Russia probe. Something that President Trump is very keen on. Youre not suggesting that spying occurred . I dont well, i guess you could i think that spying did occur, yes. Yes, i think spying did occur. Well, let me but the question is whether it was predicated, adequately predicated. And im not suggesting that it wasnt adequately predicated. But i need to explore that. And i want to make clear this is not launching an investigation of the fbi. Frankly, im to the extent that there were any issues at the fbi, i do not view it as a problem that is endemic to the fbi. I think that there was probably a failure among a group of leaders. Lets start with Geoff Bennett just outside that hearing room on capitol hill. And peter alex ander lexander a white house. And geoff, two big headlines appear to be that the new investigation, the attorney general is leading, also more detail about what is getting redacted. What have we learned . Reporter right, craig. When you heard the attorney general talk about his effort to look into these allegations that republican lawmakers have made for years now, that there was they say antitrump bias at the upper echelons of the fbi and Justice Department, that infected the initial probe into the Trump Campaign and any ties between the Trump Campaign and the russian, you saw him say that there was in fact spying. His goal is to see if it was probably predicated. And senator Patrick Leahy tried to appeal to bill barr on the point of legacy. Saying that because this issue is of such grave concern and such National Interest, that the way this is handled is going to be remembered long after these two men are gone. And he says the Mueller Report will become public one way or another and this is a direct quote, he easy is attempts to hide vast swathes of it will only fuel speculation that the Justice Department is playing the role of President Trumps defense team. And under questioning from jeanne shaheen, the attorney general went a bit further than he did yesterday in talking about the redactions. She asked him if he would redact information in this report related to behavior are regarding the president. He said no. Take a look at a bit more of that exchange. Does that mean that you will redact information to protect the reputational interests of the president . Reporter no, im talking about people who are in the private life, not Public Office holders. Reporter and one other highlight here as i refer to my notes since i jeft left tust le hearing room, he was asked did you have a conversation with the special counsel about why he didnt make a recommendation on obstruction. Of course democrats have been seizing on this obstruction of justice piece of the report. And barr says yes, it is explained in the report which i will be releasing hopefully next week. Hopefully next week. Geoff bennett outside the hearing room, thank you. Peter, President Trump denied any knowledge of what is in the Mueller Report, but he also seemed quite keen on this new attorney general investigation. Reporter i think what was striking from the president s comments which took place as he was boarding marine one was hearing from the president in his own words really renewing his attacks on the special counsel Robert Muellers russia investigation. You will remember after it initially came out, after we sfirs saw the four page summary, the president said that mueller acted honorably, but it appears clear that as the president becomes aware that there could be some politically damaging details in that entire report depending on how much of it we actually see, he sort of changed his tune a little bit again lashing out and calling for the investigators to be investigated. Here is the president earlier this morning. This was an attempted coup, this was an attempted takedown of a president. What im most interested this is Getting Started hopefully the attorney general, he mentioned it yesterday, he is doing a great job, Getting Started ongoing back to the origins of exactly where this all started. I have not seen the Mueller Report. I have not read the mueller record. I won. No collusion, no obstruction, i won. Reporter it was news that the president said he has not seen the Mueller Report. Frankly the fact that he said he doesnt care to see it, but it is significant because just yesterday as william barr wau was testifying before the House Appropriations committee, he declined to say whether in fact he had briefed the white house on what is inside that report or whether in fact he had shared it at all. So now we can at least put to rest for the moment the idea of whether the president if you take him at his word has actually received it or seen it. Peter, thank you. Republicans are keen on this barr investigation into the trump probe. This is what they are saying outside the committee room. We need a special counsel it look at the way this was handled. If barr thinks he can do it, that is fine with me. I would support what attorney general barr is doing. Another special counsel, investigate the investigation. What do we make so far of this idea, this idea that there needs to be another investigation . An investigation of what . Essentially we had an investigation. If you stand by the fact that Robert Mueller, who was a career public servant, a republican who everyone said on both sides of the aisle was going to beessentially be really important and unbiased prosecutor, this whole notion of spying is that is a trigger word. There was a counterintelligence investigation that began around russian interference with the president ial election 2016 which is something of National Interest to the country. To suggest that there was something untoward about that, we dont have any information to suggest that. I think that the question here is we all need to understand what we learned from special counsel Robert Muellers investigation. That is front and foremost. That would tell us a lot about whether there are other things we should be concerned about. And we should learn more within the next week or so if we are to believe the attorney general as he has indicated he will be putting out the report. Although it sounds like that it will be fairly redacted. What did you make of the comments from the attorney general during the hearing yesterday and today, that he wont just be redacting information about the president but also about private individuals as well . That is incredibly important. It is very important for the Justice Department to redact information not just from grand jury testimony but that implicates individuals in potential acts that would be interpreted as libelist when they are not under investigation by the Justice Department. That is not the Justice Departments purview. And in fact that was one of the reasons why james comey was criticized so heavily by the acting Deputy Attorney general because he had impugned Hillary Clinton when she was not under investigation. That is pretty standard Justice Department policy. As far as briefly about this barr investigation, i dont really understand the consternation about this. The Inspector General is investigating the carter page fisa warrant which he was never charged, he was investigated, we know that this is a very necessarily owe paying process to understand what happened there. Fisa abuse does happen. And if you talk to Trump Supporters, they really do think that there was an effort to understand mine the election. But they also believe that President Trump ordered the spy. So the more daylight is really unfounded. It seems a valuable exercise. Where does it end . Hopefully with a thorough report that undermines the notion that this information was gleaned through untoward means, that is what Devin Nunes Committee was told, that it was gleaned through inappropriate means in order to undermine the elect. We never heard about it during the election, so it seems like it is unfounded on its face, but we need to know that for sure. And where i agree with noah, if daylight is incredibly important, if it can unless we know what Robert Mueller found, we dont even know all the things that we need daylight around. So it seems much more politicized to suggest that we need an investigation of an investigation before weve even seen the full fruits of the first investigation. So perhaps we should have this conversation a week from now. Exactly. So we could know what does make sense. I do think that this notion of an Inspector General investigation is very different from the attorney general appointed by the president who has sought loyalty over National Interests from his cabinet members, you including Jeff Sessions if you recall, to sort of say here is where i want to direct investigation and that is the thing we cant have happen because that is counter to the interests of the country and quite divisive. So lets see the daylight, lets see the report, lets understand what weve learned and then lets figure out what we have to understand better. Are you optimistic that after we digest this forthcoming report that we will have a are more complete understanding of precisely what went down . I think the first part of your question is the important part, which is will we see it. Because i do think that it requires the public at large and i think this is why 8 in 10 americans think the report should be public for all variety of reasons. Why wl it is becau whether it was because you believe that the president has done one doing or will be exonerated, there are all kinds of reasons. I think that we will see a court battle and i dont know what we will see as a result of that court battle. And i think that weve created unfortunately not the intent of the d. C. Circuit but essentially a precedent that suggests that Congress Must start impeachment proceedings first rather than see what the evidence is before deciding whether they should start impeachment proceedings. And there is talk that this demand from House Democrats that the president release his tax returns, that that might also lead to a court battle at some point. What say you to this idea that the public should at some point see the president s tax returns . I think it is probably just good policy as a matter of simply good governance. And being responsive to public demand. As a matter of law, i think even is pretty clear on 24 from the attorney general on down that there is no obligation for the president to do so. It is not about his audit, whatever that means. He can release them whatever he wants. But he has no obligation do so. If you want to pass a law saying you go country run for president without putting your taxes out there, fine, but there is no obligation for the president to do so. And so in withholding it, you are creating in this precedent where people like Bernie Sanders says we have to do a little bit of it out there. Precedent is a very important thing. Thank you both. Appreciate you being here. A busy day for 2020. Democrats making their pitch to Union Members right now in washington, d. C. Well take you there live, well hear what they are saying. Also, there is a new tellall that takes you behind the scenes on capitol hill revealing just how this presidency has left an indelible mark on how things get done in the beltway or dont get done. Jake sherman, anna palmer, here in the flesh. And look at the wonderful lighting weve given them. Also unhappy returns, just days before the tax deadline, nbc talked to a florida grandmother who voted for President Trump and she is learning the hard way that those tax cuts did not necessarily mean a bigger refund. R refund. Or joints. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in Clinical Trials to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Or crohns symptoms. Are holding you back. And your Current Treatment hasnt worked well enough. It may be time for a change. Ask your doctor about entyvio®, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohns. 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A few minutes ago House Republicans just tried to label the democratic majority of 100 days of democratic disappointment. You can sum up the first 100 days as n. Three word, radicalism, resistance and resolutions. Today were supposed to be voting on a socalled budget the democrated proposed. But they pulled the vote because they have allowed the socialist wing of their party to overtake them. Here for a rare onset appearance, anna palmer and jake sherman. And they are also the coauthors of the new book the hill to by die on. 26 months of interviews and reporting. A lot of folks are talking about it. Good to have you here in the flesh. This is rare. The tone that we just heard from mccarthy, how can these two sides come to any sort of agreement on legislation when that is what we hear . They cant, but i think the more important thing from that scene we just saw was Kevin Mccarthy and Steve Scalise standing together which in our book we reveal for the first time that Steve Scalise was going to challenge Kevin Mccarthy for that job, for the number one republican job when republicans lost the minority. And this is based on conjecture. I traveled with both of these men, traveled with scalise. And he told me i need to see what the world looks like and then ill make a decision. And then scalise held a secret dinner washington with his aides where he discussed a coup with mccarthy. So so what happened . Why did he ultimately decide not to challenge him . I think that he didnt want it would have been a came reich ending move for him if he lost. Im not saying he would have lost. But those challenges are really rare. And the relationship is Getting Better im told, but this book reveals for the first time serious back stabbing or potential back stabbing if you consider running against the number one. There is disarray among the Republican Party as paul ryan decided to step down midway through. Everyone was trying to assess their own positions. No secret that there are roughly 68 democrats running for president. Just a rough number. Im exaggerating, but there are a lot of them running for president. And it would seem as if in their attempts to separate themselves from each other, they are also highlighting some of the different factions within the party. There are a number of squabbles among democrats. How are they handling some of those schwababquabbles . I think what were seeing is the fight that republicans had a long time ago in 2010 and now you have the fight for the fuft the democratic party. Is it going to be the alexandria ocasiocortez Bernie Sanders wing that it is medicare for all and the new Green New Deal or the Nancy Pelosi Democratic Party and these fights are happening at 2020, they are also happening on the floor of the house every day. Do we get a sense right now of where that fight is . Who is winning that fight right now . I would argue sorry, i didnt mean to interrupt, but i would argue that pelosi is. Pelosi has really thrown some high and tight fast balls to alexandria ocasiocortez over the last couple months and they have worked. Pelosi has an alarmingly not alarmingly, but a very strong grip on the democratic party. And donald trump told us once that democrats have lousy ideas, they are lousy politician, but they stick together. And that is something he doesnt feel with his own Republican Party that he is jealous of with democrats. And he doesnt quite understand how nancy pelosi keeps them together. Lets turn to this book. The Washington Post in the review wrote if you are one of the Many Americans who hates congress, this book is for you. Has the snug itself deteriorated to a point where the whole lot of them, a full 435chamber, 100 upper