declaring he did nothing wrong. it s all a hoax. it s a scam. reporter: trump wanted barr to say publicly he broke no laws when he pushed president zelensky for an investigation into his political rivals. though trump denied the report today saying barr did not decline my request to talk about ukraine, adding the justice department already ruled that the call was good. while it s unclear if the two discussed the move directly, barr hasn t denied that trump wanted him to clear his name. it comes as house democrats are preparing to take their case public. what s going on in washington, d.c. is a disgrace. i think the american people see through it. reporter: trying to coalesce around a defense for the president s actions and one trump ally is chalking it up to incompetence. what i can tell you about the trump policy to ukraine, it was incoherent. it depends who you talk to. they seem to be incapable of forming a quid pro quo.
montez. first, he had to make a layup, a free throw and a three-pointer in three seconds and drill that half-court shot. perfect rotation. perfect spin. and watch the reaction from this kid. ice in his veins. he doesn t even celebrate. and he gets mobbed by the o.u. mascots. he knew it was coming to get him. i think he knew that was going in. he needs a triumph for the sooners. thanks to our international viewers for joining us. for our u.s. viewers, early start continues right now. new questions this morning about attorney general bill barr s role in trump s impeachment defense. a new 2020 poll puts mayor pete buttigieg among the democratic front-runners in iowa. former attorney general jeff sessions plots his political
comeback, exactly one year after president trump fired him. good morning. welcome to early start. it s 5:00 in the east. breaking overnight, president trump pushing back against a report in the washington post. the report says he asked bill barr to hold a news conference to publicly clear him of legal wrongdoing, in his call pressuring ukraine to investigate joe biden and his son. the post reports barr refused, citing people familiar with the matter. but barr s justice department did send out a memo, declaring there was no campaign finance crime connected to the call. trump advisers told the post the president said to aides in recent weeks, he wishes the attorney general had agreed to hold a news conference. late last night, the president slammed the post and cnn, for reporting the story, which he called, quote, totally untrue. republicans struggling to come up with a clear and coordinated defense in the impeachment inquiry. they ve given up on the no quid
the aisle or that side of the aisle, they can always have confidence that the electoral process works. so, just to be clear, a recanvas is not a recount. it s a reprint of the voting machines that can be retabulated. the recanvas is set for next thursday morning. on the one-year anniversary of his firing by president trump, former attorney general jeff sessions is expected to announce he s running for his old u.s. senate seat in alabama. his troubled relationship with president trump, could mean the decision could throw the race into chaos. he held the seat for two decades before the president named him to head the justice department in 2017. his relationship with mr. trump collapsed after he recused himself from supervising the russia investigation. with six republicans already in the race, how the president reacts to sessions announcement could make the difference between returning the seat to republican hands or losing again to incumbent democrat doug jones. i m back. inter
he wanted attorney general bill barr to come out in public and basically do a repeat of what he did with the mueller report. he came out and said everything was totally fine. the president did nothing wrong, et cetera. now, barr didn t do it and, hopefully, we ll hopefully learn in the coming days why. but let s be crystal clear. they put out a statement, a written statement, that said, there wasn t even enough evidence for an investigation, let alone any sort of charges. so, they gave the president that political cover and a really strong defense point. but apparently, attorney general barr wasn t willing to do it in front of a camera. all right. it will play out in front of a camera on wednesday. public hearings begin. marshall cohen, good to see you, my friend. thank you. steve bannon, president trump s former chief strategist is expected to testify agains roger stone in his trial for lying to congress. bannon was a key witness in the mueller investigation.