Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Poppy Harlow And Jim Sciutto 20240713

Nothing should overshadow that. So both sides have their arguments baked in as this impeachment process moves to the next phase. And as i pointed out, even though this announcement was expected by white house officials they will be monitoring and paying close attention as they sketch out their next move. One official says there will be plenty of reaction between the president s tweets and his rally this evening. He has a very quiet schedule this morning so he is available to watch this press conference. Back to you. Okay, pamela brown, thank you very much. Let us know what reporting you get as this happens. Were moments away. Lets bring in all of our experts. And john king, let me begin with you in washington this morning. So its going to be two. Steve cohen says its going to be two. But it sounds like theres going to be a reference to the Mueller Report and pattern of obstructive behavior from the president. Did nancy pelosi get this right to get the votes . Its evidence, poppy and jim, the gravity of the moment, which is enormous, is meeting the politics of the moment which is complicated. Speaker pelosi understands what a day this is. And we get so caught up in this. Weve viewed this as inevitable. Theyre about to announce articles of impeachment against the president of the United States. Hell be impeached by the house of representatives. Thats a giant, historic moment. At the same time, why keep it narrow . Nancy pelosi remembers the last impeachment. The prosecuting party, the republicans in that case against bill clinton was the party that suffered. Not the president who was impeached. The republicans suffered. Newt gingrich lost his job. Bob livingston was to become the next speaker. He did not get the job. Shes being very cautious here. She believe shes has to do this. She believes the evidence is on the democrats side but she wants to protect her majority in the next election so the 20 to 30 democrats from vulnerable districts are why you have two, not three or four articles of impeachment. The politics of the moment cannot be separated from the gravity. Lets get to the history of the moment. Thats the rayburn room on capitol hill. Note the photo behind the podium there, those four american flags. Thats president George Washington. Democrats throughout the last several days keep making references to history and to the constitution and to president ial duty and what those founders had in mind when they included in the constitution the ability of congress to remove a sitting president. Speaking of history. Tim naftali who spent his professional life on these questions. Tim, place this moment into context for our viewers. Well, the founders wondered what might happen if the people chose someone who was not fit for office because of their actions. Not because their policies were wrong. The Founders First thought, this will be settled at the polls. And then they realized, no, if someone challenges the matsch of our constitutional system, they have to be removed before an election. Thats the moment were in right now. Congress has decided or is about to decide whether or not whether or not the constitution requires that a president be impeached and then perhaps removed because they represent a challenge to our constitutional system. That is youve talked about before the founders were conscious, fearful of another monarch or leader who behaved like a monarch and no one more conscious of that than George Washington in his role. Jeffrey toobin, your thoughts on what weve learned in the last few moments before we hear it officially . Well, its just to repeat, its a very big deal and we had 200 years with just one impeachment. Andrew johnson right after the civil war. And in the last 45 years, weve had three. And i think that is indicative of the increasing polarization and anger reflected in our politics. Richard nixon wasnt impeached who resigned on the brink of impeachment and clinton and trump. And so it is indicative of the very volatile moment in which we live. Also, the clinton impeachment was highly partisan. Virtually all democrats vote with clinton. Virtually all republicans against. This one is going to be even more partisan. You will have even fewer defections which again i think is indicative of how polarized our Political Parties are at this moment. And this is both the symptom and a reflection of that. I think its worth noting that another piece of the timing is look when the last two impeachments happened. Richard nixon was already in his second term. Bill clinton was already in his second term. Youre right. This is literally the doorstep of a Reelection Campaign for this president. It makes it particularly dicey for the democrats. John king talked about the politics of the moment being complicated. They are risky for democrats. Not just because theres not going to be any defections here. This is going to be so partisan, but because there is an argument that a lot of people are going to make which is what why . Why now . Why not let the Voters Decide . And democrats were very pointed in saying yesterday as they presented the evidence, why . Because they allege a president is trying to corrupt the election. Heres the moment. You see nancy pelosi, the speaker there, the chairman of the house Judiciary Committee, jerry nadler, other members of the democratic leadership, adam schiff, certain to play a prominent role in this. This is a moment as americans to listen. Good morning, everyone. On this solemn day, i recall that the first order of business for members of congress is the solemn act to take an oath to protect and defend the constitution of the United States. With Great Respect and gratitude that i thank the chairs of the committees, the six committees who have been working to help us honor our oath of office. I also want to thank the staff of those committees and the Committee Members for all of their work over this period of time to help us protect and defend. I want to thank the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, mr. Nadler, the chair of the Intelligence Committee, mr. Schiff, chair of the ways and means committee, chairman all these chairmen. The chair of the Foreign Affairs committee, eliot engel of new york, the chair of the Financial Services committee, Maxine Waters of california, the chair of the committee on government reform and oversight, congresswoman carolyn maloney. I also want to acknowledge the important work that was done by our dear and departed, may he rest in peace, Elijah Cummings as chair of the oversight committee. Now pleased to yield to the distinguished chair of the Judiciary Committee, mr. Nadler. Thank you, madam speaker. Over the last several months, the investigative committees of the house have been engaged in an impeachment inquiry into president Donald Trumps efforts to solicit foreign interference in the 2020 elections. Efforts that compromised our National Security and threatened the integrity of our elections. Throughout this inquiry, he has attempted to conceal the evidence from congress and from the American People. Our president holds the ultimate public trust. When he betrays that trust and puts himself before country, he endangers the constitution, he endangers our democracy, and he endangers our National Security. The framers of the constitution prescribed a clear remedy for president s who so violate their oath of office. That is the power of impeachment. Today, in service to our duty to the constitution and to our country, the House Committee on the judiciary is introducing two articles of impeachment charging the president of the United States, donald j. Trump, with committing high crimes and misdemeanors. The first article is for abuse of power. It is an Impeachable Offense for the president to exercise the powers of his Public Office to obtain an improper personal benefit while ignoring or injuring the national interest. That is exactly what President Trump did when he solicited and pressured ukraine to interfere in our 2020 president ial election. Thus damaging our National Security, undermining the integrity of the next election and violating his oath to the American People. These actions, moreover, are consistent with President Trumps previous invitations of foreign interference in our 2016 president ial election. And when he was caught, when the house investigated and opened an impeachment inquiry, President Trump engaged in unprecedented, categorical and indiscriminate defiance of the impeachment inquiry. This gives rise to the secretary article of impeachment for obstruction of congress. Hereto we see a familiar pattern in President Trumps misconduct. A president who declares himself above accountability, above the American People and above Congress Power of impeachment which is meant to protect against threats to our Democratic Institutions as the president who sees himself as above the law. We must be clear, no one, not even the president , is above the law. I want to recognize the great contributions of the investigative chairs, particularly Intelligence Committee chairman adam schiff, Foreign Affairs chairman eliot engel, committee and oversight reforms former chairman, the late Elijah Cummings and its new chairwoman carolyn maloney. Financial services chairwoman Maxine Waters and ways and means chairman richard neal who helped lay the foundation for the articles we are introducing today. I also want to thank my Judiciary Committee colleagues who are critical in our work to hold the president accountable and in the drafting of these articles. Later this week, the Judiciary Committee will meet to consider these articles of impeachment and to make a recommendation to the full house of representatives. We do not take this action lightly. But we have taken an oath to defend the constitution. And unlike President Trump, we understand that our duty first and foremost is to protect the constitution and to protect the interests of the American People. That is why we must take this solemn step today. Elections are the cornerstone of democracy and are foundational to the rule of law. But the integrity of our next election is at risk from a president who has already sought foreign interference in the 2016 and 2020 elections, and who consistently puts himself above country. That is why we must act now. I want to turn now to chairman schiff who will explain the evidence that supports these articles and the need for us to act with such urgency today. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, madam speaker and to my colleagues. Good morning. The framers of the constitution recognized that some day a president might come to office who would abuse that office, betray the public trust and undermine National Security to secure foreign help in his reelection and who would seek to abrogate the power of congress to hold him accountable. They recognize this danger and they prescribed a remedy and that remedy is impeachment. It is an extraordinary remedy and one that i have been reluctant to recommend until the actions of President Trump Gave Congress no alternative. We stand here today because the president s continuing abuse of his power has left us no choice. To do nothing would make ourselves complicit in the president s abuse of his high office, the public trust and our National Security. The president s misconduct is as simple and as terrible as this. President trump solicited a foreign nation, ukraine, to publicly announce investigations into his opponent and a baseless Conspiracy Theory promoted by russia to help his Reelection Campaign. President trump abused the power of his office by conditioning two official acts to get ukraine to help his reelection. The release of hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid that nation desperately needed and a white house meeting with an ally trying to fend off russian aggression. In so doing, he undermined our National Security and jeopardized the integrity of our next election. And he does so still. The evidence of the president s misconduct is overwhelming and uncontested. And how could it not be when the president s own words on july 25th, i would like you to do us a favor, though. Lays so bare his intentions, his willingness to sacrifice the National Security for his own personal interests. And when the president got caught, he committed his second impeachable act. Obstruction of congress of the very ability to make sure that no one is above the law, not even the president of the United States. The evidence is every bit as strong that President Trump has obstructed congress fully without precedent and without basis in law. If allowed to stand, it would decimate congress ability to conduct oversight of this president or any other in the future. Leaving this president and those who follow to be free to be as corrupt, malfeesant or incompetent as they would be with no prospect of discovery or accountability. Now some would argue, why dont you just wait . Why dont you just wait until you get these witnesses, the white house refuses to produce . Why dont you just wait until you get the documents the white house refuses to turn over . And people should understand what that argument really means. It has talken taken us eight m get a Lower Court Ruling that don mcgahn has no absolute right to defy congress. Eight months. For one court decision. If it takes us another eight months to get a second court or maybe a Supreme Court decision, people need to understand, that is not the end of the process. It comes back to us and we ask questions because he no longer has absolute immunity and then he claims something else, that his answers are privileged and we have to go back to court for another eight or 16 months. The argument, why dont you just wait amounts to this why dont you just let him cheat in one more election . Why not let him just cheat one more time . Why not let him have foreign help just one more time . That is what that argument amounts to. The president s misconduct goes to the heart of whether we can conduct a free and Fair Election in 2020. It is bad enough for a candidate to invite foreign interference in our political process, but it is far more corrosive for a from the do so and to abuse his power to make it so. Despite everything we have uncovered, the president s misconduct continues to this day, unapologetically and right now. As we saw when he stood on the white house lawn and he was asked, what did you want in that july 25th call and he said the answer was a simple one. And not just a simple one on july 25th, but a simple one today, and that is he still wants ukraine to interfere in our election to help his campaign. Even this week, the president s lawyer was back in ukraine seeking to revive the same debunked Conspiracy Theory promoted at the president s behest. Which gets to the final and most pernicious of the arguments we have heard in the president s defense. That the president can do whatever he wants under article 2, including get foreigners involved in our elections and we should just, to quote the president s chief of staff, get over it. Ben franklin said we have a republic, if we can keep it. The president and his men say, you cant keep it, and americans should just get over it. Americans dont get to decide american elections anymore. Not by themselves, not without foreign help. For the members of congress, this is not a question of fact because the facts are not seriously contested. It is rather a question of duty. The president s oath of Office Appears to mean very little to him, but the articles put forward today will give us a chance to show that we will defend the constitution and that our oath means something to us. I thank you, mr. Chairman. The Mueller Report, obstruction of justice history has been made for only the fourth time in the history of this republic. The house of representatives moved to impeach the president of the United States starting with Speaker Pelosi there. Not taking any questions at this time. But, jim, as you noted at the top, doing this, again, to mark the history and gravity of this moment, in front of the portrait of George Washington. The first words out of Speaker Pelosis mouth were on this solemn day. Making clear that yep. In their view they dont enjoy this. They didnt want to be here but they view this as their obligation. Adam schiff there, chairman of house intel went on to say no one is above the law but it also struck me theyre talking about the 2020 election saying they must act now to prevent, as schiff said, the president from cheating in an election again. That is notable. What was also striking was the fact that they have not included an article based on the Mueller Report. However, the repeated use of words like pattern of behavior by the president is them indicating this is part of the consideration that they are all taking into this. No question. Jeffrey toobin, you were watching there. Your reaction to the case democrats just made there to file articles of impeachment for only the fourth time in this countrys history . Well, i thought it was, as you said, a solemn and serious occasion. And also, a persuasive one to people who are open to the evidence. You know, i think we are not in a political moment where there are a lot of persuadable minds but there was a lot of evidence discussed there that was very serious and very indicative of the behavior that the president that adam schiff in particular was talking about. I was struck by what jerry nadler said, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, about the 2016 election that what he said that there was pattern evidence. So, yes, it is true that there is not a separate article of impeachment for obstruction of justice in connection with the mueller investigation. But he did say very clearly that the evidence of what went on in the Trump Campaign in 2016 when he welcomed russian assistance and when he instructed his aides like don mcgahn to fire to fire robert mueller. That is part of the story. And as this trial now almost certainly moves to the senate, you can be sure the house managers, that is the members of the house who will be bringing the case will certainly mention what went on in 2016, even if it is not a formal article of impeachment. Thats a great point, toobin. Abby, to the point David Gregory made just before we heard from house leadership, that this is made even more historic by the fact that this is just as we head into an election year. This is not in the second term of a presidency. This is heading into a year where americans will decide also who they want their next president to be. And thats one of the reason yes this has been so politically tricky for democrats. They have to figure out, what is that balance between establishing the seriousness of this case and also acknowledging that we are on the verge of a president ial election and that the people could decide in a years time who they want to be their president. But thats why i was struck by one of the things that chairman nadler said at the beginning when he described what the president did. He said that he was using his office for personal gain but not just any personal gain. Personal gain that ignored or injured National Security. They are raising the stakes here, making it clear this isnt something they can just kick off until after the next election. They have to address it today in part because it deals with that next election and because it deals with National Security issues as well. This is still about which team are you on . Its incredible. How would republicans act if a president Hillary Clinton were trying to dig up dirt on her political opponent . Thats the question. Even if you argue that this should not be a case for impeachment, that you should not be removed, what do you do if a president does this . I thought it was so striking when adam schiff said you are being disenfranchised, voters of america. Theres now foreign help in every election in the past two cycles. That is quite a damning thing to say. And when the facts arent in dispute. Are we really having two parties who look at this so completely differently . Lets put a finer point on that. In 2016, President Trumps team took a meeting with russians offering dirt on Hillary Clinton. Lied about it. The public called on russia to hack Hillary Clintons emails. As we speak, the president s personal attorney is in contact with officials in ukraine digging up dirt on a possible political opponent for the president in joe biden. By the way, the people hes meeting with in ukraine very much prorussian lawmakers. One of them has a history in the kgb. When you speak about inviting foreign interference in the election, john king, its happening before our eyes even as the president is being impeached for similar behavior. What should that tell the American People about whether the president feels he faces consequences for this kind of solicitation of foreign help. Well, one would hope, jim and poppy, themileanhour peop am their own judgments. But we have seen throughout this process so far little evidence that anybody is willing to leave their tribal corner, if you will. And thats why what we heard today is so important as we move forward now. Just today you wanted irony. The Russian Foreign minister is going to be in the oval office with the president of the United States. The collision of these events sometimes is numbing when you think about it. But where are we going now . So this is the question now is, and David Gregory talked about this, does anybody lose anybody . The reason Speaker Pelosi wanted the cautious approach here is she knows no republicans are coming her way. Based on the evidence today, shes not going to get any republican votes in the house or in the senate. Therefore, she wants to maximize democratic support. So they go through the Judiciary Committee. They go to the full house. Her goal is to keep democratic defections on one hand. Keep it to fewer than five. She thinks she has a success in the party. Then the question is, does the president do anything to lose republicans . And that is one of the if you talk privately to republicans, privately most republicans condemn the president s conduct. Privately, most republicans even more so condemn Rudy Giuliani as a private citizen, working with known corrupt bad actors going around and, a, hurting his client and, b, hurting the United States of america. Publicly, they will not say it because never mind impeachment running parallel to the campaign. Impeachment now at this moment is merged with the campaign and republicans believe that if the president goes down, they go with him because his mood, his swings, his party, its his party now. They feel they have no choice even though under their breath they detest what has happened here. The distance between public and private criticism, frankly, is political courage. Thats the distance. And thats what weve witnessed throughout. And i, like you, have spoken to republicans who privately will be very explicit in their criticism. Publicly, when theres a political consequence, we havent seen it. One word. Power. There you go. Jessica, to you. You are a former federal prosecutor. What did you make of the strength of adam schiffs argument at the end when he laid out the eight months to took the courts to decide on whether mcgahn could even answer questions . I thought he made a really compelling argument for why it was important to proceed based on the evidentiary record thats been established so far. One of the republican points raised by castor and including by professor turley last week was this is a thin evidentiary record and democrats should wait until they have more evidence and continue the process to get compliance with their subpoenas before they proceed. And i thought schiff just answered that beautifully by saying, we dont have time because we have this imminent threat to the upcoming election. And i can point to the eight months it took to get a District Court ruling on one of the most important witnesses who would have evidence related to the obstruction investigation. That would go on appeal and then up further to the u. S. Supreme court. He answered that republican argument about why not wait beautifully. It is ridiculous that the court has taken that long. They have discretion to rule. These judges have discretion to rule on these matters. I think this is a relatively rare area weve seen in the trump area of the judiciary not moving with the speed that it should without impugning motives. Theres no reason it should take this long. We have new reporting from the white house. Our pamela brown at the white house about what the president wants in the next step of this impeachment process and what hes likely to get. Tell us what you know. Thats rirkght, jim. The president and white house officials are looking ahead to the looming senate trial. Theyve been pushing senators on capitol hill, republican senators, to start the trial immediately after democrats vote on these articles of impeachment. The thinking here is that they would want this to happen over the holidays, over the christmas holiday. They want this to wrap up as quickly as possible. But as you know, its not up to the white house. Its up to ultimately mitch mcconnell, the Senate Majority leader and republicans have made it clear that its unlikely theyre going to acquiesce to this request from some white house aides. They want the trial to start in january. But its clear the white house officials have been sort of testing the waters, seeing how far they can go and influencing the process. These procedures that the senate will ultimately adopt. So here at the white house, at the same time, there is this sense that, look, as they are looking ahead, today is a dramatic day. Its an historic day. With that press conference that we just heard. White house officials are paying close attention to it. And we do expect a statement to come out at some point in response to it. Back to you. Important reporting, pam. Stay right there. Let us know when you get that statement. And tim naftali is an historian looking into this. Senate republicans in her reporting exceedingly unlikely to acquiesce to that expedited demand from the white house on the senate trial starting right away. You think this whole thing, both sides now, has just moved too fast. Well, the legacy of an impeachment isnt decided at the time of the impeachment. It comes later. One of the things that past impeachments have shown us is that very important material, very Important Information can come out after the Judiciary Committee votes on the articles. The famous smoking gun transcript with regard to nixon. That came out after the white house Judiciary Committee had to approve three articles of impeachment. So the process continues. And it takes the country years to determine whether the impeachment was warranted or not. Whether it was too partisan. So its too early to say. The more buyin you get from people who are not the most partisan of the Democratic Caucus, who might be the openminded members of the republican caucus, the more buyin you have, the easier it is for the American People to understand why were using this process over an election to determine who our president is. Ill tell you, two things to look at right now. The issues right at this moment, as congressman schiff made clear and as congressman nadler made clear, chairman nadler made clear, its not just the next election. Its the nature of congress as an institution. Our institutions are not popular at the moment. President trump has taken a risk that americans have so little respect for congress that he can say no to everything. He is the first president in history to have said no to every single subpoena sent to either him or members of his administration. Just step back and think about that. Richard nixon kept a lot of incriminating evidence to himself but he shared with congress. Bill clinton shared with congress. Neither one felt the American People would accept a complete stonewall. This president says, no, i can i dont have to give you anything if i wish. So congress is the future of Congress Power, republicans and democrats alike have an interest in this. Its at stake. And thats a key issue here. Its not simply whether our elections in 2020 will be more fair than the ones in 2016 or whether a foreign power will have an opportunity to mess with them again. Its also what do we as americans believe anymore about the separation of powers doctrine. Thats at stake. And i believe that as people begin to think about this, theyll think less about the fact that its just the Democratic Caucus that is writing these impeachment articles. But its also the democrats are making an argument for the future. For posterity. But that is one of the things that makes this whole thing extraordinary. When we started at the beginning of this process back when nancy pelosi was opposed to impeachment, she was opposed because she said this is such an extraordinary step. Its so divisive. We need to make sure that we have buyin. Yet here we are in december. And the expectation is at the moment that the republicans will remain largely united. That the president s strategy of stonewalling has been largely successful because hes not responded to a single subpoena and they remain united. Its a referendum on this question that you are raising here which is, is this a moment where people will wake up and realize the institutions are crumbling. And on the republican side, the answer is very clearly no to that. They are not budging even one inch. News moves quickly. History moves slowly. There you go. Well watch this over time. Weve seen enormous amount of change over the last several weeks. It started with the whistleblower complaint and then here we are today. 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Im joined by mike quigley. Congressman, thank you for taking the time this morning. Thank you. We heard Speaker Pelosi, jerry nadler, adam schiff there make the case that the president has violated the constitution here. Have you made that case . Oh, i think so. I think what they spout out is the president of the United States averted foreign policy, r undermined our National Security. I think our job now is to remind the American People why this mattered. How the democratic process was endangered, and our National Security. I think its time to stress that ukraine matters. Perhaps its best to say what brzezinski said some time ago that russia, without ukraine, is not an empire. But with ukraine subordinated, and controlled, it is an empire. That threatens our National Security. The president was willing to risk that by taking away Critical Military aid while theyre at war, putting russia at an extraordinary advantage. Thats why it matters. If that is true, why have you not been able to convince any republicans to join in this mission, including republicans such as Francis Rooney who early on said they would not rule out voting for impeachment but also you now have two democrats stating that they will not vote along to impeach the president. If youve made your case, why have you not been able to bring the other party on board and indeed are losing a small number, but losing members of your own party. We only lost one on the procedural vote. Losing one or two on the democratic side is extraordinarily marginal. I think what the president said during the campaign instructed to be reminded of. He thought he could shoot somebody in the street and still maintain his popularity with his base. I think you add to the base the republicans who are currently filing for their primaries. They have decided to put party above the rule of law. Party above what is right. I would like to think that if the roles were reversed and the president , a democratic president had done this, we would do the right thing and move forward as we are now. There are some things that transcend party. Id like to hope that some of my republicans will get there. Unfortunately, all were seeing with my republican colleagues is they get to the point of profiles in courage after theyve left. Speaker ryan came out and started criticizing President Trump after he left. Thats all too often the pattern. Let me ask you this because listening closely to the proceedings just moments ago, adam schiff, nancy pelosi, jerry nadler made the case and said the integrity of our next election is at risk. The president is inviting foreign interference again. As you speak to the American People again and if you hear that in the background, thats a fire alarm test here in the studio, so no concern, but as you theres a car going by now, too. Can you tell the American People that 2020 is secure as an election or are you concerned that it is not secure . Look, i was the sponsor of the house measure to put 380 million toward election security. Last time our elections were the integrity was challenged was after bush gore. The government spent 3. 5 billion. We have the decimal point in the wrong spot. Were not ready. Trump appointed dni, former dni director coats said the lights are still flashing red. Director comey said the russians will be back. We are not ready. And the president of the United States is moving us in the opposite direction. That was a remarkable statement to hear. Were not ready as a country to protect the next election. Concerning words. Congressman mike quigley, thanks very much. We look forward to speaking to you again. And well be right back. At leaf blowers. Youd you should be mad your neighbor always wants to hang out. And you should be mad your smart fridge is unnecessarily complicated. Make ice. 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He did just tweet about the usmca trade bill that the replacement for nafta and even had a line saying looking like very good democratic support. That would be great for our country. Dont know if you call that a thank you to democrats. Its remarkable democrats struck a deal with the president on the day they moved to impeach the president. Thats remarkable. Thats the world we live in. No question. The president is lashing out against his own fbi director this morning. This after Christopher Wray embraced the findings of the justice departments Inspector Generals report. The report, we should note, debunks the president s repeated claims over years that the agency engaged in a partisan politically motivated investigation of his campaign. It says so explicitly in the igs report. The president , however, unloading, tweeting, i donts know what report current droerkreport director wray was reading but it certainly wasnt the one given to me. With that kind of attitude, hell never be able to fix the fbi. The tweet was in response to these comments from wray. I think its important for the American People to know that when the fbi opens an investigation, it does so with proper predication, with proper authorization based on the law and the facts and nothing else. And i think its important the Inspector General found in this particular instance, the investigation was opened with appropriate predication and authorization. Whats the biggest takeaway and the most important takeaway from the report for you . Well, i think theres a number of takeaways that are important. One, that we fully cooperated with this independent review. Two, that we fully accept its findings and recommendations. Three, that the Inspector General did not find political bias or improper motivations impacting the opening of the investigation or the decision to use certain investigative tools duf during the investigations. Including fisa. Including fisa. But that the Inspector General did find a number of instances where employees, either failed to follow our policies, neglected to exercise appropriate diligence, or in some other way, fell short of the standard of conduct and performance that we and that i as director expect of all of our employees. It was a very noteworthy interview, because in addition to that, the fbi director also took on another Conspiracy Theory that has been peddled over and over again by the president himself, that ukraine meddled in the 2016 election. No evidence of that. Listen to the fbi director on that. Did the government of ukraine directly interfere in the 2016 election on the scale that the russians did . We have no information that indicates the ukraine interfered with the 2016 president ial election. And we recently heard from the president himself that he wanted the crowd strike portion of this whole conspiracy and the ukraine investigated and im hearing you say theres no evidence to support that, as far as you know . As i said, we have no we at the fbi have no information that would indicate that ukraine tried to interfere in the 2016 president ial election. That is important and notable, especially right now. Lets bring in cnn justice correspondent, laura jarrett. Welcome back, laura. And josh campbell, cnn correspondent, former fbi special agent. Josh, also, congratulations on the new book. Very appropriate right now. The title cross fire hurricane inside Donald Trumps war on the fbi. Laura, let me begin with you. So those words from the president knocking wray because he spoke the truth, i guess . And defend ed his team. Reminded me a lot of how the president attacked former attorney general jeff sessions. Its classic, right . Tweet about him and attack him publicly, deride him, and what is wray going to say back . He cant return fire on the president. The most sort of ominous part of the tweet to me is that current, that hes the current director, but not always. He cant fire another fbi director. Or could he . But it seems like he would rather take it out on twitter. Wray went out of his way to say, mistakes were made. He didnt just say, my team was perfect. He acknowledged there were a series of problems, a series of failures, significant ones in how the fbi went about obtaining that surveillance warrant on carter paige, the former trump aide, but he defended his team by saying, the deep state is a corrosive term. And definitively, wray didnt have a separate interpretation of the quote is, wray quoted from the report, which said there was not a political motivation to the start of this investigation, which has been the president s and his allies repeated claim. The report debunks that. The president falsely, really, in the oval office yesterday, said Something Different about the report. Josh, i want to just make a point. Because you served in the fbi. The reason the fbi, justice department, Intelligence Community have Inspector Generals, is it not, is to have a nonpartisan arbitrator, as it were, to look and to investigate without partisan motivation. So you have the nonpartisan here, come to these conclusions. Tell us about the significance when you have a bill barr, of course, appointed also by the president , who publicly says he doesnt buy the report, right . Tell us about how folks at home should read that. Well, its quite unusual. There are obviously inspectors general in multiple government agencies, but its very important in the department of justice, because this is an agency and its components who have incredible power. The powers to deny people their liberty, the power to surveil u. S. Citizens. And with that power comes oversight. This is an independent entity that is charged with ferreting out waste, fraud, and abuse. And historically, the findings of the Inspector General have been highly credited by both sides of the political aisle, by people in and out of government. This is unusual, now, to see an attorney general come out and say that, look, these findings, i dont accept these. And what i think it comes down to, as laura was mentioning, different teams here. If you think of this equation in terms of sides, right now on one side, you have the independent Inspector General and the fbi director who are saying that, look, these are our findings. On the other side of that equation is the president and bill barr, the u. S. Attorney general. Weve seen barr in the past, you know, seemingly run interference for the president. I will say that it is unusual to see wray come out. Hes someone who most people probably couldnt pick out if he was in a crowd walking by them. But he knows what hes doing, coming out, defending this agency, coming out forcefully. And i think he understands thats a role he has to play. Thats a very good point. Thank you, both. Laura, josh, we appreciate it. Thanks. Coming up, just minutes away, House Speaker nancy pelosi, less than an hour after announcing impeachment articles against the president , shes going to speak on the usmca trade agreement, in the same day, in the same hour, on the same morning, an agreement with the president on a trade deal moments after introducing articles of impeachment against that president. Well bring you Speaker Pelosis comments live. Th pronamel repai, more minerals enter deep into the enamels surface. You have an opportunity to repair whats already been damagedits amazing. Doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacistrecommendeding . You have an opportunity to repair whats already been memory support brand. You can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. Prevagen. 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Two articles, specifically, abuse of power and obstruction of congress. A president who declares himself above accountability, above the American People, and above Congress Power of impeachment, which is meant to protect against threats to our Democratic Institutions, is a president who sees himself as above the law. We must be clear. No one, not even the president , is above