the truth so help you god. >> thank you. >> testifying last week before a joint senate committee, comey was at pains to explain his mails turned up on a computer l shared by clinton's top aide, huma abedin, and abedin's disgraced husband anthony weiner. the fbi admitted comey's testimony was inaccurate saying only a small number of e-mails were forwarded by abedin and none of the forwarded e-mails were marked classified. a small number of them however contained information that was later deemed classified. we still don't know what comey thinks of all this. he is now headed back from l.a. on the fbi's private jet. david wright, abc news, new york. >> david, thank yo while comey may have been blindsided by all of this, president trump did call congressional leaders to tell them about the decision. >> though the president repeatedly slammed the investigation into russian meddling and denied collusion between his campaign and moscow, white house press secretary sean spicer reiterating what kellyanne conway said insisting the decision to fire comey was prompted by the justice department. >> well

>> i was going to fire comey. d time to do it, by the way. i was going to fire regardless of recommendation. >> president trump's evolving timeline for james comey's firing. that's next. with type 2 diabetes a lower a1c is a lot about choices. but it can be hard sometimes, 'cause different sides of you struggle with which ones to make. well, what if you kept making good ones? then? you could love your numbers. discover once-daily invokana®, a pill used along with diet and exercise to significantly lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. it's proven to lower a1c better than januvia®. invokana® works around the clock by sending some sugar out of your body through the process of urination. it's not for lowering systolic blood pressure or weight loss, but it may help with both. invokana® may cause dehydration, which could make you feel dizzy or weak when you stand up, so be sure to drink enough water. important side effects to know may include kidney problems, genital yeast infections, changes in urination, o

comey. first it was based on the recommendation of the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. >> director comeyery unpopular with most people. i actually thought when i made that decision and i also got a very, very strong recommendation, as you know, from the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein. >> i was going to fire comey. there is no good time to do it, by the way. >> because in your letter you said i accepted their recommendations. you had already made the decision. >> i was going to fire regardless of recommendation. >> so there is two different versions of it, right? what does rosenstein say? now we know. he talked to senators directly and he told them that comey was going to be fired before he wrote the memo. democratic senator was there and he's a member of the senate judiciary committee. senator, thanks for being with us. so you are there face to face with rosenstein. what does he say? >> he said that he knew that trump was going to fire comey when he wrote that memo, which is very significant because it raises all kinds of questions about who helped him write the memo, maybe who

>> reporter: but after days of conflicting accounts about why he fired comey -- >> i was going to fire comey, my decision. >> reporter: -- the president is now putting the blame back on the memo written by the deputy attorney general calling for comey's dismissal. >> director comey was very unpopular with most people and i also got a strong recommendation from the deputy attorney general. >> but rosenstein gave a different story when briefed. >> he did acknowledge comey would be removed prior to him writing his memo. >> reporter: this as comey is breaking his silence about his conversations with the now fired fbi director. >> trump fired jim comey because the most dangerous thing in the world if you are donald trump is a person who tells the truth, is dogged, you can't control. >> benjamin recounting the day of that now famous public embrace between comey and the president at a white house reception shortly after the inauguration. >> comey did not want to go to that meeting. he doesn't believe that the president and the fbi director should, you know, have any kind of social relationshi

mike, you know, this was 12, 24 hours before the president axed james comey. was about to happen? >> no. if there was a sign in retro spect, he never brought up james comey and we never discussed james comey. but there was a clear sense of grievance the president had with how the russia investigation story was still beingdy gusted. he took us into his private dining room there in the west wing and tivoed up the senate hearing and basically gave his color commentary about the parts of the testimony he thought were most important, you know, implying that the witnesses were against him, trying to smear him and making the case once again that that tweet he put out, you know, a month and a half ago, that the president wiretapped him was correct because there was testimony that, you know, names were unmasked and not authorized by the white house that could have included members of his staff. >> you know, doug, as a republican, as a republican strategist, as a former communications guy, you have got sean spicer in the bushes or among the bushes. i like how they had to

at a time when it appeared that comey was really tryingstep up the investigation. >> woodruff: well, i want to ask you about that, because there is reporting today that director comey had gone to his superiors, i guess to the attorney general in recent days, asking to expand the russia investigation, asking for more resources. what you have learned about that? >> well, you know, the justice department is flatley denying that, even though members of congress are saying comey actually briefed them on this as part of his routine briefings on the status of the counter-intelligence investigations earlier this week. the justice department is saying, no, they didn't get a request for more resources. members of congress are saying they were-- they were specifically briefed by comey that he wanted to expand the investigation and was asking for more prosecutors. so, i mean, look, we don't know at this point. is that-- is that what led to jim comey's firing? was it-- was it the russian investigation? was it a general sense that comey was never going

telling cnn's jake tapper james comey was fired for two reasons. >> first, comeyver gave the president any assurance of personal loyalty. second, the fbi investigation into possible collusion by team trump with russia was accelerating. that may explain the timing here. sources tell cnn that comey was fired just a week after asking for more resources to investigate this russia connection. the white house for its part denies comey made that request. regardless, there's progress reported in that probe. a senate committee issuing a subpoena to former national security adviser michael flynn. more on that in a moment. >> okay, first, the white house doggedly defending its rationale for comey's firing. deputy press secretary sarah huckabee sanders using blunt language to describe the fbi director's handling of the investigation into hillary clinton's e-mails. >> i think one of the big catalysts that we saw was last week. on wednesday, director comey made a pretty startling revelation that he had essentially taken a stick of dynamite and thrown it into the department of j

comey was then the man heading the investigation into hillary clinton's e-mail server. mp tweeted at the time crooked hillary compromised her national security. no charges, wow, #rigged system. later trump criticized comey for seeming to build a case against clinton but not following through. >> after reading all of these items where she's so guilty, he let her off the hook. >> just two weeks later comey announced he had reopened the investigation into clinton's e-mail use and as democrats scorn trump praised comey. >> that was so bad what happened originally and it took guts for director comey to make the move that he made what he did. he brought back his reputation. he brought it back. i respect the fact that director comey was able to come back after what he did. i respect that very much. >> good job by the fbi. >> i respect that the fbi has given it a second chance. >> that good will tour continued as trump took office and did not fire the fbi director as some considered a possibility. even in march after comey confirmed that the fbi was investigating russia's interf

we know he didn't do it because he was upset that comey was mean to hillary. if in fact the motive was to disrupt this investigation, that's catastrophic. >> you say catastrophic but something like that requires republicans to start to believe that. >> it does. it does. i do think back to watergate where the senate republican leader at the time, the house republican leader, barry goldwater himself told his colleagues on august 6th, just before he went to the white house to tell nixon to resign, there are only so many lies you can take and now there's one too many. nixon should get his rear end out of the white house today. the republicans today are no barry goldwater. they all put their integrity in a blind trust. and jumped on the trump train. >> you don't think they're there yet? >> that was six years in. this is 100 days in. >> democrats have no political power right now. they need it to force the hand of republicans in congress for any kind of special investigation. i think that republicans have to go further down this road before they start jumping ship. >

not there and there was an email sent to him about this decision. we're told that comey didn't find out from this letter, he found out by looking up at the television as he was talking to agents in the fbi field office, talking about his testimony on capitol hill, they had a lot of questions and he looked up and saw the news on television, and i'm told he made a joke at the time, made light of it. >> he was talking to fbi agents in los angeles and he looks up and there's tv screens in the background and he sees that he's fired from television? >> that is what we are told from sources, myself, that he was there in the fbi field office, that he was talking to fbi agents and he apparently looks up and sees the news on television, and that's the first time he found out that he was fired from the fbi by president trump. and shortly after that, and at that time, people familiar with the situation said that he made light of the situation. everyone in that room was so shocked, and there was just silence when they realized what was going on. then the then fired fbi director james

comey. once he was elected, he embraced comey. and now to turn around months later and say, oh, yeah, that was just terrible, nah, come on. there's nobody left in america who believes that donald trump fired james comey in order to try -- because james comey was mean to hillary clinton. that's -- you know, there's a lot that donald trump says that makes you -- >> let me ask you this. >> sure. >> at one level, there's precedent for this. bill clinton was the last president to terminate an fbi director. it's within the powers of the president. it's a ten-year term. there's some independence, but they do serve at the pleasure of the president. the president can fire them. how big is say deal is this? >> it is a big deal. in fact, i think that's the only time an fbi director has been terminated, and that fbi director was terminated not because of any ongoing investigation. he was terminated for ethics violations. and so terminating someone because they have behaved in ways that are ethics violations, yes, of course. but that's -- you k

comey. the bombshell announcement, something that was completely undppd to anyone came just moments ago. trump in the letter hand delivered by a bodyguard he's had for decades wrote to comey that he is terminated and removed from office effective immediately. the letter goes on to say "while i greatly appreciate you informing me on treat the separate investigations that i'm not under investigation, i am under the impression you are not able to effectively lead the bureau. this is stunning. the president just fired the man who is leading an investigation into the trump campaign and whether it colluded with russians in rigging the u.s. presidential election. jeff zeleny is out front at the white house. joseph, nobody seemed to have any idea that this was coming. >> reporter: indeed, erin. this was a very closely kept credit at the white house. i'm told only a handful of top advisories knew this was coming. i am told moments ago that the president himself has been considering this, been thinking about this for at least a week. did not necessarily have the rational when they first started tal

reporter: senator said he was telling him he knew director comey was going to be fired before? mr. sherman: he knew the decision was going to be made and at the same time he observed a decision is not final until it's final. reporter: did he give the impression that he fully endorsed the decision to fire director comey? mr. sherman: his memo gives additional reasons of sleight or no relevance to the decision the president took. there's some sin tax in there -- sin text in there somewhere. reporter: why did rosenstein write that memo about james comey and who asked him to do it? mr. sherman: there were fewer than 15 questions on that subject but more than 10. pu more than 10. reporter: what did people want to know and was he responsive? mr. sherman: he was explicitly nonresponsive except with whatever implication there is from the phrase a decision is not final until it's final. so that his -- an implication his memo, while delivered after a decision had been made, could have affected the finalization of the decision. reporter: did he suggest he was pressured in any way to come down

the president considered firing james comey since she was elected. this led the white house to go through another cleanup effort putting out another time line saying the president had been losing confidence for months when he saw comey testifying the president had even more concerns and then after meeting with his attorney general and deputy attorney general and sort of reading their letters, that is when the president decided ultimately to fire comey, but you can see obviously once again the white house not really prepared with how they're crafting their narrative around this. >> i don't want to nitpick on word choice but atrocities. he committed an atrocity? syria, there are atrocities going on. these atrocities were the atrocities that candidate trump was praising during the campaign. if they are atrocities, the candidate was praising atrocities, right? >> that's right. during the campaign we saw donald trump, then a candidate, talk about how hillary clinton's e-mail scandal was the biggest thing in the world. he would praise james comey when it wo

was to hillary clinton. the only problem he ever had about comey's behavior was that he didn't charge her with a crime and president trump then citizen trump loved it when comey reopened the clinton case late in the campaign. it's as if we're expected to have all been blinded by that memory eraser thing from men in black and we wouldn't remember all the times that trump expressed concern that comey didn't charge hillary and then praised him. >> i respect the fact that director comey was able to come back after what he did. >> it took guts for director comey to make the move that he made in light of the kind of opposition he had where they're trying to protect her from criminal prosecution. >> let's us not forget that the fbi is in the middle of investigationing whether anyone in the trump campaign orbit had anything to do with the russian government attempts to interfere last year. in fact the firing comes a day after potentially embarrassing testimony for the white house about the russia investigation from the then acting attorney general sally yates. yates also fired by president trump days after warning the whit

if it was so bad, why didn't comey say something? it's a legitimate question, there is no doubt. >> wittes says he didn't actually maybe think it was so bad, that he thought it was manageable. >> but if it was manageable, it's hard to argue at the same time it was an obstruction of justice as a crime. so that is somewhat in trump's favor. but from comey's perspective, you can think for much of this period there is no attorney general at all, that sessions hasn't even been confirmed. >> fair point, so who would he have gone to? >> then very soon after sessions is confirmed, he recuses himself from the russia situation. and also, and this is, i think, the main point, comey thinks, look, if i don't pass the message to my subordinates, there can't be any obstruction because they won't even know the president is making this inappropriate contact with me, so i will protect the bureau by dealing with him one on one and then not disclosing it. i think that's the argument. >> let's get to more sound from this friend of comey's, because obvious

. >> i respect the fact that director comey was able to come back after what he did. it took guts for director comey to make the move that he made in light of the kind of opposition he had where they are trying to protect her from criminal prosecution. >> reporter: and just last week, the president tweeting that comey was the best thing that ever happened to clinton. the white house says the president acted on the recommendation of newly appointed deputy attorney general rod rosenstein who made the case for the firing in alert to his boss jeff sessions. asserting that the way the director handled the conclusion ever t of the e-mail investigation was wrong and the fbi is unlikely to regain public and congressional trust. the attorney general pledged just two months ago that he would recuse himself from any russia investigations after it was revealed he did not disclose contacts with a russian ambassador. despite that, sessions joining his new deputy in recommending that a fresh start is needed at the leadership of the fbi. despite this praise of comey six months earlier

this latest interview is quite a look inside the mind of donald trump. >> i was going to fire comey, my decision. president trump changing the message again, saying now it was his decision to fire james comey, not the recommendation of the top two justice department officials. >> he made a recommendation. but regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey, knowing there was no good time to do it. >> contradicting days of statements from the white house. >> he provided strong leadership to act on the recommendation by the deputy attorney general. >> the president took the advice of the deputy attorney general. >> the president saying. >> he's a grand stander. the fbi has been in turmoil. >> and for the first time admitting the fbi's investigation into possibly collusion between his election and russia was on his mind. >> i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made up store rhode island it is an excuse by the democrats for having lost an election that they should have won. >> a source close to comey saying he was fired over the accelerating russia invest

the white house cannot believe that pushing comey out was going to get him to be quiet. e an acc to try to express trump's displeasure with this investigation and more generally with how comey has been conducting affairs at the fbi. they've been very nonspecific about what their complaints are about him. >> shepard: do we have any idea where this investigation has taken -- if they have uncovered matters that have taken the investigation in different directions? if they were at one point getting into the discussions can mike flynn and sergei kislyak, have they found out new information to lead them in a different direction? >> i don't know about that. we know there's been a desire to move forward with some additional investigative steps. the earlier guests talked about it as a resource issue. >> shepard: josh, great to see you. >> thanks. >> shepard: some democrats are camming the firing of james comey nixonian. the only other president to fire an fbi director was a democrat as it turns out. we'll look how this case compared to that one and nixon's saturday night massacre.

we do know the president was increasingly frustrated with director comey. there were a number of things going back to when he wouldn't defend his tweet saying that president obama had wiretped trump tower. he was annoyed by that. he jt lt like he wasn't his guy. this is a president that really doesn't like that and feels totally fine taking action. >> we were ready to go to press last night at 7:00 before the comey firing with all kinds of examples of what trump has done to deflect attention from what this problem is. but if you look at what carol just mentioned, glenn, look at this. news about the extra people that are going to be put on, testimony by congressional people. have said that comey said he was going to add more forces to this investigation. the word of this northern virginia special -- rather, grand jury. certainly i thought the power of maybe i'm just a political romantic, but i thought the power of sally yates' testimony on monday just blew me away. i said wait a minute. trump doesn't like hard news reporters and he doesn't like public servant

the explanation is the absurd memorandum says the reason comey was fired is because he was too mean to hillary clinton. he said too many nasty things about her during the campaign and we've been playing them tonight. donald trump loved those things. he embraced jim comey all through the fall. and now for those exact reasons he claims that's why jim come hays to be fired. it's not believable. it simply couldn't happen. >> i want to bring in the rest of our panel. >> what he said. i think it is. i think it's bazar and an earthquake and i think rosenstein may well believe everything he wrote in this memo because lot of people believe that comey misdehamisbehaeved d the election. that he shouldn't have sent that letterer that sent the election upside down. but then you have to ask the question and i was hearing from somebody geving me the spin from the white house on this basically saying this is the deputy attorney general's recommendation and they sent it to the president and the president approved it. you have to ask why now? >> on the phone is the democratic congressman, the ranking me

it also is reported that it happened just as congress said comey was asking for more resources for the russia investigation. subpoenas were being issued. do you understand why people are thinking, hey, there is smoke here, there must be fire? >> again, anything that was taking place hasn't changed. look, i think that director comey had become a greater liability, if anything, i think the american people should have more confidence that they don't have somebody who is caught in this crossfire, who is part of this conversation, and you have an independent individual like the deputy attorney general who has been appointed by both obama and president trump. this is somebody who sets the gold standard within the legal system. i think he is a perfect example of what you would be looking for as terms of an independent person to come in and be the helm of this investigation. >> let me follow-up on that. "the washington post" has a story that says deputy attorney general rod rosenstein threatened to quit, he's one of the guys who wrote the three-page memo outlining the shortcomings of james com

wolf, shortly before the election, trump was generously praising comey. >> yes he was. on into the russia election meddling and context with the trump camp. >> back at end of october, this president was applauding the fbi director when he reopened the investigation into hillary clinton's e-mail. you seemed quite happy with him that point. what changed? >> i think the president's position. oh no, looks like somebody needs a new network. when i got this unlimited plan they told me they were all the same. they're not. verizon has the largest, most-reliable 4g lte network in america. it's basically made for places like this. honey, what if it was just us out here? right. so, i ordered you a car. thank you. you don't want to be out here at night 'cause of the, uh, coyotes. ok, thanks, bud. bye. be nice to have your car for some shelter. bye. when it really, really matters, you need the best network and the best unlimited. just $45 per line for four lines. so beautiful. what shall we call you? tom! name it tom! studies show that toms have the highest average earning potential

at the time he was fired, director comey had confirmed that the f.b.i. was conduct an investigation into russian interference in the 2016 elections and possible connections between the russians and the trump campaign and administration. last night grand jury subpoenas were issued to associates of michael flynn seeking business records. director comey was supposed to testify before the senate intelligence committee later this week. according to news reports, director comey last week went to the justice department and requested more money and veers to devote to the russian investigation. sally yates, preet bharara, james comey, three justice officials who led investigations that appeared to be getting close to the president and his inner circle. all three fired by president trump. president trump's firing of director comey made history. not since watergate on the evening of october 20, 1973, a saturday, known affectionately as the sat did i night massacre -- as the saturday night massacre, has the president dismissed an official in -- in its 109-year histor

and we now know when he knew that jim comey was going to be fired. plus questions for the vice president. did he know that general michael flynn was under swregs before flynn was named national security advisory. and jeanne moos on washington's top leak. hi guys. it's great to be here. in the desert. at the mall. on the mountain. at school. at the beach. in the big easy. yeah. yeah. today i want to show you guys the next-gen chevy equinox. what do you think? that's pretty. pretty sexy. it's all-wheel drive. look at that. it looks aggressive. but not overbearing. it's not too big. not too small. it looks like it can go off-roading. but at the same time, it looks like a car you can take to a nice event. you can dress it up or dress it down. seems like the perfect car for anybody. i would take it anywhere. i want one. i love it. she's a bad mama jama. chevy stepped their game up. ♪ ♪ i'm dr. kelsey mcneely and some day you might be calling me an energy farmer. ♪ energy lives here. come close, come close. fun in art class. i like that. [ music stops sudde

was asked about that. sean spicer did not know when those instances were that james comey told the president he was not under investigation. >> deputy fbi director is now the head of the fbi. he's now under investigation. >> on capitol hill comey's firing was met with shock across the political spectrum. republicans expressing a range of concerns but then focused on the timing of the dismissal months into trump's term and a year after comey's news conference on the clinton's e-mail. senator corker one of six senators critical of the timing. said this the removal will raise questions. >> senator flake said i spent the last several hours to find an acceptable rationale for comey's firing. john mccain said he's disappointed in the president's decision. marks a rare break with mccain from lindsey graham. lindsey graham voiced support for the firing of comey. >> on the other side of the aisle, democrats calling for a special prosecutor. senate minority leader, chuck schumer. >> this investigation must be run as far away as possible from this white house and as far away as possible from anyone that president trump

reports president trump told russian diplomats inside the oval office that newly fired fbi chief james comey was crazy and a real nut job and that the removal of comey would relieve great pressure from the russia investigation. comey alarmed. at friend of the fired fbi director says comey told him of his concerns about trump's behavior and his attempts to avoid the president, including a failed effort to escape a public hug. >>> answering to the house. deputy attorney general rod rosenstein who this week appointed a special counsel to lead the russia trump probe tells house members he knew in advance that comey would be fired but insists his now famous memo was not meant to justify the firing. >>> overseas mission. is a the late controversy erupts, president trump is headed towards saudi arabia, the first stop on his first overseas trip. the stakes and the risks. they are high, including an address to leaders of 50 muslim nations written by a leading figure by the president's travel ban. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> breaking news. president trump is on his way to saudi ar

two days before the election, comey revealed there was nothing there. last week, comey testified about abedin, weiner and those e-mails. >> his then spouse huma abedin appears to have had a regular practice of forwarding e-mails for him to print out for her so she could deliver them to secretary of state. >> reporter: comey said abedin forwarded hundreds of thousands of e-mails some of which contained classified information. but the fbi admitted, comey's most recent comments were wrong and his testimony was misleading. in a letter to congress, the fbi acknowledged abedin only forwarded a small number of e-mail to weiner. >> there is concern the fbi director gave inaccurate testimony? >> at this point i have not asked, not fully aware. i am aware of the testimony that occurred. and the inquiries, but i have yet to, follow up on that. glad to follow-up. >> does the president still have confidence, full confidence in fbi director james comey. >> i have no reason to believe. haven't asked him. i have not asked the president since the last time we spoke abou

director comey was not only a bad day for america. it was also a really bad day for james comey. a day where he got kicked hard in the dick, i'm pretty certain he will pick dick kick every single time. it's not just that he got fired. it's how he got fired. >> the firing of james comey surprised nobody more than comey himself, who learned of it when he saw the news on television. >> audience: ooooh! >> trevor: man, that's heartless. trump left "the apprentice," but he's still firing people on tv. ( laughter ) and i bet trump's advisers were like, "sir, he can't learn about this on tv." and trump was like, "why not? that's where i learn everything. why not?" ( cheers and applause ) so it's bad enough-- it's bad enough that comey found out he was being fired on live tv, but to add insult to injury, the reason he was in los angeles was to speak to potential f.b.i. recruits. which is so cruel. he's going to be in a room saying that the f.b.i. is hiring, as he's getting fired. ( laughter ) that's like if a waiter came out and found out that he was a cow, as he was recommending the t.

comey's firing. now we're learning the president was essentially seething over comey apparently for some time and it was the president who wanted him out. new details emerging. a long-time friend of the president telling cnn he was white hot over the russia investigation, that his anger had been mounting since comey rejected the president's still unproven claims that president obama wiretapped him. >> i have no information that supports those tweets. >> reporter: cnn reported two months ago that director comey was in disbelief over trump's allegation about obama chblt . t but "the new york times" going a step beyond this morning. >> reporter: a source close to the president a saying trump was spewing expolicetives comey made. >> it makes me mildly nauseous to think we might have had some impact on the election. but it wouldn't change the decision. >> the president ultimately concluded that comey was his own man, fiercely independent. firing him for never providing trump personal loyalty and because the russia investigation was accelerating. cnn also learning that comey requested additional resources

director comey was in los angeles for, i think, what was supposed to be a rec

there's no coherent answer for why comey was fired. so the question is that did the white house realize by tend of march that they weren't going to win comey over? and is that when they realized comey wasn't going to be the person they wanted running the fbi. >> because implicit unless choice is that it was unacceptable and it was never going to happen they would leave the investigation alone and expect somebody who couldn't be pressured to continue with it. if they exerted the pressure, he resisted and then they fired him, the question is what their expectations were in terms of how much they could direct this investigation, and i guess that's still the unanswered question here. >> this all makes a lot of sense in hindsight. the idea we thought a relationship between james comey and donald trump was going to work is like we should have seen this coming a lot earlier. donald trump is someone who prizes loyalty. james comey is someone who prizes independents. the idea this was going to work with the backdrop of the russia investigation,

james comey was getting too close to donald trump, and at's the reason why he fired jim comey. host: why do you think that is? what leads you to believe that? caller: well, the investigation was getting closer and closer to all the time to donald trump. as far as i'm concerned, donald trump, ryan, and jeff sessions need to come under a firing squad. thank you. have a good day. host: michael from pennsylvania, republican line. good morning. go ahead. caller: how you doing, buddy? host: you're on. go ahead. caller: ok. i think they did the right ing, because i think he go around with the hillary stuff, you know what i mean, he investigated, he investigated, e showed all the things that he apparently did wrong, but he didn't feel it was worth, you know, what's going on anymore with. and i think he was doing the me thing, you know, with trump and russia and all that. he was just -- i don't know what he was trying to do. i think he's a decent guy. i really do. i think it was just -- there was too much on his head, and, you know, it just -- it was just time. sometimes, you know, it's

was a formal deliver delivery. it may not have come as a surprise to comey. he may have known that his head was on the chopping block but from everything that we can glean since this has happened, this came as the suppressor just about everybody involved. >> it might not have satisfied many in the media but the white house could actually have just said the fbi director served at the pleasure of the president, the president is no longer pleased or just to say we thank him for his service. we appreciate what he has done for the country, we are now nominating a new fbi director in the meantime and until we have a chance to fact, nominate and confirm a new fbi director -- andrew mccabe will be acting director. using july 5th and hillary clinton piece actually leads to more questions and speculation rather than just saying we have nothing more to say here. >> something else that i found very curious about this was they didn't just fire james comey. they buried him. that letter to attorney general jeff sessions from deputy attorney general, outlined a long litany of

>> what i did is i was going to fire comey. my decision. >> you had made the decision before they came in the room. >> i was going to fire comey. it's no good time to do it, by the way. they -- >> because when you -- you said i accepted their recommendation. you had already made the decision. >> i was going to fire regardless of recommendation. he made a recommendation, highly respected. very good guy, very smart guy. the democrats like him. the republicans like him. he made a recommendation, but regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey. >> let me ask you about your termination letter to mr. comey. you write, "i greatly appreciate you informing me on three separate occasions i am not under investigation." why did you put that in there? >> because he told me that. >> he told you were under investigation -- >> yeah. >> with regard to the russia investigation? >> i heard that from others. >> was it in a phone call? did you meet face-to-face? >> i had a dinner with him. he wanted to have dinner because he wanted to st

james comey was fired on recommendation of the president's senior legal officers. ral human rights lawyer, moonjae—in, has claimed victory in south korea's presidential election. addressing supporters in seoul, he promised to govern for all south koreans. and this video is trending on bbc.com: britain's prime minister theresa may and her husband philip have appeared together on the bbc as part of the general election campaign. they talked shoes, household chores, and political ambition. that's all from me now. stay with bbc world news. now on bbc news it's time for hardtalk.

it was the president who is very unhappy with james comey and it was up to his deputy attorney general and the attorney general to back him up in terms of his thoughts about firing comey. >> sandra: all right, john roberts on it for us. thank you. congress meant peter king on the couch today. so-so far, the white house handling of all this. >> pete: i think they've handled it well. i personally got along with jim comey, but none of the president of the united states. he has a right to have his fbi director there. he believes that jim comey was too much out in front and you can't be prosecutor, judge, and jerry at same time. i can say this unequivocally. as far as i know, there is no evidence showing any type of russian collusion. i have not heard anyone say the fbi doesn't have enough financing or funding or resources to go ahead with the investigation. the fact is, the president should be out front and say that the president of the united states has the right to do what he wants. it has nothing to do with the investigation and the democrats are being hypocrites. >> sandra: was her tak

>>> i was going to fire comey. my decision. >> the initial explanation was untrue. >> i know you love to report that we were misled. >> we have a nice dinner. >> he demanded loyalty of the fbi director responsible for the probe. >> did you ask him to drop the investigation? >> no. >> our committee will get to the bottom of what happened during the 2016 presidential election. >> the russia thing with trump and russia is a made up story. >> we want to this come to its conclusion. >> there has been no efrfort to impede our investigation. >> president trump stating why it took 18 days to fire michael flynn. >> it would be unfair to hear from somebody we don't know and fire a general. >> this is "new day." with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> welcome viewers in the united states and around the world. this is "new day." alisyn is off. poppy harlow joins us. we have a big stay today. let's begin with the white house in damage control. president contradicting himself and the spin from so many white house officials. ackn

comey was going to go. go ahead, capri. >> look, james comey, no question about it has engaged in some tenuous activities, you know, dating back to last year. i actually happen to be a democrat that doesn't believe that it is either james comey or wikileaks that cost hillary clinton the election. i think it was hillary clinton and her inability to craft a message that cost her an election and a campaign where she needed a campaign. but there seems to be inconsistencies here. yes, as i said james comey was kind of really acted out of the norm of the traditional law enforcement protocols, not only last year but more recently as well. so you would think that he would have been able to pull the trigger a little bit earlier. but we're also seeing some inconsistencies as well as far as, for example, with the acting director mcabe saying that he was not aware that the file, for example, had lost faith as the president of the united states has asserted. so there seems to be a lot of questions out there. >> wait a mi

comey. from the moment he worked at the fbi was his assistant national director. for him, running the washington field office. i served as his deputy for the last year. i can tell you i hold director comey in the highest regard. i have the highest respect for his abilities and integrity. it has been the greatest privilege and honour in my professional life to work with him. there's a ringing endorsement of james comey. that's doesn't match this assessment from white house spokeswoman sarah huckabee sanders. she told cbs news mr comey had lost the confidence of the rank and file members of the fbi. earlier i spoke with with aaron blake from the washington post. here is the update. we have certainly heard a lot about concerns over whatjim coric did during the 2016 campaign. we have not had a recording saying there was a revolt against him in the fbi. this seems to be reasoning is offered by the trump administration for his firing, more so trump administration for his firing, more so than something we have actually seen bubbling up from inside europe. we can see the

when what comey was doing was hurting trump come he was a bad guy. then when he did what he did come he was a good guy. the democrats are even more critical. the reaction tonight. if mount st. helens exploded at midnight tonight, you would get, within an hour, 18 democrats demanding a special prosecutor to look into the issue. everything leads them to demanding a special prosecutor. i wouldn't take them seriously. again, what they are talking about is smoke. after six months, eight months, a year? no hard evidence whatsoever of collusion. i think the reason comey is gone is because generally speaking we say if you make enemies on both sides, you must be doing something right. with him, he made enemies on both sides and he was doing a lot wrong. he had no one to stand up for him. in the end, he had so angered the two sides so many times switching back and forth that he was left without any allies. you can interpret this as rosenstein coming in and thus that is the timing, or as suggested by a.b., trump doing it. you would get the deputy attorney gener

comey was fired? many of the former agents that are talking to counterparts say that's on their minds. but i think the simple answer is, the investigation will continue. if, in fact, the congress insists on having a special prosecutor and gets its way and the justice department ultimately does bring in a special counsel, well, then the totality of this will be to delay the investigation. there may be people in the white house who wanted this over quickly. it's hard to see right now how the firing will accomplish that. >> pete williams, thank you. >>> joining me to talk about all of this, marcell, former under secretary of defense for intelligence under president obama. jeremy bash, former chief of staff at the cia and department of defense and msnbc national security analyst. michael allen was with the george w. bush white house for seven years. several national security policy and legislative roles. marcell, i'll start with you. the "new york times" editorial board wrote this, comey was fired because