witness, john dean, on that panel. he s the cnn contributor, as you know. the ranking republican on the judiciary committee, congressman doug collins, he s calling this a mock impeachment inquiry. does he have a point? yes and no. i mean, calling john dean to testify to give context, he s not a fact witness in this case, is probably as subtle as a punch to the face. it s like calling ken starr if there was a president who was accused of sexual assault or impropriety in the future, it s not very subtle. so there is that notion. however, it s very important, because the role that john dean fulfilled was as the white house counsel. and remember, don mcgahn, as former white house counsel, is not testifying at this point in time. so to give context as to why it s important to hear from that person, the breadth of information available to them, that s extraordinarily important and he can provide just that. do you think, gloria, this is an effective staging point for full-scale impeachmen
report is to president trump what the so-called watergate road map was to president richard nixon. stated a little differently, special counsel mueller has provided this committee with a road map. reporter: ranking member republican doug collins calling today s hearing a, quote, mock impeachment inquiry. we don t appreciate the fact that here we are again with priorities in this committee turned upside down. reporter: but as the drum beat among democrats for an impeachment inquiry intensifies, dean s testimony is drawing the ire of the white house, calling him not credible. i ve never been disbarred. i passed four state bars, never been disbarred, never went to jail for obstruction of justice and don t plan on it. reporter: and the president himself tweeting that dean is a, quote, sleazebag attorney and that democrats just want a do-over, which they ll never get. trump also on the defensive over his tariff threat with mexico, which critics have called a
is live from capitol hill this morning. what s new? thank you, sandra. a short time ago the judiciary committee s rarnging republicans sent this letter to chairman nadler in advance of the hearing. questioning how testimony from the former white house counsel to nixon was consistent with legislative functions, quote. monday s hearing appears to be part of a strategy to turn the committee s oversight hearings into a mock impeachment inquiry rather than the legitimate exercise in congressional oversight and continues, conducting such hearings sets this committee on a collision course with the longstanding rules of the house which have apparently alluded to as recently as this week. dean said he is not a direct witness to the special counsel investigation. this advance of the hearing this afternoon. he has drawn comparisons between his experience in the white house and what he characterized as president trump s interference in the f.b.i. investigation.
that afternoon was a tremendous disappointment to me because it was quite clear that the cover-up as far as the white house was concerned was going to continue. the top republican on the house judiciary committee says the hearing could violate decency rules in congress and it appears to be part of a strategy to turn them into a mock impeachment inquiry. it is out of order for a member of congress to express an opinion even a third party opinion accusing the president of a crime. democrats say this is the first of several hearings that will focus on what we have seen of the mueller report. appearing along side john dean is joyce advance and barb mcquade but they are testifying as former u.s. attorneys, and as individual experts on the subject matter on that hearing. barb mcquade joins us now. i want to understand why you are testifying tomorrow. there s an emphasis here on the
across america, but thank goodness the democrats are calling watergate star john dean to testify. we ve also heard from another gop congressman who says he s worried the hearings will turn into a mock impeachment inquiry and also guys this week we expect the full house to vote on a resolution to hold attorney general bill barr in contempt it s going to be a busy week ahead here in washington as it always is it seems like. guys? griff: thanks, mark good job. it feels like every week is going to be this crisis week that s different than any other but really it s not. jedediah: one thing i can t stand is political theatre for theatre sake. i know democrats don t want to go out and walk tab the issues i get it it s hard. the economy is booming, it s a tough job but this stuff is getting exhausting. now we ll have to watch this drama unfold like a bad television show. it s terrible. ed: it s interesting because john dean being the first witness this is somebody from water gate, okay and he