an upcoming summit, what's at stake and who gets the credit. the president and vice president just finished up speaking tonight. jim acosta is there, he joins us now. >> what more are you learning about these comments said about john mccain? >> we find ways to find new lows, that's what happened earlier today. kelly sadler, in charge of surrogate communications, was at a communications staff meeting with other white house staffers this morning, and the discussion came up about gina haspel. also opposition to gina haspel. he was tortured when he was a pow when he was in vietnam. he doesn't want to support gina haspel's nomination for that reason. because of her past involvement in torture at the cia. according to a source who has confirmed it to cnn at this meeting. sadler said to the other staffers, well, mccain's opposition doesn't matter, because he's going to die anyway. according to a white house official i spoke to when this. this was supposed to be a joke, it was intended as a joke, nobody laughed, and the joke fell flat in the room, obviously this is just one in a string of comments from this white house, aimed at john mccain. most of the negative comments coming from this white house have been from the president over the years. he once mocked john mccain as a pow, as a soldier, who was captured. at one point the president said, he likes soldiers who aren't captured. a lot of this negativity comes from the top. we heard some of it earlier today from this low level staffer. >> has the white house responded at all? >> not yet, and we should mention we're at a trump rally in indiana. the president did not mention john mccain in his comments. the white house put out a statement earlier. not really an apology. this official saying, we respect senator mccain's service to our nation, and he and his family are in our prayers during this difficult time. we also understand that this person, kelly sadler this staffer at the white house reached out to meghan mccain and apologized to her. we don't know exactly what was said during the course of that phone call. i talked to a white house official earlier this evening, there's a lot of shock and disbelief that this kind of comment would be made, after what the president pulled off last night, bringing back those american prisoners from north korea. this official said on top of this being an ugly and embarrassing comment. it's stepping on top of what they thought was going to be a good news cycle for the white house. this often takes place with this white house, they find all sorts of ways to step on their message. this was possibly perhaps not the final low, but a new low for this white house, in going after senator mccain in that fashion. >> thanks so much. >> we did get new reaction tonight from cindy mccain. may i remind you, my husband has a family, seven children and five grandchildren. by the way, that was tweeted at kelly sadler. directly to this white house staffer. >> this is directly to the white house official who made the comment. missadler, may i remind you, john mccain has a lot of friends in the u.s. senate on both sides of the aisle, nobody is laughing. this is not the first time someone on the trump team has insulted senator mccain. >> he hit me. he's not a war hero. >> he's a war hero. >> he's a war hero because he was captured. i like people that weren't captures, okay? i hate to tell you. >> and except for one senator who came into a room at 3:00 in the morning and went like that, we would have had health care too. we got a bad vote, the evening we were going to terminate obamacare. we got a bad vote. >> we had it beaten except for one vote. you remember that beautiful night. it was defeated but one vote changed. >> lots to talk about tonight with the panel. joining me now, molly bald, jeffrey toobin. steven, i want to start with you tonight. this comment from kelly sadler, a white house official on a conference call with congressional press secretaries, he's dying anyway, about senator john mccain, someone who served this country for so very long. it's indefensible. i've had policy disagreements with john mccain. but this guy is one of the true great american heroes of our time. it's too bad this got out. i'm sure kelly didn't mean what she said. it is true that john mccain did cast the vote that would have led to the repeal of obamacare. i think he was mistaken in doing that. there are some hard feelings about that. one or two republicans voted no. he's a great american hero, and his -- the truth is, his opinion on these issues of -- interrogation are important because he went through that in vietnam. >> so should the white house just say, i'm sorry? >> absolutely. >> they haven't. >> they should. >> yeah. >> i agree with parts of what steven just said, they -- yes, they should apologize as you just said, but it is -- it is beyond disgraceful, john mccain is a hero, a patriot, he should be treated as such. he's clearly suffering from a horrible brain cancer, this is not the way to talk about folks, someone who has given practically their life for this country. but, you know, it's not surprising coming from this administration. you just show that you segment at the beginning of the segment, what donald trump has said about john mccain. it really starts from the top, and goes on down. even with john kelly himself, as chief of staff, the things he said about fred ricca wilson, calling her an empty barrel. it is the way that this white house has operated from the campaign, candidate trump and now as president trump. >> does it come from the top? >> we were talking about this before, you don't think president trump has in anyway opened the door for this kind of comment from lower staff? >> i don't believe that the comments that he made, which by the way were entirely insensitive and again, john mccain's a war hero, he's an american hero. what he has done, and people like him have done. we have freedom as a result of that about no questions asked. >> but i don't believe you can just say that what donald trump's comments, the president's comments in 2015 automatically led to what she said today. what she said today whether it's john mccain or anybody whose family is going through that kind of heartache and trouble is indefensible. and insensitive. and should not have been said. and she apologized to the family, at least one family member at this point from what we understand. and she should. >> josh campbell. a former government official sent me a quote from colin powell. which is, as a leader, you set the tone for your entire team. >> it's true, especially presidents. especially within the white house. when george w. bush took up mountain biking, suddenly everyone on my staff took up mountain biking. the president sets ts the tone. it might be worse that this person in the white house is not publicly apologizing to the family. >> as corinne is pointing out, the president insulted senator mccain's war heroism before he mocked a reporter for the new york times, he insulted meghan mccain. never 'apologized. he continually refuses to apologize for his disgusting behavior. which sets the tone for other people that work for him to make disgusting comments. >> the comments that the white house may make or other folks may make, disagreeing with john mccain, as it relates to the vote he's encouraging people to cast on gina haspel's candidacy, that's all subject to disagreement. the discourse should take place. but there's no way we should attack his military service, and certainly not being -- we shouldn't be insensitive to what his family's going through. >> a vote is a vote. >> that's separate from this. >> jeffrey tuben, you constantly note what appears on other cable networks. >> there were comments on other cable networks. >> i'm an avid watcher of other cable networks. >> there was an analyst who questioned the patriotism of john mccain and noted he cracked under torture. which isn't true. do you see this tone permeating elsewhere? >> yeah, i think we should talk more about donald trump's war heroism. i think it is -- look, this is -- the whole thing is disgusting, and the idea that this didn't come from the top is absurd. >> i mean, you know, where did this flunk can i get this idea to mock john mccain? because the president mocks john mccain, i mean, come on, it's just like -- it's why do we pretend otherwise. >> this isn't just mocking john mccain, which the president has done before. >> this is mocking a man who's very, very sick. who's home in arizona battling brain cancer. i guess it seems to me, and i understand what paul is suggesting. politically speaking the white house can't apologize here, because it would open them up to past comments the white house has made. they would say we're sorry. for any additional pain. >> the staffer in question has apologized, and she probably should do it publicly. i agree it's an indefensible comment. it's not even really mocking mccain or his military service or anything like that it's just making an insensitive comment about someone who's going through something difficult, anybody who is in that condition should not be commented about like this, no matter what their stature is in society or what they've been -- it's just a basic lack of manners. i think that's what's so often emanated from the president in particular, this refusal to back down, whenever offensive things are said and done. the insistence on being able to say things that are just rude. and so, you know, this is not -- this is not world war ii, it's not the first time someone made a bad joke that they didn't mean. that person should certainly take it back, but i do think that the -- with the white house, this isn't just a dying man who's now able to express himself, he's stood up for what he believed in, whether it was politically expedient or not. >> let me add one thing to that. what this nation needs is heroes. this is a great, great american. maybe one in a million people could have with stood what he went through at the hanoi hilton. he was the last person let out. that's an incredible story of heroism. >> i think we should leave that discussion on that point right there. >> thanks so much. >> we have much more ahead. the vice president says it's time to wrap up the mueller investigation. new cnn polling shows if the american public agrees. and later, little rock et man is about to meet with the doter. these are the names they called each other. this is how we learned what dodard meant in the first place. who gets the credit. if it all goes wrong, who gets the blame? ♪[upbeat music] ♪now i'm gonna tell my momma ♪that i'm a traveller ♪i'm gonna follow the sun♪ ♪now i'm gonna tell my momma ♪that i'm a traveller ♪i'm gonna follow the sun transitions™ light under control™ transitions™ roundup for lawns has arrived to put unwelcome lawn weeds to rest. so draw the line. roundup for lawns is formulated to kill lawn weeds to the root without harming a single blade of grass. roundup, trusted for over forty years. the vice president has a suggestion for the special council, robert mueller. just go ahead and shut down the russia investigation. watch this. >> it's been about a year since this investigation began. our administration has provided over a million documents. we fully cooperated. i think it's time to wrap it up. i would very respectfully encourage the special council and his team to bring their work to completion. >> that's what the vice president says. >> what do the american people think? >> the majority do not approve of what the president is doing. >> among republicans and democrats, there hasn't been a shift at all. back now with the panel, first on the timing of it, i know you think that the vice president's comments weren't necessarily out of line, put yourself in robert mueller's shoes, does he care what the vice president thinks? what kind of pressure do you think he feels? >> he feels the need not top ken starr, who spent five years -- not to be lawrence walsh, who spent five years, i think as a general matter, he feels a considerable amount of pressure to act with dispatch not interfere with the midterm elections. but does he care what mike pence said, not a bit. >> i'm struck by the polling out just tonight. you see the numbers on republicans. on every single question, should the president testify? it really does seem that the political message the president is pushing is having an effect. >> it's having an effect on the people who are listening to him. >> along the lines of what jeff was saying, that doesn't matter to robert mueller, it is going to matter if he returns some substantive conclusions and then it becomes a political matter. he's assuming that nothing comes of it, he's saying, you wrap it up and there's nothing there, and we all wipe our hands and go about our business. the administration feels this is a dark cloud hanging over them. what happens when he wraps it up and there is something there about. that becomes a political matter. >> that is the biggest point here that i think people don't talk about enough. when robert mueller is done, he will likely write a report, and we will see that report, it will likely not go to a courtroom the next day. this will not be for a judge and a jury. this will be for people in politics. this will be for congress, and this will be for the american people here, so the jury that the president's playing too right now, is the american people. >> that's exactly right. >> that's why it's interesting. democrats should not run on impeachment. but donald trump is running on impeachment. that's how he's mobilizing his base. we heard him say that at a couple rallies. he knows exactly what he's doing. and i totally agree, once something comes of this, and i think something is going to come of this. in less than a year robert mueller has gotten more indictments, has gotten folks to plead guilty and corroborate with him, than any other investigation we've ever seen at such a rapid pace. soy would imagine there is something there. there's a lot of smoke. >> well, it's nice -- >> but i do. >> i do agree, i think at the end of the day, what's going to lap if something is turned over and it becomes a political issue, which is why i think november is so important for at least the democrats. >> i probably said this about a dozen times on this show, it's time to wrap this up, at least have a time limit on this. the idea that this should go on and on, and mueller should go into the stormy case, and he should look into his financial dealings and it does -- to conservatives and republicans, it does start to look like a witch hunt. i've always said, don't fire mueller, just say you're done by june. it's not surprising that these numbers have improved so much for trump because of this, it's because of what's going on in the world. it's because of the amazing -- >> what you're talking about is overall numbers. that's why republicans are rallying behind him in this way, everything is going so well for this president. >> there was no, let's stop this. there were no indictments, no criminal charges. they went on with something that -- there was nothing there. here you have robert mueller in less than a year has gotten indictments, has gotten people to corroborate. >> whoa! i'm going to lose my voice here in one second. luckily what we do have, we have numbers and we can put them up on the screen here. 75 criminal charges, five guilty pleas. 22 defendants. that's not nothing, steven. >> there's smoke, there's a lot of smoke. >> this is about the president, right? >> what has he got on the president? i think the american people have a right to know. >> extrapolate that to the president and there's a there there. is absolutely irresponsible. >> no, it's not. >> we said this time and time again. the only folks that know what mueller knows is mueller's team. and to say that just because all of these indictments have occurred. just because there has been fruits of the labor as it relates to the investigation doesn't mean there's a there there as it relates to the president. >> jeffrey tuben, i was with you for half a second. that was good, no, you know, the mueller investigation is not over. and despite my best efforts, is not an institution that leaks. soy don't know what they're doing. you know, i didn't know they were going to indict 13 russians, no one even knew they were investigating the russians for the social media conspiracy case they brought. i think we need to have a little patience. and see what comes up, those polling numbers only reflect that democrats and republicans at this moment in our history see the world completely differently. >> that's very true. >> no matter what mueller comes up with, you can be sure that democrats and republicans will see that differently as well. >> all we need is a little patience. we're going to take a quick break right here. continue the conversation next. i'm 85 years old in a job where. i have to wear a giant hot dog suit. what? 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>> i mean, there's an investigation going on here into russian meddling, there have been indictments, there has been discovery. there have been government sanctions placed as a direct result of it. is the only measurement about whether there are ultimately charges which may not be legally possible anyway? >> no, we went to gets the truth, not the president. we want to know if one of the campaigns was infiltrated. if one of the campaigns worked with the russians to hack our elections. caputo has talked about his time testifying with mr. mueller's agents. we can't wrap this up more quickly, if you will tell your friend and boss the president to testify. if he's so innocent, tell him to testify. he's going to take the fifth. donald trump said, only people who take the fifth are guilty. we'll know quickly if in his own mind he's innocent or guilty. there's a problem with the premise of your question. the president does face criminal liability. the better of the scholarship from the office of legal council, a sitting president cannot be indicted. i doubt mr. mueller is going to go against that. he's not president for life. one fine day he will walk out of the gates, and on that day he will be subject to indictment. if mr. mueller finds criminal conduct by donald j. trump, those indictments may come when he walks out the door of the white house many. he has huge personal criminal exposure. >> we don't know if vice president pence would pardon the president. is the only gauge for whether or not this has been a useful investigation, whether or not there are charges on the president? >> the reason i disagree on this. it appears to me as a conservative and republican, that what's happening right now. democrats are trying to paralyze by not approving appointments. and cripple this presidency. half of the people -- there's nobody in charge of the government right now, the democrats won't approve half of the people. and then you have this investigation. >> they're corrupt and unqualified. >> they're unqualified. >> and they can't get their paperwork done. they can't even get their own people through on their even. >> you want to put him in jail. i mean, it's ridiculous, they want to criminally prosecute him. >> do you know how mitch mcconnell controlled the senate when obama was president. and how many administrators -- >> no, let me finish. don't interrupt me. you know what, let other people talk. other -- they did not allow any judges to be confirmed. and you may remember someone named merrick garland who was not confirmed. the idea that republicans are whining about the senate -- >> that was the harry reid rule. you know that, harry reid established that rule. within the last year, you don't -- you don't remember that. >> now you're blaming the republicans? >> the republicans have the house and senate. they have the house, senate and white house. >> no, no, no. harry reid did not say that about supreme court justices. >> no, he never said that. >> he did too. >> the strong do as they will, and the weak suffer as they must. that's what mitch mcconnell proved in the last year of the obama administration. >> harry reid and schumer said, we will not approve. >> you brought up something before that, that was interesting to me, which is that one of the things the president said is, he would like to be spending more time on other things. it doesn't seem this is holding him back on the things he wants to focus on. he's talking about how successful his efforts have been with north korea, by his own admission, he got those hostages back. it's a great moment. the mueller investigation didn't get in the way of that, did it? >> no, it didn't. he's still accomplishing goals. thort north korea. tax reform. >> what's the problem? >> what it is is a distraction from the american people. we need to get back. >> how are the american people being distracted? >> this is an absolute distraction for this administration, in moving forward. it freezes up a lot of what -- people's time, you only have so much time and so many resources in the white house, if you're dedicating time to the special council resources, you can't accomplish everything. let's go back to the fact that they started asking the president, they started discussions with whether the president is going to be interviewed or not. that signals this thing should be coming to an end soon. and -- if. >> if you're his lawyer, do you tell him to testify? >> if the president agrees. >> you're his lawyer. >> rudy giuliani did a good job out of the gates, that first weekend talking about scope of the questions, time of the questions, it went off the rails going into the following week, but that weekend, talking about time and scope and negotiating, that's all good stuff. and actually having to be able to trust that there's going to be fairness on the other side. that's what lawyers need to make judgments on at this point in time, as to whether the president testifies. >> stand by, quick break. what a difference a few months make. president trump praising kim jong-un not so long ago, he called him little rock et man. i'm dianne feinstein and i approve this message. i thought after sandy hook, where 20 six and seven year olds were slain, this would never happen again. it has happened more than 200 times in 5 years. dianne feinstein and a new generation are leading the fight to pass a new assault weapons ban. say no to the nra and yes to common-sense gun laws. california values senator dianne feinstein we met the north korean detainees in the overnight hours at andrews. president trump was generous in his praise of kim jong-un. >> we want to thank kim jong-un who really was excellent to these three incredible people. we very much appreciate that he allowed them to go before the meeting. it was sort of understood that we would be able to get these three terrific people during the meeting and bring them home after the meeting. and he was nice in letting them go before the meeting. >> wasn't all that long ago that the president was in a very different frame of mind. >> rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself. and for his regime. >> north korea best not make any more threats to the united states. they will be met with fire and fury. like the world has never seen. >> and we can't have mad men out there shooting rockets all over the place. by the way rocket man should have been handled a long time ago. >> as he said, that was then, this is now. >> what should we make with all of this. it's a remarkable image that overnight watching those detainees returning to the united states. it's a remarkable night for the families of those people who have been in captivity. even more remarkable is june 12th in singapore. the president of the united states is going to sit down with kim jong-un. that's a month from now. things have moved incredibly quickly. >> they really have. >> the arc that you just played is to trump a perfect case study in his theory of negotiation. his theory of sort of human dominance, what happened. he threatened someone, he insulted them, humilated them and they crumbled, right? the north koreans basically said, all right, we've had enough we want this to stop. and now everything's nice. and he's smiling. i think in trump's mind, this is how you handle people. this is how you deal with people on a human level. the real test is going to be what comes next. you have the doubters of what's going on with this process, we may be getting taken for a ride, he may not know what lose getting into we will not know until we get to the end of this story, how successful this unprecedented tactic, this process has been. >> the fact of the matter, this meeting is happening opinion this meeting is happening june 12th. 77% of americans support this meeting. >> i support my president, i want limb to do well. >> you can see, it's this type of thing that's starting to move the underlying numbers for the president. his approval is 41%. not great. democratic approval in north korea, and everything having to do with it is high. >> i think that's fine, i don't think that's important, frankly. what the polling says is more important on how my president defends my country. it's giving away the store. the most important thing kim wants is recognition and respect on the global stage. this is why the united states has declined for 60 years. he wants the tableau he saw last night. the president of the united states praising him. for releasing people he should have never incarcerated. this is the man who murdered otto warmbier. that regime murdered. he died as soon as he got back on american soil. kim wants recognition, he wants the u.s. out of south korea, he's looking at pulling back troops there. he's going to look -- it looks like kim has a strategy, which is international recognition. and decouple the united states from the peninsula. and leave allies there. unprotected from nukes. i'm not sure where the president is going with this. >> should i have not accepted the three detainees back last night? >> of course you accept them. but you don't stand there. president obama accepted 11. >> he didn't stand up there and give the guy a wet kiss on national television. he understand he's still a murderous thug. >> one of the things he said is that kim jong-un has been excellent to the detainees, these are people he took into captivity. >> we heard fire and fury, my button is bigger than yours and mine works. >> little rock et man. and everybody at this -- all the democrats at this table sat there. sky was falling. oh, my gosh, we're going to be in nuclear war, this is terrible. now all of a sudden we're giving away the store? you're not credible on this, paul. >> they can't say, now we're giving them the steer. this is a negotiation. recognize it as such. the president has done a good thing here. he's going to meet with kim jong-un. >> he was too reckless in his warrior language before. now he's far too feckless -- >> we have some success. >> she shouldn't have been taken in the first place. did you give obama credit for the 11 he brought home? >> sure. >> but he didn't stand up there -- >> i know a lot of liberals like you thought it was a reckless thing when ronald reagan called the soviet union the evil empire. >> i was in school. >> that kind of language. by the way, the end of the reagan administration, the soviet union was in dissolution. >> because of that speech. >> i agree with your point. this is a dangerous situation. you can't trust this guy as far as you can spit, right? >> entering an agreement with him, it makes me queasy. maybe i'm not part of the 77%. i'd like to see kim make more concessions before we go into there. >> i agree with what steven just said. i'm uncomfortable with these coalitions. >> i support everything that paul just said. so fast forward. things have happened. we are where we are. my concern is, is he going to prep for this? is he going to -- this is a man who can't -- he can't sit through a national security briefing. how is he going to manage this for june 12th? we don't know. this is the real deal, he's treated this thus far as a tv reality show, 3:00 a.m. in the morning, saying, you guys are getting great ratings and do the big to do with the detainees coming home. which is great for their families, great for our country. but that's my concern. how is he going to prep, what is he going to do. is he going to give away more of the store? 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"the washington post" obtained a draft of articles of impeachment. the chairman of the house intelligence committee was also charged with being held in contempt over access to documents. documents that the chair didn't bother to read. the chair didn't even bother to read when rosen stein acquiesced. today chairman nunez and fellow intelligence member trey gowdy called it a productive meeting. the cloud that nunez and his ilk try to cast over rosenstein is the same as the president tried to cast with his twitter finger. >> reporter: if the president is your boss, this is not what you want to hear when he's asked if he'll fire you. >> you figure that one out. >> trump was dissing his own deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein. for whom every day can be a near death experience. as a frustrated president lashes out at the russia investigation. >> the entire thing has been a witch hunt. there is no collusion. >> rosen stein became the man in charge, once the attorney general recused himself. he's the one who hired the special council. which leaves him as the man in the middle. between trump and any move to fire robert mueller. a precarious place. oddly enough, rosen stein started out as a teacher's pet. >> highly respected. very good guy, very smart guy. the democrats like him. the republicans like him. >> this guy sa man of upstanding character and essentially the goal standard at the department >> rosenstein's stock rose even higher when after just two weeks on the job he wrote a now infamous memo at the request of the president. lamb basting fbi director james comey for mishandling the clinton e-mail investigation. >> if the president asks you to, to look at this and give me your thoughts, you can't say no. >> so he writes the memo. >> he writes the memo. >> and then? >> all hell breaks loose. >> reporter: the president loved it, almost as much as he hated comey. so much, in fact, that he received it, released it, and fired comey all on the same day last may. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> we have major breaking news. >> the president of the united states has terminated the director of the fbi, james comey. >> reporter: josh campbell, a close comey aide, was with him in los angeles when comey learned watching cnn that he had been fired. >> they said, we have a letter from the president that was dropped off at the visitor center at fbi headquarters. >> reporter: visitor center? >> at the visitor's center indicating you've been fired. they said there's something else. there is something attached to this letter. there is a lengthy explanation from the deputy attorney general laying out a case against you. >> reporter: was he surprised at rosenstein? >> he was very surprised at rosenstein. again, not that they were chummy or friends or you would know what to expect because none of this was telegraphed. >> reporter: do you think he knew that it was going to be used by the president as the rationale publicly for firing james comey? >> well, i think he had to know it was going to be used in some degree. i don't think that he realized that the president was going to put greyhound bus tracks on his back with that memo. i don't think that he realized it was going to be used in that way. >> my memo, truthfully reflects my views. i'm not in a position to comment on anybody else. so from my perspective, senator, that memo is about what it's about. i don't know what was in anybody else's mind. >> reporter: in comey world, rosenstein is seen as a trump collaborator, not an independent actor. >> so what's the motive? >> i think the motive is to keep his job. >> reporter: what's rosenstein's rep now? >> there's conflict there. he is someone people are suspicious of. in these interesting times people are looking at him and thinking he might be the last best hope we have to ensure bob mueller is allowed to do his job which is a strange place to be in. >> reporter: rosenstein is 53, married with two teenage daughters. >> he's a dad. his world has changed a lot because of this. >> my younger daughter was 14 at the time when she heard i was going to become deputy. she asked me a very important question. she said, dad, does this mean you'll get your picture in the paper? [ laughter ] and i said, no. [ laughter ] >> reporter: but he keeps his own counsel even with his friends. >> with rod, you scratch the surface and you get more surface. but that's him. he is inscrutable publicly. professionally he is devastateingly effective. he's methodical, he's thorough. >> reporter: a career justice department official with a harvard law pedigree, a former u.s. attorney from maryland for a dozen years, a republican appointed by george w. bush. >> he's been presiding over a small district that was bringing every case you could imagine from material support of terrorism to public corruption to ms13 to corrupt jails where almost all the guards get indicted. i mean, he's been aggressive and he has not shied away from the political spotlight when it comes to prosecutorial decisions. >> reporter: he was confirmed for his current job last april, 94-6. but the shine wore off quickly after the mueller appointment. and then rosenstein further enraged trump by not stopping the michael cohen raid. >> so, i just heard that they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys, good man, and it's a disgraceful situation. >> reporter: and an increasingly tenuous one for rosenstein. >> no one is above the law, even the president. >> reporter: obama appointee sally yates is a former deputy attorney general fired by trump last year. >> the president can't fire a prosecutor because he's mad that he authorized a search warrant of his lawyer's home and office. >> reporter: he can be mad about it. >> sure, he can be mad about it, as long as he's not trying to influence his conduct. >> reporter: at a recent meeting with the president, rosenstein himself volunteered that the cohen raid did not put trump in any legal jeopardy. but the president remained furious. >> i'm very disappointed with my justice department. but because of the fact it's going on, i think you'll understand this, i have decided i won't be involved. i may change my mind at some point because what's going on is a disgrace. >> i believe attorney general sessions, my good friend and rosenstein, who i don't know, i believe they should, in the interest of justice, end this investigation. >> if he asks rod to fire mr. mueller, rod would resign is my guess because at that point it's untenable. you have a, you have a president who is not respecting the process, not respecting the constitution. he won't do t. >> reporter: he won't? >> no. >> it would be a red line for the president to fire bob mueller. but it should equally be a red line if he were to fire rod rosenstein as well. >> reporter: what red line is that? >> it is a red line in terms of turning the rule of law on its head. >> reporter: some republicans would see it as a step in the right direction, calling rosenstein conflicted because he wrote the comey memo. they also fume he won't provide his unredacted internal memo detailing the scope of the mueller investigation. the president himself again threatening, at some point, i will have no choice but to use the powers granted to the presidency and get involved. >> are you afraid of president trump firing you? >> no, i'm not, congressman. >> rod is -- he's like shockingly fatalistic. >> there have been people who have been making threats privately and publically against me for quite some time. and i think they should understand by now, the department of justice is not going to be extorted. >> he is a career public servant. he's a career prosecutor. whatever mr. trump wants to say frankly can only make his reputation go up. >> even if he gets fired? >> especially if he gets fired. >> that was gloria borger reporting. we'll be right back. with best in-class towing 2018 ford f-150. best in-class payload and best in-class torque the f-150 lineup has the capability to get big things to big places --bigtime. and things just got bigger. f-150 is now motor trend's 2018 truck of the year. this is the new 2018 ford f-150. it doesn't just raise the bar, pal. it is the bar. roundup for lawns has arrived to put unwelcome lawn weeds to rest. so draw the line. roundup for lawns is formulated to kill lawn weeds to the root without harming a single blade of grass. roundup, trusted for over forty years. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com thanks for watching "360." time to hand it over to don lemon. cnn starts right now. >> this is "cnn tonight." i am don lemon and we've got multiple breaking news stories. again for you. president trump back in his happy place tonight in front of a crowd of adoring supporters at a campaign-style rally in indiana. >> we will never give in. we will never, ever give up. and we will never stop fighting

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