What did the president know and when did he know it. And we all know where that phrase comes from. You know on days like this within this week of big news around Michael Cohen and other people like Paul Manafort, sometimes we will hear an Immediate Response from the white house. We have not yet heard anything as far as i know from you, john, but this is one of those situations where the president would say, what about the situation . I mean it is not i said situation twice in one sentence, i apologize. But now is it more apparent perhaps of why he would have passed this on to federal prosecutors . I was talking with Brian Kilmeade about this on the radio this morning and even though this was not about the mueller case and a mueller hand of the soft to the Southern District of new york because they felt it fell outside of the purview of the investigation into russia collusion, it would definitely seem to be a loop
now a Law Professor at California Berkeley joins me now. Its great to have you for your expertise. So sticking with the Breaking News, and a person who has already been while we have seen two convictions basically this week and now we see in Immunity Deal with david packer, the ceo of the Parent Company that owns the National Enquirer, what do you make of it all . First if you are President Trump you are getting very worried because i dont think he is under threat of prosecution, because hes under the Justice Department president and the president of the United States cant be indicted for at the crime while he is in office. His main worry i think is whether this will lead to some kind of impeachment charge because under impeachment, under the high crimes of Misdemeanor Standard which is the house and ultimately the senate to decide the meaning of, one could say this is an Impeachable Offense if the president in some way had conspired with people to evade
limits on Campaign Contributions or concealed the nature of Campaign Spending in order to get himself elected. I think a lot of things still have to happen before any kind of that can happen, and this is all about, again, as you mentioned, its not really about the russia mueller 2016 election, this is really about a much more sordid, contain a narrow and less threatening idea of people trying to manipulate possibly the Campaign Contribution limits to pay off people so they wouldnt hurt candidate trump during the election. Harris you say that the president not under threat of election, many i think including yourself have said, you cant do it. Others have said you could try, just to make the point. Bob mueller, talk to me for a
second about how this works legally. Its not his job to put up information about whether or not a president should be impeached. Its his job, as i understand it, to go after crimes. How did we get into that lane and how do we get out of it . Its a great question and its really complicated. Notice that these cases, cohen and packer, these are not occurring in virginia and washington, d. C. , he handed these things off to regular prosecutors. These are the ones in the Southern District of new york which covers manhattan. These are not part of the mueller investigation. His charge, his mandate is to investigate russian meddling with the 2016 elections, and thats not involved here. As far as we know, there is no involvement in russia. So what mueller has to focus on
Interviews with newsmakers and roundtable discussions cover the top news stories of the day. Russia and 2016 elections. If he doesnt find any, all we can do at best, Rod Rosenstein then has a choice to go to congress. But hes a prosecutor and his job is to help congress carry out high crimes and impeachment functions, thats up to congress. His job is to look for Crimes Involving the 2016 election. We havent seen it yet, there are people who are speculating that thats what hes going to do, that if he thought the president committed obstruction maybe he would report that to congress. This is something that ken starr had to think about, but like you said its not part of his mandate. Harris and airbags the question, and i will have to let you go on this. There begs the question on whether or not the president , if he wanted to start with Security Clearances or firing people or
relieving them or moving them or whatever, it would be hard to argue with that in some degree, if, in fact, the investigation has become this preimpeachment goal oriented movement. You say we dont know that yet but its worth keeping an eye on. I will ask my producer One More Time to say what you just said in my ear . Okay. Lets move on now, im joined by bill mcgurn, main street columnist for the Wall Street Journal and member of the Editorial Board right on time. Fox news contributor, as you all are breaking this news and had to have confirmed it with the Wall Street Journal and fox news confirmed as well. David packer, ceo of the National Enquirer has agreed to in Immunity Deal. Thats bad news for President Trump, i agree. The real threat against donald trump is not any criminal indictment but impeachment. And that is growing more and more likely as democrats seem to lead in the polls up to the midterms and the democrats are itching to impeach him, even if as is likely now, they wont have the votes in the senate to convict. Harris we are getting sources are telling fox news directly to john roberts who was just on with me a little while ago that we have to confirm this immunity to speak with federal prosecutors, for steel at the Southern District of new york. What does this mean . You talked about, its bad news for the president but what does this mean if it does not point to anything substantive legal . I think your point is exactly right. I started off with the idea that the whole concept of a Special Counsel is an abomination. I think Special Counsel is corrupt, independent counsel is corrupt, absolutely. Its a bad way to go. Congress is the proper vehicle
for this. So if you want to take down a president , impeachment is the proper vehicle. I also agree Gerald Gerald d famously said, high crimes and misdemeanors or whatever Congress Says it is. But de facto, there is an argument. If they decide, you can be impeached. So that is i think the danger to the president. I point out when the Special Counsel was first set up, it was for its a counterintelligence. And thats not going to help President Trump. We can remind people of where we started and why thats important. And you know, in all of your years as a journalist, and looking at this in terms of politics, have we seen this pass
do you blame this congress . Because they are in the same party as the president. Its hard because you have to get the body to act collectively but if congress representing We The People doesnt exercise its rights, no one is going to give it to them. Harris i have to get in this, a statement from Attorney General sessions back to the president. It says while i am Attorney General, the actions of the Department Of Justice will not be improperly considered by political considerations. Remember where we have been today, and it doubling down on that language is if i had known that you were going to recuse, and even the president saying, you should have told me before you recuse yourself from the Russian Investigation. This is now breaking, and the statement is longer than that but i give you a highlight. President trump has some legitimate complaints. I believe just Jeff Sessions has been weak because he recuse
himself. But just because the president has legitimate beefs doesnt mean that he has expressed them in the most helpful ways to himself. And i think now hes paying the price for some of his associate associates. He picked Michael Cohen and he picked Paul Manafort. Harris and in his recent statements he said he questioned the idea of picking Christopher Wray ahead of the fbi. This is the Attorney General answering back to the president in a statement online. I took control of the Department Of Justice the day i was sworn in, which is why weve had unprecedented success at Effectuating The President s agenda, one that protects the safety and security and rights of the American People, reduces Violent Crime enforces our Immigration Laws, promotes Economic Growth and advances religious liberty. He goes on to say what i said, i will say it again, while i am Attorney General of the actions will not be improperly
influenced by political considerations. Is this getting deeper . Are we saying a situation where the president could wake up and say, ive had enough of Jeff Sessions, you are out, or you are put somewhere else. Where are we in all of this and with the president in any way be justified by doing that . The president can choose whatever Attorney General he wants but the question is whether he could get someone confirmed, maybe next year. My suspicion is if there are 54 republicans in the senate next year that Jeff Sessions wont be long and his job, but i think its very difficult for the president to do that now because what would happen . Rod rosenstein would take over. Harris let me take this part. Only things that man like this in my experience whatever we in the end. No nation has a more talented or dedicated group than the United States. Im proud to serve with them and
proud of the work we have done in successfully advancing the rule of law. I think Jeff Sessions had to say that, and the president has been berating him in tweet after tweet, again, and i think he has a legitimate beefs that mr. Sessions recuse himself and weakened himself. But i dont know of any Management Book that says you get the best of your people by berating them in public. Jeff sessions is sticking up for the integrity of his department. Bill mcgurn, youve been in politics covering it for a long time, a short yes or no session, i can answer if you can. Is Jeff Sessions going to be fired . I think eventually that not right now, i dont think the president would benefit. The Investigation Wouldnt Go Away and a lot of other people might take over that would be less friendly to the president s interest. Harris wall Wall Street Journal editorial in the paper making Breaking News, and we were glad that you were able to stop by. A big day for the Supreme Courtnominee as he meets with several democrats, but some of them are calling for his Confirmation Hearing to be delayed. Why . Do they have a valid point or are they trying to obstruct . Republican senator john through joins me next, stay close
you might take something for your heart. Or joints. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in Clinical Trials to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Harris fox news alert, just minutes from now, chris will meet with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in a growing showdown over his Confirmation Hearing and a growing number of democrats meeting with him. Some democrats are calling for a delay in the hearing after Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort convictions, and at least three democrats are refusing to meet with the Kavanaugh Sill at all. But the white house is going after their calls to postpone the hearings this way. This is a desperate and pathetic attempt by democrats to obstruct a very highly qualified nominee. The hearing date has been set for September 4th and judge kavanaugh will be there. Harris south dakota senator space 27 is with me now and you have met with judge kavanaugh. What do you make today of more democrats meeting, but as the senator dick durbin has said it, its really to press him on the issue of delay. What do you think . Senator thune good afternoon, aris. It is a delaying tactic on behalf of the democrats, theyve been trying to delay this from the beginning so much so that a number came out to oppose him before he was even nominated. There are a number of democrats who are now saying they wont take a meeting with him. It seems to me if you had concerns or questions you wanted to address, the response will way to deal with that would to be at least meet with the nominee. But at this point i think all these things the democrats are doing our sort of Grasping At Straws and trying to find any way they can to try to sink this nomination. But its not going to work, the hearings will continue and they start on September 4th. He is an eminently qualified judge and someone who understands the role of a judge ought to be to apply the law in the constitution as written, not to try to cheat policy outcomes from the court, i think he will do pretty well. Harris and some other
democrats also, i know senator Dianne Feinstein wanted to push for more documents and all of it feels like a big deep breath delay. But also with the minority whip, dick durbin, he wanted to talk about the Mueller Probe. Did you talk with kavanaugh about the Mueller Probe . Senator thune thats not something he needs to worry about or deal with. The issues he will be dealing with in court are some of the things i asked him about, his opinions, and hes written over 300 so we have plenty to evaluate. The democrats are also arguing that there are not enough documents out there but they are processing 430,000 pages and documents in his time in the Executive Branch alone. So thats not going to be an issue. This nominee gets an opportunity to make his case in these hearings and as the American People begin to tune in they will conclude that this is someone who, as i said, is not only well qualified and well respected in the legal community
but in the mainstream in view of his terms in temperament and his view of what the role of a judge is. And thats the thing that most americans will care about, certainly what we appear to care about and i wish the democrats would give him a fair break. It doesnt appear they are willing to do that because as i said, it appears they will be deposed to any nominee the president puts forward. Harris you talk about three or 400 documents, and i wonder how that all works. I republicans also reading those documents . Senator Susan Collins has put herself out there and she wont make a decision about kavanaugh until September 4th, so we are right up against that hearing, that day. What do you make of that . Are you concerned that roe vs. Wade becomes an issue with regard to the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh . Senator thune i think it will be an issue that the democrats will try to raise and most of their attacks are animated by their far left. The attacks that they are going
to throw and judge kavanaugh wont have anything to do with his records or opinions, it will have everything to do with his outcomes and ideology. Harris Susan Collins, that is her issue, too, she says. So what do you say to her . Senator thune susan has met with a judge and she said the meeting went well. My guess is, in the end, im hoping that we will have all republicans and i think some democrats will end up supporting this judge. But everyone has a process, their own p