senator durbin: it should be. we ought to have an administration that support our healthcare system. the trump administration has found ways to cut off support. lack of advertising to bring new people on board so we have larger insurance pools and lower premiums. we have to have an effort made to sustain the current system while we repair it. we shouldn't be sabotaging it. chris: when blue cross-blue shield of kansas city says they lost $100 million prince 2016, you can't blame that on trump, he wasn't president. senator durbin: the system isn't perfect, it isn't. i voted for it. it needs to be repaired. i think bill cass dane susan collins are willing to deal with that in a constructive fashion. i'm sorry the two of them are not in the room to come up with the republican plan. chris: let me bring senator cassidy back. let's talk about susan collins, the republican snore from maine and the cassidy plan. here are some of the highlights. keep most obamacare taxes to pay for a replacement. instead of an individual ma

>> senator durbin: of course not.t this point and whether something should be followed up on, i will trust bob's judgment. >> chris: senator cassidy, are you troubled with this? >> senator cassidy: i agree with his assessment and when you speak to folks back home, voters across the nation, they are more concerned about the climbing health care premiums and any to have jobs and better wages and better benefits. this will play out. we will know eventually. >> chris: let's switch to health care. the congressional budget office, nonpartisan, it released its core of the house built this week and let's put the numbers up on the screen. it would reduce the deficit $119 billion over ten years, 23 million more people would be uninsured by 2,026. the cost of insurance for a 64-year-old earning $27,000 a year would increase from $1700 a year under obamacare to more than $13,000 under the g.o.p. bill. here's what chuck schumer said this week. >> unless you are a healthy millionaire, trim care is a nightmare. this report ought to

durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic whip. mr. durbin: mr. president, i'd like to submit a statement for the record on the pending nomination. the presiding officer: without objection. mrñ -- mr. durbin: mr. president, i'd like to address the comments made by the republican majority leader about the issue of health care. mr. durbin: what he said today, i have never heard him say before. he said it was the fault of the democrats for refusing to work with the republicans to change the affordable care act. i had not heard that before, and i find it an interesting suggestion, because what happened after the house of representatives passed a measure three weeks ago to change the health care system in america, the issue then came to the senate but didn't go through the regular order of business. it's my understanding and it has been reported widely in the press that senator mcconnell, the republican leader, assembled a group of 13 republican senators who are meeting in private o

durbin: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: this is a photograph that was taken of president trump and sergei lavrov. the meeting was closed to the american press. the second photo is of mr. trump and the russian ambassador to the united states. his name is sergei kisliov. he was in the oval office to meet with president trump. this ambassador is familiar to many americans. it's familiar to me because president trump's national security advisor michael flynn resigned because of communications he had with this ambassador that he tried to keep secret and misrepresented not only to the american people but to the vice president of the united states. the warm smiles and harty hand -- hardy handshakes stand in stark contrast to the way that the white house has treated three department of justice officials, sally yates, bahar, and koim. he asked ms.ates to serve as attorney general, he asked mr. bahar to stay on, and he indicated that mr. koim could stay on as director of the f.b.i

so now, i get to bug dick durbin in person every single day. and i have all his phone numbers. my life since my black hawk was shot out of the sky has been incredible -- and improbable. there have been highs, and there have been unbelievable lows, over the last 12 years, but one thing has always remained constant. every time i got knocked down, i got back up. i dusted myself off, and i got back in the arena -- when my face had literally been marred with dust and sweat and blood. and i am so glad that i did. my story has a few years on it more than you do. but i'm really here to tell you that it's not that different from any of you. i've been in that audience. i know each and every one of you can get into the arena too. have already gotten into the arena as well, which is good because our nation needs you now perhaps more than ever. you've been training for it, but now you need to step up. you can be our nation's next generation of leaders. luckily, as gw grads, you already have a head start on many of your peers. over and over, the students of gw have proven to be some of the m

so now, i get to bug dick durbin in person every single day. [laughter] sen. duckworth: and i have all his phone numbers. [laughter] sen. duckworth: my life since my black hawk was shot out of the sky has been incredible -- and improbable. there have been highs and unbelievable lows over the last 12 years, but one thing has always remained constant. every time i got knocked down, i got back up. i dusted myself off, and i got back into the arena -- when my face had literally been marred with dust and sweat and blood. and i am so glad that i did. my story has a few years on it more than you do. but i'm really here to tell you that it's not that different from any of you. i've been in that audience. my story has a few years on it i know each and every one of you can get into the arena, too. have already gotten into the arena as well, which is good because our nation needs you now , perhaps more than ever. you've been training for it, but now you need to step up. you can be our nation's next generation of leaders. luckily, as gw grads, you already have a head star

durbin: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent to speak in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: more than three million illinoisans, about 20% of the people in my state, currently depend on medicaid and the children's health insurance program for health care. that's one out of five people in my state who need these programs to have basic health insurance for themselves and their children. this includes 300,000 illinois seniors and people with disabilities. 650,000 who were recently added as part of the affordable care act. it also includes 1.5 million children. half of all the kids in illinois are enrolled in medicaid and the chip program. it's called illinois all kids. nationwide, the medicaid program helps pay for two out of three seniors in their nursing homes. it pays for about half of all children born in this country. it is the primary payer of all mental health and opioid addiction treatment. it provides health c

retailers have claimed that the durbin amendment is about competition. they claim it's about restoring a broken market. they have claimed that visa, master card, and issuing banks are engaged in price fixing on swipe fees. this is a key you willment of this debate a vote to keep the durbin amendment is a vote that rests on the idea that members are sure that there is price fixing in the debit card market. there's $6 billion todd 8 billion a year at play here and the violation of a core free market principle which is the notion government should not be telling people what they can or can't charge. my point would be if you do that you support that the degree of command and control in the economy you have got to be sure. and should we be sure? i go back to the sherman antitrust act which outlaws price fixing. this is a criminal law. hundreds of people have been put in jail for t you can go to jail for up to 10 years for violating it. and the law has stood for more than 100 years. payment networks and retailers have been fighting over whether or not visa, ma

senator durbin. senator durbin: november 8, 2016, is a day that will live in cyber infamy. the russians did everything in their power to invade the government of the united states of america and to corrupt a presidential election. those words are not mine alone. they are words that are backed up by every major intelligence agency of the united states of america. what have we done? we've initiated an investigation to find out what they did, how they did it, who was involved in it and stop it from ever happening again. it's been one of the most curious counterintelligence investigations in this nation's history, and we have seen a litany of things occur since which are incredible. a national security advisor who was forced to resign because of contacts with the russians that were not properly disclosed. a recusal by the attorney general of the united states for misleading the senate judiciary committee on his communications with the russians. and just last week, the decision by the president of the united states to remove from office the man in charge of that investigation, t

joining me now, illinois democrat senator dick durbin.to you. >> good afternoon. >> you told my colleague, willie geist, last friday that president trump is dangerous because he may be obstructing justice. but senator dianne feinstein has since said there is no evidence of russian collusion with the trump campaign. what's your reaction, and are democrats overplaying their hand, if you will? >> no. i think all of us are heartened by the decision to choose bob mueller as the special counsel, independent investigator and prosecutor of this case. he's a man of real skill. he has real principles and he'll put his country first. he is a republican by party identification years ago, but it makes no difference from my position. i trust his judgment. >> do you think this is a witch hunt, as the president suggests? >> i'll tell you, i really think it's demeaning and outrageous to suggest a witch hunt with bob mueller involved. this is a man that was a decorated combat veteran of the vietnam war, has been a federal judge. he was not only chosen to h

dick durbin, one of the top democrats on the senate floor, was just speaking out about jim comb hu's firing and said -- not sure if this is an exact quote, but he said the termination and removal of james comey as the director of the federal bureau investigation raises the critical question as to whether the fbi investigation of russian interference in the last presidential campaign will continue and whether the investigation into any collusion or involvement by the trump campaign will also be investigated by the fbi. durbin goes on to say: any attempt to undermine this fbi investigation would raise grave constitutional issues. so you get the idea, charles, of where only democrats are going with this thing. this investigation into what happened in 2016 should go on. by the way, as it relates to jim comey, he was scheduled to be out in hollywood at an fbi -- at a recruitment event for officers. his status there, we don't know, but his the discuss on the job, no longer. charles? charles: blake burman. okay, guys, again the democrats are are now connecting this to the russian investigat

here is dick durbin. mr. durbin: president trump is dangerous. he may be obstructing justice in the investigation that goes to the heart of our democracy and president. reporter: the white house offered conflicting reports for the impetus to fire comey, but insisted it had nothing to do with the investigation into russian interference in the election. then on nbc news, the president said russia was on his mind. mr. trump: i said this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. reporter: but the president also insist see once the investigation to continue. he said he is very active as a president so it is not possible for his staff to answer questions with "perfect accuracy p or co- in a subsequent tweet, he threatened -- "perfect accuracy." in a subsequent tweet, he threatened to cancel all future press conferences. >> joining us is our political correspondent. what are your thoughts? >> hitting the panic over this at the moment, necessarily. at the moment, it is being dismissed as tough tweeting from the president. there were a lot of

the second ranking democratic senator, dick durbin, calls that a thinly veiled threat that could be a violation of federal law. democrats are asking the president to hand over any recordings. >> president trump is dangerous. dangerous because he may be obstructing justice in terms of the investigation. >> joining me now is senator lindsey graham of south carolina. senator, welcome back to "meet the press." >> good morning. >> you're laughing. i assume it's dark comedy these days. >> why did i agree to do this? >> oh, because you're a glutton for punishment, sir. >> okay. >> welcome. let me start here. the president said that russia was on his mind when he was making this decision. how concerning is that to you when it comes to him admitting that was among the things in his mind when he made this decision to fire james comey? >> i think we need to have comey come before the judiciary committee and clear the air. did the president ever say anything to the director of the fbi that would be construed as trying to impede the investigation? the president called me about the firing and refer

thing is what senator durbin was saying. republican members of congress have to step up. executive branch do a steamroll. this is a perfect triangle, the way the framers intended so that each branch sets it up. read if you want the specifics. so if the republicans don't actually get a backbone and say we must have someone independent come in and look into this president, we're just -- we're at a loss. and democracy won't work if people do not live by the law and do the jobs that they're intended to do. >> rick wilson, you have advised my republican. what are you advising them tonight? >> well, my advise right now is if you're too scared to take up an actual investigation as the guys in the house obviously have been, then it's time to really buckle down and take the brief heat from donald trump of naming an independent counsel. a select committee would also probably go a long way towards allaying a lot of public concern. it's really time -- it's really time to get off the dime here and go with an independent counsel. >> nancy, take a listen to roger stone, who is someone w

senator dick durbin of illinois. >>> also, more arhinements raig the hazing death. why did witnesses at the frat wait 12 hours to call for help. >>> hans nichols, kristen welker at the white house. on set. former undersecretary of defense under president obama. washington burrow chief susan page. and "new york times" reporter and msnbc contributor, jeremy peters. hans, starting with you. what we're learning about numbers, locations, possible additional forces in afghanistan. break it down for us. >> the numbers, the range is 3,000 to 5,000. that's what we're hearing. i just got off the phone with a senior administration official. they're stressing this is still in the deliberation process. no final decision has been made. and president trump is asking some questions about this proposed policy. what we know about the policy, more troops to fight directly against the taliban. bolster the afghan national army. what trump is asking about is what's the regional approach. he is asking these questions namely because it's difficult to see a solution in afghanistan unless yo

dick durbin of illinois objected to what is a routine requests allowing committees to meet while the senate is in session. it forced the cancellation of senate hearings, ending early on a couple of hearings. the focus has been on the hearing of -- the firing of james comey on the senate floor this afternoon. the minority leader outlined the next three steps related to that. schumer: democratic caucus met to discuss the circumstances of mr. comey's dismissal by the white house. there are many questions to be answered in many actions to be taken. we will be pursuing several things in the coming days and weeks that we decided in our caucus and we will have more to say about those next steps in the days ahead. there are three things our caucus agreed must happen right away. therosenstein should not be one to appoint a special prosecutor. that responsibility should go to the highest serving career so both servant of the department of justice. mr. comey is needed more than ever to testify before the senate. attorney general sessions and deputy attorney general rosenstein should brief all s

reform proposal that had among its cosponsors a diverse group of senators, ranging from senators durbin and booker on the democratic side to senators lee and paul on the conservative side. unfortunately, those efforts to strike a compromise to bring much-needed reform to our nation's criminal justice system were derailed by the obstruction of, guess what? then-senator sessions, with the cooperation of the republican leadership. and now after making progress under president obama and attorney general holder, attorney general sessions has chosen to simply revert back to the one-size-fits-all approach that criminologists, police leaders and bipartisan lawmakers have determined is not the right answer. in order to truly be tough on crime, we must be smart on crime. this approach is dumb on crime. congress, of course, still has the power to legislate this issue. we have the power to override the attorney general's decision. so i hope this misguided change in the department of justice's policy revives a bipartisan desire to pursue sentencing reform. when we look for areas where there can be -

senator dick durbin the democrat from illinois. i started by asking him what he learned today about flynn and yates. >> sally yates gave us a very thorough and complete time line in terms of her knowledge of the fact that general flynn was in a position where he could be compromised because of public statements that he made and the fact she took that information immediately to the white house not once but twice to warn them that he was vulnerable to blackmail because of things he said that weren't true. >> do you give any motives to the trump white house for the 18-day gap between the time they learned that general flynn was compromisible and when general flynn separated from the white house as national security adviser? >> listen, it's almost impossible to understand because president-elect trump had been briefed in detail about the russian involvement in the election. he had also been told by the former president, barack obama, about misgivings that president obama had about his choice of general flynn. he now was warned by the d

eastern senator durbin said he objected to the committee's meetings because of the fbi director's firing. the official business before the senate today is the nomination of robert the president's nominee to be the us trade representative. a little earlier, martin heinrich, talked about today's vote on methane regulations. here's a look. >> mr. president, i am proud that the senate voted to reject an effort to overturn common sense protection to reduce methane waste. it was three years ago that satellite images from nasa revealed that there was a giant cloud of methane. about the size of the state of delaware sitting over the four corners region in northwestern new mexico and southwestern colorado. although evidence had shown that there was methane air pollution in the four corners, as early as 2003, the image of the nasa data is truly striking. this is a warning of a potential major threat to public health for communities in the region. the san juan basin and the four corners region has long been a leading producer of oil and natural gas. with the natural gas boom in the mid- 2000, produ

. >> senator durbin's next, but i have one quick -- if you don't mind, senator durbin, about h 70 works. you said something, general clapper, i don't quite understand. is it unlawful to surveil with a fisa warrant a foreign agent in the united states? skbl >> no, it's not, but that's another provision. i was saying what 702 does. >> i just want to make sure there is a procedure to do -- >> there is. >> okay. senator durbin. >> just to your point, you said the word, "overseas." ambassador kislyak was not overseas on december 29th, was he? >> that's correct. >> thank. >> thank you, mr. chairman. let me say at the outset in response to senator cornyn, in your conclusion about the unlawful nature of the muslim travel ban was, of course, a position which was supported by three different federal courts that stopped the enforcement of that ban and ultimately led to the president withdrawing that particular travel ban. is that not true? >> that's correct. >> thank you. i want to mention at the outset here that this is a critically important hearing. i want to thank senator graham and senator wh

dick durbin came out he told us that he knew when he wrote that memo that he knew that mr. trump was indeed going to fire james comey ahead of time. david: interesting thing though we also had a may 4th testimony been reexamined of jim comey where he said he never had any political interference with any fbi investigation. that seems to contradict handwritten notes he put forward or at least his supporters put forward taken back in february around the time of the firing of general flynn, suggesting that the president was pressuring him in certain ways with regard to the investigation to drop an investigation into general flynn. so, there is a lot of conflicting information, some of it augers well for the president. some of it augers well for his opposition. so, all of this is going to be sorted out. clearly mr. mueller has a lot on his plate. here we have the president of colombia and the president of the united states. let's listen to the two gentlemen. again president of colombia is fluent in english but there may be a translator. >> thank you very much. it's a great pleas

senator durbin: it was strictly on that question. then you had a second meeting the next day on january 27. >> at his request, yes. >> and at that second meeting with mr. mcgann say anything about whether he had taken the information you had given him the previous day to the president? ms. yates: no, he didn't tell us. >> are you aware mr. spicer, the white house press secretary on february 14 said, and i quote, "immediately after the department of justice notified the white house counsel of the situation, the white house counsel briefed the president and a small group of senior advisers? ms. yates: i've seen media reports to that effect but that's all i know. >> so there is no statement by mr. mcgann that he had either spoken to the president about his concerns with his national security adviser or any other members --. >> no. he didn't advise us in the second meeting anyone he may have discussed this with the prior evening. >> a question that keeps gnawing at me is mr. mcgann asked of you, is there anything wrong with one white hou

senator dick durbin, thanks for joining me. i appreciate it. >> thank you. >> on capitol hill tonight, reporters looking for on-camera comments from republican senators got a mixed reaction. >> if mr. comey is alleging the president did something inappropriate, he has an open invitation to come to the judiciary committee and tell us about it. i don't want to read a memo. i want to hear from him. >> i need to read the whole story before i can comment on it. i really try to comment immediately, but i just read it. it's hard for me to -- i got to know what the white house response is. >> can we get a comment about "the new york times" article, senator cruz? >> joining me now, olivia nuzzi, washington correspondent for new york magazine. jason lee poeld, senior investigative reporter for buzzfeed news. >> olivia, there is -- you know, there has been a kind of level of chaos throughout this entire presidency, and even by that standard, the last 24 hours, it seems on another level, particularly in the wake of this. is that how it fee

durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic whip. mr. durbin: mr. president, i'd like to submit a statement for the record on the pending nomination. the presiding officer: without objection. mrñ -- mr. durbin: mr. president, i'd like to address the comments made by the republican majority leader about the issue of health care. mr. durbin: what he said today, i have never heard him say before. he said it was the fault of the democrats for refusing to work with the republicans to change the affordable care act. i had not heard that before, and i find it an interesting suggestion, because what happened after the house of representatives passed a measure three weeks ago to change the health care system in america, the issue then came to the senate but didn't go through the regular order of business. it's my understanding and it has been reported widely in the press that senator mcconnell, the republican leader, assembled a group of 13 republican senators who are meeting in private o

dick durbin objected to the senate gop's routine request to allow 13 committee hearings to take place today. so, senate hearing scheduled after 11:30 this morning were either postponed or canceled. senator jerry moran of kansas spoke on the senate floor about it. ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: mr. president, all 1 after you whether we are republicans or democrats, we ought to want the united states senate to function. we ought to want the united states senate to be able to accomplish its work. this is a -- it's a challenge all the time, but learning what transpired this morning on the senate floor in my view reaches another low for the united states senate. it is hard, i suppose to explain, but it takes unanimous consent for committees to meet while the united states senate is in session, and that's a request that's made on an on-going basis when the senate convenes, and it happened again this morning. and almost without exception, it's routine. the rules require that two hours after the united states senate

. >> let me get your reaction to something from senator dick durbin, said this friday. on the screen. this is a statement from his office. to preserve his reputation as a credible prosecutor, deputy ag rod rosenstein must appoint an independent special proper to pursue criminal charges or he must resign. do you go that fire, we know senator dianne feinstein agrees he can't do the job if he doesn't appoint an independent special prosecutor? >> i frankly associate myself with senator durbin's remarks, i think he is exactly right. if you think about it, a few days ago, the white house would have all of us believe that the reason why former director comey was fired was because of an investigation that the deputy attorney general made. we now know that wasn't the case. we know that president trump was going to fire in his words comey no matter what, and that the cause of it was the russian investigation. frankly, the deputy attorney general has a well ernld reputation for honesty and integrity. in order for him to retain that reputation, he must hire special counsel. >> the

. >>> illinois senator dick durbin calling on the democrats rosenstein to attorney. we'll ask john delaney if he agrees. stay with us. meticulously crafted interior. all of these are feats of engineering. combining them with near-perfect weight distribution... ...is a feat of amazing. experience the first-ever 471-horsepower lexus lc 500 or the multistage hybrid lc 500h. experience amazing. when a fire destroyed everything in our living room. we replaced it all without touching our savings. yeah, our insurance won't do that. no. you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance when liberty stands with you™. ykeep you sidelined.ng that's why you drink ensure. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you. oscar mawe went back toig the drawing board... and the cutting board. we removed the added nitrates and nitrites, by-products, and artificial preservatives in all of our meat. every. single. one. why? for the love of hot dogs. >>> doze

durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: i ask consent to speak in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: this weekend we saw a democratic election in france, a bedrock of european stability after two wars in the last century. what happened just before the sunday election in france? well, there was a massive cyber attack on the leading candidate, the one who prevailed, emanuel macron. and who do experts suspect was behind this cyber attack, trying to manipulate another western election? trying to foster mistrust in that nation's democratic institutions? not surprisingly, russia. yet, none of this should surprise anyone. not only had russia been subsidizing mr. macron's opponent, marine le pen, who is seen as more sympathetic to moscow, not to mention trying to interfere in dutch and german elections as well but we were warned by this by our own intelligence agencies six months ago. in early october last year, the u.s. intelligence community detailed russia's attack on america's electi

durbin: thank you, thank you, madam president. i also want to address an issue which came up in debate in the u.s. house of representatives, and that's the question of the repeal of the affordable care act. this is an issue where reasonable people can disagree about how to exactly run our health care system, but at the end of the die i -- day i hope like medical research we can come together on basic issues. congress should not pass a law taking away health care coverage from americans. let's start there. congress should work together on a bipartisan basis to find ways to reduce the cost of health care and health insurance premiums. i think we should agree on that too. third, we've got to find a way to make sure that consumers and families across america are protected with health insurance that's there when they need it. now, it was a little over a week ago when i became a statistic, not just a senator but a statistic in health care. i went through a catheter, heart catheter procedure in chicago last week on tuesday. and after tha

dick durbin released this statement.ident trump admitted to firing the fbi director because of his investigation of the trump campaign's russia connections. that's dangerously close to obstruction of justice. this morning the president tweeted a thinly veiled threat to mr. comey which could be construed as threatening a witness in this investigation which is another violation of federal law. to preserve his reputation as a prosecutor, deputy attorney general rod rosenstein must appoint a special independent prosecutor to pursue possible criminal charges or he must resign. tonight we got this from senator dianne feinstein. she says, quote, i also support senator durbin's call for deputy attorney general rod rosenstein to resign. these investigations are far too important to risk disruption, delay, or interference. when rosenstein was confirmed by the senate last month for this attorney general job, it was an overwhelming job, 94-6. then came his role in the firing of the fbi director in the middle of the fbi investigating

durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: mr.resident, let me say at the utset, i want to offer my condolences to the family and he friends of those injured in last night's despicable attack at a concert in manchester, england. this looks like an act of terror in the heart of one of our key american allies. america is joining with the people of great britain in expressing our sorrow and sadness over the loss of these lives and the injuries that were sustained. mr. president, on a separate note, it's been more than five months since the intelligence agencies of the united states reached a solid consensus on a critical issue. the agencies presented to the american people five monthsing a their assessment that russia actively tried to interfere in our last presidential election to help elect someone they thought would be better friend to the russian interests. i think it is important to recall some of the key findings by our own intelligence agencies on a virtually unanimous basis. they said, russian efforts to influence the 201 u.s

durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: the american people were stunned by what we learned what happened in the white house. we saw an alarming set of circumstances of what happened with russia interfering with our democracy. last week the senate judiciary committee heard from sally yates who president trump asked to serve as acting attorney general when he was first sworn into office. ms.ates its fied that --ates said that she had warned done mcgahn about general flynn, that he had been -- that general flynn could be blackmailed. ms. yates first visited the white house on january 26 and invited back to answer followup questions on january 27. those followups include questions about general flynn's potential criminal exposure. what else happened on january 27? the president of the united states brought in f.b.i. director james comey for a one-on-one dinner where he reportedly asked director comey for loyalty. is

but according to durbin and mccaskill, he learn that had comey would be fired on may 8. so democrats prn giving up on digging into the tick tock. >> and we'll talk about that a little later. michael flynn has been a big part of news today. a number of different stories coming out about him. run us through those. >> that's right. mike flynn continuals to cast a long shadow over this presidency. well after he's been fired. we have two reports on nbc fronts. we're reporting that flynn, i know what the former chairman paul manafort are the prime suspects in this sprawling russia investigation. their conduct, it is not so much at least in public of their collusion with russia. there's really no evidence of that. but it is the other activities. with flynn, it is the three things that we know well at this point. he was paid half a million dollars to lobby on behalf of turkish interests. he didn't disclose that until after the justice department questioned him about it. he failed to disclose that he was paid to appear at a state dinner in moscow on behalf of russian state televi

david: senator durbin has said unless rod rosenstein, career guy -- who wrote -- >> just kidding. >>says if he doesn't appoint a special prosecutor he should resign. this is in the minds of democrats, will it play out in reality or is it just this democratic fantasy? >> it is if i may say this on tv, democratic wet dream to have a special prosecutor going after mister trump. special prosecutor -- finding crimes and finding things to go after the object of the investigation. it will result in a disaster for donald trump, for the whole country. no need for a special prosecutor, such a slap in the face to the fbi to say they need a special prosecutor. how about saying you can't do the job, 1000 new agents in the country and we have to have a special prosecutor, a ridiculous fantasy of the democrats. david: treasury department has a special crimes financial crimes unit, the senate intel committee and the grand jury. gertrude stein could have done much worse than have you as her nephew. i will continue that. great to see you. we just talked about media coverage of the firing of new james

officials including democratic senator richard durbin tell abc news comey was fired just days after he asked the justice department for more agents and more resources to expand his investigation. brian ross, abc news, new york. >> our thanks to brian ross. calling on the u.s. to reverse its decision to arm syrian kurds. tensions rising days before he is set to meet president trump at the white house. ghters will be crucial in battling against isis. planning to raise the issue with president trump when they meet tuesday. defense secretary, james mattis is confident they will work out any concerns. dozens of people injured. one man was killed during an especially violent day of anti-government demonstrations on the streets of caracas, protesters are arming themselves with a new weapon to battle security forces. they're using polpotovs, molotov cocktail s filled with feces. >> education secretary nearly drowned out by boos as she delivered the commencement speech at a historically black florida, they owe posed devos as commencement speaker because of past comments sunny made, downplaying

. >> this is a statement from dick durbin.s reputation as a creditable prosecutor, rod rosenstein must appoint an independent prosecutor to pursue possible criminal charges or he must resign. do you go that far. senator dianne feinstein agrees he can't do the job if he does not appoint an independent special prosecutor. >> frankly i associate myself with senator durbin's remarks. i think he's exactly right. if you think about it, just a few days ago the white house would have all of us believe that the reason why former director comey was fired was because of an investigation the deputy attorney general rmade. we know that's not the case. we know president trump was going to fire comey no matter what and the cause was the russian investigation. frankly, the deputy attorney general has a well earned reputation for honesty and integrity. i think in order for him to retain that reputation he must hire a special counsel. >> one more element. the president scratched a plan to visit the fbi according to sources that was scheduled to