Different this time . And do they have the votes they need . Plus, ten months after alton sterling is held to the grount and shot, no charges will be filed against the officers. Despite shocking new revelations. We talked to sterlings family and they say theyre not giving up on this. Also james comey back in the hot seat. The fbi director insisted he made the right choice dropping his Hillary Clinton bombshell days before the election. My judgment was consistent with the way i have always operated under. That was the right thing to do. Pam, good evening to you. How did director comey explain about the clinton investigation and the Russian Investigation . He said with the Hillary Clinton private email server probe, it started a year before the Trump Campaign russia probe. So that was part of it. And it was already in the public with the secretary herself acknowledging her private email server. And of course there was a very public referral for the investigation. He said it started out publicly and he waited three months in that case to acknowledge it, and he said it was different with the Trump Campaign. He said it was a classified Counter Intelligence investigation. They were in the early stages of trying to figure out what was there. And he stuck to the principle in that case of not acknowledging any investigation ininvolving u. S. Persons particularly when you have a classified investigation like this. Its a bit confusing with his answer, don, because of course fast forward nine months after that investigation was opened up, and he did then acknowledge it in front of congress as youll recall last march. So its unclear what exactly happened on that front now. Susan, rice, we have some news. What can you tell us . Linda gram invited her to testify next week on capitol hill, and she has turned down that request. We were told initially she agreed to do because she thought it was a bipartisan request. But after finding out he didnt agree with senator grams decision, she decided not to go ahead with it. She thought it would be a main distraction from the main focus which was russias interference and the election. And as youll recall she has sort of been a focus in President Trumps team that she unmasked people in the trumps circle. Talking to foreign officials. People weve spoken to on both sides of capitol hill say theres nothing illegal about what she did. But she decided she does not want to testify on capitol hill next week. Don. All right, pamela, thank you. Joining me now senator blumenthal, a member of the few dagsiary committee. Lets listen to director comey today. This is terrible. It makes me mildly nauseous we might have had impact on the election. But it doesnt change the decision. Tell me what you would do . Would you speak or would you conseal . And i could be wrong but we honestly made a decision between those two choices, even in hindsight this would be one of the worlds most painful experiences, i would make the same decisions. I would not conseal that. One of my junior lawyers said could you consider what youre about to do will help elect donald trump, and i said thank you for raising that. Not for a moment. Because down that path lies the fbis independent institution in america. I cant consider for a second whose political fortress will be ofted in what way. We have to ask ourselves what is the right thing to do and do that thing. Senator blumenthal, were you certified with director comeys answers . Theres no question that decision made the influence in the election, to make the statement literally within days about going back and opening the fact the investigation in Hillary Clinton had an impact on election. And in my view he had more than just those two choices, as he characterized them i think somewhat questionably, conseal or speak. But heres the real take away from todays hearing. Theres no wayinate jim comey is going to have anything to do with the outcome of the Current Situation into the trump possible involvement in russian meddling in that elekds. And thats an Ongoing Investigation that will have be prosecution decided. There must be a special independent prosecutor to make that decision because neither jim comey nor the Current Deputy whos appointed by President Trump is sufficiently independent in appearance or reality to make that decision. Senator, lets talk a bit more about director comey. He cited lynchs meeting on that tarmac. He said it was a turning point for him. He felt after that he felt the department of justice could not by itself credibly end this. Do you agree that meeting on the tarmac was a turning point . Theres no question it was regrettable the way it involved and the impact it had on james comey for making that decision himself. But someone else other than the fbi director named prosecutor should have made that decision. And an independent prosecutor should be making a decision Going Forward about whether donald trump in this investigation or his associates were colluding or cooperating with russians in an attempt to influence the outcome in this election. The director also explained how classified information ended up on anthony wieners computer. Here it is. Classified information ochb former congressman wieners computer. Yes. Who sent it to him . So she could then deliver them to secretary. State. Senator, does it worry you that classified information was handled this way . I am worried. And Hillary Clinton has said the fact that there were mistakes made and acknowledged there were errors in the handling of her private server. But the important point here Going Forward, there needs foobe a special prosecutor. And there needs to be a thorough and prompt investigation which only a special prosecutor can do. And i am concerned about the handling of classified information. He also mentioned that he warned the Obama Administration and the dnc about, you know, possible hacking and medaling. Do you think they took it seriously enough at the time . They probably should have taken it more seriously. In hindsight, they should have. Hindsight is always 20 20. Senator, blumenthal, thank you. Eric, thank you so much for joining us. You heard what he said there. Lets talk more about this. Senator blumenthal was adamant that a special prosecutor be named to the investigation with the russian interference in the election. How likely do you think that will happen . I dont think thats a likely scenario. I think democrats will probably press that as a result partly of todays hearing. But, you know, i think you have someone who was just confirmed at the Deputy Attorney general rosenstein after Jeff Sessions reaccused himself. Hes seen as an independent prosecutor appointed by both republican and democratic administrations am. Its about as middle of a row as youre going to get from a political appointee. So i dont see that getting much traction to be honest. Even though director comey was clearly animated at times, you think he did well with it. Why is that . This was his first real opportunity to lay out, look, this is why i did what i did. You saw him in a very emotional, often animated tones. And, you know, he presented himself as a man with no no real options as he said. He moved to conseal or reveal to congress the situation. He did have other options, in view obviously of democrats. But he presented i thought a somewhat per suasive case at least for the history book that this is why he did what he did. You recently reported for the New York Times on the Decision Making process at the fbi and why director comey spoke out about candidate clinton and not candidate trump. Does it all go back to bill clinton . Well, i think, you know, that obviously hillary herself has to bear a lot of at least the blame for starting the fiasco with the decision to use a private server. And it was this cascade of events after that leading up to the tarmac scene as you described with Loretta Lynch and billclipten. And it was just one expected turn after another. In hindsight probably if were talking about a special prosecutor, using that a year ago and perhaps there might have been a different scenario at the end of the day. When we come back more on our breaking news. The house set to vote. Could jimmy kimbles emotional monologue impact the vote . No parent should ever have to decide if they can afford to save their childs life. Breaking news. The house now planning to vote in a matter of hours on a repeal and replace of obamacare. As im reading the intro, he is already doing this, but just so he can stew. I want to go to you, matt. Because i want to get your reaction now. Still a long way to go. But is this the repeal conservatives were looking for . No, i dont think its, you know, certainly not. In fact it doesnt really repeal obamacare. But i think its a compromise bill. And just today weve seen this upton amendment which would add 8 billion towards the highrisk pool which would fund people with preexisting conditions in states that choose or request a waiver to 8 billion for five years. This a compromise that moderate republicans got in order to make this more palatable. But remember, even if this passes the house, if goes to the senate, its goegto look a lot different if it becomes a law. As im looking at it, its kind of like obamacare. Is this obamacarelike, if you look at this special pool sort of as this preconditions thing, matt . Yeah, i think, you know, the conservatives ran on the notion of sort of pulling up obamacare by the roots and having this perfect freemarket system. But thats not and thatsal billion. Thats a lot of money. And part of the whole thing is were responding too much money on healthcare, and now theyve added 8 billion to this, so it doesnt give the savings they happen. But the idea is the reason you have the option for state School Waivers that would allow them to suspend or the community rating. In other words, you could charge people more money. Thats kmael the danger, someone having a preexisting condition would have to pay more money if their coverage ever lapses. But the reason you do that is so you have this high risk pool with people who have preexisting conditions so that everybody else in the is main market where theres competition which would drive down premiums. I know you want to get in. But, matt, why would a republican vote for this . Why would they vote for this . I think you could argue on the margins its better than obamacare. Theres going to be some its more just about a win. I believe thats at least half of it. So what do you think . Do you think this is just about a win . To me, if you look at it its kind of its obamacare. Its far worse than obamacare. The cbo when they scored this one hasnt been scored. This one hasnt been scored, but they had to make compromises on the freedom caucus. Its less coverage. Most americans want preexisting coverage. I used to be a lawyer. I did Health Insurance work, these high risk pools didnt work well. High premiums, the idea of six or 12 months with these pools, people will die. Thats my fear. This is worse than politics. Its far worse. Hold on. Matt, do you think this is worse than obamacare the. We do not really know. High risk pools have worked in some states. Like maine and alaska. Theyve failed miserably in other states. Again, there was a amendment today by fred upten. Youre hog the segment. I keep calling on you, but do you remember i was on the other night they passed obamacare. And i remember the criticism from conservatives from Nancy Pelosiy saying well, youve got to pass a bill to know whats in it. Thats ridiculous. Its part of it, because what youre getting at and matt is they want to win. This is going to hurt republicans so badly. This is a gift. This helps them get that much closer to winning the house back in 2018. Thats a game changer. Listen, of course preexisting its the sticking debate for most americans. Jimmy kimmel of course we heard the story about his baby, sadly and that went viral. Heres what happened on his show the other night. Before 2014 if you were born with congenital Heart Disease like my son was, there was a good chance you werent able to get Health Insurance because you were born with a preexisting condition. You might not live long enough to even get denied because of a preexisting condition. If your baby is going to die, it shouldnt matter how much money you make. Whether youre a republican or democrat or something else, we all agree on that, right . Matt, you had a lot of explaining to do. Because you think this wasnt the right move. I remember you were on the air and you came into the room and everybody kind of beat you up. How much do you think this influenced the conversation in. Well, i think it definitely influences the conversation. Theres no doubt about it. But jimmy kimmel, his whole i think emotion always trumps logic. And so, look, i dont know if its going to impact the vote tomorrow, but i certainly think it does impact the conversation. So you think emotion trumps logic, so you dont think he should have done it is what youre saying . You have issues with him doing it . Well, first i think he is clearly politicizing this horrible thing. Remember, you said he should politicize it. This is an issue that unites all americans. All americans should be united and agreeing with him that republicans want to kill babies . He didnt say that. He actually said he didnt say that, matt. Come on. Be honest. I think its very clear if you went back to 2014 kids would have died, not true, by the way. And the implications with the context of this bill in the news right now if republicans have their way, more kids are going to die. And is his entire premises is flawed. First of all, this bill doesnt do anything about preexisting conditions. What it does is allow states to request a waiver that would affect a community if youre not jimmy kimmel and you dont have his money, this is what i heard, and you cant afford to have the kind of surgery and care he has that your child would be in a life or death situation. And that no parent, no child, no baby should be put in that situation. Everybody deserves to have quality healthcare. Thats what i heard. Dean, go ahead. Thats also what i heard. Through the aca children that were born with birth defects and had heart problems were denied health coverage. I saw it as a lawyer. That was part the law. After aca existed, you could not do that. What about lower middle class and middle class families who werent eligible for medicaid and didnt have insurance . They had to sell all their assets and home, which im sure they would do. Thats why its so important. Thats why so Many Americans both sides of theile support keeping it. Jimmy kimmel the other thing i would say, too, is not only is he super rich so this doesnt apply to him, but additionally he lives in california. Im sure california is not going to opt out the Current System and request the waiver. I dont understand why he took this very personal thing and tried to politicize it. I dont think he was trying to politicize it. He was trying to unpoliticize it. I dont understand how you heard him politicize it. He said it doesnt matter which side of theile youre he said take the politics out of this. Dont let partisan squabbles divide us. Its something every decent person wants. He was actually no, that would be like me saying, look, whether youre a republican or democratic, i dont do politics, but i think we should all agree the life to an unborn baby is matt, let me tell you how youre wrong. All right, tell me how im wrong. Because all these people that youre hearing from back home, many of them are republicans. And theyre saying to their congressman, i want preexisting conditions to stay. Many of them are saying i dont care if its obamacare or trump care, it doesnt matter on which side of theile. So republicans who voted for donald trump said we want to keep the preexisting conditions in there. Yes, but i dont understand why its an issue he needs to bring up. Because maybe someone will listen to him outside of washington where theres so much political and partisan squabbling. Maybe Jimmy Kimmels the one who can do it because hes human izizing. Ive got two kids. I think i can relate. I think any father can appreciate the pain you know president obama famously said having a child is like having your heart living on outside in this world. I get it. But guess what, this is Public Policy dispute. Its not about emotion. When you came on my show and you talked about your child and you gave a good reason why you believed in something that would help all children through your child, i dont think i would accuse you of politicizing but you were speaking from the heart and we should not make Public Policy decisions balsed on the antidotal story on one how many use this kind of story i dont know why you continue to attack suddenly jimmy kimmel of doing something which truly i think should be applauded. We fight left and right on everything merchandise this was a beautiful moment. I would have just let it be. Im not sure why youre continuing in the way in line with this attack of jimmy kimmel. Youre right. I should just agree that republicans want to kill babies. He didnt they want to kill babies. He didnt say that. Thats the implication. If you dont allow if you dont pass it, children will die some americans, sadly, will die. Look, i think we should have civil debate. First of all, this is a house bill that hasnt even gaup to the senate, hasnt even passed the house. There was an amendment today at 8 billion to funld this highrisk pool. But youre saying the republicans want more kids to die. Im not saying that. Im saying as a matter of fact, they will, matt. Matt, this should not be political. Its not more regulation. If you say it or jimmy kimmel says it its i am partisan. Matt, you dont think its political. You just told me at the beginning of this that half of it is they happen to win. I think republicans want to pass something, put points on the scoreboard. But, standby. Is that the right thing to do when youre ta