Whitaker Says I Have Not Denied Any Funds to The Mueller Probe
LAURA JARRETT, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Then he says, I'm not going to discuss my conversations with the President about the southern district of New York. We saw very different answers depending on who in Congress was asking him the question, but I think the overall takeaway point here is that he got trapped when he wanted to put his foot down and have strong answers and show the President that he wasn't going to be bullied by Congress, then he had something to say. When it got heated there, he wanted to back up and wanted to retreat to not a full exertion of executive privilege. He's doing actually something a little bit more subtle, preserving the option for the White House to exert it down the line.</s>BALDWIN: Therefore, the word inconsistencies from the committee chairman. I want to play -- here are some of the other heated moments from this nearly six-hour hearing.</s>W: I'm sorry. I don't know if your time's been restored or not.</s>REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE (D), TEXAS: Mr. Attorney General, we're not joking here and your humor is not acceptable.</s>REP. DOUG COLLINS, RANKING MEMBER OF JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: He's willingly -- was willing to come but yesterday we had the charade yesterday. This hearing is pointless and basically was made even more pointless by the chairman's opening statement. This is not about the good men and women at the Department of Justice were doing. This is not about FBI agents doing their job.</s>REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: There are many American throughout the country who are confused. I'm confused. I really am. We're all trying to figure out who are you, where did you come from and how the heck did you become the head of the Department of Justice? So hopefully you can help me work through this confusion.</s>MATT WHITAKER, ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL: I mean, Congressman --</s>JEFFRIES: Mr. Whitaker, that was a statement, not a question.</s>WHITAKER: OK.</s>JEFFRIES: I'll assume you know the difference.</s>BALDWIN: So, John Dean, back over to you. This is a man who will be in his job only for a few more days. There was all the drama yesterday between him and Chairman Nadler over will he/won't he show up pending subpoena. Why did today matter?</s>JOHN DEAN, COOPERATED WITH WATERGATE INVESTIGATORS AGAINST NIXON: Well, it's our first -- as the Congressman just said, where did he come from, how did he get there? I think that's what everyone really wanted to understand. It's just too fishy that the President sets aside the entire succession statute and slides this guy from nowhere into that top job. Plus, he'd been on CNN and elsewhere making all these statements against the special counsel and we didn't really get an answer today and it's very important for the people to understand where did this man come from.</s>BALDWIN: Gloria, final thought from you.</s>GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, it was clear to me that he was completely uncomfortable with this hearing, that he had too many people he wanted to please because he's thinking about his next life, so he didn't want to anger the President, he didn't want to anger the House Republicans, but he also wanted to make sure Rod Rosenstein was OK, and that he's thinking about what he does next and not the current job that he has and it was a lot of theater from both sides, from the Democrats and the Republicans and did anything meaningful come out of it? I'm not so sure.</s>BALDWIN: On that note, thanks, everyone so much. Now to the breaking news today. Federal prosecutors are now involved after amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says the publisher of the "National Enquirer" tried to blackmail and extort him. This is a huge story. We have all angles covered for you. Also missed deadline. The White House refuses to send Congress on the report whether the Saudi government had any role in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. What lawmakers are planning to do about that? Remember this --</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you explain to me how a guy who eats McDonald's and all those diet cokes and who never exercises is in as good a shape as you say he's in?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's called genetics.</s>BALDWIN: So, we're back again. President Trump getting his physical right now, CNN learning he has not been following his doctor's orders. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. We'll be right back.