jerry nadler and we don't expect him to take kindly to the comments that matt whitaker will not appear if he is served with a subpoena. this came after a rather unusual move by the democratic house committee to authorize nadler to issue a subpoena if he chooses not to appear or not answer the question. a wide range of questions democrats want to ask him, including conversations he may have had with the president, mueller investigation, discussions that he may or may not have had and not recusing himself from the mueller probe, and the fact that federal prosecutors implicated the president in multiple crimes. they want to know if those discussions occurred. sending that letter to nadler today, saying this, from the assistant attorney general steven boyd, the acting attorney general will testify at no time did the white house ask for or did the acting attorney general provide any promises or commitments concerning the special counsel's investigation. we do not believe, however, the committee may legitimately expect the acting attorney general to discuss his communications with the

. tim the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. nadler: mr. chairman, i am pleased that today we are considering h.r. 8. the bipartisan background checks act of 2019. we have promised the american people that congress would take steps to reduce gun violence and this bill is a critical first step toward doing so. during the past four weeks, as the judiciary committee and now the full house have discussed the issue of gun violence, i have cited grim statistics. nearly 40,000 americans lost their lives because of guns in 2017. in fact, every day in america on average 34 people are murdered with a firearm and more than 183 people are injured in an attack. gun violence of this magnitude is a distinctly american problem. a country to country comparison is shocking. for example, in 2011 the united kingdom had 146 deaths due to gun violence. denmark, 71. portugal, 142. and japan, just 30. the united states that year, about 35,000. a recent study the -- in the american journal of medicine found that compared to 22 other high-income countries, gun-related murder rate in the united states is 25

reserves. the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: mr. chairman, i now yield two minutes to the gentlelady from california, the chairperson of the crime subcommittee, ms. bass. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. bass: thank you. mr. chair, i rise in strong support of h.r. 8, the bipartisan background checks act of 2019, which will extend the current federal background check requirement to unlicensed sellers of guns. it is about time that congress takes this issue seriously and i am pleased that this bipartisan bill has been brought to the house floor with the urgency this issue deserves. in recent years, our nation has experienced an increase in mass shootings and our nation is appropriately horrified. however, mass shootings are just one symptom of our gun violence epidemic. the daily toll of shootings occurs in communities across our country, on our streets, in our schools, and even in our houses of worship. as one testified before the judiciary committee earlier this month, one year after the terrible shooting that took the lives of 17 students and s

york, mr. nadler, and the gentleman from georgia, mr. collins, will each control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. nadler: mr. chairman, i am pleased that today we are considering h.r. 8. the bipartisan background checks act of 2019. we have promised the american people that congress would take steps to reduce gun violence and this bill is a critical first step toward doing so. during the past four weeks, as the judiciary committee and now the full house have discussed the issue of gun violence, i have cited grim statistics. nearly 40,000 americans lost their lives because of guns in 2017. in fact, every day in america on average 34 people are murdered with a firearm and more than 183 people are injured in an attack. gun violence of this magnitude is a distinctly american problem. a country to country comparison is shocking. for example, in 2011 the united kingdom had 146 deaths due to gun violence. denmark, 71. portugal,

. we are delighted to have mr. nadler and mr. collins here today. that will be entered into the record without objection. i now recognize mr. nadler -- >> thank you for the opportunity to testify concerning two important bills. the bipartisan background checks -- these are long overdue measures that will help address the national crises of gun violence. nearly 40,000 americans lost their lives because of guns. on average every day 34 people are murdered with a firearm. gun violence of this magnitude is a distinctly american problem . kingdom had united 142 deaths to gun violence. the united states had over 33,000 that year. a recent study found that compared to 22 other high income countries, the murder rate with guns in the united states is 25 times higher, even when you even when you adjust for population differences, americans are disproportionately killed. we know the difference. the common factor in all of these other countries is stronger gun laws. the common factor in all of these other countries is stronger gun laws. when australia tightened its gun laws, both homicide r

that's what you expect to see tomorrow. mr. nadler: i certainly hope so. and mentallye have nstable or whatever. shouldn't have gun in some exceptions. but we don't want to go too far. now, the now, the only objection i heard other than the fact is that it takes some time to -- if you are not buying in -- indiscernible] you have to take the time to go to a licensed gun dealer and get checked out. wood wood and money. mr. nadler: i'm coming to that. i said there were two. and second, it will cost some money. ow much, i don't know. the licensed gun dealer will charge you a fee for doing this. if the gun dealer around the corner charges a lesser fee, you will probably go there. there will be market fees. and yes, there is a slight burden, but the judgment is, our judgment is it's worth that burden to keep guns out of the hands that shouldn't have them. and again, remember what we are dealing with. other countries have 150 a year. we have 39 thousand and no one can tell me that americans are 10 times as mentally ill as people in europe, japan or anyone else. the prevalence of gun. if i cou

democrats? >> reporter: this was the whole scenario that nadler wanted to avoid and why he said ahead of time, tell me if you plan on exerting executive privilege, if the white house plans on exerting it over any of the communications, confidential, between trump and whitaker. on this issue, congress really only has a couple options. if he doesn't answer questions, they can try to then serve him with a subpoena later. if they want to, to try to pursue that in the house with a context vote in the committee, then in the full house. if that is successful, they only have a few options. they can take him to court. a civil action. they could enforce the subpoena themselves with their powers. they could try to refer the matter to doj for prosecution. in this case, that would be useless as the idea of the u.s. attorney in d.c. going after the u.s. attorney general just seems farfetched. their hands are tied. >> good report. thank you very much. >>> let's go to the white house for breaking news on the president's fury at democrats targeting him in multiple investigations. we're joined by

whether he had conversation with the president after those briefings, and nadler is once again threatening a subpoena if it's necessary to get those answers. >> very important stuff, jessica. our crime and justice reporter is with us. whitaker specifically stated he hasn't been forced to take any action on behalf of robert mueller's team, so what does that tell you? >> that any of the heavy listing or big decisions counsel has had to make certainly about whether toing impeach the president or open more investigations have already been done and it could signal that we could be coming to an end here and witd kehitake in at the end of the investigation where a lot of things may have already happened. most key here, everybody's wondering whether or not they would subpoena the president, and since that has not happened and it's not been by whitaker that that's going to happen. >> what was the reaction of jerry nadler after the hearing? it was six hours of dramatic back and forth. >> the first thing he said was whitaker was arrogant. obviously he wasn't happy when whitaker quipped ba

leave? mr. nadler: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and xtend their remarks and insert extraneous material on h.r. 1112, the the enhanced background checks act of 2019. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. pursuant to house resolution 145 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the consideration of h.r. 1112. the chair appoints the gentlewoman from illinois, ms. underwood, to preside over the committee of the whole. the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the consideration of h.r. 1112 which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill to amend chapter 44 of title 18, united states code, to strengthen the background check procedures to be followed before a federal firearm willee may transfer to a person that is not a firearm willee. the chair: pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered as read the first time. the gentleman from new york, mr. nadler, and the gentleman from georgia, mr. collins, will eac

. yesterday they issued a subpoena to compel whitaker's testimony if necessary. but nadler said if you appear before the committee tomorrow and you're prepared to answer question, i assure you there will be no need to issue a subpoena. in light of that comment, it was responded that whitaker would be available without reporting. he said if you behave, if you answer questions, we won't subpoena you. he didn't say we won't subpoena you. am i right? >> that's right. nadler has certainly left a little bit of wiggle room in the ultimate written commitment he made to the justice department. d.o.j. officials are satisfied. it appears just from reading that statement that nadler may be leaving the door open. this committee hearing has the potential to go off the rails. it going to be the first blockbuster showdown between a top trump administration cabinet official and the newly empowered house democrats. whitaker's ascent in the during. it has enraged the democratic base. mueller has a con of questions for him and inside the tennis headquarters headquarters said they may worry not only about

about the benjamins, baby. jerry nadler who is jewish said it was deeply disappointing and disturbing that she appears to trope -- omar standing strong, writing quote my intention is never to offend my constituents or jewish as a whole. omar has been considered a rising star, part of the new group of young women elected to congress. >> together we can organize our world and politics of hope. >> reporter: but this isn't the first time she's been accused of

the standoff there by the chairman of the house judiciary committee jerry nadler there, trying to get matthew whitaker to answer key questions about questions about his administration, with the president. trying to nail him down on dates. he did answer some. then you saw the ranking member, the republican doug collins calling this just a charade and chasing a rabbit down a hole. let's bring our experts back. jeffrey s. let me just -- all right. jeffrey let me -- they're recessing here to vote for about ten minutes or so. what struck you the most? >> that he's not going to answer questions about, a, his conversations with the president, and b, any substantive interactions he had with the mueller team. he did say action in a press conference a few weeks ago. >> he said yes, eventually, to that. >> we knew that already. he has cited executive privilege for any sort of interactions with the president, so i would say this has been less than illuminating. >> so far. we're only two members in. >> good theater, though. >> evan perez, to you, one of the questions he would not answer is how

answering certain questions. not only that, but whitaker has put the committee chairman there nadler on the clock saying he wants that assurance in writing tonight no later than 6:00 p.m. all of this is happening as the president's permanent pick william barr just cleared a big hurdle of his own. so we start with laura jared, our justice reporter who's all over this breaking news. take us inside this standoff and what is going on? >> we're really in a limbo mode at this point with a will he or won't he will show up tomorrow. that 6:00 p.m. deadline now ticking away that whitaker has imposed for the house judiciary committee, the chairman jerry nadler to let him know whether or not he's willing to withdraw that subpoena that was sort of preemptively issued earlier today for his testimony as we know nadler wanted to have that subpoena in his back pocket in case whitaker tried to avoid questions on executive privilege grounds. whitaker now saying that's not fair. this is a breach of the agreement. i was willing to come voluntarily, but i will not discuss my confidential communications with the

get because in the letter that the house judiciary chairman jerry nadler sent in order to get the testimony up and running today, he made it clear they are going to take the questions -- his words were a case-by-case basis. that made whitaker feel comfortable to come up here. likely a lot of, i'm sorry, i can't discuss that. i can't discuss my conversations with the president. still, it is going to be fascinating to see how he navigates through the questions. >> what the reaction will be ultimately if anything from the white house. the president saying, oh, i think he'll do a great job. really not saying anything. you know for good reason they are watching this closely as well. >> we should watch the president's twitter account as a result of that. as you said and as dana said, this is a game-on moment. once democrats have control of the house, once they are worn in will we see more hearings, how aggressive will they be and that got put to the side during the long federal shutdown. we forgot this is what we have been waiting for ever since democrats did well in the midterms. this

. house judiciary committee chairman jerrold nadler is calling for a hearing "in the coming days" on president donald trump's declaration of a national emergency.in a letter to trump friday, nadler and other members of the judiciary panel express their "alarm" over the proclamation, an effort to get more money for a u.s.-mexico border wall. nadler says his committee will ve constitutional and house and justice department officials to appear at a hearing.he says the decision shows "reckless disregard for the separation of powers and your own responsibilities under our constitutional system."trump said friday he would declare the emergency in an effort to bypass congress, which would not give him full funding for his wall.the american civil liberties union says it will file a lawsuit challenging president donald trump's emergency declaration to fund a wall on the u.s.-mexican border.the friday announcement came hours after trump signed the declaration and said he expected legal challenges. the civil rights group will argue that trump's use of emergency powers is border wall.aclu execut

know there's a lot of pressure from members of congress. jerry nadler has hired a couple of lawyers who have experts -- >> chairman of the judiciary committee. >> hired lawyers specifically to look at this issue. we know that there's legislation, bipartisan in the senate trying to force the attorney general to release some of this. there's a lot of pressure from congress. once he gets in there, probably the first thing bill barr will get is a national security briefing. the second thing is a briefing on the mueller investigation. >> barr hasn't publicly committed to releasing this mueller report even to congress. >> no. that's exactly right. senators wanted that. he stopped short. he said, i want to do as transparent a report as possible, consistent with the regulations. that was the backstop. the regulations actually don't say that he has to turn over all that much to congress at all. all he has to say is it is concluded. listen to what he said last month at his confirmation hearing on this. >> the rules, i think, say that the independent -- the special counsel will prepare a summa

proceedings against president trump. hosting a town hall tonight to force jerry nadler, powerful chair of the house judiciary committee, to take action. tom steyer is "outfront." good to have you back, tom. i know, obviously, you've got your town hall tonight. why do you think this impeachment right now, this conversation, is still democrats' top priority, or should be their top priority? >> well, erin, i believe that we have a crisis in the united states. the crisis is the president of the united states. and that the constitution gives us one solution, which is to impeach him and remove him from office. and until that happens, the country's at risk. people are going to be suffering and we'll not be doing the right thing. so i think it's the crisis and, therefore, we should deal with it directly. >> all right. so when you say it's the crisis, look, you're being very clear where you stand. so you're holding this event in the district of congressman jerry nadler. now, jerry nadler is very important, right? he's the chairman of the committee that would initiate the impeachment proceedings

committee chairman jerrold nadler is calling for a hearing "in the coming days" on president donald trump's declaration of a national emergency.in a letter to trump friday, nadler and other members of the judiciary panel express their "alarm" over the proclamation, an effort to get more money for a u.s.-mexico border wall. nadler says his committee will investigate the "serious constitutional and statutory issues" the declaration raises and is asking white house and justice department officials to appear at a hearing.he says the decision shows "reckless disregard for the separation of powers and your own responsibilities under our constitutional system."trump said friday he would declare the emergency in an effort to bypass congress, which would not give him full funding for his wall.the american civil liberties union says it will file a lawsuit challenging president donald trump's emergency declaration to fund a wall on the u.s.-mexican border.the friday announcement came hours after trump signed the declaration and said he expected legal challenges. the civil rights group will arg

body, jerry nadler is preparing a subpoena just in case whitaker doesn't show. nadler says he wants to ask him about his supervision of the mueller investigation and his decision not to take himself out of it despite his prejudgments, his criticisms of the inquiry. well, with that a lot to talk about. let's bring in our lead-off panel on a wednesday night. mica, former staffer for the house intelligence and armed southwests committees. harry lipman is here with us. a doj veteran who is both a former u.s. attorney and former deputy assistant attorney general under president clinton. and the aforementioned aaron blake, senior political reporter at the washington post. let's start with you. given your experience on the hill, by how much is donald trump's life going to change again effective today? >> it's going to change quite dramatically. you have many committees who are -- their policies, but more particularly with the president and his personal financial entanglements. there are things that are fine if you are a private citizen or private businessperson to have overseas financial conn

discuss anything related to the mueller investigation. so jerry nadler, the chairman eventually got acknowledgment that whitaker that he was briefed. he said he has not spoken to senior white house aides about the investigation. he's not going further than that. the question now is what comes next? if all the democrats' questions are stone walled by whitaker, nadler said he does not want to issue a subpoena, but he did seem interested in deposing him, bringing him back to ask more questions in a deposition and said he would release the transcript to the public. i think the question now, the owness on the democrats is how do you proceed and ensure that you at least get something out of these oversight hears? >> glen, did you learn anything in this first 15, 20 minutes? >> well, chris, i think what we learned is that acting attorney general whitaker is not going to be entirely respectful of either the chairman or of the process. i was really taken aback when he told representative nadler your five minutes are up. you know, that's acting attorney general whitaker taking a page from the

york democrat jerry nadler, wrote a letter to whitaker that basically confronted him with the allegation that whitaker had lied under oath to the committee when they had questioned him on that very subject. quote, although the committee appreciates your decision to appear, members on both sides of the aisle found many of your answers to be unsatisfactory, incomplete or contradicted by the evidence. excuse me, contradicted by other evidence. quote, for example, our members asked you about reports that president trump called you at least twice to express his frustration after michael cohen, his former lawyer, pleaded guilty in the southern district of new york to lying to congress and for arranging hush money payments on the president's behalf. representati representati representative cicilene asked you directly in the hearing. did the president lash out to you about mr. cohen's guilty plea. no, he did not. representative asked you again whether the president or anyone on the president's behalf reached out to you to express dissatisfaction. you responded no. quote, the committee

have expired. ms. eastmond, you may begin. >> chairman nadler, ranking member collins and other members of the committee thank you for , the opportunity to be here to share my experience and perspectives on gun violence in america. i a senior at marjory stoneman am douglas high school in parkland. while it's an honor to be here today i'm only here because of horrific events compelling me to be here. next thursday marks a year from the day that 17 of my fellow classmates and educators were shot and killed. 17 more injured, many like me were the fortunate enough to walk away with our lives. but we will never be free from the terror. some will carry visible scars. but all of us were scarred emotionally for the rest of our lives. i was in my fourth period holocaust history class and we were presenting our projects on hate groups. i could never have imagined my group partner would have saved my live in moments to come after our presentations we began to hear loud pops. when the gunman shot into our classroom, nicholas was in front of me. the gunman's bullets killed him and helena ram

threatened subpoena from the committee chairman jerry nadler. we'll watch the hearing and we'll bring it to you as it happens. a bit of disbelief as liberal democrats unveil a sweeping green new deal proposal. it is involved, it is expensive, it is friday. good morning. i'm bill hemmer. welcome back. >> i'm julie banderas in for sandra smith. it has energized both republicans and democrats alike. some of what this massive overhaul aims to do. make all tbltion in the entire nation 100% energy efficient. also make air travel obsolete and aims to insure economic prosperity for all. >> bill: one thing it does not include is a price tag. >> this is such a major watershed moment. we are going to transition this country into the future. >> they're excited about it and i welcome the green new deal. >> one of the things was to try to eliminate air travel. >> that would be pretty hard for hawaii. i very much support the green new deal. it is focusing on the damage that is happening worldwide. >> it is almost like a get well card to the climate. it is not real policy. >> we're live from capitol hil

the judiciary committee today. there was a back and forth because the chairman jerry nadler had a subpoena ready for him during the hearing what he was going to use. whitaker is going to be asked about what he talked to the president about. he's going to say i can't tell you because at some point the white house may decide to invoke executive privilege. jerry nadler was goi to say here's a subpoena, you have to talk or we're going to contempt. now he's going and nadler decided not to issue the subpoena while he's testifying. but what's the significance here? >> i think shockingly there's a lot of politics involved here. the white house is desperate not to have a couple of questions answered, which is what did they talk about with the president? what did whittaker talk about with the president in advance of taking the job and what did he brief him on? remember, the president is part of this investigation. may not be an official target. there are definitely questions. but executive privilege and oversight are very difficult issues politically. it's very hard for the average person t

nadler responded with trademark snark and sneers. saint whitaker, if you show up we won't have to issue a subpoena. william barr's confirmation voted out of the senate judiciary committee. that all but assures his confirmation next week for the next attorney general. how should the white house respond to the radical dams and their escalating attacks against the president? former federal prosecutor, sidney powell joins us tonight. our top story tonight, the radical dams escalate their attacks against president trump, even as special counsel, robert mueller appears to be concluding his investigation into suppose a trump russian occlusion. with little republican support, the president as usual, his best champion, the president tweeting, the radical dams are going nuts. he tweeted this. so, now congressman adam shift announces, after having found zero russian occlusion, that he's going to be looking at every aspect of my life, both financial and personal, even though there is no reason to be doing so. never happened before. unlimited presidential harassment. house intel committee shift, and u

questioning, the committee chair jerold nadler says he is still not satisfied or he believes all of whitaker's testimony after several back and forth testy exchanges. acting attorney general matt whitaker making his first appearance before the house judiciary committee. >> this hearing is pointless. >> if this is where we will go, we have plenty of theatrics. bring your popcorn. maybe we set up a popcorn machine in the back. >> that is what this is coming. >> it is our understanding that at least one briefing occurred if december before your decision not to recuse yourself on december 19th, christmas day. >> what's the basis for that question, sir? >> yes or no. >> mr. chairman, again, what is the basis for your question, are you saying. >> i am asking the questions, i have five minutes, answer yes or no. >> no, mr. chairman. you were asking me a question. it is your understanding. can you tell me where you get -- >> no, i don't have time to get into that. >> reporter: whitaker at one point trying to cut the chairman off. >> i see your five minutes is up. so -- we, i am here volunta

nadler is trying to get at? >> he's trying to get at a number of different things. but is whitaker being forthcoming? of course he's not because he's invoking executive privilege. but you can look at the algebra of his statements. he's already said i have not spoken to the president about mueller. we can cabin that off. he's locked in there. but it appears the negative of that is that he has talked to president trump. but he's not going to talk about what he said. executive privilege does make sense in certain situations. the idea is that while these people deliberate, they may say things in a moment of candor that they don't necessarily want to be part of the public record. on the other hand, in addition, as the head of the doj, there are many different ongoing investigations, and members of the doj, united states attorneys, ausas, they don't volunteer a lot of information about ongoing investigations. they almost never do. so he has at least two major powerful reasons for not disclosing information. so when he went out essentially on a limb and said i have not talked to the president a

questioning by the chairman of the committee, democratic congressman jerry nadler. big questions going in were essential the following -- what conversations has whitaker had with the president about the special counsel's investigation. did any conversation happen before he was named acting attorney general, and would he try to claim executive privilege? so far some answers, but also raising more questions. manu raji has been watching all this. late out the headlines we've heard so far. >> the big headlines is matt whitaker made clear he did not speak with president trump about the investigation. he said i have not talked to the president about this or service white house officials. he also said i do not believe that he's had conversations with a third party, an individual who may have later paced on notches about the special counsel probe to the president. he did rereel he had been briefed once about the investigation, but he was briefed multiple times and would not reveal any of those matters. and after the firing of jeff sessions, the acting attorney general, they view it as an attempt

response from the justice department after jerrold nadler said if you come tomorrow we will serve you with a subpoena. this of course came after whitaker said he wants written assurances from jerry nadler that he would not be subpoenaed. jerry nadler wants to hear about all those conversations that may have occurred between the president and trump about the special counsel's investigation, about his decision not to recuse from overseeing the investigation and about whether he discussed with the president michael cohen's guilty plea and the fact that the president himself was implicated in two federal crimes. those are things that matt whitaker does not want to discuss with the president. so if he does come, will he get hit with a subpoena and how will he respond to this latest response from the house judiciary chairman, we'll see in the coming hours. >> thank you very much. >>> we are joined by democratic congressman eric swalwell, happens to sit on both the house intelligence and judiciary committee, central to both of these developing stories. congressman, thanks for being with me.

democrat jerry nadler made good on the plan to have a subpoena ready and waiting to compel whitaker to answer the lawmakers' questions. the questions begin with whitaker's three-month oversight of the mueller probe which he spent much of the previous year attacking on television, radio and online. we'll bring you the session live. it begins at 9:30 a.m. eastern at the bottom of the hour. until then we have experts and analysts standing by beginning with manu raju on capitol hill. for a guy who has only had this job since november -- whitaker -- and who will be replaced likely this month, there is a lot of drama around this. >> reporter: no question about it. the firing of jeff sessions that occurred after the midterm elections, democrats have a lot of questions about the circumstances of the hiring of matt whitaker, whether the president had discussions with him about whether he would recuse himself of overseeing the mueller investigation, why whitaker decided not to recuse himself, whether the president talked to him about the michael cohen guilty plea and the fact that federal prosec

judiciary committee chairman. congress jerry nadler of new york. the letter advises whitaker that at his testimony last week in congress, quote, member on both sides of the aisle found many of your answers to be unsatisfactory, incomplete or contradictory by other evidence. contradicted by err evidence is is a bad one. the committee chairman is inviting matt whitaker to clarify his testimony, but the implication of his letter, this contradicted by other evidence thing, the implication is that matt whitaker may have made false statements to the committee while he was testifying under oath. to be specific, nadler says that the committee, quote, has identified several individuals with direct knowledge of the phone calls you denied receiving from the white house about the justice department's prosecution of long-time trump attorney michael cohen. mr. whitaker said under oath in his testimony that he did not have communications with the white house about the cohen prosecution. jerry nadler has advised him tonight that they have identified several individuals who have direct knowledge o

congress mid-cap jerry nadler with me and carolyn maloney both from new york who are part of the coalition introducing this legislation and peter king who hoped to be with us today was delayed due to the high wind, bad weather delaying him, but we will be talking to him, as well. jon stewart and john seal. first to jon stewart, what is your message today? >> i think the message today and each time has been let's get this done. let's get it done with some urgency and let's not make any of these families grieving from losing a firefighter or a first responder or trade unionist or just a survivor, let's get them the proper funding that is coming to them and let's do it in a way that doesn't bring more stress and more damage to difficult road that they've already gone through. >> jon stewart, when you created this foundation and started this advocacy, did you think that all these years later you would still be fighting for funds? >> yes. [ laughter ] >> no, but -- no offense to carolyn and jerry who i love dearly and senator gillibrand and schumer and everybody else has been supporti

nadler there that a subpoena is possible if necessary on a number of questions which the acting attorney general obviously did not answer and would not answer. of course, the question of executive privilege remains. on other matters, chairman nadler seems to believe the committee is entitled to answers to those questions. he says he expects them and will give members of the committee five days to submit questions. to say this is not over seems to be what congressman gerald nadler was just informing us. the acting attorney general matthew whitaker did state a couple of matters of note. he says he has not talked to president trump about the special counsel's russia investigation and he has not interfered with the investigation at all. acting attorney general whitaker testified before the house judiciary committee. remember, he had criticized the scope of robert mueller's investigation before joining the justice department. >> at no time has the white house asked for, nor have i provided any promises or commitments concerning the special counsel's investigation or any other investi

house that we want to talk about all kinds of stuff that the justice department is up to. jerry nadler, he says okay, okay, we want to ask you about if you had any conversations with the president on these topics. the department justice said we can't answer that but we are happy to talk about something else. when mr. whitaker comes and if he refuse to testify conversations with the president, they can whip out the subpoena and say you have to testify. the justice department's position is the house should know that attorney general in both republican and democratic administration have always said we don't talk about our advice of the president, that's where the executive privilege is strongest, the president talking to his cabinet members or acting c cabinet members in this case. there are certain things they will talk about or asked about, there is no time at the white house, ask for or did whitaker provide any promises or commitments about the mueller investigation and that there is no change in how the department has worked with the special counsel's office. a confirmation to writing

happened. everyone would want to know that if that was indeed the case. in terms of mr. nadler, congressman nadler who is heading up the committee and he is asking for mark, the acting attorney general, excuse me, who is coming in on february 8th to testify about why or why not, what his process was on not recusing himself from the russia investigation when he became acting attorney general then they said they are going to subpoena him also even though he said he was going to come and talk to them. >> three reasons that jerry nadler did that number one so that you and i would be talking about it and others talking about it the acting a.g. under subpoena. number two it does compel attendance but matt already said he is coming thirdly and importantly and what i don't think your viewers know is when matt says i can't answer that question because it's privileged, i can't answer that question because it's an ongoing investigation, if you are under subpoena, it makes it much easier for the committee to compel you to answer that's why they are doing it they are not worried about him n

these would be contentious topics, chairman nadler decided to use a preemptive strike and have a subpoena in his back pocket. whitaker saying he would not come to the meeting unless he gets assurance in writing by 6:00 p.m. tonight that these questions are off the table. we wait to see what the house does on this. if they try to pursue it, they could try to hold him in contempt if he doesn't show. >> when it comes to attorney general nominee bill barr, one step away from becoming attorney general. democrats have been vocally opposed to that today. >> that's right. he is well on his way to senate confirmation, voted along by party lines in the senate judiciary committee today and senator graham, top republican on the house -- rather senate judiciary committee saying barr reassured him he will not use executive privilege to cover up wrongdoing. senator blumenthal saying they want to know about all wrongdoing not just the ones that have been charged. jake? >> barr said he would not allow the white house to use executive privilege to cover up wrongdoing but today senator patrick leah

the honorable gerald nadler of new york. >> thank you, mr. chairman and thank you for convening this hearing on this important topic. i would also like to thank the witnesses appearing here today, donald trump's emergency declaration comes from across the political spectrum because this debate shouldn't be about partisan politics. it should be fundamental to the constitutional democracy and namely that the chief executive cannot unilaterally represent funds by the people's representatives. article 9 makes it unmistakably clear that, quote, no money should be drawn from the treasury for appropriations made by law, closed quote. president trump violated that basically when he -- when he enacted a so-called excuse that congress explicitly rejected. the only emergency was the fact that congress refused the president what he wanted. that kind of bad faith action by the president is a violation of the oath of office to faithfully execute the law. in addition, it allows the military requires use of the armed forces, closed quote. those funds can be used only for construction projects that a

you. >> thank you. major tap harper. >> thank you. chairman nadler and members of the house judiciary committee for inviting me here to testify today. my name is sabrina tap harper and i'm the commander of the domestic violence unit in baltimore, maryland. i'm here today to talk about the dangers that gun laws impose on our communities, specifically for women and families who are victims of domestic violence. the data is clear, victims of domestic violence are at an increased risk of gun violence in this country. in the united states women are 11 times more likely to be killed with a gun than women in comparable countries. much of this fatal violence against women is committed by intimate partners. according to the fbi, almost half of the murders of women were committed by current or former husbands or a boyfriend. ten times as many as by a male stranger. according to the american journal of public health, the presence of a firearm in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of a homicide for a woman by 500%. these numbers miss many of the murders committed by ex-boy

. >> chairman nadler, ranking member collins and other members of the committee you think thank you for the opportunity to be here to share meyer experience and perspectives on gun violence in america. my name is aalayah east month a senior at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland. while it's an honor to be here today i'm only here because of horrific events compelling me to be here next thursday marks a year from the day that 17 of my fellow classmates and educators were shot and killed. 17 more injured many like me were the fortunate enough to walk away with our lives. but we will never be free from the terror. some will carry visible scars. but all of us were scarred emotionally for et rest of our lives. i was in my fourth period holocaust history class and we presented our projects on hate groups. i could never have imagined my group partner nicolas door et would have saved my live in moments to come after our presentations we began to hear loud pops. when the gunman shot into our classroom nicholas door et was in front of me the gunman's bullets killed him and helena

trying to act cute when chairman jerry nadler wanted to know if he'd been asked to approve any of mueller's actions. here it is. >> now, in your capacity as acting attorney general, have you ever been asked to approve any request or action to be taken by the special counsel? >> mr. chairman, i see that your five minutes is up, and so -- >> that went over like a lead balloon. and chairman nadler was not having any of it. >> in all your time in congress, have you ever had a witness tell you that your time is up? >> no. but i've never been chairman. >> were you offended by that? >> i laughed at it. i was surprised by it. i laughed at it. it was arrogant, but okay. >> whatever, not bothered. congresswoman sheila jackson lee was definitely not amused. >> mr. attorney general, we're not joking here, and your humor is not acceptable. now, you are here because we have a constitutional duty to ask questions, and the congress has the right to establish government rules. >> she was channeling my grandma. that's how my grandma used to speak to me. you're not funny, don. cut it out. that's exa

minutes for lunch. >> committee chairman, jerry nadler says he's not done hearing from whitaker and threatened to subpoena him to get the answers the democrats demand. our next guest is a member of the house judiciary committee, steve cohen of tennessee. congressman, first of all, i just have to get your reaction to that testimony you heard today, both to his demeanor and in many cases his refusal to answer yes and no questions. >> well, he came in to stonewall us, that was his purpose. he had an audience of one, which was donald trump, and when he was a football player and i can certainly see him as a football player, he was a tight end, and that's generally a blocker in the iowa program. he was a blocker today too. he's still in the same role he was when he played for the iowa hawk eyes. he didn't show me anything to say he should be the united states attorney general. i have met many and this man does not measure up to them in any way whatsoever. he was treading water and stone walling. >> in a lot of people's eyes, making a mistake of being disrespectful to the chair declaring h

to chairman nadler or anyone on his staff ors have your attorneys spoken to mr. nadler. >> i don't know -- i have not spoken to congressman nadler and i am not -- sir, i am not aware if my attorneys. i can ask them. >> you can turn around and ask them. >> the answer, sir, is no. >> okay. and you said at this present time mr. davis is not getting paid. are you anticipating him receiving some kind of compensation in the future? >> when i start to earn a living. >> he's going to wait three years? wow! >> the answer -- that's a first. i've never known a lawyer to wait three years to get paid. >> i guess he thinks it's important. >> all right. with that i yield to the gentleman of arizona. >> you are a disgraced lawyer. we've been disbarred. i'm sure you remember, maybe you don't remember, duty of loyalty, duty of confidentiality, attorney-client privilege. i think the gentleman over your right side actually understands that very, very well and would aren't do what you are doing here today. so let's go back at this credibility. you want us to make sure that we think of you as a real phi