Murder and ron goldman, now hes about to become a free man again after serving nine years for Armed Robbery and kidnapping. Plus, hes vowing to return to sparring with fellow lawmakers after a brain cancer diagnosis. And hes already tweeting about his differences with trump about u. S. Policy in syria, so what is the prognosis for maverick of the senate, john mccain . Good afternoon, welcome to the lead, im jake tapper, beginning with our politics lead today. The nations top Law Enforcement officials find themselves in the extraordinary position of defending their right to keep coming to work today. After the president of the United States attacked the top officials at the department of justice and the fbi. In an interview with the New York Times, President Trump attacked the attorney general, the Deputy Attorney general, the former head of the fbi, the acting head of the fbi, and of course, special council, Robert Mueller whos investigating his campaigns possible ties to russia. The subtext of many of these criticisms, being that these men do not seem to understand how they should be trying to serve him. Donald trump. The president. Instead of serving the American People or for that matter, justice. The most humiliating of the many belittlements in the interview was perhaps his personal rebuke of the first u. S. Senator to ever publicly support him. The attorney general, Jeff Sessions, for being, quote, very unfair to him by recusing himself from the russia investigation after it was revealed, of course, that sessions had been during his confirmation hearing less than transparent about contacts he had had with russian officials. Then giving the president zero heads up about it. Zero. So Jeff Sessions takes the job, gets into the job, reaccuses himse himself, i then have which, which frankly, i think is very unfair to the president. How do you take a job, and then reaccuse yourself . If he would have recused himself before the job, i would have said, thanks, jeff, but im not going to take you. Its extremely unfair, and thats a mild word to the president. I spoke with four republican senators today to see what they thought about what the president said in this interview. One spoke to me on the record, the other three spoke to me on background because they didnt want their concerns to deinvolve into a food fight with President Trump. Republican senator number one told me, quote, im very disturbed that the president would throw Jeff Sessions under the bus. I think sessions did the right thing ethically and the right thing legally to undermine the attorney general is very bad forum for the president. That senator continued, one gets the impression that the president doesnt understand or he willfully disregards the fact that the attorney general and Law Enforcement in general, they are not his personal lawyers to defend and protect him. He has his own personal lawyers, and of course the white house has the white house counsels office. The attorney general is americas top Law Enforcement official. Its unclear if he understands that. And thats pretty disturbing. Again, that was a republican senator. A second republican senator told me, quote, i know Jeff Sessions to be a person of real integrity, which is why he recuseded himself. I dont think its good for any president of the United States to undermine the federal judiciary. A third republican senator told me, quote, if youre Jeff Sessions, its got to be tough to come to work the next day, but, attorney general sessions did come to work today. He said this i have the honor of serving as attorney general, its something that goes beyond any thought i would have ever had for myself. We love this job, we love this department, and i plan to continue to do so as long as that is appropriate. President trump went on in the interview to attack former fbi director james comey, accusing him of lying. And he went to impugn the reputations of the acting fbi director Andrew Mccabe as well as rod rosen stien, and of course suggested that the special council, Robert Mueller, appointed by rosenstein had conflicts of interest. Amidst all of this, perhaps the most troubling part of the interview was the president would not rule out firing special counselor mueller if mueller looked into his and his familys finances. Mueller was looking at your finances, your familys finances unrelated to russia. Is that a red line . Would that be a breach of what his actual part is. Yeah, i would say yes. The New York Times reporters followed up, one asking, would you fire mueller if he went outside of certain parameters of what his charges and asking what would you do. The president saying, i cant answer that question. Because i dont think its going to happen. The third republican senator told me, he was stunned by this remark. Quote, maybe i shouldnt be that the point he said, but this one seemed to go a little further. Any thought of firing the special counsel is chilling. Its chilling. Thats all you can say. And that would certainly cause congress to hire its own somehow. I cant imagine it happening, but, many of us couldnt have imagined hed fire comey. Either knowing it would lead to mueller or Something Like that. Republican senators one and two expressed concerns about the appointment of a special counsel which they view as often leading to fishing expeditions, regardless, they could not believe the president was saying that he possibly would fire mueller if he looked into trumps finances, if he crossed that red line. Quote, thats just making the bad situation hes in worse said senator one. Not smart, said republican senator two, youve got a special council, let the individual do his work. Dont comment, dont interfere, just let the special council do his job. Senator susan collins, republican of maine is the only senator who would go on the record, she is not one of the other three senators i referred to. She said quote, it would be catastrophic if the president were to fire the special counsel. Mr. President , these are republican senators. Some of whom are considered strong supporters of yours, all of whom want you to succeed. And their message to you on this issue is cut it out. Just moments ago, President Trump was asked about his relationship with attorney general Jeff Sessions and heres how that played out. Great job. Mr. President , does Jeff Sessions have your full support . Thank you, everybody. Mr. President , did you authorize elon musk ringing endorsement, no comment in fact from the president as he wrapped up an announcement related to his make America Great initiatives this week. Lets go to sarah murray. Similar question was asked at todays briefing, and that was at least acknowledged. Reporter well, thats right, jake, its a natural question. After he said all of these negative things, does he want his attorney general to resign . Sarah Huckabee Sanders said essentially, well Jeff Sessions is still here, isnt he . Heres what she said. As the president said yesterday, he was disappointed in the attorney general sessions decision to recuse himself, but clearly he has confidence in him or he would not be the attorney general. Reporter now that may be the public reaction were getting from the white house, but privately, sources are telling my colleague jeff, that this has had a Chilling Effect on staffers in the west wing. There was no one who was more loyal to President Trump along the way than Jeff Sessions. He was the first senator to come out and endorse President Trump. And it was very lonely road early on. And so theyre looking at this and saying, if hes not even loyal to Jeff Sessions, who will he be loyal to . You talked to a number of senators, jake, of course our colleagues on the hill caught up with a number of them too. And they had their own messages for President Trump. Heres a sampling of what they had to say. We proceed and well do our Due Diligence and we got two committees now in the senate, we have one committee in the house, you have a special council. So a lot of investigation is going to take place, regardless. The independence of our judicial officials is highly critical to the functioning of our democracy. The president makes a lot of statements off the cuff that sometimes come back to haunt him, and thats one of them. Reporter so that is the message from the hill. Despite the protests, mr. President , the investigations are going to carry on, not only on capitol hill but also at the Justice Department, jake. Sarah murray, thank you so much. What does a member of the Senate Committee investigating possible Trump Campaign ties to russia think about the president s red line for the special council . Well ask next. Stay with us. Having mplaque psoriasise is not always easy. Its a longdistance run. And you have the determination to keep going. Humira has a proven track record of being prescribed for nearly 10 years. Humira works inside the body to target and help block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to symptoms. In clinical trials, most adults taking humira were clear or almost clear and many saw 75 and even 90 clearance in just four months. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal, infections and cancers, including lymphoma have happened as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. 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Everyday, i think how fortunate i am. I think is today going to be the day, that we find a cure . I think how much i can do to help change peoples lives. I may not benefit from those breakthroughs, but im sure going to. Im bringing forward a treatment for alzheimers disease, yes, in my lifetime, i will make sure. Dad flash drives . Yup. Thats dad taking care of business. Laptop setup . Yup. But who takes care of dad . Office depot, office max. This week, all hp ink, buy one get one 30 off. Taking care of business back with the politics lead now. President trump slamming his own attorney general, Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the russia probe and warning special council Robert Mueller not to go too far in investigating his or his familys finances. Joining me now democratic senator chris kunis of delaware, he serves on the Senate Judiciary committee. President trump has confidence in the attorney general, otherwise he wouldnt be there. In your view, do you think President Trump was trying to send a message that sessions should step down . Should quit . Well, i thought it was really striking that in interview with the New York Times, media outlet that the president has often criticized, that he chose to do two things that struck me as inappropriate. One, to brush back special Council Bob Mueller by saying he better not go too far and the other suggesting that he wish he hadnt hired the attorney general and he wouldnt have if hed known he would recuse himself. In both cases, jake, i think the president is confusing what the role is of the department of justice. The officials who lead the department of justice take an oath to uphold the constitution, not a loyalty oath to the president. And i think if the president mistakingly thinks the department of justice is merely a political extension of the white house, then he ought to have a good look at the constitution and the importance of the independence of the investigatory functions of the fbi, the doj, and in this case, special council, bob muler. Do you interpret what President Trump said today about sessions . Do you think he was trying to suggest to him that he quit . If i were in Jeff Sessions shoes, if i were attorney general, i think this was a suggestion i should quit. It is strikingly a disloyal from someone who should be grateful that senator sessions was literally the first senator, now attorney general sessions, was the first senator and in some ways the longest and most dogged defender of donald trump in the course of his campaign. So, i think he both misunderstands why the attorney general recused himself, and shows a striking lack of loyalty to one of his strongest and earlier supporters. There was an interesting moment in the interview where the president said it wasnt until Richard Nixon that the fbi began reporting to the Justice Department out of courtesy, he said, quote, the fbi person really reports directly to the president of the United States, which is interesting. You know, which is interesting, and i think were going to have a great new fbi director, unquote. Your Committee Just unanimously approved Christopher Wray to be the next fbi director. Now goes to the senate floor. Do you think President Trump is trying to send a message to him, you work for me, pal . President trump sends all sorts of messages. Some of them focussed, some unfocussed. Some of them in long form interviews, some in twitter ranlts. Frankly, what matters here is what Christopher Wray understands about his job. And he comported himself well in front of the judiciary committee, the reason he got a unanimous vote that was he persuaded the members of the committee that he understands his obligations to the constitution, not loyalty to the president. The white house is saying that President Trump was making it clear that special council Robert Mueller should not, quote, move outside of the scope of the investigation. In your view, do you think President Trump was threatening special counselor muler in any way . If you peek too much into my familys finances, im going to fire you . The language of the interview certainly was implicitly threatening, bob should stick solely to things related to russia. Thats not the scope of the special counsel. Hes looking into obstruction of justice and looking into whether or not there was inappropriate collusion between russian officials and the Trump Campaign, but as he investigates, as this goes along, i would expect him to follow the facts where they lead and to reach whatever legal conclusions are appropriate. One of the things that makes bob mueller strong is the special council is that hes clearly got bipartisan support here in congress, he is wellrespected as a career federal Law Enforcement officer, and i suspect hes not intimidated at all by the statements by the president in the New York Times interview. Susan collins, senator from maine, republican told me that if the president fires mueller, it will be, quote, catastrophic, another republican senator told me that if he fires mueller, he suggested that congress would seek a way to continue the investigation beyond just the committees. What do you think would happen if President Trump fired special counsel mueller . What do you think the senate would do . I think there would be very widespread rejection of that action as being a fundamental threat to the rule of law in our country. And i think strong action would be taken on a bipartisan basis. I think the president really underestimates the extent to which there is deep bipartisan concern about this ongoing russia matter, and real enthusiasm on both sides to see it resolved. To get to the bottom of it, and to understand whether theres a there there and there needs to be some prosecutions and some further consequences, or whether theres nothing there, and its been fully investigated and it should be something we can move passed. Theres a real hunger on