Transcripts For CNNW Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 20180921

Judiciary Committee Republicans are demanding a response by this hour to the counteroffer they made to the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, of Sexual Assault, laying out terms for her to testify. And no longer restrained. President trumps tempered response to the kavanaugh allegations gives way to an attack on his accuser that left key gop senator, Susan Collins, quote, appalled. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. This is cnn breaking news. Were following breaking news. Extraordinary new information about the man overseeing the russia investigation. The Deputy Attorney general, Rod Rosenstein. Sources are telling cnn that after President Trump fired the fbi director, james comey, last year, rosenstein discussed secretly recording the president and recruiting cabinet members to invoke the 25th amendment to remove him from office. The New York Times first reported the information. Rosenstein has responded with a statement calling the times story, and im quoting now, inaccurate and factually incorrect. Well talk about that much more with congressman jim himes of the intelligence committee. And our correspondent, specialists and analysts are also standing by. First lets get details on the breaking news. Our evan perez and crime and justice reporter are both working the story for us. Evan, break down all the information involving this explosive report. Thats right, wolf. This is an explosive story. And this all came down last year in weeks and days after the president fired james comey, the fbi director. Rod rosenstein was in meetings, and he described possibly wearing a wire in meetings with the president. He also talked about recruiting other members of the cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment. Theres a couple of ways to get rid of a president. One of them is through impeachment proceedings. The other is for the members of the cabinet to declare that a president is incapacitated. Not capable of doing his job. And according to the New York Times, which first reported this story, this is one of the things that Rod Rosenstein talked about, which is recruiting people like Jeff Sessions and john kelly, to try to get members of the cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment. Now, why is this coming forward . Some of the people who were in these meetings, including Andrew Mccabe, the Deputy Director of the fbi, actually memorialized some of this, wrote down memos about what rosenstein was saying in these meetings. The issue is that rosenstein, as far as we know, never went through with any of these recordings. Never went through with any of these meetings with people in the cabinet to try to invoke the 25th amendment. It appears this is a plan, wolf, that he discussed in these meetings and it never actually came to fruition. But you can see how just the fact that these discussions were made. That these comments were made in these meetings, and that they are memos that are now in the hands of Robert Mueller, the special counsel, that this is a huge, huge deal. Yeah, contemporaneous notes are explosive, indeed. What do we know about rosensteins motivations . So according to the New York Times, there was a lot of chaos surrounding this moment after the president fired james comey, certainly a lot of questions were raised about the motivations behind that. And people had concern that this was an obstruction issue, that perhaps he fired the former fbi director to try and end the russia probe. So that was certainly on the mind of Rod Rosenstein, according to this report. Also, you know, with the New York Times and certainly what weve heard, Rod Rosenstein was surprised that his memo was used as sort of the motivation, sort of the excuse. He had written this memo about the former fbi director regarding the Hillary Clinton investigation. And that seemed to have surprise, that this memo was used as motivation, perhaps, to fire james comey. You know, evan, the recording of the president that there is a wire, how did he plan on doing that, if, in fact, he did plan on doing that . Right, exactly. Well, the way he described doing it was simply wearing a wire when he went to the white house. He also talked about perhaps other fbi officials who were having meetings with the president s, would wear a wire. And, again, the extraordinary idea of Rod Rosenstein, the number two official at the Justice Department, actually thinking about this or talking about this, its just a remarkable, remarkable set of events. And were also told that one person who apparently heard Rod Rosenstein making the suggestion about wearing a wire, recording the president , thought that rosenstein was being sarcastic. Yeah, sarcastic. One person described it as he was maybe joking, that this wasnt something they were really serious about. But the New York Times and the people they have spoken to have said no, their impression was that Rod Rosenstein was serious about this. That Andrew Mccabe took it seriously enough he had to put this in meethese memos. In terms of Rod Rosenstein, he released a statement, saying the story is inaccurate. And heres what he said in a statement. That the New York Times story is inaccurate and factually incorrect. I will not further comment on a story based on Anonymous Sources who are obviously biased against the department and advancing their own personal agenda. But let me be clear about this. Based on my personal dealings with the president , there is no basis to invoke the 25th amendment. And, you know, evan and i have talked about this all day. This is sort of like a denial nondenial type of statement where he doesnt really address the wiretap issue, whether or not he wanted to eavesdrop on the president. He does address the fact he wants this country to know and the president to know that no way does he see him as being unfit and that this story is completely inaccurate. Look, there is obviously big concern that this will lead the president to ultimately now make this final move, which would be to fire Rod Rosenstein, which would just sort of erupt and would just bring a whole new batch of chaos to this entire investigation. A whole bunch of his supporters out there are telling him to fire rosenstein. Were getting all those tweets as we speak right now. Andrew mccabe, the fired deputy fbi director, the president has called him a liar, as you know. But he contemporaneously memorialized this conversation in that memo. Right. Exactly. And thats one way that these conversations have now come to light. Obviously, these memos are now in the hands of the special counsel, Robert Mueller, and obviously, there were other people in the room. And we have a statement from mccabes lawyer, we can put it up, that says when he was interviewed by the special counsel more than a year ago, he gave all of his memos, classified and unclassified, to the special counsels office, a set of those memos remained at the fbi at the time of his departure in late january of 2018. He has no knowledge of how any member of the media obtained those memos. Hes obviously the lawyer for michael bromwich, mccabes lawyer is obviously trying to distance himself from the source of the story from the New York Times. Look, the issue here is this. That mccabe and other people inside the Justice Department and inside the fbi clearly thought this was a serious conversation, a serious consideration that the Deputy Attorney general was making. And so thats where we are. And theres no denial of any of the substance in that mccabe statement that was obviously very carefully drafted. Look, ive known Rod Rosenstein over ten years. And i will tell you that he does have a gal low humor sense. Thats the way he talks. And so perhaps some people would essentially come away from those meetings and think he was extremely serious. And other people perhaps have dealt with him over a longer period of time might come away from it and say, well, maybe he wasnt. Right . And so thats i think what the issue is. I want both of you to stand by. I know were getting more information all of the time. I want to bring in our chief white house correspondent, jim acosta, also working this explosive story for us. Jim, whats been the reaction so far over at the white house . Reporter a whole lot of silence, wolf. The president has not weighed in, has knonot tweeted about th yet. The White House Press shop has not offer any response. I did talk to a white house official who said the white house was aware of the story as of at least yesterday. So this story did not come as a complete surprise to them. They have had a little time to work on their response, formulate a response. We just dont have one as of yet. As you were mentioning, a lot of the president s allies from his eldest son, donald trump jr. And notable figures over on fox, have been advocating that the president , you know, start thinking about taking some pretty drastic action here. There are some fox news hosts, as we speak, who are saying that the president should go ahead and fire the Deputy Attorney general, Rod Rosenstein. Wolf, i just received a text from a source close to the white house who keeps in touch with the white house about these sorts of things who said, wouldnt this be a pretext for firing the Deputy Attorney general in any administration . And so there is a concern, wolf, among the president s allies and supporters that if these allegations are true, that the Deputy Attorney general has gone too far. And the question, of course, wolf, is whether or not the president takes that leave. Does he go ahead and make this decision to fire Rod Rosenstein . And if he does that, what does that trigger up on capitol hill talking to some sources up on capitol hill, wolf. There is a lot of concern up there. Obviously, democrats have said for a long time that firing Rod Rosenstein or shutting down the Mueller Investigation would trip sort of a red line that would obviously bring about talk of impeachment up on capitol hill. You even hear that from some republicans. But wolf, i think its also interesting to note, senator lindsey graham, republican from south carolina, who as we know has become very close to this president in recent months, was putting out a tweet earlier this afternoon, sort of pushing back on this notion that the president should swallow whats reported in the New York Times, hook, line and syringe sinker. We should note that cnn and other news outlets have confirmed a large chunk of whats been reported in the New York Times story. So a very big decision, critical decision for the white house to make at this point, wolf. Yeah, could be explosive as we say. Jim acosta, at the white house, thank you. Lets get some more on all of this. Democratic congressman, jim himes, of connecticut, joining us, a member of the house intelligence committee. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. So what do you think . Is it grounds for President Trump to fire Rod Rosenstein . Well, you know, its sort of hard to see, based on what we know about donald trump, that rosenstein survives this in the long run. Look, im really quite concerned about that, though. At some level, none of this is a real surprise. I mean, its coming as a surprise to nobody that there is chaos that the president is random in his approach to things, angry. Rosenstein is a guy who spent decades in a legal environment. I dont know him, but he spent decades following process that he would be shocked as he started work that his memo would be used as a reason to fire comey. That he would be shocked by what im sure was a circuslike atmosphere around that and around recruiting a new fbi director. Look, none of that is a surprise. Im not even sure the president s supporters would be surprised by that. What really concerns me here is that this is going to feed the narrative. So you have Rod Rosenstein, having a shocked reaction to something we all know to be true, which is that the white house is a circus and the president is random in the way he approaches things. That Rod Rosenstein would be shocked is not a surprise. But the problem is, the president and his supporters and its the usual rogues gallery of supporters, is going to use this to perpetuate the notion that there is a deep state out to get the president. And there is not. Thats part of why youre not seeing these promised documents declassified and put out there. But this is going to feed the narrative that there is this cabal of deep state people who have it out for the president. And we just dont need a white house that is any more paranoid and any more spinning of conspiracy theories than this one is. How would it impact the russia investigation if the president does fire Rod Rosenstein . Well, i guess i have two things to say about that. One, you cant touch the Mueller Investigation. The Mueller Investigation has shown over a lengthy period of time that by producing convictions and guilty pleas and indictments that that this is not a witch hunt founded on air. And theres no doubt in my mind that mueller has a lot yet to tell the American People. And as ive been saying forever, the president , who maintains his innocence, should want mueller to certify his innocence. But you cannot fire bob mueller. The other thing i would point out, thing number two, wolf, is that depending on who you listen to, there is a fairly good probability that the democrats will be running the house of representatives in january. And that will imply a subpoena power for the Opposition Party for democrats. And, you know, any attempt to hide, to stop an investigation, will be subject to the scrutiny and oversight of the congress. Something this president has never experienced before. You know, if rosenstein were fired, congressman, the solicitor general over at the Justice Department, francisco, he would serve as the acting Deputy Attorney general, and he would also serve as the acting overseer of the entire russia investigation. Mueller would have to report to him. Do you have confidence in fro in francisco . The key question, is there interference with the Mueller Investigation . And the question behind that is if the white house moved against the Mueller Investigation, which, of course, would be politically a very perilous thing today, would at great long last the republicans in the Congress Stand up and say, you cannot do that . They have abided by and supported this president as this president has done things that they would have impeached a democratic president for. People like senator lindsey graham, you know, now getting on board with attacking dr. Ford and the kavanaugh case. The question is, under those circumstances, would republicans finally stand up and say, no, you cannot fire Robert Mueller . You cant mess with his investigation . Wolf, i wish i could tell you that i had a shred of evidence to believe that my republican colleagues might find it in their souls to support the country and the concept of divided government, checking one branch to the other. But i wouldnt be hugely optimistic about that. Congressman himes, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, wolf. Were going to have much more on the breaking news. Will the president fire the Deputy Attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, after learning he discussed recording the president and working to have him removed from office . And were awaiting a response from the woman accusing the Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, of Sexual Assault, and the latest offer for her to testify. The deadline, by the way, for her to respond has just passed. 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But i talked to one source today who is familiar with how the president feels about Rod Rosenstein and says, look, first of all, in any other administration, if somebody in the Justice Department forget the wearing the wire thing, because that could have been a joke or not a joke. But if there is someone seriously discussing the 25th amendment about the president of the United States, maybe he ought not to be working for him. And that in any other administration, you might resign, or maybe the attorney general would fire Rod Rosenstein. Maybe he would be the one to do that. The complication, of course, is the russia investigation right now is out there. Its not done. And bob mueller reports to Rod Rosenstein. So Rod Rosenstein is a very important person to the president right now, and by all outward appearances, at least, they seem to be doing better together. So, yes, i think the president would see this as grounds to fire him. Will he do it . I dont know. I think the odds are probably with it, that he would fire him. But its just hard to say. Lets check in with laura jarrett, over at the Justice Department for us right now. What are they saying over there, laura . Well, wolf, i think theres no question, this explosive reporting truly rocked the Justice Department today. And really folks are just trying to go into overdrive to contain the blast radius. If we tally it up, weve got an on the record denial statement from rosenstein, focusing in on the 25th amendment part. You recognize in that statement saying, essentially, i dont think that hes not fit for office. But sources are now telling us that the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, is not happy about this. Upset and concerned over this reporting. And im hearing from former officials who are trying to fiercely push back and say, look, this is not consistent with the rod i know. Specifically, on the wiretap remark, theyre saying this was sarcastic. Someone in the room telling me, i heard it. I was there. He was simply just joking, trying to dismiss it. Another one on the 25th amendment part saying, look, this is a meticulous guy. This is a smart guy. He wouldnt come up with some halfbaked plot with someone he barely knew, meaning Andrew Mccabe, because they had only been working together for a short time at that point, wolf. But bottom line, they know this is bad, and theyre just waiting to see what the president has to say. Mark preston, what do you make of the statements that were released by Rod Rosenstein and the fired former Deputy Director of the fbi, Andrew Mccabe . Right. So two very different statements. But both, if you read them a certain way, kind of take you to the same point in the road. If you look first at rosensteins statement, he doesnt come out and say that the report is absolutely false. He doesnt come out and say it is absolutely wrong. What he does is says its factually inaccurate or factually incorrect and that its inaccurate. That doesnt mean that something didnt happen, at least along the lines that the New York Times is reporting we have since reported. So that in itself is interesting. And then you get to andy mccabe. He kind of acknowledges they had handed over documents, doesnt make any kind of assertion about what the documents are. But by not saying anything, says a lot. So, again, that kind of takes you to the same point in the road. And we really are at a point in history right now, and i know we really amp this up all of the time, but, good lord, can you imagine if this had happened during the Obama Presidency or george w. Bush presidency . That a Deputy Attorney general at least even joked about wearing a wire in the oval office with the president . Thats unbelievable. And you know, phil mudd, if you read the Andrew Mccabe statement, the fired former fbi director, there is no denial there. And basically, if you read between the lines, it clearly suggests that in the contemporaneous notes he was taking, following that meeting, yes, all of this came up on the part of rosenstein. Sure. But context is everything. For example, if rosenstein is saying 25th amendment, thats interesting, theres a lot of talk on capitol hill, were the lawyers, we better figure out everything there is to know about the 25th amendment. Thats a lot different than saying i want to participate in a conspiracy to take down the president. I mean, i experienced this once in my own life years ago as a junior officer. I was assigned to work with a Police Department on a major terror case. I didnt understand as a junior officer the sensitivities of cia working with the Police Department. A lot of us sitting around one night, as a junior, guy was probably around 26 years old, having a cup of coffee. I said it would be great if you guys issued me a gun and a badge, because im over here all of the time. That was the last time i saw the inside of that Police Department, because somebody took it seriously and called the Central Intelligence agency from the Police Department and said he wanted to be issued a weapon. Wolf, context is everything. And we dont have a lot of that here. What happens, gloria, if rosenstein is fired . Well put up on the screen, weve got a succession chart that shows what would happen. Noel francisco, solicitor general, he would become the acting Deputy Attorney general. The acting overseer of the whole russia probe. Yeah. I had one source say to me today, it wouldnt make that much of a difference. That francisco would, you know is a fine person and would behave in much the same way as, you know is a fine attorney and would not disgrace the Justice Department in any way. But obviously, rosenstein also, you know, there is a question here. And a lot of people on team trump have been making the case that, you know, rosenstein is a witness in this case. And that some say that he should have recused himself from day one, because, of course, he is the one who wrote the memo about the comey firing that trump then took and used as the rationale for firing comey. And we know from our own reporting and, of course, from the piece in the times today that rosenstein was none too pleased about it. So hes actually a witness in this case. So what could also happen, say if theres no firing, is that there could be a recusal, say. He could say, okay, im out of it. Im out of the whole mueller thing and maybe that then goes to francisco. I just dont i just dont know. In the meantime, everybody is waiting to see what the president of the United States does in the second half. For all we know, fairly soon. Everybody stand by. There is an important deadline this hour in the negotiations over a possible hearing where senators will hear directly from the Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, and Christine Blasey ford, the woman accusing him of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers. Stand by for the very latest. Adults are just kids with much, much better toys. [ giggling ] introducing the 2018 cclass sedan, coupe and cabriolet. The thrills keep getting better. Lease the c300 sedan for 399 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Mercedesbenz. The best or nothing. Now that we have your attention. Capri sun has four updated drinks. Now with only the good stuff. Do you know how to use those . Nope. Get those kids some capri sun nope. If youre waiting patiently for a liver transplant, it could cost you your life. Its time to get out of line with upmc. At upmc, livingdonor transplants put you first. So you dont die waiting. 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And this is moving day with Reliable Service appointments in a twohour window so youre up and running in no time. Show me decorating shows. This is staying connected with xfinity to make moving. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Stay connected while you move with the best wifi experience and twohour appointment windows. Click, call or visit a store today. More breaking news. Were standing by to hear whether the woman accusing the Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, of Sexual Assault, has responded to the counteroffer from the Senate Judiciary republicans, laying out terms for her to testify. Lets go back to our chief white house correspondent, jim acosta. Jim, the president s tone on this dramatically changed sharply today. Reporter thats right, wolf. All week long, aides to the president were celebrating his restraint, noting proudly he wasnt attacking Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaughs accuser, Christine Blasey ford. But that pause and the president s good behavior, ended today, bigtime. It was only a matter of time. After days of holding back on Christine Blasey ford, the woman accusing Brett Kavanaugh of assault, President Trump returned to attack dog form on twitter, saying, i have no doubt that if the attack on dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement authorities by either her or her loving parents. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time and place. The president s language questioning if the alleged attack was as bad as she says, came just moments after his own white house counselor, kellyanne conway, was preaching restraint on cnn. Theres no reason. Let her tell her story. Theres no reason to attack her. The president is defending his nominee to the United States Supreme Court as a man of character and integrity. Reporter the president s tweet should come as no surprise. Mr. Trump was already sending signals on fox news that he was finished biting his tongue. Why didnt somebody call the fbi 36 years ago . I mean, you could also say, when did this all happen . Whats going on . To take a man like this and besmirch with that being said, let her have her say, and lets see how it all works out. Reporter republican senator Susan Collins, critical vote to watch on kavanaugh, who has urged ford to testify, blasted the president s tweet. I thought that the president s tweet was completely inappropriate and wrong. Reporter the president s verbal attack on ford threatens to inject more poison into whats become a toxic nomination process. Grab em by the [ bleep ]. Reporter all from a man who fended off allegations of Sexual Assault for years. Hello, how are you . Reporter President Trumps comments make it clear, hes not backing away from his Supreme Court pick. Brett kavanaugh is one of the finest human beings you will ever have the privilege of knowing or meeting. Reporter Top Republican in the senate, mitch mcconnell, declared to an audience of conservative activists that kavanaugh will be confirmed, even though ford has yet to testify. Youve watched the fight. Youve watched the tactics. But heres what i want to tell you. In the very near future, judge kavanaugh will be on the United States Supreme Court. Reporter now, fords attorneys and Senate Staffers are still working out the details of having some kind of hearing next week on all of this, wolf. A hearing where, of course, Brett Kavanaugh would testify and dr. Christine blasey ford, were told. The way it shapes up now, ford would testify first, then kavanaugh, and that there would be no other witnesses allowed to participate in this hearing. At least thats what the gop proposal appears to be at this point. And, of course, wolf, there are concerns about what the president has been tweeting about today up on capitol hill. I talked to one gop Senate Staffer who said that the president s tweet about Christine Blasey ford, was, quote, not helpful. Wolf . Were going to be hearing more presumably fairly soon from the president , right . Reporter thats right. He has a rally coming up this evening in missouri. Its another political rally like he had in las vegas last night. And as you heard during that rally, and even in the pregame interview he had with fox news, he was moving in this direction of going after to some extent the accuser in all of this, Christine Blasey ford, questioning her story and so on, and wondering why she didnt go to the authorities 36 years ago and standing up for a Supreme Court nominee, wolf, we expect that to happen tonight. As to whether or not he weighs in on this other big story today and these allegations about the Deputy Attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, that is something were all waiting to see if he, in fact, does decide to weigh in on all of that, wolf. Well know soon enough. Jim acosta, thank you very much. Gloria, what do you think . Where does all of this stand as far as the Supreme Court . Well, look. I think the negotiations are ongoing. There is a deadline around for team ford to get back to the republicans on the committee. And to work out the details of this. Look, youre going to have a hearing. She doesnt want an outside counsel questioning her. She wants the committee questioning her. And it could end up that way. The republicans on the committee had raised the possibility of having an outside counsel do it for them. And the democrats will do the questioning on their own, who goes first, who doesnt. Theyre not going to be in the same room. How many cameras are in the room. All of that is going to be negotiated. I think the bottom line here is that both sides are very aware that they could each look terrible in all of this. And nobody wants it to turn into an anita hill circus, where seems to be the direction its already heading. And both sides want to be respectful to her. And the president s tweets did not help at all. And his comments did not help. So i think its going to be theyre trying to get to yes. It may take them a while to get there. But im presuming something will happen next week, if they can if they can do it. Yeah. Not a done deal yet. No. The president all of a sudden he was fairly restrained over the past few days. And all of a sudden he lets loose today. All of a sudden he lets loose today. And when you take a step back and look at the situation, i mean, i cant imagine theres going to be any kind of winner that comes out of this, and theres going to be moments where youre going to say, wow, there was a really big loser there. And i think the idea that the president of the United States would weigh in a way that would be discouraging to other women to come forward who have had these types of situations, or even folks in my own church who have had, you know, issues with pedophilia and not saying anything, but coming out 20, 25 years later. Look, whats going to happen, as gloria says, shes going to talk, hes going to talk. Both sides are going to draw the line, come to their own conclusions. And then were going to move on. I think thats whats going to happen. And i just dont its unfortunate i dont think from this learning moment were actually going to learn how to deal with these issues. Or what are we going to learn without witnesses . Not a done deal yet. Lets see what happens. Everybody stand by. Were about to go to capitol hill for an update, as we continue awaiting word on whether Christine Blasey ford will accept the latest republican terms of a possible hearing on her allegations against the Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. music throughout oh good, youre awake finally. Youre still here . Come on, denise. Were voya we stay with you to and through retirement. With solutions to help provide income throughout. I get that voya is with me through retirement, im just surprised it means in my kitchen. Oh. So, that means no breakfast . I said there might be breakfast. I was really looking forward to breakfast. I know. Voya. Helping you to and through retirement. Were following breaking news, standing by to see whether Christine Blasey ford met a 5 00 p. M. Eastern deadline to accept republican terms for a hearing on her accusations against the u. S. Supreme court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. Lets quickly go to our congressional correspondent, sunlen surrend sunlen serfaty. There was an earlier deadline, monday, 10 00 a. M. Eastern. There was supposed to be a deadline today earlier, 10 00 a. M. Eastern, to see if there would be a hearing on monday. That clearly is not going to take place. The republicans blinked on that. Whats the latest youre hearing . Reporter right now, wolf, we are certainly standing by. So much hinges on what happens at this hour. At 5 00 p. M. Eastern time, that was the deadline the committee, the Senate Judiciary committee, set to hear from dr. Fords legal team, hearing from the proposal earlier today, terms of the conditions when she would come here on capitol hill. How that would happen. All of the logistics on how that would play out. At this hour, we are standing by, potentially awaiting word at any moment from dr. Fords legal team, whether they accept the terms, or whether they come back with a counteroffer. So much hinges on the response that we are waiting for. So far, we have heard radio silence from our sources up here on capitol hill. Could tell you a lot, or could tell you nothing at all. But at this moment, it is certainly worth revisiting what the potential sticking points, what the potential problem areas are for dr. Fords legal team, including most importantly, the date of this potential hearing. As you said, it was rescheduled from monday. Now the proposal on the table is wednesday. Dr. Fords legal team has been very clear. They want this hearing. If she is to come up here on capitol hill to testify, to happen on thursday. Of course, also, the order. Who gets to speak first . The offer on the table at this hour from the committee is that dr. Ford would testify first, and kavanaugh second. That is not something that fords legal team is interested in. They want her to get the last word, but that could be perhaps one of the biggest sticking points. That certainly seems from many aides here on capitol hill as a nonstarter. And lastly, of course, some debate over who indeed will potentially be asking the questions. A lot of debate about this among republicans up here on capitol hill. The offer proposals to have outside counsel, some independent lawyer, come up here and question the witnesses. That makes fords legal team very uncomfortable, wolf. They feel this would turn into a legal proceeding, something they dont want to subject dr. Ford to. So a lot potentially coming together next few minutes, or not at all. Of course, so much hinges, wolf, on these sticking points. It has a potential to potentially derail this deal. Sunlen, as soon as you get word, let us know. Well get right back to you. Phil mudd, this is a woman, the accuser, professor ford, has led a private life, a university professor. All of a sudden, she appears before the u. S. Congress next week in this session, either she goes first or kavanaugh goes first. Doesnt make any difference. Millions and millions of people are watching. Shes already received Death Threats to her and her family. I can only imagine the torment shes going through right now. Yeah. And theres two other strikes against her. Number one, we havent talked about this. How much time has judge kavanaugh spent in a situation like this, and how much time has she . Hes going to walk in having been in situations like this, somewhat equivalent, i guess, to a hostile courtroom. And hes going to know how to handle it. I think the way they postured themselves, the American People are going to be looking at body language. Hes going to know how to handle this better than she will. The other thing, this is not an investigation. You want to talk to everybody, you can find who might have been there that night. What they said about that and surrounding circumstances. What happened at other parties. Was there a pattern of activity. I want to go back to this decade and say, what friends and family did she tell . Are the stories consistent . If there are skrepgss, can we figure them out. None of this will be considered. Mark, this is an awful predicament shes in. She went public with the washington post, but going public at a hearing like this, its a lot different. It is a lot different. But really, the genie is out of the bottle. There is no way she can jam it back in and her life is now going to forever, forever, forever be changed. And in many ways, it can be changed for the negative. Shes going to be somebody known now specifically to your point, if she goes and testifies before congress, we can still remember the images of anita hill. Weve been showing them the last few days, as a corollary to what happened back then. Wow, its still seared into my brain. Youve got to hope that the politicians will this is not going to happen, but they will put aside politics for the sake of just trying to do the right thing for both sides. Yeah. As you say, this is not going to happen. I know. Im trying to be optimistic. 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When the old hospital closed people in the community lived with untreated Health Problems for years. So, with the countys help we built a new hospital from the ground up and having citi as an early investor worked as a signal to others to invest. With citis help we built a wonderful Maternity Ward and we were able to purchase an mri machine. Weve made it possible for the people who live here to lead healthier lives and thats invaluable. We are following breaking news. Sources confirming to cnn, first reported by the New York Times, that Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein last year discussed wearing a wire to record conversations with President Trump and recruiting cabinet members to invoke the 25th amendment to the constitution to remove the president from office. Also tonight, were learning more about attempted cyberattacks targeting some u. S. Senators and their staff members. Lets bring in our own brian todd. You have been working your sources. What have you found out . Reporter wolf, tonight we are told it is a serious threat. Several u. S. Senators have been targeted by hackers who are working for Foreign Governments. Google is working with senators to combat the hacking, but tonight cybersecurity specialists are on the lookout for potentially embarrassing information to be leaked out and for possible blackmail attempts. The night members of the u. S. Senate are on alert that their personal email accounts have been targeted by Foreign Government hackers. Google confirmed to cnn, the company warned specific senators and staffers that their personal gmail accounts were target. Democratic senator ron widen, whose aides tell cnn his account was not targeted, is sounding the alarm for senate leadership. For dangerous foreign hackers, this is just a nobrainer. These personal accounts are lowhanging fruit. The fact is if you look at 2016, what you saw is the personal accounts particularly of people like john podesta and colin powell were the ones they went after first because this is how you find out where people go, who they talk to. Reporter cnn learned the targeting of senator emails occurred in recent months. Neither senate aides nor google would tell cnn which were targeted. Attempts were made at democratic and republican staffs. Google and Senate Sources are also not saying whether any of the attempted hacks have been successful. Could they have been successful . How vulnerable are their personal email accounts . They could have been successful. It determines on whether theyve done things like used twofactor au thenlt indication and best security practices. Reporter multiple nations are targeting People Associated with political leaders and staffs. A group of Russian Hackers nicknamed fancy bear commanded by the russian Intelligence Agency targeted the Democrat Party in 2016 and leaked embarrassing emails. This, they say, tricked chairman john podesta into clicking on the fake link and entering his email password. Analysts say there could be a treasure trophy of information on a given senators personal account. Would thing you could do easily is come up with a social network, who their friends and contacts are, certainly documents you shouldnt have in your personal email account. We know some have done this in the past. Reporter how would americas enemies use the information . One thing they could certainly do is find information that could be used for blackmail. Reporter the russian, chinese and north korean governments have all vehemently denied trying to hack americas political leaders, but last month there was a separate episode. Microsoft announced it had thwarted part of a Russian Military intelligence operation targeting the senate and some washington think tanks. Wolf. Brian, thank you very much. Brian todd reporting. Theres breaking news coming up. A discussion of secretly recording President Trump and working to have him removed from office by the Deputy Attorney general, Rod Rosenstein. Were learning new information tonight. Comfort. What we deliver by delivering. Happening now, breaking news. Wearing a wire. Stunning new reporting tonight that the Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein suggested he might secretly record the president as he discussed the possibility of removing mr. Trump from office. Rosensteins revelations, the man who receives the russia investigation under scrutiny as we learn more about his concerns that the president is unfit to serve also tonight, trump allies say it is time for rosenstein to go. Trump unleashes. The president goes after the woman accusing the Supreme Court nominee, questioning why she didnt file charges against Brett Kavanaugh 36 years ago when she was just 15 years old. Tonight, republican senator Susan Collins says shes appalled and hearing proposal. A deadline was just extended for kavanaugh accuser christine blausey ford to respond to a counter offer by Senate Republicans for her to testify on wednesday. Will they agree on terms for her to speak out under oath . We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room