deliver a message to sessions? i m respecting the executive branch privilege of confidentiality and recognize at this time let me just say that you knew, that you know the president was putting you at risk when he asked you to deliver a message to the attorney general. i want to be very clear. the president knew what he was doing was wrong, because everyone else had already said no. he called his white house counsel to fire the special counsel, mcgann said no. called the attorney general to ask him to unrecuse himself from the special counsel s investigation. sessions said no. his white house counsel said there s to be no contact with sessions because of his recusal. so what does the president do? que calls you in to do what everyone else wouldn t do, in secret, because he knew had was wrong. we will explodes the truth that the president cannot hide behind you any longer and should be here to tell the truth, because the truth will set you free and the american people. i yield bac
you re welcome to be stalling. i m not gonna stall. answer the question yes or no. did he tell you nobody at the white house was supposed to contact the attorney general about the investigation? that you can answer yes or no. i will not disclose any conversation i had with the president. again, you are here to block any reasonable inquiry into the truth or not of this administration. the white house counsel s quote, shortly after sessions accused his recusal directed that sessions should not be contacted about the special counsel s investigation. in fact, the white house counsel s internal note states no contact with sessions and no communication serious about instruction. can you read that? i just said it. can you read that. did you hear me? yes, is there a question? did the president tell you, as white house counsel told him, no contact with sessions because of serious concerns of obstruction when he asked you to deliver a message to sessions? i m respecting the executive
asked lewandowski to try to get the attorney general to curb, yes, the mueller probe, to limit its jurisdiction mueller categorized all of that as part of the efforts to curtail the mueller investigation, the special counsel s investigation. so right here you take a step back from lewandowski s bluster and see the outlines of the hiding hide the stories in public, delay as long as possible. in lewandowski s case, to be fair, ultimately tell mueller the truth. of course that s partly to avoid having to go to jail but then come back and hide it again when asked about it under oath today the white house has directed i not disclose the substance of any discussions with the president or his advisers to protect executive branch confidentiality. the white house has directed i not disclose the substance of any discussions. the white house has directed i not disclose the white house has directed i not disclose the discussions i will not disclose any conversations i had with the president. i
the investigation was populated by many trump haters i m trying to adhere to the white house s request i answer questions that are provided in the mueller report only. i don t know the answer to that. i ll be happy to answer your conversation or you can have a conversation with yourself i don t believe there was a question again, i can t discuss any private conversation i may have had with the president i m respecting the executive branch privilege of confidentiality. one person we know was tuning into today s hearing was president trump who tweeted early on, such a beautiful opening statement by corey lewandowski. thank you, corey let me bring in geoff bennett covering this from capitol hill. carol, eugene, stephanie and brad are back. geoff, it s still going on if you had to tell somebody who did not watch this hearing what was it about and what was accomplished, what would you say? reporter: you know, chuck, it depends on what matters more
opposed no in the opinion of the chair, nos have it. is there a question yes, did the president tell you his white house counsel told him no contact with sessions because of serious concerns of obstruction when he asked you to deliver a message to sessions? i m respecting the executive branch privilege of confidentiality. we will continue to dip in and see how that goes. but for now, joining me from capitol hill are geoff bennett and ken delaney. we talked to you about this started. geoff, for reasons of the procedure and artfulness perhaps on the part of theey lewandowsk couple hours have not gone as planned. no, they haven t. and this was a real test for democrats as they sought to refocus the public s attention on the obstruction piece of the mueller report as the committee continues its inquiry as to