let us know you think. that's all the time we have. so much news to get in. thank you for being here. we will see you back here tomorrow night. >> tucker: good evening -- welcome to washington. i am bret baier. you are watching a special edition of special report. tonight, another night with a breaking news story that has enveloped washington. trump administration is denying report first put out by "the new york times" than president asked then fbi director james comey to end the bureau's investigation involving michael flynn. and contacts with the russians. we have fox team covered. our reporters burning the midnight oil. catherine herridge joins us. james rosen with a case of double standards with intelligence sharing. mike emanuel on capitol hill with reaction from lawmakers. we start with the busy

white house and john roberts. good evening. >> good evening to you. white house is disputing report in "the new york times" tonight that back in february in a private meeting in the oval office, the president asked then fbi director james comey to drop the investigation into lieutenant general michael flynn, former national security advisor. according to a note that was reportedly written by comey about the meeting, president trump allegedly said to the director about the flynn investigation, "i hope you can let it go." the white house and a background statement said "while the president has repeatedly expressed his view that general flynn is a decent man who served and protected our country, the president has never asked mr. comey or anyone else to end any investigation, including any investigation involving general flynn. this is not a truthful or accurate portrayal of the conversation between the president and mr. comey."

what we do not know at this point at least is what the president did say to the former fbi director. the white house is saying what he didn't save, but we don't yet know what he did say, and we may not know and told mar morning sometime after the press secretary, sean spicer, has a conversation with the president about that. in the meantime, the white house the still pushing back hard against the news that broke last night and that is that we could go tomorrow, the president shared some highly sensitive information, intelligence, about terrorist threats with russian officials. in the roosevelt room, with turkish president erdogan, president trump paused, eager to give his side of the story and what he told russia's foreign minister. >> we had a very, very successful meeting with the foreign minister of russia. our fight is against isis, as

general mcmaster said. i thought he said, and i know he feels, that we had a great meeting. with the foreign minister. were going to have great success over the next coming years and we want to get as many to help fight terrorism as possible. >> white house pushing back against claims that the president jeopardize national security by sharing information about threats to airlines with sergey lavrov. sources say it goes well beyond the current ban on laptop computers. >> emphasizing that we have common interests. an organization that had taken down a russian airliner and murdered over 200 people pretty was wholly appropriate to share what the threat was as a basis for common action and coordination. >> the reporter who broke the story says the president and his team are laying down smoke in an attempt to wriggle out of the controversy. >> i think the white house has sought to create this kind of confusion in an effort to

deflect or blunt the impact of a story. >> the exhalations from the warehouse fell on deaf ears at capitol hill. bob corker told reporters "the white house has got to do something soon to bring itself under control and in order. obviously they are in a downward spiral right now they've got to figure out a way to come to grips with all that's happening." of the republicans won a full read out of the presidents meeting with lavrov, among them barbara comstock was that "once again we are faced with inexplicable stories coming from the white house that are highly troubling. we need to have immediate classified briefings on what occurred at this meeting so that congress can at least know as much as russian leaders." sources tell fox news the threats the president described were developed apart by israel. critics screamed at divulging such information could damage intelligence partnerships but israel didn't seem to mind. in a statement to fox news, ron dermer saying "israel has full

confidence in intelligence sharing with the united states and looks forward to deepening the relationship." white house is attempting to turn the focus from intelligence to the fact that it leaked. >> i think national security is at risk by this leak and leaks like it. >> the president has been plagued by leaks white house staffers insist are designed to hurt him. radio host eric erickson said this was designed as a wake-up call. >> this is a strong trump supporter who really wants the president to succeed and at this point is, among other people in the white house, driven to desperation to try to get the president's attention. >> if the president's supporters have joined the legion of leakers and attempt to get his attention, that adds an entirely new level of headache to what the white house is experiencing. back to the call comey memo, the warehouse did not have any new information live in the akron

statement they released as this was breaking, they did have some questions they will be asking tomorrow and that is, if comey was so worried about things as he expressed in the memo, why did he not share his concerns earlier with the deputy director of the fbi, department of justice, and congress? if director comey was keeping memos on his interactions with president trump, had he also kept memos about his interactions with other officials, like hillary clinton and barack obama? >> bret: the likely hit on the testimony by the acting fbi director days ago, mccabe. >> they are saying, if you remember to last week, the intelligence committee briefing, andrew cade, deputy director, not acting director of the fbi, stated under oath he had seen no evidence to suggest that the white house was trying to interfere in any way with the russia investigation. >> bret: okay, john roberts, with a long day on the north

lawn of the white house. thank you. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge has been working her sources all night. what are you hearing? we know about the meetings the president had with the fbi director. what about the context? >> thank you. law enforcement source confirms that the former fbi director documented at least one meeting with president trump that made him uneasy. it's not clear from our reporting site whether it was the mid-february meeting cited by "the new york times" or the president reportedly asked comey to let go of the investigation into former national security advisor michael flynn, who had resigned. or a january meeting, whether the president asked comey for his loyalty and in response comey said he would always be honest with the president. white house has of course disputed both accounts. because of his background as a lawyer, career prosecutor, and bureaucrats, sources say comey is known as a copious notetaker and its standard practice to take notes during our meeting after meeting. in early march, to accept of the meeting cited by the times,

comey probably stated his intent to serve out his 10-year term during a speech of boston college. the comments strikes current and former agent does know noteworthy, possibly reflecting comey's unease after the flynn meeting. >> boston college as a leader in thinking and educating on these incredibly important issues. this is a great place to have it. hope you'll do it many more times. you are stuck with me for another six and a half years. >> there is a present event for fbi notes. robert muller provided notes to validate comey's version of events. >> bret: what about possible double standards? >> during testimony last week at the senate national security hearing, acting fbi director andrew mccabe was pressed on the integrity of the russia probe. >> has the dismissal of mr. comey in any way impeded, interrupted, stopped, or negatively impacted any of the work, any investigation or

anything ongoing projects at the federal bureau of investigation? >> as you know, the work of the men and women of the fbi continues despite any changes in circumstance, any decision. there is no been cashed there has been no effort to impede the investigation. you cannot stop the men and women of the fbi from doing the right thing, protecting the american people. >> critics note president obama on more than one occasion made public statements that appear to downplay hillary clinton's use of a private server exclusively for government business. that was the subject of an ongoing fbi investigation. >> i don't think opposing national security problem. i think it was a mistake she's acknowledged, and as a general proposition, when we are in these offices, we have to be more sensitive. and stay as far away from the

line as possible when it comes to how we handle information, how we handle our personal data. >> after that interview, the white house spokesman appeared to walk practice comments, saying there was no attempt by the president to undermine the importance or independence of the fbi's work. >> bret: i guess you have, james comey is a detailed notetaker and memo writer but not a lot of note-taking or memos that hillary clinton interview. >> well, there are substantial three oh twos from the interview. the question is whether it was appropriate not to do it under oath. fbi agents with tell you it doesn't matter if you are caught lying to an agent, the oath doesn't have any dispensation for you. >> bret: james comey was invited to speak on capitol hill today behind closed doors. but said no. media reports say comey wants to appear publicly. the search for his successor meantime goes on, as the furor over the president's

relationship russia and all of this back-and-forth reaches new levels every day. she congressional correspondent mike manuel is on capitol hill. >> good evening. republican leaders on capitol hill been keeping a low profile much of the evening after this latest "new york times" blockbuster report. it was house oversight chairman jason chaffetz taking the lead, sending a letter to the fbi, setting a may 24 deadline demanding "all memoranda, notes, summaries, and recordings referring or relating to any communications between comey and the president." south carolina republican congressman trey gowdy, for federal prosecutor made the case for needing to see the relevant paperwork and needing to speak with the former fbi director. >> i want to see the memo. obviously i want to talk to director comey to determine how contemporaneous his recording of the conversation was but also importantly, not just what was

said but what did director comey here. how did he take it? that can only be done with all due respect to "the new york times," that can only be done by looking at the memo and talking to director comey. >> democrats on capitol hill pounced. one democratand calling for an outside 9/11 style commission to investigate. >> turn it over to a commission outside of democrats in congress, republicans in congress. put experts on it and get to the bottom of what happened. it's also possible were going to need to independent counsel, independent prosecutor to do it because it looks like there's a staph infection in the department of justice where everywhere you turn someone is compromised by virtue of the russian connection. >> all of this erupting as there is uncertainty about the future of leadership of the fbi and controversy about its past. republican lawmakers withdrew from consideration within the last 24 hours. john cornyn says he wants to

remain in the u.s. senate. trey gowdy, who you heard from earlier, says he's not interested in serving the fbi at this point. it seems that the political climate the latest, any lawmaker with a r or d next to his name would face a brutal confirmation process. >> bret: mike emanuel, thanks. as mike mentioned, house oversight committee chairman jason chaffetz sent a letter to the fbi asking for all information about these memos. congressman jason chaffetz joins us. thanks for being here. your reaction to the story. i have a copy of your letter here. what you're looking for and what you hope to find. >> well, let's see if it's true. this is one where we can find out the truth behind it. if there are such memos, documentation, we would like to see it from the fbi. if i need to issue a subpoena, i will issue a subpoena but i think they will cooperate.

>> bret: are you hoping to hear from the fbi director, former fbi director, in testimony? and what is the status? >> i think trey gowdy, a moment ago, laid it out right. let's see if the documentation as they are, then we need to talk to the person who wrote those. that would be director comey and get his take on it. whether that is a public hearing or we talk behind the scenes, i'm not quite sure yet. we are going to let the facts take us where they are. the first step is finding out if it's true, that there are these memos. we will -- >> bret: we know the fbi director did not tell at the time anyone up the chain, it seems like, and just before he was fired calmly he did not say this memo existed or concerns about the conversation to the senate intelligence committee chairs. senator burr and warner. do you question whether this is

all coming together? >> it begs the question. if there was as he perceived undue influence. could have talked to the oversight committee, the judiciary committee. could have talked to the intel committee, devin nunes. could have talked to the senate intel committee and something could've gone public. the documentation and how it was perceived, the conversations, if they happened, that's where we need to figure out the facts. >> bret: house democratic caucus chair today talking about this. >> i am for restoring faith and confidence by the american people in their government. i think we are at an all-time low right now. i think the most recent incident in terms of what the president may have said to mr. comey when he was the fbi director. it will be more than troubling right now. what i want to get to is the

facts. the only way to do that mister the confidence is through an independent commission. i think the process here in terms of the house and senate intel committees is not working properly. >> bret: what about the call for an independent commission or special counsel of some sort? >> no, i think there are plenty of outlets and plenty of ways to do that. there's no evidence that there was some sort of crime committed. there was nothing criminal that happened. if these memos are indeed they are, let's review those first. we'll be done by republicans and democrats alike but we will do that as publicly as we can. some of the information may be classified and we can't share it, but i think the public would understand. we need to exhaust those types of avenues before we try to go to some independent approach. i don't think those would truly be "independent." this is the system we've had in place and i think we need to give it a shot.

>> bret: white house aides, trump supporters are saying the president is under siege here. many saying that some of these stories are not panning out. critics say this is a lot of the president's own doing and how they white house is handling some of this and specifically what is being set at these key moments. your thoughts. >> well, i think the democrats have a newfound commitment to open this transparency and accountability. i welcome them to finally come to the table in doing that. they certainly didn't help us all over the last eight years it's very serious matters where there was criminal wrongdoing, where people were literally killed. i didn't see them coming to the table with such veracity and such commitment that i see now. at the same time, i do think the white house could have handled some of these situations much better. i would hope they could learn from some of these key mistakes and inconsistencies which lead to this narrative that we are

not getting the full truth. >> bret: last thing, director comey has a history of coming forward, when he was with the bush administration, as the deputy attorney general. he did not come forward with any concerns when president obama, as mentioned by catherine herridge, said a couple things for different times about the hillary clinton server and email investigation. where do you think director comey's mindset was. you dealt with him. >> he was very good at being open and transparent with us, answering all of our questions in a public setting to a point. there is still documentation and it's difficult to extract it out of the fbi. we will see. now that he is the former director of the fbi, let's see if these documents are there and what he would like to say about them. you are seeing that playing out right now. we sent a letter. they have a week to produce it

and we will want to talk to mr. comey. >> bret: house oversight committee chairman jason chaffetz, thank you for your time. what is the mood at the white house? are there more comey memos? is another shoe going to drop? we have you covered on all sides of the story. our 11:00 p.m. "special report" continues after a quick break. >> if it's true, it's disconcerting and opens up a new chapter of scandal and controversy in this country. we need to get to the truth. we need to find out what happened and no president, no government official, no one in this country should be allowed to obstruct justice. let's get to the bottom of it. let's get the facts and hold everyone accountable. new bike? yeah, 'cause i got allstate. if you total your new bike, they replace it with a brand new one. that's cool. i got a new helmet. we know steve. it's good to be in (good hands).

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>> bret: fox news alert, continuing coverage of the breaking news story today is the white house pushes back hard on "the new york times" story saying that the president told then fbi director james comey, he asked him, rather, to stop the investigation into michael flynn. this, as other questions are evolving around different parts of the story. chief washington correspondent james rosen joins me now. long day, james. >> a fascinating one. good evening to you. among the first democratic lawmakers to speak out about the comey memo was adam schiff of california, raking chair of the house intelligence committee. in those remarks, schiff hearkened back to yesterday's allegation that president trump improperly shared classified unit with the russians. >> it's one thing to do this is a product of interagency thought and deliberation about information that needs to be

shared. it's another thing to do it spontaneously, impetuously, or in a way that might endanger sources of information. >> as has been clear to anyone following the fledgling from presidency, much of its troubles have revolved around michael flynn, the retired general and former trump aide has not been formally accused of wrongdoing, yet he has become a linchpin of allegations and counter allegations featuring an ever widening cast of characters from former obama national security advisor susan rice to conquer -- congressmen schiff himself. appearing at the brookings institution two months ago, california congressman adam schiff, ranking democrat on the house intelligence committee, commented on the controversy surrounding michael flynn. white house national security advisor fired after classified surveillance data about him was leaked to the news media. >> you have leaks that exposed malfeasance or a legality.

i put that kind of leak, i put the flynn leak in that category. national security advisor has lied to the vice president and probably others, being charitable, probably others. lied to the vice president about a conversation with the russians over sanctions imposed. >> those remarks coming under renewed scrutiny after sally yates treated the same subject differently. >> in the trump transition team told "the washington post" january 13 that sanctions were not discussed, was that false? >> i can't confirm whether those conversations regarding sanctions occurred. that would require me to be revealed -- reveal classified information. >> petitioned the office of congressional ethics. moveon.org petition the office of congressional ethics to investigate the chairman of the

house intelligence panel, devin nunes, for comments he made on the flynn case one day after schiff spoke. >> there is a multiple number of fisa warrants. >> house ethics committee moved swiftly to take over the case, but the ethics committee has shown no such inclination in the case of schiff. michael allen. >> i think if you want to investigate the chairman for these matters, you ought to look at other members of the committee and what they said also. i think many members have played fast and loose with a lot of the facts they've heard in classified sessions in their zeal to bring down president trump. >> congressmen schiff declined to comment. so did the ethics committee chair, susan brooks of indiana when we asked why five weeks have elapsed since the schiff case was referred to oce.

>> bret: james, thank you. "the new york times" report that president asked then fbi director james comey to stop the investigation of the former nsa my client has made political waves, especially here in washington. joining me now, chris stirewalt, politics editor here and kevin collins, white house correspondent for "the daily caller" ." caitlin, you were there at the white house today. you met with some administration officials paid what is the mood. >> they are a little shell-shocked. they are not sure what message they should be going with right now and they haven't really offered an explanation beyond denial. they are denying "the new york times" story that donald trump asked comey to shut down the investigation. they are saying that didn't happen, it never came from him. they haven't told us what trump did say during the conversation and if he asked mike pence and jeff sessions to leave the room. we haven't found out who was in

the room or what trump said. we are waiting on messaging from the white house. >> bret: president trump tweeted out that there were tapes, or suggested their work and saying james comey shouldn't talk to the press. maybe there are these tapes. white house hasn't engaged. >> they haven't. if there is a transcript, there's been rumblings, they have a confirmed or denied it. if there are tapes of the oval office conversation, they would be pretty helpful to donald trump right now because it's his word versus james comey's. white house acknowledged tonight they have a credibility problem. they know they've used up a lot of their credibility and other stores when they really could've used it on a day like today. >> well, it's a heck of a thing. i think when you get right down to it, no matter what the white house does at this point, every day, the stakes go up for who that fbi replacement is. if you want to put this in a larger context, every day this story, whether it was, i mean,

you can read what "the new york times" says is in comey's memo. it wasn't trump said he, stop that investigation but in a clumsy way said he's a nice guy. i hope you can be nice to him and those things. maybe unwittingly doing it, just as maybe he said something and part of the russians he was not supposed to say. >> bret: we don't have context and we don't know what the rest of the memo may have said. >> and then he said just kidding. we have no idea. what we do know is that the drumbeat, the constant leaking and the constant damage that's being done here means that basically in the end, you have to resurrect john marshall and have him come and serve as the fbi director because there's a lot of chips getting to be on the number. >> bret: we know the president has been upset, kaitlan, about the lack of investigation into leaks. this "new york times" story goes a lot further. it says "alone in the oval office, mr. trump began the discussion by condemning links to the news media saying that

mr. comey should consider putting reporters in prison for publishing classified information," according to one of mr. comey's associates. we don't have context. maybe he was joking, but maybe he wasn't. >> if you've read his tweets about these leaks, it's safe to assume he wasn't joking that he does think this is a punishable offense, jailing reporters. when i asked about this tonight, they were surprised. i had to read they hadn't made it that far down in the story because they are putting out so many fires all over the place that they hadn't even gotten to that tidbit of the story. >> bret: there is something to them not going out first with something you're going to have to walk back later. get all of your ducks in a row before you address it. >> definitely but you need to come out with the message before chuck schumer and everyone else does. you need to come out with the narrative and defend your side if you do have a defense before

you let democrats on capitol hill come out and say you are trying to interfere with an investigation. the one most republicans today and tonight have said they want to get to the facts, that's the message. >> the other messages, i'm not available for an interview. kudos to jason chaffetz for making himself available and talking to the press tonight. most of these republicans, this feels like after "access hollywood" and the republican tumbleweeds blow and there are no republicans around to talk about the president. they want to see how many more shoes are going to drop. as for jailing reporters, i think this is something that will reconnect with trump's base. you say at least he is still trying to imprison "the new york times" ." >> bret: chris, kaitlan, thank you. were going to break, we will put it in perspective with our all-star panel.

it's 11:30 and they are here. >> not on a steady course and we are careening all over the place. impossible to say there's any kind of positive agenda being pursued by the administration.

>> did you ask him to drop the investigation? >> no, never. i want the investigation speeded out. >> did anyone in the white house ask him? any surrogates on behalf of the white house? >> not that i know of. i want to find out if there was a problem with an election having to do with russia or anybody else. any other country. >> bret: president trump, from the nbc interview, being asked, did he ever asked jim comey to drop the investigation.

they are you here is the answer. this, as we are continuing to get more information, reaction from lawmakers, including the chair of the senate intelligence committee, senator burr talking to reporters, saying "i believe the director made of told us there had been a request like that was never mentioned by him." somebody is going to have to do more than have anonymous sources on this one for me to believe that there is something there. i could write something and read it over the phone and tell them it came from comey. i think the burden is on "the new york times." if they are reporting it and they've got somebody that's got the document, they need to get the document and get it released." the senator shared more than he's ever shared, something as materialist that probably would have been something he would have shared. burr said he met with director comey the day before was fired. let's bring the panel. stephen hayes, a.b. stoddard,

charles hurt, opinion editor for "the washington times," and steve hilton, former advisor to british prime minister david cameron. charlie, your thoughts. >> well, i am particularly struck by the stark differences between what "the new york times" is reporting and what the white house has said. it's a flat denial. i do think, as you pointed out, it's very important to remember we are talking about parts of a letter that were read over the phone to a reporter. we don't know the full, with the full letter is. it is not in that context but we don't know what jim comey walked away from that conversation thinking, and i do think it's very strange that you have a guy like jim comey who has made no, has had no problems interjecting himself publicly at the height of campaigns to say wait a minute. if he felt like trump had

attempted to obstruct justice, i just have a hard time imagining that he wouldn't come out and publicly say we have a problem. one last point is that this letter that he wrote, which is not an unusual thing for him to do, among the people it would have gone to is andrew mccabe. and andrew mccabe, after that letter would have been written, he testified he doesn't think, he said to date no effort, there's been no effort to obstruct justice. i think we are once again getting a little bit, some people are getting ahead of themselves. >> bret: it is a deep breath and context and perspective is key. david perdue from georgia tweeted "five days ago, acting fbi director mccabe said there has been no effort to impede our investigation. and he linked to the sound bites. we are dealing in facts, we know

and don't know, and we just don't know the extent of this memo or where it goes. >> as with so many discussions we've had at this table, there's a lot more to learn than what we know. having said that, we know that the fbi director was fired in part because donald trump was tired of the russia investigation. we know that president effectively confirmed he fired james comey because he was tired of the russian investigation. >> bret: the nbc interview with lester holt. >> fbi director claims the president asked him to stop the investigation. those notes, the contemporaneous notes, according to comey and his associates, would be admissible in court. we also know that donald trump has a history of being less than forthright. when you have a credibility task, as many mistakes as james comey has made, when you have a credibility test, it's likely james comey is going to win that one.

>> bret: to answer charlie's point about who would have been told her why wasn't mccabe or the justice department brought o this knowledge. >> i think what fbi sources have said to other reporters, not me, is that he didn't want to influence the investigation. he didn't think it was appropriate to speak out about it because it could affect the way his investigators approached the investigation. i think that's a question comey needs to take seriously. >> bret: steve, earlier tonight you put it in a broader perspective about people looking at this from the outside saying what? >> exactly. the big thing that happened last year. the american people put someone in the white house with no political experience with a preferred over all the experienced, all the money, all the effort that came from the other republicans and the democratic side. saying we've had enough of you. we want someone not particularly skilled at the art of politics.

they need practical things to get done. jobs, incomes, health care sorted out. none of that is consuming the energy of this town. what's really happening here i think is, if there was a real truth to some of the really serious accusations that are being leveled here, for example. if the president genuinely colluded with the russians about the election, that's obviously very serious but no one's ever presented any evidence on that, and even on this latest one. obstruction of justice. huge questions about whether he actually did that. what you're really saying i think is an inexperienced person, exactly who the people wanted, getting tripped up in the weeds of the swamp and saying things a little more loosely than an experienced professional would do. but that's the reason for this over the top treatment.

>> bret: democrats obviously, i think just listening to the sound bites tonight, are trying to be careful. they are focusing in on a special prosecutor or special commission. some of them are jumping to impeachment, but the facts are not out there yet for all to see besides these anonymous source stories. >> getting excited about impeachment, as i said the other night, is it lynn devised. i think they really run the risk of overdoing it. it's not about the democrats. senator chuck schumer can go to the senate for as many times as he wants. nobody is listening. it's all about what's going on in the republican party and how much pressure donald trump has put on them time and time again. to answer, defend, deflect, distract from the story of the day, the crises that the president creates with his stories about voter fraud in crowd size and whatever it is. it's constant.

they are alarmed but overwhelmed. this is the kind of thing comey doesn't want the press to have the memo because he wanted to be subpoenaed. once it is subpoenaed, he will come to testify. everyone knows he keeps these kinds of notes. it doesn't mean that it's not suspicious, that he didn't tell other people at the department of justice or the fbi. he will come up with some crazy comey story like he always does about his reasoning. it might not stand up to scrutiny but what are the publicans feeling? as much credibility as comey has lost, his word is going to weigh more than donald trump's right now because donald trump and his staff don't tell the truth. they proved it last week. they proved that the last three months command that is the pressure republicans are under. >> bret: besides the normal characters who step up oftentimes. senator mccain and lindsey graham and pushed back, do you see a change in the winds up

there on capitol hill? >> i was told this morning, as i told you, republican members have gone quiet since the weekend. last time i spoke, i had not talked to them. they had all gone silent over the meeting in the oval office. this was another wave. i didn't's -- i spoke with a member who said there's definitely change, they feel lie no choice. they're going to lose 23 seats next year, 24 in the house, and become the minority party in the house. it's time for people in those swing districts. the trump districts don't matter. it is the ones hillary won to protect themselves. they cannot go home next weekend and take answers on this without saying we have to have the memo. we have to see what happened. that is the change you saw between 6:00 and now. >> bret: people forget it's a cycle. it does come back to politics.

if they can't get these legislators to move on big ticket items, then those big ticket items don't get through, those legislators and lawmakers go home and they lose the race. democrats control both chambers and the investigations are run by democrats, which is a different scenario. more with the panel after a short break. you sound just came in.

>> i don't think we want to make the leap to impeachment until you follow a path that leads there. maybe it will. maybe it won't. i am not there at this point. >> bret: bernie sanders, independent. caucuses with the democrats,

saying maybe they shouldn't jump to impeachment read some of his callings are already there. we are back with the panel. steve, where do you think this goes? comey gets called. he has already been asked to appear. so far, has not chosen to do behind closed doors. want to do it publicly. >> you've already seen moves from jason chaffetz to try to collect the evidence. there is a paper trail and we will see some of that, or at least congress will. the same holds with what happened in the oval office. there is no memorandum of a conversation about what happened there that many in the white house think led to the leaks, actually. the leak didn't come from people in the room but came from this memoranda conversation. i think it's possible we will see that. you've heard for members of congress to release it. let the public see some of these things. with so few people trusting the

media, members of congress, anyone in the media, the trump administration, is good to see the original source documents. >> bret: speaking of "the washington post" story. this was 24 hours ago come of this is the story about russian foreign minister and the ambassador in the oval office and that the president allegedly released very sensitive information. and the national security advisor, again today, standing by the pushback on the story. >> i stand by the statement yesterday paired what i'm saying is the premise of the article is false. that in any way the president have a conversation that was inappropriate or resulted in any kind of lapse and national security. >> did the president share classified information with the russians? >> we don't say what's classified, what's not. this president is a loose cannon. the president of the united states cannot just do or say or speak whatever the hell he wants.

that's irresponsible. you need to have some people that sit down with the president before he goes into a meeting and say these are the lines you cannot cross. >> bret: charlie, it's being reported that it's an israeli source, the source of this information. white house officials saying that the president didn't know the source of the information when he had the conversation. and there is some reporting it may have put people's lives at risk overseas, specifically in syria. deals with isis. thoughts on this and how that has evolved through the day. >> from the comey firing to that, to the developments with "the new york times" story, it's a series of bad press days for the administration. in terms of the comey firing, i think clearly they made a lot of mistakes in terms of how he handled it and how they handled the press. i made the argument that day

that the actual firing, everyone seemed to be in agreement, at least at one point or another in washington that firing the guy was the right thing to do. the way they handled the press was terrible. the situation with the russia leak, that was less terrible but not very good. but on something like tonight, i don't know how anyone white house response -- how any white house response to this. they are taking incoming from all sides. i don't even know i could criticize anything about the way they've handled this. it is an unprecedented barrage. and it's not just from the outside. it's also, you have a resistance movement inside the administration that is clearly leaking things. and i don't know how any president could survive this. >> bret: legally the president can classify, declassify whatever he wants. maybe the appropriate, if you're

talking legal, that's accurate. whether it's proper or the right thing to do is another issue. i think, ahead of this foreign trip, you have the possibility that these stories are going to overrun a trip that has potential to be pretty good for the president. >> yeah, i think they will overrun the media coverage certainly but that doesn't mean they will overrun the substance. i think what president trump, he's good at their relationships with other leaders. this story with the russians is probably an example of that. he's trying to build a good relationship. probably went further than he should have. the idea that he's the first leader that is indiscreet in his dealings with other leaders is ridiculous. despite what leon panetta said. plenty of leaders, and my

personal experience, however been attacked by their own officials, by their diplomats going too far in meetings, giving things away they shouldn't of done. it's what happens. let's remember he's not experienced at this. completely overstated and part of the story, the general story going on here, which is that the establishment don't like the fact that you've got someone who is chosen to lead them who hasn't done this before and doesn't do things the way they've always been done. >> bret: but this was the russians, a.b. our geopolitical fall, if you look at a number of different spots. he can try to make relationships, but all of the stories together the deal with russia and then to see the images and get the news, it was a combined kind of big shoe to drop. >> optics are not overrated. they have mattered for a long time for a reason. it was the day after the comey firing, and putin asked for this

meeting. it didn't happen under bush or obama. immediately the nsa ncaa were alerted after the meeting of the sensitive information was given by trump. that's because it was consequential. otherwise they wouldn't have alerted those security agencies about it. if it was not consequential, they would not have begged the newspapers to withhold details. serious threat to someone's life, and israeli spy who penetrated isis and now has their life in danger. as i mentioned before, the israelis are talking happy talk tonight about our great relationship, but they feared, and it was in the press months ago the risk of sharing intelligence with a trump administration. it made it into the media in israel. these are matters of grave consequences. whether it was the chinese in the oval office or the russians. >> white house had that story was false. you had a categorical statement from h.r. mcmaster. today, you have seen the

white house and people in it confirming various aspects of "the washington post" story and ending with sean spicer's gaggle, saying that this information is damaging to national security. you can't have it both ways. >> bret: does this turn it around? >> st points out, this is washington at its worst and this is what people voted against when they voted for donald trum. >> bret: thanks for sticking around. final thoughts when we come bac back. four weeks without the car. okay, yup. good night. with accident forgiveness your rates won't go up just because of an accident. switching to allstate is worth it.

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your home tonight, you decide. that's a special late-night show for us tonight, fair, balanced. ♪ >> hello everyone, this is "the five.">> we begin tonight with breaking news, "the new york times" this evening reporting that trump suggested that then-fbi director james comey that he drop thehe bureau's investigation into former national security officer michael flynn. according to the times, and february, he told comey "i hope you can let this go," citing a memo written by mr. comey. the white house said the report is not a truthful or accurate portrayal of the conversation between the president and mr. comey. opponents of the president are saying this newg information is stunning evidence of obstruction of justice. it's the second straight night we've had breaking news about the president, and joining us with more is chief local anchor