captioning funded by cbs it's friday, may 12th, 2017. this is the "cbs morning news." president trump goes on the record. >> i was going to fire -- i made the decision. >> you made the decision before he came in the room. >> was going fire comey. there's no good time to do it, by the way. >> mr. trump decided to fire him and contradicts the statement. >> the acting director says nothing will stop the russian probe. it

a nationwide leads to a historic crackdown. good morning at cbs news headquarters. good to be with you. i'm anne-marie green. it is becoming almost impossible to keep track of the changing white house accounts of what led up o the firing of fb i director james comey. there are multiple conflicting explanations and now the president has contradicted his own administration, admitting the russia investigation did play a role and the acting director of the fbi has weighed in on the russia investigation and the comey firing. >> good morning. it's fueling more questions than answers. over the last few days, members of his own administration have repeatedly maintained the decision had nothing do with russia and was recommended by key members of the justice department. but now the president

something entirely different. >> he's a showboat, he's grand stander. >> president trump broke with members of his own administration thursday telling nbc news he planned to fire james comey his attorney general rod rosenstein recommended it. he also said the fbi's ongoing investigation into possible collusion of it also played a role. he even detailed several discussions he had with the former fbi director about the probe. >> we had a very nice dinner and at that time he told me you're not under investigation. >> comey was invited to the white house back in january for a private dinner with the president during which mr. trump repeatedly demanded he pledge his loyalty. comey declient, instead pin

trump. >> the revelations came on the same day acting director andrew mccabe became before the senate panel disputing the claim he was unpopular before rank and file-fbi agents. >> he drew broad support from the fbi and still does to this day. >> it has raised questions inside the fbi, that the white house is trying to interfere with the russia investigation. the white house insists it wants it to come to conclusion with integrity. at least 20 are calling for a special prosecutor. president trump heads to virginia tomorrow to deliver a commence nltd address at liberty university. anne-marie? jook acting fbi director andrew

would not delay the investigation of the possible coordination between the russia c medding and election. he said he would not tolerate interference from the white house. >> you cannot stop the men and women of the fbi from doing the right thing, protecting the american people and upholding the constitution. >> it's uncertain if mccabe will remain the head of the fbi. the trump administration is interviewing other candidating for the jobbing. >> deputy attorney general rod rosen stein who wrote the memo the president said was the impetus for firing comey has been invited to brief senators next week. democrats want to ask him about the circumstance leading up to it. ahead on "cbs this morning," president trump's firing of james comey has been compared to

we'll talk to cbs news political contributor bob schieffer who covered it. and the trade deal the administration says will reduce america's trade gap with china. the agreement is a result of talks that began following last month's meeting between president trump and chinese president xi jinping. the new deal allows u.s. companies to ship natural gas to china, the u.s. would allow cooked chinese poultry to be sold in this country. critics are calling the expectation tib order a sham. voting rights groups say it will lead to stricter voting requirements making it harder for minorities and them to vote. >> president is deliver i what he promised in this tweet call

investigation into voter fraud. he signed an executive order thursday creating a commission on it. >> they will follow the facts where they lead. meetings will be open for comments. >> vice president mike pence will lead it along with secretary of state kris kobach known for his efforts to even force strict laws. voter fraud was a major theme for mr. trump on the campaign trail and the election. he tweeted in addition to that i got the popular vote. he said that 3 million to 5 million people voted illegally in 2016 but there's no evidence to back up his claim. christopher is a researcher. >> it's rare and it

question the purpose of this commission. >> and there are concerns the panel may recommend new regulation making it harder to vote. >> regulation in the name of widespread voter fraud is likely to affect eligible vote errs. >> he expected them to complete its report by 2018. kenneth craig, cbs news, the white house. the homeland security department announced the largest anti-gang crackdown in agency history. more than 1,300 gang members across the united states have been arrested in the last six weeks. the crackdown is part of the border security and illegal immigrationest. 344 foreigners living in the u.s. illegally were taken into custody. and the justice didn't has begun its own investigation of the fatal shooting of an african-american near da

officer roy oliver fired into the car as they were leaving a car. he's on bond charged with murder. severe thunderstorms and damaging winds are moving over from the south into the northeast. heavy rains could lead to flooding in some areas. high winds damaged a church and tore down a trees in the area. after quite a bit of severe weather last night, we're watching a storm that's kind of in a transition phase for friday. moving across the southeast. we're still tracking thunderstorms but a lower threat. then it becomes a chilly evening rain climbing up through new york city late saturday into sunday morning and eventually through mother's day itself. it's bringing kind of dreary conditions. chilly temperatures. look at saturday's highs in the 40s and 50s for much of the mid-atlantic into the northeast and then for

our colder air will be hovering, well below average for this time of year. not really gardening weather for mother's day. it's chilly in the northeast and west as well, but most of the country looking very bright and warm on sunday. it's a nice travel weather. then a total pattern shift as we head into next week. cooler in the east, warmer in the west. it ee all about summer warmth and colder air turning to much of the wrk and intermountain west. i'm eric fisher for cbs news. happy mother's day for all the moms out there. coming up on the "morning news," a reversal for amtrak. and later a scouting exodus. the mormon church pulls thousands of boys interest the boy scouts. this is the "cbs morning news." then the chronic, widespread pain drained my energy. my doctor said moving more helps ease fibromyalgia pain.

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walt disney's vision of the hand right will be up for auction. he drew it in 1953 as they rushed to get funding to build disneyland. well, the mormon church moves away from the boy scouts and the new push to prosecute for the deadly amtrak crash. the cincinnati inquirer reports that security of a boy being attacked in a school bathroom will be made public. the 8-year-old hanged himself just after the attack last january. his family claims the school staffers reacted too slowly. >> if the school had told mom that your son was assaulted, your son had lost consciousness for over seven minutes, she would have immediately had him taken to the hospital and had him examined. >> school officials said the mother was advised to hospitalize the boy. the coroner is reopening the

"the philadelphia inquirer" says they want criminal charges filed against the squlooer in the 2015 amtrak derailment. the district attorney had decided this week not to charge brandon bostian. they say the state should take over the case to avoid a conflict of interest. rising hepatitis rates are linked to abuse of painkillers. more than 1% of infants in the state had the infection at birth. researchers say some women in rural counties are injecting opioids. the salt lake tribune says the mormon church is phasing out its connection with the boy scouts. they say it's not due to the openenness of transgender and gay members. and the firing of james comey to the

character. they show the passenger being dragged out of a plane as president trump watches. still to come, sweet and local. we'll show you how candy makers have come up with a plan to make their treats a little bit healthier. the thing that's really important to dentists is to make sure that that enamel stays strong and resilient for a lifetime. the more that we can strengthen and re-harden that tooth surface, the whiter their patients' teeth are going to be. dentists are going to really want to recommend the new pronamel strong and bright. it helps to strengthen and re-harden the enamel. it also has stain lifting action. it's going to give their patients the protection that they need and the whiter teeth that they want. ♪ if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, isn't it time to let the real you shine through? introducing otezla, apremilast.

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favor major candy makers are agreeing to cut the calories in many of their sweets. they're reacting to shoppers' increasing aversion to sugar. on the "cbs moneywatch," tough times for macy's and burger king brings back a cheesy favorite. jill wagner with the new york stock exchange. good morning, jill. >> good morning, anne-marie. the dow lost 23 points, the s&p fell 5 points, the nasdaq ended 13 points lower. macy's was one of those retails that lost big. sales fell 4% in the last

it was the biggest loser on the s&p but it was just one of a number of retailers that lost sales including coles and nordstrom's. this happens as more people are shopping online. the labor department reports that claims for jobs fell by 2,000. last week the government reported the unemployment rate fell to 4.4% last month, its lowest level since 2007. america's largest wireless carrier verizon will by $3.1 billion to buy straight pass communications. they can be used for super fast, next generation, and broad band services. >> back by popular demand, mack & cheese cheetoes are

they're made of mack and chief in cheetos shaped sticks that are deep-fried. last summer they were constantly sold out. this comes up may 178th. anne-marie. >> i feel like it's a color we've never seen in nature. >> cheetos orange. >> only in america. still ahead, military hardware comes out of retirement for a new fight. >> i'm chris martinez in sacramento, california, where aircraft once used to fight in wars are being repurposed for a different kind of battle. i'll tell you about their new mission coming up.

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here's look at today's forecast in some cities around the country.

a horse that usually gives rides gets one instead. it was airlifted yesterday from a 300 foot ravine in california. the horse and its rider tumbled off the road in san bernardino, but they're both going to be okay. they're working on fixing it. >> with a creative nod to both past and present, mechanics are giving new life to long for gotten machines of war. >> they've been sitting there for a number of years out in the boneyard. >> they run the largest fire-fighting air fleet in the world, nearly all of it made up of rehabbed military aircraft. 48 of their 51 planes and helicopters once flew in combat. the newest edition,

monday 215 sg flew in 1968 and was flown in vietnam. when the war ended, the plane was retired. cal fire found it rusting away in an arizona junkyard. it's now being fully rehabbed for a new battle. >> where cal fire puts the retardant tank now to drop on fires, that's where you had one or two torpedos. >> reporter: every modification for every aircraft is done entirely in house. dave said the mechanics keep as much of the original aircraft intact as possible. >> if they current find the part, they can manufacture the part. >> they'll find out how their new plane performs when it's deployed in 2018, 50 years after flying its first mission half a world away. chris martinez, cbs news, sacramento. coming

news on "cbs this morning," snapchat climbers take a shot at their newest climb. i'm anne-marie green. this is the "cbs morning news." a bayer aspirin regimen is one of those steps in helping prevent another stroke. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. the toothpaste that helpstax, prevent bleeding gums. if you spit blood when you brush or floss you may have gum problems and could be on the journey to much worse. help stop the journey of gum disease. try new parodontax toothpaste. it's clinicallovy pren to remove plaque, the main cause of bleeding gums. for healthy gums, and strong teeth. leave bleeding gums behind. new parodontax toothpaste.

friday's here, yellow alert day. not for your morning commute but it could start to ruin your weekend as we head throughout the day. >> the search is on for a virginia mother and baby nearly two weeks after they disappeared, and police have discovered they could have been

it's one of the sweetest ones on the internet. a prom picture going viral from 1949. >> it's bad enough we've got rain to start the weekend, but we need to know what about mother's day. is there a change in the forecast? >> no worries. i have some good news for the moms out there. we do have more rain to get through. a washout of a day yesterday. today we're starting off dry. we are going to end the day on the wet note again. we'll time it out for you. we're dry through the beltway right now. as you head farther to the south we're looking at a few isolated showers. we do have a lot of moisture that's going to slide in for this afternoon and into the overnight hours. the heaviest bit of rain will come on through tonight. this will impact the evening commute. i know the evening commute on friday is always kind of a long stretch. some people start at 3:00, and some people don't go home until 7. this is going to be tord

by 2:00 we're still dry but cloudy. not a lot of sun, if any at all today. by 6:00 tonight we do have those showers approaching. the latter half of that evening commute, of course, as we head through the overnight hours, it just kind of sticks with us like it did yesterday. we'll see rain heavy at times. for the most part we'll see some light showers. 6:00 in the morning on saturday, we are still dealing with the showers. your first half of your saturday not looking the best. however, we do have big improvements. we'll go through the extended futurecast in just a bit. >> reading through the lines of that forecast. i believe allyson is telling everyone to leave the office at 3 and go to happy hour early to beat the rain. >> you know what i like. >> happy friday everyone. we have a couple of areas and downed power cables by north mckinley road between there and george mason drive. also if you're on pennsylvania aven

southbound by brick house road. watch out there as well. by ward road, same thing as you pass through dunkirk. downed power lines and cable wires. thanks so much. fairfax county firefighters are keeping a close eye this morning on the sight of an overnight townhouse fire in lorton. firefighters tell us the home was vacant but there were people inside adjoining homes. they were evacuated. no injuries so far reported, but we're trying to find out when those neighbors will be allowed back inside their homes. an investigation into what caused the fire is underway in fairfax county. the tunnel collapsed at the nuclear waste site in washington state might have happened days earlier. workers found the collapse on tuesday. there are no reports of elevated radiation levels and the sinkhole has been filled. a spokesperson for the department of energy says workers do not patrol tunnel site

collapsed up to 4 days before. it's been a tough six weeks for united airlines. a scorpion has been spotted on a united plane for the second time in less than a month. it happened on a flight from houston bound for ecuador. the airline says the scorpion crawled out of a passenger's clothing as the plane was preparing to take off. paramedics determined no one has been stung. it took off about three and a half hours late. last month a man was stung by a scorpion on a united flight from houston to calgary. this is wake up washington on wusa9. president trump contradicts what some top white house advisers have said about the firing of fbi director james comey. he said he was going to fire comey regardless of rod rosen

>> happy friday, we're going to have a cloudy start and wet finish. we have weather and traffic. it is a yellow alert day. >> this is between about 4 and 6:00 we're going to have showers come into your area, so the latter part of your commute home is going to be on the wet side. we're going to see a lot more rain. yesterday we saw about an inch of rain across the region, we've had small creeks rise a bit. today and through tomorrow we're going to add an additional inch and a half. if you do live near a stream or creek, watch that water continue to rise right through the weekend. we're pretty dry for the most part right now. i want to go through the futurecast hour-by-hour so you get a better idea of how to plan your friday and saturday. saturday i've got to say not looking so great. however, there are good improvements for the weekend. we're going to stay dry for much of the day because of this easterly wind. it just keeps this cloud cover pegged in place, and it's just going to be uncomfortably cool for