hello i'm wolf blitzer. 1:00 p.m. in washington. we're an hour or so from hearing from president trump. about to take questions from the news media for the first time in three weeks. it will also be the first questions he'll answer since the former fbi director james comey whom he fired testified before the senate intelligence committee. that was yesterday. president trump appears next hour with romania's president. they will take questions from reporters. two questions from american reporters. two questions from romania reporters. among the top questions the president could face is whether he taped his conversations with

james comey at the white house and whether he has confidence in his attorney general jeff sessions moving forward. there may also be some questions about the president's senior adviser and son-in-law jared kushner who now is expected to talk with senate investigators as part of the russia investigation. team trump attacking this admission by james comey during his public testimony yesterday. >> the president tweeted on friday after i got fired that i better hope there's not tapes. i woke up in the middle of the night on monday night because it didn't dawn on me originally that there might be corroboration for our conversation. there might be a tape. my judgment was i needed to get that out into the public square. so i asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter. didn't do it myself for a variety of reasons but i asked him do because i thought that might prompt a special counsel. so i asked a close friend. >> was that mr. wit tes?

>> no. >> who was that? a good friend of mine who is a professor at columbia law school. >> let's bring in jim acosta. he's standing by at the white house. justice producer shimon. and our congressional spent phil mattingly. jim, the president tweeted about that passage early ther morning but that's just a small part of the white house reaction to all of this, right? >> that's right, wolf. the president went back to tweeting earlier this morning after being dark on twitter for a good 24 hours. he tweeted that comey is a leaker. that is a statement he said in that tweet early thier this mor. total and complete vindication the president tweeted and wow, comey is a leaker. that tweet from the president basically echos what his legal team was saying yesterday in response to the testimony from the former fbi director. marc kasowitz is now casting the former fbi director as a leaker after he admitted in that testimony to the senate

intelligence committee that he did orchestrate the release of his memos to the columbia law professor. it was shortly after that he accused the former fbi direct of leaking. it's not classified information. he's not an employee of the federal government anymore and he was not being blocked by executive privilege, so there will be legal experts who will say this is not a leaking of classified information. but marc kasowitz making it clear this morning that he is going to file a legal complaint against the former fbi director. he's going to file that complaint with the office of inspector general over at the department of justice. also with the senate judiciary committee again trying to make the case that comey improper le released that information about the president. of course we're going to hear from the president about an hour and a half from now in the rose garden. he's going to be appearing at that joint press conference with the leader from romania. there are many questions that are going to be asked, whether or not the president has a recording system here at the white house. the deputy press secretary sarah

huckabee sanders could want answer that question yesterday. and does the president have faith in his attorney general. and if he's to last in that role, how much long ser that going to happen? i suspect the president may be asked something about that as well. just the overall thrust of james comey's comments yesterday, wolf, in that hearing. it is incredible to hear a former fbi director repeatedly accuse the president of the united states of being a liar. of lying about this and lying about that. you would think that will get the president's dan der up and that would have prompted him to tweet something in response yesterday. the president did not take that bait, so the question becomes does he do that later on at this press conference. he was pretty restrained over this whole period of the comey testimony. not a lot of tweets. just that tweet earlier this morning. and this white house was pretty restrained as well keeping the president sort of away from the

tv t tvs. he had meetings and so forth. >> it was interesting he let his private outside attorney speak for him yesterday. and remember that comey's testimony was under oath. if he was lying repeatedly calling the president of the united states a liar, that's perjury. he could go to jail for that. we're going to hear from the attorney general of the united states, jeff sessions. he's going to face questions on capitol hill. the topic is the budget. he'll surely be asked about what we heard from james comey yesterday during those hearings. there are other questions about sessions as well involved in the russia investigation. what's the latest you're hearing? >> that's right, wolf. we fully expect him to be questioned about some of his contacts with russians. sessions has certainly been in the news quite a bit concerning whether or not he had additional contacts with any russians, specifically the russian

ambassador sergey kislyak. it's been a topic that has been ongoing. we know that the fbi and based on what the direct -- former director did yesterday at his testimony, he would not discuss certain information that the fbi knows about. it's intelligence that they gathered during the course of this investigation that hasn't necessarily been corroborated, but there is some intelligence that suggests that the russians were talking about sessions and perhaps there was a suggestion by the russians that kislyak may have had another meeting with sessions. that information has not been corroborated by the fbi. they have not necessarily ruled it out. and our understanding is that they're still looking at it, the department of justice and sessions have denied there were any additional meetings. this meeting in particular happened over a year ago at the m mayflower hotel in d.c. where

trump was giving a speech and kislyak was attending. there may have some contact that kind was was on the side, but the department of justice and really the attorney general have denied there have been any additional meetings. the fbi has not really talked about this publicly. it was really telling and interesting when the former director comey yesterday was asked about sessions. he kept saying there were other reasons why he felt sessions would have to be recused from the russia investigation, which he eventually was but he did not go into those reasons. we were told yesterday, cnn manu raju was told yesterday that in the closed session comey did talk about some of these other concerns. one of it was this intelligence, this other information about a possible meeting or some contact at the mayflower hotel. >> it's also intriguing. the president's aides and spokes people, they continue to refuse to say whether the president has confidence in the attorney

general. yesterday deputy press secretary would only say the president's confidence in his cabinet. pressed repeatedly on sessions they won't say that. we'll see if the president is asked that later. phil, what's the latest up on capitol hill as far as the investigations are concerned and the reaction to comey's testimony? >> i think on the reaction front what's been most interesting is kind of how republicans have tried to play. this they've said there was nothing new, there were no big surprises. they've also said in multiple occasions from multiple senators and members of the house, maybe the president just didn't know anybody. take a listen to what susan collins had to say. >> the first interaction that the president had with mr. comey in early january at trump tower, it was the fbi director who cleared the room so that he could have a one-on-one discussion with the president about that salacious dossier.

and i wonder if perhaps that made the president think that whenever there's a sensitive conversation to be had with the fbi director that it should be one-on-one. >> now, wolf it's worth noting that the president has a white house counsel's office and white house counsel and staff that should probably be the people that would inform him what he should or shouldn't do if he's unaware. i think the interesting thing is as well as yesterday seemed like a climb max. as you noted with shimon, jeff sessions will be testifying on capitol hill on a separate matter next weechk. you also have bob mueller. he'll be meeting with the top two members behind doors. then you have jared kushner. as you noted, he as soon as next week will be meeting with staff on the senate intelligence committee. after that meeting he was expected according to sources to

be submitting documents and then meeting with senators. so the idea that yesterday was kind of the end game or there is large scale vindication or anything like that, if you talk to people on capitol hill they make very clear they are still in the early stages of the investigation. there are still a lot of issues they are going to take on and there's no end in sight as they move forward on those probes. >> seems to be expand as we speak. guys, thanks very much. let's get some perspective on all of this, the russia investigation, the comey testimony, democratic senator jack reed of rhode island is joining us. thach you had a chance to question comey yesterday. the president is claiming what he calls total and complete vindication. you agree with the president? >> no, not at all. i think dregt or comirector com strong impression. he did so under oath. the president i think if he's willing to insist upon his position, that should also be made under oath. not through an attorney or

through tweets. i think comey was very compelling. i think both my colleagues on both sides of the aisle thought so. he was open. he answered all the questions. so i think frankly the burden is now on the president to come forth definitively and say what happened. >> well, there's a few ways he can do it. what you're saying is he should make a statement under oath. where? at the white house? come up to capitol hill and say that comey was lying as far as the loyalty issue and the michael flynn issue was concerned? because that's what his lawyer said yesterday? >> i think that's ultimately what will happen. in the course of these investigations, especially with prosecutor mueller, since part of this was indicated yesterday goes to the rational behind the firing of mr. comey and the rational of trying to deflect if not stop the investigation of

general flynn. it involves to some degree the president, at some point, not right away, that at some point mr. mueller will feel he has to depose the president. >> that would be the special counsel deposing the president under oath. we'll see if that actually winds up happening. the other way this could be resolved, the he said verse he said, one is lying, the other is lying, is if there are tapes in the white house of those conversations he had with comey. first of all, do you know if there are tapes? >> i don't know if there are tapes, but there are only three in my view logical conclusion. there are tapes and they confirm what mr. comey said. there are no tapes and so the president is misleading in his statement. or there are tapes that refute comey. if that was the case, i think those tapes would be public already. >> so you're saying -- your conclusion is -- >> either there's no tapes or those tapes do not help the president's position. >> because the president in that tweet weeks ago, he raised the possibility of tapes. he put the word tapes in quotes. >> right.

and that could be i think just simply a misstatement. >> let me play this clip for you. this is comey during the testimony talking about the president's sort of hope. he use d the word hope. i hope you can walk away or leave the investigation to michael flynn, his fired national security adviser alone. listen to this. >> i don't think it's for me to say whether the conversation i had with the president was an effort to obstruct. i took it as a very disturbing thing, very concerning. but that's a conclusion i'm sure the special counsel will work towards to try and understand what the intention was there and whether that's an offense. >> first of all, do you know if the special counsel is now investigating the president for obstruction of justice? because that's the implication of what comey was saying yesterday. >> i have not had the opportunity to talk with the special counsel. his staff has indicated by the colleagues he will meet with senator warner and senator burr this week. my sense that this is all part

of a very elaborate, intricate situation involving not only what he said to director comey but there have been reports and we've questioned admiral rogers of the nsa about reports that he in fact asked them to take steps that would either publicly exonerate him or in some way influence the fbi. so this is -- all these instances are suggesting not just one incident with comey, but a pattern of behavior which goes to the president's possible abuse of power by trying to stop a legitimate investigation. >> and you know that the attorney general jeff sessions will testify before the senate next week on budget related issues, but you know there can be a lot of questions on all of this. >> very loose budget related issues. >> the senators can ask whatever they want. i know you were part -- i assume

you went to that closed door meeting after the open session yesterday. >> i was there for part of it. >> you saw the reports. cnn reporting that comey suggested or there may have been a third undisclosed meeting with the russian ambassador that sessions had. they're still trying to figure that out. what can you tell us about that? >> it's not appropriate to comment on anything that took place in that closed door session. i grew up in the army. you don't talk about it. >> you don't want to talk about that. >> no, sir. >> i don't know if that's classified, but it was closed door. without telling us any classified information, there was a bombshell that you learned during that one hour private meeting? >> again, i would prefer not to. i think the best approach is there was an open session. i thought the director comey was incredibly candid. responded to every question. responded in a very thoughtful complete way. and then there were matters that should be considered behind closed doors regardless of

whether they're classified or not classified. i think going in that direction is not the appropriate manner. >> someone is lying here, right? >> someone is not accurate. >> you're very diplomatic. >> thank you. >> senator jack reed of rhode island. thanks for much for joining us. coming up, we're learning new details about the former fbi director. comey's closed testimony. what he said and why the attorney general jeff suggestiosessions is pushing back. plus why many are calling for the british prime minister theresa may to resign. we're going to london for the very latest.

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it's been a roller coaster week for the attorney general of the united states. jeff sessions earlier in the week, cnn reported that sessions had offered his resignation but was turned down by the president. he was clearly an important play ner the james comey testimony yesterday with comey explaining why fbi leadership decided to not loop sessions into all of their conversations. listen. >> our judgment as i recall was that he was very close to and inevitably going to recuse himself for a variety of reasons. we also were aware of facts that i can't discuss in an open setting that would make his continued engagement in a

russia-related investigation problematic. >> here with us cnn legal analyst and former federal prosecutor laura coats. and cnn chief political correspondent dana bash inform the closed hearing that happened after the two and a half hour open hearing, they went behind closed doors for an hour with members of the senate intelligence committee. apparently comey elaborated on sessions saying it's possible there was a third undisclosed meeting he may have had with the russian ambassador to the united states, sergey kislyak and if he did that raises questions about sessions's credibility. >> big time. the key part if he did. what he hinted at in close -- what he hinted at in open session was something cnn reported last week which is that this is part of the investigation. they're looking into whether or not there was an additional meeting that jeff sessions had with the russian ambassador, that he didn't tell congress about. or he didn't -- that he didn't

tell the truth about when he was asked explicitly about it when he was under oath before the committee that was talking about whether or not he should be confirmed as attorney general. so it's a big if, but that's why the investigation is going on. and it's also note worthy that this comes as he is not in the best of places with his boss, the president. which is highly unusual given the fact that they were so close during the campaign. jeff sessions was the first u.s. senator to endorse donald trump and it was a big boost for trump's campaign. >> he certainly was. and now the white house as i said earlier refusing to say whether or not the president has confidence specifically in sessions. the only thing they'll say is the president has confidence in his cabinet. >> which has nothing to do with this investigation. it has to do with the fact that the president's upset that sessions recused himself which allowed this snowball that led to this special prosecutor. >> senator blumenthal of

connecticut suggested if it's true that there was this third undisclosed meeting at the mayflower, intelligence picked up a conversation talking about that meeting but they don't know if they were bragging about something that did not occur or if it's real. if it's true, could that possibly be perjury? because as you know, sessions testified under oath before congress, before the senate, and also he made statements in terms of his own applications, his forms to become the attorney general. >> well, it certainly does look as though that shifts from ammea amnesia to now maybe criminal culpability. also the least of his worries if this is true is probably perjury. it's not just showing you there was a lack of confidence, ins in leadership able

leadership abilities, but he may have complicit into what they're investigating. realistic, yes, perjury is definitely on the table. what's also on the table is that there is a greater investigation opening up or expanding about jeff sessions specific involvement with the russian foreign agents, foreign powers, the ambassadors. and what that tells you is indeed somebody close to the trump campaign is, in fact, under specific investigation and now we also know that the president of the united states based on the handing over of memos to mueller is now part of that investigation. talk about a snowball, dana. this is a domino effect that leads right to the justice department but probably understand under sessions guise any longer. >> comey said when the president walked away and leave alone the michael flynn investigation that was totally inappropriate

because flynn was being investigated and was under legal jeopardy. >> that's right and one of the things that comey revealed and what we've been reporting that michael flynn is under criminal investigation and was runder criminal investigation. the irony is so overwhelming that the president's whole goal, what he was desperate for comey to do as far as comey tells it is to just tell the public that he's not under investigation. please tell the public that it's not me. the flynn thing was kind of a separate, but the gist of most of their conversations according to comey was him trying to get his -- him, the president trying to get his own name cleared. and because of that flynn conversation which certainly did not seem appropriate at all to comey at the time but we now know is the physical notes from it, from comey, his memos, are with the special counsel, that

he ended up being likely part of the investigation where at the time he genuinely wasn't. >> it's being because comey yesterday was testifying under oath. if he was lying, that would be perjury. he could go to jail for that. the attorney, the private attorney representing the president afterwards came out and said comey was lying. and the president this morning in his tweet suggested the same thing. that comey was lying. that -- and comey was suggesting the president was lying. i want you to listen to what senator reed, who was in that hearing yesterday, senator reed of rhode island just told me. >> i think that's ultimately what will happen because in the course of these investigations, particularly with special prosecutor mueller, since part of this was indicated yesterday goes to the rationalal behind the firing of mr. comey and the rational of trying to deflect, if not stop, the investigation of general flynn involves to some degree the president.

so i would expect at some point, not right away, but at some point mr. mueller would feel he has to depose the president. >> because he wants the president to make a statement under oath and probably he's right. the only realistic way that would ever happen is if mueller, the special counsel, calls him and says you're under oath, you better testify. >> he should expect that knock on the door. we can also expect the nature of the special counsel relationship is such that he still reports to rod rosenstein who can decide if there is a report generated and an ultimate conclusion as to whether to bring criminal charges against anyone involved, any part of the campaign or any other thing we don't know about yet, it's rosen stistein who hae ze decision to release the report. so even if you had the deposition, even if you had president trump testify under oath, the buck still lies with rod rosenstein. so that's why it's critically important to keep in mind this track and the pattern of recusals.

with each recusal, with each step you take away from people passing this hot potato around, the public is farther and farther away from getting the answers they need. that's by design to avoid the witch hunt which he's been accused of having but to understand this is an ongoing investigation. when the president holds up a sign that said nothing to see here, don't look here, everyone looks here. it's like imagine picture the pink elephant in the room. that's all you can see. you should expect a deposition, but not expect the public to hear about it or have the details. >> i'm not sure that the president or his private attorney fully understood the ramifications of publicly accusing the former fbi director, the former deputy attorney general, former u.s. attorney, someone who's been involved in law enforcement for so many years, james comey of committing a crime. lying under oath before congress. because you make that accusation as marc kasowitz did yesterday, the private attorney as the president in his tweet did this

morning. it opens the door. well, you're accusing this guy of committing a crime. we have to investigate. the oennly way to prove who's lying is to get you under oath or if there are tapes. >> right. or maybe he did know. or maybe he kind of understood the legal ramifications. but he had a client, the president of the united states, saying -- watching this hearing in the white house saying i'm vindicated. go out there and say i'm vindicated. that's your job. >> it's one thing to say i'm vin vindicated. it's another thing to accuse of a crime of the former fbi director. >> marc kasowitz is a successful lawyer but there are people near the president who have been begging him to hire him much more experienced in this kind of law, in the law that is, you know, kind of in and around and about washington. people who have experience with independent counsels.

the president has been reluctant to do that. >> because the next step you've got to see if this man was committing a crime yesterday, comey, and that means you've got to get the president under oath as well. special counsel can do that if he wants. all right, guys. thank you. you know what? one other note we should point out. the attorney general jeff sessions we've been pointing out, he will testify next week before the senate and you know they're going to ask him a whole bunch of these kind of questions. you've covered the senate for a long time. >> and he was in the senate for a long time. >> hold on one second. i think the secretary of state is making a statement on qatar, rex tillerson over at the state department. let's listen in. >> troubling to the united states. the region and to many people who are directly affected. the united states wishes to reaffirm our commitment to the spirit of the summit. as we combine efforts to defeat the military, financial, and ideological support of terrorists, we expect to see progress in the arab world

toward greater political expression. an important pathway to attack islamic extremism and to prevent political act -- but this process requires regional and global consensus and mutual understanding. the gcc summit creates a platform to achieve this consensus and understanding. we call for calm and thought full dialogue with clear expectations and accountability among the parties in order to strengthen relationships. we ask that there be no further escalation by the parties in the region. we call on qatar to be responsive to the concerns of its neighbors. qatar has a history of supporting groups that have spanned the spectrum of political expression from

activism to violence. the qatar has made progress in halting financial support and expelling terrorists from his country, but he must do more and he must do it more quickly. others must also condition to eliminate factions of violent organizations within their own borders. again, that was a commitment made by all at the summit. we call on the king dock of saudi arabia, air of emirates. there are humanitarian consequences to this blockade. we are seeing shortages of food. families are having force ibsep and children pulled out of school. we believe these are unintended consequences. especially during this holy month of ramadan. but they can be addressed immediately. the blockade is also impairing

u.s. and other international business activities in the region and has created a hardship on the people of qatar and the people whose livelihoods depend on commerce with qatar. the blockade is hindering u.s. military actions in the region and the campaign against isis. we support the mirror of kuwait, efforts to bring about a peaceful resolution to this agreement and progress toward eliminating all forms of support for terrorism. military, familiinancial, moral ideological. we will support these efforts along with kuwait. in the last few days i have spoken to many leaders in the region. as i said to all of them, we know you're stronger together. it is clear to me based on these conversations that the elements of a solution are available. the gcc must emerge united and stronger to show the world the

gcc's resolve in its fight against violence and terrorism and its commitment to countering the threat from extremism. our expectation is that these countries will immediately take steps to deescalate the situation and put forth a good faith effort to resolve their grievances they have with each other. thank you very much. >> there he is the u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson calling for some deescalation in this very, very serious crisis that has erupted. qatar, on the other hand several arab states in the gulf including egypt, saudi arabia, united air of emirates, ball of whom have severed contacts. causing a blockade causing hardship on the people of qatar. i want to bring in senior diplomatic correspondent.

she's over at the state department. global affairs analyst tony blinken. he's here with me . it seemed like the other day the president was almost siding with saudi arabia, the emirates against qatar. now we have the secretary of state trying to forge some middle ground. >> i think that is why he's giving this statement on camera today. we weren't even sure this would happen. it came more an an hour and a half late. i think because of what the president tweeted saying fingers were points at qatar as if this was the right thing to do for those countries to blockade qatar. he really wanted to get out there and say that that's not the case. he called for the blockade to be lifted. but he also didn't want to say necessarily what the president was tweeting was wrong. so he's also calling on qatar to do more against terrorism. he did make mention of progress

that they had made to cut off terrorist financing. and to try to stop it. but he wanted to emphasize that there is a need, not just for qatar but for others in the region to do more. it should be noted he didn't call anyone else out. only qatar. because he wanted to make reference to what the president was trying to say in those tweets and paying reference to the point that he was trying to make. but he wanted to get out there and state in no uncertain terms that this need to be resolved and be resolved quickly. i think it really he lights the difficult position that the u.s. is in at this point. kind of wanting to be on all sides at the same time. and wanting to be the resolution. and we did hear qatar this week say that they believe that the u.s. can really help solve this. they believe that president trump can be crucial in reaching that resolution. we don't really know at what point this is right now. we're still waiting for the demands for what qatar needs to

change, what concessions they'll make. but we know that there's been constant contact between the u.s. state department and all of these parties involved, wolf. >> it's a real crisis, tony, for the u.s. because it has the largest u.s. military presence in the region is in qatar, the air base. there are thousands of u.s. troops there. jet fighters that launch strikes against terror operations, whether in iraq or syria or elsewhere. that's hovering over this. but the sawudis and emirates sa it's because qatar is funding terrorist organizations in egypt. that's why egypt severed relations. at the core is qatar's relationship with iran. >> two things. secretary tillerson is right on the mark. that was an excellent statement. exactly the right place to try to take this. calm the waters. get people to back down. have the u.s. play a mediating

role. it's exactly the right thing to do. second, this has been a feud a long time in the making. on the one hand, you have qatar which fancies itself a little bit of a bridge to iran, to the muslim brotherhood. but from the perspective of saudi arabia, from the perspective of the uae, egypt, they see it as an enabler of those countries or groups, financing them, giving them political cover. so this feud's been long in the making. it seems that when the president was in saudi arabia his unconditional support for the saudis may have emboldened them to take the step and then his tweets supporting what they did added fuel to the fire. the president did the right thing in doing a quick about face and also trying to calm things down. the stakes are really hey. the key air base in prosecuting the war against the islamic state is in qatar. we use it every single day. >> when i was there it was the

regional headquarter of the u.s. military central command. tillerson did say qatar is still funding terror organizations. he says they've stopped a little bit but there's still a long way to go. >> they've made progress. our ambassador to qatar. at the same time the president was tweeting said they've been making progress and putting in place new banking regulations and freezing assets. they're doing more as the secretary said. there's still more they can do. and they should do. but we have to look at this too. saudi arabia. a close partner. a vital ally. nonetheless, it exports wahabism. that's a problem too. within his statement is the implication that all of these countries need to do more to tone this down. what we don't want to do is this. the president was talking about the creation of an arab nato when he was there. we've seen how difficult that is. you have countries that diverging interests. we see an arab nato if it were .

they want to pull us into the divide and take sides. that's not a good place for us to be. >> and el ja jeer -- thanks verh for that, tony. michelle, thanks to you over at the state department as well. coming up, theresa may carries on after a big loss for her party. the british prime minister now trying to form a new government and work on brexit negotiations while barely holding on to power. we have new information, new details. we'll share them with you when we come back. e unpredictabilitye may weigh on your mind. thinking about what to avoid, where to go, and how to work around your uc. that's how i thought it had to be.

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al jazee it's truly an extraordinary day in prbritish politic. theresa may called for an election. instead her party evaporated noe overnight. all of it comes just days ahead of the brexit negotiations. while some party leaders called on may to resign, she explained why she is moving forward. >> as the results started to come through, it became clear we were the party who had won most seats and most votes. i thought it was incumbent on us at a critical time in our country to form a government in the national interest and that

is what i'm doing. >> let's go to phil black. phil, what happens now with the government and with the brexit negotiations? >> well, theresa may as you heard there, she is trying to save some degree of dignity after a rezbrejection that is q embarrassing for her. she called this election because she wanted to increase her majority in parliament. instead she now has no majority in parliament. she's not apologized. she's not accepted responsibility. instead she says as you heard her say this is an important critical time for the country. they're about to begin negotiations. she is trying to pull together the country as a leader of the part although it doesn't have a majority still has the most number of mps and took the highest portion of the votes. so she is proceeding and she believes clearly that she will not give in to the pressure

despite the fact that we've heard quite a lot of that over the course of the day. >> certainly have. and we'll be hearing a lot more. phil black in london. coming up, these are live pictures coming from the white house right now. president trump will be taking questions from reporters in the next hour. will he respond to james comey's testimony and his accusations? a lot to discuss right after this. it's just a burst pipe, i co(laugh) it.

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all right. in the next hour, we'll be hearing directly from the president of the united states. he's getting ready to hold a joint news conference with the visiting president of romania. he's expected to arrive, you can see the west wing of the white house, at any moment now. you'll see the president there to greet him. this will be the first time president trump has formally taken questions from reporters in some three weeks. certainly the first time since james comey's explosive testimony yesterday and comey's testimony will likely be front and center among the questions. let's bring in editor-at-large

chris cillizza. in the next hour, there will be this joint news conference. two american reporters will be allowed to ask questions and two romanian reporters will be allowed to ask questions. but you know that each one of those questions, if done properly, will have multi -- will be multiquestions. >> yes. in the fine standards. occasionally, typically the foreign press asks questions mostly related to america's view of their country. they don't get into what did you think of james comey's testimony. but the u.s. press will. as you noted, wolf, the last time he took questions was may the 18th, before his foreign trip. so we're 22 days from that. the foreign trip, the comey testimony, a lot has happened in between those. it's hard to fit into two questions. my guess would be at least one, probably two of the american press questions will be focused

on comey. >> we don't know the reporters who will be cited by the president to -- the president can pick anyone he wants. >> yeah. and early in his administration -- obviously we're relatively early anyway, but even earlier, they would occasionally pick nontraditional newspapers. they would go to conservative outlets. but of late, they've gone to be a little more traditional. if they do any sort of traditional media outlet, i would assume the first question would be something about comey's testimony i could think of nine questions and at the top of that list is do you have a taping system, have you recorded conversations. it seems to me that's a fundamental piece here.

we know why jim comey leaked a memo. >> i suspect if he's asked that, he will say, i'm not get into that. >> he gave an interview to fox news right after his tweet of, maybe i'm taping comey and he said i'm not going to talk about it. look, it's his prerogative to do that but if you're bob mueller, you need to have an answer as to whether there are recorded versions of any of these meeltings or phone calls with jim comey because we have a very disputed interaction. jim comey says it went one way in terms of a loyalty pledge, in terms of saying that he believes trump wanted him to get rid of the mike flynn investigation. trump, through marc kasowitz's attorney is saying, look, those things didn't happen. thank you for reminding me, his tweet this morning, i don't know if he meant to do that or not, essentially says that comey lied

under oath, many false dlsz hoods. >> which is a crime. >> you can go to jail for that. that's perjury. if the president of the united states and his lawyer is making that accusation, it puts enormous pressure on the special counsel, robert mueller, to investigate and maybe put the president under oath. >> right. gosh, that would be an amazing step. but at this point, i think what's important for people to remember as it relates to comey versus trump, no matter what trump says today, comey has testified under oath with the penalty of perjury. donald trump has not done that. he's just tweeting and talking. there are no real consequences, legally speaking, for him right now. >> stand by. we have a lot more. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'll be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "the situation room." president trump should be coming out any moment in the next hour to greet the president of romania soon. they will have a news conference and answer questions from reporters. brooke baldwin is here in washington standing by for amazing coverage.

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fmy doctor recommended ibgard. abdominal pain and bloating. now i'm in control of my ibs. nonprescription ibgard - calms the angry gut. hi, everyone. i'm brooke baldwin. live here in washington, d.c., for special coverage of president trump's first news conference in 22 days. and the first time he's facing the media since that blockbuster testimony from the now fired fbi director james comey. director comey said under oath yesterday morning that president trump lied multiple times about him and about the fbi being in quoted disarray. but today the president volleyed the liar label the other way. early this morning he tweeted this. "despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete