Interest for the president to oversee the investigation through the white house. To have Matt Whitaker there is exactly the same problem. And i also note that under the vacatio vacancies act, its unclear if he could be in that position. He is not senate confirmed. And there is an issue about what position he has, would it qualify to be under the vacancy act. Do you expect mueller to act quickly with any possible announcements, now that the mid terms are over and the attorney general has been fired . I believe Robert Mueller is a very smart man, and that he has contingencies in place. Will be sending letters to both the special counsel to say if there has been any change in the scope of the investigation, they need to inform members of the congress and specifically the Judiciary Committee. Do you think that muellers job is in jeopardy until democrats take over the house of representatives, presumably in january . I do not believe Robert Muellers job is in jeopardy right now. I think the president does see that as a red line. I do believe putting Matt Whitaker in is probably a red line, as well. But well see what Matt Whitaker has to say. And in terms of firing Robert Mueller under department of justice regulations, he could still only be fired for good cause. He cant just be fired just because Matt Whitaker doesnt like him or what hes doing. You think that President Trump is not willing to cross the line to fire Robert Mueller or have Robert Mueller fired . Did i get that right . I do believe that. And also, if the president believes that the only way to clear his name is for the Mueller Investigation to clear his name, then he would not fire him. Because otherwise theres no way donald trump gets his name cleared. Do you actually believe that . Or are you just trying to convey that to President Trump, trying to convince him psychologically, some sort of vulcan mind melt here, that dont do this, President Trump, because you want to clear your name. Do you actually think that he has this red line . I do. Because i think he would have actually, in fact, executed a firing of Robert Mueller. I think he does think in his mind that the majority of the American People would rise up against him and that the Judiciary Committee and now the democratic control of the house would be a check in balance on his ability to do that. Congressman ted lieu, thank you so much. And presumably, congratulations on your reelection. Im assuming if youre talking to me, you won reelection last night. Yes, thank you, jake. Okay. The resignation of Jeff Sessions as attorney general has frankly been a long time coming. And as cnns Laura Jarrett reports, the frustration and tension between sessions and President Trump goes both ways. Reporter at President Trumps request, Jeff Sessions is out as attorney general. Submitting his Resignation Letter to the president , quote, i have been honored to serve as attorney general and have worked to implement the Law Enforcement agenda based on the rule of law, wrote sessions. Trump has made no secret of his disdain for his attorney general. Im disappointed in the attorney general for numerous reasons. But we have an attorney general. Im dispointed in the attorney general for many reasons. And you understand that. Come here, jeff. Reporter the longexpected departure of one of President Trumps earliest supporters, attorney general Jeff Sessions, coming after months of blistering attacks. I said on department of justice, i would stay uninvolved. Now, i may get involved at some point, if it gets worse. Reporter at one low point, trump even going so far as to declare, quote, i dont have an attorney general. Its good to be with you. Reporter all because sessions stepped aside from overseeing the russia investigation. Something that overshadowed nearly all of his 20 months at the Justice Department. He took the job, and then he said, im going to recuse myself. And i said, what kind of a man is this . Reporter and despite all the tweets and withering critiques from his boss i put an attorney general that never took control of the Justice Department. Jeff sessions. Never took control of the Justice Department. And its a sort of an incredible thing. Reporter sessions rarely pushed back. The president speaks his mind. He says whats on his mind at the time, and hes been frustrated about my recusal and other matters. But we have been so pleased and honored to be given the responsibility to execute his agenda at the department of justice. Part of that is just this kind of case. And so i am pleased and honored to have that responsibility, and will do so as long as its appropriate for me to do so. Reporter picking his moments carefully, and vowing in august that the Justice Department will not be improperly influenced by political considerations. Publicly, he advanced the president s most controversial immigration policies. Privately, a source close to sessions tells cnn, he too has been frustrated that muellers investigation is not yet completed. And the attorney general hopes he will be remembered for never undermining the integrity of the department. With sessions now gone, his chief of staff, Matt Whitaker, will take over the department in the interim. Matt whitaker, a former u. S. Attorney from iowa and former cnn contributor, has served as sessions righthand man since september 2017. But with sessions now gone, the question is, who will replace him . Republican senator Lindsey Graham has reportedly been asked about the job and has repeatedly said he is not interested. Others said to be in the running include former federal prosecutor and current republican congressman, john radcliffe, boeing general counsel michael lewdig and federal Appeals Court judge edith jones who sits on the fifth circuit. And Janice Rogers brown who used to sit on the d. C. Circuit. Though a source tells cnn she is likely not interested. Laura jarrett, cnn, washington. And our thanks to Laura Jarrett for that piece. This just in. Current democratic minority leader incoming likely House Speaker nancy pelosi just tweeted, quote, it is impossible to read attorney general sessions firing as anything other than a blatant attempt to undermine and end special counsel muellers investigation. Pelosi weighing in on the appointment of the acting attorney general, adding quote, given his record of threats to undermine and weaken the russia investigation, Matthew Whitacre should recuse himself from any involvement in muellers investigation. Congress must take immediate action to protect the rule of law and integrity of the investigation. Unquote. And our panel is here with us to discuss this. And david urban, let me start with you. As somebody who is closely allied with the white house. Are you surprised by this . Do you think its wise . Sure. Slow news at a day. Yeah, completely surprising. Just for that fact, right . The president had a News Conference today, where hes out there touting, look, we did great things. We moved the needle. Look at our great agenda. And then you come to this and step all over the message and youre on to another story and another kind of crisis here. So to speak. And do i did i see it coming . I saw it coming. We all knew the attorney general was living on borrowed time. But today the timing is bad in terms of timing. I think timing is the question inside the white house too. Also Matt Whitaker being named is also a question. I asked several white house officials why not name the Deputy Attorney general as the acting attorney general . Thats typically the process for Something Like this. And a lot of them didnt know or couldnt say. They know that President Trump likes Matt Whitaker. He has clearly we reported a few weeks ago on that plan to when the Deputy Attorney general thought he was going to resign, be fired, whatever term you want to use, Matt Whitaker was going to take over for that spot. I dont think a lot of people saw Matt Whitaker taking over as the acting attorney general. And let me do you see this as nancy pelosi does, this is all just about ending the Mueller Investigation . This is about ending the Mueller Investigation. And i think theres a lot of angst in the white house. And there are three quick points. To davids point, if everyone else saw this coming, we know Robert Mueller saw this coming. And so i do think that there is a high probability of some highprofile targets. We hear these stories about donald jr. All of the time having sealed indictments, just waiting. And i think mueller has done a great job of protecting his investigation. But i disagree with nancy pelosi, because if she thinks that Matt Whitaker is going to recuse himself, i think those chances are between statistically zero and zero, right . Thats not happening. And so the last thing that i would challenge while we still have this senate in house, i do think that i know there is a bill in the house and a bill on the floor of the senate to protect mueller. I think the American People probably will have some say in that and try to get them to do that when they come back november 13th. I think mueller is not going anywhere. I think thats a bridge too far. Even the president recognizes that. I think you would see a hue and cry from the republican side of the aisle in mueller were dismissed. I think its going to be wrapped up sometime soon. There is a great deal of frustration lingering on. I think now the election is over, youre going to see some resolution quickly. Jen . I think the democrats are probably calling for the wrong thing right now. There is legislation that worked its way through the senate Judiciary Committee and approved that mcconnell just did not bring to the floor that would protect mueller. The house can certainly do the same thing. If theyre putting the right pressure points right now, they would be pushing to protect mueller. I dont think we should sit here and take trump or even Trump Supporters at their word that trump is not going to go there and fire mueller. He put Matt Whitaker in place, because Matt Whitaker is more sympathetic to his views on mueller than rosenstein. And thats an important piece of this. Do you agree, mary kathryn, that its a bridge too far for President Trump . I think its likely it is, but things can change every 15 minutes. Look, the improbably Successful Campaign to make Jeff Sessions sympathetic to basically everyone continues apace. That is something ive been surprised about here and im going to make a political point because weve got the moral and legal points covered, as well. But today was actually a decent day for republicans. Like, last night was decent. The senate news was decent. They could talk about it and republicans put one senate seat during the midterm election. And this is indicative of what the next two years will look like just on a bare political level of trying to control messaging for them. Serenity now. He cannot give us even one day of post election for people to pick their narratives and talk about them. This is where we go. Its going to happen for two years. Laura, we were talking about this in the previous hour. Which is President Trump went out there this morning at the press conference and told republicans, if you defy me, i will shame you, as he did with the republicans who distance themselvesed, attack the media. And told democrats if you investigate me, i will investigate you. And he did that knowing that this would happen. Of course. And i suspect that even Jeff Sessions cant write this Resignation Letter in the amount of time it took from the press conference to the amount of time he was told to resign. You think about this issue, and the wrong word is being circulated. Fired is not the only issue for Robert Mueller. He could remain in place and have his legs cut out from underneath him. If you have somebody who is overseeing his probe, who is curtailing his efforts at subpoena power, who is curtailing his efforts in the budgetary concerns, or maybe trying to guide or stymie the investigation other ways. But there actually exists legislation that would help him. One thing that lou was talking about, the notion of a fourcause clause in his actual protective language which says that mueller can only be fired for cause or dereliction of duty. So far youve heard from Rod Rosenstein about less than a month ago telling everyone there is no reason to think there is any dereliction of duty or any reason to undermine it as a witch hunt. Unless something changed from the midterm elections last night to right now, mueller should theoretically be safe under existing legislation. I dont think its that far gone to picture the president firing the special counsel, because a. , hes tried to do it before. Its not like its some area he hasnt come close to. Hes tried to do it before. And b. , what was one of the things he was tweeting about this morning when he was talking about the rash of Election Results from last night . He was citing a poll believing americans did not find the Mueller Investigation to be worthy of continuing to go on. So the president can use that mentality or he clearly has that mentality. He thinks his supporters and hes been surrounded by them for two weeks now, saying witch hunt and having the crowd cheer, agree with him. This is a waste of time and he should end it. That is how the president reasons things. Not by being worried about what people on capitol hill everyone stick around. A quick break. Another man fired by President Trump just tweeted, quote, its danger time. And ill talk to him next. Stay with us. burke fenderbiter. Seen it, covered it. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum billions of problems. Morning breath . Garlic breath . Stinky breath . Theres a therabreath for you. Therabreath fresh breath oral rinse instantly fights all types of bad breath and works for 24 hours. So you can. Breathe easy. Theres therabreath at walmart. And were back with the major breaking news. President trump fired attorney general Jeff Sessions, going from trump loyalist to embattled attorney general after sessions recused himself from the russia investigation. Now the ex attorney general in his place, at least temporarily, Matthew Whitacre. Lets go to evan perez. What can you tell us about the now acting attorney general, Matthew Whitacre . Well, jake, you know, hes been a skeptic of the investigation. He has written an oped for cnn. Com in which he talked about his thoughts that mueller had gone too far in the investigation, and needed to be hemmed in. And here he was discussing on don lemons show just last year a way that a few future acting attorney general could come in and limit what mueller was doing. Take a listen to what he had to say. You can see a scenario where Jeff Sessions is replaced with a recess appointment, and that attorney general doesnt fire bob mueller. But he just reduces the budget so low that his investigation grinds to almost a halt. And jake, obviously now this is a big thing for Matt Whitaker to deal with. Certainly the Justice Departments ethics officials will have a say as to whether or not they believe this constitutes an appearance of conflict and whether it means Matt Whitaker needs to recuse himself from this investigation. Obviously, this is something that is simply an advice they would get from people at the Justice Department. He doesnt necessarily have to follow it. Jake . And shimon, we saw Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer and incoming likely Speaker Nancy Pelosi call on Matt Whitaker to recuse himself from overseeing the investigation. I dont imagine thats going to happen. But is there any indication that its even being considered . No, there isnt. And really, you know, his opinions of where this investigation was certainly when he was on cnn and when he wrote the oped, he was in a very different place when he gave that opinion. We dont think that hes been briefed on any aspects of this investigation. It will be now his job to get briefed by Robert Mueller and his team, certainly, special counsel team, on where things stabbe stand. And the other thing thats important to keep in mind, Rod Rosenstein was overseeing the investigation. Would give Robert Mueller certainly permission, mueller would have to go to him and say hey, i want to subpoena this one, do this at the grand jury. And then the big question is, remember, whether or not, if the president has refused to answer questions by this special counsel team, would Robert Mueller and his team subpoena the president . That now ultimately lies with Matt Whitaker. He would have to ultimately tell the special counsel, okay, go ahead, since the president is refusing to answer your questions, you can go ahead and subpoena him. Thats obviously unlikely to happen now. And that is where i think issues can come up in this investigation. Because this is the guy now that could tell Robert Mueller, you need to speed this up. You cant do this, you cant do that. Lets go, lets go. Were done here. That could happen in this case. And, you know, one other point i want to make, jake, we know certainly evan and i and from people weve talked to that there were contingency plans in place for Something Like this. The Justice Department has been prepared for Something Like this and most importantly, the fbi. Where all of this evidence lives, intelligence lives, where all of the witnesses live. All of that information you can be rest assured and i think the public needs to know this, that that is going to be preserved by people at the fbi. Evan, your sources signal a possible end to the Mueller Investigation after the mid terms. What could an end in the investigation under Matt Whitaker mean . Right. I think a lot of people are focusing on whether Matt Whitaker might try to end the investigation. The probe is coming to a close, probably perhaps as soon as the end of the year or early next year. But what happens to Robert Muellers report is now in the hands of Matt Whitaker. Whether any of it becomes public. Whether it even the report goes to congress. All of that now lies in the hands of Matt Whitaker. And so thats i think an even bigger and perhaps even more important question. Because, you know, probably the investigation is almost complete anyway. So the question now is, what happens to Robert Muellers report . All right. Thank you so much. Shimon and evan. Joining me now is former u. S. Attorney in the Southern District of new york, also dismissed by President Trump. Preet, many speculated attorney general sessions would be out after the election. What does this mean for you for the Mueller Investigation . Its a time of great concern. Weve been treated to over time taunts by the president with respect to his attorney general, taunts by the president with respect to the Deputy Attorney general, both of whom were handpicked by President Trump. Because hes angry about the russia investigation. And so for a long time, i think people have had confidence on both sides of the aisle that Rod Rosenstein was acting in a professional way with respect to the Mueller Investigation. He, in fact, himself is the person who appointed Robert Mueller. And has said repeatedly in public statements and in congressional testimony that the special counsels investigation is not a witch hunt. He hasnt seen anything inappropriate go on. That it should be supported, not interfered with. And so i think people felt comfortable that that investigation would see its way to a proper conclusion in an orderly fashion. So long as Rod Rosenstein was in charge of that investigation. So now you have a new person coming in, as has been pointed out by the reporters on just before me. You have someone who looks like hes prejudged the Mueller Investigation, has talked about a reduction in the budget for the Mueller Investigation, has talked about a narrowing of the scope of the Mueller Investigation. All of which are things that are on the record that he said when he was on cnn and else where. And so you have a concern that there might be an undo restricting of that investigation, and that its not going to be allowed to complete its course. The other thing you have to be concerned about, given what President Trump has said over and over again about Jeff Sessions. The one thing about Jeff Sessions we know for a fact did ethically was consult with people in the Justice Department and recuse himself. And thats the one thing that President Trump has hated about Jeff Sessions conduct. So youve got to believe that the president got a different kind of understanding in a conversation with mr. Matt whitaker. It may be the Justice Department has cleared it and the ethics people think its okay for him not to recuse himself. But given the statements hes made and the rejudgment that it sounds like hes engaged in, i think you have cause for great concern that he is not going to view that investigation in the way he might otherwise. And making those statements, by the way, before knowing anything at all about what the special counsel was considering. Lets talk about Matt Whitaker for a second. Hes going to serve as the acting attorney general. He will now be overseeing the russia investigation, not Deputy Attorney general rosenstein. And he does seem, as you note, to align with the president s view of the Mueller Investigation. He wrote in a cnn oped last week, quote, it does not take a lawyer or even a former federal prosecutor like myself to conclude that investigating Donald Trumps finances or his familys finances falls completely outside of the realm of his 2016 campaign and allegations that the campaign coordinated with the russian government or anyone else. That goes beyond the scope of the appointment of the special counsel. So thats just one example of many of the things that Matt Whitaker has said publicly about limiting the Mueller Probe one way or the other. You mentioned already that he had talked, high apologet hypot acting attorney general could starve the Mueller Investigation in terms of budgetary support. Does that, however, constitute a conflict of interest . And a need to recuse . Is he not allowed to have opinions and then come in and serve as attorney general . Yeah, look, i dont know all the facts. I dont know all of the things he said. I dont know exactly what the internal folks at the doj would say about it. I do think it raises a concern. I had issues from time to time as u. S. Attorney where it seemed like the best thing to do was to recuse myself. And there were times where the internal ethics folks said specifically, you dont have to recuse yourself. And then sometimes given the nature of the issue, and given what people might think about it, sometimes even if your ethics people tell you and any lawyer worth his salt would say the same thing, its still better to step away from the case or step away from the investigation so that people have full confidence. And given the stakes involved here, and how much people are watching, and how long its been going on, the things he said are going to cause people to have a question about what he does if he decides to restrict the investigation. By the way, the other thing that seems odd and wrong about this statement you read from that oped by mr. Matt whitaker is, he doesnt know the basis on which the Mueller Investigation may have been looking at the finances of the president. Right . The appointment letter by Rod Rosenstein makes very clear that the scope of the investigation was supposed to be relating to the campaign and possible collusion. But then also says, and also any matters that arise from this investigation. So, for example, if there were things that happened in the course of the Mueller Investigation that brought to light other kinds of crimes that were taking place and came to their information, and came to their knowledge and attention directly because of the investigation, thats covered in the scope of what rosenstein said. So he was speaking a little bit out of school when he said those things. Preet, if Matt Whitaker comes in and decides to limit the Mueller Investigation one way or the other, would we ever know . I think in modern america, and given the subpoena power that has just been handed to the House Democrats, i think we will know. We may not know in realtime, but we will know eventually, yes. The president did make the argument today that if he wanted mueller fired, he would have fired him already. Yeah, but, look, the president is a little more shrewd than people give him credit for. He does some things out in the open to make it seem like hes got nothing to hide. But they also made the evidence of criminal conductor abuse of power and the house may consider that at some point. So, you know, just because the president has not fired someone yet doesnt mean he wont do it in the future. And doesnt mean he doesnt want to minimize the damage to him and the political backlash to him. Look, he was very smart in some ways, depending on your perspective, on how he dealt with Jeff Sessions. He could have said, look, you know, if i want to fire Jeff Sessions, i could have done it. But he waited. What, he waited until hours after the midterm elections so he wouldnt screw up his political chances in various races around the country. So i imagine some similar kind of, you know strategizing is going on in his head with respect to mueller, as well. It is very clear he wants mueller to close up shop and stop. And from his perspective, the question is always, whats the best way to do it with the least amount of fallout . All right. Preet bharara, a man who knows about being fired by President Trump, thanks so much. I appreciate it. A republican on the senate Judiciary Committee just weighed in on whether the new acting attorney general needs to recuse himself. What did he or she say . Thats next. Oprah 1 out of 8 americans struggles with hunger. This season you can help. Now through december 29th for every o, thats good ™ pizza, soup or side you purchase well donate a meal to feeding america®. Because o, thats good ™ i can do more to lower my a1c. 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And because sessions had recused himself from overseeing the russia investigation, his dismissal means his replacement, Matt Whitaker, not only becomes attorney general, but Robert Muellers boss. Let me start with you, bakari, because Lindsey Graham, at one point said there could be holy hell to pay if President Trump ever fired Jeff Sessions. He revised that a little bit a couple months ago as it became clearer that this relationship was not going to last. What do you make of what he just said . I dont know who Lindsey Graham is any more. Youve known him for a long time. I served in the South CarolinaGeneral Assembly for eight years and run statewide before in South Carolina. Know Lindsey Graham very, very well. You know, hes always been afraid of his shadow somewhat. And always in campaign mode. Hes always afraid of that challenge from the right. And people used to look at Lindsey Graham as being the sane senator we have from South Carolina when we had jim demint there, someone you could go to to get things done. I think hes the prime example of when donald trump breaks an individual. Now Lindsey Graham is very weakkneed, no longer putting the country first, putting his party first. And there are a lot of us who have known Lindsey Graham for a long time, even republican friends you talk to who say i have no idea who this man is. On the other hand, you know Matt Whitaker, the acting attorney general. What can you tell us about him . Hes got a whole trail of tweets expressing a lot of skepticism about how bob mueller has been doing his job. Matt is a conservative guy, believes in god and country kind of guy, right . The president likes him, has a lot of faith in him. And, look, i think hes very intelligent, obviously. Political, ran for senate in the open seat there. Matt is a bright guy, u. S. Attorney for the Southern District in iowa. Look i dont think hes going to go out and do anything rash and get rid of mueller here. I think hes a really bright guy who will stay the course. But i do believe he does believe there are certain limits, as he expressed in this article, about what can and cant be investigated, the scope of the special counsel. Jen, minority leader Chuck Schumer released this statement, quote, given his previous comments advocating defunding and imposing limitations on the Mueller Investigation, mr. Matt whitaker should recuse himself for the duration of his time as acting attorney general. Do you think there is any chance of that happening, and is this even a battle democrats should be waging . He should. There doesnt seem to be any appetite. You need republicans as well to partner to push him to do that. And there doesnt seem to be any appetite to do that. You know, i think theres a very interesting time line right now, because we have about seven weeks, six weeks, until the end of the year. Matt whitaker cant serve indefinitely as acting attorney general. He could recess appoint him, but it only lasts through that congress, which there isnt a lot more time for. I think the timing of this is very calculated by trump. And perhaps a smart, wicked political way. In that he saw he has more space on the senate, maybe he wants to get his attorney general confirmed. But he would have to probably think about that starting january. At that point, democrats have the house. So democrats are calling for a lot of things right now. They dont have a lot of power. They will have a lot of power in january that will allow them to do a number of things. And mary kathryn, obviously Matt Whitaker has been a skeptic of the Mueller Investigation. Before he took on this role. As Jeff Sessions chief of staff, wrote an oped for cnn last year, on the topic of whether mueller could investigate his finances. He said its time for rosenstein to order mueller to limit the scope of his investigation to the four corners of the order appointing him special counsel. If he doesnt, then muellers investigation will eventually start to look like a political fishing expedition. Do you have any concerns about whether or not he can supervise the investigation . I think in cases like this, its best practices to if youve opined on this specific subject, to make sure that it people have confidence by not putting yourself in that position. So you think he should recuse. I think thats probably the right thing. I think Jeff Sessions did the right thing, and it has ticked off trump as we have seen ever since then. I dont want to dismiss the idea that special prosecutors should have limits on them. Thats a long time and fair concern about these types of investigations. Sure. But hes specifically commented on this. And i will say, its going to be difficult for both republicans who went after peter strzok to say having opinions did not allow him to do his job properly. And democrats who said strzok is fine, a great public servant. Everybody is going to switch teams, once again and saying having a political opinion makes you unqualified now. What happens if he refuses to recuse himself which i think we can all bet money is going to happen . He will continue to serve as acting ag. Hes not required to recuse himself. This tension between himself and Jeff Sessions is that Jeff Sessions was a part of the campaign, and in fact, a noted surrogate. And the campaign itself was being investigated. That was the basis in which the people eternal in doj said you should recuse yourself. I will say, however, the idea is best practices. Thats absolutely the case. But the thing about this particular individual is that he has not only done what people do not want a Justice Department to do, which is to show that lady justice is not blind. He has preconceived notions on the individual case and i want to hold him to his actual words. Hes absolutely right. Rod rosenstein and Robert Mueller should be held to the four corners of the investigation which includes whatever follows from the collusion investigation, including finances. Thats part of it. And if he wants to be held to his word, then he should welcome any opportunity to venture past the initial. I was going to say, remember, we used to have this independent counsel statute that both sides got rid of it. It was a license to fish. Very narrow. This is supposed to be much more narrow. We didnt want those things. We shouldnt have it here. The new togethering attorney general has not been shy about his feelings about the Mueller Probe. Even tweeting about it. What did he tweet . Thats next. Come fly with me, lets fly, lets fly away. Come fly with me, lets fly, lets fly away. Whenshe was pregnant,ter failed, inlaws were coming, a little bit of water, it really it rocked our world. I had no idea the amount of damage that water could do. We called usaa. And they greeted me as they always do. Sergeant baker, how are you . They were on it. It was unbelievable. Having insurance is something everyone needs, but having usaa now thats a privilege. Were the bakers and were usaa members for life. Usaa. Get your insurance quote today. Breaking news. The United States now has a new acting attorney general. That man, Matthew Whitacre, will oversee the russia investigation, and has made his feelings pretty clear about the Mueller Probe on twitter. In august 2017, Matt Whitaker responded to an article head lined, one thought is trying to catch mueller to exert pressure being day after interview with staffers. If another comment, Matt Whitaker tweeted in response to this npr headline, those depending on Robert Mueller to shake up the Trump Presidency may be in for disappointment, stating the article is correct. It will be very difficult to ever see evidence discovered by mueller grand jury investigation. Matt whitaker also shared an opinion piece. Note to trumps lawyer, do not cooperate with mueller lynch mob, adding, worth a read. Responding to the breaking news of trump firing attorney general Jeff Sessions. Sunlen serfaty is on the hill. What are you hearing . Reporter certainly, jake, specifically, a lot of concern about acting ag, Matt Whitaker. A lot of those words you read, the top senate democrat, top house democrat, calling for Matt Whitaker to recuse himself in the russia investigation and across the board, a lot of Top Democrats expressing concern about what this means for the special counsel, Robert Muellers investigation. Heres Senate Minority leader, chu Chuck Schumer, earlier today. Protecting mueller and his investigation is paramount. It would create a constitutional crisis if this were a prelude to ending or greatly limiting the Mueller Investigation. And i hope President Trump and those he listens to will refrain from that. Reporter and we are also hearing from key House Democrats as well. Jerry nadler who stands to take over the house Judiciary Committee, he raised obstruction concerns earlier today and says that he could potentially investigate this decision to fire sessions. Meantime, similar sentiments coming from Elijah Cummings who will take over the House Oversight committee. Top democrats in their new found majority in the house emboldened by this news and their reaction tonight. Jake . I want to bring in josh campbell, former special assistant to former fbi director, james comey. Josh, the president has been pretty transparent about his frustration with now former attorney general sessions. What do you make of this decision, what do you make of the timing . So i dont think any of us are surprised. In fact, ive been talking to some former colleagues inside the fbi. And one person described it as the media prepares obituaries to have on the shelf, this is what they were expecting with attorney general Jeff Sessions. They knew his time was limited based on all of the back and forth going on with the president. One person, though, described this as a very dangerous time, potentially because of the person that theyre now bringing in. Mr. Matt whitaker. And the fact hes already been on record criticizing the Mueller Investigation. Obviously, theres a conflict of interest there. And one thing thats interesting, in any case, jake, it is inappropriate for the white house to be even perceived as influencing an investigation, doubly so wihen that investigation pertains to the president himself. I dont think we can overstate the gravity of whats going on here. I want to show you some video now of Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein leaving the white house. We just saw him. He was at the white house. Were not exactly sure why he was there. Were told it was for a previously arranged meeting. Although, obviously, eyebrows being raised at his presence at the white house right now. Josh, knowing what you know about bob mueller, would this change anything from his focus on the russia investigation . So its not going to change bob muellers focus. But he may not be the person making the decisions here. Up to this point, the conventional wisdom has been that bob mueller was protected as long as Rod Rosenstein was there. That has gone out the window. We can shuffle the deck on that conventional wisdom. Now rosenstein is not that barrier. It appears Matt Whitaker will be supervising the investigation. So, again, someone on record criticizing, being put in by the president , can lead in only one direction. Its very troubling. I will say, jake, one thing we know based on the president s history with department of justice is every major personnel change hes made at doj has involved seemingly some type of ulterior motive. Sally yates defend the immigration ban and was trying to sound the alarm on michael flynn. Pret preet, and james comey and trying to influence the investigation. Each of those instances we have seen some kind of motive at play here. With sessions, it appears to be the same case. Recused himself, angered the president. It may be now the president is putting someone in place who would be loyal to him based on some of the past statements that Matt Whitaker has been on record saying. Josh, how is this going over with rank and file and doj, Justice Department and fbi . As i mentioned, the fact that sessions left would surprise no one. Everyone assumed that was going to be the case. And the fact of the matter is, on any given day, the attorney general doesnt directly impact the work of an fbi agent or analyst out in the field. Its not something that they think about. But again, when you have someone who is now being put in place who could potentially influence a very Major Investigation in a significant way, that is something that is giving people that eive been talking to grea pause. They look at the facts and cant draw a line through it. But it appears as though the president is clearing out obstacles to some possibly getting rid of bob mueller or significantly limiting his work. All right, josh campbell, thanks so much. Do republicans on the senate Judiciary Committee need to speak out publicly offer Jeff Sessions firing or are they better off staying silent . 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Kids whoa kids vo safelite repair, safelite replace welcome back to breaking News Coverage of President Trumps firing of his attorney general, Jeff Sessions. The two men had been at odds over sessions decision to listen to the ethics lawyers at the department of justice and recuse himself from the russia investigation. Joining me on the phone is mazie hirono of highwawaii, reelecte last night with i think just 70, 71 of the vote. Senator, congratulations. Your reaction thank you very much. Your reaction to todays developments . Didnt take long for the president to act immediately to protect himself, because its always about him, all of the time, every time. So first he fires Jeff Sessions, and then he names Matthew Whitacre whit kerr as acting attorney general. Very troubling knowing mr. Whitakers views. It raises a conflict of interest with regard to whitaker, and it certainly goes to the obstruction of justice by the president. Why congress has to pass legislation to protect the Mueller Investigation. So you and your colleagues on the senate Judiciary Committee already passed out of the Committee Legislation to protect mueller. Senator mitch mcconnell, majority leader, did not bring it up. I think he said he didnt feel there was any need to do so. Do you believe that there will be any appetite by republicans to do so, and will there be perhaps a push by somebody like you or others to do so before the end of this congress when you lose even more seats in january . We passed the Mueller Investigation basically to protect any special counsel out of the Judiciary Committee in a bipartisan way. And the only reason that mcconnell didnt bring it on the floor, he says, we dont need to do that because nothing is going to happen to mueller. And i dont know what its going to take. Maybe a ton of bricks has to fall on mcconnells head before he realizes or recognizes what is actually going on. So certainly i expect that the democrats in the senate, as well as the democrats in the house, will push to protect the Mueller Investigation, because that has to go on. And the president s actions are so blatantly political to protect himself that, as i said, it didnt take long for him to do it. Obviously, your power as being part of the party, the Minority Party in the senate are limited, compared to your democratic colleagues in the house, who are going to soon have the majority. What do you want them to do that you are not able to do . Certainly, theyll be able to investigate whats going on with the president. And my friend, jerry nadler, with whom i served for six years in the u. S. House, i know that he has already said he wants to know what the president s motives are. I think we can pretty much conclude what his motives are. That is to protect himself. So i expect jerry nadler to be chairing the Judiciary Committee in the house. And then to proceed with what he needs to do to get to the bottom of this. And to protect the Mueller Investigation. Do you think that this is where it ends . That he appoints Matthew Whitacre as acting attorney general and whitaker maybe, you know, tries to keep tries to shrink or contract the bounds of the Mueller Investigation . Or do you fear more is going to happen . I think as long as the Mueller Investigation continues that this is yet more actions by the president that goes to obstruction of justice. Doesnt President Trump have the right to have as attorney general whoever he sees fit, as long as that person is ultimately confirmed by the senate . I think motives matter. And this is why the obstruction of justice is such a big issue for mueller. And obstruction of justice is a pattern, a cumulative effect of all of the actions that the president takes. The motives behind those actions. And if he were just doing this as oneoff, then maybe so. But its not. If its a pattern of obstruction. Theres no question that hes been wanting to in the Mueller Investigation from the very beginning, calling it a witch hunt. So in spite of the fact that the russians interfered not only with the 2016 elections, but that this election 2018 elections, the president is totally motivated by the desire to protect himself. I hope everybody gets that. So your leader, the Senate Minority leader, democrat Chuck Schumer, says the interim attorney general, acting attorney general, Matt Whitaker, should recuse himself from the russia investigation. Because he has said things about how he thinks the russia investigation could theoretically be starved of funding or needs to be limited in scope. If first of all, why would he need to recuse himself . I understand why you dont trust him to lead the investigation. But is there actually like a legal or ethical reason why he would need to do so . There were some parameters to when a recusal is required. Which is what led to Jeff Sessions recusal. So whitaker made statements such as they would be out of bounds for the Mueller Investigation to go into trumps family and his own finances. And that it wasnt a problem for the trump people to take the trump tower meeting. So these are all matters of interest. And but certainly hes allowed to have an opinion on these matters. And does his expression of those opinions mean he needs to im not an attorney. You are. So im just is there some sort of legal reason why somebody who expresses an opinion could therefore not supervise an investigation about, you know, the opinion of which he talked about . Well, you express an opinion, thats fine. But when you put it the in the context he is actually going to be the person making decisions, and overseeing the Mueller Investigation, that is an entirely different proposition all together. So its a free country. Anybody can express themselves. But hes going to be making decisions that will ultimately impact the Mueller Investigation. And i think that if this isnt a basis for recusal, i dont know what recusal means, frankly. Senator, i just want to ask one more question about the results last night. I know youre upset that many of your friends, democratic senators, were not reelected. What do you make of those who say that democrats overreached when it came to the kavanaugh hearings, and that hurt people such as Heidi Heitkamp in north dakota, joe donnelly in indiana and Claire Mccaskill in missouri . I said that there are battles worth fighting. And definitely judge kavanaugh, even before dr. Ford came over, had a record of being against a womans right to choose, reproductive rights, environmental protections. There were any number of reasons to not be for him. And, of course, when dr. Ford came forward in how she was treated by the Judiciary Committee, that should have been a total red flag. And as i said, its bad enough that we have one person on the Supreme Court with this kind of clout. And now we have another. The Supreme Court should be above reproach. And now i believe that you have two people on the Supreme Court who are not above reproach. And that does not do the court any good. So, you know, my friends who lost took principle positions. And i totally respect their courage for them. I wish other people would do the same thing, and note that john tester, who the president went after tooth and nail in a very personal way, has been reelected. Has been reelected, yeah. Im glad for that. Senator mazie hirono, thank you so much. Our coverage on cnn continues right now. Thank you for watching. This is cnn breaking news. Im wolf blitzer in the situation room. Were following breaking news. President trump sudden see fires the attorney general, Jeff Sessions for the impardonable sin of recusing himself from the russia investigation. Hell be replaced now by chief of staff, Matthew Whitacre, who has been critical of Robert Muellers russia investigation and may go ahead and supervise it. The surprise announcement came after the president claimed victory in