to tap into an authority that former president donald trump tried to use when he was president at something democrats decried and eventually it was struck down in the courts. but certainly this comes as biden in this trial trying to show he is doing more when it comes to border security at a time when republicans have tried to paint him as weak on the issue. >> okay. arlette saenz. thank you for the reporting from the white house thank you all for joining us this morning. i'm alison camera radha, our next our of newsroom with wolf blitzer starts now you are in the cnn newsroom. i, wolf blitzer in washington. we're following the breaking news up on capitol hill right now, house republicans have been grilling the attorney general of the united states merrick garland. that's about to continue. merrick garland is being asked about supposedly spreading baseless let's conspiracy theories that have been going on. and the justice department is using alleged lawfare. this is what republicans are arguing to target the former president of the united states, donald trump. and moments ago merrick garland went on the offense attacking the gop for promoting these lives and undermining the justice it's a system. listen these repeated attacks on the justice department are unprecedented and they are unfounded. >> these attacks have not. and they will not influence our decision-making. i will not be intimidated. and the justice department will not be intimidated we will continue to work, do our jobs free from political influence and we will not back down from defending democracy the attorney general, merrick garland also strongly defended the justice system as a foundation of american democracy, vowing to protect its integrity and independence as attorney general, i will continue to forcefully defend the independence of the justice department from improper influence or interference of any kind. >> and i will continue to fiercely protect the integrity of our criminal investigations nothing will deter me from fulfilling my obligation to uphold the rule of law fulfilling that obligation includes ensuring that the justice department respects congress's important role in our democracy the hearings on a break right now, we'll resume our coverage as soon as the members come back into that hearing room, the house judiciary committee, i want to bring in our congressional correspondent, laura and fox she standing up on capitol hill and cnn senior crime and justice reporter katelyn polantz. >> she's lived with me here in the cnn newsroom let me start with you to learn you're there on capitol hill. we just heard some powerful words from the attorney general, set the scene for us. what's going on? >> yeah. so right now they are in just a short break so that members can go and vote. but one thing that has been happening inside that room is already you're starting to see some fireworks. wolf, one of the first questioner is matt gaetz was trying to get merrick garland to comment on what has been saved prosecutions in new york, in georgia, and repeatedly what you heard from the attorney general is that those are cases that the justice department he's not involved in has no influence in, and that is a trend that i expect is going to continue from republicans in the hours ahead meanwhile, on the democratic sayyed, you have members trying to set the stage for the fact that it is not just donald trump who is facing criminal charges does both under the department of justice and in some of those state cases, but also some democrats in fact, cve cohen, democrat from tennessee, laid out the fact that hunter biden is on trial right now. there's also talking about the prosecution's of bob menendez, henry cuellar. he said that if the justice department was not fair, you would not see democrats are facing some of those charges. so a really interesting juxtaposition right now, i did ask one democrat coming out of the room just a few minutes ago, representative pramila jayapal, what she thought so far of garland's performance. here's what she said have anything to do is take press color about what he's doing i think in these hearings, they are ranked witnesses and it doesn't really matter what the witness says. >> but i think our side has a chance to continually we characterize make. it clear, but yes, i think he's doing a good job and wolff, we should just know this is a general oversight hearing, so there is a myriad of shoes that we expect could come up. >> in fact, you heard one congressmen in the room, mcclintock, he was asking more about immigration. i mean, this is really a wide a range of topics that we expect are going to come up in the hours ahead. wolf, learned fox, i want you to stand by up on capitol hill, were watching all the drama unfold, katelyn polantz is with me here in the cnn newsroom right now. >> as you know, caitlin now the attorney general address, the bogus allegation that the justice department was totally behind what the manhattan district attorney did in prosecuting the former president donald trump. and his response was strong. >> it was indeed so congress and matt gaetz specifically was pressing for answers on that and saying to garland, there must have been coordination somehow. and garland says not mincing words, we do not control the manhattan district attorney. they make their own decisions. they're completely independent. it is true that the justice department investigated some of the business dealings of donald trump, chose not to bring the campaign finance case ultimately. >> and then the manhattan da's be they went and are operating separately even though they employ someone that at one time was part of the justice department merrick garland is not allowing this to have any daylight at all. >> this is a separate case, very different than the federal prosecutions he is protecting. and this is something that garland is quite unhappy about. he's unhappy that this misleading information is out there and other misleading information. here's a little bit more about what he is pushing back on against house republicans today. >> this effort is only the most recent in a long line of attacks on the justice department's work it comes alongside threats to the fund, particular department investigations most recent the special counsel's prosecution of the former president it comes alongside false claims that a jury verdict in a state trial by a brought by a local district attorney was somehow controlled by the justice department that conspiracy theory is an attack on the judicial process itself wolf, while this hearing is largely about, or supposed to be about the contempt proceeding, republicans want to bring against merrick garland related to his handling of the investigation of joe biden in the interview there where there's an audio recording thing that isn't being released. classified documents case? yes. that resulted in no charges. >> much of the broader conversation is about misleading information, conspiracy theories that are being spread primarily by donald trump's somebody that is being prosecuted by the justice department. >> so a lot there for both garland to push back on and for house republicans to question him about important points. katelyn polantz, thanks very much. lauren fox. thanks to you as well. let's discuss this and more with the former attorney general of the united states, alberto gonzales, attorney general. what's your reaction to hearing? at least so far? what the attorney general merrick garland is saying, his forceful defense of the us justice department i think one of the primary responsibilities for the attorney general is to protect the department to protect the department's reputation to make sure that the american people have confidence in the integrity of the work of the department. >> and so he's doing the absolute all right thing, quite frankly this notion, quite frankly i find ridiculous that there would be some level of coordination between the department of justice and what happened in new york believing department of justice going to want to be as far away as possible from that prosecution. and so i'm not surprised that's where the democrats went with this but nonetheless, i can assure you something with respect to the department of justice, and i once worked with this is not something that department would be involved with in any shape or form a big picture. >> attorney general, how do you respond to the republicans who are baselessly claiming that the justice department right now is being weaponized he's doing they're worried well, i i think that our country is one of the primary swicy countries are liberty. >> you cannot have liberty without the rule of law. and the rule of law exists to protect our liberty. and every time you make an attack against the rule of law, which you do whenever you attack the department of justice without any kind of basis, you weaken confidence in all of our institutions and you're waking confidence in the rule of law and it threatens our very are very liberty and so i think it's very dangerous, quite frankly we live in a very polarized society as it is. i think that there are legitimate concerns about house. some people in this country will react a baseless accusations, baseless claims that the department of justice is somehow one-sided. there's only going after it's only going after republicans. >> but of course, as the one member the committee indicated, that's simply not true, the department is following evidence where it leads them and they're prosecuting those cases where they believe that those cases should be prosecuted we also heard attorney general, the committee chairman jordan continue to mischaracterized the search warrant that the fbi executed to search trump's home down at mar-a-lago in florida. listen to this justice is no longer blind in america today is driven by politics example number one. it's president trump. the biden justice department under attorney general garland approved a raid on president trump's home something we've never witnessed in this great country. this action broke every norm in our justice system. many americans believed there's now a double standard and our justice system, they believed that because there is and we're going to have lots of questions about that problem well, let me get your reaction to that because they're apparently according to most of the experts out there, there was nothing at all unusual about that search warrant, right? now the language in the search warrant war, is there a very standard? so this case was not treated any differently. and the reason why you've never hadn't history of this country, a search before presence home is because in the past, when the word documents that in their possession that should not be in their possession, they turned it over when asked this president refused to do so. so this case is entirely different from any other before. and that's why there's been a different treatment with respect to in this particular case, these are historically the first time ever in american history. these things have been going on so many these things, some republican lawmakers, attorney general, one to hold the current attorney general merrick garland in contempt for refusing to turn over audio tapes of president biden's interview with special counsel, her should those tapes be given to congress to transcripts of the interviews have been made available why do you i think they should or shouldn't be handed over to congress. we know what merrick garland just explained there is a longstanding practice when congress aspirin information generally needs to be tied to a legitimate legislative use. >> what is the reason why congress wants this in this particular case or in prior cases? that aren't familiar with when you provide the transcript of some kind of interview that has been sufficient to satisfy the needs of the committee and so this is what merrick garland has provided as a transcript. for today. from my perspective, the committee has not provided a legitimate my reason why more should be provided in connection with their legitimate oversight responsibilities. >> as we know, president biden has asserted executive privilege and the department of justice has respected that on the basis that it could inhibit the cooperation of witnesses in the future who maybe willing to cooperate with the department of justice with the knowledge or the agreement that what they say the recordings of those interviews will not be turned over beyond the department of justice. >> and so there is legitimate law enforcement reason why the department is taking this position alberto gonzalez, the former attorney general, the united states. thanks as usual for joining us thank you, wolf. and stay with cnn. we're of course going to continue to monitor the questioning and the testimony of the attorney general before the house judiciary committee will also bring you any major headlines as he strongly defends his rank and file also underway right now, the opening statements in the hunter biden we've got trial. we know now that the judge will allow some explicit photos the defendant's attorneys wanted excluded from evidence i'm back at the white house. president biden is expected to sign a major executive order on border crossings from mexico into the united states. and it looks like could have come from his predecessors actual playbook will explain, stay with us. you're alive here in the cnn newsroom the most anticipated moment. of this election and the stakes couldn't be higher. the president and the former president, one stage moderated by jake tapper and dana bash, the cnn presidential debates tuesday, june 27th, nine live on cnn and streaming on max imagine a future where plastic is not wasted but instead remade over and over into the things that keep our food fresher our family safer and our planet cleaner to help us get there america's plastic makers are investing billions of dollars to create innovative products and new recycling technologies for sustainable change. >> because when you push for smarter solutions things and he was structured settlement it's your money user when you need it the darkness of bipolar depression made me feel like i was losing interest in the things i love. then i found a chance to let in the light discover, capitalize unlike some medicines that only treat bipolar one capital ada is proven to deliver significant symptom relief from both bipolar one and two depression. and in clinical trials, movement disorders and weight gain, we're not common capital, it can cause serious side effects. >> call your doctor about sudden mood changes. behaviors are suicidal thoughts right away antidepressants may increase these risks and young adults, elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. capitalize has not approved for dementia-related psychosis reports fever confusion, or stiff muscles which may be life-threatening or uncontrolled muscle movements, which may be permanent, common side effects include sleepiness, dizziness, nausea, and try mouth. these aren't all the side effects. >> and the darkness of bipolar one and two depression calculator can help you let in the light ask your doctor about capulet, find savings and support a capillary.com we talking about prac practicing good, find manchu strategy by cash back in what do you think i was talking about? not again, not again. talking about cashback. cash back you carryback like a pro with chase freedom and limits. how do you cash why choose asleep numbers? >> smart bad? >> can it keep me warm when i'm cold wait, no, i'm always hot. sleep number. does that can i make my side softer? >> hello. my sayyed firmer squeeze number. does that can help us sleep better and better please speak number. >> does that 94% of smart sleepers report better sleep? now say 40% of a steep number special edition smart that plus reorg delivery when you add and adjustable base shut now it's the number.com recipes recipes that are more than their ingredients recipes written by hand last time. can now be analyzed and restored using in power of delhi reserving memories and how to write new who are you? i ran a child what you really need to live is some brick in total four star keeps you going toward get you going we're talking, i love guard bonds hello, i know our job wanted are two the total torque doubt crossover this situation room with wolf blitzer knighted six once cnn happening right now in delaware, the opening statements have just finished. >> the hunter biden's federal gun trial. he's the first child of a sitting president of the united states to ever go on trial. the prosecution open with some fiery remarks with the defense highlighting his struggles with addiction the first lady, jill biden is back in the court today to support hunter biden. and the president issued a strong statement of support for a son saying, and i'm quoting him now, as the president, i don't and won't comment on pending federal cases. but as a dad, i have boundless love for my son confidence in him, and respect et for his strength. close quote, before the statements began this morning, a one juror was replaced after telling the judge that the juror lived too far from the courthouse to commute every day in our drive, at least cnn's chief legal affairs correspondent, paula reid is outside the courthouse in wilmington, delaware for us polo. what's the latest year hearing right now said, tell our viewers what's been going on all right. >> now, court is in a brief break after opening statements from both sides concluded and any moment, we'll hear from the first witness in this trial. and the big news this morning, of course, was as you just notice, noted, they lost a juror juror who didn't have any political the goal or security concerns about serving, but instead said she did not want to commute an hour each way from her home to cork. now, it does not appear again at this time. in anything to do with the allegations here. this appeared to be an issue that was specific to her. she has been replaced by an alternate juror and then the jury got to hear opening statements from both sides. now, in the prosecution's opening statement, they emphasize how they're bringing this case because they believe that quote, no one is above the law. and that's interesting because that's a similar argument that we heard from prosecutors in new york over the past two months in the trump hush money trial. then they also have the size that you cannot lie on a federal form even if your name is hunter biden. of course, those are the allegations at the center of this case. allegations that hunter biden lied about his status and his addiction when purchasing a firearm, and prosecutors also had to address the larger issue of addiction, the majority of potential jurors all said yesterday, during jury selection that they had some sort of experience great. so with the loved one or themselves dealing with addiction and prosecutors said luck, addiction is not a choice, but it is a choice to a legally buy a firearm and he's opening statements from prosecutors. it was a multimedia presentation. they showed guns, got pictures of the gun. they use audio clips from hunter biden's memoir, which he personally narrated no one was the defense's turn to get out. they emphasized a hunter biden state of vine. the fact that prosecutors need to prove he did this knowingly they also tried to put some of the responsibility on the individual who worked at the gunshots saying that this individual lead hundred to the gun, that he eventually ended up purchasing and this is going to be again, this is going to go from about anywhere from three days to two weeks. it is the first of two federal trials. will that the president's son is facing here. but interesting finley, his stepmom is here today for opening statements. f