Privilege. Democrats accusing him of standing in the way of the russia investigation. We have a lot to get to tonight but want to begin with political director and the staff writer at the atlantic and contributor john dean and the other of conservatives without conscience. Hit the road to talk jobs in milwaukee but all eyes on capitol rr hill. Things got testy. Take a look. Mr. Comey said there were matters with respect to the recusal. There are none. I can tell you that for absolute certainty. There is a secret innuendo being leaked throughout about me and i dont appreciate it. So what did we learn, gloria from the attorney general with his interactions with the fbi director . We learned that hes mad these stories have been leaked and he believes he did nothing wrong. And when responding to this notion i call it comey left a lot of. And theres been an awful lot of reporting that in fact there may have been another meeting with ambassador kislyak from russia and he denied that in his Opening Statement and throughout the rest of the testimony he said he did not recall or his standard fair. So what he was trying to do is say this is all wrong about me. And to the notion that james comey said well, wait a minute, if i was fired because of russia, what did attorney general sessions have to do with it because he recused himself on the russia investigation. Sessions also tried in his own way to clear that up. Pointing to the Rod Rosenstein memo and saying this was about the way he behaved during the campaign. So he tried to sweep everything aside and really clear his name here. There is a lot of nonrecalling, not recalling as i watched today. So david, sessions today on firing james comey. President trump intended to remove director comey. When you wrote your letter did you know the president already decided to fire directorer comey . I would say that i believe its been made public that the president asked us our opinion. It was given and he asked us to put that in writing and i dont know how much more he said about it than that. But believe he has talked about it and i would let his word speak for themselves. So he doesnt directly answer the question, david. What do we know is the president we do know the president made it clear that russia was on his mind when he fired james comey. Yep. And then he went and told the russians in the oval office that should alleviate pressure and theres no doubt that russia was very much the reasoning in Donald Trumps mind from his own words. Thats not Jeff Sessions account here. His recusal would become a lot trickier. So here hes reverting back to the original excuse given by the administration, the rosenstein memo detailing in length all of the offenses that this administration felt jim comey made with regards to the clinton email investigation. So here Jeff Sessions is saying hey when i set up my recusal from the russia investigation i did not recuse myself from over seeing the Justice Department which includes the fbi. And so it is totally within my purview to take my deputy ags memo and forward that along with my endorsement recommending comey be fired because of his actions having nothing to do with russia. The problem for sessions is that the president as he does time and again with people on his team, completely undermines that by telling lester holt he was on his mind when he fired james comey. He pushed back against the assertion that he didnt respond to comeys concerns about being left alone with the president. Lets listen to comey last week and sessions and then well talk. I dont remember real clearly. I have a recollection of him looking at me and theres a danger im projecting on to him. But i got his body language gave me the sense like what am i going to do . Did he shrug . I dont remember clearly. I think the reason i have that impression is i have imperceptable like what am i going to do . But i dont have a clear recollection of that. He didnt say anything. I believe it was the next day he said something expressed concern about being left alone with the president. But that in itself is not problematic. He did not tell me at that time any details about anything that was said that was improper. I affirmed his concern that we should be following the proper guidelines of the department of justice. What do you think, julia . You know, Jeff Sessions was an ardent advocate of donald trump when he declared his run for the presidency early on when it was unlikely and he remain as dogged defender of the president now and he has to protect himself in addition. But what you saw in the hearing he didnt give much ground on anything and david is totally right. He tried to sweep all the crumbs that led to him awaway and go back the original excuses. The way he responded to senator tom cottons questioning where he rattled off a number of spy novels and action films and he said thank you for that opportunity. This is absurd. That youre going after me. Theres nothing. Theres no there there. Trying as hard as he could to protect himself and his boss. On one hand he said the president didnt invoke executive privilege but he might in the future and so im not going to say anything because he might down the road want to invoke executive privilege. It sounded like he was pub lackly if youre listening, you might want to invoke executive privilege. I want to ask you about that because he said he didnt invoke executive privilege, right . And yet he refused to answer many of the questions asked of him. Heres how it went down and then well discuss it. Youre impeding this investigation. Senator, im protecting the president s constitutional right by not giving it away before he has a chance to what is the legal base for your refuse tool answer the question snz. Im reserving the right of the president to asert it if he chooses and there could be others that apply in the circumstance. So is he trying to have it both ways on executive privilege, john . This is called, from the nixon era, stone walling as he was accused of today. He was obskating and delaying and using a very weak excuse. There are apparently memos in the department of justice from the regan era that call for this kind of privilege but its not anything that is regular order in the department and it is certainly not a legitimate use of executive privilege. Can i point out and david gurgen made this point earlier tonight and its important that during the regan era, during iran contra, regan waved executive privilege and waved it for everybody in his administration. So they could testify before the congress. So they could get to the bottom of the story. So its kind of odd you would use something from the regan orrau when in fact president regan did the opposite when he was under the gun in the iran contra investigation. If people are refusing to answer questions, trying to have it both ways when it comes to executive privilege, then what good do the over what teeth do the Oversight Committee have here . Does any of this mean anything . Its pretty hard to dig. What theyre going to have to do is go a few layers lower to try to gather information. They dont have the same investigative tools as a special counsel. They dont have a grand jury they can bring people in. So whats the point then, john . Its a good question. I think theyre trying to inform the public but its a the administration, trump people are doing a pretty good job blocking the senate and house from learning anything. Its totally different, don, from the Mueller Investigation. What the it administration rightly is most concerned about is the Mueller Investigation with the special counsel. As john dean is saying theres a whole different set of powers there and that means that the stuff thats going on the hill that we see, yes, these are Public Officials trying to do the publics work and get to the bottom of russia attacking our fundamental small process of our elections but a lot of this is theater and thats not the case with the Mueller Investigation. Stick around. Weve got lot more to talk about. Well talk on the other side. When we come back more on sessions testimony in front of the senate. Plus the president calling House RepublicansHealth Care Bill mean. And reaction to that. Award winning interface. Award winning design. Award winning engine. The volvo xc90. The most awarded luxury suv of the century. Visit your volvo dealer to take advantage of our midsommar sales event offer. Visit your volvo dealer to take advantage gave us the power to turn this enemy into an ally . Microsoft and its partners are using smart traps to capture mosquitoes and sequence their dna to fight disease. There are over 100 million pieces of dna in every sample. With the microsoft cloud, we can analyze the data faster than ever before. If we can detect new viruses before they spread, we may someday prevent outbreaks before they begin. Heri think i might burst. Totally immersed weekenders. Whatever kind of weekender you are, theres a hilton for you. 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The white house saying tonight that President Trump thinking attorney general Jeff Sessions did a very good job. My panel is back with me. But first i want to bring in a utah republican, a member of the house intelligence committee. Ive got to get your response to what john dean said. You know he was a Nixon White House special counsel and he said what Jeff Sessions what he did today was a definition of stonewalling. How do you respond . Im not sure i agree exactly. I think he was trying to be as forthcoming as he could. Theres a couple constraints. One is with the classified setting. But also this executive privilege. Im not an attorney. But i do believe theres some merit to that and he probably wasnt being improper in how he handled those private conversations with the president. More than anything he said i dont know if its appropriate to answer rather than saying im not comfortable answering something classified and other thing he said the most was i dont recall. You know i think if he would have answered one question in that fashion, there would have been demands for him to be forthcoming. I think obviously the investigation is going to go forward. Obviously these questions are going to be asked again and again. I think at that time theyll have this opportunity to claim. Are they going to claim executive privilege or answer the questions . We want the American People to know. It just may not be appropriate for right now. Listen, youre on the committee. They are also going behind some of the people testifying in public, youre questioning them privately where youre getting classified information. Are you satisfy wouied with the information youre getting in those settings . Theres a long list of witnesses we want to talk to. In some cases ive been frustrated. I was very frustrate would the former fbi director. We were quite angry with each other because i didnt feel he was being as forth right as we needed him to be. By and large you do get better answers. Thats one of the reasons why those of us on the committee, we hate for it to become so partisan, so public. I dont think we do as good a job. I think sometimes theres grand standing that takes place and thats unfortunate. I think theres value doing it in a nonpartisan way that allows tuse be a little more serious. I know the American People agree with you on that but do you think the former fbi director was more forthcoming with his questions and answers . Its hard for me to say. It depends on what circumstances. In this one im referring to he wasnt but in some of the open sessions hes been quite forthcoming. So i think it depends on the subject and what were probing. Again these are good men. Theyre trying to provide the information and will eventually learn everything we need to know. I want to ask you about health care. You voted in favor of the Republican House bill. Were just learning that President Trump told senators the house bill was mean and to show more heart. Why is the president coming out against the republican bill now because after they and before th they passed it, he was touting it . Its one of those times i say were on the same side. Help us out here, throw us a bone. But you got to give mr. Trump credit. Its one of the things that indeared him to the American People is he spoke off the top of the head. But were clearly so you dont think the bill is mean . No. Thats what im trying to say. Were clearly not trying to be mean. Were trying to make this affordable for people. Were trying to draw more and more people in and i know the media has been mayby thats not the story theyre telling but thats sincerely our intention is to help americans. Its not the media. This is what members of congress are saying, constituents back home. Were just the vessel or the platform that gets what people are saying out there. Im not pointing a finger at you. I understand that but why would the president call it mean . Why would the cvo score it the way it is . But youre saying its not mean. Do you have concerns with the score . Do you have concerns with what people are saying at town halls back home . Sure, we do. For sure we do. Look, this is not an easy task were trying to do and its controversial and there will be some people disappointed. Theres no question about that. And again im not throwing the media under the bus but you got to realize as well that the Media Coverage is in some cases not been as fair or accurate as it could have been. Im not here to talk about that. Im here to talk about can we help people . Can we make this better . If the president thinks its mean or insufficient, how can we make this a bill a lot of americans are going to support . I apreciate your time. Thank you very muff. Back again now with my panel. Okay. So, david, you just heard from congressman stewart. Whats your reaction . That was fascinating to hear a Republican House member basically beg the president , throw us a bone here, man, help us out. I think it was clear recognition that the president of the United States after celebrating in the rose garden with all of the house members took a bus and rolled right over them. Gloria, do you think i would think his strategy was, meaning the president , hes a negotiator. He needed a win. He needed a win in congress, regardless of what the bill is like, knowing it had to go to the senate and the enset would fix it. Yes and now he wants another win. But dont forget. Do you remember rose garden celebration after the health care win last time around . And the president was praising the bill and praising republicans who voted for it. And now hes turning around saying we need a more generous bill, a bill that costs more money. Because the president understands that this bill may hurt some of his constituents, his base of support. He understands that the house bill is not popular in this country. And so hes putting on his political hat to looking towards the senate but hes sawing off the limb out from under all the republicans in the house who voted for him. I was surprised when he said give us a break. I think it was a bit tongue and cheek the way he said it. Imagine the Democratic CongressionalCampaign Committee ad as theyre trying to take back the house, theyre already going to plan and now theyre going to use President Trump in their ad saying even he said it was mean. Where are Congressional Republicans . Are they in sink . What about republicans . Well, it sounds like you know, it sounds like hes telling them to jump and they jump and he says jump faster, jump higher. Then he says no, faster, high, faster, higher. They get the bill through. He celebrates in the rose garden. Big group photo and no, shouldnt have jumped at all. The jump was mean. Do you think this will have any effect responses like the one we just heard from the congressman, do you think this will have any effect on senators working through this bill as well . Are they not going to try to make it as mean . The president first of all asked for it to be more generous. Its going to be difficult. I think the senators are working through their own bill. A lot of them are probably relieved because they didnt want to tie them to the house bill which they had no intention of tying them to anyway. So i think Mitch Mcconnell is probably working quietly to get his own bill passed and i think his goal is probably and if i had to guess, his goal is probably to pass a bill out of the senate so he can say ive passed a bill but who knows what would happen between those two bills eventually if they had to reconcile. John dean back to lets get back to the testimony today. The Deputy Attorney general rod ros rosenstein testified at a separate hearing. I wanted to read what he said about special counsel. If President Trump ordered you to fire the special counselal, what would you do . Senator, im not going to follow any orders unless i believe those are lawful and appropriate orders. Under the regulation, special counsel mueller can only be fired for good cause and if there were good cause, i would consid