they've had a bad week politically and they've removed james comey as head of the fbi. >> right. >> again, you know, they often are willing to take that heat. >> unfortunately, we're out of time. thanks for watching. erin burnett "out front" starts now. >> next breaking news, the president's extensive interview, his first since firing fbi director jim comey. why comey lost his job unle raveling tonight. the white house saying his firing had nothing to do with russia. is the white house admitting that tonight? and the president's obsession with rosie o'donnell. good evening. i'm erin burnett. president trump speaking out now in his first television interviewer since firing jim comey 48 hours ago. since comey lost his job, the president and his staff have

repeatedly changed their story as to why now, that all-important question. the president today contradicting himself, his staff, and his vice president. here is what trump is saying this evening in an interview with nbc's lester holt. >> when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. it's an excuse by the democrats for having last an election that they should have won and the reason she should have won it. the electoral college is almost impossible for a republican to win, very hard, because you start out with such a disadvantage. everybody was thinking they should have won the election. this is an excuse for having lost the election. >> are you angry with mr. comey because of this? >> i love the fbi, i love the fbi, i love the people of the fbi. >> investigation -- >> i think that about the hillary clinton investigation? >> no.

about the russian investigation and -- >> no, i don't -- >> and links between -- >> let me tell you. as far as i'm concerned, i want that thing to be absolutely done properly. when i did this, now i said i think i probably maybe will confuse people, maybe i'm expand that -- i'm lengthen the time because it should be over with -- in my opinion should have been over with a long time ago, all it is is an excuse. but i said to myself, i might even lengthen out the investigation. but i have to do the right thing for the american people. he's the wrong plan for that position. >> let me ask you about your termination letter to mr. comey. you write "i greatly appreciate you informing me on three straight occasions that i'm not under investigation." why did you put that in there? >> because he told me that. >> hell told you you were -- >> i've heard that from others. >> was it in a phone call? did you meet face to face? >> i had dinner with him. he wanted to stay on. we had a dinner.

le. >> he asked? >> i think he asked for the dinner. he wanted to stay on as the fbi head. and i said i'm, you know, consider it. we'll see what happens. but we had a very nice dinner and at that time he told me you're not underinvestigation. >> that was -- >> -- when i knew anyway. >> that was one meepgt. >> when you're under investigation, you give all sorts of documents. i knew i wasn't under. and i heard the it was stated at the committee, at some committee tlaefl i wasn't. >> so -- >> and then during the phone call he said it and he said it in another phone call. he said it once at dinner and twice during phone calls. >> did you call him? >> in one case i called him and in one case he called me. >> did you ask him? >> i did. i said if it's possible, will you let me know, am i under investigation? he said, you are not under investigation. >> but he's ginn sworn testimony that there was an ongoing investigation into the trump campaign and possible collusion

with the russian government. you were the sflaert piece of there trump campaign -- >> all i did joosh did you -- >> i know i'm not under investigation, me personally. i'm not talking about campaigns, anything else. i'm not under investigation. >> did you ask him to drop the investigation? >> no, never. >> did anyone from the white house -- >> in fact, i want it speeded up. >> did anybody at the white house ask him to -- >> no, why would he do that skbloo. >> did any surrogates on behalf -- >> no. look. i want to find out if there was a problem with an election having to do with russia or, by the way, ib anybody else, any other country, and i want that to be so strong and so good and i want it to happen. i also want to have a really competent, capable director. he's not. he's a show boater. he's not my man or not my man. i didn't appoint him. he was appointmented long before me. but i want somebody who's going to do a great job and i will

tell you we're looking at candidates right now who could be spectacular and that's what i want for the fbi. >> what you sewed a moment ago about supporting the idea of investigation, a lot of people would find it hard to believe that the man who just said that tweeted very recently" it's a total hoax, it's a taxpayer charade." >> i think looking into me and the campaign, look, i have nothing to do. this was set up by the democrats. there's no collusion between me and my campaign and the russians. the other thing is, the russians did not affect the vote and everybody seems to think that. >> there is an investigation under way, though, an fbi investigation. is that a charade? >> yo-yo -- i don't know if it's an fbi investigation or if it's congress or the senate -- >> james comey testified there was an fbi investigation. >> yes, but i think it's the

house and the senate. you probably have fbi. but you have house, you have senate. they have other investigations. >> when you put out twiets" it's a total hoax, a taxpayer charade" and you're looking for a new fbi director, aren't you sending a message to that person to lay off? >> no. i think we have to get back to work. i want to get to the bottom. if russia hacked, if russia did anything having to do with our election, i want to know about it. >> there's already intelligence from virtually every intelligence agency that yes, that happened. >> i tell you this. if russia or anybody else is trying to interfere with our elections, i think it's a horrible thing and i want to get to the bottom of it and i want too make sure it will never ever happen. >> were you angry with james comey when he went public and said he can't support your unb substantiated charges of wiretapping that your predecessor wiretapped you? >> i was surprised he said it but i wasn't angry.

there's a big thing going on right now which is spying. you can call it anything you want. the unmasking, and the spying, and to me, that's the big story right now. that's a very, very big story. >> i didn't take that as a sign of disloyalty that he came out and contradicted you? >> no. i don't think of it as loyalty. whoever the director is i want him to do the right things. >> how about when he went public and said there was in fact an fbi investigation into your campaign? did that -- i ask you that -- >> i have -- >> -- building anger. >> no. i know you'll see that in anger somebody will report or have false sources that maybe don't exist because of the media, the way the media is. no. i will tell you that i think that i want very simply a great fbi director. >> and will you expect that there would -- they would continue on with this investigation? >> oh, sure. i expect that. >> and that, of course, was

donald trump and we'll hear the rest of the interview in a moment. i want to go to sara murray at the white house. this is the first time the president has spoken out since firing the fbi director. what you can see in that exchange is that in less than 48 hours, the president's story about what led to comey's firing has changed again and again and again and completely, by the way, conflicts with the story that his own vice president gave. >> reporter: that's right. it's a very different tale from what we've heard from white house officials, including the vice president for the last two days. for the last two days the explanation is that they got this recommendation from rod rosenstein, the deputy attorney general as well as jeff sessions, the attorney general. the president took their counsel. that's how he ultimately made the decision to fire james comey. he made clear in that interview that it was his decision to fire the fbi director regardless of who his attorney general and deputy attorney general said. i think it's a good indication how set the president was in this decision and sort of how

tightly held he kept it. he did not let his communication staffers know until right before he announced it and left them scrambling to genld it. that has left the white house in a position where they're telling a number of different stories to try to explain how the president came to this bombshell decision. >> thank you very much. i want to go to our special panel, zeke miller interviewed president trump monday night. got an exclusive tour of the president's residence. laura coats, david goldbergin, chris saliza and jen sake. jeffrey lourd also here, former reagan white house political director. look. the bottom line here is that jeffrey, the president did completely contradict his own team today when he came out and said very clearly, you heard under pressing by lester, again and again he would have fired director comey no matter what. that's totally different than what they've said over the past

few days. they said it was rod rosenstein that made that decision and it was all him. is this a problem? >> no, i don't -- the recommendation was a serious one. clearly the president asked for recommendation and he got it. this has been on the table -- frankly, one mistake i think they made is not firing him the day after the president was sworn in. you should have done it immediately. you had all kinds of people in both parties and in the media, the wall street journal, etc., saying that he shouldn't have been appointed in the first place or that he made serious mistakes, he should be out the door, he should resign, be fired, whatever. it was very clear he had no credibility across the board. that's if one mistake i think he made. others than that, he's now gone. >> he is now gone. of course, the problem is that the story and the reason they're giving frankly has changed, right? either people didn't know or people lied. it's unclear which it is. but here is what the vice president kelly ann con way,

sarah huckaby sanders, the associate press secretary all said -- they did not say it was the president who wanted to fire jim comey. that is not what they said. here's what they said. >> the president took strong leadership to put the safety and security of the american people first by accepting the recommendation of the deputy attorney general to remove drosh comey as the head of the fbi. >> the president accepted the recommendation of his deputy attorney general to remove james comey from his position. >> recommendation of rod rose steen, the deputy troerge to whom the fbi reported. >> accepted the recommendation, chris, accepting the recommendation, took the recommendation. the president of the united states says not so. he didn't care what the recommendation was, i was going to fire him, anyway. he just said it. >> right. i don't know how better to put it than that clip. the line clearly yesterday was

he accepted the recommendation of rod rose steen. it was about the clinton e-mails, the mishandling of it. james comey remembered going out -- i think she used the word acrossity. now it's donald trump saying, yeah, i was going to do that anyway. this is donald trump. the blame for this, i actually -- i'm with jeffrey. i think that donald trump could have very easily said on january 21st you know what? i wasn't happy with james comey, we need a change. the problem is he did it on may 9th, not on january 21st. the explanation for why he did it, which is what is the most important thing, has changed more times than i have fingers in the last 36 hours. the real reason he did it is fwaz he wasn't happy with him. he thought he was pursuing the russia thing instead of the surveillance. he makes that clear in the interview with lester. but again, it's very hard to be a staffer of donald trump's,

because he does what we wants. and then you have to try to square that circle. >> yeah. >> that includes mike pence. >> you know what? laura, i want to ask you about something else that's very important. he said -- and we all saw it in the letter to director comby. he said thank you very much for telling me three times that i'm not under investigation. in this exchange he answered the question -- he said the first time -- two times was on phone calls and one time was over dinner. the burp of the dinner was where the fbi director was telling theant of the united states that he wanted to keep his job. and the president said, so i asked am i under investigation. laura, is there any -- anything improper about doing that? the guy's asking to keep his job. and he says, wamtd, am i under investigation? is there anything proper about that? >> yes, there's everything improsch with it if it's asked with a wink and a nod. testimony timing is going to be so important here. remember, if he made that

statement over this alleged dinner early on in january prior to comey's march hearing where he confirmed there was a criminal investigation ongoing about collusion with russia and the trump campaign and its aide, before that, that's an inappropriate act if somebody's trying to throw their weight around and in an unethical fashion. fts it's after that march event you have somebody who knows there's an investigation, who's now insinuating that you may or may not be able to keep your job if the answer is yes, you are being investigated and it sounds more like the basis for him actually terminating him is based on that exchange. of course, we didn't get the dates of any of these conversations, uftsly. >> no. >> we don't know when that is. as this pendulum keeps going back and forth, erin, about whether or not this was a political motivation or a more besign explanation from rose

edge ste -- rosenstein we get farther away from obstruction charges. obstruction charges require a specific intent to corrupt or stop an investigation. what it requires is really the absence of any other plausible explanations for the firing. so -- >> yeah. >> in this case double speak may actually be helping the president. >> and the other thing, zeke, that the president said was his use of the word "if." it was over whemg. he said it, zeke, if russia hacked, if russia did anything regarding our election. there's a lot of "ifs" that frankly are not ifs according to the uniform view of the u.s. intelligence community. that is russia hacked and did something regarding our election. there's no "if" about it anymore. what's the significance to the fact that he is still saying that? >> he is trying -- >> go ahead. >> this is the same donald trump of all of last year during the campaign when he was talking about maybe there's the

400-pound hacker sitting in his bedroom in new jersey hacking into e-mails. it only took to that press conference a couple of weeks before he took office where he admitted very, very briefly in a fleeting answer during a press conference at trump tower that he believed the intelligence community's assessment that russia had been involved in hacking e-mails. here he is months later qualifying that. it's a sign he doesn't want to give his critics an inch. he believes any questions about russia are questions about his legitimacy. if he'd come out six months ago and says russia is trying to hack the election and ib condemn them for that, we'd be in a different place. we're here because the president for so long denied the ofs -- what all the intelligence agencies have said. >> in fact he said russia didn't impact the vote. we have no idea if that's true. there are many who would argue the complete opposite.

you may be among them. >> i think he's one of the very few number of people, most of them probably work in the white house currently who think russia did not impact the vote with their med allege. there's a varying degree but i think most people think it was significant. what it shows, his comments, is that he's naive about russia's objectives. russia was not just trying to elect donald trump. that was part of it. but they also want to create yugoslavia in the united states and they're successfully doing that right now. they're at home right now as the weeks have had -- have gone forward here and, you know, laughing about what's happening here as a result of their efforts and the fact that nothing is being done to prevent this from r from happening in the future. putin is not a trump supporter. he's not a republican. he's somebody who wants there to be confusion in the united states. >> david gergen, how do you think the president did in this interview and how he answered the comey questions and the questions about the russian

investigation? >> oh, it was fair. i think he put the best face he could on it. i agree with jeffrey lourd had hi done this lack in january it would have been more acceptable. i think what we now have, the central point now, erin, we've had an astonishing 48 hours in which the president of the united states has reached in and fired the investigator who is investigating the white house. the white house comes out with a story about it that they tell the world, the vice president tells the world, they tell the congress, they tell the country, here's what -- here's why we did it. it has nothing to do with the russians. it has everything to do with the e-mails and we did it because the deputy attorney general at the justice department came with the recommendation supported by the attorney general. it turns out the whole story has unraveled throughout the last 48 hours. it's not just contradictions but they're lies. i don't think we've seen anything quite so brazen in a long time. i can't remember -- i can't even

remember the nixon people being so it ncompetent in lying. it's like the we could stone cops. one last thing, the attorney general said he was going to recuse himself from anything to do with the russian investigation. it was the attorney general -- job and then -- >> -- came over to the white house and in the room and has his fingerprints on it. that has compromised the managers far more than has been accepted so far. >> will all of you please stay with me and we're going to come back morph o the interview with donald trump and why he took 18 days after sally yates walked to the white house and said michael flynn is a problem, why did it take him 18 days to fire general michael flynn during which time he kept all his security access, plus the director of the fbi directly contradicting the white house today. >> is it accurate that the rank and file no longer supported director comey? >> no, sir, that is not accurate.

. >> and on a lighter note, jeanne moos on why donald trump demands two scoops of ice cream while everybody else at the table did omitted gets one. i'm thomas and i quit smoking with chantix. i was very grateful to have chantix. at times when i would normally go smoke, i just didn't. it's kind of like "wait a minute, i would normally be running out the door to go grab a cigarette." along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. chantix reduced my urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. some reported seizures or sleepwalking with chantix. if you have any of these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of mental health problems, which could get worse or of seizures. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you have these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away as some can be life-threatening.

tell your doctor if you have heart or blood vessel problems, or develop new or worse symptoms. get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. use caution driving or operating machinery. most common side effect is nausea. thank you chantix. ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. doctors recommend taking claritin every day distracting you? of your allergy season for continuous relief. claritin provides powerful, non-drowsy, 24-hour relief. for fewer interruptions from the amazing things you do every day. live claritin clear. every day. this is brooke's yard with ugly bare spots. but scotts ez seed changes everything. our finest grass seed plus quick-start fertilizer and natural super- absorbent mulch grow grass anywhere. guaranteed. this is a scotts yard.

...doesn't happen by accident. chevythree years in a row. car company really... let's see how quickly you can read through all their awards. 2017 motor trend car of the year. kelly blue book 2016 best resale value... u.s. news best cars for the money 10 best blah blah blah only about 90 more to go! 2017 iihs...top safety. 2017 north american car of the year! that's a lot of awards! get 20% below msrp on all malibu lt models. that's $5,200 on this chevy malibu. find new roads at your local chevy dealer. itthe power of nexium 24hr protection from frequent heartburn. all day, and all night. now packed into a pill so small, we call it mini. new clearminis from nexium 24hr. see heartburn differently.

. bleaking news. president trump denying he has any investments in russia. here is more of what he had to say moments ago. >> i have no investments in russia, none whatsoever. i don't have property in russia. lot of people thought i owned office buildings in moscow. i don't have property in russia, and i am in very -- i mean i'm in total compliance in every way i fuel hundreds of papers worth of documents with the federal elections bureau. everybody's seen that. i built a great company but i'm

not involved with russia. i have had dealings over the years where i sold a house to a very wealthy russian many years ago. i had the miss universe pageant which i owned for quite a while. i had it in moscow a long time ago. but other than that, i have nothing to do with russia. >> one last question on this matter. did you ever -- >> and i have a certified letter, just so you understand. i'm not just saying that. i've given the letter to senator lindsay graham. he has the left and i think frankly, i assume he's going to give the letter out, but it says i am not involved in russia, no loans, no nothing. >> did you worry at all when you made the decision to fire comey when you did, day before lavrov was here in the white house around the russian ambassador, did you think through the optics and the way this would look? >> i never thought about it. it was set up a while ago, and frankly, i could have waited,

but what difference does it make? i'm not looking for cosmetics. i'm looking to do a great job for the country. i'm looking to create jobs. i'm looking to create strength and security. i'm looking to have strong borders. i'm looking for things like that. i think it's really a good thing that i meet with people. now, this is a puck meeting. when you go over this, the people watching may say oh, he met with lavrov. look, thfsz announced that i'm meeting with lavrov. just like a number of days ago i spoke had a very good conversation, very public in the sense that everybody knew it was taking place, i talk all the time, just spoke with the new head of south korea who just got elected. i speak with the head of india, the head of china. i have to speak with putin also. it's called russia. but when i spoke with putin, he asked whether or not i would see lavrov. what? should i say no, i'm not going to see him? i will see him. during that discussion with

lavrov, i think we had a great discussion having to do with syria, having to do with the ukraine and maybe that discussion will lead to a lot less people getting killed and will lead ultimately to peace. so i'm ok with those discussions, lester. i think it's a good thing, not a bad thing. >> all right. my panel is back with me. let me go straight to you, jen. i wants to start with what if president just said that he's got this letter that says no investments in russia, nothing, never, never, nothing to see there. is that enough? >> a certified letter is something i understand to be with the post office. i'm not sure what the certified letter means. there's been enough excellent reporting about the connections he does have to bring in question what he claims. i do any it was interesting what he said in the interview about how he -- putin asked him to meet with lavrov and he met with lavrov. lavrov is not the same level as trurch. he's not a head of state.

when i was in the white house arched negotiations with lavrov happened at the secretary of state level. it's a significant give to pontiac and russia to have him in the white house. it's a questionable time to do that. >> what do you say? it is different than the meeting in moscow to meet with punts. it is different for president trump to do that. >> the american people wanted a change. and they were well aware that the obama administration started out with hillary clinton and that famous reset button and the premise at the time was that the bush administration had so badly dealt things in the world that they needed to go to moscow and reset things. she brought that button along as an example. there was president obama himself promising a prominent russian leader that if you just give me time and tell vlad i'll get things in order, whatever

the conversation was. the fact of the matter was that at the end of the obama administration, relationship with russia was in at theers. so president trump, understandably is trying something different. he's going to take criticism for it. but the american people wanted something different because they saw what a failure this has been. >> chris, i want to ask you about -- you know, as you continue making the case as to why he should do this meeting, do you think that he made the case there as to why he should meet with lavrov? >> jeffrey is right. >> yes. >> donald trump promised to be different. and he has certainly lived up to that promise. the one thing -- so look, it's his prerogative. i take jen's point about sort of equals meeting equals. donald trump wants to do things differently. he won. he gets that right. the thing i would say, if donald trump wants the russia investigation on the end, if he insists that he has absolutely nothing to do with it, he can do two things really easily.

he could urge everyone in his administration to say we are going to -- we are going to give you everything that we have on that. i want -- we're going to cooperate 100%. i'm going to stop calling it a hoax. a tax funded hoax. i'm going to cooperate. we're going to do everything we can because i want to be vindicatesed. i want to show there's absolutely nothing there. that's one. two, he could release his tax returns. i don't want to bang this drum too loudly but the best way to prove that you have no ties to russia is release your tax return. he keeps coming back to i've sent hundreds of pages of documents. >> right. >> it's not the same thing. release your tax returns. those are two very easy ways that he has control of that could make good on what he insists he wants because there's nothing he has to hide. >> he said he wants this investigation to finish. ok. that's what he says. but he has called it a hoax as lester fairly pointed out

before. in your piece in time, you were with him in the white house, in prooiflt quarters. you talk about his big tv. he has it cued up to sally gates and jim clapper testifying. you wrote he's making you watch it with him. here's how he characterizes -- watch them start to choke like dogs, trump said. having fun? what happens. clapper on the screen. oh, he's choking. ah, look, the president says. what do you say, zeke? >> yeah. i mean, this was -- it was like watching a -- you know, a sunday afternoon a play-by-play announcer telling you -- dissecting a play gone wrong. that's the way donald trump coombs immediacon assumes media but not only he dvred it, he took a bunch of reporters back to his private dining room with several other aides to have him watch us watch

it. see his reaction, hear his color commentary. he feelings vindicated. he feels like everything about russia undercuts his legitimacy. if he can move past that and realize i there's a political expediency to opening the books, things will go easier for him. as long as he adopts this defensive posture where every question about russia's involvement or attempted medaling in 2016 is somehow an attack on him or an excuse by democrats, he's not going to resolve this p and it's going to prolong the political nightmare that this has become for him. >> his own deputy press second admitting today that the comey firing was in connection with the russians. obviously, directly saying that getting rid of comey was related to the washington investigation. want to bring in tom foreman who's been track ng the changing white house story about the

firing comey. again, changing the story. >> they're contradicting each other, they're contradicting the president, they're contradicting common sense at any given moment. when you lay it against the time line of everything that's happened, it's hard to square all these versions. roipts m the election is raging mid summer and even as fans call for hillary clinton's arrest -- >> honestly, she should be locked up. >> -- he remains publicly pleased, talking about the fbi's sharp handling of his classified e-mails despite the political up roar. >> i have to give the fbi credit. it took guts for director comey to make the move he made. >> reporter: but the smiles and hand shakes evaporate two months after the inauguration when comey says he's looking into med

allege. -- medaling. >> now when the president is asked if comey should have been dismissed like others from the obama years, his support is suddenly tepid. >> no, it's not too late but i have confidence in him. we'll see what happens. >> what has happened is the russia probe has expands, intensified. a week ago sources tell cnn comey asked for more resources to pursue it. the justice department denies that and the white house has now put out several different versions of what led to comey's firing. one, the president took action after the deputy attorney general told him the bureau had lost faith in comey, starting with the clinton e-mail probe. >> he made the right decision at the right time, and to accept the recommendation of the deputy attorney general. >> two, comey committed atrocities by going around the chain of command while serving

under president obama. >> he's shown over the last several months and frankly over the last year, a lot of missteps and mistakes. roimt and three, the presidents said he decided on his own sometime ago that comey was too much of a show boat, not enough of a leader. >> he was not doing a good job, very simply, he was not doing a good job. >> reporter: white house critics believe comey was mainly sacked for chasing the russian investigation, for dismissing the president's claims he was bugged by obama and generally irritatesing the president by showing the preliminary independence donald trump once praised. >> tom foreman, thank you very much. laura, let me go to you rights away here. on this whole changing story, right, about what happened with the firing of jim comey, when you had kelly-on-con way, mikes spence in a few minutes saying it was done on the recommendation of rod rosenstein. president of the united states

point blank said that's untrue. how big of an issue is it? >> it's an issue in the sense that, look, when you have the impression that it's a politically motivated firing, what was going to immunize that perception was the idea that there was a benign reason for it, that you had the backing of somebody who had credibility across different parties who was just confirmed two weeks ago, i think 96-4 by the snechlt you had somebody saying, well, there were justifiable reasons that were more recent than last july. they were because of the recent testimony he gave just about a week ago. then the president came out and said, no, no, that didn't factor into nigh kmy calculate cue lus all. that's a big issue when you think about the fact that you had this impression. you had people saying, listen,

one of the bases for obstruction or impeachble offenses could be that you're trying to abuse your power in an inappropriate way to try to deflect attention away from you when the attention about the russian investigation comes too close. it was called nixonian the last 24, 48 hours. frankly, erin, he had a cover. >> which was what? >> the cover was rose edge stein's memo. >> right. he just said yes, i did. i think that's a psychology a.m. thing. he doesn't want to say he did what rod rosenstein told me to do. he wants to say i'm the boss. >> but sometimes when you -- it comes with spontsd that you take the blame as well. i'm not saying he was angry about being used as a pawn to say my justification was the only reason this person was terminated, that's not the indication. if that was the per sense

lingering, that did undercut an argument that was being made in a criminal investigation perhaps and an equipment paechlment investigation that he was acting under political motivation as opposed to a very benign reason. >> we now know that general michael flynn has been subpoenaed for documents that he refused to hand over. tonight, the president was asked about why. he waited 18 days to fire general flynn after sally yates came in and warned him. right? and he said he didn't think her warning was severe. here's what he said. >> they came back to me and did not sound like an emergency of any -- didn't make it sound like he was -- and she didn't make it sound that way either in the hearings the other day like it had to be done immediately. this man has served for many years. he's a general. he's -- in my opinion, a very good person. i believe that it would be very

unfair to hear from somebody who we don't even know and immediately run out and fire a general. >> compelling answer, david gergen? il remind that president obama warned president trump about michael flynn but maybe not perhaps on the specifics of the russia situation. david. >> well, it may be much to satisfy his base and maybe jeffrey thinks it's entirely defensible. but i think most people listening to that would say, it doesn't fit the facts. sally yates was deeply disturbed as the acting attorney general. she went to the white house counsel to say you've got a very big problematic guy who's been compromised, who is vulnerable to the russians and you're telling me that when this that goes to the president of the united states -- he said, well, we don't know sally yates very

well. it sounds like maybe it's this, maybe it's not. i'm not going to do much about it. that's not credible. just as the cover story they created about blaming everything in the last 48 hours on rosenstein and the department of justices and the whole question of the e-mails. i'm sorry. the president fired michael flynn 18 days layer after the story broke. that really showed that the vice president had been lied to bring flynn. the president knew when mcgann came to him that the vice president had been lied to. he should have taken action right then. >> a quick word to you, jeffrey lourd. on this issue of the haven't being lied to by michael flynn. today the vice president has come out five times in the past 48 hours, he said the president fired jim comey because of rod rosenstein's recommendation. he said it five times. the white house now -- president says that's not true. how significant is this that they're not even on the same page about comey? >> i really think this is

pulling -- or parsing words. look, the president is the boss and this president in particular is going to make his own decisions. it's typical of him, i think, to ask the professional in charge, in this case was the deputy attorney general, for his recommendation. he got it and i think that reinforced his own -- in a very legalese sense reinforced his own instinct here and he wejtd through with it finally. >> i appreciate it. the white house says firing comey will help the probe. adam ship is my guest, leading this investigation. we'll get his answer to if that's true. and republicans facing back lash. these are live pictures outa gop gathering tonight. (man vo) it was may, when dad forgot

how to brush his teeth. (woman vo) in march, my husband didn't recognize our grandson. (woman 2 vo) that's when moderate alzheimer's made me a caregiver. (avo) if their alzheimer's is getting worse, ask about once-a-day namzaric. namzaric is approved for moderate to severe alzheimer's disease in patients who are taking donepezil. it may improve cognition and overall function, and may slow the worsening of symptoms for a while. namzaric does not change the underlying disease progression. don't take if allergic to memantine, donepezil, piperidine, or any of the ingredients in namzaric. tell the doctor about any conditions; including heart, lung, bladder, kidney or liver problems, seizures, stomach ulcers, or procedures with anesthesia. serious side effects may occur, including muscle problems if given anesthesia; slow heartbeat, fainting, more stomach acid which may lead to ulcers and bleeding; nausea, vomiting, difficulty urinating, seizures, and worsening of lung problems.

most common side effects are headache, diarrhea, dizziness, loss of appetite, and bruising. (woman 2 vo) i don't know what tomorrow will bring but i'm doing what i can. (avo) ask about namzaric today. thereit comes to technology, about my small business so when i need someone that understands my unique needs. my dell small business advisor has gotten to know our business so well that is feels like he's a part of our team. with one phone call, he sets me up with tailored products and services. and when my advisor is focused on my tech, i can focus on my small business. ♪ ♪

. breaking news. president trump setting the record straight in his view after his administration has struggled for three straight days to explain the controversial firing of fbi director jim comey, trump said it was his decision and his decision alone. >> look. he's a show boat, he's a grandstander. the fbi has been in turmoil.

you know that, i know that, everybody knows that. you look at the fbi a year ago, it was in virtual turmoil. less than a year ago. it hasn't recovered from that. >> "out front" democratic congressman adaniel schiff of california. he's the ranking member of the house intelligence committee which is in the midst of a massive investigation. you heard the president say he fired jim comey because he's a show boat and a grandstander. your reply? >> my reply is i don't think anyone finds that credible, especially after giving a completely dplircht explanation yesterday or the day before. i think this has everything to do with the russian investigation and the president's discomfort with comey leading that investigation or comey not paying enough attention to the real story because he considers the russia investigation to be a fake. the real story wanting him to look into leaks or whatever the

president has in mind. i think the shifteding explanations given by the president and his team and it's more important for congress to do a thorough investigation and oversee what the fbi does to make sure they have the resources, they have the independence, whoever takes that job next. >> i want to ask you about that. the interim fbi director mccabe was testifying today. he said two very significant things. one was that the investigation into trump's ties to russia is a significant investigation for the fbi. that is the word he used. the other, though, is that so far, he says congressmanman, the white house has made no effort to impede the investigation. no effort to impede. do you agree? >> well, you know, i think if you look at the firing of comey, if that was designed to influence the election, i don't think you can say so categorically he's made no effort to interfere. i think that the firing was all about the russia investigation. so i'm certain that what mr.

mccabe said may be true in that president trump may be calling line personnel. but nonetheless he fired the top cop on that investigation and i think no one believes this was about hillary clinton's e-mails. i think it was all about the russia indicaticase. >> so you're saying that in and of itself could be interference. richard blumenthal said president trump's decision to fire comey in and of itself could lead to possible impeachment proceedings. do you think it's come to that? do you agree with that? >> i certainly wouldn't be ready to leap to that kind of conclusion. i do think we need to learn more about the circumstances that led to the director's firing. but i wouldn't take it on its face. i will say this, i think that many of the president's actions have been really quite

inexplicable going back to his hurling of these unfounded accusations against president obama claiming that he was illegally wiretapped, charging congress to investigate that claim and now to continue with the firing of the person who was leading that investigation. so i think there's a lot more that we need to find out about just what went into this decision. it wasn't as portrayed plainly earlier in the week. this is something that began with rod rosenstein and continued with the attorney general and the president only acted on the recommendations of these two within the justice department. >> yeah. >> that story has already been debunked by the president himself. >> it has been deputy bunked. here's what the president is saying now about exactly why he fired jim comey or exactly who fired jim comey. here he is. >> monday you met with the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. >> right. >> did you ask for a recommendation?

>> what i did, is i was going to fire comey. my decision. >> his decision. do you believe that rosenstein was manipulated by the president in any way or do you believe that rosenstein wrote a memo that hillary clinton's e-mails are the reason jim comey should be fired? >> i'm sure he believes what he sent out in that memo, that comey mishandling the clinton investigation. i think that comey mishandled this investigation. if this memo was going to be used as a pretext of firing him, to give the public one motivation when the president's motivation was different, unfortunately, i have think that work product was used by the president to give a misleading impression to the country and yet another, i think, abuse of his office that is the president. this is a president who has very little, if any, other understanding or respect for the

independence of the justice department, to our system of checks and balances and i think in that context, it's all the more important that congress provide the checks and balances where this executive ch tramples them. >> before we go, look, he's sayi request. >> 4e's saying there's a lot of hypocrisy here. on a lot of levels it is. it's hard to hear, democrats all the the things said about the director last summer and now saying why is trump firing him and people that called for him to be fired. you didn't go that far but you did say very critical things. the president is highlighting this but in the face of rosy o'donnell, he re-tweeted a tweet for her in which she called for comey's firing and saying, we finally agree on something, rosy. her original tweet was fire, comey. aside from the absurdity rosy

o'donnell is being brought into this. what do you say about his point, hypocrisy? >> i would say this, democrats have a big problem what comey did and how he handle the comey investigation, no mystery about that. had the president made this decision at the ging of his administration for a fresh start, that would be one thing. had he agreed with those criticisms at the beginning of the campaign, that would have been one thing. but for a president who applauded his actions at the time and now months into this investigation into russia an investigation the director was pursuing, to use that as a justification, nobody buys it. that's the point. it would be one thing, if it was credible, done at a different time. plainly,s there was being used at least up including today as a dodge. i think that was exposed and that i think was the answer.

>> thanks. appreciate your time. >> thank you. up next, growing outrage over comey's firing. live pictures there of a big republican gathering protesters out live. on president trump's dessert, why does he get double that of his guests? you know who likes to be in control? this guy. check it out! self-appendectomy! oh, that's really attached. that's why i rent from national. where i get the control to choose any car in the aisle i want, not some car they choose for me. which makes me one smooth operator. ah! still a little tender. (vo) go national. go like a pro.

with tempur-pedic.t our proprietary material automatically adjusts to your weight, shape and temperature. so you sleep deeply, and wake up feeling powerful. find your exclusive retailer at tempurpedic.com ♪ the sun'll come out for people with heart failure, tomorrow is not a given. but entresto is a medicine that helps make more tomorrows possible. ♪ tomorrow, tomorrow... ♪ i love ya, tomorrow in the largest heart failure study ever, entresto helped more people stay alive and out of the hospital than a leading heart failure medicine. women who are pregnant must not take entresto. it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby.

don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren. if you've had angioedema while taking an ace or arb medicine, don't take entresto. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure... ...kidney problems, or high potassium in your blood. ♪ tomorrow, tomorrow i love ya, tomorrow ♪ ask your heart doctor about entresto. and help make tomorrow possible. ♪ you're only a day away. ito treat your toughy nasal allergies... ...listen up. unlike pills that don't treat congestion, clarispray covers 100 percent of your nasal allergy symptoms. clarispray. from the makers of claritin.

at lincoln, we're all about making things simpler for you. like, imagine having your vehicle serviced... from the comfort of your own home. introducing complimentary lincoln pickup and delivery servicing. because the most important luxury of all... is time. pickup and delivery servicing on the entire family of lincoln luxury vehicles including a complimentary lincoln loaner. start your day with the number one choice of dentists. philips sonicare removes significantly more plaque versus oral-b 7000. experience this amazing feel of clean. innovation and you. philips sonicare. save now when you buy philips sonicare. philips sonicare. there's nothing more than my vacation.me so when i need to book a hotel room, i want someone that makes it easy to find what i want. booking.com gets it. they offer free cancellation if my plans change. visit booking.com. booking.yeah.

breaking news. growing questions tonight over the president's decision to fire the director of the fbi. out front in california, a national republican meeting is under way there and that means protesters are there as well. >> reporter: a sizable what you might call a snap protest. you may notice i'm marching on a beach. this is what we're walking with, a number of indivisible groups that organizes snap protests and marching along the beach. that's the hotel del coronado, rnc having their spring meeting here. what the people out here are saying, they want the rnc to hear their displeasure, how angry they are about the firing

of director comey. that's the point of all of this. see a lot of signs saying independent special prosecutor, saying this is a constitutional crisis and one overriding message is they hope to flip congress in 2018. >> thank you very much. that rnc meeting going on in coronado, california, many questions there as well. now, the lighter part or perhaps the heavier part when you hear what i'm going to say, the lighter topic of the evening. what does the president of the united states have for dessert? jeanne moose has an investigation. >> reporter: "time" magazine got a scoop, literally a scoop. >> one scoop for me, please. >> reporter: on the president's scoop we already knew he hankers for taco bowls and big macs and kfc eaten with a knife and fork and sometimes insists on fellow

diners eating meatloaf. >> then he say, chris, you an i will have the meatloaf. >> it's emasculating. >> no, it's not. >> we've heard imdescribe that u.s. launches against syria. >> we had the most beautiful pass of chocolate cake you've over seen. >> which brings us to ice cream. >> now in the blue room of the white house, the president sits down for dinner with three contemporaries from "time" magazine, dining with the enemies of the people, of course they will notice every little thing. >> with the salad course, trump is served what appears to be thousand island dressing instead of creamy vinegar ret for guests. at the dessert course he gets two scoops of vanilla ice cream with his chocolate cream pie instead of the single scoop for everyone else. >> two scoops for me please ♪ >> so the whole dominance thing extends to desserts, too?

joe biden has spoken as if he were a member of ice cream addicts anonymous. >> my name is joe and i love ice cream. >> reporter: he doesn't have one named for him in trump tower. check out this. not a real one, just a spoof. president obama got the same impeach mint. president trump's face has been plastered on ice cream. maybe he should invite this italian champion to the white house. he holds the guinness record for the most scoops balanced on a cone, 121. that is a tall cone to climb, mr. president. jeanne moos. >> 10 scoops for me please ♪ >> reporter: cnn, new york. >> that 121 scoops is true gluttony. i'd be grateful if someone gave me one scoop. if they give you two you will eat it and who really needs it

anyway. thank you all for joining us. you can watch "outfront" any time anywhere. ac "360" begins right now with anderson cooper. good evening from washington, d.c. where the president has just made news on just about every controversy facing him and may have stokes the flames on some of them. he sat down with lester holt. we will bring you portions of that interview but start with the russia collusion probe the president called a charade and his answer suggests he's not even entirely sure there is one. >> is there an investigation under way, an fbi investigation, is that a charade. i don't know if it is an an fbi -- there's so many investigations, i don't know if it's an fbi investigation or if it's congress, the senate. >> james comey testified it was an fbi investigation. >> i think they're als