mueller's team disagree with attorney general bill barr's efforts to, what they see, as downplay their evidence in key findings on trump. "the new york times" quoting second hand sources who say that mueller's investigators have strong evidence against trump and that barr was not totally accurate in his rush to release quotes and his own opinion in his now famous letters to congress. there may have been private disagreements during 22 months of the probe. if they're private, we still wouldn't know about them and rod rosenstein was in charge most of that period. we never really saw daylight between mueller's office and the doj during that time. today we're seeing a high stakes rift go public right after mueller turned in his report and before congress has seen any of it. in the spirit of thinking about where we're going, before i go into a few more of the details about why barr's approach is in question, is under fire, i want to you consider where we are in the time line on the substance. not the d.c. messaging. but on substance. bob mueller worked for almost two years, issuing 37 indic

when they become citizens of this nation. i'm going to get into all of that. i begin with bill barr, putting out real-time lines today. under oath to the congress saying he will release some version of the mueller report within a week. >> my original timetable of being able to release this by mid-april stands within a week. i'll be in a position to release it to the public. i think it is important that the public have an opportunity to learn the results of the special counsel's work. >> this release, of course, is the center of maybe one of the biggest fights of the trump presidency. barr has said he will make up his own mind about reall sorts of things from the report. the house democrats have said they're willing to subpoena the whole thing. they want the full report, no redactions. it is sometimes referred to as 6 e. >> we intend to redact information. >> will we have the complete report? >> you mean the unredacted report? >> no. >> if they want to see classified information. >> we have an intelligence committee for that. >> this is what drives the public crazy. when they see som

escalating the pressure on attorney general bill barr to testify this week. barr now threatening to skip thursday's testimony on the mueller report before the judiciary committee. barr now objecting to chairman nadler's plan to have committee lawyers question him. barr's office saying, quote, the attorney general appeared -- agreed to appear before congress. therefore members of congress should be the ones doing the question. chairman nadler speaking out today and getting blunt. they will subpoena barr if they have to. >> the attorney general is afraid to subject himself to questions where he can follow up that may indicate lack of confidence in his own position. and more to the point, we have to get to the bill of these issues. that's why we've called him in. and it's not up to the attorney general to tell the committee how to conduct his business. if he doesn't show up on thursday, we'll have to go to subpoenas. >> chairman nadler telling barr he does not get to pick how the committee questions him, and there are growing questions about how specifically barr handled the mueller report,

. hello! >> hello. thank you, chuck todd. we have big a show. bill barr facing the senate today. this was the first time he's done that since bob mueller finished his probe. the top democrat who runs the party's subpoena power takes a new shot here. speaking pelosi making it clear she doesn't trust barr saying he is not the attorney general of donald trump. he is the attorney general of the united states. i don't trust barr. i trust mueller. and basically comparing his work to a train wreck. >> a very, very dismaying and disappointing that the chief law enforcement officer of our country is going off the rails yesterday and today. >> barr trying to turn attention to his comments on the lawful surveillance of some trump aides today. that was his rhetorical or strategic priority and it has gotten some attention. i would draw your attention to the top of our broadcast to one of the more important substantive revelations. it kams under cross-examination by senator van hollen pressing barr on his own choice to release his own view on findings of obstruction of justice when mueller po

tomorrow with "meet the press" daily. good evening, bill barr, has he briefed you on the mueller report? >> he hasn't briefed me. the briefings are beginning, they've been talking to the white house and we have the press tomorrow. it's huge. hearing your bit above the sky makes me think of the famous gang star song, above the clouds. for political junkies, it samples kennesampl samples john f. kennedy's speech. >> you put it all in there. >> and it was an unredacted song. we'll be seeing you tomorrow with the coverage. i'll be busy, you'll be busy. we're all looking forward to learning facts. >> chuck todd, thank you. we begin here on "the beat" with breaking news. hours before the release of this mueller report expected tomorrow morning, the trump doj has made this announcement. you may have heard about it. it is new. it is not what we knew would happen. but it is now the plan. trump attorney general bill barr holding a press conference at 9:30 a.m., with deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. what i can't tell you is what they're going to do about the redacted report. we know

tonight to washington, trump attorney general bill barr has for the first time named a day he will release his redacted mueller report. that day is thursday, and we're told that in an announcement today. it comes after barr testified he was on pace to release the mueller report this week. and today the justice department says they have this planned. it is plan so they could move again. but the timing is notable because barr is picking when to release his redacted version of this obviously very anticipated report. now it could be a monday to start the week. it could be a friday or the weekend, like some of his memorable letters. it could be good friday. that hits this week. and i'm here to tell you tonight, barr is pretty close because he's told the world for the first time today that of all the days that could begin if multi-day process of reading and reacting to this redacted report, the attorney general has picked the eve of good friday and passover, which could be a sign that barr wants to use this process to try to play down the report heading into a friday holiday weekend rath

here. he has begun to sound a sort of alarm. he says barr has been deeply troubling in the way he has handled at least the obstruction issue. neal katyal is here, and we're actually debuting a new special that will be appearing on "the beat." i'll tell you about what and why we're excited about that, later in the show. then there is this bombshell whistle-blower who says the trump administration has actually mishandled at least 25 different security clearances, all raising questions about national security and jared kushner, who has been in a lot of hot water over clearances. >>> we begin with this fastball from jerry nadler, anticipating that mr. barr over at doj will not meet the democrats' deadline set for tomorrow to release this entire mueller report. barr has said a redacted version is coming this month, or starting today, i should say. nadler said a vote for wednesday that would move forward to subpoena the whole thing and any other related evidence that mueller gathered and documents from five former trump white house officials. now they're making explicit one issue on his

with it. and later, bill barr has not told the whole truth about mueller's findings. why that matters going forward and what can be done about it. also, eric swalwell making his first appearance on "the beat" as a presidential candidate. that's later in the show. we have a hot. we begin with the president of the united states announcing his opposition to lawful subpoenas from congress. >> we're fighting all the subpoenas. these aren't impartial people. the democrats are trying to win 2020. the only way they can luck out is by constantly going after me on nonsense. >> that's trump's take. here's bob mueller's. because he ended his report by intoning, congress may apply the obstruction laws. it accords with the constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person is above the law. congress uses those powers on a spectrum. kit do nothing, and that happens more often when the same party controls both houses of government, or the oversight functions to hold the executive accountable with hearings, funding measures or the subpoenas, or over here, if you want to thin

have a big friday night show here. rod rosenstein out defending his boss, attorney general bill barr, and interestingly, previewing parts of the mueller report which as we just discussed we are expecting next week. and betsy devos under fire for using kids as props while still trying to slash $200 million worth of programs for literacy. we begin with the power grab. first new reports that trump wanted to politicize border policy with an idea to try to bus undocumented immigrants into what are called sanctuary cities and are typically more politically liberal. officials in trump's own administration saying this idea was, quote, so illegal, and thus it was ultimately dropped. but donald trump was out threatening his opponents with this very policy today. >> we'll bring them to sanctuary city areas and let that particular area take care of it. california is always saying, we want more people. and they want more people in their sampg twaer cities. we'll give them more people. we can give them a lot. an unlimited supply. let's see if they're so happy. they say we have open arms. open arms

the way attorney general barr initially discussed this in his letters and certainly different even than the way he discussed it in a fairly unusual press conference this morning. so today was a story divided between the mueller report and the man in charge of it who we still haven't heard from, bob mueller, and his current boss under the rules, mr. barr, who had a different view. and by the end of the day and by now, this evening, brian, i think it is clear the differences between these two men in legal analysis and their view of the evidence will reverberate well past tonight. >> ari, because you were our legal wing man all day long, the question about mr. barr is this. the news of his event was the degree to which he has the president's back. the president finally has his man at doj. the news value of his remarks seems to me was his talk of a legal disagreement between his team and robert mueller. do you think enough in retrospect has been made of that in light of the fact we spent the day talking about it. >> if and when mr. mueller testifies under oath, which after 23 months wo

formally to subpoena it. if attorney general bill barr doesn't hand it over. >> i will give him time to change his mind, but if we cannot reach an accommodation, then we will have no choice but to issue subpoenas for these materials. >> judiciary chair nadler who we spoke with on this broadcast last night, saying today that basically he wants to work on this in a negotiated way. so he's providing time to the attorney general before they make good on what they did today, so they have the authority, the power to move forward on the subpoena. they just haven't issued it yet. nadler also insisting he doesn't see a middle ground on this. he needs, the congress needs the full report, no redactions, or they will take this to court. >> are you willing to negotiate on any middle ground in terms of redactions -- >> no. >> -- of the mueller -- you're not? >> no. the committee must see everything. obviously some material will have to be redacted before it's released to the public to protect privacy, to protect the various rights. but the committee is entitled and must see all the material.

barr saying he is not the attorney general of donald trump. he is the attorney general of the united states. i don't trust barr. i trust mueller. and basically comparing his work to a train wreck. >> a very, very dismaying and disappointing that the chief law enforcement officer of our country is going off the rails

it. enjoy the show. >> thank you. tonight donald trump's attorney general william barr blown back a deadline that tees up a major fight with a top law maker on this issue, house judiciary chairman jerrold nadler. we begin with overseeing the doj and leading the fight, chairman nadler. given all the news, i want to get right to you. thank you for coming on "the beat. request itself. >> thank you for having me. >> you run the judiciary committee. attorney general barr missed your deadline, how will you respond? >> we noticed a mark up, we are having a markup tomorrow in which we will vote to authorize to issue subpoenas, subpoenas for their, the mueller report and the underlying materials and to various documents of five other people. >> you are going right to it. if you win that vote i think you expect to when might you actually issue the subpoena for the report or for those individuals? >> well, we will, for the individuals we'll probably issue them right away. but for the report and the underlying materials, we'll work with the attorney general for a short period of time to get the

formally demanding bill barr hand over the full unredacted mueller report by may 1st. judiciary chairman jerry nadler issuing this subpoena today. the move telegraphed during the past three weeks of sparring between bill barr, given his aggressive and we can now report, often proven to be misleading handling of the conclusion of the mueller probe. let me tell you this. as we get into this news. telegraphing you might do something and negotiating about it with the white house or the doj is different than action. tonight is action. the first time the trump doy is now staring down the pressure of a subpoena from mueller's report. and that's not all. democrats demanding that bob mueller himself testify by may 23rd. they are seizing on barr's ters statement yesterday in the first may know press conference as attorney, that he didn't obt to mueller addressing congress. pelosi taking the lead on now the biggest fight of the trump era. tonight he says mueller's report busts president trump for serious instances of wrongdoing. what comes next? i can tell you this because it is a very live story.

. one is that mr. barr has to turn over the full unredacted report. two is for bob mueller to personally testify with a deadline of may 23rd. and three, breaking moments ago in our newsroom, a formal subpoena for bob mueller's star witness, white house counsel don mcgahn, the guy who talked about all the crazy stuff, except he used a more severe word and warned of a saturday night massacre, the crazy stuff trump was demanding that he refused to do. all this looks like a lot there are the hearing as well that should focus on donald trump's activities as displayed in the report. and all that raises questions whether it's oversight or whether it's impeachment. >> thank you. >> nobody disobeys my orders. >> are you worried about impeachment, mr. president? >> not even a little bit. >> not even a little bit. i'm joined now with a very special guest, and it's exclusive. david kelly was the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, a familiar position to viewers because it's been held by rudy giuliani, james comey, and preet bharara, who also says that he was ta contacted, he viewed

witnesses. according to barr's own letter. we've seen hundreds and hundreds of letters about donald trump and the mueller probe over the last 22 months but virtually all of them were based on anonymous sources. so we usually didn't know who was talking. here on "the beat," tremendous tied to draw on firsthand accounts whenever possible. they were limit by people who were willing to talk on the record to come on television. to put their names on their accounts. we learned things from them will whatever you think of them, those people, those sources, were the exception because as a mathematical matter, we can tell you most, the ma rt jo of the 500 or so other witnesses did not go on the record. they stayed anonymous, other than what they told mueller. and they apparently hoped to keep that it way. they are now on pins and needles, at least until thursday, waiting to see if barr's redaction there's spare them, keeping them anonymous or will expose them. these people, many of whoof whom have worked for or with donald trump, they know he has a longstanding obsession with loyalty. >> if g

bill barr won't be able to hide behind grand jury secrecy rules which is essential to whether we ever see the mueller report. later we'll go and look at this new push to get donald trump's tax returns and financial records and new york state taxes. so that's a lot thin this show. but we begin with what looks like a trumpian purge of the homeland security department and the tacit agreement by donald trump that he has basically failed to driver on his own immigration promises. this is his own measurements, not ours. dhs secretary kirstjen nielsen on her way out after overseeing trump's policy infamously of separating families at the border. now we have multiple dhs posts with no senate confirmed leadership whatsoever, a shake-up reportedly driven by none other than trump aide stephen miller, a hard-liner on immigration. the reality of the trump/miller agenda has become quite clear, though. remember, no new wall. no approved national emergency at this point. the border open after threats to close it, immigration obviously hasn't stopped in any fundamental sense, and those failures again

as it is. and then you watch william barr being willing to play, clearly take partisan perspective during this period. it is scary. it's scary. this is what trump does to people. he brings them down to his level. >> it would be nice to have a president who has read the constitution. that's my view. >> we don't even have a president who has read babe ruth's story, much less the constitution. >> one of the things that has become clear, when donald trump says this whole point about witch hunt or any of the tropes that he uses to confuse us about v values, too many people are cynical about whether anyone tells the truthful and i think that serves the sound bites of donald trump. that's why the rule of law and its neutral application is so important. because part of what it says, our institutions of government are about protecting the rules, the boundaries, and if there is one good thing to come out of this. it is that the statute that is about transparency and about making cheer to the american people what they're hearing and where it's coming from is being enforced. it has a very long

power drug with trump attorney general bill barr after democrats that they want him to face additional questions from committee staffers they're preparing a subpoena if barr does not show. now chairman cummings raising the stakes and making it very clear, democrats are in uncharted territory. watch this. this situation where we can't get down. and by the way, can i get one single white house witness? >> with me, from "the new york times," and the former managing editor of "time" magazine. i'll start with you on this one. fines or jail? neither of those are very good prospects, to say the least for the attorney general. you're talking about the attorney general of the united states here. possibly fines or jail if he does not show up for this thursday testimony. is that the only way the democrats can go about this? >> there are other ways. i would say let's bring it on. this is a conflict between article one branch, which is congress, and the article two congress, the executive. there's supposed to be conflict between them. these are remedies well within its power. the executive can resi

that barr has basically become trump's roy cohn, criticizing him for not standing up to trump, shielding him from the rule of law and in their view following down on his oob obligations for attorney general. this blood bath is a very real issue. so there are reactions to the whole range of elements of this power grab. some call it an abuse of power with donald trump trying to weaponize the federal government for what he calls political purposes. so this is the type of thing that in the nixon era we often heard about behind closed doors and it would leak later. in the current era, a lot of this comes out loud and from the top. >> this was an attempted coup, an attempted takedown archpresident. >> we have bad laws, so we're fighting the bad laws. we have the worst laws of any country anywhere in the world. >> we know what one co-equal branch of congress thinks about this, at least on the democratic side and to be clear some republican pushback. but what about the judges? they generally have to bawait a rule on individual cases. but judges can also speak about what they're seeing

praises bill barr's spying comments as accurate and absolutely true. can't help adding it was illegal and unprecedented. all of this as the president knows just days from now we'll all be reading about him in the mueller report. >>> james comey has weighed in on the attorney general. so has rod rosenstein. his new comments tonight on how the mueller report is being handled. >>> we got a rare glimpse of julian assange today. the problem for him is it came as he was arrested, dragged off to the slammer, indicted in london, and in this country, trump has now changed his tune on wikileaks. >>> and an exclusive in "the washington post" tonight about where the white house wanted to send the people coming in over the border as "the 11th hour" gets under way on a thursday night. >>> well, good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. day 812 of the trump administration. and as we await the release of the mueller report, days away, there are increasing questions about whether attorney general william barr sees the american people as his client or the president. after

"new york times," some on mueller's team see their findings as more damaging for trump than barr revealed. one is standing by with detail. >>> plus democrats ask the irs for six years of the president's tax returns with a deadline of next wednesday. setting opbattle over some of donald trump's deepest secrets. house intel wants to interview a former confident of melania trump about it the trump inauguration. all off this on a busy wednesday night. ♪ >>> good evening once again from our nbc news head quarters in new york. i'm nicole wallace in for brian williams. day 804 of the trump administration and there's breaking news from the "new york times." stunning report the first window into how some of mueller's investigators feel about attorney barr's description of their 22-month endeavor says some of mueller's investigators claim their results are more damaging to the president than what's been revealed this far. one of the authors of tonight's piece joins us in a minute. he and his colleagues report some of the investigators quote have told asoegsziates that if attorney general

news tonight, the attorney general bill barr will hold a press conference 9:30 eastern time tomorrow morning to talk about the mueller report before anyone hat seen the mueller report.re fevered speculation tonight as we appear to be inside the 12-hour window prior to its release. >>> democrats are saying it's telling that mueller won't be alongside his long time friend the attorney general tomorrow. we may in fact hear from the president before the report is out. both sides tonight conceding it will likely contain information damaging to the president. the big question this evening how much will be blacked out, how much will we learn, and what will be talking about by this il time tomorrow night? as "the 11th hour" gets under way on a wednesday evening, the eve of the mueller report. >>> well, good evening once again from our nbc news ll headquarters here in new york. day 818 of this trump administration. the eve as we said of the long awaited release of at least the edited or redacted version of the mueller report, the result of 22 months worth of work, 22 months worth of

trump administration. we heard from attorney general william barr for the first time since the mueller investigation wrapped up. as expected he took a pass on some questions entirely and hijd on others. but he talked about the process of removing sensitive information from the report during releasing it to the public. >> we will color code the excision from the report and we will provide explanatory snoets describing the base it for each redaction. this process is going along very well and my original timetable of being able to release this by mid april stands, within a week. i'll be in a position to release the report to the public. >> interesting. barr added he would engage the chairs of both the house and senate judiciary committees about any requests they may have. barr told lawmakers he is redacting grand jury material, information that could compromise intelligence sources, ongoing investigations and material that could violate privacy of people not charged. democrats peppered barr with questions concerning the report. >> the letter of the 24th you mr. mueller's office did not re

his oversight of the probe? >> weak in that he allows the president first and then allowing bill barr to push him into doing things he should not do. i'll give you examples. obviously writing the comey memo. he knew the president was firing comey for other reasons. letting himself be used as the pretext inappropriately to fire jim comey. when he should have stood up for the department. he was weak when he asked the inspector general to investigate a trumped up charge by the president that there was no evidence to substantiate, adding fuel to the claims that republicans on the hill, the president were making about some conspiracy and coup at doj. and he was weak when he allowed his name to be used with the attorney general in that letter the attorney general sent. and in that press conference. to mislead the american public about the results of the mueller report. we need him to be strong. yes, he protected it to some extent. he was always making these little compromises. i'll take these little steps. and that is not what you are supposed to do. you say mr. president, this is wrong. if

trump than barr revealed. one of the reporters on that byline is standing by with details on the times big mueller scoop. >> ever plus, democrats ask the irs for six years of the president's tax returns with a deadline of next wednesday, setting audiota setting up a battle over president trump's details. all of this as the 11th hour gets under way on a busy wednesday night. >>> good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. i'm nicolle wallace in for brian williams. day 804 of the trump administration, and there is breaking news tonight from the "new york times." their stunning report, the first window into how some of mueller's investigators feel about attorney general barr's description of their 22-month endeavor says some of special counsel robert mueller's investigators are frustrated and claim their results are more damaging to the president than what's been revealed thus far. one of the authors of tonight's times piece, mike schmidt joins us in a moment. he and his colleagues report some of the investigators "have told associates that attorney general wi

barr to release the mueller report. however much we're able to see of it as the president spends the weekend at home waiting like the rest of us. donald trump was able to throw out a giant distraction, his threat to use migrants as a weapon and send them to sanctuary cities as punishment. then today's story that he promised a federal official a pardon in case he got in trouble for breaking the law and closing the southern border. and he's one of the men who brought us donald trump. now steve bannon, enemy of what he calls the administrative state is aiming even higher as the 11th hour gets under way on a friday night. good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. day 813 of the trump administration and it's a weird feeling on this friday night. we don't yet know how this story is going to change exactly in a few days. it certainly feels like this coming week will be a consequential one for this presidency. all we know is this. next week will bring the edited or redacted version of the mueller report which right now remains entirely in the control of the

morning, about 90 minutes before the report came out, attorney general william barr with deputy attorney general rod rosenstein at his side explained why they decided to make the call that the president committed no crime. >> after carefully reviewing the facts and legal theories outlined in the report and in consultation with the office of legal counsel and other department lawyers, the deputy attorney general and i concluded that the evidence developed by the special counsel is not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction of justice offense. although the deputy attorney general and i disagreed with some of the special counsel's legal theories and felt that some of the episodes examined did not amount of obstruction as a matter of law, we did not rely solely on that in making our decision. >> the two-volume report makes clear trump's view of the investigation and his attempts to stop it, shut it down, and the report paints a much more damning picture of the president's conduct than what was briefly outlined last month in that now infamous four-page letter that

, pressure mounting on attorney general william barr to release the mueller report. the doj on defense, amidst leaks from the special counsel's office, is there more to what mueller found about obstruction than barr let on? the president does an about face on his border shutdown threat while battling pressure from democrats to release his tax returns next week, and joe biden today, spotted in his hometown of scranton, was he shooting his first campaign ad? the 11th hour on a thursday night starts right now. >>> good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. i'm steve kornacki in for brian williams. day 805 of the trump administration. the president is now facing new challenges after a rough 36 hours, including stepped up investigations from democrats in congress and new questions about the attorney general's handling of the mueller report. house democrats have now formally demanded six years of trump's tax returns. trump's accounting firm says it plans to respond to any forthcoming subpoenas for financial records. lawmakers now want to talk to trump's top inau

slammed barr's four-page smagz, writing quote by offering us his version of events in lieu of the report, the attorney general undermines the work and init teg rety of his department. a senior administration official calls it political theater. on friday the attorney general pledged to release a redacted version of the mueller report he says is nearly 400 pages long by mid-april if not sooner. and president trump writing quote no matter what information is given to the crazed democrats from the no collusion mueller report, it will never be good enoughf. behind closed doors, the demes are laughing. but when asked publicly about the release of the report, trump's bun all for it. >> i don't mind. frankly i told the house if you want, let them see it. >> it's up to the attorney general but it doesn't matter to me at all. if that's what he'd like the do, i have nothing to hide. >> the latest polling shows the vast majority of americans agree it the report needs to be released. and a new poll shows only 29% of americans believe the mueller report clears trump of wrong doing. 49% say it does no

. >> but you don't know? >> i don't know. >> in today's "new york times" nadler slammed barr's four-page summation of mueller's findings, write "by offering us his version of events in lieu of the report, the attorney general a recent political appointee, undermines the work and integrity of his department. a senior administration official calls nadler's move political theater. on friday the attorney general pledged to release a redacted version of the mueller report he says is nearly 400 pages long by mid-april, if not sooner. donald trump is now warning that may not be enough for his critics write "no matter what information is given to the crazed democrats from the no-collusion mueller report it will never be good enough. behind closed doors, the dems are laughing. when asked publicly of the release of the report trump's been all for it. >> does the american public have a right to see the mueller report? >> i don't mind. frankly i told the house if you want let them see it. >> the attorney general, but it wouldn't bother me at all. >> the attorney general said he intends to release th

charge, and democrats exploded in response. >>> on the mueller front, william barr said he hopes to put the report out next week, while the president describes it as an attempted coup that he defeated. >>> and the "wall street journal" reports trump insiders keith schiller and hope hicks have both spoken to the feds about hush-money payments. the person who broke the story is here as "the 11th hour" gets underway on a wednesday night. >>> well, good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. day 811 of the trump administration. fox news heard that the trump campaign was somehow spied upon by our government in a way that circumvented due process in this country. today we heard our attorney general william barr make that same charge. it came during a hearing of the senate appropriations committee. >> one of the things i want to do is pull together all the information from the various investigations that have gone on, including on the hill and in the department, and see if there are any remaining questions to be addressed. we want to make sure that during -- i thin

there. we have to now, because the special -- because barr misled the country, we have to hear from barr, which we will on may 2nd. we have to hear from mueller and ask him a lot of questions. we have to hold hearings and hear from other people. >> while there has been startlingly little from republicans about the report, which after all details the electronic warfare waged against our country by the russians, we heard from utah republican senator mitt romney today, and we quote, i am sickened at the extent and pervasiveness of dishonesty and misdirection by individuals in the highest office of the land, including the president. he goes on to say, i am also appalled that, among other things, fellow citizens working in a campaign for president welcomed help from russia, including information that had been illegally obtained, that none of them acted to inform american law enforcement, and that the campaign chairman was actively promoting russian interests in ukraine. it is about time for our lead-off discussion on this good friday night. back with us from his new home in brussels, mat

he's been using in the aftermath of the results, also in attorney general barr's letter and after the full report is out. the democrats hate me, they're trying to undo a legit matly elected president. that will help his base get energized, not that they need any help now. that's part of the political calculation that pelosi and others on the democratic side that have to make this decision are having to confront. >> if they can't confront him in '19 are they going to confront him in 2020? i'll tell you one thing i learned from the clarence thomas problem, during the day the women testified against him and at nighttime he got to testify. there's a puer to being on prime time. >> but the watergate hearings were in the afternoon -- but i think to jeff's point trump will do that no matter what. if the democrats ask a -- >> so what's your bottom line? >> i'm saying they shouldn't be guided by the fact he's going to react that way. they should do, a, what's right, but i think you don't have to call it impeachment. you can go ahead and get the facts out there. let him say that. >> by the way,

, maybe some more nuance from the sworn public testimony of barr, certainly mueller. it seems to be that 90 something percent is in front of you and nobody wants to make a decision except senator warren? >> no, it's not about making a decision. it's about making sure we make an informed process. to me, mr. mueller did a great job. now it's up to us and that committee judiciary to do our job which is to look into the report. i want to hear from mueller himself, what happened, what he found out. i want to find out from mr. barr what is it that led him to come up with that four page conclusion. you know why? the american public needs to know what actually happened, what these folks came up with. >> what would make you support -- i could ask it either way, what would make you support a resolution for impeachment to begin the proceedings, the house has to vote for a resolution to begin the proceedings, not to vote on whether he's guilty or not or to impeach him or not but to begin the proceedings, what would get you to do that, what in this story line that would develop that would say to you,

special counsel robert mueller's team are accusing attorney general bill barr of downplaying some of their findings. their frustrations were first reported in "the new york times" and then "the washington post," and today a u.s. official confirmed it to nbc news. this is how the evidence against trump was characterized in these reports, which are all based on anonymous sources, so it's unclear exactly who on mueller's team feels this way, including mueller himself. "the times"' sources claiming the mueller's team's findings were, "more damaging for the president than barr revealed." "the post" sources pointing specifically at the evidence on the question of potential obstruction, "alarming and significant." nbc news, also on the question of obstruction, "compelling." the reports also indicate some on mueller's team wanted barr to -- excuse me, include more of the material from their summaries in his four-page letter to congress on march 24th, summaries that laid out key conclusions. one u.s. official telling "the washington post," "there was immediate displeasure from the team when t

notably remains on recess. the report will follow by three weeks, that letter by attorney general barr that said mueller found no indication anyone associated with the trump campaign conspired with russia to influence the 2016 election. barr also said mueller withheld judgment, took a pass in other words on whether trump tried to obstruct justice during the inquiry. days ago barr told congress he does believe the trump campaign was spied upon in 2016. "the washington post" puts it this way. the house judiciary committee is poised to issue a subpoena for the report's redacted portion. bloomberg news writes, the reports released, quote, may be the start of a legal clash with subpoenas from committees in the democratic controlled house that could go all the way to the supreme court. tonight trump attorney jay sekulow is revealing some of the legal team's plans to respond to mueller. he tells our colleague hallie jackson the team met today to nail down plans to respond to the report. he said the lawyers will probably each be responsible for tackling a section of it and that they are still