a benefit to mueller, democrats don't need republican by into exercise their new pounds subpoena power with this option in their toolkit. they can demand oversight if it appears mueller's investigation is being stymied or important information being suppressed. >> a subpoena is only as good as its ability to be enforced. i was chairman of the oversight committee. i had subpoena authority and couldn't get document out of the trump administration. the same as it was with eric older and loretto lynch. don't know what democrats think they can suddenly get documents. the only way to enforce a subpoena is get the department of justice to enforce the subpoena. congress gave up this power. it is wrong and if they think they can get these documents they are in for a rude awakening. shannon: man heading up the doj, matt whitaker, is on camera. after talking with him,
control the house. they say democrats don't need republican value to exercise their newfound subpoena power with this option in their toolkit they can demand oversight it appears mueller's investigation is being stymied or important information is being suppressed. jason. >> a subpoenas only as good as its ability to be enforced and believe me i was a chairman of the oversight committee. i had subpoena authority. i couldn't get documents out of the trump administration. it was exactly the same as it was with eric holder and loretta lynch. i don't know what the democrats think they can suddenly get documents. the only way to enforce a subpoena is to get the department of justice to enforce the subpoena. congress gave up this power a long time ago. it's wrong. if they think they can magically get these documents, they are in for a rude awakening. >> shannon: now the acting attorney general, matt whitaker, he's on camera and he's -- or lindsey graham is on camera
maxine waters, jerry nadler, pretty radical person at the judiciary committee, and adam schiff, we see house until committee, the gavel, the chairman of the house intelligence. >> the president i assume. >> some committees where a chairman has unilateral subpoena authority, some committees have to have votes but there are three committees in the house where a chairman, you could unilaterally issue a subpoena. >> a list of likely investigations of democrats when the house and there are a number of them including potential impeachment, brett kavanaugh's confirmation testimony, tax returns, the firing of federal officials and russian collusion, do you think the public wants to revisit these things? >> what you don't hear going into these days is anything about russia because in two
this. shannon, a white house correspondent says, a note on what the fbi can or can't do. they can't subpoena records or force anyone to testify. what are they going to do? >> i think there's a lot of misconceptio misconceptions. the fbi will gather facts. now, normally this is down far prior before we got into a process like this, when things are still confidential. the fact is that now we're tipped off to these allegations. the fbi is kind of a hybrid. you're right. no subpoena authority. they can ask questions, they can ask for statements, they can get some records, but again, there's no physical or forensic evidence here, there's no electronic evidence here. it's far too old for that. they're really going to be
about how this will work. the fbi, let's talk about this. white house correspondent for bloomberg says a note on what the fbi can or can't do that was wasn't a criminal investigation, they can't subpoena records or force anyone to testify. >> people think this is going to be a csi type affect and the fbi will swoop in and crack the case and vindicate brett kavanaugh or prove these allegations true. it is none of the above. and these are still confidential. it is a hybrid, not a background investigation but a criminal investigation. no subpoena authority. they can ask statements.
sessions is out of all of this. he can't do anything. so where are we in the department? we have a mass of such proportions that there is nothing that can be done. i do not trust at this point that the inspector general who has no subpoena authority is going to be able to get to the bottom of this. he is, in fact, right now investigating rod rosenstein's role in the fisa warrantst proc process. so rosenstein can't have anything to do with the fisa process. >> sean: i have not confirmed that myself, sara, have you? >> i have not confirmed that what i have heard that. >> sean: joe? >> bottom line is we have all talk to people and that's what i know and i'm happy to say, it's a tragedy for where theav department is.op the department is in very bad shape right now. it is in free fall and sessions is completely disengaged from that.
and here's the key thing. sessions is out of all of this. he can't do anything. so where are we in the department? we have a mass of such proportions that there is nothing that can be done. but i do not trust at this point that the inspector general who has no subpoena authority is going to be able to get to the bottom of this. in fact he is right now investigating rod rosenstein's role in the pfizer fisa warrant process. >> sean: i have not confirmed that myself, sarah, have you? >> i have not confirmed that what i have heard that. >> sean: joe? >> bottom line is we have all talk to people and that's what i know and i'm happy to say, it's a tragedy for where the department is. the department is in very bad shape right now. it is in free fall and sessions
moment in the trump presidency, which are -- >> you haven't even mentioned scott pruitt. >> right, many cases like quite sensational. scott pruitt is a good example. a type of scandal like that would hamstring and maybe even cripple a traditional presidential administration. what you have with trump, there are so many scandals all at once, you forget about the more traditional washington scandals that do give fodder for congressional investigators, particularly ones that are empowered with subpoena authority that they would have democrats would have if they won the house. >> they could potentially cause real problems your lawyers
cripple a traditional presidential administration. what you have with trump, there are so many scandals all at once, you forget about the more traditional washington scandals that do give fodder for congressional investigators, particularly ones that are empowered with subpoena authority that they would have democrats would have if they won the house. >> they could potentially cause real problems your lawyers actually need to help you solve. and that takes us to our next topic, because in the ever-changing world of president trump's legal team, the revolving door is in motion again. white house counsel don mcgahn will be leaving his post in the fall. the president made the announcement on twitter, reportedly blind siding mcgahn. meanwhile, the move came less than two weeks after "the new york times" reported that mcgahn had been cooperating extensively with robert mueller's investigation. the president later added, quote, the rigged russia witch-hunt didn't come into play with respect to my decision on don mcgahn. as the personnel continues to shift, so does the strategy. initially former trump attorneys
but first, what are your thoughts on this? for this hamstring the mueller folks at all in terms of what information they are actually allowed to release? >> i think therese did a great job summarizing the state of the law. the department of justice is right, the judges don't have int authority. it's generally considered sacrosanct with a few exemptions like the one he mentioned he is to exist under the independent counsel statute. but the special counsel, and what we need to keep in mind as congress does obtain subpoena authority for grand jury information and actual impeachment proceedings. so there is that issue. i think that one of the things that bob mueller needs to be concerned about besides the issue of whether the public -- you will be allowed to give