Sam clovis, papadopoulos, jared kushner, manafort, now the attorney general Jeff Sessions. Among the key figures who have not spoken to the special counsel, at least not yet, the president , the Vice President , steve bannon, his former chief campaign strategist, and the president s son, donald trump jr. We should point out these are names that have been publicly reported. We want to start with nbc justice correspondent Pete Williams as well as my colleague in the white house jeff bennett. Pete, to you first, what can you tell us about this interview, i guess why its significant . I guess sessions, the firing of the former fbi director would certainly be under tough scrutiny. The news here, peter, is when it happened. Not that it happened. We always assumed that the special counsel eventually would get around to questioning Jeff Sessions for several reasons. But what were told is it happened last week at the special counsels office. That Jeff Sessions had his personal lawyer with him. Chuck cooper. Whos a former Reagan Administration official in the Justice Department and has since been a lawyer here in washington. We dont know what the subject was but we can assume it was two reasons. Number one, Jeff Sessions was involved in the trump campaign, met several times with russias ambassador. So to the extent mueller is wanting to know about connections between the trump campaign, if any, and the russians, sessions would be one person they would want to talk to. Secondly, its widely assumed that mr. Muellers people are investigating potential obstruction of justice by the president in firing comey. Jeff sessions was involved in that process as well. We assume that those are the two things they wanted to talk to him about. Perhaps as well his decision to recuse himself, although that seems pretty straight forward, peter. Again, jeff, the president will be signing some tariffs, in effect, hes basically going to be making news on a different topic, but will probably be pressed by our colleague, expected to go in on behalf of the pool a short time from now on the subject of sessions. What are we hearing from the white house so far on this topic . Well, peter, no official response from the white house yet on whether the attorney general Jeff Sessions informed trump about his sitdown with the special counsel ahead of the New York Times breaking the story. Nbc news has learned from a source familiar that Robert Muellers team did not give the white house a heads up. Meanwhile, weve got this statement from white house attorney ty cobb. He writes this, out of respect for the special counsel and his process and because of the privacy obligations, the white house does not comment on witness appearances before the special counsel. So not a whole lot to work with there. But a source familiar also telling us the expectation is Jeff Sessions will tell the special counsel that he supported the firing of james comey, the former fbi director, thereby undermining the potential line of inquiry into whether or not President Trump obstructed justice as a means of shutting down the overall russia investigation. As we know, this has really been a source of acrimony between the two men. Sessions decision to recuse himself from the russia investigation. As you point out, we could hear from the president directly about what he makes of all this, peter. A couple bites at the apple today as we try to hear from the president about half an hour. Pete williams and jeff bennett, gent gentlemen, thank you. I want to bring in the former fbi assistance director for intelligence. Currently the coo of ets risk management. Also jill winebank, former attention Watergate Special prosecutor. Both, we proudly can say, are nbc news contributors. Theres a lot of speculation from outsiders on this. From you as someone who understands the way this process works, what does this tell us about where bob mueller may be in his investigation right now, now that hes finally speaking, as someone whos at the core of a lot of these question, including questions about the obstruction of justice. A cabinet member, the attorney general, Jeff Sessions . Yes, i think hes further down the line than weve previously realized. Many of us thought he was pretty far down the line. Now that hes actually sat down with the attorney general, i think were looking at a Vice President ial or a president ial interview in the next few weeks if, assuming, that can be negotiated and worked out in the next few weeks, so you think were way along . I do. I think at the point theyre at the attorney general, theyve probably interviewed some folks we havent even found out about yet, as they work up to the attorney general. I think we can see a serious a tempt at the president or Vice President in the next several weeks, yes. Let me ask you, sessions likely to be asked both about his meetings with the Russian Ambassador in 2016 but thats not it obviously. There are some other topics that are the focus. The role he played in the firing of the fbi director james comey as well. What do you think will be most interesting to muellers team right now as they try to as now we know they already have, but as they speak to Jeff Sessions to try to gather details on the role he played . I think we are looking at both an obstruction questions as well as working with the russians question, because we know he met with the russianings, arussian, and he ws part of the campaign, so he knows about other peoples meetings with the russians. So both aspects of the investigation will be within the per view of what they will be asking him. I think they will also be looking at what he told to congress yes. And whether hes consistent with that. Is he lying to the congress, or did he tell the truth to congress . Its going to depend on how he answers the questions to them. You make an important point there. Jeff sessions obviously hasnt been the most forthcoming of witnesses before congress. Here he was in his testimony in front of the house judiciary committee, a couple of months ago, back in november. Take a look. Did anyone else at that meet, including then candidate trump, react in any way to what mr. Papadopoulos had presented . I dont recall. Did you discuss your meetings with ambassador kislyak with mr. Flynn . I do not recall and dont believe i communicated any of that information to mr. Flynn. Did you at any point discuss with Michael Flynn the possibility of then candidate trump or his surrogates meeting with the russian government . I do not recall such a conversation. Do not recall. Apparently a pretty good clutch for Jeff Sessions in that testimony there. What is the special counsel team do to try to jog the attorney generals memory . Well, im hoping that his awareness, saying i dont recall, i dont remember, when he does, is perjury. And that people have gone to jail for saying i dont recall when its clear that they actually do youre saying so is the Legal Standard for that, is that perjury, to say i dont recall . Oh, absolutely, and we have tapes how do you prove that . Well, theres some things that a jury is willing to say theres no way he didnt remember that. And so that you can make certain circumstantial evidence. It is a tough case to make but of course in watergate, we actually had tapes where they were saying witnesses could always say i dont remember, i dont recall. So this were actually planning that. And that gave us a way of prosecuting. But you also just mentioned papadopoulos. I think one of the big mistakes that the white house is making is underestimating what he knows. John dean said that was the biggest mistake the white house made during watergate, was underestimating what he, john dean, knew, so they didnt take him as a serious enough threat, and of course it turned out he knew a lot, and so it may be, as papadopoulos fiance is now saying, is that he is the john dean of the current investigation, and that he knows a lot. Of course the reason so thats the reason another witness i was to say, of course the reason George Papadopoulos is relevant as it relates to sessions is that during the course of the campaign, there it is for you, donald trump on one end, sessions on the other, papadopoulos in the other. This is the meeting where papadopoulos is said to have raised the idea of a meeting with Vladimir Putin as well. So thats why that could be significant. Frank to you finally, does the special counsel have to sort of change his or her approach when its the attorney general, the head of the department that hes interviewing . Not particularly, i actually had occasion to interview an attorney general during my tenure in the fbi and there was no special provision. In my case, it was done in the attorneys conference room. This was likely done at doj out of courtesy and convenience. But i know bob mueller and some of the team members. I think they moved straight on with the standard procedure. I will tell you this, all this is going on, and i agree with ji jills assertion, that the attorney general is potentially criminally exposed on obstruction, maybe perjury. So youve got an attorney whos a fact witness and a potential subject of a criminal investigation and all of this going on as news breaks that the fbi director may have threatened to resign because attorney general sessions is pressuring him to remove senior people in the fbi. This is an unprecedented time, really in the history of doj and fbi. Certainly no dispute on that. Jill, frank, we appreciate both of you being here, thank you very much. The state Department Said today that multiple u. S. Citizens were killed and injured during a weekend attack on a luxury hotel in kabul, afghanistan. The department did not state the number or the names of those american citizens. Afghan Officials Say at least 22 died in the roughly 13hour attack. The taliban has now claimed responsibility. Again, we expect to hear from the president this hour for the First Time Since the government shutdown. We havent seen him publicly since last week. It will be reporters first chance to try to throw questions at the president on all the information making news on this day, including Jeff Sessions interviewing with the special counsels office last week. Well keep an eye on the white house, bring you the president s comments as soon as we can. Plus, the federal government is back open but the fight is far from finished. So what was gained by this threeday shutdown and what big hurdle stands in the way of comprehensive immigration Going Forward . Also some information on Chuck Schumers promise. The backlash. The message from a group of carolina voters. What they want the people running the government to hear. Its all ahead next on msnbc. Are politicians now, they care more about party and Party Affiliation than they do about their constituents and the american people. Youve got two extremes. We need to come together and work together. 1, 2, 3, push easy easy easy horn honking alright alright weve all got places to go weve all got places to go Washington Crossing the delaware turnpike . Surprising. Whats not surprising . How much money sean saved by switching to geico. Big man with a horn. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. Not in this house. cause thats no average family. Thats your family. Which is why you didnt grab just any cheese. You picked up kraft mozzarella with a touch of philadelphia for lasanyeah kraft. Family greatly