Administration doesnt defend the law. Here under Jeff Sessions, the Justice Department was defending the constitutionality of much of the law. In other words, the ruling by the federal judge in texas was that because the individual mandate is no longer part of the Affordable Care act that the entire rest of the statute is unconstitutional. What Jeff SessionsJustice Department had said was that there are a couple portions of it that would go down with the individual mandate, but the rest of the law would be okay. Now under attorney general barr the Justice Department is saying the entire law must go. 52 million would be effected under preexisting conditions lowances there. Let me ask you this. Is this a legal decision or a political decision . Its not like the Justice Department discovered a new law that said their past position was wrong . Are they going to make that argument before the judge . Its a pretty dramatic turn. There is no question that there is no event. In other words, its not like they discovered new evidence. The law is what it is. Nothing has changed. Its simply that under the leadership of attorney general barr there is a different view at the Justice Department. Now, the decision by the court below the Federal District court has been wrongly criticized on both sides of the aisle. Many prominent scholars who previously challenged the Affordable Care act have criticized that decision. At this point, if the composition of the Supreme Court remains the same, it seems unlikely that this challenge would succeed in the Supreme Court. Of course, the conversation could change at any minute. First it would go to the court of the fifth circuit. If it does get to the Supreme Court lets talk about john roberts because he was the famous swing vote that rescued the Affordable Care act during the Obama Administration to the chagrin of many conservatives. Based on the law of that decision and what we know of the Justice Departments current standing, can you get a sense of how the Supreme Court chief justice might decide on this in. I think the principle is easy for everyone to understand why i think it is likely that this will be upheld by the Supreme Court. Essentially, the reasoning is that because one portion of the law is gone that the rest of the law goes away or should go away or it is unconstitutional. Previously, the Supreme Court with an opinion authored by john roberts held that the law was constitutional and specifically a portion of the law that is now gone which has been removed by congress. Congress made a decision to remove that portion of the law, the individual mandate but chose explicitly to keep the rest of the law in place. Generally, the Supreme Court does not want to overturn a statute that has been passed by congress and signed into law by the president. So they are going to try to be deaf renchal to that. It would have to be a clear situation for the Supreme Court to overturn a statute. Here the severability issue, the issue of whether or not the rest of the statute can survive i think is unlikely to survive at the Supreme Court. You do make a good point, unless the composition changes. For instance, President Trump gets to appoint another conservative justice could swngg the result. Democrats in the house chart a delicate course in the wake of the Mueller Report and what we know of it so far moving on without letting go of their own separate investigation. You have this call today i believe beginning about an hour ago with some concern i believe even from nancy pelosi about dangers for democrats Going Forward if there is too much focus on the russia investigation and not enough on the agenda. What are you hearing as smg out of the Decision Making . Reporter i think what it is really instructive now that the Mueller Report is filed attorney general bill barr House Democrats meeting behind closed doors. Im told Speaker Nancy Pelosi made clear a couple things that they need the actual Mueller Report and not the letter from the attorney general. That is one of the major pushes. You saw the letter come out last night from six Democratic Committee chairs asking for the report to be submitted to congress by april 2. The underlying materials to be submitted to congress. That will be a primary push at this moment. If they dont meade the deadline then there is talk about trying to compel them to meet the deadline. There are multiple house investigations that are central to the house not necessarily the Mueller Report. This is what adam schiff had to say about his investigations. Our investigation has always focussed on Counter Intelligence issues. Is the president or Anyone Around him compromised in some way . That work has to go on. That work will go on with the Intelligence Committee and other committees looking into things. It is probably more important when you take away what i have been told is a shift in focus to health care exactly what we were talking about. I asked a democrat where do you go from here . He sent me a link to the filing about invalidating obamacare. That what democrats want to talk about. That is what they campaigned on and that more than anything else is what you will hear a lot about from democrats Going Forward not necessarily the Mueller Report or the attorney generals letter but health care and the obamacare repeal. Health care was a big driving issue in the mid terms. We know that helped flip a lot of districts from red to blue. Thanks very much on the hill. Joining me now is republican congressman mike johnson of louisiana who serves on the judiciary committee. We appreciate you taking the time this morning. Great to be with you. First, if i can get your reaction to the Justice Departments decision to seek to validate all of obamacare while i know that politically most republicans dont like it, Many Republican voters like the provisions of it, preexisting conditions. I think we have all seen that obamacare is failing the American People. It was a big Campaign Issue in 2016 and last year for everyone on both sides of the aisle because our Health Care System is broken. I think when the individual mandate is invalidated i think that is the under pinning of the whole law, but there is good reason for comfort i think among the American People. There are some smart people around the table working on Real Solutions to sure up our Health Care System and make it much better. Thats a nice answer, but you know as well as me that if this is repealed, 11 million americans will suddenly have no health insurance. Is that something you would support . No. We wont support that at all. I can tell you that virtually every republican on the hill as well as the democrats are in favor of supporting those with preexisting conditions and making sure that no one falls through the cracks. I think everyone will get together here in a bipartisan fashion and make sure that the American People are taken care of. We are committed to that and we look forward to the opportunity to bring those ideas to the table. I would be impressed if there was a bipartisan approach to this. I appreciate your hope that thats possible Going Forward. Lets talk about mueller for a moment here and the report. As you know, it seems the answer was fairly definitive on the question of collusion. On the question of obstruction of justice, Robert Mueller said he did find evidence on both sides which means he found evident that the president on one side did obstruct justice. Should it be the attorney generals decision. I think it is fully appropriate for the attorney general to make that decision. Im not sure it is a fair characterization of what mueller found. I think he left it open ended and whatever reasons he had, he punted that decision to the top man, the top of the totem pole. He said specifically it does not exonerate the president on obstruction of justice. That is not language the special counsel had to put into that report. Thats true, but he is using the common parlance of federal investigators and prosecutors. Thats the world he came out of. Lets make this important point. Rod rosenstein also assisted the a. G. In that decision and he is one democrats have been saying is an american hero. He served under the Obama Administration. These are men who have sound judgment. William barr has been the attorney general before. He knows what he is doing. I think the American People have a lot of confidence in the decisions that have been made and thats why so many people are saying it is time to move on and get to the big issues that are facing the country. Will the American People have more confidence if they can see the full report and would you spert t support the release of the full report . I do. We have to do it within the bounds of the law. I think everyone can appreciate that there are certain pieces of information that have to be redacted. You cant have anything thats confidential, classified, deal wg grand jury proceedings. Well get to it and i think the American People deserve that. Thats what they are getting to now. Let me ask you this. Before that public release to be meaningful, it would seem to me congress would have to keep an open mind to make its own judgment. Is it not possible that william barr made a judgment that elected members of congress disagree with on this . If you see evidence that leads you to a different conclusion, might you vote differently . Might you say that there is evidence here of something that a u. S. President should not have been doing with regards to the investigation . I think its silly for anyone to suggest that any Congressional Committee here, the intel committee, anyone else could find something that Robert Mueller did not. In 22 months of investigation, with 25 million Robert Mueller did not make a decision on obstruction of justice as you know. You know special counsels are designed really so that you take investigations like this out of in effect the political arena so they can present the evidence. Many legal scholars argue that the ultimate judgment is up to congress because its a political judgment you cannot indict a sitting president. Sure, but congress has to rely upon the expertise of the people who are not political. Thats what the Attorney Generals Office is. Thats what the department of justice is. Robert mueller is behind reapproach. Attorney generals are not political . They are appointed by the president. That has always been the case. These are people who understand that the rule of law is what should govern. The democrats here have politicized all of this. Thats why peoples patience is wearing thin. We spent too much time. There is no way that any Congressional Committee can find differently than what these experts did with all those resources, unlimited time. We are wasting the American Peoples time if we go forward with this. Its time to move on. We have major challenges facing the country. To be fair, youre hearing that same point from democrats as well. Congressman, we do appreciate having you on the show. Thanks, jim. Right now, as we speak, lawmakers are on the hill holding a rare hearing on gun control as three apparent suicides devastated two communities already touched by the tragedy of Mass Shootings 67. The pentagon notified congress that it authorized the transfer of funds to begin new construction along the southern border. Democratic lawmakers not happy about it. We will discuss. Just 40 seconds. 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And they called grandma when manny felt sad about not being able to swim. Overall, they shared 176 pictures. But when the moment came, they held their breath, and watched their son learn to believe in himself. The pentagon is now putting 1 billion of its own funding toward the president s border wall. It has authorized the transfer to go towards miles of fencing. They say the pentagon never got permission from congress to divert the funds. Tell us how it happened. This came from acting defense secretary shanahan late last night. Right now he is testifying on capitol hill in front of the House Armed Services committee getting a lot of questions coming his way about this. Republicans and democrats alike expressing some concern that military funding is being shifted towards all of this. Shanahan making clear that he approved a plan for 1 billion in essentially unused funds for military personnel, unused money for pay and pension type accounts that that will be transferred to building the 57 mile segment through parts of texas and arizona, wall protection, improving roads and perhaps more to come potentially in the coming weeks in canceling some military construction in order to Fund Additional parts of the border. Senate democrats especially very concerned about this. You know as well as i do, congressional members always concerned about projects being cancelled in their district. They are raising the broader issue, does this begin to impact military readiness as you take this money away. Should it be used somehow in another way to keep the military ready, trained, able to deploy. Its one of many questions being raised about all of this. Comes as a top marine commander saying it is effecting readiness today. 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