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 invited to the white house

to have dinner with president an he was uneasy because of that because compromising even the optics, appearance of independence, not only of him but of the fbi. >> and our sources tell us that during that dinner president trump asked him for a loyalty oath and we're told through our sources that he would not afwrie to that and he would agree to an hones honesty. he felt he could be fired considering he didn't consider the loyalty oath and the wiretapping claim and the fall jauted on ought that. he didn't expect it to happen when it happened, wolf. former director comey thought at least the president would call him or there would be some sort of phone call giving him a heads-up. this would be coming, not that he would find out on tv, on the news that he would be fired.

also the source i spoke with said it's unlikely former director comey will testify next week in prompt of the senate intelligence committee. as you know it has been requested. he'll not respond. wolf? >> it's fascinating and very significant. pamela, stand by. jeff, on this network and other networks they've already used the word "nixonian" to describe firing. are we led to believe the president is taping white house conversations? >> wolf, that's an interesting question. the president did suggest this morning that the conversations may have been recorded as you heard pamela reporting right there. she said that, you know, former director has nothing to worry about. he says he has nothing to worry about. we do not know if they were actually recorded. it would not be the first time

the president has tweeted something not on point or alk rat. we will be asking shaun spiezer about it. that will raise the question, if it was, was it during the dinner? the phone calls? we don't know. the historical parallels certainly go back o that knicks onnian moment. >> it does. the president also in those tweets and he had a bunch of them this morns. one tweet saying this and we'll but put it up on the screen, as a very tesch president with lots of things happening, its is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy. he's one tweet. here's another one. maybe the best thing to do would be to cancer all future press briefings and hand out written responses per sake of accuracy.

how is the white house going to explain the contradictionings and could they do away with press briefings? >> wolf, that's a good question. it's unlikely they would do away with press briefings because it's a way to get the questions out but it also raises a point we've known for a very long time. the presidenting donald trump himself, often likes to be the messenger himself. he sometimes places mistakes. he driving this hour by hour, moment by moment, and the staff in white house is often following him, trying to develop a rationale as to what happened here. reality is, wolf, that the communications directors and others here in white house were not aware of this much in vansz

of what happened. he tried to give a differnt rationnail. it's difficult. we heard the president talking about the mirror real at the fbi. i can tell you there are people in this building who work for the president. their morale is as well. they believe they've been thrown under the bus. sean spicer is back at the podium to answer questions. there's been little talk on the president, the afghanistan decision. this is a president who's very much agitated, irritated i'm told. they're trying to turn a corner. so many questions. >> the president tweets it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy. that is pretty stunning. a pretty stunning tweet as well. stand by, jeff, pamela. i want to bring in the panel. fwlor ya borger, david chal lan,

laura coats, a former federal prosecutor and john kirby, our c cnn military and senior analyst and the pentagon. laura, it sounds like a threat the president tweeted directly to the former fbi director and people are already raising concerns about obstruction of justice, witness tampering. >> it is. it presumes a couple of things before i can get quite to the criminal description or definition of a threat. he said he's better not do this. statemented would be districtly contra directly to what trump said. legally it hasn't yet risen to the level of an actual climb, but in terms of obstruction, listen. we know that congress wants to

hear from james comey even as a private citizen. therefore your statement to threaten somebody to with hold information from an actual hearing could be intimidation if not a threat. >> he has not to hide. if they were taped, he's fine, because he believes he did what he was supposed to do. >> think ho dump. fine, let her talk. it double matter to us. powe har opposite of what's happening with comey, which means they're trying to be proactive and understood mine that testimony many the way they were with sally yates. the bar is still quite high. >> david, another tweet from the president this morning. when james claerp himself.

when it says there ee no collusion, when does it end he said this. >> it's not surprising or out of -- or abnormal that i wouldn't have known, more importantly the content of the investigation. so i don't know if there was collusion or not. >> he's not in the loop. he's basically saying don't draw any conclusions from what i'm saying. >> right. the president and his team are lee lying on a -- i academy not sure exactly when clapper made that kmechblt i haven't seen anything in my daily work that shows any ed of collusion to this opponent. he stops seeinging in. second of all, he didn't know

what the fbi was seeing which is where the actual investigation is going on. the fact that he's relied on this talking point that's been debunked again time and again bihm clapper himself, the president 150e78s think clapper vindicates him. >> i'm looking at these tweets, fwlor ya. by 9:20 he's tweeted seven times and each one of these races all sornlds assign questions. >> it's defensive. anti-media, russian investigation, fake media working overtime. i mean you understand what's going through trump needs. he feels backed up against the

firing of james comey, perhaps, and he's getting opposite r opinion. he's using bullying tack techs he he's thesed. now he runs the goj united states. it doesn't work that way. he is 'tacking every pillar of government that we have that we hold dear actually. i think that's a real problem when you're chief executive of united states, attacking his own government. >> you're a retired admiral for the u.s. navy. did you spent a lod time.

they're at the pole eff poed twrum. they don't have pefr amaracy. >> and none of the bosses ier work for put me in that indication. the problem is they can't get inside his head. they don't have access to the proper context, not that the context itself is all that value. to phit's a complete mess from communications sper effective the whole kwa this the stuchl. s they didn't have a game plan. they thought, you know what? this would be sort of not such a big story. >> in the 11 years that ied a a

moej man. i can count on hands when reporter asked me, what do you thinken x, y, z. before he maelds tade simd. i was in that room. i don't get the sense that they're room. >> his lawyers have talked about it. it helped him in a criminal investigation to have somebody who gaev a benign cover why wee you'd would a em needs james cover what he didn't say, i'm not going with that route. i'll going with the route that focuses more on mush. focuses more on my letter and

would have been i wanted to say stop spiking it eaches stop speaking and it goes to that. >> we don't know whether the press people can go to the president and believe what he's telling you. >> even if they get the access, it's really not clear they're getting an honest take from him. >> anxious's got his hands full. he's got a lot to answer for. >> he's going to be showing up momentarily, white house press secretary sean spicer. we'll go to that as soon as it begins. he'll begin with some anounts. we'll listen carefully the white

house reaction this morning. pretty admitting they gave him some wrong and conflicted testimony. now he's threatening to punish the press. the president wrote this among other things ads a very active president with lots of things happening it is not possible fi. maybe would be to cancel all few turn press briefings an hand out written response for sage oofr and p. the problem is knoll onlidy prom make statements stories unraveled over three daes. help us understand how we got to this point as we await the press briefing?

>> if you look, they have contradicted each other, contradicted themselves, the president, and he's con there dikted them. that's the problem. look at this. who made the decision to fire james comey. it's my decision. listen to him in thiz sound byte. >> was going to five. regardless efmen tiof the recommendation. >> that was the plpt he said, no no. he accepted the wreck men taegs, it's completely different. we have pretty munch thng here's something else we've had. all sorts of people tied to the white house. the president. the department of justice and

rage and fines of the fbi. lost deps if comey. last femme e the president lost kefd defense in director comey. bipartisan members of congress made it clear that they had lost confidence and director coremy. post importantly the rank and file had lost confidence. >> the fp i lost the confidence. >> up until inauguration was saying positive names j stwraj. sure there were some people in congress who don't like him. there were people in democrats who don't like him. in the end there's all this. you have actor mccabe saying, look, he enjoyed prod shut pore

port within the fbi. it goes on and on. all the things they should be doing which is making sure president's message is clear and clean as con cities bent. time and again that is problem we're reporting what people are saying. they're saying different things day to day, hour to hour, tron tra didn't part-time. >> he's very clearly in an awkward situation right now. >> he is. it's at stake here. if there is no credibility from that podium, wolf, how are the

people in this country to believe the administration when they're talking about, god forb forbid, a terrorist attack or anything else of a substantial neighbor. so when the president tweets it's hard to be accurate, that's unacceptable. it's not an excuse. ebb is busy but not too busy to present it. >> there's crisis of credibility of communications. that's one problem. but it's compounding a lot of the problem. this is what we elevened this week. this week. he did is after comey had inquired about additional resources for this investigation

and it had ramped up. he told npn news. they changed after the sprelhe told he was unhappy and we learn in a same conversation with jim comey, there was a conversation about jim comey's future as who plfrp. h adeggs a request for a loyalty pled pledge. and it was three weeks after he briefed him about this dossier that's out there. we learned all of that this week. that is the underlying problem here and the credit issue cop pounds it. for there to be a crisis the

event thon to be going frmtd i don't the it's a cited ever. there was sometimes e had to bark smimg back. nobody expected 100% perfect accuracy, but everybody has a right to respect honesty and integrity and provide as pofr as skofr text as it happens. now congress, it's their job to get answers to a lot of these questio and what everyone was thinking then and what was happening with comey and did the president really try and extract a loyalty from his supposedly independent

fbi director. mine, you know, the balance of power matters. that's the brilliance of this country. and if you are expecting your independent fb i director po pay it to you personally that's wrong. >> as we await sean spicer let's look at the timeline. january 20th donald trump accepted. four as the aemger. two days later he had antown irview and he's heise. and we learn some dierming first week, he had dinner one o and one and asked for loyalty. he said he would be honest to the president, not loyal to constitution. what do you may of that story?

>> that gives the context i need as the prosecutor to say why do you want the february to possibly be on your side. if you believe somebody who was going to be your right hand man. what did you need assurances few. you think about the other element main the room, where's e attorney general jeff moelgss. the one person you do not want to parse words is the ted-o the justice department. we've s&ped people for fast lair.

what was the motivation of jeff sessions? he so far has not been able to provide that context. of course, i know he's said. he did enter this new thing saying i couldn't question the a 1r5i8 b89 of my chief investigator. was that the same condition very sags? was it a winch and a lot. . he did mem prerjd. off one on the firing of comey what says directly involved the rulg thin. the aides are walking right now into the press briefing room. so is sean spicer. let's listen. >> wow. we even fwob at whole f all house today.

good afternoon, it's good to be back with you. apparently i'm a little missed. we we're one week out from the president's first foreign trip. i wanted to make sure as we prepare, they're bringing up our national security adviser general mcmaster to give you a preview of what the president has been doing for his trip. our goal is to start that process now and next week bring the general area. we additionally have background briefings as well to give them logistical updates. without further ado, general mcmaster. >> are you taking questions? >> i will. you'll be first. >> good afternoon. happy mother's day. it was one week since the

president took a trip awrod. today i'd like to explain the president's visits to the middle east and also a bit of the schedule. the trip has three sources, first to affirm global lirp. second, to cobuilding key relationships with world leaders a and third, to broadcast a message of unity to merge's friends and to the falt oftd of banlt at this the rapelation shs every day. he's been successful. you've seen that from prime minister may to president trump xi. president trump understands america first does not mean america alone.

it means strengthening partnerships and relationships. this trip is truly historic. no president has visited the holy land and muslim siting all on one trip 689 what he's seeking is to unite everyone around a kmob vision of peace, progress, and prosperity. he'll bring in a message of hope to millions of americans. the president will focus on what unites us. his trip will begin in saudi arabia. he'll encourage our arab and muslim partners to take bold new

steps and promote peace and confront those from al qaeda to arran and to theory shad regime. he will lead the first steps toward a stronger more capable and more robust security partnership with our 2k3wu68, arab and muslim partners, and he will develop a strong respectful message that the united states and entire civilized word to take a strong stance. against ideology that uses a prevertded jury it is indication. he'll call for muck limb leaders to promode a peaceful image of

it. he will reaffirm america's unshakeable bond to the jewish state. with president abbas he will express his desire for dignity and self-darms for. for people along across the entire trep, he will demonstrate h his hope for just and lasting peace. in rome he'll be honored to accept an audience with it. hoe'll look at ways to discuss religious freedom and deal with mao han traffics and missions across the hold. he'll pay attention to our allies. you see jeff holding the g 7

conference in sicily. there he will reaffirm america's commitment to the alliance while stressing the need for members shoulder responsbility, to - share burdens and to continue on packet to stlengten the aplansz. hoe will promote economic babier ship. he will remind our friends and partners we're eager to form further ways from north korea to afghanistan to the broader 3450idlet east. before leaving he'll report to the area and thank the krefrmgs sand i wind

he'll meet those who representative us across the world so well. >> the impetus for this trip has came from the president himself and he's been fully planning. the president is receiving regular briefings from the cabinet and from the economic side as will. he's already met in person, certainly by phone. they're off to a very stron start. the administration continued to be in chicago contact around consultation with congress and w're calling on thortice in the house as well. and really this is a team effort.

the staff and national economic council continue to work closely with state, treasure ray, and others to fulfill the president's and others to fulfill smooth execution. on behalf of the brt i expose a thanks to all hard it takes to organize a trip of this sort. so the president and all of us are looking forward to the journey and with that a'll take a couple of questions. t . >> how are they viewed compared to his predecessor? >>'ll just say the president's leadership has been welcomed, welcomed enthusiastically. there was a perception that america had large lu disengaged from the mid east in particular and that disengagement coincided with this humanitarian and political catastrophe in the region and now there's a broad recognition among all of our partners in the region that

american leadership is necessary to help address this catastrophe and to begin to move the region toward the peace, security and stability that the people there so deserve and so what you're see, i think, is a galvanizing effect of the leadership and bringing them together across the region, bringing them together for a positive agenda. who's against ending this catastrophe, who's against con fronts these terrorists. confronting iran who's participating in this cycle of violence and bring prosperity and peace in region to people who so richly deserve it. >> it's crucial in the intelligence community. i have to ask you, there have been a lot of reports that intelligence officials are concerned how james comey wain fired. ? >> i told shean i would pass all

the questions to him. i'd like to focus on the trip and come back with more details of the trip as well. >> you said the president was -- the impetus per the trip came from the president himself. was it the president himself who decided to begin this trip in saudi arabia, that the birth place of is lom and is there symbolic significant to that. how many muslim majority countries will be represented at the meeting in saudi arabia? >> this is the president's initiative to begin the trip in the middle east hosted by king and the king of saudi arabia and the king is going to brick toinl. so the answer to your question and i can hayden it. he'll meet with a barrage range

of leaders in the middle east. most of whom he's met here. we have another coming on monday as well. >> steve. >> general mcmaster, at the beginning of the week we were hearing speculation that the president was expecting thousands more troops being sent to afghanistan. when he goes to brussels next week, what is the message to the nato partners and their expectations? >> the key is we all have to be. the mass murder against our own country on september 11th, 2001, ended with a base in afghanistan. we've had highly successful operations there that you'll hear more about in the press

conference from the department of defense if the near future but what has happened in afghanistan is the afghan army is taking the threat of the fight. we're working with our allies toite out what more we can do. we'ring look at the options and meeting the objectives in afghanistan and what more we can ask o our allies. this is going to be consistent with what the president has gotten to us. he's not made a decision yet on the course of action. what we have done is whal we have done in many cases is we've consulted broadly across our government and with allies. this is a president who listens to his partners, who has an opportunity to do so at theny toe summit and the g7. what we'll have in the end of

the next few weeks is the opportunity for a much more effective strategy for those set in afghanistan and others broadly. >> general, if you could talk first about the evolution from the way the president campaigned which was a more unilateral policy to this multilateral engagement you're emphasizing and secondly if you could talk about the decision to send a delegation to the one belt, one road forum to china and what you get out of it. snal what we've done is advanced the president's agenda and a national security by strengthening alliances. americans don't have to do anything. they don't have to bank roll everything and our allies and partners are grateful for the president's leadership in asking them to do more. it's an alliance in which each of the members are doing their

fair share. we heard stronger. america first didn't mean america not leading. for america to secure and advance its interesting requires them to advance their leadership so the president's leadership has been welcomed in all the places that he'll be visiting on this trip and his agenda, i think that he laid out in the campaign is being operationalized and implemented by the team here at the white house. >> two questions. is that, in fact, case and also to nbc news yesterday the president said general mattis announcing something on isis be- next week and so can they caulk to that? is there an announcement coming

next week? >> the first part is whatever president wants to do. >> are they going to try to reach out to them to come together? >> plans are not set but he'll engage with both. in terms of isis in particular, president has asked us to do everything we can to tee feet isis and in particular to ensure that we do feet isis many this so-called caliphate and terrain that they're attempting to hold onto. and what the president has told us is he doesn't want us to tell him day to day. he wants our military and commanders be able to execute it consistent with his guidance and

policy and strategy that he's approved. next week will be an opportunity to lay out how they are executing texecute ing president's guide answer and that's what remains to be done. that will happen next week. >> thank you, general. >> can we hear about russia and the agreement made? you're going to the region to speak with arab allies. how are you going to explain it in the place the president now said is a priority? >> i would characterize the engagement with the leadership form, the secretary of state, the phone conversations that we've had with russian leadership as engagements, not decisions or specific

approaches. what the president made clear is he'll disrupt it for them and the very destructive policy and strategy that it's executing across the middle east. what it's done and continues to do in the ukraine. he'll confront that disruptive behavior but the president is looking for areas of cooperation. there are a lot of significant security problem sets across the world. all of them get easier if they could cooperate to resolve those conflicts rather than perpetuate them. >> aren't they party to causing them? the president said at the end of the meeting with lavrov it was very good. he spoke in positive terms. are you saying there wither no agreements? >> the president spoke in positive affirmative strong terms with russian leaders.

>> thank you very much. >> i'll take one more. >> can you tell us more about the america first policy and how it's changed over time? it's not clear what it means or if people would want to sign up for it? >> what it means is the president is prioritizing the concerns of the american people. you can see in the economic relationship with china, to look for ways to advance american prosperity. every theme of this trip is wholly consistent with the president's approach to prioritize the american people, american security, american jobs, american prosperity. you'll see that with an almost refreshi ining integration of security partnerships along with economic relationships and the

diplomatic engage manhattan that he's been engaged with since he has taken over as president and the trip is going to be a tremendous way to solidify the gains and advance them further. thanks very much. >> all right. thank you, general mcmaster. i'm going to go through a couple of updates before i get to your questions and jeff will get the first one. first up secretary ross was up here last night to talk about the developments and general mcmaster has talked about the advances. the ten commitments that secretary ross announced yesterday are the result of the china economic dialogue which began with president trump and president xi's meeting in mar-a-lago. under the meetings of ross, mnuchin, and the chinese

counterparts they've reached consensus in the areas of ail cultural trade, investments. one of them in particular sets the stage for china to allow imports of american beef beginning no later than july 20616. it's been 13 years since they've been effect lively locked out. china is the second larger buyer of beef, buying roughly pena nieto $6 of beef a year. the largest association of cattle farmers said, and i quote, it'sism possible to overstate how beneficial thit will be for the cattle producer s. this announcement came on the same day that secretary perdue

announced he would look at the foreign affairs at the u.s. department of agriculture. this is further proof of the seriousness of the products abroad. here are some of the other highlights that we have wormed with china. eight biotech pads will be violated. we invite china to receive imported liquefied gas to receive contracts. china will own financial services to provide credit rating services and credit investigations. by july 16th china will issue sfgss to operate many china and china will allow two american financial institutionings to underright settlement licenses no later than july 16th.

as we continue to make progress within the 100-day framework including a plan that will solidified both of our countries. aza can most effectively combat the crisis of legal drug trafficking destroying or cities and fatly. the prosecutors handle these cases even and every day around the country. they now have the leverage they need to get at the root of drug trafficking and the violent crime that surrounds it. as the attorney general said this morning, this will take the handcuffs off our prosecutors and frankly puts the hand custs on the drug traffic irs. the drug traffickers who violate our drug laws that move the suh substance into our communities, that the didn't of justice will

no longer look the other way. that week they evenen been engaging with theirs. i know sarah talked about how aetna has pulled out of oklahoma carry completely. another report out yesterday from ehealth showing a spike of 39ch since 2014. in some cases insurance premiums and out of pocket expenses have become the most significant expense. until we enact serious reforms of the health care sj. tomorrow the president will deliver his first commencement address at liberty university.

he's looking forward to meeting them. he can note his own change in status since they were lat atom. they've made many remarkable strikes. beside taking not of these achinaments the encouraging them to be a force for good by standing up for their values this lynn better has taught them. he'll be offering congratulations and praise. in terms of the rundown for next week, the president has a very packed schedule before we tee part on his first foreign prince. on month hi's hosted the crown arab prince of emirates. on tuesday, turkey, and wednesday the united states.

on friday, a white house visit and on friday. people in honor of mother's day this afternoon the first lady will host a mother teaspoon day in honor of mothers in the residence followed by the army of the marine corps band. this is the official reminder to everyone to get your flowers and cards before it's too late and with that jeff mason. >> thank you for that reminder, sean. >> you're welcome. moving on to the news of the week, did he record his conversation with director comey? >> i see you're referring to the tweet. the president has knoll further to app. why shouldn't we address that?

>> as i said for the third time there's nothing further to add on that. >> does he think it's promote to threaten somebody like mr. comey? >> i don't think that's not a threat. he semly stated a fact. the tweet speaks for itself. i'm moving on. john. >> if i could, another one of the president's tweets this morning, kwoerkts marco rubio must be laughing in their sleeves for the democrats losing the about that? >> ting ti think the president' comments about russia and collusion have been very clear. he's been very clear, it's one thing that he believes that the investigation -- that the notion that there's collusion is a hoax. it's been reaffirmed by several people, including senator grassley and others who have spoken to him. and that he wants to make sure that he's focused every day on doing what's best for the american people >> i understand all that. you've said many times. but how is the u.s. tearing itself apart? >> i think, obviously, this has been a subject that comes up over and over again when it's

been very clearly stated on multiple occasions that there's no collusion that occurred and yet this narrative continues to be perpetuated. >> do you think this is what the russians wanted all along in interfering with the election? >> i don't -- i have no idea. but what i'm just telling you is i think we have made it clear at this podium several times and i think the president made it clear that -- what his feelings are on this. >> sean? >> in the dinner that the president had with james comey earlier in january, did the president implore him to pledge his loyalty to the president? is that true? >> no. >> did that happen? that did not happen? >> no. >> how important is it that the fbi director be loyal to the president? is that a quality the president wants to see in anyone, particularly his fbi director? >> i think the president wants loyalty to this country and to the rule of law. trey? >> thanks, sean. in the dinner with james comey, does anyone in this white house have an audio recording of what unfolded during the january 27th dinner between the former fbi

director and the president of the united states? >> i'm not aware of that. >> i have one follow-up question for you. >> okay. >> what can the administration do better when it comes to communication? today the president tweeted out that he felt from behind that podium, it's not always possible to present the information with perfect accuracy. >> mm-hmm. so look, i think we can out here every day and try to do the best job communicating with the president's done and the accomplishment he's making for the american people. we get here early. we work beyond being here at the podium. we get here early and be here pretty late. but the president is very active as president. he keeps a very robust schedule, as many of you are very well aware and as you can tell by the activities of next week alone. and i think sometimes we don't have an opportunity to get in to see him, to get his full thinking. in those cases, we do our best to follow up with you. but i think that there are times when you more than not read a story where someone's trying to

pin -- trying to pull apart one word, one sentence and say, athat aaha and make ait a gotcha thing. in those cases, i think we do a pretty good job of following up and getting you the information after the briefing or in a subsequent -- so that's exactly what he meant. >> is the president considering canceling the daily press briefings? >> i think he's a little days mayed, as well as a lot of people, that we come out here and try to do everything we can to provide you and the american people with what he's doing on their behalf, what he's doing to keep the nation safe, what he's doing to grow jobs, and yet, we see time and time again, an attempt to parse every little word and make it more of a game of gotcha as opposed to really figure out what the policies are or why something's being perceived or what the update is on this. and i think that's where there's a lot of dismay. and i don't think it's something just alone the president feels. >> can i ask you one final --

>> sure, it's friday. >> on the original question i had about the dinner on january 27th with james comey, the president wasn't clear during the nbc interview who invited the fbi director to the white house at that time. how many invitations did the white house send to director james comey after january 20th and before the director was fired? >> i don't know. i'll try to get back to you. katy? >> sean, i have a question about the turkish president's visit next week. he recently called president erdogan called the muslims to rush the temple now, considering the president has said he's a mediator of peace between the palestinians and israelis, what is his response to that? and i have another question. >> so i think what you've seen with the president's meeting with these leaders is he engages privately in a lot of these things. and i think to a degree, a large degree, he's been able to achieve great success. whether aya hagazi, in that

case, working behind the scene, whether it's the progress he's made with china, the president's behind the scenes diplomacy is paying dividends to the united states. that's how he'll continue to operate. and it's that kind of diplomacy that's reasserting our position in the world and that trust in those relationships continue to be built. >> are those comments [ inaudible ]? >> well, again, again, i think there's a difference, katy. if we can get out here and -- i think what the president believes is that behind-the-scenes diplomacy pays dividends in terms of effecting behavior and outcomes and furthering the goals of the united states. that's as much as i want to say there. >> my other question is, is the discussion about the refugee crisis, which is fueling problems in europe. the president has talked about refugees being a problem in the united states and terrorists hiding refugees or refugees hiding in the terrorist -- terrorists hiding refugees, excuse me. is he going to talk about that with arab leaders specifically when he visits saudi arabia? or is that not something he's going to bring up to those --

>> he's talked about safe zones. he talked about it yesterday with the foreign minister, or earlier this week, rather. he's brought it up on the calls. >> but saudi arabia, specifically? >> i'm not going to get ahead of his conversations he's going to have. but i think the president has been very publicly clear about his desire to address that situation and some of the solutions that exist. but he's -- in a lot of the readouts we've had, that is part of it. because he believes that that has to be part of the solution. john? >> thanks a lot, sean. in that interview that the president conducted yesterday with nbc, he indicated and confirmed that on three separate occasions, he asked the director of the fbi and received assurances from the fbi that he was not under investigation by the fbi. why was the president seemingly so consumed by this, that he would ask that question on three separate occasions? >> i think because the narrative continues to be perpetuated and he wanted clarity to make sure. but again, i haven't spoken to him on it about the reason. but i think he answered it

yesterday very clearly. and so, i can get back to you, but that's the answer. >> i would appreciate you getting back to me. and as far as asking that question, did the president ask the white house council whether it would be appropriate to ask such a question, given that it was against, generally, justice department guidelines to indicate whether or not justice department investigations are ongoing, against any individual? >> i don't know. i will tell you several legal scholars including alan dershowitz and other that there was nothing inappropriate about that. dave? >> did the white house counsel -- >> i don't know the answer. dave. >> on the trip, [ inaudible ] raising the issue of persecution, and i wanted to ask you about a case in the last week in indonesia where a christian governor in the state of jakarta was imprisoned for two years for blaspheming the

koran. does the president find that case troubling? does he plan to -- >> john, does he give you this question? >> i'm sorry. >> i don't have any updates on that particular case. i would ask you to check with the state department. >> sean? >> thanks, sean. i want to clarify on jeff's question, in a yes or no fashion. is the president of the united states currently recording conversations taking place in the oval office? >> i think the point they made with respect to the tweet is the president has no further comment on this? >> cam. >> a follow up? >> you were involved in this on tuesday night as well, at the time that it was all him regarding deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. why did you come out with information that was later contradicted by the president days later? can you explain the ticktock. when were you brought in? who else were involved? why were the american people given incorrect information that night? >> i don't necessarily believe that's true, zeke. there was a decision-making progress, the president explained it in the interview process. the bottom line is that the

director of the fbi serves at the pleasure of the president. the president made a decision to replace him as he has stated very clearly now, publicly. the president is now focused on making sure that he finds a replacement that has the leadership qualities to lead the fbi. that's it, plain and simple. cam? >> sean, one follow up on that real briefly. what you said tuesday doesn't match what the president was laying out yesterday. [ inaudible ] can you walk through why the discrepancy in terms of whose decision this was? >> well, it's always the president's decision. that's it, final. [ inaudible ] blake? look, as i mentioned to zeke, this is ultimately the president -- always going to be the president's decision. everyone who serves at the pleasure of the president, it's ultimately going to be his decision to hire someone, to fire someone. he made a decision, in part based on the recommendation, and he's now focused on making sure that we have a replacement at the fbi to instill the proper leadership they need. blake? >> [ inaudible ] the way forward

as it relates to this president [ inaudible ] the fbi director. where does that process stand right now? how many people have been interviewed? does the president hope to wrap this up before he goes overseas? >> on the timing, i think as soon as he finds a candidate that fits the qualities that he feels are necessary to lead the fbi, that's the timeline of that. i know that the department of justice has begun to create that list and i believe they're going to -- if they haven't already, are going to be starting the process of interviewing people, either today or through the weekend. but, i mean, the president obviously wants to make sure that we've got the right person. and they -- that process is being headed by the department of justice. >> about how someone not necessarily being political in that role, if somebody has been a member of congress, past or present, does that count as an automatic disqualifier as somebody who is -- >> i have not -- i have not asked the president, but i don't believe that he has stated a sort of in and out.

the department of justice is screening candidates. and i'm sure as they feel they have a list of finalists, they'll share that with the president and he'll make a decision. >> lastly, does the president still have confidence -- the other day, someone asked, does the president have confidence in andrew mccabe after the testimony on capitol hill the other day. is that still the case? he is the acting director at this moment? >> i have not asked him about the deputy -- i have not asked him about his -- generally, i don't go through the list of government employees and ask him, so i have not asked him specifically about that. eamon? >> yesterday, sarah told us that the president expects that the fbi investigation will be wrapped up with integrity. that's what the white house wants. today the president tweeted and called it a "witch hunt." how does tweeting and calling it a "witch hunt" help wrap that investigation up with integrity? >> the president -- you know, no one wants this done -- he wants to know very clearly -- there's two pieces of this, right? which is, what was russia's involvement? and the president is obviously very concerned