let's get more on all of this with democratic senator dianne feinstein with california. ranking member of the senate judiciary committee and member of the intelligence committee. senator, thanks for joining us. >> you're welcome, wolf. >> you have confidence in the fbi director, james comey? >> i do. in this case, it is really off the line. trs i re i read the department policy about announcing something very controversial shortly before an election. and the department's policy says not to do that. president clinton's assent into loretta lynch's plane i think was four months before. probably not at all relevant. should he have done it? probably not. but knowing him, it was on the spur of the moment and he just did it. with respect to this thing, here's the point. there was no new information in the weiner computer. what do i mean by that? there were 3,000 e-mails. 12 of which were classified. and all of which were part of the earlier investigation. so 11 days before the election, a real october surprise. the fbi director announces an investigation. why didn't he just go

i prayed to find a third door, i couldn't find it. >> senator dianne feinstein is not at all convincedi director's october surprise helped sink hillary clinton's campaign. senator feinstein joins me here in washington. i want to talk about what comey said and the sally yates testimony tomorrow. but first, let's talk about health care. they passed it without reading it. but there are legitimate problems -- big problems with obamacare. the fact that some of the insurers, aetna and others are pulling out. virginia is now going to be affected. iowa doesn't have choice. don't they have a point? >> well, there is a point, yes. but i want to say something. insured post the beginning of obamacare today. this bill which looks like this and is complicated to read. i have been rye thing to read it over the weekend. and this is the manager's package that has the series of amendments. this is just come over to the senate. it has no score. it's probably one of the biggest bills that the senate will ever consider. we don't know its breadth and depth as analyzed professionally. we don't know its cost

rob: we did play dianne feinstein, have you seen evidence of this?ouldn't get a good answer out. some tough questions goes to the soundbite. democrats don't have a lot but are hoping for some evidence. heather: i know there is something there. what is there? it is just something, people don't know what it is. rob: donald trump thought the decision to fire comey would be something everyone would like. >> director comey was very unpopular with most people. i actually thought when i made that decision, i made a very strong recommendation from deputy attorney general rod rosenstein, when i made that decision i thought it would be a bipartisan decision. >> scathing along the middle, honest and authentic, what they said is they like to hear directly from the president what he was thinking so sharing this insight, i thought this was a bipartisan thing, did resonate with them and pull them over but democrats just aren't buying anything sitting down. this is really extreme right now, almost nothing he can say to win them over. rob: you can't even have a conve

also ahead this wednesday, one-on-one with senator dianne feinstein. a key member of the intelligence committee weighs in on the state of the russia investigations. and comey's records. >> one way or another, they're going to be turned over. it's just a question of time. his documents are fundamental to the issue of his firing. >> woodruff: then, we are in rome for president trump's first meeting with the pope. plus: ♪ ♪ celebrating the intersection between music and technology. jeffrey brown takes us to a festival pushing the bounds of sound. >> there's something to be said about all music being some translation of our language and our way of communicating. it's a language. this is a new language. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation. committed to improving l

and it made a big impression on me. >> dianne feinstein, we have to leave it there.hank you for coming in on "meet the press." >>> when we come back, republican members of the house celebrated the passage of the obamacare as after a dvt blood clot,ital i sure had a lot to think about. what about the people i care about? ...including this little girl. and what if this happened again? i was given warfarin in the hospital, but wondered, was this the best treatment for me? so i asked my doctor. and he recommended eliquis. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. yes, eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots. eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. both made me turn around my thinking. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. if you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakn

first, dianne feinstein on what lies ahead on the senate. >> i don't know what the 13 white men when have five republican women excluded from that of these 13 men are supposed to sit down -- >> you're speaking of a working group. >> it's all male. poor mouth breather. allergies? stuffy nose? can't sleep? take that. a breathe right nasal strip instantly opens your nose up to 38% more than allergy medicine alone. shut your mouth and say goodnight, mouthbreathers. breathe right. hi, i'm frank. i take movantik for oic, opioid-induced constipation. had a bad back injury, my doctor prescribed opioids which helped with the chronic pain, but backed me up big-time. tried prunes, laxatives, still constipated... had to talk to my doctor. she said, "how long you been holding this in?" (laughs) that was my movantik moment. my doctor told me that movantik is specifically designed for oic and can help you go more often. don't take movantik if you have a bowel blockage or a history of them. movantik may cause serious side effects, including symptoms of opioid withdrawal, severe stomach pain and/or d

i had dianne feinstein on the show and she brought with her the bill which no republican could find onide actually read. they rushed it through. and that really matters. you have to know who is it helping, who is it not helping? tom price insisting that despite the $80 billion in cuts in medicaid, that it is going to be better for people and that the better services. yet with 22 major health care organizations, including the ama, the hospitals, the nurses, the physicians, all say they are against it. so the senate is going to make a lot of changes. >> we talk about deciding health care, but the whole issue of the affordable care act and the democrats want to use it for fuel for 2018. do you think that they have a solid issue here? >> they think they do. they're already putting out ads. we showed some of the ads they were releasing this morning. but they should not count their districts because there are problems with obamacare. right here in virginia we're seeing insurance problems. iowa has had problems. and rather than fixing it, which would have done in prime time, take obamacare, f

been contemplating it for a while. >> how do you explain what -- >> how do you explain what dianne feinstein said, that the president told her that he was concerned with the fbi and the justice department? sec. huckabee sanders: i can't speak for senator feinstein, but i spoke directly to the president and heard directly from him that he had been considering letting director comey go pretty much since the day that he took office, but that there was no request by him to have a review at the department of justice. >> was the reason for the firing what was written by the deputy attorney general? is that why he did it? sec. huckabee sanders: that was the final piece. it moved the president to make that quick and decisive action. >> what was the letter he wrote in forming comey that he was being fired? on three separate occasions, comey told him that i am not under investigation. what were those communications the fbi director told the president he was under -- awas not under investigation? sec. huckabee sanders: i won't get into the specifics. again, i'm not going to go to the specifics of their

there was a time that people thought dianne feinstein was a serious senator. she had gravitas but she called that memo laughable. it lays out in clear terms why james comey had gone off the reservation arrogating to himself controlling the justice department after lurker lynch had recused herself. there was nothing in the justice department procedures that entitled james comey to take on the role he did. kennedy: nowhere to point where we are looking forward to new fbi erector. the president said is going to be a swift process. they have to reset the nation's highest law enforcement operation. how did they do that and who are the highest candidates that could do that? >> you just mention some of the highest candidates out there. greg kelly would be fine but one of my criteria would be not a politician not a sitting politician right now because i believe fbi credibility was damaged by james comey and his handling of the e-mail server and the election and then he restored that credibility. i would pose rod rosenstein has the proper template a guy of unimpeachabl

. >> shortly after that speech to the that senator dianne feinstein of california, ranking democrat on the judiciary committee, senate minority leader would invoke the two-hour role, meaning senate hearings could not last more than two hours beyond the opening of the session and 9:30. chuck schumer plans to convene a caucus meeting today so democrats can discuss a more formal response to the firing of fbi director james comey. the house is out this week, but the congressional budget office tweeted they plan to release the estimates for the house-passed version of the american health care act. russian foreign minister is meeting with the president. they met earlier today with the secretary of state rex tillerson at the state department. here's the russian foreign minister and the secretary of state before their meeting. >> we will take you live to the state department for a news conference with sergey lavrov.

we know chuck grassley, the senator from iowa today, said they he and dianne feinstein had been briefs, and in simple summary said there is nothing they have learned that would contradict that assertion by the president. a point that white house aides quickly distributed, but the question that remains unresolved is were these contacts initiated by the fbi director, or were these questions posed first by president trump to his fbi, or now former, fbi director at the time james come jy. >> lester holt has been interviewing the president this hour and it will be on later on on msnbc, nbc nightly news, and the "today" program. the timing of the previously scheduled interview perfectly timed to get answers to a lot of questions coming up. kristin welker, you have been all over the hill, interviewed the vice president, and there is nervousness among a number of republicans, chairman burr not happy about the timing of the firing of james comey. others from republican leadership, despite what mitch mcconnell is doing in circling the wagons. >> that's right, we're hearing more republican voices

listen to what senate democrat dianne feinstein says. >> do you have evidence that there was collusion between trump associates and russia during the campaign? >> not at this time. jesse: the head of the democratic national committee, tom perez, has come unglued. >> my mama taught me you shouldn't do spotty talk. but i hope you don't mind. this is a [bleep] budget. those republican leaders and president trump don't give a [bleep] about the people her trying to hurt. jesse: hillary clinton came out of the woods and took no responsibility for her devastating defeat. >> i was font way to winning until a combination of jim comey's letter october 28 and russian wikileaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me but scott scared off. >> but adding insult to injury, even her democratic colleagues are sick of her. >> if democrats are fighting for american families, we have to make that clear. >> it takes a lot of work. he was the least popular presidential candidate to win in the history of polling. jesse: those are her friends. more democrats have been turning on

. >> senator dianne feinstein said that she was told something directly different. the president said he asked rosenstein and sessions to review this. is she lying? sec. huckabee sanders: he asked them for a recommendation and asked for it in writing. they came to him on his own. again, the president had lost confidence in comey from the day he was elected. he wasn't sure that he should be fired. >> on may 3 sean came out and said he had full confidence. why did he say that? sec. huckabee sanders: he questioned director comey's reasons for staying at the fbi. he had countless conversations with members from within the fbi . i think one of the big catalysts we solid last week on wednesday. director comey made a pretty startling revelation that he had essentially taken a stick of that in my and thrown into the department of justice and thrown into the chain of command when he decided to take steps without talking to the attorney general or deputy attorney general when holding a press conference and telling them that he would not let them know what he was going to say.

charles: dianne feinstein saying they found no evidence of tampering and donald trump and his advisorsussia. it seems the susan rice anglingf this will be the dominant story. if she has to be seen ad. it will make her look a lot worse. >> this story transitions through a number of phases. the question was, was the trump campaign complicit? did they work with russia? now this information obtained through whether it's fisa warrants. information obtained through america's collecting capabilities. why was this released? so it's really in many ways democrats having badly handled this when they were in charge that aloud this story. they thought they had the trump team corners to being bad for them. charles: the big business of small business. i'll explain. we're on to you, diabetes. time's up, insufficient prenatal care. and administrative paperwork... your days of drowning people are numbered. same goes for you, budget overruns. and ring costs, wipe that smile off your face. we're coming for you, too. for those who won't rest until the world is healthier, neither will we. optum. how well ge

the vote senator dianne feinstein says she will oppose unless president trump's administration fundsalifornia's electric train. >> reporter: plus, the man convicted for the murder of sierra lamar back in 2012 will be back inside the courtroom today as the sentencing phase begins. we're live in san jose with the details. ,,,,,,,,,,,, what if there was a paint for your door... ...that not only made a big first impression... ...but was designed to withstand sunlight this bright... ...this bright... ...or even this bright. if a paint could protect your door's color against the strongest uv rays... ...it makes you wonder... is it still paint? aura grand entrance from benjamin moore®. only available at independently owned paint and hardware stores. be?" the spurs are without their best player-- in game 2 of the playoffs against the warriors. why greg popovich thinks a dirty play took out his m-v-p. plus: "it is very very very damaging." "obviously, it's not a good thing." lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are demanding answers--- after reports that president trump leaked highly classifi

. >>> but up next, senator dianne feinstein on james comey.r clothes smell can say at lot about you. that's why new downy protect and refresh conditions fibers to lock out odors. so clothing odors don't do the talking for you. lock out odors with new downy protect and refresh. have you any wool?eep, no sir, no sir, some nincompoop stole all my wool sweaters, smart tv and gaming system. luckily, the geico insurance agency recently helped baa baa with renters insurance. everything stolen was replaced. and the hooligan who lives down the lane was caught selling the stolen goods online. visit geico.com and see how easy it is to switch and save on renters insurance. >>> welcome back. when fbi director comey testified before the senate judiciary committee this week, he defended his decision to announce days before the 2016 election that the bureau had discovered new clinton e-mails and had reopened its investigation. >> if i were not to speak about that it would be a disastrous, catastrophic concealment. it was incredibly painful choice, but actuall

put it on dianne feinstein.ng to the russians the pressure is off. >> because you don't have an fbi director out there grandstanding, don't have someone out there wanting to make up for the fact that he handled clinton poorly by handling trump poorly, don't have an fbi director out there trying to make a name for himself making a name for himself and the public grandstanding was the pressure. >> go ahead, jason. >> you think james comey's purpose is to make a name of himself. he said he's more famous than the president. i don't think that's what's going oifnlt think what's going on is the president of the united states who is under investigation for colluding with the russians brought a russian who he knows to be in charge of russian spies in charge of recruiting russian spies into his office, gave them classified information that he should not have given them, that has put people's lives at risk and then said to the people that he's possibly under investigation for colluding with, the pressure is off. i got rid

committee, this is the committee that has direct oversight for the justice department and fbi, dianne feinstein says that she called that deputy attorney general and acting fbi director indra mccabe to the hill immediately to brief them on exactly what went down. she called that timing beyond curious and pointed to these recent subpoenas in the russia investigation and she also pointed to a highly classified briefing in march with that fbi director comey where she said he committed to keep them updated on their progress. >> it was rather comprehensive but for kind of briefing. the fbi director was precise, and he presented us with substantial information. it was clear the fbi was taking its job seriously and fed a substantial investigation was underway. >> also within the last hour, justice department officials are saying that a "new york times" report that director comey had asked for resources and money from rod rosenstein and that may have been one of the reasons that he put the kibosh on the director, they say it is simply not accurate. >> jenna: thank you. in the meantime, big question abo

to see if somebody needs to be prosecuted for violations of federal law sfl we're watching as dianne feinstein is giving her opening statement. pete, is there a sense where you are and from the contacts that you have made what the chances are for some sort of charges against somebody in this or is it just way too early in this investigation to even have a sense of it? >> a little of both, chris. i've seen nothing, no indication yet that they've contemplated criminal charges against anybody. and as ron pointed out, this is being run by the counter intelligence organization. that is how this started. what were the russians up to. the initial thinking was they're gathering information to use themselves, information to leverage either russian government policy or vladimir putin's personal information. but when they began to go public with it, that's when the thinking changed a enyou saw the assessment of the intelligence agencies evolve over the months. >> let's listen in to dianne feinstein. she is now talking about the 2016 election. >> -- and investigation. on july 5th, 2016, two months before

say on the topic of russians trying to the 2016 election in my united states, is a democrat,o dianne feinstein, she commented last week that there is no proof they could find anything -- there is no proof the russians influenced our election in any way. i think it is a complete just shows how theremoved from reality people on the left, whether you want to call them liberals or progressive democrats or and actually, i am sort of a subject -- in the lasttly year, became a republican. i feel like i am unbiased in certain ways. democrats just did not do the election correctly. they were just gloating, thinking that they were winning and it was such a surprise to them that hillary clinton lost. it is just a complete fabrication. ok.: carol from los angeles. let's go to john in minnesota, democrats line. caller: i just wanted to comment on friction between the parties on the health care plan. i think the repeal of obamacare on the republican side, it is the name obamacare. democrats have done a disservice by naming the bill after a party when it actually was a part of congress. they would just conti

listen to what dianne feinstein said. >> you have evidence of their was in fact collusion between donaldcampaign? >> not at this time. >> not at this time. meanwhile the head of the national to make time horizon has >>come on. >> my mama taught me she did do potty talk but i hope you don't mind because this is a transport project. their leaders and donald trump do not care about the people they were trying to hurt! >> while! and then there is a former leader of the democratic party, hillary clinton. came out of the woods the other day and took no responsibility for her devastating defeat. >> i was on the way to winning before people were inclined to vote for me and got scared off. >> adding insult to injury even her democratic colleagues are sick of her and her telling her basically, get off of the stage. >> we have to take full responsibility for this. democrats are fighting for america's working families and it is up to us to make that clear. >> ojames comey did not say put any optransfer it takes a lot o work to lucy donald trump your levitate. use least popular presidential candidate

more shock than awe from senator dianne feinstein. dianne feinstein> "i become incredulous thinking about the ongoing fbi investigation into russia's interference with our presidential election, ."the white house blamed comey for mishandling the hillary clinton email probe "i think it's been an erosion of confidence. i think director comey has shown over the last several months and frankly the last year a lot of missteps and mistakes. in his letter firing comey, the president made no mention of the emails, and said this about the russia investigation: "i greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that i am not under investigation,"but that investigation has not concluded. just a few days ago, comey asked for more money and personnel for the investigation into russia's interference in the presidential election, and hours before the firing, federal prosecutors subpoenaed associates of trump's former national security adviser michael flynn.