in front of you is robert mueller's 400-page report. short of him reading all 400 pages, that would constuitute a statement. what do we have here? >> bob mueller and his team spoke in detail through this document. most of which in redacted form is available to us. >> most people haven't read it. >> that's an important point. i think it's probably of interest to bob mueller. he's probably coming out today with a keen sense of hasn't ingested the important parts of his finding. but this is a justice department press release of a very unusual nature. we've literally never seen one like this in the trump era. and, so -- >> what does that mean? >> number one, it tells us this is a justice department press conference not an independent statement. if bob mueller goes to congress or writes a post on medium or says what he says in any forum, he can speak as a human citizen bound by the rules. this is bill barr's justice department putting out to us that this justice department employee, special counsel robert mueller, will speak from the seventh

criticizing robert mueller's investigation. president trump claims that mueller would have brought charges against him if he thought he committed a crime, but mueller said explicitly the opposite yesterday. mueller did not even consider charging president trump because of justice department guidelines. mueller said that responsibility falls on congress, which of course begs the question this morning, what will congress do now? >> a growing number of house democrats and 2020 presidential candidates, including one right here on our show, are calling for impeachment proceedings, but continues to resist, though she says nothing is off the table. the spotlight is also now back on the attorney general, william barr. a lot of people are accusing him of misleading lawmakers and the public about the mueller report. mueller's version clearly different than the attorney general's. joining me discuss congressman mike quigley. thank you for being with us. before yesterday you were not on the list that nancy pelosi and others are keeping of

let's remember who robert mueller is. a man who volunteered for combat in vietnam as a marine and came back and became a prosecutor and prosecuted murder cases and led the fbi after 9/11. he has a circle of people to draw on who he decided to consult on this decision is unclear. >> look who joined me, tom winter nbc political reporter and somebody who has been following this throughout. have you gotten any indication at all of what we might expect to hear? we just saw the picture of that podium which in and of itself is just dramatic. >> sure. it's more of what it is not going to be than what it is. based on what i am hearing, this not going to be to correct the report that came out asand thiss going to address any other news report or any thing that we've seen. this is going to be a significant or a substantial statement, chris. that's the best we know at this point. but as far as the specific information, we don't have that yet. >> okay. so, here's where we are right now. we are now just about a little more than half an

robert mueller said i can't do anything here. >> robert mueller said he was not empowered to charge a sitting president. but he also was not -- into how is that different from what i just said? >> i don't think mueller -- i don't think -- well i guess -- i think the idea that mueller is saying, i read that as nothing can be done here. >> by the department of justice, the ones who run the rule of law. >> then we agree. then we agree. but i think he was also saying in the same breath i am not exonerating the president of any crimes. >> then it takes us to congress. the fact that more candidates are now coming out saying we should move forward with impeachment, does that impact nancy pelosi in any way. >> i think the pressure is on. it is on in a big way. they are not in seg right now. i guess they will be back next week into we need mohamed break. we need their schedule. just want to point that out. >> for the past three years. i think the two things you can take from -- at least i took from the mueller statement yesterday is one that if the president held any other title, he would have

robert mueller says his work is done. if there's another chapter in the russia investigation, it will be written not by special counsel, but by the lawmakers elected to represent the american people. catherine herridge outside the justice department. catherine? >> we heard from the special counsel, a lot about the olc opinion, the office of legal counsel housed here at the justice department. it acts like an internal lawyer for the government, specifically the attorney general and others in the justice department. what mueller said today is that based on his opinion or the regulations, he would not indict a sitting president but this did not stop him from gathering evidence that could be used for further action. >> under longstanding department policy, a president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he's in office. that is unconstitutional. even if the charge is kept under seal and hidden from public view that so is prohibited. the special counsel's office is part of the department of justice. by regulation, it w

that was robert mueller's report. this is the first time that he will address the nation publicly since he released that report. it is an important moment, andy. >> it's a critically important moment and he is not only released the investigation -- the investigative report, it is not like we didn't hear from him before then. he filed a number of indictments and i pointed out a number of times some indictments can be the bare bones paragraph where the prosecutor lays out what the charging language is. mueller's indictments were speaking indictments and narratives about what his investigation was uncovering. we have heard quite a lot from him but it is still an important moment. >> sandra: you've got a live look there at the justice department. bret baier joining us now anchor of "special report". the room is filling up. the moment is coming where we'll hear from robert mueller three minutes from now. >> that's right. you have done a valiant job after we had this announcement kind of filling this space to figure out wha

robert mueller today? >> we, look, i think if mr. deniro said that a few weeks ago, i think that that sentiment makes sense but i think today we did hear from robert mueller and heard from him in a very powerful way. i think the most important thing we heard from him, remember he's deing with a several hundred page report and what does he choose to pluck out in his press conference today? he plucks out the fact he said look, if i could clear the president, i would. i have the raw legal power to do so. if i thought he was innocent. he pointedly does not do that. and then second, he said, i couldn't indict him. i didn't have the power to. and so because of that, he says it would be unfair to do what mr. deniro says which is to label mr. trump a criminal when mr. trump has no way to defend himself and look, i understand it's frustrating for a lot of people. and it's frustrating for for me, too. at least i can understand what mr. mueller is saying here and at the same time, i think what the ultimate implicatio

you have covered robert mueller for many years. were you surprised to hear him make that specific statement as bluntly as he did? >> not inso far as we have already seen that statement almost word for word in the report itself, but i do think it was remarkable that mueller came out and stressed that single point in his statement today. this again is the only time he has spoken publicly about the investigation in two years. he was somber. he was brave. there was sort of none of the light that you see in his private interactions. this was mueller at his most serious standing probably for the last time at the podium of the justice department where he has given the better part of 50 years of his life. and he went out of his way to say at the conclusion of his investigation i cannot conclude that the president didn't commit a crime. >> knowing mueller as you do, was he effectively saying it's now up to you, members of congress? >> yeah. i think that's been -- that was one of the things that surprised us when we got the original mueller

yes, and it was in direct response to robert mueller. we have had time and time again from president trump he had been exonerated. robert mueller stood up and said actually that is not the case and i expect the words that have been ringing in the president's is, that phrase, if we were confident that he didn't commit a crime, we would have said though does said so. they did not say that about the president, there are still questions to be asked and of course, growing question — make pressure from congress to ask those questions. potentially what he referred to their is a dirty word of impeachment. it is also worth pointing out, robert mueller, if he was erecting the record, was also speaking about the us attorney general william barr you might became out and gave his own summary of the report and they seemed to be some frustration by robert mueller about just how he some frustration by robert mueller aboutjust how he interpreted it and the way to put out first. we have had a response from william barr as well. the us attorney general h

but robert mueller knows. and now according to this new reporting from nbc news tonight, the judiciary committee in the house is negotiating with mueller directly to range his testimony where upon he can presumably tell us that and everything else he knows. here's the flip side, though, which i think is the worrying part here for attorney general william barr and for the white house. over the last 24 hours or so you've seen ed he linheadlines one. "republicans turn against robert mueller." the attorney general calling mueller snitty. based on a false accusation and illegitimate. this today from emmet flood, the president's russia lawyer, deriding robert mueller. saying what mueller turned in was some sort of law school exam paper. all that mueller's investigation produced was a bunch of political statements in that report. emmet flood sneerg at mueller's report in his findings by calling the report from mueller a "prosecutorial curiosity." we're watching republicans in congress and the white house and the pres

robert mueller has put innocent people behind bars. i salute you, c-span, for putting anything on that's the truth. he tried to destroy president trump. mueller put people behind bars illegally. andtrying to prove my case get a present on so pardon. that's presidential pardon -- get a presidential pardon. host: how long did you serve? caller: they said i threatened to kill the warden. complaint and got death threats and stuff. the fbi knew about it and wouldn't help me. they said i threatened to kill the warden at work to keep me behind bars. host: robert mueller was the former fbi director, announced as special counsel in may of 2017. two years later, the first public comments on the investigation. kathleen in fort worth, texas. caller: how are you doing? host: doing fine, thank you. caller: good. just a quick comment. we've had 2.5 years of an incredibly extensive investigation into trump in regards to collusion. mueller did everything he could to try to prove that trump did collude. this is not new. this has gone on for years and ye

that is what robert mueller did. and the idea that he didn't know that he was transgressing the department of justice's own regulations is, of course, not credible. therefore, we learned that he is a political hack, lou. it's sad to say this. as a former marine combat veteran, robert mueller disgraced himself and his career by becoming a political activist on his last day working as a public servant for the americans. lou: i love the wags on radio and television -- [laughter] yesterday trying the i say that -- trying to say that mueller, my gosh, he opened up the door to impeachment, their going to go after -- they're going to go after the president, it's a sure thing. and then, and then someone started counting things up like votes and started listening to what nancy pelosi and others were saying about mueller, and they expressed frustration, they expressed disappointment. because they know he made a damn fool of himself in that nine minutes and forty seconds in which he basically said the 448-page report is his tes

elizabeth: the democratic still subpoena mueller, the question, why done robert mueller get into the use of steel dassier in his probe -- steel dossier in his probe, and use of fisa warrants, the question is, when did robert mueller and his team know there was not enough prosecutable evidence, was this a perjury trap, did they wait long enough to say let's trip up the president? >> robert mueller knew within 100 days of his investigating, starting that there was no russian collusion with team trump, when he didn't ask to renew fisa warrant. he did not ask to extend it, because he knew there was nothing there. that point forward, liz, it was all about having this team of rabid, democrat trump haters, i have served with robert mueller he is a decorated marine, an honorable man, i don't recognize this man who spoke today, i don't recognize someone who said in america you have to prove your innocence, if you can't you should have some go through impeachment, that is unrecognizable from the man i served with. elizabeth: robert mueller is a man of distinguishe said russiae will not come on

with robert mueller. so his answer there does not seem true. >> it's the second exchange there that's so crucial. of course he had already received that letter over about a week before from robert mueller detailing his issues with how barr portrayed the report. telling that lawmaker, no, i don't know why members of mueller's team are frustrated as had surfaced in media reports is not what he had heard from the special counsel himself. now there barr goes on to say he believes members of mueller's team would have wanted more of the report to come out. according to the post that's the conversation that bill barr and robert mueller had. what makes all of this more fascinating is the personal relationship between the attorney general and the special counsel because bill barr did not know the president very well before the president picked him to be attorney general. but he does have a relationship going back with robert mueller. they talked about that. he talked about it under oath during his testimony before

are you going to subpoena robert mueller? that's a key thing that democrats in the house are going to have to answer. i don't think there's a clear way forward right now. >> there was a statement from congressman adam schiff. he says we look forward to mueller's testimony before congress. while i understand his reluctance to answer hypotheticals or deviate from the carefully worded conclusions he drew, there's a great many questions he can answer that goes beyond the report. that seems to me to indicate that he's talking about the intelligence community, not necessarily the judiciary and going into that separate track of counter intelligence. >> i think that's right. i do think that's a very good question because robert mueller, yesterday, seemed to be addressing this identify of testifying in public. he seemed to be saying -- you may want the drama but i've got no new information. jerry nadler seemed to say we actually heard a lot from robert mueller. i think he did answer a couple of important questions that a lo lot of mem

mueller based on robert mueller's conflicts of interest? >> it's all of the above and maybe to back up. the reason i wrote "the new york times" piece is because i know people all across the country are watching this and disspir and they're scared and you know, i'm watching my beloved justice department have the go through this with this leader at the helm which is just a horrible thing for the department to go through. but i do think in the end, america's a lot stronger than trump. it's a lot stronger than barr. these are people who are determined to destroy parts of the rule of law. and i think the system is going to hold. and that brings me to your question. the very fact that we're watching barr testify and say such pro prosperous things is actually the system working in a way. it's him having to articulate his reasons and his reasons like what we heard in that equip make no sense. the mueller report did not say this was all false all the accusations of collusion and stuff. it said applying that beyond a reasonable doubt a very high stan

did robert mueller layout a case for impeachment today? >> i think robert mueller laid out a case in which we've seens house continue to investigate and ask questions about second volume. kennedy: nothing has changed, ned, what happened? >> we saw a political hack try to tell us an uncharged person was not innocent, turning entire premise of our legal system, on its head, now we say you are guilty until you can prove yourself innocent, that is absurd, mueller could have said we found evidence to charge, we just didn't have the authority to change or he could have said our investigation led to us believe that president obstructed our investigation, he did not say either one. >> he could have been within his right. >> right. kennedy: i would have been much more satisfied if he had done that, ifs implication is a that president behaved in a way that almost rises to threshold of impeachment. >> his equivocation telling us all we need to know, this was a political hit job, with one of two purposes, maybe potential impeachment of president of un

>> well, he would subpoena robert mueller. and, again, from supreme courts down to lower courts, they've all said that, "a," congress has the right to investigate, "b," they have the right to issue subpoenas, and, "c," they have the right to hold people in contempt. and so i think those are all rights that now we have to exercise because at this point we know that the president has already challenged the power of the purse by declaring an emergency with regard to spending money on a border wall, and now he's challenging it on a right of oversight. and he's not the king. he's the president. and the president is accountable to the people and to the representatives, namely in congress. >> and congressman khanna, the standoff that we're seeing here is something that we really haven't seen. there was a very kind of a brief version of this during the nixon investigation, but what was -- what was so unique -- is so unique about the trump administration is it seems impervious to political pressure. because it was, in fact, political p

but that's not what robert mueller is saying. robert mueller is saying we never got to that fork in the road deciding about charging and not charging because there was the olc. >> that's a good argument. he's saying, peter, and clearly what he said was i didn't consider charging the president because you're not supposed to do it under the constitution as we interpret it at the justice department. if that's true, if he knew from the time he got this commission two years ago that he could not indict the president and, therefore, it would be unfair to accuse him if you can't indict him, why didn't he say so the first day of the job. because we've been waiting for two years, all of america was waiting for him to come out and give us a verdict. he didn't give us a verdict. he said it's up to congress to have the verdict. >> well, if he had said it more explicitly, that would be one thing. he didn't say it quite that explicitly. we want to investigate the president but you can't indict him if you finding anything wrong and you can't te

mueller's team wrote for public consumption, for congress' consumption and that was what robert mueller was trying to convey in this letter to barr in late march, that he could release the summaries to clear up the misunderstanding about the findings while the redaction process was ongoing, anderson. >> has the white house had any reaction to this? this story broke in "the washington post" a short time ago. >> the white house has not had a reaction. i reached out to the white house and they say they likely will not comment at this time. that doesn't mean that the president himself will be tweeting. we do know though that before the mueller report was released, anderson, that there were communications between the white house counsel's office and the department of justice and during the time of these communications bill barr would have already received that letter from mueller and so it remains to be seen whether this was ever conveyed to the white house as well, robert mueller's displeasure. >> pam brown, thank you very much. >>> joining us, cnn senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin and da

and what for robert mueller? >> asha, if you were robert mueller watching that yesterday, what are you thinking this morning and what questions do you think you have to answer to congress and the american people? >> i think robert mueller watching that yesterday would find that what barr did at the hearing was just more of what he did in his initial letter and then later in his press conference which was to confuse and obfuscate and misstate and mislead about the law. i think that mueller could come in and clarify those things. i think mueller is an incredibly under stated person. he's not going to editorialize in person any more than in writing. he can certainly clarify the nature and context of his findings which is what he believed barr had not done accurately >> david chalyan, now almost 24 hours later, what do you think is the thing that sticks with everyone after this barr testimony? >> we have to get some other version of the story that's being told of the march 5 meeting that barr had with mueller. that's

we didn't hear either of those words from robert mueller today. certainly didn't hear total exoneration. robert mueller said the opposite of what the president said which is that there's still potentially more to be done. it just isn't going to be done by the office of the special counsel. >> peter, all of those points so interesting. joining us by phone is former acting solicitor general of the yi united states who helped write the original legislation that enabled this investigation. neil, your take away. >> i think two things. it was classic mueller. just by the book. exactly sticking to what the report said but number two, what he chose to pull out of the report and emphasize. the idea if he could clear the president, he would. that the office of special counsel has folks of the highest integrity and the like he couldn't charge the president under doj guidelines. all of that taken together is a very damming portrait of the president. what this is all about is one thing, the next step. what mueller is saying between the lines is that next step

robert mueller also said this. we did not, however, make determination as to whether the president did commit a crime. so you can't just hang it on the first part of the sentence -- ashley: but they will. stuart: low of the day, minus 331 points. next, stephen moore. we are talking mueller and interest rates. stuart: got to keep an eye on your money today. low of the day for the dow, we are minus 374 points. that's 1.5%. look at that nasdaq, down 1.25%. you are down all across the board today. in part, this is a reaction to what robert mueller had to say in his announcement 43 minutes ago. i want to bring in stephen moore, heritage foundation guy, knows a lot about this. my interpretation of what mueller had to say was that he had opened the door to house democrats to pursue an impeachment charge based on obstruction of justice. that's my reading. that's why the market's down so much. what say you? >> well, that wasn't exactly my reading. i'm not a lawyer, and i'm not familiar with all the legal mumbo-jumbo but i w

lou: the radical dems, they're frustrated and disappointed in robert mueller. and yet some members of the national left-wing media were saying this really is an open, open charge to go ahead and impeach the president. facts, opinion. what's happening in the national left-wing media? we'll have all of that and much more right after this break. stay with us. ♪ i had a heart problem. i was told to begin my aspirin regimen, and i just didn't listen. until i almost lost my life. my doctors again ordered me to take aspirin, and i do. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. listen to the doctor. take it seriously. can the past help you write the future? can you feel calm in the eye of a storm? can you do more with less? can you raise the bar while reducing your footprint? for our 100 years we've been answering the questions of today to meet the energy needs of tomorrow. southern company lou: robert mueller today took 9:40 n which he announced his resignation of special counsel, the closing of the special counsel office and to announce his

robert mueller did 400 pages and laid it all out. the attorney general made his decision based on mueller's information, everybody eats forgetting that. the entire decision was based on mueller's report and the information he laid out. he couldn't make a determination, so it goes to the next step in the process, and they confirmed there was no obstruction. reporter: was mueller's statement today fair? press sec. sanders: mueller's statement -- reporter: you just laid out what this administration has been doing to prevent russian interference at the core of this whole thing in the first place. reporter: why haven't we heard any of that from president trump himself? press sec. sanders: he literally had his entire team that is working on this process. he instructed our team to go out and layout what we are doing to protect from not just russian interference, but any interference from any government or otherwise. he said it a number of times. there was interference and that we are taking steps from it happening again. you guys constantly

it's from robert mueller himself. that scathing rebuke in mueller's letter to barr after mueller did that four-page summary where mueller says, you mischaracterized our report. it failed to capture the nature, contents and substance -- >> will you continue to work with the attorney general going forward if you think he should resign? >> i absolutely have an obligation to work with him. i will continue to work with him and the department of justice. i'm a member of the judiciary committee. i believe in the rule of law not the rule of trump. we'll work together >> i don't think you will get a chance to question robert mueller yourself because lindsey graham said he's done with this. i expect robert mueller to testify before congress. likely the house side, probably the house judiciary committee. we are not sure yet. what i want to know is if you could ask robert mueller one or two questions, what would they be? >> i am still hopeful that we will have the opportunity in the senate judiciary committee to question robert m

jerry nadler said if he had to subpoena robert mueller he would subpoena robert mueller but jerry nadler after robert mueller's comments yesterday did not weigh in on that specifically. we do know that democrats want him to come still. the speaker nnandi pelosi said it yesterday and adam schiff, stenny heuer, the majority leader said it yesterday and the reason it was put into context by pelosi herself saying it would be useful. i was texting back and forth with a member of the house democratic caucus says the power of these images, even if it's just robert mueller reading verbatim from the report carries so much more weight in the democrat's views than just the 440-page report in and of itself. democrats want that. they want that testimony. they want it to be public. that's what they are going form. the question is how far are they willing to go to get there? we don't know the teens that just yet. brianna? >> phil mattingly on the hill. thank you so much. >> the host of "the lead kwnd "and "state of the union" is here to discuss. first of all, let's talk broadly about what we saw this m

robert mueller has been undermined. mueller needs to testify right away to tell -- share with the nation his findings and to interpret the report, which is incredibly damning. and bill barr has some serious explaining to do beginning tomorrow morning before the senate judiciary committee. >> carrie cardero, for everyone who was confident that the attorney general was a straight shooter, what are they saying now? >> i think as far as the attorney general goes, once he gave his press conference on the 18th when he released his report, he really did a lot of damage to himself at that point, because it was clear when the report came out and we all read it that it was different from his four-page summary he had released days before. but this goes to a whole new level that just three days after the attorney general sent his summary letter, the special counsel and his team were immediately so disturbed by the way that the attorney general characterized their lengthy investigation and their report that they documented it. and i

none that robert mueller himself has presented. but if you are looking for countries that really do influence american politics, there are quite a few. anyone who lives in d.c. can tell you that russia did not make the list. mexico definitely does. at the beginning of the past presidential election cycle, for example, mexico began what bloomberg news described as an unprecedented effort to give american citizenship for permanent residents livings here in the u.s. the point was obvious, of course, to make them voters so they could vote to defeat donald trump russia never considered election hacking that bold. mexico's current foreign minister from 2006 to 2012. he was the mayor of mexico city. very famous man in that country. between those two jobs he was here in the u.s. what was he doing? he was working on behalf of the democratic party. he urged latino voters in spanish to turn out to vote for hillary clinton. he then compared donald trump to adolf hitler, subtly not being one of his strong suits. imagine if the russians did some

he said that robert mueller was conflicted. this after a couple of weeks ago he said robert mueller was an honorable man. his reading of the special counsel report was that it was in favor of him. he said that president obama never confronted russia on election interference when, in fact, we know the president at the time directly confronted vladimir putin in a way that this president has not. you will remember this president stood next to vladimir putin and accepted his denial of interference in the election. >> and just had that call with him and didn't bring it up. >> repeatedly. oddly enough he does confirm a story which the navy had contested and that is that u.s. navy made an effort to block the name of the "u.s.s. john mccain," which is named after both john mccain's father and grandfather, the first two father and son pair to hold the rank of four star admiral. he said the president, they thought they were doing me a favor. the president apparently confirming -- >> is that someone in the what u.s. did that. >> on direct

robert: dan, you've observed robert mueller for years. he's an ititutionalist. he's known for his integrity. how much power do his words carry? dan: this is an extraordinary thing that happened. there are very few people who come weph aation of a robert mueller. he is as everybody says. he isheltimate professional public servant who has had ali st reputation in everything he has done, and for him t through this two-year process, to prepare the report and then find himself upset about what the attorney general has and as laura said to put it in writing is an amazing act on his part. its -- it is an act of defiance by somebody who we neverhi of as somebody who would defy the authoritieswh fo he's working. robert: an act of defiance. but inside of the department of justice, you have an attorney general who states that robert mueller was not questioning his conduct but was raising concerns about mediaon confu what's the view inside of d.o.j. about how this all played out? carrie: to hear bill barr tell edia'sis was largely the fault, not his own part. in part it was

>>> tonight robert mueller breaks his two-year silence.bl his first pu comments on the russia investigation. mueller giving answers to esngering mysteries, contra addicting the prent and the attorney general. reminding congress whose job it is to hold the president acuntable. >> if we had had confidence that the president clearly did not co it a crime, we would have said so. >> a flurry of new calls for impeachment proceedings. >> bob mueller was referring impeachment to the united states congress. >> pressure intensifyingn the house speaker t whilehe president says case closed. ksre neighborhoods blown away by two straight weef tornados and violent storms racing east from texas to new york. slow motion disaster unfolding from louisiana to south dakota. >> l extrebeck's stunning news about a battle with pancreatic cancer. the update he calls kind of mind boggling. about the nation's airlines and what they are getting right and wrong when it comes toustomer satisfaction and which ranks best. the world's smallest baby ever born to survive. she was just eight ounces at birth. how she is doing

frank figliuzzi who worked for robert mueller. jeremy robash, former chief of staff at cia and the pentagon, former chief counsel for the house intel committee. katie benner, justice department reporter for "the new york times," and philip rucker, pulitzer prize winning bureau chief for "the washington post." thank you all for being on our broadcast tonight. frank, i'd like to begin with you. for the long view, what is it we have just witnessed? >> we saw a man of great integrity, a public servant, career public servant stand up and take control of a situation that he was losing control of. the talk of public testimony, congressional senate hearings, house hearings, he decided enough was enough. he was going to speak. people who know mueller know that this was both typical mueller and atypical, because today he publicly although in a measured fashion rebuked his boss. that's very atypical for mueller. what was typical today is the measured tone, was the sticking to the facts and not becoming the story himself. the takeaway for me

robert mueller said today that he could not proceed with an indictment. listen. >> first, the opinion explicitly permits the investigation of a sitting president because it is important to preserve evidence while memories are fresh and documents available. second, the opinion says of the constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing. >> we have one more. that statement to reporters sets up a conflict with the public testimony from the attorney general william barr in early may. during that testimony, william barr said explicitly that when robert mueller came to him prior to the report's completion he said he could not reach a conclusion about obstruction, but that situation had nothing to do with this long-standing policy. the office of legal counsel memo. listen to the attorney general. >> special counsel mueller stated three times to us in that meeting, in response to our questioning, that he emphatically was not saying that, "but for the olc opinion," he would have found obst

robert mueller wanted to exonerated —— if robert mueller wanted to exonerate the president he would have said so. instead he made clear the obstruction of justice instead he made clear the obstruction ofjustice which he found substantial evidence of is a serious crime which goes to the core of our justice system serious crime which goes to the core of ourjustice system and that the constitution points to congress to ta ke constitution points to congress to take action to hold the president accountable. that is exactly what we will do. donald trump's press secretary sarah sanders has just been answering reporter's questions on what robert mueller had to say. what we heard from the white house was, no collusion, no obstruction. what we are hearing today is no collusion, no conspiracy. does the white house now acknowledged that the report did not specifically say no obstruction? we have been very clear that the entire purpose of the investigation was to determine whether or not there was collusion. he determined there was no collusion, he further determined he did not have enough informatio

mueller, the special counsel robert mueller has finally spoken offering up his first public comments on the russia investigation after two years of silence. his words offering clear discrepancy with the explanations from the attorney general bill barr. and even though the justice department and mueller's office released a joint statement claiming there is no conflict between them, t

lou: the radical dems, they're frustrated and disappointed in robert mueller. and yet some members of the national left-wing media were saying this really is an open, open charge to go ahead and impeach the president. facts, opinion. what's happening in the national left-wing media? we'll have all of that and much more right after this break. stay with us. ♪ lou: robert mueller today took 9:40 n which he announced his resignation of special counsel, the closing of the special counsel office and to announce his return to private life of and, of course, recast the purpose of the creation of the special counsel's office that he led for two years. mueller would have us believe it was all about russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. it was not. if it were, mueller would have been investigating the role of the intelligence community and its 17 agencies that apparently didn't realize what was happening in the months of campaigning leading up to election and all of that russian interference. if it were, why would the president's firing of dirty cop j

frustration there from robert mueller. but mr barr has been hitting back today as well. the us attorney—general has told cbs news that as far as he is concerned robert mueller could have come to a conclusion about the question of crime despite his suggestion that that was not possible. i personally felt he could have reached a decision. in your view, he could have reached a conclusion? right, he could have reached a conclusion. the opinion says you cannot indict a president while he is in office, but he could have reached a decision as to whether it was criminal activity. but he had his reasons for not doing it, which he explained, and i am not going to argue about those reasons. but when he didn't make a decision, the deputy attorney—general rod rosenstein and i felt it was necessary for us as the heads of the department to reach that decision. what is really frustrating the white house is that the ball has now been firmly passed to congress. this suggestion by robert mueller that really there are still questions there means now congressional committees can start to

jim, the president seems really rattled by robert mueller's public statement and the reaction to it. >> president trump gave fact checkers quite a workout today as he opened up a fire hose of falsehoods on special counsel robert mueller. that performance came after he -- the president appeared to accidentally concede that the russians helped him win the 2016 election one day after special counsel robert mueller left the door open to the possibility that the president has engaged in criminal behavior, mr. trump fired back. >> i think mueller is a true never trumper. he's somebody that dislikes donald trump. he's somebody that didn't get a job that he requested that he wanted very badly. and then he was appointed. and despite that, and despite $40 million, 18 trump haters, including people that worked for hillary clinton and some of the worst human beings on earth, they got nothing. it's pretty amazing. >> reporter: much of what the president said wasn't true. for starters, the latest estimated cost of the mueller report and russia investigation is $25 million, not $40 million. as for

"what robert robert mueller bay did was return a referral. it's up to congress all this president accountable. we need to start impeachment proceedings. it's our constitutional obligation." capri? >> capri: i think putting words in the mouth of law enforcement officials is dangerous. i recognize that kamala harris is obviously a former attorney general, a very large state. but i do think, politically, it's going to become increasingly more difficult for nancy pelosi in particular to send off the cries from -- from the impeachment crew. you have five committees that are dealing with everything under the sun. jerry nadler in the house judiciary committee, it's obvious they are taking this as a message from mueller that this is a "pass the baton" moment that they have an obligation to continue investigation. i think some of these 2020 folks are using more pointed and incendiary language to basically take it one step further and say, "we need to jump on the gun for impeachment." one other quick thing i want to note, though, because of the discrep

it is thanks to robert mueller, he says his only public statement. kristin fisher has the latest from the white house. mike emanuel has more on the impeachment push from a growing number of democrats the first here is katherine herridge with the bottom line for mueller. >> robert mueller's covered the same ground as the rest report on alleged collusion and obstruction but the special counsel chose to emphasize what shook washington. >> if we had confidence that the president did not commit a crime we would have said so. >> reporter: breaking his silence robert mueller made clear he and his team did not exonerate donald trump or charge him with the crime of obstruction saying he was constrained by existing regulations. >> long-standing policy, a present president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office. that is unconstitutional. >> reporter: without using the word impeachment or naming congress mueller said regulations didn't allow his team to gather evidence for future action. >> the constitution requires a process other than the

none that robert mueller himself has presented. if you're looking for countries that do influence american politics there are quite a few. anyone who lives in d.c. can tell you that, russia does not make the list, mexico definitely does. at the beginning of the past presidential election cycle, mexico began with "bloomberg news" described as an unprecedented effort to get american citizenship for its ntpermanent residents living in the u.s. the point was obvious to makee them voters so they could vote to defeat donald trump. russia never considered election hacking that bold, mexico did.or mexico's current foreign minister, he was the mayor of mexico city. between his two jobs he was here in the u.s., he was working on the half of l the democratic pa democratic party. he urged latino voters to turn out to vote for hillary clinton he then compared donald trump to adolf hitler. imagine if the russians did something like that, put a friend of vladimir putin the former mayor of moscow in the u.s. to spend an entire election cycle recor