brian: historian robert dallek has a book out very soon on henry kissinger and richard nixon and their relationship. thehe book itself, he's got nixon-kissinger tapes from the oval office. the ferocious dislike that henry kissinger had for william rogers, the secretary of state. the reason i bring this up is cousin you think back -- and i wrote four of them down -- the difference between william , thes and henry kissinger differences between weinberger and george schultz, the difference between colin powell and donald rumsfeld, and your differences with symantec's -- mance, does that work? mr. brzezinski: i think he really is useful for the president to have different opinions. these days intion which the decision-makers circle around the president is very small and very unanimous. i think that is part of the explanation for the mistakes we have made in iraq. i think this agreement within bounds is useful. animus influences the positions people take. a think that becomes counter productive. can not the one who conventionally say that the conflict between me and vance did not have perso

state henry kissinger while fighting off claims that his firing was about the russia investigation, he met with two men named sergey. russian. of mike flynn and carter page flame. it was closed to the press. the still photos we are able to show you came from the russian

any short warning about his intention to have this visual of, of course, a nixon-era official, henry kissinger, in with president trump today. they've had a relationship for years and kissinger advised and counselled president trump as a candidate and as president. he is a notable figure, for sure. but the president, knowing that would generate a question, and the team that went in today, our colleagues here did ask the question. that response, terse but important, that james comey was not doing a good job in the estimation of president trump. no response on matters like timing or the rationale behind it, behind the not doing a good job idea. no comment on the larger russia implications. a brief statement but it allows us to see the president on camera responding to that. the tape will be sent to all networks simultaneously in a short while. >> i'll add one thing to your reporting, which is that it is a controlled situation for them. when you go in as the pool, they tell you when you have to leave. so the president can say just as much, as little as he wants, and then they can get the members

it was actually henry kissinger sitting in the chair with the president. he only spoke to us for a couple of seconds, and that was really the most we've really seen of him. he had brief public statements today, but he's really been standoffish as far as the people he's talking to. some of the people who have been with him since the very, very beginning, we're told. relatives and the closest advisers that have been sort of the original staff of his campaign. his inner circle is getting smaller. he's apparently getting very, very tense with the situation that they can't sort of shake off the whole russia allegation. and so it's really an interesting time and definitely can be felt -- the tension throughout the white house. >> matthew, let's talk about the comey angle. respectfully, he is a man who would insert the word "integrity" in every sentence he utters publicly if he thought he could. he has now been accused of what the president has ascribed to him and that is saying three times, reassuring the president, you're not the subject of an investigation. le

the president saying he wasn't doing a good job in his meeting with henry kissinger. there are democrats already criticizing this meeting just second after it has happened, which shows you just how quickly things move in the news cycle in washington, d.c. saying on a day when the president is being accused of knicks sewn yan behavior, it is ironic he is appearing with a nixon official at the white house, criticism coming from democrats. supporters of the president saying this was a long-time coming and something the president needed to do. we'll see sarah huckabee sanders briefing reporters in the place of sean spicer. you can imagine she will field quite a few questions about all of this as well, carl. >> "the times" is up with a new lead saying the days before he was fired, comey asked d.o.j. for a significant increase in money and personnel for the bureau's investigation into russia's interference. "the times" is cited three officials with knowledge of his request. given that and all other we have to work with today, people are going to chew on that. >> reporter: i

henry kissinger, one last thing. does anybody want to guess of the people i named today, who was the person who was most influential in teaching henry kissinger everything he knew about been a mom -- vietnam and the vietnamese? the very frenchman who created ho chi minh is the guy who told henry kissinger what to do in vietnam, which was to respect the communists and disrespect as deplorable the enemy's nationalists. >> of think we can possibly find a better moment to end in this. i want to thank the professor this- under whose auspices program is taking place and for everyone who has come, this is a good indication that university -- steve, i said something about search he is i predict that the sales and rentals of the deer hunter, apocalypse now, and platoon will probably go up exponentially in minneapolis within the next amount of time. we could not possibly say much more except thank you, steve, for this presentation. there are moments of we understand history tracks, that we can look at those moments, they can b

now, henry kissinger, one last thing. anybody want to guess of the people i named today, who was the person who was most influential in teaching henry kissinger everything he knew about vietnam and the vietnamese? jean, the very frenchman who created ho chi minh is the guy who told henry kissinger what to do in vietnam, which was to respect the communists and disrespect, as deplorable, the vietnamese nationalists. >> i think we couldn't possibly find a better moment to end this. i want to thank, first, professor bob cuterly, under whose auspices the freeman seminar series this, program, is taking place and for everyone who's come, this is a very good indication of the university of minnesota as both a state university and a land grant college and having the community come into this room which honors hubert humphrey. steve, i predict that the sales and the rentals of the deer hunter, apocalypse now, and platoon will probably go up exponentially in urban minneapolis within the next amount of time. we couldn't possibly say m

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it's an honor to have henry kissinger with us. he has been a friend of mine for a long time. thank you very much are being here. appreciate it. >> why did you fire director comey? president trump: he was not doing a good job. excuse me? not at all. questions]asking president trump: thank you, everybody. thank you. >> that video from the white house late this morning. we're live on c-span at the korean economic institute in washington for a look at the south korean presidential election. the new south korean president sworn in today, taking his formal oath of office and saying he would be willing to visit rival north korea under the right conditions. they will be talking about the future of u.s.-korea relations in this discussion of the korean economic institute. back to the white house for a moment. video from the oval office today. we

he is currently finishing a biographical study of former secretary of state henry kissinger. with all the overlapping interest and expertise, i am sure you will join me in welcoming me our partners. there will be a portion of the evening where you can be a conversational partner. with no further ado let's discuss lessons from a failed presidency. [applause] >> thank you vanessa. i would also like to thank them for helping sponsor this event along with the political science department and history department and provost office. [inaudible] first i will talk to jack about the making of the book and then professor swarts and i will talk about the substance of the book and then we'll have some questions from these four in the front row and open it up to the audience. as they used to say about richard nixon or tricky dick, he's back. [inaudible] >> i will save jack the trouble, when he was on campus today and when he was writing the book he was writing it for the students of today. [inaudible] even the students parents were just kids when richard nixon was president in some degree.

henry kissinger party to some of the discussions.e from sam zell, the real estate investor who was earlier on daybreak america's, what he the firing of the fbi. this is bloomberg. ♪ bloombergve from headquarters, i am vonnie quinn. this is "bloomberg markets." not much movement if you look at the major indices. dow is down 0.1%. the nasdaq is really unchanged right now. let's get to abigail doolittle. majorl: we may have the standards not moving. as november 11, right around the time of the election, the surge hitting numbers not seen since 2011. that could be a sign of a selloff but we are seeing a recovery. a few of these stocks and that are driving the strength. first up, video shares are searching up of more than 15%, up nearly 60% on another monster quarter. beat make use year over year. over the top-year line, not a small number. they made a $1.9 billion in revenue. growth and it went beyond the company's main settlement of gaming. one analyst saying they crushed it over at rosenblatt. some strength and it seems it is andnst de

what it henry kissinger come from? why was he at the white house at this very moment? what can we learn about the meeting? between and the russian foreign minister? will go back to sergey lavrov. >> all our partners are aware of our position. we wouldn't want to use this right and we hope you will be able to settle the situation. [speaking russian] >> jenna: we will continue to monitor this press conference. if there's any news with that comes out of it that we think is particularly important, we'll bring it to you. the firing of james comey continues to be the head story. spend the russians are masters of propaganda. i think it is worth mentioning that. some of the friendly questions the russian media are directing at sergey lavrov, the russian foreign minister who as we mentioned, met this morning with president trump in the oval office. some democrats are calling the timing of director comey's dismissal troubling as the new calls for a special prosecutor to oversee the russian investigation. gregg jarrett thinks the president should appoint not one, but two prosecut

the reason being, henry kissinger was in moscow. it was the time of the yom kippur war. nixon told me i can't have leonid resnick of seamy reject what i'm doing. i have to get rid of him. >> russian influence. >> nixon said if i have to, i will go to agf seven to file it. >> eboni: what i hear is that there was immediate and swift action and i accept that. that's different than the competing narrative we are hearing out of the trump white house was partly that comey was fired for what he did in july versus the investigation around russia. >> eric: the official said it's been, he's had questions about comey. >> kat: that is fine. >> why did sean spicer seven days ago say donald trump had full confidence in james comey? was he lying? >> kat: the most specific issue i think is how could jeff sessions say that this was defensible, defended, then the next day listed as a reason for the firing? >> eric: abd deputy attorney general says -- >> kat: he said he had an absolute duty to report it now he sang has to be fired. you have a lot of reasons. just skip that reason then. >>

it is an honor to have henry kissinger with us. he has been a friend of mine for a long time. thank you for being here, i appreciate it. >> why did you fire director call me -- director comey? trump: he wasn't doing a good job, very simple. >> [indiscernible] trump: not at all. thank you. thank you, everybody. >> what is your response to those who ask whether or not this was an effort to stop the investigation? >> yesterday president donald trump provided strong and decisive leadership to restore the trust and confidence of the american people and the federal bureau of investigation. i'm grateful for the action the president has taken and i'm confident that the president will choose an individual who will be able to restore the confidence of our nation and our leading law-enforcement agency. president trump made the right decision at the right time. to accept the recommendation of the deputy attorney general and the attorney general to ask for the termination, to support the termination of the director of the fbi was simply the right decision. we go forward with confidence tha

. >> president trump spoke about the firing of the james comey during a meeting with henry kissinger. following the remarks, we will hear from mike pence. >> one final matter. whatever anyone thinks of the manner of director comey's handling of the clinton investigation, it is clear what our democratic colleagues thought of it at that time and thereafter. last year the current democratic leader said it appeared to be an appalling act, one that he said goes against the tradition of prosecutors at every level of government. and the prior democratic leader, when i asked if james comey should resign given his conduct of the legislation, he replied of course. yes. it's also clear what our democratic colleagues think of the man who evaluated mr. comey's professional conduct and concluded that the bureau needed a change in leadership. the democratic leader just a few weeks ago praised mr. rosenstein for his independence and said he had developed a reputation for integrity this is what we have now, mr. president. our democratic colleagues complaining about the removal of an f.b.i. director wh

contacts with trump advisers are under investigation by the fbi and former secretary of state henry kissinger. after trump's opening remarks, a reporter asked him why he fired fbi director comey. dr.s. trump: everybody knows kissinger. we are talking about russia and various other matters. but it is an honor to have henry kissinger with us. he has been a friend of mine for a long time. they give very much for being here. >> why did you fire director comey? pres. trump: because he wasn't doing a good job. he was not doing a good job. amy: as a candidate, trump cheered comey's tough stance on clinton's use of a personal email and private internet server while she was secretary of state. trump is the first president since richard nixon to fire a law enforcement official who was overseeing an investigation tied to the white house. president bill clinton dismissed william sessions amid allegations of ethical lapses in 1993. as the developments fueled concerns trump is trying to undermine a probe that could threaten his presidency, capitol hill senate majority leader mitch mcconnell rejected calls

whether you agree or disagree with the president, he meets with the russian ambassador and henry kissinger the day after doing this. a lot of that will add that to the tom clancy novel aspect of this. but where are we today? the white house is saying the president decided to fire the fbi director because of how haenhe handled the hillary clinton e-mail investigation. that's their public line. they're saying essentially that he fired jim comey for the very conduct that candidate donald trump praised james comey for. so how do they intellectually connect those dots, or can they? >> first of all, this is not a white house or an administration that necessarily bothers to connect dots or bothers with consistency, even. but i do think that the events of the last 24 hours have really raised the political imperative here. however this investigation is conducted, it has to come to some kind of clear conclusion that is credible. now, whether that can be handled within the processes that are already set up, whether it's the sblebl intelligence committees on the hill or inside the justice department,

maybe he wants to play junior henry kissinger and just lost the plot. but you have to remember that other piece. and that other piece is just not cons witthe junior henry kissinger approach to the story. >> and david, again, i want to go to the idea, you have worked in the white house. you know what it's like to fill out disclosure forms of various kinds of financial disclosure, all sorts of things. people do forget to include certain things. when you are making that defense that i just forgot, we look at how much you forgot. and how big that thing was that you forgot. and that's when we start to doubt that you just forgot. >> look, i had to fill out a form that said how many times have you crossed the border. and at that time we had young children and two sets of grandparents living in canada. and we drove back and forth all the time. and i said to the white house counsel, i will never be able to get this exactly right. this is also before electronic calendars. he said it would be an innocent mistake. don't worry about it. so you do make mistakes, and

maybe he wants to play junior henry kissinger and just lost the plot. but you have to remember that other piece. and that other piece is just not consistent with the junior henry kissinger approach to the story. >> and david, again, i want to go to the idea, you have worked in the white house. you know what it's like to fill out disclosure forms of various kinds of financial disclosure, all sorts of things. people do forget to include certain things. when you are making that defense that i just forgot, we look at how much you forgot. and how big that thing was that you forgot. and that's when we start to doubt that you just forgot. >> look, i had to fill out a form that said how many times have you crossed the border. and at that time we had young children and two sets of grandparents living in canada. and we drove back and forth all the time. and i said to the white house counsel, i will never be able to get this exactly right. this is all before electronic calendars. he said it would be an innocent mistake. don't worry about it. so you do make mistake

related to that, this question, what about henry kissinger's role during this time period? what was he up to? i shy away from wrapping things up neatly. [laughter] mr. young: this question puts me on the spot. i cannot fully address it because there is no time and there are documents i found which give us a totally new understanding of henry kissinger's role in the negotiations, which i hope to make my next book. briefly speaking, i will get the mica pier 1 while you think about these things. c up here ast the mi you think about these things. henry kissinger do not believe in c.o.r.d.s., the south vietnamese, did not believe we would win, and that colored his negotiations with hanoi. and he agreed hanoi could leave their troops in vietnam. we win the war because we defeat viet cong. he gets a 1972, they sent down every regular division they had. it was not a guerrilla war. the soft vietnamese had won the guerrilla war. we took polls surveys. 90% of the people in south vietnam supported the government and thought they would win. nobody wanted the communists to win. organizat

he is currently finishing a biographical study of former secretary of state henry kissinger so i'm sure you'll join me in welcoming our distinguished conversational partners. you will be invited to be a conversational partner but with no further adieu let's get started discussing "lessons from a failed presidency." [applause] >> thank you vanessa, and i'd also like to thank steven for helping to sponsor this event along with the political science department and the history department and the provost office, and thank you to the audience. in frontow we have my great colleague, political scientist and three of our students, jude, frank, and julie who will be part of this. there are four parts. the making of the book, professor swartz and i will talk to you about the substance of the back and then have questions from these four in the front row, and then open it up to the audience. as they used to say about richard nixon or tricky dick, he's back. and -- but never knew he would be so relevant. so i will save jack the trouble of -- on campus today, sort of -- when he was writing the book he

. >> up next, deults on the high profile visit today involving president donald trump, henry kissinger the ambassador from russia >> we have more coming up on ktvu news right after the break . >>> welcome back to ktvu news, all of the news, weather and information you need to know throughout your day. >>> president donald trump is poised to send thousands more troops to afghanistan, they are going to send as many as 5,000 troops to fight the taliban but democrats are saying that president donald trump needs to ask for authorization from congress first. >> our men and women in uniform deserve to know what the conditions and the parameters are. >> we need to eliminate any threat around the globe. >> the president still needs to give final approval to the plan and is expected to do so by may 25th. >>> president donald trump and henry kissinger met with a russian leader. we are live with more from washington. >>> i thought it was very good. >> reporter: president donald trump with the former secretary of state by his side commented on his meeting with sergey lavrov. they talked about the k

lou: well, let's turn to this white house and, by the way, with henry kissinger front and center todayct that president trump brought him back to the white house where he belongs. i mean, that house is partly his, in my opinion. i know that's an unpopular position with some, but i think henry is one of the great gifts this country has ever seen. >> one of the great visionaries. i had the privilege of spending a lot of time with him. but we did a camp out in california. you know, the famous camp that all of these rich guys go to. and two of us were -- and he did the foreign policy, and i did the domestic. and about the third camp he goes of course catcher knows nothing about foreign policy. so i'll quickly take care of the domestic policy and more time for me to do foreign, so we don't need anymore. lou: well, that son of a gun. >> and i said henry knows everything about everything. lou: there's some truth with that. he walks around with that smashing 200-point iq of his. >> absolutely. and a great sense of humor. lou: absolutely. let's turn to this president. he made a decision and the

in a meeting today with henry kissinger, the president spoke briefly. >> he was not doing a good job very simply. >> director comey made a startling revelation that he had essentially taken a stick of dynamite and thrown into the department of justice going around the chain of command when he decided to take steps without talking to the attorney general or deputy attorney general one holding a press conference telling them he would not let them know what he was going to say. >> sanders was referring to the surprise news conference last july when he announced hillary clinton would not face charges for her use of a private e-mail server as secretary of state. a number of democrats are not buying the explanation. >> as i reflect on the decision to dismiss director comey, i become incredulous, thinking about the ongoing fbi investigation into russia's interference with their presidential election and possible connections to associates of the trump campaign and administration. >> senator feinstein and other democrats are demanding a special prosecutor to oversee the russia investigation b

henry kissinger, too. is this the late great 70s all over again? after this. ahh.m and dad? 'saved money on motorcycle insurance with geico! goin' up the country. love mom and dad' i'm takin' a nap. dude, you just woke up! ♪ ♪ i'm goin' up the country, baby don't you wanna go? ♪ ♪ i'm goin' up the country, baby don't you wanna go? ♪ geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. >> neil: all right. he's out of there. james comey has been fired, as you know. a lot of democrats led by senate minority leader chuck schumer want closed door hearings about why and how that transpired. democratic congressman eric swovo is here. good to have you here. >> thanks, neil. >> neil: are you for the hearings to find out what happened and why it happened? >> i'm offended for what happened why most americans are. this is the united states of america. you don't get to fire the person investigating you. as a member of the judiciary committee, i hope to bring before us the attorney general. why was he involved in this decision? he was supposed to be recused with anything doing with ru

maybe he wants to play junior henry kissinger and lost the plot. you have to remember the other piece and it's not consistent with that approach to the story. >> and, david, the -- again, i want to go to the idea, you have worked in the white house. you know what it's like to fill out disclosure forms of various kin kinds, financial disclosure and people do forget to include certain things. when you are making that defense that i forgot, we look at how much you forgot, and how big that thing was that you forgot. that's when we start to doubt that you just forgot. >> i had to fill out a form that said how many times have you crossed the borde at that time, we had young children and t sets of grandparents in canada. i said i will never be able to get this exactly right. this is before electronic calendars. he said it would be an innocent mistake, don't worry about it. you make mistakes and there are allowances for innocent mistakes. this is just so obviously not forgetting one of the trips to the grandparent's house. this is a different kind of thing

henry kissinger shows up in the oval office and the man running the russian investigation is fired. this is about optics. is it another lost week to this matter. >> this week was a disaster for the white house. no other way to put it. from the mess anning perspective they were all over the map. they had the president undercutting communications staff, his own vice president. tweeting out this morning that his press secretary can't always be trusted to give accurate information. and you have all this when they could be pushing health reform in the senate, when they could be laying the ground work for tax reform and they could be preparing the president for his foreign trip. instead we have another week consumed by russia and with this "wall street journal" report you are referencing it's more of a drip, drip, we know the president hates the story but its a not going away. and it doesn't go away when you fire the person leading the investigation. >> as one wag put it tonight, how many coal mines were reopened today? zero. peter, among your travels covering four presidents you were als

>> why would president trump invite henry kissinger into the white house the day after he fired comey? for someone who wants a scandal apparently to go away he is doing everything to look and sound like richard nixon, listen, if i could figure out donald trump -- >> you mean he is just oblivious to the parallels? >> well, there are people in the inner circles that believe he was much maligned, maybe thhe doesn't mind the comparison, what i think is important for the public is to keep in mind that richard nixon committed crimes. the evidence is overwhelming and that when he fired the special prosecutor it was to obstruct justice. when we analyze president trump's behavior we should ask for information that explains his motive. that is all. if his motive is to obstruct the russia investigation then there nixon. al similarity to richard >> we don't know what his motives are but we do know he was thinking about russia and the investigation at the time he made the decision to fire comey. now back to the tapes, literally we just got information across my desk. and jim acosta asked, if they

what was henry kissinger doing in the oval office? we want to welcome our viewers from the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> breaking news tonight, new details are emerging about president trump's stunning ousting of the fb i director james comey. white house is struggling to justify the sudden firing of the man leading the russian investigation as democrats voice outrage and call for an independent council to be named. the president is accusing democrats of hypocrisy and says flatly that comey wasn't doing a good job even though the white house said last week that comey had the president's confidence. also, sources are now telling cnn that just days ago, comey asked the justice department for more resources for the investigation into russian meddling in the u.s. presidential election and ties to the trump campaign. the sources say comey made the request to the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein who the white house says recommended firing comey. justice department spokeswoman

the president responded to comey's firing when meeting with nixon's former secretary of state henry kissinger. >> why did you fire director comey? >> because he wasn't doing a good job. very simply. he was not doing a good job. >> as he fought off claims the termination centered on the russia investigation, the president had an awkwardly timed meeting with russia's foreign minister and their ambassador to the united states. american news outlets were shut out of the meeting. it was up to russia news outlets for images you see here. in a poll now puts president's approval at 36% with 58% disapproving. his standing among independents, non-college educated white voters and white men the key constituencies that voted him into office dropping. the reaction from congress to the comey firing has been massive. nbc's kristen welker reports. >> reporter: amid mounting outrage on capitol hill some lawmakers questioning the country's very foundation. >> do you see this as a constitutional crisis? >> absolutely. >> this is a stress test of our constitutional democracy, what we're living in right now. >> r

president trump met today in the oval office with president richard nixon's secretary of state henry kissingerident trump offered a brief explanation for his firing of james comey. >> he was not doing a good job. very simply. he was not doing a good job. >> reporter: the described it as an erosion of confidence. deputy press secretary sarah huckabee sanders. >> he had been considering letting him go since the day he was elected. director comey has shown over the last several months and fra frankly the last year a lot of missteps and mistakes. >> i have confidence in him. we'll see what happens. >> reporter: the president met monday with deputy attorney general rod rose ensteen and jeff sessions. comey was the los angeles fbi field office when he learned of his dismissal from television reports. rosenstein's hem memo to the president criticized comey's investigation into the clinton e-mails. today onap vice president mike pence said comey's dismissal had nothing to do with russia. >> it was time for a fresh start at the fbi. >> reporter: but sources tell cbs news just last week comey asked rose

of all the people, the president's photo-op is with henry kissinger. then the president met with the russians in the oval office less than 24 hours after firing the head of the fbi. u.s. press was not allowed in so these are official pictures from the russian news agency which was allowed in. russian foreign secretary there and then this is the russian ambassador to the united states, kislyak. this is the guy everybody is so upset about. the guy jeff sessions met with and forgot to tell congress about, the guy michael flynn met with and then lied to the vice president about. understand, there's nothing wrong with the president of the united states meeting with the russian ambassador this is what president's ambassadors do but there is such a strong suspicion that the president fired the head of the fbi because he was too close to the russian investigation which centers around this russian. a cbs reporter caught up with vladimir putin last night and asked him about the whole situation, this is file tape of putin. putin said he had nothing to do with the

. >> while we're on nixon, what did you make of seeing henry kissinger in the white house today?well, it's odd, say the least. first of all, it was a very strange day. all of these accusations and all of this confusion and cover-up style going on around the comey administration. the president meets with a well-known russian representative and then he meets with henry kissinger. you would have thought somebody at the very least in the white house, you know, the optics of that are bad, we don't need a reminder of the nixon administration on a day when many people, don lemon, dan rather, are making these comparisons. but somebody in there is not thinking very well, and it all begins with the president. >> always a pleasure. >> my pleasure, don. thanks. >> thank you so much. >>> when we come back, where does comey's dismissal leave the russia investigation and will there now be an independent investigation? (alarm beeping) (vo) when you wake up with miracle-ear... ...your mornings can come to life with sound. our exclusive speech isolation technology transforms a bustling café into a

he said this in a photo opportunity with henry kissinger.y of state in the nixon administration as well as the national security adviser in the nixon administration. this comes on a day when the president was meeting with the russian foreign minister. so with all of this talk of the saturday night massacre -- >> all right, jeff. certainly a very important point. i am so sorry to interrupt you. we have some breaking news right now. the foreign minister of russia sergey lavrov talking at the russian embassy. >> on the whole territory of the syrian republic and this step will help us to come to the political solution on the basis of the resolution of the united nations security council. we agreed to continue work into gaza whereas the united states is present as observer and also in the framework of the geneva process, it should be renewed. i believe that all of the participants of those talks were constructive and put in the opposition groups and they also discussed the promise with the international immunity basis and when we are together wit

meeting with the russians, president trump welcomed the press core where he was meeting with henry kissinger who served as secretary of state to president richard nixon, the most disgraced president in american history. a president driven from office on the eve of impeachment for crimes committed in the room where henry kissinger was meeting with donald trump today. >> why did you fire director comey? >> because he wasn't doing a good job, very simply. he was not doing a good job. >> did it affect your meeting with the russians today? >>xcusme? >> did it affect your meeting with the russians today? >> not at all. >> thank you. thank you. thank you, everybody. thank you. >> will the new director of the fbi be in charge of the russian investigation? that question will be asked tomorrow at a senate russian intelligence meeting where the acting director of the meeting andrew mckay will appear. nbc news reported today that the senior congressional official with direct knowledge told nbc news that james comey briefed congress in recent days that he had requested more staff and money for the russia

. >> reporter: the president meeting today with henry kissinger, richard nixon's right handman. perhaps thumbing his nose at those comparisons. defiant and on defense along with his vice president. >> the president took strong leadership here. >> reporter: comey told him he wasn't personally being investigated and who initiated those talks. >> i won't get into the specifics of their conversations. >> reporter: what specifically changed from president trump's talk on the trail. >> it took guts for director comey to make the move that he made. >> reporter: to today. >> can people take at face value what the president says about personnel issues like this? >> absolutely, you can take full confidence in the words of the president. >> reporter: tonight a senior white house officials describing a small inner circle. looped in on the president's thinking, the vice president, son-in-law jared kushner and white house counsel don mcgahn, all of them backing a decision that ultimately as it happened again and again was the president's and the president's alone. lester? >> hallie jackson at

henry kissinger had them with the russians and the chinese. hillary had a back channel to establish the opening of negotiations with the iranians in what ended up as the iranian nuclear deal. >> bill: guy benson with us in studio for a change. nice to see you, guy. good morning to you. you just heard dr. krauthammer's view of it. what is your view based on what we think we know right now? >> i think he is generally correct. the opposition would argue kushner didn't have a well defined position at that time. the development we've reporting today and "the new york times" has gotten it from trump sources that the russians were the ones who broached this initial contact with kushner. that could be a game changer about the dynamics and who might be in the wrong. >> bill: explain the reason to differentiate that. why could that be significant? >> the way the "washington post" reported it and a lot of official washington is handling the news is that jared kushner, the son-in-law of the president elect at that point, called up the russians or contacte

they're saying, well, henry kissinger had a back channel as well, but henry kissinger and his back channelssian facilities, which is a neutral spot. >> if we were doing who won the week, that would have been your who won the week. >> they would have won the year. this is a boone for lawyers. but malcolm, that is the other point because if you look at another point and compare this to kissingerian politics, you didn't have henry kissinger going into these countries where we're setting up diplomatic channels. i mean the problem is who is this back channel being done on behalf of, right? isn't that the problem? >> absolutely. and i am really disappointed in h.r. mcmaster. i'm saying that as a former war fighter. mcmaster has had a stellar career in the military. if he doesn't seem to understand that was was not back channel, i'm going to give him an analogy. when he was a young captain in echo company of the second armor ed calvary regiment, this would have the equivalent of his executive officer going over to the iraqi guards headquarters, asking to use their secure communications the night b

there are a -- there were a series of other moments, stunlabling into henry kissinger in the oval office when we thought we were getting a photo with lavrov. what's interesting about this is the white house said, basically this was a misunderstanding. they thought they were misled. that this photographer they allowed to remain in the room worked for russian state to media organization, not the official foreign ministry photographer, that's what they thought they had. that's where this end. the russian photographer has come out with statements say, you american press didn't try too hard. i will tell you that was not -- that's not accurate. but it gets to this broader sort of diplomatic stagecraft that it seems was amateurist, frankly, when you were dealing with an extremely experienced decades of experience that the -- at the u.n. and foreign ministry level, sergei lavrov is someone who walks in knowing what he wants at the meeting. they got the picture they wanted to show of their meeting. they they showed that all over their media back home. and it looks like russia got a much better re

as you saw that was an unannounced meeting with henry kissinger, notable given all the conversationst of the saturday night massacre during the nixon administration, henry kissinger, of course, serving in both the ford and nixon administrations as national security adviser and secretary of state. be clear, the white house wanted the president to get out in front of this at this point, now almost 24 hours after the announcement was made. we hadn't heard from him in more than five days. he wanted to make it clear in simple terms that james comey was fired for no other reason than his failure to do his job well. lester? >> peter alexander at the white house, changes. nbc justice correspondent pete williams is in our washington bureau. members of the bureau had overnight to absorb all of this. does anything fundamentally change in terms of investigations and progress? >> no. they'll still go on, lester. the people who were working on them yesterday are working on them today. andrew mccabe, the now acting fbi director, was well versed in this investigation. so he can pick it up. the quest