And joining me now is congressman eric salwell on the House Intelligence Committee. Thank you for being here. Thanks for having me back. I want to ask you about todays news. What are your thoughts on the leaks and the investigation. Im concerned about the leaks, that people on the president s team are concerned about his policies and governing that hes leaking out conversations but they are not the Biggest National security issue and he said the leaks, the leaks, the leaks. Im mostly concerned about north korea, russians interference in our election and combatting isis across the world. But i think the president s focus on leaks is mostly an effort to distract away from more serious issues and some that are closing in on him more personally like the russia investigation. Lets talk about russia. Because we now that special counsel bob mueller has impanelled a grand jury and they are issuing subpoenas. What does this tell you about the next phase of muellers investigation. That is what progress in a criminal probe looks like to go to the grand jury level to reach deeper for documents and bring in witnesses you want to hear from. Now on the House Intelligence Committee, were not cob conducting a criminal probe. We want to know if we are still vulnerable and how this doesnt happen again. So he want him to conduct his investigation unimpeded without obstruction to the white house and get back to us soon on that but our responsible is to secure and protect the next election. And what is the status of your investigation right now by the House Intelligence Committee . Im happy to say weve made more progress in the last few weeks than the five months prior. We brought in a number of witnesses, including percipient witnesses, people who were involved in the campaign. So that is important. You brought in Jared Kushner. He came before our committee and he also released a statement the day before he testified. So now what we want to do is test what mhe told us and see i we could corroborate it or if it is repudiated by other evidence but we want to report back to the American People as soon as possible about what happened and how do we make sure a mess like this never occurs. What was your impression of Jared Kushner and do you believe everything he told you. I found him smart and worldly. Hes a thoroughbred. His family was in the real estate business and he brought a business experience where he had in his own statement acknowledged a deep reach into the political, financial and Digital Communication parts of the campaign. Im going to withhold judgment on whether he was truthful or not. I want to test some of what he said do you think he was a november is, the way he novice, the way he said. He was not a novice and i found him to be a very meticulous person. And does muellers investigation and the latest information on the grand jury being impanelled, does that change the scope of your investigation at all. No, we want to just follow the evidence wherever it takes us. Now we know that there were deep personal political and financial ties that his team and family had with russia. That is not disputed. What we want to answer the question is did the contacts amount to a coincidence because they occurred during the Russia Campaign or was it a convergence. Too early to tell right now but im comfortable were making progress. And on the subject of russia, President Trump signed into law new sanctions against russia that Congress Passed with veto proof majority in both houses but he was highly critical and putin has already retaliated by making the u. S. Cut the embassy staff. What concerns you most now about our relations with russia. He signed it begrudgingly but that is what democracy looks like. Congress has had a to step forward and do what is best for the country. And we did that. As far as the relationship with russia, until we are able to speak, eyeball to eyeball with russia and say we know that you did this, and there is i price to pay and if you want to be part of the table of International Countries taken seriously, you cant do it again. It is tough to work with them. They are disrupting syria and continue to move deeper into ukraine and there resort reports that are arming the talibban and we need a president that looks them in the eye and tells them and expects more. And the situation with north korea is getting more tense. Just a week ago north korea launched a missile that flew for nearly an hour before crashing off the coast of japan. And we have a situation where we fired our only missile to test our own system. How worried are you about a north Korean Missile being able to reach the u. S. . Senator feinstein has called it a clear and present danger. Im very worried that American Leadership is on the side lines right now. And when you look through the history of america, when International Challenges emerge, we are always leading the way to confront them. So i wish the president would look back at yetta and malta and casablanca, opportunities where an american president brought together allies and nonallies and said we are going to confront this but right now he is tweeting and complaining where he could set the stage and have the conversation and tell north korea we will not tolerate you having a nuclear weapon. But how much impact can we have. But doesnt china need to come into the equation and without them, it seems the u. S. Cant really do a whole lot on the issue with north korea. China is the primary source for food and fuel to north korea and if you are antagonizing china, you are working against our interest of not being hit by north Korean Missiles. So we have to work with china. But you dont work directly with china, you could indirectly apply pressure through other allies that deal with china but that requires making friends and keeping the friends but when you read the stories that the president is poking them in the eye and insulting mexican president s and the allies wonder. Thank you for being here. In addition to probing into leaks, Jeff Sessions is reviewing the rules for when and how journalists can be subpoenaed. This week President Trump threw his support behind a bill that could slash the immigration in half. And it prioritizes job skills over family ties. Critics say it could hurt the labor pool for low wage jobs by migrants. And also a Justice Department memo obtained by the New York Times suggest that the Trump Administration may be looking to target affirmative action policies at college campuses. Joining me now is carla marinucci, senior righter at politico, melissa murray, professor at Uc Berkeley Law School and university of San FranciscoPolitical ScienceProfessor James taylor. Welcome to you all. So melissa, in addition to Jeff Sessions announcement of several investigations into leaks, hes also been aggressive about pushing the conservative agenda and describe what hes done in the last six months. President trump may be skeptical about Jeff Sessions and his recusal but hes been prosecuting a conservative agenda since his appointment and he has begun mandating that prosecutors bring forth and prosecute to the maximum in terms of charging decisions and sentences that they seek, they have expanded the rules for Police Authority for issuing as set seizures those that havent been convicted or charged with a crime and mandated prosecution of immigration crimes on the border and in sanctuary cities. So this rose back the obama era policies and 20 years worth of research into criminal justice reform. Absolutely. California, there is a lot of concern, when you talk about things like civil rights, police brutality, hes called thesie issues sort of anecdotal on sanctuary cities, again this week he threatened california sanctuary cities. On Legal Cannabis which is an issue that involves billion dollars here in california we dont know whether the department where the department of justice will go. And his agenda is very conservative. And a lot of people look at this and say, that is great. People who support trump and say hes carrying out the agenda he said he would. It is not a popular agenda. As much as he would like it to be. His Approval Ratings are the worst in modern president ial history so he has no mandate or Political Capital to mobilize. In fact one of the phrases i seek constantly with reference to trump, apart from popularity and the perceived power of the presidency, is president ial weakness. And im not talking about it in terms of whether hes a tough guy or not. But in terms of president ial history. Whether congress is stronger or the executive is stronger is an ongoing inner play over time and it depends on how the video in the office behaves as to whether or not congress behaves. And he brought in a change for the staffers and to put in discipline. And kelly said he wants sessions to stay as attorney general. Hes reigning in staff members. But can he reign in the president. That is the question. And i think can he reign in the leaks and the other part of that question. The president even this week was there in West Virginia talking about a hoax in terms of the russia investigation. Just as we have new developments there. The president is refusing to stop tweeting. And meanwhile those within the white house, it is very clear, are just leaking, leaking these transcripts this week, which was absolutely phenomenal, and disastrous for the white house. You are talking about the transcripts on the conversations with the president s of australia and mexico. At this point it is about whether trump can discipline himself and the record shows he cant. He isnt able to. Kelly is the biggest babysitter in washington and there to impose discipline in the white house and a undisciplined commanderinchief. What is broader picture that has emerged from that, and he was talking to allies of the united states, australia and mexico, so what could we take away from that. These calls were mind blowing. Phenomenal. The call with mexico, were talking about a telenovella and the president there with the president of mexico saying you know what i said during the campaign, forget all of that. Lets just play x, here and make it a reality show and tell them youll go along with it. Otherwise i will look bad. Is what he said. The call to australia was even more mind blowing in the sense here was a loyal ally, he knew nothing about the policy and the only interest was youre making me look bad. And i think for a lot of reasons, there is concern that these kind of calls are getting out, are going to make World Leaders say do i need to talk to him on the phone, but on the other hand, hes his lack of knowledge was just stunning. But again, i go back to the strong executive strong legislature tug. And again, when you see a president articulating this kind of weakness, congress asserts itself. Now paul ryan and Mitch Mcconnell has been unable to carry out the agenda they wanted to carry out, but there have been negative governing and before we started i talked about the president ial personality and styles category and the worst possible style a president could use is what is known as active negative, where the president is active but his world view is very negative in governing, going after affirmative action, going after transgender people, going after, reminding gay people in this country this past week they are not covered by law. Things of that sort are targeting specific minority groups, muslims and others is a part of the negative world view. But his core supporters would counter that he is doing what they elected him to do. But carry out a negative world view that they support. They dont have a positive world view about the things i outlined. They dont support affirmative action or legal or ilLegal Immigration and are inclined to any sort of compromise. But the business numbers look good and hes taking credit for that. But he should. There is a the same way obama did. That is right. And i think on the other thing, his supporters are still with him, as you mentioned, and that is where the Republican Party is going to look at the poll numbers an they are following, but have not fallen enough yet to have a lot of people fall off the wagon. And a lot of the things that hes been doing, i think you cannot discount the effect of Robert Mueller investigating everything going on with the russia investigation and suddenly you have trump throwing out red meat to the base. Part of this a politicians of distraction and keeping the base occupied while there is a real threat to the legitimacy of this administration. And i want to ask you about mueller, hes impanelled the grand jury and they are issuing subpoenas. Explain to us the role of grand jury, melissa, how they work, and what are some of the tools that they would give mueller that he would not have otherwise. So the grand jury is an in ishl phase of a criminal investigation, when a prosecutor has enough information, enough evidence to make a charge, bring an indictment, and present to to the grand jury which a secret group of 23 people and it is just a prosecutor and no defense attorney and they could, depending on the way they view the evidence, if there is probable cause that a crime has been committed, they could issue a true bill and have that indictment go forward. And that begins the criminal prosecution. So the fact that hes impanelled a grand jury is a serious, serious matter and i dont think it is a coincidence that you are having trump making the speeches, talking red meat to the base at a time when Robert Mueller is assembling a grand jury and issuing subpoenas. And could the president himself be subpoenaed to testify. There are a lot of questions about what the president can do. Could the president be prosecuted. Probably not. He would have to be impeached first because it might impede his ability to perform the duties of office but he could certainly testify before congress and probably before a grand jury and all of these proceedings are secret so it is unclear whether we would know. The line in the sand moment here, what everybody is watching, is if he has to appear before the grand jury, as clinton did and nixon did, he has to tell the truth, we know hes had a little problem with that. There wont be an attorney there. He wont know what other witnesses have said. And it is a felony to lie to the grand jury, impeach. And he said so there is a lot at stake here. There is a lot of dominos that have to fall and that is why this is a moment everyone is watching now. And lets talk about the other headline of the week which is the immigration policy. He came out and backed a bill that was proposed by two republican senators but it was introduced back in february. It was severely reduced the number of legal migrants to come to the country and slash in half the number of refugees allowed. Why did he decide to throw his weight behind this bill now . This is more dog whistling to the base. This is a bill that would cut in half the number of green cards that would eliminate family based immigration is the hallmark of our immigration system for the last hundred years for as far as i know and would instead folks in a way that canada does, more on highly skilled and College Educated migrants. And at that. Meritbased system. And when he made when he threw his support behind the cotton bill, he talked about the fact that these low wage migrants were coming to the u. S. And taking jobs from hard working americans. That is fodder for the base. That is exactly about the base at a time when this administration is in peril. And does Legal Immigration reduced immigration mean more jobs for people. Over all, no, it is negligible and there is no clear evidence this would have an effect on average american workers. In certain cities like say Service Industries in washington, d. C. , Hotel Services is where you find africanamerican and entry level workers competing with latinos and that is not a problem here in california in general and in other places throughout the country. So this is not a one size fits all problem and then there cant be a all size fits all solution. This could affect california because we are the largest state and of course when you have a merit based system where you give points for speaking english and you cant bring your family with you, Silicon Valley is worried. How do they recruit really top people when they cant bring the families here. That is why canada and mexico are already trying to recruit people, hightech people from india, with that very thing in mind. So i mean, it is a big issue for california when you are talking about changing the immigration system from the ground up. It is not just silicon val, it is the central valley. We depend on low wage workers for farming. So good luck getting this out of committee, good luck getting 50 senators to sign on to this because there are republican senators in places like texas and iowa, who are not going to be able to sign on this bill in good conscious giving the strength of farming and agriculture. And historically in california if you look back at the brassero program and ended in 1964 under president johnson the the mexican worker to come and pick tomatoes and once that ended, there werent more jobs once they left, they put machines to work. All of the tomatoes then started being picked by machines. So it doesnt mean an incr