i'm sure that as they feel as though they have a list of intoiblists, >> the other day, someone asked for the president's confidence to andrew mccabe after the testimony on capitol hill, is that still the case? he is the acting director at this moment. >> i have not asked him about the deputy -- i have not asked him about his generally, i don't go through the list of government employees and ask him. so i have not asked him specifically about that. >> yesterday sarah told us the president expects the fbi investigation will be wrapped up with integrity. that's what the white house wants. today the president tweeted and called it a witch hunt. how does tweeting and calling it a witch hunt help wrap that up with integrity? >> no one wants this done. he wants to know very clearly, there's two pieces to this. right? which is what was russia's involvement? the president is obviously very concerned about any entities

attempts to influence the united states election. and that's one investigation. i think the second, this false narrative that we con to fight every day that has been debunked by intelligence individuals. members of congress have been briefed over and over again. that's where i think he's growingly concerned as well as a number of american people who are growingly concerned that there's a false narrative out there. that's, i think, the nut of this. >> talked to a former fbi official today who said the president tweets the implicit threat to former fbi director james comey indicates that the president, in his word, is simply out of control. like to get you to respond to that. >> that's, frankly, offensive. >> thank you, sean. two questions about the fbi director selection process. you said the names are coming from the justice department right now. is the president consulting with democratic congressional leaders as well, or republican

congressional leaders on this? or is he just getting names out of the doj? >> that's a good question. i know that he was obviously is gonna take input from them. i don't know what specific conversations he's had. i'd be glad to who he is speaking to or may be speaking to. i got confused. >> now, i know that you said you're not disqualifying anyone on this. you also know there has been considerable mention in the last 24 hours of former house intelligence committee chairman mike rodgers as the new fbi director. does the president have a meeting planned this weekend with congressman rodgers? >> i am not aware of anything of that nature on his schedule. as you know, we'll put out -- if there's a meeting, we'll put it out for you. generally, we put out the next day's schedule later in the evening, and we will do that as

well. kristen? i'm sorry. sorry. >> i have a couple questions about the president's marks at the embassy about general flynn. he said that it wasn't an emergency, or he didn't think it was an emergency, that's why the firing didn't happen right away. couple questions about that. why did he think it was an emergency? was it because of the messenger? because information came from sally yates, who you called i think a political foe of the president, that he downplayed the situation? can you say what he men by that? >> i can't specifically say what he meant by that. look at the timeline that happened. we went over this the other day, and this has been asked and answered multiple times. the former acting attorney general said i want to give you a heads up on something. don mcgann informed the president. they asked for the documents or materials that she had referred to. i forgot now five or six days to

get those. he was asked to resign shortly there after. but i think that there is a difference. there wasn't a review process. that was the review process in this case. the president noted he had been thinking about this for a long time. the justice department had done a review. but, again, i'm not really sure -- >> the justice though. is that what you're talking about? >> you're asking why it wasn't an emergency. it's not a question of is it an emergency. he took the time to do due process. someone comes to you with an allegation, i think everyone deserves due process to make sure that allegation -- someone coming in and giving you a heads up. we did exactly what was necessary. the president made the right decision. he continues to stand by it. >> i'm still unclear. why did it take so long for the white house to get those documents? >> i don't know. >> why aren't you asking? couldn't you go get the

documents? >> with all due respect, that's not how it works. they're the ones who possess the documents. i believe they asked for them and it took a while. >> could he be fired in between? >> no. some of these things don't happen as easily. i don't know the answer. i think in the course of action, if you look at the intervening days, that's a question you should ask the department of justice. >> i have a follow-up. >> sure. >> just explain to us a little bit when you compare these two situations with general flynn and director comey. the memo came one day and he was fired that day. that was the review process and general flynn was 18 days. that's a huge difference. why was one so fast and one was 18 days? >> i think to, first of all, they both had a review. the president looked at the information and the reviews and made a decision. ultimately that's his job. he's the decider. he had the information necessary in both cases to act and he did.

vivian? >> sean, in between about director comey. the president says that he better be careful before he goes to the press. yesterday on nbc news the president called him a show boat and grandstander. does the white house acknowledge director comey has a first amendment right to speak to the press if he so chooses to set the record straight about this, instead of just leak. it may not be leaking. >> of course, everyone in this country has a first amendment right. the difference, you heard the president echo this multiple times, that sharing information that's not meant to be or not authorized to be in the public domain in terms of the classification of it is concerning. and i think the president's been very clear over an over again of his concern with respect to information that gets put in the public domain that's not meant to be. i don't think those are -- everyone in this country has every right to speak their mind and express themselves in accordance with the constitution. >> follow-up in terms of the fbi

districter and the president's comments. is he concerned that if he continues like this, it could jeopardize morale instead of correcting a problem that he obviously observed there? >> i think one of the reasons that he wanted to go through the process of finding individual who can lead the fbi and the men and women who serve there so greatly and abley is to make sure that morale and the focus is as it's supposed to be. you have a leader that can do that. and, you know, as you mentioned, the crown jewel of law enforcement. the reason he wants to go through this process and choose a leader that can be restore leadership, ensure morale stays where it needs to be, and that there's a focus. that's why he's conducting the process that he has. >> you called that her first.

i wanted to give her the question that you promised her before. >> thank you. i want to ask you, president trump seemed to rely on james clapper this morning when he tweeted virtually he and everyone else with knowledge of the witch hunt said there's no collusion. james clapper today told andrea mitchell, i don't know if there's collusion or not, i don't know if there is evidence of collusion or not. on march 5th when he was asked a similar question, he said not to my knowledge. can you describe the discrepancy and explain it? >> no. i actually think that that's a great question that you should ask director clapper. >> director clapper's comments. why is the president leaning on him? >> i think on several occasions director clapper said he has no knowledge of collusion. that's it. that's the point. >> he said he wouldn't know because he hasn't been briefed.

>> he was the dni up until january 20th. >> he was very specific today that he said nor should i have in this particular context. he made the case that it is not based on an fbi investigation. >> fair enough. he's the director of national intelligence. on multiple occasions prior to today, he made it very clear that he was unaware of any collusion. >> my point was he wouldn't know. there's been no final conclusion. >> i understand. so the question that i would ask then is why did he say what he said before? it seems -- his testimony and comments on multiple occasions prior to today was, i have no evidence that there was any collusion. right? so to suddenly today shift his story, i believe the question should be asked to him. you were the director of national intelligence. you said multiple times, including in testimony in front of congress, under oath, that there was no collusion. i believe that's a question for

him. >> there's an on going investigation. he's not making that argument. >> my point is all we're able to do at this point is that the people who are aware of the former director of national intelligence be head of the nation's agencies, intelligence agency, make multiple statements and others. senator grassley and others talking about the investment, making it very clear that there was none. we took them at their word then and we continue to believe -- the question, kristen, before you move on, is then why did he make the statements that he did when he did? to turn around now, months later and say, even though i made those comments on multiple occasions, i wasn't briefed? i appreciate it. >> it's not surprising or abnormal that i would not have known about the investigation or the context of the investigation. >> ultimately there's been several -- do you mind if i -- i

think in this case, it is interesting how the story has changed. he made those comments several times over several courses of action. and to say the director of national intelligence, who stated what his position was on multiple occasions before today. and now suddenly is saying, i wasn't sure about it. the burden seems to be on him, not us. >> he said he wassn't sure. >> you're acting like i'm a clapper spokesman. >> no. i'm interested in the discrepancy. >> i think that's a great thing to ask him. >> no, on the part of the president, drawing the final conclusion about the investigation. in terms of the accuracy tweet, should we take that tweet to mean that you don't have the full picture when you stand at that podium? >> as i said, we come up here every day, not just to the podium, but we are here first thing in the morning until late at night every day answering your questions on a variety of subjects, throughout issues that are happening in the government. as most of you can attest, day and night to make sure we get

you the most up to date accurate information at all times. with respect to the president, he's an activist president. he keeps an unbelievably busy and robust schedule. and there are times we give you the information we have at the time and we seek to get an update. i believe that you and others will attest to when we don't have an answer, we try really hard to either update you after the fact or to get you the facts that we didn't have at the time. but we work really hard every day to do that. i think the president's point that i pointed out earlier, is that there are times when we're asked a question, we do our best to give you the answer and every word is picked apart to try to figure out how to make an issue out of it as opposed to allowing us to talk to the president, get his current thinking and updates if we hadn't had an opportunity to do so at this time. jennifer? >> thank you. >> i'm sorry, jessica. >> so i wanted to ask you about the one belt one road summit that starts on sunday in china.

you announced yesterday, or secretary ross did, that you're gonna send a delegation to that summit. >> yeah. >> can you talk about why it is important for u.s. to be represented what is initially a major trade initiative by a major country. >> it is a major trade initiative. there are a lot of ports and infrastructure that they're looking to do. through those discussions that secretary ross and mnuchin and others had at mar a-lago and part of this is that's something we're going to continue to work with them. obviously, trade is a major issue for us. what they're looking to do is of great importance to our economic and national security. and they've asked us to send people to that, and we have them attend things that we're doing as well. i think as the president has shown, in terms of the relationship he's built with president xi and their delegation, those relationships with paying dividends, both on the national security front and

on the economic front. jennifer? >> is that a signal that the u.s. will participate in the initiative? >> we'll have a readout. at this point, that's all we have on one belt one road. >> two questions. the first one loyalty. is it to the fbi headquarters. so this president does value loyalty. is there -- when you were hired, any sort of request or hint that you pledge personal loyalty to him at all before you were hired? >> no. i pledged my loyalty to the constitution and the american people, as does everyone who serves in our government and this administration. we stand by that. >> the president was warned he might not be well received at the fbi headquarters? >> not that i'm aware of. thank you, guys. have a great weekend. good to see you. see you monday. >> melissa: that is the white house press briefing just wrapping up amid rising tensions as the president issues a warning to james comey. hello, everyone. i'm melissa francis.

that was press secretary sean spicer being asked about president trump's tweets about james comey, whether there were tapes of the dinner conversation between the two, and the fate of future white house press briefings. he has said that maybe they would stop having press briefings for awhile and instead just issue typed statements that could be picked apart, checked for accuracy. you saw the back and forth there. a somewhat subdued on a relative basis. sean spicer ended with a smile there. the crowd there in the briefing room, they were just as feisty as always, asking a lot of follow-up questions about what's been going on lately, in terms of statements the president make that seem to perhaps contradict some of the things that his press officials are out saying. john roberts is live from the briefing room right now with more. john, what'd you make of that? >> reporter: good afternoon to you.

earlier today in the middle of a tweet storm the president sent out a tweet that was quite remarkable and something that i have never seen a president say, at least publicly. i have been covering white houses going all the way back to 1999 when he tweeted out, quote, james comey better hope there are no, quote, tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press. what the president was talking about was an article that suggested james comey, during that conversation that they had over dinner, was asked by the president to basically give an oral loyalty pledge and that the fbi director declined. sean spicer said the president never asked james comey to pledge his loyalty to him, but he all wouldn't take any further questions about whether or not there were recordings of that conversation or recordings of two subsequent phone conversations that the president had with the fbi director in which the president claims that, like the dinner, the fbi director said that the president was not under investigation in connection with russia influencing the election.

listen to how sean spicer answered a number of questions about that particular topic. >> moving on to the news of the week. did president trump record his conversations with former fbi director comey? >> i assume you're referring to the tweet. i have talked to the president. the president has nothing further to add on that. >> does he think it's appropriate to threaten someone like mr. comey not to speak? >> i don't think that's a threat. he simply stated a fact. the tweet speaks for itself. i'm moving on. >> reporter: so, sean spicer there declining to say whether or not there were any recording devices anywhere in the white house that could pick up a conversation over dinner. whether or not the telephone calls were recorded or whether or not that was an actual threat to try to chill james comey from talking in public. now, sean spicer later on said, melissa, that everyone has a first amendment to talk about things, as long as they're not classified. i do not know if james comey would consider much of the

context and conversation in that dinner and in the telephone conversations to be classified. one other thing the president tweeted out this morning, quote, maybe the best thing to do would be to cancel all future press briefings and hand out written responses for the sake of accuracy. that was talking about the fact that there has been an evolving story in this white house, among the press operation, the vice president and president as to why james comey was fired. i am told that the president reiterated this idea maybe canceling the press briefing in an interview that he did with our judge jeannine pirro. this full story not told, but the white house correspondents association pushing back strongly against the idea of canceling this briefing because this is the one time when we have an opportunity to question directly in a large forum the communications operation of this white house. >> melissa: is it possible he's just tweaking you guys, john

roberts? that's my guess there. >> reporter: i think he's being sarcastic, but the fact that he did report that to judge jeannine today maybe takes it to a different level than his tweet did this morning. >> melissa: yeah. all right. very interesting. we'll keep an eye on it. john robert, great job, as always. here ron hosko, the former assistant director of the fbi criminal investigative division and he is president of the law enforcement legal defense fund. sir, thank you very much for joining us. >> sure. >> melissa: so much to chew on here. let's start with the tweet. the tweet is a response to a new york times article that the white house plainly disputes the facts within. where jim comey apparently says that he was asked to take a loyalty pledge and he refused. what do you make of this whole series of events? >> melissa, it gets stranger and stranger to me. like so many others out there, i'm trying to listen to the latest reporting and sort

through what is true and what sounds or feels like it's false. for me having worked with jim comey, having worked for jim comey and recognizing the person who i knew and liked and respected and still do. the whole thing is astounding to me. the way that a career public servant, a patriot, a good man, an ethical man. regardless of whether you disagree with how he may have handled a press event last year -- >> melissa: let me stop you right there. almost everybody out there who came on television ahead of all the events that happened over the summer agreed with your assessment of james comey. but over time that wore down a bit as he came out and did things that were unprecedented for his office. he, himself, even admitting that he usurped the power of his office and made a decision for

the whole justice department because he saw loretta lynch on the tarmac talking to former president bill clinton. lot of things he said raoepbly have undermind for people the image of him that you just painted. you haven't had a different opinion, even when he came out and said uma abadine had forwarded to her husband hundreds of thousands of e-mails. then the fbi came out and corrected that. your opinion didn't change? >> my opinion is jim comey is a human being. human beings make mistakes. human beings have judgment error. certainly some of what jim comey did he did in a collaborative effort with people involved in the clinton investigation team. he certainly didn't do it in a vacuum. right? and so i think that, you know, if we go back to last week and his overstatement of the means and the number of e-mails in the abadine piece, you know, you're

talking about somewhere buried in three plus hours of testimony -- >> melissa: sure. >> you see a director who is really relying on his memory. not on notes. >> melissa: i'm gonna have to stop you there. sit tight for one second. we'll be right back. >> okay. you don't let anything keep you sidelined. that's why you drink ensure. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you. imagine if the things you bought every day earned you miles to get to the places you really want to go. with the united mileageplus explorer card, you'll get a free checked bag, 2 united club passes...

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>> i don't know if there was collusion or not. i don't know if there's evidence of collusion or not. anyone who is a serving officer in the government and you're asked by the president for dinner, i think it's professional courtesy, you're in a difficult position to refuse to go. i do know that he was uneasy with it. >> melissa: that was former director of national intelligence james clapper talking about whether or not

there was possible collusion. back with me now is ron hosko former assistant director of the fbi's criminal investigative division and president of the law enforcement legal defense fund. sir, thanks for staying with us. >> sure. >> melissa: you know, based on those comments, the question it seems like a lot roff people's minds has come down to whether or not there was collusion with the trump campaign. when do you think we will know that? i know there shouldn't be a rush on these things. at the same time, it is a cloud that is hanging over things and preventing the country from getting on with this business. how do we know one way or the other? >> that is, i think, going to be an on going struggle, melissa. because very often complicated cases, particularly those that involve many transactions, whether that's electronic phone records, travel records, business records, financial records. and especially when you're talking about multiple potential people. you know all of the names.

overseas, engagements overseas. i don't think -- i think we would be mistaken to set our expectations that we're gonna hear something next month or in three months or by the end of the summer because these case will be very complex. if the fbi does start to get close to a person or something that looks and feels criminal, you can be assured that attorneys who are highly paid and very capable will be surrounding those subjects and slowing the progress even further because we're talking about subjects who are probably the cornerstone or the essential part of getting to the truth. the overseas part is difficult. look at wiki leaks. you know? what's the involvement of anybody with the trump campaign and wiki leaks? and wiki leaks and russia? those are complicated thing. so we shouldn't set our expectations and expect that we will be frustrated tomorrow and

the next day. 'cause we are. it's gonna take awhile to unravel this. >> melissa: a lot hangs on the new director of the fbi. that person is going to be under a lot of scrutiny. sir, thank you for joining us. >> certainly. my pleasure. >> melissa: another big story we've been following. the justice department launching a new push to crack down on drug crimes. jeff session ordering prosecutors to get tough on offenders with longer prison times. peter ducey is live in washington. so what is the legal rational for this policy, peter? >> reporter: the legal rational, melissa, is just to more strictly enforce laws that are already on the books, something that this white house does not think the last white house took very seriously. >> we are returning to the enforcement of the laws as passed by congress plain and simple. if you are a drug trafficker, we will not look the other way.

we will not be willfully blind to your misconduct. >> reporter: so that was the sentiment of a memo, two-page memo sent to more than 90 u.s. attorneys across the country late last night. it takes effect, this new policy, today. melissa? >> melissa: so what sort of opposition is there to the plan? >> reporter: there's some bipartisan opposition, actually. one republican senator, rand paul, who has been a big proponent of criminal justice reform, said in a statement to us earlier, a mandatory minimum sentences have unfairly incarcerated too many minorities for too long. the policy will accentuate that. instead we should treat our nation's drug epidemic as a health crisis and not a lock them up and throw away the key problem. some democratic leaders are saying they think the timing of this announcement is suspicious. the democratic minority whip said this in a statement. it's no coincidence that the

sessions memo was quietly signed on the same day the president was making major headlines for firing james comey but an of his investigation of trump. this policy is unjust and unwise and can't withstand even minimal public scrutiny. some supporters though of this move think that the threat of stiffer policies will do a lot to slow down and then eventually stop, in theory, the opioid epidemic, which is a big concern of this justice department and this white house. melissa? >> melissa: thank you very much for that report. so could white house press briefings be a thing of the past? sean spicer just asked about that after the president sent an interesting tweet this morning. i joined the army in july of '98. our 18 year old was in an accident. when i call usaa it was that voice asking me, "is your daughter ok?" that's where i felt relief. we're the rivera family, and we will be with usaa for life.

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>> melissa: james comey may be out as fbi director but is still in the line of fire. the senate intelligence committee inviting him to testify next week behind closed doors. they've got plenty of questions about his firing an the russia investigation. mike emanuel is live on capitol hill. >> reporter: it seems the more president trump an his team are saying, the more questions lawmakers, especially democrats, are asking. there are reports james comey may not come up here to capitol hill next tuesday to testify in that classified closed session. i just checked with the senate intelligence committee and was

told they have no updates. as for the president's tweet warning comey may hope there are no tapes of their conversations the top democrat on the house intelligence agency said, quote, the president should immediately provide any such recordings to congress or admit to have made a deliberately mrs. leading and in this case threatening statement. today a leading senate democrat, dick durbin said, quote, to sprefrb his reputation as a credible prosecutor, deputy attorney general rod rosenstein must appoint an independent special prosecutor to pursue possible criminal charges or he must resign. rosenstein was just confirmed 94-6 on april 25th. record some are talking about resignation. it appears, at least, that his honeymoon is over. >> melissa: thank you. >> reporter: sure. >> melissa: president trump raising the possibility of ending the white house press briefing. sean spicer explaining why the president would even think about doing that. >> i think he's a little

dismaid, as well as a lot of people, that we come out here, try to do everything we can to provide you and the american people what he's doing to keep the nation safe, to grow jobs, and yet we see time and time again an attempt to parse every little word and make it a game of gotcha, as opposed to figure out what the policies are, why something is being pursued or what the update is on this. i think that's where there's a lot of dismay. >> melissa: a staff writer for the federalist, richard fowler is a radio talk show host and fox news contributor. brie, what do you make of that? >> i don't think that's a serious threat to say the white house is going to get rid of briefings, but i do think sean spicer and donald trump have a point, which is what the media don't focus on what the real story is. they get all caught up. we've been talking and reacting to james comey's firing for the past four days now nonstop. the fact of the matter is that most americans don't see the story the same way that inside the beltway reporters do.

most americans according to facebook reaction, there was a great story parsing this data. according to facebook interactions, many thought rachel maddow's bombshell was more interesting to them than james comey's firing. so i think, being frustrate d at the press and the way the media is just focusing on these fly by night stories and stretching them out for four days, i think he definitely has a point. >> melissa: richard, what do you think about that? there is a point to that, that people inside the beltway, people inside the media, addict d to politics watching this day to day have a different point of view on what's going on than people who thought comey's been doing sort of what seems like outlandish things for awhile. he's frustrated both sides of the aisle. they might be surprised that he's had the job this long. >> listen, i tend to agree with brie. i think this is just a failed threat by the white house to end the press briefings.

donald trump also fed the fire in keeping this comey thing alive. >> melissa: absolutely. >> thank you. you look at his twitter handle. i looked at it right before we came on. over the past two day, of all the tweets about 60% or 70% were about james comey or russia. so if he really cared ab moving on, he would be out there selling his healthcare plan or talking about tax reform. but instead, he's tweeting about comey and russia. and any time the president tweets anything, as you know, melissa, because he's the leader of the free world, that becomes news. he's feeding them. they're asking questions about his tweets. white house press briefing is saying one thing, the president is saying something else. you can't get mad at the media. >> melissa: brie, you wonder about that. this is kind of how he's always operated. >> yeah. >> melissa: this has always been like this. there are times that you wonder, is there a method to this

madness? is he distracting from something else? do the people that are his die hard supporters see all of this and feel like, oh, it's just the media giving him a terrible time as usual. he's trying to do his business. or is it very clumsy execution? >> i think the bigger story, or the larger story, is that it's been two years since donald trump first announced that he was going to run for president and the media still hasn't found way to steal the news media cycle from donald trump. i think a lot of his tweets are reactive to the media. i think the media really does have the upper hand to say, hey, we're just going to be talking about whether the senate will pass a healthcare bill. they don't have to every time there's a briefing they don't have to fixate on his tweets for 15 minutes and waste all of their time with sean spicer on that topic. >> melissa: richard, i know you were getting ready to come talk to us. was that a different sean spiceer?

he seemed more subdued and did sort of the asked and answered moved on rather than arguing? >> yeah. that was a very interesting move by sean spicer. lot of it had to do with the fact that people think sean spicer could be a distraction to this president and this administration as we near the 200 day mark. that he could be a distraction. he might have to go for somebody else. the other point i want to make is sometimes -- there's times where donald trump gets these things right. when neil gorsuch was appointed, he went to the rose garden. that's how you do it. when you fire your fbi director you don't do it at 5:00 without telling him. you do it in the rose garden with his replacement, continuity in power and that didn't happen. >> melissa: yeah. i hear what you're saying. all right. thanks to both of you. we are just learning about a russian fighter jet like this one flying dangerously close to

a u.s. navy reconnaissance aircraft over the black sea this week. and it was armed. this coming one day after the president met with russia's foreign minister and ambassador to the u.s. in the oval office. lucas tomlinson is live at the pentagon with more on this. it's stunning, lucas. >> reporter: it is, melissa. that russian jet came within 20 feet of a u.s. navy reconnaissance plane flying in the black sea on tuesday. what's more, as you mentioned, that russian jet was armed with six air to air missiles, making the incident much more provocative according to defense officials here at the pentagon who say the incident lasted about an hour and occurred in international air space off the coast of crimea which is russians ex-communicated in 2014. the u.s. stepped up its reconnaissance flights in the region. in february russian fighter jets buzzed a u.s. navy destroyer in the black sea as dozens of u.s.

army tanks and hundreds of american soldiers deployed to romania, not far away, for a training exercise. melissa, it's note worthy that same u.s. destroyer the russians buzzed in february, uss porter, was one of the fighters who launched missiles in syria. fox also learned about another incident, this time in asia. a ugs attack jet was intercepted by south korean war planes just 70 miles from the uss carl vinson strike group currently steaming in the sea of japan. additionally, we have also learned a new russian shipment of u.s. service to air missiles have arrived in syria doubling the number of missiles russia has in syria after leading a new cease fire agreement days ago. and, melissa, that russian shipment arrived in syria one day after the russian foreign minister arrived here in washington. what's more, it occurred on the same day defense secretary jim mattis traveled to lithuania on

russia's door step to reassure nervous baltic allies. melissa? >> melissa: wow. lucas, thank you. we are getting new details on the dinner meeting between james comey and president trump. what was said and were there any recording devices in the room? it's not where we start, it's where we end up. expedia. everything in one place, so you can travel the world better.

>> coming up the latest fallout from president trump's warning to the former fbi director james comey. the white house said it's not a threat and it will not confirm or deny whether a tape exists. top of the hour on shepard smith reporting. we'll see you then. >> melissa: so, we are getting new details about the dinner of james comey and president trump. the "new york times" is reporting that trump asked former fbi director comey to pledge his loyalty to him more than once at a private dinner in

january. mr. comey declined but told the president he would give him honesty instead. when trump pressed him on whether it would be, quote, honest loyalty, comey said, quote, you will have that. whatever that means. now let's talk about it with texas congressman john radcliffe. he is a member of the house judiciary and homeland security committees. i would say the white house is strongly denying the story that that conversation took place. "the new york times" is quoting two sources that said they got this story from james comey. what do you make of the whole thing? >> melissa, good to be with you. "new york times" story does cite unnamed sources, giving a second hand account to this dinner which the white house has already said is untrue. but even if it were true that there was a request for a loyalty pledge, that's not evidence of anything improper, much less illegal. remember what jim comey said in his statement the other day.

a president can fire an fbi director for any reason or for no reason at all. >> melissa: although, of course, opponents of the president and even casual watchers are saying that sounds like obstruction of justice. if he comes to the chief investigator, the head of the fbi, who is looking into ties between russia and the election and he says, i demand your loyalty, that's obstruction of justice. what do you think? >> not even close. removing an fbi director does not remove an fbi investigation. in this case, you have congressional investigations that will continue. you have an fbi investigation that will continue. you know, ironically, in this case, with attorney general sessions recusing himself, that investigation would fall to deputy attorney general rod rosenstein, who was, for the last eight years, an obama appointee. >> melissa: what about the

question of loyalty? i mean, when you maybe look at past relationships, even, you know, the u.s. justice department loretta lynch. was she loyal to president obama? i mean, is that an improper way to character those relationships? what about that word? >> yeah, i think you serve at the pleasure of the president as the attorney general or as the fbi director. and once appointed, you have to be fiercely independent. the idea of a request for a pledge for loyalty isn't something i would advise the president to do. remember, he's new at all of this but not improper, but i think director comey gave the response that i think was appropriate, which is that he would continue to be honest an gave him that pledge. >> melissa: even the idea of whether or not he's under investigation, let's look at what he told nbc. >> did you call him? >> in one case i called him and one case he called me.

>> did you ask, am i under investigation? >> i actually asked, yes. he said, you not under investigation. >> he's given sworn testimony that there was an on going investigation into the trump campaign and possible collusion with the russian government. you were the center piece of the trump campaign. >> all i can tell you -- i know that i'm not under investigation. >> melissa: congressman, what do you make of that back and forth? was that proper, improper? >> i don't think it's improper for the president to ask those questions. if the director doesn't want to answer them, he can politely refuse to do so. >> melissa: thank you for coming back. >> thank you, melissa. >> melissa: do not attempt to walk with me. no stopping by or popping in. those are just a few phrases from the leaked staff memo everyone is talking about. so who is the author of these edicts? umbrellas!!

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>> melissa: sorry. not sorry. that's the word from steve harvey after coming under fire for sending a staff wide memo on work place etiquette with guidelines like, do not attempt to walk with me. trace gallagher is live with more on that one. trace, that's how you operate, right? >> that's exactly how i operate. that was you last time i was back in new york. some are calling any don't bother memo, the quick bug in me or stay the blank away from me marching orders. but steve harvey is not apologizing. in fact, he is stanning firm. it was a list of rules sent to the staff before the start of season 5 of his daytime show. it was recently leaked to the chicago media reporter robert

feeder. reads in part, quote, there will be no meetings in my dressing room, no stopping by or popping in. no one. do not come to my dressing room unless invited. do not open my dressing room door. if you open my door, expect to be removed. my security team will stop everyone from standing at my door who has the intent to see or speak to me. i want all the ambushing to stop now. that includes tv staff. by the way, needless to say the social media world kind of having a bit of fun with it. one memo reading, tweeting quote, after reading this, why would anyone ever want to be near him? apparently we don't have that. one man said, steve harvey is a treasure to mankind. so what he wants, some alone time now and again, leave the man alone. steve harvey admits maybe he should have handled it differently, but he told "entertainment tonight" that enough is enough. listen. >> everybody wants to move around. i just didn't want to be in this prison any more where i had to stay in this one little room

scared to go out an get a breath of fresh air without somebody approaching me. so i wrote the letter, man. i don't apologize about the letter. kind of crazy the way people took this thing and ran. i appreciate you asking me. >> reporter: i love the don't walk with me in the hallway thing. do not walk with me in the hallway. he's a very sweet guy. very funny guy. the memo was kind of -- >> melissa: i have respect for him that he owned it. he didn't deny it. no one gathers outside my office. trace, next time when you're in town, can you try to ambush me outside my office? i'm lonely. no one stops by. >> reporter: done. >> melissa: we'll be right back.

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articles about moms. let's give ourselves the ultimate in luxe are you gifts the break. give every mother you know a break as well, too. we try too hard, drive ourselves so hard and expect so much. enjoy the love around you. here's shepard smith. >> shepard: it's noon on the west coast. 3:00 at the white house where the president of the united states is warning his fired fbi director against leaking to the media and suggesting there may be tapes of their conversations. minutes ago, we heard from the white house spokesman on that live on television, which is interesting considering the president floating the idea of cancelling press briefings because it's not possible for his people to be totally accurate. and the lawyers have said they've gone through the tax returns and he hasn't made money from russian sources with a few exceptions. and vladimir putin says he can help reduce kim jong-un's