the russia situation. we'll have that for you just ahead. america's news hq starts now. >> melissa: all right. right now fox news can now independently confirm that former fbi director james comey wrote a memo claiming that president trump urged him to, quote, let go of the investigation into michael flynn. this is amid growing accusations that the president may have obstructed justice. hello, everyone. i'm melissa francis. welcome to "america's news hq." president trump just a few hours ago delivering the commencement address at the coast guard academy in connecticut. cadets greeting him with cheers and applause while some 300 miles away in washington, members of his party are becoming increasingly concerned. that a white house in crisis could derail the republican agenda. we have fox news coverage of all of this. john roberts has the latest from the white house. michael zeldon and michael

philbor on the ramification of this latest bombshell leak. but we start with catherine herridge. >> reporter: a short time ago the senate intelligence committee sent a new request on a bipartisan basis to the former and acting fbi directors. the first letter was sent to james comey asking him to testify twice in open or public session as well as a classified setting. the second letter was sent to the acting fbi director andrew mccabe, seeking any notes or memos prepared by the former director regarding communications he may have had with senior white house and department of justice officials. what stands out at this hour is the request from the republican chairman of the senate judiciary committee, chuck grassley. he's asking for additional memos the former fbi director may have crafted during the obama

administration as well as any audio recordings that may exist. >> melissa: what are your colleagues saying? >> reporter: we have confirmation that the meeting was documented as first reported by the new york times where the president reportedly asked comey to let go of the investigation into former national security adviser mike flynn who had just resigned. the white house has disputed this account. because of his background as a lawyer and career prosecutor and bureaucrat in the government, comey is described as someone who was a copious note taker and it's standard practice to take notes to memorialize the conversation. in early march, just two weeks after that white house meeting, comey publicly stated his intent to serve out his ten year term as director during a speech at boston college. the comment strikes current and former agents we've talked to as note worthy, possibly reflecting comey's unease about that flynn meeting. >> boston college is a leader in thinking and educating on these incredibly important issues.

so this is a great place to have it. hope you'll do it many more times. you're stuck with me for about hat 6.5 years. >> reporter: there is a press den for using fbi notes after a dispute with the white house over surveillance then fbi director robert mueller provided his notes to validate comey's version of events, melissa. >> melissa: interesting. thank you. how is the white house responding to all of this? let's go to chief white house correspondent john roberts for more on that. john? >> reporter: melissa, good afternoon. all of the white house response so far coming from the president himself today, not advancing our knowledge of events any further than we knew yesterday, but certainly standing defiant in the face of these latest challenges for his white house and presidency. given the commencement address to the coast guard academy, within the last couple hours the president lashing out at media reports about the comey memo and the russia meeting telling cadets never stop fighting.

>> never, ever, ever give up. things will work out just fine. look at the way i have been treated lately. especially by the media. no politician in history, and i say this with great purity, has been treated worse or more unfairly. you can't let them get you down. you can't let the critics and the naysayers get in the way of your dreams. >> reporter: the president is pushing back against talk of comey and the russia scandals are threatening to derail his agenda telling the cadets he is continuing with all of his campaign promises. markets taking a big hit on fears that tax reform is not going to get done. the president insists though that despite the challenges, he is going to get tax reform done. listen here. >> i didn't get elected to serve

the washington media or special interests. i got elected to serve the forgotten men and women of our country and that's what i'm i will never stop fighting for you. and i will never stop fighting for the american people. >> reporter: from russia today, some perhaps unwanted assistance. the russian president vladamir putin releasing a transcript of the conversation that lavrov had with the president if the president were to ask him to do it. so far no indication that the white house is inclined to take the russian president up on his offer, but, melissa, i'm sure they have a transcript of their own that they could release if they so wanted. >> melissa: yeah. russia being helpful as always. thank you very much. appreciate that. >> obstruction of justice is a crime. there are missing elements here. doesn't mean this couldn't be

evidence of obstruction, but it's nowhere near where we have to be to establish a crime. now, impeachment doesn't necessarily need a prosecutable crime, but it falls well short of the article ii standard. >> melissa: that is law professor jonathan turley who testified during the clinton impeachment, saying evidence the president obstructed justice just isn't there yet. let's bring in michael zeldon, a federal prosecutor and independent counsel. we all have jonathan philbor. michael, what does the memo have to say in order for it to be obstruction? >> it's not so much what does the memo have to say in black and white. what it says in black and white is i hope you can let this go, he's a good guy, he did nothing wrong. but it's that language in the context of the events in which it is said. obstruction of justice is a specific intent crime, meaning

it has depended on the state of mind of the individual who says those words at the time he says those words. was he intending to obstruct an investigation that he knew was on going? so the language is not itself determinative. it is the language in context. those who say this is obstruction of justice put that language in the context of comey being fired for russia, the meeting with comey taking place after a loyalty request at a previous dinner. that the attorney general was asked to leave the room so that the president could speak to comey alone in the white house. on the other side of it, of course, we haven't seen the memo. the president could well be saying, you know, give the guy a break, he's a good guy. i'm not trying to impede your investigation, just give theupl ben at this time of the doubt. we have to see how that works out. >> melissa: it's going to be really hard to know what was in president trump's mind at the

time based on a memo. at the same time, you have to ask yourself if comey felt like there was obstruction or something was happening, why didn't he come forward to an ethics official, to justice? our own gregg jarrett writes on this memo saying, by writing if memo, comey has put himself in a box. if he now accuses the president of obstruction, he places himself in legal jeopardy for failing to promptly and properly report it. if he says it was merely an uncomfortable conversation, then he clears the president of wrongdoing and sullys his own image as a guy who attempted to smear the man who fired him. what's your take on that? >> i think gregg jarrett is a weizman and i agree with him 100%. this memo is evidence of nothing except for what james comey thought was important at the time he was having a conversation with the president. you know, it's no more evidence of corruption than it would be if president trump said do you know what? mike flynn is a really great

guy. that would no more prove that mike flynn is a great guy. i only proves that that is the president of president trump as to his character. this memo is gonna go nowhere. it's not evidence. even if it says what we think it said that, hey, i hope you can let this go, that does not rise tpo the level of obstruction of justice according to the u.s. code. >> melissa: did comey have an obligation if he felt like it was an obstruction, to go to an ethics official? to go to justice, to say or do something? >> a couple of things. first, he said that he went to senior fbi officials. we don't know who those officials are, so we don't know whether he went to an ethics officer or didn't go to an ethics officer. with respect to tkpgoing to the department of justice, you've got a recused attorney general, a deputy attorney general who perhaps is a witness in this case because of his prior memo alleging that the firing was based on poor hillary clinton's situation. so it may be that he says, i

have no one to go to in justice. i went to senior people in the fbi named to be disclosed at some point. >> melissa: okay. >> and i didn't want to interfere with the on going investigation of the agents of those issues by surfacing this. which is an important factor when you're in the middle of an important investigation to demoralize your agents in some way by revealing this is a point that has to be taken into account. >> melissa: we all have mccabe who testified that there was no interference with the investigation. and that was him testifying he might have been the one that you think director comey would have gone to. >> and that's the other point. there's been no evidence of any corruption or any crime whatsoever. we've got three different investigations going on. so far all of them are falling flat, are not having the evidence people want them to have. by people, i mean the democrats. so james comey had no problem going to "the new york times" after he was fired with this memo, so i don't think he was at

a loss for who to go to to report something in february if he thought there was coercion or corruption involved. >> melissa: okay. well, the story goes on. thank you both for helping us break it down. >> thank you. >> melissa: a scary moment after a school bus filled with students flips. we've got the details. plus -- why vladamir putin laughed when asked about the president's meetings with russia's leaders in the oval office last week, as mr. trump prepares for his first trip abroad. >> i will strengthen all friendships and will seek new partners. but partners who also help us, not partners who take and take and take. ♪ fun in art class.

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>> melissa: a terrifying scene in southern pennsylvania after a packed school bus flips on its side. look at that. the students and the driver -- at least 14 students and the driver are hospitalized. the impacting ejecting one student who suffered serious injuries. it is not exactly clear what caused this. but authorities say they are searching for another driver who may have caused a chain reaction crash. president trump heading to saudi arabia later this week to begin his first foreign trip as president. a nine-day visit to the middle east and europe. and the steaming caulderon of controversy he is leaving behind could affect his diplomatic impact. rich edson is live at the state department. russia is already commenting on this, huh, rich? >> reporter: that's right. rush president putin said the united states is developing political schizophrenia because of all of this. he said it's stablizing if

internal political station under anti-russia sentiment. he calls those responsible either stupid or dangerous and corrupt. the president putin then joked about the conversation between his foreign minister sergei lavrov and president trump inside the oval office where the president shared classified information with him. putin said he'd be happy to share with congress the transcript of that discussion, then of his foreign minister he said, i will have to reprimand him because he shared these secrets neither with me nor the russian secret services which is very inappropriate on his part. later this week president trump will leave for his first foreign trip as president of the united states and will very likely bring this controversy with him, melissa. >> melissa: on this trip, i understand he's going to have a major address on islam planned? >> reporter: he will. that's according to h.r. mcmaster, who announced it. it's going to take place in saudi arabia. there will be 50 representatives he said from muslim majority

counties. earlier this afternoon, president trump previewed his message. >> i'll speak with muslim leaders and challenge them to fight hatred and extremism and embrace a peaceful future. they're looking very much forward to hearing what we, as your representative, we, have to say. we have to stop radical islamic terrorism. >> reporter: it is unclear which country these representatives will be from, or whether he representatives from the countries that were included in the travel ban announced by the administration will also be in attendance. melissa? >> melissa: rich edson, thank you. down day on wall street to say the least. right now the dow down just about 300 points. why investors are getting mauled by the bears today. plus, is the one person the president cannot fire the one who can help president trump get

things back on track? the advice our next guest has for the vice president. >> the president took strong and decisive leadership here to put the safety and security of the american people first by accepting the recommendation of the deputy attorney general to remove director comey as the head of the fbi. lilly.

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but we've got the get tdigital tools to help. now with xfinity's my account, you can figure things out easily, so you won't even have to call us. change your wifi password to something you can actually remember, instantly. add that premium channel, and watch the show everyone's talking about, tonight. and the bill you need to pay? do it in seconds. because we should fit into your life, not the other way around. go to xfinity.com/myaccount >> melissa: our next guest sending unsolicited advice to vice president pence, pleading for him to help him get his act together. jonah goldberg writing, quote, you're the one person the president can't fire. maybe you were misled. maybe you were part of the deception. i'd like to think that's not the case. either way, is this really what you had in mind when you took

the job? jonah goldberg is a senior editor at "the national review" and fox news contributor. that's a lot. what do you think the vice president can do right now? >> well, look. one of the things we know that donald trump is right about is he threw away the old play book. he broke the mold. he's not playing by the conventional washington rules. that i think is a big source of a lot of his problems. some of those rules were there for a good reason. but, mike pence is still playing role of the dutiful surrogate vice president who just goes around talking about the president's broad shouldered and manful leadership and all of the rest. i don't think he's helping donald trump by playing that role. donald trump set him up. mike pence went out and repeatedly said that the fbi director was fired on the recommendation of the deputy attorney general and that this was all above board. within, what, 48 hours donald

trump made that a complete falsehood. confirmed it was a falsehood to lester holt on nbc. if i were mike pence, i would go to the president and say, hey, look, you can't do that to me. if you keep doing this to me, i have tools at my disposal, i can start speaking more forth rightly. i can threaten to resign. there are all sorts of things he can do. what donald trump really needs is somebody tome discipline on his messaging, some discipline on the white house staff and instead, from all the reports that we get, it's an environment of chaos that the president thrives on. mike pence needs to step up and help get things back on track. >> melissa: okay. i take your point, absolutely. how do we know mike pence isn't doing other things, like advancing legislation or being off working on healthcare or working on tax reform? i mean, maybe he's doing some of the lifting over there. we're kind of assuming that while these other things are going on, nothing el is going on. there's been some controversy at fox, but we're still doing our jobs every single day.

>> that's fair. i'm sure mike pence is doing that. the whole pitch inside the belt way about mike pence is a running mate is that he was going to be this liaison between the hill and that he was going to get legislation through. i know he's trying to do a lot of that stuff. but none of that agenda can happen when you have one scandal, one controversy, one fire storm that a week, a day, most of them created by the president himself because he tweets about being wire tapped, he contradicts his statement about firing the fbi director. he has no idea what to do when the fbi director pushes back. and mike pence is the one guy who doesn't have to fear for his job. lot of these cabinet secretaries are constantly afraid of being fired, and he doesn't have to be. >> melissa: point well taken. you say, i don't think you should resign in response to the president hanging you out to dry on the comey affair, but threatening to do so, if he

plays you for a patsy again, might, just might help the president get his act together, which would be good for kwrourbg the party and the country. i always say when things are going this wrong at least in the messaging sense, in the very least we can all agree it seems a little out of control. for me you flip the script. you start doing the opposite of what you were doing that wasn't working. what would you want pence to do in terms of getting the white house in order, in terms of the messaging and everything that's getting out. what would you want him to do? say stop tweeting? get out and stop with the daily briefing? what specifically would you do? i'm sure mike pence is listening to you right now. >> among some of the easy things would be stop having this moveable feast of an oval office setting where people come and go and wander around constantly. you have the situation where the chief of staff, the white house senior strategic adviser, steve bannon, all of them are constantly walking around with

the president of the united states as glorified body men because they're terrified that someone else is gonna whisper something else in his ear. the staff needs to be stream lined. if you want to have jared kushner running things, go ahead. instead, he seems to listen to the last person he talks to, if he listens to anybody at all. >> melissa: i'm sure you phone's gonna be ringing after this. thanks. >> thank you. >> melissa: the questions surrounding the white house now having a major impact on wall street. we're gonna look at the latest numbers and what they could mean for your 401k. plus, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle reacting to the comey memo. some calling for impeachment, even one top republican invoking watergate. latest fallout next.

>> melissa: james comey testifying calling on the bureau to turn over any other records. comey may have been tapped concerning communications with the white house. this as top lawmakers on both sides of the aisle caution against jumping to conclusions. peter ducey is live on capitol hill. peter, senator mckeen made waves comparing the current climate to watergate. what did he tell you about that today? >> reporter: senator mccain told me the watergate comparison told me it has nothing to do with a push to remove president trump

from office. instead, he just thinks we've gone from a 24-hour news cycle to a five minute news cycle and with this russia story, things keep coming out the same way they did during watergate. >> what i am saying is that this is a centipede which i have said for weeks now and every shoe drops every day or two and there's a new aspect of this. we need to get -- and iran contra is another one of these crises that we faced. the point is, we've got to get all of the information out. we've got to get this behind us so we can move forward with the nation's work. >> reporter: and you heard senator mccain compare this situation to iran contra as well. he went on to say that he thinks president reagan did very well getting past the iran contra controversy by just getting everything out all at once and allowing everybody to get all their questions answered so they

can move forward. that cry that you just heard not a lawmaker. >> melissa: or a reporter or anyone? okay. are democrats uniting around calls for impeachment proceedings, i would imagine? >> reporter: they're really not yet, but somebody did go there today on the house floor. it was democratic texas congressman al green. >> i rise today, mr. speaker, to call for the impeachment of the president of the united states of america for obstruction of justice. >> reporter: green was quickly rebuked by the republican presiding congressman. green is having a tough time getting his party leaders on push with this impeachment call, including the top democratic on the intel committee which is investigating russian activity during the election. >> no one ought to, in my view, rush to embrace the most extraordinary remedy that

involves the removal of the president from office. >> reporter: democratic leader nancy pelosi's office also said she is still not going there. they directed us to some comments she made on monday where she said democrats can't really push for impeachment because they don't really have a case for that right now. melissa? >> melissa: well, good things politician aren't prone to hyperbolie. we're waiting for a press conference from sean spicer. for more on this, let's bring in our political panel. chris plante at the chris plante show. leslie marshall syndicated radio host of the leslie marshall show. which is also a radio talk show. she's a fox news contributor. thanks to both of you for joining us. chris, what do you make of this today? >> today? a lot like yesterday. >> melissa: this minute. >> that's exactly it. senator mccain is on to something here. we've lost the 24-hour news

cycle. we're on a five minute news cycle. we repeat it again and again. we've reached a point of madness. i'm concerned about the emotional well being of the city of washington and what's in it. we've lost what was left of our mind. we've blown everything out of proportion. it is a constant state of hysteria. and the appalling part of it is that this is really what we're witnessing is the democrats campaigning for the mid term elections. that's what this is all about. they know there's nothing impeachable here. there's no obstruction of justice. they know that. they know all of this is just political stuff. you used the word hyperbolie. i'll use that. but over a dinner table, i might use a different word. we're not getting any better. we show signs of getting worse. >> melissa: there's a lot of hysteria. there also one very big question raised by peter king earlier today on this network. let's listen. >> i'm just saying that if this was as serious as it's being out to be, why is director comey so

silent for the last two months? >> melissa: good question, leslie. what do you think? >> well, i think that when james comey was the director of the fbi there was an on going investigation and just like anybody, remember, the fbi is not going to bring forth charges or indictments. they're going to make recommendations to the department of justice, which you can't until you have completed everything. however now, after the termination of mr. comey in that position, he is a free private citizen, and quite frankly, i don't agree with chris at all on this. there's not hysteria. the american people, regardless of their ideology, they want the truth. we know there's a memo. we know we will hear from mr. comey, whether he comes just being invite d, whether hi is subpoenaed, and we know the information is being gathered. so this is not hysteria. this is just wanting the truth. this comes from both sides of the aisle. >> melissa: it seems like -- for peter king, who's very straight, very sober.

i mean, for him to say this at this point, it seems like, if you're the head of the fbi and you're running an investigation, overseeing an investigation or your tkep is doing a big investigation and you think the president is obstructing justice? that's something that you bring up sooner rather than later. no? >> right. listen, if director comey wrote up this entry in his diary that the president of the united states attempted to obstruct justice and then sat on it, why was he sitting on it? why was he holding that memo in reserve? if he's mr. integrity, he's on again off again, why did the fbi director, who witnessed this effort to obstruct justice, hold it in reserve? is he j. edgar hoover? is he the head of the kgb? was he holding this for political purposes? and now we're told he's going to be doling out memos one at a

time for maximum political effect. at what point does he become suspect in all of this? there's not a legal expert in your right mind that would tell you that constitutes obstruction of justice anyway. >> melissa: leslie, i'll let you respond. some are saying it feels like it's becoming tit for tat with comey and trump. >> chris, there are many legal individuals that have said if, in fact, this is true, it is obstruction of justice including those that worked in the nixon white house and in the clinton white house or both. in addition to that, we have republicans like from maine, an gus king that said very reluctantly it seems to be going the way toward impeachment. obviously because we're hearing from overwhelming majority of democrats with the exception of one, that it's too early to tell. that's the thing. i think with james comey, it may have been too early to tell. you don't just say, boom, i have one conversation, obstruction of justice. you have to have all of the t's

crossed and it's dotted. >> melissa: we gotta go. we got a lot more to argue. we have a lot more time to argue, but not today. fox news alert from wall street. a steep selloff today. the dow right now is down 317 points. investors reacting to the latest white house turmoil. and new fears president trump could be struggling to pass his pro business agenda, because that's what matters to wall street. lori rothman is live at the new york stock exchange on the floor there. what are traders telling you? >> they're really weighing their confidence in president trump's pro economic growth plan tax reform. will it get pushed aside or delayed? the banks deregulation plan. no surprise we're seeing banks and other financial companies leading the selloff today. right now you're looking at the dow, down 322 points off 1.5%. goldman sachs led the way up,

now leading the way down. apple one of the leading losers on the dow today. about 3%. american express another financial down 2%. so if investors are worried about president trump and the pro growth plan here, they're ditching the so called riskier assets like stocks and heading right into safety plays. like gold. gold prices up 23 bucks. up for a fifth straight session today. you all have interest rates coming down as investors snap up government securities. so that's something that's gonna protect investors. >> melissa: no doubt you're making some of our viewers nervous when you see something like apple which a lot of people hold, might have in their 401k. should folks start looking at that stuff, in your opinion? >> here's the deal. the market has come so far so fast. healthy consolidation. you've got volume trading right at the one month average. so this is how they're characterizing an ordinarily selloff.

some stocks that have risen so sharply since the election. take a look at the performance. apple up 37%. still, even with today's selloff. mcdonald's up 29%. home depot 26%. these numbers are staggering. so lot of people may look -- savvy investors could look at the declines and say this might be a way the get in. >> melissa: maybe apple is on sale today. i love that. thank you. >> thank you. >> melissa: scary moment in dc as senator tom tillerson collapses during a bike race. plus, some gop lawmakers now calling for a special prosecutor in the investigation into possible collusion. between the trump campaign and russia. (announcer vo) when you have type 2 diabetes,

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>> shepard smith at the fox desk. more on the latest bombshell at the white house. lawmakers at both parties asking james comey to testify in public about his private conversation with president trump. i'll speak with journalist amy stoddard about the path forward for the president and the republican party, which she said is paralyzed by this controversy. that's top of the hour on shepard smith reporting. i'll see you then. >> melissa: turmoil in washington deepening over reports that president trump tried to end the fbi's investigation into ties between the former national security adviser michael flynn and russia. now, a small but growing number of the gop are calling for a special prosecutor over the investigation of any collusion between the trump campaign and russia. others say if these allegations are true it could merit impeachment like michigan congressman justin amosh when asked responded with, quote, yes, but everyone gets a fair

trial in this country. joining us to discuss is representative duncan hunter, member of the house armed services committee. he's a very early backer of president trump. sir, thank for joining us. what is your take now? >> great to be with you. my take hasn't changed. just because president trump told the director of the fbi that he hopes that he can find a way to clear his national security adviser, that is not impeachable, in my opinion. it's not obstruction of justice. until more actual facts come out on this, i give trump the benefit of the doubt here. totally. >> melissa: okay. this was congressman charlie dent republican from pennsylvania, of course, saying -- do we have that sound byte? let's listen. sorry. >> again, if that's true, i'll have to talk to some people and get the facts about exactly what happened. if that's the case, very serious

matter. >> melissa: so what would the facts have to be in your mind in order for it to be a very serious matter? >> sure. >> melissa: in other words, what would have to be in that memo to amount to obstruction? >> president trump would have to say end the investigation or i'm going to fire you. i want you to end the investigation. i want a pledge that you'll end the investigation regardless of what you find. that would be objestruction of justice. he said i hope you can find a way to clear my national security adviser. there's nothing wrong with that. >> melissa: we're wondering, is anything else going on while this is going on? are you working on healthcare? are you working on tax reform? because it seems like you don't have to be working on whatever crisis is going on in the white house full time, right? >> we aren't working on that at all. we're doing defense stuff. the national authorization for defense act is coming out. we're working tax reform. healthcare. we will be waiting on the senate

which could take decades at the pace that they move. so who knows? we're not paying attention to this. this is being media driven by and large in my opinion. we have no play in this either. this is all media driven. you already have four investigations into donald trump. you have two house investigations, two senate investigations. that's plenty of investigating going around for the rest of us to do the work of the american people. >> melissa: if it's media driven, we're here and you're there. i see lots of people moving around behind you. is everyone talking about this or are they talking about the business of the day? is it half and half? i mean, give me a real sense of what the truth is. >> we're talking about trump in terms of i have buddies that say this is horrible, they don't feel like i do on this. we're just talking about that in passing. there's a lot of stuff going on. actual work to be done. tax reform, like you said. and the defense bill, which i think is the most important thing possible that we do for this country as a u.s. congress.

that's coming up in short order. lot of tourists here. it's summertime. kids are out of school. lot of people here in the capital seeing the sights. >> melissa: yeah. this is the report that we got from fox business's adam shapiro saying steve mnuchin and gary cohn had a private meeting with members of the senate finance committee to talk about tax reform. both republicans and democrats were present. i mean, i understand that you're in a different group, but is it your sense that this kind of coming together is still happening maybe in corners in spite of this? are we getting any closer on the tax reform side? >> this stuff happens regardless of what the news of the day is, right? truly, this is the work that congress does day in and day out, the house and senate, getting together and talking. that's great news, by the way, that they're all getting together. >> melissa: all right, sir. thank you very much for joining us and telling us what's really going on and what's not media spin. we appreciate that. in the mean time we have a fox

news alert. sean spicer is holding a press gaggle aboard air force one. these happen, but it's rare that we get the audio, so we're going to listen. >> -- to discuss hopefully the nature of their conversations. >> the president is confident in the events that he's maintained and the truth will -- he wants the truth and the investigations to get to the bottom of this. there's two investigations go on in the house and senate. he wants to get to the bottom of this. >> have you had a chance to look into more what took place in the meeting between the president and comey in february? what's the president's side of this? we know that he said he did not ask about the flynn investigation. can you tell us more about what the president testified to at that meeting? >> the president was very clear that the account that was published is not an accurate description of how the event

occurred. >> could you confirm -- >> i think we've made it very clear. i'm not going to give any further comment on that. >> do you have any evidence to back up like what is it? just that the president says that this didn't happen, this conversation didn't happen? i mean, is there any -- >> we are clear that this did not -- the president's been very clear that this is not an accurate representation of that meeting. >> are you corroborating that based on his word? he made a tweet about tapes last week. are there records of conversations? >> we put out statement regarding that. >> is the president considering having personal lawyers outside of white house counsel in light of these allegations and things that have come up? >> if i have any updates on that i'll let you know. >> some of the characterizations of the conversations the president had with the russian foreign minister. sounds like the russian president said that their side is willing to release a

transcript of the conversation. do you support the russians releasing a transcript of that conversation to congress? and were you aware that they were recording the conversation? >> i am not aware of anything of that. i don't have any update. i think we put out a statement very clearly that the president doesn't believe that's an accurate representation. >> if there's a transcript, would you like it to be made public? >> we've been very clear with the recollection of that meeting, their account of that meeting. >> can you discuss more about what they talked about. were the specific allegation of israel intelligence or what's behind the stuff that he told the russians? did that have anything to do with it? >> that phone call was purely a logistical preparation. >> can you discuss the fact that the source of the intelligence -- >> -- preparation. >> it seems that the president

has been quiet in the last 24 hours, at least on twitter and making any public remarks other than the official events. is there an effort to scale back events or any kind of other comments about the issues that's been going on in the white house right now? >> i made very clear what our position was. there's been a lot of questions that other people are out there talking about this event in terms of what was appropriate with respect to some of the stuff director comey did or did not do. but the white house has put out a statement very clearly with our account. >> how concerned are you by comments of some of the republicans in congress, saying that this is starting to approach watergate proportions? >> very clear that we're focused -- the president's obviously focused on the speech they gave today winning widespread praise for what he talked about, the

role of the coast guard and the future of the young people that will defend our homeland. obviously going to continue to prepare for the meeting with president of columbia tomorrow and looking forward to taking off on this trip. thank you, guys. enjoy. thanks, guys. >> melissa: okay. what you were listening to there was the gaggle that was going on between sean spicer who is, of course, the press secretary, and the press, fielding questions. this is amid the fire storm in washington over reports that president trump, i think we're gonna get it back now. let's listen and see if we can hear more. okay. it seems like they're done now. that was the gaggle that goes on on air force one. it's normal that this would happen. we don't normally get to hear the audio of it. some of the most significant things we heard, they were pressing sean spicer, reporters, about the idea that the russian president said they would be willing to release a transcript of what went on in the oval

office, which led to questions, were they recording it? sean spicer tried very hard not to answer that question. he said, i'm not aware. then he said, the secretary of state has made clear our position on that. he backed away not wanting to say anything that would confirm, deny, anything about whether or not there was a recording. he was pressed again if they have a transcript, do you want to release it? he steered away from all of that. it's very interesting. let's bring our panel back in, who i hope was listening. chris plante and leslie marshall as well. chris, what did you hear there that made an impression? >> well, the press is pushing the story that the president is in legal jeopardy, is he going to be getting personal lawyers involved. the putin game that they're playing out of moscow today with we've got a recording, we've got a transcript, i think is all just a game that's being run on us. i don't suspect that the foreign minister sergei lavrov or the

ambassador were wired for sound, although there were russian press people in the room at the same time, too. so it's difficult to say. but the press is pushing the trump is in trouble story. trump might need a personal lawyer. trump might be impeached. there might be a special prosecutor. he might have committed a crime, obstruction of justice. that's the tune in at 6:30 tonight on the domestic entertainment networks and i think you'll see a heavy emphasis on that. >> melissa: leslie? >> well, i think again, chris, we need to have the facts. one of the things that bothered me here was the hesitancy by sean of some very specific questions. >> melissa: like what? >> tape recordings. regarding tape recordings and transcripts. it's very common to have a transcript of these type of meetings. the russians did it. russian reporters were in the room so it's easy for tows get that information. if there are any recordings of whether it's with russia --

>> melissa: he said i'm not aware. >> i don't believe that. >> melissa: you think he's lying. >> i'm not saying he's lying. he may have been advised not to comment on that. >> oh, come on. >> melissa: he said he's not aware. he's not aware. >> so you want the kremlin to release a legitimate recording unedited, of course. and that will solve all of our problems. that will answer all of our questions. you're looking to vladamir putin to provide us with a transcript and -- >> no. >> melissa: i don't think vladamir putin will be helpful in this situation. >> i agree. >> melissa: it's just an instinct i'm getting here, leslie. what do you think? >> well, no, i agree with you there. but here's the thing. if somebody were accusing me of any of what people are talking about and accusations coming forth towards the president, i would put everything out there. i would say, see, i'm clean, this is what we discussed and, quite frankly, i think we owe it to our allies like israel.

>> melissa: hang on. let me ask you though. in all honesty, if you were in the middle of this kind of feeding frenzy, does that make sense? if you put on anything, everything is sort of ripped to shreds. maybe the idea is rather than being on twitter, rather than responding, get the fbi do its investigation and pivot around the country. >> i agree with you 100%, no question. i don't feel, quite frankly, even though we are in an age of tweeting and people want full transparency and they like having connections to the commander in chief. i just don't feel that tweeting, regardless of who the person is doing it as president. >> melissa: we also heard joe lieberman, a democrat, is being interviewed as candidate for fbi director. chris, you first. what would you think of that? good choice? >> i would not suggest it was a good choice, no. he's a political figure. he's now former senator. he is a life long democrat, independent at the end. he doesn't have a law

enforcement background, department of justice background. other than that, he would be ideal. >> melissa: leslie, what do you think? just to play the other side, would there be anything unifying about that? would it restore some sort of trust that you had somebody who didn't walk in with definitely a bias one way or the other, who might be able to stand in the middle and get to the bottom of this? because everyone says that that's what they want, whether it's the viewers or people on both sides of the aisle. they say, can we please just get to the bottom of this. could he do that? >> i agree to get to the bottom of this with all respect to lieberman, i don't think he's the guy. i actually agree with chris on this. i'm concerned with some of the background. i don't think that he's not bias, quite frankly. he was a democrat, an independent. although in caucus with the democrats he's thrown some stones at republicans. i don't think he's unbiased. >> a wise answer. >> melissa: is there a person? seems like that's the way we move on from here. maybe that's the way we restore

faith in government. we need a new fbi director that makes almost everyone or as many people feel better. who could that be. chris, real quick? who could that be? leslie, you're next. >> whoever it is they have to be career law enforcement, ideally fbi with a justice department background. perhaps a former prosecutor who doesn't come with political baggage and it will not restore faith in our government regardless. >> melissa: that is so bleak. leslie, please help me out better than that. >> well, first of all, you have to have the background and you have to have somebody that, without question, doesn't have any political gain and has not been outspoken for or against one party or one candidate or the other. remember what has been called into question here is loyalty or not loyalty to the president. it has to be somebody that is pledging their allegiance to the constitution and to law enforcement and has the background that is -- that follows suit. >> melissa: any name? ten seconds.

quick name. >> i vote for leslie. i agree. honestly for names -- there are a number in the hopper. >> melissa: we gotta go to make room for shep. thanks. i'm melissa francis. >> shepard: it's noon on the west coast. 3:00 in washington with where a top republican is comparing president trump to richard nixon. >> it's now accelerated. watergate took nothing. this seems to be taking hours. >> shepard: now gop leaders want answers. did president trust request that james comey drop the investigation of the former national security adviser michael flynn? for now the white house denies it. the president accusing the media of treating him worse than any other politician. now one democratic politician is calling for impeachment. other democrats are saying not so fast. and vladimir putin offering to