the entire russia investigation and the enormous fallout over the comey firing, but how likely is that? >> certainly these problems are not going away. there's now a special counsel overseeing the russia investigation. the president still has to choose a new fbi director. someone that is sure to be viewed skeptically by democrats. basically no matter who he names. but a number of donald trump's allies are encouraging him to sort of see this special counsel as an opportunity to stop complaining about the russia investigation. stop

rosenstein has the authority to appoint a special prosecutor right now. he needs no congressional authorization. this was simply be snp could takethat a step you can and and a law passed after watergate to get an independently minded prosecutor he will be insulated from various pressures. a special prosecutor is not subject to day-to-day supervision by the attorney general or anyone else of the justice to our. that means our prosecutor would have much greater latitude in who he can subpoena, which questions they ask, how to conduct an investigation. the special prosecutor can all be removed for good cause, such as misconduct, not to squash the investigation. there was built in congressional oversight. congress is notified whenever special counsel is appointed, removed, or finished with the investigation. the appointment of a special prosecutor would be a welcome step in the right direction. it is not the only action that should be taken. there are a great many outstanding questions about the circumstances of director coming's this missile --director comey

rosenstein said. he was going to fire him anyway. >> you got reporting out of the wall street journal that he went to the white house council and said you guys have to change the narrative. this isn't true and i'm not comfortable working in an voormt like this. you heard him say, no, i'm not quitting, but do you think he works his way through this? what is he willing to stomach and sfa on board? >> if the president is saying i id didn't care what the deputy attorney general and what the attorney general said, i'm going to do what i wanted to, that's a problem. i think there should have been a part two saying i know this is a bad look, so i am going to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate this. he has more power than anybody in the country to do that. >> special counsel, right. he could bring a special counsel. that may be an issue right now. i think rosenstein got good cover from the president in a way with his admission that i don't care what rosenstein said. add least it removes rosenstein fr

rosenstein's role in that. did he speak to that, his responsibility and his decision-making process in the firing of mr. comey? >> i think he spoke to it by asserting that the record is a paper record with a chronological set of documents. what i will say, and i don't believe for a moment this is classified, is that the scope, again, of director mueller includes any questions about referrals related to any misconduct, any interference, and there were questions well outside the russian scope in there, and repeatedly, rod, or acting director said that he would feel that his job is to make sure others had the freedom to send it where it may be, including any judicial indiscretion. >> -- told him to write the memo -- [ inaudible ] >> i don't believe he in any way indicated anyone directed him, but in fact, he wrote the memo. you know, i think one thing, having a decade of doing investigations has taught me is that it's suspicious when a lawyer doesn't write memos for the record. we've had investigations where they

if rosenstein, if the white house used the memo as the rationale for it, why, rosenstein, why did he stay around? does he feel like he's been used in this process? it raises all the new questions. if you read between lines on what some of the senators were saying, it seemed like mueller may be looking at the firing as part of this. and the other thing we were talking about, with mueller coming on, it looks like it will limit what congress can do. mueller may try tohut all that down because it could jeopardize his investigation. that means we may not see comey testify. >> a lot of people have said, if the latter chance happens, that that isn't a tragedy. it cuts down on noise, confusion, partisanship. and i'm going to interrupt my own question because dick durbin is at the microphones. >> gained a lot of support from his decision last night to appoint bob mueller as the special counsel when it comes to this investigation of the russian interference in our election. and any involvement by the trump campaign. mueller is widely respected, he is smart, principled, most of us who have know

>> well, yeah, those two gentlemen particularly rosenstein is well regarded in maryland. a lot of us know him and have great deal of respect for his work. so having him be in the political crucible the way he's been for the last few weeks was problematic for him and he seems to have moved himself out of that. no one would claim he's a political hack by any stretch. i thought doug going -- the attorney general going to the "i" word, impeachment, was a little much, off the back pages of the democrat talking points which i understand. let's follow -- i think the t e takeaway, these two gentlemen are about following the facts and following the information as they get it. will it lead to something as big as that? we don't know. it's a very high bar, as you know. there's a republican congress you're going to have to impress the hell out of to get to that point. i don't see any of that happening. >> let's watch some of the republican congress responding yesterday on the shows about their mounting discomfort with this white house. >> if any president tries to impede an investigat

now he bricks in rosenstein. by the way, why is rosenstein ca tasked with doing this investigation while the ig at the department of justice is doing the very same thing? could it be that they wanted to bring in this guy with a great reputation to reach this conclusion, knowing that's how career prosecutors felt, so then they could use that as a pretext? >> all right. everybody, stand by. there's a lot more coming up. rosenstein's only been on the job, by the way, for two weeks or so. that's another issue. we're also learning, by the way, that the top democrat on the senate intelligence committee, senator mark warner, has just invited comey to come and testify up on capitol hill. we have new information. we'll share that with you, as we await the white house press briefing. we'll be right back. that i'm 2. i had no idea. just to know this is what i'm made of, this is where my ancestors came from. and i absolutely want to know more about my native american heritage. it's opened up a whole new world for me. discove

the source says that rosenstein released that information. and it was not clear how much it factored into his decision. the justice department declined to comment on this tonight. what do you make on this bit of breaking news we have now, john? >> well, it's certainly interesting, it sounds like mr. comey was very much like he was in the past, he did send memory -- memos, this is pretty much par for the course, i don't think he was deceiving anybody. he just didn't feel any need to bring it forward and report anything. so it was just there to be found. and it's been found now, and it's in need. >> so what does that mean? anything for the investigation? does that change anything for the investigation or anything in your mind as it concerns this investigation? >> well, it's hard to believe that it didn't affect the thinking of the deputy attorney general when he decided to appoint a special counsel. that memo and the revelation of it was pretty powerful information. i would suspect phil may agree on that. i'm not sure. >> do you think -- >> i f

we thought this was all rosenstein's doing. when was it that the president lost confidence in james comey? what was the -- >> i think it was an erosion of confidence. i think director comey has shown over the last several months, and frankly the last year, a lot of missteps and mistakes, and certainly i think that, as you've seen from many of the comments from democrat members, including senator schumer, they didn't think he should be there. they thought he should be gone. frankly, i think it's startling that democrats aren't celebrating this since they've been calling for it for so long. >> i have another one i need to ask you, too. >> i think there's a two-question limit around here. >> follow on that, you said that he made a lot of missteps and mistakes. back at the end of october, this president was applauding the fbi director when he reopened the investigation into hillary clinton's e-mails. he seemed quite happy with him at that point. what changed? >> well, i think the president's position. one, he was a candidate for pr

rod rosenstein. we're talking to mag give haber man almost three hours ago and he was saying how thrilled the white house must be that we've heard nothing from the president on twitter. >> because the president was probably watching and said, oh, yeah, i'll show her. >> that's exactly the point chris made earlier today. >> this is i think -- assuming that he has lawyered up, more than he was before and that his lawyers are being more aggressive in telling him lay off the twitter, this is probably the most tame thing that he could have said legally based on what he probably wanted to say on twitter this morning. you know, i mean, it's hyperbolic. it is not true. and, you know, it is what it is. i think the bigger question and the most interesting thing that i'm hearing from republicans on capitol hill is a sigh of relief. not so much about the long term implications because it could be bad. but the short term implications for them when they go home to their districts, they have an off ramp. they can s

i'm sure rosenstein felt that. he is among those career people who thought this was outrageous the way comey behaved. you have to look at the broader context. why is trump wanting to do this now? imagine in the president's thinking. i'm listening to comey. this guy feels bad about the criticism he is getting over hillary clinton and how he handled that. he will go crazy on the russian investigation and never let me alone. we have to get rid of this guy. imagine the thought process like that. brett stevens has a great op-ed. the tells are easy with trump. he mentioned the three times he claims he wasn't the source of the investigation. if that were true, it could change. he is taking over everything else only to be outdone by the president's reaction. firing without basis of comey in this timing that it threatens to undermine the presidency. >> chris, we have the new "time" magazine out with president trump on the cover. there is a pretty insightful interview. this is about whether he was asked if he thinks the whit

as rosenstein said, this will be up to director mueller. right now it is not a criminal investigation? >> thank you. >> let me just say briefly, i am not going to go into the substance of his answer, except to say those answers really need to be given to the american people in public, under oath. he should come before the judiciary committee and tell the american people what he has told us. i urged him to do so because it is important to boost the confidence and trust of the american people in our criminal justice process. i was disappointed in some of his answers. they were less forthcoming and a specific than i think they should have been, but i'm going to await judgment until i hear more, and i will be posing additional questions to him as we go along. >> what were some of your biggest unanswered questions? >> relating to the background of his memo, the consultation with others in the department of justice, and the reasons for the firing of director comey. i am satisfied that rob mueller can follow the evidence wherever it leads, conclud