but after richard nixon and after the watergate scandal, a tradition grew up. it s not a statute, it s not a law, but it s a tradition that the president and the white house must stay out of justice department criminal matters. and so you had when george w. bush tried to fire seven u.s. attorneys, it became a scandal and a series of congressional hearings and the attorney general bruno gonzalez ended up losing his job over that. and barack obama was reluctant to comment on pending criminal investigations lest he be perceived as interfering. donald trump clearly does not understand that and i think you re right to suggest that until recently, he s had people around him who have tried to block him from his worst impulses, now he has a sitting attorney general who has criticized and impugned the mueller investigation and suggested that hillary clinton should be prosecuted. so it s really a worrisome situation going forward. and the last thing i ll say is i don t believe that donald trum
criticized and impugned the mueller investigation and suggested that hillary clinton should be prosecuted. so it s really a worrisome situation going forward. and the last thing i ll say is i don t believe that donald trump answered any questions about obstruction of justice because his lawyers have been saying that that s off limits. right. that fits into his philosophy. he feels like mueller has no right to ask him about obstruction because he has every right to meddle in justice department investigation ands fire the fbi director for any reason. and that s just not consistent that s a philosophical disagreement. now, there have been presidents, the last few presidents, whose lawyers have argued that presidential privilege and executive authority goes farther than maybe some interpret it to be going. but this is a different issue. this is the president thinking he can t be obstructing justice because it s his justice. it s his justice department, it s his instructions. that s