washington, our friends at "the ♪ >> kimberly: hello, everyone. i am kimberly guilfoyle and this is "the five." fast breaking developments. james comey's bombshell testimony on capitol hill. speaking publicly for the first time since president trump fired him on may 9th. he claims the senate intelligence committee that president trump lied about the reason for his firing and also revealed some remarkable new information about the hillary clinton email investigation. but perhaps the most stunning news is that mr. comey admitted he initiated a leak of one of his memos about a conversation he had with president trump. >> he tweeted on friday after i

got fired that i better hope there's not takes. i woke up in the middle of the night because it didn't dawn on me originally that there might be corroboration for our conversation and a tape. my judgment was, i needed to get that out into the public square. i asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo. with the reporter. i didn't do it myself for a variety of reasons but i asked them to you because i thought that might prompt the appointment of the special counsel. >> kimberly: when in doubt, call a friend. dana perino. >> dana: he solved one of the leak investigations so we can cross that one off the list. he was open about it. [laughter] >> dana: if you put yourself in his shoes, it was not a classified document. it was his own note and he got his story out there first. anyone of us, in order to protect ourselves, we probably would have done the same thing.

>> kimberly: any surprises for you, greg? >> greg: that's surprising. the media and the left wanted watergate. they got a water balloon. everything we found out about trump was what we are doing al. he's a queens roughneck. he didn't break any laws. i'm getting a little tired of comey's folksy persona. it's like he's from yonkers, okay? he keeps morphing and saying lordy. a pearl clutching, sr., upset about the short skirts on "the five" ." >> kimberly: hey... >> juan: ouch. >> greg: i don't know. he didn't do himself a lot of good. he admitted he's a leaker. and it should. >> kimberly: for the record, this is a dress, not a skirt.

>> kimberly: i am quoting my mother. >> kimberly: welcome to "the five" tonight, chris. listening with rapt attention. >> dana: you guys were cracking walnuts. there weren't even walnuts. >> chris: we don't get the deli tray you get down here in washington. so, today was important. it could not have lived up to the hype possibly that it had been reused in. it was going to be this apocalyptic watergate hearings. we forget -- when we compress history and look back and think it was abc, boom and nixon resigned or clinton was impeached. this goes over long stretches of time. this was -- james comey acquitted himself well. there were good things in it for the president.

the good thing was this. comey was absolutely clear that donald trump was right that comey had told him not the subject personally of a criminal investigation. >> kimberly: that vindicated the president, consistent with the president's statements. with his attorney statement. removing himself from that crow crowd. >> chris: absolutely, a much-needed credibility. a weird thing he inserted in the letter. when he put it in the comey firing letter, why did you say that? because it was true and that's why he put it in there. >> kimberly: richard, were you disappointed in any way? >> richard: there was a lot of buildup. this big comey hearing, hashtag. i know greg hates when i say that. there are some things i think we did learn. the president wasn't under investigation.

$1500 an hour criminal attorney or the statement we got from the white house, he wasn't. there was no present tense here. that can mean a lot of things. he's currently under -- predicting he could be under? there are instances where there could be a possibility. >> dana: that's kind of speculation. so could all of us. >> richard: right. this is why it's a good day for comey and the fbi. he got a chance to clear the ai air, why he leaked the information. he thought -- he created some bread crumbs for them to follow while they do their investigation. i leaked this, it was my own work product. there's a bigger flag here. why was that for the white hous white house? the meeting with him and the president, where his superior was asked to leave the room and his superior lingered.

i don't know, i guess that's the double thinking and the president is like get out. it will be me and comey. that's problematic. >> greg: here is why it's problematic, okay? he didn't obstruct justice. he just made comey feel weird inside. i feel so queasy inside. a lot of people make me feel uncomfortable. i take the subway every day. they can't be arrested for making me feel uncomfortable. this is a rorschach test. you can see whatever you want in this. if you see a nefarious demon, if you love him, he looks like an innocent victim. you see comey fired by a guy who fires people when he thinks he can't trust you. it's as simple as that. >> dana: trust you to do what? >> greg: it's clear you can't trust comey because the only person he wanted to take notes on was trump. >> richard: >> richard: i was gy i was so impressed with comey

but also with the senate. at a time when people in america wonder do systems work? can things function and can we do this or does it all devolve into parts and garbage every time? everybody in that room acted like an adult. everybody asked good questions. people took their obligations seriously and rose to the moment. i think we need more of this to show people at home, it still works. john mccain did not have a super day. but he stayed up too late watching the diamondbacks. >> greg: he was making a subtle point. >> richard: i agree with chris on this point. they were well prepared. they had a good conversation with comey. i thought he was an excellent witness. he had no notes. he spoke of the heart and went into detail and explained a lot of situations and i think he

benefited the white house in certain places when he claimed how things happened. but people who are out there saying donald trump colluded with the russians -- >> greg: i thought saw such ana different hearing than you guys. i saw an emotional salvo. he felt pain, hurt. he was wounded. a guy who was dumped. >> richard: he got fired for pretty much nothing. >> greg: he can get fired. >> richard: the reason why the fbi is created, they have a 10-year term. it's supposed to be outside of the political forum. what happened here was, if donald trump really hated comey so much, he should've fired him on january 21st. the fact that he waited -- >> dana: at least he would have hired him before he had a private meeting with him.

>> greg: maybe he was being nice and giving him a chance. whenever you get a new boss -- every time i get a new boss, i get fired. >> kimberly: standby for that. [laughter] >> dana: can i say one thing about the hearing as well? the other thing that happened today was members of the senate committee, republicans and democrats all agreed that yes, the russians were trying to interfere. they tried a lot of things. they also all agreed and you heard comey say the russians were trying to do all of these things. we all should be really aware of that. no, at this point, they don't have any evidence. they did not actually all alter change one vote. there are things in the bigger picture we know. we should really be aware that russia is not our friend. >> kimberly: that was made abundantly clear. as we mentioned earlier,

mr. comey accused the white house of lying about his firing. >> although the log requires no reason at all for firing an fbi director, they chose to defame me and more importantly the fbi by saying that the organization was in disarray. that it was poorly led. that the work force had lost confidence in its leader. those were lies. plain and simple. >> kimberly: comey confirmed that president trump was never personally under fbi investigation. a fact that president trump's attorney called vindicating. >> while you were director, the president of the united states was not under investigation. is that a fair statement? >> that is correct. to speak of the president feels completely vindicated and continues to move forward with his agenda with the business ofs country and with this public cloud removed. >> >> kimberly: that is what the press was waiting for today.

what would president trump and his personal attorney come out and say? overall, it seemed like this with a good day for them. if you are a counsel for the president -- >> dana: i think they did their best. the other thing they showed was that the president went to his event with the religious leaders and gave a speech that was roundly praised by everyone in the room. he announced a whole slate of judges to be confirmed. the senate said they will probably get that done before the august recess. give the senate moving forward -- >> kimberly: the speech in ohio. >> dana: the debt ceiling, iran sanctions -- i think the white house -- if they are not out of the woods by any means on this issue, this was basically like putting another log on the fire. there is lots inconsistencies the democrats will press. the president didn't comment today.

i think i was also a different strategy but what james comey was talking about about the fbi, one of the reasons this backfired politically for president trump -- they thought that the democrats would be thrilled. because they don't like james comey either. for what they think he did taylor clinton. and they believe the fbi didn't like -- maybe there were a few disgruntled employees but he has known u.s. attorneys for years. the u.s. attorney here in new york. down in virginia, he worked at the justice department. he has been at the fbi for eight years. he has allies all over the place. that's why there was a revolt. >> chris: no tweets. no tweets. i really believe this is a moment of opportunity for this administration in a way that we haven't seen before. if they take to heart the seriousness and the gravity of

this issue, how high the stakes are -- if he doesn't tweet rage and we don't have incoherent statements and they speak with one voice and as dana said, his voters need to feel -- the whole country needs to feel like there's an agenda and it's moving. something is happening. >> kimberly: dana pointed out, it's quite busy this week. getting a number of things done. this was handled very well. comey gave his testimony whichet the president said. he kept saying over and over, i was not under investigation. three times. this was confirmed today. it was confirmed in the statement yesterday. if i am the president's attorney, i'm very happy because i didn't hear anything about obstruction of justice or collusion. i had my client's and statement essentially validated. that's a credibility push right there. james comey gets queasy and

wants to blend into the curtain curtains? >> chris: i will go out and say this is a great day for us. we killed it. but you better know you could be in big trouble on this and you better straighten up, fly right and sit tight. keep that collar up and stay off the twitter. >> richard: i disagree with how this white house handled it. they truly flat-footed from the three had no cabinet secretaries -- you had this one lawyer. >> dana: that's exactly what i would have done. >> richard: this is malarkey. all you had was a well-paid new york attorney come out and through the kitchen sink at comey's testimony. >> kimberly: why do you want everyone being in the kitchen? it's a problem. >> richard: we had the same conversation about the street fighters. i think today was a bad move by him. >> kimberly: you have one person who is consistent on the

message. you don't want people getting any giving any inconsistent statements. this person says this. >> greg: it's not a good day for comey. come on. rubio made a good point about the only bad things that are linked are generally bad things. there was that one important point i was never leaked, he wasn't be investigated. that shows a partisan agenda. and then saying that the leaking was in response to a tweet? that's kind of dishonest in itself. a tweet is transparent. when you tweet something, your name is behind it. when your you leak something, r name is not behind it. >> kimberly: we found out who leaked something today. at the head of the fbi. >> richard: it was his work. it wasn't classified. >> kimberly: i totally disagree. it was not his own personal work. he is the director of the fbi.

if i can for once i second, please. he prepared those statements and that memo contemporaneous with his experience with the president and his conversation, to memorialize it. and the court of law, that's work product. the conversation with part of his job, government paid. as the head of the fbi. therefore, guess what? if i'm going to court, i'm getting all of that. that is a work. discovery. when he says he is sending this to his buddy, a professor at columbia -- >> greg: you can't trust a professor at columbia. >> kimberly: john roberts is wa. >> kimberly: we have john roberts ready. >> the white house's business as usual. an array of meetings. everything go that he's doing something at that white house to move his agenda forward. today was no different. >> dana: joining us, there he

is. chief white house correspondent john roberts. >> kimberly: can you settle some disputes here for us? >> good evening to you, kimberly. we haven't heard from the president officially but i am told by a source of the president was very pleased with the testimony today on capitol hill. first and foremost, he finally said in public and repeatedly that the president was not the target of an investigation and he was not speaking to shut down the russian investigation. he was also told and interested to learn that comey outed himself as the leaker and admitted he leaked the information in order to prompt the appointment of a special prosecutor. the president's thinking is it proved he was right all along about not being under investigation and that people were leaking information to try to harm him. why was comey so sure that attorney general jeff sessions was going to recuse himself from the russia investigation? it wasn't until about three

weeks later that he recused himself and that was after his meetings with the russian ambassador becoming public. comey knew about those meetings. did he know the information was going to come out? the other question being asked around here, is the president, who is new to politics and protocol, thinking it was okay to have a private meeting with the fbi director? back on january 6th, the first time mr. comey met the president, it was during that intelligence briefing at trump tower. he asked everyone to leave so he could speak privately with the president about that unverified dossier. did that precedent say to the president, hey, it's okay after a meeting to have a private meeting with the fbi director? one of the questions being asked around here. why did comey think it was necessary after that meeting to write things down? why did he think the president was going to lie to him when it was comey who asked the president for a private meeting and comey who told the president

about all this salacious information included in this dossier. some things to chew over in the days ahead. >> kimberly: thank you for that update. fascinating day indeed. greg, take it around the table with reaction real quick. >> greg: trump alone with comey. probably wrong to do it. maybe violated some policies but that's what he does. he violates stuff. he doesn't break the law. leaking to prompt a special counsel, that the d.c. version of tattling. it's really weak. he's the most timid head of the fbi ever. why don't you ask trump what he means? instead of saying i'm so confused. why don't you just say, what do you want? >> dana: he was trying to protect the president from answering that question. the leader of the free world, it's different. the real work is being done by bob muller.

special counsel. we did have a little news from them today. one of his deputies said this will be wrapped up in three months. that is good news. >> kimberly: i'm sure the white house will be happy about that too. >> chris: i think comey deftly got his revenge on trump. trump wanted to humiliate comey. the way he did the firing, and life as in politics, when you try to do it with bravado and stick it to the other guy and do it that way, what goes around comes around. >> richard: i don't understand why everyone is beating up on comey here. the reason why we are beating up on comey's because donald trump is reckless. this is recklessness by the president. meeting with him alone, his crazy twitter fingers. which is why we are here today. >> greg: its words, not deeds. i love having an inappropriate

president! what's so wrong with having an inappropriate president? its words. it not deeds. no one is dying. we are acting like he killed somebody. he had a private conversation. he had a reckless conversation. who hasn't? that's what he did for a living. >> kimberly: special counsel will make a determination but no laws were broken thus far based on what we heard today. he has the right to be able to speak to whoever he wants when he wants to. we are going to play one of the biggest bombshells in the testimony i had. comey says he was directed to downplay the clinton investigation by his former boss. next, stay with us. [ america by simon and garfunkel ] ♪ let us be lovers, we'll marry our fortunes together ♪

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>> greg: remember when you are a kid and got an ice-cream cone and it dropped to the cement right as he looked at?

that's how it must feel today to be a democrat. you think mr. comey was going to deliver donald trump on an edible platter and instead, you get loretta lynch. he said under oath that she -- rowlett, francis. >> the only other consideration in an open setting is at one point, the attorney general told me not to call it an investigation but to call it a matter. which confused me and concerned me and that was one of the bricks in the load that led me to conclude i have to step away from the department if we are going to close this case credibly. >> greg: i would file that under wow. it raises more questions than my question raising farm. when does the hearing on this revelation begin? when gave campaign language to cover up an investigation to

help hillary's campaign. that's inappropriate. we are al franken in a mesh thong inappropriate. >> kimberly: but not illegal. >> greg: the loretta lynch thing is only an issue because she had to deal with the hillary matter. hillary really is the democrats' unrelenting mother-in-law who comes to visit when they least want her. in a hearing meant to hammer trump, the previous crew gets nailed. it's like when a stink bomb goes off before you have time to throw it. he spelled out the rest of the day. which is what happened to lynch, hillary, and yes, even comey. his decision to obey under the post- persona of a folksy everyman -- he looks the other way. >> kimberly: interesting. >> greg: let's do this thing again.

>> richard: what are you accusing him of? >> chris: it he obeyed her instruction to call it a matter instead of an investigation? >> greg: that's kind of what he implied. it made him feel uncomfortable because everything makes them feel uncomfortable, chris. mean people make him feel accountable. >> chris: no, i get it. he called it an investigation. >> greg: he did, but he didn't question her. he didn't leak that. why didn't he leak that? >> richard: do you miss the big press conference he gave talking about clinton's emails? >> kimberly: the conversations were so inappropriate, like he did before -- >> richard: >> chris: james coma bad habit of placing himself in a position above everyone else. he did it in this case, the hillary clinton case, he said i have deemed that no one here --

he did it in '04. no one is decent enough, only i, james comey, have the moral gravity so i can stand above all of this and make a judgment. when he does, he gets himself in trouble. he did it with hillary clinton and donald trump. that has been a problem for him. in this case, he roasted hillary clinton. >> greg: i know. i'm talking about this -- what we found out now. it has something to do with the tarmac. >> chris: it was gross with the attorney general did but that's not on comey. >> greg: no, it's on her. did you miss the first part of the monologue? >> chris: he didn't obey. >> greg: he kind of did. it >> chris: really. >> richard: this was an overall bad day for the justice department and the united states. whether it's jeff sessions or loretta lynch, the high road here is this -- the justice department should be beyond

reproach. we found out both jeff sessions and loretta lynch are below reproach. period. >> kimberly: very bad day for hillary clinton. bad day for loretta lynch. bad day for comey. very bad day for -- >> chris: don't forget jeff sessions. >> kimberly: jeff sessions. not a great day for him either. when you are handing out all these bad day cards... the president doesn't get a bad day card. >> chris: at the top of -- >> richard: look, k.g. i love you. i do. with that being said, let's be real. the beginning of comey's testimony started with saying the president is a liar which we find out to be true. he told lester holt that i indeed fired james comey because of the russian election, not because of this memo or anything else. that means our president is a

liar. >> greg: somebody in the white house that has lied? this has got to be a first! we need that breaking news sound to come right now. >> richard: he says believe me every other word. don't believe him. >> greg: we know who we elected. dana? >> dana: we mentioned '04. it was tom cotton, from arkansas, who asked james comey to talk about 2004, the bedside -- it sounds similar, right? there's a big difference. george bush did not fire him. the aftermath and the consequences -- maybe he wanted to fire him but there would have been consequences. there are consequences for things you do. >> kimberly: he thought that was so bad that he thought about resigning. he didn't.

would you still be doing your job as fbi director? no, i would still be -- >> dana: the big difference too is it was about a program and they were able to get policies worked out. that's one of the ways you handle thing in washington. it's kind of old fashion. the tarmac meeting with lynch and clinton, there wasn't enough questioning about that in terms of how inappropriate you think that was at the time. we all thought it was highly inappropriate. how inappropriate might it have been -- you can see why people had asked why is it inappropriate for the president to ask everybody to leave and meet with the fbi director? there are parallels on both sides. >> richard: enormous. >> greg: let's play some more sound from the comey hearing today. on the subject of russia's meddling in our election. >> the russians interfered in our election during the 2016

cycle. they did it with purpose, sophistication, overwhelming technical efforts. it was an active measures campaign from the top of that government. there is no fuzz on that. >> greg: this is the overarching message here, chris. they may not have hacked the election but they undermined our institution. just by having us go through all this. >> chris: right. and the grave necessity for both parties is to understand russia is -- some guy who is running for president once said -- america's number one geopolitical foe. it was something democrats didn't use to take seriously. now there are some republicans and relatively speaking -- coat >> kimberly: good day for romney, then. [laughter] >> chris: he doesn't have to be secretary of state. >> greg: best looking guy that ever ran for president.

>> chris: this has been a good experience for america because we have had democrats coming to terms with what represents on the world stage and now republicans have to say yes, definitely they were involved with this election. >> kimberly: no votes, there was no manipulation or hacking of the voting system machines or anything like that. there was also no evidence of collusion by the president or by his transition or campaign with russia. so far anything we have heard of. also no evidence of obstruction of justice and also no resignation contemplated by jim comey, who has thought about that in the past. when he has been not disturbed by behavior, actions, conduct. >> greg: richard, this interference of the election happened under obama. why wasn't he impeached?

>> richard: oh, lord. [laughter] >> greg: the russians -- >> dana: carrie underwood reference. >> richard: democrats have set for a long time that the russians affect our election. but we now know it's in true. what we learned today was we saw bipartisanship in the senate and you have this investigation happening with a special counsel. that's one thing. the senate investigation is fact-finding and hopefully this will urge our members of congress to monitor our voting system so we won't be able to get hacked by the russians period. so we can figure out what happened and what didn't happen. kimberly, yes, the president wasn't under investigation. every statement that has been in released is past tense. they can't say the president isn't under investigation.

>> kimberly: are you breaking some news? there's no evidence. >> dana: that would be true for everybody. every day. >> greg: i am currently not under investigation. >> richard: i currently know i am not under investigation. >> dana: how do you know that? >> greg: i hired a p.i., richard. i know what you are doing. >> richard: all of this stuff here, this was a little window into what is going on. what -- >> chris: out of a tough day for the white house is may be what dana said. it could be three months from the finish line. this could be over. >> richard: it could be a bad finish, though. >> chris: trump told him hey, if i have any satellites, anyone who works for me who did bad things -- let's find that out. i want to know that now, not later. that was the key part of rubio's

line of questioning. trump was not looking to quash the investigation. if you got it, let it rip. if i have satellites, people who work for him presumably, the did wrong things, he wants to know about it. if this moves to a terminal phase -- that would be great news for this administration because they could get over it and move on. >> kimberly: and they want to get things done. get things done on their agenda. >> richard: i would urge them that are involved to move a little bit quicker. he tweets about the democrats a mainstream media but he never says can we get some information so we can move on? paul man afford? >> chris: they may be sharing -- >> greg: i do think mccain got a raw deal on what he was explaining -- >> dana: about the lynch piece, i think he was getting there. people made fun of him because he was confused but i thought

the hearing at large was very good. it seems like he was disturbed like wait a minute, i am i the only one that heard him say there was a lynch piece and he was trying to drill down on tha that. what's happening right now from the bigger picture standpoint is the senate is also moving forward with sanctions on russi russia. it seems like there is agreement on the senate intelligence committee that russia was trying to do these things, the sanctions might actually be a bipartisan endeavor at the end of the day. >> greg: at the end of the day... okay, a lot of things i hate and i can't keep track anymore. a lot of democrats suddenly love james comey again after his testimony today. you will hear some of the reaction in the mainstream medi media. jesus take the wheel. >> kimberly: jesus take the wheel. ♪

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neither will we. optum. how well gets done. ♪ >> dana: we continue tonight with our top story, the historic testimony on capitol hill today. you probably remember that mr. comey upset many democrats with his handling of the clinton email investigation especially his decision to announce the probe had been reopened just 11 days before the election. here's how democrats reacted to today's testimony. >> i found it quite stunning. it's not everyday you have a former director of the fbi saying he can trust to the president. >> the president demanded loyalty. he wanted the case against his friend, michael flynn, to go away. he obsessively hounded the fbi director. >> we saw confirmation in director comey's testimony, detailing the frightening

reality of president trump's pattern of contempt for justice. >> dana: here's a flavor of how the media is reacting to comey's day on the hill. >> there's no other way to walk away from comey's testimony without thinking the former director of the fbi thinks the president of the united states is a liar. >> the up assumption of the critics to the president is that somewhere in the last year, the president had something to do with colluding with the russians and yet what came apart this morning with that theory. >> he might not be a democrat or republican, but boy, is this guy political. >> dana: there's a mix of things but what chris matthews was saying was actually good for president trump. >> chris: very much so. the democrats are playing this wrong. they need to be highly consciou conscious -- was it you who said, on an edible platter?

>> greg: a taco bowl. >> chris: if you as a democrat say and comey will destroy and all things are coming and you do all this stuff, we were talking basically about -- 2.5 hour interview about a few meetings and some notes. this was a snapshot that went into the public space. they cannot talk about it -- now they were able to talk about it in the opening. the beat goes on. democrats pleaded up to such a degree that anything short of instant twitter impeachment of donald trump seems like a disappointment. >> dana: democrats, they love comey, they hate him. >> dana: they are on and off like porn stars in a hurricane.

[laughter] >> greg: tucker did not earlier. >> richard: this is a family show. >> greg: we are the oasis of balance. so i like it but there's this great metaphor, america is watching to movie screens. in one movie screen, trump is evil and in the other movie screen, he's just fine. every now and then, they collide. this is a perfect example of when they collide. everyone is sitting around a table watching two different movies. >> kimberly: that of mcgrath >> kimberly: the democrats are the ones that have the 3d glasses. saying wow. it's everywhere. >> greg: and i am the one stuck in a bottle of vodka.

>> richard: i said all along and i will say again, democrats have a bad strategy. this is a slow car wreck. >> dana: it's in the fast lane now. >> richard: it really is. you just have to watch the car back happen. just let it happen. don't engage. i believe this white house over time, based on their impacts, will disintegrate. >> kimberly: i'm just sorry, go where? >> richard: i think his agenda could disintegrate. >> dana: i think that's wishful thinking. >> kimberly: >> richard: the pom trying to make it, k.g., i think democrats need to be very quiet and let the special counsel do its job. i think it's going to turn out -- we will see what happens but i don't see a solution to this or that it's going to be good for president trump. i think we have to be quiet.

>> dana: if the democrats don't do it richard is saying, and they are just holding the russian bag all summer long and at the senate republicans are moving forward on all these other pieces of legislation, are they missing an opportunity or are they trying to be obstructionist? >> chris: it worked very well for the republicans when they tried to do it barack obama. they won back the house and senate and eventually got the presidency through the sheer power of will, obstruction. they used scandal. >> dana: that's a big word for this show. >> chris: used benghazi. >> dana: obamacare. the irs scandal. >> chris: and so democrats are going to now say it was good enough for you to do to us. then, we are going to do it to you. why not? >> richard: we don't have to obstruct in this case. the health care bill has its own

problems amongst the republican party. >> kimberly: but all of this -- what are you going to do when health care passes? >> richard: you won't get 50 votes. it won't. >> dana: i will make you bet right here. >> richard: i believe -- if they've had anything, they are way closer to obamacare -- it's going to be obamacare light. >> greg: the sun is going to come up tomorrow. >> dana: up ahead, president trump -- did he tape his conversations with comey? up next. ♪ when you have allergies,

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♪ >> richard: welcome back to "the five." after president trump fired james comey last month, he suggested there may be recordings of his conversations

with the former fbi director. he said today he would be glad if that's true. >> i've seen the tweet about tapes. lordy, i hope there are tapes. i remember saying i agree he's a good guy, as a way of saying i am not agreeing with what you just asked me to do. again, maybe other people who would be stronger in that circumstance but that's how i conducted myself. i hope i never have another opportunity. maybe if i did, i would have done it better. >> chris: could there be anything better than if there were actual recordings of life inside the trump white house and you could hear everything that was said in the oval office? >> greg: i don't think anything good comes from recordings. i long for the day -- the early '80s. [laughter] >> greg: we have to ban the word lordy. we don't have "one more thing" so right now, our collective eyes being taken off the ball. terror is on the uptake.

people are dying all over and we are obsessing over a meeting between a very tall government official who got nervous. he got nervous over his new boss. no one died in their people dying everywhere and we are obsessing over a meeting where somebody felt discomfort. >> kimberly: benghazi people died. right? >> dana: we obsessed over that too. >> kimberly: we should have. >> greg: we did, we they didn'. >> chris: if there are tapes, we would be able to get them? who can get them? >> kimberly: yeah, they can compel the production and make sure they come forth. kind of privilege. top-secret clearance information in there. that's what they would do. >> chris: threatening or joking?

if there were tapes, is not necessarily -- >> kimberly: a potus had a fake. a potus head fake. i think comey was like i feel queasy. >> dana: and now they have a special counsel. >> kimberly: and he said to his friend, meet my little memo. >> chris: richard, if democrats -- the head fake worked for comey and then eventually against trump. what about the special counsel -- >> kimberly: the president has been vindicated. confirmed. three times told that he is not the subject of any investigatio investigation. if dana says like in three months --

>> chris: kimberly, you would say it's fair to say or i would hope you say it's fair to say -- >> kimberly: i love prosecuting, though. >> chris: that there were half a dozen or a dozen moments where the president could have helped his case instead of hurt it in his dealings with james comey. they were better ways it could've been handled and he might not necessarily needed to have a special -- >> greg: i think we can all agree with that. >> kimberly: >> kimberly: less . >> chris: as much as the head fake caused these troubles, for democrats -- they can't quite let go of the safe idea. the tape idea. i doubt there is one but the democrats want tapes. >> richard: if this is a head fake it, it's a bad head fake by the president of the united states. we are talking about a couple of meetings and a tape. my thought -- i want america to

succeed and for the president to succeed, that will be a reality. >> chris: that's extremely high-minded of you. >> richard: this president myers himself down in these stupid, icky things. this is an example of it. democrats are like come on, let's get to the business of the country. let's spend a trillion dollars on infrastructure. i will vote for that but instead, we spent all day talking about the fact that you can't stay off of twitter and you don't know how to manage your staff and control -- >> chris: we have seen message discipline. >> dana: he has had faking you you. they will take all the tvs out out. the president was wandering around the oval office saying why isn't my download working? [laughter] >> chris: the wi-fi broke. >> greg: we got to remember, every time you count this guy out, the next day, you have to count him back in. trump is harder to get --

>> dana: i was going to say something similar. he uses twitter to great effect to help win in election. he uses it to make us laugh. covfefe was actually funny. but then the staff is like don't take them seriously on twitter but then the press secretary says no, these are official tweets. and then they say no, ignore it. the staff doesn't know what's happening. twitter is actually effective for him and there's nothing that happened today that will make any republican decide they need to walk away from donald trump right now and that's why that agenda in the senate it so important. before the august recess, several things would get done and he will be able to basically take a victory lap in the fall. >> greg: he's harder to get rid of than love handles. >> dana: those are hard. >> richard: lifo suction. >> greg: will never do that. [laughter]

>> kimberly: we love you just the way you are. >> chris: thank you so much for having me here. that's it for us. coverage of today's testimony continues right now with sean hannity. >> sean: many thanks to our friends on "the five." welcome to "hannity." we are live tonight until midnight. former fbi director james comey's testimony is a huge victory for donald trump today. and a massive defeat for the democrats and of course, the propaganda media. there are also some legal aspects to say james comey may have broken the law. jay sekulow low will weigh in later tonight. also donald trump jr., laura ingraham, john solomon, sara carter, all join us but the truth and the biggest takeaways from today's congressional hearing. this is information you will not get anywhere else in the media. it's important and it is tonight's opening