between jeff, the justice department under jeff sessions and the justice department under president obama than there has been between previous administrations? i m looking from outside but sure seems that way to me. there have been statements that this attorney general has made, attorney general sessions has made. the interactions he had with the white house and inconsistent with i think the way in which i conducted myself as attorney general and frankly the way in which my predecessors, many predecessors conducted themselves, certainly, the berating that he reportedly took by the president is totally inconsistent with my experience and again, i think inconsistent with all the previous attorney generals that i m aware of. is that just a matter of personality and washington personal drama or do you think that there is national consequence of risk associated with that strange thing that we saw unfold with the president beraiding his attorney general?
me. i think it betrays a lack of understanding on the part of the president about what the role of the attorney general has to be. you can t go at the ag in that way. if you truly understand the independent role that he should play within the administration. they re going to be things that an attorney general is going to do that a president is not going to agree with. and a president has got to suck it up and say that the ag has the responsibility to enforce the laws. he s got national security responsibilities, and he is an independent actor in the way that other ab net officials are not. unless the president doesn t treat him that way. unless the president doesn t treat him in that way. history has shown us that when that wall is too low. that s when justice departments get in trouble during the nixon years, during the bush years. when we have white house contacts with the justice department and channels that are not approved. what s the corrective for that when it goes back?
different kind of emotional reactir reaction and it s therefore a hard place to be first. yeah. to break in any sort of barrier. the attorney general sits at the conjunction of law and policy and the justice department is in so many parts of so many people s lives from national security things to civil rights, voting that you are a presence in a way that other cabinet members are not. that s a reason perhaps i could ingender those negative feelings people saw me as rep sresentati for some, for some, not all, there were probably racial issues. the attorney general of the united states is often a lightning rod for criticism of the united states. eric holder understood that to be part of the gig. now, though, we got that gig inverted. we re now the attorney general
under jeff sessions and the justice department under president obama than will there has been between previous administrations? i m looking from outside, but it sure seems that way to me. there have been statements that this attorney general has made, attorney general sessions has made. the interactions he s had with the white house that are inconsistent with i think the way in which i conducted myself as attorney general and frankly the way in which i think my predecessors, many of my predecessors conducted themselves. certainly, berating that he reportedly took by the president was totally inconsistent with my experience, and again, i think inconsistent with all the previous attorneys generals that i m aware of. is that just a matter of personality and washington personal drama or do you think that there is national consequence or risk associated with that, that strange thing that we saw unfold with the president berating his attorney general that way? i think that actually wor
the day share that information with the american people. the american people deserve to know what happened with regard to russia, collusion, what was involved, we i think deserve this. are you confident that, a, he has the resources he needs to get the job done? and, b, that he s proceeding in a way that is actually digging up what there is to dig up? i asked that because it s unclear to me whether or not, for example, the cia is being fullsome with the investigators, whether the justice department under attorney general sessions is being ask cooperative as they can be. do you think he has all the resources he needs, the tools he needs? based on the hiring decisions, i know a number of those people. top-notch people. a-team surrounding him and i know bob mueller a. ex-marine. guy who focuses on, you know, what the aim of a project is and doesn t get deterred, he s