two days since the midterms. the president, though, does seem to feelment powered and protected by an incoming senate he thinks is indebted to him. but he also seems to be worried about the power democrats have gained by winning back the house. and folk who is are about to find out what happens when a paranoid. president battles the people s chamber. the first battle grew brucing could be over the russia investigation. some are worried about robert mueller s fate after the president fired jeff sessions handing oversight of the investigation to the new acting attorney general matt whitaker. in addition to making public pronouncements about how mueller has gone too hard and for too long, whitaker also mused about what an incoming acting attorney general might do in h situation. us could see where jeff session ises is replaceed and that attorney general doesn t fire robert mueller but reduces
russia. as a lawyer, if there is an appearance e experience of impr soon as the outrage from the left occurred. he knew as a lawyer that was an appearance of impropriety. people are suggesting, it s a conflict, he has to recuse. zplu know what whitaker sound like right there, michael? like mia. mia wiley. he made her point. he literally made her point. so if beyond everything else that the broadcasts are playing, play that sound byte over and over and over again, because it go es to the core of the argument that applied to jeff session and now applies to him. you know what we will do, mia? we will do, michael is using an old legal dj trick. suppose you see that as a jamaican dance hall, you say, hit it again. hit it again, baby. we will rerack that sound of mr. whitaker because it is
he was opining as an analyst a political pundit-type situation. given the sensitivities of this. given the already vexing nature of this, you got people on the streets as you are showing, ari, i think the important thing is to if nothing else, say, you know what, i don t need to touch this particular aspect of what the justice department are doing. there are other things to make sure the institution focuses smoothly. i will focus on that. everybody will be watching every little scintilla he puts forth relating to this hearing, this process by mueller. and i don t know if he can withstand the scrutiny long term let alone short term. michael, listen to whitaker with what kicked this off, jeff sessions being too close to oversee it. the reason he recuse himself is not because there is anything for him to hide as it relates to the trump campaign and ties to
myself from any existing or future investigations of any matter relating in anyway to the campaigns for president of the united states. that was march 2017 which ban the the rosenstein era for this probe. he was the one approving mueller s big moves. he announced the indictments. today we re on the first full day of what is the whitaker era. he would step out, not rosenstein, that s a striking contrast, given how the two men have spoken about the fundament also of this russia probe. the department of justice is not going to be extorted. we re going to do what s required by the rule of law. i think what ultimately the president will start doing is putting pressure on rod rosenstein who is in charge of this investigation. the indictment alleges the russian conspirators want to promote discord in the united states and undermine public confidence in democracy. we must not allow them to succeed. i can see a scenario where
would repeat session s sin of not recusing himself. he put whit der there because he expressed extreme hostility to the investigation. because he prejudged the issue and because he obviously is prepared to do what the president wants, which is to subvert the investigation. i will tell you if mr. whitaker does this and for that matter the president s attempts, these are all further evidence of a conspiracy to obstruct justice. strong words. i also want to ask you while i have you given your mandate with the judiciary committee and given another mass shooting today in america. in your committee or with speaker pelosi if she becomes speaker, do you want to see a gun control legislation as a democratic priority or is that not on the top of the to-to list do list. to do list? it s one of our priorities, it won t be the only priority