and george terwilliger. he served as deputy attorney general under president george h.w. bush. we thank both of you for joining us tonight. i'm going to start with you, benjamin wittes. you know director comey very well. what do you make of the rationale that the white house is giving the president fired him because of the way he mishandled, they say, the hillary clinton email investigation? >> well, the sudden white house concern for hillary clinton's c- fairness to hillary clinton is a remarkable turn of events. i mean, in the time in which jim comey did the things for which he has now been removed, the only complaint on the part of donald trump was that he had not indicted or recommended that hillary clinton be indicted. the white house actually-- trump actually praised some of the very decision that now form the basis for comey's removal. so it's actually a completely implausible set of rationales, even if some people in the justice department may believe it sincerely. it's very hard to believe that's what's actually motivating donald trump. >> woodruff: george terwilliger,