21/05/2017 America this Week

I didn't hear anything classified but the general concession is it was

a good decision to appoint Mr Mueller. Russia has been severely

limited, probably in inappropriate fashion, so I think a lot of members

want the special counsel to be appointed but don't understand you

are pretty much knocked out of the game and that is probably what it

should be. It was a counterintelligence investigation

before now. It seems to me now to be considered a criminal investigation.

What does that mean for the Congress? I find it hard to subpoena

records of somebody like Mr Flynn who may be subject to a criminal

investigation because he has the right not to incriminate himself. As

for James Comey, the former director of the FBI, coming before the

committee, if I were Mr Mueller, I would jealously guarded the witness

pool. One of the big losers in this decision is the public. We had a

really good hearing with Yates and Clapper where the public could hear

what happened with them. I think that opportunity has been lost,

maybe for the greater good, but there are a lot of people in that

room who are shocked that when a special counsel has been appointed,

that Congress has limitations on what we can do. So I have always

believed that a counterintelligence investigation did not need a special

prosecutor or Council. A criminal investigation might. The deputy

Attorney-General decided to appoint a special counsel at one of the

results of that, the ability of Congress to call people who may be

witnesses in an investigation conducted by Mr Mueller is going to

severely restrict what we can do. Can you confirm it is now a criminal

investigation? I never got to ask my question specifically about that.

But the takeaway I have is that everything he said was that you need

to treat this investigation as if it may be a criminal investigation. I

think the biggest legal change seems to be that Mr Mueller is going to

proceed forward with the idea of a criminal investigation versus the

counterintelligence investigation. There are no facts laid out as to

why you would change that but appointing a special counsel has

created, I think, a dynamic where Congress is going to have to cross

into Mr Mueller lane because of the possibility. Could we get the memo

is requested yesterday? I think Mr Mueller would tell us what we can

get and what we can't. So your investigation will be put on the

back burner. Joe Lieberman's name has now emerged as a contender for

the FBI. One of the winners of this decision is the FBI, because they

don't have to deal with this. Joe Lieberman is a pillar of credibility

and a good choice. Does it take care of your concerns? Yes. Having a

special counsel hurts our country terribly. Anyone is entitled to that

opinion. I would suggest to the President that when one has been

appointed, are that decision, cooperate where appropriate, fight

back when you have the legal ability to do so. I have been through this

before with the Clinton administration. Clinton hired an

individual lawyer to deal with all things related to Mr Starr. If I was

breast and I would focus on defending the nation and getting his

legislative agenda through the Congress. One of the side issues of

this is that Congress has been pretty much sidelined. We can go

back to dealing with legislative matters that affect the American

people. The bottom line here is that the President may not have liked

this decision. It was made. I have questions about it. You couldn't

have picked a better man to do the job. I think most people in that

meeting are generally OK with the idea of a special counsel but what

they don't quite understand yet is I think this decision has really

limited what Congress can do. I find it hard. I would be reluctant to

subpoena someone or document in their possession if I truly believed

they may be subject to a criminal investigation. It is not fair to

them. Did you get a satisfactory explanation from Rod Rosenstein

about why James Comey was fired? I think he viewed the whole process as

something Mr Mueller will speak on. But where are you satisfied with the

explanation you got? What about the firing of former FBI director James

Comey? Rod Rosenstein explained why he wrote the memo and why he thought

what James Comey did was interpreted in that way. What he tasked to write

that memo? I will let you asking that question. We have a special

counsel with all things related to the process of the memo and you will

talk to Mr Mueller about that. I got to go. The deputy

Attorney-General declined to give details concerning James Comey's

dismissal because he is anxious to give wide latitude to Robert Muller

to make a determination about where his investigation should go and what

it should include. As a former prosecutor, I respect that decision.

He did acknowledge he learned James Comey would be removed prior to him

writing his memo. What? He knew that James Comey was going to be removed

prior to him writing his memo. Joe Lieberman has emerged as a top

candidate for FBI director. I think it is a mistake to nominate anyone

who has ever run for office. I have spent a lot of time in law

enforcement. This is a moment when we need a law enforcement

professional that has never campaigned for a presidential

candidate, never campaigned for office, never worn a party label to

head the FBI. What does that take away from the revelation that he

knew that James Comey was going to be fired regardless of his

recommendations? I think the facts speak for themselves. I am not going

to comment any further because we still don't have the facts, we don't

have the documents, we don't have the sworn testimony. He was very

careful about not going into any details surrounding the removal

because he wants to give Robert Mueller the opportunity to make his

independent decision as to where the investigation should go. There were

a lot of questions about him cooperating with the congressional

investigations with the caveat that he is no longer in charge and he

wants to give Robert Mueller the opportunity to do conflict with the

committees of jurisdiction conducting investigations. I think

generally there was a desire to cooperate. Based on the briefing,

this investigation has crossed an important threshold from a CIA case

to a criminal case and that might limit Congress's ability to get

evidence and bring witnesses to testify. Lindsay is a former

prosecutor and I will let his comments speak for themselves. I

sense that a writing desire to make sure that Mueller had complete

discretion to take the investigation when he thought it needed to go.

Did Rod Rosenstein take any responsibility for the firing of

James Comey and the memo that he wrote? If not, where does the

responsibility lie? I think obviously he stressed the

responsibility for the decision lies with the President. It is an

executive branch decision and it was an executive action. His memo was

written within the context of it. You very much avoided giving

specific answers as to circumstances around the writing of the memo and

it did somewhat help, saying that should be the province of Mueller's

investigation. He very much totally backed away from ever going. Did he

tell you that the 8th of May was the day that he knew James Comey would

be terminated. I missed the beginning of his opening statement.

I cannot say for sure he did not say that. Is it your impression based on

the briefing that this has now crossed the threshold from

counterintelligence to a criminal matter? He stressed that this was an

investigation and he didn't go beyond that. Going beyond that would

prejudice people's billion as to the nature of it. There is no

pre-determination that someone committed a crime, just an

investigation. How will the Security Council negatively impact Congress's

ability to investigate? That was never raised. Is it your

understanding that Rod Rosenstein knew that memo would be written. He

has commented that he knew the President had made statements like

that. Having a special counsel could harm our country terribly. Do you

agree? No. What do you make the fact that the President knew that he was

going fire James Comey before he wrote the memo. No action is final

until it is final. You can imagine the President in frustration saying

he wanted to buy the guy but you don't know until it happens. Did the

President direct him to write the memo? I don't recall so I had better

not respond. The President made it his decision to fire James Comey

based on Rod Rosenstein's memo but it turns out that is incorrect. That

was raised as a point and he deferred the rest of the exploration

of that to Mueller. What is your view of the potential domination of

Jolie benign -- Joe Lieberman as FBI director? I had not heard that. The

Democrats said they did not think a politician should be nominated. I

suppose Joe qualifies as a politician but we have to define

politician. We just completed an hour and a half

session with the deputy Attorney-General. I think it helped

inform a lot of the members who may not be on the intelligence committee

and the biggest takeaway for most members was that the appointment of

Bob Mueller as the special counsel, special prosecutor, that the deputy

Attorney-General is going to give him very wisely way, and he

consequently did not answer specifics on any question that was

asked in terms of questions about the memo. I will just leave it at

that and I will take one quick question. Senator Blumenthal just

told us this was becoming a criminal investigation. Is that you'll take

away from the briefing? As someone who is an Intel committee member and

open to more information, I don't want to comment. Can you follow up

on the timing that when Rod Rosenstein you that James Comey

would be fired? We have heard that he knew on the 8th of May. Was that

your understanding? In light of where we are now investigation, we

will have more to say about that but I don't want to comment. Mueller's

investigation will swamp yours. One of the things that I made a very

strong comment on to the deputy Attorney-General was that we had

different purposes and different standards. We are looking at

counterintelligence. The justice department looks more and criminal.

They have a much different standard. There may be factual collaboration

that falls short of full legal collusion. In many ways, our view is

broader than a justice department FBI investigation. You could have

trouble getting access. That is a great question and I got some

clarity. We will need to look at that in terms of de-confection. A

lot of that responsibility was passed on to Mueller. We have talked

about it as soon as possible. Early next week we will get a chance to

sit down. I have no informs at this point that

would in any way indicate that former director comby would be

procluding. Let's realise what happened here. The deputy Attorney

General has appointed a special prosecutor which I called for to

make sure there was, you know, further independence. That special

prosecutor will basically take over what was already happening at the

FBI and at the DOJ. I would be very discouraged if somehow this new

director was going to set out trying to renew special prosecutor... The

special prosecutor would proclude Mr Comey from testifying in public.

Clearly it had been, I believe Mr Coemy's intent to choose a venue and

testify. Nothing really has changed. The scope of the investigation's

still the same, if not broader -- Mr Comey. I could not understand why

there would be any reason why, a few days ago, director Comey's intent

was to testify. My hope is sooner rather than later because congress

breaks in another week. If that opportunity presents itself, I would

like to get it done as soon as possible. Just to confirm, you and

the chairman expect to sit down early next week? That is what I

hope. That is my hope. I think we are going through the normal course

of, how do we get to him but, you know, I can't think of anything that

I wouldn't clear on my schedule to sit down with Mr Muller.

Your take on it? We got through the important briefing with the Attorney

General who's appointed Robert Muller to head up the investigation

into the Russian issue. One of the issues I raised with him is, my

concern that we have multipolicety of congressional committees

investigating this same matter and how can we best coordinate those

activities with director Muller and the FBI so we don't inadvertently

interfere or impede his investigation. Licity of

congressional committees investigating this same matter and

how can we best coordinate those activities with director Muller and

the FBI so we don't inadvertently interfere or impede his

investigation. We understand the important of this investigation and

we don't want to get in the way. It seems with the oversight

investigations, the Judiciary Committees, sub committees of those

committees, that that is a train wreck waiting to happen. I'm hoping

we can get through the majority leader and perhaps the democratic

leader. Some sort of agreement that there will be a single point of

contact so we can facilitate this. The other problem is, we could just

as Welwyn advertently impede an investigation and basically make it

impossible for them to take the matter to court. We don't want to do

that. Were you surprised to learn the President already decided to

fire James Comey? The FBI director serves as the President's pleasure.

My understanding is that that was one of the rationales but not the

complete. Initially the White House said the President made this...

Well, I can't Of the Department of Justice... That wasn't me. I heard

the same thing you heard. You have removed yourself from consideration.

We understand Joe leekerman has appeared at the top of the list. An

acceptable nomination? In a very divided nation's capital and

country, he is the only person that could get 100 votes, he's

universally well respected -- Liebermann. Do you agree that it

could hurt our country? He believes there is no basis to it. Russia was

very much involved in trying to undermine public confidence in our

elections and it's a serious enough matter that we are conducting a

broad by partisan on the committee that I sit on getting access to some

of the most sensitive and raw intelligence that the intelligence

community produces. We are taking this enormously seriously. Are you

suggesting that the scope should be narrowed down for the

investigations? No, I'm p I'm saying there will be a lot of requests made

of the FBI and the Department of Justice as part of this

investigation. So we need to coordinate with director Muller how

we seek witnesses, we seek documents and that sort of thing because you

can imagine if they are getting a multiple request from all sorts of

different committees that it's going to be a lot of confusion. There's

going to be delay. It's not in anybody's interests to delay or

impede or impair this investigation. So the investigation should continue

at the pace and scope that it's currently doing? That's right but we

also node too be focussed on our role. We are not the FBI or the DOJ,

we are conducting oversight investigations and that's our

appropriate role. Has the nature of the investigation changed from

terrorism and if so what are the repercussions? I assume this has

been a counterintelligence investigation primarily, but as the

deputy attorney said, this will be up to director Muller under the

appointment he got. Thank you all very much.

Let me just say briefly, Higham not going to go into the substance of

his answer, except to say, those answers really need to be given to

the American people in public under oath. He should come before the

Judiciary Committee and tell the American people who he's told us in

this setting. I urged him to do so because it is important to the

confidence and trust of the American people in our criminal justice

process. I was disappointed in some of his answers, they were less

forthcoming and specific than I think they should have been but I'm

going to await judgment until I hear more and I'm going to be posing

additional questions to him as we go along. What were some of the biggest

unanswered questions coming out of the meeting? Relating to the

background of his memo, his consultation with others in the

Department of Justice and the reasons for the firing of director

Comey. I'm satisfied that Bob Muller can follow the evidence wherever it

leads, including not only the Trump campaign's possible collusion with

the Russians and interfering but also potential obstruction of

justice by the President of the United States. Are you speaking

specifically Sir to the firing of director Comey? There is mounting

evidence of obstruction of justice, no conclusion yet that there was,

but that evidence needs to be pursued and there are a variety of

pieces of evidence and the firing of director Comey may be one of them.

You are confident that the special counsel is look at the firing of

Comey and whether that was an effort to obstruct justice? The special

counsel must pursue all of the evidence, whether it's the firing of

director Comey or memos that were prepared, other documents and other

witnesses that may have knowledge about the interference in the

election, the collusion that may have happened in the Trump campaign

and potential obstruction. At this point we are talking about potential

and allegations. Bob Muller has the guts and backbone to stand up to

anyone in the Department of Justice, anyone in the Trump administration

who tries to interfere with or inhibit that investigation and I'm

satisfied that we will know whether that's occurring. The response is

given to us -- the responses given to us today indicate that the deputy

Attorney General is very sensitive to the fact that the scope and

mandate has to be unlimited in so far as additional evidence may be

forthcoming related to the Russian meddling or the possible Trump

campaign collusion. Senator, can you clear up something for us. One of

your colleagues said that it's clear after this meeting that this is no

longer a counterintelligence investigation, it's now a criminal

investigation. What is your understanding, is this now a

criminal investigation? Bob Muller is doing a criminal investigation.

The special prosecutor is dog an investigation of criminal

allegations -- doing an investigation of criminal

allegations that are extremely serious, including possible

obstruction of justice and, I emphasise again, no conclusion about

whether there was, but there are a number of pieces of evidence that

indicate there may well have been and the investigation has to follow

that evidence wherever it leads. I'm satisfied that the deputy Attorney

General means what he says in the mandate that he gave that anything

related to those allegations can be pursued and must be pursue and it's

more than just counterintelligence, we are talking here about a criminal

investigation. Your predecessor maintained this afternoon...

(Inaudible) do you think he'd make a good FBI director? I'm not going to

comment on any specific individual until someone is nominated. I

believe in general the nominee for FBI director ought to be someone

with a background and expertise and experience in criminal justice,

preferably a prosecutor and ought to have no political connections or

ties and I believe that the... That would rule out Joe Biebermann. I'm

not ruling anyone out, that's my preference. Just to be clear, you

gave the indication that the President may be under criminal

investigations... No. Only that the evidence needs to be pursued

wherever it leads, not that any individual person is under

investigation. I have no knowledge about what the special prosecutor

may pursue. I was one of the first, if not the first who, asked for

special prosecutor. I told Rob that I would vote against him if he

failed to commit to a point of prosecutor and I did vote against

him. Then I voted against him on the floor and I said to him that I was

glad he was appointed as special prosecutor. The targets of the

investigation and the specific charges at this point are up to the

special prosecutor, I'm not presuming that anyone is a target,

including the President of the United States. There may be others

who are not even known at this point. Senator Blumenthal, did the

deputy Attorney General did his commitment that he'll have the

resources he needs? He did. I asked him specifically and he presumed

that he would. That was a very important point because I said the

special prosecutor has to have the independence, resources and

unlimited mandate to follow the evidence. Thank you, Sir. I'm going

to make a very brief statement and that will be it. First, if one thing

is clear from the meeting we just had, it is that Mr Muller has broad

and wide ranging authority to follow the facts wherever they go and that

gives me some confidence and should give the American people some

confidence because he is a man of great integrity and experience.

Second, after this meeting, it's clear as ever that the intelligence

committee in the senate has to continue its work and it should

continue full throttle ahead. And the immediate for former director

Comey to come testify in public soon is as great as ever. Thank you.

Earlier in the week, President Don Donald Trump delivered the United

coastguards commencement address. During his remarks after the special

counsel to lead the Russia investigation, he criticised the

media saying no-one has ever been treated unfairly. His remarks are

half an hour. Thank you very much. Thank you,

John. Thank you.

Thank you and congratulations to the class of 2017 - great job. General

Kelly, I want to thank you for your leadership as the coastguards

service secretary. You've really been something very, very special to

us as a country and to me in our administration -- and our

administration. You've done through the your entire life, an incredible

job defending your country. The thank you very much, John.

And John and all of his folks are also doing an incredible job

protecting our homeland and our border, and I am thrilled that my

first address to the service academy is at the graduation ceremony.

Believe me, it is a great honour. I have been here before and it is a

very special place. Every cadet graduated today, as your

Commander-in-Chief, it is truly my honour to welcome you aboard. And

you should take a moment to celebrate this incredible

achievement. Governor Molloy, thank you for being here. We are glad you

could join us and I know how busy the governors are now. They are out

there fighting. It is never easy. Budgets are little tired but we are

doing a job. All of a sudden a job working together. I so want to

welcome the Admiral and his leadership. His leadership has been

amazing. Today's graduates will be fortunate to serve under such

capable and experienced comment on. He really is fantastic. Thanks also

to the academy superintendent. Admiral, I understand you come from

a true coastguard family. Two brothers, nephew, cousin, have all

passed through these halls. That's very impressive. I guess you like

the place. Somebody in your family has been doing something right, I

can tell you that. I am sure that they all are very proud, just as we

are very proud of the fine young officers who are graduating today,

Admiral, on your watch. I would also like to take this opportunity to

express our appreciation to all of the parents and grandparents and

family members who have supported these amazing graduates. Give your

parents and everyone at hand. Come on.

APPLAUSE Because America has families like

yours and will keep all of those families safe and very, very secure.

They are keeping your family safe. If you are not already, you are

about to become militarily families. So starting today, I hope you feel

the full gratitude of our nation. These fine young cadets are about to

take their rightful place on the front line of defence for the United

States of America. Cadets, you deserve not only the congratulations

but the gratitude of each and every American, and we all salute you. A

proud nation. And you are part of a very, very proud nation, which

salutes the 195 cadets at the coastguard academy class of 2017.

Good job. And I understand from the Admiral is that this has been a very

special class. You have been trained here to handle the toughest of

situations, the hardest moments, really, that you can experience, and

the hardest in people's lives to help the week in their hour of need.

But even for the coastguard, this class has been exceptionally

dedicated to public service. You served breakfast at the local food

bank every single weekday. You rebuilt a home with Habitat for

Humanity. Last year you lead cadets in donating a total of 24,000 hours,

a lot of time, to community service. You have done amazing work and in

the true coastguard fashion, you had fewer people and fewer resources,

but you accomplished the objectives and you did it with skill and with

pride and I would like to say under budget and ahead of schedule. We are

doing a lot of that now at the United States government. We are

doing a lot of that. I won't talk about how much I saved you on the F

35 fighter jet. I won't even talk about it. Or how much we are about

to save you on the Gerald Ford, the aircraft carrier, which had a bit of

an overrun problem before I got here. It will still have an overrun

problem. We came in when it was finished but we are going to save

some good money. When we build the new aircraft carriers, they are

going to be built under budget and ahead of schedule. Just remember

that. That will allow us to build more. Now of course there are always

a few slip-ups from time to time, you know that. For example, I

understand that once or twice first-class cadet Bruce came... Wary

as Bruce? -- where is Bruce? Bruce, how do you do this to yourself? As

regimental parking officer, you might accidentally have caused a few

tickets to be issued or a few of your cars to be booted. Bruce, what

is going on with you? Cadets, from this day forward, we want everyone

to have a clean slate in life, that includes Bruce, right? So for any

oversights or small violations that might have occurred this year, as

tradition demands, I hereby absolve every cadet for every minor

offensive. Bruce, stand up again, Bruce. They saved you because they

all wanted me to do that, OK? Thank you, Bruce. Congratulations, Bruce.

Good job. By the way, Bruce. Don't worry about it. That is a tradition.

I was forced to do that. You know that. Don't worry. This is truly an

amazing group of cadets that are here to date for commission. You

could have gone to school anywhere you want it and with very, very few

responsibilities by comparison. Instead you chose the path of

service. You chose hard work, high standards, and a very noble mission

to save lives, defend the homeland, and protect America's interests

around the world. You chose the coastguard. Good choice. Good

choice. You've learned skills they don't teach at other schools right

here in the grounds of this academy and also on the larger campus, the

open sea. That is a large, large campus. A beautiful campus. But the

greatest lesson you have learned... I am very, very pleased to welcome

him today. He will introduce some of our policies for this election. It

kind of feels like the only way is down now! Thank you so much for

coming to today's launch of the cat guarantee. It sets out what the

Green Party elected to the House of Commons would stand up for on your

behalf. These are big and these are bold ideas that with the right

political will are possible. They are about building a confident and

caring Britain and a future that we can all be proud of.