come on. i hate the dynamic. i hate it. it makes me uncomfortable. i know. it makes my hair move. it s news, though. it is. i got to get to it. i ll be watching. you get after it. i ll get to it. see you tomorrow. this is cnn tonight. i m don lemon. it s not what matt whitaker said today. it s what he didn t say that is making news. the former acting attorney general meeting behind closed doors with top members of the house judiciary committee. a meeting to clarify whitaker s public testimony last month, testimony that, you remember, amounted to six hours of bobbing and weaving, designed to impress an audience of one. you know who that is, right? well, today, whitaker did not deny talking with president trump about michael cohen s case. listen to the chairman, jerry nadler. unlike in the hearing room, mr. whitaker did not deny that the president called him to discuss the michael cohen case
questions tonight about whether president trump attempted to influence the justice department investigation of michael cohen. the head of the house judiciary committee saying the former acting attorney general, in a meeting with committee leaders, did not deny talking to the president about the case. the top republican on the committee, he s disputing that assertion. let s discuss. laura coates is here. max boot, the author of the corrosion of conservatism: why i left the right. and michael isikoff, co-author of russian roulette: the inside story of putin s war on america and the election of donald trump. so good to have all of you on this evening. max, the house judiciary chairman says the former acting a.g., matt whitaker, would not deny the report that president trump called to discuss the michael cohen case. if that is true, why is the president always seeming to influence or involve himself in the investigation, an investigation that concerns him?
been consistent. the democrats are trying to find out the facts, and my good friends they are my good friends republicans are defending the white house. but i think this is not about either one of us. this is about the american people. and we ve taken an oath to uphold the rule of law and to be able to provide to the american people the accountability that is necessary to uphold the rule of law. it will be our task not to cast judgment, not to immediately decide what has happened between our hearing and the meeting that was just held, but to pursue the facts. and once we pursue the facts and we ll make a determination as to just what happened with former acting attorney general whitaker. thank you, congresswoman. i appreciate your time. thank you so very much, don. it s been good to be with you this evening. you too. beto o rourke is in iowa, and he s telling vanity fair that he is, quote, born to do this. it sure seems like he s about to announce, and he may have dropped
based upon his conversations in this smaller meeting where he did not deny that he had conversations, whereas in the hearing it seems as if he made it very clear to emphasize what he said. no, i did not have discussions regarding the special counsel or investigations. as you well know, don, we have the right to address the question of whether someone has told an untruth, has lied under oath, and to respond to it accordingly. that is unfortunately a crime. yeah. we should say that the ranking republican on the judiciary committee, who was there for the whitaker meeting, says whitaker did not talk to the president about cohen. can you explain that? what i can explain is this long journey that we ve had has been consistent. the democrats are trying to find out the facts, and my good
the former acting attorney general was back on the hill today, meeting behind closed doors with the top members of the house judiciary committee. and according to the chairman, matthew whitaker did not deny talking to the president about the michael cohen case. i want to bring in now democratic congresswoman sheila jackson-lee. she sits on the house judiciary committee by the way. good evening, congresswoman. so let s get started by doing this. i want to play what matthew whitaker told your committee about having a conversation with the president about cohen. watch this. did you communicate to donald trump or any senior white house advisers about investigations from the southern district of new york concerning the trump organization, the trump inaugural committee, michael cohen, or the investigations that relate to trump entities or potentially the president? congressman, i mentioned that i said other investigations in my opening statement. i really don t have anything further to