i am chris jansing at our msnbc headquarters. we have been watching acting fbi director andrew mccabe testifying as a senate hearing. of course, he's replacing former fbi director james comey and was immediately asked a key question about what president trump claimed in his letter firing comey. >> director mccabe, did you ever hear director comey tell the president that he was not the subject of an investigation. >> sir, i can't comment on any conversations the director may have had with the president. >> then moments before that, here was senator mark warner. take that listen. >> it's hard to avoid the conclusion that the president's decision to remove director comey was related to this investigation. and that is truly unacceptable. >> and this is going on while the white house is once again on defense, assisting comey's firing had nothing to do with

the fbi's russia investigation. >> nothing to do with the investigation into russia. the president had been thinking about this since november, since he was elected president. this was something he had considered. he had never been solidly on board with keeping comey for the long term. >> we have all angles of this covered. we begin with mike vaquira on capitol hill. bring us up to speed. >> you have to put this in context. this was a previously scheduled hearing about worldwide threats. we're hearing about threats from all over the world. venezuela, china, including russia, which is a particular focus today. you saw there the chairman of the committee, the republican out of the box in his questioning of the acting fbi director, andrew mccabe, who is here instead of jim comey, who was scheduled to be here until the events of the last couple days, asked him if he ever heard this controversial assertion by

president trump in that letter -- in the process of firing jim comey, stating somewhat randomly to some people's ears, he thanked jim comey for telling him on three separate occasions he was not the subject of an investigation. you had the republican chairman out of the box asking andrew mccam mccam mccabe as the acting fbi director, if he'd heard that conversation. he said he cannot comment. then mike warner asked each of these individuals -- we had the directors of the nsa, the dni, the cia there, along with mccabe, if they had agreed with the assertion and the conclusion from the intelligence community that russia had indeed hacked this election. they each took turns replying yes in the affirmative. earlier, before the hearing, i had a chance to catch up with marco rubio out in the hall. several reporters asking him questions. i asked him if the shifting timelines and rationale we've heard over the past 24 hours

from the white house weakened his case and republican resistance to calls for a special counsel. >> i think to do so now would still be premature. doesn't mean you'll never do it. let's finish the report. let's lay out the facts. if the report falls apart or the process falls apart or -- then that's another thing. i actually think that won't happen. i believe we'll lay out a report, it'll have the relative facts and on the basis of facts, people will make their own opinion about whether or not a special prosecutor is warranted. i don't think we're there yet. >> chris, we also heard the vice chairman, the top democrat on the committee, mike warner asked mccabe if he committed to informing the committee if he ever detected any kind of interference in the investigation that the fbi has underway into russian meddling. mccabe said he would certainly do so. chris? >> mike, thanks for that. another key player in the question of how the firing came about is attorney general jeff sessions. he was ignoring questions about comey this morning.

>> was director comey fired for accelerating the russia invest zbag investiga investigation? >> can you tell us what director comey did wrong? >> there's been some reporting by nbc news and others that james comey asked the justice department just last week, just before he was fired, for more resources for the russia investigation. what can you tell us? >> right. several congressional sources they that's what comey told them, but the justice department says that that didn't happen, that there was no request. there have been some very interesting developments here within the past hour or so, chris. the first was is a message from andrew mccabe to the committee, but as much it seems to the men and women of the fbi. when he was asked what effect the comey firing would have on the fbi's investigation of the russia hacking into the election and any possible involvement by

trump campaign associates, and he gave a very muscular answer to the question. he said the russia investigation will continue. in essence, he says you can't stop the fbi from doing the right thing. so that was a very ringing answer. now the second development was a statement made by charles grassley this morning. he's the chairman of the senate judiciary committee. it's having a business meeting today. he said the following, he said that he and diane feinstein have been briefed when james comey was still the fbi director about who was under investigation by the fbi on the whole russia question. he says that he is -- he asked the director last week, will you say whether or not the president is under investigation, and comey said, i can't answer that. grassley said, i think that the fbi should say publicly whether or not the president is under investigation. you've got to stop yourself right there and ask, would the chairman, republican chairman of

the judiciary committee want that public, if the answer was that the president was under investigation. but there's more. he goes on in his statement to say on tuesday, the president's letter said director comey told him he was not in investigation. senator feinstein and i heard nothing that contradicted the president's statement. i think this is as close as senator grassley can come without actually saying it, to say as far as he knows, the president is not under investigation. >> fascinating. i'll let you get back to listening. i know you'll keep us up to date, pete. thank you for that. >> you bet. i want to go to nbc's kelly o'donnell at the white house. i guess i'll start with the fbi because there are these reports that the president is considering going over there, talking to the people who work at the federal bureau of investigation. what more can you tell us? >> it would be very notable because the morale issue is one of the things that the white

house has given as a reason for comey's removal. a need for a restoration of prestige and morale with the fbi. there have been sources, especially in pete williams reporting, that have indicated there has not been a problem with the leadership of james comey among many inside the fbi, current and former, even though many would acknowledge there were issues of dispute about his handling of the clinton e-ma e-mail -- the whole array of his acts during the election year. even with that, sources saying there was not an erosion of confidence. should the president go there, and we're told it is not likely this week, and i think you'd have to look for some of the other staging. would the acting director go with the president, appear with the president, that kind of thing. remember when he visited the cia not long after taking office, it was somewhat controversial, in that he stood in front of the wall of stars for those killed in action as part of the agency, that there was some political tone to his speech.

it is high risk for the president, at the same time, it would make sense given the law and order style he likes to project. perhaps they will time that visit with something more to announce about plans for the agency going forward. so on the possibilities list, which suggests that they're actively considering how and when to do it. we also know the week is kind of evaporating quickly in terms of the president's time. that's something we're watching, chris, to see when and how soon. i think it may also be a measure of how this fallout resolves itself. do they need a visit to jolt things moving forward, or are there other questions they've got to answer? >> in the meantime, the president is expected to sign a new executive order on voter fraud, something obviously that would appeal to some members of his base. obviously cause controversy elsewhere. what can you tell us about that? >> well, we do have new reporting on this. the vice president would chair this commission. they are expected to work for about a year-long period. it's a formal presidential

commission which has required a lot of sort of framework in the laws to set this up. and some vetting of potential candidates, including democrats and republicans. so not only voter fraud but voter suppression, an issue of concern to democrats would be tackled by this commission. >> kelly o'donnell, thank you so much. at the white house for us. we want to talk more about this, including the inner workings of the fbi, how vladimir putin may be reacting to all this. i'm joined by two people with special insight. a former kgb agent, the author of "deep undercover: my tangled life and allegiances." he defected and became an american citizen. also with us, a double agent, msnbc contributor and author of "how to catch a russian spy." i want to start by playing what democratic congressman sean maloney said today on "morning joe." >> my god, when the guy is on the scent and you fire him

abruptly, bizarrely, disrespectfully to the fbi, oh, and excuse me, in the same news cycle, you're paling around in the oval office with the russians. tell you what, my dad served in the navy. he was a rock rib conservative republican. he would have been disgusted by the images of an american president laughing it up with those russians in the oval office at the same time as he's firing the fbi director. >> i wonder what you make of the president thinking about he might go over to the fbi. could be some concerns about morale problems. the folks you know over there, what are you hearing? >> well, chris, when i think of the investigation, i think there are two silos. the first silo is perhaps the determination of corralal a cor criminalialty and assignment of blame. then there's the operation side. if the russians were trying to meddle in the operation, if the

russian operation was 1% successful, this by definition is probably one of the worst counterintelligence a failures this country ever experienced. those people in the counterintelligence community are demoralized. this is something when you think of an investigation, by starting by saying this is a failure, you then have the opportunity to find how to fix it. we've heard 2018, 2020, the russians will come back, but frankly, they never left. they're still here. until we fix that exploit they've used, the 2016 election, those 17 intelligence agencies assessed was something they were trying to do, that exploit remains open. it is shocking. so morale is low. the president wants to go to the fbi, that's wonderful. but what the counterintelligence folks need is leadership. they need funding. they need an acknowledgment that this is important work. >> jack, i wonder if you feel the same way or what you're hearing is the same about morale at the f bi right now. pete williams said it was something he saw as a major outcome so far in this young hearing, which was when mccabe was asked what effect it would

have on the russia investigation, he said, you can't stop them from doing the right thing. let me get your take on that. >> well, i agree here with regard to -- that we need to allow our intelligence agencies to do their work. i absolutely from day one when this all broke, i didn't like the fact that the fbi, in particularly james comey, became a target of a political football so to speak, back and forth, back and forth. you know, this is like sort of reminiscent, and i've got to be careful here so i don't get misquoted, but stalin in the old days had a really well-functioning intelligence agency, and he didn't trust them. now, here's the point, we are at a point now where particularly our president, you know, made statements that he doesn't trust our intelligence agencies.

then why have them? but at the same time, what i don't like is that we are trying to play out these issues right now in public. interfering in some sense with the fbi doing their work. >> of course, everybody is watching because this is a russia investigation. what vladimir putin is doing. he's playing in this vip hockey tournament. cameras caught up with him yesterday in sochi. let me play that for you. >> how will the firing of james comey affect u.s./russia relations? >> there will be no effect. >> translator: your question looks very funny for me. don't be angry with me. we have nothing to do with them.

president trump is acting in accordance with his competence and in accordance with his law and constitution. >> so we hear that very straight forward, but when you hear it, jack, how do you think president putin views what's going on here? >> he's sitting back and, you know, he has -- they have s succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. all they were out to do here is create mischief and create sort of the chaos that we have now in our government, to deflect from what we really need to focus on, which is the threat that is coming at us from all kinds of different areas of the world, including russia. that's what the soviet union and its successor state has always been trying to do. this time, i think they're wildly successful, even though they're not necessarily that competent. the lack of competency in my

estimation is the fact that when the hack was -- the data were released about the french election was at the point where it was not meaningful. but, you know, it's like putin saying, guys, we did good. continue. >> i want to go back if i can to the sound we heard at the beginning, which was when sean maloney was complaining about what we saw from the white house yesterday. because it wasn't the white house but rather russia that put out photos of the oval office meeting between president trump and foreign minister sergey lavrov. even the ambassador, kislyak, who has been at the center of a lot of this stuff. what did you make of it when you saw this coming out of russian media? >> it was a victory lap. i agree with my good friend jack. putin, at the end of the day, whether you think there is collusion, whatever you think the minutiae connections between russia and the trump campaign or anyone else, the goal of russia is to destabilize and

delegitimize the united states. the optics of lavrov and kislyak, smiling, gripping and grinning with our president, it is exactly that. it is a victory lap. it just reinforces this idea that jack pushed on that, look, the russians were absolutely successful. they have suffered no repercussion. they did so, frankly, with, you know, without firing a bullet. they've completely questioned, whether you're a trump support or or not, the legitimacy of the presidency of the united states. >> we're continuing to monitor the senate intelligence committee hearing where the directing fbi director and cia director answer questions. we'll have develops as they happen. james comey's firing now another point of anger at town halls. up next, i'll talk live with one republican congressman who is holding a town hall this weekend. we'll talk a little bit about how he'll respond to constituents like this. >> you don't see what's going on? you don't see it? when will you decide to be an

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built for business. should be here this morning testifying to the american people about where the investigation he's been running stands. at our public hearing in january when he refused to discuss his investigation into connections between russia and trump associates, i stated my fear that if the information didn't

come out before inauguration day, it might never come out. with all the recent talk in recent weeks about whether there is evidence of collusion, i fear some colleagues have forgotten that donald trump urged the russians to hack his opponents. he also said repeatedly that he loved wikileaks. so the question is not whether donald trump actively encouraged the russians and wikileaks to attack our democracy. he did. that is an established fact. the only question is whether he or someone associated with him coordinated with the russians. mr. mccabe, the president's letter to director c eor comey asserted that on three separate occasions, the director informed him that he was not under investigation. would it have been wrong for the

director to inform him he was not under investigation? it's a yes or no. >> sir, i'm not going to comment on any conversations that the director may have had. >> i didn't ask that. would it have been wrong for the director to inform him he was not under investigation? that's not about conversations. that's a yes or no answer. >> as you know, senator, we typically do not answer that question. i will not comment on whether or not the director and the president of the united states had that conversation. >> will you refrain from these kinds of alleged updates to the president or anyone else in the white house on the status of the investigation? >> i will. >> thank you. >> director pompeo, one of the few key, unanswered questions is why the president didn't fire michael flynn after acting attorney general yates warned the white house he could be blackmailed by the russians. director pompeo, did you know about the acting attorney general's warnings to the white house, or were you aware of the

concerns behind the warning? >> i don't have any comment on that. >> well, were you aware of the concerns behind the warning? i mean, this is a global threat. this is a global threat question. it's a global threat hearing. were you aware? >> senator, tell me what global threat it is you're concerned with, please. i'm not sure i understand the question. >> well, the possibility of blackmail. i mean, blackmail by an influential military official. that has real ramifications for the global threat. so this is not about a policy implication. this is about the national security adviser being vulnerable to blackmail by the russians. the american people deserve to know whether in these extraordinary circumstances the cia kept them safe. >> yes, sir. the cia has kept america safe. and the people at the central intelligence agency are committed to that and will remain committed to that.

we will do that in the face of -- >> you won't answer the question. >> we will do that in the face of political challenges from any direction, senator. >> you won't answer the question of whether or not you were aware of the concerns behind the yates warning? >> i don't know exactly what you're referring to with the yates warning. i wasn't part of any of those conversations. >> the yates warning -- >> senator, i have no -- >> -- of potential blackmail. >> i have no firsthand information with respect to the warning given. she didn't make the warning to me. i can't answer the question, as much as i'd like to. >> director coats, how concerned are you that a russian government oil company, run by a putin crony, could end up owning a significant percentage of u.s. oil refining capacity, and what are you advising the committee on foreign investment in the united states about this?

>> i don't have specific information relative to that. i think that's something that potentially we could provide intelligence on in terms of what the situation might be. >> i'd like you to finish that in writing. let me see if i can get one other question in. there have been mountains of press stories with allegations about financial connections between russia and trump and his associates. the matters are directly relevant to the fbi. my question is, when it comes to illicit russian money, in particular, its potential to be laundered on its way to the united states, what should the committee be most concerned about? we hear stories about deutsche bank, bank of cypress, shell companies, the british virgin islands.

i'd like to get your sense -- because i'm over my time, director mccabe, what should we be concerned about with illicit russian monies and its potential to be laundered on its way to the united states? >> i'm not in a position to speak about specific investigations and certainly not in this setting. however, those are issues that concern us greatly. they have traditionally and they do more so today as it becomes easier to conceal the origin and the track and the destination and purpose of illicit money flows, as the exchange of information becomes more clouded and encryption and more obtuse, it becomes harder and harder to get to the bottom of those investigations. that should shed light on those issues. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> gentlemen, i -- >> that was some tough questions but not getting a lot of answers. opportunity for the acting director of the fbi to say he's

not allowed to talk about those things. we've heard repeatedly over the course of the morning, trying to get to the bottom of a statement in the letter that president trump sent, firing the fbi director, where he said thank you for three times saying i'm not the target of an investigation. again, ron widen not getting an answer there. it's so interesting that these town halls across the country they're largely focused on health care and now we're also hearing about the comey firing. in fact, last night, congressman tom mcarthur of new jersey -- by the way, he's the guy with the health care amendment, that's credited at least in part with advancing the gop plan -- he had to listen to outraged constituents for hours. a lot of them were upset over the firing of comey. >> i am also concerned i have a president who does not know american history. quite frankly, if he did, he wouldn't have fired the man investigating him. how long are you and your fellow

republicans going to defend this american nightmare? you, mitch mcconnell, come on! open your eyes! >> this isn't the first fbi director that was fired. bill clinton fired his, too. but -- >> i do have a question. ♪ hey, hey, hey, good-bye >> where is that mic? >> let me talk about all of this with republican congressman don bacon of nebraska. he's been holding town halls and has one scheduled this saturday. he serves on the arms services committee and is a retired u.s. air force brigadier general. i've said this on a number of occasions, i say bravo to members of the house who stand up in front of their constituents and are really willing to answer some of these hard questions.

are you expecting to get some tough questions about the firing of james comey? >> i'm sure we will. i've had two town halls already, you know, two weeks ago, and we're doing one more tomorrow. more planned in the future. i'm sure we'll get some on health care, on the fbi. our town halls, we have folks that don't agree with me. also some supporters, as well. it's enjoyable to see the conversation on both sides from our town halls. >> what would you say to somebody who stood up, as you heard at that town hall, and questioned firing someone who is in charge of an investigation that involves people who work for the white house? >> well, i would agree that the optics sure don't look well, but i've been there in congress four months now. i personally think director comey is a respected person. i respect him. i thought he was a principle person. i also say that both parties and many people within both parties didn't trust him anymore. he lost the trust of both parties. i saw when it came down to

congress, speaking on the russian involvement in our election, he was pretty much booed really by the democrats. treated very toughly. i know a lot of republicans felt the same way. >> even if you believe he should have been fired, and now we're getting indicationfrom t white house deputy press secretary that the president has been thinking about this since november, what do you yo think of the way in which it was handled? >> it was handled wrongly. i think the leadership in the justice department or someone, the president, vice president, someone should have called him personally and let him know. to find out over the news is a terrible way. no one wants to find out you're fired by watching the news. he deserved better than that. i'd assume most on the administration would have agreed. >> etaetna announced it is pullg out of the individual health care market in nebraska. that leaves one insurer for the affordable care act. >> zero in iowa. >> i'm sorry? >> and zero in iowa. >> iowa, virginia -- >> this is going downhill. >> they've been pointed to as

states that are obviously having problems with the way that obamacare is structured. the question is whether or not this plan will fix it. there are a lot of people who are worried about pre-existing conditions. a lot of people concerned about affordability. that $8 billion that a lot of republicans have touted. independent analysis after analysis have shown that's not going to cover the gap that there will be in pre-existing conditions. what do you say to your constituents? >> i would agree if it was just $8 billion, that that wouldn't cover. but it was $138 billion. that was $8 billion added on. >> those added together don't match what the independent analyses say will be needed. >> well, if we find two or three years from now we need to add to that, we will. what i am assured of, by being part of the process, seeing the bill and the amendment and reading both, if you're a high risk 35-year-old, you will be charged the same as a healthy 35-year-old.

everywhere, whether younger or older, is going to be treated the same way. the goal is to charge a high risk person at the same rate as a healthy person. we found a way to don't. it'll involve federal and state funding to do that. i think we found the most efficient way to do so. i am committed, and i think our leadership and our party and our president is committed to covering pre-existing conditions. i think a moral country does that. >> nebraska congressman don bacon, thank you so much for your time, sir. >> thank you. we want to go back to capitol hill. that's where the senate intelligence committee hearing is going on. new mexico democratic senator questioning now. let's listen. >> if you're referring to the russia investigation, i do. i believe we have the adequate resources to do it, and i know that we have resourced that investigation adequately. if you're referring to the many constantly multiplying counterintelligence threats that we face across the spectrum, they get bigger and more challenging every day. resources become an issue over time. but in terms of that

investigation, sir, i can assure you, we are covered. >> thank you. director coats, welcome back. would you agree that it is a national security risk to provide classified information to an individual who has been compromised by a foreign government, as a broad matter? >> as a broad matter, yes. >> if the attorney general came to you and said one of your employees was compromised, what sort of action would you take? >> i would take the action as prescribed in our procedures, relative to how we report this and how it is processed. i mean, it's a serious issue. i'd be consulting with the legal couns

counsel, our inspector general and others as to how best to proceed with this. we'd take action. >> would one of the options be dismissal, obviously? >> that very potentially could be a dismissal, yes. >> thank you, director. >> senator collins? >> thank you, mr. chairman, mr. vice chairman. mr. mccabe, is the agent who is in charge of this very important investigation into russian attempts to influence our elections last fall still in charge? >> i mean, we have many agents involved in the investigation at many levels. i'm not sure who you're referring to. >> the lead agent overseeing the investigation. >> certainly, almost all of the agents involved in the investigation are still in their positions. >> so has there been any curtailment of the fbi's activities in this important

investigation since director comey was faired? >> we don't curtail our activities. as you know, as people are asking questions this week, absolutely. does it get in our way of pursuing this or any other investigation? no no, ma'am. we focus on our mission and get the job done. >> i want to follow up on a question of resources that you were asked your opinion on. press reports yesterday indicated that director comey requested additional resources from the justice department for the bureau's ongoing investigation into russian active measures. are you a i ware of the request? can you confirm the request was made? >> i cannot confirm that request

was made. as you know, ma'am, when we need resources, we make those resources here. so i don't -- i'm not aware of that request, and it is not consistent with my understanding of how we request additional resources. that said, we don't typically request resources for an individual case. as i mentioned, i strongly believe that the russia investigation is adequately resourced. >> you've also been asked a question of target letters. now, it is my understanding that when an individual is the target of an investigation, at some point, a letter is sent out notifying the individual that he is a target. is that correct? >> no, ma'am. i don't believe that's correct. >> okay. so before there is going to be an indictment, there is not a target letter sent out by the

justice department? >> not that i'm aware of. >> okay. that's contrary to my understanding, but let me ask you the reverse. >> again, i'm looking at it from the perspective of the investigators. that's not part of our normal case investigative practice. >> that would be the justice department though. >> i see. i see. >> i'm asking you, isn't it standard practice when someone is the target of an investigation and is perhaps on the verge of being indicted that the justice department sends that individual what is known as a target letter? >> ma'am, i'm going to have to defer that question to the department of justice. >> let me ask you the flip side of that. perhaps you don't know the answer to the question. but is it standard practice for the fbi to inform someone that

they are not a target of an investigation? >> it is not. >> so it would be unusual and not standard practice for there to have been a notification from the fbi director to president trump or anyone else involved in this investigation, informing him or her that that individual is not a target? is that correct? >> again, ma'am, i'm not going to comment on what director co-mie mco comey may or may not have done. >> i'm not asking you to comment on the facts of the case. what is standard practice or not? >> i'm not aware of that being a standard practice. >> admiral rogers, i want to follow up on senator warner's question to you about the attempted interference in the french election. some researchers, including the

cyber intelligence forum flash point claimed that apt 28 is the group that was behind the stealing of d-- and the leaking of the information about the president-elect of france. the fbi and dhs have publicly tied apt 28 to russian intelligence services in the joint analysis report last year after the group's involvement in stealing data that was leaked in the run up to the u.s. elections in november. is the ic in a position to attribute the stealing and the leaking that took place prior to the french election to be the result of activities by this group, which is linked to russian cyber activity? >> again, ma'am, right now, i don't think i have a complete picture of all the activity

associated with france. as i said today and previously, we are aware of russian activity directed against the french election cycle and, of course, particularly the last few weeks, to the point we felt it was important enough that we reached out to our french counterparts to inform them and make sure they were aware of what we were, and ask if there is something we are missing that you are seeing. >> thank you. >> all right. so this is going to continue to go on. we're listening to it. we're going to continue to monitor the fallout from president trump's decision to abruptly fire fbi director james comey. what you've been watching, acting director andrew mccabe testifying in front of the senate intelligence committee. joining me now is the white house reporter for politico. peter baker, white house reporter for the "new york times." i'm imagining you've had a chance to listen in at least to part of this. some of the major things we've heard, for example, was the acting director saying

absolutely, he does not think there was a bad relationship between comey and the people who worked at the fbi. in fact, he said, i hold them in the highest regard. it has been the greatest privilege and honor of my professional life to work with him. he said the investigation is ongoing. he said there's no indication on his part more money is needed. from what you've heard, peter, what do you make of the hearing so far? >> obviously, you see through this hearing why the dismissal of the fbi director is, in fact, a big deal. because, in fact, there's a lot of questions to be asked. some of these answers aren't really satisfying to senators. you can tell. he was asked, for instance, about president trump's assertion in his letter firing, you know, mr. comey, that mr. comey had, in fact, reassured him three times that he, the president himself, was not under investigation. mr. mccabe, asked about that, refused to confirm it or deny it. he did say the kind of thing wouldn't be appropriate to do, and he wouldn't be doing it. but that's still a very open

question, for instance. i think this is a chance for senators to get at, the people they want to ask questions about today. there will be a lot of unanswered ones. >> i think that's one of the key ones we've heard, is the assertion by the president that three times, he was assured he was not the target of the investigation. we have also learned a lot over the last 24 hours or so about the white house's changing narrative about the president's decision making. first, it was that he'd got the recommendation and acted decisively. multiple members of his staff using that word. this is what the president did, he acted decisively. now this morning, we're hearing it is something he's been thinking about since november. i ask you to look at that in the context of an article you co-wrote, which is, teflon don faces his biggest test yet. >> this is a narrative with a

lot of holes in it. mccabe's comments that the fbi had faith in director comey is something sarah sanders will have to address to the podium. it contradicts what he said yesterday, part of the reason why he was fired is they had lost faith in him. so the parts of the story keep falling apart. pa basically, the teflon don story is saying there is one way to look at this. trump is an instinctive guy and this is trump being trump. but this is something different. this is a bigger deal than what he's done before. if he thought this was going to put away questions about russia and the ties to his campaign, this hearing that we're listening to right now is proof that that's not going away. it's shone a greater light on this. trump allies were warning on the record, pushing the white house saying, if they want to make the story look like it was about comey and not about russia, he needs to appoint an independent person to be the fbi director.

not a chris christie that will just look like he was trying to cover something up. >> maybe a merrick garland, if we look at senator mike lee. peter, i want to ask you about the article you co-wrote. it really does lay out how the president and comey's relationship deteriorated after trump accused former president barack obama of wiretapping him. you say, quote, the president, mr. comey told associates, was outside the realm of normal, even crazy. what more can you tell us? >> well, that's exactly right. that's a quote. the word crazy, in quotation marks, that's what james comey told associates back in march when the president was saying that president obama had somehow wiretapped him. comey was flabbergasted by this. how could the president of the united states, in effect, put something out there so wildly unsubstantiated? he wanted, in fact, to publicly contradict this. it took a while to convince the justice department -- he tried to convince the justice

department and he finally had to do it himself in testimony. with that, president trump saw a disloyal fbi director. he wanted somebody who was going to be loyal to him. clearly, jim comey was not going to be that person. in the weeks that followed that all the way up through this coming last weekend, he's been stewing about this, growing angry about a fbi director he felt was out of his control. not just about the wiretapping thing but also about the russia investigation. also about the fact that he wasn't pursuing the leaks that president trump has been very obsessed about. so, you know, by the time he's sitting in his golf club up in new jersey last week watching the sunday shows, increasingly getting angry about it, he resolved he was going to make a change here. >> peter baker and andy, thank you both. appreciate it. we're going to continue to monitor the senate intelligence committee hearing where the acting fbi director and cia director are answering questions. all as democrats in the senate are demanding an independent look, independent investigation

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is it accurate that the rank and file no longer supported director comey? >> no, sir. that is not accurate. i can tell you, tell you, sir, worked very, very closely with director comey. from the moment he started at the fbi, i worked for him running the washington field office, and of course i served as deputy fr the last year. i can tell you that i hold him in the absolute highest regard. i have the highest respect for his abilities, his integrity, and it has been the greatest privilege and honor of my life to work with him, director comey enjoyed broad support in the fbi and still does to this day. we are a large organization,

36,500 people across this country lane globe. we have a diversity of opinions about many things, but i can tell you the vast majority of fbi employees enjoyed a deep and positive connection to director comey. >> pretty dramatic moment. acting fbi director is testifying contradicting claims that the fbi lost confidence in james comey. it has amplified calls to appoint an independent commission. >> the independent decision effort would run bar lel to the fbi department of justice and investigation where a special council displaces and disrupts

the investigation. >> the independent commission would have subpoena power. but it would not have the power to bring criminal charges and it would run parallel to the fbi probes. they would have greater autonomy but they could be overruled or fired. a special council would displace the fbi and nginvestigations. it was created after water gate to look into executive branch wrong doing, a special prosecutor could not be fired by the president or whoever appointed him or her. senator, we just went through the options, i assume that you think that there needs to be some sort of outside investigation. do you and if so what should it be? >> i am joined by many of my

democratic colleagues and i open soon to be joined by republican colleagues in calling for a special prosecutor that will be free of any political interference and will conduct an independent and thorough investigation into the matter. >> is there anything going on there that indicates there are those willing to come to your size? >> there is people who have raised concerns about the firing of fbi director comey. so i hope the interference and the efforts should be a matter of bipartisan concern and that we can come together to call for a thorough, independent investigation by a special prosecutor. i know that there were some

comments about a special prosecutor that would not be working with the fbi, but i specifically asked him how that would work, should a special prosecutor be assigned, and he said that the fbi would coordinate their efforts. there would be no conflict or disruption for the independent prosecution. >> you made your feelings about the firing of comey clear yesterday, i just want to play a piece of that. >> this attempt intended to derail and disrupt the fbi's ongoing investigation and an attempt to interfere with our democracy. the ties to those attempts should be a matter of national concern. >> are you concerned about the

integrity of the investigation. they said nothing has changed. all of the people working on this investigation continue to work on it. he believes he has the resources he needs, are you worried about the ability of the fbi to conduct this investigation? >> i'm glad the acting fbi director has assured us that the ongoing investigation will continue, but that will not be good news for president trump. i have no doubt they want the investigation to go away, and i have no doubt that by firing the person would slow down the investigation certainly led to a lot of uproar that that would happen, and that is not what is happening. in fact the opposite effect is happening where there is even more of a need for a special prosecutor to get to the bottom of what is going on. >> a senator from hawaii, thank you very much, aloe thha to you.

>> aloha. >> and president trump will talk about the fires of james comey tonight with lester hold, we'll be right back. it's time for the your business entrepreneurs of the week. breaking up was hard to do, but reuniting has felt so good. the owners of five string furniture are back together after a break. brought to you by american express open. f? american express open cards can help you take on a new job, or fill a big order or expand your office and take on whatever comes next.

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thank you for watching this hour of msnbc live. right now on msnbc, andrea mitchell resports. right now on "andrea mitchell reports" the acting director promising he will not

allow anyone to interfere with the probe. >> the work of the men and women continues despite any changes in circumstance, any decisions, there has been no effort to imbreeze our television to date. simply put, you cannot stop the men and women of the fbi from doing the right thing and upholding the constitution. >> parting worlds, trying to reassure the fbi saying the president could fire him for any reason or no reason at all. the bureau still shaken. >> you're going to have people who like what the boss is doing, and people who don't, but i think he had the support of the rank and file. >> you have to ask yourself how much evidence do i need to support my claims at this point. when will i be believed or not believed at this point.