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Only qualification seems to be that he wants to be -- the president wants him to be the hatchet man to destroy the mueller investigation. >> be that as it may, you know, when you called whitakers appointment illegal, the law in this case -- the federal vacancy reform act of 1988 authorizes the president to replace attorney general jeff sessions with any official as long as theyre acting capacity fewer than 210 days. regardless of your opinion of mr. whitaker, he meets those requirements. >> well...

If he were sharing information about it, he could be exposing himself to charges of obstruction of justice. its such an unprecedented territory to be in. i think that is a legitimate concern especially in light of very unusual nature of the appointment of matt whit chtake. weve seen the commentary thats been pro-trump and anti-mueller. >> talk about this unusual appointment. the question is how long can he will left there in. >> he can be left there for up to 210 days with wiggle room in

Court back in the 1800s, decided a case that said under certain limited circumstances and special circumstances that someone could be appointed for a limited time. then we have the federal vacancy act that actually defines that. congress defined what a limited time means. its up to 210 days. so theyve got to actually fill certain requirements under that law and unfortunately, mr. whitaker does, and so he can be appointed for up to 210 days without senate confirmation. the only way to find that h...

Overturned? >> its arguable. someone would have to file a lawsuit to challenge it. the argument is the constitution requires that presidential appointees be confirmed by the senate as part of the advice and c consent provision there. it does comply with the vacancy reform act up to 210 days. i think theres room for disagreement. i think it would take a fight to the supreme court to overturn it. it may be its so temporary theres not time for that scrutiny. it wouldnt surprise me to see someone ch...

Gone after one institution after the other, and you see that in this call of corruption in these elections, not to allow an election to be settled. and what i see is a president who really does feel that he is under threat. if you look at his response by firing sessions and appointing whitaker, who has made himself known to the president so that he could take advantage of that, and then you look at democrats response, i think its going to be important to be really judicious about how they procee...

Any idea what the president might have had, leaving the domestic issues behinds, they evach rat e-- evan rated quickly and started with tweets during his flight to paris. >> reporter: the president sent several tweets on the six-hour flight over here as hes trying to put physical distance between he and his problems back home. it really hasnt been a banner week for president trump. not only did he fire sessioatto general jeff session, hes dealing with scrutiny over he picked to replace sessions,...

Yesterday about an active investigation. if that pans out, i think thats tough to overcome, just perception-wise. whether hes completely innocent or not, i have no idea whether he is. leland: where does this go? he serves at the pleasure of the president. he does not require senate confirmation. how long can one be acting attorney general? >> under the vacancies act i think he can go 210 days. leland: thats a long time. >> i think the longer he stays the more likely it will be a challenge to the...

That. whether he exercises that is absurd. hes not going to do that. nobody right now in the white house, in the department of justice is going to take steps to reduce what mueller is doing. what hes actually saying is that he has responsibility to oversee as the acting attorney general what mueller is doing. if mueller acts inappropriately or contrary to department policy, then mr. whitaker can intervene. >> what i think is wrong about that, i think the willful blindness of people who are willi...

Alexander litvinenko, the former russian agent, the man friends called sasha, died without knowing what killed him. the results from a battery of tests came in too late. but they did come in. it turned out he was killed by something far more lethal than common rat poison. >> its polonium. >> reporter: polonium 210 to be exact, a rare and deadly radioactive isotope. the news shocked the world, even though most people werent exactly sure what polonium was. but paul joyal knew what it was and what ...

Concerns, particularly if he starts restricting the mueller investigation, or if its not clear there will be a formally nominated senate approved attorney general any time in the near future. >> thats the question, paul. you said he was given, he being whitaker, a temporary position but we dont know how long is temporary. when is temporary too long? >> 210 days under the law. but we already know he applied for the job on cnn, writing up ads saying its a witch-hunt, saying mueller has already exc...