Page 14 - Oversight Function News Today

Mark: ken starr, i want to ask you abt congressional oversight. the democrats have multiple committees, starting multiple investigations on anything you can think of related to trump and trump world. [laughter] now, you know, i look at the constitution, i look at the history of hearings, the history of what congress does and maybe what it should do. it has legitimate oversight function. theres no question about that. its job is to legislate, so so it kind of needs to know whats going on. but tha...

Disqualify it, this makes you a liar, it makes you a criminal. but if you listen to aoc and how she set it up, this is exactly what the sdny is looking at for trump. >> and since we have a lawyer at the table here, what did consider tez oig o alexandria ocasio-cortez got out of michael cohen, is that legal problem for the president and if so why and the bank documents where the president inflated his net worth, is that legal problem? >> are the legal problems really dont come from congress, they...

For them to be made available to congress. congress established today in this hearing with representative gomez, with aoc later on in the hearing that they needed to look at the taxes in order to engage in their oversight function. and frankly, i think we all have a common sense understanding of that at this point, that the president lied about being under audit as an excuse for not releasing his taxes, though, as you say is a huge red flag that there is something deeply wrong in there. >> you m...

Gomez, with aoc later on in the hearing that they needed to look at the taxes in order to engage in their oversight function. and, frankly, i think we all have a common sense understanding of that at this point, that the president lied about being under audit as an excuse for not releasing his taxes, though, as you say is a huge red flag that there is something deeply wrong in there. >> you mentioned the questioning by congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez. she elicited something about alleged ...

Diplomacy, now its social media whining, the other way do it and effective and the way i used most often was control over reprogramming dollars. so if congress gives up this ability to control that, they will lose an important oversight function. and im a big believer in that separate but equal branch of government. not every administration gets it right. republican or democrat. this is a huge federal government. it needs a functioning congress. i argue that they ought to be as angry as anything...

Donald trump jr. being willing to get dirty secrets from the russians on hillary clinton, isnt that evidence enough? and, laura, neither of these things, because were talking about the senate intelligence committee, get at all to whats going on in the mueller investigation. >> thats true. remember the congressional oversight role is really a peril leg parallel investigation. its not to supplement or contribute to mueller. however, they can rely as their congressional oversight function, they can...

Conversation about your friend, bruce ore, so understand where this is going. >> this is going to be a long day for everybody. its not going to turn out well. i testified in the house and the senate. ive testified before numerous committees including this one, the house judiciary committees. you get all sorts of questions. you some are good and thoughtful. some are incomprehensible. what you always do is treat the members with can respect. they have an oversight function. its their time. their q...

Committee has a legitimate oversight function to perform. these are serious questions that deserve answers. this acting attorney general isnt going to give them. >> and the other thing, joyce and elliott, that i was noticing, certainly in jim jordans questioning and some of the other questioning, jim jordan from the freedom caucus, the conservative republican, just going after him to try to get him to impeach the reliability or the integrity, really, of rod rosenstein, who has been one of their ...

You look at polls, a large majority of the american public have believed since the campaign that trump should release his tax returns and the public has a right to know whats in them. im not a lawyer. there is a legal question about whether those returns could be leaked or whether someone could be prosecuted for leaking them if they were received by congress. so i agree with anne that its two separate issues whether they get the documents and whether we ever get to see them. but politically, thi...

Committees and now they are really starting the work that they have planned to do. >> yeah. understood. listen, it is a lot to keep track of. ann, lets zero in on the presidents taxes. by political tradition this should have been settled years ago, before the president was even elected. legally, what is your best understanding of the law here? is it on the democrats side here and, if so, the president can challenge this in court, i imagine, and drag this out. >> right. thats right. so the first ...