mr. mccabe: i am.nator harris: it has been widely reported that director comey asked rosenstein for additional resources. i understand you are saying you do not need additional resources. mr. mccabe: for the russia investigation, i believe we are adequately resourced. senator harris: will you commit to this committee that if you need additional resources you will come to us? mr. mccabe: i absolutely will. senator harris: i understand you have not talked to the white house about the investigation. mr. mccabe: correct. senator harris: have you talked to jeff sessions? mr. mccabe: no. senator harris: have you talked to rod rosenstein? mr. mccabe: not recently, not since i have been in this position. senator harris: what is in place to assure members of the fbi that they will not he fired if they aggressively pursue this investigation? mr. mccabe: we have an active line of communication with the team working on this issue. they have exemplary and incredibly effective leaders they work directly for, and i a

mccabe: uh, -- mr. king: is it a small investigation in relate to all the other work that you're doing? dir. mccabe: sir, we consider it to be a highly significant investigation. mr. king: so you wouldn't characterize it as one of the smallest things you're engaged in? mr. mccabe: i would not. mr. king: thank you. let me change the subject briefly. we have been talking about russia and their involvement in this election. one of the issues of concern to me, and perhaps i can direct this -- i will direct it to anyone in the panel, the allegation of russian involvement in our electoral systems, is that an issue that is of concern, and what do we know about that and is it the and followed up on by this investigation? mr. mccabe, is that part of your investigation? i'm not talking about the presidential election. i'm talking about state level election infrastructure. dir. mccabe: yes, sir, so obviously, not discussing any specific investigation in detail, but the issue of brush and interference in the u.s.-de

mr. mccabe. you have committed to informing this committee of any effort to interfere with the fbi's ongoing investigation into links between russia and the trump campaign. dir. mccabe: i absolutely do. senator: thank you so much for that. in light of what's happened in the last 48 hours, it's critically important that we have that assurance and i hope you will relay at least, from me, to the extraordinary people that thist the fbi committee supports the efforts, professionalism, and independence. >> i will, sir, thank you. senator warner: in light of the fact that we just saw french elections that were deja vu all over again in terms of the release of a series of emails against mr. mccrone days before the election and the fact that this committee continues to investigate the type of tactics that russia has used, where do in termsas a country of preparation to make sure that this doesn't happen again in 2018 and 2020? where have we learned -- moved in terms of working more with , in termsrm entit

mr. mccabe say. >> well, mr. cabe said he could not comment on any conversation that former director comey might have had with the president. now, of course, the president explained what he knew of the situation with nbc's lester holt but look, the president created a situation here that basically just gets everybody dirty. this is the equivalent to bill clinton having a conversation on the tarmac with former ag loretta lynch. the ethics are highly questionable at best. they're terrible at worst. and again, it just puts everybody in a compromising situation where nobody looks clean. the president shouldn't be asking that question and the fbi director shouldn't be giving an answer. >> if i remember correctly the president was very vocal about that, too. >> right. >> yeah. >> well, that it was at a dinner and two different phone calls in which he -- he got these answers from director comey. if director comey comes out and refutes this completely, then again, we just have this -- this episode where both the president

mr. mccabe's comments about what traditional procedure would be. that would not be something in a traditional case that would be discussed. was howid this meeting you set up the rules of the road. how would you describe what those are? >> director comey did not come up. he was not the subject to though there are details to work out, there was a college men and understanding of the need to the probe andpick up the share with them what we were likely to do and could get and's in anymediate it here way shape or form -- immediate adherence. raisedced the point -- the point that one of the reasons i felt the need for independent counsel because i ss and firingoce james comey. >> i would direct that to the white house. that is not an assessment we are going to make. thatte the amount of time we are spending and the staff is spending. >> are you confident that director mccabe is ready? >> are you confident that mr. rosenstein can lead the russian investigation? >> i don't think that is up to senator warner and myself to make. the president made a determin

mr. mccabe: -- >> is it accurate that the rank and file no locker supported irector comey? mr. mccabe: no, sir, that's not accurate. i can tell you i worked very closely with director comey from the moment he started at the f.b.i. i was his executive assistant director of national security at that time. then worked for him running the washington field office. of course i've served as deputy for the last year. i can tell you that i hold director comey in the highest regard. i have the highest respect for his considerable abilities and his integrity and it is has been the greatest -- it has been the greatest privilege and honor of my professional life to work with him. i can tell you also that director comey enjoyed broad support within the f.b.i. and still does to this day. we are a large organization, we are 36,500 people across this country, across this globe. we have a diversity of opinions about many things. but i can confidently tell you that the majority, the vast majority of f.b.i. employees enjoyed a deep and positive connection to director comey. >> thank you for your ca

mr. mccabe, i was going to have to get you on the record as well on this. mr. mccabe, for as long as you are acting fbi director, do you commit to informing this committee of any effort to interfere with the fbi's ongoing investigation into links between russia and the trump campaign? >> i absolutely do. >> thank you so much for that. i think in light of what's happened in the last 48 hours, it's critically important that we have that assurance, and i hope you'll relay, at least for me, to the extraordinary people that work at the fbi, that this committee supports them, supports their efforts, supports their professionalism and supports their independence. >> i will, sir. thank you. >> in light of the fact that we just saw french elections where had like deja vu all over again in terms of the release of a series of e-mails against mr. macron days before the election, and the fact that this committee continues to investigate the type of tactics that russia has used, where do we stand as a country in terms of preparation to make sure this doesn't happen again in 2

mr. mccabe, as a part of your investigation?talking about the presidential election, and talk about state-level infrastructur infrastructure. >> yes, sir, . obviously, not discussing any specific investigation in detail, but the issue of russian interference in the u.s. democratic process is when it causes us great concern. quite frankly, it's something that we spent a lot of time working on over the past several months. to reflect comments that were made in response to an earlier question that dr. coates handle handled, i think part of that process is to understand the inclinations of our foreign adversaries to interfere in those areas. we've seen this once, we are better positioned to see the next time, we are able to improve not only our coordination primarily through the department of homeland, through dhs, their expensive network into the state and local election infrastructure, but to interact with those folks, to put them in a better position to defend against whether it's cyber attacks or any kind of influence driven int

mr. mccabe, is that part of your investigation? i'm not talking about the presidential election i'm talking about state level election infrastructure. >> yes, sir. obviously not discussing any specific investigation in detail, but tissue of russian interference in the u.s. democratic process is one that causes us great concern and quite frankly it's something we've spent a lot of time working on over the past several months. and i think to reflect comments that were made in response to an earlier question that director coates handled, i think part of that process is to understand the inclinations of our foreign adversaries to interfere in those areas. so we've seen this once. we're better positioned to see at any time next time. we're able to improve not only our coordination with primarily through the department of homeland security and their expansive network into the state and local election infrastructure, but to interact with those folks to put them in a better position to defend against whether it's cyber attacks or any sort

mr. mccabe may comment as well, but yes, of course. frankly, this is consistent with what we've -- this is the attempt to interfere in the united states is not limited to russia. the cubans have deep ties. it is in their deepest tradition to take american visitors and do their best to influence them in a way that is adverse to u.s. interests. >> yes, sir, fully agree and we share your concerns about that issue. >> and my final question is, with all this focus on russia and what's happened in the past, is it the opinion of all of you, or those of you -- certainly you all have insight on this -- that even as we focus on 2016 and the efforts leading up to that election, efforts to influence policy making here in the united states, vis-a-vis the russian interests, are ongoing, that the russians continue to use active measures, even at this moment, even on this day, to try through the use of multiple different ways to influence the political debate and the decisions made in american politics, particularly as they pertain to russia's interes

mr. mccabe will be able to sufficiently investigate whether or not there was any collusion question mark don't know yet because i don't know enough about him or his work. we will be examining that. what i'm certain of is the country expects now the doesistration -- and it not require any bill passing -- the administration should insist the deputy director begin the process of appointing a special prosecutor. >> you had concerns about how health care is negotiating. what you make of it? >> the house bill was a disaster for people with disabilities, children, seniors so we should reject it. what senate publicans should do is have an open process. so far, they've indicated they will do it behind closed doors. >> senator bob casey, we appreciate you coming on. funny, back to you. vonnie: thanks to kevin's a really. still ahead, a deal that may have gone under your radar. verizon beat out at&t for straight past. willis lane what this means for your cell phone service next. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪ after weeks of an intense bidding war between verizon and at&t, verizon has emerged victorious in

mr. mccabe, the acting fbi director.out any probe or investigation that may be on going. anything to say, mercedes schlapp with us? >> well i think, they are going to ask those questions about the russian probe. stuart: to make a link in the public's mind, to make a link in the public's mind. >> the story which is why we need a special prosecutor. the democrats had unison message on the issue. whole focus will be any information on the russian probe. on letter that president trump said directly, to comey, basically saying i am not under investigation. that was something that was brought up. for some of the democrats saying that is inaccurate. you will see a question possibly of michael flynn and subpoena on the senate side. there is all these lingering questions. don't be surprised also if they ask the question like they did to sally yates on leaks to classified information. that is something -- liz: he will be probably asked is the probe ongoing? we'll watch for the answer of that. jim kallstrom says because you fired j

mr. mccabe did these conversations ever take place. for people that don't understand quite how this works, the chairman of a senate or house committee really control sos mus so much of how that committee is going to operate. if the chairman wants to take it easy on the administration, there's not much the minority party with do. we saw richard burr was very unhappy with comey's firing and right out of the gate i think what he was doing was sending a message that he's very concerned about this and wanted to know more about that. i thought that set the tone for the entire hearing. for the president, this gets to a larger issue in why we've seen so many holes poked in the various stories that the administration has put out, including today during the hearing which is he continues to run the government, run his white house like his closely held family business where he can always count on the loyalty of his subordinates because he controls them, because he's their boss. and because basically he is the company. and it's just so much differe

mr. mccabe or somebody else.hat, i think, has the potential will delay this whole process. >> quickly, i know i have to let you know, but as far as delay the process, we heard senator graham, for example, say this morning on tv that he believed that ultimately, the institutions -- and i'm paraphrasing -- win out, right? the investigation will go on. the show will go on despite comey's abrupt firing. do you agree with him? are you confident and optimistic that ultimately, the system will work as it's supposed to? >> i am still optimistic and hopeful that that's the case. you know, i posed the question months back, comparing the situation to watergate. in watergate, you had more checks and balances in that situation because the president's party was not in power in congress. the other party was in power. ultimately, both parties together essentially asked the president to step aside. here, you have a president of one party and a congress of one party. essenti essentially, what i'm saying is ultimately, people like

mr. mccabe, asked about that, refused to confirm it or deny it.f thing wouldn't be appropriate to do, and he wouldn't be doing it. but that's still a very open question, for instance. i think this is a chance for senators to get at, the people they want to ask questions about today. there will be a lot of unanswered ones. >> i think that's one of the key ones we've heard, is the assertion by the president that three times, he was assured he was not the target of the investigation. we have also learned a lot over the last 24 hours or so about the white house's changing narrative about the president's decision making. first, it was that he'd got the recommendation and acted decisively. multiple members of his staff using that word. this is what the president did, he acted decisively. now this morning, we're hearing it is something he's been thinking about since november. i ask you to look at that in the context of an article you co-wrote, which is, teflon don faces his biggest test yet. >> this is a narrative with a lot of holes in it. mccabe's comm

mr. mccabe on gets anyd, that if thhe influence from the white house, that he squashes it. important that the vice-chairman and i still have 100% agreement, and that is regardless of what happens with that thece department investigation that is done by the senate intelligence committee continues on its current course as aggressively --we are able to, based on we continue to hold interviews as was noticed last night. we issued our first subpoena. i hope it is our last, because everything else might be voluntary, but in the absence of voluntary participation, we are willing to go to whatever basket of tools we feel is necessary. reporter: did the white house betray the firing accurately? >> that was not the purpose of our visit, and i ask you to put that question to him or the white house. other questions about the circumstances of mr. comey's firing? >> we did not get into details of his involvement. you have a copy of what he wrote. withindividual comes unbelievable background. but our purpose of meeting today was to make sure we had a way chaird that both the vice and i un

mr. mccabe's comments about what traditional procedure would be. that would not be something in a traditional case would be discussed. reporter: you said that this meeting was to set up the rules of the road. how would you describe with those are, and a director comey come up at all? senator burr: he did not come up. he was not the subject of it. though there are details to work out, there was acknowledgment and understanding of the need for us to be able to pick up the phone, share with them what we were likely to do, and could get immediate clearance on whether that interfered in any way shape or form with their investigation. senator warner: the other thing i would clarify on that is, i raise a point, when of the -- one of the reasons i felt the need for an independent counsel was i think the very messy process in the firing of jim comey. reporter: the disparity between the testimony today and the white house account that russia is not a top priority? senator burr: i would address that to either acting director mccabe to the white house. that is

mr. mccabe's comments about what traditional procedure would be, that is not something that in traditional case would be discussed. >> reporter: use of this meeting was to set up the rules of the road. how would you describe it so fa far? did director comey come up at all of this meeting? >> he did not come up, he was not the subject of it. though there are some details to work out, there was acknowledgment and understanding of the need for us to be able to pick up the phone, share with them what we were likely to do and could get immediate clearance on whether that interfered in any way, shape, or form with their investigation. >> the only thing i would clarify on that is the dag did not address it, but i raised the .1 of the reasons i felt the need for the independent counsel was because of the very messy process that went through the firing of kim call me. >> reporter: the disparity between the testimony today in the white house account that russia is not a tight priority. >> i would address that -- listen, i don't think that is up to senator warner and myself to make. the president has

mr. mccabe today. >> that's my personal view. i thought you were quoting burr to have a special commission and not mccabe. >> no, no, i was. that was from burr before. the initial things and the conflicts and the contradictions that you heard from mccabe on other matters. >> i would be expressing a lack of confidence in what i respect about warner and burr. they're doing on the intelligence committee and white house and graham are doing on the subcommittee of my full committee. >> neil: i want one last question to response to democrats who keep using the term nixonian of massacre, referring to the time when nixon get rid of cox, the watergate prosecutor. what do you think of that? they constantly bring that up and use that as what's going on here today. >> other day -- i want to give a longer answer. i said they ought to suck up and move on. let me give a further explanation. you have to remember that a key person in this decision because the president asked him for their advice was the memo by rosenstein. he was approved by the u

mr. mccabe, for being here on such short notice. since 1985, we have heard about the russian security threat facing the united states of america. i understand many people tuning in today are hoping we will focus solely on the investigation into russian interference in our election. let me be up front. the purpose of today's hearing is to review and highlight, to the extent possible, the range .f threats facing the nation the national security threat picture has evolved significantly. what used to be a collection of mostly physical and state aced national concerns, -- state-based national security concerns has been replaced by something altogether different. today, our traditional focus on countries like north korea and iran is complicated by strategic nonstate actors in the cyber arena and terrorists who can use the internet to inspire violence and fear in the homeland all without leaving middleafe havens in the east. what has not changed is the tireless patriotism of the women and men who make up the united states intelligence comm

mr. chairman. mccabe, without going into the specific of any individual investigation, think the american people want to know , has the dismissal of mr. comey in any way impeded, interrupted, stopped, or negatively impacted any of the work, any investigation, or any ongoing projects at the federal bureau of investigation? senator, thew, work of the men and women of the anycontinues despite changes in circumstances, any decisions. so there has been no effort to impede our investigation to date. simply put, you cannot stop the men and women of the fbi from doing the right thing, protecting the american people, and upholding the constitution. >> and this is for all the members of the committee. it has been widely reported and people know this, software is used by millions of americans. to each of our witnesses, would any of you become to vote with the lab software on your computer's? >> a resounding no. >> no. >> no. >> senator. --no, senator. >> no. as all of you are probably aware, malicious in the street

mr. mccabe i warned you i would have to get you on the record on this. mr. ting fbi director do you commit to informing this committee of any effort to interfere with the fbi's wrong going investigation into links between russia and the traurch campaign? >> i absolutely do. >> in light of what's happened in the last 48 hours, it's critically important that we have that assurance and i hope you relay at least to me the extraordinary people who work at the fbi, that this committee supports them, supports their efforts, supports their professionalism and supports their independence. >> i will, sir. thank you. >> in like of the fact we just saw french elections where felt like deja vu all over again, in terms of the release of series of emails against mr. macron days before the election and the fact that this committee continues to investigate the type of tactics that russia has used, where do we stand as a country in terms of preparation to make sure this doesn't happen again in 2018 and 2020? where have we moved in terms of collaboration with state voting and v

mr. mccabe, we didn't expect to see you today. >> reporter: the committee, looking into possible trump campaign connections with russia once reassurances that the fbi will still follow through with its own investigation. >> you commit to informing this committee of any effort to interfere with the ongoing investigations into links between russia and the trump campaign? >> i absolutely do >> democrats and some republicans called for a special prosecutor to head up the criminal investigation. >> in order to ensure the americans can have faith in the impartiality of the investigation, and must be conducted far from the reach of the white house. >> reporter: sources tell cbs news that james comey had asked deputy attorney general rod rosenstein for more resources to conduct a russian investigation just last week. on monday, president donald trump asked rosenstein and attorney general jeff sessions to lay out a case for the firing of james comey in writing. they cited his handling of hillary clinton's email investigation as grounds for the firing. >> the director took steps that went around the chai

mr. mccabe: sir, if you're referring to the russia investigation, i do. i believe we have the adequate resources to do it and i know that we have resourced that investigation adequately. if you're referring to the many constantly multiplying counterintelligence threats that we face across the spectrum, they get bigger and more challenging every day and resources become an issue over time. but in terms of that investigation, i can assure you, we are covered. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] >> you can watch the entire senate intelligence committee hearing tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span. education secretary betsy devos delivered the commencement address at bethune-cookman university. a historically black college in daytona, florida. graduates booed during her speech. at one point the school's president threatened to mail the students their degrees. ms. devos: dr. jackson, board of trustees. thank

mr. mccabe of the fbi who is now the acting director. and it had to do with the fact that his wife ran for virginia senate as a democrat in a state senate election, ended up getting a large infusion of money, but there is an important context here when mr. mccabe's wife ended up running, that was well before he ended up overseaing the hillary clinton e-mail investigation, and on the campaign trump, trump ended up con flating the two stories, but it makes for a less awkward situation of the fbi director having now been attacked by the president of the united states. >> if we go back to the whole question of why, and you have raised the question of why now, why not then, the timing could be worse. you could make a lot of arguments about that including the sally yates testimony, when you're a politician, sometimes you are to put aside the personal and deal with the reality. i think a striking example of that is when president obama sat with then president, someone that questioned his scitizenshi. >> he exonerates himself in that letter that

mr. mccabe said today in testimony. who wanted to jump in? >> i wanted to say, i wanted to make clear, when you're talking about obstruction charges and different stories and narrative that are coming out of the white house and the staff, we talk about lines and we talk about obstruction of justice. in order for that to actually be the case, remember, the more plausible, benign reasons and motivations you may have to do a firing of an otherwise active employee actually can undermine a prosecutor's case in a criminal obstruction charge. remember, if it's a specific spent to actually undermine or impede an investigation, for really nefarious reasons, and corruptly do so. one of them being a political motivation. but if there are these non-partisan, non-political reasons and motivations, even if they're contradictory, and even if they cannot tow the line of a consistent story, they undermine it criminally. but, it's always available in an impeachment setting, where the law has been written far more vaguely to try to be a backstop for criminal pr

mr. mccabe. he is very experienced. a rare occasion, bill, when i can say an acting f.b.i. ctor is a lightning rod of controversy and certainly that would appear to be the case for andrew mccabe. keep in mind his wife ran for political office in virginia and close ties to the clinton campaign and virginia governor. some including iowa senator chuck grassley asking questions about his qualifications the move into that position on a permanent basis. we'll talk more about that in a moment and share a bit of what the former director of the f.b.i. had to say to f.b.i. employees. james comey took to social media to express his gratitude for all that was done during his time in office. he said look, i have long believed that a president can fire an f.b.i. director for any reason or no reason at all. i won't spend time on the decision or the way it was executed. i hope you won't, either. he went on to say it's done. i'll be final though i will miss you and will certainly miss the mission as well. >> bill: kevin, how soon does the white house expect to move on this? do you have any l

mr. mccabe, the american people want to know, has the dismissal of mr.n any way impeded, interrupted, stopped or negatively impacted any of the work from any investigation or any ongoing projects at the fbi? as you know, the work of the men and women of the fbi continues despite any changes in circumstance khamenei decisions decisions.ance, any you cannot stop the men and women of the fbi from doing the right thing, protecting the right people and upholding the constitution. >> this is for all the members of the committee. thats been widely reported because persky -- kasperski software is used by millions of americans. would any of you become people with that software on your computers? >> a resounding no from me. >> no. >> no, sir. pompeo, armed civilian groups in venezuela militias in the street have been armed by the regime for the purpose of defending the regime from protesters. we are all aware the maduro has links to narco trafficking. are alitary in venezuela could youriant -- comment on the risks that as these groups become more desperate and ope

mr. trump puts out a different story saying he was going to be fired anyway and it wasn't in fact a report from rod rosenstein that prompted the firing. you have mccabeng before the senate and being put in a position to contradict the president of the united states. the white house said that mr. comey had lost the support of the rank and file in the fbi and mccabe said that's not. >> shepard: as journalists when you get a series of explanations for something of high importance and those explanations tend to contradict each other and something is obviously not true because they can't both exist. there's this -- normally there's the tendency to look for the thing that makes the most sense. the president's detractors are saying vocally is they believe the reason for all that is that the president saw what director was comey was doing regarding the investigation into the russian business and his own potential involvement and he's too close for comfort. he has to go. that narrative, whether it's true or not, is it destructive? >> that's the risk in this. in the court of public opinion, the president is -- he has facts on his side so fact. there's far ther

mr mccabe says mr comey had the full respect of the fbi.so insisted the probe into the trump campaign's ties with russia will continue unfettered. the work of the men and women of the fbi will continue despite any changes in circumstance, any decision. there has been no effort to impede our investigation to date. quite simply put — you cannot stop the men and women of the fbi doing the right thing, protecting the american people and upholding our constitution. the acting fbi director andrew mccabe there. well, democrats aren't so convinced about the timing and impact of this dismissal. a brief time ago i spoke with democrat bob casey on capitol hill. he is calling for a special prosecutor and spoke about the timing of these events. i think this decision was made, based upon reasons that are inappropriate. you can't fire the head of the investigative team that is investigating either your activity or the activities of people connected to you potentially, in this case starting on march 20, when director comey said he was leading this investig

mr. mccabe may not have known about the memo, he could have been talking about the overall probe, watch. >> there has been no effort to impede our investigation to date. simply put, sir, you cannot stop the men and women of the fbi from doing the right thing, protecting the american people and upholding the constitution. liz: bring in jim kallstrom with me now. jim, good to have you on the show. >> hi, liz. liz: what do you make of all this chaos? >> just another day of chaos from the fifth column of the country. let's wait and see if there is a memo. it was read, i believe, by some unknown person to somebody at the "new york times." you know, that's a long way from some of the speculation i'm hearing on the radio and on television about what the wording of it may or may not be, and words are important here. if there is such a memo and he did ask for it to be expedited or -- let's see what the words actually are, and then if we actually get ahold of a memo, might be interested to see forensically when it was written. liz: that's a good point. the anonymous unaccountable leaks, that's the

mr. mccabe at this point, jeff sessions done that, recused himself. also involved in discussions about the firing of fbi director comey. liz: what does that do to the democrats narrative? when he says, we're still forging ahead with this investigation, and we are impervious to any outside efforts to derail it, what does that do to the democrats big plan to say, oh, the fbi is going to be partisan? >> i think what is important to do is clearly state delineate the responsibilities. we want the fbi to continue to investigate. they do not prosecute. see. it is important to understand that. the fbi does not. that is up to the justice department. so we want the fbi, we're glad to here they said they will continue this investigation but we do believe once the investigation is continues, and that the justice department itself, we believe, at least the top appointee, attorney general has been to some degree, somewhat come he promized. he removed himself theoretically. we know he already admitted, they admitted he was a part of the negotiation to fire. liz: i w

mr. mccabe, for as long as you are acting fbi director, do you commit to informing this committee of any effort to interfere with the fbi's ongoing investigation into links between russia and the trump campaign." "i absolutely do."the intelligence committee invited comey to testify next week ... and subpoenaed former white house security adviser michael flynn.the committee's chairman and deputy chairman met today with deputy a=g ron rosenstein to coordinate their separate russia investigations. connecticut's richard blumenthal says the crisis is approaching watergate proportions. it may well produce impeachment proceedings although we're very far from that possibility (pam) airlines and regulators are preparing for the possibility that the trump administration could ban more devices from the cabins of flights .... from europe to the u.s. steve is here with the potential new measures. (steve) pam you may remember the controversial security measure banning laptops on board middle eastern airlines heading to the u-s now that ban could expand to european fl

mr. mccabe the current head, acting head of the fbi whether that was true, he said absolutely not it, wasn'tue. they have enough resources to deal with russia. then the third one was that rosenstein was set to resign because he was unhappy about the way comey was handled. rosenstein himself said that was not true. one day the story comes out, front page, next day it is not true. >> david, we know reporters, whoever their sources may be, they don't literally make this stuff up. it is not fiction. they have talked to somebody. david: right. >> it is clear that the white house, the trump white house has been leaking like a monsoon. you can cold call the trump white house and probably get somebody to leak something to you anonymously. donald trump has something of a problem with various factions inside of the white house trying to get their story out at his expense. david: dan henninger, "wall street journal." good to see you. thank you very much. melissa. melissa: left up in arms over newly-crowned usa. why some of her answers are creating a political firestorm on social media. >>> plus, rising

mr. mccabe, the acting director of the fbi about this.ange. >> press reports yesterday indicated that director comey requested additional resources. >> i cannot confirm that request was made. i strongly believe that the russia investigation is adequately resourcessed. david: so there again. a premise of a press story that the reason that comey was fired because he was putting in more resources to the russia investigation is wrong. we heard it from the horse's mouth. >> okay. but wait a minute now. that's one source. you heard it from the horse's mouth. >> that's one source? that's the acting director of the fbi. his wife is a former democrat. >> it may be more reliable than other sources. david: of course it is. but he's right there. he is right there -- we know that that mccabe is trusted by democrats because his wife is a big democrat. she got a lot of money from the governor, the democrat governor of virginia. this guy is not a republican plant. . >> hey, listen, you have lots of sources outer for a lot of different media sources. davi

mr. mccabe has possible. >> certainly the house oversight committee chairman chaffetz, ranking member cummings that our committee will be able to answer for the entire press corps and the entire world. if a law has been broken, we'll go from there. again, as i said earlier, no one is above the law. >> some republicans are hitting the panic button a tad too early. we heard from house speaker paul ryan today as he was heading out, do you still have confidence in the president, and his response, two words, i do. >> i do, too. >> you do? >> i just got back from a very successful town hall in kentucky and the majority of the people there support the president. he won my district by over 50 points. they are saying he's only been president a little over 100 days. let's give him a chance to put his administration together. he's made some mistakes and he's had a lot of unnecessary drama that's come out of the white house. but we have to remember, donald trump's not a politician. the american people didn't elect him because of his savvy political -- >> with all due respect, he is now the president of th

mr. mccabe made that point far better than i could today when he said that there's been no impediment to the investigation, and as i said before, any investigation that was taking place on monday is still taking place today. so i think that's, again, another sad story by the democrats that they're trying to pedd peddle. >> another comment from the hearings today. the acting deputy attorney general said -- i'm sorry. mccabe said he considers the investigation into russian meddling of the election to be highly significant. in the past the president has said that the investigation was a hoax and he pledged recently whether maybe it wasn't russia, might have been china. does the president consider this investigation to be highly insignificant? >> look, i think he would love nothing more for this investigation to continue to its completion. i think one of the reasons that the hoax component is the collusion component that has been the false narrative that you guys have been pushing for the better part of a year. i think that's the piece that he is repeatedly talking about being the hoax. >> b

mr. mccabe being brought in as an fbi director. they said they were not trusting turmoil shoulder a turmoil. that's what he said. >> the national security team said as well sarah huckabee sanders said today and reiterated she's spoken with a large number, as she characterizes it, of a large number of people in the fbi who do not believe they have faith in james comey. she testified to that with a reporter who simply answered the question with "really?" . they said they lost confidence in james comey. let me step back a moment here. there was an implication that reporters were getting caught up. until they had sat down with lester holt, president trump had hunkered down. he wasn't making public appearances. we hadn't seen them rough because it's sitting for days. the white house said he's prepping for the meeting next week. it's people who work for the press office and the jar nneka. it's important to know that the information you're getting is accurate. >> let's get to the third question which i think is a tough one, the president

mr. mccabe said may be true in that president trump may be calling line personnel. nonetheless he fired the top cop on that investigation and i think no one believes this was about hillary clinton's e-mails. i think it was all about the russia indicaticase. >> so you're saying that in and of itself could be interference. richard blumenthal said president trump's decision to fire comey in and of itself could lead to possible impeachment proceedings. do you think it's come to that? do you agree with that? >> i certainly wouldn't be ready to leap to that kind of conclusion. i do think we need to learn more about the circumstances that led to the director's firing. but i wouldn't take it on its face. i will say this, i think that many of the president's actions have been really quite inexplicable going back to his hurling of these unfounded accusations against president obama claiming that he was illegally wiretapped, charging congress to investigate that claim and now to continue with the firing of the person who was leading that investigation. so i think there's a lot

mr. mccabe, didn't necessarily expect to see you here today. and we don't know how long you'll be acting fbi director. but while i will adhere to what the chairman has indicated in the line of questioning, i want to make sure my first question for you even in this public setting will be for you to assure the committee that if you come any political influence from the white house or others to squash this investigation or impede it in any way that you'll let the committee know. this investigation has had its ups and downs and, again, some including myself sometimes have been frustrate woud with the pa. we will, no doubt, face other challenges in the future. but, ups and downs and bumps is how beenship works. it's a constant struggle, but one worth making and i'm proud the way this committee from both sides of the aisle have challenged themselves in one of the most challenging political environments we have ever seen. we put this investigation on what we believe a solid, bipartisan footing with the shared goal of getting the truth. in spite of the

mr. mccabe, the deputy fbi director, has also said it's a priority.i don't think anybody should presume that this investigation is not trying to head towards some kind of a conclusion. we're just not there yet. >> if we don't find smoke at the end of this, then what? i mean, what will happen between the president, the intelligence community, the fbi? we know that above being a republican or a democrat, which the president once was, trump being a trump and his family is the most important to him, what kind of reaction do we think we're going to get out of the president? you know, we mentioned earlier that president trump's advisors are trying to keep the screen time away from him, keep his phone away from him so he can't be tweeting. the president has to be irate over this news. what do you think? >> right. this news is breaking obviously as he is in italy. it's past midnight there. so, i imagine he'll probably have a long night. look, the president has been very consistent in what he thinks about this investigation. he's called it a witch hunt. he has

mr. mccabe's comments about what traditional procedure would be, that that would not be something that in a traditional case would be discussed. >> are you confident in the answers you got? >> you said that this meeting was to set up the rules of the road. how would you describe what those are and did director comey come aup at all? >> director comey did not come up. he was not the subject of it. though there are some details to workout, there was acknowledgement and understanding of the need for us to be able to pick up the phone, share with them what we were likely to do, and could get immediate clearance on whether that interfered in any way, shape, or form with what their investigation was. >> the only thing i would clarify on that is, you know, and the d.a.g. did not address it, but i raised the point of one of the reasons i fl telt th need for independent counsel was the very messy process that went through in the firing of jim comey. >> what are your shots on the disparity between the testimony today and the white house. [inaudible] >> i'd address that to either acting director mcc

mr. mccabe made a point better than i could today when he said there has been no impediment to the investigation. as i said before, any investigation taking place on monday is taking place today. i think that is again another sad story by the democrats they are trying to peddle. comment fromther the hearing today. the acting deputy attorney general said that i'm sorry, mccabe said he considers the investigation into russian meddling in the election to be highly significant. he said the investigation was a hoax and he questioned recently whether it might've been china. has the president consider this to be highly significant? sarah sanders: i think he would love nothing more for this investigation to continue to its completion. thatnk one of the reasons the hoax component is the collusion component, the false narrative you guys have been pushing for the better part of a year. i think that is the piece he is repeatedly talking about being a hoax. reporter: in terms of threats to national security, he takes that security -- seriously. sarah sanders: of course he takes national security seriously. i

mr. mccabe's impartiality in the trump campaign investigation. and stay with me on this. it's a little bit labrinthian. here's the reason. andrew mccabe's wife -- andrew mccabe's wife ran for the state senate in virginia. she received a contribution of $700,000 from a fund by terry mcall if who is the governor. terry is a close friend and advisor to hillary clinton. so, the question from some of the senate republicans has been, given this political connection of mccabe's wife, how can he possibly be independent on the trump campaign investigation given the politics of his wife. now, the fbi, of course, has completely dismissed that, but the problem is that this is going to be a process that will play out here. he won't be directly in charge of the investigation that's run by the fbi's counter terrorism investigation. he's now the top official at the fbi. so, life is complicated here. >> greta, have at it. >> can i ask pete williams a question? pete, is mccabe the one who pulled reince priebus aside a couple months ago and warned him there was some problem in the investigat

mr. mccabe, who is a figure whose name came up in the conduct of the investigation into hillary clinton last year. we can talk more about him, but he's got some ties, sobut as th deputy fbi director, he's now going to be after a meeting with the president this evening, he will be the acting director at least for the time being. the president talked about the decision to get rid of comey and said that judgment was what he thought was the concern. that was the concern of people at the justice department, including the deputy attorney general, who does have, as pete williams said earlier, some bipartisan credentials. that in his view, this was not a tough decision. you'll recall that during the campaign, comey, through his actions related to the clinton campaign, obviously people in the clinton campaign raised questions about him. but the president during the campaign said he also looked at comey's behavior and started to have doubts about his conduct as the fbi director and made the decision to get rid of him. >> well, this is mid-may almost, and those actions that were mentioned by the deputy

mr. mccabe is one of the potential candidates, perhaps a leading one.oday but we don't have a confirmation of that. danny is a former fbi deputy assistant director and commander of the hostage rescue team with decades of experience. it's good to see you. >> it's good to see you too. >> eric: you have two former judges and two former agents, what qualifications would you like to see most, what you think is most needed right now the new fbi director? >> no doubt about that. it is independence. we need a director that is a political, has no political ambitions, no political aspirations that will come in and stand up to the fbi. if there is one danger the fbi faces its political interference, generally by the department of justice. i think it's time we have an fbi agent who is entrenched in the fbi's philosophy and dedication to the constitution. i think it might be time the fbi is the finest investigation in the world. there's no doubt about that. why not pick somebody who made it that good. it's time to look at an fbi agent to run the organization. >> eri