well, tonight that fbi director has now been fired and our chief white house correspondent jon karl with new reporting tonight. what led to this stunning decision. >> reporter: hillary clinton's e-mails may have had an impact on the election. he upended the election 11 days before the vote. announcing his investigators were now pouring over new e-mails discovered on the laptop of anthony weiner married to hillary's close aide huma abedin. >> forwarding e-mails to him for i think to print out for her to deliver them to secretary of state. >> reporter: last week, comey testified that abedin forwarded, quote hundreds and thousands of e-mails some which contained classified information. the fbi acknowledging that his testimony was misleading. in a letter to congress, she only forwarded a small number of e-mails to weiner. >> gave inaccurate testimony -- >> at this point, i haven't asked and i'm not fully aware of situation -- i'm aware of the inquiry that occurred. yet to follow on up on that. >> does the president still have full confidence in fbi director comey. >> i have no reason to beli

jon karl reporting tonight. jon, thank you. >>> next tonight, as we report on the terror overseas and concerns about what could be brought on the planes, we're learning tonight that the tsa is now testing new screening procedures. those changes include -- requiring passengers at some airports to remove electronics from their bags. anything bigger than a cell phone. let's get to david kerley live at reagan national. hey, david. >> reporter: good evening, david. the concern here is that everyday items like electronics that can look like explosives in x-ray machines and this comes as the tsa is considering expanding and extending that laptop ban. now, the current screening machines now give out one-dimensional picture. sometimes that's difficult for screeners to get a clear picture. they're testing at 10 airports now, new procedures that require passengers to put any electronic device larger than a cell phone in a bin. tsa has been testing this for a year already, no word on whether or if they'll implement this nati

the spokesperson for the white house said, and this is a direct quote, our story is consistent. >> jon karl tonight, leading us off. jon, thank you. >>> meantime, as the president was talking today, so was the new acting director of the fbi. testifying before the senate intelligence committee today. he was asked about what the white house said, that the rank and file of the fbi had lost their confidence in james comey. and he was very clear today he disagrees with the white house. abc's senior justice correspondent pierre tho >> reporter: less than 48 hours after his boss james comey was fired, the new acting director of the fbi, andrew mccabe, was thrust into the spotlight. >> could you do your microphone please? >> rookie mistake, i'm sorry. >> reporter: appearing before the senate intelligence committee, taking comey's place, and taking on white house claims that the fbi rank and file had lost confidence in the former director. >> it is accurate that the rank and file no longer supported director comey? >> no, sir, that is not accurate. director comey enjoyed broad support within the fbi

. >> all right, so let's go live to jon karl live at the white house. the white house insisting today that comey was fired primarily over his mishandling of the hillary clinton situation. i want to go back to the president's termination letter. the president writing, i greatly appreciate you informing me on three separate occasions that i'm not under in to comey. what do we know about those three separate occasions? >> i asked about that directly at the briefing today and other reporters did as well. the white house will give no further details about why comey said that, when he said that, was it something the president asked about it. we just don't know, david. >> in the meantime, there's news breaking on the air involving michael flynn, the fired national security adviser, he's been subpoena for documents regarding the russian probe. >> these are documents that the committee asked flynn to voluntarily turn over weeks ago, flynn refused. now, they're trying to compel him to turn those documents over. david, this is an indication that that russian inves

. >> jon karl live with us from the white house. this does set up a showdown of sort between the president and james comey, only two people in that room and one memo reportedly written by james comey, sailing the president did pressure him to drop the flynn investigation. but the president made it clear today if in that room that simply did not happen. >> it was a category call denial. in the memo comey said, i hope you can see your way of letting this go, flynn go. >> jon karl live with us from the white house. >>> as jon reported right here on this broadcast, the white house was given just 30 minutes' notes before the justice department revealed a special counsel. the deputy attorney general who decided the special counsel was in fact needed, rod rosenstein was on capitol hill today, making his case as to why. the president as you heard calling this the biggest witch hunt in american history. but a key republican, tonight, with advice on the president on how he should be handling this. abc's mary bruce on the hill. >> reporter: to

the president invited him to the white house. >> jon karl joins us tonight. the president of the philippines not ready to commit. jon, as you know, trump raising eyebrows in another interview. the president speaking about his admiration of president andrew jackson. saying he would have been able to prevent the civil war. there were questions about this. >> had andrew jackson been a little later you wouldn't have had the civil war. he was really angry that he was saw what happened with regard to the civil think about it, why? people don't ask that question, but why was there the civil war? why could that one not have been worked out? >> jon, some historians are scratching their head over this. >> it's unclear how jackson would have prevented the civil war had he been alive. he died 16 years before the civil war started. he was a southerner and david he was an unapologetic slave owner. >> jon, thank you. >>> the new effort to repeal and replace obamacare. republicans hoping for a new vote this week. among the big questions, even as the president said pre-existi

russian investigation by the senate intelligence committee is very much under way. >> all right, jon karl on the fast-moving developments tonight. jon, thank you. >>> we turn to capitol hill next, where democrats and republicans are outraged at the timing of all this. that the fbi director leading the russia investigation has now been fired right in the middle of it. abc's mary bruce on capitol hill tonight, asking senators today, is this about hillary clinton's e-mails, or is this about russia? >> reporter: tonight, even the republican leading the senate russia investigation caught off guard and scratching his head. >> the timing and the reasons for this decision made little sense to me. >> reporter: other republicans are also feeling frustrated and confused by the president's decision. >> the white house's timing here was less than impeccable. >> obviously, when you have a president fire the fbi director, and there's an active investigation going on, then there are questions that need to be answered. >> reporter: but democrats tonight say they know why. >> it doesn't take a rocket scien

obviously, it's a very steep climb. >> all right, jon karl. thank you.e travels to you as well. >>> we want to bring in our chief anchor george stephanopoulos. who will be hosting "this week" later this morning. you have a big interview with the president's national security advisor, general h.r. mcmaster. we have a clip where you ask him about the reports of what the president said to top russian officials in the oval office the a day after he fired james comey. let's take a listen. >> the president of the united states telling the russian foreign minister in the first meeting that the pressure is off because he's fired the fbi director investigating russian interference in the campaign. does that seem appropriate to you? >> as you know, it's very difficult to take a few lines, to take a paragraph out of what are -- appear to be notes of that meeting. the intent of that conversation was to say, what i would look to do is to move beyond all of the russia news so that we can find areas of cooperation. >> looks to be a great interview. the president, as yo

the white house called a very friendly call, the president invited duterte to the white house. >> jon karl joins us tonight. the president of the philippines not ready to commit. saying, i'm sorry i'm not sure i can make it to the white house. jon, as you know, trump raising eyebrows with something else he said in another interview. the president speaking about his admiration for president andrew jackson. saying jackson would have been able to prevent the civil war. there were questions about this. let's listen. >> had andrew jackson been a little later you wouldn't have had the civil war. he was really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the civil war. think about it, why? people don't ask that question, but why was there the civil war? why could that one not have been worked out? >> jon, some historians are scratching their heads over this. >> well, it's unclear how andrew jackson would have prevented the civil war if he had been alive. he actually died 16 years before the civil war started. on the one hand, he was a strong advocate of the union. on the other hand, he was

. >>> so, let's get live to jon karl at the white house there. the administration tonight is making it clear that one of the reasons comey has been fired was because of how he handled the clinton e-mail investigation during the campaign. deciding to hold that lengthy news conference, highly critical of her, before then announcing no criminal charges. >> reporter: it was the primary reason, david, and the case against comey is outlined in a stern letter, a three-page letter from the deputy attorney general that especially takes issue with that press conference back in july of last year, saying, i cannot defend the director's handling of the conclusion of the investigation into secretary clinton's e-mails and i do not understand his refusal to accept near-universal judgment that he was mistaken. very strong words against the fbi director explaining why the recommendation was made at that the president should fire him. >> and jon, you covered this campaign closely. the irony is not lost here. the decision made based on how they handled hillary clint

. >> okay, jon karl leading us off btonight. >>> let's bring in abc senior justice correspondent pierre thomas. the big question now is current fbi investigation into it would be aggressively pursued no matter where it leads. tonight, w heard no response from the fbi and they're clearly hillary clinton and surprisingly perhaps they're not necessarily applauding this move the concern right now among people close tod clinton is that perhaps this move is related to the fbi's investigation into russia, into president trump and not so much fresh start may serve the nation well. >> reporter: the alert came in at 8:26 am. >> respond to the purex tunnel for a possible collapse of the tunnel. >> reporter: workers at the site say they noticed a depression right over an array óof storag sites. the ground sagging at the juncture of two nnels holding highly radioactive rail cars, triggering fear of a radioactive release. >> dirt collapsed into the tunnel. nobody's involved, there's no people involved. it's just releasing contamination and high radiation out of the tunnel. so we're going ttry to fig

our chief white house correspondent jon karl starts us off with all the latest. good morning, jon. >> reporter: good morning, george. this firing has stunned washington and it came without any warning whatsoever. comey first heard the news on tv while he was speaking to fbi agents in los angeles. while comey was in that meeting a letter from the president was hand delivered to fbi headquarters in washington. that letter from the president was read to comey over the phone. you are hereby terminated and removed from office, effective immediately. the president wrote, you are not able to effectively lead the bureau. the president also addressed the fbi investigation into russian meddling in the election. i greatly appreciate you informing me on three separate occasions that i am not under investigation. the reasons were outlined in a letter from the deputy attorney general who wrote that comey grossly mishandled the hillary clinton e-mail investigation saying among other things that this july 2016 press conference exonerating clinton should never have happened. >> no

chief white house correspondent jon karl starts us off. morning, jon. >> reporter: good morning. this came close to escalating into an even bigger crisis. george, i am told that deputy attorney general rod rosenstein was so upset with the white house for saying that the firing of comey was his idea that he was on the verge of resigning. the first words from former fbi was abruptly fired came in a letter to his staff and friends. comey writing, i'm not going to spend time on the decision or the way it was executed. i hope you won't either. it is done. he goes on to say, in times of turbulence the american people should see the fbi as a rock of competence, honesty and independence. but stepty attorney general rod rosenstein in a memo to president trump that was delivered to the white house tuesday afternoon says comey inflicted substantial damage to the fbi's reputation and credibility. the white house initially said the memo was the reason trump chose to fire him. >> when he brought the recommendation to the president that the director of t

our chief white house correspondent jon karl tracking all the details for us. > reporter: good morning, amy. just hours from now, president trump heads out on his first foreign trip as president. he's hoping to turn the page on the toughest two weeks of his presidency but now he has a new headache, the appointment of a special counsel to investigate russian meddling in the campaign. at his joint press conference with the president of colombia, i asked the president about that. >> well, i respect the move but the entire thing has been a witch-hunt and there is no collusion between certainly myself and my campaign, but i can always speak for myself, and the russians, zero. i think it divides the country. i think we have a very divided country because of that and many other things. >> reporter: there will be a lot of symbolism on the president's first foreign trip. he'll visit the vatican meeting with the pope, visiting israel and he is starting the trip in saudi arabia, the birthplace of islam. amy. >> all right, jon karl, we appreciate it. >>> former congressman

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. >> abc's jon karl pressed the white house. >> one of these conversations, the president said happened at dinner where the fbi director according to the president was asking to dprerngt don't you see how that's a conflict of interest. the fbi director is saying he wants to keep his job and the president is asked whether or not he's under investigation. >> i don't see that as a conflict of interest. and neither do the other scholars who have been commenting on it in the last hour. so no, i don't see that as an issue. >> act ek director mccabe would not confirm whether comey told president trump he was not under investigation. >>> a possible security breach. these photos of the meeting were taken by a russian photographer. now, intelligence officials have raised concerns over that photographer and his equipment being allowed into the oval office. given russia's history of sneaking surveillance devices into u.s. facilities. meanwhile, the president is defending his decision to go through with that meeting a day after firing comey. >> did you worry at all when you when you did, the the day

our chief white house correspondent jon karl has new details. he joins us from washington. od morning, jon. >> reporter: good morning, robin. president trump is now acknowledging that the investigation into russia ties with his campaign, an investigation that the fbi was overseeing, was on his mind when he fired james comey. >> when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. it's an excuse by the democrats for having lost an election that they should have won. >> reporter: president trump now acknowledges that when he fired his fbi director, he was thinking about the investigation into russian meddling in the 2016 election. but he says he still wants the bureau to see that investigation through. >> if russia or anybody else is trying to interfere with our elections, i think it's a horrible thing. and i want to get to the bottom of it. i want to make sure it will never, ever happen. >> reporter: trump insists in the interview with nbc he never urged james comey to put the investigation to an end. >>

abc's jon karl explains. >> reporter: this was a big legislative victory for the president but democratsoping they can turn this into a big political liability in the el their top targets will be 23 house republicans who are in districts that hillary clinton won, more than half of them voted for this bill, that will be something that they will have to answer for. overall, obamacare is more popular than it's been in fact in our poll a couple of weeks, 37% said they wanted it repealed and replaced of the just 37%. more than 60% wanted it kept and fixed. >> i think there is -- >> our thanks to jonathan karl there at the white house. you see the house minority leader nancy pelosi who said the song was a spontaneous moment. republicans had their own soundtrack blasting "eye of the tiger" and "taking care of business" before casting their votes. >>> president trump leaves for his first official overseas trip later this month starting with a visit to saudi arabia. white house aides say the president chose saudi arabia as his first stop to show that he's committed to improving u.s. relations wit

. >> jon karl with us tonight. jon, thank you. >>> breaking developments at this hour involving the u.s. military. for the first time the u.s. military has intercepted a mock intercontinental ballistic missile. this test coming as north korea appears to be closer its goal of building a missile that could reach u.s. territory. here's abc's martha raddatz. >> reporter: it was the first live-fire intercept test of an intercontinental ballistic missile in history. a critical test, at a critical time. the mock warhead, like this one used in a shorter range test in 2014, fired from an island in the pacific. more than 4000 miles away, at an airbase in california, the interceptor, or "kill vehicle," launched from an underground silo. a little over an hour later, the pentagon confirming the test was a success. it has been called the "ultimate precision guidance challenge," hitting a speeding bullet with another speeding bullet. making this test all the more remarkable. >> this is a very difficult calculation, you look at it

. >>> we'll talk about it more with dan abrams and jon karl and let's begin, dan, with this firing ofames comey, the implicit threat from president trump there saying he might have tapes on comey. you've got top law professors like laurence tribe saying this is an impeachable offense. possible objection of justice. >> first for obstruction of justice you have to demonstrate the person had the intent to obstruct justice and to determine that, you need an investigation, and ultimately, people willing to prosecute. people forget impeachment is a political act. it's not a legal act. you need the political will, to even investigate this, much less prosecute it and potentially convict. we're not there. the bottom line is people will say, but, wait a second, look at what's happened. look at what's happened and the response has got to be you still need someone, even if you believe that it's improper, even if someone believes it's obstruction, you need to be able to prove it in some way, shape or form. you feed to be able to prove intent and i don't think we're there. >> piece of evidence coul

our chief white house correspondent jon karl. senior justice correspondent pierre thomas. our chief global affairs anchor martha raddatz. and republican strategist alex castellanos, also a contributor to abc news. welcome to all of you. jon karl, i have to give you credit. most of the white house didn't know this was coming. you got the first inkling on tuesday morning. >> this may have been the closest held presidential decision we have seen of the trump presidency. only a handful of aides knew about this. i asked sean spicer about it in the press briefing that day. it was clear the white house press office had no idea what was coming. and george, this -- of all the craziness, of all the tension we have seen over the course of this presidency so far, this was the tensest week that i have seen at the white house. because even before this, you had rumors of a big staff shakeup coming. senior folks in the white house, not sure their jobs were secure. but the real frustration for especially republicans on capitol hill is there was a sense going into this week that the preside

. >> let's get to jon karl. he's in brussels tonight on the eve of the nato summit. jon, you covered then-candidate donald trump who said famously, he thought nato was obsolete. he's not expected to back down on what some of he said. >> the united states pays the overwhelming cost of the nato defense. he said our nato allies need to pay more and he's saying that as president. but, david, he's definitely no longer saying that nato's obsolete. he'll say that nato is essential. >> you'll be right there, jon. >>> next tonight, as we report on the terror overseas and concerns about what could be brought on the planes, we're learning tonight that the tsa is now testing new screening procedures. requiring passengers at some airports to remove electronics from their bags. let's get to david kerley live at reagan national. hey, david. >> reporter: good evening, david. the concern here is that every day items like electronics can look like explosives in x-ray machines and this comes as tsa is considering expanding its laptop ban. it gives out a one-dimensional picture. sometim

. >> jon karl with us from jerusalem. jon, we heard the president there saying achieving mideast peace is one of the toughest deals. in the middle of all this, he was willing to go there on sharing classified information with the russians. >> trust me, david that wasn't part of the plan. in fact the white house believes there's a unique opportunity right now to get the peace process going. because israel and its arab neighbors now have a common enemy in iran, now believe there's more support for middle east peace and more support for israel in that proamong its arab neighbors. >>> as i mentioned there's also breaking news this evening on retired general michael flynn, forced to resign after just 24 days on the job. tonight, here, we have now learned he'll plea the fifth in the russian investigation. key congressman tonight says he has everyday that flynn lied to the pentagon. abc's mary bruce on the hill. >> reporter: tonight, the top democrat on the house oversight committee says he has evidence that former nsa michael f

. >> jon karl, thanks to you as well. >>> president trump arriving home tonight in new york city.is first trip back to new york since the inauguration. along with his victory on health care the white house announcing his first overseas trip, first trip saudi arabia, what message is he sending to the muslim world. >>> and religious organizations more freedom to endorse political candidates. all of this comes with a meeting with the pope. abc's cecilia vega tonight. >> reporter: president trump today, surrounded by religious leaders, promising to give churches their voices back. >> under my administration, free speech does not end at the steps of a cathedral or a synagogue or any other house of worship. >> reporter: his new executive order directs the irs to relax enforcement of rules barring churches and other tax-exempt religious groups from political activity, like endorsing and campaigning for candidates. it also promises unspecified relief for organizations that claim a religious objection to an obamacare mandate, requiring them to cover contraception in their healthcare plans.

. >> reporter: today, the white house chief of staff told jon karl the president may seek to change the libel laws in order to make it easier to prosecute news outlets. >> i think it's something that we've looked at and how that gets executed or whether that goes anywhere is a different story. >> reporter: the trump card for the press corps? woodward and bernstein, journalists whose dogged reporting of the watergate scandal led richard nixon to resign. >> mr. president, the media is not fake news. >> follow the money, but follow also the lies. >> david, let's turn back to north korea. we mentioned earlier, the president is inviting the president of the philippines, and we're also learning that he's extended the invitation to other world leaders? >> reporter: yes, he spoke today with the prime ministers of thailand and singapore. inviting them as well. he's already discussed north korea with china and japan. and they're clearly making a strong diplomatic effort to come up with a regional solution. tom? >> david, thank you. >>> next tonight to the manhunt that continues for an escaped con

abc's jon karl also in riyadh for us tonight. >> reporter: shortly before president trump landed in saudi arabia, word of a coming showdown back home. james comey has agreed to testify after memorial day, in public before the senate intelligence committee. the questions surrounding comey's firing are mounting. >> well, i certainly would like to know the circumstances that led up to his dismissal, and particularly those conversations, direct conversations with the president of the united states. >> reporter: president trump's meeting with top russian diplomats the day after he fired comey is casting even more doubt on the official white house explanation for his abrupt dismissal. "i just fired the head of the fbi. he was crazy. a real nutjob." trump boasted, according to an official summary of the meeting read to "the new york times" by an american official. "i faced great pressure because of russia, that's taken off." today, the russians insisted they didn't have anything to say about comey in that meeting. foreign minister sergey lavrov telling reporters, "we have not touched this subjec

. >> jon karl, our thanks to you. >>> meantime we turn to the scene just outside new york city tonight. a deadly plane crash, the learjet approaching teterboro airport. witnesses say it flipped upside-down as it flew over a suburban neighborhood. slamming into an industrial complex. tonight, the audio in those final moments. abc's linzie janis is on the scene for us. >> reporter: tonight, the harrowing scene -- a plane plummeting out of the sky, crashing and erupting into a ball of flames. >> request for a mutual aid ambulance in carlstadt scene of a plane crash into a building. >> reporter: at 3:30 p.m., the learjet, less than one mile from the runway at new jersey's teterboro airport, when eyewitnesses say the plane lost control, flipping over, and slamming into three buildings. >> it skidded after it hit the top of a building. and then skidded into the building adjacent to it. blowing up cars and anything in its path. >> reporter: the plane taking off from philadelphia, two pilots onboard died. flying debris destroying everything in its path. >> i just heard a loud boom and a flame