Matt agreed to be here. Kennedy will be back tomorrow at noon eastern. Now, heres harris. Harris lets begin as we await the start of a muchanticipated House Judiciary Committee hearing. President trumps former Campaign Manager, Corey Lewandowski, is such testify at any moment as the democrats ramp up their impeachment investigations. You are watching outnumbered overtime. Im harris faulkner. Now we will hear the chairman and Ranking Member giving the opening statements. But there is already friction inside the room that you are looking at right now, after the white house moved to limit the scope of lewandowskis testimony and ordered two former aides not to appear before this committee panel. Chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge is live outside that hearing room on capitol hill. Things starting to get really busy in there now. Thats right, harris. Im just looking over my shoulder because we are still waiting for Corey Lewandowski. We were told 20 minutes ago he
would be arriving in the next 1. A lot of activity at the far end of the hallway, if you panned down this way. I cant see Whether Lewandowski has finally arrived. In advance of the hearing, the white house has told the committee that they are invoking something called constitutional immunity. They say this is designed to protect the office of the presidency, whether its a republican or a democrat. In other words, that the conversation between the president and his closest aides remain confidential. On that basis, they have instructed two former white house aides, rob porter and Rick Dearborn, not to appear today. But Corey Lewandowski was never former to formally a part of the administration. He was part of the campaign. So he doesnt have that immunity. But he has been directed not to answer questions that go beyond what he told special Counsel Robert Mueller. Earlier today we heard from White House Spokesman Hogan Guilty who laid out there arguments this morning. Its our understanding he
will testify before congress about the Public Matters that were released in the mueller investigation, and we dont really have anything further other than to say that private communications between anyone and the president are just that. Private. In their subject to immunity. Never wants a drill down on a series of episodes in 2017 that involve the president , and were documented by the Special Counsel as well as lewandowski, and the former attorney general, jeff sessions. According to the report, the president asking him to curtail the Special Counsel russia investigation for the Mueller Report found that lewandowski did not follow that order and ultimately asked Rick Dearborn to be the messenger, but he also refused. Speaking to a new york Radio Station in advance of todays hearing, Chairman Nadler said he does not expect impeachment to get through the senate. But that uncovering new evidence is worth it. Have to show that this
kind of behavior, trashing the constitution, trashing all the norms which guarantee democratic government, aggrandizing power to the presidency and destroying the separation of powers, thereby leaving the president to become and more of a tyrant, cannot be tolerated. And cannot be normalized. That commotion i was talking about at the top of the hit was about something, lewandowski has just entered the hearing room and it should get underway sometime in the next few minutes. Harris my microphone wasnt on, i was trying to tell people he was actually walking in the door as you were talking, and we went to that piece of video. Corey lewandowski is now sitting where we can see the back of him, and you see all of this scrum of reporters perched to get the front of him with their cameras. He is trained for the camera, and this hearing will start in just a
moment. We have the opportunity to talk to some of the numbers of congress as they are getting set to do this, so as we wait for that, i would say this Corey Lewandowski is the first impeachment witness to appear before the House Of RepresentativesJudiciary Committee since former special Counsel Robert Mueller testified in july about his investigation of Russian Election interference. As we wait to hear from Corey Lewandowski, we do know from catherines reporting of the white house has instructed him not to talk about conversations he had with the president , after he became president. Including an exchange of the white house that democrats view as evidence of the president obstructed justice and may need to be impeached. All of that off the table. It basically is whatever he has told Robert Mueller, and the Mueller Report. We know the democrats wanted a dramatic reading of that. Perhaps they will get another one today. Lets go to republican congressman andy biggs of arizona, who sits on this committee, and will have the
opportunity to question the president s former Campaign Manager inside the hearing. This is like grabbing you for a quick selfie before it all begins. What will you want to ask . First of all, i just want to make sure he has plenty of opportunity to clarify with the democrats were to be asking. Thats the first thing. The second thing we will talk about his regard to the origins of this investigation. If you knew anything about this. In reality he has worked on the campaign, and he was never an employee of the white house or this administration. We are going to be talking, im going to be asking questions to clarify that. I think primarily the democrats are going to try to force the issue. But i think corey is perfectly capable, quite frankly, harris, of handling himself. I want to make sure he has ample opportunity to rebut any think of the democrats or imply. Harris as one of our coasts on the couch on outnumbered lots are pointed
out, he might be on that shortlist of people who was actually looking forward to going and testifying. He can certainly grab attention. I want to talk about what he can and cannot say. Certainly the conversations you had oneonone with the president you been in the white house, off limits. But what about anything outside the purview of, say, those hours he spent with bob mueller . I think anything outside of what he said with Robert Mueller is probably off limits. I think we need to be vigilant on that, because in reality jerry nadler, the chairman of this committee, he gave a very specific set of iterations of boundaries. If he is going to set the boundaries, we need to make sure he stays within those boundaries. We are going to watch that very carefully and probably will have to raise some objections if he tries to walk beyond that. Harris weve been talking
about impeachment, and democrats now want to impeach the president , they want to impeach justice kavanaugh. These terms, though, mean Different Things in different settings. What are we looking at today . This isnt really impeachment. Right, this has nothing to do with an impeachment. They have not done the proper procedure to actually open an impeachment investigation, regardless of what they say. With everything trying to do and mr. Nadler, i thought, has been unintentionally frankel about this they are searching for a peg to hang an impeachment out on so they can actually officially take this to the floor, open an impeachment investigation, and bring it back. Thats really what this boils down to today. Frankly, getting the cart before the horse as they want is on this. Harris i dont mean any disrespect, i know your colleagues on both side of the isle are very capable and talented people. But is there anyone among the democrats was a better investigator than bob mueller . How are they going to get that peg, if you didnt get it . They are not going to get the peg. Thus the irony in theres nothing we will turn up. We dont have the same budget, seam investigators, same people who have been spending a full on this thing, like Robert Mueller did. So they wont get anything new, and Corey Lewandowski probably dash the way that he placed things, i think this is going to get turned into a circus today. We are going to observe that. I will be sitting on the front row, and you will come too, harris. Harris yes, we are all perched. I know that you will be among those asking questions, so we appreciate your time ahead of the hearing. Corey lewandowski at the center of your screen. Everybody focused on him with their cameras. This is getting ready to get started at any moment. The congressman, andy biggs, from arizona. Thank you very much. I want to bring in one of our political analysts right now. Im going to ask whether or not he is ready. Okay. Lets go to a reporter first. Chief White House Correspondent john roberts now from the north lawn. John . I think Congressman Biggs at the nail on the said the head there. Knowing Corey Lewandowskis i do, having spoken to him as many times as i have over the course of the Trump Campaign in the preceding years, and as well as the years since, lewandowski is probably likely going to be like a cat playing with a mouse here in congress. I dont know if he will turn it into a circus, but i think is going to turn it into a very interesting hearing. If the democratic members of congress are hoping that they are going to catch lewandowski in some sort of a trap, they really dont know the type of individual that they are dealing with. He is sharpwitted, he is quicktongued, very fast on his feet, and he definitely knows what he will and will not talk
about. Not just because of any Marching Orders he got from the white house, but lewandowski is a smart guy who is very supportive of the president. Knows where the lines are, and can walk right up to it and not walk over it. I think the democrats on the committee are going to have their hands full if they are trying to trip up this witness. Harris just to spend a little bit of time on the people who are not there, those two aids the white house blocked, the good faith hes only going to go so far, and they do have the same amount of faith as anybody else asked to come before the committee. I want to give you an idea as a warm up here. This is a guy who knows how to think on his feet. He is definitely already got preset ideas on what is going to talk to commerce about. He definitely wont go outside those parameters. He knows how to stay within the lines when it comes to divulging
information. I can tell you over the course of the campaign, he got into a couple of incidents. One of which was the armgrabbing incident, which may have ultimately played to his demise as Campaign Manager. When it comes to using his brain that has mouth, he is pretty good at it. I think congress is going to have a hard time getting past anything but the canned answers that lewandowski will come out with. Again, as Congressman Biggs said, i think hes going to use that weight and mental acuity to really kind of throw it back in their face, as well. Harris john roberts, thank you very much for standing by to handle the breaking news with us as we await this hearing. The former Campaign Manager for the knife and candidate and now president trump. I want to bring in guy lewis, a u. S. Attorney who served with attorney general william barr under the george h. W. Bush administration. Always great to have you, and
your perspective on full display, helping us navigate these situations. Corey lewandowski. We talked about that maybe hes one of the few people on a short list that would welcome a day like today. Congressman biggs of arizona says he will be ready. What would you ask him . Let me tell you, its a bad call in terms of calling an adverse witness as your first witness and with the democrats claim is an impeachment prosecution. Id never do it as a prosecutor, and ihink he is going to put it right back at them. What would i ask him . Good question. If im on the democrats side, i want to try and get everything i can about conversations with the president , which are indeed privileged. At least on this point. If im on the republicans side, i want to establish, look, this whole thing was a witch hunt, and i suspect we are going to hear that term over and over and over again. Harris just to go back to that Privilege Conversation with
the president , dont you look kind of silly when you keep asking about something you know you cant get your hands on . Harris, they tried to get don mcgahn, the white House Counsel, in there. He has filed papers. They are in court right now arguing about this very same issue, what is privilege, what is not privileged. Why not join the two cases . Why not let this thing proceed in an orderly manner, unless really the only purpose is to try and get on the 6 00 news tonight and make some kind of harris or 1 00 p. M. Eastern, which is Whats Happening now [laughter] you are asking a similar question that ive been asking. Why not wait for the ig inspector report, michael horowitz, to come out all this to and fisa, and the origins of the russia investigation connect taking a close look at all of the player. The Mueller Report didnt deliver the political poison that they were looking for in terms of going after the president on impeachment. Would you be smart to wait for the fact of this next investigation can back something everyone agrees on. Or with the gretas job. Well, he thought that about bob mueller, too, until he didnt like what he said. What a novel idea. Wait for the facts [laughs] yes, of course it makes sense. Of course thats what you want to do. The facts arent going to support the narrative but the other side, the democrats, want to try and proclaim. Its just not in their cards. As a result, you will have this back and forth today, trying to create this Confrontation Consl confrontation between the executive and legislative branch. This will be about what john roberts and with the senator said. Itll be cory answering questions making the calmest people look kind of foolish. Harris did use the constitution . Because you are well aware of the fact that September 17th is constitution day. I did [laughs] harris ive got you lets talk about the republican perspective in all this. You heard from Congressman Biggs, they are almost in a supporting role, making sure that what needs to get out from lewandowski in terms of understanding the questions from democrats is happening. Boy, oh, boy. Heres what theyve got Corey Lewandowski is going to walk in with a punch list. Hes going to have a sheet of paper in front of him. Its going to have one, two, and three. Russia investigation with the hoax, this thing is a witch hunt, bob mueller has looked at every bit of this, three ways to sunday, and has come up with nothing. And attorney general bill barr likewise has also looked at it and passed on it. What are we doing here . What are we here for . Harris legally, what are we looking at . You got the impeachment inquiry, which this is not. They had a meeting, democrats, earlier this week. And they said, would you go ahead with talking impeachment . Thats not putting impeachment in motion. Indeed, harris, the republicans who file those papers in the don mcgahn case have made fun. Literally, made fun of the moving target here. It is impeachment. Its not impeachment. It is initial impeachment. So its kind of ridiculous, to be candid. Harris it has begun. Lets watch and listen to give. Good deal. I hope that in what should be a spirited discussion of these issues today, we will stay focused on the issues, take care to keep our comments from being directed personally toward the president. I would like to recognize myself for an opening statement. Todays hearing is entitled president ial Obstruction Of Justice and abuse of power. This hearing is the first one formally designated under the committees procedures adopted last week, in connection with our investigation to determine whether to recommend articles of impeachment with respect to president trump. We subpoenaed three witnesses to
this hearing. Rick dearborn, rob porter, and Corey Lewandowski. Unfortunately we learned last night that the white house is blocking the first two from even showing up, and tightlylimiting the third. The white house has no authority, legal or otherwise, to give these orders. We wanted these three individuals to testify before the committee and the American People because they are critical witnesses to the incidents of Obstruction Of Justice laid out in the Mueller Report. At least five of those episodes, evidence laid out in the Special Counsel report, established all the elements of Obstruction Of Justice were met. Today, despite the roadblocks the white house has thrown up, we will focus on one of the most concerning of those five episodes. It is the president ordering the attorney general, through mr. Lewandowski, to stop the