the president was not angry with joe mcguire. s very highly of admirable mcguire, and would elect him to stay in government in a different role, but as you know, his time as the acting dni was up in a week or two. we were looking for someone who was senate confirmed under the vacancy act. we needed a senate-confirmed official to replace him, and we went with a highly qualified senate ambassador grenell. he was there for a temporary period of time. we expect to nominate a terrific candidate for a full-time director of the dni, submit them for senate confirmation, and the president and i will urge for the senate to move quickly to confirm a full-time confirmed director of the national intelligence, or the director of the national intelligence to get someone there through the election and take this out of politics. >> as you know, your critics -- the president's critics have said that you're injecting politics in there because this ambassador has had experience as a consumer of intelligence, but no significant experience in the intel

chris: if he had such respect for joe mcguire, let me finish the question, why was he not only fired clear out by 9:00 o'clock the next morning? >> chris, it's not firing, his position is supposed to be completed by march 12th, he will not be renominated. when in fact, when his position came on was reluctant to serve on the role, the administration has been looking for something consistently, rick grenell will replace capacity. chris: clear up your office the next day? >> ii have not heard. chris: retired admiral bill mcraven, oversaw the raid that killed osama bin laden, has known mcguire for 40 years, in this administration good men and women don't last long, joe was dismissed for doing his job overseeing the decimation of intelligence to elected officials who needed that information to do their jobs. are you saying that bill mcraven made this story out of clothe? >> he doesn't know, he doesn't know, he wasn't there. i'm telling you i was there for the briefing, it's not the way the media reported, some hostile encounter, the president, of course, saying why did the house get a bri

spelled the end of joe mcguire. mcguire is a former navy s.e.a.l., well regarded military veteran. and the person who trump has appointed rick grenell has no experience whatsoever in the intelligence world and is a highly partisan figure. >> and so it was interesting, the "new york times" noted that the briefing was a bit blunt by shelby pearson and this is what sort of weirdly alarmed me reading this story that there were other officials who thought maybe they should have rounded the edges more. and that it never would have made its way to president trump. so how much intelligence is getting conditioned as to not to rise the ire of donald trump? >> that was my reaction. the idea that the intelligence community has to solve the pedal significant intelligence that they are briefing to senior members of congress in a classified space because donald trump might be offended by it is just incredible. it goes against everything that the i think tentelligence commu about and suggests that as understand that the throughout

an oval office tirade against the soon-to-be out the door director of national intelligence joe mcguire. he cited against his own intelligence professionals who arrived at the same conclusion. the president said american officials were getting, quote, plagued, and he did not believer -- the president of the united states telling him he did not believe russia was interfering to help him or had any plans to do so. let's get straight to the white house and cnn's kaitlan collins. kaitlan, here we go again. number one, the intelligence officials telling the truth as they believe it, and the president then firing one of them and going off on a rage. >> that the time ing is critica because it was last thursday when he learned this. then he went off on his director of intelligence, and we learned he is going to put a vocal supporter in that spot until he figures out who to nominate permanently in that job. we've been talking about this and virtually it's the same issue that the president had to deal with in 2016. he showed the intelligence that russia trying to interfere in the 2016 election, a

intelligence community and joe mcguire was doing what they are supposed to do.their -- they take an oath to do that. and the fact that the committees probably asked for a briefing on what are the prospects in 2020 for the russian's interference. it shouldn't come as a shock to anybody that the russians are going to continue to do what they did in 2016, given the success they enjoyed. the problem is it's going to be a lot harder for us to detect what they're doing because the russians have gone to school on all the revelations, notably in volume one of the mueller report. so this is a bad situation. it's not good for the intelligence community, it's not good for the country. >> i'm glad you said that because what happens -- i imagine you still have contacts here. what happens inside the intelligence community for folks part of the community when something like what happened yesterday, when richard grenell or someone who has -- they feel doesn't have the experience is appointed? >> well, in the first instance, it is really tough, particularly on the odni staff whe

he hit the roof and the next day in a meeting with dni joe mcguire, he berated mcguire about why thiso hear about this from nunes and particularly why was he sharing this information about the russians with adam schiff, trump's nemesis. trump was worried that this could be used against him. so mcguire is out now. so the specter of intelligence officials speaking truth to power, which is their job, and they are being punished for it, willie. >> so, again, the director of national intelligence, that office goes in, does it job, briefs the committee, devin nunes calls the president and says hey, they're telling on you in this meeting. it upsets the president of the united states. so hans nichols, that raises the question if, in fact, richard grenell is a temporary hire, if he is just a place holder, there was talk about who might take that position, another trump defenders. >> doug collins, congressman from georgia thinking about running for the senate. the president last night on air force one mentioned he's thinking about doug collins for that position. it's not final. he said that the

the news is that the day after this briefing, trump is in the oval office with joe mcguire, and begins to berate mcguire, he is angry that he allowed his people to brief members of congress, including democrat adam schiff who he views as his nemesis on russian intelligence. trump is worried it will be used against him. next thing you know, mcguire is out as dni, trump brings on a political loyalist. it is sending a horrible message to career intelligence officials across the government, they're worried what they can say to members of congress, stephanie. >> you have a lot more to report on this. i want to explain to you, though, who is watching at home, why this story should matter so much to you and me. bring in greg brour, former u.s. attorney. michael steele, spokesperson for john boehner, chris lu, now senior fellow at the university of virginia miller center, daryl west from the brookings institution. president trump says he doesn't believe any of this. he doesn't even want to hear about russia so how can the intelligence community accurately do their job with these kind of guardr

joe mcguire's a very good man. and his time was march 11, i believe it was march 11 where we -- he would have had to leave. reporter: was that because he wasn't sufficiently loyal to you? president trump: not at all. would he have had to get out. on march 11 he would have had to leave. we are going to be making a decision on d.n.i. shortly. reporter: thank you, sir. president trump: go ahead, lease. eporter: mr. president -- president trump: that wasn't very nice. reporter: president trump, i hope you are having a good visit here in india. we have heard from prime minister modi as well as you on a long impending trade deal. it's still not happened. even today we heard both you and him talking about how in future there is going to be one. have you been able to figure out the kind of differences -- president trump: we know. we know the problems. i know the problems. previous administrations had no clue. they didn't know the problems. i know the problems. we are being charged large amounts of tariffs, and can't do tha

and on valentine's day, trump, you know, is angry with joe mcguire, right? the acting head of dni, about this briefing and schiff, who's on the intelligence committee, getting misinformation because he fears it's going to be weaponized. i don't believe our piece said definitivethry definitiveth definitively the two were connected. >> isn't the preference that russia prefers donald trump? that russian president standing next to donald trump said i prefer donald trump? >> and that was the preference in 2016. as for whether or not their operations now are designed specifically to favor donald trump or merely to conduct a cyber attack, merely, of our democratic election i think is besides the point. we have a nation adversary of the united states of america conducting a cyber attack against our country and the president is outraged, not by the ongoing attack. he's outraged our intelligence community professionals are warning people about it, that they're warning congress so we can do something about it. and i think the lesson is he's not only unconcerned about t

understand it the time clock was going to run out on march 11th for -- well, ambassador grenell and joe mcguireayed in that position, they would have turned into pumpkins on the 11th of march. by nominating somebody else, perhaps this restarts ambassador grenell's clock. i don't know, i'm just speculating that. >> putting loyalty above experience, how dangerous is that? >> well, i think it's very dangerous. i think the first requisite for someone in this position should be professional capabilities and experience, expertise. in fact, the intelligence reform terrorism prevention act says something about that in which it stipulates that the director of national intelligence should be someone that has extensive national security expertise. and depending on how you define extensive, i don't think either of these people qualify under that criteria, not that, you know, anybody's paying attention to the law. >> let's talk about what's happening with the coronavirus. when there's a destabilizing event around the globe, whether it's coronavirus or really anything else what does that mean for our nation'

. >> i know joe mcguire.g test, which was can we look in the mirror when we're shaving the next morning and be proud of what we see. i think there's one thing that's important to note. the national intelligence enterprise is a huge over $60 billion for the people. hundreds of thousands of people. what they do with the president is only a tiny fraction of what they actually accomplish, which is providing intelligence to the troops in the field and diplomats, to policemen, to the director of homeland security. so what we read about in this interaction with the president, the daily briefing is really just a tiny fraction. 99% of the intelligence professionals are working with people who value intelligence and want want it to be good and tell the intelligence people if they get it wrong. work together to make it better. it makes for better policy and better actions. fewer americans hurt and killed. don't be distracted by the sort of at the top. it's what's going on with the huge organization a big part of our nat

response to interference, and praised the service for the acting director of national intelligence joe mcguiread been dismissed by the president, but he did not mention the new person installed by the president as acting director of national intelligence richard grenell, and when i asked if he supported richard grenell, he did not answer and he has yet to say whether he supports that individual who has prompted a lot of concerns from the democrats who say that the president is installing loyalists and someone with a political background into a job typically reserved for someone with deep intelligence experience and the reason that mcguire was dismissed is because of a briefing that occurred behind closed doors and one in which the brief said that the russians had developed a preference for president trump in the elections and also developed a preference for bernie sanders. and the president had concerns about that, and now the democrats say that the concerns raised by the intelligence committee should force the trump administration to slap russia with new sanctions and under the existing autho

this is one of the reasons joe mcguire is no longer the acting director of intelligence. president got mad about it, disputed that he was getting helped again, said he didn't believe that was true. instead mr. mcguire is out and jim acosta today tried to get the president to confirm he's out because the president got mad. >> as far as mcguire is concerned, he's a terrific guy, but on march 11, his time ended, anyway. his time came up, so we would have had to -- by statute, we would have had to change him, anyway. >> was he forced out because he wasn't sufficiently loyal to you? >> not at all. not at all. he was pushed out because frankly -- he wasn't pushed out. he would have had to get out. on march 11, he would have had to leave. but we'll make a decision on a dni very shortly. >> again, a lot of people on capitol hill like mr. mcguire. they found him to be very credible, they found him to be not very political, but he's now gone. the ambassador to germany is in temporarily to that job. a lot of people are questioning, puck put up his experience, he doesn't have any day

. >> yeah, so andrew hallman, he's been the acting number two under joe mcguire since last august when sue gordon was asked to, to resign. and he has been seen as a steadying hand in a relatively turbulent time. but the fact that he is leaving, this acting number two job, shows that rick grenell, the new acting dni is going to put his own team in at the top. so he is going to really try in whatever time he has there to sort of shape the management of the odni. >> i mean, asha, it's a pretty stunning thing. the statement we just have, right, from the former senior intelligence official saying what the intelligence community sees as reporting the truth, simple statement of facts in evidence without judgment, the president sees as undermining his legitimacy. and what we're seeing tonight, asha, he effectively would be able to silence it. to silence the reporting of those facts. >> that's what it sounds like he wants to do. i don't -- it sounds like he wants dni or subordinates of the dni to lie to promote the narrative that he wants. you know, it is the intelligence community's job to pre

joe mcguire is an american patriot who served with honor and distinction.onald trump hopes he will find another role in the administration. >> why did he dismiss him? >> march 12th was his end date. >> you could have thomas nated him permanently. >> he was supposedly going to appoint m. appellate cour. mcgu. >> i think that the -- >> he was never under consideration for the job? >> i never heard somebody assert he's the leading contender and he's going to get the position. he served with distinction. he's an american patriot. the president hopes to find another role for him. >> i want you to respond to something that the former admiral wrote. in this administration, good men ask women don't last long. joe was dismissed for doing his job. they needed that information to do their jobs. admiral is no partisan hack. >> i respect the admiral's point of view, but he doesn't know what he's talking about here. he's not part of the administration. the president respects a admiral mcguire. he's looking to find another role inside the administration. >> why can't the

do with the federal vacancy act which as i understand it the time clock on ambassador grenell or joe mcguirehat position as acting dni runs out on march 11th. i wonder if by nominating congressman radcliff, this allows the time clock to restart for ambassador grenell. i'm not sure why he would want to do that, but i do wandonder about it. apart from all that is the turmoil it causes for the ic in general and particularly for the staff at the office of the director of national intelligence. >> i want to lay this out. this is a job that has been filled by somebody with extensive national intelligence background. that's what this job is about. it's not just a political job, right? for example, you did the job for 6 1/2 years after what? 43 years? >> 45 or so. >> years in the intelligence community. >> right. >> that's what we're talking about what we talk about experience, right? >> well, yes. i mean, you know, not everybody's going to have 50 years experience to take the job but i do think it would be very helpful if the incumbent had some operational experience within the intelligence communi

department of homeland security and others work with 1100 municipalities -- >> why did he get rid of joe mcguirehe's an american patriot who served with honor and distinction. donald trump hopes he will find another role in the administration. >> why did he dismiss him? >> march 12th what his endidate. >> you could have nominated him permanently. >> we have an interim director, and the president will come forward with a more permanent director. >> supposingly, he was -- >> chuck -- >> he was never under consideration for a job? >> i never heard anyone hear he was the leading contender. again, admiral kwk choir served with distinction, and the president hopes he will find another role in the administration. >> i want you to respond to something william mcraven wrote. >> in this administration, good men and women don't last long. joe was dismissed for doing his job, overseeing the dissemination of information to officials who needed that information to do their jobs. he's no partisan hack. >> i respect his point of view, but he doesn't know what he's talking about here. he's not part of the admini

but joe mcguire is a very excellent guy, he is a very good man and his time was march 11th, i believe it was march 11th where he would have had to leave. >> reporter: was he forced out because he wasn't sufficiently loyal to you? >> no, not at all. not at all. he was pshd out because frankly -- he wasn't pushed out, he would have had to get out. on march 11th he would have had to leave. we are going to be making a decision on dni very shortly. >> yeah, please. go ahead, please. yeah. >> reporter: mr. president -- >> that's not nice. let her do it. i know, but you ripped the mic out of her hand. that wasn't very nice. >> reporter: president trump, i hope you're having a good visit here in india. we have heard from prime minister modi as well as you on a long impending trade deal, it's still not happened even today we heard both you and him talking about how in future there is going to be one. have you been able to figure out the kind of differences that were there, especially on localization that has been one of the ticking points. >> we know the problems. i know the problems. previous

not everything can b- shared but it means something can be shared and to ensure the people and 2 joe mcguire shoulde among those called to testify. current dni, whoever it may be at that moment in time, also should be called to testify butf to have talking points prepared for them by the rank and file oo the intelligence community who i firmly believe continue to do their very, very best to identify and track theseabout and help inform policy makers about how to address them, whata can be shared at the eserving unclassified level should be.exo we're all sitting here wanting know and really deserving know in the context of our functioning democracy. >> okay. thank you. thank you kevin, josh, emma. all right. let's grab some lunch and come on back in. you can bring your lunch in here. thank you. >>> if you missed the m before the senate committee you can watch tonight beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern. >> centers for disease control and prevention director and other federal officials will testify on the coronavirus response. watch that on cspan-3. >>> coming up, governors delivering their state o

. >> president trump fired the acting director of national intelligence joe mcguire who served years as a navy seal. saying russia continued attempts to interfere in the 2020 election. mcguire's good friend and fellow seal craven reacted in "the washington post," when good men and women can't speak the truth, when facts are inconvenient, when integrity and character no longer matter, when presidential ego and self-preservation are more important than national security, there's nothing left to stop the triumph evil. richard grinnell acting ambassador to germany has been appointed. we'll see if mr. grinnell addresses the press on this. gillian. gillian: joining us for more on this former deputy secretary of state for strategic, and you may have heard of him because he was hillary clinton's senior advisor for the last general election. so, philippe ryan, it's the day of the caucuses and the leading story or most recently developed here is the russians interfering to help bernie sanders in in democratic primary. does that surprise you? >> no because it's a little bit of a groundhog day.

. >> case in point the director of national intelligence admiral joe mcguire out, told we don't like news, we don't like the truth. out. larry kudlow, i believe, a few days ago indicated what's happening to the stock market was a great time to buy low. that was his response. >> look, i think it's what a lot of you guys said, you're dealing with a different kind of administration than what we're used to. if this were still george w. bush or barack obama we would be in a different place. let's remember in the ebola crisis obama -- which never even got anywhere near here -- obama immediately appointed an ebola czar ron klain an extremely capable guy, the whole administration came together and a crisis and a panic were averted and you contrast that with this. by the way, donald trump is also trying to cut the budget of the cdc which i think at the moment we probably all appreciate should be augmented not cut. >> by the way, this is a great example for people to say government shouldn't do anything. this is when people want government to do something. this is when -- you know, food -- i m

joe biden today. welcome the only democrat to win the south carolina governorship in nearly 40 years, jim hodges. he is now a senior advisor at mcguireonsulting. on thes us today program. carolinian, how much of that was addressed to people from south carolina and how much to people of the country overall? >> a little of both. i think a lot of it was dictated by the questions that were being asked. the history has been that south carolina is the place where the winner of the democratic primary here wins the race. so a candidate who does well in south carolina is more than likely to actually win the nomination. i think the discussions you heard that were appealing particularly to the african-american constituency 60 tohich will be roughly 65% of the primary vote, that is also a message to african-american voters in the super tuesday states and beyond. i think one of the reasons we are so important is the turnout here and the results here are pretty good proxy for what is likely to happen down the road in other states. david: congressman jim clyburn endorsed vice president biden. not a big surprise, but it happen today. it's generally

joe biden held a pair of fundraisers in manhattan thursday night with top wall street executives. among those on the guest list obtained by cnbc were jonathan gray of blackstone, alan hartman of centerview partners, ray mcguire of citigroup, and john mack, former ceo of morgan stanley. the fundraisers come as biden lagged far behind in the first two primary contests in iowa and new hampshire. meanwhile, the iowa democratic party chairman has resigned after the caucus results were delayed and riddddled with erros and inconsistencies. former ohio state wrestler adam disabato accused republican ohio congressmember jim jordan of begging him not to corroborate the widespread sexual abuse perpetrated by university doctor richard strauss, after disabato's brother, mike, exposed the abuse. this is adam disabato testifying wednesday in a public hearing in the ohio state legislature. --jim jordan call me crying crying. groveling. , beggingurth of july me to go against my brother. begging me. crying for half-hour. that is the kind of cover-up that is going on there. amy: in environmental news, a series of recent measurements is raising alarm bells about the climate crisis. temperatures in antarctica soared last week to

joe maguire spent 36 years serving in the navy. his leadership record including seal team 2 and the u.s. special navy warfare command where he guided some of our nation's most sensitive military operations. admiral mcguire retired from the navy in 2010, but it was not long before public service came calling again. in 2018, the president asked him to direct the nctc, the senate confirmed him on a voice vote, and he took on an even more challenging assignment last summer when he agreed to follow our former colleague, senator dan coats, and act in the role of the d.n.i. our nation asks our intelligence community to fulfill an enormous array of sensitive mission. these men and women work day and night to protect the homeland from terrorists. they fight nuclear proliferation, they keep watch on dangerous adversaries like russia and china p. they guard against what hostile intelligence services are doing in our nation, and they work to protect american elections from foreign interference that seeks to sow division and chaos and reduce public confidence in our democracy. recent reports suggest that adversaries including russia are likely continuing efforts aimed at dividing americans, sowing kay as in our poli