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Chairman's comments? does the doj letter have any real impact? >> i don't think it's going to have much of a practical impact. for one thing, as we all know, mueller has said very publicly that he's not going to go beyond his written report. and so in that sense doj's letter is really more belt and suspenders. they're basically saying we want you to adhere to the promise you previously made. the other thing to keep in mind is it's not as though a doj or white house lawyer is going to be sitting next to bob mueller at the hearing. so even if the white house or doj felt that mueller was treading...

Plan. but as happens so often in this white house, the plan is really dictated by the president's gut and by what he wants to put out on twitter and what he wants to tell reporters. so i would pay attention to him as opposed to any sort of step-by-step crisis management plan that comes together. >> well, phil, it's interesting that you talk about those talking points and his gut, because there's also the reality of this letter. tom, i want to turn to you because the hus judiciary committee chairman asked about the impact of that doj letter on mueller's testimony. listen to this. >> i think it'...

Determination as to whether the president did commit a crime. under longstanding department policy, a present president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office. that is unconstitutional. charging the president with a crime was therefore not an option we could consider. >> so, betsy, break all of that down for us. where are the boundaries? is there a realistic expectation from committee members that mueller will, in fact, go further than that statement we just saw? >> what mueller said in that statement through a little bit of legalese is that him, himself, and his investig...

To try to tease out more from mueller as to what mueller himself thought, whether he thought that the president may have crossed the line into criminal misconduct but was prohibited from saying so because of his doj restrictions. i suspect the democrats would be better advised to take the former roo former route, to get mueller to tell the stories about what he found in the report, and hope people will see this for the first time and start thinking about the report as a whole. >> you talk about building this narrative, getting inside mueller's head and what he was thinking. betsy, i want to pl...