The writein candidate. Moore not conceding. Right now a recount is not expected. Here is both men last night. Realize when the vote is this close it is not over. And we still got to go by the rules about this recount provision. We also know that god is always in control. This campaign has been about common courtesy and decency and making sure everyone in in state, regardless of which zip code you live in, is going to get a fair shake in life. Bill we heard this from the president last night. Congratulations to doug jones on a hardfought victory. The writein votes played a big factor but a win is a win. The people of alabama are great and the republicans will have another shot at this seat in a short period of time. It never ends. Sandra Jonathan Serrie live in montgomery, alabama. How big a role did the allegations against moore play in this election . It seems these allegations were front and center. According to a fox news voter analysis, 2 3 of alabama voters said the allegations against roy moore weighed heavily on how they voted in this election and those voters went overwhelmingly in favor of doug jones. 70 of those voting for jones said the Sexual Misconduct allegations against roy moore were important to their vote compared to only 28 of those voting for moore. Here is what moore said about this unusual race during his nonconcession speech last night. Part of the problem with this campaign is weve been painted in an unfavorable and unfaithful light. Weve been put in a hole, if you will. And the allegations also played a role in who didnt vote yesterday. Nearly 6 in 10 voters who did not cast a ballot in yesterdays election said the allegations against roy moore factored into their decision to stay at home. Sandra what challenges does doug jones face as a democrat in a red state, jonathan . No easy task. Ordinarily you run for senate and you win and you are elected to a sixyear term. Doug jones has been elected to fill the unexpired term of Jeff Sessions who, of course, left to become attorney general. And so there is only a few years remaining in his term. So in the year 2020 doug jones is already going to have to launch a reelection bid. No easy task as a democrat in this red state. Jones will likely continue his themes of this election cycle where he was campaigning on themes of unity and bipartisanship. Listen. We have shown not just around the state of alabama, but we have shown the country the way that we can be unified. The chairman of the alabama gop is a little more skeptical and issued a statement saying people in alabama are conservative and have no intentions of moving toward the policies of the democrat party. If mr. Jones aligns himself with the liberal democrats in washington, alabama voters will remember his choices in the 2020 u. S. Senate election. Sandra, back to you. Bill instant analysis. Guy benson has been up all night. Political editor, fox news contributor. How do you see the result come out first and well get into some particulars. An earthquake. No getting around that. Scott brown winning in massachusetts, tairking the seat held by ted kennedy for so long in 2010, a precursor to a major wave election later that same year. I would say, bill, there is one word that can describe the number one reason that roy moore lost this election and that word is republicans. Nothing happens in alabama politics without Republican Voters deciding it needed to happen. Democrats what they needed to do to get jones in the ballpark but Republican Voters who wrote in another name and crossed over for doug jones and thousands upon thousands of Republican Voters who sat at home unwilling to support roy moore. Bill the last point is well taken. There is a tendency to look too much into these outcomes. Over the coming days well let it marinate and see how it settles in. Here is our voter analysis from last night. Africanamericans went for the democrat by 87 points. Under the age of 45, wait for it, in red plus 26 for the democrat. What do you think about that . In alabama this is a conservative place, and this was to me a warning shot for the Republican Party the future of the party and the future of the conservative movement cannot be and entail people like roy moore. Young voters even in the most red of precincts want nothing to do with someone like roy moore. You might say lets not read too much into this one election because of the distinct challenges and flaws of roy moore with all the allegations, nine women. I think there is some truth to that. If you look at some of the exit polling to me perhaps one of the biggest data points that stuck out generally republican women are married with children. When you look at women who broke heavily for doug jones with a majority, a solid majority of women believing the allegations against roy moore, women without children went for doug jones narrowly. Mothers went overwhelmingly for doug jones. That is a break from the usual pattern. Married women with kids typically in the republican column by 34 points, they went against roy moore and i think we all know why. Bill something to watch. What about the agenda, the building behind you now . What happens to that 12 hours into this . Now the republicans have a new sense of urgency on tax reform because doug jones, my guess, is that he is going to govern as a liberal. So they want to get that bill finalized and voted on out of Conference Committee before he is seated. The plan was always to seat the winner of this special election after christmas and so right now theyve got just two seats to play with. That would go down to one seat if they wait. So my guess is the Republican Leadership is going to say lets get this done while we have a tiny bit more of a cushion because roy moore, a disastrous candidate really put a lot of things in jeopardy, including the president s agenda. Bill thank you, guy, guy benson reporting in washington, d. C. Sandra. Sandra a big day on capitol hill as Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein gets set to testify on Robert Muellers russia investigation. Meanwhile were learning more about the antitrump texts sent between former members of muellers team. F. B. I. Agent peter strzok and f. B. I. Attorney lisa page. In one Exchange Page tells strzok trump is a loath some humans. He responds would he be a worse president than cruz . Trump . Yes, i think so. Strzok says america will get what the voting public deserves. Chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge is live from washington youve been going through these Text Messages since fox acquired them. What stands out to you . Good morning. Its really important to read these Text Messages in the context of the major milestones in the clinton email and russia investigations. It cast these texts in an entirely different light. Lets look at one from march of 2016 one year into the f. B. I. Investigation of Hillary Clinton and theyve already confirmed that there was spillage of classified information because of her use of a personal server for government business. And its in this text the f. B. I. Agent peter strzok describes then candidate trump as an idiot. Lets look at the next ones from july and august of 2016. This is perhaps the critical window in both investigations because the f. B. I. Closes the clinton email case for the first time and within weeks open a Counter Intelligence investigation into russia and interference in the 2016 election. Its in these texts the f. B. I. Agent says opened on trump. That appears to be a reference to the c. I. Case. In a followup text he drops the f bomb on candidate trump. The other thing that i would mention is that agent strzok is not a run of the mill agent. If not the senior Counter Intelligence agent within the f. B. I. , he is one of the top guys. His job is to track spies and deal with espionage. Its sloppy and shows very poor judgment to send texts like this. Sandra today will the Deputy Attorney general be pressed by both sides of the aisle during this hearing . Thats exactly what we expect. Im inside the house office building. The raburn building where theyll have the testimony from the deputy a. G. An hour from now. We expect him to face pretty aggressive questioning from republicans and democrats. From republicans why does it seem that the Justice Department and the f. B. I. Seems to be throwing up roadblock after roadblock when it comes to getting information about the obtaining of surveillance warrants on Trump Campaign associates . And then also information on who paid for this dossier within the f. B. I. Did they pay for this research. Here is just a taste of what we could expect today. This is the testimony of the f. B. I. Director who was here just last week. Did the f. B. I. Pay for a dossier on the president . Questions about the dossier are Something Better taken up in separate settings. Did bob mueller recruit people to his probe who had a bias against the president . I cant speak to how director mueller staffed or recruited for his team. One of our contacts is also encouraging us to listen for questions about that tarmac meeting one week before Hillary Clintons f. B. I. Interview between Loretta Lynch and bill clinton and whether, in fact, there is something that memorial eyess the conversation on that jet, an audio tape or transcript. Sandra thank you for your reporting on that. A busy day on capitol hill. Bill coming up in a few minutes talk with the man who leads that hearing. Bob goodlatte is live next. Sandra breaking details about the accused new york city bomber. What federal officials are now saying about how and when the suspect was radicalized. Bill President Trump saying he wants the tax bill signed by christmas day. When can we see a final vote and what is in it . Kevin brady chair of the house ways and Means Committee is our guest coming up in moments. Were making Good Progress. I like the direction were going. More importantly i like the timetable that we will hit which is a Conference Committee report at the end of the week. My blood sugar to stay in control. So i asked about tresiba®. Tresiba® ready tresiba® is a oncedaily, longacting insulin that lasts even longer than 24 hours. I need to shave my a1c. Tresiba® ready tresiba® works like my bodys insulin. Releases slow and steady. Providing powerful a1c reduction. Im always on call. An insulin that fits my schedule is key. Tresiba® ready i can take tresiba® any time of day. So if i miss or delay a dose, i take it when i remember, as long as theres at least 8 hours between doses. Once in use, it lasts 8 weeks with or without refrigeration, twice as long as the lantus® pen. announcer tresiba® is used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. Dont use tresiba® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar, or if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. Dont share needles or insulin pens. Dont reuse needles. The most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause dizziness, sweating, confusion, and headache. Check your blood sugar. Low blood sugar can be serious and may be lifethreatening. Injection site reactions may occur. Tell your prescriber about all medicines you take and all your medical conditions. Taking tzds with insulins like tresiba® may cause serious side effects like heart failure. Your insulin dose shouldnt be changed without asking your prescriber. Get medical help right away if you have trouble breathing, fast heartbeat, extreme drowsiness, swelling of your face, tongue, or throat, dizziness or confusion. Ask your Health Care Provider if youre tresiba® ready. Covered by most insurance and medicare plans. Tresiba® ready bill we are 45 minutes away. Another hearing on the hill. Ron rosenstein will be in the hot seat as we learn more about these Text Messages that got an f. B. I. Agent booted from muellers team. Bob goodlatte is the chairman of the committee. He joins me now. Good morning to you and thank you for coming back. You have seen the Text Messages, right . I have begun looking at them. We got them late last night. When i leave here ill go back and continue and get ready for the hearing in less than an hour. Bill these are exchanges between linda page and peter strzok. Page said god, trump is loath some human. Strzok said yet he may win. Good for hillary, he is an idiot. Hillary should win 100 times over from march of 2016. You have this from march of 2016. Trump is a blanking idiot and unable to provide a coherent answer. Do you believe there is a bias at the f. B. I. . Certainly is a bias on the part of peter strzok and quite frankly his involvement in this process going all the way back to those texts and emails that you just read and many others, by the way, show that all during the investigation of Hillary Clintons email scandal which he was heavily involved in, including changing director comeys remarks when he said that she was careless instead of grossly negligent, was in my opinion showing a strong bias on the part of not only mr. Strzok but those who allowed him to do that. And then to put him on this Investigative Team with former director mueller for the special investigation raises an awful lot of questions that will be asked today. Bill i have a few more questions here back to the text message from page. Here is what she wrote apparently. So look, you say this is april of 2016. You say we text on that phone when we talk about hillary because it cant be traced. You were just venting because you feel bad that you have gone so much but that cant be helped right now. They knew she shouldnt be talking about these matters. Would you draw that same conclusion . Absolutely. Here is one of the top Counter Intelligence agents at the f. B. I. Communicating in this fashion. He shouldnt even be doing this to begin with, but to do this in that position shows extreme recklessness, gross negligence on his own part. And obviously one of the questions is he was removed from this team and transferred to another department in the f. B. I. Why . Why isnt he out on the street . Bill you want him fired. I want him struck, thats right. Bill do you think the mueller matter has been fair to date . We are going to ask a lot of questions about that as well. Obviously a couple of things that concern us greatly. My position at the outset was lets give former director mueller the opportunity to conduct this investigation. Were not going to interfere. Now we see that people like peter strzok and others who have had strong bias in favor of Hillary Clinton have been heavily engaged in this process. And secondly we increasingly see a link between what was going on in the Clinton Campaign and the basis for this investigation in the first place may be very, very closely linked. And so those things raise serious questions about the legitimacy of this investigation. Well probe that today. Bill do you believe another special counsel is necessary . I absolutely believe one is necessary. Bill on behalf of the f. B. I. , department of justice or both. We should be looking into what happened with the f. B. I. Last year when director comey made the decision to step in front of cameras and say that Hillary Clinton wasnt going to be prosecuted. We need to look into how that investigation was conducted, how the report about the investigation was written before the decision was made. Even the witnesses were interviewed. We need to look into the immunity that was granted. Endless questions need to be looked into by an independent special counsel. Bill were waiting for the hearing in 40 minutes. What do you think of the roy moore defeat in alabama . What changes in washington and for your party. The senate that has a narrow majority already is now more narrow. Getting through the senate, which has ridiculous rules, bills that the American People want to reform our government, to lower taxes, to reform government regulation and a whole host of other things are even more jeopardized by that. But the people have alabama have spoken. The senate has to step up no matter who is there. Bill thank you for your time. Bob goodlatte the chairman of the committee. The hearing begins at 11 00 eastern time. Sandra thousands of firefighters fighting to put out the raging wildfires in Southern California. What are the top google searches for 2017 . Bill sandra smith. Sandra any guesses . For 100 , heritage and innovation have made gillette the 1 shave in america. Now get gillette quality at lower prices every day. Brought to you by 1200 workers in boston were proud of giving you our best. Gillette. The best a man can get. When youre clocking out. Sensing your every move and automatically adjusting to help you stay effortlessly comfortable. I can even help with a silent night. Does your bed do that . I dont actually talk but i can tell you how you slept. Im the new sleep number 360 smart bed. Lets meet at a sleep number store. Bill google revealing the top searches of the year that youre looking for. Are you ready . Here is the list. Hurricane irma is number one including matt lauer, tom petty, super bowl. Las Vegas Shooting and howto searches. Ready for this . How to make slime. How to make Solar Eclipse glasses. That was probably me. How to buy bitcoin. Sandra that is hysterical. Anybody with a toddler at home gets that with slime. Slime is necessary. Bill fascinated by the topic. There you go, america. Sandra all right. Thank you. Meanwhile, firefighters in Southern California are making some progress in putting out the raging wildfires. The flames now about 25 contained. More than 236,000 acres are burning in Ventura County forcing thousands from their homes. Will karr is live in california with more. Good morning, will. Good morning, sandra. Another eerie morning. The hillside looks like a volcano and raining ash. The fifth largest wildfire in california history. The weather conditions have been favorable for firefighters since this weekend. Were still in a red flag warning until friday but this fire has raced through 236,000 acres. Its destroyed more than 900 homes and buildings. Filled this entire area with smoke leaving residents desperate for fresh air. My wife and i are, you know, living moment by moment. My mom had a Lung Transplant four years ago and has Pulmonary Fibrosis and im concerned. We left her house just to see what the conditions are like and its really bad. More good news, firefighters have gained the upper hand on all the other fires burning across Southern California. We have also learned the cause for the skirball fire that started in bel air in los angeles. It was from an illegal cooking fire. As for the cause of the thomas fire behind me, thats still under investigation. Sandra will karr, thank you for your reporting on the ground there. Bill republicans in congress trying to deliver on the president s promise. Tax cuts for christmas. Will that happen . Kevin brady is behind all of this. He is writing the bill. He is live to tell us how the process is going today. Sandra looking forward to getting an update if him plus the suspect in the new york city subway bombing getting set to appear before a judge today. As we learn more about his plot to kill americans. Officers also found a passport there in ullahs name with handwriting that included one particularly chilling note. And i quote, oh, america, die in your rage. These are difficult times for elderly holocaust survivors. With no food and no heat call now and say that you will give a special hanukkah gift of 25 to a holocaust survivor. Are we going to feed the hungry . The fellowship is faced with desperate pleas for food blankets and medicine. To a holocaust survivor suffering all alone i hope and pray you will do so bill the suspect behind that bombing monday morning at a new york city subway line will face a judge for the first time today. That legal proceeding likely will happen inside of a hospital room where the suspect is being held. He is also, we found yesterday, posted on facebook trump, you failed to protect your nation. Rick leventhal back live in new york city outside now and authorities have made a lot of progress in this. What are you hearing, rick, good morning. Good morning. Forgive me for it feels like 9 this morning. Investigators have gathered a significant amount of progress in this. The suspect waived his rights and told authorities how and why he strapped that bomb to his belly and tried to kill himself and others in a pedestrian tunnel under the port authority. He said he did it for the Islamic State to punish the u. S. For attacking isis overseas. He built that pipe bomb and filled it with screws and used a christmas light as part of the trigger and chose the busy bus terminal on a monday morning to maximize casualties. As alleged, the location and timing of his planned attack was no accident. And his motivation was no mystery. Ullah faces five federal counts and those will likely be presented to him today in his hospital room. We havent confirmed it yet but he is still recovering from injuries that he received. They may go to his room and set up a videoconference sometime today to present him those charges. Bill the other thing in this story is how he was able to get into the country in 2011. What more do you have on that today that you think is relevant at the moment . He obtained his visa through the extended family chain migration. Part of the family immigrant program. An uncle in bangladesh won a lottery and was then able to get ullahs mother and siblings and ullah in before his 21st birthday. Three years later ullah began his radicalization watching isis videos online and a year ago researched how to build a bomb. The president says the visa system has to be fixed. President trump there have been two terrorist attacks in new york city carried out by foreign nationals here on green cards. The first attacker came through the visa lottery and the second through chain migration. We will end both of them. Ullah as a wife and children in bangladesh. The wife said ullah had talked to her about a radical muslim preacher in bangladesh. Bill rick leventhal, thanks. He is going to make the case america thats fallen to far behind and the code is so complex we have to act now. People talk about lets have more study or hearings. Less talking, more doing is what the president my guess is he is going to make that case. Sandra President Trump will make his Closing Argument on tax reform and remarks at the white house later today. This comes as Congressional Republicans race to the finish line to merge those house and senate tax bills. A final vote could come as soon as early next week. Joining me now is texas republican congressman kevin brady, one of the key architects of the House Republican tax bill and chairman of the house ways and Means Committee. A busy day for you. Thank you for coming on with us. Mr. Chairman, are you making progress . We are making progress. A couple things. One this is a historic day for the American People. They get to watch for the first time in 31 years a Conference Committee on tax reform open to the public that everyone can watch so youll hear about the debate and the benefits and doubling the standard deduction. On the progress were making Good Progress and were on exactly the same timetable we set six months ago, which is to deliver this to the president s desk by christmastime. Were on that timetable. I feel good about getting it. Sandra will there be a vote next week . I leave that to leader mccarthy. Thats the schedule weve been on for a long time. I expect it to happen. Sandra where do the biggest differences remain between the house and senate at this moment . Lots of Common Ground here. Lots of press reports about different areas. You know how these big negotiations go, which is nothing is finalized until everything is. Look, were working through how do we deliver the strongest middle class tax cut. How does america become competitive now . I think weve been all working toward making sure all our businesses receive and families receive tax relief now and so look, there is some differences. Were closing the differences in a big way. Sandra you know, one of those areas where you mentioned there is a lot of chatter and talk is about the Corporate Tax rate. The house and senate agreed on that 20 Corporate Tax rate after the president originally pushed for 15 . But now he has signaled he is open to negotiation there. Is there wiggle room on the Corporate Tax rate to go higher . I think the president did a really smart thing which is provide the flexibility to try to drive down rates whether you are a small business, a larger one, or you are a family. And so by him doing that, thats really allowed us to work with the senate to deliver the best rates possible. I cant comment on that, any final decisions and the details on this yet. But by the end of the week the American Public will see this complete Conference Committee report. Sandra the top individual tax rate in the house 38. 5 . In the senate 39. 6 . Are you considering lowering that at all . Considering right now one of the big criticisms is that the wealthiest taxpayers fear that their taxes will go up under these plans. You know, its interesting because we seem to get hit by all sides. Some say tax relief for the wealthy. Others say no there is tax increases for the wealthy. I guess my point is wait for the final bill. I know for the state and the salt states where the local governments just hammer families, we know we want to do more. Part of that is looking at deductions. Part of that is lowering the top rate. But i know this. So that typical families in wheaton, illinois, will see a tax cut of 4,200 and were not done yet. Illinois is a hightax state. I think were making very Good Progress on getting families real relief. Sandra when you talk about salt. Is that scaling back salt the state and local tax deductions. Is that a risk youre hearing some are willing to make at this point . A risk from what standpoint . Sandra are you willing to make changes there . We had pete king from new york on this week and he cannot be a yes on this because he uses Strong Language when he says this will be brutal for the people of his state. The answer is absolutely. In fact, we made that commitment when the house bill passed that wed work with our state and local lawmakers especially from california, new york, new jersey to deliver even more relief. We have a simple principle here. Lets let people keep more of what they earn whatever they live even though the states are brutally taxing the state and local and property taxes, we still believe that we ought to deliver relief. Sandra does the outcome of last nights election in alabama, does that increase the pressure on your party to get this done . I dont think so. Nor does it change the timetable. We are exactly on the one we announced roughly six months ago. I think weve put pressure on ourselves that this is look, our tax code is a monster and it is really hurting america and families. We pledged to change it, make it simpler and more pro growth and more competitive. Well deliver on that and deliver it soon. Sandra why has it been such a tough sell . The president this afternoon is expected to welcome families at the white house, make his Closing Arguments, if you will, when it comes to pushing for this tax reform. I know there is a big lunch with the president as well today. Why is it such a tough sell for your party . I think its because it is a tough task. Look, washington, the status quo, all that is president reagan found the same thing. This is just a tough challenge. And i know washington democrats, for example for that family of four in wheat on, they look at 4,200 and sneer at it. Thats nothing. But for those families, its a lot and to do that we have to change the code, top to bottom. It is just a political challenge, really, of any generation. So i think taxpayers are going to be really pleased with the outcome of this report in just a couple of days. Sandra i know you have a very busy day with the president and next week possibly a vote coming. The schedule still by christmas. Well see where it goes. Interesting mention wheaton, my hometown. Happens to be. I dont know if you knew that. Thank you so much, mr. Chairman, for coming on. Bill big shoutout to wheaton, illinois this morning. Youre right about the calendar. The 22nd of december is next friday. Thats the time they want to have the vote done by. If it slides past the first of the year it would appear that all bets are off. But a little bump in each direction. Sandra im hearing optimism from the chairman. Well see. Bill in a moment. What is Rex Tillerson saying now about north korea . Were ready to talk any time they would like to talk. But they have to come to the table and they have to come to the table with a view that they do want to make a different choice. Bill what are the prospects for diplomacy . Talks facetoface with kim jongun and others . Is he willing to negotiate . Well have that all coming up in a moment. Sandra the upset last night in alabama. What will doug jones victory and roy moores loss mean for President Trumps agenda in washington he was a fundamentally flawed candidate. He had a lot of problems. He was not the candidate that donald trump supported or endorsed in the primary. Thats what weve got to do is wait on god and let this process play out. I know its late. We cant wait and have everybody wait until after 11 00. But the votes are still coming in and were looking at that. We have been at crossroads in the past and unfortunately we have usually taken the wrong fork. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, you took the right road. Bill doug jones late in the night scoring the upset deep in the heart of alabama. Roy moore has not yet conceded. The victory will in the end, however, if it continues this way, leave republicans with just a single vote majority when jones is sworn in most likely in january. Brett blackman and richard fowler. Good day to both of you. You stayed up late last night, right . Our voter analysis found a few things, the question about whether or not the sexual allegations were important to your vote. 70 who voted for jones said yes. Moore analysis. Africanamericans plus 87. I dont know how much of a surprise that is but that next line is. Plus 26 for those under the age of 45. Okay, brad, lets go ahead and start with the caveat sometimes we read too much in these elections. Sometimes perhaps we do not read enough because the nuance may give us a lot of clues along the way. What do you see today . A couple lessons. Jones would not have won unless republicans gave him that seat. That can be said absolutely in this race. Republicans stayed home and republicans were disenfranchised. We had a flawed candidate. Jones has to realize he comes from a ruby red state and he needs to extend his hand and President Trump needs to extend his hand to jones. I would have him at the white house tomorrow and sit down and say look, remember where you came from and you are on probation. You have three years. You dont have the sixyear term. Guess what in 2020 youre on the ballot with me and i won the state by 62 . So jones could be an agent for compromise within the democratic caucus. This could be a blessing in disguise. Bill if you get a tax plan done in this calendar and move to infrastructure in 2018. You bring jones to the white house tomorrow, very interesting. All right, richard, how about that grand idea . Its a good idea. Sadly, it wont go from brads mouth to the president s ears because the president doesnt take advice from the swamp. As much as i love brad i think he might be a member of the swamp like i am. [laughter] bill those are fighting words, there. Are you a gator, brad . No, im not. No. With that being said, i think youre right not to read into this race. Where you can make some read is the argument brad just made. The president won this state in double digits and now his lead has shrunk to democrats plus one or two. It is indeed true that roy moore was the candidate and he was a flawed candidate at best. But i think there is something to be said about the fact that the democratic coalition, which is africanamericans, young people, which is women, came out in record numbers to defeat roy moore and i think republicans also came out and they had a protest vote with the 22,000 or so that wrote in somebody else which speaks to the fact the Republican Party has a minor a major civil war happening within its ranks it has to figure out to fix before we get to november. Bill a tweet from the president this morning. The reason i originally endorsed Luther Strange and his numbers went up is i said roy moore wouldnt be able to win the election. Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him. The democrats still need to win white men in america. That was pretty clear last night. No doubt. We cant take this race and generalize it to the midterms next year. I think what we need to do is we need to understand now that our majority now is less by one. And we need to hang together or we hang separately. Going into january we better lead with strength coming out of a successful tax bill. And that means infrastructure. You mentioned it earlier. A great opportunity to build bipartisanship and democrats to show that they really do care about america and putting americans back to work. Lets see what happens in january. This isnt doom and gloom. Bill we shall. Rich, the last comment. I want to make one more point. Democrats are motivated. Virginia showed us that and alabama showed us that as well. I think thats right. Democrats are motivated and i think democrats are tired of the Trump Presidency and what President Trump needs to do and george bush it did it valiantly, he needs a way to expand his base. The past 11 months, the president has done everything in his power to shrink his base and make it as small as possible. This election should be the time where the president says wait a minute. I need to expand the base if im going to run again. Bill back in a moment. Thanks, gentlemen. This is electricity. This is a power plant. This is tim barckholtz. Thats me this is something he is researching at exxonmobil using fuel cells to capture Carbon Emissions at power plants. This is the potential. Reducing co2 emissions by up to 90 . While also producing more power. This could be big. Energy lives here. Bill word from washington fox news confirming donald trump junior will be before the Senate Intelligence panel today. Thats a closed hearing. Therefore we will not see it. However, we will see in a matter of minutes seven minutes from now Rod Rosenstein before the house Judiciary Committee. Well bring it to you. Sandra fiery exchanges there. Fox news alert. Anger in the streets of the west bank and elsewhere as demonstrators protest trumps decision to move the u. S. Embassy in israel though jerusalem. Palestinian president abbas saying the United States can no longer play a role in the middle east Peace Process. David lee miller is live in jerusalem with reaction. So far no initial reaction from israeli officials regarding the speech given by the palestinian president at an islamic summit taking place in istanbul. In that speech which lasted for more than one hour, abbas had his harshest criticism yet for President Trumps recognition as jerusalem as israels capital. He said the u. S. Has chosen to use its qualification as a mediator. We will no longer accept it has a role in the Peace Process. He called it a crime and said the responsibility should be shifted to the United Nations for the Peace Process and other countries to recognize palestinian as a state. Other leaders at this emergency summit echoed abbas. Jordan said the jerusalem declaration threatened the Peace Process. Irans president said the u. S. Does not respect the legitimate demands of palestinians. And again today, sandra, palestinian protestors clashed with israeli troops in bethlehem, ramallah but the significance of the violence is less than one week ago. Palestinian officials are now coming that abbas is not going to meet with the u. S. Vice president mike pence. The Vice President is expected to arrive here this weekend. The two had initially planned a meeting in bethlehem. That meeting has been canceled because of the u. S. Position on jerusalem. Sandra David Lee Miller in jerusalem for us. Thank you. Bill we are just minutes away now from the start of a critical hearing on capitol hill. Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein set to take questions. He is the one in charge of the russia matter and appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel. Well take you inside that hearing room once it begins. Quick break here on americas newsroom, back after this. Watch me. Ive tried lots of things for my joint pain. Now . Watch me. Think id give up showing these guys how its done . Please. Real people with active Psoriatic Arthritis are changing the way they fight it. Theyre moving forward with cosentyx®. Its a different kind of targeted biologic. Its proven to help people find less joint pain and clearer skin. Dont use if you are allergic to cosentyx. Before starting cosentyx you should be checked for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms of an infection. Or if you have received a vaccine, or plan to. If you have inflammatory bowel disease tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. Serious allergic reactions may occur. With less joint pain, watch me. For less joint pain and clearer skin, ask your rheumatologist about cosentyx. Looking for a hotel that fits. Whoooo. Your budget . Tripadvisor now searches over. 200 sites to find you the. Hotel you want at the lowest price. Grazi, gino find a price that fits. Tripadvisor. Your privacy makes you myt number 1 place to go number 2. I love you, but sometimes you stink. Febreze air effects doesnt just mask, it cleans away odors. Because the things you love the most can stink. And try febreze small spaces to clean away odors for up to 30 days. Breathe happy with febreze. Elusive. Shrewd. Cancer. Is. Smart. It pushes us. We push back. We even push each other. To challenge conventional thinking. Find smarter solutions. Thats what makes us one of the leaders in precision Cancer Treatment. Forging ahead with technology that wasnt available to Cancer Patients just a short time ago. Like advanced genomic testing. A diagnostic tool that lets us see cancer at the molecular level. Then helps us find different ways to target it. And immunotherapy, a treatment that actually makes your immune system smarter. Trains it to attack the cancer in your body. This is what we live for. Giving our patients Compassionate Care by offering them more precise and less invasive Treatment Options than before. Thats what makes us Cancer Treatment centers of america. Were not just fighting cancer anymore. Were outsmarting it. The evolution of cancer care is here. Sandra an explosive hearing on the russia investigation just minutes away now on capitol hill. The second in command at the Justice Department facing fire amid revelations of partisan conflicts at the doj and f. B. I. Welcome to a new hour of americas newsroom, everyone. Im sandra smith on this wednesday morning. Bill good morning. Its cold outside and hot inside that room. Im bill hemmer, good morning. Deputy a. G. Rod rosenstein on the hot seat looking at alleged this amid evidence of antitrump bias by a senior f. B. I. Agent since removed from the russia matter. The chairman of the committee is Bob Goodlatte. He went off last hour here on americas newsroom. Here is part of what he said about that. Here is one of the top Counter Intelligence agents at the f. B. I. Communicating in this fashion. He shouldnt even be doing this to begin with. One of the questions is he was removed from this team and transferred to another department in the f. B. I. Why . Why isnt he out on the street . I want him struck. Sandra joining us now is utah congressman jason chaffetz. He set that up for us this morning. We expect to see him in moments as the hearing is set to begin. Can you set this up for us . Rosenstein is about to face a barrage of questions in that room. He is really the one in charge. He is the one that appointed mueller and the deep concern is that everybody on muellers team seems to have a tshirt on that says im with her. Meaning Hillary Clinton. And its just outrageous. How is it that somebody so senior with so much authority, not only mr. Strzok, but then you also have bruce ohr whose wife works for the very company theyre looking at. Remember, this is an institution, fusion gps that has less than 15 employees. And so how did it take so long . And then why in the world, once they did find this out, why isnt the guy fired . Only the f. B. I. Seems to be able to put that person in Human Resources of all places. Sandra this as some republicans are even urging the appointment of a Second Special counsel, right, congressman, to look into these allegations that agents within these departments were favoring Hillary Clinton in the election . I actually think it would be a mistake. I think the gut reaction from those of us that are concerned about what is going on or not going on in the department of justice say oh, lets get another special counsel, but how is this special counsel working out . Less accountability. They can investigate anything and they have to start from scratch. If you use the Inspector General, in this case michael horowitz, he already has 450 employees as inspectors there at the department of justice. They have been investigating this matter for more than a year and a half. And i do believe in the First Quarter they will come out with the most definitive report soup to nuts from the tarmac meeting through the firing of comey and all of these interactions in between that are so highly suspicious and appear to be flat out wrong. The Inspector General is where everybody should hang their hat. Sandra jordan said this will be intense as the session and wray hearings, Christopher Wray heading up the f. B. I. As far as rosenstein answering questions about mueller himself, do you expect him to stand behind him . Well, a lot of these people are professional they give professional testimony. They give five minutes of a nothing answer. It is up to the members of the committee to hold them accountable. There is no reason why you should hold back. The Judiciary Committee is the committee of jurisdiction. Everybody has a security clearance. You cant simply say we have to talk about that later. I dont want to get in the way. Thats not the way you provide oversight. Theyll talk about everything from the dossier, the personnel problems that are out there. I think you are going to see in particular jim jordan and trey gowdy, john radcliffe, one of the strongest members of that committee and Bob Goodlatte that will have the most pointed questions and there is no reason why rosenstein should pull back those answers. It is not just to come up and read a press release, it is to actually answer the questions from the American People. Sandra if you were sitting in that room what would you be asking him . I would be all over this bruce ohr situation. That has such an amazing conflict of interest. And i want to know what is it that happened with that dossier . How was it funded . Was that bogus information used to get a fisa court order so they could go spy and the trump administration. If you just keep pounding away at that issue, you need to know the integrity of that dossier, the funding of that dossier, and then why is it that they are not providing to the Intel Committee the personnel and paperwork you have devin nunes the chairman of the Intel Committee almost to the point theyll hold them in contempt. Thats how bad it is from a Republican Administration and youll have republicans going after them. Sandra when you talk about the dossier and whether or not it was used to open the investigation in the first place, that would be your question to rosenstein in that room, expectations are high. Are they too high . Do you think we are going to get to the bottom of any of this . I think wray gave a bland answer, a nonanswer saying that happened before i got here. I cant really talk about it. Yes, they can. Thats exactly why they are called before congress and i know its uncomfortable but the rosenstein has got to answer these questions. And i think if members will continue to press him to get a definitive answer and if they have to close those doors, go into a special session and make sure that they are sharing classified information, then do it. This is a very serious matter. We arent talking about rank and file members of the f. B. I. Most f. B. I. Agents i find are good, hard working patriotic people. These are senior, senior people with a prejudice wearing it on their shirt sleeve texting to each other about the prejudice that they have against donald trump. Sandra you know, last week expectations were that Christopher Wray would be able to calm concerns about the integrity of the f. B. I. Will rosenstein be able to do that with the integrity of both the d. O. J. And f. B. I. Called into question especially with a tweet from the president saying the reputation of the f. B. I. Is in tatters . My own personal opinion, the attorney general himself, mr. Sessions, is nowhere to be found. You and i have had this conversation for a few minutes and we dont mention his name. Mr. Rosenstein is actually in charge of the department of justice at this point. He is the most senior person and the one that put mueller in place and the one that provides the daytoday oversight within the department of justice as to what is going on. Its one of the worst mistakes to happen in order to put this in place and now as we start to peel back the onion you find out the lack of integrity that investigation, he is the one that has to take the most responsibility and thats what members are going to do today. Sandra now the revelation of those Text Messages that were exchanged between two people working within the f. B. I. , as you can see, rosenstein has now entered the room and being seated. We expect opening remarks to begin with chairman goodlatte at any moment now. Well go to those when they begin. Certainly this is a huge moment. Jason chaffetz. Final thoughts. It is a big moment and youve got this is the way our system works. It is uncomfortable but we in the United States do things differently. We do peel back the onion. We do go ask hard, difficult questions and why you put people under oath, raising their hands to give truthful answers. It should happen even more often. I do think you are going to get some answers out of him today if members will be tenacious and continue to pepper him on everything from those Text Messages to funding of the dossier to the personnel because those personnel really should be dismissed. Sandra you can hear the gavel. The gavel has been struck and you can hear chairman goodlatte beginning his opening remarks. Lets listen in. Recognizing myself for an opening statement. Thank you, Deputy Attorney general rosenstein appearing for the first time in fronts of this committee. There is much to discuss today and they look to your testimony. As chairman of the committee with primary oversight of the department of justice and the f. B. I. , i have always supported the department and the f. B. I. In performing their valuable missions to keep our nation safe and to hold individuals accountable for criminal conduct. Yet i and many on this committee now find ourselves in the difficult position of questioning the actions of both prior and Current Department and f. B. I. Leadership. You have a unique role at the department of justice in that you appointed special counsel mueller and have a supervisory role over his investigation. It is very appropriate for you to appear before this committee to answer questions with related to the scope of the special counsels investigation and current efficacy in light of various events calling into question its impash talt. Reports on the political predisposition and bias of certain career agents and Department Lawyers on special counsel muellers team are deeply troubling to all citizens who expect a system of blind and equal justice. The department of justice investigations must not be tainted by individuals imposing their own political prejudices. We are now beginning to better understand the magnitude of this insider bias on mr. Muellers team. First we have f. B. I. Agent peter strzok and f. B. I. Lawyer lisa page exchanging communications showing extreme bias against President Trump, a fact that would be bad enough if it werent for the fact that these two individuals were employed as part of the Mueller Dream Team investigating the very person for whom they were showing disdain. And calling it mere disdain is generous. According to the documents produced last night to this committee, mr. Strzok and miss page refer to the president as an utter idiot, a loathsome human and awful while continuing praising Hillary Clinton and the obamas. These Text Messages prove what we all suspected. Highranking f. B. I. Officials involved in the clinton investigation were personally invested in the outcome of the election and let their Strong Political opinions cloud their professional judgment. And this was only an initial disclosure containing heavy redactions. Second, former embattled f. B. I. General counsel and current mueller prosecutor and drew wiseman expressed his awe of a former doj official for shunning the president and failing to faithfully execute the law. However, we are the ones now in awe that someone like mr. Weissman remains on an Investigative Team that looks more and more partisan. Third, we have learned that a top mueller prosecutor, jeanne wraoe, in addition to the other actions that would normally justify recusal served as an attorney for the Clinton Foundation. Arent attorneys advised to avoid the appearance of impror pry tee. This seems to be the definition of appearance of impropriety. Fourth, we have just recently learned that another Top Department of justice official, bruce ohr, has been reassigned because of his wife and his connections with the infamous dossier and the company from whom the Opposition Research document originated. We hope to hear your assessment of the foregoing conflicts whether individuals are being held accountable and whether you still have confidence in the judgment of the special counsel you named and supervise. Regarding the clinton email scandal you along with attorney general sessions have to date declined to appoint a Second Special counsel to investigate the improprieties that continue to surface relating to the handling of the clinton email investigation and other events surrounding the 2016 election. These are some of the important issues on which we will focus our energy and questions today. We want to understand your participation and the departments involvement in addressing both investigations. Mr. Deputy attorney general, the department of justices reputation as an impartial arbiter of justice has been called into question. This taint of politicalism should concern all americans who have pride in the fairness of our nations justice system. While we continue to call on you to appoint a Second Special counsel as you are aware, we have also opened our own joint investigation with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to review f. B. I. And the department of justices handling of the clinton email investigation. I want to thank you and attorney general sessions for recently committing to provide us relevant documents to enable robust congressional overnight of this matter. I implore you to continue to work with us on these and other important matters facing our nation. One of these matters involves a Critical Program for our National Security fisa section 702. This committee passed on an overwhelming bipartisan basis the usa liberty act which maintains the integrity of the program while protecting cherished Civil Liberties. This overwhelming vote occurred despite the departments lobbying efforts against our bill. The usa liberty act was characterized as bad for the program, highly problematic, unworkable and a proposal that would effectively dismantle section 702. However, the reality is that this committees legislation struck a balance that promotes National Security and Civil Liberties. I hope to hear from you why the department of justice felt it necessary to oppose a bill to reauthorize 702 and instill confidence in the American People that their privacy and Civil Liberties are respected by a government whose duty it is to protect them. The department of justice must reacquire the trust of the American People. I know there are thousands of department of justice employees and line agents in the department in the f. B. I. That are dedicated individuals that are dedicated to upholding the rule of law and protecting the American People. And i hope that we can come to a conclusion about those people who have not met that standard in this hearing today. Thank you, mr. Deputy attorney general, for appearing today. I now yield to the gentleman from new york, mr. Nadler, for his comments. Before i begin my statement, first let me wholly endorse the comments of the chairman with reference to section 702 and the legislation that we reported out of this committee. Second, i want to acknowledge a letter the chairman and i received last night from the Democratic Women of this committee. Our colleagues have written to ask we convene a hearing regarding the serious and credible allegations leveled against President Trump by 19 women. Without objection i ask this letter be made part of the record. Objection. It will be made part of the letter. We should convene this hearing as soon as possible. An opportunity for us to lead and show the country this kind of behavior is unacceptable at any level of government. Mr. Chairman, let me start by saying welcome to the house Judiciary Committee, mr. Rosenstein. For the better part of a year, my colleagues and i have implored this committee to conduct real oversight of the department of justice. On january 24th, 2017, we wrote to chairman goodlatte insisting the committee hold hearings on President Trumps conflicts of interest at home and abroad. Citing to experts across the political spectrum we showed the administrates attempts are so far whole inadequate. Six weeks later attorney general sessions was forced to recuse himself from the russia investigation but we have not held a single hearing on the question of conflicts of interest. On march 8th we wrote again to the chairman encouraging him to call hearings on russias alleged interference in the u. S. Election. Again no such hearings were ever held. In fact, this committee which during the Obama Administration held half a dozen hearings around operation fast and furious, received testimony from f. B. I. Director comey three times in 13 months and detailed staff and resources to a benghazi investigation that cost the public almost 8 million, this committee from inauguration today until four weeks ago was largely silent in terms of oversight. We havent lifted a finger on election security. Attorney general sessions told us on november 14th that he has done nothing to secure the next election from threats from at home and abroad. We have not once discussed the president s abuse of the pardon power. While the hurricane bore down on houston President Trump sidelined the office of the pardon attorney to pardon a serial human rights abuser who bragged about running a concentration camp in arizona. And we have not held a single hearing on allegations of obstruction of justice at the white house, not for lack of evidence but because in the chairmans word there is a special counsel in place examining the issue and several other congressional committees are looking into the matter and the committee does not have the time to conduct this critical oversight. I ask my colleagues to keep those excuses in mind. Now with the year coming to a close with the leadership of the department of justice finally before us, what do my republicans colleague want to discuss . Hillary clintons emails. Let me repeat that. With all of these unresolved issues left on our docket, a week before we adjourn for the calendar year the majoritys highest priority is Hillary Clintons emails and the few related Text Messages. As we saw in our recent hearings with the department of justice and the f. B. I. , my republican colleagues seem singularly focused on their call for a Second Special counsel. Failing that on the need to investigate the investigators themselves. Ourselves. The white house has now joined the call by House Republicans for a new special counsel to investigate the f. B. I. The president s private lawyers have done the same. I understand the instinct to want to change the subject after the flynn and manafort indictments but this request is grossly misguided for a number of reasons. First, it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how the special counsel regulations work. Some criminal investigations pose a conflict of interest to the department of justice. The russia investigation is such a case. Because of the attorney generals ongoing recusal and because Department Leadership assisted in the removal of director comey among other reasons. In cases like these the attorney general may use a special counsel to manage the investigation outside of the ordinary chain of comeiant. The key here is the criminal investigation. Thats what special counsel does. The department cannot simply assign a special counsel to look at things that bother the white house. There has to be enough evidence to have predicated a criminal investigation in the first place. Then and only then if the facts warrant can a special counsel be assigned to the case. So far there has been no credible factual or legal claim that anybody at the department of justice violated any law by deciding not to bring charges against Hillary Clinton or by attempting to meet with fusion gps. In other words, there is no investigation to which the department could even assign a new special counsel. Second, the list of grievances raised by the majority for review by a new special counsel seems wildly off the mark. For example. There is nothing unlawful for comey sitting down to draft an early statement about the clinton investigation or not unethical to outline the conclusions before the investigation was over if the clear weight of the evidence pointed in con direction nor is there anything wrong with f. B. I. Agents expressing their political views via private Text Messages as strzok and lane did in the messages we received last night. Department regulations permit that sort of private communication. I have reviewed the Text Messages and im left with two thoughts. First peter strzok did not say anything about donald trump that the majority of americans werent also thinking at the same time. Second, in a testament to his integrity and Situational Awareness when the office of the Inspector General made mr. Mueller aware of these exchanges he immediately removed mr. Strzok from his team. To the extent were engaged in oversight of political bias at the f. B. I. This committee should examine evidence of a coordinated effort by some agents involved in the clinton investigation to change the course of the campaign in favor of President Trump by leaking Sensitive Information to the public and by threatening to leak Additional Information about new emails after the investigation was closed. On monday Ranking Member cummings and i sent a letter to the department asking for additional materials related to these leaks as well as to the claims that these efforts may have been coordinated with former mayor Rudy Giuliani and other senior figures in the Trump Campaign. The president s call for the investigation of the investigation is at best wildly dangerous to our democratic institutions. On the one hand the president s old lock her up here seems quaint after a couple of guilty pleas by trump associates. As a former attorney general has said, the president s continued threats to prosecute his political opponents is something we dont do here. If the president were to carry out his threat, quote, again from attorney general, it would be like a banana republic. Most important, this investigation into the investigation cannot credibly be a priority for this committee at this time. I understand the instinct to want to give cover to the president. I am fearful that the majoritys effort to turn the tables on the special counsel would get louder and more frantic as the walls continue to close in around the president. But this committee has a job to do. President trump has engaged in a persistent and dangerous effort to discredit both the free press and the department of justice. These are the agencies and institutions under our jurisdiction. Every minute that our majority wastes on covering for President Trump is a minute lost on finding a solution for the dreamers or curbing a vicious spike in hate crimes or preventing dangerous individuals from purchasing firearms or stopping the president from further damaging the constitutional order. I hope my colleagues will use todays hearing as an opportunity to find their way back to the true work of the house Judiciary Committee. I thank the chairman and i yield back the balance of my time. We welcome our distinguished witness. If you would please rise ill begin by swearing you in. Do you solemnly swear the testimony you are about to give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god. Let the record show the witness answered in the affirmative. Mr. Rod rosenstein was sworn in as the 37th Deputy Attorney general by attorney general Jeff Sessions. Mr. Rosenstein has had a distinguished career in public service. He began his legal career in the Public Integrity section of the department of justices Criminal Division and later served as counsel to the Deputy Attorney general and principal Deputy Attorney general for the tax division. Until his apointment by President Trump he served as the United States attorney for the district of maryland and holds a bachelors degree in economics and a jd from harvard law school. General rosenstein, your written statement will be entered into the record and we ask that you summarize your testimony in five minutes. Welcome. Were pleased to have you here. Chairman goodlatte and Ranking Member and members of the committee i want to thank you for this opportunity to testify as part of your oversight of the United States department of justice. I appreciate your support and concern for the department of justice. I know several of you are alumni of the department. Two, in fact, served alongside me as United States attorneys and im very grateful for the opportunity to be with you today. As Deputy Attorney general, my job is to help the attorney general to manage our departments components including seven main justice litigating divisions, 94 u. S. Attorneys offices, the federal bureau of investigation, the Drug Enforcement administration, the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives, the United States marshal service. The office of justice programs, the federal bureau of prisons, the office of the Inspector General and many others. Our department includes over 115,000 employees and tens of thousands of contractors, stationed in every state and territory and in many foreign nations. We prevent terrorism and violent crime, illegal drug distrib baous, fraud, corruption, child abuse, civil rights violations, and countless other threats to the American People. We enforce tax laws, antitrust laws and environmental laws. We represent the United States in the Supreme Court, the courts of appeal, and the District Courts and in state and territorial courts. We protect federal judges, manage federal prisons, review parole applications, oversi the bankruptcy system. We assist tribal governments and adjudicate immigration cases and provide legal advice to the president and to every federal agency. We implement Grant Programs and support state and local Law Enforcement. We combat waste, fraud, and other misconduct involving employees and contractors. We resolve foreign claims and represent our government. We collect, analyze and disseminate Law Enforcement data and we perform countless other important functions for the American People. The department of justice employees are united by a shared understanding that our mission is to pursue justice, protect public safety, preserve government property, defend civil rights, and promote the rule of law. The mission attracted me to Law Enforcement but the people who carry out the mission is what i treasure most about my job with very few exceptions they are honorable, principled and trustworthy. The Law Enforcement agencies are better today than ever. Intense scrutiny and external oversight agencies has resulted in increased accountability and higher standards. When wrongdoing occurs, we are more likely to discover it and we remedy it. That is critical to building and maintaining public confidence. Over the past eight months ive spoken with thousands of Department Employees around the country. I remind them justice is not only our name, justice is our mission. Justice requires a fair and impartial process. Thats why we have a special responsibility to follow ethical and professional standards. In 1941, attorney general Robert Jackson said that the citizens safety lies in the prosecutor who tempers zeal with human kindness, seeks truth and not victims. Serves the law and not factional purposes, and approaches the task with humility. Under the leadership of attorney general Jeff Sessions and an experienced team appointed by President Trump, the department of justice is working tirelessly to protect american citizens and to uphold the rule of law. Today i look forward to discussing some of our departments important work. Following the u. S. Attorneys manual and the example set by past department of justice officials, we always seek to accommodate congressional oversight requests while protecting the integrity of our investigations, preserving the departments independence, and safeguarding Sensitive Information. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I look forward to your questions. Thank you, mr. Rosenstein. Ill start by recognizing myself for questions. Last week director wray indicated the normal procedures were not followed in the investigation of former secretary clintons email sale. He was it was not normal protocol to have witnesses sit in the room during the interview of the target of an investigation. If the Inspector General determines normal protocol was not followed or the investigation closed or tainted for political purposes would it be justification to reopen the investigation . Mr. Chairman were certainly anticipating the outcome of that Inspector General investigation. As you know its benon going for some time. Im hopeful it will be concluded within the next couple of most and when we get those results well take appropriate action. I dont know exactly what the finding are going to be but it is always appropriate for us to review any findings of impropriety, misconduct and take appropriate action. When you announced your decision to terminate the employment of f. B. I. Director comey in that decision you announced some practices that i took it to mean you thought were inappropriate actions on the part of the former f. B. I. Director. Do you think that those actions on his part would merit further investigation and how that whole matter was conducted . The Inspector General is conducting an investigation into the handling of that Hillary Clinton email investigation and i believe that the matters youve referred to are part of his investigation. The memo youre familiar with that i provided reflects my personal opinion. It is not an official finding of misconduct. Thats the Inspector Generals job. He will reach his own determination. As you pointed out my views about it are already known. Are you aware of any prior efforts by the Judiciary Committee, this committee, to unduly restrict the ability of the Intelligence Community of doing its job of protecting our National Security . Not personally. Do you know this committee has the oversight of constitutional and legal questions government surveillance raises . I respect the congresss decision which committee has oversight. I know both this committee and the Intelligence Committee have an interest in that issue. Bill given that you understand this committees jurisdiction and providing the Intelligence Community with tools it needs why would we attempt to quote dismantle section 702 of our nations most important Surveillance Program . I hope that wouldnt be the case. I dont know who made the statement youre referring to. I know the department obviously has expressed its opinion about the reauthorization which we think is critically important in section 702. I respect there are differences of opinion. The department has been clear we believe its essential to National Security that section 702 be reauthorized. We agree with you and we believe it is essential that the Civil Liberties of american citizens be protected and that a standard be imposed on the examination of information about u. S. Citizens incident nallly gathered as part of the section 702 program with the surveillance of nonu. S. Citizens outside the United States but incidentally gathering information about u. S. Citizens and then being looked into by agents of the federal bureau of investigation without a warrant. Im not aware of that being appropriate in any other type of investigation that might conduct and we arent talking about terrorist attacks or National Security because we have clearly distinguished that. Were simply talking about crimes that have already occurred being investigated as they should be investigated by the department but under the procedures that the American People would expect they would follow to protect their Civil Liberties in other circumstances. Mr. Chairman, ive had the advantage over the last eight months of having a role in overseeing our National Security operations. I discussed this with director wray yesterday and i could give you a detailed explanation that might take a couple of minutes but happy to give you some details. The bottom line is it really is critical to National Security that the f. B. I. Have the ability to query the data. Thats the issue here. Our legislation allows him to do that. But if the query provides they want to see other document or see in its full form, they are required to get a warrant under those circumstances. I discussed this with director wray. What happens when the f. B. I. Conducts these queries is typically theyre leads that are not necessarily based on probable cause but based on a suspicion. It gives the f. B. I. The opportunity to put two and two together to connect the dots. There are lots of leads that any Law Enforcement person would like to pursue but we have protections against them pursuing it without appropriate standard for doing it in a whole host of other ways to protect people from unreasonable searches and this is a search of information about a United States citizen. Well, its a query as a constitutional matter. What were talking about. Allow the initial query. Once that results in something the agent wants to look at, i dont see how you distinguish the further reeding of emails or other things from a search. If i could take a couple of minutes i can explain to you. I talked with director wray about an appropriate way to explain this publicly. Hypothetically lets say for example that local Police Department receives a call that somebody has purchased a large quantity of Hydrogen Peroxide and something made the clerk at the store suspicious about that. He contacts the local police. There is no probable cause but something that caused concern. The local police may let me interrupt you. The very specific instance that you are citing was cited to us in our discussions with the f. B. I. And that very specific protection for the f. B. I. Was added to our legislation. The example im providing is a situation where there would not be probable cause but appropriate for the f. B. I. To follow up. What were trying to avoid is a situation where we erect a wall that would prevent the f. B. I. From gaining access to information that might allow them to connect a lead to information that imply indicates National Security. My time has expired. Chair recognizes mr. Nadler for five minutes. Thank you. On monday Ranking Member cummings and i wrote you a letter, sir, about the majoritys Ongoing Investigation into the investigation of former secretary clinton. With that objection i consent our letter be placed into the record. The first part of the letter discusses the departments failure to provide the minority with access to the documents youve provided to the majority. Will you commit to ensuring that the minority that we receive equal access to any materials you may provide to this committee in the future . Yes, and i believe my understanding the that information may have been provided to a high Ranking Member. I have a lot of questions. The majority of this committee, the white house and President Trumps private attorneys have all called for the department of justice to appoint a new special counsel to investigate a number of Hillary Clintonrelated matters. I think we can benefit from your experience in how the special counsel regulations work. The regulations say the attorney general or e or acting attorney general will appoint the special counsel when you determine that one, criminal investigation of a person or matter is warranted and two, investigation either presents a conflict of interest to the department or some other strong Public Interest requires you to appoint this special counsel. That first part when he or she determines a criminal investigation is warranted is that part of the regulations optional . No. A criminal investigation must be warranted before you can assign a special counsel to the matter. Yes. Thank you. At the department of justice a criminal investigation requires an initial assessment and preliminary review of the evidence. Correct. Has that assessment been made with respect to former director comeys handling of the Hillary Clinton investigation . Im not going to comment on any investigations in the normal course before we made a determination wed conduct an appropriate review. And i assume your answer would be the same if i asked you about the f. B. I. s interaction with fusion gps. Yes. Presuming for a moment the department has conducted an initial assessment and found no predicate and no ongoing criminal investigation. Under this presumption could you or attorney general sessions appoint a special counsel to look into these matters . No. As i said earlier to my knowledge there has been no credible factual or legal claim that anybody at the department broke any law or refusing to meet fusion gps. If there is no underlying criminal investigation because there is insufficient evidence of a crime in this or any other case do the regulations permit you to appoint a special counsel . No. Thank you. According to the department the office of the Inspector General informed special counsel mueller of the existence of these Text Messages between peter strzok and lisa page on july 27th, 2017. The text you sent us last night. Mr. Mueller immediately concluded that mr. Strzok could no longer participate in the investigation and he was removed from the team the same day. Did mr. Mueller take appropriate action in this case . Yes, he did. In testimony before the senate Judiciary Committee you said you would only fire special counsel mueller for good cause and that you had not seen any yet. Several months have passed since then. Have you seen good cause to fire special counsel mueller . No. If you were ordered today to fire mr. Mueller, what would you do . I have explained previously i would follow the regulation. If there were good cause i would act. If there were no good cause i would not. Youve seen no good cause so far. Correct. May 1 the office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion arguing that ranking minority members dont have the authority to conduct oversight. Shortly there after politico reported the white House Counsel instructed federal agencies not to cooperate with oversight requests from democrats. Since then democrats on this committee have written more than 40 letters to the administration without any meaningful response thus far. Can you clarify your current position on responding to letters from the minority and are you concerned the departments may 1 appear serves to justify a policy of stonewalling by the administration . We make every effort to respond to any legitimate inquiry. We prioritize inquiries propounded by the chair on behalf of the committee but well make an effort to respond to any inquiry. We get a lot of letters. And so i apologize if there is a delay. After letters from the chair and after the letters from the minority. Our goal is to respond to all the letters. When steven boyd took office there was a backlog. Would you encourage the Legal Counsel to withdraw its may 1 opinion . Ill look at it but as i said without regard to what the law may require our policy is to try to cover any inquiries. You would take a look at whether you would encourage the office of Legal Counsel to withdraw that may 1 opinion . Im not committing to do anything. Ill agree to look at it. Finally i want to say and follow up with what the chairman was saying about section 702. The bill that this committee reported specifically said where you are doing a Counter Intelligence or foreign or terrorism investigation you dont need a warrant to query section 702 data. But where you are conducting an investigation of domestic crimes, then, like any other investigation of domestic crimes, you would need a warrant so that the danger that i think you were referring to is taken care of by the bill and i endorse the comment of the chairman to that effect and i think you should take a look at that and urge you to take a look at that. Thank you. I yield back. Recognize the gentleman from texas, mr. Smith for five minutes. Mr. Rosenstein, im concerned that the special counsel may be casting too wide of a net. That he is trying to catch all the fish in the ocean, not just the soviet sharks. And if the special counsel were to obtain information not directly related to russian interference with the election and he wanted to investigate that further, would he need to obtain your authority to expand the investigation . Yes, he would. Okay. Has he ever asked to expand the scope of the investigation . I appreciate that question, congressman. I can explain briefly there are a lot of media stories speculating about what the special counsel may or may not be doing. I know what he is doing. Im appropriately exercising my oversight responsibilities and so i can assure you the special counsel the conducting himself consistently with our understanding about the scope of his investigation. That really wasnt my question. My question was has he asked you or consulted with you about a desire to expand the investigation beyond the original scope . The consultation actually is much more detailed than that. He consults with me, his Office Consults with me about their investigation within and without the scope. So i know what they are authorized to do. I know you know what they are doing. Has he requested to expand the scope of the original jurisdiction . The scope of the original jurisdiction is set forth in the order. The specific matters arent identified in the order. Weve hadon going discussion what is in the scope of the investigation. If there was ambiguity he has received my permission. Youve given him permission to expand the scope . You are characterizing it as an expansion. Its a clarification in most cases. He understands this is a special counsel. Not an independent counsel. I need to know what theyre doing. Clarification may be an expansion we may be caught up on the meaning of those words. Regardless i think the American People have a right to know if the original jurisdiction has been expanded. Do you agree with that . The difficulty, congressman, is that i have a responsibility not to talk about what is being investigated and thats why the original order doesnt identify any persons or charges. But we know what is under investigation. Im not asking you to go into any specifics or to name names or talk about the subject just whether or not the request had been made to expand it and you said you clarified his jurisdiction. I assume that would involve an expansion as you are suggesting. I want to be 100 accurate and i will need to check and get back to you as to whether or not we considered particular issues to be a clarification or an expansion. But whatever it may be, im responsible for and i know what he is investigating. Please do get back to me on the difference between those two. Do you feel the special counsel is authorized to investigate the personal finances of the trump family members . Congressman, that would implicate the concern that ive expressed. We dont talk about what is under investigation. I hope you dont draw an inference pro or con, we simply continue discuss it. Do you think the personal finances come under the jurisdiction of direct involvement with russian interference with the election. I hope you appreciate my position if i start answering what is and isnt ive gone down the road of discussing what is under investigation. Four persons have been charged. Those are known, and ordinarily the department of justice thats what we publicize. If we charge somebody with a crime we publicize it. If we dont charge anybody with a crime we dont talk about it. Some people charged are charged with crimes not directly connected with russian interference to the election. The crimes with which they are charged are publicly known. So in other words, you do feel that the special counsel can go into the personal finances not connected to russian interference. I am not come interesting commenting on the scope of the investigation. Can the special counsel investigate the personal actions of staff unconnected to the russian interference with the election. Only if i determine if its appropriate to do so. Thats your determination, not the special counsels. As i said, i know what he is doing. If i felt he was doing something inappropriate i would take action. I think the American People deserve to know who is being investigated and why. I have one final question and my last couple seconds here. As you know and as many of us know in the lawyers code of ethics attorneys are supposed to avoid not just the actual impropriety itself but the appearance of impropriety. The special counsel has hired at least eight attorneys that have direct connections to either the obama or Clinton Campaigns. Dont you think that creates an appearance of impropriety . Im not saying whether or not they can do their job but creates an appearance of impropriety . The witness is permitted to answer the question. I do not believe im not aware of any impropriety. We have regulations the special counsel is subject to. All the departments rules and subject to oversight by the department including the Inspector General. Im not aware of any violation of those rules by the special counsel employee. So you dont think it creates the appearance of impropriety. Appearance is in the eye of the beholder. We make determinations and have career ethics advisors who provide us counsel about that. Thank you. The chair recognizes ms. Lofgren for five minutes. Thank you for being here with us today. You are a career attorney in the department, isnt that right . I would say i was a career attorney. Was a career attorney. Youve spent your whole life working for the people of the United States as a career attorney until you were asked to fulfill the current function that you are performing. As a u. S. Attorney i was a political appointee. Let me ask you, in taking a look at the individuals who are working on the matters that we are discussing, are they career attorneys in the department who are working on this . Some of them are. Congresswoman. The special counsel is permitted to request a detail of attorneys in the department that are helpful and the authority to hire attorneys outside of the department and he has used both approaches. Wouldnt they be subject to the principles, the merit system principles in the Civil Service reform act . Yes, i believe they are. Weve been on the committee here for a long time. I remember back in 2008 there were allegations that the department of justice had used politics as a basis for hiring and firing in the department. And the office of Inspector General and the office of professional responsibility issued a report outlining the impropriety of using politics in personnel decisions. One of the things they said was that the departments policy on nondiscrimination includes the department of Justice Needs to seek to eliminate discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, marital status, political affiliation, age and the like. So wouldnt that policy be governing the actions of the individuals working on this . You couldnt discriminate based on this whole list including their political affiliation . Congresswoman, one of the advantages that i bring to the job is having been in and around the department for a while ive seen mistakes made in the past and that is precisely one of the issues ive discussed with our political appointees that we are not going to improperly consider political affiliation with regard to career employees of the department. Thank you very much. I wanted to ask about a couple of concerns. You may or may not have responsibility for this. If so, just let me know. I am concerned that the department has had a change in position on certain important Voting Rights issues. One has to do with the purging of rolls in ohio. The department had previously argued against purging those rolls because the National Voter registration act prohibits the purging of voters simply because they havent voted in a given period of time. Its my understanding that the department is now arguing that ohio can purge individuals from rolls even without evidence that they have moved. Additionally, the department had argued that the state of texas i. D. Law had discriminated against individuals and that the department has changed its position on that and the law is currently drafted probably excludes up to 600,000 americans from being able to vote because of the i. D. , the draconian i. D. Laws. Can you give us any insight into why the department changed its position on these key Voting Rights issues . Congresswoman im generally familiar. I dont know all the details of both of those matters. As a general matter its important to understand the determination about what the law means is made by a judge. The Department Officials need to make a decision based upon the good faith analysis of the facts and law what position to take. It may be that new leadership in the Department Takes a different position but i can assure you its a good faith analysis and ambiguity in some of these provisions and were responsible for making our determination like the Prior Administration made theirs. It is up to a judge to decide what it means. A final question. Its my understanding that under the order appointing him, mr. Mueller has the authority to investigate matters that may arise from from the investigation which would include crimes uncovered while investigating the main mission. If he is looking at the russia investigation and he finds out that the person he is looking at committed a bank robbery, he isnt required to ignore a bank robbery. Would that be a Fair Assessment of his responsibilities . A Fair Assessment. Mr. Rosenstein may answer the question. It is important to recognize because its a special counsel, not independent counsel. Those issues are worked out with the department. If he came across evidence that was not appropriate for him to prosecute, he could refer it to other components in the department. We wouldnt allow Something Like that to slip through the cracks but make sure to route it to the appropriate prosecutor. Recognize the gentleman from ohio. Mr. Rosenstein, you already indicated that mr. Strzok was removed for impropriety. It is beyond me how the other people that were mentioned by the chairman and mr. Smith were not removed for impropriety as well. Let me ask you first of all, i assume the team you put together you felt was going to be a bit mueller put together would be fair and unbiased, correct . Correct. I selected mr. Mueller and he selected the team. Let me review a few facts about the unbiased people that mr. Mueller pulled together. 9 of the 16 have made political contributions. First greg andrews gave 1,000 to the democrat running to hold the senate seat previously held by barack obama. He gave 2600 to democrat senator gillibrand who just this week led the charge of Democratic Senators demanding that President Trump resign. And mr. Andrews gave zero to the Trump Campaign or to any republican for that matter. Next again in alphabetical order. Russ atkinson donated to the Clinton Campaign last year, 0 to the Trump Campaign. Third, kelly freeney contributed to both Obama Campaigns and to Hillary Clintons campaign, 0 to the Trump Campaign. Next andrew goldstein. He donated 3300 to both Obama Campaigns, 0 to the Trump Campaign. Next the woman who clerked for liberal Supreme Court justice is ginsberg and kaig an contributed to the obama and Clinton Campaigns. Another one has donated to other Democratic Candidates and former congressman chaffetz and allen but over 20,000 to Democratic House and Senate Candidates and again gave zero to trump. Jeanne rhe she represented Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation in several lawsuits. She donated 16,000 to democrats, contributed 5400 to the Clinton Campaign and zero to the Trump Campaign. Eighth, brandon contributed to elect Democratic Congressional candidates and to the obama president ial campaign and nothing to trump. Andrew weissman, contributed to the Obama Campaign and Clinton Campaign and zero to donald trump. He is also the guy who praised the holdover acting attorney general susan yates for defying President Trump on the travel ban. Now, my question to you is how with a straight face can you say that this group of democrat partisans are unbiased and will give President Trump a fair shake . Well, congressman i think its important to recognize that when we talk about political affiliation that all demonstrates political affiliation. Bias is Something Different and ive discussed it with director mueller and we have a lot of experience manage offices in the department of justice. We have employees with political opinions and our responsibility to make sure those opinions dont influence their actions. So i believe the director mueller understands that and that he is running that office appropriately. Recognizing that people have political views but ensuring those views are not in any way a factor in how they conduct themselves in office. When you say running it appropriately, i think putting the committee, the people, his investigators together to begin the investigation in the first place is part of the investigation and how these people, the group he put together is considered unbiased, i dont know how anyone can possibly reach that conclusion. You know, when this whole russia was involved in our elections flap surfaced and you picked Robert Mueller to lead the investigation, i was at first encouraged. It seemed like a serious matter and it is a serious investigation. I assumed, as many of us did, that mr. Mueller would pull together an unbiased team. But rather than wearing stripes as umpires and referees might wear, i would submit that the mueller team overwhelmingly ought to be attired with democratic donkeys on their jerseys or im with hillary tshirts. Certainly not with lets make America Great again. And i think thats a shame because i think the American People deserve a lot better than the very biased team that they are getting under Robert Mueller. I think its really sad. Yield back. Chair recognizes ms. Jackson lee for five minutes. Thank you. Welcome and thank you for your service to the nation. Allow me just for a moment as i move on my questions to indicate that i am shocked and baffled the way some in the right wing media and some of our friends on the other side show such contempt for the department of justice and the f. B. I. And so much skepticism or mistrust of the russian government. Let me review for the record the f. B. I. And doj put away Timothy Mcveigh who killed 168 americans. Clansmen who murdered civil rights workers goodman, cheney and others, the unibomber and terrorists who bomb u. S. Embassies. Organized crime family king pins. Pan am 103 bombing. Soviet diplomats that had a spy ring during world war ii. Others for espionage. High janning, lindberg kidnapping. Clansmen who killed four little girls in the 16th Street Church in birmingham. On the other hand russians are known for shooting down a civilian airline killing 269 passenge