The obstruction of justice, the abuse of power, and the corruption. Our goal is to vindicate the rule of law, to protect the rule of law in this country. Cnns manu raju is on capitol hill. Kaitlan collins is at the white house for us. Manu, let me start with you. Other than the harsh reality that elections have consequences, what are lawmakers telling you about all of this on the hill today . Reporter well, they believe the democrats believe that these document requests should be fulfilled rather easily over the next two weeks, given that these 81 individuals have participated in some level of investigation over the last couple of years. And they say the record requests are not, at that point, in two weeks, the next steps could be subpoenas. They do expect public hearings at some point, but all of that still needs to be sorted out. Thats on the house side, the democrats are ramping up their investigation. On the senate side, republicans are still in the majority and democrats here are trying to push the republicans to investigate, at least the president s role in those hush money payments, to silence those alleged affairs that occurred, those payments during the 2016 elections and the president s reimbursement of those payments in 2017. And Senate Republicans today are rejecting calls to investigate. We should bring back donald trump junior and other witnesses who have knowledge about the hush money payments, the Senate Judiciary committee has responsibility to be more aggressive in continuing its investigation, which, unfortunately, was short circuited. This is all about setting up the stage for impeachment proceedings. Thats pretty clear. But why is it not a concern of yours, that the president may have been involved in hush money scheme . Theres been investigations by the special counsel and others, if theres any evidence of crimes, im sure he will un find evidence of that. But if theres not, i think what the democrats are worried about now is after all of the hysteria over the alleged collusion that theyre worried the Mueller Report will come up with basically nothing against the president , as regards collusion. Reporter and cornyn ees vi is in line with other senate chairman, including ron johnson. He told me that he has no plans to investigate that rnhush mone payment. He said hes going to wait for the Mueller ReportGoing Forward. So youre seeing a pretty Stark Division between democrats going very aggressively over all aspects of the president s personal, political life, business life, raising concerns about abuse of power and obstruction of justice, and republicans not planning to do any of that, believing that is an overreach and not planning to do that kind of oversight, kate . All right, manu. Much more to come. Great to see you. So, kaitlan, this push may not be entirely unexpected from democrats in the house. Though, how broad the focus is might be. What are you hearing there . Reporter well, kate, they knew it was going to be broad, but they didnt realize it was going to be this broad. Theyve been preparing this since the democrats took back the house in the midterm elections, and they know that this is essentially their new reality. And right now, theyre bracing for more document requests like this, including potentially going after the president s tax returns. Now, publicly, the white house and the president are saying that they will cooperate with these requests, but you can look at their statements they put out yesterday. One, they put out a statement saying, yes, we received this request, were going to review it. Pretty standard, not a lot there. And then came the second statement from sarah sanders, saying chairman nadler and his fellow democrats have embarked on this fishi ining exhibition because they are terrified their twoyear witch hunt is crumbling. Theyre more interested in political games and catering to a leftist base than producing results for our citizens. She ends, the democrats are not after the truth, they are after the president. Essentially echoing what you heard those republicans manu was talking to there say as well. Now, kate, the question is going to be, what is their response Going Forward . And certainly people could slow walk the document request. They could defy subpoenas. And there is a chance the president could exert executive privilege over some of these documents, like those pertaining to his conversations with the former white house counsel, don mcgahn. Thats the question here. If the president does decide to do that, it would be a very distinct turn in how they respond to this so far, kate. Good to see you, kaitlan. Thank you so much. Thank you, manu, as well. Joining me to discuss is charlie dent, a political commentator. So whats your what do you think of this strategy . Its kind of almost a blanket request from house judiciary for documents from 81 people and entities in every aspect of the president s world. What do you think of this . Well, my initial reaction is, i think that their requests are some of them are a bit premature. I would, frankly, have a more targeted strategic approach to the document request. Thats just me. But maybe their strategy is not to impeach the president , but to, you know, to kill him with a thousand cuts. Theyre throwing as much up against the wall and see what will stick. Now, theyve sent out requests for documents for about 80 people. And i suspect it may take a little bit of time to get those, for the reasons that Kaitlan Collins just mentioned. So i think they should be more targeted. They should let director mueller help inform their investigation. I mean, i know its hard to be patient, but lets see what that report says before they cast this wide a net. And it will be interesting what comes out of the report and how casting of the net changes, if it does, once the report does come out. The president calls it a fishing exhibition. Do you think hes justified in calling it that . Well, despite the merits of many of these requests, and i think many of these requests are meritorious, but because it is a wider net, it does help the president with that narrative that this looks more like a fishing exhibition, when they throw this much out, this early. So i think this should have been better sequenced in terms of the document request. You sitill could have gotten 80 but i dont know that i would have put out that request in one fell swoop. So the flip side of it, jerry nadler is speaking out about kind of why so much at this one time. Let me play you what he said on what he said last night on cnn, about why the list is so big, why the list is so broad. Listen. For two years, the Trump Administration has been attacking the Core Functions of our democracy and the congress has refused to do any oversight. Theyve refused to theyve shielded him, theyve acted more as shields than what congress is supposed to do, which is to be a check and a balance. We are going to be the check and the balance. I mean, look, nadlers point is, is that theyre playing catchup a bit after two years of what he views as no oversight. Does he have a point . He has a point. And certainly, the Trump Administration is a targetrich environment. But when everythings a priority, nothings a priority. So i think really the issue for the democrats is, where do they want to focus their efforts . I know that the chairman laid out three areas that he felt were very important for his oversight, but, still, hes not going to be able to see all of these people at once. I think it would be better to sequence this. And once Robert Mueller issues his report, that will inform some of their judgments. And theyll be able to find areas where they think, you know, mueller didnt do enough work or mueller may open up more paths for them. And i think that might help them a bit. But i get it, you know, theyre anxious, theyre under a lot of pressure to move. And thats why i think nadler did what he did. And nadler says kind of on the question of impeachment, he says that impeachment proceedings are a long way off. A long way down the road. Do you think thats the case . I do, actually. I think jerry nadler and Speaker Pelosi have both indicated that they believe that it will be very difficult to engage in a partisan impeachment process. I dont see the democrats really moving forward on impeachment, unless there is something really big out of the Mueller Report or unless they get republicans to join them in the effort to impeachment. Other than that, i dont think theyre going to want to do this. They realize there is a risk to this partisanonly impeachment process. They saw what happened with bill clinton and how it, in the end, it may have helped him. So i think theyre treading very cautiously here. Something thats oddly broken through partisan politics, the president somewhat. The president s Emergency Declaration to get more money for the border. So the house voted on this resolution to stop the emergency, if you will. The senate has to vote on it now. They will be doing that soon. Right now it appears there are enough republicans to defy the president on this one, but then the president vetoes it and they dont have vetoproof majority. What does this whole episode mean for washington . Well, i believe that, you know, this is i think this is a very easy vote for republicans. I believe rand paul made a very good argument for conservative republicans. They may agree with the president on policy, but this encroachment on legislative authority is just a bridge too far, he would have never stood for it with the Obama Administration or the democratic administration, so i think they have a very easy i think republicans have a very easy yes vote here. So i do think this is going to pass. I dont know how many are going to vote for this in the end. I doubt theyll get to the vetoproof majority, but i would expect, you know, maybe ten or more republicans could end up voting for this, this resolution of disapproval. I think its a very easy vote. I hear mcconnell is not putting much pressure on republicans. And whats the white house going to say, you know . How much pressure are they going to be able to put on them . Thats a good point. You wonder what lessons are learned, if any. Im doubtful, being cynical, that any lessons are learned from this episode. Good to see you, congressman. Thanks for coming in. Good to be with you. Thank you. Coming up for us, is Michael Cohens team in search for a pardon . A new report in the wall street journal says yes, so what does that mean for cohens testimony to Congress Last week . And going before congress again this week. Plus, the family of a u. S. saudi citizen says hes been beaten and tortured in a Saudi Arabian prison. So why hasnt the president weighed in . Well be right back. Welcome to the place where people go to learn about their medicare options. Before theyre on medicare. Come on in. Youre turning 65 soon . Yep. And youre retiring at 67 . Thats the plan well, youve come to the right place. Its also a great time to learn about an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by Unitedhealthcare Insurance Company. Heres why. Medicare part b doesnt pay for everything. Only about 80 of your medical costs. This part is up to you. Yeah, everyones a little surprised to learn that one. A Medicare Supplement plan helps pay for some of what medicare doesnt. 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To learn more about the range of aarp Medicare Supplement plans and their rates, call or go online today to request your free decision guide. Oh, and happy birthday. Or retirement. In advance. Your free decision guide. Come hok. , babe. Nasty nightime heartburn . Try alkaseltzer pm gummies. The only fast, powerful heartburn relief, plus melatonin so you can fall asleep quickly. Oh, what a relief it is now, heres something new that Michael Cohen might immediate to address when he returns to capitol hill tomorrow. A report in the wall street journal that one of cohens own attorneys, quote, raised the possibility of a pardon with attorneys of the president and his company after federal agents raided mr. Cohens properties in april, according to people familiar with the discussions. That from the wall street journal. Though, now, remember, here is what cohen told Congress Just last week about the issue of a president ial pardon. I have never asked for nor would i accept a pardon from President Trump. Okay. Joining me right now on the phone is White House Reporter for the wall street journal, rebecca ballhouse. Shes one of the reporters who broke this story. Rebecca, can you hear me . I can hear you. Thanks for joining me. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. What did the what did Michael Cohens attorney ask for and when . From what we understand is that in the weeks after this april raid last year, he contacted at least five lawyers for the president and his company, including Rudy Giuliani, who joined about who joined the president s legal team about ten days after that raid. And raised the possibility of a pardon with those lawyers. Its unclear how directly he said, you know, i want one or just continued to raise it with these people. But these were happening at a time that the lawyer, steve ryan was working alongside those lawyers to review files seized by cohens premises from the fbi to determine whether they were protected by Attorney Client privilege. How much of a read have you been able to get as to how trumps legal team responded to this . So our understand sthing is the president s lawyers largely dismissed the idea of a pardon. But we also spoke to Rudy Giuliani on the record for the story. And giuliani declined to say specifically whether he spoke with lawyers for cohen. But said that he has often been approached by lawyers about pardons more their clients and that he always says the same thing, which is that the president is not currently going to consider any pardons and nobody should think that he is, but that whatever happens in the future, its up to the president. So while that clearly is offering a pardon in that moment, its also leaving the door to one in the future. Mmhmm. How much did Michael Cohen know about this . Thats a question that we dont know the answer to. So as you mentioned, cohen said before the House OversightCommittee Last week that he had never asked for a pardon. And there is no indication from our reporting that he personally asked for a pardon and we also dont know whether he was aware of these discussions that his lawyer was having at the time. I find that fascinating. And also, this is a really important part about all of this. Because, of course it gets to the question of what your sense is, rebecca, of your reporting, and what youre hearing from your sources and his statement to Congress Last week. And whether both can be accurate. Right. And i think what weve seen in the last week since his testimony is that republicans on the House Oversight committee have already sought to refer Michael Cohen to the Justice Department for perjury in that testimony. So i think that if more information comes out that he was aware of these or that he did personally ask for a pardon, i think that could potential be problematic for him. Thats great reporting, rebecca, as always. Thanks so much for coming on. Appreciate it. Thank you. So joining me now, cnn legal analyst and criminal defense attorney, paul callan, and cnn political reporters and editor at large, chris cillizza. Great to see you guys. Paul, from rebeccas reporting, its unclear how much Michael Cohen knew about the conversations his attorney was having with trumps legal team. Do you when you see her reporting and see what Michael Cohen told congress, can both of those statements be accurate . Yeah, they both can be true. And what i see is inept questioning done by the congressmen during the hearing. Because they should have said to him, have you ever discussed with anyone the possibility of getting a president ial pardon . Instead, they allowed him to get off the hook and he said, um, ive never personally asked for a president ial pardon. So, the questioning wasnt specific enough to lock him in on a perjury charge. Thats something that Michael Cohen should have been more forthcoming about . Not necessarily. Lawyers tell clients, ask only the question you are asked. Answer only the question you were asked. Because you dont want to give extra information that could expose you to additional charges. So im not surprised he stuck to an answer that was simply responsive to the question. Chris, if he wasnt telling