The president took to twitter this morning to blast comey once again, implying comey leaked information saying his leaks will be far more prevalent than anyone thought possible. And the diplomatic crisis in qatar. Several diplomatic ties with the ally, accusing them of funding terrorism at a high level. We begin here at home in a dramatic move. Attorney general Jeff Sessions says he will testify before the committee. In a closed door hearing, after james comeys testimony, they suggested a possible third undisclosed meeting between ambassador kislyak and senator sessions back in 2015. Sessions has recused himself from that investigation after it emerged he met with kislyak twice last year despite testifying he had not had any contact with russian officials. Sessions recusal caused a lot of tension between him and his boss, trump, and even came to the attorney general offering to resign at one point. How his testimony on tuesday could affect his relationship with the white house, in particular President Trump. Diane feinstein indicating this morning that sessions testimony should not be exclusive to the Intelligence Committee. I challenge the jurisdiction to some extent. Im on both committees, as you know judiciary and intelligence. Yes. And i believe that the Judiciary Committee has the oversight responsibility for the Justice Department, and, therefore, it is very fitting for the attorney general to appear there. Ive written two letters to senator grassley suggesting that and sessions ought to come back before the Judiciary Committee. Lets see how all of this is playing out. Nbcs Kelly Odonnell is joining us from new jersey where President Trump is spending the week. Kelly, thanks for joining us. We saw the white house and how quickly President Trump responded to the testimony of jim comey last week. How is the white house preparing for sessions testimony this upcoming week . Reporter well, no word from the white house specifically about Jeff Sessions going before the Senate Intelligence committee. However, a department of justice spokesperson has repeatedly denied that there was ever any third meeting, which is a part of what you were discussing there, that james comey suggested that there might be a third instance. That involved a conference that was happening at a hotel where sessions and the Russian Ambassador were both present, but the Justice Department says that there was no side conversation, there was no meeting, there was nothing like that. They deny that occurred. But thats one of the questions that has come up, and he would likely be asked about this when he appears before the Senate Intelligence committee on tuesd tuesday, as we expect that will unfold now. What really jumped out about this was in a letter saturday night it was sessions that said he would not appear at the standard hearing expected for tuesday about the budget for the department of justice. Thats a regular thing that Anyone Running one of the agencies would do. Hes not going to go to that public hearing, but instead will accept the invitation of the Senate Intelligence committee to sit with them, talk about the questions that they have, and he said thats moa more appropriat forum for him to answer these questions because hes recused himself on the russia investigation and doesnt believe it would be proper for him to talk about that in a public setting. So it also serves the purpose of taking him out of sort of the hot seat. A public televised hearing would certainly put political pressure on Jeff Sessions, so he can push that aside by having his deputy go to that and instead focus on the Senate Intelligence committee. So far the Intelligence Committee has not provided any specifics about when this hearing would take place, theyve not confirmed that it will take place. Were relying on the fact that sessions is saying that he is accepting this invitation. So it may just be getting back on monday in washington theyll sort all of this out. But there are democrats who have tough questions for sessions, republicans have some, too, so this is really putting Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, in a difficult position. He had already recused himself, and some of what kind of fueled all this is what happened with the james comey testimony. Here is democrat ron widen of oregon questioning the fired fbi director about attorney general sessions. In your statement you said that you and the fbi Leadership Team decided not to discuss the president s actions with attorney general sessions even though he had not recused himself. What was it about the attorney generals own interactions with the russians or his behavior with regard to the investigation that would have led the entire leadership of the fbi to make this decision . Our judgment, as i recall, was that he was very close to and inevitably going to recuse himself for a variety of reasons. We also were aware of facts that i cant discuss in an open setting that would make his continued engagement in a russiarelated investigation problematic. Reporter and so that gives you a sense of what made democrats in particular sort of sit on edge wanting to know what else did the fired fbi director know. And so for Jeff Sessions to come forward, perhaps he can resolve some of that, but its really important to point out it is expected by people in both parties that when sessions talks to the Intelligence Committee, that will be a closed hearing. That is normally how the Intelligence Committee works. James comeys public televised hearing was not the normal way of doing things, and its because comey wanted that to be public. So its not clear we will know what attorney general sessions says to the committee when he has a chance to answer their questions, we think on tuesday, as hes indicating. Aman . Kelly odonnell live for us in new jersey. Thanks for joining us, kelly. Preet rahara sat behind james comey in h, and in an intw he said it was possible what they would look at is obstruction of justice possible by the president . Is there evidence to begin a case for obstruction . I think theres absolutely evidence to begin a case. I think its also important for armchair speculators in the law to be clear that no one knows right now whether there is a provable case of obstruction. Its also clear that there is no basis to say there is no obstruction, and its point on whether or not the president has Legal Authority to fire or direct an investigation, i not only get it, its a little silly to me that the fact you have authority to remove somebody from office doesnt necessarily excuse that person from credibility. Lets ask this question which i think is one of the central questions we heard the former u. S. Attorney there talk about it. Is there enough to consider obstruction of justice against the president from what we have heard so far . I guess it depends what the context is. I mean, i think that preet is right. This absolutely merits further investigation. I think a lot of the discussion about whether or not a criminal obstruction case could be brought in the abstract against somebody who did what trump did here is a little its not irrelevant, but its a little beside the point. The u. S. Attorneys manual says a prosecutor shouldnt bring the case unless they are convinced of the evidence to prove someone guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Here were not talking about bob mueller or someone in the department of justice actually indicting a sitting president. In all likelihood, that decision would fall to the house to decide whether or not these are high crimes and misdemeanors and whether President Trump should be impeached, and in the senate, if twothirds of them agreed would convict him. So i think were a little bit mixing and matching our evaluation here between what in the end is going to be a political question and what in the normal case would be a strictly legal question. Again, that could change depending on what happens in 2018 for the race for those higher seats. Let me ask you about Jeff Sessions in the weeks ahead as we hear he is expected to testify for the Senate Intelligence committee. He has recused himself from the russia investigation, so do you think despite his recusal, senators will be able to get a lot of information out of him come tuesday . I dont know. As you indicated earlier, i dont know whether its going to be an open session or whether its going to be closed. I think so inevitably theyll ask him about additional meetings with kislyak, theyll ask him about certain things that jim comey testified. Jim comey testified that he asked the attorney general not to leave him alone with the president , which in itself is an extraordinary fact. I think that the senators definitely are going to try to get whatever facts out of Jeff Sessions that they can. I want you to put your legal hat on for a moment, and i want to play something donald trump jr. Said in an interview that aired last night. Take a look at this. When i hear the flynn comment, you and i both know my father a long time. When he tells you to do something, guess what . There is no ambiguity in it. Theres no, hey, im hoping. You and i are friends, i hope this happening but you have to do your job. Thats what he told comey. The Washington Post also suggests that the president seemed to, in effect, be confirming comeys testimony, particularly in the way that he said it, like, you know my father, when he says it, you do it. Do you agree with that . Do you think that sound bite we played may have actually hurt his fathers case . I dont know whether it would actually hurt a legal case. I dont think that statement by trumps son would be admissible in court. But it sure isnt consistent with some of the tweets that weve been seeing from trump. But thats you know, thats nothing new. Trump and his surrogates have reversed course all the time, and the president literally is someone who seems unable to open his mouth or tweet without lying. Yeah, it seems like there is a lot of contradictory statements coming out of there between twitter and what the president is saying. Former federal prosecutor gold man, thank you for joining us this sunday. Thank you. The president had his fingers working on twitter, and between tweets he still reacted to james comeys testimony thursday, saying, i believe the james comey leaks will be far more prevalent than anyone thought possible, totally illegal and very cowardly. Kevin, if i may begin with you, as we were talking about earlier in the program, attorney general Jeff Sessions expected to testify. What do we expect from that, do you think . Its very difficult to know because hes testifying in a closed session. I really would expect a lot of the talk to focus on this mysterious third meeting sessions may have had with the russians. It was very clear that the democratic members of the Intelligence Committee during that public hearing with comey this week were really interested in that hearing and were sort of setting up a few of the questions that they were asking comey seemed to be designed to set up questions they would later ask sessions. So i would expect a lot of it to focus on that, but it will be difficult to know because the hearing will be taking place behind closed doors. The jim comey testimony that we saw, 19 Million People watched it. That had a huge impact on the Public Perception of what is happening with the russia probe. Regardless of which way you think it came down, what is your big takeaway of it . The big takeaway for me from the jim comey testimony is that he seemed to confirm a lot of the news accounts that came out in the aftermath of his firing. He even admitted toordering a friend of his, a law professor, to leak the quotes he wanted focused on. President trump is responding a lot to what jim comey said because it was a public hearing. We dont know if Jeff Sessions hearing will be in a public forum or behind closed doors, so if thats in a public hearing, we can expect to see donald trump tweeting about it. We know his relationship with him is kind of on the rocks right now. If he uses the same language with Jeff Sessions that he used with jim comey, it would be safe to say that that would be kind of throwing the attorney general under the bus in some ways. Hes used very Strong Language against jim comey. Do you think it could go that way with sessions as well . I would say not as far as its gone with jim comey, because Jeff Sessions and trump used to be so close in the beginning. There was no one who argued with him like Jeff Sessions who is really strong being attorney general. How often do you think he wants to keep Jeff Sessions in the fold . You saw that Jeff Sessions offered to resign. Do you think trump would ever be inclined to nudge him out . I would be pretty surprised, to be totally honest. I would be surprised because Jeff Sessions is sort of the architect of a lot of this trumpism. He was at the forefront in congress before donald trump was even a candidate. He backed donald trump fullthroatedly, was one of the better surrogates for his campaign. I would be surprised. And as trump has said repeatedly, he expects loyalty to those who serve with him. Heres what republican senator susan collins, a member of the Intelligence Committee, had to say about that. Take a listen. This is an issue that the president should have cleared up in his press conference. He should give a straight yes or no to the question of whether or not the tapes exist, and he should voluntarily turn them over not only to the Senate Intelligence committee but to the special counsel. If he doesnt and a subpoena would be necessary to find this out, you support that . I would be fine with issuing a subpoena, but that most likely would come from the special counsels office. So kevin, it seems like the president has tweeted himself into a corner yet again by suggesting there may be tapes, implying there may not, or for jim comeys sake they should be taped. Why doesnt President Trump simply give a yes or no answer on whether these tapes exist or not and avoid any more potential damage and calls for a potential subpoena by members of congress . Because hes a Reality Television host and thats sort of the role hes living here. Tune in next week. Tune in next week. I think its a performance. I think its a bit of a performance. I would be amazed if the tapes actually do exist, particularly how tapes were used bakely sicao force Richard Nixon from office. I would be amazed if any president ever taped a conversation they were having. Is it common . Im not really familiar with it, but is it common for the white house to have a tape recorder to tape certain sessions . Since the fbi used it pretty commonly, my understanding is its pretty rare. Maybe conversations with foreign leaders would be taped so they could go back over them at a later date or things like that, but they dont sort of have a running tape of all the conversations the president is having in the oval office. Certainly if youll recall as well, the president said he had that conversation with him in the small dining room off the oval office, so it wasnt even in the confines of the oval office. Thank you both very much for joining us this sunday afternoon. Coming up, the diplomatic crisis when qatar president accuses President Trump of funding terrorism at a higher level. Stay with us. I was out here smoking instead of being there for my sons winning shot. That was it for me. Thats why im quitting with nicorette. 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That was President Trump on friday accusing qatar of financing terrorism just an hour before trumps secretary on terrorism called on them to ease sanctions in the country. We call on the kingdom of saudi arabia, bahrain and egypt to ease the blockade against qatar. Qatar is home to the largest u. S. Base in the middle east, a base thats central to the air war against isis. Since monday they joined four other neighboring nations to isolate qatar to break liberation with the country. Ashcroft and his law firm will audit the countrys effort to combat terrorism ove