mr. schumer: thank you. mr. president, last night deputy attorney general rod rosenstein appointed former f.b.i. director robert mueller as a special counsel to oversee the investigation into russia's interference in the 2016 elections. this was a very good fers step. -- first step. mr. rosenstein has done the right thing. i applaud his decision for its correctness and courage. a special counsel was much called for in this situation. and former director mueller is the right kind of individual for the job. i now have significantly greater confidence that the investigation will follow the facts wherever they lead. additionally, as special counsel, mr. muller must have broad latitude to pursue the russia investigation. in the appointment order, it stipulates the special counsel is authorized to investigate, quote, any matters that rise directly or indirectly from this investigation, unquote. that's a really important power, given the recent reports about an active f.b.i. investigation into general flynn. i am heart

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the democrat leader. mr. schumer: are we in a quorum, mr. president? the presiding officer: no. mr. schumer: mr. president, i have just heard that our friend and colleague, senator from north carolina, has collapsed during a race in d.c. and is receiving medical attention. until we hear further news, our hearts will be in our mouths, hoping for the best. our thoughts and prayers as a senate family are with the junior senator from north carolina and his family. now, mr. president, on a different subject, the events of the last two weeks have shaken my confidence in this administration's competence and credibility. there has been revelation after revelation, allegation after allegation of misconduct on the part of the president and his team. in the past two days, it's reached new heights. the president, according to reports in "the washington post" and "new york times," may have divulged classified information to a known adversary, and actually tried to

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: yesterday the president fired the director of the f.b.i., jim comey, who is leading an active investigation into the trump campaign's possible collusion with russia. the president provided no reasoning for the firing other than he had the recommendation of his attorney general who has already had to recuse himself from the russia investigation for being too close to the president and his deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein. mr. president, there is little reason to think that mr. rosenstein's letter is the true reason that president trump fired director comey. why? because if the administration truly had objections to the way director comey handled the clinton investigation, they would have had them the minute the president got into office. but he didn't fire director comey then. the question is, why did it happen last night? we know director comey was leading an investigation in whether the trump campaign clueded with the russians -- colluded with thing russians. a serious

mr. schumer likes these independent special prosecutors. let me ask you something, do you support and independent special prosecutor for hillary clintonpe and her multiple violations of the espionage act? for the obama administration surveillance and unmasking of trump transition team members and god knows who else? the israeli ambassador wasce surveilled? jewish leaders and to his groups were surveilled? how about an independent investigation of that. i have another one, mr. schumer. how about an independent special prosecutor to investigate this whole iranian deal. let me tell you what's going on here, sean, the president of the united states followed the constitution must follow the law and followed the advice of a deputy attorney general. who won 94-6 in his nomination. if you want to know why? the guy doesn't have a political bone in his body. he has worked for bill clinton, george bush. he is a career public integrity prosecutor. a criminal prosecutor. he is been a u.s. attorney. sean, the two big left-wing senators from maryland went

mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. now by now, we have all had the chance to read the report in "the washington post" that alleges stunning behavior on the part of the president in a meeting with the russian ambassador and the russian foreign minister. according to the report, the president revealed classified information about a terrorist threat with the officials of a foreign government, and the president didn't share it with just any government, the report states. he shared it with russia's government, a global adversary that has violated the sovereignty of peaceful nations, propped up dictators and human rights abusers, including iran and syria, and has been widely proven to have interfered in our elections and the elections of our allies in europe. if this report is indeed true, it would mean that the president may have badly damaged our national security, nothing less. and in several ways. first, if accurate, a disclosure of this type could threaten the united states' relationships with allies who provide us with

mr. schumer: now, mr. president, late last night, due to the hard work and diligence of the staffs of the appropriations committees on both sides of the aisle in both houses and the staft of the leadership and so many others, we were able to come to a bipartisan agreement on a bill to fund the government through september. most importantly, this agreement takes the threat of a government shutdown off the table. it's also a good agreement for the american people. the bill ensures taxpayer dollars are not used to fund an ineffective border wall. it excludes over 160 poison pill riders, and it increases investments in programs that the middle class relies on, education, infrastructure, medical research. it includes a permanent extension of health benefits for miners. and here i want to just praise over and -- can't get enough praise, the senator from west virginia, joe manchin, who was relentless, even after disappointment after disappointment, at holding the senate's feet to the fire and making sure this was

mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. first i want to thank my colleague from colorado for his outstanding remarks. much is happening and not many people paid attention, i guess, because they were so busy. this is the first c.r.a. to go down and the first important one that came before us, so the fact that it wasn't voted on, people can breathe a sigh of relief because methane will not be released into the atmosphere as easily. now on the topic of the day, mr. president. this morning the democratic caucus met to discuss the circumstances of mr. i come's -- of mr. comey's dismissle by the white house. there are many actions to be taken. we will pursue many things in the coming days and weeks that we decided in our caucus and we will have more to say about that in the days ahead. there are three things that our caucus agreed must happen right away. first, mr. rosenstein should not be the one to appoint a special prosecutor. that responsibility should gl to the highest-serving career civil servant at the department of justic

mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. now, yesterday, former c.i.a. director john brennan testified in the house intelligence committee that he had growing concerns about russian interference in the final months of the 2016 election, adding that an investigation into potential collusion between the trump campaign and the kremlin was well-founded. he issued very strong words. coming from a very careful civil servant from the intelligence community, mr. brennan's testimony should further compel congress and the special counsel to pursue the full truth. what mr. brennan said was happening gets at the very core of our democracy. the free and fair elections of our representatives. americans of all political stripes should be outraged by what putin and the russians did during the 2016 elections. as former director brennan said, in america, quote, we cherish the ability to elect our own leaders, without outside interference or disruption, end of quote. so again, i expect the senate intelligence committee will continue its bipartisan investigation into these

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: well, first, mr. president, i want to respond to the president's latest tweets about the bipartisan, bicameral deal we just reached to fund the government through september. now, members of both parties worked very hard to come to this agreement, and there was a real spirit of cooperation. i want to thank majority leader mcconnell and speaker ryan and leader pelosi as well as senators cochran and leahy, congress members frelinghuysen and lowey. all worked until early hours of the morning, and i think we got a good outcome. when the president threw cold water on this deal and actually recommended a government shutdown, i was deeply disappointed. here we saw democrats and republicans working together in the best traditions of the senate, and the president disparages it in a way that's destructive, essentially saying let's have a shutdown. the president has been complainin

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: mr. president, first, the senate's thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in manchester, england. such violence is particularly heart breaking when it happens as it did in manchester at a concert with so many young people there to enjoy. we mourn the families of the victims of last night's terrorist attack. we hope the perpetrators are quickly found and brought to justice. mr. president, i saw on tv a mother waiting, trying to e-mail or text her daughter. she got no answer. she was wondering where her daughter is. it brought back the horrible memories for me after 9/11, the day after when i went up there and saw hundreds of people holding up signs, have you seen my wife evelyn? have you seen my son john? not knowing if they were alive or dead. most of them ended up being dead. we hope and pray that that mother and all the other mothers who are waiting and fathers, brothers and sisters who are waiting for news that maybe their child, their relative is alive will find them alive. our praye

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: mr.resident, mr. schumer: mr. president, >> mr. president the senate's thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in manchester england. such violence is particularly heartbreaking when it happens as it did in manchester at a concert with so many young people there. we mourn the families of the victims of last night's terrorist attack. we hope the perpetrators are quickly found and brought to justice. mr. president i saw on tv a mother waiting, trying to e-mail and text her daughter. she got no answer. she was wondering where her daughter was. she thought that the horrible memories for me after 9/11 that her when i went up there and saw hundreds of people holding up signs, have you seen my wife, evelyn? have you seen my son, john? not knowing if they were alive or dead and most of them ended up in bed. we hope and pray that mother and all the other mothers who are waiting and fathers and brothers and sisters who are waiting that their children are alive find them alive. >> the worldwide thre

mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. now, since last week's all-senator briefing with the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein, some of my friends on the other side of the aisle have alleged that his appointment of a special counsel impedes the congressional investigation into russian interference in our elections and whether or not the trump campaign was involved. nothing could be further from the truth. i the executive branch investigation under the special counsel looks at criminal wrongdoing. the congressional investigation takes a broader approach. the two can proceed on parallel tracks as has happened many times in the past. if anything, the congressional investigation if -- if anything the congressional investigation is doing potentially interferes with the special counsel's activities, the two parties will discuss it. it's a process called deconfliction. they know how to do it. they've done it before. there's no reason, no reason whatsoever for the congressional investigation to slow down or stop. mr

mr. schumer, mr. scott, mr. sessions, mrs. shaheen, mr. shelby... >> narrator: also watching in the gallery, tucson survivor pat maisch. >> i went from being sad to being mad. they're all down there in their good ol' boy stance, shaking hands, chatting. >> mr. wyden... (gavel banging) >> on this vote the amendment is not agreed to. >> like people's lives aren't in the balance on this, and i just thought they needed to be shamed. they should be ashamed of themselves. i stood up and said, "shame on you." shame on you! >> there will be order in the senate. >> because they needed to be shamed. shame on them. shame on me if after what i've gotten to witness i choose to be quiet. >> i'm surprised that she was the only one, actually, that burst out... because it was so intense and so charged. >> the gallery will refrain from any demonstration or comment. >> they felt betrayed. that's the word, betrayed. "how could they vote that way? don't they understand what happened? how can they do that? how can this be?" i mean it was disbelief and a sense o

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the minority leader. mr. chumer: first, let me thank my good friend from illinois for, as usual, his articulate, compassionate, and outstanding words, and for the great job he and others did yesterday when they invited the people here. and i reiterate just what the senator from illinois stated. that is, once they take repeal off the table -- they're having real trouble with repeal -- we want to sit down and make our health care system better. it's not perfect. no one thought it was. it's better than it was. many more people covered, preexisting conditions, college kids, kids get out of college and they get health care. all of that's better. we don't want to get rid of everything. but we want to improve it. we're working. and 48 senators, as my colleague from illinois knows, every democrat signed a letter to leader mcconnell saying we want to work with you to improve the system. not to sabotage the existing system, not to repeal the good things we have, but to improve it. and we've gotten no answer in that rega

mr. schumer, of the democrats, would manage to keep stalled forever. the theon't understand intricacies of the system there. but there's got to be some way things moving and reduce some of the things we don't need as much as we need things. radical muslim terrorist groups and other iings going on in this world, think we need to look at for our defense first. to look maybe we need at cutting some of the people coming into this country illegal ly. maybe all of them. i understand there are people that feel sorry for these people and think they should have free access to the united states. i don't agree with that. ancestors came into .his country as immigrants some of them had brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles away because they had t. .. or other diseases some of them were turned away meet certaindidn't other requirements. why shouldn't we turn these people away? host: you talk about prioritiz ing defense spending. here's the release from the house appropriations committee .hairman thesummary of spending on pentagon in this budget deal that came to

mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. first, i want to thank my friend and our great friend from massachusetts, senator markey, for the great work he has done on the opioid issue. he was the first to sound the alarm when prescription drugs just began to be overprescribed. has worked very, very hard with many successes in trying to deal with this problem. we have a long way to go. things would have been a lot worse without the great work of the senator from massachusetts and i see my colleague from new hampshire on the floor as well. the same goes for her. had she has done an outstanding job. worked and campaigned on this issue and keeping her promise working hard in the united states senate. we know their states are among the top states with opioid abuse problems. now, mr. president. at yesterday's judiciary committee hearing, we heard from former deputy attorney general sally yates and former director james clapper. in their testimony, both of them confirmed what we already know, that russia tried to interfere in our ele

mr. comey is director i, -- as director of the fbi with a tweet. here is a look at capitol hill. senator schumer: it evening everybody. this afternoon, president trump called me and and formed me he was firing director comey. i told the president, mr. president with all do respect you are making a big mistake. the first question the administration has to answer is why now? if the administration had objections to the way director call me handle the clinton investigation, they had those objections the minute the president got into office. but they did not fire him then. why did it happen today? we know the house is investigating russian interference in our elections that benefited the trump campaign. we know the senate is investigating. we know the fbi has been looking into whether the trump campaign colluded with the russians, a very serious offense. were these investigations getting too close to home for the president? it is troubling that attorney general sessions, who recused himself from the russian investigation played a role in firing the man leading it. so what happens now? deputy attorney

mr. schumer: the house approved the omnibus appropriations bill that will fund the government through september. the bill is the result of weeks and weeks of bipartisan and the final product reflects the give and take of those negotiations. again, i want to thank the majority for his desire to come to a good agreement as well as the house leaders and the leadership of the appropriations committees. it's proof to many that washington can work when we work together. in my view, this is a very good bill for the american people. not only does it explicitly preclude funding for an unnecessary border wall, it excludes over 160 poison bill riders, education, and infrastructure. the national institute of health will get an additional $2 billion, part of a cancer moon shot. pell grants will be restored for over one million students. cdbg and tiger will get an increase, the combat of the terrible scourge of opioid will be increased and 99% of the epa's budget was protected and in addition a permanent extension of minor's health benefit thanks to the hard work of joe manchin and others. funding to shore u

mr. schumer is describing and nancy pelosi are describing is what is we currently have.ll get better as evidence evidence by the fact cbo says premiums will come down for families who have seen them skyrocket under obamacare. >> shannon: the debt ceiling is looming. you were part of the freedom caucus, one of the founders. i saw your statement yesterday you don't think we should be giving up clean increases but paired with something else. you would like to see it get done before august but stop raising the limit. how does it work for the gop? >> going early is good but let's do something that addresses the $20 trillion debt. let's get spending cuts now and structural changes that will keep government as a percentage of our overall gdp at a smaller ratio. let's do those things and how you address the debt. we're okay with raising the debt ceiling but only if we actually begin to address the problem. we think that's the common sense thing to do and what the american middle class families have to do with their budget when faced with this situation. congress needs to do the

mr. schumer on a bill and i don't recall what bill was. he was going to regulate and determined but the size of the seating should be in an airplane. do you recall that? >> yeah there have been several bills introduced to focus on the shrinking size of seats, the shrinking aisles in the shrinking baggage area and the shrinking bathrooms on air flights. >> do you have a position on that? >> we think this move towards shrinking these areas, legroom is a dangerous trend. it makes it harder for passengers to get in and out. to create safety hazards and people have to be plain. makes it much more difficult for citizens with disabilities to get in and out of an airplane so we do think there has to be some limits. the airlines don't seem to pay attention too much to the discomfort of consumers. we had american airlines announcing that they are going to shrink yet again so if the airlines stop shrinking size we don't think there would be a need for such a bill but unfortunately we don't have a whole lot of control. >> what is more important, the r

huck schumer: mr. rosenstein appoints special prosecutor to oversee this investigation. in the judiciary committee and promised to ppoint a special prosecutor at the appropriate time, he said i'm willing to appoint a special council whenever i appropriate, my colleague asked him, would you agree it is vital to assurance in our democracy and law enforcement that any investigation into these matters fair, free, thoroughly and politically independent? rosenstein answered, yes, i do. ever a time when ircumstances warranted a special prosecutor, it is right now. rosenstein already expressed concern that director comey f.b.i. integrity of the the attorney general has already had to recuse himself from the being too on for close to the president. hisr. rosenstein is true to word, that he believes this investigation must be "fair, politically h and independent," if he believes as people t the american must be able to have faith in this partiality of investigation, he must appoint a his al prosecutor and get investigation out of the hands far away from nd he heavy hand of this ad

mr. schumer on a bill. i don't recall what bill it was. he was going to regulate and determine the size of seating should be in an airplane. do you recall that? >> yeah. there have been several bills introduced to focus on the shrinking size of seats, the shrinking aisles, is shrinking baggage area and shrinking bathrooms. >> does your organization have a position on it? >> we think this move toward various --hese getting through an airplane, legroom, is a dangerous trend. it makes it harder for passengers to get in and out. it creates safety hazards. people have to deplane. gimmicks it difficult for citizens with disabilities to get in and out of an airplane. we do think there has to be some limits. the airlines don't seem to pay attention to much to the discomfort of consumers because we had american airlines today announcing they are going to shrink yet again. yeah, if the airlines stop shrinking size, we don't think there would be any for such a bill. unfortunately, we don't have a whole lot of control us we have legislation. >> what i

mr. schumer, they didn't think he should be there. >> that was a different rational than the white house initially offered. initially they said it was rod rosenstein who came up with a reason for firing director comey, and it was due to the fact of how he handled the hillary clinton e-mail investigation last year. there you heard sarah huckabee sanders say there were a lot of mistakes by director comey, implying there were more reasons to fire him than just the letter released by rod rosenstein. director comey released a letter of his own to his staff at the fbi saying it doesn't matter ultimately why he was fired. he said i've long believed a president can fire an fbi director for any reason or for no reason at all. i won't spend time on the decision or the way it was executed. i hope you won't either. it is done. and i will be fine, thoughly miss you and the mission deeply. the "washington post" has a new nugget. i can't independently verify this reporting, but this is intriguing nonetheless. the "washington post" reporting that rod rosenstein, the deputy attorney general whose letter

senator chuck schumer says mr mueller is exactly the right kind of individualfor this.epublicanjason chaffetz calls it a "great selection". anthony zurcher, is in washington. explained the powers robert mueller has and the time frame he is working to? as special counsel, he has broad council, and is technically an employee in thejustice department and can be fired by the attorney general. he still has a wide range of investigatory powers. he will have his own staff, all the material the fbi gather at his disposal. he will be able to bring criminal charges if he sees fit to do so. he's not going to have the same oversight and internaljustice department investigation would have. and then, as far as timeline goes, thatis and then, as far as timeline goes, that is the big question. these independent investigations, special councils can take months and years to unwind. there is no set time line. if you remember another investigation, it took years. watergate took years. the iran hearings took quite a long time. i don't think we will see this wrapped up don't think we will se

the leader of its unlettered democrats, chuck schumer. >> mr. president, there that's little reason to think that mr. rosen signs letter was the true reason that president trump fired director comey. why? because of the administration truly had objections to the way director comey handled the investigation, they would have the minute the president got into office, but he didn't fired director comey then. the question is, why did it happen last night? >> harris: catherine herridge joining us now. a busy place today, i can only imagine. what those comments from the vice president last hour on the decision by the white house to fire director comey, they seem to distance themselves from a decision citing the deputy attorney general's recommendation. he has someone who has a track record of being a straight shooter, a career prosecutor and is now a senior department official. >> president trump made the right decision at the right tim time. to accept the recommendation and the attorney general and ask for the termination to support the determination

schumer: democratic caucus met to discuss the circumstances of mr. comey's dismissal by the white house. there are many questions to be answered in many actions to be taken. we will be pursuing several things in the coming days and weeks that we decided in our caucus and we will have more to say about those next steps in the days ahead. there are three things our caucus agreed must happen right away. therosenstein should not be one to appoint a special prosecutor. that responsibility should go to the highest serving career so both servant of the department of justice. mr. comey is needed more than ever to testify before the senate. attorney general sessions and deputy attorney general rosenstein should brief all senators on these events separately and in the classified setting and they should do it soon. the questions are swirling. there are more every day, every hour. first, it is the overwhelming view of my caucus that a special prosecutor should now be appointed to conduct the investigation into the trunk campaign ties to russia. mr. rosenstein ca

mr trump said fresh leadership was required to restore trust in the organisation. the democratic leader in the senate, chuck schumer, has called for a special independent prosecutor to take over the russia inquiry. otherwise, he said, the american people would be entitled to suspect that removing mr comey had been an attempt to stifle the inquiry. south korea's new president has been sworn in following his victory in tuesday's election. moonjae—in is a liberal human rights lawyer who's called for cooperation with north korea. the united states says it will begin supplying weapons to kurdish militants fighting the islamic state group in syria. the pentagon said the syrian democratic forces was the only group that could seize the is stronghold of raqqa. now it's time for world business report. a bumpy road for toyota? the world's second largest carmaker is expected to to report shrinking profits as the us market slows down. on the farm in the us — we assess the impact of president trump's policies in an industry that relies on migrant workers, even the undocumented ones. welcome to world business report. i'm sally bu

ranking member bernie sanders, house budget ranking member john yarmuth, charles schumer and house minority leader nancy pelosi. mr. sanders: thank you for being here to discuss. the trump budget introduced today constitutes a massive from workingealth families, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor to the top 1%. it follows in the footsteps of the trump-ryan health-care bill, which gives huge tax breaks to the wealthiest few while throwing 24 million americans off of their health insurance and dramatically raising premiums for older workers. this is a budget that says if you are the richest family in america, the walton family, you billion taxo a $53 break through the repeal of the estate tax. $53 billion tax break. but at the same time, it says if you are a lower income senior citizen, he will not be able to get the one nutritious meal and a you now receive through the meals on wheels program or the help you desperately need if you are disabled. this is a budget that says if you are the second wealthiest family in america, the koch brothers family, a family that has contributed many of hundreds of mil

mr. comey clearly overreached. democrats as you heard from chuck schumer were appalled by what mr.ey did to hillary clinton by saying on the one hand he didn't have enough evidence to indict her and raising questions about carelessness or recklessness with classified information and reopening the investigation, all of that was highly unusual, inappropriate and not in keeping with the fbi. liz: there's an argument that rod rosenstein is not in place, deputy ag, and he was sworn in april 26th, they needed him there in order to do the firing. what do you think about that argument? >> i think that is an argument, i don't happen to believe it. because the fbi and the justice department have an inspector general's investigation going into mr. comey's handling of the e-mail scandal involving hillary clinton, i don't think that they should have acted now. they should have waited to get the inspector general's report. liz: and then done the firing. >> and then, if there was culpability or inappropriateness say yeah, you should be fired. now? right in the middle of this? no. liz: judy, so go

schumer next on c-span. presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i was listening with interest to our friend and colleague from minnesota talk about the russia investigation, and i agree with her 100%. that it is our responsibility to get to the bottom of what exactly happened due to russian involvement in our election, much as they got involved in the elections in france, using the combined process of known mcconnell as -- known commonly as active measures. it's espionage, propaganda, use of social media through paid

national security community develop countermeasures and >> brangham: minority leader chuck schumer questioned mrump's timing >> why did it happen last night? we know director comey was leading an investigation in whether the trump campaign colluded with the russians, a serious offense. were those investigations getting too close to home for the president? >> brangham: schumer later laid out democratic demands that rosenstein not be the one to appoint a special counsel. the day was filled with a drumbeat of opinions on what should, and should not, happen next. >> the timing and the reasons for the decision made little sense to me. >> brangham: republican richard burr of north carolina heads the senate intelligence committee, which has asked comey to testify next week. >> i'm not in favor in favor of a special prosecutor because i think that the committee can carry out its responsibility, >> brangham: but democrat richard blumenthal of connecticut said a special counsel was crucial: >> i will vote against any confirmation of an f.b.i. director unless there is support for a special prosecutor >> br

. >> senator skip schumaker is reminding -- chum schumer is reminding another reporter accused mr. trump of he revealing highly classified information to the russians. republicans are being caution. >> we can't deal with speculation and innuendo, and there is clearly a lot of politics being played. our job is to get the facts. >> others in the party are speaking out. senator john mccain called the latest allegation of watergate size and scale. >> chelsea machining has been released from prison. the transgender soldier was materials to wikileaks. he served seven years of a 35 year sentence in fort lesson worth. former president obama granted him clemency in his final days in office. workers are out in full force, trying to fix a sink hole caused by a water main break in el cot city. the water was just cut off. q mccray has the latest. >> this is the scene residents woke up to, water gushing down the street and a car swallowed by a sink hole. >> it filled my car, with washing gushing underneath. >> authorities got the call about the water main break around 3:30 in morning. away, the

schumer and transcendent. >> the smyrna democratic caucus met to discuss the circumstances of mr. comey's dismissal by the white house. there are many questions to be answered and many actions to be taken. we would be pursuing several things in the coming days and weeks that we decided in our caucus and we will have more toe say about those next steps in the days ahead. but there are three things are caucus agreed must happen right away. mr. r first, mr. rosen time should not be going to appoint a special prosecutor. that responsibility should go to the highest serving career civil servant at the department of justice.eeded mo second, mr. comey is needed more than ever to testify before then senate. third, attorney general sessions and deputy attorney general rosenstein should brief senators on this event separately and in a classified setting if necessary and they should do it soon because the questions are just smiling about. there are more every day, almost every hour. let me go over each. first, the overwhelming view of my is that a special prosecutor should not be appointed t

mr. comey himself. senator democrat side, chuck schumer from new york said he was shaken by the report in the "new yorkes." many other democratic senators also saying that this is proof of evidence of obstruction of justice and this is unimpeachable -- on -- an impeachable offense. also calling for an independent prosecutor. rishad: it is not like they were on the front foot, is it? the white house was already in damage control over the leaking of classified intelligence with the russian foreign minister. that is all burning away in the background. ramy: not so much in the background, that was in the foreground until this latest development with former director comey. donald trump has been defending his sharing of classified, top-secret intelligence with the russians. that allegedly happened last week when the foreign minister of russia and the russian ambassador to the u.s. both met with donald trump in the oval office. the white house is saying it is not an issue of donald trump sharing this information, it is more issue of a leak someplace in the white house. thatrump on twitter saying he had an abs

trump told mr comey that he was unable to effectively head the fbi and new leadership was needed to restore public trust in the organisation. the democratic leader in the senate, chuck schumer, said it was now time to appoint a special prosecutor to take over the russia inquiry. otherwise, he said, the american people would be entitled to suspect that removing mr comey had been an attempt to stifle the inquiry. the new president of south korea, moonjae—in, has formally started his first day in office. mr moon is a liberal human rights lawyer who has called for co—operation with north korea and questioned the deployment of a us missile defence system. his inauguration will take place in a few hours time. now on bbc news as part of hardtalk‘s 20 year anniversary we broadcast an interview first transmitted in july 2015. stephen sackur speaks to the italian author roberto saviano. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. my guest today is a writer whose work has made him powerful enemies. a decade ago, roberto saviano wrote a best—selling book, gomorrah, which exposed the power and brutality of the naples mafia. the crime bosses put a price on his head and in the last ten years

and it was senator schumer who said about mr. rosenstein, he has developed a reputation for integrity. >> he's saying essentially this is a cover-up today. >> he's wrong, it's not a coverup. in fact the president makes very clear in his letter the fact that mr. comey on three occasions assured him he is not under investigation. the president says that's between the president of the united states and director comey. but he is telling on at least three occasions he assured him he's not under investigation. but at the same time, he's taking the recommendation of the deputy general and the attorney general of the united states. this is what leaders do, they take decidive action based on recommendations given to them. that's what the president dtoda. >> don't you think it's at all suspect that the president's. >> let me repeat that the president has been told by the fbi director that he's not under investigation. >> the president gratuitously in this letter says while i greatly appreciate you informing me on three separate occasions t

mr. comey that according to the memo. again, that story in the new york times reference by minority leader, chuck schumer on the floor of the senate just about ten minutes operate earlier, the democratic leader, chuck schumer called for president trump to provide congress with a transcript of his meeting with top russian officials where he reportedly discussed highly classified information. >> good afternoon, everyone. i'm proud to be joined by a large group of my colleagues. all of whom have been active in the issue of what's happening between our countries and russia i will be brief.

mr. comey's departure creating a political minefield. chuck schumer calling for a special prosecutor.epeatedly to handle this russia matter. the search for comey's replacement already underway and the former a.g., alberto gonzalez last hour on america's newsroom praising comey and saying it was time for him to go. >> jim comey is a talented, deeply dedicated public service and i honor his sacrifice. i think we can all agree many people on both sides of the aisle believe in the past year his words and actions have led many to conclude he no longer is the right person to lead the f.b.i. >> shannon: let's check in with ed henry live in washington good morning, ed. listen, democrats wanted comey out for his handling of the clinton investigation. we heard the hu and cry. a lot of them this morning his biggest defenders. >> the president going after chuck schumer labeling him trying chuck saying he wanted comey out before the election. had said that he had lost all credibility because of the hillary clinton email investigation. the president is going to hammer that. frankly, there is even f

mr. chuck schumer, the senate majority leader. >> smiling. >> smiling, photoshoped.e. >> coming up, she has today's exclusive interview with the president, judge will be joining us in about ten minutes. and while we're awaiting the president -- we'll be right back , they replace it with a brand new one. so, kinda like your second husband. kinda. it's good to be in (good hands). how if guests book direct ater, choicehotels.com and stay twice they'll get a $50 gift card? summertime. badda book. badda boom. got you a shirt! ...i kept the receipt... book now at choicehotels.com what would help is simply being able to recognize a fair price. that's never really been possible. but along comes a radically new way to buy a car, called truecar. now it is. truecar has pricing data on every make and model, so all you have to do is search for the car you want, there it is. now you're an expert in less than a minute. this is how car buying was always meant to be. this is truecar. ♪ i'm karen, i'm a teacher.olfer. my psoriatic arthritis caused joint pain. just like my moderate to