Good evening from new york. Im chris hayes. Today, multiple reports that people within the president s inner circle are considering firing the attorney general. That reporting comes amid increasingly strange barrage of strange utterances itself. President trump and his advisers are privately discussing the possibility of replacing attorney general Jeff Sessions and some floating prospects of who could take his place where he would resign or be fired according to people familiar with the talks. Members of trumps inner circle have increasingly raised the question as president continued to vent his truss frags with the attorney general the people said. Today the president s new press secretary was asked about sessions appearance today at the white house. There are some reports that at the white house today can you share any information about that . Sure. I can confirm he was at the white house. But he did not meet with the president while he was there today. Sanders confirming sessions with a was inseed at the white house today. That assertion after new white house communication director, Anthony Scaramucci, seen in the background. Trump and sessions need to speak and determine what the future of the relationship looks like. During the Campaign Sessions had indeed discussed campaignrelated matters with the Russian Ambassador kislyak according to u. S. Intelligent intercepts of kislyak. That contradicts quite squarely the same conversations. President trump weighed in again tweeting why arent committees and investigators and beleaguered ag looking into crooked hillary crimes and russian relations. No such Hillary Clinton and russia crimes exist. The president was again asked about his attorney general. Mr. President , Jeff Sessions resigned Washington Post also reported that one person close to trump said the president asked him about how firing sessions would play in the conservative media and the names considered his replacements are ted cruz and former new york mayor rudy giuliani. Earlier today, giuliani told cnn there is no truth to a similar report that he was under consideration and crucially he defended sessions saying sessions was right to recuse himself. Joined now by democratic congressman of california. Member of the house Intelligence Committee. Congressman, your reaction to the notion the president may indeed fire the attorney general. He should go, chris, for other reasons. Not fo because he hasnt been loyal to the president. Because he has had a problem, i think, being loyal to the amount of forthcoming information that you have to give to the senate. Twice when he was asked about contractes with russia, he didnt disclose them. He participated in the firing of james comey. For those reasons he should go. But also, chris, you know, some people say why would you want to get rid of him . He is recused. When isnt that better than who trump could put in. How is the time for senate, Republican Leaders to put a check on the presidency, a true Law Enforcement official in there. No relation top president s campaign and allow this investigation to proceed. This is interesting. You are in line with a call made by the Congressional Black Caucus that sessions is unfit to serve. Top law enforce. Of the nation should resign immediately. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Of course this would be the first set in dominos to get rid of mueller which many people believe is the president s ultimate goal and he has shown in relieving james comey of duty hes willing to do Something Like that to stop the investigations that he views as unfair witch hunts. Chris, i would see this as this should be the first set of dominos to have republicans in the senate show some courage, to show sha we are a coequal branch of the that congress is a coequal branch with the presidency and we are not helpless to what president wants to do to instruct the investigation. Thats the opportunity of Jeff Sessions was fired. Speaking of the investigation, today, jarrett kushner, soninlaw, chief adviser, i wouldnt call testimony, but answered questions to senate intel committee. We will have more later in the show. And you will speak with kushner tomorrow in closed session. Can you explain for me because im unclear about how this all inded up. The he is not under oath but will talk to you and he cant lie to congress and lying to congress is a crime nonetheless, right . Yes. I wish it was in public. I wish he today raise his right hand for everyone to see and there are fair questions out there. And there are contacts that he and Trump Campaign had with russia. And if you take a step back you run for president of the United States. You need votes in the United States. Why this campaign had so many meetings. I think it is fair to ask. One thing Jared Kushner said, i want your response too, no improper contacts. He said this on the record outside the white house. It seems to me that theres a case to be made. And the meeting itself with the russian lawyer and variety of russian nationals. Express purpose which to trade information from the russian government on Hillary Clinton would itself constitute an improper act. Do you believe and or trust what Jared Kushner says . We must corroborate what he has said or discredit what he has said but he like others have shown by their own failures to disclose that we cant take them at their word. What is your theory tomorrow of why it is that Jared Kushner left off those meetings . Why is it that Jeff Sessions apparently deceived about the nature of his interactions first the existence of interaction and then the nature . What is your internal working mental theory about this right now . Yeah. Well, my gut tells me if this is just one person who failed to disclose one contact that there are a lot of innocent explanations as to why that may be. But to have so many people who have so many contacts with russia that were not disclosed and have only been acknowledged once overwhelming knowledge is presented, we better keep probing. Again chris our job is to get through all this evidence and make a report. Again they may just be a thousand coincidences but until we can ask all of these witnesses questions about reviewing documents, i still have a lot of questions. Congressman within thanks for making time tonight. My pleasure. Former u. S. Attorney from eastern district, and matt miller and msnbc justice, former chief spokesman at the Justice Department, lets return now matt to the news that is crossing from the Washington Post in the last hour which bolsters other reports and utterances by the president himself that Jeff Sessions job may be on the line. What do you make of that p. I think it is clear that the president is trying to push the attorney general out. Ity there cant be any doubt. This seemed deliberate today. And Jeff Sessions should go. Compromising the sacred thing at the Justice Department when he signed off on firing jim comey. Last few days the way he responded these attacks have been very telling. These werent just takes on Jeff Sessions and rosen stein and mueller, these are attacks on the rule of law. Attacks on independent Justice Department. And Jeff Sessions response to that was to hold a press conference where he said he enjoys working for the president and looks forward to continuing. The attorney general needs to stand up for the independent rule of law for the country and tell the president he wont stand for that. If he wont, we should find a new attorney general who will. Barbara, one of the most remarkable things in the the Public Statement about Jeff Sessions was calling on his own attorney general to investigate his former campaign adversary Hillary Clinton his opponent in the president ial campaign. How does it pertain to how the fbi does their job . This reminds me of the outcry during one of the debates that candidate trump said if he became president he would order his attorney general to investigate Hillary Clinton. It is completely improper. Completely inappropriate. Attorney general and Justice Department must be completely independent of the political whims of the white house. Thats why there are such straight channels of communication set up, about what they can talk about or even be together. I find it entirely inappropriate. I want it play for you about what the president says about Jeff Sessions recusal, which is the source of much of his ire. Sessions cant oversea presumely manipulate, control, direct, his campaign. Here is him expressing his frustration last week. Take a listen. Well, sessions should have never recused himself. And if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and i would have picked someone else. Do you think sessions recusal was proper and that it lead to the investigation . The recusal is proper. If you look at ethics guidelines there are a number of reasons if you have a financial, personal or political relationship with someone you are supposed to recuse. So i believe that it was appropriate for him to recuse. I think what is really going on is that President Trump confuses personal loyalty to loyalty to the mission of the job. He sees the attorney general as his personal lawyer when in fact he is the attorney of the United States. It is interesting you say sessions should go. Sessions of all cabinet figures the one who draws most opposition arguably from democrats, from folks on the left. He was fought vigorously for confirmation. Dont you worry the political expediacy of getting rid of him in this moment, the continuing efforts of obstructing an Ongoing Investigation in plain sight by the president of the United States . I think the president of the United States will try to continue doing that whether jeff session says attorney general or someone else is. He doesnt need to fire Jeff Sessions to end the mueller investigation. We have talked about it shown the before. He can withdraw the regs and fire him himself. I think ultimately thats what he will do. Do we want the attorney general to stay and compromise himself for the president . I think the answer is no. If he leaves on his own accord the president will nominate someone else. The names floating in that story, cruz, giuliani, both people made similar comments to the ones that trump made. About investigating Hillary Clinton. We have a debate about who the next person would be and i hope republican senators would stand up as they did with chris ray and someone with personal integrity. Barbara, finally to you, theres conversation about pardons. Which is obviously a power invested in the United States constitution. All agree u. S. President has the complete power to pardon. Why think of that when only crime so far is leaks against us. Fake news. The first part of that, Anthony Scaramucci, discussing pardons, it seems that we have come off the access constitutionally and are spinning out into a vast Dark Universe of unchartered territory. Well i found it really interesting that President Trump is talking about the power of pardon during the very week when hes got Jared Kushner, paul man manafort. But he does have the power to pardon anyone. Except himself, i believe. But he pardon anyone. Except himself, i believe. The constitution does say except in matters of impeachment. I dont believe the president can pardon himself. All right, thank you both. Coming up, senator chris murphy talks about a vote on a Republican Health care bill that no one, no one, has seen. And Jared Kushner speaks. The president s soninlaw just confirmed about his dealings with russia. After the twominute break. President trumps soninlaw, Jared Kushner, made remarks in front of the white these days families want to be connected 24 7. Thats why at comcast were continuing to make our services more reliable than ever. Like technology that can update itself. An advanced fibernetwork infrustructure. New, more Reliable Equipment for your home. And a new culture built around customer service. It all adds up to our most Reliable Network ever. One that keeps you connected to what matters most. President trumps soninlaw, Jared Kushner, made remarks in front of the white house insisting he did nothing wrong after confirming media reports about numerous undisclosed contacts with russian nationals during the campaign. Let me be very clear. I did not collude with russia nor do i know of anyone else in the campaign who did so. I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on russian funds for my businesses. And i have been fully transparent in providing all requested information. Today kushner spent two hours answering questions posed by staffers on the Intelligence Committee about his contactes with russia. Ahead of that closeddoor session kushner released a lengthy statement in which he acknowledged attending the infamous meeting organized by Donald Trump Jr with someone saying they the dirt on Hillary Clinton. He admitted having four meetings despite not disclosing a single one of those meetings on his security clearance form under penalty of perjury for omission answers kushner detailed his effort to set up a secret Communications Line with the russian government during one of those meetings. Kushner had excuses for all of this which included blaming his assistant for submitting a security clearance form and claiming he didnt know the topic of the don junior meeting because he did not fully read his emails. Kushner stating in part it was typical for me to receive 200 more emails a day during the campaign. I did not have time to read every one. We should note the subject of that was Something Like russia clinton. It is illegal to lie to congress but cush mer was not under oath today. He will be under oath tomorrow when he appears before the house Intelligence Committee. Meanwhile Donald Trump Jr. And Paul Manafort are in negotiationes with the Senate Judiciary committee in a closed session and they will not be under oath. This is all as President Trump faces a big decision. Including sweeping russia sanctions package it punish moscow for interfearance in the president bl election. As well as sanctions in iran and north korea. Longs posing the effort to ex escalate punitive damages. The president wants it make sure we actually get the best deal for the United States and sew is very focused on that. But at same time wants it make sure that sanctions on those three countries remain and he will study that legislation and see what the final product looks like. The white house once again questioning underlying questionnaire and interfere unin the election with newly minted Communications DirectorAnthony Scaramucci to offer up the kremlin line on this issue. Somebody said to me yesterday, i wont tell you who, if the russians hacked the situation and spilled out the emails you would have never seen it or had any evidence of that. Meaning they are super confident in their deception skills and hacking. My point is, all of the information isnt on the table yet. But here is what i know about the president wait, wait, wait, anthony. Let me finish. All right, go ahead. I dont know who this anonymous person is who said if the russians have done it we wouldnt have been able to detect it. How about it was the president , jake. Joining me now, phil bruker, white house brewer yoe chief and paul butler former federal prosecutor and from the school of law. Kushner, context today was quite remarkable. You rarely see white house advisers or aides in front of the white house with the president ial seal giving an address like that. What did you make of that . Well, you know, he wanted to make a statement. What he said at the podium there was not all that different from the 11page statement i put out in writing earlier this morning but an interesting moment for the cameras there. Interesting that would he have the white house background which is sort of the white house getting behind him. Even though this is a personal matter for him. Something he is working on with his personal lawyers but i think speaks to his standing in the white house as part of the president s family. He also had this com