and offer to go to the f.b.i. to talk to f.b.i.nts at headquarters to try to boost moral. >> woodruff: so, fascinating. and, lisa, meantime, on capitol hill, some of the reaction has been explosive from democrats, republicans have had a mix of reaction. but let's start with the democrats. what are they saying? >> that's right, glowft saying things but doing things today. democrats, first of all, are continuing their call for a special counsel in this case. they're raising that call, and in fact, today, judy, they froze committee hearings in order to try to make their point. they can only do that today. but democrats are trying to get across the idea that they are willing to use every procedural means they have to try and force a special counsel. now, they rawls saying that they think not only is attorney general jeff sessions someone who should not be involved in the special counsel decision, but also the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein, the man we're talking about so much. they say he now seems to be biased because of the

the f.b.i. director james comey on the hot seat this morning. the likely focus russia and the election. adding fuel to what was already expected to be a fiery hearing new comments from hillary clinton blaming comey in part for her election defeat. that's not all she said. interesting. welcome to wednesday here on "america's newsroom." >> shannon: i'm shannon bream, president trump firing back at clinton saying the f.b.i. is the best thing that ever happened to her. clinton reflected on the election yesterday. did take some of the blame herself but also pointed the finger at comey and russia. listen. >> i was on the way to winning until a combination of jim comey's letter on october 28th and russian wikileaks raised doubts in the minds of pegoing but got scared off. >> shannon: john roberts joins us live from the north lawn. hello, john. >> bill: good morning to you. another busy day at the white house. 103 days into donald trump's presidency yesterday hillary clinton relitigating the results of

the f.b.i. press secretary sean spicer just made the announcement moments ago. here to tell us what we know at this moment, our own john yang. john, this looks like a bolt out of the blue. what have you learned? >> jonathan: it was absolutely out of the blue. it was after the white house press was told there would be no more news developments for the night. sean spicer walked into the briefing room with a very brief statement saying that president trump had fired james comey on the recommendation of the attorney general jeff sessions and the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. we're slowly getting bits and pieces of the reasons why, the letters that sessions sent to the president recommending this move and rosen sten's memo recommending it, as well. it appears to center around comb yeah's handling of the investigation into hillary clinton's e-mails, ironically enough, that his announcement, his holding a press conference in july clearing her but also criticizing her at the same time. usually

the f.b.i. over russia and the 2016 election. we're going to talk about all those aspects this morning, and we want to hear from you. here's how you can let us know about your thoughts, if you support or oppose director comey's firing. 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. or independents, 202-748-8002. you can also let us know your thoughts about the firing of james comey on our social immediate media platform. @cspanwj is how to twoot your thoughts this morning. if you want to post on facebook, you can do so at facebook.com/cspan. the f.b.i. has an acting director, that's andrew mccabe, set to testify today before the senate intelligence committee. the papers this morning also talk about potential people to serve as interim director of the f.b.i. in light of the firing. pictures also included in the "washington journal" street this morning, they include adam lee, an agent in charge of the richmond office, michael anderson, in charge of the chicago office, andrew mccabe, whi

pete: i can only bring it back to the f.b.i. i can tell you that the f.b.i. russia investigation will not be derailed by the firing of james comey. you heard, as margaret said this muscular statement from the deputy director who has become the acting director. you could fully expect, this was at an intelligence committee hearing on worldwide threats, you could expect he would be freshman reluctant to sit back an yem and no, sir. but it was a muscular statement. like the f.b.i. is freight train, you're not going to stop. he also said, he had no whether -- no idea whether comey said to the president he was not under investigation but he was asked would you ever give assurances like that? and he said no. in terms of the russia campaign investigation, the f.b.i. was eager to say in the midst of the storm it hasn't dropped a stitch. dan: one thing we're all trying to do is piece together, as the f.b.i. and others do their investigation, what is the full extent of trump and his businesses and associations, in america. we got a look when trump's tax lawyer said he's

the f.b.i., just to give you an abstract example. if the f.b.i. wants to interview someone who they think is a key witness and they really want to structure that interview in the way they do to get to the answers, they might call up congress and say, hey, that open hearing you want to do next week with that guy, can you please put that off because we have that process up? that's not a bad thing for the congressional hearing. look, it's a good thing the f.b.i. is now going to proceed with a guy like bob mueller who is profoundly respected on both sides of the aisle but, yeah, there's going to be a need as we move along to make sure we don't step on each other's investigations. host: does that mean the public won't get to hear from the former f.b.i. director james comey anytime soon? guest: well, most of us have a bias. i know ranking member adam schiff does. we all have a bias to doing as much as this in the public arena as we can. you know, this is part of the problem here is that this is all happening in the murky world of, you know, ambassadors

had you lost trust in the f.b.i. under james comey? well, i've had questions nd concerns about some things hat he's said and i always wondered why nothing came of the e-mails, the situation with the one was ever no prosecuted for that. mean, there was confidential, classified information that were in some of the e-mails and approved to ren't have that, had it. kind of shake me some that nothing ever seemed to that.n from host: thanks for the call this morning. rose up next, denver, colorado. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span, call. you for taking my am calling to say that i am orry to see that f.b.i. director james comey has been and the timing of it and the season of it. a parallel to it with the video clip you have been showing where the president director or eted former director now, james comey, with a kiss on the cheek handshake, hand pat on his back. that to president where judasa judas, kissed the lord jesus on the and had the government of him harisees there to take nder arrest and lead to his crucifixion. host: rose,

the f.b.i.director saying he wants to keep his job and the president is asking whether or not he's under investigation? sarah: i don't see that as a conflict of interest and neither do the many legal scholars and others that have been commenting on it for the last hour. so, no, i don't see that as an issue. reporter: sarah, the other thing i want to ask you is, i asked you directly yesterday -- related to comey -- i asked you directly yesterday the president already decided to fire james comey when he met with the deputy attorney general and attorney general. and you said, no. also, the vice president of the united states said directly to the president took the recommendation of the deputy attorney general to remove the director of the f.b.i. sean spicer said it's all him, meaning the deputy attorney general. the president decided to fire james comey. so why were so many people giving answers that just weren't correct? were you guys in the dark? was the vice president misled again? sarah: i know

f.b.i. the white house says he was fired over his handling of the investigation of hillary clinton's emails. there are many questions this morning among them why now and ultimately who will replace comey at the f.b.i. it is a busy wednesday and a big two hours ahead. i'm bill hemmer. >> shannon: i'm shannon bream. this news broke around 5:30 eastern time last night president trump firing james comey after recommendations. some lawmakers questioning the timing of the dismissal. democrats calling it nixonian wanting a special prosecutor to look into the possible ties to russia of the trump campaign. the white house firing back saying it was the only option. >> director comey had lost the confidence of the rank and file in the f.b.i. and lost the confidence from members of both sides, republicans and democrats in the house and senate. frankly, most importantly he lost the confidence of the american people. the president made a swift and decisive action and let director comey go. >> bill: we hav

the f.b.i.director was asking to stay on as f.b.i. director. don't you see how that's a conflict of interest? the f.b.i. director saying he wants to keep his job and the president is asking whether or not he's under investigation? sarah: i don't see that as a conflict of interest and neither do the many legal scholars and others that have been commenting on it for the last hour. so, no, i don't see that as an issue. reporter: sarah, the other thing i want to ask you is, i asked you directly yesterday -- related to comey -- i asked you directly yesterday the president already decided to fire james comey when he met with the deputy attorney general and attorney general. and you said, no. also, the vice president of the united states said directly to the president took the recommendation of the deputy attorney general to remove the director of the f.b.i. sean spicer said it's all him, meaning the deputy attorney general. the president decided to fire james comey. so why were so many people giving a

r firing the f.b.i. director f.b.i. director is supposed to be more concerned with law enforcement than with press conferences. since he's not elected, his job is not to go out and appear to be politically astute. and certainly not to help one political party over another. and it seemed that under director comey's tenure as head of the f.b.i., i was thrilled when he replaced mueller. mueller did a lot of damage to the f.b.i. with his five year up or out policy where anyone in a supervisory position for five years, anywhere outside of washington, at the end of five years had to either leave the f.b.i. or come to washington, be a minion up here for the director. there were -- we lost thousands and thousands of years of valuable f.b.i. experience under director mueller. in fact, no one has done more damage to the rank and file of agents tanding f.b.i. than director mueller. i keep hearing all these glowing things, well, he did a lot of damage. plus, under his time as f.b.i. mueller had the training material that would help

he encouraged leaks from the f.b.i. he pressed director comey to release more embarrassing evidence. 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

former f.b.i. assistant director ron hosko worries that comey's firing could have a chilling effect. >> if the timing of this termination lines up with timing about a slowdown in the investigation, the russia investigation, then i think there are serious, serious questions that are going to need to be answered by this white house and by the department of justice. >> reporter: acting f.b.i. with the president today. the white house said that the president wanted to discuss bureau morale. scott, tomorrow mccabe will be on capitol hill testifying at a previously schedule hearing. >> pelley: jeff pegues, thanks. now, earlier we mentioned the memo from deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. the white house is pointing to that memo to justify president trump's decision to fire comey. rosenstein, who has been the number two with the justice department for just two weeks, specifically criticized a news conference that comey held last july on the hillary clinton e-mail investigation. chip reid has more on

f.b.i. director william sessions was dismissed for serious ethical violations. the f.b.i. at that time was not investigating the clinton administration. i've had my disagreements with director comey, judgments he's made, statements he's made. i'm not exactly his greatest fan. but i didn't question his competence when it came to investigating. i never called on him to be fired. there are so many questions that need to be answered. why was director comey fired now, just as the f.b.i. investigation of the russian interference in the presidential campaign seemed to be reaching a critical point? today white house spokesperson sara huckabee sanders said that the president has been considering firing comey, quote, since the day he took office. did the president or anyone else in the white house ask or direct the justice department to recommend the firing of director comey? press reports quote trump administration aides saying that attorney general jeff sessions was charged with coming up with the reasons why the president should fire comey. president trump told my colleague, sena

they want the f.b.i. to do what they think is proper and fit, and they say they want this investigation to continue but to end as quickly as possible. >> woodruff: well, i guess it doesn't get any more active at either place at the capitol or the white house. thank you both. john yang, lisa desjardins. and now what this means for the function and stability of the trump presidency. we turn to man who has had a front row in the white house. leon panetta was chief of staff for bill clinton. he then served as director of the c.i.a. and secretary of defense in the obama administration. secretary panetta, thank you for talking with us. so as somebody who has had a top job, the top job at the white house as chief of staff, as we said at the pentagon and c.i.a., how do you read how this comey episode has unfolded? >> well, it's a very confusing picture obviously, because a number of reasons have been presented as to why it's happened. but, you know, deep down there's no question that however it happened, and for

senior f.b.i. official oversees cyber crime issues was and the candidates ivinina, illiam overseeing counter intelligence intelligence. glen from illinois, democrats line. go ahead. i don't think they should have done it. i think they threw the assistant a.. the bus, now you watch, there will be a big smoke screen up, trump's file and a about all these 3000 or -- 3000 voters that weren't upistered and that is coming today. thank you. maryland, on, independent line, next up. was just trying to get back to the point that trump has banks, after he went bankrupt, he couldn't gets a loan in the united states. money from chinese banks, russian banks, that is what we focusing on here, you know, firing comey is a problem, pretty much a -- kushner, before came to the united states, got a sweetheart deal to save him from his failing hotel, i mean, the list goes on and on know what need to his tax returns are, his ties to loans from russian banks, banks, because conflict of interest is more than what hillary

if the president was really concerned about the f.b.i.'s -- f.b.i. director's conduct in the hillary clinton e-mail investigation, why didn't the president fire director comey when he took the oath of office in january? it just doesn't add up. no one is above the law. according to news reports, president trump was also upset over the amount of media coverage the f.b.i. director and the investigations were attracting, and the white house asked d.o.j. officials to come up with reasons. so it is clear to me that the decision to fire mr. comey was a personal decision reached by president trump and it was known by him at the time that it would compromise the investigation being done by the department of justice. so i have been asked by others, well, you know, mr. tome was not popular by democrats or republicans, that he had done things during his term as director that upset a lot of us, and that's true, but the director of the f.b.i. has a ten-year term for a reason, a term that is longer than two terms of the president of the united states. this is not a

trump referenced the f.b.i.'s current investigation into whether trump campaign officials coordinated are russian operatives during the election. that i am not under investigation. comey was in the los angeles f.b.i. field office when he heard of his dismissal. scott, comey's firing has stunned f.b.i. agents across the country. some worry the russian investigation may now be compromised and wonder if it will proceed aggressively or at all. >> pelley: major garrett, thanks. now let's go to our chief congressional correspondent nancy cordes on capitol hill, where commi comey testified just week. >> mr. president, with all due respect, are you making a big mistake. >> reporter: democrats used terms like "nixonian" to describe comey's firing. they argue president trump is trying to thwart the f.b.i.'s investigation into his inner circle's potential ties to russia. connecticut senator richard blumenthal: >> now we need a special prosecutor who is independent of the president and the department of justice who can condu

( laughter ) oh, i know, the f.b.i. yeah.pend yesterday in airplane mode, this is what happened. the u.s. justice department had a major shake-up, and not in a fun, vibrating bed kind of way. no, the kind where you're not sure if the house will keep standing. >> stunning late breaking news. president trump has fired james comey as director of the f.b.i. >> trevor: now, i know what you're thinking. why did trump fire comey when comey basically got him elected? that's why. because trump doesn't want to be president. this is his revenge. that's exactly why he did it. ( cheers and applause ) trump is so angry-- "you gave me this job that i hate. so now you get the worst punishiment that i can think of: more time at home with your family. ( laughter ) may all of your sons be erics." ( laughter ) ( applause ) so, trump fired james comey. the man who happened to be leading the investigation into whether trump's campaign had colluded with russia to win last year's election. the man who as director of the f.b.i. is supposed to be poli

the f.b.i., james color="#ffff00">comey. also tonight, workers are ordered to take cover after a tunnel containing nuclear waste collapses. turbulence on the ground-- an explosion of anger after spirit aiines cancels nine flights. >> we're starting to get passengers who a sreaying, "look, i'm mad as heck. i'm not going to take it anymore." >> pelley: and address your stress with the spin that's in. >> holding them andpi sgnnin them is oddly satisfying, and it's really fun. this is the "cbs