Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee issued a stern warning to President Donald Trump on Thursday: "If you shut down or throttle" the investigation into Russian meddling led by special prosecutor Robert Mueller, "you will plunge this country into a constitutional crisis."

New York Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler continued, "Mr. President, we are watching you. The American people are watching you."

Many House Democrats called for legislation to protect the special counsel to be included in the spending bill Congress must pass by Friday to keep the government running.

Republicans didn't agree to the measure, however, and the provision was not included.

Asked if firing Mueller was a "red line" that could lead to impeachment, Rep. Nadler stopped short of predicting the consequences, saying only, "all options would be on the table."

Nadler said the firing of the special counsel would lead to a "sea change in the political landscape of the country," that would cause Republicans "to be moved to act" against the president, too.

But he said, "We're not there yet."

Washington, D.C. - 22 March 2018

1. Wide shot of Rep. Nadler and other Democrats walking into House press gallery

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jerrold Nadler, (D) New York:

"Let us set aside for a moment that so much of what the president says is simply factually incorrect. These tantrums are more than merely the online musings of a passionate viewer of Fox News. These statements are threats from the president of the United States against our rule of law. They specifically target Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is charged with investigating allegations of serious crimes against the United States, including a conspiracy to defraud the United States government in an attempt to influence the 2016 election. That is why I am standing here today with my Democratic colleagues from the House Judiciary Committee to deliver a united message to President Trump: Do not meddle with the special counsel investigation. We expect and the rule of law demands that the special counsel be permitted to complete his investigation wherever it may lead free from political interference and that the facts be presented for public review so that the American people can know the full truth."

++BLACK BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jerrold Nadler, (D) New York:

"Where, however, is the Republican leadership. Why does Speaker Ryan take days to make tepid statements in general support of the Mueller investigation? Why does the majority refuse to take action to protect the special counsel from a president who clearly wants him gone? Why would they not agree to a bipartisan amendment to the omnibus budget bill to make it all but impossible to remove a special counsel without cause? My colleagues here have the courage to do it. Republican leadership will not. Mr. President, we are watching you. The American people are watching you. If you shut down or throttle the Mueller investigation by firing either (Attorney General Jeff) Sessions or (Deputy Attorney General Rod) Rosenstein or Mueller, you will plunge this country into a constitutional crisis."

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jerrold Nadler, (D) New York:

"Should a red line be crossed and firing the special counsel or throttling his investigation would be an absolute red line. Then there would be a total sea change in the political landscape of the country. And at that point, all options would be on the table. All options would be on the table. I believe that as the president puts us in a constitutional crisis, that there are enough Republicans who care about the rule of law and are concerned by the president's action they would be moved to act too. But if this happens, if the president puts us in a constitutional crisis by crossing a red line by firing the special prosecutor or really constraining the investigation, all options would be on the table. But we're not going to say now what we would do then because all kinds of things change not just change but .. we're not there yet."

US President Donald Trump claimed on October 8th 2018 that "the Democrats colluded with Russia".

Trump was speaking in Washington after returning from his meeting with Deputy US Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

He claimed that the Obama administration did nothing when it found out about possible Russian meddling in the 2016 US elections.

Trump also commented on Jamal Khashoggi, a missing Saudi journalist, saying: "I do not like it".

When asked about superstar Taylor Swift's support for Democratic candidates in Tennessee, Trump said he liked her music "about 25 percent less now".

***

President Donald Trump says he has answered written questions from special counsel Robert Mueller but hasn't yet submitted them.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on November 16th that he answered the questions "very easily" this week but added that "you have to always be careful."

The president did not say when he would turn over the answers to Mueller as part of the ongoing investigation into possible ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Trump had huddled with lawyer at the White House this week but made clear: "my lawyers don't write answers, I write answers."

Mueller had signaled a willingness to accept written answers on matters of collusion. The White House has said it would not answer Mueller's questions on possible obstruction of justice.

The president spoke to reporters shortly after a district judge ordered the Trump administration to immediately return the White House press credentials of CNN reporter Jim Acosta, though a lawsuit over the credentials' revocation is continuing.

Trump said "people have to behave" while in the White House and he said his staff will be "writing up rules and regulations" to guide press for future events.

The president insists he wants "total freedom of the press," but journalists "have to act with respect."

Trump didn't say what the new rules and regulations will entail.

***

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former lawyer, has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about work he did on a Trump real estate deal in Russia.

Cohen made a surprise appearance on November 29th in a New York courtroom.

He admitted to making false statements in 2017 to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.

In August 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to other federal charges involving his taxi businesses, bank fraud and his campaign work for Trump.

One of the prosecutors working with Special Counsel Robert Mueller was present in the courtroom.

Cohen's lawyer told the judge the plea deal involved cooperation with Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the U.S. election.

***

A federal judge has agreed to delay former national security adviser Michael Flynn's sentencing so he can continue cooperating with the Russia probe.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan on December 18th set a status conference for March 2019.

Attorneys for Flynn asked the judge to postpone the sentencing. The stunning request came after Sullivan warned Flynn that if he were sentenced as scheduled Tuesday, he might not get all the credit for his cooperation with investigators that he is entitled to.

Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his Russia contacts. Prosecutors had recommended no prison time, citing his cooperation. But the judge's rebuke raised the prospect that Flynn could get a harsher sentence.

00:55:18

00:00:00

Trump says Democrats colluded with Russia

4176320

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington DC - 8 October 2018

1. SOUNDBITE: (English) Donald Trump, US President:

" Everybody understands there was no collusion with Russia. It was all made up by the Democrats. They're the ones that colluded with Russia.

00:08:16

Trump: I answered Mueller's questions very easily

4182647

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 16 November 2018

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, US President:

" I was asked a series of questions, I've answered them very easily, very easily. I'm sure they're tripped up because you know, they like to catch people, gee, you know was the weather sunny or was it rainy? He said, 'it may have been a good day. It was rainy.' Therefore he told a lie, he perjured himself. OK, so you have to always be careful when you answer questions with people that probably have bad intentions. But no it's, the questions were very routinely answered by me, by me.

00:42.04

Michael Cohen pleads guilty to lying to Congress

4184494

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 29 November 2018

3. Michael Cohen walks out of courthouse with lawyer

00:49:23

Flynn sentencing delayed, he's still cooperating

4187405

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington DC - 18 December 2018

4. Michael Flynn leaves courthouse, enters SUV8

Private tensions between Justice Department leaders and Robert Mueller's team broke into public view in extraordinary fashion Wednesday as Attorney General William Barr pushed back at the special counsel's "snitty" complaints over his handling of the Trump-Russia investigation report.

Testifying for the first time since releasing Mueller's report, Barr said he was surprised Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether President Donald Trump had tried to obstruct justice, and that he had felt compelled to step in with his own judgment that the president had committed no crime.

Barr was also perturbed by a private letter Mueller sent him last month complaining that the attorney general had not properly portrayed the special counsel's finding.

Barr called the note "a bit snitty."

"I said 'Bob, what's with the letter? Just pick up the phone and call me if there is an issue,'" Barr said.

The airing of disagreements over the handling of the report followed Mueller's two-year investigation into Russian interference to help Trump in the 2016 campaign and the possibility that Trump's team conspired with the Russians.

During most of the investigation, the Justice Department and Mueller's team seemed to be unified in approach.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers have been anything but unified.

And their partisan divide was on full display during Wednesday's contentious Judiciary Committee hearing, which included three Democratic presidential candidates.

Some Republicans, in addition to defending Trump, focused on the president's 2016 Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton's email and campaign practices and what they argued has been a lack of investigation of them.

Democrats, for their part, moved to exploit the daylight between Barr and Mueller to attack the attorney general's credibility and accuse him of unduly spinning the special counsel's report in the president's favor.

Barr sought to minimize the rift by suggesting the special counsel's concerns were largely about process, not substance.

Barr's appearance gave him his most extensive opportunity to explain the department's actions, including his news conference held before the Mueller report's release.

Barr has also been invited to appear Thursday before the Democratic-led House Judiciary panel, but the Justice Department has said he would not testify if the committee insisted on having its lawyers question him.

Neither side broke much new ground Wednesday on the specifics of Mueller's investigation, though Barr did articulate a robust defense of Trump as he made clear his firm conviction that there was no prosecutable case against the president for obstruction of justice.

POOL

Washington DC - 1 May 2019

1. Wide, Senate Judiciary Committee

2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Sen. Cory Booker, Democrat - New Jersey:

"We right now have a new normal in our country. We have a document that shows over 200 hundred attempts, connections between a presidential campaign and a foreign adversary sharing information that would be illegal if you did it with a super PAC. We know that. (Barr: What information was shared?)  The polling data was shared sir. It's in the report I can cite you the page. (Barr: With who?) And I guess my point here is is that your willingness to seem to brush over this and use words like the American people should be grateful. What's in this report? Nobody should be grateful."

3. Back view of hearing

4. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General:

"Sen. Kamala Harris: Attorney General Barr has the president or anyone at the White House ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone?

Umm, I wouldn't I wouldn't.

Harris: Yes or no.

Could you repeat that question?"

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Kamala Harris, Democrat - California:

"I will repeat it. Has the president or anyone at the White House ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone? Yes or no please sir?"

6. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General:

"The president or anybody else.

Harris: Seems you'd remember something like that and be able to tell us.

Yeah but I'm trying to grapple with the words suggest. I mean there have been discussions of of matters out there that they have not asked me to open investigation but  ...

Harris: Perhaps they've suggested?

I don't know, I wouldn't say suggest.

Harris: Hinted? Inferred?"

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Kamala Harris, Democrat - California:

"Is in reaching your conclusion did you personally review all of the underlying evidence?"

8. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General:

"No. We took and  ...

Harris: Did Mr. Rosenstein?

No we accepted the statements in the report as the factual record. We did not go underneath it to see whether or not they were accurate. We accepted it as accurate."

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Kamala Harris, Democrat - California:

"As the Attorney General of the United States. You run the United States Department of Justice. If in any U.S. attorney's office around the country, the head of that office when being asked to make a critical decision about in this case the person who holds the highest office in the land and whether or not that person committed a crime, would you accept them recommending a charging decision to you if they had not reviewed the evidence?

Barr: Well that's a question for Bob Mueller. He's the U.S. attorney. He's the one who presents the report.

But it was you who made the charging decision, sir? You made the decision not to charge the president."

10. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General:

"In a pross (process) memo and then a declination memo.

Harris: You said it was your baby, what did you mean by that?

It was my baby to to let to decide whether or not to disclose it to the public

Harris: And whose decision was it? Who had the power to make the decision about whether or not the evidence was sufficient to make a determination of whether there had been an obstruction of justice?

Prosecution memos go up to the supervisor, in this case it was the the attorney general and the deputy attorney general who who decide on the final decision."

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Democrat - Minnesota:

"Mr. Attorney General, on April 27th President Trump stated 'Mueller, I assume for 35 million dollars he checked my taxes and he checked my financials.' Is that accurate? Did the special counsel review the president's taxes and the Trump Organization's financial statements?"

12. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General:

"I don't know.

Klobuchar: Can you find out if I ask later in a written question?

I, yes or you could ask Bob Mueller when he comes here.

Klobuchar: OK I'll do that too."

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Democrat - Connecticut:

"In fact in response to your question 'why not just pick up the phone,' this letter was an extraordinary act. A career prosecutor rebuking the attorney general of the United States, memorializing in writing. Right? I know of no other instance of that happening. Do you?"

14. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General:

"I don't consider Bob at this stage a career prosecutor. He's had a career as a prosecutor.

Blumenthal: Well, he's a very eminent prosecutor.

He was the head of the FBI for 12 years.

Blumenthal: He's a career a law enforcement professional, right? Yeah I know of no other instance of ...

But he was also political appointee and he was a political appointee with me at the Department of Justice. I don't know the letters a bit snitty and I think it was probably written by one of his staff people."

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Democrat - Connecticut:

"Did you make a memorandum of your conversation? Did you make a memorandum"

Barr: I didn't.

Did anyone, either you or anyone on your staff memorialize your conversation with Robert Mueller?"

16. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General:

"Yes.

Blumenthal: Who did that?

Barr: There were notes taken of the call.

Blumenthal: May we have those notes?

Barr: No

Blumethal: Why not?"

Barr: Why should you have them."

16. Pan, Barr leaving hearing

Private tensions between Justice Department leaders and Robert Mueller's team broke into public view in extraordinary fashion Wednesday as Attorney General William Barr pushed back at the special counsel's "snitty" complaints over his handling of the Trump-Russia investigation report.

Testifying for the first time since releasing Mueller's report, Barr said he was surprised Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether President Donald Trump had tried to obstruct justice, and that he had felt compelled to step in with his own judgment that the president had committed no crime.

Barr was also perturbed by a private letter Mueller sent him last month complaining that the attorney general had not properly portrayed the special counsel's finding.

Barr called the note "a bit snitty."

"I said 'Bob, what's with the letter? Just pick up the phone and call me if there is an issue,'" Barr said.

The airing of disagreements over the handling of the report followed Mueller's two-year investigation into Russian interference to help Trump in the 2016 campaign and the possibility that Trump's team conspired with the Russians.

During most of the investigation, the Justice Department and Mueller's team seemed to be unified in approach.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers have been anything but unified.

And their partisan divide was on full display during Wednesday's contentious Judiciary Committee hearing, which included three Democratic presidential candidates.

Some Republicans, in addition to defending Trump, focused on the president's 2016 Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton's email and campaign practices and what they argued has been a lack of investigation of them.

Democrats, for their part, moved to exploit the daylight between Barr and Mueller to attack the attorney general's credibility and accuse him of unduly spinning the special counsel's report in the president's favor.

Barr sought to minimize the rift by suggesting the special counsel's concerns were largely about process, not substance.

Barr's appearance gave him his most extensive opportunity to explain the department's actions, including his news conference held before the Mueller report's release.

Barr has also been invited to appear Thursday before the Democratic-led House Judiciary panel, but the Justice Department has said he would not testify if the committee insisted on having its lawyers question him.

Neither side broke much new ground Wednesday on the specifics of Mueller's investigation, though Barr did articulate a robust defense of Trump as he made clear his firm conviction that there was no prosecutable case against the president for obstruction of justice.

POOL

Washington DC - 1 May 2019

1. Wide, Senate Judiciary Committee

2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Sen. Cory Booker, Democrat - New Jersey:

"We right now have a new normal in our country. We have a document that shows over 200 hundred attempts, connections between a presidential campaign and a foreign adversary sharing information that would be illegal if you did it with a super PAC. We know that. (Barr: What information was shared?) The polling data was shared sir. It's in the report I can cite you the page. (Barr: With who?) And I guess my point here is is that your willingness to seem to brush over this and use words like the American people should be grateful. What's in this report? Nobody should be grateful."

3. Back view of hearing

4. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General:

"Sen. Kamala Harris: Attorney General Barr has the president or anyone at the White House ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone?

Umm, I wouldn't I wouldn't.

Harris: Yes or no.

Could you repeat that question?"

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Kamala Harris, Democrat - California:

"I will repeat it. Has the president or anyone at the White House ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone? Yes or no please sir?"

6. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General:

"The president or anybody else.

Harris: Seems you'd remember something like that and be able to tell us.

Yeah but I'm trying to grapple with the words suggest. I mean there have been discussions of of matters out there that they have not asked me to open investigation but ...

Harris: Perhaps they've suggested?

I don't know, I wouldn't say suggest.

Harris: Hinted? Inferred?"

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Kamala Harris, Democrat - California:

"Is in reaching your conclusion did you personally review all of the underlying evidence?"

8. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General:

"No. We took and ...

Harris: Did Mr. Rosenstein?

No we accepted the statements in the report as the factual record. We did not go underneath it to see whether or not they were accurate. We accepted it as accurate."

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Kamala Harris, Democrat - California:

"As the Attorney General of the United States. You run the United States Department of Justice. If in any U.S. attorney's office around the country, the head of that office when being asked to make a critical decision about in this case the person who holds the highest office in the land and whether or not that person committed a crime, would you accept them recommending a charging decision to you if they had not reviewed the evidence?

Barr: Well that's a question for Bob Mueller. He's the U.S. attorney. He's the one who presents the report.

But it was you who made the charging decision, sir? You made the decision not to charge the president."

10. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General:

"In a pross (process) memo and then a declination memo.

Harris: You said it was your baby, what did you mean by that?

It was my baby to to let to decide whether or not to disclose it to the public

Harris: And whose decision was it? Who had the power to make the decision about whether or not the evidence was sufficient to make a determination of whether there had been an obstruction of justice?

Prosecution memos go up to the supervisor, in this case it was the the attorney general and the deputy attorney general who who decide on the final decision."

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Democrat - Minnesota:

"Mr. Attorney General, on April 27th President Trump stated 'Mueller, I assume for 35 million dollars he checked my taxes and he checked my financials.' Is that accurate? Did the special counsel review the president's taxes and the Trump Organization's financial statements?"

12. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General:

"I don't know.

Klobuchar: Can you find out if I ask later in a written question?

I, yes or you could ask Bob Mueller when he comes here.

Klobuchar: OK I'll do that too."

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Democrat - Connecticut:

"In fact in response to your question 'why not just pick up the phone,' this letter was an extraordinary act. A career prosecutor rebuking the attorney general of the United States, memorializing in writing. Right? I know of no other instance of that happening. Do you?"

14. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General:

"I don't consider Bob at this stage a career prosecutor. He's had a career as a prosecutor.

Blumenthal: Well, he's a very eminent prosecutor.

He was the head of the FBI for 12 years.

Blumenthal: He's a career a law enforcement professional, right? Yeah I know of no other instance of ...

But he was also political appointee and he was a political appointee with me at the Department of Justice. I don't know the letters a bit snitty and I think it was probably written by one of his staff people."

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Democrat - Connecticut:

"Did you make a memorandum of your conversation? Did you make a memorandum"

Barr: I didn't.

Did anyone, either you or anyone on your staff memorialize your conversation with Robert Mueller?"

16. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General:

"Yes.

Blumenthal: Who did that?

Barr: There were notes taken of the call.

Blumenthal: May we have those notes?

Barr: No

Blumethal: Why not?"

Barr: Why should you have them."

16. Pan, Barr leaving hearing

A group of conservative House lawmakers are calling for the appointment of a second special counsel to investigate whether misconduct took place in the FBI and the Justice Department.

The move follows a White House announcement that top FBI and Justice Department officials have agreed to meet with congressional leaders and "review" highly classified information the lawmakers have been seeking on the handling of the probe.

The agreement came after President Donald Trump made an extraordinary demand that the Justice Department investigate whether the FBI infiltrated his presidential campaign. It's unclear exactly what the members will be allowed to review or if the Justice Department will be providing any documents to Congress.

During a meeting Monday with Trump, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray also reiterated an announcement late Sunday that the Justice Department's inspector general will expand an existing investigation into the Russia probe by examining whether there was any improper politically motivated surveillance.

Rep. Devin Nunes, an ardent Trump supporter and head of the House Intelligence Committee, has been demanding information on an FBI source in the Russia investigation.

And Trump has taken up the cause as the White House tries to combat the threat posed by special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Washington DC - 22 May 2018

1. Republican members of Congress walk into room

++SEPARATED BY BLACK++

2. SOUNDBITE (English): Rep. Lee Zeldin, (R) New York:

"Good morning everybody and thank you for coming out. We have at least 19 members of Congress who will be introducing today a 12 page House resolution detailing misconduct at the highest levels of the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation. It will be outlining FISA (US Foreign Intelligence Survaillance Court) abuse. How and why the Hillary Clinton email probe ended and how and why the Trump-Russia probe began. This resolution also calls for the appointment of a second special counsel to investigate the gross misconduct with the understanding that the Justice Department cannot be expected to investigate itself. It's very important to note that the ranks of the DOJ and FBI are filled with amazing patriotic Americans who love their job, take their oath seriously and perform their jobs objectively with much respect for the rule of law. These are historic, legendary agencies that require transparency and accountability regarding the misconduct that took place. It is important for these exceptional public servants and these important agencies to continue their work moving forward stronger than ever before. As the resolution states, the concerns of the American people are serious and the issues requiring an immediate, unbiased, independent and thorough investigation are broad. In just the past few days, we learned that the DOJ, FBI or both appeared to have planted at least one person into Donald Trump's presidential campaign to infiltrate and surveil the campaign. This action alone reminds us of just how necessary this resolution is, as well as the appointment of a second special counsel."

3. Wide of news conference

4. SOUNDBITE (English): Rep. Lee Zeldin, (R) New York:

"In conclusion, I would just like to point out that while many in the media and American public have been trying to bring down the president without evidence the president Trump colluded with Russia to win the election. There is a ton of actual evidence of real misconduct that those same people had been attempting to completely sweep under the rug. I believe legal scales of justice, that no one is above the law. That includes anyone regardless of last name and that even includes people at the highest levels of the DOJ and FBI, especially when misconduct is committed in the performance of their duties while trying to take down elected officials and candidates. No official at the Justice Department can ever allow their own political bias to overwhelm their own objectivity and responsible performance of their duties. A second special counsel must be appointed and transparency and accountability is demanded for these great, legendary historic agencies. With that we are confident that these great agencies will be able to move forward stronger than they ever were before."

5. Wide of news conference

6. SOUNDBITE (English): Rep. Mark Meadows, (R) North Carolina/Freedom Caucus Chair:

"Even today, we continue to see leaks come out of the Department of Justice and FBI, spinning a narrative that quite frankly is not supported by the facts. So it's time that we get to the facts. It's time that we appoint a second special counsel."

7. Wide of news conference

A group of conservative House lawmakers are calling for the appointment of a second special counsel to investigate whether misconduct took place in the FBI and the Justice Department.

The move follows a White House announcement that top FBI and Justice Department officials have agreed to meet with congressional leaders and "review" highly classified information the lawmakers have been seeking on the handling of the probe.

The agreement came after President Donald Trump made an extraordinary demand that the Justice Department investigate whether the FBI infiltrated his presidential campaign. It's unclear exactly what the members will be allowed to review or if the Justice Department will be providing any documents to Congress.

During a meeting Monday with Trump, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray also reiterated an announcement late Sunday that the Justice Department's inspector general will expand an existing investigation into the Russia probe by examining whether there was any improper politically motivated surveillance.

Rep. Devin Nunes, an ardent Trump supporter and head of the House Intelligence Committee, has been demanding information on an FBI source in the Russia investigation.

And Trump has taken up the cause as the White House tries to combat the threat posed by special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Washington - 22 May 2018

1. Republican members of Congress walk into room

++SEPARATED BY BLACK++

2. SOUNDBITE (English): Rep. Lee Zeldin, (R) New York:

"Good morning everybody and thank you for coming out. We have at least 19 members of Congress who will be introducing today a 12 page House resolution detailing misconduct at the highest levels of the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation. It will be outlining FISA (US Foreign Intelligence Survaillance Court) abuse. How and why the Hillary Clinton email probe ended and how and why the Trump-Russia probe began. This resolution also calls for the appointment of a second special counsel to investigate the gross misconduct with the understanding that the Justice Department cannot be expected to investigate itself. It's very important to note that the ranks of the DOJ and FBI are filled with amazing patriotic Americans who love their job, take their oath seriously and perform their jobs objectively with much respect for the rule of law. These are historic, legendary agencies that require transparency and accountability regarding the misconduct that took place. It is important for these exceptional public servants and these important agencies to continue their work moving forward stronger than ever before. As the resolution states, the concerns of the American people are serious and the issues requiring an immediate, unbiased, independent and thorough investigation are broad. In just the past few days, we learned that the DOJ, FBI or both appeared to have planted at least one person into Donald Trump's presidential campaign to infiltrate and surveil the campaign. This action alone reminds us of just how necessary this resolution is, as well as the appointment of a second special counsel."

3. Wide of news conference

4. SOUNDBITE (English): Rep. Lee Zeldin, (R) New York:

"In conclusion, I would just like to point out that while many in the media and American public have been trying to bring down the president without evidence the president Trump colluded with Russia to win the election. There is a ton of actual evidence of real misconduct that those same people had been attempting to completely sweep under the rug. I believe legal scales of justice, that no one is above the law. That includes anyone regardless of last name and that even includes people at the highest levels of the DOJ and FBI, especially when misconduct is committed in the performance of their duties while trying to take down elected officials and candidates. No official at the Justice Department can ever allow their own political bias to overwhelm their own objectivity and responsible performance of their duties. A second special counsel must be appointed and transparency and accountability is demanded for these great, legendary historic agencies. With that we are confident that these great agencies will be able to move forward stronger than they ever were before."

5. Wide of news conference

6. SOUNDBITE (English): Rep. Mark Meadows, (R) North Carolina/Freedom Caucus Chair:

"Even today, we continue to see leaks come out of the Department of Justice and FBI, spinning a narrative that quite frankly is not supported by the facts. So it's time that we get to the facts. It's time that we appoint a second special counsel."

7. Wide of news conference