or any other investigation. tonight, that answer is under scrutiny by house democrats for possible perjury. pamela brown is outfront live outside the white house. and pamela, the president knows this is a huge charge. and this would possibly be obstruction in a whole new way. there was that long pause we heard when he was asked about it. and then, of course, he went back to the fake news crutch. he s trying to deny it. reporter: yeah. that s right. you heard the question asked to him, and he, after he paused, denied that he ever made this ask of former a.g. matt whitaker to have the u.s. attorney geoffrey berman unrecuse and oversee the cohen probe. now, this denial is in response to this new york times reporting today that, in fact, he did make that ask because he viewed berman as an ally. sources tell me and my colleague, laura jarrett, that the president was upset about the cohen probe. his former fixer. and how it implicated him in the payments to two women during the elect
he fired comey. he had been fixated on this notion of russia. he was also asked if the trump family was under investigation and he declined to answer that, saying it could relate to ongoing investigations. now to the stunning report that president trump asked matthew whitaker to select an attorney of his choice to oversee the cohen probe. joining us now, one of the reporters who broke the story for the new york times mark mazetti. you have the president pressuring officials to hem in this investigation and also to apply pressure or influence over witnesses to the investigation. one of mr. trump s lawyers also reached out to lawyers for paul manafort and mr. flynn to discuss possible pardons. the discussions raised questions
york times raising new questions about president trump s alleged efforts to control and discredit the investigations that have consumed his presidency, including the southern district of new york s probe into mr. trump s former attorney michael cohen. the times reports that last year president trump asked acting attorney general matthew whitaker if u.s. attorney jeffrey berman who contributed to his campaign could be installed to lead the cohen probe, despite berman having already recused himself from the investigation. the president denying the claim. no, not at all. i don t know who gave you that. that s more fake news. there s a lot of fake there s a lot of fake news out there. reporter: the times reports that there s no evidence that whitaker took steps to intervene in the cohen investigation and that the president soon soured on him. this, after cnn reported in december that mr. trump lashed out at whitaker, at least twice after the new york probe. after cohen pleaded guilt
probe. this is innocence is in respons reporting that he did make that ask because he viewed berman as an am lilly. he was upset about the cohen probe and how it inchmplicated and that he did talk to whitaker with about it over the phone. he thought that he should control the investigators in the probe. during recent congressional testimony, whilt ketaker would and i that he won t discuss conversations with the president. i want to know whether you talked to president trump at all about the southern strict of new york s case involving michael cohen. congresswoman, as i ve mentioned several times today, i m not going to discuss my private conversations with the president of the united states. reporter: in contrast he told the committee he never spoke about the mueller probe to president trump. at no tirm has the white
that had a noose around the neck. burberry burberry still working that one out. i think if you re fancy it s burberry, if you re you or me it s burberry. welcome back to early start. i m christine romans. it is 31 minutes past the hour. let s begin with this, president trump facing more obstruction of justice questions in the wake of a wide ranging new york times report. the times says the president pushed to have a federal prosecutor appointed during his administration to oversee the michael cohen investigation. mr. trump had by that point already been implicated in the cohen probe. but the times reports that late last year he still called then acting attorney general matthew whitaker to ask if the u.s. attorney in manhattan could supervise it. the report is raising concerns about obstruction of justice even in places that usually downplay them. the phone call would be evidence of what? corrupt intent, that is, an effort to use the levers of power of the govern