project go to cnn.com\heroes. thanks so much for joining us at this hour. "inside politics" with the one and only john king starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com thank you, kate. have a good weekend. welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. first president trump changed his story about why he fired james comey. now he's threatening james comey. he says, quote, james comey had better hope there's no tape of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press. that comes as the initial account of the white house why and how he was fired lies in shambles due to a heap of fallshood fall falsehoods of in new and revealing information of

president trump himself. he insisted it had nothing, zero to do with the russian/election investigation. it turns out none of that was true. >> i was going to fire comey. my decision. it was not -- >> you had made the decision before they came in the room. >> i was going to fire comey. there's no good time to do it, by the way. >> you accepted their recommendations. >> i was going to fire him regardless of recommendation. he made a recommendation, very good guy, very smart guy. the democrats like him. the republicans like him. he'd made a recommendation. but regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey knowing there was no good time to do it. and, in fact, when i decided to do it, i said to myself, i said, you know this russia this with

trump and russia is a made up story, an excuse for having lost an election that they should have won. >> remarkable, remarkable. john yang of the pbs news hour. the president has described yet again today as mad, things aren't going his way, frustrated that in his view his staff can't properly manage things and he is, yet again, lashing out on twitter. in addition to threatening the former fbi director he tweets this. maybe the best thing would be is to cancel all future press briefings and hand out written responses for the sake of accuracy. we should note the man elevated to acting director of the fbi says, quote, highly significant. first, the president completely

blows away the credibility of his vice president, leaders of congress, senior staff by changing his story. i want to start with this morning. the prts of the united states on twitter essentially threatening the former fbi director and suggesting that there might be, there might be recordings of these conversations. now, i don't say this to be f p flippa flippant. i don't know what to believe out of this white house given the last 72 hours. a, it's a threat, and, b, it's taped? >> i asked what they mean by the response from the white house. are there tapes? i haven't gotten a response. yes, he very clearly threatened the former fbi director who he just fire and he's talking about tapes which is, you knowing in itself a remarkable thing for the president of the united states to say. we actually literally do not know what to believe because of what we've seen in the last few

days, but also there's a him of statements and pronouncements that turn out to not necessarily be accurate. and so we don't know what he means by that. >> the threat follows -- i want to get this on the record. it's on the front page of "the new york times." jake tapper has reported this as well. the president asked director comey for a pledge of loyalty and director comey said i can't do that, sir, i run the fbi. i promise you honesty. ly be straight and honest all the time. and the president is reading these accounts, seeing these accounts today, and it's added the his anger at director comey. >> it's also at the dinner where he asked, am i under investigation. here he said it was described as a dinner because comey wanted the stay on the job. it's essentially a job interview. he asks, so, are you investigating me? and asks for his loyalty.

if you look at the aides he's fired, he's fired sally yates, he's fired mike flynn, and he's now fired james comey. the one he fired for lying he won't criticize. >> that's true. he waited 18 days. >> it's a huge risk to get into a fight with james comey. according to the acting fbi director, andrew mccabe, he has deep support within the fbi and this is a bureau you probably don't want to pick a fight with. moreover, we may hear, perhaps publicly that he'll publicly testify. i wouldn't rule that out as a possibility. there's a possibility he could come in a closed session tuesday before the senate intelligent community. we'll see what dribbles out about that. but h question is on the front of a lot of congress members' minds. >> you mentioned i reached out

to a lot of republicans and reached out to one who's in touch with the leadership all the time. i asked his take after the flip-flop yesterday. they said this is all crossing the line. i'm told that has been made clear to the white house. that's from the republicans. it's private so far. i want you to listen to the number two democrat who was on this morning after the president issued that tweet threatening james comey. >> president trump dangerous, dangerous in that he may be obstructing just tigs. secondly, his credibility has been destroyed. you need to be effective not only in your own presidency but around the world. >> the president's credibility, the credibility of the white house, whether we can believe the white house, the president, vice president, kellyanne

conway, it's a serious question. >> actually if we could step back regarding the comey firing. the fact is partisans were going to go into their camps. if they said, we got rid of comey. we didn't have to go through this entire panel like we did, explaining and unpacking, for independent voters, they were evenly divided and most of them said, i don't know what to think. in other words, it wasn't a very big deal. not really that big of a deal. the problem of course is the way the president is handle it and tweeting about it makes it a dominant story. even if you didn't have an psh about this before yesterday, by the week ends, you're going to have an opinion and it as going to be put into the most negative

possible, you know, scenario. >> a lot of the conservatives who defended the president yesterday, not even those who were not fans have come around to more pro trump spent yesterday on his website saying liberals are overreacting, the media is overreacting. you're all going manic, you wanted comey to be gone. and the president writes this and he writes the decision that remains defensible. the headline of that was the president needs to shut up. >> it's not just democrats. when you start getting -- we've seen this before with the president where republicans are really frustrated with the way that the white house is handling something, words that are coming out of the president's mouth, he's getting into dicey territory. this has put a complete stop on his legislative agenda. he's not talking about anything they want to talk about.

he's not moving on poll sicks. it's a distraction but it's a distraction he eats continuing to throw fuel on and that's not going away. >> the question is what do the republicans do from here. we're not hearing support from republicans for a special prosecutor. only a handful select a committee beyond the congressional probes and they're pointing to intel jiggs committee's investigation and i can only to so much. they're a long ways away from reaching any conclusion. an investigation at this point seems unlikely. >> ju just know by tweeting what he tweeted this morning, comey

must know this is a gift to the democrats. they're going to say, i'll have to ask the white house. are there any tapes? we need to see the tapes. also the president's mindset. the staff said it was a sudden decision. they say i lost confidence in him, the attorney general forwards a recommendation to fire and the white house says they had no choice. now we find out from lester holt who said he was thinking about it for a long time. listen to the president describing his view of james comey. >> he's a showboat, grandstander. the fbi has been in turmoil. you know that, i know that. everybody knows that. you take a look at the fbi a year ago. it was in virtual turmoil. less than a year ago. it hasn't recovered from that.

>> when you talk to the people who talk to the president about that, he sees russia, russia, trump, russia. and he wants to look into the investigation and charge them. >> he alts did not like when director comey said it made him nauseous to think that he may vd had some sort of influence during the election. this is a president who feels he is constantly under siege, feels unfairly, feels they're out to get him and that is reflected no more than this investigation. he's been criticized from the beginning. he felt like he was under attack. the "time" magazine interview this week where he ee going through tapes of hearings and showing them and commenting on it, he's really obsessive about it. >> obsessive about it, number

one, but does he understand he's the president of the united states. a lot of people view that as beyond the pail. >> he hasn't quite made that shift. stewing is the word you use. stewing in what i hear is exactly the world. carol in "time" magazine describes that. he sits isolated in the white house up in the residence at night. i think keith chiller is often with him, we learn. he doesn't have his family with him. his anger and frustration feeds on itself. i think it's fed with other people he's talking to and it's building and building. he went to bedminster last weekend and just stewed more about these television appearances and does what he did on monday. >> more on this in the hour ahead. up ahead, loyalty versus credibility. team trump stands by the boss and, well, it's just unbelievable.

amanda needs right at home. our customized care plans provide as much - or as little help - as her mom requires. whether it's a ride to the doctor or help around the house. oh, of course! tom, i am really sorry. i've gotta go. look, call right at home. get the right care. right at home. we asked people to write down the things they love to do most on these balloons. travel with my daughter. roller derby. ♪ now give up half of 'em. do i have to? this is a tough financial choice we could face when we retire. but, if we start saving even just 1% more of our annual income... we could keep doing all the things we love. prudential. bring your challenges.

so beautiful. what shall we call you? tom! name it tom! studies show that toms have the highest average earning potential over their professional lifetime. see? uh, it's a girl. congratulations! two of my girls are toms. i work for ally, finances are my thing. you know, i'm gonna go give birth real quick and then we'll talk, ok? nice baby. let's go. here comes tom #5! nothing, stops us from doing right by our customers. ally. do it right. whoo! look out.

fmy doctor recommended ibgard. abdominal pain and bloating. ally. do it right. now i'm in control of my ibs. nonprescription ibgard - calms the angry gut. welcome back. when the president changes his story overnight and he defends him, the domino effect is stunning shoo. >> wasn't there an attempt. >> i don't think there was an attempt to pin the decision on the attorney general. look. i think his recommendation, again, was extremely clear. the president, though, makes the decision. the buck stops with him. nobody's ever tried to say that decision. t the president's >> you got that? that's the deputy white house press secretary. i don't think there was ever an attempt to pin the decision on

the attorney general. rod rosenstein. well, tell that to kellyanne conway. >> he acted decisively. >> that makes no sense. it makes sense. it makes complete sense because he has lost confidence in the fbi director and he took the recommendation of rod rosenstein, the deputy attorney general. >> or tell that to the vice president of the united states. >> to accept the recommendation of the deputy attorney general. >> by accepting the recommendation of the deputy attorney general. >> because of the actions the depp attornty attorney general. >> the deputy attorney general. >> the deputy attorney general to act on the recommendation of the deputy attorney general. >> the new deputy attorney

general. >> the deputy attorney general. >> you cannot spin this. we talk about how the president demands loyalty. does he have no loyalty to the people who work for him? does their credibility not matter? >> this morning in a tweet -- it's impossible to believe. also he gave his communications team an hour's notice that this was coming. think they i told the communications team essentially as keith schiller was on his way to justice with the removal letter they had no opportunity to plan, no opportunity to develop a communications strategy, and then, you know, you heard all these aides pinning it on rosen stein and then last night or yesterday to lester holt, he said, oh, no, i was going to fire him no matter what he said. >> can you imagine if he had

come out and had that lester holt interview and said right then, i have decided that director comey can no longer stay and then gone through all of the reasons with lester holt. we would still be discussing it today, but we wouldn't have spent the last ten minutes talking about how the people around him -- you can't really trust to say what is going on. like why not have done that interview in the very first place. >> who can you trust? he's the president of the united states, but, i mean, you know, doing dough that to beat up kellyanne conway or the vice president of the united states. they are people at moments of crisis who have to speak to the american people. here people who try to negotiate health care reform and it goes o the senate and then they have to give their word to people. but can anyone trust what they say? >> here's the thing. the president came up with that reasoning on tuesday. it wasn't his aides, and his

aides went out there and said it. the thing about the cleanup that i find remarkable. it's one thing for the press secretary to go out and say, look, it was wrong, it was this, but then to act like it wasn't -- there was never an attempt to pin this on the deputy director. of course, there was. >> the reason why he was because he was confirmed by a 94-6 senate. he's widely respected on both sides of the aisle. they didn't complain because, one, they like james comey, and they also supported rod rosenstein's confirmation a couple of days ago. of course, it's a recommendation they should accept. >> the memo doesn't mention recommendation. it says you can make the assumption that he lost faith.

it's pretty damning, he's supposed to be recused from all things russia campaign investigation. sarah huckabee sanders also at the podium yesterday and the day before said she was being inundated with friends and contacts from the fbi. she's being inundated for saying, thank you for dog this. we didn't like the acting fbi director. told congress something very different. >> i can tell you also that director comey enjoyed broad support within the fbi and still does to this day. we are a large organization. we're 36,500 people across this country, 'cross this globe. we have a diversity of opinions about many things, but i can

positively tell you the employees enjoyed a deep and possible direction with director comey. >> the white house wanted to have the president go and visit the fbi today. the trip was canceled and the reports are that he was told -- the white house was told he would not receive a positive reception. >> and sarah sanders' response yesterday was pretty stunning to suggest that her text messages and e-mails that she's gotten from countless and, quote, large number of people would somehow contradict what the acting director of the fbi, a long-time veteran of the bureau, believes that's the case to suggest she knows otherwise is rather remarkable. >> it's one thing to be one thing but when your own team is

contradicting you, it's really problematic. >> you pay these people. if they don't know the whole story, they should say, i can't comment yet. i don't know. i haven't spoken to the president yet as opposed to saying something that's not true or this one that i would say is a tenth suspect. >> nobody wants this investigation o go forward more than this president. the point is we want this to come to its conclusion. we want it to come to conclusion with integrity and we think by removing director comey have taken steps to make that happen. >> the president contra ticketed her. she went onto to say this would speed up the investigation. idea that nobody wants this to go forward, has she ever read the president's twitter feed? he did it again.

russia must be laughing up their sleeves as they tear themselves apart from losing the election. >> the probes are serious. to suggest that they're not serious investigations or that removing comey would quicken the investigation, that's not going to happen. these are very serious gkss that are happening, but there's a grand jury that's been convened, issuing s&ps for trump's ex-national security adviser and you heard mccabe say will's an investigation for bureau. >> saying straight up russia was part of my thinking and today attacking the fbi. up next, the president's approval rating slumps, and when the americans are asked for a one-word review, ouch. without harming precious plants nearby. so draw the line.

just give the stick one click, touch the leaves and the gel stays put killing garden weeds to the root with pinpoint precision. draw the line with roundup precision gel®. and be sure to check out roundup® with sure shot wand. another good-for-the-garden product from roundup. a lower a1c is a lot witabout choices.tes but it can be hard sometimes, 'cause different sides of you struggle with which ones to make. well, what if you kept making good ones? then? you could love your numbers. discover once-daily invokana®, a pill used along with diet and exercise to significantly lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. it's proven to lower a1c better than januvia®. invokana® works around the clock by sending some sugar out of your body through the process of urination. it's not for lowering systolic blood pressure or weight loss, but it may help with both.

invokana® may cause dehydration, which could make you feel dizzy or weak when you stand up, so be sure to drink enough water. important side effects to know may include kidney problems, genital yeast infections, changes in urination, or potentially serious urinary tract infections. as is risk of fracture, or increases in cholesterol or potassium. ketoacidosis is a serious condition, which can be life threatening. stop taking invokana® and call your doctor right away if you experience symptoms. or if you have an allergic reaction, with signs like rash, swelling, or difficulty breathing or swallowing. do not take if you have severe liver or kidney problems or are on dialysis. taking with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. the choice is yours. ♪ lower your blood sugar with invokana®. imagine loving your numbers. there's only one invokana®.

ask your doctor about it by name.

we literally cannot live without it. and if we can't live without it, maybe it's time to reimagine it and make it even better. so it's awesomely fast. no. still nope. now we're talking. so it works here and here and here. and so you can even take the occasional time out. nooooooo! yes!!! yes, indeed. speed, coverage, control. introducing xfinity xfi. find your awesome and change the way you wifi. a lot of people give me very high marks for what i've done in terms of foreign policy. i mean i'm getting very, very high marks on foreign policy. >> the president there in his interview with lester holt of

nbc news saying he's getting high marks. perhaps. but if you look at the president's overall numbers at this moment, they're not good, to say the least. the quinnipiac poll taken before james comey's firing, we should make that clear, the approval rating, only 36% approve of how he's handling his diop. disapproving, 58%. a slight drop among trump voters. and you move forward, again, the president trying to get big legislation through. 000 with the comey dustup, only 21% approve of the new republican repeal and replace obamacare. 21%. that's a tough sell. the president's tax plan, only 30% so far based on what they know. the americans say they approve of the president's tax plan. this is bad numbers per the president on two important

initiatives and look at this. quinnipiac also asked the respondents to its poll, weer poing say, donald trumping you fwuv me a one-word answer of what you think of president trump and the results are horrible. the number one answer followed by idiot followed by incompetent, liar. leader came in next. unqualified, president, strong, businessman. it's bad, embarrassing. nonetheless he believes things are off to a good start and he is mastering the work of governing. >> do you miss the campaign? you seem to be in your element at the rallies. do you miss that? on a daily basis? >> i like that. i love this even more. i love creating great health care. i love the process. i love the management of it. i love the governing of it. and i think we're doing a great

job. >> help understand this moment. i know the midterm election is 18 months away but you know how this works. the house members are home this week. they see the comey firing, the conflicting information out of the white house, the tweet threatening the fbi director and before that they see numbers about the president of the united states. what does it do? >> it should make them very, very nervous. in fact, i would argue in some ways not having the spotlight on the health care right now might be better for how unpom lar it is, much more unpope lar, and the intensity on the folks who dislike it. in some cases, three or more times the people who feel strongly supportive of it. if you're a member in 2018 you're like, to i want to go through a tough election like this? do i want to go out there knowing it could be a waive election? if you're a democrat talking the

democratic campaign committee, they're delusioned right now. ten and 12 deep number of candidates. we're only 110 days into this campaign. this is the problem that the president is running into right now is that he believes that the 2018 campaign or the way he governs should follow the same pathway that the 2016 campaign did. you can be semiunpopular or really unpopular when you're running against somebody who's really unpopular and still win even with just your base behind you. there is no hillary clinton on the ballot in 2018. it's a referendum on him and right now the biggest concern he should have is he's somewhere between 36 and 44%. his base not enough especially when the other side is more motivated to turn out. >> that's a great point.

historically your numbers are going to go down the longer you're office particularly the first two years. the first midterm and the new president's tenure tends to be pretty difficult for his party. so what does that mean for his agenda going forward? he's going to have to ask some of these members to take tough votes for him and if he's not able to give them political cover because his numbers are anemic, it's going to be very difficult for these members to decide i'm going to do this because a president can protect me when he can't because he's so unpopular. >> you look at the quinnipiac poll. the one thing in the president's favor, he's kept his base pretty solid and they have essentially said, he's new to washington, he'll figure it out. they've had patience with the president. if you're trying to build into the midterm climate, look at it. 66% of registered voters say the president of the united states

is not level headed. 62% say he's not strong, 61% say he ee's not honest, 56% say he lacks leadership skills and 56% say he's not intelligent. if you look at that, the first 110 days was supposed to be convince the skeptics, give me a chance. >> he hasn't done any of that. if anything he's given people more touts by the thingses he's done i think while his core supporters are geving him time to work that out, as you were talking about, if he can't get republicans in congress to do what he wants to and every time he makes it harder and harder, that's where he really run into problems. he's eroding that base and not

expanding that support. >> the republicans want to pass their agenda very much so. that's why they mute it when they tell you things privately. i know a lot of people watching at home are saying, i'm with you. >> this is a president who theoretically could have come in because he doesn't have the sort of ideological core. he's not philosophically bound to any one of the element's testify parties to come in and created new coalitions, to have broadened his base in a way that we hadn't seen before in washington. but instead what he's decided to do is to double and triple down on this base building, going to the rallies, talking to his people, attacking fake media, attacking the democrats. he's given folks who didn't vote for him no reason to come out and support for him, even the one this congress who may want to work with him.

>> sit tight. the house was off this week, but no vacation for any congressman or woman. they may have avoided the problem in washington, but they're facing a little frustration back home. y zyrtec® it's starts working hard at hour one and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. stick with zyrtec® and muddle no more®.

ykeep you sidelined.ng that's why you drink ensure. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you.

approaching medicare eligibility? you may think you can put off checking out your medicare options until you're sixty-five, but now is a good time to get the ball rolling. keep in mind, medicare only covers about eighty percent of part b medical costs. the rest is up to you. that's where aarp medicare supplement insurance plans insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company come in. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, they could help pay some of what medicare doesn't, saving you in out-of-pocket medical costs. you've learned that taking informed steps along the way really makes a difference later. that's what it means to go long™. call now and request this free decision guide. it's full of information on medicare and the range of

aarp medicare supplement plans to choose from based on your needs and budget. all plans like these let you choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients, and there are no network restrictions. unitedhealthcare insurance company has over thirty years experience and the commitment to roll along with you, keeping you on course. so call now and discover how an aarp medicare supplement plan could go long™ for you. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations. plus, nine out of ten plan members surveyed say they would recommend their plan to a friend. remember, medicare doesn't cover everything. the rest is up to you. call now, request your free decision guide and start gathering the information you need to help you keep rolling with confidence.

go long™. ♪ give it to that woman and raise my taxes and give it to that woman and take the billionaire's money and give it to that woman. don't be pandering to the -- there you go. >> the man in the jacket facing some frustration as you can see at the town howl back home. washington consumed with the james comey firing at the moment. but others are facing a more diverse mix of emotions. a lot of it is negative. i'm not sure what it was about. essentially saying, go ahead, take my money and give it to somebody else, and as a reminder, when they go home -- again, when they come back to washington, if they're getting

kicked bat home, whatever the question, it affects what they do when they get here. >> so much for north dakota nice. kevin cramer also considered a senate run in this -- back home. there's a reason why he got the health care bill done before the recess because members are going to hear outbursts like that back home and it may force members to come back and be resistant to supporting this bill. one thing to watch for, though, is that the congressional budget offer estimate of the house bill has not come out yet and it will come out soon and watch the reaction from voters back home when they see, you know, the initial estimate is 24 million people could lose coverage. will it be more than that? how will people react then? the pressure back home is not insignificant and that's one of the reasons you're seeing time

line shape up on capitol hill the way it has. >> you mentioned the health care bill. the key amendment was tom from new jersey. he has been to his credit doing a town hall this week although sometimes he might have second thoughts. >> this is what you did to us. in this district, you do not listen. and when 17% of the population said don't do it, you did it. this man is correct when he said you brought it back from death. >> my concern is what's going to happen to them when they're 17, 18, 20, 30, 40, 50 and they're denied health care baurs our state of new jersey is losing jobs at an alarming rate and medicaid has skyrocketed. >> members of congress don't wish on the bill they wish was in front of them. they're voting on the bill in front of them.

>> he has a swing state. that's to his credit. he's going to his district and he's taking it, but what happens when you home and you see the national polls at 21%. we'll see if those numbers change when the cvo score comes out. they go home, know the election is next year. history tells you a president's first year is usual a bad one. go back to 2010 when the democrats lost 63 seats when they passed obamacare. what does it do to their mindset when they face anger like that? >> that's what's of concern. this is bill that's going have to go through the senate and come back to the house. they'll be multiple votes going forward. the concern is it will change their mind and the party will not be able to reach some sort of consensus from health care. they're taking it around multiple angles. you have people who think it doesn't go far enough or others

worry changes are going to hurt their current health care and i think what we're seeing partly is anger that's been out in the country. it was reflected in that election, every election since and the idea they were going to elect donald trump and take care of that is really called into question because republicans are going to have to deliver or else that anger is going to continue. that's what we're seeing. >> part of it is through no fault of their own. they're just in charge now and people are mad. you listen to the democrats or you assume they are from the perspective they argue against the bill, if he says, i need to listen to them or they pass something they don't like, it's all about the base. >> it's a squeeze. they can't win. remember. it's not just democrats anymore. this is a president who was elected with 46% among

dependents. yo independents. you should be just as worried about that as losing your space. up next, sean spicer. spicy? spice where's back, too, with no shortage of material. >> i came out here to punch you. y2bg8y y10my it's my decision to make it's nbeauty last.ix. roc® retinol started visibly reducing my fine lines and wrinkles in one week. and the longer i use it, the better it works. retinol correxion® from roc methods, not miracles.™ [hissing] uh- i- [sound of wrench]

[intricate guitar riff] [engine starts] [guitar continues] we believe in food that's anaturally beautiful,, fresh and nutritious. so there are no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, no artificial preservatives in any of the food we sell. we believe in real food. whole foods market.

an update on the firing of james comey. a source telling pam brown that former fbi director james comey is not worry about any tapes. he said there would be nothing on those tapes for james comey to worry about. comey is disputing the origin of the dinner with the president back in january. the president said james comey

said he ask for the dinner and asked if he could keep his job. the source says that's not the way it went. it was the president who asked for the dinner. the back-and-forth as you're on the air, the story is moving as we speak because of this ping-pong of credibility here. >> if he were worried about leaks in the white house from the fbi, this is not helping your case. you think we're not going to hear lots and lots of other things that sound a lot like this and what's out there and what's not? >> i'm saying earlier there's a lot of interest from members of congress about what james comey's account. that's why he's being called next week. wait till he's in that open session and dispute as what the president is saying. it's going to perpetuate what the president started. >> president talking about this so openly, there's some people who believe he's waved executive privilege in terms of comey's ability to talk about this very

openly. >> that's interesting. i want to talk more about pam's reporting. the source says he's not likely to testify next week. as of h morning comey has not responded. comey was aware, it was always possible he could lose his job especially when he refused to pledge loyalty to the president. the source said heed a least expected a phone call. he was fired in whatever you think, a pretty classless way. he was in a loom on television and saw it on television. >> they had their director there ready to direct them and they lived it. it was a very unceremonious way of firing him. >> it makes the fbi agents working on this that much more determined to carry it out and carry it out fully. >> i fully agree with you. >> i assure you that the agent in going after it is going to intimidate you. >> they're going to show him they can't be intimidated.

>> i agree. folks say they're going to push forward on this investigation. even richard burr was pretty upset about the way the firing took place. he was also upset, the senate intelligence community calling this a taxpayer-funded charade. he believes this is a serious investigation. so the things the president are saying may come back to counter. >> sean spicer should be coming back today. he was at the pentagon so he wasn't pushed out. he was doing his military commitment which we applaud him for. is this a constant white house peyton place tabloid or lookinger the press secretary? that it's always a question and there was a lot of chatter and i think sean spicer wanted to put to rest some of that chatter. >> for those of you who enjoyed the comedy of this. if you like "saturday night

live" we can show you a little video. melissa will be back at the podium. she's hosting "saturday night live" and she gave the podium a tryout driving through streets of new york. i was hoping you could see that. the real sean spicer will be briefing just at the top of the hour. thanks for joining us. i'll see you sunday morning. moments away from the briefing wolf blitzer takes over. after the break. one softgel delivers mega support.

won't replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, you won't have to worry about replacing your car because you'll get the full value back including depreciation. switch and you could save $509 on auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. this is the schmidt's yard. and, oh schmidt, that's a lot of dirt. but there's plenty of time for scotts outdoor cleaner plus oxiclean to work it's magic. all while being safe to use around plants and grass. guaranteed. this is a scotts yard. i hafor my belly painking overand constipation.ucts i've had it up to here! it's been month after month of fiber. weeks taking probiotics!

days and nights of laxatives, only to have my symptoms return. (vo) if you've had enough, tell your doctor what you've tried and how long you've been at it. linzess works differently from laxatives. linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation or chronic constipation. it can help relieve your belly pain, and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements that are easier to pass. do not give linzess to children less than six, and it should not be given to children six to less than 18. it may harm them. don't take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain, especially with bloody or black stools. the most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. if it's severe, stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. other side effects include gas, stomach-area pain, and swelling. talk to your doctor about managing your symptoms proactively with linzess.

some build walls to keep people out. but these are walls that welcome you in. within these walls, california's educators create safe places for every student to learn and grow. where teachers open minds to history... unleash creativity... and show our kids the future. some build walls to divide us. but the california teachers association knows these are walls that bring us together. because quality public schools build a better california for all of us.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com because quality public schools hello, i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. in washington. wherever you're watching around the world, thanks have very much for joining us. take a look. the white house briefing room. any moment speaker sean spicer will be here. he had been on duty at the navy. the tutti cut short by one day. there are be a lot to unpack during this briefing especially the contradictions that have

come from the lectern many the three days since president trump fired the fbi director james comey. then that's this threatening tweet from the president earlier this morning aimed at comey, quote, james comey had better hope there are no, quote, tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press. let's go to pamela brown and jeff zeleny who's already in the briefing room. pamela, first to you. you have new information on former director comey's response to the president and this tweet from this morning. what are you learn something. >> that's right. in wake of this tweet i talked the a source familiar with the matter who says former fbi director james comey not worried about any tape and the source added if there is a tape out there about a conversation he had with the president, there's nothing he's worried about or ashamed about ha the president confirmed in the tweet.

and he said as to the comey and trump dinner that it happened on january 27th and it actually came at the request of the president and that this was a one on one-dinner. now, this conflicts with what we heard from president trump yesterday. he said comey requested the dinner and wanted to keep his job. comey said that's absolutely untrue. here's what james clapper had to say about the meeting, the former head of the dni. he spoke to comey on the day of that dinner. here's what he said. >> it was the 27th of january and the fbi hosted a wonderful farewell ceremony for me which i'll never forget. we spoke briefly before the ceremony and he mentioned he had been i