And that may be the most important quality is similar they nearly unchecked power of a special counsel. He is already overseen complex criminal prosecution, he has run the fbi, has served under both republicans and democrats. He is earned a reputation for aptitude. He doesnt need to make a name for himself, he has got one already. If there isnt a crime with the bottom of this, he is unlikely to manufacture one in order to earth to save face so many other prosecutors are tempted to do. Mueller, in other words, is about as impressive a choice at the Justice Department could have made. Now, to the second and maybe bigger question of whether a special counsel itself is a good idea. Democrats in congress has been mildly demanding one for a long time now. So has their farm team with a news network spread so much . Those same groups are also demanding open borders and transgender bathrooms in bathrooms. Not everything a mob wants is wise. Now, could prove unwise, at least to the trump campaign, and they have a way of expanding far beyond their original charter and consume the entire presidency. Ask anyone who worked for Ronald Reagan or bill clinton during their second terms how that worked out. This is a dangerous move for the trump administration. There is at least one upside, though. Maybe democrats will finally stop posturing, the only for a second. They call for an independent investigation and i got one, courtesy of an administration they were repeatedly accused of being fascist. For the record, mussolini would never have appointed a special counsel. What what is their play now goig forward . Trump cant be impeached at this stage. How can the president go on trial in congress before the independent investigation is even complete . Someone had better tell Maxine Waters that her dream has just died. Unless, of course, this could happen, Robert Mueller is himself start of the conspiracy, yet another agent of the kremlin working secretly at the highest levels of our government to undermine democracy from within. Could it be that Vladimir Putin controls every Single Person involved in this, from the investigator to the investigated . Is the conspiracy that deep . If those questions human same to you, you have not been paying attention to congress or the other news channels. Already tonight, nancy pelosi has issued a statement saying that Robert Mueller is not truly independent. Though, she didnt next line how she wasnt truly independent. We know this, god help Robert Mueller if he is ever vacationed in moscow or has knowingly eaten caviar. He can find himself at the center of his own investigation. Well keep you posted. For analysis on what is happening in washington, we are joined by congressman Jason Chaffetz of utah. Thanks a lot for coming on. Thanks for having me. Tucker you heard nancy plessis, the longtime democratic leader in the house describe Robert Mueller is not truly independent. You think he is truly independent . He is as good as it gets. His credentials are impeccable. He served in the Bush Administration, the obama administration. He is unassailable in terms of his credentials, his background. I think your point is well taken. In the latter part of his career, he had nothing to prove. He has been silent politically. It doesnt get any better than Robert Mueller. I also agree that i dont think they should have prostate appointed somebody. Tucker why did they . I think they are feeling the political heat, maybe they are watching a little too Much Television and reading too many newspapers and whatnot. Look, i have not seen any evidence of actual collusion. Where is the actual crime that they think they need a special prosecutor to prosecute . I just i havent seen it. There has been a lot of flailing but that flailing started before january 20th. Tucker did you expect this . Very surprised by it. No heads up. I dont think the Speakers Office got a heads up. I read online that the white house when they got about 30 minutes heads up. Ed caught us totally out of the blue. Tucker we were supposed to have someone from the white house on another topic, and that person canceled at the last minutes and i called over there to find out why and the explanation, i think it was sincere, we have no idea why it is a happening, we are trying to figure out how to respond to it. You have seen other special councils, special prosecutors investigation so far, and to tie up an entire presidency, to have a new president reagan, famously to president clinton. Is that a concern here . Nobody knows what the lanes of the special counsel or are going to be. My understanding from my understanding the committee, they dont need to publish that or share that with congress. They have such wide latitude to go wherever they want to go. I dont know what lien that hes going to be in, other than i have a great deal of trust that director mueller has disciplined to stay within the lanes. I dont know what the lanes are. Tucker by liens you mean, you dont know what the investigation is about . I will concede that i am not sure what the investigation is about, either. Is that what you are saying . Yeah. Is it about, number one, it appears to be about russian influence on the election. And then, was there any collusion . But does that seep out, and at what point is that lead off . For instance, the oversight committee, we are interested in these so called the comey memos are letters and we are trying to invite, i should say, director of comey, to come testify. Lets hear him out. Does it involve not . I dont know. I physically dont know where those lanes are. Tucker i dont either. We likely wont find out for some time. Is that your understanding . I dont expect that mueller will be giving weekly updates and what he is looking into our finding, correct . Part of the challenges that i think he will lean on the department of justice and the fbi, where they have done to date, given that he used to lead that group for ten years. He gets a little bit of a head start. This could go on for years. And there could be long periods of silence. And what i worry is, the democrats will politically exploit those on a daily drumbeat, making up theories, making up stories, trying to get somebody to grab onto a piece of meat and say, this is true. When you dont have the definitive word from someone who is going to be essentially silent over the next, i dont know how long, six months, two years. Tucker could be longer. I would say if mueller is keeping the best interest of the country at heart, he will not make statements and he wont allow information to leak her most investigation. It dont serve anybody, it doesnt serve the rest of the country. Dr. Something you said a second to go about trying to get former director comey over to congress to answer a question. That would be difficult for you. First of all, i dont have his number. I used to be able to text with him every once in a while but he doesnt have his government issued phone. I am told that he has our numbe number. We just issued the letter last night of the department of justice. I am not even sure that these memos exist. I am not sure that they are real. Tucker he purportedly took along the way over his years of fbi director. Why do you doubt their existence . I just dont know. Even the reporter who wrote the story had not physically seen them himself. I think it is worthy of investigation. I do think we should pursue it. But i am also not presupposing the outcome and i dont even know that they exist. And where they exist. We have asked the department of justice for these documents, but i dont know if they have them or not. We gave them a week to find them and provide them and i said if need be, i will subpoena them, although i think the department of justice will be cooperative. Maybe director comey has them himself. I dont know. You cant run an investigation on Anonymous Sources in the new york times. Thats just thats not conclusive evidence. Tucker with the new story that kicked off this story, which is the biggest story in the world, as you know, suggested that director comey had written these memos, i think he used of the verb right, and he showed them to his colleagues, and pass them around internally. That he had done so on a bunch of different occasions, going back a wild. If thats true, would that be subject to subpoena from you . A they do seem like they would be actual government documents. With the president on the federal grounds, showing them to his colleagues, they seem to be federal records. That is why we believe in the oversight committee, we have some jurisdiction to go and see if this is reality. Again, this is all the unknown. It is the very beg that is also why we are looking at it. Tucker how would you know, by the way, if you ask to see these memos, that he is producing all of the relevant ones . You know, i do believe they play within the bounds of the law and when Congress Requests something. We have a storied and horrific background on this. You can go from everything from fast and furious to benghazi investigation, the emails, irs, anything pretty much over the last eight years, and i dont believe we ever got a full production out of the congress out of the department of justice, or the state department. And that continues, by the way. One of my frustrations, with all due respect to the trough administration, they have not loosened up the documents that we have been requesting for years. Yet, they dont provide that. I have solutions on how to do that and sometime i will come on your show and talk about that. It is absolutely wrong. I have no way of necessarily verifying at 100 . Tucker talk about subverting democracy. I mean, any member of congress, Maxine Waters has more legitimacy than the director of the fbi. She was elected. He was not afraid in a democracy, that has got to count for a lot. How can they possibly deny your constitutional legitimate request to turn over documents that fall under the purview of your committee . Here is the fundamental problem. I can issue a subpoena unilaterally as part of my constitutional responsibility to provide that check and balance. And i am one of the few people that can actually issue that subpoena. But that subpoena is only as strong as its ability to be enforced. When i try to enforce those subpoenas, guess what, you have to go back to the department of justice in order to get to the courts. What has to happen, what should happen, and congress should have set up should have an expedited weight to force those subpoenas. You have seen for instance, judicial watch, having much more power using a freedom of information act because he can get to the courts and the courts can force them. The department of justice is afraid of a court. They are not afraid of congress. We dont use the power of the purse. We dont beat it over their head and we dont enforce it. It is somewhat feckless and very frustrating, as someone who is the chairman of the oversight committee. We cant enforce the subpoenas. Tucker its absolutely infuriating. Talk about subverting democracy. That is completely overthetop. Do you think that the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel to look into this russia question, whatever that question is, will stop the acceleration we are seen in the last week . Talk of impeachment, removing from from office . How would it not . Its not going to slow them down. Now, they will change their talking points for the democrats, by the way, id love newfound commitment to openness, transparency, and accountability. Where did that come from . All of a sudden, january 20th, they are all for it. They will just change their talking points and say this administration is in chaos, by the way, its under investigation itself. It had to a special counsel. Youll hear them. You can already hear them in advance. Its an insatiable desire for you today have no idea, they have no policies. Its the scorchedearth mentality and approach, to say, lets burn it to the ground, and that is their approach. Tucker do you think, since you work there and you are with them, and the gym or at lunch or whatever, do you think the democratic members we see on television, alleging a conspiracy involving trump and putin, believe that there was actual collusion between the two . If they do, wheres the evidence . I am happy to pursue it but i dont have anybody actually presenting me any evidence. Now that we are this money a month into it, come up with something. You come with the last week or so, Maxine Waters, saying that somehow i was suspect, that i have ties are you kidding me . I live in utah for goodness sakes. Tucker you cant even see russia from your house. No accountability. [laughs] i can see it right over the great salt lake. Its right over there. Tucker i know there is no evidence. I dont think we know that the russia hacked John Podestas emails. But i wonder if the people alleging this conspiracy have bought into it themselves. I know we are getting to motive. I just cant resist asking, do you think that some of them are sincere . I think some of them probably want to believe it. Even absent evidence. I think they are sincerity is probably there. But a lot of them, i just dont if you try to go even an inch deep into what sort of evidence that they have, they got nothing. Nothing. Tucker he would never know that. From the press conferences they hold. [laughs] congressman chaffetz, thank you for joining us tonight. Thanks, tucker. Tucker we now have in the studio, the great matts lap, who joins us from the acu. Grady seo. Great to be her, kellyanne. Tucker i got to be blunt with you, Kellyanne Conway was going to be sitting here. We had booked here. We said they wanted to send her overcome a grade. Not long before air, they canceled her for reasons that werent exactly clear. I think a lot of the descriptions in the press about what is going on at the white house are false or they are animated by the hate the process for trunk, which is totally real. It does seem chaotic over there. I got to be honest. Is it as chaotic as it seems . I was over there today, i have to say, whenever you get inside the bubble, it is so much more tranquil. People are doing their jobs, no one is running around. If you take a step from their daily jobs, this is a lot on the white house staff. This is more breaking news around administration then we have seen, i dont know if we have ever seen it before. That comes with a certain amount of stress that is on these folks. They also have this overlay, the legal implications. Now, every word, everything they say is going to be scrutinized from an investigatory standpoint. They are right to be cautious. I have been in those situations where there is a lot of investigations going on, trying to do your job. There is nothing more stressful in life, besides having your health at stake, then being investigated. Has the most stressful thing a human being can go through. Tucker i think that has to be true. Ive seen it a lot living here for a long time. But i gotta say, that would apply to the president himself, who continues to tweet. I understood the utility of the tweeting during the campaign but i also noticed toward the end of the campaign, there was a lot of state, he slowed down on the tweeting. And he won as a result. Is there a recognition in the white house that some of these tweets, not all but some, are profoundly counterproductive . They undercut the message of the white house may scare his supporters . Speaker for the staff come absolutely. The staff would like to see this way, to back. From President Trumps perspective, i think he feels like, he fights with himself on these questions. It is the tweeting overall helpful . Or does he miss the mark . I think he knows he misses the mark sometimes. The other thing about the president , he is really his own causes best spokesman. If you look at the communication the white house, comes back to that of basic question, donald trump wants to be his own voice. And he is his best spokesman. My advice is to be that. When you try to manage that message and get in front of the president , he comes back around and gets back in front of the parade and says that the way he wants to say it. Why dont we let him say at the way he wants to say at from the beginning . Then, everybody can follow and support it. Tucker on a night like tonight, where Something Big has just happened, we will be live at 11 tonight because there is a big new story. That is exactly the moments when you want to unify the front. You dont want members of your staff calling for news organizations with their point of view in the press secretary saying one thing and the president saying a third thing. That is not helpful. Legally or as a Public Relations matter. I not pick one . With the president be the spokesman or sean spicer, Kellyanne Conway. I think it is a fair point. My wife and i have talked a lot about this. We are white house veterans. We really do think the president is authentic, he did a great job with a sitdown interview is, one of them with judge Jeanine Pierro from fox news. We learned a lot. And one of his under interviews, we learned that he wasnt a target of the fbi probe, which was nice to have verified. There has been so much misinformation. James comey has leaked whenever it benefited him and climbed up on the central focus of what is going on. I think that is the biggest frustration. For republicans and democrats come across all these issues that he has looked at. I think when it comes to the white house briefings and all of this, i am a man dead, dont and that kind of guy. You can do this any kind you wanted. Mike mccurry decided to televise these briefings. They dont have to be televised. You dont have to do it in the same format every day. I have this radical idea, why dont you send up to the podium of the person that most fits at that moment president . Either way, sometimes it can be the president. Past president , Ronald Reagan, george w. Bush, who would go into the Briefing Room and do the briefing themselves. I think they have to think through a way to be more creative in how they are getting this message out. To be when they seem very creative to me. So creative is bewildering. [laughter] seems very creative. Do you mean creative with air quotes . Tuc