Director was asking for Additional Resources to investigate russia was the same person that wrote the memo that led to his firing . Sen. Grassley it is my understanding that within a few hours of this interview, that somebody in the Justice Department cleared up that they were not asking for additional money. Ms. Werner you accept that explanation from the Justice Department despite the reporting to the contrary that comey was seeking additional money . Sen. Grassley i usually accept things until i find that people are misleading or its misinformation. Questionse lingering about the way the president about the way the president handled the situation and the firing of director comey . Sen. Grassley i would look at this more my relationship with the fbi generally and i would look at it particularly particularly with my relationship with comey. In my constitutional job of oversight, of having an opportunity to have a new fbi director. Because let us look at how he briefed us recently in secure areas on how he is investigating russia, the russianflynn connection. We asked for a briefing and we asked for a briefing and had a hard time getting the briefing. Look at how that is different when we ask for a briefing on the investigation of the clinton emails. He would not give us that. Or another example of the inconsistency. Not responding to my Constitutional Responsibilities of oversight. When i want information and documents a lot of times, i do not get them. And people making the same request through the freedom of information act get them. It is just inconceivable to me that citizen grassley could get some information through foia but senator grassley cannot get , the same information and read about the information i want in the newspaper. I think i have plenty of reasons to question the need for a new fbi director beyond what the president thought was necessary. Steve scully Niels Lesniewski . Mr. Lesniewski are you going to relay that message to anyone who becomes the nominee of President Trump to become the fbi director . And if you do not get what you need in the confirmation process, is President Trump going to have a difficulty getting a new fbi director confirmed . Sen. Grassley the trouble is i will get the proper answers and proper documents prior to confirmation, but then it is afterwards that you have the problem. And it is not just with the fbi. I traditionally ask, both in my office when they come around for a prehearing interview, and then when they are in the formal interview so it is on the record i always say will you answer our phone calls . Will you answer our letters . Will you come and testify when we ask you . We always get a firm yes. Well, recent not the secretary of hhs, because they dont deliver i said to her recent secretary of hhs that you really ought to answer the question may be because you do not always deliver on the promises. Last year, i wrote 550 letters, mostly to bureaucrats, in my investigations. Not only as chairman of the committee and as an individual senator. In the bureaucracy, you tend to get nonanswers. You keep trying and trying. And that is something that is because we are talking about the fbi. That is something i have had problems on with comey but previous fbi directors and quite frankly im sick of it. Thats why i dont mind seeing a new fbi director. Steve scully what do you think the hearings will look like based on what we heard from Chuck Schumer and others when he was fired this past week . Sen. Grassley any question is legitimate. But you will get from both republicans and democrats how , will they handle this investigation . That is obviously going to go on in the interim or acting fbi director because the fbi agents do their job. The committees of congress are investigating whether they will do their job. They will want to another if there is independence from the president of the United States. Ms. Werner is it a possible outcome that it would be a unanimous confirmation . Sen. Grassley it will be more difficult but i believe that if they can find someone that has some Senate Confirmation or a very independent approach to what they do like a former judge, like a former judge webster who went to be fbi director. Somebody that comes from the Judicial Branch of government. I think they have some credibility because that is in their working environment you , know. But everybody, including the senators all want to make sure that they are independent. But i am going to be very concerned on how they respond to our oversight. Oversight we can pass laws and appropriate money that we desperately have a constitutional responsibility make sure that these bureaucrats and agency heads and even the president of the united does what the law requires. Mr. Lesniewski would you be concerned if the nominee who was someone who may have to recuse themselves from the russia investigation because they were advising trump on the campaign or were somehow otherwise involved in the transition . Sen. Grassley i think the president and the people close to the president do not want to emphasize that anymore. They will get someone entirely away from that as far as i can tell. Once in a while people, journalist mimi on capitol hill and its been suggested a name is been suggested in my usual response is to wait until we get a list of and a possibility and hopefully a short list. I would be happy to weigh in but i am not in the business of suggesting somebody that is independent and somebody that will do the job in somebody that will have the respect of the people that are the fbi agents. Thats very important. Steve scully anything more to your statement on fox this past wednesday . That its time to suck it up and move on. Sen. Grassley i think that from that standpoint, i think that question prefaced something that the democrats were saying. There is nothing wrong with the democrats taking any position but we cannot dwell just on the news of the moment. We have plenty of work to do and that is why i said we need to suck it up and move on. I could say i said the same thing to a lot of conservatives three or four years ago when there was an issue of conservatives being not content with the president ial candidates. I told the conservatives this is our candidate, suck it up and move on unless you want more of the same. Mr. Lesniewski how much are you aware of what is going on in terms of the Senate Intelligence committees work . Obviously senator feinstein has been on the Intelligence Committee for a long time and used to be the chairwoman. She clearly knows what is going on there. How much involvement are you having with that or how much are you kept in the loop on what they are doing . Sen. Grassley i have conversations with her, what she can tell. I think she can tell me a lot of things. There are some things that Intelligence Committee members know that other senators should not know because it is highly secret. But i am mostly attune to what i get from the news. You can say that is not a very good place to get it. I talked to some of my colleague on the committee. But most often, the thing that i would have directly that they have would be the one secure briefing that senator feinstein and i have had. That is the same as what they get. And we have her quest from both republicans and democrats to move forward with all of the stuff that comey told us that he cant tell us in an open setting. We will have a secure briefing on that but we will dovetail that in with the white house and graham subcommittee with gates and clapper there. Things they could not tell them. At that point, i will get a lot more information and probably the same things that the Intelligence Committee gets. Mr. Lesniewski how active have you been and how active has your staff in with senators graham and whitehouse . Sen. Grassley we have made a request for a totally independent group of people to help them. But we did not have the resources to do that. Just our regular staff is working with them. I emphasize what i just told you. One of the Democratic Senators, i suppose was indirectly criticizing me because i did not get them an independent group to work with them. We just did not have the resources to do that. But they are doing a good job and we will encourage them to continue to move forward. Ms. Werner based on everything that you have heard and seen so far, what is your personal level of concern, if any, about russias ties with the Trump Campaign or even ongoing with members of the administration . Sen. Grassley well, first of all, it is very important that we get all of the information. I can answer your question more fully. I think three or four committees of congress are investigating it. I am looking for them to do that thoroughly including the , subcommittee of my committee. I am looking for we will not know what the fbi is finding out in their respect to it but we need to get to the bottom of it. So that people are not cynical about our election process. But i think, you know, not only in the United States, we know there was an attempt to influence things. What has not been shown, and maybe it will not because there is no evidence of it, whether or not they manipulated any votes. There is no indication of that. At this there are accusations point, but no proof. You have with the president said in his letter to comey that comey told him three times that he was not a target or being investigated, i should say. But that that does not mean that someone else in the campaign could not have been involved. We also have evidence of their involvement of hacking the dnc. Way back in 2015. The fbi or someone offered help to the dnc and they turned it down. As i brought out in my Committee Meeting recently, the dnc should have taken the advice of the people who wanted to help them eight or nine months beforehand and maybe things would not have gotten as bad as they did. But no, they wanted to handle it all by themselves. Ms. Werner you referenced what the president said that comey told him that comey told him three times he was not under investigation. A number of former prosecutors and fbi officials have said it is highly unlikely that comey would actually have said that to the president. Would you like comey to be asked about that when he is on the hill next week . Do you have any questions about that . Sen. Grassley as i said in my Committee Meeting thursday, i can tell you that senator feinstein and i did not hear in our briefing by comey anything that departed from what was said in that letter. That is all i can tell you because Everything Else was secure. Steve scully senator, with all of these investigations, the president ran on the promise of making America Great again hope focusing on trade in jobs and infrastructure in the economy and health care. Do you worry that that will all be sidelined . That the agenda that they ran on in 2016 will be distracted by this . Sen. Grassley i think it is but not as much as the democratic obstruction in the United States senate ec from having to have a filibuster on every nominee, almost every nominee for the cabinet. And i have even heard now that we will have to file cloture on the governor of iowa being the ambassador to china. And he was reported out of committee unanimously. I am more worried about the obstruction of minority in the senate and the historical amount of obstruction than what you have brought out. But what you said is some detraction. Probably more for the white house than it is for the congress. We can move ahead on all of these things. In fact, you will hear the word trumpcare. One of the problems is the weekend after being sworn in he , was going to have a plan to present to congress within a few days. We never got such a plan. The house and the senate are moving ahead on health, on tax revision and eventually we will be moving ahead on the third most important thing that we have to do, infrastructure. Mr. Lesniewski getting to the obstruction point for a minute, makes me ask the question about the blue slip process for judicial nominees. There has already been some talk that some of these nominations v sent out may not have the approval of Democratic Senators from their home states. How are you going to be approaching that if it falls in with a pattern that you are talking about . Sen. Grassley i believe the blue slip process goes back almost 100 years. Pretty much consistently until the 1960s. It was pretty much that the blue slip was a factor but it may not it would not keep a person from getting out of committee and if the person that objective had to go to the floor to make their objection. Since 1960 there is been a bluechip process. This was been some exceptions. Fact, chairman leahy said he was going to make sure the blue slip process was not abused. That is pretty much my position as well. I think it is very important that the white house work very closely with senators, both republican and democrat, but particularly those states where they have two Democratic Senators. And i think a big factor for me is the extent to which those Democratic Senators make sure that they have adequate communication with the white house. And then, there is another division. I think the blue slip is more respected for district or judges historically than it has been for circuit. In the case of circuit, going way back to ronald reagan, i can tell you that senator grassley and then senator jepson suggested someone for the eighth circuit. We got a phone call that said they decided to go with somebody else. It is much more a white house decision on circuit judges than the District Court judges. So, then, that would lead me to say that this is going to be an individual casebycase decision, but it leads me to say that there is going to have to be a less strict use or obligation to the blue slip policy for circuit. Because that has been the way it has been. Ms. Werner back on the issue of the fbi director. Just to be clear, do you have any names in mind you would like to recommend for that post or that you have already recommended to the white house . Sen. Grassley no. I have been asked that question and given the same answer. I have kind of suggested if you want a show of independence, then maybe someone from the Judicial Branch might be a good place to start. I have been asked about two individuals. I have declined comment because i want to see a list. Ms. Werner would you declined comment on your colleague mike lees suggestion of Merrick Garland . Senator grassley i thought we ought to follow the biden rule and let people have a voice in the final analysis. I think garland is an outstanding individual. I know his reputation as a judge. I do not know anything else about his reputation but there is not anything about garland himself that i could say no to. Steve scully you first came to the house in 1975 immediately after watergate. Seven terms in the senate. Where would you put the political divide in this town between the two parties based on your tenure in congress . Sen. Grassley i get this question asked a little differently town meetings. It goes Something Like this. Why cant you guys in washington, d. C. Get along with each other . Meaning republican and democrat. I say it is worse than it has ever been but it is not as bad i know you are a journalist so you know this, but it is not as bad as my constituency. You folks in journalism like controversy and controversy gets attention. If grassley is fighting with the senator it gets in the news but when grassley was getting along with leahy and we voted committeeut of 10 unanimously and 18 bills got to the white house, you dont read about that because we are not fighting. I think it is worse and i help hope people in journalism will make sure that people know it is not quite as bad because all you read in the newspaper is controversy. Steve scully why do you say it is worse . Sen. Grassley well, i guess i gave you the judges as an example. Since 2001. The shubert rule went into effect and we could filibuster judges and we have been able to filibuster judges ever since. Both in republican and democratic senates. That is a pretty good example of it. But that is only one example. I think a filibuster on more than half of the Supreme Court i mean on more than half of the cabinet this year. This is the slowest a cabinet has been approved since george washington. Poor another example, the first day of the obama administration, we approved half of the cabinet. Ms. Werner you indicated that you have problems with director comey and you welcomed a fresh start. What are your thoughts that there is at least a perception problem with the president ousting the person at the head of the investigation of the president . Sen. Grassley well, the only thing i can go back to is the one document that was put together by rosenstein. And more portly, the personality rosenstein and i do not know him well except when he came to my office for an interview and then he was before our committee. I dont know him well except when he was coming for an interview. President bush appoints him and a president obama keeps him on as a u. S. Attorney. He wins 946 for confirmation. He is second in charge. The fbi reports to him. He feels there is a lack of confidence in him so i have to take the judgment of a guy that has such broad bipartisan support. Mr. Lesniewski some of your colleagues on the judiciary committee, on the democratic side, i think senators blumenthal and durban come to mind they are drafting legislation to revive the old independent counsel statute or to allow for some other congressional method of getting a special prosecutor if rosenstein does not go the way they would like him to go, i believe in appointing a special prosecutor through the Justice Department. Do you think there will be any appetite among republicans, yourself or others, for bringing back that law or some variant of it . Sen. Grassley not as a general proposition when the Justice Department can do it on its own. That would be the basis for a change in law. On an isolated instance like this, i do not see it happening now but that would be the only way it would be considered, i am sure. But you mentioned rosenstein. And the only reason i think people have legitimacy, and at this point, i do not think they have legitimacy for talking about passing a bill, they probably all supported rosenstein in the first place. Maybe blumenthal didnt but most of them did. Why would they be questioning his judgment if they thought he was good enough to get a 946 vote for the United States senate . I think there is a bigger reason here. That is what have we been talking about since early january about getting to the bottom of the russiaflynn connection or the russiapresumably trump connection . We want transparency. You know how special counsels work. If there is not an indictment, there is no report done. You may not know anything when its all said and done. We have the Intelligence Committees of both houses, a House Oversight committee, my Committee Investigating it. And we are going to report so people are going to know everything that we know when it is all said and done. Steve scully what are your thoughts on the president s tweets . Sen. Grassley he gives us a lot of reasons to have to explain. And clarify. Steve scully do they bother you . Sen. Grassley the answer is, from the standpoint of maybe not running them by other people before they go out. Now, maybe they do, but it is like sometimes when i tweet something that i should not tweet. Steve scully he says that they are all his. Sen. Grassley without a doubt. But listen, i think that he has made a case for continuing to do it because he gets his message out and he gets people concentrating on what he wants to talk about instead of what the media wants to talk about. Steve scully do they become a distraction for you and others in the house and the senate . Sen. Grassley no. Ms. Werner you just spoke about transparency. You are someone from that is obviously very important and you have pursued that golden varies waste director career. What do you think of the transparency or lack thereof of this administration . They have taken steps like closing the white house visitor logs. Perhaps asking agencies not to make congressional requests public. Other things of that ilk. What are your thoughts . Sen. Grassley i think i made that clear in the letter that congressman chavis and i wrote to the hhs secretary. He put out something dont talk to congress about letting us know what you said. I dont think he said yeti get approval. That is a violation of the constitutional right of Freedom Freedom of speech. Its a violation of the whistleblower protection laws. And we ought to be an executive branch that wants more transparency, not less. Because the federal government appears an obscure so obscure to so many people in the , grassroots of america, from the president on down, we ought to be doing everything we can to aquaint more people with the workings of government. When you have anything that obscures that, i think its bad. Your question implies about trump. I dont after 110 days, 120 days, i dont want to draw a judgment about trump yet. But you heard me draw this judgment about president obama. On january 21, 2009, im going to be the most Transparent Administration in the history of the country. I wouldnt say that hes different than other people, but by his own benchmark he turned out to be the most stonewalling of any president in the history of our country. Im going to do everything i can to make sure this president doesnt do that. Mr. Lesniewski ill take the final question and ask about another item on the agenda going forward. How do you expect, given that the white house didnt send over the new health care proposal, in the first weeks and you all are having to do the hard work. You used to be the finance Committee Chairman and have been very active on that committee. How long is it going to take everyone to get a Health Care Bill written that can withstand reconciliation and get enough votes to pass . Mr. Grassley you kind of answered your own question. This may sound like a facetious answer, but were not going to go through the Public Relations problems that the house of representatives had for a month and particular that week when they said they were going to pass it back in march. The answer to your question is when we get 51 votes. Mr. Lesniewski are you prepared or preparing for a confirmation hearing for another vacancy on the Supreme Court . Sen. Grassley not preparing but i expecting one. Am based upon the rumors that you hear during may and june. When you get down. Every year you get these rumors. Somebody is going to quit. Everybodys looking, have they hired their clerks, etc. , etc. Are they sick or something . I dont know who its going to be, but i think were going to have one yet this year. Steve what rumors are you hearing . Senator grassley that we will have a vacancy, no names attached to it. Steve thank you very much for being with us on newsmakers and the questioning by ms. Werner and mr. Lesniewski. To all of you, thank you. Tonight iq and they the comparisons between President Donald Trump and Andrew Jackson. Our guest on his book Andrew Jackson southerner. I do not think he represents the positive values that Andrew Jackson represented. He certainly represent some of the negative values that jackson represented. Think i would tell President Trump that if you was to be like Andrew Jackson he has to but the nation and front of his own person, in front of his own family. In front of his own interests because that is what jackson did for most of his presidency. Tonight on 8 00 eastern una. Q and a. Now senator chris murphy holds a town hall. This is about one hour and a half. [applause] thank you. Sit down. Sit down. Thank you, everybody. That is very nice. Cold and thatve makes the feel better today. I feel more well with that nice introduction