There had. This is the first time that the two are set to meet since those reports surfaced last week that the president has become increasingly frustrated with sessions, and the russia probe so much so that he offered to resign. Meantime, sessions says he plans to testify on that topic tomorrow before the Senate Intelligence committee but the panels chairman not publicly green lit. His testimony has not said if it is public or behind closed Laura Jarrett is live in washington. It is odd, sessions was supposed to testify in front of some different house and senate subcommittees, instead hes sending his Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein to do that. Why the switch . Exactly right. Lawmakers have been demanding for weeks to question sessions on everything from his role in the firing of former fbi director james comey to any undisclosed contacts he might have had with the Russian Ambassador kislyak. He appears to have caught members by surprise agreeing to come to the panel tomorrow.
Angles. I want to begin with our justice correspondent pamela brown. Pamela joins us from washington. Pamela, Justice Department naming the former fbi director as a special counsel to investigate russias meddling. What else can you tell us . Rod rosenstein making this decision and announcing today that hes chosen bob mueller, the former fbi director, to take the reins of the russia probe. And essentially the department of justice is now out of the equation and bob mueller will run this investigation, which means hell have the same authority as the attorney general. He can issue subpoenas and even interview the president. Anything he deems necessary in this investigation and whats so interesting here, don, is that they didnt give much warning to the white house or Jeff Sessions who has recused himself from the russian probe. The white house found out a half hour before rosenstein wanted to do this by the book clearly. Don . Heres the statement by Rod Rosenstein. My decision is not to fi
A story until donald trump made it one. Its actually more than that by now. Its deeply disturbing to most folks because it involves something all folks regard as sacred, the loss of our men and women in uniform and the gold star family members they leave behind. First the president compared his handling of gold star families to his predecessors and made false claims by doing so about president obama. Then last night came the story of the condolence telephone call he made to the widow of u. S. Army Sergeant La David Johnson who was killed in an ambush in niger in africa earlier this month. Johnsons widow, mieshia, is 24. They have two young children. She is expecting in three months. And about that telephone call, it was playsed two weeks after this ambush killed four u. S. Service members and wounded two others. Former democratic congresswoman fred rico wilson was in the car with the family. This is what she says happened. He said well, i guess he knew something to the fact he knew wha
Are you going to focus on this new line of questioning today . Well, of course that investigation is underway. Hes recused himself from the russia investigation. Bob mueller and the Deputy Attorney general working on that aspect of it. But i can guarantee you, after that exchange between the attorney general, then nominee and nasenator franken, people wl be very careful with the questions they ask and hell be very questions with how he answers. And what do you want to know about the conversations that attorney general sessions had with the president of the United States about firing of james comey . Thats a legitimate question, but not likely hell answer. Is that something youll focus on as well . Im working on daca d. R. E. A. M. Ers. I may get to that. Reporter thank you senator. Thank you, sir. There you heard senator dick durbin right there, talking a little bit about his line of questions right now. He did want to focus a lot about the issue of d. R. E. A. M. Ers. That is, of cour
Had wrapped up. President trump said wow, f. B. I. Confirms report that james comey drafted letter exonerating crooked Hillary Clinton long before investigation was complete. Many people not interviewed including clinton herself, comey stated under oath he didnt do this. Obviously a fix. Where is Justice Department . Bill how about that for a setup . We learn more about that now infamous meeting on the tarmac in arizona between Loretta Lynch and bill clinton. All raising new questions about comeys of his own timeline. The House Oversight Committee Chairman trey gowdy saying he needs more answers on that. The chronology does not add up. His answers have been all over the map both the Intelligence Committee and the clip you played from oversight. So we need to talk to him again. Bill correspondent Catherine Herridge monitoring the hearing beginning our coverage live in washington good morning there. Thank you, bill. Good morning. This is the first time the attorney general Jeff Sessions