. >> i want to get to my reporters, julie pace and michael schmidt. julie pace, when sean spicer says, i've not had a chance to ask him about that, it usually doesn't mean he wasn't around or he wasn't free, it usually means, in the short history of this white house, that it's something they don't want to address. >> yeah, it was pretty odd that sean spicer couldn't just say flat-out that the president has confidence in his attorney general. the standard answer, unless there's something going on is, yes, of course the president continues to have confidence in that person, filling a very important role. but as "the new york times" has reported, this is true, the decision by jeff sessions to recuse himself really has irked the president for months. if you remember, after sessions made that announcement, we had a squabble in the oval office, between the president and some top aides, and then, of course, the tweets about president obama wiretapping, the allegations that he wiretapped trump tower. this is something that has been simmering for quite some ti

two schmidts, two mike also. michael so michael schmidt, steve shut in and michael lupica. is it a coincidence that president trump named his new fbi director today? i don't know about you but it is so hard for me to cover two things at once. >> probably not a coincidence. look, but by all accounts, this is somebody who is exceptionally qualified, somebody who comes out of a legal background, not a political background. he's going to have some very tough confirmation hearings for sure. but of course this is what it appears to be. it's an attempt to distract. the timing is political because of the events tomorrow. >> that's the good thing about cable news. we've got so much time to cover it all. michael schmidt, i want to ask you first, the article you co-wrote, which speaks directly to the relationship between jim comey and donald trump. jim comey apparently telling jeff sessions, don't leave me alone with the president. tell me about that. >> this came the day after trump and comey met in the oval office, one on one, in which comey says in the memos that he wrote at the ti

michael schmidt, you've covered the bureau, covered the justice department. how weird must it have been for jim comey to hear this request from a new president? >> it's incredibly unusual. it's incredibley unusual -- >> is it unthethical? >> is it unethical? i'm going to leave the questions of that to others. it's very, very unusual. as comey lays out in the memo, he only spoke alone with president obama twice in the 2 1/2-plus years that he was his fbi director. he never spoke to them on the phone. in the case of trump, he smoke to him on the phone six times and he met with him three times. so it was clear that trump was appealing to him in a way that made comey very, very uncomfortable. in a way that comey, like essentially thought his job was being held over him. and that obviously incredibly unnerved comey to the point that he created these memos. >> ken dilanian, let me ask you about mike flynn because mike flynn is the at the center of all of president trump's legal problems and all the questions about russia. where -- we talked about this over and over

and joining us by telephone, michael schmidt, reporter for michael schmidt, reporter for the "new york times." michael, because you are with us by phone, and kind enough to join us by telephone, i'll start with you. how much of your story goes back to a president new to politics not knowing the programsters or convention of the job of president. you are going to see ambassador every year at the christmas reception. you are not allowed to lobby them or take them aside. you are going to see the director of the fbi. traditionally they have a ten-year term, supposedly they are walled off, or supposed to be from the chief executive and politics. >> that's the real question here, was trump simply didn't understand how the fbi fit into the executive branch, sort of this unique law enforcement agency that has a director, that has a ten-year term that's not supposed to be interfered with politically? or was trump trying to do more than that? was trump really trying to influence him? and did trump know what he was doing? whatever it was, it really unnerved comey. it really bothered him. if there

>> michael schmidt, the world should know the name michael schmidt. >> seth: yeah.his week, and so that was incredible. but you have also done really wonderful work where you call people -- people outside the bubble. for lack of a better word you spoke to a coal miner? >> that's right, exactly the right way to put it. >> seth: and it was really wonderful because you allowed this coal miner, you gave him the space to sort of talk about how much it means to him to have coal jobs come back, and even ghthe vironmental impact of , willing to go back in the mine . how did that come about?somee l that? talked to this coal miner, his name was mark grey. he worked in southern kentucky in coal mines his whole career until coal mining started to fall apart as an industry. and i called him and i just debate we're all having as a human context. and as i began to talk to him he was so generous in inviting me to come to a coal mine and in to a coal mine, and i began to get quite emotional.>>eth: yeah. context of the episode. a little emotional. i began to break down. >> seth: yeah

we're back with ken dilanian, joy reid, dan rather, michael schmidt. hael, this is an amazing story. so tell this story about how comey felt that he'd been sort of marooned, left alone with the president when he's supposed to report to the ag. the ag is told to leave the room, leaves the room, allowing the president to start pressuring him. >> if there's anything we know about comey, he prizes his independence, and he thought he needed the attorney general there to shield him from the politics of the white house. he had similar issues under the obama administration. this wasn't new to him. but the next day, he goes to -- >> but didn't the president before, the previous president, obama, didn't he say i don't want to meet alone with the guy again? >> i met alone twice with obama, but he didn't feel concerned enough about it like he did with trump to write a memo because you have to remember as we learned today, comey wrote a memo about every phone call and every meeting he had with trump. there's something that happens the first time he meets trump at tr

michael schmidt. >> it's almost as if michael knew somebody close to the story. >> michael? >> the statement does provide some larger context about things that we didn't know. i didn't know how obsessed trump was with getting this statement out that he wasn't under investigation. that seems to be the real preoccupation that he had. he's still pushing comey up until the beginning of april to put this statement out. the interesting thing about that was that at that point, comey thought he taught trump the lanes of the road, thought he taught the white house that the they could and couldn't do. indeed comey had taught them that, but not for the reasons comethought, but for the reasons that ty didn't like him and were going to get rid of him. it provided context and details we didn't have. >> it really did. david ignatius, as said yesterday, no vindication, but no smoking gun. no direct evidence of obstruction of justice. again, you could get sarah huckabee sanders saying we wanted to kill the investigation, trump fired him, so the investigation is killed. or what trump said to

his name is michael schmidt. you've had a wheal of a day.nk you for being here tonight. >> thanks for having me. i appreciated that rundown. it's been a busy month, so thank you. >> you've been doing a lot of work. on that last point first, that timeline, did i basically get that timeline correct? seems to me the president's lawyer just sort of blew it, got that backwards today. is that how you understand it as well? >> i've tried to make this point turnover past few weeks. this really i will administrates it. the tweet is what causes what happened today. comey sees that tweet and says, wow, there may be a way to back this up. i really need to get this out there. and that is the reason why we knew that trump asked him to end the flynn investigation, and that's why we had the hearing today. it's just another example of the president's tweets undermining him. >> when james comey explained today his thinking about at, and his decision to ask his friend this law professor to share with you the contents of that memo that he wrote, memorializing t

joining me from washington is michael schmidt.e is a new york times reporter and msnbc contributor. i'm pleased to have him back on the program. let me begin with how you assess the comey testimony and what the president said in his press conference and declaration he is prepared to go under oath to confirm what he has been saying recently and i assume all along. >> what we saw from comey yesterday was a thorough laying out of the facts of his relationship with trump and how truly uncomfortable comey says he felt during that time. we learned about how uneasy he was from the beginning with trump, how even after the first meeting at trump tower he starts pounding out a memo to memorialize it and how you memorialized all the meetings. i think a lot of the senators left that meeting yesterday on capitol hill fairly convinced by what they heard from comey. today was the first time we really heard from trump. he sort of picked and chose what he wanted to believe from what comey said. he said some things he said were accurate and some of

let me go to michael schmidt and bob deetz. bob, anything wrong -- i mean, tell me how serious it is if you don't include the meetings -- let's say sessions didn't include this meeting. does it matter? >> yes, it matters. it tends to undermine one's credibility. you know, you expect the attorney general to be accurate and clear and careful. he's a lawyer. he's a senator. you expect honesty and care. whether anything sinister went on, obviously that's an important issue, but it isn't the complete issue. openness and honesty and so forth really matter. >> is there any latitude for just forgot? >> yeah, sure there is, but you know, you tend to be skeptical because it's not as if the ambassador is housekeeper and he just lost track of which day he showed up or she showed up. this is an important kind of person and it's hard to imagine you just do -- i forgot that. >> i guess i'm somewhat sympathetic because i had a former ambassador. i sat next to him at a dinner and he reminded me at the dinner and i remembered. i guess that's why

let's get to michael schmidt's new reporting. he's with us from "the new york times." it was three weeks ago michael first reported on a james comey memo claiming the president tried to pressure the fbi director to end the flynn investigation. now the times also reports comey told attorney general jeff sessions he did not want to be left alone again with the president. the paper cites current and former law enforcement officials saying comey approached the top attorney in february the day after being pressured by the president. comey believed sessions should protect the fbi from white house influence and the suggestion from the president was inappropriate. comey did not reveal whe was shaken by the meeting. a doj spokesman said it was not appropriate to respond to inquiries that may be related to on going investigations. michael, flesh this out exactly. what do we think the president said to james comey that so rattled him that he approached jeff sessions? >> well, what happened there is the big issue on thursday, which is that the president said to comey, can you move

michael schmidt points about that point out there are couple of questions as to whether there were himalances in the trial. >> there were no imbalances in the trial. vonnie: what about the idea of investigatort versus internal analysis? >> we have done both and it's telling. in both cases, we have demonstrated meaningful improvement. this, you look at something called hazard ratio which is looking at the relative risk or reduction of risk. when you look at that by both independent and the investigator, we are showing about an 80% reduction in risk which in oncology is fairly remarkable and unusual. the longeruced survival. andook at the independent but it tells you something about this terrible disease. are independent reviewers in a room alone and looking at scans, they are able to determine what those scans show without bias. for anybodyty involved in treating a patient with this disease is the knowledge that by the time you have been on two rounds of chemotherapy, the other progression are highs of the and to of the patient some extent the concerns on the part of the physician becom

and "new york times" reporter michael schmidt. let's turn to the other big story this morning on what's being called the turning point on the investigation into russia. "the washington post" reports the special counsel is interviewing senior intelligence officials as part of a widening probe that now includes an examination of whether the president himself attempted to obstruct justice. fbi director james comey confirmed for the first time last week he had, indeed, assured the president earlier this year on three occasions that he was not under investigation, but now that may have changed. the post reports say that the obstruction investigation began just days after director comey was fired. the trump legal team responded to the report saying, quote, the fbi leak of information regarding the president is outrageous, inexcusable and illegal. the paper also sources five people who say the director of national intelligence dan coats and mike rogers, the head of the nsa and his former deputy have agreed to be interviewed. the "wall st

york times" had several interesting stories written by the man who wrote the comey memo story, michael schmidt with daniel richman who is the columbia law professor, the close friend of james comey. the three of them tend to collide in a perfect storm of journalism several times dating back decades. >> richard: if he is a leaguer, he perjured himself by saying he never leaked. i don't think there is -- i disagree with people in my party that there is some sort of collusion between russia and the trump administration. the reason why we are having this conversation is donald trump, whether he likes it or not could have possibly engaged and obstruction of justice or there could have been some perjury. his own appointee would not have appointed a special prosecutor. >> judge jeanine: you know what? the next four years, will be saying there's something there, i can feel it in my bones. james comey allowed "the new york times" story, saying there were conversations between russian intelligence and the trump team now he says he wants to be transparent. this guy -- >> richard: you cannot say the white

. >>> we'll bring in "new york times" reporter michael schmidt, tracing unconfirmed reports of a third between jeff sessions and russia's ambassador. we're facing 20 billion security events every day. ddos campaigns, ransomware, malware attacks... actually, we just handled all the priority threats. you did that? we did that. really. we analyzed millions of articles and reports. we can identify threats 50% faster. you can do that? we can do that. then do that. can we do that? we can do that. can we do that? whuuuuuat?rtgage offer from the bank today. you never just get one offer. go to lendingtree.com and shop multiple loan offers for free! free? yeah. could save thousands. you should probably buy me dinner. no. go to lendingtree.com for a new home loan or refinance. receive up to five free offers and choose the loan that's right for you. our average customer could lower their monthly bills by over three hundred dollars. go to lendingtree.com right now. every to be heard... ♪ to move... with you... through you... ♪ beyond you. ♪ its witnessed 2 diy duos,s 31 crashes,: 4 food fights, and

. >> michael schmidt of the "new york times" fresh from filing the latest story tonight thank you for joining us latend ay telephone michael. and now let's move on to phillip cker of the "washington post". phillip, your story equally interesting about dan coats. i was trying to think of a way to describe him. he is kind of a tas i turn hoosier by today's standards, a very conventional republican, a rock ribbed republican. tends not to be the flashiest guy in washington. so these sources have their motives leaking to you tonight about pressure brought to bear on him from donald trump. >> one correction this is the story by adam who did a terrific job with the reporting. it's an interesting development here. this is the director of national intelligence asked by the president to do something, to stop the comby investigation in russia that's not typical behavior. that's not really appropriate. a lot of the experts would tell you. but dan coats i've interviewed him before. you're right he is a straight laced sort of traditional republican been in washington two different terms in the sena

charlie: michael schmidt, thank you so much. back in a moment.tay with us. ♪ charlie: we turn now to my gallon. allen. , as id he was prepared under oath for robert mueller, and investigators, what he has said before. this seems to be a declaration by the president that he is prepared to meet this head on. .> in both words and manner what you quoted the president saying is hitting with their strategy and their posture. after yesterday's back and forth, the amazing cinematic testimony by former fbi director comey, somebody sent me a text and said i think aaron sargon wrote his opening statement. you have this mesmerizing testimony where people were watching it on their phones and everybody catching up with the amazing detail. he is such a great storyteller, down to the grandfather clock that was in the room when he was meeting with the president. after that, you have the sayingnt's lawyer out that comey had said something that was untrue and accusing him of being a leader, so what i said after that is game on. to have a war. this is so surprising

>> my colleague, michael schmidt, broke that exchange a few weeks ago. it's no less-- it's no less remarkable seeing it i in that full context, seeing the president ask everybody to leave the oval office and speak alone with the head of the f.b.i. and say, you know, let flynn go. just the very nature-- people-- we don't have to be in washington to understand why that makes-- you know, makes us feel uncomfortable. i mean, anybody who has ever fought a ticket in court, you know, knows that they don't-- they don't want to feel like the criminal justice system is rigged for people who are friendly with the politicians. and so if you're at the f.b.i., yes, you are part of the administration. you're part of the department of justice. but they just don't see themselves as working for the president when it comes to criminal justice stuff. and as john said, certainly not when the investigation touches on the president's own associates. >> woodruff: so, continuing that now, this is afterward, the same day, february 14, comey writes he spoke with the attorney gener

. >> on that, michael schmidt is here with us. reporter for the "new york times." aneeda kumar, white house correspondent for mcclatchy newspaper, and we welcome kimberly attkins, from the boston herald, a lawyer by training we assume she is in recovery from that. welcome to all of you, michael, home field advantage. we'll start with you. back up to the top of your broadcast a little bit of a non-denial/denial from trump even considering firing robert mueller. how would it work? i know he has the ability, the power to do so, it would normally go to the attorney general but for the fact he recused himself on all thing russia. >> it would go to rod rosenstein the guy who played the central role in the firing of comey would now have to make the decision whether to get rid of mueller. some folks say rosenstein would stand up and would resign and would leave himself. but this is the guy who didn't do that for comey. he was willing to go along with firing of comey. he's already down this path. it would obviously create a huge crisis at the justice department. but we thou

the tweet seemed to be a reaction to "the new york times" scoring that day by michael schmidt under thisead line. in a private dinner trump demanded loyalty, comey demured. in that story, two comey confidants offered a version of that dinner. the president said loyalty was never raised. everybody assumes that in the tweet president trump was suggesting that he had taped their conversations. and that he was threatening comey that he might release them. i have a different interpretation. maybe red trump wasn't threatening to release tapes. he was saying hey, jim comey, you better not have taped me. it all depends on how you read the president's tweet. comey better hope there are no tapes. i immediately lot of thin trust's book remember "eats, shoots a s an s & leaves." on thursday, six weeks after that first tweet, the president sent out a new pair of tweets. they said this with all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, i have no idea whether there are tapes or recordings of my conversations with james comey, but i did n

i want to bring in michael schmidt, a reporter for "the new york times." i want to play the london mayor's original comment and how president trump attacked them on twitter. let's listen. >> just like terrorists are constantly evolving, finding new ways to disrupt us, harm us, attack us, the police and experts and all of us are finding new ways to keep us safe. londoners will see an increased police presence today and over the course of the next few days. no reason to be alarmed. >> so you hear what the mayor says, and then the president misrepresents the remarks tweeting, at least seven dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and mayor of london says there's no reason to be alarmed, which makes it sound like he was sort of dismissing the fact that there had just been a terror attack there. i mean, what in the world is going on here, david? how do you read this? look, he and the mayor have gone at it a little bit before. but what do you make of this? >> you know, it's the president of the united states being petty and petulant as we know he can be and often i

senior political analyst mark halperin and "new york times" reporter michael schmidt. good to have you all on board. what a fascinating day. >> it was fascinating. >> it seems like a bad day for the president, and the spinning by his lawyer and his press secretary or one of them was stunning to me, absolutely stunning. >> i said it all day yesterday. i'll say it all day today. if you want obstruction of justice you can look at what donald trump himself said to lester holt and what his spokesperson said, what he said to the russians, and then you can build around that if you want to try to get intent. we were never going to get that yesterday. but again, everybody going back and forth saying it was a great day for x, it was a great day for y. >> terrible day for the country. >> bad day for the country. bottom line is, what happened yesterday is noise compared to what's happening right now in bob mueller's office. that's where it matters. yesterday everybody can screech and yell and say hurray for our side. none of it matters. what matters is what bob mueller is looking

so michael schmidt is the writer at the "new york times" who wrote all of these pro-comey pieces in the asks justice department to reject trump's wiretapping claim. that was in march. then in may in a private dinner, trump demanded loyalty. comey demurred. and then may 16th, comey says trump asked him to end the flynn investigation. you know a little bit about intelligence and information and how it traffics. i mean, does this connect some dots that hey, maybe it's been comey all along or his associates painting a bad picture of president trump and the administration? >> yes. and what i think is the enormous, big juicy scandal on this whole thing is what hasn't leaked? jim comey never leaked the fact, we just found out recently that lorreta lynch asked him to refer to the clinton email investigation. by the way, where actual crimes were committed, the trafficking of information as the, quote, matter like the federal bureau of matters as someone laughingly said to him that never leaked. we never had any leaks about the massive scandal of unmasking of trump officials by the obama administ

schmidt with a shot off the wall. they scored four runs. to the eighth bases loaded. phillies have a chance to get runs on the board. michaelers can't get the phillies done. the flyers lose five to one. the finale tomorrow. >>> undefeated philadelphia soul looking to keep that winning streak going against the tampa bay storm. third quarter at the wells fargo center dan raudabaugh goes deep connects with darius reynolds for the touchdown. soul wins 62 to 41. they are now a perfect nine and zero. >>> and it was a historic day for justin thomas at the u.s. open in wisconsin. making this crazy putt for birdie from the fifth hole. started off the green hit his putt away from from the green caught the roll. he's one behind the leader heading into tomorrow's final round but how crazy was that shot. >> that's one of the best putts i've ever seen. >> i know, wow. >> thank you lesley. still ahead on "eyewitness news" inspiring words from the dalai lama who addressed students in san diego this afternoon. >> in order to create happier peaceful world, firstly, inner peace very important. >> what the spiritual leader told students about

schmidt with the shot off the wall so they score four runs in the inning. in the eighth bases loaded phillies with the chance to get runs on the board with michael saunders cannot done so phillies lose this 15-one. series final think afternoon. >>> to arena football un defeated philadelphia soul looking to keep that winning streaking ago begins tampa bay storm. third quarter at wells fargo center dan rod because goes deep and able to connect with darius reynold. soul wins 62-41. they are a perfect nine-zero. >>> historic day for justin thomas at u.s. open in wisconsin on saturday, just crazy putt forbidder on it fifth hole. thomas started off green and hit the putt from the hole and caught it and rolled in forbidder i. then later on the 18th thomas eagle scores a 63, the lowest round in u.s. open history. he is one behind the leader heading in the final round. >>> that is all for sports, i'm leslie van arsdal. have a great day. >>> students in burlington county elementary school want a brand new playground for recycling efforts. as john mcdevitt of our sister station kyw news radio reports the playground itself is made from recycled materials. >> got it. >> rep

phillies legend mike schmidt said he didn't think the center fielder was a player he could build around because of a language barrier. he has since apologized for that comment. michaelbout president trump and his administration. 9/11 director cannot 100% guarantee lyric information will remain anonymous. and that's a look at your headlines. steve: if you're going to be a lyric, you want to make sure it's secret. >> you would think. steve: you would. all right. jillian, thank you. ainsley: coming up on what we just about the terrorist in that london attack is going to make you sick. new charmin ultra soft! it's softer than ever. new charmin ultra soft is softer than ever so it's harder to resist. okay, this is getting a little weird enjoy the go with charmin time's up, insufficient we're on prenatal care.es. and administrative paperwork... your days of drowning people are numbered. same goes for you, budget overruns. and rising costs, wipe that smile off your face. we're coming for you, too. for those who won't rest until the world is healthier, neither will we. optum. how well gets done. brian: all right. some quick headlines right now that are going viral, accordin