overthrowing the constitutional order. our advice, don't panic. we will all be here tomorrow. that's it for us. you're watching the former fbi director takeoff from lax. the five is next. we'll see you >> this is a fox news alert. i am dana perino and this is "the five." president trump fires james comey. the only second time in history that the president has fired the head of the bureau. he was supposed to attend an event tonight, but boarded a flight moments ago. comey was dismissed about comments he made this last year during the hillary clinton email investigation. >> they do not know what i'm about to say. although there is evidence of potential violations with the

statutes regarding classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor was bring such a case. >> kimberly, this is big breaking news today. really unexpected. really unexpected for james comey who was apparently doing an fbi recruitment event and didn't know about it until he saw on the screens in the back of the room that he had been fired. >> can you imagine? and this happened in los angele los angeles. following the motorcade that they believed to be former director of the fbi comey, that is a picture of the plane taking off. >> the live action shot of a plain, america. >> you only get that here. >> that is not stock photography. it's a real plane. >> obviously he didn't make his speech but the clip that you displayed, dana, that is the crux of this. a career prosecutor, you don't

make that judgment if you are the investigator and tell the prosecutor what to do. he should have allowed that to go straight to loretta lynch without the interference of his personal -- that is where this started to really unravel for him. >> joining us now is john roberts. john, catch us up on the day. where were you when you heard the news? >> dana, you know this all too well. when there is nothing on the schedule, that is when you have to be prepared for something big to happen. i had gone earlier there today like you want planning a press conference, right? that's when you have to get your antenna up. i guess it was 5:40 in the afternoon. for the very last time, he is heading back to washington from los angeles. we are told by white house officials that this really was

the work of rod rosenstein who is the deputy attorney general. he came into the job after being confirmed by a vote of 94-6, not quite unanimous but obviously a lot of democratic support and a started reviewing this case and assessing the situation. he had some concerns about all of this prior to taking over as it deputy attorney general. he thought comey acted absolutely improperly about what he said in that hour-long press conference about hillary clinton in july of last year. that she had classified emails on her server, that she shouldn't have done it but at the same time -- he didn't think that it warranted pressing charges. rod rosenstein said at that point, comey really had usurped the authority of loretta lynch. would it really buried comey was what he said last week in testimony in front of the senate

judiciary committee where he alluded to the fact that when he heard bill clinton had that tarmac interlude with the attorney general, that he needed to act because he thought he would be accused of covering something up had he not come forward. but what rosenstein found was he overstepped all balance appeared at the director of the fbi could only do something like that when they have special permission to do it. she had lost confidence in comey's ability to run the fbi. you could make a case that president trump has not been happy with comey, going all the way back to the fifth of july when he railed against his decision not to press charges against hillary clinton. comey did seem to redeem himself and the president's eyes. when he said he was going to reopen the investigation, he saw the warm handshake. the pat on the shoulder and whisper of the ear in january.

the two of them seem to be getting along but i think it's safe to say all along, this president has been awfully skeptical of the fbi director and his ability to lead the fbi and certainly at least in the eyes of the president. the white house pointed simply to the deputy attorney general, the director of the fbi's immediate superior to say it was rod rosenstein that lost confidence in comey and decided it was best that he be replaced at the fbi. the attorney general jeff sessions -- fired him on the spot late this afternoon. >> we are going to take it around the table here will be have you. jesse watters. >> the ax fell pretty swiftly on comey and everyone is whipping around like what happened? is this trump, the businessman -- you are fired, get a new guy in there and forget about the consequences versus how this would usually roll out in a situation where

they do this smoothly over the course of a week or two? with leaks and then plan it out and have it be more executed? do you see any positives or negatives with the kind of swift, decisive personnel action the president took here? >> i am a fan of that series, spartacus, on netflix. a lot of heads get chopped off on that show. that's exactly what happened today to the fbi director. this came as a shock to literally everyone including the fbi director. i know the president made a couple of courtesy calls. one to senator schumer and one to senator graham about 10 minutes before the ax fell on the director but i think, jesse, the president handled it in much the same way that he handles a lot of his business dealings. when you have someone who you don't have confidence in, they have to go. i don't necessarily know that the fbi director is going to be

replaced swiftly. i'm sure he there is some people in mind. the acting director, andrew mccabe will be there for the time being. andrew mccabe it may have sandbagged the white house chief of staff in the early days of this administration when he said hey, that story? we are telling you that that didn't happen. that suddenly became public. reince priebus looked pretty bad in public. i think the president will take some time toon for this job. >> juan williams? >> john, i am curious about the reaction coming from capitol hill to the white house. schumer -- he said he told president trump this is a mistake. and subsequent to that, we have heard from bob casey of pennsylvania, this is nixonian. a saturday night massacre.

richard blumenthal of connecticut says the legal system is being threatened and even republicans, john mccain of arizona saying he regrets this and we see from the chairman of the intelligence community that he is troubled by this. at the question, is it likely no.to insulate the white house, he will support an independent inquiry into the russian probe? >> i think the president is very comfortable where that investigation lies, it lies with the deputy attorney general. i don't think there'll be any great call here to have a special prosecutor look into that. let's also look at some of the statements coming from democrats on capitol hill, juan. it was 14 days ago, senator schumer said rod rosenstein was a guy who has proven himself to be a man of integrity. he said he had lost confidence in james comey, to turn around

and save this shouldn't have happened when you praise a guy that made the recommendation and you have denigrated the guy who fell in the act. i think some democrats are in a little bit shaky ground criticizing the president for this action. you wouldn't have found many democrats on october 28th calling for james comey's tenure at the fbi to be extended for its full term. >> i agree with you, did the president then use what happened last week -- when comey misstated or outright deceived the congress about the investigation into the emails, especially with regard to emails that huma abedin had been formulating forwarding to her husband's computer -- did the president you sat down as a convenient excuse? the president has been highly critical -- trump tweeted just a week ago, comey became a bad

pass and it said the russian-trump collusion was a total hoax. i mean, even to fox -- he has told maria bartiromo that hillary clinton was guilty on every charge and that comey let her go free. is this a case that you think possibly trump just used what happened last week as an excuse to dump a guy he wanted out? >> i talked about this a couple of hours ago, juan, you could make a solid case to say trump may have had it out for jim comey since july of last year. but he can make it look right until he had comey's boss in place to fire comey. i am being told that's not the case. this was rod rosenstein but i think some people who want to believe a little more in the conspiracy theory end of things or are maybe being per matt dominic pragmatic about the whole thing set he's had it

in for comey for a long time. this was the opportunity to do it and do it right with a lot of political cover. >> greg gutfeld. >> if he writes a book, it should be called "you don't know me" by james comey. he is kind of like a nuisance needle. he injected himself into everything and he made it worse. he treated his job as if he were on a tv series. every moment was a dramatic moment. his job should have been less interesting. he is treated like he was on scandal or house of cards. he would have to make a pronouncement and fuel the life of the spotlight on him. he just kept stepping into it. he was the least surprised --

maybe that is my question, what's he pretty much just expecting this to happen and wake up tomorrow and watch the view? >> maybe he is looking forward to that, finally. perhaps just getting out. crag, nobody can spin a tale like you can. if you go back to what the fbi director set up boston college, it looked like he would take this all the way through until the end of his tenure. but the president made it clear to comey in the letter of termination he said -- while i greatly appreciate you informing me on three separate occasions that i'm not under investigation, i nevertheless concur that you are not able to effectively lead the bureau. basically the president was saying i appreciate the fact that you said favorable things about me and things that will lead people to believe there was no collusion by the trump campaign, with the russia in terms of trying to influence the election, but i'm not going to

allow you to's day when i have people telling me that you are not good for the job. >> that is like what you say before you dump somebody. you know what, we had some great times. it's not you, it's me. >> good luck in your future endeavors. >> remember when we took that road trip in the convertible? love was in the air. that doesn't exist anymore. >> and now we are in the cow pasture. >> is that a job at me? >> absolutely not. it seems to me though that this really was a long time coming. you talk about going back to the election, grounds and reason for president obama to remove him from his position as well and in terms of the recent developments

with respect to his testimony, i think there is ample evidence there that he had mishandled his position and the authority that he was given as director of the fbi. this to me does not, as a surprise that it happened. quite honestly, as a former prosecutor i was expecting it to even happen sooner in terms of it being a problem with the public trust. and someone that really overstepped his bounds and assuming the role essentially as loretta lynch. >> it is not that comey is gone because you can make a case that you should have been fired a long time ago. be immediately back in july. but why now? what did rod rosenstein see that sally yates didn't see when she was the deputy attorney general? if he was going to be fired for what he did, it was such an egregious violation of his position there as director of the fbi, why didn't sally yates

make the recommendation to loretta lynch? would then make the recommendation to president obama? i am still puzzled as to why this happened today. >> maybe we will find out a little bit more. john, could you explain to people -- they may not realize that the attorney -- the fbi director is a political appointee. he or she serves at the pleasure of the president. it is for a tenured term. that's very unique in washington. that is why you see him over the course of three administrations, of course i did not come to pass. >> i believe the head chairman is one of those as well. the normal political appointee, he really wanted to finish out that term as far as we can tell. he expected that he was going t to. i know that the letter of termination was delivered in two

ways. electronically, comey probably got a copy of the electronic letter because he was in los angeles at the time and the president's keith schiller took a copy -- a hard copy over to the fbi earlier today. the president wanted to make sure there was a formal deliver delivery. it may not have come as a surprise to comey. he may have known that his head was on the chopping block but from everything that we can glean since this has happened, this came as the suppressor just about everybody involved. >> it might not have satisfied many in the media but the white house could actually have just said the fbi director served at the pleasure of the president, the president is no longer pleased or just to say we thank him for his service. we appreciate what he has done for the country, we are now nominating a new fbi director in the meantime and until we have a

chance to fact, nominate and confirm a new fbi director -- andrew mccabe will be acting director. using july 5th and hillary clinton piece actually leads to more questions and speculation rather than just saying we have nothing more to say here. >> something else that i found very curious about this was they didn't just fire james comey. they buried him. that letter to attorney general jeff sessions from deputy attorney general, outlined a long litany of horrible's james comey committed. it revolved around hillary clinton, the iron he cannot be deeper than that. they took pains here to make sure they had.at every i and crossed every tea in of ethics, morality, like how this guy

has has to go. they built a case against this guy. that is why i told jesse earlier, they cut his head off. they didn't just fire him. >> they didn't just fire him, they fired him while he was on the road which is the worst thing ever. we have all sorts of sensitive stuff on your desk. you don't even have a chance to get back to your office to get the stuff off your desk or steal the company toilet paper. why couldn't they wait? why did they do it while he was away? >> he is in los angeles. probably thinking to himself, do i get a ride home or will i have to hitchhike? will they lend him the fbi jet to get him back home? anyone who has ever been fired -- go speak out yes. three times. >> you can count me in that one too. particularly painful. what happened, what could i have

done differently? can i get back in and get my orca off the desk? >> good to know. >> orchid, that's what you call it. >> jesse had another question for you. >> i have nothing like that on my desk. i want to make that very clear. i think they could have built a bigger case against comey. it's not just botching the hillary clinton investigation, they gave everyone a immunity in the hillary clinton email thing. besides the huma abedin stuff, it's also tied into the hoax russian dossier too. even looking farther back, they let these russian boston marathon bombers slipped through the cracks. the nightclub bomber in orlando slipped through the cracks. and totally embarrassed themselves after the

san bernardino shooting when they can crack into the iphone and had apple basically pancake them in front of the entire world. this guy's track record under the fbi -- they have great people in the fbi -- hasn't been not stellar. >> but again, jesse, when you look at that long letter from rosenstein, it had nothing to do with any of that. they could have made that case. it would have bolstered their case, made it bigger. >> it was tangential to the matter at hand. i think they thought they were probably on firmer ground. particularly with this being about hillary clinton. for the trump administration to fire the fbi director for his handling of the hillary clinton issue? i mean, regardless of what democrats on capitol hill are saying, that puts you on pretty solid ground legally and morally as well when you are going to take somebody out. like we didn't like the way you handled the trump investigation,

that would not have looked very good but if you are saying we did like the way he looked into the investigation of our opponent, that makes him look pretty good. >> all right, john roberts. thank you so much. we will be checking back with you perhaps. let's go now to our chief intelligence correspondence co, catherine herridge. it live from washington. >> what strikes me as the conversation that nearly a half dozen former fbi agents since the announcement that director comey was fired. but they all said to me is that it blindsided the bureau. there is a deep sense of shock and that the fbi director -- if you had any inkling this was coming, he would have insisted on sending an email to the entire workforce to explain what was going down and as we know now tonight, that is not what happened. they also tell me that he had become a deeply polarizing

figure, especially after the email case last july. they say it's much more about the clinton emails. it goes to the issue of the fbi director coloring outside the lines. he is the preeminent investigator but in that moment in july when he had that statement about the clinton emails and he recommended against criminal charges, he put on this prosecutor's hat which was completely inappropriate, which is what we saw in the letters released by the white house today. they also emphasized to me that throughout the clinton email case, there was a constant tension between the director and some of the agents involved because he personally insisted that they find evidence of criminal intent for the mishandling of classified information. while that always makes the prosecutor's case easier to make in court, it's not required under the statute. again, they felt that he was coloring outside the lines and

not adhering to the law in the way he might, if another person was being pursued by the fbi. >> such a great point. something that is not part of the requisite for proof. again, an example of them overstepping. more questions for you, catherine. we will begin with juan. >> i was thinking about the history here and remembering that bill clinton had fired bill sessions back in 1993. there were some ethical questions. that's the sole case we have of a president firing in fbi director. but that you have the case of bob mueller during the george w. bush years, he threatened to quit unless the secret surveillance program was stopped. as you recall, the white house backed down at that moment. now we have a situation where the president clearly is sending a signal that she feels that despite the political fireworks tonight, tomorrow, around it --

he can do it. i just wonder, from your perspective, the intelligence community is up in arms about what is a pretty bold action by the president -- in the course f being investigated for -- or his aides, and the ties to russia. >> everyone i'm speaking to tonight with about the letter signed by the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein. they have a lot of states in his judgment -- when he took the job and was confirmed in late april, he was tasked with doing a review, a sort of fact-finding mission as to how the emails were handled and if the fbi director really maintained the trust and integrity of the workforce and to lead the preeminent law enforcement agency globally. what we have seen from that letter is that rosenstein did not base it on his opinion, he went to former attorney general

and other senior law enforcement personnel on both sides of the aisle to canvass their opinions. they felt that the fbi director had in fact lost his wife. lost his way. one, the investigation at the justice department into fbi director comey and loretta lynch, the former attorney general and the handling of the clinton emails. the feeling was, the findings would be extremely negative for both. negative for comey, taking on that prosecutorial role and also for loretta lynch, having that conflict. here is why it matters in the most basic sense. i've been told repeatedly that if the united states is separate and distinct from other countries, it's because we are a nation of laws. there's one set of rules for the little guy and the big guy.

but in this particular scenario, we have a situation where the fbi director is badly damaged politically. that is no small thing, if he is the primary investigator. we've also had a situation which people don't like to talk about as much, where we have had to attorney general's, first loretta lynch -- beginning last summer when she took herself out of the clinton email probe and now attorney general jeff sessions who has taken himself out of the russian investigation. if you don't have an attorney general -- i don't say that's politically, i say that's in a neutral way, they are not in complete control of their department. when you take those two factors together, people have said to me -- this is extremely bad for the country. there needed to be some action. >> to think the investigation continues? are the agents saying it will continue? >> everything that has been indicated to me is that the investigation will continue and it may wrap up at some point,

soon this year. but the accusation against the former fbi director -- and this comes mostly from republicans -- is that he has been a slow walking record about the addendum wow americans that are identified or unmasked and providing them to congress. everyone in the intelligence community knows that there's no bigger have a deeper, wider more extensive paper trail than when you unmask or identify an american. it should not take months. it should take weeks -- if not the course of several days. who was unmasked and who made those requests? that has not been provided to congress, based on our reporting. >> jesse has a question. it's become now that he's gone, it might speed up the investigation of the unmasking. they have had a wild ride over there at the department of justice over the last couple months, you've already said that

jeff sessions has to recuse himself. they get caught up in this sanctuary drama. what is the morale like at the department and two people feel they are getting hosed by their superiors? are people keeping their nose to the grindstone? what what is the average guy thinking right now? or girl? >> i can only speak for the half-dozen people. it was very polarized into the pro comey camp and the anti-comey camp. the people that were very concerned about what the succession will be -- we have just confirmed in the last hour that the acting fbi director, will be somebody called andrew mccabe. andrew mccabe is someone who has a lot of baggage and he will bring it to the job. remember back in 2015, andrew mccabe's wife, jill mccabe ran for a state senate seat in

virginia and in the process got $700,000 from virginia democrat democrats. including the governor, terry mcauliffe. long-standing ties to hillary clinton. what bothered the foot soldiers that i know in the bureau is that they felt it was clearly a conflict or at least had the appearance of a conflict. because mccabe was providing resources to the email investigation but not directing it. the fbi concluded it was not a conflict and it was okay because mccabe had a more directing role in the investigation after his wife had lost her state senate race. they said to me, this shows that there was -- the culture was kind of broken. the leadership is not good. there seem to be special rules for director comey and that

senior circle of leadership. that did not go down very well. >> i have a question about what is to come next. director -- or former director fbi comey was supposed to testify on thursday on capitol hill. can he voluntarily do that? what are his plans for that and a broader picture, the fbi has over -- open investigations into isis related things. and in all 50 states. that seems to be a lot more important than anything else we are talking about at the moment. i know that they are able to do their jobs but how does the leadership change affect them and what do you think the white house can do to reassure them that they will have the resources they need to conduct those infinite wow investigations fully? >> this is the annual hearing in the senate and there is also one on on the hillside where they tell

lawmakers what it looks like and that's how they dictate the budget for the following year. i spoke with steven mnuchin ande said the hearing would go forwa. he probably would be called up to the hill fairly soon to explain his side of what happened and if i recall correctly, senator wyden has called for comey to come up to the hill and explain why he thinks he was removed. i think what we will hear from. maintaining the integrity and momentum of these investigation investigations -- what i can say is that the fbi agents were doing the legwork are very serious professionals. and will continue to do that hard work but it would be a lie to think that this kind of dramatic change at the top would

not have some impact at least in the short term. >> greg, you have a question for catherine? >> yes, i do. i remember harry reid, bernie sanders, nancy pelosi -- they all thought comey was rotten and that he should resign. now you watch the democrats and liberal saying well, this is an injustice. this is tyranny. i'm getting the sensation that we may be experience experience longest election hangover ever. by the time they except that donald trump won it, will be 2020, when he is winning reelection. it's all part of this weird psychotic process of people just resenting the idea of the outcome of the election. >> well, i want to throw a big idea out here for you. the gray zone. that is what they call the battle space which is between

conventional warfare. where bad actors like russia go to play when they cannot compete with the united states militarily or economically. on a level playing field. the reason i'm explaining that idea to you is that is exactly what's at play here with russia. this information warfare campaign that has been leveled against the united states and has been successful beyond their wildest dreams. we are almost a year past that height of the election cycle and we are very focused on this. i am not saying this is why director comey is gone but you can see how this kind of campaign has created a lot of distrust in the system, which is exactly the russians want. if i could just give you a personal anecdote about last summer with the fbi director that i had in an exchange with him, i think this eliminates to me a lot about what drove that

decision-making -- how he created a trap for himself in the end. we would have these regular pen and pad sessions with the fbi director every quarter. it was really at the height of the clinton email case. i said to him, mr. director, we have heard from so many clearance holders say that if they had done a fraction of what clinton had done, they would be prosecuted or facing charges or already be in jail. how do you assure the american public that there are not special rules for people he hillary clinton and her aides because of their position and their connections and power? he said he didn't want comment specifically on that case but he responded in an agitated voice saying there were no special rules for anyone under fbi investigation. at the time, i misinterpreted i think what he meant.

i thought you meant that he was under extreme pressure and he wd resisting any influence from the justice department to carve out special rules for the clinton people but as we would eventually learn, it was really special rules across the board in terms of the granting of the immunity deals, allowing witnesses to sit in on those investigations, demanding the agents find criminal intent when the statute does not require that and then unfortunately for director comey, special rules where he felt he could speak publicly about a laundry list of bad acts by hillary clinton one she was never going to be prosecuted and whether you thought she should have been or not, that is not how our system is supposed to work. >> so true. >> excellent reporting. thank you so much. fbi director james comey is out of a job after president trump fired him today

in stunning fashion. in march, comey took the rare step of the closing that the agency was investigating whether or not numbers of resident trumps campaign colluded with russia to influence the 2016 election. here's how democrats are reacting to the days extraordinary news. >> if deputy attorney general rosenstein does not appoint an independent special prosecutor, every american will rightly suspect that the decision to fire director comey was part of a cover-up. >> donald trump doesn't want anyone coming any place close to an active investigation into the relationship between the russians, the trump campaign, and donald trump himself. >> it looks and feels very much like that saturday night massacre when richard nixon fired one attorney general after another when they refused to fire archibald cox was

investigating potentially the president of the united states. >> joining us now is bret baier. you see him on special report every night. so, bret, i am shocked with the speed that the communications machine wrapped up this narrative. this was nixonian and they needed a special prosecutor. how would you assess the republicans narrative after this swift firing? >> jesse, first of all, i think the democrats probably had that email ready to go. waiting for the moment. as far as the direct connection to the nixon, playing the role of james rosen here -- nixon did not fire the fbi director. as was mentioned, he fired u.s. attorneys. this is a completely different -- it's apples and oranges if you look at the

specifics. the republican and trump administration reaction has been interesting. rod rosenstein had been approved by the senate -- moved into his job and was given the task of reviewing the way the fbi was being handled. and came back with his detailed letter which was attached to the letter donald trump put out, announcing the firing. presenting time the that. i think there's a lot of focus on timing here. if it had happened earlier, i think it is tied to rosenstein and this review. >> dana? >> so, bret, we've been talking about how comey basically crossed his own redline. going from investigator to process oriole decision he made on july 5th. once he stepped out of his

normal role, he can control anything else. with the october decision to reveal there were more emails that were found and at least two additional hearings on capitol hill. then you have a situation where -- they just showed footage. public support by president trump at the white house, now this firing. you have covered jim comey for over three administrations now. he is not one that necessarily will go quietly into the night. what you expect from him in terms of defending his honor when he returns to washington? >> great question, dana. he was scheduled to testify on thursday in an open hearing. who knows. maybe he will get called up still to testify in one of these hearings. i think you are right, fbi -- some of them, the agents, the officials at the top said that

jim comey was in a tough spot. he was put there by loretta lynch when she left the attorney general at the time with president clinton on that tarmac on the private plane in arizona. when that happened, his avenues about what choices he had about coming forward our own or not, as he explained in the recent hearing on capitol hill, were kind of limited. some of the fbi say he was boxed into a corner. others say he went too far. he was over his skis in a way he dealt with it. it's outside the way the fbi deals with that. if you look at all of the letters that were put out by the trump administration tonight, they make the clay case that is tough to read all that and go back to trump praising comey about how he handled the email investigation. and that he was a welcomed member of the investigation. it's worth pointing out that at

at 109 days, you have a president who has hired his national security advisor, essentially moved out and fired the acting attorney general for failing to move forward on an executive order and has now fired the fbi director in addition to firing 46 u.s. attorneys. all of those things are illegal and can happen. it's his discretion. it's just a lot in 109 days. >> may be that is what training the swamp means. kimberly, what do you think? >> just in question in terms of process but i think you bring up a good point, bret. he did need to get this investigation -- the results found by rosenstein -- otherwise people would have questioned, why did it happen before? unless you have that information, and those reports in front of you, he would have been criticized, why did you act like this -- so impulsively without having facts and evidence? it seems like you did follow the

proper protocol and when you added up up altogether, president obama had ample reason to be able to say you know what? we don't have the faith in you as director of fbi. it does all dates back to july 5th. >> you are right. they did want to type anything else. they were making a case. after the inauguration it would be acceptable. now it is obviously getting a lot of attention. there are some feeling at the white house that they were surprised by the blow back across the board -- obviously led by democrats who are anxious to really push forward on this russian investigation. but that one line, that is what jumped out at first. in the president's letter, while i greatly appreciate you informing me on three separate occasions that i am not under investigation -- he wanted to say it's not about me. it stuck out like a sore thumb. >> that is what you call a

pre-buttal. >> you are enjoying a commercial free five. i just want to remind the american people that. do you want a free mortgage? they don't pay me to ask questions, bret. i have a theory -- that this is a reaction against comey, over his helping hillary, you could argue the opposite that comey got trump elected because by not bringing up charges against hillary, she would not -- if he had brought up charges, they would have replaced her with a viable candidate. you might have a president biden or a president winfrey in terms of president trump. >> or bernie. >> they allowed the least popular candidate in history to go up against president trump. is that a "yes" or "no" in

theory? >> that's a dangerous question. she blames herself in part james comey and not only the first letter but the second letter that comes out and says there'sy weiner emails that are in the laptop, the clinton camp believed that fired up trump voters even more saying see, we told you. it was all establishment in the bag. what is also ironic is that some of these very senators, putting out these scathing statements tonight or are the same ones tt called for call me to step down when the whole thing exploded the first time. >> juan williams. >> bret, i wanted take you into some of the backstabbing going on right now in washington. you had people last week in washington asked jim comey saying, what about these leaks? why are there so many leaks. leaks that went to former mayor

rudy giuliani, toward the end of the campaign. if you recall rudy giuliani saying we have big surprises. big stuff coming. you have people like the former fbi deputy director saying here on fox, oh, my gosh, we have got something huge coming. agents are furious at jim comey. and now you have jim comey, caught in a situation where he is saying we will investigate these leaks to pat lahey last week. we will find out who is talking and telling people that something was coming 11 days before an american election. he says the election made him mildly nauseous and he was going to find those leaks. this is what we are into now, a backstabbing crossfire environment around the fbi, that could damage the credibility of the agency going forward. >> yes. if you think there are leaks now or were -- they are going to come forward now and give the

side of the people of the inside of the fbi and their perceptions of things. i will say a couple of things. when asked and pressed about the unmasking investigation and whether they were going forward with that, there is not a real answer there because he said there were classified things involved. there was a frustration up on capitol hill that perhaps comey and other officials were dragged into that and there was speculation that somehow comey, who was one of the people who could unmask names, somehow knew something about all of that. who knows what comes out of that hole unmasking investigation? that is also part of that narrative. you're going to start to see or hear perspective of inside the fbi. i should point out, while i have been talking, we just got to sources that say there have bees

investigation -- issued, federal prosecutors issuing grand jury subpoenas to associates of michael flynn, an essay. they are trying to get some records but the fact that there are subpoenas being issued, it takes it to a different level of that investigation. >> the fact that you have that breaking news conference what you were just talking about. the leaks have only just begun. >> exactly. we are not alone in reporting this but coming from several sources, inside and outside. >> bret, specifically, that it's business records of associates of michael flynn as it relates to the russian investigation. >> exactly. there are multiple prongs of this investigation that we don't really know, where exactly they are all going. i think we will have a better sense of that. the administration, the

president is adamant that there are no ties. his lawyers being sent to lindsey graham, saying there are no russian business ties from donald trump. >> thanks, bret. there will be a live edition of special report. he will be smashing. the comey firing is dominating the news coverage today. there's a lot of reaction. take a look. >> this is an extraordinary moment in american history. >> you bet it is, it's a grotesque abuse of power by the president of the united states. this is the kind of thing that goes on in nondemocracies. when there is an investigation that reaches near the president of united states or the leader of a nondemocracy, they fire the people who are in charge of the investigation. >> this is a president using his power to prevent himself being thrown under the justice system we all have to deal with.

he fires the investigator. a little whiff of fascism tonight. a little whiff of i don't care about the law, i am the boss. >> the timing now looks like it's connected to russia no matter what the president says. this is when it will become a political hot potato. >> whiff of fascism was the name of my metal band in the '90s. >> dana, do you have any thoughts on this? >> chris matthews never fails t to -- >> chris matthews himself. >> it's got a with. >> they go together. [laughter] >> this is big breaking news. the white house knew it. they did this thing today where there is nothing on the president schedule, john roberts reported earlier that that's always a little suspicious. they dropped it at five: 40:00 p.m. it would be on all the lead

networks. i kind of admired the tactic, they will have to answer a lot of questions on defense but they want on offense and covered it on network news. we are covering it. i think everyone can maybe take it down a notch. >> we are cable. we don't take anything down a notch. we put more notches above it. >> get on your ladder. >> hey, jesse, could this have been a distraction -- maybe this was a distraction against the hearings, he decided to pull the trigger now? >> distraction against what specifically? i thought that was a pretty big win for the president and his party. i think he just pulled the trigger and let the chips fall where they may. comey was obviously corrupt and

they didn't trust him. listen, a lot of people believe that it comey is corrupt individual because anybody that wasn't named clinton would have been indicted. everybody looks at that and says this is why the system is raked and this is why we don't trust these people. >> i can understand you saying incompetent but corrupt? >> i think he's incompetent too. he passed a number of investigations. trump comes in to train the swamp. he cans comey. he's done. he did not have the confidence of both parties. the democrats or the republican republicans. the integrity of the fbi is preeminent. you have to obviously salvage something out of it. you've got to get a guy in there now that it's going to go after both parties. >> or a woman. >> or women.

>> why do we have to use any kind of gender? >> let's address that, greg. i will steer clear of gender and anything that has to do with that. we get some guy or girl in their they can do the job and drain the swamp and go after public corruption. not only do you have to take on these terror investigations, go after public corruption. that will rally the american people. supporting the new director. >> do you think, jesse, that firing three and a half months later can dream drain the swam? >> president obama canned three defense attorneys. >> they resigned. because they disagreed with the president. >> all right, okay okay. everybody leaves the swamp. [laughter] >> unless you work for goldman sachs. >> somebody rolled on my pillow commercial. [laughter]

>> thoughts on the media and how they are attacking this? it's a big story but is it as life-changing as he suggests? >> all the legal cases since we have covered -- this is a significant news story. it should be covered and given adequate attention for sure. there are a number number of investigations going on. i think the president handled it right in terms of waiting to get a result of an investigation and a review from rosen rosenstein. he could've removed the one line, to make it a little bit clearer. spicer or huckabee -- the president appreciates the result of the investigation, there's new no evidence of wrongdoing on behalf of the president president.

despite the president made that decision. leave the letter clean. he's president of the united states. this is well within his discretion to do. if he felt that he could no longer -- we will hear more about reasons behind it. he can no longer serve with confidence to have the trust of the american public, then he is compelled to do that. i have no quarrel with the decision he made. he could have been made sooner. when director comey put himself in the role of attorney general loretta lynch. as a prosecutor, that is her decision whether or not to file or bring charges against hillary clinton or anyone associated with her. it's not the decision of the fbi director. >> hang on, just a second. >> you can answer. i've a question. i was going to ask -- how do you feel when donald trump appoints sheriff clark to replace

mr. comey? >> i would be absolutely appalled. i want to pick up on something kimberly was talking about. rosenstein comes out today and it says basically that democrats and republicans have lost faith in this fbi director because of his actions. for very different reasons. republicans obviously saying you should have recommended an indictment of hillary clinton because you lay down a laundry list of things that she was guilty of committing some crime and then decides no, we are not going forth. democrats see him as influencing the election. and fbi policy as stated by loretta lynch, don't impact an election. comey last week confessed that i felt mildly nauseous at the idea i might be impacting an electio election. it wasn't catastrophic to conceal the fact that the investigation was now looking

into the letters that were being put on anthony weiner's server. right? the fact is, this man violated the policy, democrats -- they worn him out. when does president trump act? the democrats won act because they feared it would be seen as a political action help hillary clinton. trump acts in the midst of this investigation as things are getting hot with mike flynn, as things are getting hot with carter page, things are increasingly apparent -- subpoenas, grand jury investigations, increasing pressure on trump leading potentially towards impeachment. >> is only getting hot in the mainstream media, juan. i do think there's a lot of corruption swirling around come comey. he handed out immunity like candy during this investigation of the clinton email investigation. he let her invest wow associates

destroy their own can produce. he did not investigate the clinton foundation. >> oh, my god. come on. >> he knew what she did was criminal but he didn't indict her because she didn't have criminal intent. that was not in the statute. this dossier about what's going on in russia was connected to an fbi agent. there's a lot of doubt and corruption swirling around this guy. the kind of blow it off as this is circumstantial, this guy has to go. >> did he have to go at this moment? so convenient to trump in terms of -- >> i think you're being very irresponsible. you could say incompetent or a lack of judgment, but saying corruption -- you are saying he's doing it for his own gain. when actually, democrats think he actually -- >> ethics and politics.

i can point to specific examples of incompetence too. they did not look at these russians that came in and bombed the the boston marathon. they interviewed the guy at the nightclub in orlando. >> that's an example of corruption? >> i artie listen to the whole thing about corruption. that's why you had to get the guy. i don't see why you are defending james comey. >> okay, jesse. it looked. we should be respectful of people who have dedicated their life to public service. >> oh, yeah. >> she has spent many hours of his life not doing anything else -- working at a law firm, the fact that the president decided to remove him is within the president's discussion but i don't think we need to trash his reputation by suggesting corruption. maybe it is incompetence but corruption would actually say or mean that he had some sort of

gain out of this. >> i am not trashing his reputation. >> you are not? >> you just spent 5 minutes doing that. >> i would say half of it is nonfactual. >> you are the definition of fake news. >> the last sentence in the letter by trump, when he said to call me i wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors -- that is like a rejection letter you get when you submit an article to a flight magazine. you know? not that i would know... >> have you done that? >> i'm not saying that i didn't not do it. whenever they wish you luck on your future endeavors, that means we will never be speaking to you again. >> let's hope in terms of the seriousness of it, some trust is restored because there is going to be pressure now for an independent investigation. we will see where it goes. i think of her but he wants is to get settled. >> the investigation is going to

continue whether or not director comey is in place. >> we had the breaking news about the grand jury. that's it for us. >> happy birthday, dana. >> a special edition of special report with bret baier is on at 11:00. >> sean: think you guys on "the five." welcome to "hannity." president trump fires the fbi director james comey. we will have a full and complete reaction to tonight's big breaking news. it is with the mainstream media will never tell you tonight. newt gingrich, lou dobbs, jay secular, sara carter. kicking comey to the curb. this is the first step in president trump draining the deep state swamp. that's my most important monologue ever. welcome back to speeninetspeeninet een. we will cut through all of the noise. all of the nonsense on this program tonnd