lindsay graham and sheldon whoit house wrote to her. he said i don't see your testimony as germane to the subject, which is russian hacking in the election. i was told she was going to accept the invitation when she thought it was coming from republicans and democrats. she saided when she found out, no, it is part sedan. of course, the focus, her concern, is it going to be a conversion to take away the russian experience and focus on the uncorroborated claims that she tried to unmask people relat relates. >> the fbi director, jim comey testified today for four hours. >> yeah. >> he repeatedly and passionately defended his decision to go public with the clinton e-mail just days before the election, right? >> that's exactly right. he said he had no regrets. he said it was a very difficult, he said even painful decision for him personally that he's gone back over since then many times. each time he does, he doums the conclusion that he made the right call. at times definal and other times reflective, james comey said his idea to go public

on meet the press--republicans senator lindsay graham said its time to "clear the air" i think it's time to call the fbi director before the country and explain what happened //you can't be cute about tapes. the tapes in question, those referenced by the president in a friday tweetstorm, when he wrote, james comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press! sot - sen. mark warner (d) virginia we have got to make sure that these tapes, if they exist, don't mysteriously disappear. sot - sen. mike lee (r) utah if, in fact, there are such recordings, i think those recordings will be subpoenaed and i think they will probably have to turn them over for his part, president trump, declined to answer questions about those referenced tapes at a golf course sunday, nats up: natsot (yesterday) reporter: mr. president, are you recording any of your meetings in the white house, sir? there are still weighty questions remaining about the motivation for the firing of james comey--and what it means to the ongoing investigation into russian influence. m

requesting this information and is curious the invitation was only 1-sided and i am a big fan of lindsay graham in the trump era, him and john mccain, really put the country above party in understanding what happened with russian interference in our election but why wasn't this a bipartisan request? is that the fault of the democrats or something being pushed i republicans to get susan right up there and make it about her? >> i'm with john layfield, the -- intelligence names released before the election, emails between trump people and the russians. you can take this further. if anything what happened to hillary lost for a lot of reasons so i don't see the point. the original point, if you are in many agencies that the this information there is no way you wouldn't do that. legally allowed to go through this stuff because of slippery things since 2001. that is the issue the american public is not aware of. dagen: they can spend our money however they see fit and go through our records, that is what it is. cashing in an hour from now. what have you got coming up? >> interviewing donald trump, his

lindsay graham said it should be viewed with caution. another measure of bitterness. school yards behavior from democrats channelsing to republicans that their yes votes will cost them their seats in the 2018 election. >> chanting goodbye. right now this is a live picture of the president about to appear this hourp on the u.s. intrepid. trump returned to his home town for the first time since inauguration. as you see there he's getting off the airplane. jeff, obviously, this is a huge night for the president, his first trip back to new york on the heels of a victory lap in wash this afternoon. >> it is indeerksd erin. it's been about 107 days sins he's been in manhattan. the longest stretch he's spent outside of the city in his entire life, if you can believe that. he meets here with the prime minister of australia. it's clear he still has domestic politics on his mind. >> president trump savoring a victory tonight. >> the bill is passed. >> the first major legislative victory. >> this is a repeal and replace of obama care. make no mistake about it. make no mistake. a

that gives me more pause when lindsay graham says that. >> he is an active private practitioner, too, graham. >> the other news today was president trump as we know, had said that deputy attorney general rod rosenstein's memo he cited for firing him. >> director comey was actually very unpopular with many people. i got a strong recommendation, as you know, from the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein -- >> all right. so the way he says it is comey was unpopular. . i also got this memo from rod rosenstein. rosenstein today behind closed doors told them explicitly that he knew comey was going to be fired before he even wrote the memo. so the memo had 2340g toe do with it, right? >> well, unless -- the president said to lest every holt that the memo had nothing to do with it. he said something about the reason he thinks, he's sort of speculating which memo was written because apparently rosenstein had been unimpressed with comey's appearance in the hearing. i think this is the first time we've heard this. the reporting that's been done on this is -- the impression at least is somebod

some lawmakers such as gop lindsay graham aren't so sure he'll be allowed to testify given that the newly appointed counsel robert mueller will likely include some of his conversations. >>> still ahead h >> we'll tell you about funeral plans for the rock star chris cornell, his fan's of mourning his death. >>> the famous ringling and brothers barn um circus is you can still see the show live even if you didn't get a ticket. [vo] one moment can change a life. intelligent technology can help protect it. the all-new audi q5 is here. time is 7:11. one person in critical condition after a passenger jet collided with an airport supply truck on the lax tarmac after the plane landed. it caused utility supply truck to end up on its side. nobody on the plane was injured. >>> a minnesota judge prince's six siblings to be the arrival airs, closer to collecting the multi-million dollar estate but they can't collect anything until complains are resolved from people pushing. his estate could be worth about $200 million. >>> a new reporter about sound garden front man chris cornell. he will be laid to re

leading republicans, senator lindsay graham say this is a fresh start that will serve the nation well. while democrats are already raising red flags. many questioning if comey was fired because the white house feared he could possibly get to the bottom of any potential russia connection. now the top democrat on the house oversight committee is already calling for immediate emergency hearings saying the president fired the one independent person who was doing the most to investigate president trump. democarts now say this move underscores their call for an independent prosecutor to lead the russia investigations. diane? >> mary, thanks. hearing from republicans saying time for a new start. this is a good move. we will hear the debate go on. >> a new development in the ongoing investigation into possible russian election interference. >> yeah, before james comey was fired, federal prosecutors issued subpoenas to associates of former national security adviser michael flynn. seeking business records of people who worked with flynn, after he was forcinged out, as head of the defense intell

. >> with me now is lindsay graham, former cia operative and author of "blowing my cover as a cia spyr coming in. >> thanks for having me. >> on the topic of back channels. they say back channels are an appropriate part of diplomacy and they've happened throughout many presidencies. on the most basic level, how important are they? what can back channels do that regular channels simply can't, lindsay? >> back channels are an appropriate part of diplomacy, but generally handled by intelligence agencies and intelligence operatives, so it is concerning to hear of jared kushner kind of unilaterally creating his own back channel line of communication. at its core back channel communication is an espionage term. what we're trying to recruit a source we sometimes tell them that we are exactly the back channel line of communication that can get their secret information to washington policymakers. so that's why i think it is so concerning. what's also concerning is that jared kushner has not disclosed contacts, unofficial contacts with russians which is actually a complete breach of security pr

. >> on "meet the press," republican senator lindsay graham said it's time to clear the air. >> i think it's time to call the fbi director before the country at large and explain what happened at that you can't be cute on tapes. >> he wrote james comey better hope there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press. >> we have to make sure these tapes if they exist don't mysteriously disappear. >> if there are such recordings, i think those recordings will be subpoenaed. >> for his part president trump declined to answer questions at a golf course on sunday about those tapes. there are still questions remaining about the motivation of the members of congress are hoping to hear from comey himself who posed with a picture of the cast over the weekend. >> we may still hear from the man at the center of the storm. james comey would like to speak publicly, and associates say he's not interested in the publicity but would like to answer questions about his record. abc news, washington. >>> there's word this morning that a bay area native may be trump's press secretar

senator lindsay graham owning with this. >> intense scrutiny following every word of testimony from former acting attorney general sally yates. she outlined the steps she took to warn the white house about then national security adviser michael flynn. >> this was a matter. >> yates describing intense call to don mcgann on the morning of february 26th. >> i called don mcgann first thing that morning and told him i had a sensitive matter i needed to discuss couldn't talk about it on the phone need to come see him. >> she went to the white house that day to discuss concerns flynn hey have been flying to the white house. >> the vice president was unknowingly making false statements to the public. and we believed general flynn was comb appropriate is mied with respect to the russians. we believed the russians knew this. and that created a compromise situation. situation where the national security adviser essentially could be blackmailed by the russians. >> reporter: yates citing saying flynn said he had not discussed sanctions for meddling in the u.s. election. ates knew otherwise, flynn was c

rice's attorney says invitation came from republican senator lindsay graham and pointed out that other obama administration officials who planned to testify, received bipartisan requests. rice vehemently denied improperly unmasking names of americans in u.s. surveillance. president trump recently said she may have commit aid crime. >> new round of heavy rain is pounding parts of the midwest. and the south. already ravaged by deadly flooding. major and traffic is shut down along a busy section of the mississippi river near st. louis. now, levees are weakened in some spots. and swollen rivers are spilling over their banks. swamping entire neighborhoods. the downpours aren't expected to let up until at least friday. that's forcing home and business owners to, to keep watch, 24/7. >> we have been up all night. running pumps. we have five pumps running in here. trying to keep the water pumped out. >> arkansas's governor now says nine levees have burst in the northeast part of the state. now three of those are major breaches. and the governor says that so far, seven people have died. one a c

lindsay graham was saying now you have to ask the questions of the special counsel.t's not the president's party coming to his side and joining him in this battle that he is saying, this is just about the election results last year. >> earlier in the day, jeffrey toobin, earlier in the morning, the president tweeted this reaction to the naming of robert mueller. quote, this is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in american history. i see you smiling already as i'm reading that tweet. >> but who do you really feel, mr. president? >> yeah. >> right. well, i mean, i think, you know, this is how donald trump operates and how he got elected president of the united states. so who are we to say that this is not going to work again? his problem here is that his party and everyone else -- and democrats and republicans have nothing but good things to say about director mueller. another difference -- i mean david was pointing out a difference with the way clinton responded to kenneth starr investigation. kenneth starr was very much associated with the republican par

. >> even lindsay graham was saying it was time for a restart. >> for one second, take us back to the voice which matters the most, which is that of the president. right after comey said he's looking into more e-mails for hillary clinton, ok, the day after, two days after and then again in january, here's the president of the united states. >> i respect the fact that director comey was able to come back after what he did. it took guts for director comey to make the move that he made in light of the confined of opposition he had where they're trying to protect her from criminal prosecution. he's become more famous than me. >> jason, that's what he had to say. right. he was thrilled when comey was on his side and now all of a sudden he's firing the guy. >> the fact of the matter is that director comey was all over the map. it's almost as though these investigations were run like a choose your own novel. it was ridiculous. we've seen it even continue going forward. so look, he had lost the confidence of the men and women he was supposed to be leading. >> who said? that's made up. that's

. >> reporter: but cowght p south carolina republican lindsay graham said a fresh start will serve the f.b.i. and nation well, and maine republican susan collins said democratic outrage is misplaced. >> first of all, the president did not fire the entire f.b.i. he fired the director of the f.b.i. and any suggestion that this is somehow going to stop the f.b.i.'s investigation of the attempts by the russians to influence the elections last fall is really patently absurd. >> reporter: but there is a growing list of high-profile republicans who are critical of the president's move and one of them is richard burr of north carolina. he is the chair of the senate intelligence committee, which is overseeing the russia investigation. he says he is "troubled by the timing and reasoning of director comey's termination," and, scott, he says it confuses an already difficult investigation. >> pelley: nancy cordes on guestol hill. now, jeff pegues, our chief justice correspondent, and you've been covering comey and the f.b.i. for years now. jeff, bring us up to date on where the f.b.i. is on the rus

celebrate with some of these members, but look, you heard mary talk about what's to come next and lindsay graham today tweeting this should be viewed with caution. this is not a done deal. the white house may be celebrating today, but they've got a long road ahead, george. >> jonathan carr, one of our chief correspondents. what kind of involvement will the president and the white house will have as they go as well as the senate. and it is causing confusion with his statements and one of the questions they'll face and eventually the house members is whether the bill there passing can meet the rhetoric and they're issuing as they talk about it. >> and the big piece of the promise that the president made over and over again not to touch the provision that guarantees coverage for those with pre-existing conditions. the president was incredibly involved, as you heard cecilia talk about in getting this over the line in the house. my sense is that as this goes to the senate, you will see senate republicans take the lead in trying to address the concerns that various senators have. they have to get almo

many do, among them senator lindsay graham, an independent minded politician who has repeatedly accusedn the us presidential election. we need new leadership of the fbi. it's kind of what we're wondering about firing a guy when both parties wanted him removed. let me ask you this, did russia have a pa rt me ask you this, did russia have a part to play in president trump's decision, in your view? but according to the letter but let me tell you about russia: russia interfered in our election, i want to punish russia. i'm100% convinced they interfered in trying to undermine the 2016 election, that it was russia intelligence services that hack into the dnc and podesta, that hack into the dnc and podesta, that they didn't change the outcome but created a lot of discord. i want to punish russia. i have yet to see evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and the russians, but we need to keep looking until we can find out one way or the other. anthony, i suppose the next question is, who next to head the fbi? it'll tell us a lot about how independent are. absolutely, that's what eve ryo

if he puts lindsay graham in who, i suspect that there will be a lot of people saying that's okay. >> tucker: here's the point. i'm not administrating communion to the president. i'm an american citizen. i'm not as interested in his personal virtue as you appear to be. i care more about what he does rather than what he does and i think that's a valid point the limits of just one thing. part of the problem with what happened yesterday as the increase in temperature and one of the reasons split ugly in this country to an almost unstable degree. one of the reasons that has happened, people like you are calling it a coup. you said in a tweet yesterday. can you hear me? >> i apologize. >> tucker: to sum up, yesterday you had a tweet calling this a coup. you're a smart guy. he said on a tweet saying it's cuda trump. that is to be a pulitzer prize for headline writing. how could it be a coup? your reinforcing they ideal among the wacko left this is a coup. when he fired seven who works for him. is it a self coup? why talk like that to people who pay attention to your opinion? >> because i th

i like the discussion is lindsay graham is a minor it.better to get the vote when you have the votes. they think they have the votes they need today and they probably do. what will be interesting to watch is how many republicans and districts they let the fact to give them that political cover they need to not have this hanging over them coming up into 2018 and beyond. there will be many republicans who will be extremely affected by this who will need to say that i stepped away and we did not have a cbo score. the bill has only come out and they are still parsing language. the white house has gotten better. recently as the beginning of last week, the fact that we get to where we are today in taking a vote is something i don't think a lot of people would have expected. they got their ducks in a row on this thing and they know they cannot go back to their districts and come -- and explain that repeal and replace took seven years. they played their cars a little bit lighter this time but when it gets in the senate, it will be a whole differe

lindsay graham said he supported the decision necessary for the fbi to move on, necessary for new leadership come in to play. others not so aligned with the trump white house including one in particular. senator richard bird. he put out a statement saying he's troubled by the timing and reasoning of director comey's termination. he's overseeing the senate investigation into russian meddling in the 2016 election and he's mostly stayed away from any types of political statements. take a listen to what the vice chairman of that committee said, democratic from virginia mark warner. >> shocked would be a gross under statement. didn't see this coming. obviously outrageous. what happened during the nixon period there were people of principle who stood up against some of them president nixon's actions. i'm hoping in the coming days we'll see either out of the administration and frankly from my colleagues a willingness to rise above partisanship. this is so much more important than just this president. it's about the rule of law. >> the house of representatives isn't even in session. some lawmakers b

interesting, when we have looked at the republicans, even people like senator lindsay graham and randmocrats are being critical, because it was something that they called for when hillary clinton's investigations were in into her e—mails —— into her e—mails, that was something they called for. clyde, where you not hear for bill clinton's diplomatically eventful presidency? let's take a trip down to memory lane and have a look at you all those years ago at the democratic election. we should say to america in a loud, clear voice, senatorjohn kerry! the former president is one of the star attractions ofjohn president is one of the star attractions of john kerry's president is one of the star attractions ofjohn kerry's run for presidency. how times have changed. they have, and my hair has changed also. i was on shift when i found out about the firing of james comey, and now i feel that american politics is mixed up and crazy, and that's part of the democracy. things change all the time. it's not an autocracy, a dictatorship. but i cast my mind back to 1998. bill clinton's impeachment. he

lindsay graham voiced support. >> as did susan collins.er side of the aisle democrats largely unified in calls for a special prosecutor. here was senate minority leader chuck schumer last night. >> this investigation must be run as far away as possible from this white house and as far away as possible from anyone that president trump has appointed. >> president trump ready to fire back on twitter. quote crying chuck schumer stated recently i do not have confidence in james comey any longer. then act so indignant. hash tag drain the swamp. >> cnn learned federal prosecutors issued grand jury subpoenas to associates of former national security adviser michael flynn. they are seeking flynn's business records from colleagues who worked with him on contracts. this signals a significant -- these subpoenas a significant escalation of activity in the fbi investigation into possible ties between the trump campaign and russia. investigators have been examining how flynn handled disclosures about payments he received from clients to foreign governmen

senator lindsay graham says he doesn't trust the story as far as he can throw it. listen. >> it makes no sense that the russian ambassador will report back to moscow on a channel that we're most likely monitoring. the whole story line is suspicious. >> republican senator john mccain said in an interview on australian television, there's nothing standard about trying to set up a secret communications channel with a hostile foreign government. adam schiff is calling for kushner's security clearance to be reviewed. >> if these reports are accurate after the intervention to have the president's son-in-law a key player in the trump organization, trying to establish a back channel with the russians through a russian diplomatic facility, you have to ask, who are they hiding the conversations from? >> and i've got new information just coming out from our catherine herridge. she's reporting that a source closest to kushner that said it was the russians that first raised the eye of establishing the secret back channel, not kushner. this source told her that the idea of a per

wednesday the former national security adviser susan rice is declining an invitation from senator lindsay grahamittee he chairs investigating russia. a source familiar with rice's deliberations said rice refused because the invitation was not bipartisan. the ranking democrat told wolf blitzer, her testimony is not relevant to the committee's relevance on russian interference. >> i think it would have diverted from the thrust of the hearing for her to come there. >> reporter: president trump, however, took aim this morning on twitter, saying, quote, susan rice, the former national security adviser to president obama, is refusing to testify before a senate subcommittee next week on allegations of unmasking trump transition officials. not good, exclamation point. cnn has reported that both republican and distribute lawmakers who have examined the unmasking request found nothing unusual or illegal. >> we just saw in your piece, the house intelligence committee members trying to present a very bipartisan united front. are they really working in a bipartisan way? >> from what we hear, no. or at least

republican senator lindsay graham is the bill's main sponsor. >> you can imagine getting paid through a troirt act? >> reporter: the u.s. gives the palestinian authority $300,000 a year and shells out that much to the families, about 7% of total budget. taylor's killer was identified as bashar mos allah. the palestinian ambassador to the united nations defends the payments. >> there are, you know, a large number of palestinians who are receiving compensation. they are victims of israeli terrorism. >> reporter: taylor's parents hope the bill would discourage acts of terrorism. >> it's so important that the taylor force act passes so that other sons and daughters, brothers and sisters aren't lost in this way. >> reporter: senator graham says president trump will sign the taylor force act, but passage remains uncertain because not one democrat supports it. in new york, eric shawn, fox news. rick: political unrest mounting in venezuela as calls for president nicolas maduro grows wider. it's the third pay raise this year and comes as the economic crisis continues to worsen. this prompting

from rice's lawyer outlines the reasons for her abstention, he did not agree for chairman linds lindsay graham'sn to testify. and rice considered this invitation from senator graham a diversionary play, is what she felt this was, to distract attention from the russian investigation. and rice had been accused by president trump of unmasking trump officials. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said they didn't see anything wrong with what susan rice did. >> paul, did what director comey said today make sense about his rationale for -- >> oh, yeah, no problem. no biggie. >> i knew you would say that. >> i want him to take me back to that room on october 28. there's two doors, one marked speak, and one marked conceal. one marked comey, one marked country, he put himself ahead of his country. he had the lap top, he had the evidence, it wasn't going anywhere, put it in a safe, put it on ice, in 11 days we'll check it out. we don't even have a search warrant today. >> some say it destroys the fbi. >> these guys are heroes. these are men and women who put their country ahead of their lives every day. a

as a lot of the other candidates had done, that this was clearly something that was pushed by lindsay grahamn and that the president ened up liking him an awful lot and thought it was a great idea. >> hold your thoughts. much more on breaking news right after this. you too, unnecessary er visits. and hey, unmanaged depression, don't get too comfortable. we're talking to you, cost inefficiencies and data without insights. and fragmented care- stop getting in the way of patient recovery and pay attention. every single one of you is on our list. for those who won't rest until the world is healthier, neither will we. optum. how well gets done. fothere's a seriousy boomers virus out there that's been almost forgotten. it's hepatitis c. one in 30 boomers has hep c, yet most don't even know it. because it can hide in your body for years without symptoms, and it's not tested for in routine blood work. the cdc recommends all baby boomers get tested. if you have hep c, it can be cured. for us it's time to get tested. ask your healthcare provider for the simple blood test. it's the only way to know for

john mccain and lindsay graham are asking for an analysis from the budget office and the cost and impact of the house bill. others are already talking about looking at making improvements. >> that's going to need more work. i'm working with john thune on an amendment to address that right now. medicaid, we have to make sure it works for the states that took the expansion. >> ohio senator rob portman not pulling any punches saying he has serious issues with the house bill. he said "i already made clear i don't support the bill as constructed because i can't to have concerns that this bill doesn't do enough to protect ohio's medicaid expansion population and those receiving treatment for heroin and prescription drug abuse". there's 52 republicans in the senate. portman and just about everybody else is really important, harris. >> the american public that voted like single issue on this is kind of anticipating that this is how it works, right? they go around around make some changes. people are not talking about are the democrats and all of the bipartisanship that they talked about was poss

> the democrats are doing a victory lap over it saying they got a lot of what they wanted and lindsay grahamwith it and the president agrees and disagrees. he said the system needs to be reformed and 60% and also this was wonderful and i got everything i wanted and it's a down payment on the wall. mixed messaging. does that work now that he is president. >> i think it works with the core supporters. maybe 40% of people who are not going to move and are sticking by president trump. they have invested so much in him that they do want to see him succeed. it's a tenuous question of bringing in other supporters. you look at is this the blueprint and the "new york times" had a great story on how this came together. it wasn't because of the white house. democrats and republicans had bypassed the white house. >> this deal, is it going to look a lot different come september 30th? >> you saw trump's tweets and he is reacting to the fact that the democrats are responsible here and we worked with republicans across the aisle to come to a consensus and president trump wants to be the center of attention

republicans -- you will see what you've been seeing some republicans like a senator mccain and lindsay graham -- >> i won't defend this if it is true. this will take a huge hit on president trump's numbers, you start seeing him going to 32%, you will see a lot of republicans running away from him? >> 39% is not high enough. >> my prediction is once he goes under 30 they will jump ship. we have to talk about the context. he allegedly revealed classified information in a meeting with the russians which happened the day after he fired the fbi director and admittedly said it was about russia. kislyak was in the meeting and we know about it because of the photographs the russian photographer took not because any information was given out before the meeting. no one knew kislyak would be in the oval office meeting until the pictures came out after the fact and the u.s. media not let in the room. this has to be contained in the context and big picture. >> one other thing to take into consideration on this. as we know, president trump announced he would seek to broaden the laptops. if they can travel

this is lindsay graham who is a republican tweeted today.y has not been scored. amendments not allowed. three hours, final debate. should be viewed with caution. ultimately do you think that -- this may come to haunt republicans? >> i think he's absolutely correct. this is a complex issue. and to push it through, to pound it through, without any opportunity for amendment, and discussion, and debate, or going through the committee process, i think is a mistake. i think the american people can see that. in the end it's coming over to the senate side now, don, and we don't want to make the same mistakes. i'll work and i know there are others on my side of the aisle that will work very, very hard to try to improve this, to make health care more accessible and more affordable. that's really the bottom line. if we're able to do that, with ecan make a bill that's pretty bad right now into a bill that can work for the american people. >> senator tester, i appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you, don. >>> when we come back, is the president hit

no question, mitch mcconnell will love this and other republicans, but nia, lindsay graham warneded about it when he wases on cnn on sunday and here's his reaction to it now. >> but if he does withdraw, that would be a definitive statement by the president that he believes climate change is a hoax. stay in the deal and make it a better deal would be my advice. >> so if he pulls out, what does that mean to you? >> it means that the leader of the republican party is in a different spot than the rest of the world. it would be taken as a statement that climate change is not a problem, not real and that would be bad for the party and bad for the country. >> you're not missing things and that was sunday and he said it again, the president thinks climate change is a hoax. so what does the president do? he pulls out of this and then what? does he try to negotiate a better deal? does he just stay out? >> i think that's what's unclear, right? he's been teasing this decision for weeks now that he was going to likely pull out. what that actually means in terms of the framework or the mechanism is rea

the republican-led congress initially, people like lindsay graham who has oversight. he got about a 10-minute heads up from the president himself. his initial statement was i support you. we'll see if that changes and other republicans have a different point of view and democrats, of course, as you've been talking to on air and of course wie been talking about the statements to a person dhauld nix ownian and says this is than absolute abuse of power. >> we are getting reaction in from senior law enforcement and intention officials. i just have this on the record from james claber telling cnn i have immense respect and admiration for james comey. this is a loss for the fbi and the nation. clapper and comey worked together closely on a number of issues. clapper was in the service until he retired. they were both in that room when they briefed president obama and president trump on the russian interference. mark warner, the ranking democrat, strong words from him. the president's actions are shocking. it is deeply troubling that the president has fired the fbi director d

the question is whether other republican senators will join the call by john mccain and lindsay grahamthat special committee that would need to overcome the opposition of the senate majority leader to do just that, but clearly, some concerns here about the reason behind the firing of james comey coming from a very prominent member of the senate and also we'll hear more of that later today from republican senators as they grapple with this news and uncertain about why the white house took this action at this key moment of this russian investigation months after the james comey press conference from last year, guys. >> manu raju on the hill. thank you for that, for getting that sound and mccain bringing it to us. political analyst and from the daily beast, david drucker and from the washington examiner. one of the key questions this morning, there are many, is how far are republicans willing to go, right? you have mccain saying i'm not satisfied here. you have ben sasse concerned and ben flake. you have a number of them, right? but how far are they willing to go to actually do something

just listen to republican senator lindsay graham who said any bill that has been posted less than 24oing to be debated three of four hours, not scored, needs to be viewed with suspicion. like y'all, i'm still waiting to see if it's a boy or girl. but come on, it's a republican health care bill. it's not a girl. [ light laughter ] the speaker's office also took issue with our claim that this bill literally takes from the poor and gives to the rich by cutting taxes on the wealthy. while simultaneously, cutting $880 billion in medicaid. they responded that, the bill does not only cut taxes on wealthier americans. the bill repeals all of obamacare's taxes. and sure, there are other taxes in obamacare, like the mandate penalty, and a tax on medical device manufacturers. that's true, but obamacare is funded largely by taxes on wages and investments of people making over $200,000 a year. and under the gop plan, those people will get a giant tax cut. >> wealthy americans, are said to get a sizable tax break under the gop's health care bill. and the ultra wealthy will see an even bigger tax c

let's talk with senator lindsay graham, republican of south carolina, who joins us from clemson.nk you so much for being here on this holiday weekend. let me start with the president's trip. he just wrapped up a nine-day visit to europe and the middle east. this is is how he summed up the trip. take a listen. >> peace through strength. and that's what we're going to have. we're going to have a lot of strength. and we're going to have a lot of peace. >> so, you've been highly critical of the president's plan to cut funding for the state department. what do you make of the president's argument that beefing up the military should be the priority? >> well, it should be. i support the arm sales to saudi arabia. we need to beef up our ally's ability to help us in the war on terror. i thought it was a good trip. good message to saudi arabia. nato need to pay more, but is probably the wrong venue at the 9/11 memorial, but soft power was your question. 29% reduction in state department funding. that takes soft power off the table. all the things we've done in africa to eradicate aids sl c

mentioned a little bit, is how close james comey is to robert mum mueller, and the folks likes lindsay graham and the subcommittee chair were not able to set a date with james comey, and then suddenly poof, here's robert mueller as the special counsel, there may be a connection. >> this date back in 1973, was the first public hearing of the senate hearing on the presidential ingpresiden presidential hearings on the watergate investigation. who years later to the day, two people who were major figures in watergate, carl bernstein and former white house counsel john dean. as someone who worked in a white house who was under siege and being investigated by a special counsel. what is the mood in the west wing? >> i can't imagine it's a happy white house now.nixon watergate need to know white house. so it probably in the trump white house isn't quite that smooth. they're still working out their staffing and it's -- this has happened very early in their presidency, so i'm sure it's a real ripple going through the operation. >> people in the white house, do they now see the special counsel as the en

this is lindsay graham who is a republican tweeted today.day has not been scored. amendments not allowed. three hours, final debate. should be viewed with caution. ultimately do you think that -- this may come to haunt republicans? >> i think he's absolutely correct. this is a complex issue. and to push it through, to pound it through, without any opportunity for amendment, and discussion, and debate, or going through the committee process, i think is a mistake. i think the american people can see that. in the end it's coming over to the senate side now, don, and we don't want to make the same mistakes. i'll work and i know there are others on my side of the aisle that will work very, very hard to try to improve this, to make health care more accessible and more affordable. that's really the bottom line. if we're able to do that, with ecan make a bill that's pretty bad right now into a bill that can work for the american people. >> senator tester, i appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you, don. >>> when we come back, is the president h

wednesday the former national security adviser susan rice is declining an invitation from senator lindsay grahamfore a committee he chairs investigating russia. a source familiar with rice's deliberations said rice refused because the invitation was not bipartisan. it was said her testimony is not relevant to the committee's relevance on russian interference. >> i think it would have diverted from the thrust of the hearing for her to come there. >> reporter: president trump, however, took aim this morning on twitter, saying, quote, susan rice, the former national security adviser to president obama, is refusing to testify before a senate subcommittee next week on allegations of unmasking trump transition officials. not good, exclamation point. cnn has reported that both republican and distribute lawmakers who have examined the unmasking request found nothing unusual or illegal. >> we just saw in your piece, the house intelligence committee members trying to pren a very bipartisan united front. are they really working in a bipartisan way? >> from what we hear, no. or at least not enough. i think

and that is a question that we even heard from lindsay graham, somebody who has been critical of the president. but others, i'm hearing very similar things to what gloria reported before the break, that james comey followed procedure, he memorialized the conversation, did it contemporaneously and held on to it and if he had done anything different, he would have impeded the investigation. but what i will tell you, as i'm communicating with republicans who are talking about the gravity of this, right now, these are very private conversations, it seems as though the question is s should there be a special prosecutor. for better or worse for the trump administration. if any should be, but which one is -- which one republicans and the white house are going to have to deal with. that legal of conversation with quite different than just a few hours ago. >> is it even possible to gauge the full impact of this yet. i mean we're still in the early hours. >> let's just start with what we know, which is that the trump presidency is off the rail now, and there's not a clear path to get it back o

senator lindsay graham said the republicans got their clocks cleaned on this bill.ks as many as 100 house republicans will vote against it. how do you square that with the pronouncements out of this white house that this was a big win for republicans? >> i think director mulvaney addressed that yesterday. to get back to mike's point, this is a great deal for the president. he got $21 billion in military funding. that is a huge campaign pledge that he made very clearly to modernize and update the military. it fully funds the largest military pay raise in six years. it ends the obama sequestration policy of pairing domestic spending for dollar to dollar. got $1.52 billion in border security which is the first installment in securing our nation's southern border. $1.3 billion to coal miners which delivers on another promise he made. there's no obama bailout, obamacare bailout, which was something the democrats wanted. there's a three year extension of the dc opportunity scholarship choice which you saw the children that will benefit from that this morning. eup increase

about this, but in this sort of up is down, left is right world that we're in right now, you have lindsay graham, who's been a very staunch critic of the president, he says he thinks this is just fine. i talked to him just before coming on the air. he says he thinks that it's time for comey to go, too much drama over there. and susan collins, who's no cheerleader for this administration, she said the fbi is not about it's director, the fbi director is not doing his job, let's get another director. >> we're expected to hear very shortly from the counsel to the president, kellyanne, and secretary clinton's spokesman, weighing in saying hillary clinton has no comment at this time. >> here's what the bottom line is s you know, there is reason to fire jim comey, there is bipartisan agreement on that, and then forget the politicians, what about career prosecutors, fbi agents, prosecutors. you just don't do this when they're investigating you. >> why now? we don't know. it's a firing in search of a rationale. and rosenstein gave him the rationale. >> douglas, how do you see this, i mean as a presidenti

we have already seen a tweet from lindsay graham, a leading republican, saying he is slightly wa ry republican slightly wary of the bill. republicans can congratulate themselves, it is their first legislative victory. it took them several attempts, there was a massive failed attempt in march, very embarrassing for all involved. they have managed to get it through the house. this was supposed to be the house. this was supposed to be the easy part, to have so much arm—twisting to get through the house, it shows how difficult conversations they have to have in the future together through the senate. there is a long road ahead. what about the politics of this as well? this vote, held on the eve of a week—long recess. no independent testing of the figures. the cbo report, for example, no time to do that? as well as the victory, the republicans are taking this and ring away with it, saying this is what we have managed to do. there is a huge gamble involved. you are right, the cbo has not come out with a sturdy yet to say how money people may lose health insurance. the previous study said 2a million

i've given the letter to senator lindsay graham. he has the left and i think frankly, i assume he's going to give the letter out, but it says i am not involved in russia, no loans, no nothing. >> did you worry at all when you made the decision to fire comey when you did, day before lavrov was here in the white house around the russian ambassador, did you think through the optics and the way this would look? >> i never thought about it. it was set up a while ago, and frankly, i could have waited, but what difference does it make? i'm not looking for cosmetics. i'm looking to do a great job for the country. i'm looking to create jobs. i'm looking to create strength and security. i'm looking to have strong borders. i'm looking for things like that. i think it's really a good thing that i meet with people. now, this is a puck meeting. when you go over this, the people watching may say oh, he met with lavrov. look, thfsz announced that i'm meeting with lavrov. just like a number of days ago i spoke had a very good conversation, very publ

most -- senator lindsay graham suggested earlier maybe even a special prosecutor could be warranted if he feels that the president did anything inappropriately based on james comey publicly testifying. others concern that the president continues to distraktd from what the republicans are trying to do up here. i talked to mark walker, the chairman of the republican study committee, the largest conservative faction in the house. he said he's concerned, also. take a listen. >> if that's accurate -- i don't have any reason right now that it's not. i'm just hearing it from one of our staff people -- to say that we would have some concern would be accurate. that would be true, for me to act like it's not a concern would be remiss in my part. >> now, this comes, erin, as house oversight jason chaf its saying he's prepared to go after this comey memo saying this in a tweet earlier, saying that this committee's going to get the comey memo if it exists. i need to see it sooner rather than later. i have my subpoena pen ready. so republicans and democrats want to get to the bottom of this. the que