is nothing going on in terms of national security these days. there is a full blown crisis with iran with 1,000 new troops headed to the region. this is a heck of a time to be in between acting defense secretaries. right. doesn t forget, it s been about pds so we haven t had a real secretary of defense that isn t acting in a long time and this administration seems to have a lot of prps that way. the president once said i like to have actings, as he put it, because they re more flexible which means they don t need to be confirmed. but the problem with shanahan was that the fbi was continuing to do its background checks but couldn t conclude it and so the congress had to keep putting on the confirmation because they couldn t get all of the paperwork in. and as you point out, this comes at an incredibly inconvenient time. the president has appointed
six months since general mattis resigned so we haven t had a real secretary of defense that isn t acting in a long time and this administration seems to have a lot of problems that way. the president once which means they don t need to be confirmed. but the problem with shanahan was that the fbi was continuing to do its background checks but couldn t conclude it and so the congress has to keep putting on the confirmation because they couldn t get all of the paperwork in. and as you point out, this comes at an incredibly inconvenient time. the president has appointed somebody else to be an acting secretary of defense, but there s a crisis going on in the gulf of oman. there are questions about what s going on with north korea. we do have a secretary of state,
congress that isn t acting? you re saying it s the voters that need to step up. there is a necessary connection. congress is a reflection of the people that we represent, especially the house. it s the people s house. so our willingness as a body many of us individually are completely willing to go down this path. but our willingness as a body to take on these issues is, i think, a direct reflection of what we hear from our constituents. the sad thing is i want to bring up a poll number so you can help us make sense of this. the pugh research center found last fall that those similar to gun laws in new zealand are high in support. 67% supported banning high capacity magazines or assault-style weapons. congress reflects the voters, but congress doesn t reflect that poll. so square that. right. the fact is that in our
protect the national security of the united states. it is good practice in a situation like that to gather evidence that can t be disputed, tape recordings go to that directly. i had two years of exposure to trump. people who worked for donald trump michael cohen and omarosa, taped him because they suspected he was taping them. as you say, you did it for your reasons. we re being told prosecutors never do this to their bosses? that s the thing, their concern here is that their boss isn t acting as a distant and fair minded manager of the law enforcement process, and the judiciary. or they may be involved in the very law enforcement process. they feel they were very aware, trump had just fired jim comey. you had the fbi and the justice department rattled by that, and
trump michael cohen and omarosa, taped him because they suspected he was taping them. as you say, you did it for your reasons. we re being told prosecutors never do this to their bosses? that s the thing, their concern here is that their boss isn t acting as a distant and fair minded manager of the law enforcement process, and the judiciary. or they may be involved in the very law enforcement process. they feel they were very aware, trump had just fired jim comey. you had the fbi and the justice department rattled by that, and trying to figure out the best course of responding to that, perhaps they made mistakes, but i think what they were trying to do is come up with a record that could not be disputed as they tried to understand what was going on here. bharara had the distinct advantage of being a new yorker, and new yorkers who were exposed to trump for decades before he ran for president, knew exactly how he rolled.