friends they are my good friends republicans are defending the white house. but i think this is not about either one of us. this is about the american people. and we ve taken an oath to uphold the rule of law and to be able to provide to the american people the accountability that is necessary to uphold the rule of law. it will be our task not to cast judgment, not to immediately decide what has happened between our hearing and the meeting that was just held, but to pursue the facts. and once we pursue the facts and we ll make a determination as to just what happened with former acting attorney general whitaker. thank you, congresswoman. i appreciate your time. thank you so very much, don. it s been good to be with you this evening. you, too. beto o rourke is in iowa, and he s telling vanity fair that he is, quote, born to do this. it sure seems like he s about to announce, and he may have dropped a big, giant hint tonight. we ll discuss, next. the way ty subscribe to mov
internet that puts you in charge. that protects what s important. it handles everything, and reaches everywhere. this is beyond wifi, this is xfi. simple. easy. awesome. xfinity, the future of awesome. welcome back to hardball. the new york times reported that president trump a2e6789ed to intervene in an effort to protect himself from further scrutiny. the president called the acting attorney general whitaker and asked whether a trump ally could be put in charge of the investigation. specifically to over see case.
and he found someone, matt whitaker, who maw have engaged unsubstantive discussions. he s been doing hev a lifting frathe president. what do you think of obstruction of justice as heavy lifting? you re not supposed to call up and switch prosecutors if you got a guy who s in that case connected with you. in other words you serve to benefit if you re judge shopping. in this case prosecution shopping. that is obstruction. you re changing the prosecutor. yeah. he s a target of this potential probe. and therefore trying to corruptly influence theed a min straugz of justice might be construed as obstruction of justice here. and so i think it has to be havinged. i m just wondering the u.s. attorn a in new york, why would he want this guy, jeff berman in
did they reach out to you to express dissatisfaction? no. no. well, now the chairman of the house judiciary committee says the answer was yes. in a closed door meeting, whitaker changed his story. unluke in the hearing room, mr. whitaker did not deny that the president called him to discuss the michael cohen case and personally decisions in the southern district. while he was acting attorney general, mr. whitaker was directly involved in conversations whether oo to fewer one or more attorneys. involved in conversations about the scope of the southern district of new york s recusal whether the sulgtern district went too far in pursuing the campaign finance case in which the president was listed as individual number one.
request. did you ask acting attorney general whitaker to stop the investigation into your personal attorney, mike kohn. president trump: no, i don t know who gave you that false news. howie: joining me, mollie hemingway, sara fischer and richard fowler. mollie, what did you think of the times story. mollie: i covered the russia investigation for 2 1/2 years but even in the sea of stories this one was riddled with errors. they said the uranium one story was written by them and theyer