very simply, he was not doing a good job. >> he fired the most respected person in america. you better have a very good explanation. >> what we have now is really a looming constitutional crisis. >> jason has now asked the department of justice to look into the firing of james comey. >> were those investigations getting too close to home for the president? >> he'd been considering letting director comey go since the day he was elected. >> it is now time for a special prosecutor. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning, everyone. welcome to your "new day" and we

have new details for you about what led to president trump's decision to fire fbi director james comey. this as the administration continues to change their explanation and it comes as the acting fbi director will be on capitol hill today to testify before the senate. >> also, an interview with president trump and whether his white house is too combative. we've got it all covered. good morning, joe. >> reporter: good morning, chris. no public event on the president's schedule today as the white house hopes for things to calm down after the up roar of jim comey's firing. now we're learning the president was essentially seething over comey apparently for some time and it was the president who wanted him out. new details emerging. a long-time friend of the president telling cnn he was

white hot over the russia investigation, that his anger had been mounting since comey rejected the president's still unproven claims that president obama wiretapped him. >> i have no information that supports those tweets. >> reporter: cnn reported two months ago that director comey was in disbelief over trump's allegation about obama chblt . t but "the new york times" going a step beyond this morning. >> reporter: a source close to the president a saying trump was spewing expolicetives comey made. >> it makes me mildly nauseous to think we might have had some impact on the election. but it wouldn't change the decision. >> the president ultimately concluded that comey was his own man, fiercely independent. firing him for never providing trump personal loyalty and because the russia investigation was accelerating. cnn also learning that comey

requested additional resources from the justice department the week before he was fired, a report the doj denies. this as the white house continues to change the narrative on how the president reached his decision. initially touts deputy attorney general rod rosenstein's letter, which cited his handling of the hillary clinton e-mail investigation as the primary reason comey should be fired. >> he took the advice of the deputy attorney general who oversees the director of the fbi. they made a decision to remove him. >> reporter: the president's explanation changing yesterday amid mounting scrutiny. >> why did you fire director comey? >> because he wasn't doing a good job. >> he had been considering letting comey go since he was elected. >> reporter: sara telling reporters wednesday that the reason for the firing actually went beyond rosenstein's letter. having a letter like the one that he received and having that

conversation that outlined the basic just atrocities in circumventing the chain of command in the department of justice, any person of legal mind and authority knows what a big deal that is. >> calling comey's actions an atrocity. but in november she had a very different take on "new day." >> i think everybody wants to attack comey and make him the enemy here. i think he's done the right thing by opening it up and searching for those answers. >> and what is comey saying about all of this? we have a hint of this in the letter he sent to the fbi. he says the president has a right to fire an fbi director for any reason at all or for no reason. he says he's not going to dwell on the decision or how it was made and we have this graphic. in the letter he says i have said to you before that in times of turbulence the american people should see the fbi as a rock of competence, honesty and

independence. what makes leaving the fbi hard is the nature and quality of the people who together make it that rock for america. it is hard to leave a group of people who are committed only to doing the right thing. so i think you can say there, chris and alison, that he is taking the high road. >> okay, joe. thank you very much for that. so the washington post is reporting this morning that deputy attorney general rod rosenstein threatened to resign over being singled out by the white house as the catalyst behind the president's decision to fire james comey. joining us is the washington post reporter. she got that reporting. cnn has not yet been able to match it. good morning. >> good morning. >> what more can you share with us about rod rosenstein's threat to leave? >> well, the main part of that story is that since president trump fired james comey the narrative from the white house, as you said, that has been this idea generated with the justice

department. the white house spokesman sean spicer said when he announced this, the president has accepted the recommendation of the attorney general and the deputy attorney general regarding the dismissal. what i learned, what my sources told me, is that was not at all how the firing happened. it was president trump who decided to fire comey because of his growing anger over the russia investigation and other issues. what actually happened is that trump summoned his attorney general, jeff session, who is his ally, to the white house, along with rod rosenstein and told him that he was firing trump and to write-up a memo explaining this case against comey. >> so is it your understanding and reporting that rod rosenstein now feels sort of thrown under the bus. >> he -- what i understand is that he did. and he threatened to resign over this. we don't yet know the administration's reaction.

except that yesterday they were not still pushing the rosenstein narrative as hard as they were earlier and rosenstein is still there. and in case the people watching don't know a lot about him, he was just confirmed by the senate, rod rosenstein. he's a long-time u.s. attorney from baltimore. highly respected by the democrats and republicans. he has served in both democrat and republican administrations starting with clinton, bush and obama. >> and sorry to interrupt you. but who did he make that threat to? >> we don't know. we know that he made the threat. we know he's still there. >> when did he make the threat to resign? >> after tuesday night when the narrative came out of the white house that it was -- that white house officials said comey was fired because senior justice department officials concluded he had violated the doj principals and procedures last year in the hillary clinton investigation. what of course we are now

hearing is this really had to do with the russia investigation and the idea that comey was not loyal and supportive president trump felt to him. >> sara, do you know why rod rosen stin did not resign? why did he decide not to? >> we don't know that yet. we're working on that. but the white house did sort of back off yesterday and especially into the evening of pushing the narrative that rod rosenstein was the reason behind this and the president just accepted his recommendation. so we know there was a softening of the white house narrative regarding rosen stein. >> cnn along with other media outlets went to rod rosenstein's house. he lives in maryland this morning to try to ask him the questions about this. and if you have a monitor, sara, you can see that he happily jumped into his vehicle without answering any of the reporters questions. when they asked are you going to resign, do you want to resign

and he obviously declined answering any questions there. but is it your sense that rod rosenstein sort of didn't know what he was in store for when he took this job? >> what i understand from my sources is that rosenstein was surprised by the white house narrative coming outputting this all on him and on a memo. the officials from the white house released a memo on tuesday from him laying out the rational behind comey's dismissal and attributed to the handling of the clinton case and said rosenstein began examining comey's conduct two weeks ago. so they put this on him as the prime mover of the decision to fire comey and what i understand is it is absolutely not the truth. >> she said she didn't know anything about his offer to resign. she also said this about whether or not the president directed

rosenstein to come up with some evidence. listen to this. >> he did not direct him to write the context of the memo. he asked him to put the comments that he had already made directly to the president in writing. again, i think that you're trying to nip a process. but the point here is that the findings in the letter, in the recommendation were original thoughts by mr. rosenstein. >> does that comport with your reporting? >> what i was told from my sources is that the president in his meeting with jeff sessions and with rod rosenstein laid out an outline of his rationale for why comey should be fired. and directed him to file a memo. >> sara, thank you very much for sharing your reporting with us this morning. obviously, we will continue to follow what happens next for rod

rosenstein. thanks for being here. >> all right. well, look, it is a very troubling report. and let's talk about what it means. we have david gregory, chris cillizza and julie pace. david gregory, if it's true that rosenstein, you know, look, he's got a complicated picture here because he didn't have to do what they asked him to do. it seems there was an indication they wanted reasons to get rid of comey. he's only been in there two weeks. this is his initial task he was given to do, but that he doesn't want to be seen as the fall guy for this situation. how big a deal is it? >> i think it is a big deal because it gives you insight into a process that lacks credibility. rod rosenstein has a great reputation sara was noting and he's only been on the job a couple of weeks and there is a number of questions here. why was he asked to draw up a memo outlining his grievances

against jim comey when the inspector general of the department of justice is already in the middle of just such an investigation and preparing his own report? why repeat that? why have that done at a different level? did rod rosenstein question that? did he question if he was being used here, whether he was being set up to be the reason or the pretext for why he was fired? i think the reporting from sara is very important because it gets to that very question. was he being used, and it sounds like he then came forward and said you're not going to use me to say this was the pretext. and it goes to what the reporting indicates, that, in fact, what really made the president mad was comey was not towing the line, that he was his on guy, that the russia investigation was accelerating. he was mad at certain things he was saying and you know how the president thinks. he thinks this guy is not investigating all the leaks from the national security apparatus

of the country. he's only pursuing the russia investigation. he probably feels bad about how he handled hillary clinton. he's going to come at me really hard. this is how you raise the spector of abusive power. if the president is taking on an fbi director in just such a way. i don't believe what the white house says, that he was following the advice of the justice department. >> chris, this is why it would be really important to hear from rod rosenstein. because obviously if the reporting is accurate, he doesn't want to be seen as the fall guy. i'm sure given his stellar reputation he doesn't want to be seen as a stooj for the white house. so is there any chance we will hear from rod rosenstein? >> i never say never in politics. so sure. but there are two people we need to hear from. well, three. donald trump. but i would say more importantly james comey and rod rosenstein. remember, let's not forget that in the letter that donald trump sent firing james comey, he

insisted that he, comey, told me, trump, three times that he was not under investigation. there's some reporting that suggests comey allies say that's not accurate. i think we need to hear from rod rosenstein. the point here is that it looks very clearly that donald trump asked rod rosenstein to come up with some justifications for getting rid of james comey. the real justification was he didn't like the pursuit of the russia investigation. he didn't like the credit claiming that comey said it made me mildly nauseous that i might have decided the election and he didn't like that comey didn't report to him. those are very concerning. and so we've heard a lot of different versions from the white house. a lot of stories from the white house. the origin story has changed a bunch. but we haven't heard james

comey's perspective and rod rosenstein's perspective. i think we will get comey's perspective. rosenstein is still a hit or miss because he's still a federal employee. >> he's going to have some stink on him. that's just the way it is. the letter on its face, this two and a half page memo, some of the people named in it, the deputy a.g. that worked under bush 41 says it is a sham. alberto gonzalez was cited as a krit sick and said the timing raises a lot of bad questions. so he's got some things to answer for in this. but isn't it what sa liz chris talking about here, that if it wasn't about russia, why did he include that paragraph with something that is almost unconfirmable. no one who i have talked to who knows james comey said he would have said anything like that around the president. but why is it in the letter?

>> there this glaring disconnect where you have the deputy attorney general saying this is about comey's behavior in the clinton investigation and then the president himself raising the spector of the russia investigation. and everyone that we have talked to not only people who are around comey but also just career prosecutors, long-time officials who have worked at the justice department say it is just hard to imagine that any fbi director would make that kind of statement to a president to go to them not just once but three times to say you are not personally under investigation when there is an open inquiry that the fbi just doesn't know the answer to at this point. but it speaks to this president's growing anger and frankly obsession at some points with the russia investigation and how it's being covered and the fact that no one in a position of authority can really come out and exonerate his campaign at this point because the investigation is just

ongoing. >> i think it is also important to say that, you know, there is an argument from the white house that is completely spee shous. when they fain the outrage at the hip pocksy of the democrats, that should be put aside. that is just propaganda and it is ridiculous because the grain of truth in that is exactly what rosenstein writes in his letter. you ask my career prosecutor or law enforcement figure who has not been politicized, they will tell you the way comey handled himself in the clinton investigation was to throw justice department procedures over the rail. it was completely inappropriate. but that does not justify -- there is no way that would be a reason why the president decided to fire jim comey now. let's remember, candidate trump threatened to put hillary clinton in jail. that was his commitment to justice department ideals, to threaten his political opponent in such a way.

so he doesn't care about that. this was a pretext. and i think our colleague said the other night something that was well constructed, which is the right decision. in other words, there is a real basis to fire jim comey for undermining himself. wrong timing, wrong reason. and i think that's what has to be considered here. >> how could a no brainer turn into a nightmare? so many people dumping information on reporters about how this was about russia and trump was white hot and he was upset about this and comey is not loyal and they're asking for more resources. how big of a nightmare is this within the white house. >> it is a pretty huge nightmare. the story really is that the president has been angry at comey for weeks, which is what we know to be true at that point. why they would come out in the initial telling of this and blame this on a deputy attorney general, put the responsibility on him. you would expect that they would

know that this would unravel pretty quickly, which it already has. but, look, it is important to remember with this white house in particular that a lot of the directives about the specific lines that are going to be sent from the briefing room podium, the lines come from the president himself and he could change those lines in an instant. >> i was just going to add. that is the most important thing. you know, we have written a lot and talked a lot about sean spicer in the bushes and the briefing and sara hh huckabee sande sanders. all of that is true, but it's because donald trump just does stuff, right? he does things and then leaves it to other people to explain. his communication staff was clearly caught totally flat footed on this. the reason that the explanation that rod rosenstein gave is different than the reason that sean spicer gave, that donald trump has given is because the

real reason is that he was annoyed with comey. he decided to do it. he asked rod rosenstein, i'd like to do this, can we have an underpinning for it. but that was never the real reason, right? so they're scrambling because this president just does stuff. says and does things, from the campaign to his life as a reality tv star to his life in the 1980s as a real estate developer in new york city, that is the common theme. he does things. then he declares victory. then he leaves it to other people to assess while he moves on. this is -- if there is a through line of donald trump's life, it is say stuff, let other people explain, move on. that's what we're seeing. >> motive may be consistent. but the action here is different. this ain't a tweet. this took planning. this took coordination. you know, maybe it wasn't messaged the right way, but this is an animal of a different stripe than we've seep in the

past. >> this isn't page 6. this is the presidency. >> right, right. and that is the point. this is running over our democratic institution. that is the difference. in the name of america's citizens, that is what is not appropriate, is that the communication strategy, what sean spicer does, is completely irrelevant. that's a white house that doesn't know what it's doing. >> it's one thing to shout fake news when you don't like something. when people believe that justice the fake, now you've got a problem. >> panel, thank you. >> so the public, confidence has been shaken in the administration of justice with this move. so how do you fix it? where are the strong voices in congress? what can the american people be told to ensure that you will have fair investigations of the questions surrounding the russian hacking? we're going to get insight from former cia and nsa director michael hadden next.

this mother's day create a gift from the heart that could only come from the pandora boutique at jared. a world of pandora... including exclusive pieces designed just for jared. ready to be mixed, matched and stacked with help from jared's own pandora expert. the one gift that speaks volumes, you'll both treasure forever. that's why he went to jared.

our 18 year old wase army in an accident.'98. when i call usaa it was that voice asking me, "is your daughter ok?" that's where i felt relief. we're the rivera family, and we will be with usaa for life. featuring ego's patented, 56 the #1 rated,volt,power+ mower. arc lithium battery technology, it delivers the cutting-torque of gas. the ego mower's durable construction makes mowing in difficult conditions easy. the self-propelled model makes it effortless.

and it folds flat in seconds for easy storage. the ego power+ mower. exclusively at the home depot and ego authorized dealers.

a sense of crisis seems to be gripping the white house after james comey's firing. there are all these calls for an independent investigation now because the idea of public trust in the fbi's russia investigation seems to be compromised. let's discuss with general michael hayden and the former director of the cia and nsa. he wrote about the firing in an op ed for the hill.

what is your take? >> what i said was it looks like -- a lot like nicaragua here in the united states with the multiple firings and the difficulty of getting an accurate and consistent story out from the white house. so i do think there is some fundamental threatening of the processes on which we relied for two and a half centuries to keep ourselves a free and a safe people. >> all right. let's talk about this. i want to get your take on rod rosenstein and what happened. the white house says that the deputy a.g. went to the white house for a visit with jeff sessions, by the way, the attorney general, and shared their opinion about director comey. and they felt that he had, sort of, lost his ability to i guess leave the fbi. and president trump said can you put all of that, your opinions and thoughts on paper? and that became the predicate for firing him. what do you think of that

narrative and if rod rosenstein was somehow duped. >> well, looking at the reporting that's now available, it looks as if the original white house narrative that this was spontaneous combustion over in the department of justice, that the new deputy a.g. was so surprised by what he found that he crafted the memo and brought it to the white house and that was the cause of the action, current reporting suggests that is not what happened, that the decision had already been made to get rid of director comey and the white house was looking for some documentation on which to publically base the decision. and i think the deputy attorney general now is based on reporting feeling a bit used in that he is being suggested as the predicate for the firing rather than creating a document that somewhat justified it. >> general, you know comey. you know protocol. what are the chances that that second paragraph in the

president's letter will check out, that on three separate occasions comey communicated that the president was not a part of the investigation? >> well, first of all, chris, as you have said earlier this morning, it is just weird that that shows up inside of this document. and then beyond that, it's something that i don't think any prosecutor, any director of the fbi would say to a chief executive. i just don't think they would have a conversation even in that depth about an ongoing investigation with the president of the united states. >> i mean, i just feel like that can't get enough attention. he could have said something in there about what he did during hillary clinton and i can't let it go in light of this memo. but he didn't. he talked about the russia investigation. and then this fact, if everybody who knows comey and protocol says this is not something you should say and this is not something he would say, then where does that leave us in

terms of whether or not you believe the president of the united states about something of such fundamental importance? >> chris, you bring up something i think is really fundamental. and coming from someone like me and the institutions i used to be a part of, the intelligence community, it appears right now that the oval office is not a welcoming space for the truth. one of the sins that jim comey is alleged to have committed is that he did not go along with the president's story about wiretapping trump tower in new york. our job in the intelligence community is to present the truth and we get challenged from time to time when we have to go in there and present the unpleasant truth, the unwelcomed truth. but that's our job, and the president needs that. i fear he is now creating an atmosphere in which we would have to have unusual bureaucratic courage for folks to go in there, institutions to

go in there and tell the president things he just doesn't want to hear. >> so, general, where does that leave the investigation into trump's ties, trump's team ties to russia? >> well, look, i'm instinctively opposed to special prosecutor and special processes when we face these kinds of problems. these things always seem to go longer, deeper and broader than you originally intended. but i must admit in the events of the last 48 hours, i now have a far more open mind about an extraordinary structure so that we can create something we can all have confidence in when a final conclusion has been made. >> last 48 hours? what about what happened to devin nun necessaes? there is bickers. the sigh lebs from ryan and

mcconnell after something like this. where is the confidence that congress can oversee this? where is the confidence that the fbi will be unfettered in reaching a conclusion. >> when you look at that and some of the other events, you would create the hypothesis that the thread linking all these is an attempt not to argue the facts on the part of the white house, but an attempt to destroy those other governmental structures that are discovering facts that the white house simply isn't comfortable with. >> we know for a fact now that the president on at least three occasions, either himself or had one of his agents go to the head of the fbi and find out what was going on with him see sa vvis-a. >> what exactly are you calling for? what would that independent body look like? >> there is a legal thicket that you have to hack your way

through because the statutes that used to enable these kinds of things have expired. but i do think i am -- look. my own personal view is i'm uncomfortable, as i said, with these kind of extraordinary structures. but we have reached a point where i think we do need something that all of the american people could have confidence in. so i'll let legislators, maybe people in the department of justice, people in the fbi suggest what kind of structure we need to have that right now i've got doubts that we'll have confidence in what we finally arrive at under our current circumstances. >> general, always great to get your insights into this. thanks so much for being here. >> heavy words. >> so james comey's firing is said to be causing strife at the fbi. you think? coming up a former chief of staff of the bureau and our experts weigh in on what's going on inside the fbi. great to have you here. >> people just walking in. [vo] the grille is distinctive.

but it's usually seen from the rear. the all-new audi q5 is here. anyone can get you ready, holiday inn express gets you the readiest. because ready gives a pep talk.

showtime! but the readiest gives a pep rally. i cleared my inbox! holiday inn express, be the readiest.

the firing of james comey sending shockwaves through the rank and file of the fbi. this comes as the acting director is set to testify in this room before a senate

committee that starts at 10:00 a.m. eastern. so we're following that. here to discuss is phil mud and james scalliano. james, what is the mood inside the fbi today? >> i'd say that the fbi agents are certainly down about this, mostly related to the way it transpired. if you look at the juxtaposition of the letter that the president sent and the letter that james comey sent out last night to my fbi colleagues still in the burrow, the juxtaposition was startling. one was full of grace and humility. >> you mean the one from comey. >> absolutely. humility, absolutely. and then you juxtapose that with the letter from the president that appeared to be extremely self-serving in saying three times you met with me and stated i had nothing to worry about

with regards to an investigation. >> what do you think about that? because that's the one that people have having a hard time getting passed. >> sure. >> would the fbi director have met with the president to ensure him he was in the the target of an investigation? >> i find that highly unlikely. it's like the president puts some evidence in the letter to say, see, i said you said this three times and you bdidn't rebt that. what that does to the fbi, i think, the way the director was sent out, i think fbi agents are universally united in the sense of indignation we have over the way that our director was defrocked publically. >> phil, your thoughts. >> i think that's correct. but let's make sure we're not confused here. there is a difference and i have seen this confusion in the media. there is a difference in saying this was a shock to the fbi. you can argue that the fbi

director's actions over the last ten months since july of last year violated protocols. i have said that repeatedly. that's different than looking at an honorable man and saying he was treated properly by the president. he was brushed off by the president in a completely unacceptable manner. but the confusion i want to avoid is if you think analysts and agents layers below involved in the russia investigation today are somehow saying i'm not going to follow the facts where they take us, that's nonsense. >> i am worried about that because that is the heart of the matter. i know you are shaking your head. but when the mean spearheading the investigation is dismissed, how do the rank and file know what they are supposed to be investigating and the direction they are supposed to be going? >> it is a question of leadership and the leadership i saw at the lower levels of the bureau was excellent. one thing to watch is the new director nominee going to be someone seen as a political hack

or is it a seasoned practitioner, somebody i mentioned yesterday like john pistol, the former deputy director who they believe will take them where the facts go. james comey watched this for ten months since july. i guarantee that investigation has proceeded a long way. he's getting weekly, if not daily briefings. even if the investigation were to stop today and it won't, the facts are eventually going to come out. you can't escape this one. >> hold on, james. i don't understand. is a political appointee or someone who is a friend to president trump becomes the director of the fbi, then what's not to say that he doesn't say, you know what, this investigation into russia, there is nothing there. you can all stand down. >> i can't speak to who is going to be selected. >> that is a possibility. my scenario is possible. >> well, it is not in this sense. the folks underneath the director from the deputy director on down are career investigators and the career prosecutors at the department of

justice. conspiracies work unless there is one person involved. it would get out into the press. it would be leaked. there is no one someone could come in now. the fbi is still the investigative arm that will be handling the evidence and going in the direction the evidence takes them. >> both of your hearts are heartening. andrew mccabe, the acting director, you know him well. he is about to meet in front of a senate meeting. >> a man of the stoutest character. many, many years ago he was a swat team operator when i led the swat team for the new york fbi office. i can't say enough good things about him. whether or not the president elects to keep him on, i think in the history of the bureau, that has only happened a couple of times. it doesn't happen often. the president will usually find somebody different, somebody outside the bureau. i got a couple of dark horses

for you. mary joe white, who is obviously the former united states attorney in the southern district. phil obviously mentioned john pistol. he's got a relationship with vice president pence because they're both from indiana and john pistol could be one and the third and my dark horse and a man universally revered, tim murphy, who is retired. he retired at the deputy director and as a man i think that is quite bipartisan and enjoys support from both sides of the aisle. >> phil, thank you very much. all right. another blow to obamacare. aetna pulling out of two states. so we will break down the insurance giant's move next. and a team of experienced traders ready to help if you need it. it's like having the power of a trading floor, wherever you are. it's your trade. e*trade ♪ experience the first-ever

471-horsepower lexus lc 500 or the multistage hybrid lc 500h. experience amazing. at where instead of payinging a befor middlemen,em. we work directly with family farms to deliver higher quality ingredients for less than you pay at the store. get $30 off at blueapron.com/cook a cockroach can survive heresubmerged ttle guy. underwater for 30 minutes. wow. yeah.

not getting in today. terminix. defenders of home.

time for money now. another big health insurer is leaving obamacare. christina is in our money center with more. >> that's right. aetna is leaving obamacare. the insurance giant will no longer sell policies on the exchange in delaware and nebraska. those are the last two states it was offering these plans. aetna has been scaling back for a while, and it's just the latest insurer to abandon obamacare. humana and united health already left most markets. but these companies blame cost. for example, aetna says it will have lost $900 million in obamacare from 2014 through this year because policyholders are

racking up bigger bills than the premium covers. another big problem here, insurers want clarity. the program is already costing them and the current gop bill removes a lot of the subsidies that help pay for lower income americans. there are way too many questions left unanswered for these companies to do their planning. >> and the white house threats about whether or not they are going to put in matching funds is also creating instability in the markets. so the acting director of the fbi is going to testify before the senate in just minutes. what can we expect to hear just two days after the president fired james comey and america is craving confidence in the administration of justice. the bottom line next. it runs up to 45 minutes on a single charge. the ego power+ string trimmer. exclusively at the home depot and ego authorized dealers. [boy] cannonball! [girl] don't...

[man] not again! [burke] swan drive. seen it. covered it. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

♪ you might not ever just stand there, looking at it. you may never even sit in the back seat. yeah, but maybe you should. ♪ (laughter) ♪

the washington post has a really troubling report that deputy attorney general rod rosenstein threatened to quit over the white house's narrative about his role in the firing of fbi director james comey. alison spoke to the reporter behind the story just minutes ago. here is what she sad to say. >> the president in his meeting with jeff sessions and rod rosenstein laid out an outline of his rationale for why comey should be fired. and did direct them to file a memo. >> so is it your understanding and reporting that rod rosenstein now feels sort of thrown under the bus?

>> he -- what i understand is that he did. and he threatened to resign over this. >> he didn't resign, at least not yet. so let's get the bottom line with cnn chief political correspondent dana bash. the reporting seems pretty clear with uncharacteristic volumes of leaks going on here that that was not happenstance and not a surprise to donald trump. it was at his urging and direction. so you could argue rosenstein should have known what he was getting into. but how unsettling is all of this feedback from this move by the president in the white house? >> look, we knew from the moment the white house tried to sell this notion that it was rod rosenstein who decided that this firing should happen because of what happened in the clinton years, the clinton e-mails. we knew that was not even remotely believable. but the fact that we are now hearing through the washington post that we have not confirmed

this, but that rod rosenstein said he was going to resign, that leaves the question and this is something that i'm hearing from my sources, people who know him and we should say that this is not kind of a political appointee. he is somebody who had credibility. a lot of credibility with democrats because he was a career guy, is a career guy, worked for the bush administration also in the obama administration. the question is whether or not he is still angry enough and still sees that his integrity is hurt enough and integrity i'm told is obviously important to everybody, but to him it is really crucial. whether he is going to come out and in a more public way say i was duped or at least tell the story of what happened because, obviously, it was not this deputy attorney general who decided that the fbi director should go and we know now it was, of course, the president of the united states. >> dana, you are absolutely

right. it would be helpful to hear from rod rosenstein about all of this. >> and the fact we haven't heard from him i think is quite telling. >> he's also a sitting deputy director. >> sure, and he's new. understood. >> i can tell you from my reporting, the allies of the white house were encouraging them as soon as this whole thing blew up in their face to get rod rosenstein out in front of the press. and he didn't go. they sent kellyanne conway and others. >> what was jeff sessions doing in these meetings? the way the white house spelled it out is that jeff sessions and rod rosenstein were there and they spelled out their concerns about comey and then president trump said, okay, put that in writing. but isn't jeff sessions supposed to be recused from these? >> that's why they said it was about the clinton thing because of his general role of oversight. >> that it was beyond the russia investigation and the russia investigation is what he was

recused from. but we're talking in the realm of the real and the realm of the real sets the policy of of course he shouldn't have been in these meetings. but that is all out the window given what we are beginning to understood about what happened here and whether or not it was about the russia investigation, whether or not it was about the fact that the fbi asked for more resources and signalled to the white house that this is getting real and maybe even getting closer to the white house or whether it was an attack on the president's ego and maybe his sweetest spot, which is the integrity of his election when he watched james comey a week ago testify and talk about being mildly nauseous at the notion of potentially changing the outcome of the election and making donald trump president. that is what i am told really made the president get into a humongous rage. >> now he's got a situation where he may have caused more

trouble than he solved. we had some former fbi guys on here and they said these guys will be fine. the people are worried that this will change everything. >> dana, sorry to cut you off. cnn news room will pick up after this very quick break. life. intelligent technology can help protect it. the all-new audi q5 is here. the toothpaste that helps new parodontax. prevent bleeding gums. if you spit blood when you brush or floss you may have gum problems and could be on the journey to much worse.

help stop the journey of gum disease. try new parodontax toothpaste. ♪

nice tells you what you kind want to hear.ifferent...

but kind is honest. this bar is made with cranberries and almonds. so, guess what? we call it cranberry almond. give kind a try. cnn breaking news. >> the breaking news this morning, live pictures from capitol hill where in just moments we will hear from the acting fbi director, the man in charge, at least for now, after james comey was fired. andrew mccabe will face questions amid deep concerns inside the bureau about how this was handled. there are questions about morale and the future of russia investigations. this comes after a staggering 12 hour of developments and directly contradict the stated reasons for comey's dismissal. the wall street journal comey was increasingly concerned about the trump