Good morning, everyone. Im john berman. Im poppy harlow. Were following major developments this morning on capitol hill. Take a look whats going on right now on your left. Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein is going to appear before the House Judiciary Committee for a hearing that might have been routine, except for, well, except for a lot of things. Except for the mueller investigation, that more and more republicans are seeing as, well, not totally independent. So theyll pose some tough questions to him. On the right of your screen, at any moment, a News Conference from top senate democrat, chuck schumer. What schumer is going to do is suggest that the senate push back the final vote on the republican tax plan. Why . He wants to see the freshly elected or the next democratic senator from the state of alabama, doug jones, he wants him seated. Which would reduce the republican majority to one. So were waiting on those two live events. While we wait, lets go down to alabama right now. Our Kaylee Hartung is there. This race is what is causing this news this morning, kaylee. Reporter yeah, absolutely. The sense of urgency and the republican effort to get that tax bill passed. Because as the secretary of state of alabama has explained it to me, its going to take a couple of weeks to certify the results from this election. It will happen after christmas. Some time between december 26th and january 3rd. So it is very likely that doug jones wont be sworn in until after the new year. Last night, with just that 1. 5 margin of difference between the two candidates, you know, roy moore refused to concede the race. We still havent heard such a concession from him today. He hasnt so much as called doug jones, as far as we know, at least not last night. But last night, doug jones had the confidence that the people of alabama had spoken. Alabama has been at a crossroads. We have been at crossroads in the past and unfortunately, we have usually taken the wrong fork. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, you took the right road reporter doug jones was able to pull off this stunning upset with the help of a special coalition of voters and alabama africanamericans who turned out in greater numbers than they did for barack obama in 2008 or 2012. Our numbers show 30 of the electorate here made up of the black vote. And also, women in this state, educated white women, who turned out 5742 in favor of doug jones. Well be standing by with you guys to see what happens on capitol hill today. John, poppy . All right, Kaylee Hartung for us in alabama. Again, were watching for chuck schumer, who will come out right now and say what he thinks the impact of this election should be. The white house, President Trump, after endorsing roy moore, campaigning for roy moore, is now trying to put some the distance between himself and roy moore. Our joe johns at the white house with that. Joe . Reporter john, one of the takeaways from last night, almost immediately, is that flawed candidates do not win, even when they have the backing of the president of the United States. The president acknowledging that, more or less, in a tweet this morning, without mentioning roy moores name. The tweet says, if last nights election proved anything, it proved we need to put up great in capital letters republican candidates to increase the razorthin margins in both the house and the senate. And that is something that did not happen. Because, as we know, roy moore had a lot of baggage that ended up apparently taking him down in alabama. The president also tweeting this morning a number of other things, pointing out that he picked the right candidate, if you will, in the primary. The fact of the matter is, the president picked losing candidates in both the primary and the general election, really raising questions about his choices, as well as the partys choices. Cnns jim acosta, of course, reporting just last night that people at the white house were using words like devastating, calling this an earthquake for the president. And also suggesting the president has egg on his face, because of his former adviser, steve bannon. Of course, steve bannon campaigned in alabama for roy moore and encouraged the president to do as well. This, of course, is a problem for them in a number of different areas. They are saying, of course, this morning, that, look, he had no choice, had to back roy moore, because thats the guy who came out of the primary. Back to you, john. Reporter all right. Joe johns at the white house. Before you go, though, there has been quite a departure from the white house. Omarosa manigault, who works in the white house. People may know her from the apprentice, as well, when donald trump was hosting that. Shes gone, why . Reporter its not clear why shes gone, in fact. What we do know is sarah sanders, the White House Press secretary, put out a Statement Today indicating that her resignation is effective january 20th. That will be exactly one year since donald trump was sworn in. She did do outreach to groups, including minority groups for the white house, through the office of liaison and now shes on her way out. One of the big questions, of course, is the extent to which this had anything to do with the election in alabama last night or any other drama as april ryan put it, just a little while ago, here on cnn. Omarosa Manigault Newman is now out. We now also that she got married recently. Her husband lives in the south, works in the south. Hes a minister there and shed been traveling every weekend or so to be with him. A difficult situation. So weve reached out to omarosa and she has not responded to calls and emails so far. Back to you. All right. Joe johns at the white house. Thank you. All right. I want to bring in our panel right now. Joining us, Washington Bureau chief for the chicago suntimes, lynn sweet, and matt lewis, cnn political commentator, senior columnist at the daily beast. What were looking at right here, were about to hear from the Senate Majority leader, chuck schumer. And what this is is the First Political fallout that the democrats would like to see or are pushing from the alabama election last night, lynn. Schoournlg is going to argue that the tax vote should be delayed until doug jones seated in the senate. Now, its not going to happen. My question to you, though, is why, lynn, hes making this case. Okay, the democrats hope to get more leverage in influencing the vote. Because once doug jones is seated, republicans still have the majority, but its only 51 vote. That makes any one republican very important, because they could make demands that have to be met. It means that the democrats are in a far better bargaining position. Thats why the republican senators have every incentive to try to make their deal, make peace with their House Republican counterparts and get this bill through, because sooner or later, doug jones is going to be seated. Now, the secretary of state of alabama said it wont you know, will take a few weeks. So even in even if things go well, it gives the republicans a few weeks to get their will done. There seems to be no political reason for them to delay, unless we hear from schumer, unless he has some arrow in his quiver we dont know about. Guys, stand by. Lets go to this big hearing on the hill. Rod rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney general, about to testify before house judiciary, the chairman, mr. Goodlatte, making his opening remarks. To all citizens who expect a system of blind and equal justice. The department of justice investigations must not be tainted by individuals imposing their own political prejudices. We are now beginning to better understand the magnitude of this insider bias on mr. Muellers team. First, we have fbi agent peter struck and fbi lawyer lisa paige, exchanging information showing extreme bias against mr. Trump. A fact that would be bad enough if not for the fact that these two individuals were employed as part of the mueller dream team, investigating the very person for whom they were showing disdain. And calling it mere disdain is generous. According to the documents produced last night to this committee, mr. Struck refer to the president as a loathsome human and awful while continually praising Hillary Clinton and the obamas. These Text Messages prove what we all suspected. Highranking fbi officials involved in the clinton investigation were personally invested in the outcome of the election and clearly let their strong, political opinions cloud their professional judgment. And this was only an initial disclosure containing heavy redactions. Second, former embattled fbi general counsel and current mueller prosecutor, andrew weismann, expressed his awe of a former doj official for shunning the president and failing to faithfully execute the law. However, we are now in awe that someone like mr. Weismann remains on an Investigative Team that looks more and more partisan. Third, we have learned that a top mueller prosecutor, genie rhee, in addition to the other actions that would normally justify recusal, served as an attorney for the clinton foundation. Arent department of justice employees advised to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. A former clinton employee is now investigating President Trump. This seems to be the very definition of the appearance of impropriety. We have just now learned that another Top Department of justice official, bruce othre, s been reassigned because of his wife and his connections with the infamous dossier, and the company from which the document originated. We hope to hear your assessment of the foregoing conflicts, whether individuals are being held accountable, and whether you still have confidence in the judgment of the special counsel you named and supervise. Regarding the clinton email scandal, you along with attorney general sessions have, to date, declined to appoint a Second Special counsel to investigate the improprieties that continue to surface, related to the handling of the clinton email investigation and other events surrounding the 2016 election. These are some of the important issues on which we will focus our energy and questions today. We want to understand your skprp participation and the departments involvement in addressing both investigations. Mr. Deputy attorney general, the department of justices reputation as an impartial arbitrator of justice has been called into question. This taint of politicization should concern all americans who have pride in the fairness of our nations justice system. While we continue to call on you to appoint a Second Special counsel, as you are aware, we have also opened our own joint investigation with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to review fbi and the department of justices handling of the clinton email investigation. I want to thank you and attorney general sessions for recently committing to provide us relevant documents to enable robust congressional oversight of this matter. I implore you to continue to work with us on these and other important matters facing our nation. One of these matters involves a Critical Program for our National Security. Fisa section 702. This committee passed on an overwhelming, bipartisan basis, the usa liberty act, which maintains the integrity of the program, while protecting cherished Civil Liberties. This overwhelming vote occurred despite the departments lobbying efforts against our bill. The usa liberty act was characterized as bad for the program. Highly problematic, unworkable, and a proposal that would effectively dismantle section 702. However, the reality is that this committees legislation struck a balance that promotes National Security and Civil Liberties. I hope to hear from you why the department of justice felt it necessary to oppose a bill that would reauthorize 702 skpand instill confidence in the American People that their privacy and Civil Liberties are respected by a government whose duty it is to protect them. The department of justice must reacquire the trust of the American People. I know there are thousands of department of justice employees and line agents in the department, in the bureau of federal bureau of investigation, that are dedicated individuals, that are dedicated to upholding the rule of law and protecting the American People. And i hope that we can come to a conclusion about those people who have not met that standard in this hearing today. Thank you, mr. Deputy attorney general, for appearing today. I now yield to the gentlemen from new york, trahe Ranking Member of the committee, mr. Nadler, for his comments. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Before i begin my statements. First, let me wholly endorse the comments of the chairman with reference to section 702 and to the legislation that we reported out of this committee. And second, i want to acknowledge a letter the chairman and i received last night from the Democratic Women of this committee. Our colleagues have asked that we convene a hearing regarding the serious accusations of Sexual Misconduct leveled against mr. Trump by 19 women. Without objection, i ask that this letter will be made a part of the record. It will be made a part of the letter. And i unequivocally endorse this letter. This is an opportunity for us to lead and show the country this kind of behavior is unacceptable at any level of government. Mr. Chairman, let me start by saying, welcome to the House Judiciary Committee, mr. Rosenstein. For the better part of a year, my colleagues and i have implored this committee to conduct real oversight of the department of justice. On january 24th, 2017, we wrote to chairman goodlatte, insisting that the committee hold hearings on President Trumps conflicts of interest, at home and abroad. Citing to experts across the political spectrum, we showed the administrations attempt to address its ongoing flisconflicf interest are wholly adequate. We have not held a single hearing on the issue of conflicts of interest. On march 8th, we wrote again to the chairman, encouraging him to call hearings on, quote, russias alleged interference in the u. S. Election. Again, no such hearings were ever held. In fact, this committee, which during the Obama Administration held half a dozen hearings around operation fast and furious, received testimony from fbi director comey three times in 13 months, and detailed staff and resources to a benghazi investigation that cost the public almost 8 million, this committee, from Inauguration Day until four weeks ago, was largely silent in terms of oversight. We havent lifted a finger on election security. Attorney general sessions told us on november 14th that he has done nothing to secure the next election from threats from at home and abroad. We have not once discussed the president s abuse of the pardon power. While the hurricane bore down on houston, President Trump sidelined the office of the pardon attorney to pardon a serial human rights abuser who bragged about running a concentration camp in arizona. And we have not held a single hearing on allegations of obstruction of justice at the white house. Not for lack of evidence, but because of the chairmans words, quote, there is a special counsel in place examining the issue, unquote, and quote, several other congressional committees are looking into the matter, and the committee, quote, does not have the time to conduct this critical oversight. I ask my colleagues to keep those excuses in mind. Now with the year coming to a close, with the leadership of the department of justice finally before us, what do my republican colleagues want to discuss . Hillary clintons emails. Let me repeat that. With all of these unresolved issues left on our docket, a week before we adjourn for the calendar year, the majoritys highest oversight priority is Hillary Clintons emails and a few related Text Messages. As we saw in our recent hearings with the department of justice and the fbi, my republican colleagues seem singularly focused on their call for a Second Special counsel. And failing that, on the need to investigate the investigators themselves. Ourselves. The white house has now joined the call by House Republicans for a new special counsel to investigate the fbi. The president s private lawyers have done the same. I understand the instinct to want to change the subject after the flynn and manafort indictments, but this request is grossly misguided for a number of reasons. First, it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how the special counsel regulations work. Some criminal investigations pose a conflict of interest to the department of justice. The russia investigation is such a case. Because of the attorneys ongoing recusal and because Department Leadership insisted in the removal of director comey for many reasons. In cases like these, the attorney general may use a special counsel to manage the investigation outside the ordinary chain of command. But the key here is the criminal investigation. Thats what special counsel does. The department cannot simply assign a special counsel to look at things that bother the white house. There has to be enough evidence to have predicated a criminal investigation in the first place. Then and only then, if the facts warrant, can a speci