a low-khelil notice confirmation hearing for the number two spot at the justice department. well, instead it was a fire works filled tense showdown over what to do about russia s election meddling and the president s own wiretapping allegations. russia and wiretapping dominating what would normally be a routine confirmation hearing. deputy attorney general nominee rod rosenstein today confronting lingering anger toward attorney general jeff sessions. i think senator sessions should come back. i think he owes it to this committee to come back and to explain himself. reporter: senator franken still stewing after a.g. sessions told trump he was not aware of contacts with russia. i consider what senator franken asked sessions at that late moment that that story just came out as a gotcha question. it was not a gotcha question, sir. it was. from the standpoint he didn t know what you were asking about.
the justice department didn t involve the nominee at all. it was between senators al franken and chuck grassley. franken brought up that exchange he had with then senator jeff sessions during his confirmation hearing. here it is. if i was going to ask you a gotcha question, i was going to tell you about it ahead of time and i consider what senator franken asked sessions at that late moment that that story just come out it was a gotcha question it was not a gotcha question, sir. he didn t know what you were asking about. i said that as i was asking the question, i said you don t haven t heard this, and i don t expect that you have heard it. we ll have more on that hearing and where the investigation into russian meddling in the election is headed right after this. stay tuned. well, a 103 yeah, 103. well, let me ask you guys. how long did it take you two to save that? a long time. then it s a fortune. well, i m sure you talk to people all the time
russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do? i think that was a fair question and certainly not a gotcha question, and he didn t answer my question. what he said to that question was, senators franken, allegations get made about candidates all the time and they ve been made about president-elect trump lots of times. most of them virtually wait a minute, i am sorry. i m not aware of any of these activities. i ve been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and i did not have communications with the russians and i m unable to comment on it. so in other words, it can t be a gotcha question if he didn t understand the question. so the thing that got him was
rod rosenstein. lot had to do with the performance of attorney general jeff sessions. i want to play this fiery exchange between republican chuck grassley, the chairman of the judiciary committee and al franken of wisconsin. as i remember senator franken asking his question of senator sessions, he referred to something that there had just been something come on cnn that obviously, and franken said that senator sessions wouldn t know what it was and he was going to take that into consideration that it would have been all right for you to ask your question, and you probably should have given him a chance to get the information you had and reflect on it, and give an answer in writing. now the way i tend to, and you both of you know that i said this to you when you were in the privacy of my office. if i was going to ask you a gotcha question, i was going to tell you about it ahead of time and i consider what senator franken asked sessions at that late moment that that story just
then he said i d love to meet with them. do you know them? set it up. because he knows she knows them and he knows why that was asked. why wasn t the question asked, mr. president can you talk about the hbcu meeting you re having at the white house with over coming to town. why not ask about the cbc being upset about mark walker i m not april. i did watch the exchange. seemed cordial and laughed with each other. doesn t seem like gotcha question, back and forth. i don t think she had in tone different from other reporters. forget about the tone question. literally. you re the president of the united states. leadership demands that you meet with people who may be critical of you. this president brought up frederick douglass, do you understand how frederick