sessions might try to shut it down. i can see where jeff sessions is replaced with a recess appointment and the attorney general doesn t fire mueller but reduces his budget so low that the investigation grinds to a halt. reporter: rosenstein who rarely talks about the mueller probe offers words of assurance that the president sun tainted. bob mueller or rod rosenstein or matt whitaker or bill barr, that investigation is going to be handled appropriately by the department of justice. reporter: now that matthew whitaker has officially decided not to recuse, it s expected he ll be briefed on the mueller probe since he was never updated during the ethics review process. jake, we do know that whitaker was given a heads up just before the president s former personal attorney michael cohen pleaded guilty up in new york a few weeks ago. jessica schneider, thanks so much. trump says we ve defeated isis one minute and next he says other countries will need to fight isis instead of th
commentator. i can see a scenario where jeff sessions is replaced with a recess appointment that and attorney general doesn t fire mueller but he just reduces the budget so low that his investigation grinds to almost a halt. reporter: and during a radio interview last august before his appointment to the department of justice. i just hope it doesn t turn into a fishing expedition because i will be the ones jumping up and down making sure the limitations on this investigation continue. reporter: today president trump spent the morning with whitaker where he gave off camera remarks att a ceremony for new supreme court justice brett kavanaugh. later returning to the white house. meanwhile trump himself openly threatening the fate of the probe. claiming he could get rid of everyone involved in the mueller investigation. i could fire everyone right now. but i don t want to stop it
obstruction. and this source says the president is actually relaxed about it. now, you might not know that from watching his press conference yesterday. but it seems to me now he s putting whitaker in there, he s gotten rid of sessions and maybe he feels a little more comfortable because he believes that he won t recuse himself and that he s on team trump. maybe he is more relaxed and sees no need to fire mueller after what he s done. and he s also gotten rid of rod rosenstein, the deputy attorney general overseeing the mueller probe. i want to go back to something gloria said for a second. part of the problem for not having a confirmation process for whitaker is that if you go back two years the confirmation process of senator sessions becoming attorney general was contemporaneous with him recusing himself. part of the reason he recused was to assure part of the senate he was going to keep an arms length for the investigation. whitaker is not going through
president doesn t fire mueller. that will make him really look guilty and they know it. you re watching hardball. and bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens brown paper packages tied up with strings these are a few of my favorite things hehi, welcome!w of my favorite things good to see you. hi brody. are you stinky? wow, this is a busy place! yep! i practically live with a vacuum in one hand and a mop in the other.
the ground would be well, what happens if he doesn t fire mueller? are you going to be watching it? it s a never-ending story. i want to see bob mueller s report. how about a deadline? i lived through an administration for eight years that investigations took eight years. the only ones that colluded was hillary clinton. she s that s not true. it is true. we don t know what bob mueller has does he know what he has? his working theory is that he wants to get this wrapped up as soon as possible. these are it s almost two years. a working theory is no longer operable. i was making a point. the president has shown the president has refused to sit down and answer questions only the president can answer.