. >> woodruff: michael scherer, "time" magazine, fascinating. >> thank you. >> woodruff: thank you. >> woodruff: until this week, much of the country had never heard of rob rosenstein. but he's been thrust into the spotlight following the firing of james comey. late today leaders of the senate issued an unusual invitation to the senate to invite him to meet all 100 senators.

michael scherer, welcome back to the "newshour." you and the "time" magazine folks had an unusual access at the white house. tell us about what it was like? >> we got there about 6:30. we were invited into the oval office where he was meeting with a number of senior staff, signing the final orders of the day. from there began an almost three hour, two and a half hour evening where he took us to many parts of the white house that most presidents never take the press, that includes starting in his private dining room, which is just down the hallway from the oval office in the west wing where he played us some dvred clips of that day's senate hearings with color commentary attached. then we walked down the come nadine. he took us in his elevator up to the residence on the executive floor of the mansion and toured us through the rooms there. that was followed by dinner in the blue room, the big oval room first floor of the residence. >> woodruff: what did you take away from this? i read the piece today. you said you had an extraordinary

. >> we explore it all, with julie hirschfeld davis, of the new york times, michael scherer of time magazine, alexis simendinger of real clear politics. and manu raju of cnn. >> celebrating 50 years, this is "washington week." >> funding is provided by... ♪[music] >> their leadership is instinctive. they understand the challenges of today. and research the technologies of tomorrow. some call them veterans. we call them part of our team. >> additional funding is provided by... newman's own foundation. donating all profits from newman's own products to charity and nourishing the common good. the yuen foundation. committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you! once again, live from washington, moderator robert costa. >> good evening. just as donald trump was taking off for his first presidential trip, two big stories broke that have up-ended the white house. the new york times is reporting that president trump told russian foreign minister, sergei laf rof, that firi

washington bureau chief michael scherer was among those who conducted the interview and hejoins us nowin the white house and went right behind—the—scenes. how was his demeanour? it is interesting. he is on one hand very hospitable, he was gracious, loves showing people round the white house. i think he is very honoured to be the to his private residence, talked about the history of the rooms. 0n the other hand, there is a realfrustration of the rooms. 0n the other hand, there is a real frustration that is very evident. there is a sense of agreement largely directed at the press. —— disdain. he took us into his private room in the oval office at one point and showed us take clips of the senate hearings. he said, this witness was about to drop like a said, this witness was about to drop likea dog. said, this witness was about to drop like a dog. he was kind of vicious. there is an emotion to it. —— about to choke. there is a sense that he is not gotten a fair shake, especially from the press but from his opponents as well. and there is a frustration. at one point he says, at one —— the o

michael scherer, washington bureau chief for "time". hemingway and daniel hal ber, contributing editor to the washington free beacon. i tell you, michael, it was interesting to read your piece in "time," the interview happening just before the decision came out or hit the air, and you said that he was expressing the president was some anger about that prior to the day before. >> yeah, we spent about 2 1/2 hours with him monday night. he makes the announcement tuesday. comey never came up, we didn't talk about the fbi specifically, but there was a deep sense of grievance the president had throughout the evening and it was directed at anyone talking about russia. he was really particularly upset at the sally yates testimony that day. the jim clapper testimony, he ran to through tivo, showing key parts and giving color commentary. the reporting we've gotten is blind reporting, anonymously sourced reporting he is personally frustrated. i can confirm it for having seen it, not in the context of comey specifically, but that anger and wanting

40e69 of "andrea mitchell reports" editor and chief, matthew continetty and for "time" magazine, michael schererin and the white house. and trump demands for loyalty, behavior testing the institutions of the people in the government. what's your conclusion? >> on how -- >> on how our institutions are holding up? >> it's been a good week. every time trump decides what he can do what he's done outside his whole career, color outside the lines and bully people, various institutions, the press, law enforcement, agencies, congress responds and steps up. what chris said. reality imposes itself here and the story of the first two months, through months now, of the presidency has been one of someone who is not used to operating with these sort of restrictions, learning how to operate with these restrictions. >> right. and the system, chris, has been checked time and time again. and the system has proven itself to be resilient. the executive orders the first week. federal judges said, no. i know a lot of people are talking about, we've even talked about sort of picking your judge. well, just look what ha