Point where you get to fire the number two person at the National Security council, i think that rises to a level i just i didnt know to expect that. Okay. We wont put a number on it, but its new. Weve reached a new spot. Thanks. Thank you, rachel. Matthew whitaker, Matthew Whitaker, were watching you. That is the message that Matthew Whitaker woke up to this morning in the center of the Washington Post oped page in an article written by our first guest tonight, congressman adam schiff, the topranking democrat on the house intelligence committee. Adam schiff will become the chairman of that committee in january. The democrats will suddenly then have subpoena power in the house of representatives and the trump official who knows hes going to be number one on the democrats subpoena list is Matthew Whitaker, especially if Matthew Whitaker does not soon recuse himself from supervising Robert Muellers investigation of the president , now that the president has installed Matthew Whitaker as his socalled acting attorney general. Heres what adam schiff told Matthew Whitaker in writing today in the Washington Post. The new democratic majority will protect the special counsel and the integrity of the Justice Department should whitaker fail to recuse himself, all indications are that he plans not to and seek to obstruct the investigation, serve as a back channel to the president or his legal team or interfere in the investigations in any way, he will be called to answer. His actions will be exposed. If he does not recuse himself, whitaker could seek access to the special counsels plans and evidence including grand jury testimony and would be in a position, not just to funnel information to trump and his Legal Defense team, but also to abuse his authority to cripple or end the investigation. Whitaker could attempt to prevent evidence from reaching congress and the public or stop the special counsel from subpoenaing important testimony, including from trump himself. So, that is what is at stake. The wall street journal reported last night that, quote, the Justice Department is expected to publish a legal opinion in support of Matthew Whitakers installation as acting attorney general as early as tuesday, a person familiar with the matter said following questions about whether he can legally serve in the role. The Departments Office of Legal Counsel is expected to say that President Trump had the ability to appoint mr. Whitaker, the person said. But that did not happen today. The office of Legal Counsel did not issue that opinion today. The head of the office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department is assistant attorney general steven engel, who is a veteran of the george w. Bush Justice Department. Steven engel may be asking himself tonight, what could happen to his future Senate Confirmation possibilities if he puts his name on a patently absurd legal opinion justifying the installation of the only acting attorney general in history who was not serving in a Senate Confirmed position in the department . Democratic senators have shown they have long memories about this sort of thing. Robert bork served in Richard NixonsJustice Department during the watergate investigation of the president and was the key actor in what became known as the saturday night massacre when Richard Nixon demanded the firing of the special prosecutor archibald cox. They refused the president s order to fire the special prosecutor and resigned. The Deputy Attorney general then did exactly the same thing. And next in line that night was robert bork, who then carried out the president s order and fired the special prosecutor. 14 years later, Ronald Reagan nominated robert bork for a seat on the Supreme Court. The democrats worked hard to block the bank of new york nomination. Not just because of, but certainly energized by robert borks dark role on that dark night during the Nixon Administration 14 years earlier. When bank of new yorks nomination came to a vote, 58 senators voted no, including six republicans. Who in the trump Justice Department wants to be the next robert bork . In his article today, adam schiff issued this warning. Trump and those who would abet him in undermining the independence of the Justice Department should understand this, the truth will come out. Republican senator jeff flake said today that he will introduce a bill tomorrow with democratic senator chris coons to protect the office of the special prosecutor, Robert Mueller, from interference by Matthew Whitaker or anyone else in the Justice Department. This is a difficult thing to object to. You know, prior the leader has always said theres no need for this because nobody has been fired. Special counsel is fine. I dont think anybody can say that after Jeff Sessions forced removal. So its not that easy to object to this. But if somebody does, we can bring it back again and again. So, i think we plan to do so. Joining us now, congressman adam schiff, the ranking democrat on the house intelligence committee. Thank you very much for joining us tonight, congressman schiff. Really appreciate it. Good to be with you. What made you decide that today was the day to put Matt Whitaker on notice in writing in the Washington Post . Well, its very important, i think, to get that message out before he does any damage to the Mueller Investigation or tries to. But also if he doesnt recuse himself and he were to think that any conversations he had with the president , any promises he made to the president in order to get the position about whether he would follow or ignore the advice of the ethics lawyers at the Justice Department, he has to know that this is going to come out. Theres going to be no hiding this. And he will be called to answer. That, i think, i hope will be an incentive to get an ethics opinion and to follow it. But as you point out, there are even broader problems with this appointment than this one investigation as serious as that is, and that is that the appointment itself looks like it violates the constitutions requirement that the senate have a role in confirming anyone as a principal officer, including the attorney general, temporary or not, as a principal officer. We have seen a series of oped pieces, scholarly legal opinions indicating that this is a completely illegal and unconstitutional opinion installation, i should say, of a possible acting attorney general. And its interesting that the Justice Department, which was expected today, reported today to be on the verge of issuing a written opinion saying that it was legitimate, did not do that and they didnt do it on the very same day that the state of maryland went to court and filed a legal challenge against Matthew Whitaker occupying the office of acting attorney general. It seems that maybe the Justice Department has to figure out what its response is in court now. Well, i think the Justice Department may be looking again at the opinion its about to issue. If they issue an opinion and find that this appointment was unconstitutional, they know the heat they are going to get from the president. Hes going to try to write this off as revenge of the deep state again. Quite the contrary. It would be a sign that our system of checks and balances, that the Justice Department truly is independent. That would be a healthy sign for our democracy. But the Justice Department, i think, is still likely to opine tomorrow that because he is appointed on a temporary basis, that that somehow makes him an inferior officer. It doesnt. It simply makes him a temporary principal officer. Otherwise, you could avoid the constitutional requirement. And you cant pass a statute like the vacancy reform act that somehow supersedes the constitution. It doesnt. And what i think the Justice Department really needs to consider is there is language post dating their earlier opinion on this subject in the Supreme Court by Justice Thomas and maybe others that clearly indicate that the reasoning they used back in 2003 when they approved a much lesser appointment, is likely to be flawed and not withstand Supreme Court scrutiny. Well, it seems we are definitely going to see this argument made in court, possibly both sides of the argument made in court, in federal court. But this is just the first case, the maryland case. There could be cases in every Federal District in the country making the same argument. There could be federal judges all around the country being asked to rule on this. But in the meantime, talk about whitakers actual qualifications. If he had been Senate Confirmed in a Senate Confirmed position in the Justice Department and if he had met the legal requirements to be elevated to acting attorney general, there would still be problems with naming him. Well, there certainly would be. But one problem would be obviated and that is you would have the opportunity, under oath, before he assumed this incredible responsibility of being put on the record. Did you discuss this case with the president . Did you make promises to the president . Will you seek an ethics opinion . Will you recuse yourself . All those questions would have been answered. Now, i think the president chose this course to appoint someone on an interim basis that had been auditioning for the part on tv, which is how you get a role in the trump administration, precisely because he could avoid having his choice subjected to scrutiny in the senate. But thats all the more reason to insist on the adherence to these constitutional principles. This is not some lowlevel official here. This is the chief Law Enforcement officer of the country. And as you point out, lawrence, any decision that he makes, really any decision of the department now, is under a cloud. And if down the road when this case gets to the Supreme Court, its adjudicated against the Justice Department, then it will be an entire mess for the Justice Department because it will mean every decision made in the interim will be subject to question. And thats not a road you want to travel down. The headline of your piece, were watching you, could not have been more clear, directly to Matthew Whitaker today. But surely you democrats in the house are not the only ones. Matthew whitaker spends his day surrounded by experienced fbi agents, experienced federal prosecutors who have every right to be as suspicious of his motivations as you are. Every one of those people, i imagine, when they leave the room with Matthew Whitaker are going back to their desks and recording as james comey did, every single word they just heard him say. Well, certainly if there is an indication that he is acting unethically, that would be their obligation. If they see signs that he is conveying information about a particular case to the president or his lawyers, not just any case but a case in which the president himself may be implicated or members of his family may be implicated, yes, they would have to consider whether he is violating the law, whether he is acting as a surrogate of the president in obstructing justice. There are already troubling reports out of the Justice Department. Public reports that even in his tenure as the chief of staff to Jeff Sessions, he was operating as a back channel to the white house, undercutting his boss, the attorney general, and reporting to people on the president s staff as a way of ingratiating himself. And of course you have the be bewildering conduct of the president saying he doesnt know whitaker. Toward the end of your piece you say definitively, the truth will come out. Is it your ability to guarantee that the truth will come out . Is that simply the fact that the democrats won the house of representatives in this election and that you will be a chairman in the next congress and jerry nadler will be chairman of judiciary in the next congress and it is through the next powers of those chairmanships that the truth will come out . We are certainly going to move heaven and earth to make sure the truth comes out. And, you know, for your part in the media, the media has also done an excellent job of making sure that the truth comes out. The reality is he needs to know that he is not going to be able to conceal any conduct that interferes with this investigation. And if he acts in any way unethically, that it will be exposed. And exposure is powerful. So, this wont be easy. Undoubtedly any oversight we do will be fought tooth and nail by the trump administration. All the attacks we have seen over the last two years on bob mueller, we can expect the l president to start leveling against people in congress. But were going to do our job. We are going to defend the rule of law. We are going to do whatever is necessary to defend the independence of the Justice Department. We took an oath to the same constitution and we intend to live up to our oath. Congressman and future chairman adam schiff, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Really appreciate it. Thank you, lawrence. And when we come back, the l. A. Times calls it a cocoon of bitterness. It is the atmosphere around donald trump since he lost the electionment while the president was in his cocoon of bitterness, the first lady tried to publicly fire someone who works for the president. And a new Analysis Shows that the republican gerrymandering of Congressional Districts is no longer working the way the republicans designed it to work. And later Jill Winebanks will join us with the latest on Robert Muellers investigation with reports tonight that President Trump is right now answering questions in writing for the special prosecutor. During the president ial campaign, donald trump promised his wife Melania Trump would have a press conference where she would explain how she legally came to this country and what when she began to work this this country, she was legally authorized to work. He was lying. She never had that press conference. But theres nothing she could have said that would have made her eligible to be president of the United States because she is not and has never claimed to be a naturalborn citizen of the United States, but she acted as president today when she released a statement firing the deputy National Security advisor. Her husband is known to be very shy about firing people directly in the white house, and so Melania Trump tried to force the firing of deputy National Security advisor with this statement. It is the position of the office of the first lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this white house. Earlier today when the president didnt know that his wife was going to fire her, she was in the roosevelt room with the president. Neither one of them knowing she was going to be fired. But that was for one of the rare moments today in the roosevelt room when the president has even pretended to work since the republicans had a losing night in last weeks election that continues to get worse as democrats continue to pick up seats in the house of representatives as they are doing tonight, as the votes continue to be counted. The president of the United States has retreated into a cocoon of bitterness and roo resentment, according to multiple sources who spoke with the l. A. Times. The times reports the president s mood apparently changed after republicans major election losses last week. Behind the scenes they say the president has lashed out at several aides from junior press assess tants to senior officials. Hes furious said one administration official. Most staffers are trying to avoid him. The official who spoke on the condition of anonymity painted a picture of