this meeting with henry kissing kissinger. earlier today, the president met with the russian minister, sergey lavrov. that didn't happen in this context. there was a photo of that meeting tweeted out by the russian side. maybe by the trump white house at this point, as well. there was an engineered opportunity, where the pool was called hastily. we didn't have 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 rus

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 personal animus and it. is somek there opportunity when you're interviewing president carte

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.

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

the president appearing alongside henry kissinger. >> everybody knows dr. kissinger. we're talking ability russia. and various other matters. >> also meeting with did russian foreign ministers and smiling in the oval office with russian ambassador sergei kislyak. all this as deputy white house press second sarah huckaby sanders blamed the dismissal on job performance. >> having a letter like the one he received and having that conversation that outlined the basic just atrocities in sir come venting the chain of demand p command in the department of justice. >> one more question. all of this tonight is about the doerk jeff sessions. erin you'll remember a couple of months ago the attorney general recused himself in any bit of this regs investigation because of his meeting with the russian ambassador that he was not forthcoming about. in fact, the president met with the attorney general on monday in the oval office to talk about the removal of the fbi director and the attorney general is also involved in the selection of a potential new fbi director. that, of course, pu

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

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

lou: until we can bring in kissinger and lavrov. >> right there in the oval office., doesn't that his good to see henry? i mean, i love that. >> well, i do think -- russia, i think henry would give good advice. donald trump was right in the campaign. he's, like, we have to talk to the guys. maybe we won't like these folks. lou: and james clapper, who i think it's fair to say has been a controversial dni, he was straight forward enough to tell, to remind the senate that the russians, the soviets have been trying to interfere in our presidential election, we know for a fact since 1968. and we also tried to upend your boss at one point, ronald reagan and the '84 reelection. >> they really made a mistake. 49-1. lou: think about this. [laughter] but they didn't -- they at least got -- well, they were on the wrong side of history again, the russians. you would think they learn. >> you have ed rollins, my old buddy coming on as well. but let me say, look, it's not unheard of that the united states may have tried to influence certain elections, certain parts of the world, lo

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

t trump: everybody knows kissinger. we are talking about russia and various other matters. but it is an honoror to have hey 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 for a special prosecutor into the russia investigation that came from outraged democrats like vermont democratic senator , patrick leahy. >> this is not just a scandal. the presiden

he was sitting next to henny kissinger. it seemed like a strange choice to some. >> we will hear calls for a new investigation which can only serve to impede the current work being done. >> reporter: surrounded by the democrats on the senate floor this morning, chuck schumer made a plea to rob ron rosenstein to take the investigation out of reach of the executive branch. >> the special prosecutor will have greater latitude in conducts the investigation. >> reporter: the white house pushed back on those calls. >> it's not necessary, you have a house committee, a senate committee and the department of justice working on this. >> reporter: most republicans have brushed off democratic criticism but some are questioning the timing. with an fbi investigation, congressional committees are also looking into the ties between russia and the trump campaign. >>> thank you lauren. >>> earlier today we spoke by phone to senator harris, we asked if she thought it was part of a cover up. >> i do not know if it's a cover up but what has hap

he was sitting next to henny kissinger.e choice to some. >> we will hear calls for a new investigation which can only serve to impede the current work being done. >> reporter: surrounded by the democrats on the senate floor this morning, chuck schumer made a plea to rob ron rosenstein to take the investigation out of reach of the executive branch. >> the special prosecutor will have greater latitude in conducts the investigation. >> reporter: the white house pushed back on those calls. >> it's not necessary, you have a house committee, a senate committee and the

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

kissinger and a number of others were coming to the white house and giving him advice.olly: molly, thank you so much. molly: thank you. ♪ >> gisele bundchen is a supermodel, mother of two, and wife of new england patriots quarterback tom brady. she is an environmental activist and advocate. she recently teamed up with author and entrepreneur paul hawkens about a new book he's edited called "drawdown". it is to reverse global warming. they have a deep concern for the health of our planet. they are optimistic that things can change. charles spoke with them earlier this month. here is that conversation. bundchen spent much of her life at the height of the fashion world. the 36-year-old mother of two and wife of nfl quarterback tom brady retired from the broadway. she is advocating for the environment and her business career. she is teamed up with paul isken's, the book "drawdown." here is the book, the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming edited by you. nobody is aiming for it, we wanted to aim for the goal. most if not all of the climate , rheto

. >> 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

house is trying to tamp down comparisons to the nixon white house, having a photo op next to henry kissinger, the secretary of state for president nixon, also one of his national security advisers, is probably not the best way to do it. it looks like they're trying to double down on that. but separately happening, we're also getting some more information about specifically what went on in the days leading up to this firing. our sara murray is reporting that the director of the fbi, james comey, asked for more resources, more must be, to put toward the russia investigation. to ease concern from capitol hill, from senator richard burr and senator mark warner that this fbi investigation, this hill investigation, as well, was moving too slowly. this was earlier this week. they had the meeting on monday, of course, the firing happened yesterday. but, john, this is simply going to fuel the fire here, raise more questions that as immediately after the fbi director asks for more funding for this investigation, he's fired. >> jeff zeleny, a busy day at the white house. i want to note that the departm

kissinger. what advise did dr. kissinger give him on anything? was there any readout of their conversation? >> i didn't get one at the time. generally speaking, we don't get readouts of that. >> -- given that you've got the story that landed in your lap today, i'm sure you heard senator corker say that this white house is in a downward spiral. how do you view the current state of things right now? is a downward spiral fair? unfair? is chaotic fair, unfair? and does this white house need a reset? >> well, i think we're doing -- the president's committed to enacting his agenda. he feels very strongly about what he's doing and why he is doing it. the leaks that occurred today are not helpful. first and foremost, the national security, beyond any other issue. but obviously we're very -- the president's very proud of the work and the accomplishments that he's had in these first few months and looking forward to this trip around the country -- around the world that i think is really going to continue to grow the relationships that he's already started

he should be meeting with people like kissinger. for them to attack him for doing his job? maybe they should spend more time doing their job and we wouldn't have the problems that we do. jonathan? >> isn't it true that the president had already decided to fire james comey and asked the justice department to put together that rationale? sec. huckabee sanders: no. >> when did he make the decision? sec. huckabee sanders: he made the final decision to move forward yesterday, that i know he has been contemplating for a while. >> how do you explain what dianne feinstein said, that the president told her that he was concerned with the fbi and the justice department was asked to look into it? sec. huckabee sanders: i can't speak for senator feinstein, but i can speak directly for the president and heard directly from him that he had been considering letting director comey go pretty much since the day that he took office, but that there was no request by him to have a review at the department of justice. >> was the reason for the firing what was written by the deputy attorney genera

when we think of henry kissinger and the balance of power -- they tried to have a balance of realism and idealism and it worked for the well. -- pretty well. not perfectly but pretty well for a long time. one other element i would add to this is humility. cropper iscame a where we were arrogant. when this balance got out of whack was when we thought we knew best because -- from a realist point of view, like nixon or kissinger, we could a dreamyur way or like aspect, will just go in there and they will want to be like us. in the realism or idealism camp, that didn't work. when we were more realistic and humble, things went better for us. i think that is a lesson going forward. i think for people in our , this vision of fusion and idealism, the truman a strong, benign america creating the liberal international order, the air that we breathe was hardwired for our generation. clearly not for people throughout our country. in light of how the questions -- i would ask you both to take a more skeptical look at this. the, you lived through q,tempt to create a modern ira coming on the heels o

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

kissinger and balanced power politics. have, this group, tried to have a balance of realism and idealism and it worked pretty well, not perfectly, but pretty well for a long time. the other element i would add to this is humility. it became proper is where we were arrogant and when this balance got out of whack. we thought we knew best either because from a realist point of view, like nixon and kissinger manipulating the world, we could manipulate it our way or the dreamy aspect of we will just go in there and they want to be like americans because we are great and of course they will want to be like us. either in thes, realism camp were idealism camp, that did not work. we were more realistic and humble, it seems to me things went better for us and that's a lesson going forward. >> i think the people in our vision of theis fusion of idealism and realism embodied in the marshall plan and truman doctrine, the idea of a strong benign america creating liberal, international order, that was the air that we breathe. it was just

. >> glor: and how much of this, and there was the kissinger meeting, right, which was the same day as the meeting with the russian diplomats. and much has been discussed about that, about what kind of presentation that was for the president. >> that's right. he has apparently been-- i, it is an unfathomable weird coincidence that henry kissinger was at the white house at the same day that the president had the meeting with the russians that has now come under such scrutiny. but this appears to have been part of his sort of crash course in international relations. he is attempting to educate himself. you will hear even from his friends that he is not a man with a large attention span and a man who fancies himself much more about the sort of big picture than a lot of minute details. so he can be a difficult person to brief. but he was attempting to get up to speed on a lot of this stuff that obviously never having been in politics, much less foreign relations before, he had really only seen through his lens as an international businessman. so kissinger and a number of others were coming

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

kissinger has just arrived at the white house and in fact, he was going into the oval office just asergey lavrov was wrapping up. they took some photos with the president and john is asking the white house to see if we can see a couple of official photos. they asked why the meeting with republicans, they've met with them as well also at the white house. our republicans at the white house handing over a little bit of the talking points democrats? >> david: we have to continue our dialogue with russia. syria wants to be as close as they can be to russia. we have to give a dialogue going. we cannot allow the president who said let me get to this election. you have a president who is very decisive and saying here's where we stand. >> abby: who doesn't want to find a way to work together and dealing with isis. i want to say one thing about the democrats. i don't think the american people are stupid. i think this is an example of what they hate so much about politics. chuck schumer said in november, it wasn't for him, hillary would be elected. people get that. people get hypocrisy and that

he opened the door to the oval office, there is henry kissinger, low and behold.eingight, sean spicer chased around the white house -- >> hiding in the bushes. im: this is not the deliberate, and that is something we have t keep in mind about donald trump. he is not a strategic, long-term thinker. twin impulses -- self-aggrandizement and self-preservation. firing comey is all about self preservation. he was clearly disturbed by how the investigation was progressing. per meghan saying comey was asking for resources last week, also remember that yesterday a grand jury issued subpoenas to some of michael flynn's business associates. david: in virginia, right here to tim: yes, and i was hours before comey got canned. "bloomberg news had he done this -- megan: have you done this at the outset, it would not have been surprising. he had serious detractors, particularly among democrats, and that is what is so amazing when he moved, forward with this investigation, he put himself in a position that he thought he was politically untouchable, and to fire him now, his own goa

. >> there was the kissinger meeting that was the same day as the russian diplomats.uch has been discussed about that, about what proration that was for the president. -- it's anpparently unfathomable weird coincidence that henry kissinger was at the white house the same date the president had the meeting with the russians that has now come under such scrutiny. this appears to be part of his crash course in international relations. he is attempting to educate himself. you'll hear from his friends that he is not a man with a large attention span and a man who fancies himself more about the big picture than a lot of minute details. so he can be a difficult percent to brief, but he was attempting to get up to speed on stuff. he had really only seen through his lens as an international is is meant. of othersand a number were coming to the white house and giving him advice. >> molly, thank you so much. >> they do. -- thank you. ♪ >> gisele bunch and is a supermodel, model -- mother of two, and wife of tom brady. she is an environmental activist and advocate. she teamed up

naval war college writes in the woeflt "washington post," quote, when henry kissinger met with known russian diplomats or intelligence operatives he helped fib director j. edgar hoover informed. similarly robert f. kennedy the u.s. attorney general kept the fbi informed of his back channel meeting with soviet intermediaries during the cuban missile crisis. with all this in mind let's bring in walter isaksen, president of the aspen institute, former editor of "time" magazine, veteran journalist and author. biographer of figures so big we need only mention their last name, franklin,ine teen, kissinger, jobs, and da vinci. walleter is with us from his great home town of new orleans, louisiana. walter, first of all we are going to make some folks buy the book because they should. a thumbnail sketch, who were the wise men -- it would be wise people today. and what would you say to president trump if you had 15 minutes to say to this guy who ran as an anti-establishment, anti-administrative state nationalist that it's good to have wise people around you? >> the wise men were a group of peo

if you were kissinger, you would say they were things we should be doing with russia when it comes toia and afghanistan that we have common interest. this seems almost like throwing all the balls in the air without worrying about where they will land. david: what strikes me is we have a president who is coming in with a more ambitious agenda then we have seen in some time. time, as we have a lot of these disruptions and it is to the plea to get things done in washington when there is not disruption. when there is, it becomes impossible. walter: he has a very important agenda and what i cannot understand is why don't you just focus on that agenda? figure out a tax reform, which is really needed and a simplification, maybe bring some democrats around and do it methodically. more important in my opinion, an infrastructure bill. the infrastructure is falling apart. low interest rates, you might as well do a good infrastructure program. you could do that with all seriousness. i don't know why you decide to have all of these distractions. to take a russia investigation on whether or not rus

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

and you have henry kissinger at the white house today. i don't know if even holly could write this. >> let's get the basics, and that is that this is terribly dangerous moment in american history. the president of the united states has repeatedly made clear he does not want a legitimate investigation into the possible collusion of his aides and campaign with a hostile power. this is unprecedented in our history. a president who himself has attempted to impede the legitimate investigation of essentially looking into whether or not people around him and perhaps himself have colluded in some way with the enemy. and we need to be clear about what that means. there has been a coverp, as you heard me say on your show and others for a while. there vahas been a cover-up fro the white house. i think there have are a good number of people in the fbi that will tell you, yes, there has been a cover-up. and this is the ultimate execution of that strategy. and underlike watergate where republicans were the heroes and republicans said with richard nixon

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

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

>> 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

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

kissinger and we're right now talking about russia. >> reporter: and today invited to sit along the presidentintensionally ironic, russia front andest? at the white house and the president even smiling in the oval office with the u.s. ambassador, sergey kislyak, considered a top spy. the white house insisted the russia investigation comey was leadinging had nothing to do with his dismissal despite the president invoking that in his letter to comey. while i greatly appreciate you informing me hon three separate occasions i'm not under investigation, i condewer with the department of justice, that you're not able to effectively lead with the bureau and it was that memoçó that ended comey's tenure at the fbi. >> why did he have one of his longtime security advisers and deliver a letter to the fbi when had the fbi was in fact in los angeles? didn't he deserve a phone call or a face-to-face -- >> he followed the power protocol in that instance which is handwritten note face and at the same time in a matter how you fire someone it's never an easy process so he felt like following protocol was the b