Everyone, not just anyone. Yang all that and more, on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems skollfoundation. Org. The lemelson foundation. Committed to improving lives through invention, in the u. S. And developing countries. On the web at lemelson. Org. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. We begin with breaking news. The Justice Department has appointed former f. B. I. Director Robert Mueller to oversee the investigation into any possible connections between the Trump Campaign and russia in last years election. For President Trump today, there was no escape from the fallout over allegedly pressuring the previous f. B. I. Director, james comey, and about sharing secrets with the russians. Talk of obstructing justice and endangering National Security hung heavy in the air, even as the president spent the day on the road. Lisa desjardins begins our coverage. Things are not always fair. Reporter the firestorm in washington clearly on President Trumps mind, at the Coast Guard Academy graduation in new london, connecticut. Look at the way ive been treated lately, especially by the media. No politician in history, and i say this with great assurity, has been treated worse or more unfairly. Reporter but the president also declared to the graduates, you will find that things happen to you, that you do not deserve and that are not always warranted. But you have to put your head down and fight, fight, fight. Reporter the president did not directly address the last days headlines, news accounts that started with this report from the New York Times citing unnamed sources saying, in february, mr. Trump spoke to james comey about an investigation of his adviser michael flynn, and told comey i hope you can let this go. That reportedly happened a day after flynn was fired as National Security adviser for lying about his contacts with the russians. Comey himself was fired last week. The white house has denied the story, insisting the president never asked anyone to end any investigation. But, it all meant a new round of shockwaves across capitol hill. Democrats renewed calls for an independent commission or special prosecutor on the russia connection and trumps firing of comey. The events of the last two weeks have shaken my confidence in this administrations competence and credibility. Look, enough is enough. President trumps unchecked and reckless behavior is impacting the National Security of the United States of america. Reporter among republicans, senator Lisa Murkowski of alaska also joined the call for an special counsel at the department of justice. Yeah, i am praying for the president. Reporter others, like georgia representative rick allen, indicated concern for the white house. I mean, how can anyone endure all this and govern . Reporter House Speaker paul ryan is withholding any conclusion for now, saying congress has to get to the bottom of all this. We need the facts. It is obvious there are some people out there that want to harm the president. But we have an obligation to carry out our oversight, regardless of which party is in the white house. Reporter alongside those words, a sudden flurry of activity. House Oversight Committee chairman Jason Chafftez asked the f. B. I. To send all memoranda, notes, summaries and recordings about contact between james comey and the president. And, the Committee Says it hopes to have comey testify next week. The Senate Intelligence committee is also asking for comey to testify, and the Senate Judiciary committee is getting involved, sending letters to the f. B. I. And the white house asking for all memos and recordings as well. Republican congressman justin amash of michigan went so far as to say, if the comey memo is true, it would be grounds for impeachment. But california democrat adam schiff, Ranking Member on the house Intelligence Committee and a leading trump critic, said its too soon to go there. No one ought to, in my view, rush to embrace, you know, the most extraordinary remedy, that involves the removal the president from office. Reporter meanwhile, russian president Vladimir Putin made his own offer to congress, over reports that President Trump discussed highly classified information with Russian Diplomats last week. Putin spoke at a News Conference in sochi, russia. translated if the u. S. Considers it necessary, we are ready to provide the senate and u. S. Congress with a record of the conversation between lavrov and trump. Reporter putin also decried what he called antirussian sentiment. Special correspondent Nick Schifrin covers russia. He spoke to us from the dagestan region. President putin expressed genuine frustration that, in his view, the washington establishment wont let President Trump to improve the bilateral relationship. And he said he was concerned by washingtons unpredictability. But at the same time, putin cracked a joke at the u. S. s expense, and the video showed senior officials laughing. Theres a certain schadenfreude here in seeing washington suffer such turbulence. As the Senior Foreign Ministry spokeswoman put it yesterday how do we live in this unstable world of information . With pleasure. Reporter meanwhile, with the president back in washington tonight, the next act in the Political Drama is set tomorrow. Thats when Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein will brief the full senate over the firing of james comey and handling of the russia investigation. Yang so repeating the breaking news we reported at the top of the show, moments ago the Justice Department announced that Robert Mueller, the former head of the f. B. I. , is the special counsel to investigate connections between the Trump Campaign and russia during the 2016 campaign. Now, we go back to Lisa Desjardins on capitol hill. Lisa, have you gotten any reaction to this from lawmakers yet . Reporter thats right. We put out some calls and we have a little bit of reaction from the House Democrats leaders office, Nancy Pelosis office, they say they are furiously writing a statement but they have told me that this does not change their call for an independent commission, which is what they were working on today. They have been asking for an independent counsel of this sort, but they say they still want more than that. From republicans, our capitol hill producer julie percha, just talked to representative peter king of new york, he is on the house Intelligence Committee. He told her that he thinks there was no allegation of a crime here, and hes not sure a special counsel is needed. So no surprise, john, in this divided congress we have divide reaction right now to this announcement. Yang but is this going to turn the temperature down, do you think, on some of the rhetoric were hearing, especially from the democrats . Reporter i think one factor here and the choice of Robert Mueller is that he is very well known dismeer very well respected in congress. That could help republicans sort of say that we think there will be an upandup investigation that could get to the facts of the russia probe. Now, at the same time, we have to remember that could be separate from what congress does in this matter of potential obstruction of justice at the white house. Thats where were seeing a lot of attention, especially in the senate today, john, a lot of Big Decisions over how the senate goes forward, and who handles those questions of what the president did or did not tell mr. Comey about whether he should investigate michael flynn. Yang and, of course, that is going on, the Intelligence Committee calling for documents, the Judiciary Committee calling for documents. Where do you think thats going to head from here . Reporter theres a key person to watch, john. That is senator Chuck Grassley of iowa. No coincidence he was out of the spotlight today. Hes got a big decision to make how hard does he proas this matter . Traditionally, the Judiciary Committee is where you would see an obstruction of justice investigation or looking into this. But is that where republicans want to go when it is their own president who is in the question who is being questioned here . Its probably a decision for majority leader Mitch Mcconnell, as well as Chuck Grassley. And mr. Grassley sort of seemed to go out of his way today, john, to avoid reporters. Dianne feinstein, who is the ranking democrat on that committee, said she absolutely wants judiciary to be a lead committee on these questions. They are certainly stepping up their involvement, as you said, asking for more documents today, along with two other committees. We are posting online all of these development. Its hard to keep track. But right now three committees asking for documents involving mr. Comey, and thats in addition to the two investigations in congress and the Intelligence Committees on russia. Yang Lisa Desjardins on capitol hill keeping up with these events that are fast breaking. Thank you very much, lisa. In the days other news, wall street had its worst day since september, as investors worried about the turmoil engulfing the president. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost more than 370 points to close back near 20,600. The nasdaq fell 158 points, and the s p 500 dropped 43. The dollar also slipped again, wiping out all its gains since the election. Max wolff is watching all this, for the Investment Firm 55 capital. A significant part of whats produced the sixmonth market rally is the notion that were going to have radical deregulation, particularly, but not exclusively, around financial issues, and were going to have massive tax cuts, particularly, but not exclusively for large companies. The weaker the president is, the less likely you are to get those tax cuts, and some of those premiums start coming out of the market. Yang investors sought refuge today in gold and the treasury market. Army private Chelsea Manning was released from prison today, after serving seven years of a 35year sentence for giving thousands of secret documents to wikileaks. President obama had granted her clemency. Manning posted a picture of her feet, captioned first steps of freedom, after leaving Fort Leavenworth prison in kansas. The transgender soldier was known as Bradley Manning before transitioning while in prison. President trump will hold off his Campaign Promise to move the u. S. Embassy in israel to jerusalem. The palestinians strongly oppose it, and now cnn, reuters and others report, mr. Trump has decided not to announce it when hes in israel next week. Reuters quotes a senior u. S. Official as saying the president still does want to move the embassy some time in the future. Washington, d. C. Police are pursuing charges in the Violent Attacks on protesters outside the turkish ambassadors residence. It happened tuesday evening as president Recep Tayyip Erdogan was visiting. 12 people were injured, and two were arrested. Witnesses say that erdogans security detail attacked demonstrators, as police tried to intervene. The police chief said today diplomatic immunity will not shield the turkish president s guards. Thats not something we will tolerate here in washington, d. C. This is a city where people should be allowed to come and peacefully protest. We are going to pursue everything thats within our legal power to hold the folks that were responsible accountable for their actions. Yang the state Department Said today its communicating its concerns about the violence to the turkish government in the strongest possible terms. Arrests of suspected undocumented immigrants soared in the early months of the trump administration. The u. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says more than 41,000 people were arrested from january 22 to april 29, up 40 over a year ago. At the same time, actual deportations fell 12 during the same period. Crews in new orleans removed another Confederate Monument today. Workers used cranes to lift the statue of general p. G. T. Beauregard off its pedestal in the Early Morning hours. It was erected back in 1915. A statue of robert e. Lee will be the last of four Confederate Monuments to come down. And, a texas teenager is the winner of this Years National geographic bee. Hes 14yearold pranay varada. He won the title in a sudden death tiebreaker in washington today. Varada wins a 50,000 scholarship, a lifetime membership in the National Geographic society, and a trip to the galapagos islands. Not bad. Still to come on the newshour do President Trumps actions constitute obstruction of justice . I ask Nebraska Republican senator ben sasse for his thoughts on the recent white house turmoil. The trump administrations overhaul at the Environmental Protection agency. And much more. Yang the disclosure that President Trump allegedly asked jim comey to drop an f. B. I. Investigation has raised the question of whether this may constitute obstruction of justice. Theres plenty of disagreement about this. To try to understand this, we are joined by michael waldman, he is president of the Brennan Center for justice at the n. Y. U. School of law. He also worked for president bill clinton. And, William Jeffress is a trial lawyer who has worked on criminal and civil cases at baker botts. One of his best known cases was his defense of lewis scooter libby, the chief of staff to former Vice President dick cheney. Mr. Jeffress, let me begin with you. Im sure youve heard the news that bob mueller, the former f. B. I. Director, has now been named special counsel in the case involving the possible connections between the Trump Campaign and russia in last years campaign. Whats your reaction to that . Excellent choice, highly qualified, very well respected, couldnt have a better person. Yang michael waldman, how about you . What do you think of this . Its encouraging news. He is very well respected. Some of the questions include what would be the scope of his brief and what is his level of independence . Presumably, President Trump isnt going to ask him, as alleged, for his beltway, but is he only going to look at the potential collusion during the campaign or at some of these broader issues that amount to, if true, abuse of power and obstruction of justice. Yang and, mr. Jeffers, is his representation such that you think this should put to rest any questions about this investigation . I followed his career very closely. Know him personally. Certainly puts to rest any question in my mind. Yang lets turn now, to this question of obstruction of justice, and whether or not what the president has been doing constitutes it. First of all, the Legal Definition under the law obstruction of justice. Mr. Jeffress, what is it . Its corruptly endeavoring to influence an official proceeding. Yang corruptly. What does that mean . Thats the key word. It means for an improper purpose. Its defined in the law. You know, one could make a request of an f. B. I. Agent or for that matter the immediate oe f. B. I. If not done for an improper purpose it would not be obstruction of justice. If done for an improper purpose, it would be. Yang michael, anything you want to add to that or take away from that . I think thats correct. The in fact legally the president can, for example, fire the f. B. I. Director is true, but not if it was done for corrupt purposes. And, yo