i know she's -- i know she's here. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. good morning. i'm dara brown in new york at msnbc world headquarters. it is 7:00 in the east, 4:00 out west. here's what's happening. fired. the former deputy fbi director gets the ax just hours to go before retirement. hear his scorching reaction and what president trump had to say about it. and the war continues. how this latest shot fired by the trump administration against the fbi could affect the russia investigation. turning up the legal heat on stormy. the trump team is getting ready to make its next move against the porn star's claims and it could cost her $20 million. two big breaking stories this morning. first, former fbi deputy

director andrew mccabe fired late last night less than two days before he was set to retire after more than 21 years with the bureau. the president reacted to the news on twitter proclaiming it a great day for the hard working men and women of the fbi and a great day for democracy. mean whoowhil meanwhile, the dismissal being looked at under jeff sessions. >> there's no reason the attorney general had to fire andy mccabe tonight. on a friday night at 10:00 at night. in fact, you know, this whole idea that this firing was done this late on a friday night makes it look very rushed, very politicized. it might have been wiser for the attorney general simply to let the time clock run out to avoid making the justice department look like a place where the president can go to condemn his political opponents. it's a deeply troublely development. >> mccabe reacted to his ouster with a blistering statement

saying, i'm being singled out because of the role i played, the actions i took, and the events i witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of james com comey. the focus on me and this report became part of an unprecedented effort by the administration driven by the president himself to remove me from this position. and stormy daniels could be responsible for $20 million for violating a secrecy agreement. details and reaction ahead in moments. but first, on andrew mccabe's fires, let's turn to shawn sullivan from "the washington post." let's start with the major allegation for mccabe against the administration spp there any way to see this as a non-political move? >> well, if you look at the circumstances of this dismissal coming late on a friday night, coming just hours, really, before mr. mccabe had been planning to retire, this is going to raise a lot of

questions, i think, from both parties. and from neutral observers about what happened here. just the circumstances of it alone. it was no secret leading up to this that trump was not a fan of mr. mccabe. had questioned his political motivations. and so there are a lot of political questions here about whether this was a political decision, why this happened the way it did late on a friday night right before he was about to leave. this is only going to, i think, you know, give rise to more of those questions and raise questions about the overall political motivations potentially of people inside the administration. >> julia, the president has been very open about his criticisms of attorney general jeff sessions. do you think that influence's sessions' decision to fire mccabe? >> i think stit's possible. i think sessions has been under pressure when it comes to the russia investigation. he recused himself last spring. and i think ever since then the president has been really breathing down his neck in terms

of how he conducts his relationship with intelligence and the upper echelons of the justice department and the fbi. so i think this is definitely a move by jeff sessions or it could be to definitely try to curry favor with the president. i think, also, to shawn's point, the timing of this is really central. i mean, it did occur on a friday night. definitely you could say it's a way to, i guess, slip by the news cycle, try to bury it -- bury the lead, if you will. but i think it also has to do with the fact of where we are in the investigation. and if we want to bring up stormy daniels, the white house is also dealing with a ton of headlines in terms of that. so i think there's a ton of factors playing into this and why it happened when it did is definitely something that's interesting. >> and shawn, the president tweeted about mccabe's firing calling it a great day for

democracy. but he couldn't resist taking a few swipes at james comey whom he fired. why go after comey? doesn't that just make this seem all more political? >> well, this is the president's style. this is completely consistent with the kind of candidate he was, the kind of president he has been. he doesn't let old grudges go. there's no fight or argument too small for him to revisit. and it's clear that he is still very, very bothered by mr. comey, by the way that he handled himself. and we look at the president's reaction, i mean, julia makes a good point about sessions and the relationship with trump hasn't been great -- hasn't been very good, even, at times. so the president's reaction being one that's very good, it'll be interesting to see how that impacts the relationship between sessions and trump. does trump look at this and say, good job. my attorney general really, you know, had my back on this and did something good. or will there relationship continue to deteriorate? that's another question we've

got to watch in the next week or so coming out of this. >> and it was the doj's inspector general that first recommended mccabe's firing. does that cover any influence trump administration had over this decision? >> so these were career officials that drafted this report that has yet to be released. so we'll have to definitely look and see what the report says once it's released. i think that's something that the administration will definitely use as cover to prevent any speculation that the president had a direct hand or a direct influence in this on jeff sessions. i think we also have to remember in this ongoing saga between the president and the attorney general, the attorney general does not serve the president -- i mean, he serves at the pleasure of the president, but the justice department is, you know, loyal to the country. so i think, you know, a lot of critics will say that jeff sessions did the right thing when he recused himself from the investigation. so we'll have to see how much jeff sessions really holds his

ground and how much senior officials at the department and intelligence are going to do as to stay independent of the president. >> stand by because as julia mentioned, we have tons of headlines to discuss today. mccabe's stating statement last night also said this. as part of the administration's ongoing war on the fbi and the efforts of the special counsel investigation which continue to this day, their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the special counsel's work. here with more is msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos. do you agree with mccabe? is this another attempt by the trump administration to wage war on the mueller investigation? >> it could be. but no matter what, mueller is going to be looking at these actions in so far as they may constitute the crime of obstruction. you see, the president has the power to dismiss these people. but the power to dismiss does not necessarily mean it is always legal. if it is done, for example, in

exchange for money, that would be bribery. that's something that's not being looked at, but in the case of obstruction, he may be dismissing someone like mccabe in order to conceal some activity. even if that underlying activity might be legal. you don't need an underlying crime for obstruction of justice. so these are unprecedent situations. you could call nixon's experience similar, but it isn't. there are just too many differences. we are in a unique singular moment here. mueller will be looking at any of these activities as possible obstruction, possibly anything else. of course, trying to stay within the mandate of russia. on the other hand, u.s. attorneys will rarely ignore evidence of a new crime if they stumble across it in the course of their investigation. >> danny, mccabe was just 26 hours away from his retirement. after serving in the fbi for more than 20 years. so this dismissal could cost him

his federal pension. is there any legal action he can take to try to save this? >> the answer to that question is there is, but it's not a very strong possibility. he could do a number of things. he could appeal administratively. he could theoretically file suit in federal court. but federal court's have not been very generous to fbi agents and other similarly situated agency officials who try to file suit when they are dismissed. the reality is when this happens, as it's been said many times, procedurally what's unusual about this is it happened so quickly. investigations like this happen. dismissals of high-ranking fbi officials happen. but they don't happen so quickly. and that does raise a specter of doubt. even if the underlying investigation of mccabe was valid. the fact it was done so quickly raises doubts as to whether or not it was politically motivated. >> stay with us. we have more legal questions for you. could stormy daniels be

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breaking news in the case of stormy daniels against the president. the trump legal team now saying the porn star could owe the president at least $20 million for violating a nondisclosure agreement. here's what her attorney had to say last night. >> this is pie in the sky. it's a bullying tactic. it's designed to intimidate my client and i, and clearly they haven't been paying attention over the last two weeks. we're not going to pack up and go home. we're not going to dismiss the case. >> back with me is msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos. danny, how does trump's legal team figure she could be on the hook for $20 million? >> it's important to know this is not actually a claim for $20

million. when a defendant removes a case out of state court and up to federal court, the defendant has to allege jurisdiction to hear it. one of those prongs is in a mountain of controversy. it has to be more than $75 million. by alleging this massive number, they're saying trust us it is such case that this belongs in federal court and not in state court. the reasons behind why a defendant would want to remove a case usual goes to strategy. there are any number of reasons why trump's team may want to be in federal court. it may be as simp as trying to throw the plaintiff off his game. where he must feel more comfortable than federal court. but the reality is he's probably just as familiar with the local federal court. >> what about throwing it into arbitration? what would that do? >> the defense in this case absolutely wants this case in arbitration. and they have a strong argument.

after all, there are very clear arbitration provisions in the contract. and stormy daniels did sign the contract. the real question the court will have to resolve and this case will probably stay in federal court is whether or not the case belongs in arbitration. whether or not they agree to arbitrate. and the rule is courts love arbitration clauses. they prefer sending cases to arbitration because it -- if there's evidence that parties agree to it, it's an issue of contract look. the other reason they won't tell you is that they like to get cases off their docket and out of the courthouse. so the cohen team has a decent legal argument for dragging this case back out of federal court and into arbitration. i can guarantee you the next filing we see will be a motion to remand this case to arbitration filed in federal

court by essential consultants. >> and a little more private that way do. the paperwork shows trump is being represented by joe harter. do you know anything about him? >> this is somebody who made a career out of filing suit in defamation cases. he is an outstanding attorney and very, very good at defamation cases. it goes without saying. that is probably a signal that that's the next action. but the reality is if the case stays in arbitration, you don't necessarily need a massive defamation case. and keep in mind, the notice of removal filed is not an actual claim for millions and millions of dollars. nor is it a claim for any other cause of action. it's only a jurisdictional notice that gives the court power to hear the case and put it away from state court where it will likely never return. it's an effect iive tool for

defendant ifs they want to take a plaintiff out of their home court advantage. >> interesting twists here. danny, thank you for your time this morning. let's bring back julie manchester and tom sullivan. "the times" reports that this strategy might help his standing to sue daniels even if the sign -- even if he didn't sign that nondisclosure agreement. but is the political risk of signing onto the case worth it for the president? >> yeah, that's a big question that's going to have to be answered in the coming days and weeks. he's bringing himself closer to this case. it's clear that his attorney has been trying to separate the president from this situation entirely. now he has a direct connection to it. and, you know, it's a pretty extraordinary situation when you step back and think about it. the president of the united states in tand one of his long- attorneys going up in a potential high-profile legal battle against a private citizen. the other thing this does is

bring back to the center of the national political conversation questions about this payment that mr. cohen is said to have made. because there are watch dog groups and people who have said hold on a second, this could potentially violate finance laws because it came during a presidential campaign. this could have been a political maneuver that may not square with the law. that's going to bring this back to the center of the national debate again and as you mentioned brings trump right into the middle of this which is where i think his team does not want him to be right now. >> julia, let's talk about that angle. how much staying power does this story have for the democrats? >> yeah, so i think this is something that democrats will definitely try to grasp upon in the midterm elections. however, going back to trump's base, trump seems to be teflon with his base. i don't think his base in the midwest are necessarily going to be surprised or even care about his relations with stormy

daniels porn star. for any other president, this would be a huge deal, front page. but i think recently with trump, there's so much going on that it really hasn't taken precedent. he has kept true to his promises on tariffs and to make progress on north korea. we're seeing that happen. so i don't think this is necessarily going to, i guess, play a big role in the minds of his supporters. so it'll definitely be interesting to see how democrats spin this in 2018. >> let's turn to the midterm races. impeachment is becoming an issue for independent candidates. so here's what sean duffy had to say last night. >> if democrats win the house of representatives, will they vote to impeach president trump? >> wholeheartedly, yes. and i think democrat candidates might be sketchy about admitting

that especially in more 50-50 seats. but of course they're going to impeach donald trump. they are far left people. that's who wins the primaries. and the thought they would accept anything other than impeachment? i think that would be foolish. >> is that all but certain? >> there's a debate in the democratic party going on right now about that very question. you have some democrats saying, look, we should be talking about this and moving toward this as a possibility. there are other democrats who are saying let's not talk about this. let's talk about jobs. let's talk about the economy. let's talk about a republican tax plan they think is going to be harmful or they say is going to be harmful to the middle class. so there is that debate. when you look at republicans now talking about this, this comes after it looks like some of their other campaign arguments aren't working. they want to run on the tax bill, they want to criticize nancy pelosi. they just did that in pennsylvania and it didn't work. now i think the republicans are

turning to another argument. they're saying if you give democrats the keys to the car, they're going to go overboard and try to impeach the president. >> interesting times. shawn sullivan, julia manchester, thanks for being here this morning. ousted from the fbi with just hours left until his retirement. why mccabe was shown the door after decades of service. more details next. are defined by the things we share. and the ones we love. who never stop wondering what we'll do or where we'll go next. we the people who are better together than we are alone... are unstoppable. welcome to the entirely new expedition.

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breaking news this morning, former fbi deputy andrew mccabe lashing out after he was fired. jeff sessions dismissed mccabe yesterday after a recommendation from fbi disciplinary officials. nbc news and justice correspondent pete williams has more. can you tell us about mccabe's response to all of this? >> i can. he's responding to the decision by the attorney general to accept the fbi's recommendation that he be fired for talking to

a reporter during the presidential campaign about the investigation of the clinton foundation. what the attorney general said is that mccabe made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and then lacked candor when he was asked about it including under oath on multiple occasions. mccabe said this is just part of the administration's war with the fbi. that he had approval to talk to that reporter. and he says this in his statement. he says, i'm being singled out and treated this way because of the role i played and the actions i took and the events i witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of james comey. and he says that his firing is part of an unprecedented effort by the administration driven by the president himself to remove him from his position and possibly strip him of a pension he worked 21 years to earn. now, by the way, it's not clear what's the deal with the pension. he has some options to try to keep at least part of it. >> pete, i want to ask you, the inspector general is the one who

put out this initial report. is he an independent or tied to the trump administration? >> no. he's been there before the administration. he's independent of the administration. he served under the obama administration as well. that's really the genesis here. this is part of the inspector general's look at how the fbi handled the entire clinton investigation. now we've become aware of what happened here and made a recommendation to them to look at it. mccabe appealed to the attorney general who accepted the finding. we still haven't seen the inspector general's report so we don't mow what the facts are in what he's doing. he does say he was trying to defend the fbi. the question from the reporter was that the fbi was trying to deep six the investigation of the clinton foundation. and he wanted to set the record

straight that it was the justice department that was trying to at least throttle that back. >> pete williams, great to have you here this morning. that'll do it for me. i'm dara brown. at the top of the hour it is hugh hewitt. but first it is "your business" with j.j. rambart. how do you win at business? stay at laquinta. where we're changing with contemporary make-overs. then, use the ultimate power handshake, the upper hander with a double palm grab. who has the upper hand now? start winning today. book now at lq.com. wemost familiar companies,'s

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