the f.b.i.'inton email investigation. while scolding clinton for being "extremely careless," with her use of a private server, comey said the f.b.i. was not recommending criminal charges. >> our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case. >> brangham: republicans on the hill were outraged. then-candidate trump accused comey of going easy on his democratic rival. happened today where eventually i thought, everybody thought, based on what was being said, she was guilty! she was guilty! and it turned out that we're not going to press charges. it's really amazing. > >> brangham: but comey was soon again in the spotlight. on october 28, just 11 days before the election, comey announced he'd re-opened the clinton investigation after the discovery of possibly new emails. in a letter to congress, he wrote: "although the f.b.i. cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant... i believe it is important to update your committees about our efforts in light of my pre

the f.b.i. director james comey on the hot seat this morning. the likely focus russia and the election. adding fuel to what was already expected to be a fiery hearing new comments from hillary clinton blaming comey in part for her election defeat. that's not all she said. interesting. welcome to wednesday here on "america's newsroom." >> shannon: i'm shannon bream, president trump firing back at clinton saying the f.b.i. is the best thing that ever happened to her. clinton reflected on the election yesterday. did take some of the blame herself but also pointed the finger at comey and russia. listen. >> i was on the way to winning until a combination of jim comey's letter on october 28th and russian wikileaks raised doubts in the minds of pegoing but got scared off. >> shannon: john roberts joins us live from the north lawn. hello, john. >> bill: good morning to you. another busy day at the white house. 103 days into donald trump's presidency yesterday hillary clinton relitigating the results of t

the f.b.i. is conducting a critical investigation right now into any connections between the trump campaign for president and russian officials. >> well, it was post-watergate that they indeed, after hoover, that the congress made this a ten-year appointment to give it some independence, where it could go over from one president to the next. the presidents do have the ability if they don't have confidence in the director to fire him, but we've in the seen that very often. it has been the exception to the rule. they've tried to depoliticize the baur row, which is the way it should be, where we have a politics-free federal investigation unit. he is subject to the reports to the attorney general, who, of course, is a political appointee. so there is always that filter, but yet just the weight of the bureau itself carries its own independence, and when it has strong leadership, it is highly respected. when that leadership has not been so strong, it has been suspect. and we... you're absolutely right,

the f.b.i.director was asking to stay on as f.b.i. director. don't you see how that's a conflict of interest? the f.b.i. director saying he wants to keep his job and the president is asking whether or not he's under investigation? sarah: i don't see that as a conflict of interest and neither do the many legal scholars and others that have been commenting on it for the last hour. so, no, i don't see that as an issue. reporter: sarah, the other thing i want to ask you is, i asked you directly yesterday -- related to comey -- i asked you directly yesterday the president already decided to fire james comey when he met with the deputy attorney general and attorney general. and you said, no. also, the vice president of the united states said directly to the president took the recommendation of the deputy attorney general to remove the director of the f.b.i. sean spicer said it's all him, meaning the deputy attorney general. the president decided to fire james comey. so why were so many people giving a

the f.b.i.director saying he wants to keep his job and the president is asking whether or not he's under investigation? sarah: i don't see that as a conflict of interest and neither do the many legal scholars and others that have been commenting on it for the last hour. so, no, i don't see that as an issue. reporter: sarah, the other thing i want to ask you is, i asked you directly yesterday -- related to comey -- i asked you directly yesterday the president already decided to fire james comey when he met with the deputy attorney general and attorney general. and you said, no. also, the vice president of the united states said directly to the president took the recommendation of the deputy attorney general to remove the director of the f.b.i. sean spicer said it's all him, meaning the deputy attorney general. the president decided to fire james comey. so why were so many people giving answers that just weren't correct? were you guys in the dark? was the vice president misled again? sarah: i know

the f.b.i. has an acting director, that's andrew mccabe, set to testify today before the senate intelligence committee. the papers this morning also talk about potential people to serve as interim director of the f.b.i. in light of the firing. pictures also included in the "washington journal" street this morning, they include adam lee, an agent in charge of the richmond office, michael anderson, in charge of the chicago office, andrew mccabe, which you just heard, serving as acting director, and he was the deputy f.b.i. director der james comey, william evanina, serving as counterintelligence executive at the office of the director of national intelligence, and paul abbate, in charge of criminal and cyber crimes at the f.b.i., also potentially could serve as next director. some of the people also highlighted in other papers about possibly serving, new jersey governor chris christie, soon-to-be retiring congressional member from south carolina, trey gaudy, and milwaukee county sheriff david clark

president trump's decision to fire the f.b.i. director launches a week of inconsistent explanations from the white house. i'm robert costa. we explore how the dismissal of james comey may accelerate the investigation into russian interference, tonight on "washington week." >> he's a show both, he's a grandstander, the -- he's a show boat he's a grandstander, the f.b.i. has been in turmoil. robert: president trump insists he fired fib director comey because of poor job performance not because of the probe into russian meddling or the recommendation of two top justice department officials. but that's not the message the vice president delivered earlier earlier in the week. >> president trump made the right decision at the light time, to accept the recommendation of the deputy attorney general and the attorney general to ask for the termination. robert: and it's not consistent with the president's own words about why he terminated comey. >> when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, i said, you know this russia thing with trump

the f.b.i. and lost the confidence from members of both sides, republicans and democrats in the house and senate. frankly, most importantly he lost the confidence of the american people. the president made a swift and decisive action and let director comey go. >> bill: we have team fox coverage all morning law. chris stirewalt is there for analysis. we start with kevin corke from the north lawn at the white house. what are they telling you this morning? >> good morning. they're talking about a number of things. most notably the timing. the letter, the president writing to his director. the president went on to write that he still did not have confidence that mr. comey could lead the bureau and that's why he ultimately made his decision. comey learned of his dismissal while in los angeles for a speech. let me walk the folks at home quickly for a timeline of how we got to this point. i want to remind you back in july of 2016 it was comey who announced the f.b.i. would not recommend criminal charges

i heard from countless members of the f.b.i. hat are grateful and thankful for the president's decision and i think that, you know, we may have to agree to disagree. i am sure there are some people that are disappointed but have certainly heard from a large number of individuals and that's just myself, and i don't know that many people in the f.b.i. reporter: what you were saying about the democrats, clearly they didn't like james comey too much after the october 28 pronouncement that he was reopening the investigation into hillary clinton's emails. their point now is that timing is different. that this was in the middle of an investigation. do they have a point? sarah: not at all. ccabenk mr. mccain -- mr. m made that point far better than i could today when he said 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 peddle. reporter: sarah, thank yo

f.b.i. agents and the bureaucracy at the f.b.i. didn't trust him any longer about the way he was handling the investigation. he had become ineffective inside the building and he was a political punching bag outside the building. the president didn't have a choice. he had to get rid of him. keep in mind, the f.b.i. director serves at the will and the pleasure of the president. when you don't have the president's confidence anymore, you're gone. >> woodruff: steve deace, what's your opinion? >> i agree with his analysis. it was hilarious watching john podesta at 11:00 on tuesday talk about what a terrible person comey was and then at 5:00, this was watergate and comey shouldn't be fired. i agree with david's nal si of the hypocrisy here, but the execution and how this was done undermines the white house's own cause, judy, and even if you buy into wild conspiracy theories and even if you agree most of the media is liberal, and i do, and would like the see trump fail, you can't play into this. he does this systematically. you can't have

that's what the f.b.i. does. the congress is getting to deeper issues, speaking to the american people about all of the aspects that happened. i mean, think of the 9/11 commission which is quite frankly what we should have done on capitol hill. even though i'll tell you our investigation is going well, that commission didn't indict anybody. it just told a very, very detailed story of the many failures, the many problems and challenges and threats that led up to 9/11 so the american people could really see what happened and understand what the implications are. that's more what congress does. host: the -- after the senators met with rod rosenstein, senator marco rubio tweeted this out, that the special counsel bob mueller is expected to ask congress to scale back public hearings with witnesses who might be part of his investigation. and you have lindsey graham, his subcommittee is doing their own investigation telling "the washington post" that his committee would probably have a hard time finding a link now and sa

trump referenced the f.b.i.'s current investigation into whether trump campaign officials coordinated are russian operatives during the election. that i am not under investigation. comey was in the los angeles f.b.i. field office when he heard of his dismissal. scott, comey's firing has stunned f.b.i. agents across the country. some worry the russian investigation may now be compromised and wonder if it will proceed aggressively or at all. >> pelley: major garrett, thanks. now let's go to our chief congressional correspondent nancy cordes on capitol hill, where commi comey testified just week. >> mr. president, with all due respect, are you making a big mistake. >> reporter: democrats used terms like "nixonian" to describe comey's firing. they argue president trump is trying to thwart the f.b.i.'s investigation into his inner circle's potential ties to russia. connecticut senator richard blumenthal: >> now we need a special prosecutor who is independent of the president and the department of justice who can condu

koim could stay on as director of the f.b.i. then it appears that each of the three justice department officials were in charge of investigations that started to become a concern in president trump's white house. we heard on monday from sally yates haw she had informed the white house counsel office in january of this year that michael flynn had been compromised and could be blackmailed by the russians for lies that he had said publicly. president trump kept michael flynn on as national security advisor for 18 days after that express warning by the acting attorney general to the white house counsel. he only asked for his resignation hours after "the washington post" reported on general flynn's false statements about his russian communications. the president fired sally yates, the acting attorney generals on january 30, four days after she warned the white house about this connection between general flynn and this ambassador. and then there was preet bhara bharara, whom the president invited to trump tower to tell him he wanted hi

the f.b.i. that restores public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement mission." president of the united states was asked if he still had confidence in comey. he said he did. now, less than a month later, he does not, and comey has been fired. >> pelley: major garrett, thanks very much. now, comey is only the second director of the f.b.i. to be fired in the history of the bureau. the last time it happened was president clinton in 1993 firing william session. but that was on a charge of violating ethical codes. and there's no suggestion of that here. let's go now to our chief congressional correspondent, nancy cordes. nancy, what are you hearing there? >> reporter: well, scott, what preceded all of this was a controversy that gained steam over the course of the day over some inaccurate comments that direct comey made when testifying before the senate judiciary committee last week. he was describing his decision to reopen the clinton investigation 11 days before the election, and he said

he encouraged leaks from the f.b.i. he pressed director comey to release more embarrassing evidence. he even praised director comey after the director's misguided letter to congress last october. yet now the president would have us believe these same events compelled him to fire the f.b.i. director. incidentally, more than six months after it occurred. this unbelievable claim, if it wasn't so sad, it would be laughable. the truth is that the president removed the sitting f.b.i. director in the midst of one of the most critical national security investigations in the history of our country. certainly one of the most critical in my 42 years here in the senate. a sprawling inquiry that implicates senior officials in the trump campaign and administration. the press is now reporting that president trump weighed fire the f.b.i. director for more than a week after he became outraged of director comey's statements and actions in the russia participation. there may have been subpoenas issued to president trump's former national s

indicating this week he's invited the former f.b.i. director james comey to testify before the committee. no word on whether he's accepted that. members of the house have been getting a briefing from the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein on the firing of director comey and the appointment of former f.b.i. director robert mueller as special counsel on the russia investigation. we're hearing there a number of members. congressman cummings. we heard from darrell issa a short while ago. lee ann caldwell from nbc, ruben gallego from arizona, said the briefing was a waste of time. democrat senator from massachusetts said just came out of the house briefing by the deputy a.g., renewed my confidence we shouldn't have no confidence in this administration. we'll show you some of the comments of darrell issa. right now we'll go live to the house for votes. votes will be taken in the following order. adopting an amendment to h.r. 1039, passing h.r. 1039, if ordered. and agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal if ordered. the first el

the firing of the f.b.i. director. the firing of the f.b.i. director. and, by the way, this is the same f.b.i. director who had the audacity to tell the truth before congress when asked whether or not president obama had wiretapped the trump tower, as alleged by president trump in a tweet at 6:00 in the morning, and the f.b.i. director truthfully answered, no, that did not happen. that is senior senator willing that has appeared -- that is also something that has happened in the past month. today we learned that just days before he was fired, mr. comey asked senior officials at the justice department for more resources to carry out the russian investigation. now, what are my colleagues saying about this? well, i think it is very important to note that the two members who are privy to the most classified information -- senator mccain, as chair of the armed services committee, and senator burr, as chair of the intelligence committee -- both have expressed serious concerns about what happened. senator mccain said he was disappointed and senator burr, republ

host: the f.b.i. director has intelligence committee to testify next week, no indication if he's done that yet. you probably seen the photo of the president meeting in the russia's e with foreign minister and the russian ambassador. this photo provided by russian agency, the agency. some reaction from the white via gym accosta of cnn, tweet saying the white house furious that the government photos of the trump meeting with russian ambassador and the "they tricked er us, an official said of the russians, they lie, adding the didn't anticipate be the photograph would posted, according to the official," it was the foreign minister asked about ongoing into russia's influence, also asked about his houghts on the james comey firing, as well, here is his response. developed system, resident trump publicly stated on number of occasions what he hinks about accusations and allegations regarding russia's affairs and that for him ere is no need assurance behind closed doors. there is not single facts, no compelli

f.b.i. director james comey. he did this in the middle of an active f.b.i. investigation into possible links between the trump campaign, trump associates and the russian government. this action should worry every member of the senate. and i know it worries the people we represent. my office has been flooded with calls since this decision became public. americans are asking why this firing happened now, why the firing happened at all, and they are right to ask. officially, president trump said the f.b.i. director's dismissal was necessary to restore, quote, the public trust and confidence in the f.b.i. that is laughable. anybody who knows director comey or knows the f.b.i. knows that that statement is completely false. i have had my issues with the decisions that director comey has made over the past months. i've never called for his removal, but i know that he did not have a negative effect on morale at the justice department or in the f.b.i. i have worked for a deputy attorney general of the united states. i'm so disappointed in the tone of the letter writte

our democratic colleagues complaining about the removal of an f.b.i. director whom they themselves repeatedly and sharply criticized. that removal being done by a man, rod rosenstein, who they repeatedly and effuse civilly praised. mr. rosenstein recommended mr. comey's removal for many of the reasons they consistently complained about. two investigations are currently ongoing. the senate intelligence committee's review of russian active measures and intelligence activities and the f.b.i. investigation disclosed by director comey. today we'll no doubt hear calls for a new investigation which could only serve to impede the current work being done to not only discover what the russians may have done; also to let this body and the national security community develop countermeasures and war-fighting doctrine to see that it doesn't occur again. partisan calls should not delay the considerable work of chairman burr and vice chairman warner. too much is at stake. deputy attorney general rosenstein was just confirmed on a bipartisan vote 94-6. 94-6. and that so

firing the f.b.i. rector might impede the bureau's investigation. >> one guy, even if it's the head guy, doesn't make any difference to whether or not that investigation goes forward or not. es reporter: fellow trump orpporter veridee hand was even less concerned. on the russians worked with trump to get trump elected, is that troubling to you? >> no. en reporter: overall, how do you think president trump is doing? >> i think he's doing very well. >> reporter: and since the inauguration, anthony, the answer we have been getting is that one in state after state, from the people donald trump calls his base. >> mason: dean reynolds, thank you, dean. a philadelphia judge took the ecusual step today of ordering prosecutors to reverse course and bring involuntary manslaughter charges against the engineer of an amtrak train that jumped the tracks two years ago. eight people were killed, 200 hurt. ce d.a.'s office had initially declined to charge brandon bostian, saying it could not have proved he acted with co

. >> pelley: also tonight, what happens to the f.b.i. investigation of russia's meddling in the u.s. election? >> were thosenv igaestitions getting too close to home for the president? >> pelley: dr. jon lapook has a new warning about drugs like ibuprofen, serious seid effects can start sooner than we knew. >> hello, mr. putin. >> pelley: and he spoke softly. >> pleased to meet you. stick. liz palmer's pre-game interview with vladimir putin before he hit the ice. >> how will the firing of james comey affect u.s.-russia relations? >> this is captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: in a previous career, president trump was a master at explaining why he fired someone, but critics are in the buying his explanation for the firing of james comey. the president told reporters today that comey wasn't doing a good job as director of the f.b.i. mr. trump is the first president si