threats, with a briefing on threats to the nation not threats made by the country's president. this is no ordinary president. this morning donald trump tweeted this, james comey better hope there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press. you don't need any special security clearances to understand what he intended. this comes on the fifth straight day of crisis containment from the white house and more fall joult from the comey firing. here's sean spicer answering questions about recording devices a short time ago at the briefing. >> did president trump record his conversations with former fbi director comey? >> i assume you're referring to the tweet. i've talked to the president and he has nothing further to add on that. >> why did he say that? why did he tweet that? should should we interpret from that? >> the president has nothing further to add on that. >> are there recording devices in the oval offices or --

>> there's nothing further to add on it. >> do you think it's important to threaten someone like mr. comey not to speak? >> that's not a threat. the tweet speaks for itself, i'm moving on. >> it sure does. we have two of the best reporters on white house beat joining us with, starting with peter baker and nbc's kelly o'donnell on the north lawn. peter, you have news for us. >> sean spicer might be moving on but other people aren't. you have john conyers and ee elijah cummings on the house judiciary and house government oversight government reform committees sent a letter to the white house just now asking for copies of any tapes if in fact there are recordings and they point out very notedly in the letter, they say it's a crime to try to intimidate a witness, that's what they are saying the president might have been trying

to do with his tweet this morning. the point is the president raised that himself and it certainly we did not hear a firm answer from sean spicer today. >> and kelly, i watched the briefing and follow you on twitter and you were struck by the fact there was no denial of the existence or practice of recording meetings in the oval office. >> i think it's very important given the sweep of american history where tapes were an substantial element of what brought down a presidency. times and circumstances are different but the echo of that is so strong that this white house really needs to contemplate how it wants to go forward leaving open the possibility that conversations the president has with guests and staffers and officials and heads of state or foreign ministers from around the world might be recorded. there's a historical argument to make for the fact that recordings of those conversations would preserve a real record of a presidency.

however, consult, knowledge awareness you will ar important and then of course the tweet in a way that the president often does, there's a certainly recless quality to his tweets where it's a burst of emotion perhaps, not expecting the second ter shall yarry fallout, how democrats want production of these tapes, presuming there are tapes, alluding to the fact there are tapes, to assert something in this environment that is that volatile it will inhe havei inevitably draw more attention from journalists and it was notable the restraint and clarity of his responses. he made certain to let the public know he had spoken to the president, this was not an instance where he was making a best guest based on his experience. he spoke to the president and tweets stand. that leaves open the possibility of these recordings and if this

white house is not doing recording or there are some reasons under national security they feel like they can't disclose that, i think these questions will persist until there's more clarity. >> peter baker, i go to bed with the new york times app on my phone and wake up with it. do you have any sense -- i'm picking up from the folks i've talked to in the white house, they want to do more and more of their business over the telephone. are you picking up the tapes add to the growing sense of paranoia that people seem to have in their exchanges with reporters? >> i think there is a real nervousness about your interactions with reporters of this white house, whether it be by phone or email. and that's a shame. i don't think that's helpful to any white house. i don't think it helps you get your message out. the best white house understands that reporters are there to help

people -- the american public understand things and they can help those reporters do their job. it works to their benefit as well as the public. we have a situation, a heightened sense of suspicion. this is not first time by the way somebody has suspected that donald trump might be taping them. that was a recurrent suspicion while he was in business. people thought maybe trump tower had some recording devices and so forth. this is not a new thing. to have sean spicer not confirm or deny it leaves it out there as a very real possibility, he didn't say the president was just kind of toying with jim comey, he left it as a real and serious possibility. >> kelly, i wonder if the white house is prepared for the letter that peter baker reported they are about to get from democrats on capitol hill. once the president tweets, be careful, i might be coming after you with something i might have recorded, certainly other people

will want to know what else has been recorded. do you get the sense they are prepared to sponsor alleged affairs office if they are fairly staffed at that point. how are they talking about responding to people wanting to see what they might have? >> it's one of the great challenges this white house and senior staff have had, not being able to anticipate what the president would tweet in advance. spicer has used humor as a way to explain or defend or characterize the president's tweets before. that was an option he could have taken, that tapes might have been a joke. he did not take that option. it will be interesting to see what the white house will do now. they have executive privilege, they may invoke that if they even respond to the letter at all. one of the things we found from lawmakers is a frustration in the timely iness of responses a fullness of responses from the white house. this is where there is a danger for the president to kind of go off on emotion because there are

traditions and predictable responses and everything said at that podium from the press secretary, everything the president says publicly in his twitter feed is included in that. it's viewed and interpreted by all of washington, by american citizens as well as entities around the world. of course the democrats were going to jump on that and want production of supposed tapes. completely predictable. yet there's no sense that the white house had a chance to game out that likely scenario. >> i'm going to bring my panel in to join the conversation. harold ford, now a policy maker and residence at the university of michigan and john heilemann. and co-author of game change, mike due haim and former senior adviser to chris christie and al sharpt sharpton, host of the "politics

nation" and we brought ari melber, chief legal correspondent. all right, guys, i wanted to call this tape gate because this now feels like the beginning of a scandal because you've got the president, making an outrageous claim like he did with the wiretap claim on twitter. you've got democrats responding the way you would respond to a normal politician who makes an outrageous claim that may or may not involve a crime and you have the white house now with a non -- not even a nondenial denial. just a denial. >> we should not in any way ignore the graph tas of the under lying issue. the underlying issue is the president saying that he had a discussion with one over the fbi who is investigating, already said he's investigating possible russian ties to people in the trump campaign. he had a discussion with them about that. we can argue whether the

president raised it and comey was uncomfortable. all of that is really immaterial, the fact there was a discussion in and of itself a very serious legal question if not illegal certainly possibly unethical. whatever tapes there is could lend to what was that discussion and did it compromise or attempt to compromise the investigation? i think that we shouldn't in all of this chatter get away from this is a serious -- the senate should since they have a sitting company, they should subpoena the tapes and let the white house try to use executive privilege but they will have to cite whether they are using privilege on a tape orphan at acy and that the president is playing a bully game. but you cannot -- you cannot come back with executive privilege of something that does not exist. let's see where the senate is,

it's bizarre that we have a president and coming into office said the former president was taping him now he's saying that he may have been -- >> i'm taping you -- >> how bizarre is this going to get? >> on the bonkers meter, how crazy was the tweet from this morning. we have a full screen, the tweets ran the gamut from people at the podium can't be fully briefed what's going on in my inner monolog because i'm so active to watch out jim comey, i might start putting my tapes out on you. >> to quote spinal tap, this one goes up to 11. >> we were on morning joe when this happened live, there was some element of tweeting going on. we know he watches the show. when we got to this one, the one about the tapes, i've become hard to shock because of what

goes on on a daily basis but generally it's a shocking thing. i agree there's a larger set of issues, we've been talking about those all week. let's focus on this one. this one there's one of two possibilities, even there's a taping system in the white house and president trump is taping people -- >> we know he likes the tivo. >> in which case he's certainly in jeopardy of breaking the law and trying to intimidate a potential witness and breaking the law, i'm not sure what the law is in d.c. about taping people, that may itself be breaking the law. >> it is legal under the -- >> it's a d.c. 1-party consent, which means that you can serp tishsly another person as long as you're in the conversation. you could not and this goes to the other point, you could not necessarily tape two other people without either of their knowledge if you're not in the conversation. so without being too legalistic, you raise the question it means

if trump was taping a conversation with jim comey, that would technically be legal under d.c. law and if he has a operating system in the white house as he suggested through the tweet and suggests other people and no one knows, that would be illegal under d.c. law. >> what about the tapes may be investigated? >> that also could be obstruction of justice. >> beyond the legal thing there's the political thing. this is a week that started with people comparing with what happened on tuesday to the saturday night massacre and calling it the tuesday night massacre. the president of the united states courting further comparisons to the darkest element of richard nixon at the end of that week. then there's the possibility there is no taping system. you know, as you pointed out, when he accused of president obama of tapping his wires, we know that's not true so this could very well not be true. if that's the case, you've got the president of the united states singling out a private

citizen, doesn't work for him anymore to the threat which unprecedented in my -- when he did it in the campaign i thought it was unprecedented for a nominee to single out an individual single a citizen for abuse and attack. is the president of the united states to single out a private citizen in this way is just extraordinary. >> where are the republicans? why aren't they condemning this clearly reckless behavior? >> i think there should be some condemnation. >> where are we? have we seen any? >> i have not but i don't think a sitting president should be doing that. there was no subtlety in the tweet and someone in that power could be a lot more subtle if they want that message and he didn't do that. what this does, this is going to derail the ability or continuation of this circumstance kiss will derail the ability to get things done and getting health care done and tax reform done.

how do you work when they are trying hard and -- >> making everyone paranoid. >> a little bit -- it's a mess of his own creation and probably went too far on this undoubtedly. >> still ahead, does a white house press office without credibility among the press continue to be a press office at all or does it become something else entirely? is there any turning back from this week's remarkable series of shifting explanations for the firing of jim comey? we'll put that question to our panel. >> more of the president's exclusive interview with lester holt that continues to drive the conversation that just wrapped up in the white house briefing room. >> later, spicy takes manhattan. if you think the real white house is exciting, wait until you see this. i made hielemann laugh. david. what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. ♪ everybody two seconds! ♪ "dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is

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the president was just weighed in in an interview he recorded with fox news with his own response to questions about recording devices. >> people suggest that the question that apparently the "new york times" is selling that you asked comey whether or not you had his loyalty was possibly inappropriate. could you see how -- >> i read that article. i don't think it's inappropriate -- >> did you ask that question? >> no, i didn't. but i don't think it would be a bad question to ask. loyalty to the country, locality to the united states is important. i mean it depends on how you define loyalty. number two, i don't know how that got there because i didn't ask that question. >> what about the idea that in a

tweet you said there might be tape recordings. >> i can't talk about that. all i want is for comey to be honest and i hope he will be. and i'm sure he will be i hope. >> harold, i can't talk about it, i won't talk about it. all i want is to be honest by threatening him with tapes. >> clearly it's a threat, whether he has tapes or not, he wants to suggest to mr. comey that i have goods on you. the law would interpret that as a threat and i'll leave the lawyers and others to deal with that -- >> aren't you a lawyer? >> i am but -- >> reverend sharpton with regard to these tapes, mr. cummings and conniers are asking to know if they exist. we may get them asking if they do. if it does exist, we'll find out. but i think fundamentally, it is amazing to me this man.

it's okay for loyalty from the fbi, the fbi director takes an oath to the constitution, not the president. he wouldn't need to remind the president he took the oath. if he violates that oath he would face consequences. underlying fact, he's lying -- somebody is lying either comey or he's lying or this guy rosenstein is lying. the committee in the senate intelligence committee, it would behoof to call them quickly before them. if we get to the bottom of this, we can stop this nonsense and determine who's telling the truth and move forward and let the consequences fall where they might. >> who's lying? >> the outside question. >> i don't know the answer -- >> you've watched all of these men. >> what's the trump way? what is he doing? >> if you're asking the question of who's lying about what happened in the room between donald trump and jim comey, i don't believe anybody can kredably say they know the answer --

>> i don't think jim comey -- and there's a paper out by jim baker. >> none of the sources were in the room. jim comey is an expert, aggressive and artful at playing the press. he has a lot of allies talking to the "new york times," giving his version of events. the own personal who knows what's happens is anybody sitting in the room. at this moment, jim comey has a better history with the truth than donald trump -- >> he was fired. he was also fired -- >> donald trump pretended to be a publicist, played characters in real life. where are the republicans? >> i already answered that. i think there will be some of this. republicans need to stand up. in order to maintain credibility of party, we don't have to stand with the president on every single thing. >> how about this, threatening the former director of the fbi. >> jim comey is very respected and stepped into a political

firestorm, maybe he was politically naive when he stepped into it last year but certainly respected when it comes to his term in the justice department and fbi. i do think there should be some level of defense for him but we have to wait until they speak. >> if you knew what happened in the room as president trump does, you don't have to bully people, you don't have too threaten people. you'd say come on with it. and you wouldn't say anything. let the lawyers say that. all of this back and forward suggests to me that they are trying to position something and avoid something. i think that the senate republicans and democrat, owe it to the american people know to let's get to the bottom of what are they hiding that they are so afraid of in this investigation? >> i want to bring ari melber in. >> there's the dialogue, what did they say to each other? and then there's the plot. donald trump is very good at getting all of us caught up on

dialogue. >> that's right. >> he has the best words. >> the biggest brain -- didn't you say that. >> the point though is that the plot is they come out in the beginning of the week and they say the doj recommended we fire this fbi director mid stream because of how he treated hillary clinton that has been exposed as false by their own commission, the plot is the first explanation was false, the doj letter is still sitting out there. it is tragically i would say named that memo restoring public faith in the fbi and memo the president has now exposed as it least misleading if not false in its entirety. but that's the plot. what happened at dinner, what did they eat? frog legs like with mitt romney? i get the fascination but that's the plot. that's the plot at the end of

the week. why do you lie about it? why do they need to say something false about the reason for moving fbi director mid stream and secondarily, why would an attorney general put out a letter about the clinton issues and not even mention in the letter that there was an open doj inquiry into that which has not been concluded? it didn't read right then and doesn't read right now. >> peter baker, i know you are actually on deadline. i wonder if the president's interview on fox moves your reporting forward in any way or any reaction to what you just heard? >> it's interesting and your panelists are right, only two people in the room who know what happened there. this is clearly an article quoted people jim comey has told this too. this is jim comey's version of events in the dinner. i do think a dinner matters, it is not about frog legs. it's about does the president of the united states view the fbi director as an independent actor in government, somebody who is not in fact loyal to the president or view him as a

political appointee who is a lieutenant of his, there's a difference between a white house chief of staff or even cabinet secretary and fbi director. fbi director is not supposed to be one of the president's men. jim comey was so sensitive to this he was very uncomfortable about going to dinner in the first place, so uncomfortable in the previous administration with president obama invited him to play basketball that he refused. i thought that was too chummy with the president and not his role. there is historically meant to be in the last 40 years a distance between an fbi director and president. this dinner if in fact the president asked for loyalty and in a personal sense that has direct bearing on what's happened this week. >> kelly, i know you're on deadline too. we'll both of you go after this. do you have any sense anyone in the white house staff has had to explain this concept peter explained to all of us, that the fbi director is an independent -- the fbi is independent from the governor, this question of loyalty to the country as harold said, takes an

oath, all take an oath. do you have any sense there's anyone tutoring him mid crisis about what the fbi director is supposed to do? >> not that anyone is talking about but this is another example of when you have a white house staff with many people who have not come from government where these things are reflexively understood, deeply respected. you've got a group of people coming at this with a whole different orientation about how these interactions should play out and now imagine the job interviews that are about to take place for a pending fbi director with this as the back drop. who wants to put their career in this position? who wants to be the subject of this kind of maybe public outcalling of who said what when. it's a real challenge, not only for the president in terms of the pr of this but in truth in getting someone who can lead that bureau in a way where they will feel free of any

interference. that serves the president and administration and most importantly the public. it's an issue that all of this noiz actually affects filling an important vacancy. >> i think that when you question whether or not this president sees the fbi director as independent or not, he already answered that. we do have that tape. he told lester holt, i asked him am i under investigation? he said he said that. >> three times. >> which is him seeing that i feel there is no line between what i can ask the fbi director. so we don't have to look whether there's a tape or not. he taped it with lester holt, that removed all doubt. that is outrageous. >> kelly o'donnell and peter baker and reverend al sharpton,

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>> we work hard to get the most accurate and up to date information, we see time and time again an attempt to pars every little word and make it more of a game of gotcha as opposed to figure out what the policies are. >> wow, we took work very hard to get you all of the information and don't always get in to see the president either. stephanie ruhle has joined us, you have news and we'll get to that. i'm struck by the fact i worked at the white house that was far from perfect and we made a lot of mistakes and did things that were very controversial but never ever headed out to any journalist and told a lie. i never ever worried i would get

back to my office and see the president in an interview infermine something i had gone out on a limb and said. i wonder a serious question at the end of the last block, does is this press operation still viable if they don't have people like you and me? >> there was a briefing yesterday when major garrett not in a snarky way, is it the case now that we can't listen to anything you say, we need to wait for the president to speak to know what's true? and does anything that comes from the podium matter? the fact that that question is being asked of someone at the white house podium is unprecedented in my career of 25, 27 years doing this and it tells you about the state of where we are now that serious journalists in that room are beginning to ask the question, is there any reason to show up here for one of the hallowed

institutions in the relationship between the press and government in american -- in american politics. >> and you and i were both on tv this morning when this tweet came through. but donald trump responded and said in a tweet this morning, as a very actsive president with lots of things happening, it's not possible for my surrogates to stand at the podium with perfect accuracy. yes, it is. >> but also, perfect and accurate? i mean, come on now, people make mistakes and you walk in and say i'm sorry. but to the point of credibility, credibility with whom? you're talking about a press office who wants to please the president and make him happy. do they want to serve the american people? it doesn't seem that way based on the way they behave and answers they give. look what the president has put forward, we're back to the campaign radio roundup between kelly and sean and sarah h huckab huckabee. >> i've heard from sources that

he tried to cast a wire and wanted to see more friends and family and they were willing to go. >> there were people who did not want to jump out in front of this. what you just said, in the past, serving the president and country weren't in conflict. at some point there seems to be a conflict about being sure that the president is happy what you say and he has put staff in difficult spots and chosen to go there. ultimately this is about the president and not about the credibility gap of the people behind the podium no matter who it is and who is the spokespeople are, ultimately it's up to him. the entirety is a reflection of him. up to him to set it straight and ultimately it comes back to him, not the staff. >> you're the only ones who ever held office. can you imagine? >> this all started yesterday because whenever it was, all of the days go over and over. when they said there was a letter saying this guy had to go. people found that curious and asked question after question.

>> because he was m.i.a. -- >> everybody referred to that letter and the president goes on with lester holt and i was thought he was going to use it as a moment, i run businesses before and when you run a business like i've run, you say things and this is a much bigger job. and he was off to a good start, got health care and taxes would take place, get a better health care bill. then all of a sudden he fires this guy, comes back on television, not only did i fire him because i wanted to, i fired him -- did ask if i was under investigation and russia was on my mind. he came out and said everything that the guys men and women -- >> up to and including the vice president of the united states, not just the press secretary or spokespeople but the vice president. >> and i really think he thinks he continues to think this is a trump organization, that he can say anything he wants. >> this isn't an organization that requires accountability. >> he's the ceo of a publicly

traded company if he had a board to answer to or shareholders, he's never had to. he has run a family mom and pop business. he's never had to answer to anyone. >> he made a branding business and very good brand, successful brand but branding business. the only person he had to answer to was himself and he still behaves that way. listening to him on fox show, it's -- it's astounding to hear the president of the united states not be able to answer basic questions, when he took on that judge from indiana was not an american, he was of mexican heritage, which basically said, that oaths of office mean nothing to him. he took an oath to uphold the constitution, no black, no woman, no asian, no jewish person can be expected to dispense justice in a fair way to anybody outside of their faith or race because that's who they are. that's how he operates. >> the other interesting thing about that chapter in the campaign, he was in the middle

of a campaign where it would make his candidacy more troubled to get into that tangle. he didn't care, he was about defending his businesses which we'll get back to. >> he disrespects business contracts and why most banks wouldn't lend to him. sign a contract with you and you would be forced to renegotiate because he'd never pay. never stood up to any contract. >> they are bursting, don't go anywhere, more on donald trump's complicated business entanglements on the other side of the break.

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>> was he fired? >> yes, he was fired. >> what about the russia investigations. >> it's resentment and -- >> andrea mitchell, always on front lines answering questions. i have no investments in russia, none whatsoever. i don't have property in russia, a lot of people thought i owned office buildings in moscow. i don't have property in russia and i am in very -- i mean, in total compliance in every way. >> that was from lester host's

exclusive interview with president trump yesterday, still having repercussions and reporters still uncovering new nug gets. >> it was also president trump not answering lester holt's question. he was asking, do you have investments in russia? do you have any russian lenders or backers? and president trump didn't answer that question. sort of the humor is there's not too many people that thought president trump had some big investments in russia. people have said do you have russia investing in you? we know he didn't have u.s. banks lend to him. he has a number of different projects and at the trump taj he already settled a $10 million civil suit for violating money laundering rules. we know that his partner in the soho trump, was -- did business with bayrock tied to money laundering operation in kazakhstan. the president says we have an extraordinary, super fantastic law firm -- >> i love the -- >> she has it done.

>> if you go to the post office and give an extra dollar and 15 cents. >> they'll give you a receipt that says certified mail. >> an accountant would give you that. a super fantastic law firm did, good for you. >> i love the way you say it. >> wasn't this in response to lindsey graham wanting to know more about the business? isn't this sort of -- he focuses all of his attention on making clear that people believe or his backers believe there was no collusion with russia, but there is a rather intense investigation into the covering which is the business ties. >> i think the reality that mike will tell us in a minute why it makes no sense to release your tax returns during a campaign, which i won't take issue with. you about now he's involved in a existent shally threatening investigation of his campaign's and possibly his, we don't know,

possibly his family's and businesses to russia, one way if he really is totally innocent and there's nothing to see here, one of the great ways to clear that up would be show us what you got. there would be a huge political benefit to that. >> might defend himself there. >> it is different as president than as a candidate. candidates get zero credit for releasing tax returns and press badgers you to release tax returns and when you do it, they piece through every piece to find something you've done wrong or looks bad. zero, zero in terms of winning an election by releasing your tax return, nothing. the fact that you talk about the comey firing and other things like that, you could dispel that by releasing some of this. we have nothing from journalists or voters by reloosing tax reforms. >> by looking eye to eye with lester holt or in the camera and saying i've given hundreds of pages in financial disclosure forms, without seeing his taxes,

we don't know, deutsch bank his one lender has been embroiled with cypress and russia, who's to say the loans from deutsch bank, they didn't reassign them -- >> you just did the same thing, you took deutsch bank and say trump at at fall because something deutsch bank did -- >> i didn't say that -- >> you took your implication. >> i don't have loans from russia, we don't know that deutsch hasn't reassigned. by giving us that information, no one is accusing him of anything, it's a matter of transparency and given this noise around it, let's clear things up, mr. president. >> mr. harold, what are the other -- it seems like he could solve his political problems by releasing taxes -- >> we should have a constitutional amendment that congress should come together and pass laws, you should have to release your returns if you're the nominee for a respect the party. i only ran for congress and senate, didn't make any money,

people weren't as concerned -- >> you ask marco rubio they attack you for that too. >> he basically did something nobody has ever done. he was defiant about it and show cased his apparent wealth in front of people with the airplane and tv show, this huge persona independent of all of this. hopefully he does release it. i don't have a lot of faith in stock in him releasing it going forward. he didn't answer that question. who knows what -- it's not about if he has any holdings in russia, it's whether or not russians have any -- >> and holdings in him. >> told the economist magazine that he might release his taxes after he leaves office. new posture is i might do it because i'm proud of them because they show how rich i am but it would be a good time to do it after i leave. >> that's true. >> with michael flynn and whomever else has to go before the senate committee, they are going to have a decision to make

how much time if they've done something wrong, how much time or legal peril they want to face and qulornt they share anything about him. if they show or point to some connect where he knew something, it all comes back to him. i get what he's doing. he wants to distract i think ari said he wants to create the narrative and get out in front of comey if he's going to say whatever he's going to say. i get it. this is how he's operated. the question is, does this work now as president of the united states, does this work now with the senate -- democrat and republican looking into him? i think the person to watch for senate is one person, it's richard burr. when he changes his mind, all bets are off in terms of how the senate and republicans are going to treat him. >> richard burr getting famous one show at a time. >> burr with two rs. how come no one likes me, jim? intel does! just think of everything intel's doing right now with artificial intelligence. and pretty soon ai is going to help executives like her see trends to stay ahead of her competition.

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one of my daughters said, dad, you're the man. she said i don't mean it in a good way, dad. the problem is you're the man? who would want to work for the man? i get that. the truth is, if you knew what this man and woman were like, you'd want to be part of this. thank you for how hard ooufl been working. you are what i have in mind when i tell american people, look, don't freak out. let us do our work. thank you for that.

>> you are watching part of an interview with former fbi director james comey from a series called "inside the fbi" on the usa network. that was shot back in december. i want to bring the discussion back, on the substance of the most blockbuster event of week, the firing and the acknowledgement that he fired james comey with russia on his mind. >> after the staff said that wasn't the reason. he seems to be more in the right here. if he were not, he would still be working for him. it sounds like trump was expecting a kind of fidelity from him that he couldn't get. i'm willing to wait for the facts to come out and have my mind changed. >> what could change your mind? >> if comey in that meeting told

him, you're not under investigation, it would confirm some thoughts about comey. >> what makes it more inexplicable, if he fired him anyway. >> probably shouldn't have done that. >> the democrats seemed to have a motel on the high ground. a lot of democrats thought james comey wrongly announced about hillary. >> you have to separate the two. he's now conducting an investigation of the president and his associates during the campaign. whether the president is directly involved or not, we don't know but we know there's a russian investigation. how can the congress expect to hire a person who will take up an investigation since he's already admitted that he believes this matter is nothing and it should be put behind him. >> he hoax.

>> it helped during campaign. >> this is not -- >> people said terrible things about john mccain and mitt romney. with romney -- this time we really mean it. >> i think bill mahr did -- >> all the wonderful things you said about us. >> my point is, this will come down to republicans. i don't think supporters will be booed if nancy pelosi comes out -- any republican who stands up and says anything. if it xonl rates trump or puts night better light, it will be good for him. but people need to hear it from both sides of the aisle. not just one. >> what of this original investigation and how we got here? do you have any faith in the republican-led committees? >> at some point they have to do something. almost every day we sit there and say, wow, john mccain, tough

talking. when does that translate? when the president spoke at the inauguration, he said this is the time when power is being given back to the people. if the american people continue to push him down in approval ratings, if they say according to the polls, we want a special prosecutor, at some point he is the man who said, we will give power back to the people. if the people are saying let's clean this up and clear this up, it kind of has to happen. >> nonof this matters as much as one single personal. who is that? rod rosenstein. the person who has the capacity under law, we don't have an independent statute anymore. the person who is attorney general has the ability to appoint a special prosecutor. he has recused himself from this matter. the deputy attorney general has this power now and this is a guy who now in some way was clearly hung out to dry by donald trump. dragged into this in some way. someone who democrats liked previously. assari said earlier, the memo

doesn't make sense. to what purpose it was written, how it was used, the way that trump cut him off at the knees. the possibility that he may have or may not have threatened to resign. now he has it in his power. he could decide tomorrow or monday to say, we'll have a special prosecutor now and here's the guy. it will be harold ford jr. mike. >> i'm not it. >> an incredibly powerful position he has and he should have no loyalty to trump. he should do what he thinks is right. >> and remember, the guy who has been lied to two times now in the last couple weeks, mike pence. >> sean spicer, brace yourself. melissa mccarthy is back.

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"wall street journal." are you okay? >> happy friday. on one more day until the return of melissa mccarthy on sean spicer. she was spotted on the streets of washington, d.c. driving her podium down the street. i think spicer has handled this perfectly with humor and self-deprecating charlie. >> sporty spicer has been a great sport with this. he deserves a minute to laugh. he is super famous out of it. the fact that he goes, i missed it last night. baloney. you know he watched it and i think he loves it. >> my thanks to our friday panel. >> great first week.

>> thank you so much. >> when you were at the white house, who would have played you? >> someone played me in your movie. that does it for this hour. how am i doing? two seconds. >> i think you're doing great and i'll cast you in my movie any day. >> if it's friday, it's tiapes and friends. tonight, tale of the tape. the president said he may have recorded their conversations. did he? >> the president has nothing further to add on that. >> plus the back lash. how the comey firing is revealing a new crisis in the white house. >> i have real concerns about a cover-up here. >> there are so many flaws with the current law that we would like to