it's a new "washington post" story. quoting intelligence intercepts. >>> plus sean spicer's out anthony scaramucci is in. can a new york banker change a communication strategy that's sometimes only as good as donald trump's cell phone. >>> as jared kushner prepares to answer questions on the hill we're learning more about his finances, what he didn't disclose before. as "the 11th hour" gets under way on a friday night. ♪ ♪ >>> and good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. the friday night edition, day

in washington. and said there is a focus on making us independent and making this farm are a leader in natural gas, for example. and as matt indicated, in doing so, reducing our carbon emissions. china is building a coal plant every week and we are reducing our pollution effects. with the blue states are doing, i love it. i think it's federalism as it was intended to be. they are the laboratories of the country, which is exactly what it should be. i think the liberals on the west coast are doing exactly the wrong thing, the idea that one state is going to actually change the climate, it's going to kill its economy, and won't have any difference. don't make an iota. they're right about the trade scheme. it's a complete disaster. the federalism, encourages, and i think it's enriched by having states try things. even the things i don't like, assisted suicide started in oregon, smoking dope started to be legal in colorado and washington state and apparently, at least as of yet, they appear to be doing o

"the washington post" has reported that, quote, jared kushner and russia's ambassador to washington discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure communications channel between trump's transition team and the kremlin using russian diplomatic facilities in an apparent move to shield their pre-inauguration discussions from monitoring according to u.s. officials briefed on intelligence reports. on december 13th, jared kushner had a meeting with a russian banker who he was told had direct communication with vladimir putin. kushner said that the meeting with that banker, sergey gorkov, lasted 20 to 25 minutes. in his written statement today, jared kushner said at no time was there any discussion about my companies, business transactions, real estate projects, loans, banking arrangements, or any private business of any kind. i did not know or have any contact with mr. gorkov before that meeting, and i have had no reason to connect with him since. jared kushner's explanation for why his security clearance application was submitted without any disclosures of any meetings with any foreig

john harwood is following the story from washington. what does the failure tell us about obamacare, about the president, about congressional republicans. >> reporter: first of all, about obamacare it says it's not easy to take away benefits to 20 million people have gained under a law. when people get subsidies to buy health insurance, they like it. about president trump, it shows his strategy of being detected from the it shall, not having a grasp of the details by standing by watching congress wasn't effective. for republicans in congress, it shows they've got a big split between the interest of their more affluent constituents who want lower taxes and smaller government and many of the working class voters that donald trump relied upon to win who like government benefits, like medicaid, like insurance subsidies. >> what is the next move for the gop here? do they just let the issue die? table it and the move on to tax reform? what? >> reporter: unclear whether they're going to try to make a motion to take up a straight repeal. it's no

breaking news from the "washington post." the first of many friday nights when i would have to work late. basically since then, since december 9th we have been in kind of a sustained period of very distracting, very engrossing political crisis. this has felt like a sustained political crisis. as since then we've learned more and more and more after the extent of russian involvement the election and the investigations into the trump campaign's contacts with russia. but during and after the campaign. watch the date stamps on these as they fly by. just as we're coming on the air we got news the former cia director james woolsey tonight has abruptly quit the trump transition team with no explanation. tonight after saying for weeks that there would be no senate or house investigation of this matter, the senate intelligence committee finally said, yeah, we'll look into this. all of a sudden this is starting to feel like the most important political story certainly in the world. with one week to go before we are supposed to swear in

joining me robert costa moderate ef-- susan page washington bureau chief for "u.s.a. today" and hugh hewitt, the host of the popular radio program the hugh hewitt show here in new york, frank bruni, columnist for "the new york times." i'm pleased to have all of them. hugh hewitt, let me begin with you. tell me about the appearance today and what might happen this week with respect to this testimony before the senate intelligence committee. >> i think jared kushner did about as well as anyone could in a difficult situation, charlie. i read his entire 11 page letter over the air this morning so that commuters could hear it. it was not a nondenial denial it was specific and detailed. it was explanatory and for those inclined to give trump the benefit of the doubt they will find it to be comforting. i found specifically interesting the fact that he said he had never met certificate guy corkov before nor any after that meeting set up by ambassador kislyak in december. and i found interesting that he specifically said no collusion, the two stories aimed at him is he got rus

that change is coming to washington. it is not starting in washington. we are, as of thursday, six months into the trump presidency. there's a unified conservative republican government, the likes of which we have not seen in over a decade. and yet they have yet to pass a single significant piece of legislation. that he's not because they don't have control of the government. they do. it's because the people are against the agenda they're pushing. it is amazing to see. tonight is, indeed, a big win. its not a final victory but it is a huge one win and one that groups across the country have been working towards and will continue to work towards. really all across the country. that's inspiring to see, people standing up on their home turf making their voices heard. >> ezra, that has been the core of the idea behind the indivisible movement is that wherever you live you should be contacting your own representative, your own member of congress, your own elected officials because they really only want to hear from their own constituents. that's why there hav

that reported by "the washington post." moments ago we also just got new reporting from "the new york times." siel read you the lead here. president trump's lawyers and aides are scouring the professional and political backgrounds of investigators hired by the special counsel, bob mueller, looking for conflicts of interest they could use to discredit the investigation. so this is a variety of the same information that "the washington post" is also reporting this evening. according to the times, some of the investigators hired by mueller have vast experience prosecuting financial malfeasance and the prospect that mueller's inquiry has stoked fears among the president's aides. mueller's team -- and this is new -- has begun examining financial records and has requested documents from the irs related to mr. trump's former campaign chair, paul manafort. the records are from a criminal tax investigation that had been opened long before trump's campaign began. paul manafort was never charged in that case. "the new york times" also

not many members of the republican establishment in washington were willing to do that. now you got the president openly saying, hey, i wish i hadn't appointed the guy. scaramucci looks like he's off to a good start. realistically, how long is this going to last? >> who is to say? siems people stay around longer than you think they with will. i think the downgrade of kasowitz is more significant. this is trump firing a long-time loyalist, a lawyer who has worked for him for decade. i think that shows they know they have a serious legal problem on their hands, that a guy who goes to fork court for you isn't the guy to go up against mueller's team, the "new york times" and washington post reported they have been dock extensive research into people on mueller's team. i think this is significant. he is making a change by actually firing a long-time loyalist, showing the number one quality he cares about loyalty isn't what he's going to promote right now, which in terms of having a legal defense team ready to take on this is probably smart. >> all right. annie carn nip, ken d

and arnold schwarzenegger talks climate change with me in washington. we'll be back with more of my conversation with the governorator. ♪ where all the walls echo with laughter ♪ ♪ and every room has its own chapter ♪ you've carried on your family's tradition. let us help you prepare for your family's future. financial guidance while you're mastering life. from chase. so you can. where are mom and dad? 'saved money on motorcycle insurance with geico! goin' up the country. love mom and dad' i'm takin' a nap. dude, you just woke up! ♪ ♪ i'm goin' up the country, baby don't you wanna go? ♪ ♪ i'm goin' up the country, baby don't you wanna go? ♪ geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. their leadership is instinctive. they're experts in things you haven't heard of - researchers of technologies that one day, you will. some call them the best of the best. some call them veterans. we call them our team. if you could book a flight, then add a hotel, or car, or activity in one place and save, where would you go? ♪ expedia gives you the w

washington post breaking the news that on u.s. intelligence intercepts, the outgoing russian ambassador to the united states, sergey kislyak, was heard telling moscows quote, that he discussed campaign related matters, including policy issues important to moscow with jeff sessions during the 2016 presidential race. now initially jeff sessions denied ever having any contacts with russian officials during the campaign. he then later had to admit that yes he did have contacts with russian officials during the campaign. that admission immediately preceded jeff sessions having to recuse himself from all campaign investigations, including the russian one. but even when jeff sessions was admitted, was finally admitting that yeah, okay, he had talked to russians. even when he was admitting that, he was explicit in still denying what the post has just reported. >> let me be clear. i never had meetings with russian operatives or russian intermediaries about the trump campaign. >> that was attorney general jeff sessions in march but the "was

officials telling "the washington post" they know from american intelligence intercepts. if true, it's also possible that the russian ambassador was boasting to his bosses. but if it wasn't a boast, and the information bears out, it casts serious doubt on the credibility of jeff sessions, the highest law enforcement official in the land, who denied having any contacts with the russians during the campaign about the campaign. this is what attorney general sessions said during his confirmation hearing back in january. >> if there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the trump campaign communicated with the russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do? >> senator franken, i'm not aware of any of those activities. i have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and i did not have communications with the russians. >> so that was january. when asked in a written question whether he had by in contact with anyone in the russian government about the 2016 election before or after election day, he responded no. you here's what he said

not just the summer heat getting to washington. tensions are running high in the middle of what many see as growing fighting within the publican party that could derail efforts to get a repeal and replace filled to the president's desk. even the president seems to be out of patience. peter doocy reports. >> by this time tomorrow, senators will be asked to vote on health care measure that could help or hurt their odds of reelection and the midterms but very few know the bill will end up looking like because the motion to proceed will be on the bill that passed the house in may. it's about to undergo a major makeover. >> i would expect maybe 100 amendments. republicans, democrats will bring amendments. president trump said make it more generous. >> to get to the amendment stage, republicans must succeed with a motion to proceed and not everybody wants to do it. senator susan collins says she'll only vote to take a step backwards. >> if there were a motion to proceed to a resolution, sending the bills back to committee, then i would b

washington hasn't been bent to his will and he hasn't bent to the ways of washington. >> spot on. this is the same donald trump that i first encountered in 2011, this the same reince priebus and steve bannon on the same note but this is a president who has come to washington, has not returned to new york city, in any real way. has moved here but has not fallen in love with the town. still is an isolated figure in washington. and he has not changed his ways with twitter. he still surrounds himself with the same kind of people, with stan and hope hicks his loyalists with steve bannon and steven miller, his populist nationalist at his side. this is not someone who has come to washington as an outsider president and tried to incorporate washington. he has, in some ways, on his staff and cabinet done so. but tempermentally, everyone i know who talks to trump daily say this is the same trump who trusts his gut, the same trump who follows television by the minute, to understand where the public mood is. that is how he digests information. that has not changed. >> rose: michael wolf, call

, d.c., including to george washington's mt. vernon, which the quander family has a long standing historical connection with. >> nancy carter was a young girl, really, who was 11 years old in 1799 when george washington made provisions in his will to free his slaves. her mother, suckey bay was her name, was an enslaved woman who lived on one of washington's five farms and was a field hand. so when washington freed his slaves then nancy carter was free. she later married charles quander who was a member of the quander family and so there are many descendants that come down from that and are part of the large quander family, which as you know is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, documented african american family in the country. >> the family history goes back to maryland in the 1600s. we hear about the hamiltons and the madisons and the jeffersons. well, do we hear about the enslaved people who made sure the crops were in, made sure the fishing was proper, who made sure the distillery was run? they were the ones who were the

a few weeks later "the washington post" said contrary to the whaus denials, he ask discuss it. trump pled ignorance. >> before you were inaugurated about sanctions. >> i'll look into that. >> then the final hammer. "the washington post" reported the justice department warned the white house weeks before that flynn wasn't telling the truth and could therefore be vulnerable to russian black mail. hours after that report broke flynn was fired. the administration did nothing, despite the fact they knew it, until details of flynn's contact with russia became public. public scrutiny played a role a few months later when president trump decided to fire comey while his campaign was under investigation. the country only found out what was actually going on through the news media. >> absolutely explosive news out of washington tonight. the president of the united states firing the man who is leading the investigation into possible collusion between the government of russia and his own presidential campaign. after the news broke this afternoon, the "new york times" michael schmidt reporte

that was at the mayflower hotel. >> in washington. so there's an encounter there that kislyak reports on in which they discussed campaign matters. there's a second encounter in july. this is on the sidelines of the republican national convention. it's in a hotel outside the convention area. and, again, sessions gives a speech, and at the end, kislyak as a pull-aside, if you will. we're not sure how long it lasts, but it was described by intelligence officials who have seen the reporting as a substantive conversation. it wasn't, at least in kislyak's view, something superficial or cursory. then there was a third meeting which took place in sessions' senate office, which occurred in september. >> which sessions has said in the past that that was in his capacity as a senator, he held that meeting. but you don't have information about what kislyak said about that meet something. >> well, sessions did provide a little bit of a readout of that meeting in which ukraine was discussed. just to clarify, sessions initially said -- and as far as

and from washington dan balz and he's the chief correspondents for "the washington post." i'm pleased to welcome both of them to this program. shannon let me start with you hear in the studio with the resignation today of sean spicer as press secretary. >> anthony scaramucci a hedge fund and long backer of trump is in as communications director. but there's not a sense that he's going to be doing much communication messaging strategy. the sense is that he will mostly be doing tv appearances, possibly the podium and be a public face for trump and the whitehouse. but not necessarily anyway who understands washington, understands congress, understands messaging. so the question still is, who is going to be dealing with those bigger picture issues if he's just going to be the public face. and sean spicer is saying all right i'm having none of this, i'm out. and anthony is the one left. >> jeff: dan it's interesting there are similarities here between the president and anthony scaramucci. the native the fighter, the president and estate. there are similarities. >> there are sim

joining us now is julie rovener, chief washington correspondent at kaiser health news. julie, so finally the mccain statement of yesterday is starting to come into view and make sense. i speculated last night that his votes yesterday, he would say, were procedural. but when he got to the substance, he voted against militia mcconnell's piece of legislation. does that mean when you add mccain to what feel like the no votes upcoming, that the republicans might not be able to pass anything? >> it might mean that the republicans couldn't pass anything. that was always a possibility going into this. what they were able to do to cobble together the 50 they needed to proceed with the debate was basically promise the moderates that they would give them what they want, a chance to vote on that, promise the conservatives they could have a chance to vote on what they wanted. but there was no piece of legislation where you were going to get both the moderates and the krifrns together. at this point we're waiting for what that piece of legislation might look like. perhaps it's this s

welcome to washington. i am bret baier. just before 5:00 eastern time, president trump announced general kelly will be his new chief of staff, he starts monday morning. at first, there is no mention of what happened to reince priebus, who has taken a beating this week, courtesy of incoming communications director anthony scaramucci. the president, priebus and scaramucci returned to washington from long island on air force one. he thanked him for his service and dedication. the shortest tenure, 189 days, of any chief of staff not serving in an interim role in the white house. kevin corke with all the breaking news of a dramatically changing white house. kevin. >> quite a day here at the white house, bret. sarah huckabee sanders says the president thanks reince priebus for his service. they accomplished a lot together. he was loyal and his dedication to the president. he thinks him and his family for his great service to the country. the odd man out in a very interesting tug-of-war, brought on at least in part by anthony scar

now apparently leading is john dowd, a washington d.c. lawyer, who is also known for having a hot temper. now, you might remember last night on this show we had bloomberg news reporter, investigative reporter greg ferrell here. greg ferrell and a colleague yesterday reported for bloomberg. this seemingly very important story -- you see the headline there -- mueller expands probe to trump business transactions. in part it's because of the freak-out it seemed to have occasioned in the white house. that bloomberg article came out yesterday mid-morning. it was updated a couple of times during the day, but initially it came out mid-morning yesterday. by the time we were on the air last night, these were the stories that were breaking in the washington post and in the "new york times" about the president considering his pardon powers. having his legal team consider who is he is allowed to pardon, also including is he allowed to pardon himself and the white house trying to being could up ways to discredit robert mueller, the special counsel's in

a big day here in washington. the president's son-in-law and closest aide jared kushner is now answering questions about russia for the second day. this time on the house side. the house intelligence committee. the vote to save health care is so close, senator john mccain answered the call to fly back from arizona. he's on his way here. possibly providing the critical vote republican leaders already today got a commitment from senator rand paul to move it to the senate floor. that was a question mark. we've got it covered with our team. kasie hunt on capitol hill with the latest on health care. and peter alexander at the white house and "washington post" political reporter robert acosta. kasie, first to you. vice president pence often attends as president of the senate, a lot of arm twisting. what's the whip count? what do we know? >> reporter: well, this is their last chance, do or die. it seems at the moment like momentum is tilting in their direction. you pointed out that rand paul has said, okay, fine, i will

then later, we are holding washington accountable. i have a message for washington republicans. get to work. this is not funny anymore. safe. yeah, my dad says our insurance doesn't have that. what?! you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. dinner time then. dinner time now. even though dinner time has become less strict, we remain strict as ever when it comes to our standards. made with premium cuts of 100% kosher beef. hebrew national. we remain strict. fixodent plus adhesives. there's a denture adhesive that holds strong until evening. just one application gives you superior hold even at the end of the day fixodent. strong more like natural teeth. >> sean: welcome back to "hannity," as the left continues there russia collusion hysteria, the hill was the first to report that the russian lawyer who met with donald trump, jr., last summer was allowed into the u.s. under extraordinary circumstances by the justice department and the obama administration, here with reaction editor in chief, nationally syndicated rock star radio host, lau

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this is from his column in "the washington post" on june 18th, 1973, 44 years ago, when washington was in the middle of dealing with the nixon administration scandal called watergate, which began as a burglary to steal files from the democratic national committee and ended with 48 members of the nixon administration being convicted of federal crimes. president nixon resigned before being impeached and a month later was pardoned by president gerald ford for all crimes he may have committed in his presidency. george f. will is a pulitzer price winning journalist. george, it's great to have you on what feels like a historic night, and i just want to point out something. i know you'll like that gerry ford lost and in his subsequently campaign, many analysts believe the pardon of nixon had something to do with it. for the rest of his life, i'm told, ford carried in his pocket the phrasing from the united states supreme court saying how the acceptance of a pardon is an admission of guilt. and he always wondered why people didn't understand that he was the one who got richard nixon to admit g

james rosen in washington. vice president mike pence will be on capitol hill meeting with small business owners concerned about health care reform. tucker carlson pressed the vice president on the white house's goals. >> what we want is a health care system that works for all of the american people. >> what does that mean? cheaper coverage? a larger percentage of the population covered? better health care outcomes? if you could name the primary goals of the replaced part of the deal. but would it be? >> the primary goal first is to give people freedom over their own health care choices. >> earlier, the senate rejected the repeal of obamacare as the congressional budget office scored a skinny repeal bill and found it would strip 16 million people. james rosen in washington. now, back to "hannity." >> tonight, i am back in the center of the american heartland, far away from the washington swamp. to spend time with thousands of true american patriots. i'm here this evening to cut through the fake news filter and t

every pledge that washington democrats made to pass that bill turned out to be a big, fat lie. they promiseded people like steve finn, that they would save $2,500 a year, instead his premiums have more than tripled. as a result, you and obamacare skyrocketing, steve and his family and many of his employees had no other option than going on medicaid and giving up their existing coverage. that's pretty bad. no choice, right? no choice. for them obamacare's promise was a nightmare. marjorie and kevin weir from south carolina have a son monty, who suffering from spina bifi democratic a. they were promised if they liked their doctor, they could keep their doctor. now there's only one insurer left in the exchange and every year she waits aingely to learn if the doctors and hospitals when scherr son needs the most will remain in their network. more obamacare lies. the democrats promise melissa acer son that her son's -- they quickly learned that obamacare's promise of covering for preexisting conditions was meaningless, for the doctors you need to care for you aren't on your plan, so

and go to war in washington. but the trump curious voter was curious to see if his style would make a difference, if it changed how washington worked for the best if it would be a new way of doing things fort the better and i think what we're seeing here is some loss of faith and perhaps a kind of throwing in of the towel and saying oh, it's the usual thing in washington, trump is no different from the other guys. >> yes, and mika, obviously, you have all the lies that are being told, but you look at the policies, and the medicaid cuts will of course ravage the poor. >> yes. >> but will also ravage working class americans in rural communities that went for donald trump. i talked to one hospital consultant this past weekend, it was a big trump supporter who actually said that communities across middle america that went for trump will see the economies damaged. these massive cuts to medicaid will actually hit the top employers in their communities the biggest, and that's the rural hospitals. >> that's when they'll

"washington post," u.s. agrees russia did meddle. and the london telegraph, six times donald trump was snubbed on the world stage. donald trump's transition on to the world stage has not gone smoothly. u.s. president has only been in office since january, but already a trail of awkward encounters and apparent snubs lies in his wake. you can read the full he is avenue on the london telegraph. now florida, good morning, welcome to the program. caller: hi. i really appreciate you taking my call. host: sure. caller: i think it's very important that we understand that the federal government, our federal government, has become an extension of the trump organization. and proof of this is that the amount of money he's receiving from foreign governments. that needs to be investigated. in addition, it's important that we understand that from the beginning of this administration, trump has waffled on many occasions from saying that russia was not involved in our elections, to 400-pound fat man, everybody has repeated that. we know who tainted o

a new report appearing in the "washington post." it says russia's ambassador to washington told his superiors in moscow that he discussed campaign related matters including policy issues important to moscow with jeff sessions during the 2016 presidential race. that would be contrary to popular assertions. this information the "washington post" is getting. they are sourcing to current is that former u.s. officials. i am just skimming the story now bit a lot of other people out there. what can you tell us about what's being reported here? >> sure. i'll bottom line it for you. this story says that the russian pass bass sergei kislyak told his superiors that he and jeff sessions had that conversation and that was picked up by american intelligence agencies. it doesn't prove the conversation actually happened and he adamantly denies it. this goes back to the april 2016 encounter at the mayflower hotel that nbc news and other news organizations reported on. and we reported that comers and others were interested in this meeting. there was

he's outside the mainstream of washington. the president often said about his candidacy, they were fundraising and hosting dinners in his apartment. but once he became a politician they turned the knife on him. howie: are you saying journalists have never accepted the fact that he won the election? anthony: i think they are accepting it now. i think the next six months for the president will be phenomenal. he has a great economic plan and the healthcare situation will right itself. i think the media needed to make an adjustment to the fact they had high expectations hillary clinton would become president. howie: did the president go too far when he said all the major news organizations were fake news? >> i group in a middle class family. i didn't realize the pain and economic desperation that's out there in middle america. the president got that ahead of me. i should have got it, i missed it. it took a billionaire on fifth avenue to shoift to me. the media has been biased and unfair to him. he's letting his followingers know t

jeff sessions is the only person in washington, d.c. who is an appointee who actually has leverage over the president of the united states irrespective for two reasons. number one, you have the obstruction of justice issue. if he fired jeff sessions, that cloud rain down on him once again. number two, jeff sessions is well aware of his popularity and knows that to replace him would be an uphill battle. and that would leave his policy platform in limbo and unable to actually accomplish the immigration, border reform -- >> it looks like you have a little insight into general sessions' thinking. and i have not discussed this with him directly. but look, general sessions is someone who believes in president trump, not just as a leader on these issues but also the president as a leader, as a person and really bought into this whole movement that we were behind. general sessions is very loyal, and if the president were to ask him to go, then he would go. and that would be the end of the story. he wouldn't make a big stink about it. but i do t

washington is needing. government, it's never the solution. the free market is. capitalism is. think about how miserably obamacare failed everybody in the country. we were all supposed to save on average $2500 per family per year. the opposite happened. premiums went up 5 to $8,000. people can't afford that. then the promise, keep your doctor and your plan. one of the biggest lies ever told in american politics. instead of trying to fix the disaster that is obamacare, republicans it's time to offer up conservative, free market, capitalists solutions for the american people. more free market competition. that means letting customers buy insurance across state lines and job to job. how many years have i talked about health care saving accounts? there is a great book about health saving accounts. add to that price transparency and getting rid of strict and unnecessary government mandates that will drive up costs. in other words, the opposite of obamacare. our friend senator ted cruz offered up a gr

nia, you've been covering washington for quite a while as well. what do you make of this. >> big, big moment for republicans and it's clear that mitch mcconnell was able to move some of those senators that were no votes by essentially saying, this is only debate. this isn't about strictly a repeal, nor is it about repeal or replace strictly either, so he basically laid out a buffet of options there so he could get all of those folks on board. i talked to someone close to heller who essentially said just that. you know, that was what prompted him to switch votes, that they will have so many different options to go for. it's not clear what those options are going to be. they're obviously iterations of this health care bill that we've seen out of the house. there's a repeal only bill, there's a repeal and replace bill, so all sorts of options for everybody there and you see mitch mcconnell there essentially saying, seize the moment, republicans. don't let this opportunity pass us by. he's obviously talking to republicans and schumer there also talkin

james rosen in washington. now, back to "hannity." >> tonight, i am back in the center of the american heartland, far away from the washington swamp. to spend time with thousands of true american patriots. i'm here this evening to cut through the fake news filter and to speak straight to the american people. >> sean: that was the president on offense by passing the big news media taking his message directly to the american people. we continue with fox news contributor and author of the eight weeks in a row bestseller, "understanding trump," congratulations mr. speaker. i've a a hard time understanding something. maybe i'm just a simple guy. if i was under subpoena to hand over emails that end up having classified top secret special access program information on a secret server, if i deleted 33,000 of them and some of them were in that category -- i think it would be in trouble. they subpoenaed my blackberry and iphone's and i smash them with a hammer, a lot of them? i think i would be in trouble. if i acid wash

people in washington get so caught up in personalities. it was an attack on the independence of the justice department. i think one of the most disappointing things jeff sessions has done is when he came out and held that press conference yesterday on an unrelated topic, he didn't stand up for the department. he didn't stand up for the department's independence, for the special counsel. he kind of took a pass and laid down and took it from the president. that is an incredible demoralizing thing to see the supposed leader of the department do when the entire agency is under attack from the head of the executive branch. >> put that in the context of the discussions of pardon because a pardon has one prerequisite, and that is that a crime occurred. >> exactly. so the fact that he's talking about pardons to his aides, for himself, for his family members, i mean it indicates to me that he believes that bob mueller poses a threat. and not that bob mueller is going to write an op-ed column or that he's going to rally the republican base against r

of "the washington post" story. for his part he has financially supported her organization, the american union fund. also with us scott jennings, maria cardona and jason miller. i want to focus with you. the report about attorney general, explain what you are reporting tonight. what's the story? >> so, you know, we reported back in martha when sessions appeared before the senate judiciary committee and was asked the question about, frankly, al franken didn't ask him that question, but his answer was he didn't have any contact -- communication was the russians. we found out that that wasn't the case, that there was, you know, a meeting at the rnc on the sidelines that he had a meeting with kislyak and there was a second meeting at his office in second. we attended that they attended the same event in april where trump gave his first foreign policy speak. >> i recall. >> we are trying to figure out what were the contents of these contacts, what were they discussing. so, you know, sessions specifically said he did not

the hand that is he came in to clean up washington, and washington is doing everything it can to stop him from doing that. that is an argument that a lot of trump supporters made to me when i was on the campaign trial. >> they didn't elect him to obstruct justice. they didn't elect him to fire james comey to curtail an investigation. they didn't elect him to obstruct justice, and they didn't elect him for the uncontrolled impelss, disclosing classified information to the russians on an impulse. i have no illusions. i searched with mike pence here for 12 years, we disagree on everything, and some in our party say that sherman would provide competent, constitutional advocacy. that is the case. but the constitution hires that we move forward when we have clear and convincing evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors. a competent right turn even if it is the policies that the trump voters voted for. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >>> next up, when is enough enough for republicans? ♪ binders, done. super-cool notebooks, done. that's mom taking care of business. but who takes care o