narrator: "the time is always right to do what is right. ralph northam. army doctor during the gulf war. volunteer director of a pediatric hospice. progressive democrat. in the senate, he passed the smoking ban in restaurants, stopped the transvaginal ultrasound anti-choice law, and stood up to the nra. as lieutenant governor, dr. northam is fighting to expand access to affordable healthcare. ralph northam believes in making progress every day. and he won't let donald trump stop us.

. breaking news, the justice department appointed a special counsel to investigate whether russians and the trump campaign worked together to influence the 2016 presidential election >> this unfolded shortly ago. there's a lot of moving pieces. you can see the rundown. this is what we're talking about at 6:30, if you agree with the decision by the justice department to appoint a special council we want to to hear from you, use #5at630. >> let's tell you a little bit more about the special

he was the former fbi director before james comey robert mueller, a lot of people are saying he's well respected and not influenced politics that he will do a great job. they're saying he will have his own budget. we understand that rod rosen stein thought this was a good idea to bring in robert mueller to complete the investigation. as you know jeff sessions had to recuse himself from anything dealing with the investigation. >> robert mueller appointed by former president george w bush i believe he took office in the early days after the -- that's a poll we'll be talking about. let's get back to -- in the early days after the september 11th attacks. we saw robert mueller come on to the scene then. he was out of government obviously after leaving that position, but we'll see him back into the time being >> there's been a lot of turmoil as you know going on within the white house. a lawmakers going back and forth overwhat we've seen in the last week or so, we know the president fired james comey for what he

of the hillary clinton investigation and since then there have been calls to appoint some special count counsel to look into the possible collusion between the trump campaign and the russians as it affected the outcome of the election >> special prosecutor is different than counsel, that would be kenneth star in the white water investigation more offed into the impeachment of president clinton. it changes rapidly. we have a request in michael hop kins, and we want to point out first things first that you are a democrat. i would believe that you want to get that out of the way first things first. we had another guest back and forth you're here. i want to get your take on all of this. is this the right move? >> this is. let me start by saying this isn't just a victory for democrats. at victory for the american people. the americansav

know what happened with with regard to russia, with regard to trump, and the path that we were on wouldn't allow them to have faith in that investigation. all along the way, donald trump had blocked the investigation by firing people, firing sally yates james comey, now we have someone who we can trust will investigate and hopefully come to some sort of conclusion. >> this investigation specifically deals with whether there was collusion between the trump campaign and the russians to effect the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. we also know there are calls from both side of the aisle that james comey wrote a memo about his -- he wrote implies about every time he had an interaction with the president. the latest memo was that the president asked him to drop the investigation into michael flynn. do you believe, that we need to see some sort of independent commission investigate that as well >> i think that can be brought under now

under his purview for this investigation. i think that i began my career as a criminal defense attorney, and as a criminal defense attorney, whenever i had meetings with a witness or clients, i wrote down what happened in that, so it could be memorized, that's exactly what james comey did. and now, that evidence is going to be able to be presented and like i said, this will be a great way for americans to now be assured that this is going to be done in way that they can both trust that the democratic process is being protected and make sure that we get to some sort of justice >> there are so many people who believe that president trump is being unfairly treated in this process, we heard president trump say himself today, he believes he's been treated more unfairly than any other politician. but there are people who are going to look at this and say, it's still a partisan issue. >> this is a partisan issue. i'm not going to pretend it j it is ironic to hear people on the right side of the aisle criticize thi

benghazi talking all of the fast and force investigations, donald trump taken it to a level that has been unseen in the american dialogue by firing james comey, by attacking the character of public servantshat has been uns american dialogue by firing james comey, by attacking the character of public servants. i hope by the appointment of mueller we can focus on investigating the facts. at the end of the day that's important >> this goes back to -- was it a week ago that he fired james comey? i'm losing track at this point. everything is moving quickly. this something the president has within his right to do. last fbi director to be fired was william sessions by bill clinton shortly after taking office. context. >> today, i guess, sort of for the first time, we're starting to hear push-back from republicans, during the

republicans who distanced themselves from then candidate trump since elected they seemed to jump on board. do you believe, this latest incident with the comey memo, if it proves to be true, is the straw that's going to break the camel's back and we're going to start to see republicans pull away from the white house from president trump? >> i do. i wrote a column last week for the huffton post where i talked about the republicans and how they were the milk carton group because they've gone missing. as you look at the poll numbers, they're starting to show a little more political courage and the ball is starting to roll and i think that with the way momentum is going to go and the way these new cycles are just every minute changing, i think now you're starting to see republicans jump on board with democrats, and say that enough is enough. and we really have to be able to trust our government is running efficiently and legally at this point. >> michael star hop kins thank you. we had a guest lined up we wanted to give you both sides of the issue, couldn't get him i

cover this from all angles. there are calls for impeachment coming from both side >> democrats and republicans in the house and senate have asked the fbi to turn over copies of any implies james comey wrote about his meetings with the president president trump and they also invited the former fbi director to testify. >> the house oversight and government reform committee is appropriately requested this memo and i'm sure we're going to go on to hear from mr. comb about why, if this happeneds as he allegedly describes why didn't he take action at the time? so there are a lot of unanswered questions. what i told the members is now is the time to gather all the pertinent information. >> survey suggests nearly half of public policy polled finds 48% voters support impeaching 41% not let's bring in tom fitzgerald. he is live at fbi headquarters with the very latest. fitz this development, a huge one, but what are you hearing down

. >> reporter: well, i can tell you what you've heard about the former director mueller is absolutely correct. you will not find anybody in this city on either side of the political aisle with more impeccable credentials than bob mueller. he took overtime fbi seven days before the 911 attack. then led the country through the early days of remember that time frame almost on edge every single day. waiting in those first few months after 911. he was a steady hand at the fbi and universally been praised by both sides as the reaction has come into this, a few moments ago. congressman jason chaffetz tweeting that, in fact mueller has impeccable credentials. as far as the question you asked little while earlier about a change in tone amongst repuic

today. and we heard change of tone on both sides. it's no secret, democrats have been hammering at this for weeks now. calling for investigations. calling for em panelment of special prosecutors. we heard top democrats kind of put the brakes on this and republicans sort of saying we're not exactly going to blindly defend the white house in every turn. that came from two key moments. senator joe mansion a democrat from west virginia on the senate intelligence committee. saying we need to let this process play out. saying he's not here to prejudge. not here to make ruling on anybody before all the evidence comes in. a distraught saying this process now in place needs to play itself out. on the other side, republican house speaker paul ryan, you just saw him there at the top of the broadcast

said today was very key, jim and shawn. he said while acknowledging that the trump administration's political opponents have made hey over these continuing controversies especially since firing of james comey, he also very pointedly said congress was going to do its job and get to the bottom of whatever did or did not happen in the investigation and he went on to say that he was not necessarily going to be defending the white house at every turn, so yes. not only big doings here up the street at the justice department. here at the fbi today, but up the street at pennsylvania avenue on the capitol, where both side now seem to be tendering their rhetoric to these rapidly moving developments that we seen here this afternoon. >> we need the facts. there's some people out there who want to harp the president. we have an obligation to carry out our oversight regardless of which party is in the white house. and that means befe

judgment, we get the pertinent information. >> reporter: now, the key question is here, when or if will we hear from james comey? here's the situation. earlier today, the chairman of the house oversight committee, jason chaffetz send out a message saying he scheduled a hearing for wednesday at 10:30, chaffetz went on to say he believes comey changed his phone number and not able to reach him. we do not know if james comey will appear at that hearing. furthermore, we also heard today from the senate intelligence committee, advice chairman mark warner i want to say saying he too wants odom hear but listen to how it's played out. the change of tone on both sides the hawks and the

will on this investigation. >> the great concern by republicans and democrats alike is this notion of the president constructively obstructing justice, literally asking the head of the fbi director to drop the investigation into his connections to russia, michael flynn's connection to russia >> did he ask? did he order? did he get his opinion? there's an awful lot. i'm not going to sit here and pass judgment or basically condemn or convict them until i see the facts and that's being on intelligence committee is what we receive. >> reporter: so there we are. a momentous day here at the fbi. we should tell you that late this afternoon, there was another big development apparently a new name has been added to the list of potential new fbi directors. that name being joseph lieberman, you'll remember he was a former democratic then independent senator from the state of connecticut went on to become al gore's

candidate in the 2000 election. we're told lieberman will be interviewed for this position. >> i don't think many people expected it here. >> thank you, fitz. appreciate that. of course, we're going to have much more on the breaking news. we've learned the department of justin appointing a special council to investigate the probe between the trump campaign and russia if it had anything to do with effecting the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, more on the other side of the break. e break. tomorrow the latest on the developing story >> can you be fat and still fit? now research that might have you taking action. the meany heat wave continues. wake up with us for your early morning forecast tomorrow on fox 5 news morning.

breaking news. about 45 minutes or so ago, the justice department announced that it is bringing in robert mueller the former fbi director before james comey to head up this special counsel to investigate whether the russians and the trump campaign worked together to influence the 2016 presidential election. >> we gave you one

now gop strategist matt is joining us. obviously very busy night. are you surprised by this? >> well, there's been a lot of insinuations and accusations but we're short on facts. i know john mckaine highlighted this earlier, that this story is changing minute-by-minute. we're going to have to wait and see. >> when he said are you surprised are you surprised or are you happy? are you pleased that the department of justice appoint add special council >> this has completely derailed the presidency, he hasn't been able to reach across the aisle and put a legislature agenda because of the partisan politics that are going on but we're going to have to wait and see. i will say i know that the democrats are frothing at the mouth. we have a memo allegedly drafted three months ago after a conversation. no one seen it. we don't know what's going to be revealed. we're, a lot of speculation but we're

>> i'm going to go through twitter and we asked the question, obviously edited sometimes is useful, sometimes it's all over the place, one recurring theme a lot brought up is they see this as a partisan witch hunt, people support the president but it's worth noting that this is initiated by the justice department, jeff sessions who recused himself. i feel like this feeds into president trump saying, put all the information out there >> i think they want to get back on track and this drip, drip, drip of information is hindering efforts. they're looking to get ahead of it as quickly as possible. >> let me ask you, there was a gop member justin am ash from michigan and said if this comey turns out to be true, this could be ground for impeachment. do you believe it's too far >> absolutely. any republican that calls for this really should be reprimanded by the rnc. the democrats will use this to fund raise off of but that's what it will boil down

great thing for democrats to fund raise off of. i don't think anything will materialize from it. you have a memo, like i said, written three months ago, no one has seen it. until comey was discharged by the administration last week. so a lot of facts up in the air. matt thank you for joining us. we'll obviously see you again at some point because this is ever changing. absolutely. thanks guy >> we're glad you got in here. thanks again, matt. >> stick around, we will be right back. vo: at dominion, we have a long history of providing reliable energy and that'll never change.

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dc congress woman going so far to call it a civil rights issue. this coincides way major cannabis convention underway at the gay lord hotel at national harbor. americans for safe access joins us tonight. thanks for being here. >> thank you. tell us a little bit about your role in all of this, you're not advocating for the legalization of

for the people who use it foyer medicinal purposes? tell us a little bit about that. >> we are an organization star started in 2002 by our medical director who is a medical cannabis patient herself, we have over 100,00 member, we help people across the state interested in either initiates medical cannabis laws or helping to make their laws better as well as work on the federal side. >> we saw states legalize medicinenal marijuana through the years before we saw states moving towards the recreational side. are you worried there's sometimes people con flate the two arguments, that medicinenal equates to recreational >> we saw that all the time when we talk to legislatures, particularly those in the southern states who are hesitate to allow this to come in, we hear things like this is a nose under the camel's tent but we really just

once you take a look how this is helping people with crohn's, my daughter has he want help si, pain, cancer. and we have an opioid epidemic with 91 people a day dying from overdoses and we seen in the medical cannabis states a nearly 25 decrease in opioid overdose, something we need to investigate and educate our government on. >> we have a few minutes but where do we stand with the law with regards to medicinenal marijuana in our region? >> in our region, well, dc has a medical cannabis program, maryland is about to open the doors and virginia we have a limited law where people with he want help si will be able to procure the oils only >> i notice a lot of places are moving towards -- legalizing just the oil or just, you know, we don't really see the

form quite often. >> yes. >> a lot of legislatures are hesitate to go the full medical cannabis route. of we're hoping some of these more restrictive laws can be changed this year >> thanks so much for coming in. appreciate it. busy news day. glad we got you in. >> back after this. every tv doctor knows that when it comes to hospital romances, the more complicated, the better. i love you. but i love him. i love him, too. so do i.

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duane the rock johnson for president? apparently some people think he would make a great commander in chief. they asked 700 voters if they'd vote four the rock. 42% said yes. 37% voted for president trump. >> recent interview johnson said he's considering a future run, remember when jesse the body became the governor of michigan. >> i don't think the rock will run. this is great publicity and the life that he has right now. he enjoys a lot of stuff that you can't really do when you're the president of the united states. >> he did dip his toe as little bit in the political water a few times at

he's a good thing going imagine this would be the career after wrestling to move into being one of the biggest comedy stars. >> yeah. now, rock stay right where you are we enjoy going to the movies to see you in all of your films. anyway. back to the big news. the justice department appointing a special counsel to investigate any russian trump campaign ties in the 2016 presidential election. that is the man who will run the investigation robert mueller who's a former fbi director appointed by george w bush, he turned down james comey eventually replaced him as fbi director he'll oversee the investigation as opposed to jeff sessions who recused himself and rod rosen stein who was one who decided to move ahead with appointing robert mueller very well respected. >> a lot of people, we've heard calls both sides, democrats and republicans saying they want to see an independent or special council come in and investigate and that is exactly what

getting. of course we're going to have much more on our newscast at 10 be 10:30 and 11:00. make sure you tune in for the latest, as you know, news in washington changes by the minute >> take deep breaths and reconnect. see you later.

announcer: today on "tmz" -- >> giselle broke some huge news about her husband -- >> he had a concussion last year. he has concussions pretty much every year we don't talk about. he's had concussions. >> giselle said something she should not have said. >> the one person in your life that should keep your secrets. >> having someone that didn't -- can't disclose your secrets is like 40% of your marriage. >> what secrets do you have that's 40% of your marriage? >> this week's episode of "keeping up with the kardashians," they continued their vacation in costa rica. khloe you can clearly see is holding a joint in her hands. which is really not that frowned upon in costa rica. >> or anywhere, brad. [laughter] >> ron howard at l.a.x. >> he directed "apollo 13." >> that's actually important for this pitch. he made the show called "mars."