[Harlow:] Welcome back. We are waiting for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, you see his back there, and Christopher Wray, the FBI director, to begin their testimony on Capitol Hill in front of the House Judiciary Committee. This is a hearing that got under way, focused on the oversight of the FBI and DOJ's actions surrounding the 2016 election. You heard from the chairman and the ranking member of the committee, and then they had to take a break for a vote. Then they will be back and we will hear the opening statements from the deputy AG and the FBI director. As we wait, let's talk about what is ahead because this is a very consequential hearing and an important day on the Hill. Joining me now, Josh Campbell, CNN law enforcement analyst and former FBI supervisory special agent, Shimon Prokupecz, our crime and justice reporter is also here, and Amber Phillips, reporter political reporter for "The Washington Post" is here. Shimon, just walk us through how consequential today is. I mean, we heard certainly some of it laid out by Goodlatte and by Nadler. But what is today trying to get at?
[Shimon Prokupecz, Cnn Crime And Justice Reporter:] So certainly you're going to hear a lot about the 2016, probably the IG report, but I think what I'm going to be looking forward to and sort of hearing is how the two Rod Rosenstein and obviously Christopher Wray defend their agencies respectively. You know, as you know, Rod Rosenstein has come under fire, Chris Wray, though not directly under fire, his agency certainly has been under fire, so I think we're going to see a lot of that. This is an opportunity for these two men to defend their work, to defend what they have been doing. They don't often speak publicly. But anytime they do, and they get an opportunity to defend themselves, certainly they do it. I think it's going to be interesting to see if questions about the Mueller investigation come up, confidential informants, so-called spies in the campaign, if all of that comes up and how they handle those situations because, you know that is going to come up. So I'm going to be interested to see how they respond to that. Certainly we know a lot already about the IG report, Christopher Wray already testified about some of that. It was during that testimony where he defended the FBI. He also defended the Mueller investigation, saying that it is not a witch-hunt, I'm sure that question will come up again. So those are the things, as much as
[Harlow:] Yes.
[Prokupecz:] You know, we're going to be focused on the past, but it's also the president and what's going on currently that is going to be an issue.
[Harlow:] And Laura Jarrett is also with us, our Justice Department reporter. I think we have there she is. Laura, good morning to you.
[Laura Jarrett, Cnn Justice Reporter:] Hi. How are you?
[Harlow:] Laura, let's talk about how Peter Strzok's testimony, 11-hour marathon testimony behind closed doors yesterday plays into today because one of the headlines out of that closed door session from both Republicans and Democratic lawmakers who were in there is that Strzok told them this is the FBI agent that sent those anti-Trump text messages, he told them that the special counsel Bob Mueller did not grill him, really, about the text messages when he found out about them. Now Mueller did let him go and released him from the Russia probe he was working on. But Democrats play that one way and Republicans play it another way. And then you look at the two gentlemen, you know, the deputy attorney general who is going to be on the Hill and also Christopher Wray, what do you expect them to be pressed on when it comes to that agent, Peter Strzok?
[Jarrett:] It will be interesting to see how exactly Rosenstein and Wray thread the needle on Peter Strzok. Obviously consequential because of his text messages, but he is still technically employed by the FBI. He was escorted out earlier this month after that lengthy inspector general report. But he is technically still on the job and so they have to be careful about what exactly they can say while he's undergoing these disciplinary proceedings. Obviously lawmakers want to hear that there will be consequences for Peter Strzok, especially House Republicans have been pressing that over and over again. And, of course, the backdrop to all of this is the fact that Strzok was on Mueller's team briefly.
[Harlow:] Right.
[Jarrett:] And so the Republicans, at least some of them, they say this is fruit of the poisonous tree. Because he was on Mueller's team from the very beginning, the entire investigation is then somehow tainted. But Democrats say that's preposterous. He was only one of many members on the team and he certainly wasn't able to affect any of the key decisions. At least from what they have seen thus far.
[Harlow:] Josh, to you, as a former FBI supervisory special agent, what are you looking for, especially from Christopher Wray, the president's pick, to head the FBI, but now the intelligence agency's once again under attack by the president this morning.
[Josh Campbell, Cnn Law Enforcement Analyst:] That's right. I mean, oftentimes these hearings can be anodyne, sometimes, you know, downright boring, some of the subject matter expertise the subjects that are talked about. This is not going to be one of those hearings. I think we can prepare ourselves for fireworks and the reason is because the House GOP is not going to be satisfied with what they're going to hear as we break down official by official. So with Rod Rosenstein, obviously the House GOP they've been asking for these very sensitive details of sources and methods and up until now, you know, the deputy attorney general has been holding the line and saying no, we're not going to throw open our files for you to, you know, come rifle through. We'll provide you with information, you know, as part of your oversight duties but we're not going to go on sources and methods. We are going to see fireworks. With respect to Christopher Wray, and Laura just alluded to, they want to know who is being held accountable inside the FBI. They want insight into those ongoing disciplinary proceedings. Chris Wray isn't going to go there. It will be interesting to see kind of what his posture is. I just actually talked with Director Wray on Monday when he was out here in Los Angeles. And his posture appears to be, is he's going to move forward and we have to remember that he wasn't there in 2016, so he wasn't
[Harlow:] Right.
[Campbell:] You know, responsible for what was going on. But I think his goal was to let the FBI's work speak for itself and they continue to reiterate that, although there may be a subset of people, a very small group, that, you know, made bad decisions, we're talking about Strzok and, you know, Page and McCabe, the FBI is a larger organization than that.
[Harlow:] Right.
[Campbell:] So I think we're going to constantly hear that reaffirming that, look, this is an organization of 37,000 people, those who made mistakes will be held to account but they shouldn't, you know, represent the rest of the agency.
[Harlow:] Well, in fact Wray has been a staunch defender of the agency and the agents as a whole in the wake of the president continuing to attack them. Amber, what do you make of the divide that we actually see, even a divide among some of the most conservative members of the Republican Party on what to do about Rod Rosenstein? I think it's telling that you have Meadows saying if Rosenstein and the DOJ don't turn over these documents having to do with the early days of the Russia probe in 2016, by July 6th, we would be open to pushing for, you know, towards impeachment proceedings. But then you have other pretty conservative members like Chris Stewart of Utah, like Bob Goodlatte, the chair of this committee, saying, hold on a minute, hold on a minute, not sure that's necessary. Let's see if we can get the answers we need from the documents the DOJ has already turned over. What do you make of that?
[Amber Phillips, Political Reporter, Washington Post:] Yes, I think Republicans need to figure out where they land on Rod Rosenstein's future. And you're right to zero in on his future, Poppy. That's because President Trump in the past, with any number of investigations or findings or classified memos that the House Republican committees have declassified, has used this to try to discredit in some way, not just Bob Mueller, not just the Justice Department at large, but Rod Rosenstein. And if you look at it, firing Rod Rosenstein from Trump's perspective makes a lot of sense. Constitutionally he can do it, where as it gets really iffy on firing Bob Mueller. And Rod Rosenstein is the person who oversees and approves all of the special counsel's work. And so I have heard from Capitol Hill a lot of red line from Republicans on whether the president fires Mueller, or even Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Rosenstein's boss.
[Harlow:] Right.
[Phillips:] I have not heard a clear red line on Rosenstein. That's what I'm going to be watching for today.
[Harlow:] Yes.
[Phillips:] And I think you're absolutely right, Poppy, to zero in on that.
[Harlow:] Thank you, all. Amber Phillips, Shimon Prokupecz, Laura Jarrett, Josh Campbell, stick with me as we wait for this hearing to get under way of Christopher Wray and Rod Rosenstein. But, look, Rosenstein smiling there, glad handing people, just waiting patiently for this to begin. Don't let that deceive you. It's going to be fireworks, folks. Also, Anthony Kennedy on his way out of the high court after 30 years on the bench. Straight ahead, the battle over who will succeed him and his hugely influential key swing vote.