i asked christopher wray, did robert mueller only hire people who hate the president? every day we are firing more and more people who expressed their dislike of the president. but hillary clinton never faced a serious investigation it seems as though hillaries folks were the ones making the decisions about her outcomes. and it's still hillaries folks persecuting the president. lou: i think the american people are awaken together reality about the claims against robert mueller. not a single republican on the team anywhere at least that we could find. >> it's not like there is not enough prosecutors in our system. we have a bevy of highly qualified people. they just don't happen to be the people investigating our president. mueller was praising people who were actively defying the president of the united states. this is ludicrous. the american people cannot accept a rigged system where you have got people biased against the president. the fact that today christopher wray wouldn't tell us whether the fbi paid for the dossier against the president with taxpayer money. he

it is interesting sort of how robert mueller has played this, right. certainly there was a proffer agreement in which he explains, you know, lots -- michael flynn explained lots and lots of facts. now he's pled guilty. imagine the president pardons him. mueller's team could still hold him to the agreement. if he has been pardoned he no longer has a fifth amendment right to not talk. if he pardons flynn, he could still use the sworn grand jury or proffered testimony to get him to testify against all of the facts he has already revealed. this is sort of an interesting and pretty clever position they've now put flynn in the larger trump -- >> so the president could pardon flynn but still use flynn to potentially prosecute others is what you are saying? >> right. because as part of the plea agreements, you know, you proffer very, very detailed sets of facts, you know, in order to show exactly what your cooperation might look like. >> what your value is. >> oftentimes those are offered before a grand jury, so it is actually sworn statements. >> wow. so, of

and robert mueller can have them. we have a congress that spent millions of dollars going through hillary clinton's e-mails. that's my taxpayer money. they are arguing that robert mueller can't take a look at e-mails from the trump transition team. that argument makes absolutely no sense. and what he is investigating is collaboration with the russians. this is critically important to our national security. robert mueller stays in place or donald trump is going to have to go. it's that simple. >> two things, then, on the issue of mueller being removed. that would be a really big problem. there are lots of rumors floating around. and then the e-mails. richard says it's not illegal and that it's not private property as the transition team alleges. you do see a problem in which it may have been obtained. >> i am critical of how the special counsel handled getting the e-mails. i think the gsa, government owns the e-mails. i don't think there is an expectation of privacy. >> the transition team says there was an understandi

he is very good friends with robert mueller. after years of working in similar roles while some have even described the duo as brothers in arms. it is that so cute? comey also tweeting tonight, "he is meeting with his book publisher. i can't wait for that to come out. when is he going to start working for fake news cnn or conspiracy theory tv msnbc? a lot more on that later. back to mueller. his conflicts of interest did not end here. while serving as the fbini director and the obama administration, mueller stood by and did nothing while the controversial sale of uranium was approved by hillary clinton and others in 2010 to that state owned russian energy company. keep in mind, and you are in the house before, the fbi had serious evidence of russian bribery linked to the uranium one sale, and a confidential informant was providing them further proof for six years of a potentially illicit deal. 20% of america's uranium was at stake. we don't have enough uranium. another important mueller conflict. from president trump. he reporte

robert mueller is a loyal american. he's a republican, and it's a lie being perpetrated by president trump and his supporters in congress. nobody who knows robert mueller buys into any of it. it's just fox news and the president's twitter feed. >> but it's clear what they're trying to do here, not maybe say okay, robert mueller himself, you know, has some agenda, but perhaps it's his judgment. he brings on people who donated to the democratic parties. peter strzok, who he took out of the investigation, was texting anti-trump bias texts. do you see that kind of -- do you see that play, richard? >> no, i think he took him out as soon as he found out about the texts. he got rid of him. of course, you're going to have people who contributed to the campaigns who work at the justice department and elsewhere. every u.s. attorney is going to be a supporter of president trump, and would have been active in his campaign, and the u.s. attorneys under president obama were supportive of democratic campaigns and mepamericans are inve

and argued that robert mueller should resign. democrats in response have made the case that the special counsel is not partisan, that it remains politically independent, though they are speculating that the president is now planning to fire robert mueller. two democrats, both on the house intelligence committee, made the case this weekend that was the case. first adam schiff, on twitter, saying he believed the firing of robert mueller would happen before the end of the year. the other jackie speier also made the case to a san francisco tv station that robert mueller's firing was imminent. cnn reached out to white house attorney ty cobb for a statement and he gave us a statement writing, as the white house consistently said for months, there is no consideration of firing the special counsel. so you have the white house denying there is any kind of plan to remove robert mueller as the head of the special counsel, you have some democrats that are saying that that is the case, that his firing is imminent, and then certain republicans

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is on recess to either undermine the investigation or fire robert mueller. he says that he wanted to make this speech today to raise concerns, put this on lawmakers' radar before they go home for recess. particularly republican lawmakers who may not be focussing on this as they've been focussing on their tax bill instead. so mark warner just moments ago, wolf, saying very clearly that he wants republicans also to speak out if president trump takes this action and fires robert mueller. this is what he said. >> i believe it is up to every member of this institution, republican or democrat, to make a clear and unambiguous statement that any attempt by this president to remove special counsel mueller from his position or to pardon key witnesses in any effort to shield them from accountability or shut down the investigation would be a gross abuse of power and a flagrant violation of executive branch responsibilities and authorities. >> reporter: now, earlier this week, wolf, i did ask senate intelligence chairman richard burr if he shared concerns that robert mue

and robert mueller would not have given him that deal, zero to six months, likely only serving probation unless he knew he had valuable information in exchange for that. and you don't give that deal until you sit down and proffer with the attorney and debrief with the defendant to understands what they have to offer. he likely has had a lot of information. and one of those questions, those 18 days are probably critically important because we at the end of that period the request for president trump to jim comey, can't you see your way clear to letting this go, i hope you can see your way clear to letting this go. and that corrupt intent, that is so important, what did he know at that time? did he know that flynn had lied to the fbi at that moment because he already had, did trump know that? if he did, that means he knew he was asking comey to let a crime go when he was asking him to let that thing go against flynn. did he further know about the underlying conversations with the russian ambassador that was the basis of those false statements. and did he further know who else might be impl

the next question is if jared robert mueller? indeed. the next question is ifjared kushner directed flynn, who directed jared kushner? hopefully we will learn more about that. james comey is another name we hear quite a lot during this latest news. he has been tweeting as well. tell us about that. james comey was the former director of the fbi. one of the reasons why, if you're wondering why the name michael flynn sounds most familiar, it's because whenjames comey was fired, he gave testimony to congress that president trump urged him to drop the investigation into michael flynn. the conversation that he recounted in notes he had taken straight that he recounted in notes he had ta ken straight afterwards that he recounted in notes he had taken straight afterwards was that mrtrump taken straight afterwards was that mr trump asked taken straight afterwards was that mrtrump asked him taken straight afterwards was that mr trump asked him to let the investigation go. to let michael flynn go. james comey has tweeted and has been incognito on t

or even complicates the ongoing mueller investigation. >> do you believe robert mueller is safe in his role as the special counsel? >> i think it's important to make it clear that there are bipartisan efforts to make sure that the independence of the department of justice, respect for rule of law is moving forward. as you know, senator until list alist -- tillis and i introduced a bill a number of months ago. we've had a hearing on the judiciary committee. we are working out the differences in language and i hope we will soon be reintroducing a consensus bipartisan bill that would strengthen some of the protections for any special counsel. >> would it -- if it were to pass, and i don't know if it would pass, even though you do have bipartisan support. but let's say it were to pass, would it guarantee that mueller could not be fired? >> no. but it would ensure that a special counsel, robert mueller or another, could only be fired for good cause. in department of justice regulations, it calls out what those are. sort of gross impropriety or a conflict of interest, dereliction of duty. it

get rid of robert mueller. >> he's not. i talked to the president, he's not. >> reporter: and now when i asked the house chairman bob goodlet about the criticisms focussing on the mueller, the clinton e-mail issue, he said look, this is something we announced a couple months ago. this is the investigation we're going to do looking into fbi interference, possible fbi bias and that's why we're looking into this right now. he said it's the first of several witnesses they want to interview, wolf. >> all right, manu, thank you very much. >>> joining us now, democratic congressman eric squallwell of washington. he's a member of intelligence and judiciary committees. thanks for joining us. >> of course wolf, thanks for having me back. >> you heard your chairman and the house intelligence committee chairman devin nunez tells cnn, it's not a secret his words that we have an investigation into the justice department. you serve on that committee. so who is participating in this nunez effort? >> we don't know, wolf. but what we do know

more clear conflict of interest in robert mueller's witch hunt. why are not republican leaders in the senate and house calling for the special counsel to be shut down. why arept they holding mueller in to account. we take that up with officials and they have a brand new book and they have a brand new book with a great my "business" was going nowhere... so i built this kickin' new website with godaddy. building a website in under an hour is easy! 68% of people... ...who have built their website using gocentral, did it in... ...under an hour, and you can too. type in your business or idea. pick your favourite design. personalize it with beautiful images. and...you're done! and now business is booming. harriet, it's a double stitch not a cross stitch! build a better website - in under an hour. free to try. no credit card required. gocentral from godaddy. >> lou: disgraced congressman john conyers will leave congress but wants to keep it in the family. michigan senator said he will resign after the thing with nancy pelosi called him an icon. he's endo

though, they are speculating that the president is now planning to fire robert mueller. two democrats, both on the house intelligence committee, made the case this weekend that that was the case. first, adam schiff, who was on twitter, saying that he believed that the firing of robert mueller would happen before the end of the year. the other, jackie spear, also made the case to a san francisco tv station that robert mueller's firing was eminent. cnn reached out to white house attorney ty cobb for a statement on these remarks and he gave us a statement writing, in part, quote. so you have the white house denying that there is any kind of plan to remove robert mueller as the head of the special counsel. you have some democrats that are saying that that is the case, that his firing is eminent and certain republicans saying the special counsel is tainted and that robert mueller should, indeed, resign. a complicated situation and one that likely will receive greater focus because, as early as this week, you have white house legal team meeting with robert mueller one-on-one,

do you get the sense that his opinion of robert mueller's fairness is contingent on robert mueller not finding anything damaging with him? >> well, it's hard to say. i think that he was sending a signal that okay, i'm going to quit criticizing this investigation and let the chips fall where they may. as you know, this has been going on previous to robert mueller being appointed. so after 16 months, we don't have a single thread of evidence that even suggests there was collusion. we have some people who lied to the fbi. we have some people who broke some campaign finance disclosure laws, but nothing that indicates there was collusion. i think the president at this point, he's realizing what the american people are realizing, this investigation is leading to nowhere, and it probably should be wrapped up soon. >> one of the issues here is that collusion as a criminal charge doesn't exist. there may not be proof of conspiracy yet. collusion, small c, was there collusion, was donald trump, jr. colluding with people on the basis of the promise of dirt on the hillary clinton campaign. i under

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and president trump says he thinks special counsel robert mueller will be fair in his investigation of russia's election meddling and ties to trump associates, and he tells "the new york times" he thinks the investigation is a witch hunt that makes the u.s. look very bad. during the course of the interview the president insists no less than 16 times there has been no collusion, and declares ominously he has a absolute right to do what he wants with the u.s. justice department. >>> the president is making new demands on democrats, saying if they want an immigration deal that would protect hundreds of thousands of young d.r.e.a.m.ers, they will need to deal with big concessions. first and foremost, a desperately needed border wall. i will speak with our correspondence and specialists standing by with full coverage. we begin with growing signs that north korea may be moving towards a new missile launch. i want to go to cnn correspondent, barbara starr. tell us what you are learning. >> the latest we have is several u.s. officials are telling me there are signs north korea could be prepari

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robert mueller is a republican. he has been applauded by republicans on both sides of the aisle and he was appointed by president bush. those who serve in high places, the fbi director and a republican made many contributions to republican candidates. there is an effort under way to besmerch this. we are politicians. we smell rats. we smell a rat and are speaking up about it. >> the argument i heard about people plugged in is this effort by republicans and critics of the mueller investigation is that yes, besmerch them and press a charge of collusion. that's against the president raising questions about his integrity. sort of similar. i'm old enough to remember during the ken star investigation of then president clinton. he was investigating and there was a lot of efforts by supporters to besmerch ken star and go after him in case he came up with charges, they would be weakened and the political ramifications would be reduced. what's your reaction? >> that's a historical reference. we have only one independent couns

he says he believes robert mueller will treat him fairly. so what are the president's closest advisers saying about that interview? they'd have to know about it first. "washington post" reporter josh dossey reached out to an aide for reaction and dawsey replied this. asked fairly senior trump adviser for thoughts on "the new york times" interview a few minutes ago. person responded, what interview? today? we've got a team of reporters and analysts here with us to debrief. garrett haake is in west palm beach, not far from where the president is spending the holidays. also julia ainsley, national security and justice reporter, and jonathan lemire with the associated press and msnbc political be analyst. garrett, this interview was not pla planned. michael schmidt was at the links, at the golf course in the grill room. how did it come together? >> not planned, but not entirely accidental. michael schmidt has said he was at the trump international golf course grill room as a guest of one of president trump's friends. we know that president trump

we don't know what robert mueller has. what is the perspective from the white house that you know of? >> i would say this, this is part of the problem, i would say it about any special counsel. even with the democratic administration as its primary investigative target, it can be open-ended and can literally go on and on, no limit on its budget or time frame. that is part of the problem. this has been frustrating and a diversion from what's important for the american people. i think this is important. while mainstream media and people who live in the corridor who despise trump are obsessed with russia, regular americans are not. the economy is accelerating, our border is largely under control. neil gorsuch is on the court, amazing things are happening and a lot of people appreciate that. they don't care that general flynn committed a process crime. a process crime, not a crime in action, not anything remotely close to treasonous against the united states. i am confident that in the end, the growth agenda of donald trump is

robert mueller had the goods to give many more counts. we know he was not fully forthcoming on his security clearance form. there are other things he could have had the goods to. it shows you the value of the kind of cooperation that flynn is offering here based on the number of years that mueller is not thrown on him right from the start. to take those years off the table, flynn would have to be offering something significant. >> what does mueller know that he's not saying and we don't know from these documents. >> and what is flynn giving up? who has he given up. >> and why was it worth it to mueller. >> they would have to tell him exactly what they're prepared to have flynn say. >> what special counsels do is they look for the biggest pelt they can get, the biggest trophy they can mount on their wall. flynn would theoretically be a huge one, right? but he's not taking it. >> and so the question we all are asking, obviously, is, you know, did the president know and what did he know it? during iran-contra, reagan was disengaged, didn't k

are you confident in robert mueller's investigation? caller: every confident, more so than i am with the president and his tweets. he is getting too close to the truth, i think and they are trying to stop them in any way they can. i agree with the republican from texas. believablemuch more than the president that gets up at 5:00 in the morning with all of the tweets. he is worried he is trying to get rid of him. --t: is there a concern robert mueller was tasked with looking into russian meddling and it seems like he is looking into other things, the president's financial records and other things. do you think the probe is getting too broad? caller: that is the problem. we do not know any of donald trump's financial records except for one year somebody got in the 1990's. that is the main problem. russia has been backing donald trump 420, 30 years. -- for 2, 30 years0. host: newsweek has a piece on the poll we just talked about, headlines -- americans think robert mueller and james comey our friends, they are not. it says that a majority

and the suggestion that robert mueller should be fired. i want you to listen to congresswoman jackie spear and what she said this weekend about what she is hearing on capitol hill. >> the rumor on the hill, when i left yesterday, was that the president was going to make a significant speech at the end of next week, and on december 22nd, when we are out of d.c., he was going to fire robert mueller. >> dan, the white house is pushing back about that but we only have to look back to the firing of james comey about how sometimes the official line from the white house does not coincide with what the president believes. let's get this reminder. >> let me be very clear that the president's decision to accept the recommendation of the deputy attorney general and the attorney general, to remove director comey as the head of the fbi, was based solely and exclusively on his commitment to the best interests of the american people and to ensuring that the fbi has the trust and confidence of the people of this nation. >> i was going to fire comey. my de

special counsel robert mueller says they sent e-mails without proper authorization. we'll have mueller's response. >>> a man arrested for helping north korea evade economic sanctions. these stories and so much more ahead. welcome to our viewers here in the u.s. and around the world. i'm natalie allen. i'm cyril thanks for joining us. >>> the thomas fire made california history and not in a good way. it is their third wildfire on record. look at this. the bad news, it continues to burn northwest of los angeles. >> isn't that cloud of smoke say it all? >> you can see it from space. >> they are scrambling to get it under control. it's been burning two weeks. this video triggered thousands of evacuations. 12,000 people evacuated their homes in santa barbara. it led to the death of two people, including a firefighter who died battling the flames. the high winds are a major problem. >> miguel marquez has more on this from santa barbara. >> reporter: this thomas fire is the fire that will not quit. i want to show you what's happening in the hills. we are going turn the ligh

if there is a firing of robert mueller or pardons, both would cross a red line. and undoubtedly lead to a fire storm, much as there was in the saturday night massacre when richard nixon tried to do the same. >> well, we know that some of the president's supporters are encouraging him to fire robert mueller, but he keeps saying that he has no such intention. why are you so concerned about this when the president says he doesn't have any plans to fire mueller? >> the president really is proceeding on two tracks. on the one hand, he's saying, as he did on sunday, or earlier this week, i have no plans to fire robert mueller. on the other hand, he has encouraged this chorus of subservient defenders in the congress, principally on the republican side, to attack the fbi, fbi agents, and the deputy fbi director to attack the investigation itself, and mueller personally and others around him. so this kind of concerted and coordinated attack on the special counsel is an indication that there is coordinated effort. and senator warner's warning today was powerful and eloquen

. >> robert mueller may have other completely different ideas. >>> let's get more from david axelrod, and cnn political analyst david gergen, adviser to four presidents. the fact trump thinks melania mueller's going to write some kind of letter exxon rating him, a piece of paper he'll be able to hold up as some sort of trophy, is that how these things work? >> not ordinarily, but we're talking about a president here. if, in fact, mueller does exonerate him, i think the president would be entitle today ask for a letter, something that would clear his name. it's premature to go too far down this path. we may hear a very different story after the white house lawyers get to see mr. mueller later this week. >> maybe legally premature and is it politically problematic? does it make sense to you that people around the president, his legal team, might be setting these expectations that he'll be cleared of all wrong doing, especially given that when he gets disappointed, we know how he acts? >> yeah, i mean, one of the questions is are they managing the president or are they imparting facts to

cnn learns president trump's lawyers will be sitting down with special counsel robert mueller as soon as next week. where is mueller's investigation headed now? >>> blaming the bureau. president trump renews his attacks on the fbi while on his way to speak to a graduating class of law enforcement trainees. the president tells reporters it's a shame what happened under previous leaders and insists people are very, very angry about what happened. why is he attacking the bureau at the same time his own people are under investigation? >>> and kim's missing man. a top north korean general believed to be second only to the leader kim jong-un hasn't been seen for months. did he offend his notoriously fickle leader? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> this is cnn breaking news. >>> we're following multiple breaking stories. this hour, congressional republicans are set to release the final version of their tax cut plan. among the last-minute compromises, an increase to the child tax credit, fulfilling a demand by senator marco rubio. rubio and another key republican, tennesse

. >>> tension rises between president trump's team and special counsel robert mueller's team. mr. trump says he's not going to fire mueller as the two sides clash over e-mails. >>> and the wildfire battle rages on in southern california as thousands of firefighters go up against the so-called thomas fire around the clock. >> once that wind went up, we immediately went around with our hand crew and our dozers. >>> good morning from the studio 57 newsroom at cbs headquarters here in new york. good to be with you. i'm anne-marie green. >>> this morning power has been restored to the atlanta airport, but trouble is not over. an electrical fire brought the busiest airport to a standstill most of yesterday. most of the flights were grounded and thousands of passengers were stranded. more than 300 flights have already been canceled today. roxana saberi is at the airport with the latest. good morning, roxana. >> reporter: good morning, anne-marie. georgia power officials say outages like the one that crippled atlanta's airport are very rare. the airport just announced a few hours ago that

and special counsel robert mueller might actually do that. we will see what the narrative is from the people defending the president if that happens. >> when i read this transcript of the interview with the "new york times," the thing that bothers the president about the implication there was russian collusion, democrats are saying russia won the president the election. that's what bothers him so much. he said i i was the better candidate and i had the better campaign. that's why he is pushing back so hard. >> yes. he said 15 times no collusion. >> i think like 60 times. >> he should. stick to that script. i think he will be fair. he said i think they will be fair. there was no collusion. he is doing programming as he always does. he is brilliant at that. it's great. this is where he does the best free wheeling introduce. did you see the reaction online. it's insane.erviews. did you see the reaction online. it's insane. >> let's say president obama was on vacation in hawaii and the writer from the washington "times" said could i do a sit down

but i think it's very clear that robert mueller and his team are doing very serious work. they are not, i think, anywhere near done. i think what we have to ensure is that they have the resources the they need to do this job completely and thoroughly, and that they're protected, most importantly, from my political interference or anyone attempting to impede or in any way influence the outcome of this investigation. >> your fellow democrat in congress, jackie spear said over the weekend, these are her words, on december 22nd, on friday, when we are out of d.c., he, being the president, was going to fire bob mueller. she says that. you hear this line a lot from democrats. and the president, himself, is asked, are you going to fire bob mueller yesterday, he said no. rod rosenstein was asked, have you got any indication that the president will try to fire mueller through you? he said no. you know, what about those that say this is democrats just playing politics here? >> well, look, i don't know the basis of jackie speier's assertion, but the reality is that bob mueller and th

what happens when robert mueller comes out and makes his announcement? >> well, let's see what he has to say. but there is no worry he could attack the credibility of robert mueller -- >> but they are, richard, they are, and there are people in this country, lots of people in this country who want to believe it and are willing to believe it. >> yeah, they want to believe it. but he is really a traditional republican -- many of us in the republican party have admired robert mueller for years, even though we say he is nonpartisan, he has impeccable credentials, he was in the marines, impeccable credentials under president bush and obama, and there is no way you can attack the credibility and professionalism of robert mueller. and anybody who tries doing that, it's going to be very transparent what their motives are. of course people being prosecuted or being investigated don't like the investigators or the prosecutors. the mafia doesn't like prosecutors either. but for fox news to be weighing in that way and making up a bunch of stories and the latest stor

that's why we have people like robert mueller, the cia. and they're going to be doing their job, and members of congress better understand they've got to back off and let our fbi, our cia find out what's been going on so this never happens again. >> richard painter, good to see you again. a former ethics lawyer for president george bush. >>> coming up president trump has denied or down-played russian hacking at every opportunity. but the problem didn't begin with with president trump. one of our next guests says we should expect more and right now the russians are winning when "the 11th hour" continues. >>> if putin likes donald trump, i consider that an asset not a liability because we have a horrible relationship with russia. if putin likes donald trump, guess what, folks? that's called an asset not a liability. now, i don't know that i'm going to get along with vladimir putin. i hope i do. yesterday i received a call from president putin of russia thanking our country for the intelligence that our cia was able to provide them concerning

if special counsel robert mueller feels that this agreement is not broad enough. if he feels he needs to expand his remit, if he wants clause 2 to manage directly or indirectly, can he request an expansion and who does he request it from? also, what resorts will he have. we're told already that robert mueller is bringing with him to had this job, his chief paragraph at a asasharyu from that school with him. how many people does he get to hire? and who and we're funding both research why is will the special council make a publi. he says, i'll do my best, and then he disappears for months and years, while we the public and congress are kept in the dark as to whatever it is that he is doing. i believe these are all answerable questions. we're going to try to answer as many of them as we can over the course of this hour. joining me now is sari whorowit. >> very happy to have you here. >> thank you for having me, andrea. >> do you know how it's, whether or not this is a properly investigated investigation. >> yes. huge news. the attorney rod rosenstein was so you asked

mounting claims of bias with special counsel robert mueller's team. we will be joined next to see what this means for the russian investigation. let us know what you would like to hear. we are looking ahead on "sunday morning futures" right now. [phone ring] hello. hi, it's anne from edward jones. i'm glad i caught you. well i'm just leaving the office so for once i've got plenty of time. what's going on? so those financial regulations being talked about? they could affect your accounts, so let's get together and talk, and make sure everything's clear. thanks. yeah. that would be great. we've grown to over $900 billion in assets under care... by being proactive, not reactive. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. when it comes to travel, i sweat the details. late checkout... ...down-alternative pillows... ...and of course, price. tripadvisor helps you book a... ...hotel without breaking a sweat. because we now instantly... ...search over 200 booking sites ...to find you the lowest price... ...on the hotel you want. don't sweat your booking.

all of those things i think make him a person of great interest for robert mueller. no doubt they're looking at him. maybe he's done nothing wrong and no doubt he's somebody when's a subject of this investigation. >> let's listen what house democrat jackie spear said about this feeling, this rumor out there about the special prosecutor being fired. obviously, this is part of what pushed mark warner to go to the senate floor to make that statement today. let's listen to this. >> so, it was rumor i had heard last week and i was troubled by it because it all sort of fit in to pieces like a jigsaw puzzle. it sort of made sense to me in that we would probably be out of session. it would be the kind of thing that was very similar to what happened when then president nixon had the saturday night massacre. >> david, you can understand why the democrats are concerned. >> you can certainly understand it. you can see the affect of this on republican opinion. just over the past four months, bob mueller's negatives driven up, nearly doubled among republicans in the country but do

we have yet to hear from robert mueller and the team what's going on. jen, you also worked a transition. jason miller told us he had no expectation of privacy. assume you didn't have any expectation of privacy in the campaign you worked on, why make this argument if you're part of the trump transition team, is this just politics to muddy the waters? >>, of course, it's politics. i remember our lawyers saying, all of your e-mails are going to go to a dot gof server. they're neither private or privileg privileged. i would guess that's what every team has been told since there was e-mail. there was there was an orchestrated attack to firing mueller. yes, president trump said he wasn't going to do that now, one thing we've learned is not to believe what he said, what everybody should be worried about is if he takeszxr+ steps fire mueller when congress is out of session. members of congress won't be here, the judiciary won't be here. >> one thing i don't understand is the democrats saying the president is going to fire robert mueller. jackie spear and adam

and allegations of political bias within robert mueller's team. let's bring in our justice correspondent jessica snyder. the man who appointed mueller faced a lot of questions up on capitol hill today. >> he did. he faced hours of grilling criticism about the special counsel's probe from republicans. but rosenstein was unwavering in his support of robert mueller and his team throughout that contentious hearing. deputy attorney general rob rosenstein found himself taking incoming fire from members of the president's party today defending the russia investigation in special counsel robert mueller who he appointed on charges of bias. >> director mueller has throughout his lifetime been a dedicated and respected and heroic public servant. i believe he was an ideal choice for this task. >> this is unbelievable, and i'm here to tell you, mr. rosenstein, i think the public trust in this whole thing is gone. >> under relentless questioning rosenstein repeatedly said he sees no reason to remove mueller. and he suggested to democrats on the committee that t

robert mueller's team could be days away. the two sides could meet as early as this week to discuss the ongoing investigations. i want to bring in evan perez who helps break this story on cnn. evan, what do we expect to be discussed this week. >> this is a meeting where the president's legal team basically have the special counsel team puts their cards on the table. they want to know where this investigation is going and in particular whether or not or how much longer perhaps this maybe going or whether or not there is any interests in anybody else inside the white house. at this point there is been a lot of speculations about whether or not this investigation is going to ultimately target the president and i think one of the things that they want from this meeting is get a better sense of not only how much longer it is going to go because it is a cloud over the president and the administration for the past year but also, you know, how much longer or what avenues are left for this investigation to pursue? >> according to your

steps to get rid of robert mueller? >> he's not. i talked to the president. he's not. >> reporter: so some confidence there he's not going to take steps to fire robert mueller even as democrats are sounding the alarms that he very much could. but clearly though, brooke, interesting that this hearing today focusing on the clinton email investigation, the republicans concerns that it was not handled properly by the fbi, and we are told that this is probably the beginning of this new investigation looking into the clinton email inquiry. the first witness andy mccabe behind closed doors. there will be others as republicans look to go down this route come 2018. brooke? >> manu, thank you. more on that warning, senate intelligence committee, senator mark warren, he is calling on congress to draw a line in the sand in the president even attempts to oust robert mueller. >> i believe it is up to every member of this institution, republican or democrat, to make a clear and unambiguous statement that any attempt by this president