chairman, that sticks in my mind is the classified briefing that you and i had from director comey on march 15. directorriefing, comey outlined the counterintelligence and criminal investigations the fbi is conducting involving russia's covert action to influence the presidential election. i can't go into the specifics, but you and i know that it was rather comprehensive for this kind of briefing. the fbi director was precise and he presented us with substantial information. it was clear the fbi was taking his job seriously and that a substantial investigation was. underway in addition, just last week, on may 3, director comey came before the judiciary committee and promised to update the committee and provide briefings on the russia investigation in a classified setting as necessary. then last night, cnn reported that federal prosecutors have begun taking additional steps in the russia investigation in the past two weeks, including issuing grand jury subpoenas to associates of michael flynn seeking business records as part of the russia investigationi. in fact, reporters learned that

director james comey. mr. peters: during his campaign then candidate trump regularly talked about how he would be the law and order president. law and order means different things to different people. but all of us should be able to agree that we cannot have law and order without the rule of law. the rule of law is not new or even uniquely an american idea. it dates back to the magna carta of 1215. this document, a pact between king john and his barons established that the nation's people have certain rights and that even the monarch is subject to the laws of the land. centuries later as we cast off the british monarchy, declared our iption and established our -- iption and established our own -- independence and established our own form of government, our system of checks and balances was designed to hold all levels of the federal government accountable but especially the president. without the rule of law, law and order becomes merely order imposed by an unaccountable government. we know that order without t

questions both related to the successor of director comey. and president carter chose his fbi director, he had advising. the president going to follow this pattern or does he have some individual in mind at this point? sec. huckabee sanders: there are several individuals being considered. the first step will be determining the acting -- the interim director. that is being handled through the department of justice. i would refer you to them right now. >> the other question i want to ask, i am pretty nice. sec. huckabee sanders: it is a southern thing. >> her daughter had a birthday. happyuckabee sanders: birthday, scarlet. >> i was going to say, it is a fact that the association of former fbi agents generally prefer people who have been agents themselves or a background in the fbi. only two former agents have been director in the last four decades. will you consider former agents for the position? sec. huckabee sanders: he is not ruling anything out. as of today, the department of justice is handling the first step in this process. >> should th

no, thekabee sanders: president had lost confidence in director comey and had frankly been considering letting the director go since the day he was elected. but he did have a conversation with the deputy attorney general on monday where they had come to him to express their concerns, the president has to that they put the concerns and the recommendation in writing, which is the letter that you guys ever seen. >> he decided on his own to review comey's performance? sec. huckabee sanders: and i think that most of america have -- the that secretary director call me should not be leading the fbi as evidenced by the numerous comments we have seen from democratic members, republican members, and people across -- said thatfeinstein she was told something directly different. issue 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. >> on may 3 sean came out and said he had full confidence. why did he say that? sec. huckabee sanders: he questioned

comey as director? >> not that i'm aware of and that's a better question for the department of justice. >> follow-up. on the campaign trail president trump freechquently said, lock up and criticized the department of justice for not being harder on hillary clinton and had the gut to open the investigation. why was he moved by a letter that said that director comey was, if anything, too harsh on hillary clinton? why did that move the president to fire him? >> i think you're looking at two very different positions. ed pret was wearing a different hat at that time. a candidate, not the president. those circumstances certainly changed when you become the president and, again, when you go around the chain of command in the definite of justice. when you, like i said before, throw a stick of dynamite into the department of justice, that's a big problem. not one that cannot be ignored. >> we already knew that. didn't we, sara? already knew what comey had done. >> my understanding, wednesday was the first time t

>> i never -- i never called on the president to fire director comey. i had a lot of questions about how he handled himself, but the overwhelming question is this. if the administration had those same questions, the events occurred months ago and they should have fired comey on the day they came into office. all of them occurred before he came into office, so that does not seem to me to be a logical or per swaszive with explanation. thank you, everybody. >> and that was senate minority leader chuck schumer speaking calling for a special prosecutor saying that the nation needs proof there was not a cover un and he spoke to the president and told him he was making a big mistake when the president called him today to tell him about this decision. tom fuentes joins me, jason miller joins me -- i'm sorry. dan five, gloria borger, mike preston and jeffrey tubin. let me start with you. sorry. i obviously have something in my throat. you are hearing from democrats, you have republicans coming out questioning what the president did toyed, to say the least. >> thi

comey has a person. i do stand here in defense of that director of the f.b.i. who believe as our intelligence agencies believed that this was an credible threat to the democracy of the united states and deserved a special prosecutor's investigation. for that reason, comey and his levers should continue but having dismissed him, let's at least hope that mr. republicans design will stand up for the integrity of the -- mr. rosenstein will stand up for the integrity of the united states. give a public assurance that the investigation of russian collusion in our last presidential election will continue and that the department official -- and second mr. rosenstein as well as senator sessions now attorney general sessions should be party to choosing a special prosecutor. let us choose someone from outside government without a party label who has demonstrated the expertise necessary to prosecute gorsuch challenging situations as this. put -- to prosecute such challenging situations as this. try to stop this or

he did not fire director comey then. the question is, why did it happen last night russian mark we know director comey was leading an investigation and whether the trump campaign the russians, a offense. were those investigations getting too close to home for the president question mark the doves -- the president? now administration has removed several law enforcement officials in a position to conduct independent investigations of the president and his administration. what should happen now, what should happen now, is that mr. rosenstein appoints a special prosecutor to oversee this investigation. deputy internal -- attorney general rosenstein promised to appoint a special prosecutor at the appropriate time. "i am willing to appoint a special counsel when i determined it is appropriate." would you believe it is essential for the democracy and law enforcement system that any investigation into these matters be fair, free, and thoroughly independent? he answered yes. time whenas ever a circumstances warranted a special pr

why didn't the president wait for the inspector general's investigation into director comey's handling of the clinton e-mail investigation to conclude before making his decision to fire him? was this really about something else? no doubt we'll have an opportunity to question mr. comey, now a private citizen, about what happened. but we need to hear from this administration about what happened and why.and what is going to happen next. that is why, again, i am requesting that the majority leader call a closed and if necessary classified all-senators briefing with the attorney general, the deputy attorney general separately at which they can be asked these questions. i hope the majority leader agrees with me that we need to get to the bottom of this and get a handle on all the facts so that we can grapple with them. i remind him and my republican friends that nothing less is at stake than the american people's faith in our criminal justice system and the integrity of the executive branch of our government. i yield thelighthizer nominatio. mr. leahy: thank you. madam president, i couldn't

president trump simply summoned director comey into the oval office, according to reports which certainly need to be verified and ordered everyone else to leave the room,ro suggesting then that the director drop his investigation. he did so just two weeks after having told director comey thatd he might not have a place in the trump administration and makingy clear that director comey his loyalty to him might well direc determine whether comey would keep his job or not when director comey rejected trump's. suggestion, in fact, he was fired. that is the line of fact established by this mounting c evidence. it is a serious charge. we should be cautious. if director comey did not write that memo or for some reason there is a question about the truth perhaps this positions are unfounded but there is credible and significant evidence and director comey has established to both his critics and his friends that he is a man of on and dedication to public service . we cannot feel confident about r nominations for any of these positions whether it be director of the fbi or associate attorney general

the dismissal of director comey establishes a very strubling pattern. this administration has now removed several officials to conduct investigations of the president and his administration from acting attorney general sally yates, and now jim comey. what should happen now, what must happen now, is that mr. rosenstein appoints a special prosecutor to oversee this investigation. deputy attorney general rosenstein sat in the judiciary committee and promised to establish a prosecutor at the appropriate time. he said, quote, i'm willing to appoint a special council when i determine it's appropriate. so my colleague, senator coons asked is it vital to the confidence in our democracy, that any investigation into these matters be fair, free, thoroughly and politically independent? mr. rosenstein answered, yes. i do. if there was ever a time when circumstances warranted a special prosecutor. it is right now. mr. rosenstein expressed concern that director comey damaged the integrity of the fbi. the attorney general has had to recuse himself for being too close to

bipartisan members of congress made it clear that they had lost confidence in director comey. most importantly, the rank and file of the fbi had lost confidence in their director. accordingly, the president accepted the recommendation of his deputy attorney general to remove james comey from his position. before the news broke the president spoke to several members of congress to inform them of his decision. those members were mitch mcconnell, paul ryan, chuck grassley, chuck schumer, senator feinstein, senator graham, kevin mccarthy, nancy pelosi, and bob goodlatte. later in the evening he spoke to bob corker, chairman of the senate committee on foreign relations. in addition to all the big news happening at the white house today, it is also my daughter, scarlet, her fifth birthday. since you guys are here and i'm not, my first birthday wish to her is that you guys are credibly nice. -- incredibly nice. now i will take your questions. alex? >> i have a couple of broader questions for you. yes or no, did the president direct rob rosenstein to write the letter? sec. huckabee san

director comey from his position as the director of the f.b.i. to me, this decision by president trump crossed the line. i have looked at and tried to understand what was going through the president's mind at the time he dismissed mr. comey, and it's clear he had memorandums written by the department of justice that were released at the time, but there is also a clear indication that president trump was considering this decision for over a week, that after he had reached the decision to fire mr. comey, he needed grounds from the department of justice, and that information was supplied to mr. trump for his decisionmaking. this was mr. trump's decision. at the time he dismissed mr. comey, president trump's associates were involved in the investigation being done by the department of justice. this is a criminal investigation being done by the department of justice because of russia's interference in the united states election system that involved associates of mr. trump. we don't know where that investigation is going, we don't. but we do know now th

so senator mark warner the top democrat on the intelligence panel told us he invited director comey toome up here next tuesday one week after he was fired as fbi director. we are now told it will be behind closed doors meaning off camera. a leading republican is saying that there is no need for some new special probe. >> this is the counter intelligence investigation not a criminal investigation of the trump campaign. if it ever becomes a criminal investigation, then we'll talk about a special prosecutor. you don't need a special prosecutor for a counter intelligence investigation. >> reporter: senator graham is one of the senators who got a heads up from president trump before director comey was fired so perhaps he's in less shock than some of the other senators. bottom line, they are looking forward to hearing from director co comey. >> melissa: call it what you like, but it is clear democrats are not giving up their push for a special council on the russia probe. >> reporter: no question. they are questioning the timing of director comey's firing. they're also questioning the explan

he even praised director comey after the director's misguided letter to congress last october. yet now the president would have us believe these same events compelled him to fire the f.b.i. director. incidentally, more than six months after it occurred. this unbelievable claim, if it wasn't so sad, it would be laughable. the truth is that the president removed the sitting f.b.i. director in the midst of one of the most critical national security investigations in the history of our country. certainly one of the most critical in my 42 years here in the senate. a sprawling inquiry that implicates senior officials in the trump campaign and administration. the press is now reporting that president trump weighed fire the f.b.i. director for more than a week after he became outraged of director comey's statements and actions in the russia participation. there may have been subpoenas issued to president trump's former national security advisor. i have no doubt that we're going to learn more disturbing details as to the president's true motivation. and i'm willing to bet anything that

schumer: i never called on the president to fire director comey. i have a lot of questions about how he handled himself, but the thewhelming question is event occurred months ago and they should've fired comey on the day they came in office. that does not seem to me to be a very logical or persuasive explanation. thank you everybody. [indistinct crowd noise] >> speakers include author jennifer keane with her book one: the soldier xperience." also a retired colonel and his book. the recipient of this year's baronaward, author david and his book about the clash between presidents and congress from 1776 to isis. watch the 2017 colby military writers symposium tuesday on c-span's booktv. >> to experience a fulfilling, purposeful life on thing you will have to do is this -- live a large life. >> you are your own story and therefore free to imagine and experience what it means to be human. a responsibility in our time as others have had in there is not to be prisoners of history but to shape history. a responsibility to fill the role of path finder. fast

director james comey continues right now. >>> and that breaking news the bedrock of our democracy under siege. fbi director investigating links between russia and aides to the president fired by the president. what's next for the fbi? the russia probe? and why the timing? why now as everyone asking questions. good morning everybody welcome to "early start". i'm dave briggs. >> i'm christine romans. it's wednesday, may 10th. 5:00 a.m. in the east. we're so glad you're here this morning. hard to overstate the smaug and far reaching impact of president trump's decision to fire james comey. there's mounting criticism of that decision from all sides and calls are growing louder from democrats for a special prosecutor now that the president has fired the man leading the investigation into possible collusion between trump aides and the russians. now house democrats are asking for the preservation of all documents related to that probe and to comey's firing. >> the fbi director's unceremonious termination cokes of wear gate. president acting on advice from attorney general jeff sessions and dep

comey any longer. drain the swamp. andrew mccabe has been named yet in director. white house officials say the nominee is in the coming days. lauren: joining us now from our reaction to this dramatic story. the firing of james comey and gop strategist chris and i weigh. see both of you. the question for you first is by now? why was director comey fired? >> like sean spicer just sean spicer just said in the clip we watched. this is not about donald trump. this is the deputy attorney general in his recommendation to fire. what we see is a nomination by the president that happened in january. it took until april 25th confirmed by the defendant appeared and 94-6 though. he was the one that wrote a memo to the attorney general recommending the spirit in fact it was not only would the day for the clinton investigation, but it was a press conference. most recently he testified before the oversight committee on may 3rd and he said he'd do it again. he would give another press conference and that was the point they had to make that decision. nicole: chris, what are your tho

director comey had lost the confidence of the rank-and-file within the fbi. he certainly lost the confidence for members of both sides, republicans and democrats in the house and the senate and frankly most importantly he lost the confidence of the american people. this was a guy who was being question it day after day after day whether he was capable of leading the fbi. i think we saw based on his testimony last week, he no longer was in the president was presented with a pretty clear and direct and very strong recommendation by the deputy attorney general who a lot of people probably don't know, but the fbi director actually reports the deputy attorney general. that attorney deputy made the recommendation, the president made a swift and decisive action and let director, go. >> tucker: swift and decisive as an understatement. is it true that the then fbi director had no idea he was being canned and learned about it to the television screen in the room? and if so, why do it that way? >> i believe he was notified of. and of the letter was hand-delivered to the

in the director comey, the doj lost confidence in director comey, bipartisan members of congress madehey had lost confidence in director comey. and most importantly, the rank and file of the fbi had lost confidence in their director. --erly, the president accordingly, the president recommendation to fire director comey. those senators -- those people senatork schumer, feinstein, senator graham, house majority leader kevin mccarthy, house majority leader nancy pelosi, and congressman bob goodlatte. he also spoke to bob corker, chairman of the senate committee on foreign relations. in addition, it is also my daughter's fifth birthday, and since i am here and you guys aren't, i get to wish her a happy birthday. and now i will take your questions. i have a couple of broader questions for you. number one, did the president this memo on james comey? no.sanders: frankly, he had been considering letting director comey go since the day he was elected, but he did have a conversation with the deputy attorney general on monday where they had come to him to express their concerns. the president as

. -- director comey. now the president is in the process of evaluating individuals who will be able to fill that spot and leave the fbi -- lead the fbi and restore confidence of the american people. this was the right decision at the right time. >> considering the bipartisan concern, why not support an independent panel? vice pres. pence: the evidence, the facts that are in public today are very clear, the former director of national intelligence has said there is no evidence of collusion. the president and i remain confident the committees in the house and senate looking into every aspect of issues that arise out of the election will be will to do their work in an orderly way. the president was informed several times by the former director of the fbi he was not under investigation. the simple fact is director comey had lost the confidence of the american people. the support i heard from them is of the senate today when i was by the senate chamber, support for the decision being expressed in this capitol

director james comey yesterday. we'll hear from senators john cornen and chuck schumer next on c-span. presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i was listening with interest to our friend and colleague from minnesota talk about the russia investigation, and i agree with her 100%. that it is our responsibility to get to the bottom of what exactly happened due to russian involvement in our election, much as they got involved in the elections in france, using the combined process of known mcconnell as -- known commonly as active measures. it's espionage, propaganda, use of social media through paid

welcome back, director comey. what is the policy of the department and the bureau regarding the release of derogatory investigative information about an uncharged subject? mr. comey: the general practice is we don't talk about completed , investigations that didn't result in charges. as a general matter. senator whitehouse: and what is the policy regarding the release of derogatory information about charged subjects beyond the derogatory investigative information disclosed in the charging document or in further court proceedings? mr. comey: i think you summarize the, the gist of the policy, is you do not want to do anything outside the charging documents that might prejudice the trial proceedings. sen. whitehouse: and one of the reasons you do that, is if you had a police chief say, we have investigated the contract between the mayor and the contractor, and we have decided there were no misdeeds. but we found out that the mayor was sleeping with her driver, just wanted to let you know that. that would be kind of a

we knew what director comey had done. >> i think this was the first time the director had openly made that statement and made it clear. >> the president's meeting with sergey lavrov d not include anything of reported violence in chechn chechnya? >> i'm sorry, could you speak up a little bit? >> is the reason that wasn't included in the readout is because they did not talk about violence in chechnya. >> sometimes there are parts of a meeting that aren't specifically included in a readout. i'm not aware, i haven't had that conversation. i wasn't part of that meeting so i can't speak to every detail, and i would have to refer you to the readout of specifics i know were discussed. >> is the white house briefed on this generally? >> i'll have to get back to you on that. i'm not 100% sure. >> you said you would want the investigation to continue with the doj. would you want the white house to continue the investigation? >> we don't think it's necessary. you have a house committee, senate committee and the department of justice all working on this. i don't think there is a necessary need at

director. he serves at will to the president. as jim comey, in his own letter said, i believe that a president can fire an fbi director and he doesn't really even need to have a reason. he made up his mind. he did what he did. the investigation, if nothing else, it goes on. in some ways it may heat up. all of these people are gonna bend over backwards to make it very clear that none of this has impacted their job. >> maria: yet it's frustrating to constantly hear no evidence of collusion. it's almost like is this a waste and distraction? what do you think in terms of this situation distracting congress as well as the president from the agenda? we know the people want healthcare repealed and replaced. we know tax form is necessary. >> they need to just keep this going on its own track. the only names that have ever been discussed are michael flynn, who's been subpoenaed. we'll see what happens with that. carter page said they are happy to discuss this and happy to get their testimony. let that track be what it is. let it continue. there is so

i can tell you that i worked very, very closely with director comey from the moment he started at thehis executive assistant director of national security at that time. i worked for him running their washington field office and of course i served as deputy for the last year. i can tell you that i hold director comey in the absolute highest regard, i hugged the highest respect for his considerable abilities in his integrity and it has been the greatest privilege and honor my professional life to work with him. i can tell you also that director comey enjoyed broad support within the fbi. he still does to this day. we are a large organization, we are 36,500 people across this country, across this globe. we have a diversity of opinions about many things, but i can confidently tell you that the majority, the vast majority of fbi employees enjoyed a deep and positive connection to director comey. >> thank you for your candor. do you feel like you have the adequate resources for the existing investigations that the bureau is invested in right now to follow them wherever they may lead? >> sir

house oversight committee jason chaffetz told me that when he spoke on the phone with comey the former fbi director wouldn't even confirm the existence of those memos. comey also told chaffetz that he wants to speak to mueller the special counsel before testifying. will the public do you believe hear directly from comey in open session? >> i believe that's the case and as you know, wolf, director comey has said he wants to speak publicly, he has accepted an invitation from senators warner and burr, the senate intelligence committee to come and testify publicly and so, yes, i believe sometime soon after the memorial day recess you'll have a chance to hear from the director and obviously that's going to be a moment of great drama here on capitol hill. >> it certainly will be, the american public will be anxious to hear what comey has to say. you also know "the washington post" is reporting that comey may have been influenced in his handling of the hillary clinton investigation by what is now seen as a fake russian document. you were the running mate, you were the vice presidential nominee, do you bel

she had huge questions from the shocking firing of fbi director comey. president trump's decision to fire the fbi director to send a whole lot of shock waves throughout washington and continuing to do so right now, which is why ms. huckabee sanders was facing quite a few questions there from reporters. now, if i do say-so myself, i think her dad mike huckabee would be pretty proud because she ndled that very much well grace, and it cerinly is a high pressure situation. democrats are calling for an independent investigation into the trump campaign ties into russian while republicans worry what exactly this is going to mean for the ability to move forward on the very important economic policies we need. like tax reform. like health care reform. now, the white house says the president has lost total confidence in comey over the last few months. let's face it. both sides had lost confidence in james comey over the last few months. joining me right now founder adam johnson, former democratic party chairman scott, as well as mark. good to have all of these guys

it is a request we made prior to director comey's departure. it so happens that the timing of it meant that today was the earliest possible time we could do together. we did not want to miss the opportunity. since the committee has an investigation going on that is to what the department of justice has going on, we felt there was a great need to set up a process for de-confliction, so when we had witnesses we needed to talk to, we made sure we were not stepping on top of anything that might be an active investigation. , we were able to share that with the deputy attorney general and we feel like our investigation could go forward with a fairly good understanding with the rules of the road. i thinkply want to add it was a productive session, that i still have concerns about mr. rosenstein in terms of his role in the comey departure and the memo. the chairman and i just disagree in terms of the need for this is narrowly tailored independent counsel. i expressed that concern to mr. rosenstein and he took that under advisement, i think as well to g

the simple fact is director comey had lost the confidence of the american people. the support i heard from them is of the senate today when i was over by the senate chamber, support for the decision being expressed in this capitol building and around the country is reflective of the fact that it was time for a fresh start at the fbi. the president did as he is done in so many cases, he provided strong leadership. to act on the recommendation of the deputy attorney general. the american people welcome that , and they know that as president trump is done so many times before, the president is going to take the time necessary to find an individual of great experience and integrity to lead the nation's law enforcement agency and i look forward to being a part of that process. >> that the president ask -- did the president ask the attorney general to conduct a review director comey? >> the new deputy attorney general who was just worn in two weeks ago and confirmed by the fbi came to work. he's a man of extraordinary independence and integrity and a reputation in both p

director comey. the president over the last several months last confidence and director comey, the doj lost confidence in director comey, and bipartisan members of congress made it clear that they had lost confidence in director comey. most are portly, the rank and file of the fbi had lost confidence in their director. accordingly, the president accepted the recommendation of his deputy attorney general to remove james comey from his position appeared before the news broke, the president spoke to several members of congress to inform them of his decision. those members are senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, speaker of the house paul ryan, senate daily by senator chuck grassley, senate minority leader chuck schumer, senator feinstein, senator lind, house majority leader kevin mccarthy, house minority leader nancy pelosi, income rissman bob goodlatte. later in the evening, he also spoke to bob corker, chairman of the senate committee on foreign relations. in addition to all of the big news happenin

today we learned director comey requested more money and manpower for the investigation days ago. justice department issued a denial. lawmakers on the left have changed their tunes on comey. as president trump treated, the democrats have said some of the worst things about james comey including fact that he should be fired but now they play so sad. in that case, he's right. here's what senator bernie sanders, clinton's opponent during the primaries told abc a couple months ago. >> should he step down? >> i think he should take a hard look at what he has done. i think it would not be a bad thing for the american people if he did step doubt. >> shepard: not a bad thing if he stepped down. that was january. yesterday, senator sanders said in a statement, "donald trump's decision to fired james comey raises serious questions about what his administration is hiding." also, "it's clear that whomever president trump hand picks to lead the fbi will not be able to objectively carry out this investigation." now even prominent republicans are joining the critics. richard burr, a republican, t

coming up, with director comey out, the russia probe is a mess. all kinds of conflicts. see a special prosecutor? and how does that happen? comey is the fourth high profile person president trump has fired. there is a pattern. i'll explain it ahead. the new guy? what new guy? i hired some help. he really knows his wine. this is the new guy? hello, my name is watson. you know wine, huh? i know that you should check vineyard block 12. block 12? my analysis of satellite imagery shows it would benefit from decreased irrigation. i was wondering about that. easy boy. nice doggy. what do you think? not bad. find fast relief behind the counter allergies with nasal congestion? with claritin-d. [ upbeat music ] strut past that aisle for the allergy relief that starts working in as little as 30 minutes and contains the best oral decongestant. live claritin clear, with claritin-d. p3 planters nuts, jerky and whaseeds.at? i like a variety in my protein. totally, that's why i have this uh trail mix. wow minty. p3 snacks. the more interesting way to get your protein. there's a moment of

>> no, i think the president wanted to give director comey a chance, but i feel he made the right decision. >> why did he have one of his longtime security advisers hand deliver a letter to the fbi when the fbi director was in fact in los angeles? didn't he deserve a phone call or a face-to-face conversation? why did he decide to do it that way? >> he followed the proper protocol in that process, which is hand written notification. and at the same time no matter how you fire someone, it's never an easy process. and he -- so he felt like following protocol was the best thing to do. i'm not wear of the conversation. josh. >> was the president aware james comey asked for more resources in the russian investigation and did that factor into his decision? >> not that i'm aware of, and i think that would be a better question for the department of justice. >> on the campaign trail president trump said he actually praised director comey for having the guts to reopen the investigation. how is he moved by a letter that said that director comey was if anything too harsh on hillary clinton. why did tha

>> white house deputy press secretary explaining why president trump chose to fire the fbi director james comey less than 24 hours ago. described an erosion of confidence the president had in the fbi director over a period of time. and then the final straw, a meeting with the attorney general and the deputy attorney general on monday in the white house, where they expressed their concerns over how comey was running the department. the presidentmemo. it came on tuesday. according to the white house, that is when the president made the decision. appears to contradict something the ranking democrat dianne feinstein in the senate judiciary committee said earlier today. where she said that the president told her, the president told her that he had asked the attorney general to look into this. let's listen. >> i talked to the president last night. he said the department's a mess. i asked rosenstein and sessions to look into it. rosenstein sent me a memo. i accepted the recommendation to fire him. i mean, my goodness. this is a man who's been there for two weeks. so i -- i'm a bit turned off on mr. ro

comey became director in 2013.e gave his first in-depth interview for "60 minutes." >> i think americans should be deeply skeptical of government power. they divided power among three branches. >> with regard to privacy and civil liberties, what guarantee are you willing to give to the american people? ho the promise i've tried to rule of law and the founders, congress will be at the heart of what the fbi does the way you'd want it to be. >> does the fbi gather l electronic surveillance that is then passed to the national security agency. >> that's one of those things i don't know if i can talk about that in an open setting so i better not start to go down that road with you. >> you have said, quote, we shouldn't be doing anything that we can't explain, but these programs are top secret. the american people can't see them. and you can't explain them. >> right. we can't explain everything to everybody or the bad guys will find out what our capabilities are. both nations and individuals. what i mean is, i need to be

>> well, certainly many of us on both sides of the aisle have had issues with director comey's actions, and everybody has been clear about that. as i said a few months ago in january, i believe, that i trusted jim comey to be more independent than anyone that donald trump might appoint as fbi director and it's also suspicious that as you mentioned in the opening of your segment, president trump actually complimented jim comey after he took the actions that he did with regard to hillary clinton. and senator jeff sessions so to come back now and lay that out as your main reason for his firing seems very odd. >> president trump this evening tweeted something about chuck schumer, the senate democratic leader noting that schumer have said a few months ago that he had lost confidence in james comey. chuck schumer stated recently i do not have confidence in him any longer. then acts so indignant. #drain the swamp. so i guess there are republicans out there especially in the white house who are confused that democrats who didn't seem to like what james comey did would object to his firing this

what do you think when you heard that director comey had been fired? k this is a really troubling situation. i think there are serious questions about both the timing and the motivation of the president's actions. >> james comey reported directly to you when you were deputy attorney general. >> that's right. >> what was he like? as you know, the president called him a showboat, a grand stander. >> jim is obviously a very qualified and experienced guy. he had held my position before, deputy attorney general. he had been a united states attorney in the southern district of new york and ausa as well. we had a common background. i found him to be a straight shooter and candid. >> did he strike you as a showboater or grandstander? >> no. i think jim would speak his mind. some might call that showboating, but jim would speak his mind. >> did the multiple reasons that white house gave for firing director comey, did they make sense to you? >> you know, i don't want to -- since i'm not at doj anymore, i don't want to go much more into it other than that. you kno

the dismissal of director comey establishes a very troubling pattern. >> meeting in the oval office with nixon's secretary of state henry kissinger, president trump insisted that firing the fbi director was a matter of poor performance. >> he wasn't doing a good job. >> white house officials insisted comey's firing was not about the russia investigation. >> as has been stated repeatedly and the president has been told he's not under investigation. figure one of the big catalysts we saw with 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 justice by going around the chain of command. >> in a moment rich with irony or defiance, president trump met in the oval office with russians for mr. sergey lavrov and ambassador sergey kislyak. he was at the center of the controversy surrounding michael flynn. >> is it ironic or is it for president poking a finger at the critics? >> these meetings have been on the books for a while. there's not a strategy to go after the democrats on this. i

james comey was hired by president obama to be a very good non-partisan fbi director. e is someone under comey, i'm sure, who is running the russia hacking investigation. what we have to watch for now is whether the white house interferes in any way. we know that comey asked for more money for the investigation. is the fbi going to get that money? is somebody going to try to change what's going on by the probes at the fbi? that's what we have to watch for, and if that happens this is a direct parallel. right now what we see is terrible optics and a man, president trump, who is acting nixonian and acting as if he were guilty but there's no evidence that he's guilty of anything. >> in 1973, ultimately cox was fired and then give me the tapes, give me the tapes and then the ag and deputy ag resigned and a new special prosecutor was brought on and ultimately, we note end. >> but this is a great story because al haig told us at the library. we did a lot of interviews for the library. al haig said they were trying to find a ringer, find somebody who would not investigate seri

one, a letter from the president firing director comey, two, a letter from attorney general sessions recommending comey be removed on the basis of his personal evaluation that quote a fresh start is needed at the leadership of the fbi. and three, a memo from deputy attorney general rosenstein outlining serious concerns about director comey's handling of secretary clinton's e-mail investigation. these letters and memo raise additional questions, mr. chairman. why did the president make reference to the russia investigation in his letter dismissing director comey? was the reason for his dismissal because the department was a mess and lacked leadership or not? if the reason for firing comey was because of his handling of the clinton investigation, why now? as the night went on, more and more stories began to unfold about the events surrounding director comey's dismissal. the press reported that director comey found out about the firing through television news coverage that broke while he was speaking to fbi agents in los angeles. he wasn't told directly and reportedly believed at first t

even the president's letter informing fbi director comey of his dismissal indicated and the president asked the fbi director whether he was under investigation three times. that should never happen. no president should be asking such a question, it is stunning. but also informative. it is clear that any credible investigation must take place outside the political chain of command. a special counsel must be a way to to lead the investigation. theecial counsel unlike deputy attorney general cannot be fired by the president. ours is a government of laws. not on the whim of a president. our nation is at a precipice. there is a counterintelligence investigation into a campaign and administration of a sitting president. there is evidence that the campaign colluded with the foreign government, a foreign government that is an adversary of hours in the presidential election. he has fired the leak investigation lead investigator -- the lead investigator. there are several inquiries underway into russian interference and collusion with russia and the election. -- in the election. the president f

a source close to me -- i'm sorry, a source close to comey told me today the fbi director was fired for two reasons. one, comey's refusal to provide president trump with any assurance of personal loyalty and then, two, because the fbi russian probe is not only not disappearing as president trump would like it to, but it's accelerating. it came right as comey was seeking more resources for the russian probe. they sources say beginning three weeks ago director comey began receiving daily instead of weekly briefings on the probe, and quote, mr. comey was concerned by information showing potential evidence of collusion, unquote. if the president had hoped the firing of comey would hope all of this go away, his logic seems to have boom ranged. republicans now showing increased review and inenergy. asking for the justice department inspector general to investigate the matter. also thooeng the bipartisan intelligence committee subpoenaed former trump security advisor pliekal flynn for documents related to his interaction with russian officials. also the white house released its official time l

director of the fbi, andrew mckab. he's been in the fbi for 21 years and he was chosen by james comey to be the deputy director. so he's now in charge and somebody who had james comey's confidence. so that transition has been fairly straightforward. the justice department has been talking to several people, all of them fbi insiders, who they say would be possible interim fbi directors. so they're looking at the possibility of putting someone in charge, perhaps mccabe. apparently they anticipate it's going to take some time to get a new fbi director nominee put forward, and ultimately confirmed. so apparently they don't want to just go along with the acting director. these are the five people. adam lee is the special agent in charge of the richmond office, michael anderson, in charge of chicago. mccabe is now the acting. so they're all looking at these for fbi interim director. a bit of a back and forth today, brian, on whether or not james comey discussed with the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein, the man who wrote that memorandum summarizing why comey should be fired of his handling of the clinton e-mail