where are we headed? >> well, i'm reminded of when attorney general albert albert gonzales stepped down. and there were allegations then that the department was too political and senators were going to be unhappy with whatever replaced him. and i think probable did a great thing, a judge whose questions were unquestioned and president trump would be well-served, maybe somebody on the bench for decades and regarded as an esteemed member of the community and democrats can get behind as fair and a straight shooter. >> you know, it's interesting the suggestion, you know, it's going to be fascinating to watch what proceeds from here, but as the deputy attorney general and as jeff sessions laid out in their memoranda, this was a -- this was the only

conclusion after what has been a very painful and tumultuous period for the fbi and indeed, for the nation. bill gavin, barbara smith, thank you for being with us. thank you. >> thank you. >> we're following breaking news on the firing of james comey as director of the fbi, a senior white house official confirmed to fox news tonight that president trump's long him security aide keith shuler hand delivered the letter firing director comey at the headquarters. >> joining us from the new york post, gabby, and chief correspondent from the washington examiner, bon york. thank you for being here, gabby, your thoughts to hear the sort of hollow ring of chuck schumer calling for a special counsel in this affair.

for me, as you look at the documents from the justice department, there was no choice, but for the president to fire the director. >> and senator schumer saying this is a coverup, extreme given the circumstances. i'm wondering if there isn't a plausible explanation, that the reason that director comey was fired nonly he was so public with the clinton investigation and the trump-russian investigation, but hours ago the fbi had to issue clarity on what, you know, he said during his testimony last week that may have been wrong and erroneous. i think there are a number of explanations that may not be included in the letter from attorney general jeff sessions to the president, that may have explained the white house's reasoning for finally letting him go.

>> it looks fairly clear to me, byron, that he was fired because of the way in which he handled himself, conducted himself in absolute violation of the standards and values of the justice department and the fbi in the investigation of the hillary clinton e-mail case. >> well, you know, the rod rosenstein letter that you mentioned earlier makes a pretty good case for bipartisan unhappiness with the way comey conducted himself during the election, discussed or it quoted republican and democrat top officials, former officials in the justice dartment. and there's no doubt, i think republicans and democrats were appalled by the way comey had dealt with the clinton case, not just in july 5th of 2016, when republicans were unhappy to see him sort of make the case for the indictment of hillary clinton and saying he wasn't going to do it and i think both sides were kind of

gob-smacked on october 28th when he's reopening it before the election and sunday before the election, never mind. both parties are upset. i think if barack obama is a lame duck, had fired james comey, democrats would have cheered. now, however, they are he a saying it's a saturday night massacre. >> lou: we're saying that, but not with much effect. i haven't heard any one of them, and i've heard four of them, plus, schumer, calling for a special counsel. they're trying to be partisan in this and ugly, and partisan as well, their hearts don't seem to be in it. >> yeah, i think this is the reaction we should have effected from democrats for something this monumental. not only seeing democrats calling for a special prosecutor or special commission, this is something now republicans are floating around. i mean, senator john mccain just issued a statement moments

ago, now more than ever there needs to be an investigation into the possible connections between the trump campaign and russian officials. and justin amosh is speaking with colleagues possibly setting up a congressional-- >> lou: both you've spoke been are at best to the fringe of the party, and pushed themselves to the outer perimeter of the party due to their conduct and absurd statements ayou enunciatd. do you disagree, byron? >> well, i think what is happening here and it often happens with big events is that everybody a saying that this big event just proves what they wanted to do the whole time. and so people who were calling for an independent investigation, either a special prosecutor inside the justice department or an independent 9/11 style commission, are

going to try to use this to leverage their calls for this. so far trump has not been interested in it. >> lou: why would he be? when is the last time a special prosecutor, a special counsel was appointed by a president? how many did president obama, for example, despite fast and furious, benghazi, the iran nuclear deal, want to keep going through it all, how many did he appoint in eight years? >> no, i mean, it would be a rare thing for the president to get on board to do something like this. and certainly something that he's not leaning towards or expressed. >> lou: it would be a silly thing and people should acknowledge that. it's a silly, absurd idea that no president in his or her right mind would even contemplate. >> lou, if i can say, this did happen in the george w. bush administration with the could he called cia leak case, where democrats were making a big deal about the identification

of valerie plame who had been an undercover cia agent. this became a huge controversy and as a matter of fact, the guy in the middle of it was one james comey, who actually, the attorney general, john ashcroft, washed his hands, recused himself, threw the hot potato to james comey who then did appoint a special prosecutor, patrick fates gerald who ga-- fitzgerald, who gave the white house fits. >> lou: it's a disaster and even an average political, even average political acumen wouldn't think of it and this president has hyper-warp elevated political acumen. he may not be a politician, but he has considerable more intelligence than to get rope-a-doped into that by chuck schumer, for crying out loud. do you disagree, gabby? >> no, i don't disagree with you.

i do think, hough, there are a number of questions going forward how the justice department might be able to be objective in investigating these connections. i mean, the attorney general recused himself, the acting attorney general before him was fired by the president. the president has taken steps to let go of a number of state attorneys general, so -- and they also let go of james comey before the justice department inspector general had concluded his finding. >> lou: testified so far in public seven months saying there is no sign of conclusion. i think we could make it an investigation in perpetuity which would satisfy some, but this is a colassel waste of time and i think most tapes irrespective of party is going to do that. >> i think the fbi investigation is going on. >> lou: because i'm trying to make sense of it doesn't mean that sense will prevail. it would be impossible for the

justice department to make the case to capitol hill that they can just shut down this investigation now, especially in light of this. so, it seems to me the most important thing for trump to do now is to find a candidate who can get some democratic votes on capitol hill, rod rosenstein confirmed with 96 votes-- >> 94-6. >> 94-6 most the democrats went along with the republicans. and the important thing is to have the next fbi director. >> lou: and that directly is likely to come outside, as has everyone, but in point of fact, j. edgar hoover. gabby, thanks, appreciate you being with us. >> thank you. >> byron york, appreciate you being with us. >> thank you. >> thank you, both. in a surprise decision, president trump firing fbi director comey tonight. the search now for a new director.

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>> joining me now, chief operating officer circa news, government herald columnist, adriana cohen, good to have you with us. i know you called for the firing of this director, former director, james comey. do you think it took far too long? what do you make of his firing at this juncture? >> i think president trump made the right call. director comey lost trust with the american people long ago and i wrote in my boston herald column last september that he should be fired for grossly mishandling the hillary clinton e-mail investigation.

as you know, lou, he gave a searing indictment of hillary clinton saying basically she was reckless with the mishandling of classified information and then gave her a pass he couldn't find intent. how does unauthorized servers end up in her chappaqua home? they were tentionally set up, intentionally maintained and intentionally there to avoid public transparency so i don't think the lack of intent flew and let's not forget that hillary clinton and her associates also, we found out after the fact, that devices were destroyed belonging to hillary clinton with a hammer, her server was bleached bit, you know, there was a missing laptop, and then her i.t. guy brian paing pagliano pleaded the fifth. >> and director comey insisted

on giving her a past, a double standard, a private citizen or military-- >> i lead to bring in the other guest, as well, if i may. john, your thoughts? >> listen, there's not a lot that was normal about james comey's tenure at the fbi. the last years, the press conferences, announcements, back and forth, e-mail investigation on or not. we had a story at circa that said they had numerous instances of the records act being violated by the clinton and this is going to give the fbi a chance to reboot for the american public and both sides of the political aisle. lou: it's clear from rod rosenstein's memorandum to his boss, attorney general jeff sessions, adriana, that there was really no question whatsoever. this was all about his handling of the clinton e-mail case,

even though there were other problems with his most recent testimony on capitol hill. it's clear that the fbi itself and the attorney general and the deputy aorney genel beev that he had violated just about every value and standard in being so public in his discussion of the investigati investigation. >> absolutely. and then also when he took hillary clinton's testimony on the-- the fbi took her testimony on a saturday, they didn't even, you know, document that testimony, which raised a lot of eyebrows. and then of course, we all remember the highly inappropriate meeting between loretta lynch and former president bill clinton on the tarmac just days before that torn, you know, interrogation on the saturday. and so, director comey mishandled the hillary clinton e-mail investigation, before, during and after every step of the way and lost the confidence of the american people.

lou: john, this is a strange moment where we've got the calls for a special counsel, r reflexive, predictable reflex of the left here just as it was during the right during the obama administration. >> right. lou: how does the russia collusion fake news story as president trump calls it, how does it resolve when you have an investigative agency that seems to be taking forever to do anything, whether it's the investigation of clinton e-mails, whether it is the investigation of the interference of russia in our elections and there's no general acknowledgment of the fact that russia tries to interfere in all of our presidential elections, and has for 40 years. >> oh, yeah, yesterday we heard several times james clapper say it's been going on since the '60s, they've just gotten better at it. to answer the short question, i think that byron york said in

the last segment, the first thing donald trump has to do to find a candidate to resore the confidence in the fbi and make the russian-trump controversy be resolved, get the facts on the tabling and then the american public can move forward with more confidence and now, with all the fbi investigations. lou: a quick last word. >> donald trump continues to prove he's an exceptional leader. he made a great call today, we need to restore trust in our highest echelons of government and that starts with the fbi. lou: adriana, thanks for being mere and john, stallwart in television. the call for a special prosecutor in the russian probe. and barbara smith and bill gavin are back to weigh in on

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>> back with me now, barbara smith and bill gavin. bill and barbara, i want it 0 ask you both this question. is there any reason in the world, i know everyone

reflexively wants to do this, whether republican or democrat in the white house, i just can't imagine why any president would go to a special counsel, irrespective of the demands from the opposing party. barbara, can you think of any reason? >> my reflexive answer would be whether the president is a democrat or a republican they should not do that precisely because the constitution is set up to give the president and the president alone all executive power in article 2, if you have, quote, independent special prosecutor who is charged with exercising executive power, but isn't accountable to the president that strikes me as fundamentally unconstitutional and that's one of the justice scalia's defense, he said that in the defense. lou: i like your idea of reflexive. if the country was we'd be well thought out. bill, your thoughts. >> i agree with barbara, it's a bad idea to have a special

prosecutor in a case like this. you have to rely on e integry of the investigative institution that's conducting the probe and having somebody that usurps the constitutional powers of the president makes as much sense to me as some of chuck schumer's ramblings. lou: i want to, if i may, touch on other things, the director of the national security agency nsa. admiral mike rogers testifying, saying that he has doubts that there is any collusion between the trump administration and the russians and that the russian hackers really wanted him to win. yet, that is precisely the opposite of what people were suggesting from the intelligence community. he said that at best, he-- the agency, nsa, would have

only moderate confidence that the russians wanted him. it's interesting to see the man who is in charge talk about the ambiguity and difficulty coming up with an assessment when the partisans are testifying on capitol hill. barbara first you. >> i think you're right, lou. it's a tough question and politically sensitive and i think made more so by the public can never know all the facts given that many are 0 and should be classified and i think that underscores the importance of president trump with a nominee to replace james comey that's ethical. that the public has confidence that the results are reached fairly. what do you think, bill? >> i think we-- where he sits, lou, he has a set of earmuffs on and hears things that you and i don't

hear and probably will never hear. it shades his opinion on what happened versus the pe of what happened really is. lou: and we hear yates and clapper testifying both saying they never leaked information, but we can't hear or see those things that they have on their head phones that you referred to, bill. she said nothing new as the president said in a tweet. clapper really has said, offered nothing new. he reiterated that there is no evidence of collusion between a russian and trump. is it reasonable for us to assume that at some point we're going to have a definitive answer or is it more likely we should assume that this is just going to, at some point, fritter away and dissipate into the ether and that will be the end of the investigation? bill? >> i think, lou, you probably hit the nail on the head. that there might be some

definitive information come out in the future, but i think there's a lot of hope that it will just disappear into the ethernet. hopefully it doesn't, but it may very well do that. lou: barbara, very quickly, again, we're finding out, as a result of circa news is reporting, talking about 30,000 requests for information on american citizens who have been surveilled, but we know that 5300 resulted in the unmasking of those folks who were then shared, their identity shared across the government. this is not what was contemplated by the office of the legislation and it is certainly not the deal that we thought we had made with our intelligence agencies and particularly with the obama administrationhich clearly increased its unmasking by-- from hundreds to thousands by the time they left office.

>> and it is, i think, at the end of the day a political issue, if congress were interested in solving some of those issues with the legislation, i would hope it would weigh in and find a compromise between the president and both of the branches. lou: bill. >> i agree, it's a very difficult set of circumstances right now, 30,000, lou, is just way out of line and nobody should know all of that information, should never be released and hopefully, out of this whole thing, out of this investigation, somebody finally goes to jail. lou: wouldn't that be a thought? >> that would be original. lou: accountability in washington particularly in our intelligence community. barbara smith, and bill, thank you for being with us. we appreciate it. >> our pleasure. >> thank you. lou: up next, senior justice department officials concluding that fbi director comey had violated justice department principles, procedures,

regulations and standards, as we learn more about what happened. former assistant director of the fbi, r ron hosco, whether he agrees with all of that next. stay with us. is there an elk in your bed?

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lou: the big story of the day, the evening and for some time the firing by the president of the united states of the former director of the fbi, james comey

be. joining me now former assistant director of the fbi president of the law enforcement legal defense fund rob. >> host: and senior fellow at the london center for policy research lieutenant colonel tony schaefer. thank you both for being with us this evening. your reaction's ron to the firing of comey. we are asking our audience in our question on the broadcast do you believe the firing was long overdue? i know there are mixed views on this. what are yours? >> i think, i can't say even though i'm surprised at how this played out today the suddenness of it, i thought this direct or was trying to walk this almost unwatchable tightrope that balances with the fbi's important work is and battling the political forces in washington d.c. almost in an

untenable situation. i view it as going back to the clinton investigation the original sin was hillary clinton's's original sin but i know others view it as jim comey's original sin what he said last july the fifth and i think there is you know in fairness to that view he certainly went far beyond what normal investigative procedures and protocols would have been but you have to look at the circumstances. lou: difficult circumstances no question that the circumstances he made are more difficult by taking far more as rod rosenstein the deputy attorney general points out, he violated so many principles, so many standards and traditions of the fbi with his conduct and his discussion in public of the investigation. it's almost as if he forgot he

was an investigator first and foremost. >> usually the bureau opts for silence. it is frustrating particularly now when we are so driven by social media activity. there is a desire within the organization to respond to false reports embed reports and i think that was one of the forces for his response in july. his fear, because it was whipping around washington d.c. and probably around the country at that time, the concern that when loretta lynch met with bill clinton on that tarmac on her plane that was going to cast the entire investigation under a shadow of politics as usual. i think that the director and i've heard this in the past, felt like he had to talk to that for the credibility of the f. ei. today with 20/20 hindsight that looks like it may been a mistake.

know that there are some in our country who believe with all their heart that anything that the clintons touch corrodes and here may be another example of that where comey's badge corroded and fell off of him today. i will tell you this, i worked with jim comey. under me were tenses of thousands of criminal cases. jim comey is a straight arrow. he would never come into my office and say hey ron hears like that -- here's how i'd like this case to come out. he is as straight as you would find him and i believe jim comey slept well in the last months believing in his mind he did the right thing. lou: well as you say he may have believed it didn't into his heart and soul but the fact is the attorney general and the deputy attorney general pointed out what he did was violate so many of the regulations and

standards, it's beyond comprehension at least to me. colonel what about you? what do you think? >> a couple of things i picked up on in the last few days. james comey had no idea this review was going on and that his future was at stake. you and i talked last friday evening about the core issues that have been left out. i look -- i think a loss of confidence was not only public, think some of the internal issues and i've talked to my friends in the fbi and he's things up in that organization by his war i would sayacky decisions. maybe in his mind they were clear. they were not clear to the workforce and let's be clear i don't think his testimony helped them one iota. i think that sally yates disclosures didn't help him. i think that was the straw that put the football across the finish line if you will to mix a

bunch of metaphors there. i think that was it and mr. trump was presented with key critical facts relating to the internal light external issues and president trump made the very appropriate decision that i think most americans are now very much supportive of. lou: let me ask you what you meant by the yates testimony. which testimony are you referring to? >> sally yates this past week talked about the michael flynn issue. remember lou with all this to going on with what mike flynn has done under comey and one of the issues which in my mind is first and foremost is who all have that information available? somehow beyond a shadow of a doubt that information ended up in "the news york times" and on the "washington post." that happened on james comey's watch so sally yates admitted that as a part of what she was doing for james comey. he didn't help james comey and this is something that does

require a full and complete investigation. admiral rogers said today clearly in his testimony that the fbi has far more admission on citizens than they do at nsa. all the roads lead back to the fbi which clearly compromised capability. lou: your thoughts awe, ron? >> i think the fbi should have more information u.s. citizens than does the nsa. the nsa is supposed to be pointed outward, not in word and it's this incidental collection on americans that may trigger fbi investigation that the fbi is the lead federal domestic agency. as i said earlier there were somewhere between 50 and 60,000 criminal cases under my purview when i was the assistant director they are. that's helped like a lot of cases. that's a lot of americans but there's a lot of crime in america and the fbi's domestic investigation agency. sin nobody's disputing the idea that it happened. someone leaked it, that's what's

not will being looked at appropriately. >> i would disagree with live looked inappropriately. let me say this. this is part of my frustration minus a citizen as well as yours. i would like these questions answered yesterday as well but these investigation or take really if you are the determined leaker and not picking up your cell phone and calling the "washington post" and the calls are tracked back to at you at a time and place these could be complicated litigation's and they could take weeks, months or years. >> a handful of people have this information. it's not that hard. >> i hope they are going full speed ahead everybody you had have it. that's my ultimate hope here is that the fbi will uncover the truth no matter what it is, if it hurts the republicans are the democrats. the goal of the organization is to find the truth, grill the right people, get to the truth exposing and hopefully the truth

is in the political narrative of d.c.. lou: tony, you get the last word. >> the bottom line is i agree with that. we need to get to the bottom line quickly but i know how these operations are run. i've had access to information grade a handful of people thane would have access to the information where does. those are being scrutinized in every which way right now. i don't believe james comey was doing that. someone better come in and do it lou: thanks very much. appreciate you both being with us. thank you for your thoughts break up next president trump wiring director comey former director comey. it was a surprise decision within the bureau. white house press secretary sean spicer has an explanation for it all. he joins us here next. the trump administration tuesday in a paris climate agreement. we will be taking all of that up. stay with us, here we go. we will be right back.

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lou: amongst the many decisions that president trump must make, he is weighing whether to stay in the paris climate agreement. former president obama meddling in the issue of horse earlier today that he was giving his speech at milan.

>> what comes to climate change that hour is almost upon us. if we act boldly and swiftly, it if we set aside our parochial interests in favor of the air that are young people will breathe in the food they will eat and if we think of their hopes and dreams it won't be too late. lou: by the way people who count such things, the former president in that speech spoke of himself, 216 times. we think that maybe close to a record for the former president, in the first person reference but we are checking on that scale. 216, pretty energetic expression of the first president in any speech. my next guest says the former president is trying to stick the united states with another bad deal and president trump has to deliver on his promise to quit the paris climate agreement.

joining us tonight anaïs chris horner senior fellow of the competitive center -- enterprise institute. great to have you with us and let me ask you this because at this point how winding is th agreement? we are hearing that there are all sorts of legal ramifications if president trump withdraws from something that's not entirely clear we ever entered. >> there are no legal ramifications or remedies if the president keeps his promise to cancel u.s. participation in this deal. i sympathize with the confusion over the mixed messages. the "washington post" said that voluntary tuesday into the terms don't mean anything. you guys do it you want but ultimately it's the most important agreement since nato. if you want to know which one is the untrue position you can just look at the furious campaign including the resistance and the

swamp to make sure president trump works as promised. the kyoto treaty wasn't legally binding. npr if you look it up said it's not only rhetorically, they don't claim to be legally binding and they generally don't claim to be treaties. this is a treaty. lou: it is a treaty. it has never been voted upon so there's really nothing to leave, is there? >> well, there is and it does get all bound up at all of these agreements were -- lou: wait a minute chris. he just went there great explanation of all the disinformation out here yet an agreement that is a treaty that hasn't been voted upon still must call for our withdrawal from it. i sympathize with the position you are and that we have got to get to the essence of this one. >> precisely. remember and this is considered impolite to raise that there's a shared goal of the treaty making process for the senate. doesn't just exist at the pleasure of a executive.

lou: i assure you the audience of this broadcast understands the constitution and the political reality. >> for example we take supreme court justice approval seriously and it's just a mere majority vote. the founding fathers did not expect the senate to not be able to protect its own prerogatives with a two-thirds supermajority. that wasn't code to just ignore. this here is a treaty, why don't you u.s. senate do what every country in the world is done including the french, the warned us not to let our senate have a at it. all of these countries is that it would be undemocratic if we let our people represent -- lou: let me ask you this, we are not voting on a treaty and we are not found on it as a treaty. what are the wee withdrawing from? >> look at the 9th circuit. essentially if you look at --

president trump and the administration and the public when the legal risk him home to roost with the absolute impediment to president trump's agenda in the clinical causes for breaking this weight against the industry lobby. lou: forgive me, i do not understand the entry of the 9th circuit court into withdrawal from the treaty. we haven't signed nor have we voted on it. >> well it's the 9th circuit by the won't be limit theorem for the climate ito attorneys general who wanted to pursue -- the mac i'm sorry, i'm up to so i do need you to slow down just a bit. we have not signed a treaty on the paris agreement, agreed? >> we cited them a claim to accept it. while all of these other countries even the european parliament voted to ratify this treaty there are countries where the executive team did into

existence. i'm referring to the united states and north korea that very few others. when the courts get ahold of it when president trump tries to roll back for example the epa rolls the courts are going to say the ep roe expressly says it's intertwined with this treaty. there is tremendous legal riskier. their attorneys general who said they are going to sue to make the paris promise a reality. it's not really binding, if the legal risk. president trump made the calculation and he needs to keep that promise. lou: with that, thanks. come back and i will assure you i will have a much clearer understanding of it all. >> and it will be resolved by. lou: i hope so too. up next we are going to the white house for reaction to the former at vi directors firing. white house secretary sean spicer joins us here next. stay with us. we will be right back.

lou: joining us white house press secretary sean spicer. thank you for being with us. i know it's a long day but quickly, has this been, this research and this consideration the firing of director comey hasn't been underway for some time? >> bobby laid out for you. the fbi director reports to the attorney general. he was confirmed by the senate

on april 252 weeks ago by a vote of 94-6 ls earned bipartisan support and served as the u.s. attorney under president obama. he has been around the department of justice has been mentioned for 30 years. lou: the longest-serving u.s. attorney. >> he made a determination that the fbi director lost his confidence made a recommendation to the attorney general and the attorney general concurred with that and forwarded the letter to the president and terminated the attorney general, the fbi director's position at the fbi. lou: he was restoring public confidence in the fbi. the first requisite was the firing of james comey to reach that goal. the second will be what?

is there a readily available candidate in the opinion of the president to replace comey? >> by default the deputy director becomes the acting director. the president as he said in the letter tonight began the serving process and that was offered immediately. the goal is to act on the recommendation of the deputy attorney general and the attorney general to restore confidence in the fbi. lou: and as i go through all of the memoranda, the letter of the attorney general, the memorandum from rod rosenstein, it's all pertained to the handling by the director of the investigation of the clinton e-mails. why do we presume that this clears the way for a reopening of the investigation into the hillary clinton e-mail by the fbi? >> it would be improper for me to comment on any investigations

ongoing with respect to mrs. clinton in the e-mail. that's up to the fbi and the department of justice to determine. what i can tell you is the president would get to these recommendations are made a decision to accept their conclusion and to remove director comey and we begin that restoration of confidence in leadership. as deputy attorney general rosenstein laid out in a three-page memorandum there was a loss of confidence in director comey and the men and women who ably serve the fbi. lou: an extraordinary document that memorandum by the deputy attorney general and that he had obviously had his previous attorneys general directors of the fbi and deputy attorneys general and brought that into what turned out to be a prosecutorial document that resulted in his firing. >> right and no one can question

rod rosenstein's credentials. he is someone who was confirmed 94-6 and one of the longest-serving u.s. attorneys. his position should be welcomed by democrats even chuck schumer who lost confidence in direct your call me. lou: thank you, sir. good night. kennedy: republicans want to tackle tax reform. should they knock out the tax bearing man within knockout it? a game plan to fight off a potential elizabeth warren challenge in 2020. chris tells us that they are getting ahead of themselves plus is self-driving technology good or bad for uber? we will debate. hop on in. we are going for ride. with the republican party in disarray who needs democrats to oppose new ideas and legislation? republicans still have a very tough road ahead on health care which at this point is starting to resemble a funeral