situation room." breaking news tonight, the white house slamming special counsel robert mueller for not determining whether president trump obstructed justice and leaving congress to take up the question. in a letter obtained by cnn, the white house counsel emmett flood denigrates mueller's report by putting him news as a prosecutorial curiosity, compared it to a law school exam paper. >>> also breaking, new reporting from "the new york times" revealing that the fbi sent an undercover investigator to meet with trump campaign adviser george papadopoulos to probe possible campaign ties to russia. >>> and attorney general william barr's war with house democrats is escalating tonight with speaker nancy pelosi accusing barr of lying to congress as the head of the judiciary committee threatens to hold barr in contempt. we'll talk about that and more with the top democrat on the senate intelligence committee, senator mark warner, in his first television interview since the release of the mueller report. >>> and our correspondents and analysts are also standing by. first, let's go to our wh

. well deserved. >> thank you very much. >>> right now , the white house exerts executive privilege telling don mcgahn not to comply with house subpoena for white house documents as the senate majority leaders says it's time to move on from the russia investigation. >> how with can end this groundhog day spectacle. stop endlessly relitigating a two and a half year old election result and move forward for the american people. >>> coming up, kamala harris. >>> spy versus spy. the fbi director breaks with his boss, who said the fbi spied on the trump campaign. >> when fbi conduct investigations against alleged mobster, suspected terrorists, do you believe they are engaging in spying? >> that's not the term i would use. >>> the big leagues. mayor pete talks to craig melvin on the today show about the challenges of being a relative unknown in this large presidential field. >> there's also a lot of known quantities in this race. the exciting thing is that i think this race will create a fair playing field over the people who have been in the public sphere for longer than i've been alive.

president trump was publicly praising robert mueller, behind the scenes the white house was gearing up to attack him. there is a letter from a white house counsel calling it a law school examine paper and accusing mueller of not doing his job. >>> and he lied. nancy pelosi accuses attorney general barr of lying to con. she is calling it a crime. this came after the attorney general refused to testify before the house judiciary committee turning today's hearing into a show. featuring an empty chair and bucket of chicken. tonight democrats want to hold barr in contempt. >>> under cover operative, a blockbuster new report from the "new york times" reveals the fbi was so concerned that the trump campaign had been infiltrated by the russians that seasoned investigator undercover to question george papadopoulous. will the revelations help or hurt the president? >>> and moore is less. a second trump pick for the federal reserve board was just forced to back out. and he blames the unrelenting attacks on my character. were both democrats and republicans right to call moore unqualified for the job?

in a growing standoff with the trump white house. a contempt vote against the attorney general, william barr, remains set for tomorrow, despite negotiations this afternoon. the white house also ordered don mcgahn to ignore a committee subpoena to turn over his documents. could he be cited for contempt, as well? >>> it's over? democrats are livid after the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell declares case closed on the mueller investigation. house speaker nancy pelosi says the case is not closed. is she correct when she complains president trump is, quote, goading us to impeach him. >>> iran threat. cnn is learning alarming new information about what led to a new u.s. military buildup in the middle east. why are the iranians moving short-range ballistic missiles by boat? >>> and he's ready. joe biden's wife, jill, sits down with cnn's dana bash to discuss her family, the shattering loss of biden's son, be bo, and the controversy over her husband's questionable touching of other women. how does shelf about his new race for the white house? >>> i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the

close eye on the white house. that is the rose garden where at any moment we'll see the first lady melania trump, she will be talking about her "be best" program. keeping a close eye on that. but first though, my one-on-one interview with mayor pete buttigieg. and how he says he would take on president trump in a head to head battle. mayor pete went from a south bend secret to national candidate in literally a matter of months. they announced new hires for top positions in iowa and new hampshi hampshire. and his $7 million first quarter haul was not the biggest, but the mayor is clearly punching above his weight class in a contest that features names like joe biden, bernie sanders and kamala harris. i talked with mayor pete monday in south carolina and we started with the question that he probably gets most. it is the question that lot of people want to know. is 37 simply too young to run for president? >> well, the best answer i have to the question of age is experience. i have more government experience than the president of the united states. and that might be a low bar, but i'v

russian interference had sparked a secret fbi investigation that followed trump into the white house. >> the very inauguration of president trump, you know, posel es to the fbi, because they have instigations on paul manafort, the former campaign chairman; carter page, foreign policy adviser to the presidens campaign; george papadopoulos, the foreign policy adviser to the campaign; and michael flynn, the national security adviser. so, i mean, these are fourn peoplee national security space who are all under fbi vestigation. >> narrator: within the firstek f trump's presidency, fbi director james comey received a. phone ca >> surprise call from the president. "want to come over for dinner, jim? and comey says, "uh... yeah, sure, mr. president." >> narrator: when he a at the white house for dinner, comey discovered the table had been set for two >> two. nobody else is going to be there. he and the president. >> narrator: suspicious of the president's motives for the meeting, comey would type a record of the conversation. >> we sat facing each other at a small oval table set for two ane placed

came first from "the wall street journal" under this headline, quote, don mcgahn rebuffed white house request to say trump didn't obstruct justice. you might remember in robert mueller's report don mcgahn recounts in detail how president trump ordered him to fire robert mueller. don mcgahn said no. he would resign if the president tried to force him to do it. the president then told don mcgahn to create a false record denying any of that ever happened. mcgahn also declined to do that. according to this new reporting from "the wall street journal" tonight, the president was not done asking don mcgahn for things even after he left the white house. right after robert mueller's report was submitted to the justice department, after mueller's report was submitted to the justice department and shown to the white house so they could see how don mcgahn was this key witness to all of these alleged incidents of obstruction of justice by the president, the president we now know from this reporting in "the wall street journal" later confirmed by "the new york times" and by nbc news. the president had his

seem to not do well, as we saw with jeff sessions and on down, the white house counsel as well. i served under christopher wray when he was head of the criminal division of the doj. he has a reputation for being a prosecutor. look, attorney general barr ought to have known what he was saying when he used to word spying. >>ia don't believe it when we heard from sources around barr who said he uses that word, he didn't think it meant anything more than surveillance essentially. >> that's a big word to use in congressional testimony. as a prosecutor, as a former prosecutor, a current prosecutor, knowing full well what the connotations of the term spying are versus legally authorized surveillance, we're not talking about rats and godfather stuff here, you're talking about courts having authorized this surveillance. it's a very imprecise word to use at best, and perhaps even worse than that. >> also, chris wray, he also said in his testimony that he personally doesn't have evidence of illegal surveillance of the 2016 presidential campaigns. but barr, again, back in april, he said that

the actual nomination, let alone the white house, without releasing his or her taxes. this random tax lawyer in southern california published this piece in "forbes" saying no, no, no, as far as i'm concerned, donald trump should not release his taxes. well, when donald trump, in fact, was elected president of the united states months later, he decided, well, when it was time to pick a nominee to become commissioner of the irs, wasn't there a guy who wrote an op-e d'back during the campaign? he looked around this great land of ours full of 320 million capable souls and decided the best capable person in the entire country to run the irs during the trump administration would be that random guy who wrote that period op-ped in 2016 saying, of course, donald trump shouldn't release his taxes. that's who trump nominated to run the irs. he remains the irs commissioner today. now, commissioner, of course, that's the number one job in the irs. the number two job in the irs is the the chichief counsel at tha agency. this past month "the new york times" reported that president trump personally i

] announcer: next on the presidency, white house historical association historians matthew costello and lindsay chervinsky talk about their jobs and the history and preservation. >> matthew you are a senior , historian of the white house historical association. i have read you wrote or said that the white house touches on almost every facet of american history. what did you mean by that and give me some examples? matthew: i always see the white house as a place where you can study american history through a wide variety of perspectives and lenses. if you are interested in the people, and you can learn more about the people who live there, the people who work there, the people who built it, the people who repaired it. if you're interested in looking at artifacts, serial culture, paintings, fine arts, decorative arts, the white house has all of those things as well. if you are into politics, policy obviously, that is the big one people think about. even in terms of pop culture, or political culture, understanding the white house is a symbol for american democracy. and how that symbol has

findings of the mueller report. >> that sentiment echos the white house, where the president has gone to great lengths to stonewall documents, testimonies and key figures related to mueller's findings. >>> just earlier today, nbc news obtained a letter directing former counsel don mcgahn not to comply with the congressional subpoena. in a letter from the chairman house judiciary committee, the white house documents they seek don't belong to don mcgahn, they long to the white house. joining me for the latest fallout is kelly o'donnell. this is becomeing a straight up fight who has the power to get the things they need. the white house now for the third time has said no to a very direct request from congress. whether it's mueller or mcgahn or mnuchin. the white house is saying no what happens next? >> reporter: well, it is, in part, control of the clock, wanting to extend some of these back and forth power struggles over information for paz long as possible as we get into the campaign season and certainly it's an issue for the president to use to make his argument that he likes to

pleased and honored to have your with us this morning but you need very little introduction. white house counsel, the attorney general and current dean of belmont law, alberto gonzales. welcome him for joining us this morning. thank you for coming up, we appreciate it. alberto: thanks for getting up early and you and i had mixed feelings every time i come back to washington, dc. how many great memories but also bad memories. it's tough being attorney general of the united states, as our current attorney general is appreciating more and more each day. logan: i think that is right. we will tackle the elephant in the room since you mentioned it first. so i know that you have a relationship with both the attorney general and special counsel mueller. talk a little bit about the dynamics between the white house the attorney general and a , special prosecutor, special counsel in a situation like this who is working together, how that is -- just to educate everybody in the room. martin: i don't have much of a -- alberto: i don't have much of a relationship with bill barr. obviously because of the circle

honored to needsith us, someone who little introduction, white house ofnsel, the current dean belmont law, alberto gonzales. [applause] thank you for coming up. we appreciate it. >> thank you for getting up early. i have mixed feelings. it is tough being the attorney general of the united states. we will tackle the elephant in the room and get into it. you have relationships with the attorney general and special counsel robert mueller. talk about the dynamics between the white house, the attorney general, and the special prosecutor, special counsel, in a situation like this, who is working together? educate everyone in the room. >> i do not have a relationship with william barr. we know each other. route -- bob mueller was the attorney general and we met every morning. we would go to the fbi building, sit down with bob and receive a briefing. briefing from cia analysts. so obviously working with bob and i was involved in getting bob nominated. during bush's first term so i know him very well. and obviously between the white house and department of justice, there are clear line

side, go to the tehran bureau chief, and from the latest at the white house, chief white house correspondent hallie jackson. let me start with you. that's the question to ask. what is the administration trying to do? there was an iran deal, the president campaigned against it. his national security adviser hasn't been in favor of that deal. now president trump talks of threatening to them but talking to them, getting negotiation, getting nuclear weapons out of their hands. what's the end goal? >> reporter: this is classic donald trump, notably on the foreign policy front. the negotiating tactic with kim jong-un, fire and fury interspersed with being in love. it is similar with the iranian regime. the president in that fox news interview taped it last week, prior to the tweets talking about warning of the end of iran and that of course sparking the foreign minister's fiery response. it is mixed messaging and back and forth. this is a president as his advisers will say likes to keep adversaries off balance. this appears to be if you want to call it strategy, a strategy to do just that. there's

respected man, very unfairly. >> the president also saying the former white house counsel don mcgahn, the trump official most cited in the mueller report shouldn't testify before congress and i'll speak about all of this and more with white house deputy press secretary steven groves. but first, the team is here with that story an the other headlines to watch at this hour. i want to get to jeff bennett on capitol hill, kelly o'donnell at the white house. jeff, what are democrats' options right now as they try to compel barr to release the full mueller and of course to testify. yesterday he was a no-show on capitol hill. >> reporter: you're right about that. great to see you. democrats, house democrats anyway, many of them have moved beyond wanting barr to testify and don't see him as an honest broker in any of this and think he is running interference for president trump and what they want more than ever perhaps is what they've been demanding for months is full unredacted mueller report and the everyday. here's the truth, democrats don't really have a good range of options when it com

it's just -- it's just sort of happening now. it's a brand new white house statement that says, quote, today at the request and recommendation of the attorney general of the united states, president donald j. trump directed the intelligence community to quickly and fully cooperate with the attorney general's investigation into surveillance activities during the 2016 presidential election. the attorney general has also been delegated full and complete authority to declassify information pertaining to this investigation, in accordance with the long-established standards for handling classified information. today's action will help ensure that all americans learn the truth about the events that occurred and the actions that were taken during the last presidential election and will restore confidence in our public institutions. again, that statement tonight from the white house. the white house then released this memorandum which is titled memorandum on agency cooperation with the attorney general's review of intelligence activities related to the 2016 presidential campaigns. campa

empty chair as the white house defies yet another subpoena and as more house democrats begin to think enough is enough. former white house counsel don mcgahn is supposed to be testifying in public under oath any minute now, chiefly about the accounts he already gave to the special counsel of apparent obstruction of justice attempts by president trump. >> instead, mcgahn almost surely will be cited for contempt, though maybe not today. and democrats who have sided with the house speaker, nancy pelosi, against beginning impeachment proceedings, may begin to rethink their reluctance. let's go to manu raju who joins us on the hill. we all remember the fireworks three weeks ago. the attorney general did the same thing to the same committee. so more fireworks on tap today? >> no question about it. expect democrats to express their outrage at what they believe is what they're calling a lawlessstration, not listening to subpoenas, and the white house instructing don mcgahn not to show up because they say he's not to be compelled to testify because he's a senior level white house aide, and exp

white house's use of the rare presidential secrecy stood in stark contrast to trump and his allies total exoneration from the president from the mueller report. democrats argue if trump really had nothing to hide, he and barr wouldn't block so many investigations. in the associated press reports quote though the white house initially hesitated on invoking privilege, trump told his staff and political advisors in recent weeks to refuse to cooperate with democrats believing the golfs to damage him politically into the reelection campaign. the battle could stretch to 2020 and the white house could tie up congressional probes until election day. earlier tonight at a rally in florida, president trump spoke about democrats and the attorney general. >> after two years, nothing. no collusion. and now the democrats, we have a great attorney general, now the democrats are saying we want more. it was going to be we want the mueller report. now they say mueller report? no, we want to start all over again. it is a disgrace. >> and meanwhile, as we mentioned, donald trump junior has now been sub

mcgann has been directed by the white house not to appear before the house judiciary committee, which doesn't make democrats happy. and republican senators head to a meeting with president trump in about an hour to get the l e latest on immigration. this is "the daily briefing." but first the white house telling former counsel don mcgann not to comply with a subpoena for documents related to the mueller report, as the standoff between president trump and house democrats continues. john roberts is live on the north lawn with more. john, this isn't even about him appearing in person, it's just about documents at this point. >> reporter: yeah, correct. this is yet another subpoena fight that's brewing between the white house and the folks up on capitol hill. this morning 10 a.m. was the deadline for don mcgann to submit documents to the house judiciary committee in connection with the mueller report and the testimony mcgann gave to mueller. instead of getting documents from mcgann, what jerry nadler got was a letter from the white house counsel which said in part, the white house records

. cnn's jeremy diamond is at the white house. jeremy, the president has a lot on his mind. he's been retweeting an awful lot. let's talk about the president's comments about investigating biden. >> reporter: that's right. the president, in an interview yesterday with politico essentially leaving the door open to directing his attorney general, bill barr to investigate some questions of conflict of interest involving the former vice president who donald trump, in that same interview referred to as essentially the likely nominee, the likely democratic nominee, who he expects to face in the 2020 general election. now, these questions of conflicts of interest are things that the president and his allies have been pushing for several weeks now and relates to the vice president's roll at the time hunter biden was on the board of a ukrainian natural gas company that was being investigated by that prosecutor. now, it's important to note that biden was one of several foreign leaders calling for this prosecutor to step down. there is no evidence, at this point, of wrong doing. at the same time

president of the swiss federation this hour. the white house making it very clear the point of the meeting is to try and establish a back channel of communication with the iranian leadership. the president also making a pitch -- almost making a pitch for it in public last week. listen. >> what i would like to see with iran, i would like to see them call me. >> call me, please. this, as new details are emerging on what exactly spiked tensions with iran in the first place. "the new york times" is reporting on photographs showing iranian paramilitary forces loading missiles into small boats at iranian ports. cnn last week reported movement of those missiles was one of the critical factors in the u.s. sending a strike group to the region. let's get the latest on this. cnn's abby phillip is at the white house. barbara starr is at the pentagon. abby, you have all of this going on and also reporting that the president right now is not happy with his advisers on this very issue of how to take on iran. what's going on? >> that's right, kate. sometimes these discussions about what's going on

the rachel maddow shadow. have a great week. "deadline: white house" with nicole wallace starts right now. >>> it's 4:00 in new york. this is what obstruction of justice looks like. two pieces of evidence that a federal judge has ordered to be made public could impact public opinion about the obstruction of justice investigation into donald trump. that investigation looked into trump's efforts to thwart the russia probe and ended with special counsel robert mueller saying he could not exonerate the president. now a federal judge has ordered the public release of some of the evidence that robert mueller contemplated when he wrote that he could not say that the president hadn't committed crimes. that evidence includes a transcript of a phone call that stood in the center of the fbi's investigation into mt. fujichae flynn. and a phone call between john dowd and flynn's lawyer. "the washington post" writes a federal judge on thursday ordered that prosecutors make public a transcript of a phone call that former national security adviser michael flynn tried hard to hide with a lie. hi

general barr, has the president or anyone at the white house ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone? >> um, i wouldn't -- i wouldn't -- >> yes or no. >> could you -- could you repeat that question. >> i will repeat it. has the president or anyone at the white house ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone, yes or no, please, sir. >> um, the president or anybody else. >> seems you would remember something like that and be able to tell us. >> yeah, but i'm trying to grapple with the word suggest. i mean, there have been discussions of matters it out there that they have not asked me to open an investigation. but -- >> perhaps they've suggested? >> i don't know. i wouldn't say suggest. >> hinned? >> i don't know. >> i don't know. that's the best he could do. william barr knows how to give a yes or no answer. >> is the white house exerting any influence on your decision whether to allow special counsel mueller to testify in congress and when? >> no. >> the time to watch william barr is when he's given a yes or no question and he does no

as an imminent threat. the white house has note provided details or evidence of what the threats are. jennifer griffin is all over this story reporting live from the pentagon. good afternoon. >> good afternoon, ed. pentagon officials say they're not investigating the attack near the green zone this weekend. >> the rocket was fired just days after the state department ordered that evacuation of nonessential staff in northern iraq. experts gave iraq what they wanted. more than 5,000 troops remain in iraq last year. a similar rocket attack caused the trump administration to close its consulate in basra, which some at the pentagon views as an overreaction. ed? >> ed: what is the reaction today from the white house? >> the president tweeted after the rocket attack -- >> the iranian foreign minister trolled president trump on twitter saying -- >> president trump tweeted today that it is fake news that he wants to negotiate with iran. contradicting a senior administration official speaking to reporters on president trump's behalf friday. >> in the arabian sea, the u.s.s. abraham lincoln tra

tonight. i'm don lemon. the white house asked the former counsel, don mcgahn to state publicly that president trump did not obstruct justice. but mcgahn declined. the "new york times" reporting the white house made that request to mcgahn twice before and after the mueller report was released. and saying tonight the request was not perceived as something sinister. but a source saying the president was upset with mcgahn's refusal and dmgs moving quickly to get the president's tax returns. issuing subpoenas for six recent years of trump returns. and the treasury secretary refused an official request. are they stone walling? creating a constitutional crisis? tonight we'll look at the big picture. thank you so much for joining us on this friday evening, everyone. what are does it say that president trump wanted don mcgahn to make a statement saying he didn't obstruct justice? >> i guess it's not surprising. it's very reminiscent of some of the anecdote covered in the earlier behavior trying to get intelligence chiefs to make a statement saying he didn't have anything to do with russia. f

staff to former white house counsel don mcgahn. that committee faced an empty chair on tuesday, as mcgahn defied a subpoena for him to appear. and that's fueling calls to start impeachment proceedings against the president. manu raju has our report. >> reporter: one of president trump's closest confidents served with a subpoena. hope hicks, the former communications director, compelled to provide records and testimony to the house judiciary committee next month, about the potential obstruction of justice at the white house. and the committee serving a subpoena to annie donaldson, who served as chief of staff to don mcgahn. but the white house has resisted on all fronts. and former officials cannot be compelled to testify about their conversations with the president. that's prompted more democrats to say the only recourse is impeachment. >> nobody runs for congress with the idea i want to go there and start impeachment. but i think that's what it's come to. >> reporter: tonight, there's a growing rift in the democratic caucus to launch an impeachment inquiry. the pressure building a

moreno who resigned in january. >> sandra: thanks. >> jon: in the meantime the white house is digging in for battle with house democrats this morning. former white house counsel don mcgahn plans to defy a subpoena for his testimony before the house judiciary committee less than an hour from now. now chairman jerry nadler is threatening to take legal action. rich edson is live at the white house with more on that battle. >> good morning, the justice department's office of legal counsel says congress cannot force the former white house counsel, don mcgahn, to testify. so mcgahn's lawyer says he won't. in a letter to jerry nadler mcgahn's attorney writes mr. mcgahn also must honor his ethical and legal obligations as a former senior lawyer and senior advisor to the president. in short, it is our view that the committee's dispute is not with mr. mcgahn but the white house. nadler says he is chairing a hearing this morning and expects mcgahn to appear because he is subpoenaed. if he fails to show the committee can move to hold mcgahn in contempt. earlier this month they voted to hold attorney

from before his presidency to the house oversight committee. >>> the silence of mcgahn. the white house steps in to prevent former counsel don mcgahn from testifying to a house panel, arguing that he has immunity. does that mean mcgahn's chair will be empty at tomorrow's judiciary committee hearing? will he be held in contempt? >>> impeachment threshold. a republican lawmaker is the first to say that president trump's behavior has met the threshold for impeachment. congressman justin amash of michigan is doubling down tonight, sending out a fresh round of tweets, even though he's already facing a primary challenge for speaking out. >>> and loose lips? president trump may never have heard the phrase "loose lips sink ships," known for his unguarded moments, it seems the president may have again given away some sensitive u.s. intelligence. >>> i'm wolf blitzer. you're in the situati"the situ." >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >>> breaking news. the white house moves to block congressional testimony by former white house counsel don mcgahn, claiming that as a former presidenti

where the former white house counsel who described to mueller myriad instances of the president attempting to obstruct justice, and trying to fire the investigators and inducing anybody he could to not cooperate with the fbi or mueller's question, that witness former white house counsel don mcgahn today was the no star show witness from a committee that was convened to hear his testimony. but he didn't show up and they setup an empty chair for him. don mcgahn didn't just decide to stand up the committee for scheduled testimony, he defied a subpoena that legally required him to be there today. he defied that subpoena from orders from the white house. the judiciary rejects that. they now say they'll take every action regardless of what the white house says. also tonight announcing two new subpoenas, former white house communications director hope hicks, also annie donaldson. those subpoenas have gone out to hicks and now presumably the white house will try to block those subpoenas as well, to block those subpoenas from testifying as well. presumably the judiciary committee will ho

white house officials, hope hicks who was a communications director and annie donaldson who was deputy counsel. will they become the latest to defy congressional investigators? >>> calls for impeachment after a former white house counsel don mcgahn fails to show up for a house judiciary committee hearing, more and more democrats are calling for impeachment, as the shous speaker schedules an urgent meeting to try to hold the caucus together. >>> last-ditch appeal. the president's lawyers are appealing a federal judge's ruling, upholding a congressional subpoena for records from his longtime accounting firm, as another judge is to hear an appeal against the president and family members against the subpoena seeking back records. >>> and sprucing up state tv. north korea's propaganda machine gets a makeover, as the pink lady who was the tv face of the regime for decades gives way to a new generation and new techniques. >>> i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room". >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> breaking news. two more former white house officials are slapped with subpoenas as th

elections one party is definitely winning the media game the trump white house is that using new rules for press passes to lock out journalists it doesn't like me and maher whether refugee story and the coverage of it continue to make news and looking to be inspired then look elsewhere it's been a little more than a month now since the 1st votes were cast in the largest democratic exercise on the planet india's general election prime minister narendra modi wants a 2nd term and his party the b j p seems destined for victory how much of that is due to modi is genuine popularity and how much is down to the b j p sprawling publicity machine is another question it comes down to the money over the past financial year the b j p s publicity budget has been 20 times that of the main opposition party the congress that's a lot of extra rallies billboards and social media it's all spent to brand modi as the leader indians need the antithesis to what the b j p. he calls the country's weak anti national and anti hindu opposition throw in a few dozen celebrity endorsements bollywood style a mainstream ne

our two year anniversary, and i'll see you back here monday for deadline white house at 4:00 p.m. >>> i don't think today's actually about getting information. i don't think it's about getting the unredacted mueller report. i don't think last week's hearing was about having staff question the attorney general. i think as my colleagues said earlier oit about trying to destroy bill barr because democrats are nervous he's going to get to the bottom of everything. he's going to find out how and why this investigation started in the first place. >> this is all about impeaching the president. >> good afternoon and welcome to this special edition of "am joy" or as we like to call it "pm joy." as house democrats consider contempt motions against barr and possibly former white house counsel don mcgahn for refusing congressional subpoenas, democratic leadership has been slower to call for impeachment, although the "i" word may be coming closer to reality, "the new york times" reports some democrats who previously urged caution are now saying impeachment might be unevitable. and house speak

accuses the white house as if trump were a tyrant or dictator and our elements of our own government trying to get us elements of our own government trying to get us into a war with iran? they claim incoming threats from iran but members of congress have at least one british general don't seem to know what they are talking about and the alabama governor signs a bill effectively banning abortion and violates the law of the land and reproductive rights are now in something of a ground war across our country as "the 11th hour" gets underway on a wednesday night. >>> well, good evening. once again in nbc headquarters here in new york. day 846 of this trump administration. the state of alabama has now passed what is in effect a ban on abortion in that state. the governor who signed it today admitted quickly because it goes against the law of our land but this bill is designed to challenge that very precedent. tonight we'll look at what this means for the women of alabama, the future of roe v wade, the effect this may have on 2020. we begin in washington because there is news tonight on th

track at a time. >> to watch what happens in the white house would make your jaw drop. >> consider it dropped. he's behind bars or been behind bars two decades for helping terrorists. why the american taliban will walk and sooner than we expected. what is really in your wallet? the study that shows your spending habits may not be the worst thing your credit cards are doing to you. we begin with the show down between president trump and top democrats on the hill. i'm trace gagger in for shepard smith. the president ripping into house speaker nancy pelosi saying at an impromptu news conference, i don't do cover-ups. >> we have a house investigation, we have senate investigations, we have investigations like nobody has ever had before. we did nothing wrong. >> the president also said he won't negotiate policy with democrats while they continue to investigate his administration. it started this afternoon when speaker pelosi told reporters that president trump was involved in a cover-up minutes before a meeting. the president walked out of the sit-down as speaker pelosi started talking. th

reporting that the white house is reviewing a plan to send as many as 120,000 troops to the middle east, should iran attack american forces. the president none the less seemed to boast about what a potential ground invasion would look like. >> i think it's fake news, okay? would i do that? absolutely. but we have not planned for that, hopefully we're not going to have to plan for that, if we did that, we would send a hell of a lot more troops than that. >> our big question today is, what impact will president trump's international gambles have heading into 2020. joining me now, hans nichols. nbc news national security and military reporter courtney cube. also with me, jeremy peters. gabby orr and the director of defending democracy together. the great bill chrystal. courtney, i want to start with you, we have some new reporting here at nbc about these iran plans. what have you learned? >> so what we all have to take a step back and remember is that the pentagon is always planning. they're always putting together some contingency plans, specifically when there's some new intelligenc

us inside the white house based on your reporting. and against a back drop where there has been, i think it is fair to say, some moving of the goalposts. and mr. barr has tried to put his view of things out in washington as the first draft of history. they haven't yet let bob mueller set a date for testimony. then barr today in reports coming out today says he's not blocking the testimony to congress saying it is bob's call. whether he wants to testify. >> there's a lot of pressure on the attorney general to allow him to testify. with regard to the breaking news on general flynn and interaction with his team's interactions with the president's lawyers, there is a feeling inside this white house that they have a blind spot when it comes to some of these obstruction questions. what i mean by that is, there are personal lawyers for the president who have been on the outside. an ever changing cast at times from dowd to giuliani to jay sekulow who have had exchanges and interactions with witnesses in the mueller probe. where it was michael cohen or michael flynn and others. and those co

white house faces another critical week of subpoenas and document deadlines. the president and his allies are facing off with house democrats over dozens of investigations into the actions of the president, and as "the washington post" is reporting today, trump and hits allies are blocking more than 20 separate democratic probes in an all-out war with congress in what many experts are calling the most expansive white house obstruction effort in decades. this woke the two sides could be headed for more clashes. democrats are giving the irs and the treasury department until friday to turn over six years of the president's personal taxes, and democrats are considering multiple contempt charges against trump administration officials, including u.s. attorney general william barr for not turning over the unredacted version of the mueller report. >> here the trump administration has decided to say a blanket no, no to any kind of oversight whatsoever, no witnesses, no documents, no nothing, claiming executive privilege over things that it knows there is no basis for. there's no basis execu

to turn over his private information to congress. >>> mr. trump is directing his former white house counsel to defy a subpoena to testify before congress tomorrow. i'll get reaction from the top fbi lawyer during the russia investigation. >>> running scared? president trump is getting ready to hold a rally in must win pennsylvania tonight. he's ramping up his 2020 campaign with new reasons to feel threatened by joe biden and the democrats. >>> and tornado zone. right now millions of americans are at high risk for catastrophic tornadoes. cnn is on the ground tracking the storms and the danger. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> breaking news, a federal judge orders president trump's longtime accounting firm in new york to give congress financial records from before he took office. it's a win for the democratic controlled house oversight committee, which subpoenaed the information. the president challenged the subpoena in court and is now expected to appeal. als

between, honestly, the white house and the mueller investigation, between the white house and congressional oversight, right? we entered into this thunderdome this week of the president and the white house saying we will block all subpoenas related to robert mueller or anything else. we will block all testimony. we will assert executive privilege over everything robert mueller did. right? and each of these is its own interesting drama, but i think because there are so many points of conflict right now, because the assertions by the white house and by the president are so broad, this stone wall on everything, i think it's become common wisdom however unsustainable this posture might be for the white house in the long run, surely they can use this posture to delay everything for a long time, for months, for years, definitely until after the 2020 election. i understand why it's tempting to feel that way because the amount of things they're fighting on feels so overwhelming but that may not be true. i mean, to the extent that stuff is headed to court, judges don't have to be slow.

today, a white house lawyer ripping robert mueller in a letter to the a.g. so what happened to the president feeling exonerated by the report? and he was one of president trump's top picks for the federal reserve board and he is no longer in the running. stay with us. hello to the best part of the day.... with italian quality pizza. get two medium, one-topping pizzas for just $6.99 each. every store. every day. the italian way. hello primo. with uncontrolled moderate-to-severe eczema,n who got an awful skin condition. or atopic dermatitis, you feel like you're itching all the time. and you never know how your skin will look. because deep within your skin an overly sensitive immune system could be the cause. so help heal your skin from within, with dupixent. dupixent is not a steroid, and it continuously treats your eczema even when you can't see it. at 16 weeks, nearly four times more patients taking dupixent saw clear or almost clear skin compared to those not taking it, and patients saw a significant reduction in itch. do not use if you are allergic to dupixent. serious allergic

. >> we disagree with that ruling. >> as he tries to block his former white house counsel from testifying tomorrow. >> don mcgahn is a really good guy. >> and a top democrat finally goes there on impeachment. >> if don mcgahn doesn't testify, it is time to open an impeachment inquiry. >> tonight the massive stakes over the don mcgahn fight. the implications of the new sweeping repudiation of trump's claim that congress cannot investigate him. and now bipartisan calls for impeaching the president, and the new reporting that trump's current lawyer instructed his former lawyer to lie to congress. >> i am done with the lying. >> when "all in" starts right now. >>> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. tonight for the very first time a federal judge has ruled on a key question in the escalating battle between the president and a congress that is attempting to investigate him. the ruling is not good for donald trump at all. you might remember earlier this month the president challenged a house oversight committee subpoena to his accounting firm for financial records relating t

would require audits and better cooperation. yet, the white house, just as we were on the verge of a markup in the committee, the white house made calls to stop this. were you aware of that? >> no. >> okay. well, that happened. what i would like to you know from you, if you will work with senator langford and i to get this bill done. because otherwise we are not going to have any clout to get backup paper ballots if something goes wrong in this election. >> i will work with you to enhance the security of our election and i'll take a look at what you're proposing. i'm not familiar with it. >> okay. it is the bipartisan bill. it has senator burr and senator warner, senator harris is on the bill, and the leads are senator langford and myself and it had significant support in the house as well. the gru targeted the u.s. state and local agencies along with private firms that are responsible for electronic polling. the voter information and installed malware on a voting technology company's network. the fbi will brief u.s. senator rick scott and florida governor on efforts by russian hac

from the white house hit a new level today blocksing former white house counsel don mcgahn from turning over documents to the house judiciary committee. that comes, of course, the day after attorney general william barr refused to meet a deadline to hand over the full unredacted mueller report to congress. the same day that, as we mentioned, the treasury secretary steve mnuchin said no to turning over the president's taxes. and in at least that incident, tonight we're getting the clearest picture yet of why the president might not want that information out. it doesn't look good for him in that information. joining me is suzanne craig of "the new york times." she serves the biline of this breaking story. "decade in the red: trump's tax figures show over $1 billion in losses." this is incredible in its scope and detail. can you just lay out in your reporting -- again, it's on "the new york times" so people should go read the full thing. we're talking over $1 billion over a decade. >> that's just for his core businesses. every year we looked at, he lost money and the losses grew as he went

difficult to enforce. while the judiciary committee could subpoena him to testify, the white house has already shown a willingness to ignore basically all of it. so today's big question is how far are chairman nadler and speaker pelosi willing to go to hold attorney general barr accountable? joining me, nbc news justice correspondent pete williams, white house correspondent and msnbc political analyst gentleman moosh alcindor, sahill kapur, former deputy assistant attorney general at the doj elliot williams and editor-in-chief and msnbc legal analyst ben wittist. >> i want to start with you this letter that we're getting a chance to read, seems to lay out some rationale from the white house as to why they don't consider -- why they would like to be able to en voc executive privilege. what should we be focused on in this letter? >> they don't exert executive privilege over the report. barr has said that. this is a letter sent the day after the report was made public, sent april 19th. it is a letter from white house counsel emmitt flood saying he wants to, in the words of the letter, mem

>> good evening everybody trump white house today on observancive slapping down congressional radical dems as they continue to carry out their campaign of harassment and obstruction on capitol hill. tonight, we look at the white house response to radical dem in deep state who are stopping at nothing. trying to subvert president and block his policy initiatives. congressman jim jordan all star attorney joe and victoria among our guests here tonight, national security crisis at our southern border raging on illegal immigrants flooding into the country and mexican drug cartel making tens of billions of dollars smuggling illegals and debtly drugs across the mexico border and today the white house released its new plan to secure the border to overhaul u.s. xraition policies. senator lindsey graham today also announced a new immigration plan, and rather strongly suggested his plan is in competition with the presidents. >> the who who white house's plt designed to some. this is designed -- white house plan is trying to not republican party around the security and suppression. >> sena

forget shannon bream's name. >> house democrats firing up a new round of subpoenas but the white house is likely to say not going to happen. democrat leaders dealing with the party split over impeachment just hours after meeting with house democratic caucus. another break in obama world, former attorney general loretta lynch versus fired fbi director james comey over the hillary clinton email investigation and why are obama administration officials breaking lawmakers on the showdown with iran? trump officials laid out their evidence on capitol hill. senator john spoon with what he learned about details behind the threats. we have fox news team coverage tonight. doug mcelway standing by with the democratic split over impeachment, katherine herridge with the latest on loretta lynch versus james comey but we start with a brand-new round of threats from house democrats and the white house refusing to back down. >> another busy night in washington dc. two to new fresh subpoenas for former trump administration officials as another ignored his today and skipped out a meeting before memb

up next. ♪. lou: good evening everyone the trump white house today on the offensive siding down congressional radical dems as they continue to carry out their campaign and obstruction on capitol hill. tonight we look at the white house response to the radical dems in the deep date who are stopping at nothing trying to subvert the president and block his policy initiatives. jeff jordan and victoria tensing them a guest tonight, the national security crisis other southern border region on, illegal immigrants flooding into the country, mexican drug cartel making tens of billions of dollars smuggling illegals and deadly drugs across the mexico border in today the white house has a new plan to secure the border to overhaul immigration policies. lindsey graham also announced a new immigration plan and rather strongly suggested his plan is in competition with the presidents. >> the white house plan is not designed to be a lot of this is designed to become a law. lou: senator graham, we take a look at the broken immigration system, the willingness of the republicans in the radical dems

>>> this is "cnn tonight" and i'm don lemon. frers ask the white house to invoke executive privilege to avoid the attorney general being held in contempt of congress in a matter of hours. that because it's refuse tool hand over the reedakted mueller report. we have more on this very important story in just a minute. also moren the bomb shell breaking news that might explain why president trump is refusing to release his tax returns to house democrats. and revealing president trump's tax information from 1985 through 1994 and over that time trump's businesses lost more money than nearly any other individual taxpayer. so much money that he was able to avoid paying income taxes for eight years. want to get to the breaking news. good evening to you. the department justice responding to the threat to hold the attorney general in contempt tomorrow morning. explain the significance of this breaking news. >> this is a breakdown in communication between the justice department and house judiciary staff. anysert off middle groind over the democrat's demands or laid out in their subpoe

making it very clear that he believes biden is his biggest threat. here's abc's senior white house correspondent cecilia vega tonight. >> reporter: with his supporters lining up to see him, tonight, president trump heads to pennsylvania with one man in mind, democratic front-runner joe biden. the president tweeting he's in the white house because of biden and "the man who took him off the 1% trash heap, president o." president trump won pennsylvania by just one point. biden just held his first rally there. >> so, if you want to know what the first and most important plank in my climate proposal is -- beat trump. beat trump. beat trump. >> reporter: some democrats frustrated by biden's momentum. senator kamala harris has faced questions about whether she'd be biden's running mate. she says he's the one who would make a great number two. >> i think that joe biden would be a great running mate. as vice president, he's proven that he knows how to do the job. >> reporter: also grabbing the president's attention, south bend major pete buttigieg. president trump mocking his age on twitter. buttigieg is