the fbi is in tatters. ing in tatters is the president's respect for the rule of law and the educated men and women deserve better. they retweeted the suggestion that the current head of the agency christopher wray should clean house. alberto gonzalez said criticizing the president would be tricky. >> nothing preventing them from coming out and talking about the great work that the did the department and the fbi is doing. if the white house believes they should be doing things better than expressing dedication to doing a better job, i think directly contradicting the president, you can express support for the fbi without contradicting the president or taking them on directly. >> let's discuss with mike rogers, the former head of the house intelligence and a former fbi special agent. the cnn national security commentator. should the current head of the fbi defend his agency. >> i hope he stays out of all of this. >> one of the things that got the fbi in trouble was tiptoeing into and out of politics. the agen

join the discussion. announcer: fbi director christopher wray was asked about special counsel robert mueller's investigation into russian influence in the 2016 elections and the ongoing review by the justice department into the fbi's handling of the hillary clinton email investigation. director ray also talked about comments made by president trump on twitter about the work and reputation of the fbi. this house judiciary committee oversight hearing is for hours. -- four hours. >> the judiciary committee will come to order. and without objection, the chair is authorized to declare recesses of the committee at any time. we welcome everyone to this morning's hearing on oversight of the federal bureau of investigation. i'll begin by recognizing myself for an opening statement. thank you, director wray, for appearing for the first time in front of this committee and thank you for your service to our country and your new position. there is much to discuss today, and we look forward to your answers. the president recently twee

we have heard other veterans of the fbi push back against this attack on the reputation of the fbi. with the time i have left, would you respond to this tweet by the president? is the fbi's reputation in tatters? >> this is something that matters to me. there is no shortage of opinions out there. what i can tell you is that the fbi that i see is tens of thousands of agents and analysts and staffs working there tails off to keep americans safe from the next terrorist attack, child the fbi that i see is tens of thousands of brave men and women who are working as hard as they can to keep people that they will never know safe from harm. the fbi that i see is reflected in folks like the new class of agents that i swore in at quantico two days ago, high integrity people. people like the hostage rescue teams and swat teams that we send out into all sorts of danger with no notice. decent people committed to the highest principles of integrity and respect. respectedat i see is and appreciated by our partners in federal, state, and local law enforcement, the intelligence community, our foreign

at the fbi, not the rank and file agents within the fbi. and much of that swirls around the senior leadership of former fbi director james comey. congressman dowdy well highlighted a series of anomalies involving director comey, director comey as well as former attorney general flynn. director comey's gone. now we have new questions this week about integrity of other fbi officials, fbi agent peter strop, agent strop was until recently the fbi's number two counterintelligence official, correct? >> i think he was number two -- one of the number twos in the counterintelligence division. >> and then after some approximately 10,000 texts, some of which included anti-trump or pro-clinton sentiments he was reassigned to the human resources division at the fbi, correct? >> correct. >> and so hereto for we've learned about that reassignment headed up the clinton e-mail investigation for director comey, correct? >> i know he was actively involved in the investigation, who headed it up, but i think i'd have to defer on that. >> we know he was present f

the president recently tweeted that the fbi is in tatters. while some will take umbrage with president trump's assertion, it does appear to me that at the very least the fbi's reputation as an impartial nonpolitical agency has been called into question recently. we cannot afford for the fbi which has traditionally been dubbed the premier law enforcement agency in the world to become tainted by politicization or the deception of even handedness. question of the fbi's impartiality first came to light under the obama administration surrounding the handles of the investigation into the clinton e-mail server scandal. you, director wray, have a unique opportunity to repair the damage of the reputation of the fbi and we encourage you in the strongest terms to do so. director comey's decision to weigh in on the fate of the investigation and the mishandling of classified e-mails by former secretary of state hillary clinton was one that brought criticism to the bureau from all sides. the fbi's decision to recommend no charges against former -- the forme

what else does the fbi need? 95% conviction rate, a high ranking snitch and a confession on twitter. so if president trump isn't in prison next year, then damnit, i want the oatmeal guy as my lawyer too. >> not the oatmeal guy but john dowd said he wrote that tweet. >> another attorney for the president said he wrote that tweet. it made me wonder, you know, what is the tweeting process going on there in the white house? you know, is the president just firing things off or do people in the staff sending in suggestions? >> who has access to that account? >> it's something we haven't heard from the white house in ten months, in the year since elected all the unhingeded tweets we have not heard that defense until now. >> we haven't heard "i didn't really say that." >> this is a new one. >> another high powered man facing accusations of sexual assault. this morning sexual misconduct, rather. "the new york times" reporting three men are accusing james levine who say he xaully abused them decades ago. the met suspending

the fbi's credibility is on the line every time an fbi agent shows up and opens up their credentials troduces themselves as part of an organization that is respected around the world. and to have a president diminish that organization, i think, is absolutely crazy. and the president -- this is where the president needs to start to understand that this is a little bit bigger than yourself in this case. i mean, the drama credit card of this administration is over its limits. you cannot continue to ramp up these, i think, pejorative attacks on america's institutions that we will need when the president is here, and when the president is gone. these are really important. the men and women of the fbi deserve a lot better than this. >> there you go. mike rogers, lisa monaco, thank you very much. >>> "cnn newsroom" with poppy harlow and john berman is going to pick up after this very break. (whining) aww, i see a big puppy. i see a b-i-i-g pu-u-ppy. hey greg! that's ford, america's best-selling brand. now get exclusive holiday offers, with 0% financing for 72 months across a full line up. fo

i think there was a significant crisis not only at the fbi, but at the justice department. ad this other fbi agent involved in the clinton email investigation. also involved in the rush investigation. a key decision-maker in both investigations.. both investigations in my view have been irredeemably compromised. the clinton investigation needs to be reopened and the mueller investigation needs to be shut down until we figure out how badly it's been politicized. >> tucker: it's not just the inherently political investigations that have troubling elements. some of the criminal investigations, the ones into the mass shootings, i thinkme raise questions that are striking. we are going to vegas tomorrow. to look into the fbi investigation there. >> we still don't have basic information about the vegas shooting. >> tucker: that's why we are going. thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> tucker: how will longtime clinton ally respond to these recent revelations about mueller's team? we will bring them on to find out. stay tuned. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> tucker: general mike flynn lied about con

the reputation of the fbi. with the time i have -- we haven't heard from you. with the time i have left will you respond to this tweet by the president. it the fbi's reputation in tatters? >> mr. chairman, may i have time to answer this question? because it's something that matters to me. >> go ahead, please. >> congressman, there is no shortage of opinions out there. what i can tell you is that the fbi that i see is tens of thousands of agents and analysts and staff working their tails off to keep americans safe from the next terrorist attack, gang

but they expect is for the fbi not to be. this brings into question again more than two times in a year, one with the former director and now with the investigation of his person who's involved in it or was, is this also as political as anything else? that's what drives the distrust. glad you're here. let's move on. just about a week before the alabama special senate election, republican leader mitch mcconnell dropped his opposition to that g.o.p. candidate roy moore. the president tweeting his outright support for the controversial ten candidate, polls showing at his neck and neck in alabama. what a moore victory would mean for republicans. and after historic senate vote on tax reform, republicans now working to get a bill the president's desk by christmas. all in on trashing the tax plan whether it's a good tragedy. we'll talk about it. stay close. hello, i'm an idaho potato farmer. you've probably seen me running all over the country in search of our big idaho potato truck. but not any more. i am done with that. ooh, ooh ho

the department of justice, the fbi investigates. i gave a list of the department of justice. >> if there's anything tho warrants federal investigation, we'd look at it. >> so can we refer these women to the department of justice if they walked up to the department of justice would there be an intake officer, fbi officer that would take their complaints? >> if somebody wants to file a complaint of a potential federal crime, yes, they can report that to the fbi or they can write. anybody can do that at any time. >> let me publicly say to these women, you have one option at this time. to go to the department of justice as the deputy attorney general just said to us to file a complaint. i encourage them to do that. i would also encourage this hearing as well to do this -- this committee to have hearings. let me ask this question. and of course the memo by sessions that rescinds memos regarding the charging and sentencing policy and also the use of private prisons. that was by eric holder. what is the position of the u.s. department of ju

just as it is when he goes after the fbi or the u.s. goes after the news media. these are basic pillars. >> the most astounding thing is to watch the republicans turn away from the opportunity to push back what he tries to undermine the institutions. they took an oath not to a president. when you talk to them privately, they moan and grown about what we are talking about. where were they when he said the fbi was in tatters? did anyone stick up for them? jeff sessions doesn't. not one. occasionally they say we need a free press, but this systematic -- >> free journalism. i'm messing that up. once in a while. >> it's a rare occasion that they push back and say these norms, these institutions, this trust is a part of our special system and it can't survive without it. they have become silent on this. >> when he talks about fake news, he talks about the journalists who are there working hard and did it throughout the campaign and a year later he is doing it as president of the united states at the fbi academy in quantico, virginia. >> we ca

rebuild the fbi. it will be bigger and better than ever. it is sad when you look at those documents and how they've done that is really, really disgraceful and you have a lot of very angry people that are seeing it. it's a very sad thing to watch. i will tell you that. >> loved it. all right. so the president is -- is speaking a lot. he's making a lot of headlines heading to quantico. we will bring you more of those in a moment. a lot going on here in new york at the u.n. meantime secretary of state rex tillerson about to address the u.n. security council on north korea. the world will be listening for more apparent disconnections potentially between what the president has said on north korea and what his secretary of state rex tillerson has said on north korea. let's go through all of this. abby philip at the white house with more. quite a busy friday morning there? >> it definitely is. bright and early, the president is heading out this morning for quantico, but he's actually not meeting with fbi ag

limitis a 10-year term placed on the fbi director. hoover's director from 1924 until he dies in 1971. here we are because this doesn't entirely stop. in the 1980's, the fbi investigates the people of solidarity who are opposed to reagan cost -- reagan policies and central america. the terrorist attacks of are a huge001 impetus to reboot this kind of program. fear drives this. fear drives his feeling that you must act, regardless of the legal propriety of it, and deal with the consequences later. the nsa, after it september 11, begins collecting metadata of every phone call through major carriers. rudy to call, how long did you call them, what time, what date. phone conversations, the actual transcripts, so long as someone is outside the united dates or involved in international terrorism, as far as the pfizer court is concerned. internet communications -- as court isa concerned. internet communications are collected because you can't sort out foreign and domestic internet traffic in the world we live in. it is all interconnected. what

there's the issue of lying to the fbi. ere's also this whole other bucket of questions related to his conduct surrounding turkish be cleric guill gulen and wheth plotted to remove him in the united states in some kind of kidnapping plot. really there are a full range of sort of possible exposures here running from some serious paperwork issues, essentially, all the way to sort of, you know, major kidnapping sort of type crimes. so the fact that really what we're seeing here are charges based way, way at the end of the spectrum, you know, a count of lying -- two counts of lying does indicate that he's pleading to lesser charges considering the full range of possibilities here. >> and remember, it was at the beginning of this week that we learned that lawyers for michael flynn told lawyers for the president that they couldn't cooperate anymore. this puts this in a different perspective, susan? >> right. one of the speculations when that information came out was the indication that flynn was going to cooperate, he had withdraw

outside the fbi? >> well, i think they are truly independent. they can be fired. you can fire the director and keep going down the line but with 35,000 employees, at some point the buck is going to stop. i worked with fbi agents for over 20 years and they are the most professional dedicated to mission people i ever met. that's why i find this attack on the fbi to be so harmful. in self-interest, president trump is trying to undermine the credibility of the fbi for this case but the effect is undermine public credibility in every case. if you ask agents, they won't care and say i have thick skin and i can take it. in terms of the thousands of cases pending around the country, bank robbery cases, while collar crime, the jury hears the president say they are a disgrace. i think this is incredibly anti law enforcement and procriminal to make these statements. >> edward, you were outside the beltway u.s. attorney in the west heern district of tennesse. when barb says this is nationwide implications across l

>> former deputy head of counter intelligence at the fbi. peter strzok, that one. >> i don't know his precise title, but he had a -- >> he ran the clinton campaign, changed the exoneration letter from extreme carelessness, interviewed mike flynn, peter strzok selected by mr. mueller to be on his team. that peter strzok, we learned, at all of these text messages, got to read some of some of them aerothis morning. as my colleagues point out, some of them you know, show he didn't like trump. show they don't like the president. but that's nothing new. no one on mueller's team likes trump. we already knew that. but i want to focus on one in particular. one in particular. and this is a text message from mr. strzok to miss page, recalling a conversation and a meeting that took place in andrew mccabe's office, deputy director of the fbi, recalling a meeting earlier, and there strzok says this. "i want to believe the path you threw uout for consideration in andy's office," then there's a break, "there's no way he get elected." i want to believe that,

you know but then there's an admission to lying to the fbi. t just doesn't make sense why the president would feel like, you know, saying that would clear the air. >> now, there is a -- there is a kind of arcane violation of law that would come into play based on what we know about what general flynn did, which is a violation of this law, the logan act, very rarely applied, when private citizens are negotiating for the united states of america. we have a tradition in this country that presidents are presidents until the moment that they leave office. and there's only one voice for american foreign policy. that was violated here. but one suspects that there's more to this than that. and only general flynn really has the answer. >> and the white house said yesterday by way of trump's attorney ty cobb that it was the obama administration that authorized flynn's contacts with the russian ambassador sergei kislyak, and so, you know, it's the obama administration's fault in part that flynn was in the position he was in. >> yes, i think that has been

and that's why the fbi was after him. and the white house just won't say, won't say one way or the other which is remarkable. well, now at foreign policy.com what may end up being a bombshell report that says in fact the president did know that mike flynn had lied to the fbi. he knew right away before mike flynn resigned and the white house counsel told him the white house turned over records to robert mueller revealing in the first days of the trump presidency, don mccann vernl researched federal law and the records reflected concerns that mcgahn had, that michael flynn had possibly violated either one or both laws at the time. the disclosure that the records exist and in possession of the special counsel could bolster any potential obstruction of justice case against president donald trump. the records that mcgahn turned over to the special counsel indicate that he researched both statutes and that he warned president trump about flynn's possible violations. >>> he felt they were using him as scapegoats that trump did no

and that's why the fbi was after him. the president knows if he knew, before flynn resigned, did he know? after flynn resigned, did he know? did he know at any time before flynn pled guilt to those charges? this is a knowable thing. but the president himself and white house steadfastly will not answer that question. >> two quick questions, when did the president know that mike flynn lied at the fbi? >> as i said earlier, i referred you to john's clarification -- >> i'm asking for a day, when did he find out? was it when the announcement was made friday, was it prior to that? >> again, i'm not aware of the specifics, but i would refer you to john -- i would refer you to john dowd. >> no problem. point to you, you have weighed in on other special counsel issues before. statement of fact during administration what day the president discovered this lie issue. >> and i'm telling you as a statement of fact you should contact john dowd. doesn't seem that hard. >> i'll ask on monday when the president became aware that michael fly

"king, in view of your" -- this is from the fbi. "i will not dignify your name with a mr., or a reverent, or a doctor, your name calls to mind only a king like that of henry the eighth. look into your heart, you know you are rate fraud and liability for all of our us negros" -- this is definitely a dude from the fbi. "you are a colossal fraud, clearly you don't believe in any personal moral principles. you are filth" etc. you are on the record, all of your sexual orgies. listen to yourself, your filthy -- you filthy animal here to the american public, the church organizations helping protestants, catholics, and jews will know you for what you are, a beast. there is only one thing left to do, there is only one thing -- you better do it. you are done. your fraudulent self is bared for the nation." he is encouraged to kill himself because he is such a threat to the nation in their view. the fbi then offers to turn the tape over to the press. the press turns him down and the fbi back down in the face of a looming investigation into feder

as a result, the president attacking both the fbi and the justice department, and one tweet the president agent, quote, tainted and very dishonest and trump declared in another tweet after years of comey with the phony dishonest clinton investigation and more, running the fbi, its reputation is in tatters. worst in history, but fear not, we will bring it back to greatness. and i want to go now to salt lake city where president trump is going to make an announcement about two national monuments that he's supposed to say will be significantly reduced. >> thank you to a -- thank you to a very special manor rin hatch for the introduction and that was truly a nice introduction, and i appreciate it. you are a true fighter, orrin, i have to say. i've gotten to know him very well. i've gotten to know a lot of people very well. you meet fighters and you meet people who were thought they were fighters, but they're not so good at fighting. he's a fighter. we hope you will continue to serve your state and the country and the senate for a very long time to come. [ applause ] >> i want to especially th

he said people are very angry about the fbi. it's clear that one person is very, very angry about it. it's the president himself. here's more of what he said when he was asked specifically about his thoughts about the fbi that he shredded on twitter a matter of weeks ago, saying its reputation was in tatters. >> it's a shame what's happened with the fbi, but we're going to rebuild the fbi. it will be bigger and better than ever. it's sad when you look at those documents and how they've done that is really, really disgraceful. you have a lot of very angry people that are seeing it. it's a sad thing to watch, i will tell you that. i'm going today on behalf of the fbi, their new building. everybody, not me, when everybody, the level of anger at what they've been witnessing with respect to the fbi is very sad. >> reporter: that was president trump speaking on the south lawn, preparing to board marine one. we tried to pin him down on some questions that remain unanswered. one of them, a significant one, when did the president find out

the president said the fbi is in tatters. let's listen. >> put out as a justification for closing the investigation of the former secretary of state. as i said mr. chairman, i believe the standard is gross negligence. i leave it to others to conclude whether extremely careless and gross negligence are the same thing. but i will say that the particulars of the investigation and the decisions that were made and whether or not it was handled appropriately is, as i think it should be, the subject of an outside independent investigation by the inspector general and look forward to his findings as i'm sure the committee does as well. >> in july of 2016 the state department revealed that former secretary of state hillary clinton exchanged on her unsecured private server nearly two dozen top secret e-mails with three state department officials. the classification top secret means, in part, the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to national security. can you explain to the

the trump administration versus the fbi. the president weeds and raises s democrats talk obstruction of justice. hockey fbi officials anti-trump texts are raising new questions. the clock ticks down toward a possible government shutdown at the end of the week. it is monday. this is "special report" ." welcome to washington. i'm bret baier. president trump's rhetorical war with the agents law enforcement agency is escalating. contrasting the unfair treatment of a man who used to be one of his top aides with the bureau's handling of hillary clinton email scandal. it comes on the day when the president executed another big rollback of a major obama administration initiative. chief white house correspondent john roberts starts us off with the president's remarks on general michael flynn. >> leaving the white house today for salt lake city, president trump waited for the first time in person on the guilty plea from his former national security advisor. >> well, i feel badly for general flynn. i feel very badly. he's led a very str

hillary clinton lied many times to the fbi and nothing happened to her. flynn lied and they destroyed his life. i think it's a shame. >> reporter: mr. trump's legal team is offering a preview of a potential defense in the event the special counsel's office makes its way to the oval office. the president cannot obstruct justice because he's the chief law enforcement officer. the president's outside attorney told axios, and has every right to express his view of any case, a case echoed by professor alan dershowitz on fox news. >> he has constitutional authority to tell the justice department who to investigate, who not to investigate. >> reporter: that ignores the fact one of the former articles of impeachment brought against bill clinton and richard nixon was obstruction of justice. >> well, i'm not a crook. >> reporter: president trump is also lashing out at federal investigators, tweeting that the fbi's reputation is in tatters, worst in history, but fear not, we will bring it back to greatness. as to his claim that hillary clinton lied to investigators,

that the fbi is in tatters? >> congresswoman, the agents, analysts and staff of the fbi are big boys and girls. we understand that we will take criticism from all corners and we're accustomed to that. i believe personally based on what i've seen that our reputation with our counterparts in law enforcement, federal, state and local, our counterparts in the intelligence community, our counterparts around the world, the communities that we serve, the victims that we protect, the judges we appear before, the scientists we interact with in the laboratory services space, for example -- >> i have another question -- >> my experience has been our reputation is quite good. >> thank you very much. i want to be assured to the american people that andrew weissmann and peter strzok, removed from their posts, that that will not sabotage bob mueller's investigation to trump campaign's collusion with russia. their removal? >> i'm sorry. >> that their removal peter strzok and mr. weissmann, will not sabotage mueller's investigati

why wouldn't you be calling the fbi and say what? ve money to get information from russian intelligence? >> no. the information came from mr. steele. >> tucker: where do you think he got it? >> from a variety of sources some of whom were russians. >> tucker: that information provided by the putin government influenced a u.s. investigation of a sitting president. >> i think you are going way out on a limb. >> tucker: i am not. >> you are. >> tucker: you are saying that's okay. that information from russian intelligence -- >> back up a bit. we know from our intelligence agencies who got information from their sources in russia and other places that the russian government attempted to and did engage in influencing the american presidential election. we also know from our intelligence agencies that got information from russians, not only did they attempt to influence the presidential election, they attempted to hack into our electorol process. >> tucker: russian intelligence is influencing a federal investigation into the president. >> yo

deep state, but the idea of purging the fbi. in the days since president trump has started insulting the fbi and its legitimacy and credibility, we've just learned today the fbi agents association has received more than 2,000 donations totaling more than $140,000. it doesn't seem the public is turning against the fbi, but what do you make of those comments from congressmen rooney? >> well, there are a handful of republicans who are doing this. and like congressman rooney, they're either in very right-wing districts where they have safe seats so they can mouth off this way or they're nuts. because the majority of the american people don't buy any of this. these attacks on the fbi, on robert mueller, make absolutely no sense. what robert mueller is doing is investigating infiltration of the united states election, computer hacking, espionage by russia, a country that has been an adversary for the united states since the 1918 communist revolution in russia and the establishment of the soviet union. and a lot of the cold war mentalit

that brought about swift condemnation from folks who know the fbi best from sally yates -- the fbi is in tatters? no. the only thing in tatters is the president's respect for the rule of law. the dedicated men and women of the fbi deserve better. this from former ag, eric holder. nope, not letting this go. the fbi's reputation is not in tatters. it's composed of the same dedicated men and women who have always worked there and do a great apolitical job. you'll find integrity and honesty at the fbi and not at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. the president railing against what sounds like every man and woman who serves in the fbi. >> and the idea, irrespective of those individuals who put their life on the line and serving communities across the country, this is all about how he wants to create a narrative around these institutions of government and culture and society. and have -- reshaped in his image, in his mind thought if you will. people look at them the same way he does. the idea starting with the media. now a significant number of americans think the media are not good for america, ant

president trump knew flynn misled the fbi weeks before he actually fired flynn. don mcgann told trump in january that flynn misled pence and investigators. the president did not act on that recommendation for weeks many this is a bombshell development and it creates huge problems for the president. who even today tried to defend his ex national security adviser. >> i feel badly for general flynn. he's led a strong life. and i feel badly. i will say this, hillary clinton lied many times to the fbi and nothing happened to her. flynn lied and they destroyed his life. i think it's a shame. >> trump leaving unanswered this key question about general flynn. >> thank you very much. >> did you lie to the fbi? >> trump's problems garn when he fired off a series of angry tweets this weekend in the wake of flynn's guilty plea to lying to the fbi. among them, i had to fire general flynn because he lied to the vice president and the fbi. remember, back in may, trump said he fired flynn, because he lied to pence. he did not mention in anyway shape or format that time that flynn

the fbi here calling the president an idiot.question about the integrity of the conflict of interest generated in someone else's to investigate your point of special counsel to do it instead. on the american people down in favor of this conflict of interest could write no molars pro does compromise the repeated examples of conflicts of interest dragged out slowly by the department of justice or congress and it's hard for the american people to find any reason to trust it. lou: don't you find it stunning that ron rosenstein doesn't find any need for any concern whatsoever, and even as his entire department has been ripped asunder by so many conflicts of interest, intent to subvert and, by the way, i sort of illicit affair in the midst of all of this between two people responsible for the integrity of the justice system and indeed the security of the nation. >> if i could just say, this is also about the bureaucracy. it is such a habit, a habit to defend, you look at the process you have in the process and the process is good and

did he ever go to the fbi? he ever go to the department of justice and said michael flynn lied to the fbi? no, in fact what he tried to do was obstruct any inquiry into michael flynn, whatever he said to comey, which he disputes, we know he said to the public, this is a witch hunt. well, so he's trying to obstruct the investigation itself. so we see a lot of comparisons. the other thing i wanted to point out that's very interesting is that we know from the white house tapes, that's a sinister force, we know that richard nixon, the president of the united states orchestrated the cover-up from the get go. almost from the very minute that the burglars were apprehended, he was orchestrating the cover-up. it wasn't his aids, it wasn't his lawyers, it wasn't some low level person -- it was he himself. okay. let's go fast forward to donald trump and michael flynn. michael flynn's job is to call the russian ambassador and say, don't escalate a response, retaliation and response to what president obama's going to do. and

the fbi's reputation is not in tatters. it's composed of the same dedicated men and women who have always worked there and who do a great apolitical job. you'll find integrity and honesty at the fbi headquarters and not at 1600 penn avenue right now. and senator lindsey graham of north carolina had this warning for president. >> there is an ongoing criminal investigation. comey may be part of it. you tweeting comment regarding ongoing criminal investigations at your own peril. i'd be careful if i were you, mr. president. i'd watch all this. >> heidi przybyla, eugene robinson and former fbi special agent clint watts. i want to start with heidi. it seemed to be the more ludicrous part. whenever trump gets in trouble like the witness for the prosecution just named, it's michael flynn coming at trump with everything he's got because he has to save his life, basically. he is going after hillary. >> it's classic deflection. and there is something that is not clicking there that doesn't oh dour him that it's not going to work to tr

the fbi is 35,000 plus strong. one of the strengths of the fbi is that its political layer is so remarkably thin. by that i mean, how many of those 35,000 employees are political appointees? the answer is, only one. every other man and woman in the fbi is a career civil servant. >> will you describe for our audience your role at the fbi. >> two roles. i had the privilege of working for two directors. i worked for bob mueller in 2002 and 2003 as counsel for the director and also i worked for jim comey as his chief of staff. so i got to work with these men and women. they're extraordinary. i can't prove to you here that the fbi is not in at thatattersn tell you they're not. i know they're not. but to barb's point, have a potential solution. the courthouse doors are in america are open to every citizen. every courthouse in america is open to the public. go watch a trial. watch these men and women testify. look at the cases they put together. you can decide for yourself. you don't have to believe us. you can decide whet

so right now he is no longer the director of the fbi. but we believe that director comey is on that plane, which is now taxiing down the runway in los angeles, presumably they'll be flying back to the east coast, presumably, the fbi headquarters in washington. he'll be heading back to washington, but all of this is unscripted at this point. all of this is unprecedented. there are historical parallels to what happened today, but there is -- there has never been anything like this before. there's been one instance previously in u.s. history in wit an fbi director has been fired by a u.s. president. that was a very different circumstance. it was president bill clinton at the time. the fbi director who was fired was william sessions. there were in effect abuse of office concerns that had been documented against him by the department of justice. things like using a department of justice aircraft to fly to see his family. things like using department resources to build a fence around his house that didn't seem to have any security purpose. and

you cannot lie to the fbi, that is breaking the law. removing peter strzok, would that make them out of the way so the fbi can't be held accountable, how does that work? >> i don't know exactly because you are throwing something at me but i wouldn't think that -- he wouldn't be the one who was in jeopardy, it would be huma abedin using your hypothetical. james comey was sufficiently concerned about these emails, ten days, 11 days before the election he sent a note to congress saying we are reopening the investigation. a lot of people in the clinton campaign thinks that is what peter, it's only was not helpful to her. why would they do that and on the other hand cover up for huma abedin in the next ten days? it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. >> harris: i hear you. i also question why would the president fire james comey, what democrats were defending against that, saying the president can't do that, its obstruction. we could go back and forth all day but right now on the hill is the director of the fbi taking a whole lot of questio

the fbi in the world. it is not in tatters.icated, many of whom put their lives on the line every day for the safety and security of this country. but regrettably, this seems to be the common practice of president trump. >> do you think the attorney general has a duty to address the comments that the new head of the fbi has a duty to address them? >> i most certainly do. the longer there is silence, that in fers acquiescence or agreement with what the president said. and i think it's important. not just for the attorney general but also the leader of the fbi, ray, to say something about this. the special agents organization already has, which for them is a pretty unusual thing. >> well, look. it is a tough spot. no question. they would have to contradict the president. they are working for him. he may well come after them. at the end of the day they work for the american people. they are there for the constitution. let me get your take on another emerging issue. what do you make of the new facts and circumstances surrounding mi

flynn had lied to the fbi which is a felony. that's a big deal. >> the other point i want to raise is today president trump under mind his position publicly and he also given us the impression that mr. flynn did not make a mistake and if no mistakes are made during the transition which means that president trump believes if it is okay that his team under mind our efforts to play sanctions on russia after russia had intervene of the 2016 campaign. that's part of the official document that we saw. we know now that mr. flynn admitted this that he talked to the russians and signals to the russians that the obama approach would not be the approach of the upcoming trump administration. which means mr. trump believes that's okay. us going light on putin was the right thing to do. that raises all kinds of questions. >> one of them, renato, within that guilty plea, we see that flynn was in communication with prominent members of the trump inner circle that were part of the transitions and cnn telling us one was jared kushner who was instr

the fbi is honest. the fbi is strong, and the fbi is and always will be independent. and just a short time ago, this defiant statement from the president of the fbi agent's association, quote, every day fbi special agents put their lives on the line to protect the american public from national security and criminal threats. agents perform these duties with unwavering integrity and professionalism and a focus on complying with the law and the constitution. this is why the fbi continues to be the premiere law enforcement agency in the world. fbi agents are dedicated to their mission. suggesting otherwise is simply false. cnn's crime and justice reporter is here with us. also with us, white house reporter jeremy diamond. the fbi community not standing idly by while the president criticizes them. what do you make of these responses? >> i think people are fed up at this point. i've been on the phone with some people within the fbi community and it's been a day of sort of here we go again. they went through this once before, a couple of other times, and again it has started

and the fbi has been looking at this for well over a year now. now we have two people, one very senior person who worked in the white house admitted to lying to the fbi about their contacts with russian officials about the purpose of the contacts. for fieinstein she said by her committee, here's her saying that today. i see it in the hyper phonetic attitude of the white house and the comments every day. the continual tweets. i see it most importantly in what happened with the firing of director comey. it is my belief that that is directly because he did not agree to lift the cloud of the russia investigation. that's obstruction of justice. >> that is the key as the senator said. the lifting of the sort of russia investigation that frustrated the president. comby is certainly the former fbi director and the obstruction, whether or not that firing had anything to do with the investigation and the fact that the fbi would not let flynn go. remember the president asked the former fbi director and all of that still under investigation. what we learned t

the fbi stays on the count counterintel part. bob mueller rides to the rescue to save criminals from obstruction of justice. >> tim weiner is the author of "energy." boy, i'm glad you were able to come here tonight. >>> regulations were written in 1999 at the department of justice after the statute that previously covered for you. we don't have that many experiences with how this crime investigation goes. we have a person with us now who knows about the regulations, the ins and outs, because he helped right them in 1999 because he was justice tore eric holder. he has been back in the news lately as a lawyer arguing against the president's travel ban on behalf of the state of hawaii. thank you for being here. i appreciate it. >> thanks, rachel. >> does that mean you were a writer for 1989, exactly this kind of situation. the first lines of the counsel regulations assumes the government is compromised and they provided for the general to take place of the attorney general. then they weigh in with special counsel and how. can you ju

i've always had a lot of respect for the fbi. arted in politics during the nixon era when you still had some -- not necessarily best people in the fbi and other agencies. and i think over the last 20 or 30 years we've tried to clean that up and move it forward. somehow it's politicized in the last eight years and i think the justice department was the lead of that. and i think there's no question -- i've never seen in all of the years i've been around politics, ever an attempt to tip the balance as they did. they were pro-hillary and anti-trump. and the idea that you were going to let the people make their choice, have a check mate system of. gregg: it never made sense when james comey stood up in july of 2016 and laid out a failly meticulous case of how hillary clinton had violated the law in the handling of her e-mails and then said but no reasonable prosecutor will bring this case. now we're beginning to learn how that all occurred. people changed the wording in his statement to clear her when nirnlly he was going to refer an i

the fbi director isn't. the deputy fbi director isn't. the special counsel is.ector, so don't tell me the seventh floor of the fbi is tainted. they're not conducting the investigation. let me give you a couple of facts if you want to argue that this is some sort of deep state democratic conspiracy. number one, a trump nominee and appointee, the deputy attorney general, says this is an appropriate investigation. he nominated a former republican fbi director nominee, robert mueller, to run the investigation. that's two for two senior republicans who say the investigation is appropriate. four indictments have come out of this, two of those have resulted in guilty pleas from people who said yes, not only did i do wrong but i lied to the fbi. so we can have all this conversation about conspiracy at the fbi, but i'm going to say if you think this is a bunch of democrats conspiring, republicans run the investigation. the fbi leadership doesn't, including the fbi director nominated by the president of the united states. number two, there are four indictments, two of whi

the fbi agents association tweeting a response to the president. ey write in part, quote, everyday fbi special agents put their lives on the line to protect the american public from national security and criminal threats. agents perform these duties with unwavering integrity and professionalism and a focus on complying with the law and the constitution. this is why the fbi continues to be the premier law enforcement agency in the world. fbi agents are dedicated to their mission, suggesting otherwise is simply false. so there you have the fbi agents association responding to the president of the united states who says that the agency is at its worst state in history. i want to move on from that and talk about the unusual explanation from the president's tweet about his reasons for firing michael flynn. trump's personal attorney john dowd today claimed he was the author of that social media post. i do want to remind you for context, something very important that came from the white house podium previously this summer from sean spicer, then press secre