The dni and the rest of the National Security establishment . A question a lot of people are asking this hour. Were going to take you through the much balihooed memo release, what it means for the russia investigation and discuss potential resignations or firings of senior d. O. J. Or fbi leadership. Lets get right to it with our experts. Jeremy bash, former Chief Of Staff at both the cia and pentagon. Now an msnbc National Security analyst. Matt miller, former chief spokesman for the Justice Department in the Obama Administration, now an msnbc justice and security analyst. Chuck rosenberg, a former u. S. Attorney who has worked on the staffs of both Robert Mueller and james comey at the fbi and is now an msnbc contributor. And with us onset, nbcs ken delanian and republican strategist Steve Schmidt. Jeremy bash, let me start with you on this idea that carter
page, who we know was first surveilled in 2013, at least two to three years before he ended up in the trump orbit and years befo
himself? he s the acting attorney general now, and he s overseeing this whole mueller probe. well, certainly, people will make that point, and there are people within the justice department who may render a judgment on that, but i guarantee you that he wasn t put in this job to recuse himself. that s what got sessions in trouble in the first place. in fact, i would consider that appearance on don lemon as matt whitaker s audition tape for this job, and you know, the president tends to hire off of who he sees on tv. i think he wanted a guy who was going to go in there and limit and stymie this investigation and my guess is that is exactly what he s going to do. you know, gloria, he nancy pelosi, the presumably, the next speaker of the house tweeted, it is impossible to read attorney general jeff sessions firing as anything other than another blatant attempt by president trump to undermine and end special counsel mueller s investigation. i think what we re seeing here is this
we are just getting to see it for the first time ever today. but the reason i say this is not just about nixon, if part because of the reason we re see thing today. the group that is sued to release this, to release this, unseal this today is calling this a road map not just for watergate, but they re calling this a road map for the mueller investigation. for how the factual findings of the mueller investigation that pertain to the president and potentially to the vice president, how those things should be reported to congress and to what end. quote, the road map is critical historical precedent for unsuring that the facts uncovered in special counsel mueller s investigation become public and serve as the basis for whatever credibility is necessary. our democracy depends on it. it is of course possible the mueller investigation and the grand jury he s working with, it s totally possible they will find no wrongdoing whatsoever to the president or vice president.
this thing has been called the road map for years. we are just getting to see it for the first time ever today. but the reason i say this is not just about nixon, is in part because of the reason we re seeing this today. the group that is sued to release this, to release this, unseal this today is calling this a road map not just for watergate, but for now. they re calling this a road map for the mueller investigation. for how the factual findings of the mueller investigation that pertain to the president and potentially to the vice president, how those things should be reported to congress and to what end. quote, the road map is critical historical precedent for ensuring that the facts uncovered in special counsel mueller s investigation become public and serve as the basis for whatever accountability is necessary. our democracy depends on it.
republicans are telling the president look, maybe at some point rosenstein has to go, at least from their perspective, but to do it before the election, to do it at this heightened stage of special counsel mueller s investigation would be dicey for the president. on one hand, the president will say rosenstein is not conducting things based on this reporting, he can twist it to say look, he is not doing this in a fair and balanced manner. on the other hand, it may make the president look guilty or look like he is trying to hide something if at this critical stage he gets rid of rosenstein who ultimately is who will receive any report from special counsel mueller. and james, we know the president has been openly critical of rosenstein, of his ag, sessions, of the entire department of justice, and then last night president trump appeared to allude to the report about rosenstein at a rally in