about. thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. that's it for this latest edition of "special report." fair, balanced, and is still unafraid. ♪ >> this is a fox news alert, fbi director james comey has been fired by the president of the united states. goodod evening and welcome to "tucker carlson tonight." his departure came unexpectedly and for a moment we can almost hear official washington posit wondering w which talking points to use. and then the barking began. several democratic senators has already predictably called the as if you're watching something during watergate but you are not. this firing was overdue and everyone in washington knowsec . call me at recently went to class in college and said this about his plan to run the fbi. watch. >> boston college is a leader in thinking and educating on these incredibly important issues. so this is a great place to have it.

hopefully you'll do it many more times. you're stuck with me for about another six and a half years and so i'd love to be invited back again. >> tucker: not true as it turned out. comey repeatedly injects himself in political matters that the chief fbi director should stay out of. he came out against body cams right after president obama endorsed them, effectively undermining the president. the last presidential campaign, he held that famous press conference even though he was simply announcing that the fbi lacked enough evidence to support the criminal case against her. >> although the department of justice makes final decisions on matters like this, we are expressing to justice a review that no charges are appropriate in this case.at i know there will be intense public debate in the wake of this recommendation as there was throughout the investigation. what i can assure the americanan people is that this investigation was done honestly, confidently, and independently.

>> tucker: this spring, comey revealed that the fbi was conducting an investigation between the presidential campaign of donald trump and the state of russia. in the exact same hearing, he refused to say if the fbi wasca investigating illegal anti-trump leaks in the federal government. >> can you assure them that it is going to be investigated? >> i can't, but i hope people watching know how seriously we take leaks of classified, information, but i don't want to confirm it by saying that we are investigating it, and i'm sorry have to draw that line. i just think that's the right way to be.st >> tucker: just a few days agonk meanwhile comey imputed a hillary clinton aide for dramatically exaggerating the number of emails she forwarded to her laptop and that of her husband anthony weiner.ma >> she forwarded hundreds of thousands of emails, some of which contained classified information. >> tucker: at times, both republicans and democrats in washington seemed to appreciate the help that comey gave them

but over time, his behavior was turning the bureau of the fbi into a key political player, and that's the one thing that it is not supposed to be. by the end, it just got strange. over the course of a single conversation, you'd hear democrats praise comey for not indicting hillary clinton, then blame him for her defeat inra november, then turn around again and laud him for his russia investigation in the hopes thatt he'd be able to bring down the president. rarely has there been less principle on display in washington. that's not all jim comey's fault but he definitely didn't help. what this ought to remind us is that ultimately willpower in a democracy resides with the voters. when unaccountable forces, whether at the cia or planned parenthood or exxon or the department of justice in this case start making our biggest public policy decisions, we risk losing our democracy. dictatorship by the unelected, that is the real threat to this country and our traditions. let's be honest. this firing of james comey was overdue and everyone in washington knows that. comey was unfit for the office

he held and the president should have canned him the afternoon of the inauguration, but he didn't. comey was too eccentric to run the fbi and too powerful for any of us to breathe easily while he was there. just how powerful was james comey?s let's put it this way. he was feared in a way that no appointed bureaucrat should ever be feared in a society. time and again, on both sides that came on the show and expressed worry and concern about his behavior, but they did so only during commercial breaks with the cameras off. why?l because they were terrified of the prospect of criticizing him in public. they certainly don't have that fear of the sitting president of the united states.. that tells you everything you need to know about jim comey. for more on the downfall of the fbi director, we're joined today by chief correspondent john roberts. >> good evening to you, tucker, and what we're trying to ascertain at this point is exactly when all of this began. we're told that this really was the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein's call. he was confirmed on april the 25th and upon taking the office,

started reviewing the case and came to the conclusion that he had lost confidence in james t comey. he asked the senior white house officials a while ago was that the first order of business was to review what might be, and don't have confidence in the fbi director, or does this go back a long way before that?he the white house official i talked to didn't know how long that it went back but clearly, this is something that rosenstein has been thinking about. you could take it all the way back to july of last year whense president trump was saying some rather unkind things about comey after he said that hillary clinton should not face prosecution from mishandling her emails, but it does seem to be more recent than that because if you take a look at this picture here, this was shortly after the inauguration. president trump calls james comey, gives him a little bit of a bro hug, a whisper in the ear, a happy handshake. that guy is tall. and james comey seemed to be okay, as he said at boston college he's going to be there for another six and a half years. sean spicer was asked this

afternoon whether or not the president still had confidence in james comey. he hummed a little bit, which was a tad unusual, and said i haven't asked the president about that. if he had asked him, he would've found the president had lost confidence because he sent that letter to james comey this afternoon. one copy was delivered electronically and another one was hand-delivered to the fbi who was the president's longtime chief of security. but he was not there to get it. one other point in that letter, the president said, "i greatly appreciate you informing me on three separate occasions i'm noa under investigation. i nevertheless concur with the judgement of the department of justice that you're not able too effectively lead the bureau." it picked up a lot of people's attention, but i'm told what the president was saying there, even though you said favorable things about me, don't think that that's going to allow you to escape here. you're still fired. >> tucker: apparently that's the case. thanks a lot. former u.s. attorney for the district of columbia. he's been in and around the justice department for an awfully long time and he joins us tonight on the set.

so the outrage machine is at ten in washington.gh some are calling this a coup. put it in perspective for us. >> it happened because james comey should have been fired. he was fbi director and he acted like he was the attorneye general, even the president of the united states. he violated every known rule of theni department of justice abot how an investigator is supposed to conduct himself and for that, you usurped the powers of the attorney general on july 5th 2016 and from there on in, he was no longer able to lead the fbi, and his testimony last week before the senate was viewed by many as so bizarre, so self-indulgent, so self-righteous that many people believe he really lost it and could no longer function as a leader of the fbi and they were absolutely correct. >> tucker: so the statement of last july in the middle of a presidential race is at the heart of what the white house says. >> unequivocally. >> tucker: what was wrong with

that statement exactly? >> when he said that hillary clinton was in fact guilty but that no reasonable prosecutor would prosecute her, and thenso when he misspoke about what the law was of the statute that he alleged she might have violated, he usurped the function of the attorney general. he took the powers that did not belong to him. he was unauthorized to do that. he was out of control and everybody in the department knew it. whatever you may think of loretta lynch, and she was a lowly attorney general by virtue of her conduct, she should have been given the opportunity to make the decision or to delegate it to someone else in the department. james comey had no right to do that. he knew it and everybody else knew it. he interjected himself because he wanted to be a hero. he wanted this to be about james comey. he wanted to save hillary clinton's candidacy. he did it for political and self-aggrandizement reasons. >> tucker: it did seem like there was a lot of -- a lot of the statements that you made, we're not used to seeing that from fbi directors.

have you seen it from an fbi director? >> i have never, ever seen an fbi director behave this way, speak this way, look this way, carry himself this way, just think back in your mind. w can you conceive of j. edgar hoover getting in front on a congressional committee and mouthing the words that james comey mouthed? >> tucker: if you're right that comey is motivated by his grandiose sense of himself, then he is now a free agent. he can do whatever he wants. his contract's been terminated. he's giving a speech tonight in los angeles and if he does,ts we'll take a look, of course. what do you expect him to say about this? >> it's hard to tell because he is so self-centered and so full of himself that god only knows what he's going to say. if he were smart, which i'm sure he is, he would disappear for a while. but i'm not sure he has it in him. what he may do is make common cause with the democrats and try to save his reputation, whatever that is, by making common causee

with that in saying he should w not have been fired.ma how he will be able to do that is to me, i have no idea. >> tucker: that would be an odd posture to take since the democrats have said since the day it happened that his statement about hillary clinton was both unfair and hurt her chances at election, both of which strike me as likely true. how could they join in common cause with him at this point? >> because democrats can do anything. they are not bound by principle. as they say in the business,re u cannot rely on them to think about principle. for them, this is about ann advantage. this is about taking advantage of the situation and more important than anything else, it's important to resist the president, tear him down, and criticize him for this decisions if what you say about democrats is true, if it weren't for double standards, that have nono standards at all. >> tucker: this is going to bring new life into the russia conspiracy. >> among democrats, it will clearly make them enthralled with the idea that the president has done something to protect himself.

>> tucker: i wonder why the president didn't fire this guy from day one. t >> i wondered that myself, but i think the president was feeling the joy and the thrill of being the president of the united states and was magnanimous and thought maybe there was a chance to save this man, but on the way to damascus, killed himself. >> tucker: thanks for joining us tonight.ay a bunch of democrats have been quick to condemn comey's firing despite his role in hillary clinton's misfortune just last year. based on the presidential vote, comey sent a letter to congress quoting, "in connection with an unrelated case, the fbi has learned of an amount of emails that appeared to be pertinent to the investigation into hillary clinton's email server. although the fbi cannot assessto whether this material may be significant and i cannot predict how long it will take us toto complete additional work, i believe is important to update your committees about ourit efforts." he is a democratic strategist and former advisor to the dnc. and he joins us tonight.

i was not a hillary voter, as you know. but i thought and i said so at the time on tv that was one of the most unfair things i've ever seen in public life. accuse someone of misviewing not specifically prevent that person from responding. that's exactly what he did to hillary clinton. with that in mind, why in the world would you support him continuing as fbi director? >> i'm not going to sit here and defend james comey or his actions.s. i don't know how you can sit there and defend the timing of this announcement. the fact that it's happening two days before james comeyne testifies to the senate intelligence committee, the fact that it happened six days after sean spicer was asked if the president has confidence in james comey and he said yes, that it happened several months after donald trump blew james comey a kiss in the oval office, that happened several months

after he said, and i quote, "i was not his fan, but i'll tell you what, what he did, he brought back his reputation. he brought it back." >> tucker: which raises the question -- i don't have tor defend it actually because i i don't work for the white house. i don't know what led to this.. we don't know the whole story yet. i do know and i thought for a long time that he was unsuiteded to be the director of the fbi, that he had too much power and that he wasted it in an irresponsible way. as an american citizen, i'm happy that is not running the fbi. why wouldn't you be happy? >> i'm certainly not going to disagree with you that james comey abused his power. however, the timing of this announcement right now is incredibly suspect, and i'm not the only one who agrees with that. republican senator john mccain saying he's concerned about it. republican congressman just came out and said that he is concerned about it. he is awaiting an independent investigation. senator richard burr, the headad of the senate intelligence committee, the republican head, he said he's concerned. this is not about democrats saying it. this is about republicans and democrats coming together and saying.

this stinks. >> tucker: also at some point, isn't it about the rest of us, the 330 million people who livet in this country and want to make certain that the chief investigator, the most powerful law enforcement agency in the world is sane, sober, predictable, responsible, isn't doing weird things, isn't misusing power? should our first responsibility be demonstrably not? >> why isn't this the concern of trump during the transition? why wasn't this the concern january? why is it happening now? why is it happening today?nn why is it when there is an w investigation that's going on right now into james comey's conduct, why isn't it waiting for the results of that? why is it happening today, twoef days before he goes and speaks before the senate intelligence committee? why is that? can you answer the timing of that? >> tucker: as i said, i have no knowledge of any of that. it's not my job to answer those questions. >> i don't understand. >> tucker: i'm not defending it, i'm applauding it because

clearly this guy was not suited to run the fbi, and i don't think that every decision ought to be filtered through the lens of partisan politics. >> i agree. >> tucker: a guy who has this much power ought to be a trustworthy person. >> i agree, but that's why democrats and republicans arey now condemning this white house for this clear abuse of power. i just named three of them on the uber ride over here, that's what i could find. more of them are coming out. >> tucker: trust me.id i've lived here a long time. i know how intense the hysteria can get. one of my neighbors is calling it a coup a minute ago. >> you were just saying it's just democrats. but it's not. it's republicans too. >> tucker: i'm willing to believe that. my only point is that your first concern always ought to be what's best for the country, not what's best for my team or their team or how does this play in d the midterm elections, but is

this good for the country? >> my concern about this is during the transition. >> tucker: i have no idea. t they ought to have fired him immediately, but they didn't. i'm glad they finally did. so here's my point. are you going to say man, i wish they hadn't fired jim comey? is that your position? >> again, i am certainly not going to sit here and defend jim comey. >> tucker: so you're glad they fired him, but you're upset they fired him. >> i'm questioning, i join senator mccain in questioning the timing of this announcement. >> tucker: that sentence buys you no credibility on this show, let me just say. i like all three of them. that's not the same as making an argument. invoking people's name is not the same as having an argument. >> but your argument was that this is simply a partisan attact by democrats to attack the white house, and i'm saying that that is absolute baloney given the fact that republicans arey now coming out and hitting this white house. >> tucker: all i'm asking is very simple question. are you glad he got fired or not? it's really simple.

>> i have been very vocal in my criticism of james comey. >> tucker: so he shouldn't be running the fbi, but you're mad he's not running the fbi. >> this is nothing to do with whether james comey is good orni not good for the fbi or not. this is about the timing. if the white house was sincere -- >> tucker: you wish they fired him at some other time. >> i wish that we'd have taken action, another appropriate actions at the time. >> tucker: we had a ton of segments about the russian conspiracy and vladimir putin having dinner with ivanka or whatever that conspiracy suggests but tonight, the president of the united states just canned the fbi director and people are wondering if this is good or bad. they're confused, they're legitimately confused. so i'm just trying to get the perspective of a former dnc spokesman when i ask you, do you think jim comey should still be

running the fbi are not? it's a very simple question. >> i am not a fan of jim comey. >> tucker: so you're glad he's fired. >> this move by the white house was to try to kill the russian investigation, nothing more. >> tucker: i was looking forward to seeing you tonight because a lot of our viewers don't live in washington and they don'tr understand the way people here think. they don't understand that it's possible to be happy that a person got fired but simultaneously mad about it.an they're kind of logical, normal people. >> i don't know how you could defend the timing of this announcement. it's clearly part of a cover-up. >> tucker:[laughs] i'm not defending it, but i'mhs glad to see you as always. good to see you. we'll have a lot more on this throughout the night. going to bring you a fox news alert you may already know. the fbi director james comey has been fired by president trump just three and a half years into his ten-year term. he bragged recently six and a half more years to go, that turned out to not be true. director comey was terminated b abruptly, he did not know it waf coming.rn he was at an event with fbi agents when he was told. we're joined now by fox senior analyst brit hume to bring ano little perspective to all of

this. you're one of the only people ip know who actually covered the famous saturday night massacre in 1973. special prosecutor was dismissed. you're hearing comparisons to that event tonight. are they valid? >> the occurrence of the saturday night massacre, the investigation into the alleged crimes of watergate was very well advanced and a great deal of evidence of wrongdoing had been uncovered both in congressional hearings and in the criminal investigations that were going forward. archibald cox, the independent counsel special prosecutor who had been named was very far along in that investigation. lots of evidence and everybody knew it. it was unmistakable what happened and pretty much why. he did not have, as this fbi director had, a long and checkered history which members of both parties agreed that he had misbehaved badly. he was as pure as the driven snow. he might've been part of the democrats -- i don't think he was.

but nevertheless, he had a clean record. comey does not. so the parallels are inexact to say the very least. >> tucker: it's also not clear to me as i don't have specialre knowledge, but i watched pretty carefully over the last few years, comey had a recognizable political agenda.li his problem seemed to be his temperament, hisis lack of predictability, his penchant for injecting himself into the center of everything. >> no fbi director since j. edgar hoover has played a larger role in the political part of this country as comey did. and even hoover for all his strengths and weaknesses did so in a less visible way. we all knew about it. it was legendary. the bureau was the bureau. it came to be what it was under him. he'd built the place, he'd been there a long time, he was kind of a legend. he was a much different kind of character than comey. but he was powerful and everyone was afraid of him. you have some of that here as well with comey. people are afraid of comey as you said in the earlier segment, people are afraid of him and

it's very clear that his handling of the whole hillary clinton matter was really proved by almost no one. for him to say as he did that his only choice was to be the guy that recommended whether prosecute or not, that's crazy. the fact that loretta lynch was compromised, she did not by the way recuse herself, she said to accept whatever recommendation she got. that recommendation or other subordinate officials. the way it's supposed to work.k. what he did was, on the face of it, improper, incorrect, and unfair. terribly unfair. >> tucker: what's unfair? you saw republicans taking pleasure in it at the time and i thought that was wrong. and i think it's wrong now. you shouldn't have an fbi director like that.k >> he was outside the lines, there's no doubt. >> tucker: so it raises all

kinds of interesting questions. what's the democratic position? democrats for the last nine months at the top levels, harry reid on down have said we don't have confidence in this guy. chuck schumer said the same. now they do? >> what their objection is, as you heard your previous guest, is the timing of it. which this was inescapable and inevitable going to be portrayed as a cover-up because the question arises of course, cover-up of what? there's very, very little, if any, evidence of any collusion between trump and the russians. the investigation into russianry influence is quite another matter. that's something that both parties, both sides can agree needs to be done and fbi was one of the proper agencies to do it. in fact, fbi director comey hasa described it as not a criminal investigation but he said a counterintelligence investigation, which is what it is so far. so the idea that this is a cover-up seems to me to beas poorly founded, but predictable for the democrats, and of course the other thing that they're saying is this manifests the need for, you got it, an independent counsel. >> tucker: what are the chances

of that happening? >> i think they're pretty remote at this point because it'll be up to rod rosenstein, the new deputy attorney general, highly respected by members of both parties. no reputation for partisanship, has served under both democratic and republican administrations. if it receives to a point where it becomes a criminal matter, he may elect, if he chooses to, to recommend the appointment of an independent counsel to carry it forward. but i think, tucker, we are a long way from that point, and it's not ever going to get there. >> tucker: you said you haven't seen an unelected bureaucrat as feared as comey was in a long time. >> certainly not at the fbi. >> tucker: isn't that a symptom of something wrong with the process itself? we're not supposed to fear people who we don't elect. >> i think something was wrong with this particular director. he was a talented guy and a very

smart guy, very well-spoken. makes a very good case for himself when he appears, but i think he kept seeing thesese opportunities. t there was an opportunity created by the predicament that lorettab lynch found herself in and he leapt into the breach. and i think it's fair to suggest at this point that he rather likes that role. he likes being, in effect, the attorney general for that case. >> tucker: i know we talked about this before, but i have less respect, it doesn't seem like there's ever been a moment in my life where the rhetoric has been this intense. i was just saying in the previous interview, someone i live near and always like being a wise person issued a similar statement calling this a coup, basically suggesting that donald trump is, i don't know what, taking over his own government. hysterical. >> tucker: that was hysterical. >> that's derangement.

>> tucker: it was not remarkable because it was next to a lot of other proponents of the same kind. where does the political environment like this go? once to call someone a nazi and accuse him of trying to take over the government by coup, where do you go from there? >> i think there are things in play here. there is resistance to trump because he's a republican and because his policies are not what the left would like, and they would be that to any republican, but donald trump is a special kind of republican. as you and i sat down and try to design somebody that would offend the establishment and both parties when you think about it, you can't do better than donald trump. look at the number of trumpers who are conservatives. they're as rabid and angry in their criticism of him and ceaseless in it as are the people on the left. i've never seen that before. it is unique in that regard. it is a kind of cultural revulsion of the man and that's

a powerful combination. you have political revulsion on the left and on the right, at least in some corners. you have this reaction to him as a person which is so powerful, so personal and i think it seems like it's taken over some people's brains. >> tucker: it's not about issues, that's what strikes me. i always thought that the left in washington was the most afraid of evangelicals. they disagree within the most on the issues. but trump is far more moderate by traditional standards thann any republican ever to hold the office, and they dislike him so much more. is it all about the threat they feel to their own power procedure stationed in him? >> it's hard to know that. i'm not well-equipped to analyze that. but i will say it's quite unlike anything ever seen before. i had the same misgivings many of us have had all through the campaign. i don't think he was well experienced enough for the job. i did not at all think he'd win. and when he did, i thought to myself, i need to take a fresh

look at this guy, and then he did some things i didn't expect. i didn't expected the caliber of cabinet from him that he's appointed. quite remarkable when you think about it. i didn't expect that. i wasn't sure he'd follow through with the list of judges that he had given to nominate neil gorsuch who turned out to be an inspired choice, got as quickly in this atmosphere he did was remarkable and the case against him was almost nonexistent. so these have been -- mattis, tillerson, if you're a conservative, devos and scott pruitt are exceptional nominees. so he's put a lot of his foot right in a lot of ways sinceep becoming president and i think he deserves a second look from a lot of people. he's not getting it. >> tucker: to get to the mechanics of what happened this afternoon, apparently the fbi director was at an event in los angeles. he had no idea this was coming and learned about it from televisions behind him. >> that's ugly. >> tucker: what's the purpose of

that? >> i think they sent somebody to the fbi to deliver the message.y didn't know that. that's what you call poor staff work. >> tucker: so we're looking now at an oj-like camera shot apparently of former director comey's vehicle on the way to his speech in los angeles, three hours earlier than it is here. we're going to get that when it occurs. this raises the question, where is he going after tonight? i can't imagine having watched this guy for the past year that he's going to drift into the twilight. >> maybe not, but he's been robbed of his major platform and he can make speeches, but think of this this way. the last time we saw him in action was on the hill just a few days ago. and he got questions about the decision he made last july regarding hillary clinton, his decision not only about his recommendation for prosecutionon or nonprosecution, but he laid out a bill of particulars against her which is never supposed to be revealed and he

defended it.ag and he said it would be not to have done that and not to have made the later announcement he made when he reopened the mattea would be concealment. loaded word when you think about it. i'm kind of wondering whether rod rosenstein, new deputyit attorney general just confirmed who clearly was given this portfolio to deal with this comey matter would have looked a little differently if he hadn't so ardently defended himself in that hearing, suggesting to rod rosenstein and to others as well that he'd learned nothing from the experience of having stepped in it when he did that last year. so what's he going to do? go out and defend himself some more? i think he has no portfolio now, he has no office, and i suppose he can come in, but he's going to be listening. >> tucker: what are the chances that executives at other cable network are on the phone with

him right now trying to sign him up as a contributor? >> probably pretty good. >> tucker: in this business, you want somebody who will be box office. come in and watch. i suppose if comey was on, i'd watch. at least the first time. >> tucker: i would too. brit hume, thanks for joining us. if you're tuning in now at the half-hour, president trump has fired the director of the fbi james comey, effective immediately. a lot has happened and for the latest on that, we are joined by fox chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge. >> i've spoken with about a half-dozen former agents who are still very plugged into the fbi, and they told me that there was really a sense of shock and disbelief and that if director comey had known in advance that he was going to be terminated, w he would've sent out some sort of workforce memo to notify them, but that didn't happen.. and that really is consistent with what we're learning this evening that he in fact learned from the media that he had been terminated by this president. the pivotal date i'm told is really april 25th. this is when the new deputy attorney general rod rosenstein took that job and he was cast

with reviewing the evidence and talking to former attorneys general and others about whether the fbi director had given his decisions last year was really a good place to continue to lead the bureau, and he reached theut conclusion that in fact, he was not in a good position to lead the bureau anymore. and it's noteworthy, my attention was drawn to the fact that in the rosenstein letters, he talks specifically about the senate testimony where director comey said, "i had a choice with the clinton emails.ut i could be public about what was happening or i could conceal it," and he is specifically punished for using that word because it's not a law enforcement mood. the fbi never concealed anything, as part of the standard practice when you're doing an investigation not to discuss it publicly.

the question among former agents who are recently out is whoic leads the bureau now and if we were to follow standard protocol, it would go to the deputy director andrew mccabe. q mccabe is a familiar name to you. he is someone who ran for state senate in 2015 and received $700,000 from democrats in that state including a pac that's run by longtime clinton aide and the virginia governor. and the fbi concluded this was not a conflict for andrew mccabe, but my contacts say that they've told them that the culture within the bureau is badly broken. they didn't understand why this gave the appearance at least of the conflict. mccabe's wife would take $700,000 from the democrats and at the same time, her husband would move into a position where he is a real decision maker on the clinton emails. >> tucker: as i remember correctly, i think mccabe appeared in an ad or at least

still photographs and advertising. >> that's correct. people saw this as another indicator that the culture was broken or the leadership was broken. we don't have confirmation tonight that it will be mccabe because anything can happen in the situation. the next person in line would be a guy called dave, who was widely respected, has not really touched the clinton emails or the russia case and has performed very well in the course of the san bernadino terrorist attack, but there's a great deal of uncertainty but in some sense, relief. this is the big idea, but i i think it's worth raising. what i've heard from people who work in law enforcement consistently in the last year is that what sets this country apart is that we are a nation of laws, it's the same rules whether you're the little guy or the big guy. but we've had a situation now almost for a year with the fbi director, the lead investigator has been badly damaged andnd

thrust the bureau into the center of politics, and at the same time, his boss under the previous administration, loretta lynch and now under jeffin sessions, neither of these attorney generals have been in full control of their departments. loretta lynch took herself out of the clinton emails and attorney general sessionsma has effectively taken himself out of the russia case and what they say to me is that it's bad for the country. it's a bad scenario. it's a nation that's built on loss what we seen tonight is at the fbi director has been removed that's one piece of it. >> tucker: so this came out of nowhere. but as you just reported, it's been building. >> i think so. >> tucker: what's the reaction of the fbi employees who served under comey? >> he had become a very polarizing figure.

there were some who were real loyalists and who believed very sincerely has based on my limited interaction with thehe director, i think he also did as well but last year when he made that announcement in july about the clinton email case, he felt that he was in effect acting like the shining knight who is coming in to rescue the day because his boss he felt waske compromised after the meeting with bill clinton on the tarmac in arizona just before hillary clinton was interviewed, so he t felt that he was stepping up and trying to save the day but what we now see in the assessment of the new deputy attorney general, it was that decision which really put the nail in the coffin because he was really coloring outside the line. his job was to be the chief investigator and to make a recommendation, but instead because of his training, he put on his prosecutors had and he made a recommendation about charges, which he had never had done and also is not in keeping with the fbi's practice which is that they don't discuss hiss investigations. >> tucker: they have an awful lot of power. that's how much power they have.

>> they don't let them call on you period. >> tucker: this idea that the man at the head of the fbi may be eccentric or unpredictable is nervous. >> again, if we are a nation of laws, it's so important that the fbi director and the attorney general have complete control of their departments and are beyond reproach and with the fbi director, he was seen as badly damaged and not in a position to lead credibly anymore. >> tucker: so for viewers just joining us, we are looking now at what seems like a high-speed chase but is not. it's helicopter footage from los angeles live and that is the former director in the vehicle. we were told initially that he was going to a speaking event in l.a. tonight but that he would be

speaking, scheduled to appear. and now we're hearing that he is not apparently going to that event. obviously we'll keep you updated as we learn. we also have discovered that the fbi director did not know this was coming to the extent that he found out from the television screen behind him. >> this is like being a corporate employee and going out for lunch and coming back and your key card no longer works and the lock on your door is changed. that is what happened to him today. >> tucker: there was interestingly in the white house briefing today with sean spicer a moment that i don't think any reporters in the room picked up on. i saw a lot where he was asked does the president have confidence in director comey? and the white house press secretary said i haven't actually asked him recently, an odd response.we typically, he would say of course. >> in hindsight, in maria bartiromo's interview as well in hindsight, it's a lot more important.

>> tucker: thanks a lot for that. appreciate it. we're joined by chief press secretary who is coming live from the white house. hearing all kinds of explanations from different sides for the firing of james comey. sum it up for us.s why was he fired today? >> it's real simple. director comey had lost the confidence of the rank-and-file within the fbi. he certainly lost the confidence for members of both sides, republicans and democrats in the house and the senate and frankly most importantly he lost the confidence of the american people. this was a guy who was being questioned day after day after day whether he was capablehi of leading the fbi. i think we saw based on his testimony last week, he no longer was and the president was presented with a pretty clear and direct and very strong recommendation by the deputy attorney general who a lot off people probably don't know, but the fbi director actually reports to the deputy attorney general. that attorney deputy made the recommendation, the president made a swift and decisive action

and let director comey go. >> tucker: swift and decisive is an understatement. is it true that the then fbi director had no idea he was being canned and learned about it to the television screen in the room? and if so, why do it that way? >> i believe he was notified. and a letter was hand-delivered to the fbi as well as electronic communications were sent notifying him of his dismissal. but when you make a decision like that well, frankly, why sit on it? if you know somebody is incapable of doing the job, particular one is important is leading the fbi, they don't have the confidence of the people that they need to report to, and they have quite friendlyne politicize the role, this time for them to go and there's no reason to sit on it. t >> tucker: so i'm a little confused by the rationale. it seems to revolve around his handling of the investigation into hillary clinton's emails. on twitter recently, the president appeared to accuse the fbi director of giving her a pass, giving hillary clinton a path or covering up for her but then the rationale you'ree

hearing now is the white house believes that in some ways, he hurt hillary clinton with his announcement about the investigation into her emails. so which is it? or both? >> i think it's a series of missteps. i think again, it goes to director comey's ability to carry out the duties of his office and he frankly wasn't anymore. that was recognized by his superior, the person that he reports to, the deputy attorney general, who is somebody who has been universally praised. we have representatives coming just last week talking about what a stand-up guy the deputy attorney general is. you have somebody with this type of reputation with praise from across the board who was confirmed 96-4, then frankly when a president gets a recommendation from something like that that is so well-respected, he has no choice but to listen to him and to make a swift and decisive action which we saw take place today.co >> tucker: so a lot of there analysis concerns the russian investigation. how will the firing of comey affect that? >> i don't think it affects thac at all.

in any capacity whatsoever. use will have the same people that will be carrying it out to the department of justice, that process continued both i believe in the house and senate committee, and i don't any change or disruption there. but i think the bigger point on that is tucker, one of the goind to let that go? it's been going on for nearly a year. friendly, it's kind of getting absurd. there's nothing there. before that time and time againb we credit and the testimonies earlier this week. we've heard it for the last 11as months. there is no there, it's timeme o move on and friendly it's time to focus on the things of the american people care about. they're not worried about false narrative that the media continues to want to drive. they want to know about the economy, they want to know about education, they want to talklk about national security. that's what our administration

is trying to focus on and that frankly i think is what the resy of the country is ready for the media start focusing on as well. >> tucker: catherineat herridge just reported that this has been under consideration for at least a couple of weeks since the end of april. so there's clearly been time to think through who will replace director comey? what's the time frame for replacing such a significant job? >> not to step on anything at this point, and the presidentt wants to make sure that he gets the right person in that position coming was to make sure that whoever it is has the respect of the rank and the fbi and frankly that is somebody who's not political. i think we have to find somebody who can restore credibility back to this department, that certainly wasn't director comey. it's one of the reasons that he can no longer serve in that role and i think that he'll be looking for somebody who can step in and frankly i think bring credibility back to the fbi that has struggled with -- o under director comey's leadership at one of the big things here is you got guys like schumer out there criticizing, i'm sure that many other democrats will follow suit. and of the things that so interesting is that hillary clinton had one, which thank god she didn't, but if she had,

director, he would been fired immediately in the same democrats that are criticizing the president's decision today would be dancing in the streets. let's focus on that. let's go back and look at senator schumer's comments around the election. when that's a fair point and i would be celebrating it too. i don't think is a good fbi director. so sean spicer today was asked whether the president supported director comey and gave a kind of imprecise answer. he knew at that point that comey was on his way out? >> i'm not aware of exactly the timeline of when sean was read into this. >> tucker: was a decision made would you say? >> i know it was made at some point today. i don't have the exact time, the line by line of one that took place. i know that again, the deputy attorney general made that recommendation and also to the attorney general who quickly afforded that onto the president

and pretty quickly after receiving that recommendation, the president made the decision to let director coming go. >> tucker: pretty quickly. since a lot, sarah. a lot of democrats have come out tonight calling his firing an atrocity against good government. here are some. >> in order for us to do our investigation and a thorough incredible weight, were going ts need the fbi to fully cooperate to be willing to tell us the length and breath of any kind of counterintelligence investigations at their conducting. at this point, the director was not willing to do that. >> i am so disappointed. he has led the country down for partisan purposes and that's why i'm calling him j. edgar hoover because i believe that. >> do you believe that james, he should resign to mexico of course, yes. >> tucker: the democrat river

than in the state of ohio and he joins us. thanks for coming on. i know you followed this whole russia question pretty closely for a while. i know you supported hillary clinton for president in the last presidential election. is it good or bad that jim, he is no longer running the fbi? >> i think it's an issue of timing and you can't ignore that fact that here we are just days after not only innuendos but comments that there is real connection between the trump administration and trump folks and russia that comey is leading this investigation and now all of a sudden, the same donald trump that at the end of october was saying how this guy had a guts, that comey was a great guy, unbelievable, he is doing such a great job, now you fast-forward into the investigation of the trump administration and all of a sudden, he cut them loose.

it was an act of self-interest. >> tucker: i understand your complaint sort of, but i think people watching at home want to know was he the right guy running the fbi or not, and if not, why isn't there rejoicing on the democrat side of the house and senate? >> because he is in the middle of investigation.ra we had vladimir putin get involved in our presidential election. we know that that happened. we know that he wanted to influence it, and now were having an investigation as to o whether or not members of the trump administration had connections to russia, too vladimir putin, to intelligence people in the russian government and now were having that investigation and the president who may have benefited from vladimir putin's actions decapitates the federal bureau

of investigation and to mean, that sums up a lot of red flags that we all should be concerned about. the american people need to be able to trust that were going to have an honest investigation here. >> tucker: but there are so many levels on which this is happening. one, you already conceded and the leaders of your party have conceded and in fact complained about the fact that comey is not a reliable leader of the fbi, he thought he was flaky and theyal said so. they said they didn't trust him. so will a, what would you want someone like that in charge of any investigation, particularly one in matters of national security. b, what you're saying is not true. the investigation is not over. it will merely be headed by somebody else. it's being done by people below that level of fbi directors. this hasn't decapitated the bureau. >> first of all, the republicans including donald trump were praising comey in october of last year before the election, and now all of a sudden, he's done a 180 because comey is

investigating his ties to russia. don't you find that a little bit peculiar that now all of a sudden in october, he has guts, and in april, may, at the beginning of may, he's unfit? that's not a coincidence. >> tucker: let me just say one thing. >> is it? >> tucker: i'll answer your question one second. you're saying former director of the fbi jim conley aborting a a private aircraft in los angeles, destination unknown exactly. he is supposed to be giving a speech out there apparently tonight he is not. let me just say i thought at the time of his announcement as i've said five times and i in july of last year about hillary clinton, that that act revealed him ass unfit to lead the fbi. i'm not here to defend the white house is changing position on him. i merely here to ask a really simple question, which is should

jim conley have been running the most powerful law enforcement agency in the world and democrats have said for a long time no, he shouldn't. now he's not and now they're complaining about it. i'm just confused about that because as an american, i want to know if the right guy isyo running the fbi and he clearly wasn't. this is good. >> there's no need to be confused. i obviously as well as many others and it sounds like you as well have had some real concerns with how comey handled himselfee during the election. fair. we are in total agreement. so if there's a problem there, why are you firing this guy on january 25th? why now firing him? >> tucker: i wish that they had. but they hadn't, and now they did. let's be happy about it because he wasn't good for the country. >> here's the difference. as at the very guy who was praising him in october is now getting investigated by this gentleman. this guy is now saying we are investigating the trump administration.

this is a serious act. vladimir putin is coming to get us. >> tucker: that's not what's happening. the fbi continues to investigate this russia story, valid or not. it does not end with the departure of jim comey. it's not like he has somehow committed a coup against his own government and taken the key person out. nothing changes other than the flaky guy at the top is now getting on a private plane somewhere. that's good. >> the fact that you get rid of the top guy sends shock wavess throughout the bureau. there's no question about it. there's a pattern here. the ninth circuit court has had disagreements with donald trump's position on certain things. trump wants to block the ninth circuit. yates says things from the attorney general's office saying not to hire flynn, be careful with this guy, he's got ties to russia. she gets fired. now all of a sudden, comey says he gets hold of the russia

situation. he gets fired. there's a pattern of behavior here with trump. >> tucker: i don't want youu to mislead our viewers into believing that the president somehow has the power to fire t the ninth circuit court of appeals. the judges are saying that pretty simply doesn't. he's not going to and if he attempts to do that, i and everybody else but the job and a brain will complain about it because that would be appalling. it is not going to happen spots not pretend it's going to happen. he is within his rights to can sally yates. he was a political appointee held over from the obama administration. i know you're trying to make the craze for creeping fascism but i don't think the evidence is there right now. >> i'm not talking about creeping fascism and i'm not here to get dramatic. i'm not here to make this havere any more drama involved here than there's already present ini this current situation. what i am saying here is that there has been a pattern. there is a way to rearrange federal courts.

there is a way to do that and the president of the united states could send a chilling effect to the courts by being one of the first presidents to really come out and slam theff judicial branch unlike many others.s other presidents have disagreed but not gone after judges like trump has. >> tucker: can i ask you a quick question?bu really simple question. you really think that trump and firing jim comey has abused his power more than jim comey abused his power when he mishandled the investigation into hillary clinton's emails? >> mens rea, tucker. it's all about intention. i don't think comey necessarily intended to have the election go one way or the other. he felt in my opinion, he felt trapped because he felt he would come back to congress. i disagree with what he did it. i disagree with how he handled it. trump intentionally tried to scare the ninth circle, intentionally decapitated the

fbi because he doesn't like what they're doing with the investigation into russia. it's all about what your intentions are. >> tucker: he was weird and deserve to go but that's not decapitation. >> they can to the guy that was investigating him. you cannot do this oblivious. we've been through this. i hope you will come back. i think were getting closer to agreement. fbi director jim, has been fired as you've heard all evening by president trump. we'll take a moment to read presidents letter terminating comey. it's not long and it's kind of amazing. here's what it said. "dear director, i have received past letters from the attorney general and deputy attorney general of the united states recommending your dismissal and the director of the federal bureau of investigation. at exhibit their recommendationo and you are here by terminated and removed from office effective immediately. while i greatly appreciate you informing on three separate occasions that i'm not under investigation, i nevertheless concur with the director of justice that you were not able

to effectively lead the spiro. it is essentially find new leadership for the fbi to restore public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement issue. i wish you best of luck in yourl future endeavors. present on the it" congress went, and the background as youl can see it, there is a plane on which the former director now sets. destination, we are not sure. so comey has been elevated to the pantheon of heroes now in the democratic party. is that how you see him? >> what a difference a couple months make as he pointed out. i would just urge your viewers, read deputy eternal ross and steen's memo. the argument you delay back he makes is essential and everything comey has done since that time has been colored by that. i think as a director of the fbi, he has inevitably been in the local thicket since that time and i think the president did the right thing to accept that advice that i'm looking forward to him appointing

somebody who can return the bureau to a more a political stance and really focus on the core law enforcement mission. >> tucker: so if you were to narrow down to a single incident or criticism, how director comey revealed his lack of fitness for that job, what would it be? what was the thing that turns your view of him? >> if you remember, july 5th, what he did but is not only did he do the press conference and we disagreed with his decision because he basically showed that hillary had violated the statute that says he's recommending against. that's not his job as the fbi director as it deputy 80 pointed out. his job was to conduct the investigation and to give that investigation to loretta lynch, who is the attorney general. comey did what he did because he recognized loretta lynch had compromised herself by meeting with bill clinton on the airport tarmac, and i get that. but just think of what a gift he did for hillary looking back at that time and people thought

about how he hurt hillary later. had he given it to lynch as you're supposed to which his protocol, lynch definitely would not have prosecuted hillary. we all know that. imagine the outcry, it would've been tenfold if lynch would have been the one to have done that case. so that fateful decision on july 5th and then colored everything else that happened. i don't think it was necessarily fair to hillary to send that letter ten days before the election but i think he had s already kind of gotten on the record and i do think between not telling congress and telliny congress he kind of had to do it. it all goes back to him putting himself above the attorney general, which is not the proper role of the fbi director. >> tucker: do you wish more republicans had made that pointt at the time connect not to be f

mean or anything but i remember an awful lot of elected republicans heaping praise upon jim coming for sticking a wheel in the spokes of the hillary campaign. i wanted for hillary, but it seems unfair at the time and much more publicans have said that.bu >> for the october letter, i think that's fair. for the july press conference,t' we were very critical of how he handled that in the congress and not only his judgment but also why he did what he did. but the october 1, i sit at the time, it's not fair but i thought he had to do it because he had two bad options. inevitably, that made him even more political and i think that the fbi needs a fresh start. >> tucker: thanks for joining us tonight. joining us now is a former deputy attorney general. thanks for coming on. >> how are you? >> tucker: a little confused. >> all right. >> tucker: think about this decision, was it a good decision? was he a good director? should he have been can't? >> this decision is grounded in looking at rod rosenstein thought, not what i think are using for that matter and i think what's not in the covers so far, not really being covered adequately is the idea that t roddick came in to this job about a month ago, he is getting the justice department house in order, once his own team.

don't forget, he has now inherited the responsibility of being acting attorney generall for purposes of the so-called russia investigation.es and if he lost confidence in the director of the fbi to be in charge of that investigation and the agency doing thathe investigation and lost confidence in the director's ability to convey public confidence in the course and progress of that investigation, than i think he had no choice to do what he did. >> tucker: clearly he felt that way, had to have known it was going to be an outcry about it. but as someone who's been in and around the justice department for a long time, as he watched director comey's behavior over the last year, did you ever think this is unusual behavior? >> certainly. i think he didn't have to be inn the justice department. i think people widely perceived some of the directors conduct as unusual at best. jim comey is a good guy, he's a solid american.

i believe he is a true patriot. he is given tremendous publica service. but i think once he started down the road that he did last july with that extraordinary press conference and taking a position on an issue that really wasn't within the prospects of the fbi director and at the same time on the other side of that coin, trashing a candidate for president and her conduct, i think he started down the road that this was the inevitable end. >> tucker: apparently that's the case. thanks a lot for joining us. today's move came so abruptly that opinions on comey are so unfavorable it to the washington establishment a couple of hours to decide what they thought of it. even director comey only found out he was fired basing it on television. the last few hours, there have been plenty of claims that his firing is nixonian or turned watergate or accusing trump of 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 tomorrow. >> 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. j he was supposed to attend an event tonight, but boarded a flight moments ago. comey was dismissed aboutpo 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