Skip to main content

tv   MSNBC Live  MSNBC  June 8, 2017 12:00pm-1:01pm PDT

12:00 pm
times," director comey made that was entirely appropriate. >> richard painter joining us as part of our coverage where we've witnessed news on so many fronts. starting on capitol hill but continuing in the last hour with the president's personal attorney. we'll give way to our next hour's coverage. ali velshi standing by to take it away. good afternoon. here in new york, still following fast moving updates in the aftermath of today's riveting testimony on capitol hill. if you're looking for a two-sentence summary of the testimony, it's not that easy. there is so much that needs to be carefully unpacked. that's what we plan to do with you this hour. before that, the president's personal lawyer just responded in the last hour to what mr. comey had to say. >> in some, it is now established that the president was not being investigated for
12:01 pm
clueding with or attempting to obstruct any investigation. as the committee pointed out today, these important facts for the country to know are virtually the only facts have not been leaked during course of these events. as he said yesterday, the president feels completely vinld indicated, and is eager to continue moving forward with his agenda with the business of this country and with this public cloud removed. >> now, in case weren't glued to the tv earlier, here are some of the biggest moments of the testimony starting with why james comey thought he was fired. >> the shifting explanations confused me and increasingly concern me. >> although the law required no reason at all to fire an fbi director, the administration then chose to defame me and more importantly, the fbi by saying that the organization was in
12:02 pm
disarray, that it was poorly led, that the work force had lost confidence in its leader. those were lies plain and simple. i don't think it is for me to say whether the conversation i had with the president was an effort to obstruct. i took it as a very disturbing thing, very concerning, but that's something the special counsel will work toward to decide. >> how many ongoing investigations at any time does the fbi have? >> tens of thousands. >> tens of thousands. did the president ever ask about any other ongoing investigation? >> no. >> while you were director, the president of the united states was not under investigation, is that a fair statement? >> that's correct. >> why didn't you stop and say, mr. president, this is wrong. i cannot discuss this with you. >> that's a great question. maybe if i were stronger, i would have. i was so stunned by the
12:03 pm
conversation that i just took it in and the only thi i could think to say, i was playing in my mind. to remember every word he said. i was playing in my mind, what should my response be? that's why i very carefully close the words. i've seen the tweet that tapes. it never occurred to me until the president's tweets. i'm not being facetious. i hope there are. >> let's turn our attention to the underlying activity, russia's hacking of the e-mails, the releasing they will, the charges of collusion, do you think donald trump colluded with russia? >> that's a question i don't think i should answer in an open setting. when i left we did not have a focus president trump. that's a question that will be answered by the investigation, i think. it is my judgment that i was fired because of the russia investigation. i was fired in some way to change, or the endeavour was to
12:04 pm
change the way the russia investigation was being conducted. that's a very big deal. not just because it involves me. >> okay. we've got our team of reporters. we've been covering this from every angle. kelly o'donnell at the white house. we heard from mark kasowitz. give us a sense of that and how the president's team at the white house is reacting to today's testimony? >> well, it is important to know the white house is trying to push all discussions of the russia matter to that outside private counsel mark kasowitz. what has been happening behind the scenes he has been been easy to get to. we did have one interview with are the deputy press secretary and sh talked about the mood in the west wing is still good even though you could hear echoing throughout the offices here. the obvious coverage of the comey hearing as the tvs in the
12:05 pm
west wing always have the news channels on and all were carrying that coverage. she said it is a typical thursday. senior advisers, other sources have pieced together what was going on. on the record they would not say the president actually watched the hearing. we're told that he popped in and out over the course of about 90 minutes of actually watching the testimony from his former fbi director jim comey. and there were some in his close inner circle he was with from time to time but he was mostly with his private lawyer. so that tells you what's going on behind the scenes. we were told while this was going on the president was carrying on with important meetings. definitely wanting to put out the public face if. the administration is focused on its agenda. when you talk on various staffers at the white house, their days are about the tasks they have to carry on on behalf of sort of the people's business. but we are learning that the president was paying attention to this. and so when his attorney came
12:06 pm
out and gave a lengthy statement that hit a lot of the points we had come to know were very important to president trump. first and foremost, making public today the president himself had not been under investigation. that's where the private attorney began. almost at the end, making the accusation against james comey for what the white house, rather, the president's private lawyer would say was an inappropriate disclosure from the media of his notes and memos, giving his side of the story after he was fired. the attorney mark kasowitz saying that was improper because it was privileged communication between what was a former u.s. official, the fbi director, and the president. so going hard at comey. really undercutting his character and at the same time point go out the things white house, the private attorney, thinks are favorable. the idea that there was no idea that said absolutely was the
12:07 pm
president directing comey to take this action. comey carefully pointed out he felt it was direction. president trump through his lawyers said he did not want that loyalty. the president has talked about loyalty as something that he values. so from the trump white house, this didn't feel like an ordinary day even though principle deputy press secretary said it was a typical thursday. >> that's what stood out. a tim cal thursday it is not. even in this time. stay with us. kasie hunt has been staking out the halls of capitol hill. i don't know where you're standing but you eve to have had a conversation with almost everybody who works in that building today. >> reporter: we've been outside the hall ways of the senate
12:08 pm
intelligenceomttee until we moved out to what has to be the most beautiful day many washington for quite some time to try on catch the senators as they were coming to and from the vote on the floor. i ran into senator manchin, a member of the intelligence committee and he updated me a little bit on what was said in that closed session with jim comey. they talked behind closed doors that he said he couldn't talk about in that open session. in this case there were, i would say, two categories of this. there may be some overlamb. but one thing that men's of the intelligence, one thing they never talk about is considered to be classified information, things to do with overseas intelligence. in this case, senator manchin seems to be making a distinction between that kind of material and what he said the former fbi director was willing to tell them. he said that comey was willing to go into more detail about what he knew about the fbi's investigation into russian
12:09 pm
interference in the election than did he in that open forum. and he said members were particularly interested and focused on whether or not there was any evidence that showed that the president himself was potentially tied into this. we know that this has been an investigation into associates of the president and their interactions with russians or russian officials. not about the president himself. so comey, according to senator manchin, did tell committee at the time he left the fbi, so as of the time that he was fired, ere had not been any evidence found that showed any direct ties between president and russians, or russian officials. so potentially a little news there. we'll talk to other senators about. of course, the questions going forward, who reckless they going to hear from? what is the next turn in this committee? we heard from senators burr and warren after the hearing.
12:10 pm
take a look. >> this is nowhere near the end of our investigation. and i think it is safe to say today that next week we hope to work special counsel mueller to work out a clear pathways for both investigations, his and ours torsion continue. >> even though we may have a different view of where these may lead, the one message that i hope all americans are take home is recognizing how significant the russian interference and our electoral process was. how it goes to the core of our democracy. that we have to be prepared to make sure we are in a better defensive position in 2018, 2019, and frankly, in my home state, as early as next week. >> reporter: so of course we know that there are a number of other high profile witnesses the committee wants to talk to. general mike flynn has been reluctan
12:11 pm
reluctant. we're hearing jared kushner is cooperating. so lots to come here on this investigation. >> that senate intel committee certainly getting more kudos for the way they're couldn't ducting this than their counter parts. thank you vex. we get more information from you as you get it. ari melber has been here listening to this the whole time. >> just an ordinary day. >> a typical thursday. tell never legal stuff that stood out to you. you at a at the politics out of it and what everybody is trying to get to. what legal points were made in. >> we can put up on the screen four big legal assertion that's jim comey he made. three are bad for the white house. the first he concluded trump's conduct regarding the fbi warrants that special counsel investigates. number two, he described his
12:12 pm
firing as defamation. that's saying they were knowingly lying about him and the fbi. that's huge. number three, comey views trump's statements to him about flynn as a direction to tend flynn investigation. that's a big legal bad thing to do if you believe jim comey. and then the fourth, the only stretch of good news was that comey did not conclude that the discussion about flynn was a let the on fire him if he did not comply. one of the things special counsel mule we'eller would loo. the other thing i want to play for you in hitting the highest points. i've been watching it all day and had a chance to collect our thoughts. this statement about jeff sessns, the current attorney general. if it were made on any other day, it would be the lead story on the front page. of course, it is coming amidst a lot of other pages.
12:13 pm
jim comey saying basically, there are allegations against jeff sessions so serious that would it require his recusal in a closed session. >> our judgment was that he was very close to and inevitably going to recuse himself for a variety of reasons. we were aware of facts i can't discuss in an open setting that would make his continued engagement in a russia-related investigation problematic so we were convinced, i think we had already heard that the career people were recommending that he recuse himself. that he was not going to be in contact with russia-related matters much longer. and that turned out to be the case. >> we all know that jeff sessions was recused. what we didn't know and is being discussed now, whatever it was, to make the continued engagement problematic. i don't as a journalist want to cast any aspersions but jim comey cast an aspersion.
12:14 pm
that was striking. >> the other thing is the denial in the first graphic, that president the asked jim comey the put a lid on the investigation into michael flynn. one of the most interest quotes of the day, jim comey said lordy, i hope there are tapes and if there are, please release them. >> he said as a story line. this isn't equal he saide said. right now it is emunder oath before the congress, with we're told contemporaneous memoranduma. the other is denials. so we're going to have to see the other side, the trump side, brings more to the table. the tapes. >> here's what's to watch for in closing. i've been on all day so people are ready for something else. we'll see the zone of details narrow. we did have dinner. we did talk about flynn. then it bhaks we heard from
12:15 pm
kasowitz and the private lawyer is, trump is entitled to have the private lawyer speak. he said flynn is nice. something more. and jim comey said he didn't just say he was nice. he said a lot more. >> one never gets sick of having you on here. thank you very much. our chief legal correspondent. kelly o'donnell, we'll come back to you. coming up next, mo brooks joins me there capitol hill with his sense of it. >> i was playing the in my mind, what should my response be? i've seen the tweet about tapes. lordy, i hope there are tapes.
12:16 pm
it's just a burst pipe, i could fix it. (laugh) no. with claim rateguard your rates won't go up just because of a claim. i totally could've - no! switching to allstate is worth it. he came to the world justin the usual way ♪
12:17 pm
♪ but there were planes to catch and bills to pay ♪ ♪ so i moved my meeting saw him walk that day ♪ ♪ he was talking 'fore i knew it, and as he grew ♪ ♪ he'd say i'm gonna be like you, dad ♪ ♪ you know i'm gonna be like you ♪ ♪ and the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon ♪ ♪ little boy blue and the man in the moon... ♪ adult 7+ promotes alertness and mental sharpness in dogs 7 and older. (ray) the difference has been incredible. she is much more aware. she wants to learn things. (vo) purina pro plan bright mind. nutrition that performs.
12:18 pm
live-streat the airport.e sport, binge dvr'd shows, while painting your toes. on demand laughs, during long bubble baths. tv on every screen is awesome. the all-new xfinity stream app. all your tv at home. the most on demand, your entire dvr, top networks, and live sports on the go. included with xfinity tv. xfinity the future of awesome.
12:19 pm
bentay. i want to read this statement. a response to today's senate intelligence committee hearings with jim comey. it reads today's testimony proved what we have known all along. president trump is not under investigation. there's still no evidence of collusion. he did not behindter investigations in any way. nobody thinks more of james comey. that was from rnc chair woman mcdaniel. i want to bring in mo brooks. good to have you here. thank you for being with us. do you share that view?
12:20 pm
that this is just an opportunity for james comey to save face? >> well, let me give you a little background about myself. i was an stability district attorney many alabama. helped to manage the grand jury and had dozens of felony jury trials. then later difference district attorney of madison county, alabama of supervised the grand jury trials. so i have some prosecutorial experience and i'll going to break this down into two arenas. on the legal side, it was a clear slam-dunk win for president obama -- excuse me, president trump and the white house. by way of example, no evidence of any kind of collusion with the russians. donald trump is cleared on that. number two, with respect to these allegations of obstruction of justice, it is quitelear there's no evidence that whateverhe president said or did hampered or retarded or hindered in any way what the fbi investigation was doing. so legal arena, big victory for
12:21 pm
president trump, and the white house. now we go to the political arena which is an entirely different type of arena and i would submit that battle is still ongoing and it would take some period of time before that would be resolved. >> i'm with you on the fact that it will be resolved. you've been a big supporter of of jeff sessions. you mattered on a normal day, that would be a big headline. that james comey said they expected that sessions would be recusing himself because there would be a problem if he didn't for reasons that he couldn't talk about in open sessions. what do you make of that? >> i've known jeff sessions for many decades. he was an outstanding united states senator, outstanding attorney general in the state of alabama. and in my opinion he is performing his duties as the constitution requires. and under the circumstances presented, jeff sessions did exactly what he should have done. rekoossed himself from this the
12:22 pm
russian investigation to minimize or eliminate the appearance of any impropriety. so that i believe attorney general jeff sessions has acted exactly as he should have and i agree with comey's testimony in that regard that jeff sessions acted as he should have in recusing himself to avoid any actual or appearance of impropriety. >> i guess because, and i appreciate you telng usbout your history, which we kw as a litigator and a lawyer for a long time. i want to play this for you. this is exchange between widen is that comey. let's play this and talk about it on the other side. >> what was it about the attorney general's own interactions with the russians, or his behavior with regard to the investigation that would have led the entire leadership of the fbi to make this decision? >> our judgment as i recall was
12:23 pm
that he was very close to and inevery at ably going to recuse himself for a variety of reasons. we were aware of facts i can't discuss in an open setting that would make his continued engagement in a russia-related investigation problematic. >> so as a former ada and former d.a., you know those words were parsed. that james comey meant something very specific when he said there were things would make his, meaning the attorney general's, continued involvement in a russia investigation problematic. we do not want to cast aspersions here. what do those words mean to you? >> well, i think it was important to focus what was said and not said. there was not anything said that attorney general jeff sessions engaged in any kind of improper conduct. if jeff sessions had meetings with russians, or at big conferences shook the hands of a
12:24 pm
russian, throws the things they would use to determine whether it was improper or innocent without any subsequent need to do any further investigation. further, you have jeff sessions having been extremely active in the run for the presidency. he should not be the person leading an expression involves the trump campaign or involves russia collusion. even if he did nothing wrong. just because of those two factors. he won't have a good appearance of proper conduct. so i'm quite confident that jeff sessions about what he's supposed to do and i'm also quite confident that the former fbi director's remark are consistent with what we know about how honorable a man jeff sessions is. >> you weren't troubled that james comey did say that he believes the president tried to get him to put a lid on the mike
12:25 pm
flynn investigation. that's not a legal win for the president if that's true. >> it depends on how you look at that language. as i understand it, there was nothing uttered by president trump that affected the fbi's investigation in any way, shape or form. so it neverose to the seriousness of being an obstruction of justice. . in event, i would contend, this was a major league victory for the white house and president trump, albeit you still have the battle on the political side. different people and different factions make different points about whether this is good or bad. from a political standpoint, not a legal standpoint. president was quiet on twitter today. the same can't be said for don jr. >> the subject matter i was talking about, matters that
12:26 pm
touch on the fbi's core responsibility and that relate to the president and president-elect personally. and the nature of the person. i was honestly concern that had he might lie about the name of our meeting so i decided to document it.
12:27 pm
12:28 pm
12:29 pm
12:30 pm
i had a dinner with him. he wanted to have dinner because he wanted to stay on. >> he asked for it? >> the dinner was arranged. i think he asked for the dinner. and he wanted to stay on as the fbi head. and i said i'll consider it. we'll see what happens. in his interview with lester holt, the president said i had dinner with him. he wanted to have dinner because he wanted to stay on. is this an accurate statement? >> no, sir. did yo iany way initiate >> no.inner? he called me at my desk at lunch time and asked me was i free for dinner that night. he called himself and said can you come over for dinner tonight. and i said yes, sir. >> james comey, former head of the fbi, directly contradicting what the president told nbc news lester holt about their din order january 27th. helping me digest this, chris
12:31 pm
jansing who was in the hearing all morning long. let's start with chris on this. that was the beginning of the series of disagreements that we heard through morning between james comey and donald trump. >> reporter: yeah. this was in some ways a contradiction of a hearing. it was very serious. some might say at points, they were sober about the things they were talking about. but think about how it played out. in the first couple minutes after he raised his hand and said he would promise to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, the former director of the fbi accused the president of lying, of defamation of him and the fbi, and then meticulously laid out a case of mistrust. it started with that first meeting west knew yesterday that he went to his car and he started documenting everything. but today, we heard from jim comey. and remember, this is first time
12:32 pm
we have heard from him since he was fired. he said, it was the nature of the person that made him rvous. d then continuedo document every single time two of them had a conversation. he talked about how nervous he was made. how he felt that he was being pushed to sort of back off of the entire investigation that somehow donald trump was protecting michael flynn. i can tell you that i was here just two months ago for what should have been a blockbuster hearing. every time you have a supreme court justice nominee, it should be a blockbuster hearing. the mood in this building, in this room, could not be more different. the tension, the intensity of it. you certainly didn't for neil gorsuch have people lining up at 4:15 in the morning. even though there were people saying we didn't learn anything new, we heard this for the first time from someone who very meticulously, clearly was making
12:33 pm
a case. maybe not for this day but he clearly had a sense that sometime along the way, he would have to defend himself. he knew it was going to be a he said versus he said. and when a lot of americans who probably weren't doing the jobs that they were being paid to do today, but maybe had a chance to watch this on their computers at boring or even stayed home. if they were seeing neil gorsuch for the first time, i don't think the impression they took away from this is he is some sort of nut job which is what president trump allegedly said to the russians. >> assistant by. my friend matt is standing by. he's the chairman of the american conservative union. so matt, here's what stood o to me. and fortely, do i get paid to sit and listen to these things. the accusation by james comey that the president asked him, he hoped he could see his way clear of ending the investigation into michael flynn. then we heard from the president's personal lawyer said
12:34 pm
it's not true. a bunch of us thought was do you know what would be terrific? if there were tapes of this like donald trump suggested. we heard james comey say lordy, i hope there are tapes. release them if you've got they will. and then sarah sanders was asked about whether there's a taping system. can you say definitively whether there is a taping system that allows the president to record his conversations here at the white house? >> i have no idea. >> i'm hearing other lot of republicans saying the president is free and clear. there is no cloud. there seems to be this cloud. did he ask comey to not investigate michael flynn? >> i guess except all we have is jim comey who by the way, a lot of my democratic friends do not, he lost a lot of credibility with them with what he did during the election process. and we have his word and what the president's lawyer said did
12:35 pm
not happen. i love your whole thing about the dinner. >> i've asked you many times. the president asking the fbi director, that is different. that's a distinction no, it's not. >> i think this is a silly takeoff from what happened today. what happened today is jim comey said it is true that three times he told the president that he was not the subject of the investigation, which most of the press has been reporting in the intervening period daily. and he did, so he corroborated what the president said. and actually, he didn't have any new news to relay other than this thing which he had already leaked which he felt some pressure, according to jim comey, to move beyond michael flynn. i love jim comey. he said mike flynn is a good man and he never talks to the ag, he never pushes back to the president, he doesn't go to anybody in authority and complain about the president's
12:36 pm
activities until he's fired. until he's fired, everything is so zpashl we're in a constitutional crisis. >> well, let me see if jeff rosen is there. he's probably the smartest guy i know about constitutional stuff. is that true? is there anything constitutionally that caught your snangs. >> yes. the central question of whether the president obstructed justice remains very much open. the legal standard is was there an intent to impede or obstruct investigation. kl was asked about this directly. he said i know the president fired me because he didn't like something about the russia investigation. comey said he didn't know whether that met the legal definition but he was concerned enough that he turned over his records to mueller. so mueller has his task set ahead of him. but it is not clear that the president was exonerated. comey clearly felt uncomfortable enough tha tre's a case that
12:37 pm
he did feel pressured to end the flynn investigation. not the broader investigation. and mueller's findings might be central is that might lead, not to criminal prosecution. but if director mueller finds that it was met, it could lead to impeachment. >> senior fellow at the foreign policy institute. m.s.'s terrorism analyst. there are some who say this is nothing. whether the president asked jim comey over for dinner. he said that he was uncomfortable with the degree of direct and private interaction between him and the president. i don't know that lay people like us know what relationship there's supposed to be between the president and the head of the fbi. >> it is generally separate. as we saw, he said he talked on president obama twice. and i think president bush one
12:38 pm
other time. these alleges donlanes don't cr. they report to the department of justice. you do not want the chief executive telling the fbi director who is on a ten-year material to avoid these manipulations by either party, to have these contacts. think about what jim comey has been through. he was looking at the clinton e-mail investigation and trying to stay unbiased dealing with loretta lynch. fast forward that and he's facing a totly different adversary from the inside of the trump administration. it is not good enough to say this was a november it is who didn't know what he was doing. he brought to it him in several ways. >> you know things that people don't generally know. paul ryan did say, this was a guy who didn't know his way around washington and he
12:39 pm
campaigned on that basis. could there be something on this? this is the head of the fbi. i know this guy. >> i don't think that finding yourself as a novice when you want to be president of the united states and in control of 6,000 atomic womeapons gives yoa pass. this is what staff is for. this is with a having experts in each cabinet, this is what having james comey is for. if he didn't know it, he went out of his way not to know it or he didn't want to know it. this is the president of the united states. the games he played in new york city today have shown cannot be done in washington, d.c. >> thanks very much for your time. after the break, while james comey was getting grilled on capitol hill, the dow hit a new high. the markets were moving.
12:40 pm
there's nothing more important to me than my vacation. so when i need to book a hotel room, i want someone that makes it easy to find what i want. booking.com gets it. and with their price match, i know i'm getti theest price every time. now i can start xing even before the vacation begins. your vacation is very important. that's why booking.com makes finding the right hotel for the right price easy. visit booking.com now to find out why we're booking.yeah! for their limited time their pespicy sausage. slogans johnsonville firecracker brats... [whistles] ...flavor. "whisssssstttllllllleeeeeee ...flavor." there's nothing more important than your health. so if you're on medicare or will be soon, you may want more than parts a and b here's why. medicare only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses.
12:41 pm
the rest is up to you. you might want to consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like any medicare supplement insurance plan, these help pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay. and, these plans let you choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. you could stay with the doctor or specialist you trust... or go with someone new. you're not stuck in a network... because there aren't any. so don't wait. call now to request your free decision guide and find the aarp medicare supplement plan that works for you. there's a range to choose from, depending on your needs and your budget. rates are competitive. and they're the only plans of their kind endorsed by aarp.
12:42 pm
like any of these types of plans, they let you apply whenever you want. there's no enrollment window... no waiting to apply. so call now. remember, medicare supplement plans help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. you'll be able to choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. whether you're on medicare now or turning 65 soon, it's a good time to get your ducks in a row. duck: quack! call to request your free decision guide now. because the time to think about tomorrow is today.
12:43 pm
whuuuuuat?rtgage offer from the bank today. you never just get one offer. go to lendingtree.com and shop multiple loan offers for free! free? yeah. could save thousands. you should probably buy me dinner. pappa's eatin' steak tonight. no. at lendingtree, shop and compare loan offers from top lenders and in just 5 minutes, you could ve thousands. lendingtree, when banks compete, you win. i love date night. somebody's ruining it. yeah. well you could leave if you wanted to? corbyn. we were getting to a place where we were going to have to talk publicly about it and i wanted to know was, she going to authorize us to confirm we had an investigation. she said yes, but don't call it that. call it a matter. and i said why i would do that? she said just call it a matter. and you look back in hindsight.
12:44 pm
this isn't a hill worth dying on. so i said okay. the press will completely ignore it and that's what happened. when i said we have opened the matter. they all reported, the filibuster has an investigation open. so that concerned me. that language tracked way the campaign was talking about the fbi's work. and that's concerning. >> for more on this, i want to bring in congresswoman jackie. thank you for being with us. >> i wanted to ask you about that comment that you just heard james comey expressing concern about how loretta lynch, the former attorney general, talked to him about the e-mail investigation. expressing gernl former president bill clinton's meeting on the tarmac with loretta lynch. even james comey seemed to think those were compromising things. i think what he was saying was the appearance made it coromising. that's yes stepped away from the
12:45 pm
loretta lynch and making his announcements about the e-mails. it is why, i believe, that he is taking a lot of heat. what we saw was someone who was very clear, what went on. put it all on paper. at the same time that it happened. who has found ways of ever so subtly, showing that the president lied three or four times. just in the interactions with mr. comey. >> a point they're is in his sworn testimony, he admitted to passing documentation over to a columbia university law professor to have it leaked to the press to result in what has happened. the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the trump campaign connections to russia. a lot of people are saying, he's a leaker. this is problem in government. that people are leakers.
12:46 pm
what is your response? >> well, he, quote leerkaked. he made that medical over available after he was no longer an employee of the federal government. he did that as a private citizen. and he did it with the intention of hoping there would be a special counsel that would be created so that this investigation would be able to be continued without politicalization. that's what we have now. >> thank you for joining us. are we'll be right back after this quick break. stay with us. you're watching it's msnbc. >> do you believe the russia investigation played a role? >> why i was fired? yes. (dog barking) whoever threw it has to go get it. not me! somebody will get it... ♪
12:47 pm
(dog barking) anyone can dream. making it a reality is the hard part. from the b-2 to the upcoming b-21, northrop grumman stealth bombers give america an advantage in a turbulent world. and we're looking for a few dreamers to join us. we're not professional athletes. but that doesn't mean we're giving up. i'm in this for me. for me. along with diet and exercise, farxiga helps lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. lowering a1c by up to 1.2 points. do not take if allergic to farxiga. if you experience symptoms of a serious allergic reaction such as rash, swelling, difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking and seek medical help right away. do not take farxiga if you have severe kidney problems, are on dialysis, or have bladder cancer. tell your doctor right away if you have blood or red color in your urine or pain while you urinate. farxiga can cause serious side effects including dehydration, genital yeast infections in women and men,
12:48 pm
serious urinary tract infections, low blood sugar, and kidney problems. stop taking farxiga and call your doctor right away if you have signs of ketoacidosis, which is serious and may lead to death. i'm in this for my family. i'm in this for me. ask your doctor about farxiga and learn how you can get it for free. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. ♪ ♪ welcome to holiday inn! ♪ ♪ thank you! ♪ ♪ wait, i have something for you! ♪ ♪ making every stay a special stay. holiday inn, smiles ahead. whr for big meetings or little getaways, member always save more at holidayinn.com
12:49 pm
will you be ready when the moment turns romantic? cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain,
12:50 pm
or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have a sudden decrease or loss of hearing or vision, or an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get dil help right away. ask your doctor about cialis. all right. it's been called the hearing of the decade by some. if you're one of many who decided to take the day off from work, and watch james comey testify, we hope you were rewarded for it. if not, you weren't alone. there were watch parties going on in san francisco, in los angeles, in houston. and, of course, in washington, d.c. now, nbc's gadi schwartz is in
12:51 pm
gilbert, arizona, he was catching up with folks far beyond the beltway and getting their reaction. gadi, after talking with people, what'd you take away from it? are. >> reporter: well, we've heard a lot of mixed opinions out here. we've heard everything from very strong trump support to people saying that comey has been acting much more presidential than president trump. but overwhelmingly, one of the things that we heard today from people all across a political spectrum, independents, conservatives, democrats, liberals, republicans, a lot of them were saying this whole thing has gotten way too complicated. some women that we spoke to a little while ago, they were telling us the president's role should be respected and they believe what he is saying. others say that they believe comey and he is a straight shooter. and so many people out here tha we have oken talso say they are tired of the nonstop coverage that seems to have lack of answers that's been
12:52 pm
bombarding them every day. here's some of what people told us a little bit earlier today. have you been following the comey testimony today? >> i really vhaven't, keeping ot of it, actually. >> reporter: you've been keeping out of it all together. >> yeah. i used to make a big deal about paying attention of what's going on in the press, the news, especially with politics but lately i feel like the effort to stay involved is -- it's too much conflict on my part. i almost don't want to know. >> reporter: do you believe comey? >> yes. >> reporter: how about the president? do you believe the president's word? >> i think he sometimes exaggerates things or hides, but i think he's trying to be. i think he's for the most part honest. >> it's a witch hunt that it used to be we're the country, you u could agree to disagree. >> reporter: so you think that testimony of comey is part of a witch hunt? >> yes. >> reporter: now, one of the other common threads that we saw from people that both believed
12:53 pm
in president trump and questioned how things were going was the question of russia. we asked people if they thought russia was a big factor in this. whether they thought are russia influenced the elections. a lot of people said, yes, they did believe russia influenced the elections but very interesting, they said that it was not something that directly impacted their lives. one guy just a little while ago put it very succinctly, he said, look, tomorrow i got to go to work, pay my bills, i don't really care about russia. ali? >> all right, gadi, thanks for the input. sometimes when we're sitting inside, we don't get it from the outside. we appreciate you bringing it in and gilbert, arizona, were thinking about todaytestimony. let's take a look at the markets, how they reacted. we're going to get into it when we come back after the break, but markets are basically flat right now. >> there should be no fuzz on this whatsoever. the russians interfered in our election during the 2016 cycle. they did it with purpose. they did it with sophistication.
12:54 pm
they did it with overwhelming technical efforts.
12:55 pm
12:56 pm
12:57 pm
[ applause ] thank you, all, very much. thank you. thank you. thank you very much.
12:58 pm
[ inaudible question ] thank you. thank you. >> all right. number of people at the white use, a he was asked at the end if he had any reaction to the comey testimony. that's where you heard him saying, thank you very much. he was asked again if comey told the truth. no answer. then the media was escorted out. we're following an eventful day on wall street after james comey's testimony on capitol hill. the dow hit a record high earlier today. right now, it's not at a record, but it is up just about ten points. i want to bring in peter costa, president of empire executions. he's there at the stock exchange. peter, were traders watching this testimony today? >> we started watching it around 10:15, by 10:30, half the floor was falling asleep. so, i mean, there were some points that i thought were very interesting, but, you know, overall, there wasn't anything that was explosive. you know, i think a lot of people were expecting some sort
12:59 pm
of, you know, comments or, you know, his opinions or whatever that might have been earth shattering and there really wasn't, so, you know, by the time he got done, the market really hadn't reacted all that much. what we did see was after it was over, people digested it a little bit, the market did rally and did go through the record levels. >> that have anything to do with comey or trump or just the fact that the market's been setting record of late? >> i think it's more about just the momentum of the market. i think that the market took a breather, waiting to see what happened. it didn't. nothing really of major significance. i'm sure you can pick it apart later and come up with, you know, some items that might be really interesting, but, you know, from our viewpoint, really wasn't that earth shattering, so the market saw it, didn' do anything and then when it was over, we continued that climb. now, it's just pulling back a little bit. just being tired. >> and we're hearing the clapping going on about -- >> yes. >> -- four seconds away from the closing bell beginning to ring. peter, good to see you. thank you for being with us.
1:00 pm
peter costa at the new york stock exchange. and we are about to close out at the stock exchange. it will have a win in the final moments, but that closes out this busy hour for me. i'll see you right back here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern. then again at 3:00 p.m. eastern. thank you for watching. "deadline white house with nicolle wallace" starts right now. hi, everyone, it's 4:00. former fbi director jim comey has spoken. comey spent nearly three hours in an open session of the senate intel committee and participated in a closed-door session afterward. he cut right to the chase claiming he felt directed to clear flynn and saying the trump white house had defamed him. comey claimed that he was fired because of the russia investigation and warned that russia is still coming for us. america, that is. here's some of jim comey today. >> the administration then chose to defame me and more importantly the fbi by saying that the organization was