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so president trump couldn't make recess appointments. for instance, if he decided to have jeff sessions go, he couldn't appoint someone. you are seeing them try to thread the needle. maybe they are not screaming from the mountain top but they are trying to walk the tight rope. >> senator tillis, a co-author who was checking the president. we asked him, again and again, are you concerned that's going to happen? the way he hedged it, we are being protective of things. look at the action, not necessarily the messaging. >> that's right. also, do look at the messaging. i think it's interesting, you see what they are doing and they may not be taking that sharp, rhetorical edge. make no mistake about the actions they are taking. will heard, when he's giving opening statements, he doesn't mention donald trump. that's important to note. >> that's the omission. thank you very much.
investigation to a grand jury? >> i think it is just part of the process. i cannot read anything into it. grand juries are convened all over the country for good reasons. i do have a concern. i am not an attorney, i am not a lawyer. i'm not going to get into the procedures. if it gets us to an expedient conclusion, i'm for anything that says that. i happen to think that it will turn out just fine.i want to get this nonsense and get to our dentist. >> will visit the agenda in a minute i want to ask you about something else. apart from the rush investigation that surprising, republicans have recently been pushing back on this president. i'm going to put up a list. you passed a bill limiting his ability to lift sanctions on russia that was bipartisan republican and democrat figures are built to protect the special counsel from being fired. and republicans are keeping the senate technically in session 2 black recess appointments. senator, that is something that one party usually does to the
can. if it's something outside that scope, he needs to come to the acting attorney general for permission to expand his investigation. >> and the senate is currently in pro-forma sessions gafelling in every three days for about a minute, blocking the president's ability to make recess appointments seen by many as a awayway to stop the president from upending the investigation into russia. yesterday white house counsel kellyanne conway said the president is not having discussions about firing mueller, but a bipartisan group of senators is pushing forward with adding safeguards, including republican tom tillis of north carolina. take a listen to this. >> what would it mean, senator tillis, if the president fired robert mueller? what would the consequences be in your view? >> it's another example. to me the reputation of the department of justice has suffered from hits in the past. our effort here is just to take that offer the table, any sort of removal, but we don't have any specific evidence to suggest the president is going to do that. this is policy that lives beyond
investigation to a grand jury? >> i think it is just part of the process. i cannot read anything into it. grand juries are convened all over the country for good reasons. i do have a concern. i am not an attorney, i am not a lawyer. i'm not going to get into the procedures. if it gets us to an expedient conclusion, i'm for anything that says that. i happen to think that it will turn out just fine.i want to get this nonsense and get to our dentist. >> will visit the agenda in a minute i want to ask you about something else. apart from the rush investigation that surprising, republicans have recently been pushing back on this president. i'm going to put up a list. you passed a bill limiting his ability to lift sanctions on russia that was bipartisan republican and democrat figures are built to protect the special counsel from being fired. and republicans are keeping the senate technically in session 2 black recess appointments. senator, that is something that one party usually does to the
senate sued him and said you can't do that because they were using sessions dpavling in and out specifically to stop presidents from doing this. that's what's going on in the building behind me throughout the august recess, and while republicans are throwing this on democrats and saying they're the ones that refuse to allow to adjourn, this was a plan that republicans made. they scheduled the junior senators to stick around during a day or two of their vacation to do this. put this in the category of both democrats and republicans in the senate sending a signal to the president which is primarily around the russia investigation. because there was fear that he was going to throw jeff sessions out in an attempt to fire mueller. >> the democrats are doing the republican's bidding. they can point their fingers at the republicans. i works well. neither side want donald trump to be able to put in a lot of recess appointments. thank you. we'll be right back. president trump has only been in
deal, it was an acceleration of the investigation. the grand jury certainly signals the next stage in mueller's investigation. the request for the documentation with the clearer story about what might be the issue with mike flynn. who we need to remember was a very high level official at the start of this administration in the campaign. signals this is ramping up. i think the white house is aware of this. >> he's the national security adviser that high up. >> and on the campaign trail he was the voice of the administration from the convention on on national security. >> a huge adviser to the president. larry, let me you this question. trump has said this investigation is a witch-hunt. he's continued to use the words and yet there are bipartisan efforts, republicans and democrats on capitol hill, trying to protect the special counsel investigation. to prevent mueller from being fired, to prevent trump from making any recess appointments. what do you make of this? >> well, that's for the base. there's no question about it.
>> right. >> beyond that, congress also does very practical things to prevent a situation in which bob mueller could be fired. already said they're not confirm another attorney general nominee. if trump tried to sort of change the head of the doj to move a chain of command down to fire mueller that would not be an option. also, they've not gone into a real recess over this next couple of weeks, because they don't want to allow any sort of shenanigans in which recess appointments might put someone in place who could lead to a mueller firing situation. i think when i talk to people who have talked to this white house, they get the sense that they are allowing trump to vent, allowing him to talk about it, be upset about it, but on some level trump knows he has no good options here, and i don't think many people expect at this point he will actually carry out. >> and back to your point about the political -- restate the case. the republican congress, pro
lawyer at power house law firm right here in new york. he oversaw the criminal division of the u.s. attorney's office in brooklyn. it's a bad sign for the trump administration that he would leave his lucrative position and join this team in that he has a specialization and now that they have this jury impaneled a few block grs robert mueller. they don't have to worry about going over to alexandria where he already has a grand jury impaneled. the big concern, i think, out of all of this is that you have an administration that wants to govern and no one in the washington seems to have his back. the senate is going out of its way to combine with democrats and republicans going out of their way to make sure the president doesn't fire robert mueller. and then they go out of their way to make sure the president doesn't have a recess appointments when he has over 100 nominees up until yesterday. including your dad, waiting to get hired and get nominated and put through and they are worried about the president doing a recess appointment? and you are a republican? how does that make sense?
the president could not make recess appointments while they're gone. the reason that's significant is senators know what the american people are feeling today. today was a marker in history. rarely do you see it in the administration the subject of a grand jury investigation. while it is not a jury trial, a trial jury, it is one that can issue an indictment. and it is a form that we could see the president or people in his administration commit perjury, we could see the president's taxes unveiled and frankly it's a form for history. this is not a light matter that occurred today. senators know that and it will cast a cloud over the month of september when they have critical decision to make. >> betsy, i'm going to ask you to play mine reader but you have good soirss. i wonder what the thinking of the republican is on capitol hill about their own judgment of what might come out. you've got to imagine that's shifted and changed and grown as they've watched the evidence like other people watching this
normal. i spoke with former federal prosecutors who said they expect it to take mueller several more months to get this probe wrapped up. they expect it to be a month or two at least before he indicts anyone which means the russia questions are not going to go away and the lawmakers have to make peace with that. >> what do you think, david, you're going back for august recess, it's seven month as enno big legislation to show for it. >> it's an embarrassing time being a republican having to defend your record. when the senate left today, on the way out the door they handcuffed the president of the united states to make sure that the president could not make recess appointments while they're gone. the reason that's significant is senators know what the american people are feeling today.