even before president trump left this morning for his first meetings he was tweeting about the special counsel investigation defending his business dealings in the 2016 election and calling it all a witch hunt. this is happening as president trump is going into some of these meetings with world leaders this weekend and clearly it s on his mind, detracting him from what is happening him, and we will see if he gets any questions about all of this swirling around him, alisyn and john. abby, thank you so much. there s so much to talk about this morning. let s bring informer counsel, carry cordero, and joel lockhart and john avlon. let s start with the legality of all of this. let s say that all of this is true. let s say that president trump, then donald trump, was interested in building a trump power in negotiation and then it
somebody who just happens to have expressed publicly the view that he thinks the mueller investigation should be cabbed and the special counsel should be fired. there is no other logical explanation and if the president backs away from it now, he should just do it. it is a bad appointment and any decisions that acting attorney general whitaker makes could potentially be challengeed so it opens up a whole other realm of uncertainty for the justice department, which is a very blad place for it to be. carry cordero, thanks for being with us. senator chuck schumer, who is calling for whitaker s recusal, joins jake tapper tomorrow at 9:00 eastern here on cnn. the legal battle heats up in florida. the key races for senate and govern remember heading for a recount. we will tell you how both sides are reacting. and what is going to happen. what you can expect, next, in a live report. etirement,
general carry cordero also the senior assistant general, and retired fbi mike rogers. i should note for the viewers both of you have been through the security clearance process yourself. but congressman rogers i ll start with you. do you agree with dan coats anyone working on security clearance should have some limitations on intelligence they are able to receive? i do, unless it is a very rare circumstance indeed. and by now people who have been at the white house some length of time should have a determination on their clearance. so i get a little concerned, and i ll tell you why, sends a really terrible message to the whole large of the federal government who goes through process of sf 86 which is horribly invasive and go through the background check and get checked up, and they hold you to the letter of the clearance law. that seems to be abandoned. and that sends a really bad message about the importance of
has the president invoked executive privilege in the caves your testimony here today? he has not. then what is the basis of your refusal to answer these questions? senator cain, the president has a constitutional. i understand that, but the president hasn t asserted it. you said you don t have the power to assert the executive privilege. what is the legal bases of protecting they conversations. i am protecting the right of the president, i will exert it if he chooses. that s the best answer we got. if the president didn t invoke executive privilege then why won t sessions talk about their conversations. and what was this rule was he was citing today. joining us now to talk about the law in all of this, jill wine banks one of the special prosecutors during the watergate scandal. former general counsel to the united states army. and carry cordero, a former counsel at the office of the director of national intel
won t sessions talk about their conversations. and what was this rule was he was citing today. joining us now to talk about the law in all of this, jill wine banks one of the special prosecutors during the watergate scandal. former general counsel to the united states army. and carry cordero, a former counsel at the office of the director of national intel jepsz. carry, after your time at d.o.j., who is this rule he s citing. attorney general sessions was referring to executive privilege, which is a privilege that the president can assert regarding communications with his senior advisors. so it is a long standing privilege that exists. it s legitimate. and difficult administrations across political parties always have instances where they assert this privilege, particularly when congress is asking for information. but the president didn t assert that. and what is what is sessions