>> we only know he has made some hires and has a budget and works for the justice department. open butot say it is it is generous. we know he found some office space and that is probably all we will know until the first day, if that ever happens, that he announces and will take a witness before a grand jury. proceedings are private. the plazas outside the courthouse are public. >> many of the press here today gathered. thank you. david hawkins reminding us all that the testimony today is in thee chapter investigations happening. senate intelligence, getting

their chance today to talk to comey inside of that room and then you have house intelligence committee doing their work and the special counsel run by bob moeller doing his own investigation. our coverage here is already underway as we avoid the former director's arrival on capitol hill here on the washington journal. we continue to bring sights and sounds including outside james comey pauses home in virginia. he will be making his way to capitol hill at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. c-span3. channel to we will be bringing the entire over on c-span3, c-span.org. you can also listen with the c-span radio app. it is free. just download it. if you are walking around, you

can listen to what the director has to say. these members of the senate intelligence committee. we are taking your thoughts on this in the meantime. joanne, thank you for waiting. go ahead. >> thank you for taking my call. there seems to be a disconnect between loyalty to a person was it to an institution. being loyal to a person reeks of monarchies and dictatorships. we rejected that with the clintons and for some reason welcomed that with the bushes. and now, a very blatant demand for loyalty to a person rather than our great country. how else do you explain comey's firing except his rejection of direct loyalty to trump? very frightening and our leaders need to protect us. host: it sounds thank you read the former director passes opening statement yesterday.

is that was stood up to you? anything else? caller: that is what stood out to me. i'm trying to make this short. there is a difference between a target of an investigation and trying to block of investigation. joann's in north carolina. raymond, republican, you are next. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. all of these hearings are just a farce. they seem to be only fixated on, people are throwing stuff up on the wall and want to see what sticks. the true investigation has already been done. the investigation has already been done. , anions millions of dollars army of media out there trying

to do anything they can to nail donald trump and they have not been able to find anything. and cannot find anything they are tripping over themselves to do it. republicans need to circle the wagons around mr. trump and we are the party in power right now and we need to focus on what mr. trump is trying to do for the country and the things he has already done for the country, and not all this other stuff. if they pull on the strings, they need to get -- they need to find out where it is going -- hillary clinton -- they are really interested in the russian involvement. where are the emails leading to hillary clinton's ultimate demise? that is really what it is. it is her corruption that started the whole thing. let's keep it in focus. host: you mentioned the media. new york daily news has a story this morning that this hearing getting underway at 10:00 a.m. will be live on every major

television network, cable news channel, radio, and streamed online. despite the size of the expected audience, broadcasters are expected to take a financial hit. if the test money lasts until 1:00 p.m., every broadcaster that carries this will lose about 45 minutes worth of advertising. averages, television 15 minutes per hour. doing very rough math, the testimony could cost broadcasters millions. the today show's about $12,000 per 32nd spot. oft figures to be a loss around 350,000 per hour for the broadcasters. >> that is an investment p are they understand and they will make that up after the hearing from today because they will throw more stuff out there to spin this thing anyway they want to spin it.

to throw find things out there that just don't make any sense just because it will get more people talking. they need to change the narrative, and they need to focus on what really happened with the russia thing. what really, really did happen? that will go right back to hillary. where is comey on that? now, an your screen positioning of photographers for today's hearing. in between sit right the witness, mr. comey, and members of the senate intelligence committee to snap photos. you see them quickly gathering to get ther. comey picture that will end up in tomorrow's papers, along with all of the media cameras as well inside and outside of the office building. hill,ehind us on capitol staff is getting ready.

have is preparing an you the public's interest as well with the line starting early for those that want to see in person the former fbi director testifying on capitol hill about what he wrote about in his opening statement released yesterday, is meeting with mr. trump. he writes in his opening statement that he had several of them, more than what was reported actually, that he sat down with the president many times and had phone calls with him as well, and in the opening statement, he details some of those conversations. call and post your comments on twitter and facebook, and let washington know what you think of these investigations, mr. comey's's testimony, tell us on twitter and facebook, and you can also call, and you can send a video if you like. less than one minute of your

thoughts. here is one from one of our viewers. i'm frome is josh and houston, texas. isexpectations tomorrow truth. no matter how this goes. the american people deserve the truth. been dealing with this problem for a long time. comeected james comey to out and tell us exactly what is going on and the truth. i expect a lot of tough questions and a lot of stress on both sides. more than anything right now, america just needs truth. prepared to give it to us. thanks. what do you have to say and what are your expectations for the morning's hearing? send us a video and we continue to play some of those as we continue until 10:00 a.m. eastern time.

that is when we expect the house together in. we will bring you gavel to gavel coverage of legislative business on c-span. it means you have to turn the channel and go to c-span3 to watch the entire hearing with mr. comey. c-span tontinue on show you what is happening outside as well. as we take your phone calls and thoughts on these investigations. morning, the editorial board of the wall street journal, they said that mr. comey deserves to be fired and it is his opening statement that proves it. writing street journal that the most troubling part is his belief in what he calls independent status in the executive branch. he invokes more than once. independent? it is a false and dangerous you of law enforcement in the american system. mr. comey is describing fbi

director who essentially answers to no one. of government are awesome -- often abused and the only way to prevent that is to report to elected officials accountable to voters. the director must resist anervention to obstruct investigation but he and the agency must be politically accountable or it is the fbi of j edgar hoover. after conferring with his fbi senior leadership, he decided not to relay the conversation to attorney general jeff sessions or any other. if he thought he was being unduly pressured, he had a legal obligation to report and in our view, resign. he said he did not because "we expected mr. sessions would recuse himself from russia involvement or co- -- involvement." what do you think? republican. caller: i agree with the wall

street journal. if anything was done wrong, mr. comey did have a right or a duty to report it. i think this is nothing more than a political witch hunt. -- younce donald trump had people who want to overturn the election. this is something more they can do to distract americans attention. so many things we need to be working on such as tax cuts, jobs, national security, and look at what we are doing? this is nothing more than a political farce. morenot expect anything than doublespeak and self-serving speech. will hopefully be over with and if they do follow this where it leads, they will have to bring in hillary clinton and find out what did she do and what was her connection to the russians. she seems to be more closely

associated with the russians than anyone i know of. tom, california, democrat. are you with us? >> i remember the saturday massacre and i'm judging these comes from theat special investigation on the same benchmark as what happened with watergate. i have been a democrat all my life. intimidation-- the was in fact verified, he should be impeached. to reality is we have yet

get the analog spectrum back from the networks. host: here is a tweet from a reporter covering today's hearing. the lineup at the comey hearing. the first person in line got here at 4:15 a.m. this morning to try to get limited seats mr. comey will sit in front of them to answer questions this morning. those are senate intelligence committee democrats there on your screen. , heinrich of new mexico, senator king is an

and the center of west virginia, and a new freshman senator of california. senate republicans led by the chairman of north carolina, of idaho, marco rubio on the committee as well in florida. missouri. senator langford of oklahoma. senator cornyn of texas. part of a leadership team as well. that willthe senators ask questions this morning of mr. comey. has thisngton times headline. one democrat is set to draft articles of impeachment. representative al green, a democrat that says he is drafting articles of impeachment alleging the republican president broke the law and may and must be held accountable. he accused mr. trump of distracting justice when he

fired the director and then suggested he did so because of the russian thing. and whether the trump campaign manager anything to do with it. the remedy for obstructing justice is impeachment. coupled with a statement indicated that the president -- the president intended to do what he did. there is also a pro president trump group out there fighting back with this ad ahead of today's is hearing by mr. comey. of the fbi, james comey put politics ahead of america. terms like radical islam for political correctness, comey allowed the dangerous practice to continue when terror attacks were on the rise last year, comey was consumed with election meddling and after he testified before the u.s. senate, his own staff admitted some of his answers were flat out wrong.

james comey, just another d.c. insider only in it for himself. live at 9:30 eastern time 30 minutes before the director sits in the chair and take the questions. continue with the hearing throughout and the session is expected to last until around 1:00 p.m. eastern time. then the senator and mr. comey go behind closed doors. we have cameras outside of the hearing hopefully to get reaction from the senators that are part of the senate and mayence committee be sights and sounds as well around the capital as we all

await the arrival of mr. comey. will make his way from them virginia -- stationed outside of his home there, and then he will be driving into washington up to capitol hill. comey's's, mr. testimony is expected to last three hours and we will air the entire three hours throughout the day but this evening as well. work, hell miss it at don't have a phone to download the c-span radio app, you can evening on c-span2 8:00 p.m. eastern time, the entire hearing, and we will bring you highlights of today's's testimony. who will be replacing senator james comey? the president hopes that it will , from -- former u.s. attorney at the justice department christopher wray.

form present george w. bush -- had impeccable credentials. to aelection cap month-long search that began shortly after mr. comey's dismissal. fits the traditional mode -- mold of fbi director. said hetement, he looked forward to serving with integrity. calls, robert in florida, an independent. good morning to you. what do you think about today's is hearing? i find it very confusing how the country is in turmoil and everyone is overlooking the very basics. isis. info wars.com.

>> i expect nothing more than we already have heard. i just cannot understand the democrats. comparing this to watergate. no comparison whatsoever. the president is a trying to get ahead -- get ahead of the message. everyone i talked to just cannot understand the mess going on in washington, d.c. right now. host: will you watch? caller: i will try. i don't know if i don't know if i'll be able to. said there is no .ollusion

i don't get it. host: people are calling it the congressional super bowl. caller: that's baloney. host: a lot of media up there as well as the public. some bars are opening up early this morning. in about 30 minutes for patrons to come in. have all of the tv's to and into what is happening on .apitol hill some of the attention being paid to the hearing this morning. let's hear from mag -- maggie, california, independent. caller: good morning. have a question. i'm a little confused as to why

former director comey's's was released a full day ahead. i don't understand that. why would that be allowed? happenedhas actually with other committees as well. they release the opening statements of witnesses the day earliernd we learned that what does not usually happen is this much media attention to a statement being released a day before. caller: right. i think it is just feeding -- i personally believe this is a witchhunt. there are far more pressing issues the country needs to address. our president was elected by a majority of the people. for political reasons, no one

speaks about his agenda. they are denigrating him at every opportunity. people are hurting. i think washington needs to get on that this us of the country and get out of the media attention. caller: i believe there is some into this investigation into russia. every time someone gets close to getting stuff with trump connected to it, he always wound up putting out a story about .ealth care he is trying to distract us from this. if he would only show those taxes so we could know if he is in touch with russia. comey, i hate that he waited too

late to put the information out. , everything in the white house, chubb fire this man. he wants people there to do it he say, to cover up for him. wakeup, america and the man is tied to russia and it will come out sooner or later. have a good day. host: all right. this tweet this morning. him saying, me waiting for the comey hearing to start. that is on twitter this morning. the previous caller brought up the statement, why was mr. comey'statement released a day hearing this morning. senate intelligence committee chairman after yesterday's is theed hearing with -- of fbi, rod rosenstein of the justice department, rogers of the nsa, and the director of

national intelligence, after that meeting, because there was an open meeting and then after the meeting with the staff of is whatficials, here the chairman had to say about comey's opening statement. >> i have not got anything to say today. have the testimony early and i am sorry i took all away from you guys the ability to find the source to leak it to you. host: that was the chairman there with reporters asking him what he made of the statement. the chairman saying i'm glad we got an early and i'm glad it is posted, and that prevented any leaks. of the testimony coming out. senate intelligence committee releasing the opening statement early yesterday. let's hear from john, pennsylvania, republican.

good morning. >> yes, good morning. i called in, the day that trump announced that he was going to run for president and i said to would never vote for this man because i knew him. i went to the casino down there. when the casinos came in 1978, the promise was that they would clean up the casinos and would not you like the only other nevada,at hat -- in there was no casino control in any casinos down it atlantic city for years now. this is the way trump operated. when he got inaugurated, all the casino owners were thrilled. up andt all that money they are all billionaires. at carl icahn, they all put this money up. it is interesting now, he is

tapping for the next fbi director chris'lawyer for bridge gate. this is just one line from the newspaper in atlantic city last week. it says also on thursday, chris christie promised casinos more relief from rules and regulation , governing the gambling halls. 70-year-old men do not change. he has done this all his life. and thenrived people insisted that they do exactly what he wants. talking there from pennsylvania. you can see the line for the that has started around 4:15 a.m. this morning. we heard from a person, when

that person arrived here to get a seat, as you can see, the line wraps around, out the hearing door, down the hall, and into the next senate office building, the dirksen building. a lot of people up on capitol hill for this. eyes around the country will be watching former director as he this morning in less than 90 minutes. he will turn into c-span3 to watch the entire hearing. will bring itwe to you starting at 9:30 a.m. eastern time. the room with no commentary and the senators take former director as well. here on c-span when the house gavels and at 10:00, we will bring you gavel to gavel coverage of that. today's hearings, you can watch the re-air on c-span.org for more details.

it :00 p.m. eastern time on c-span two and c-span this evening is when you can see today's hearing. you have your phone, download free.span radio app for a great way to listen while you are doing other things this morning, listen to the questioning from the senators. maryland, independent, good morning, go ahead. >> thanks for taking my call. i definitely believe there is something to this investigation after somevinced research that we are also following the wrong lead. i'm surprised we are not hearing from the public new sources, which is also interesting. i urge people and they people to do personal research on the staffer firednc

by donna brazil and was in direct links with wikileaks. unloading. host: his family has said that is not sure when officials have said that as well. caller: what is interesting and the real research says they all recanted their stories after donna brazil and others got to them. where did you learn this? newsr: one american special report with pearson sharp. three -- too many coincidences. host: a republican. caller: how are you today? i just want to call and let you know i voted for trump and i live in washington state.

hope they get this resolved. that is what we wanted trump to do. i think there is nothing to it. independent investigation --ld take >> you are on the air. caller: i was just trying to get in on whatever line let me in p reimann a republican and not a democrat and i am born independent. but thank you for taking my call. i just want is a an answer to expect,tion of what to it is a media circus.

it is a skillful diversion. i agree withody in john and dead drop -- and deborah. he is already fired. had ties to russia long before he was ever even interested in politics. john, if you are still watching, i am going back to what he said. don't act like you don't know who this guy is a but it is all about him. expecting from his hearings? a lot of cameras sitting in front of the tv, ratings. america needs to wake up and understand the reason everyone is focused on somebody that is fired. committee will beget it, let them do that.

host: dealing with national , potentialtc. terrorist act. the hearing turns into a lot of questions about the russian investigations. rob rope and stein -- cn -- national intelligence, dan coats, and director admiral rogers. on the camilla harris intelligence committee freshman senator from california in her bestioning was told to

yesterday,equested c-span was on capital to talk to members about how they are preparing for today's hearing. here is angus king. >> how are you preparing for tomorrow's hearing? >> basically reviewing the to prior hearings, discussing these issues and doing all the reading i can and trying to think of the questions. i will not be questioning until

fourth or fifth down the list. a lot of what i will do will be filling in on the questions that have not been offered. >> what do you think you will get to? >> you have to wait until tomorrow to think -- to see that. host: that was senator angus king on capitol hill. he will get his turn later in the hearing. it will begin with opening statements of the chair and vice chair and then mr. comey, we will hear from him and he will be reading the words he put out yesterday. openingges, his statement, detailing conversations, and one-on-one meetings he had with the president. in baltimore, maryland, independent caller. good morning and what do you think? caller: i think we're watching and attempted coup to unseat a duly elected president of the united states. and the news media.

i think this is just that. ever since this man has been elected and acting as president, there has been assault -- an assault on him like nothing i've ever seen. i am quite old and i have lived a long time. it is a terrible thing to watch this country come to this. dahlia, miami, florida, republican, share your thoughts with us. i have to say this is a witchhunt and you and the media are salivating trying to find something wrong. sayomey were going to anything against a president or if there were any smitten of anything wrong, a special prosecutor would never have allowed comey to testify.

you try your best to try to turn things around. trying to say something, say something wrong. it was ridiculous. cbs, they are all out to get him. when they cannot, they will all fall into a pile of menorah. i cannot wait until that happens. host: democrat, brian. caller: a lot of callers are calling and saying there is no evidence and no history. false. simply paul manafort, michael flynn, jared kushner, back channeling, there is plenty of go off to at

least get the fbi directors prerogative on who is talking to who and who is doing it. for people who just hide their head in the sand and say this is just not happening, maybe because it will hurt the pride or ego, that is a biggest disservice that we can do to our country as a democracy, no matter who you vote for, bread, blue, white, whatever. host: carol, independent, good morning. you are on the air. what do you think about the hearing and the investigation, mr. comey's statement? as an american, i want to know if there were any issues with russia, but i have not seen any evidence of that. getting into what is going on is fine, but what is happening is none of that. democrats and the media do not want to know the truth.

that is why they are grabbing at all of these things to try to take trump down. they really need to start looking. they have issues and a better start looking at their issues rather than trying to find something on trump. if they don't think the american , if they don't think the american people see what is going on, they are savvy mistaken. if they think they can take trump down and all of the people that voted for for him will sit here and go, "ok, well we will let you democrats run it, they ," they are wrong. they are wrong. they will see the biggest uprising probably since the civil war. keep going at it, keep going on. if you get what you want, you may not like it. host: who will be on capitol hill and the sea for the public?

twitter, kyle calling out. here is the story that says in the three months since he was on twitter, -- he would face deportation. so the former top prosecutor from new york will be at today's hearing listening to mr. comey in person. inside to 16 making her way around that hearing room and as many of you have talked about, criticizing some, a lot of media attention on today's hearing. a lot of people not just here in the united states but around the world, with interest in what

happens and what director comey tells thesis senate intelligence committee members, still photographers always in to get their shot of mr. comey as he makes his way from virginia where he has a home here in the washington area to capitol hill. he will be entering into the senate building. seatthere, he will take a intelligence committee members. the vice chair gives their opening statements, and then mr. comey will deliver his remarks that many of you have probably theyand heard about since were released yesterday. you can watch this all unfold if you go over to c-span3 starting in about 40 minutes here. the hearingg you room with no commentary and you can watch it all over on c-span3 including the hearing until cooked -- about 1:00 p.m.

eastern time. and we expect them to go behind closed doors. here from mr. comey in private. we will bring you reaction from senators. if any of them decide to go to the cameras outside of the hearing room as well, you can fora lot of reserve seats staff as well behind the senate intelligence committee members. there are long tables in the back of the hearing room for reporters covering today's hearing as well. in north carolina, a democrat. you are on the air. good morning. i'm amazed about the last caller. ofsounded like a threat civil disobedience unless everybody just ignores everything that has come out. it seems that trump supporters ignore the concept of conflict of interest, they ignore the concept of the danger of and now it is just

media and democrats are out to get from. trump, this was his own doing. he cannot expect people to just it is things and to say the media? if obama had done anything close to this, these same people would be demanding that he be tarred and feathered and all of a sudden, the ignorance has blinded them. this is not the media and the democrats. trump forhat off to being so good at what he does. a longtime member of the andte judiciary committee also serving on senate intelligence committees throughout her career, dianne feinstein of california, a democrat yesterday talked to c-span about how she is preparing for asking mr. comey questions today.

>> my staff has been working and we have been putting together information. we read all of the press articles. we have had an opportunity to discuss and talk. questions my staff prepared and i prepared my own questions. about areasw enough that people might ask about , to bethey get to me able to pick up on it and continue the line of questioning. i am, first of all, the chairman, the vice-chairman, the next highest in sin you're ready, so we will see how that goes. >> what have you been preparing for your questions? >> there are a number of various. i would like to wait until after the hearing before i make any

comments. i don't want to make any comment on information. >> last thing, the committee. >> it is a long way to go and i think all members of the committee, up to date on virtually -- i think the more witnesses for the committee, the better. i find a big difference between staff interviewing and committee members. preparing foris today's's testimony. she will get her chance to ask the former director james comey tout what the president said him in those private one-on-one meetings as well as phone calls

he has had. whether or not he answers questions about the russian investigation, we will have to see, speculating he will not, that he will reference the investigation being done by the former fbi director robert moeller, special counsel. sayill defer to him and that is part of the scope of the investigation. three hours, he will be sitting in the chair before the senate intelligence committee members to answer their questions and as we said, c-span3 with the entire hearing this morning, as we get closer to 10:00 a.m., turn it over to c-span3, go to c-span.org, if you cannot watch, listen with the c-span radio app. seth, texas, a republican. caller: how are you doing this morning? host: doing well. caller: i think the committee

needs to look more into comey and his past. since he is a much a scapegoat for the obama and hillary clinton administration during timet period of although it back to the bush era. headas he -- been put into leading roles with direct ties to the hillary foundation and bill clinton and whatnot, and why isn't that being investigated and why isn't hillary clinton in jail for doing so? you have to look at haiti and what is happening there. you have to look at all of this stuff and comey has been nothing but a plant pretty much for him to be instilled in to those people off of going to jail. pretty much the entire way through all of those careers.

-- more like the world globalists who have an agenda, like the rich people, like george soros and whatnot, to just sit here and throw whatever at donald trump. i think what trump is doing is making america great again. i think everyone needs to follow suit. this man is great. he is all about making america great again. i think that is what we need. host: that former fbi director making his way to capitol hill. will try to bring you that.

he will ultimately arrived this morning and you see the print reporters set up at the table. they are preparing to cover today's's testimony. several tables their reserved for the media and the public reserve seats for folks as well, sitting behind james comey. up on capitol hill behind our shoulder here in our studios for the washington journal on we are continuing here up until the house gaveling on c-span. you cannot washington know what you think about testimonies. in's hear from rodney

manassas, virginia, a democrat. go ahead. caller: good morning. yes. want to make a few comments. i called in on democrat line. first off, i'm an american first. i just feel like president trump is using the office to expand his brand. i supported kasich. i am eight democrat basically but i supported kasich because i felt he would bring the country together. i was hoping things would change i thinkbetter but president trump is just using his brand and expanding his brand more and more rather than supporting the american people and supporting the people who need the help. host: will you watch today? caller: yes, i am, to find a

what kinds of influences may have happened between president trump and the russians because i just feel like he is trying to expand hotels are whatever. getting his family more involved in all the things, it is just giving them more exposure to different countries. i feel like his for years are up and america will be back in the same boat they were in. tweeting out there is no question we have to get to the truth of what is going on. what kinds of questions do you think they should ask? basically, if he were trying to stop the investigation, that may be why or what the intent was. is, the best way to find the best answer. if we can get the truth out of this -- guest: do you think mr. comey -- comeydo you think mr. will be able to speak to intent? caller: probably not.

us far as any loyalty to the president, it will be country first and president second. host: mr. comey just got outside the vehicle of his home there to take him to capitol hill. he will be driven to capitol hill to the senate capitol building where he will take a seat for the questioning. facing outside of his home, trying to get a glance of him grow quick as he got into the vehicle, getting an escort there. make his waybly into the hearing room. not sure if we will get to see him before that. he will be entering and sitting down before the members there.

to watch the room