request by him to have a review at the department of justice. reporter: was the reason for the firing what was written by the deputy attorney general? is that why he did it? >> that was final piece that moved the president to make that quick and decisive action yesterday. reporter: what did he mean in the letter yesterday that he wrote, informing comey he was being fired? he said on three separate occasions comey had told him that i am not under investigation? what were those three occasions that the fbi director told the president he wasn't under investigation? >> i'm not going to get into the specifics of their conversations but i can tell you that director comey relayed that information to the president.

are there any concerns they made that type of conference? >> no. charlie. >> how important was it for the fbi director failure to come out of the fbi -- >> i think that was prob one of the many factors. i mean, you can't deny somebody that that wasn't a probm. i think that's just another one of the many reasons that he no longer had the confidence that the president or the rest of the fbi. >> can we expect more firings from the justice department? not that i'm aware of today. >> going forward, does the president want the department of justice to shut down what he call the taxpayer funded charade? >> he wants them to continue what he sees appropriate and continue any on going investigations. look, the bottom line is any investigation that was

happening on monday is still happening today. that hasn't changed and, in fact, we encouraged them to complete this investigation, so we can put it behind us, and we can continue to see exactly what we've been saying for nearly a year. there's no evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and russia, and we love for that to be completed so that we can all move on and focus on the things that frankly i think most of americans are concerned with. >> even if they keep waste taxpayer money. >> nobody wants to waste taxpayer money. i think. has made a priority for this. another reason we would love for it to come to completion. but at the same time, i know you all will not let this go until it does, so we would love for that to be completed. let's put it behind us. et's move on, and let's focus on what we ne to do to turn our country around. >> two questions. grand jury for the case of michael flynn just gone out. >> no. nor should we have done.

>> do you know anything about that process. >> no. i don't. i would have to refer you to -- >> and does the white house know that the investigations are going to proceed in the russian interference to support funding and support who lead that investigation. are you confident that that's the case? >> right now, i believe that would fall to the deputy attorney general, and we are incredibly confident in his abilities, as i believe you can tell by the rest of the senate, including many democrats, given the fact that he was confirmed 94-6 and had overwhelming praise from both sides of the aisle. i think there's complete confidence in him. and another reason, frankly, for director comey to be out of the way so that they could have somebody leading this effort that everybody across the board has respect and confidence in. nobody wants this to be fi

than us so that we can focus on what we need to do here. . >> sean spicer said just a week ago today the president had confidence in the director. so, again, in terms of understanding what has happened in the last seven days to shake the confidence. was sean lying at that point or did something happen in the last seven days? >> of course would love to add that in. of course not. i think one of the big things that took place on the hearing on wednesday where, again, not to sound like a broken record but since you guys keep asking the same questions, i think it's only fair that i keep giving the same answers. but you have the director of the fbi who reports to the deputy attorney general going around the chain of command. that's simply not okay. that's something not allowed in the justice system, nor should it be. that's a huge problem. that along with the corrections that had to take place over the last i believe

48 hours, those are all big problems in another i think kind of piece that pushed the president to make the decision that he did. >> no, i believe the president wanted to give director comey a chance, but he feels he made the right decision. . >> what did he do -- why did he have one of his on time security advisers hand deliver a letter to the director of the fbi when he was, in fact, in los angeles. doesn't he deserve a phone call or face to face conversation? >> he followed the proper protocol in that process, which is handwritten notification. and at the same time, no matter how youire someone, it's never an easy process, so he felt following protocol was the best thing to do. i'm not aware of that

conversation. >> was the president aware that the president asked for more researchers into the investigation? and the director? >> not that i'm aware of. and i think that would be a better question for the department of justice. >> on the campaign trail, president trump said lock her up and criticized the department of justice for not being harsh enough and actually praised director comey. why was he moved by a letter that said that director comey would do -- >> again, i think you're looking at two very different positions. president was wearing a different hat at that time. he was a candidate, not the president. that circumstance certainly changes when you become president and, again, when you go around and the chain of command. like i said before, throw a stick of dynamite into the department of justice.

that's a big problem and one that cannot be ignored. >> i think my understanding was wednesday was the first time the director had openly made that statement and made that clear. >> . >> i'm sorry. could you speak up a little bit? >> sure. the reason why that wasn't included in the readout was the former president -- >> look, a lot of times there are parts of the conversation that aren't specifically included in a readout. but i'm not aware. i haven't had that conversation, so i don't know. i wasn't part of that meeting, so i can't speak to every detail, and i would have to refer you to the specifics of what was discussed.

>> i'll have to get back to you on. i'm not 100% sure. [question off mic] >> we don't think it's necessary. you've got a house committee, a senate committee and department of justice all working on this. i don't think that there's a necessary need at this point to add that. you've got deputy attorney general who is i would say as independent as it comes, do you to the fact that he has such bipartisan support. >> lost faith in the fbi, he's a special agent who's inside who wrote us and said the vast majority are in favor of director comey. this is not supposed to happen. the losers here are 20,000 front line in the organization because they lost the only guy working here in the past 15 years who actually care about them.

so what's your response to these fbi agents who say that they lost faith. >> look, we've heard from countless members of the fbi that say very different things. in fact, the president will be meeting with acting director latetoy to discuss that very thing, the morale of the fbi, as well as the offer to the fbi and will certainly provide further information of that meeting. >> asking for a voice in the selection process. >> i haven't had that conversation, but i know at this point being run through the department of justice and so i would refer you to them on what that process looks like at this point in time. . >> who did the president consult before making the decision to fire james comey? >> the president spoke with a

number of individuals but at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. >> in between monday night and tuesday when he decided to fire the fbi director, did he speak again with the deputy attorney general or the attorney general? >> they spoke on monday i believe the next follow-up was actually in writing. they may have spoken as well, but i would have to double-check to be clear. >> is it accurate to pull away from the information that we have that monday night. the president made the final call and said i want this in writing as a recommendation and then took that recommendation as the evidence that you wanted to provide to fire james comey. >> my understanding is that the decision was actually made on tuesday. but the first conversation that he had was on monday when there was an oral recommendation made and the president requested this in writing to review it further. blake. >> you say you want to move on. let me ask you about that.

is it you still have tax reform to do, infrastructure. >> pretty big list. >> pretty big list; right? but what happened yesterday, you could argue what made politics -- so how do you go about accomplishing all of those things with now the heightened political environment that we're in? >> frankly, i'm surprised that it did create a divide, since you've had so many republicans and democrats repeatedly calling for director comey to be gone. frankly, i don't think it matters what this the president says. you're going to have democrats come out and fight him every single step of the way. i think that's one of the things that's wrong with washington, and i think that's one of the reasons that we've got to get back to focusing on those issues and frankly draining the swamp a little bit further. >> surprised by the democratic backlash considering some of the past statements? >> how could he have, considering most of the people

declaring war today are the very ones that are begging for director comey to be fired. if hillary clinton had won the election, which thank god she didn't. but if she had and she had been in the same position, she would have fired comey immediately and the very democrats that are criticizing the president today would be dancing in the streets celebrating. so it's just i think a purist form of hypocrisy. >> there's a report from israel that indicates the president has made a decision not to move to tel aviv. can you confirm that? >> the president has not made a decision yet. still reviewing that. >> one more follow-up. >> oh, sorry. >> also, the president of erdogan said this morning, that warning from other arab leaders play into his decision? >> i'm not going to get into the decision-making process here. all i can tell you is that -- as soon as we have a decision,

i know we'll be happy to report back to you guys. john. >> thank you, sarah. two questions. both related to the selection of the successor to director comey. when president carter chose an fbi director, he had a panel advising him, president clinton, obama interviewed several candidates. is the president going to follow this pattern? or does he have some individual in mind at this point? >> right now i know there are several individuals being considered and the first step will be determining the acting -- excuse me, the interim director and is being handled through the department of justice. so i would refer you to them right now. >> and the other question i was going to ask. >> oh, yeah. you've got two. >> i've got two -- i'm pretty nice, charlotte, aren't i? [laughter]

>> that's okay. that's okay. >> it's a southern thing. >> the first thing. >> just want to make sure i got that in again. happy birthday, scarlet. gone with the wind. >> it is the fact that former fbi agents and veterans of the bureau generally prefer people who have been agents themselves with a background in the fbi. only two former agents have been director in the last four decades. will the president consider current or former agents for the position? >> i would say that he's not ruling anything out at thi int. but,gain, as of today, the department of justice is handling the first step in this process.

>> should the attorney general have any role in the selection of successor? and given the fact that in his 100 day interview, the president himself said that he had confidence in director comey at this podium the american people were told he had confidence in director comey. can people take at face value what the president says on personnel issues like this where two weeks later he's out. >> absolutely you can take full confidence in the words of the president. in terms of whether or not attorney general sessions should have a role. look, the fbi's doing a whole lot more than the russian investigation. i know everybody in this room and probably most of the media around the world would like to think that's the fbi's sole responsibility, but that's probably one of the smallest things they've got going on on their plate and the 20,000 employees that work there, so he should absolutely have a role in seeing who runs that agency and that department.

>> does. [question off mic] >> yes, he does. >> and you mentioned earlier from the russian investigation, is it appropriate for the white house to be directing the fbi what to do with any investigation they're currently investigating? >> i don't think that that was the nature or the intent of my comment. it wasn't to director the i. but i think it's simply wee fully compliant with this process so frankly all of us can move on and focus on things that blake listed earlier like tax reformat, health care, and frankly the number one thing that we're talking about here today, every single day is not fbi investigation but things that frankly affect american voters and american taxpayers every single day.

>> the monday meeting, was that because of the hearing last week or is the monday meeting with the president come out of a longer process of consideration? >> the department of justice officials were here for other business, not specifically to meet with the president on that. the topic came up and they asked to speak with the president, and that's how it moved forward. [question off mic] the. >> not that i'm aware of, no. >> discussions before the confirmation nominated, did he talk about? >> no, not that i'm aware of. >> the president's statement about whether or not his investigative reasons, several questions.

can you talk about why you were not willing to add more to that about who asked for that and. >> who asked for what? i'm sorry. >> about whether or not the president seems to exonerate himself. can you talk about why he won't add anymore to what that conversation was, how that took place, when it took place. >> i think. >> again, i'm not going to get into the specific details. i'll check and see if we have follow-up on that. but at this point, i'm not going to comment any further than what was spelled out on the letter. >> i'm sorry? >> why was it in the letter? you won't to clarify the comment. >> look, i think it was something that pay grade was decided to be included. thanks, guys, so much. . >> okay. that was sarah huckabee sanders fielding questions from reporters there on important day for her her daughter scarlet's fifth

birthday. she had huge questions from the shocking firing of fbi director comey. president trump's decision to fire the fbi director to send a whole lot of shock waves throughout washington and continuing to do so right now, which is why ms. huckabee sanders was facing quite a few questions there from reporters. now, if i do say-so myself, i think her dad mike huckabee would be pretty proud because she ndled that very much well grace, and it cerinly is a high pressure situation. democrats are calling for an independent investigation into the trump campaign ties into russian while republicans worry what exactly this is going to mean for the ability to move forward on the very important economic policies we need. like tax reform. like health care reform. now, the white house says the president has lost total confidence in comey over the last few months. let's face it. both sides had lost confidence in james comey over the last few months.

joining me right now founder adam johnson, former democratic party chairman scott, as well as mark. good to have all of these guys here. we're going to start with you, adam, we do get to the market in a second and what investors think of all of this. but right now, i mean, isn't this in some way serving as a giant sideshow, taking us away from the important policy reform that need to happen? >> well, the house just put together a proposal on health care. the senate is now considering it, everyone working on tax reform and now this. we have to deal with the fact that republicans and democrats are trying to get ahead of others. it's a mess. the curious thing, though, is that the markets don't seem to respond at the moment. they're actually up. i would have thought we were down. >> down 36. >> yeah. taking it in stride. >> totally taking it in stride. it takes us back to the questi why do it now?

why t go in on day one and get rid of comey? i mean, you probably have the political capital to do so because the democrats were so angry with him, the republicans were so angry with him, there was donald trump looking like he was giving him this lifeline. now it turns out he didn't think he was doing a very good job. the timing the democrats are saying is very suspicious because it's coming amid news that james comey wanted more resources for the russia investigation, something that sarah huckabee was asked about, and she said, look, she was not aware of that or that he was aware of that in any way. but why do it now? >> actually, trish, i think there's even more credibility in the decision because of the timing. rosenstein was only confirmed in april by the senate as the deputy attorney general. he was the one who essentially given the decision and made the case against comey. so i think it's quite -- i

think the timing makes perfect sense. the president of the united states wanted to put a very credible team in charge of the justice department. he had misgivings about comey and put it in the right hands. so very professional, highly regarded on both sides of the aisle, deputy attorney general helped fuel this decision and in that time, james comey had the opportunity to either improv his own credentials or worse them and by golly last week in his own testimony he worsened them and basically set his own fate. >> the democrats are singing a different tune here. they feel there's a lot of reasons to doubt president trump. they feel this is as though some type of cover-up, they feel he was deliberately fired and invoking what happened back in the nixon administration. saturday night massacre. is it in your view that bad? >> well, i think it's that

bad, but let's unpack it just for a moment. donald trump has the ability to hire and fire the fbi director. >> he does. >> i don't think the democrats or the republicans don't challenge that. but the democrats and some republicans are challenging it instead of doing it when you first got in, you now do it while you're under investigation or at least your campaign was for collusion with the russian -- with the russians doing the campaign. now, comey is leading that investigation. now, you can be unhappy with comey. you can lose confidence in comey. but the analysis cannot stop there. it is what it looks like, is it the conflict of interest? is it an appearance? your lack of confidence is going to spread to the lack of confidence to the administration itself. let me finish. trish: hang on. let me him finish. >> let me finish. so now, you created this narrative, he then, trump drove the narrative. you got rid of comey, and now

there's this political and regulatory and vacuum now that you've got to feel. trish: okay. the only thing i counter that with, and i think adam would agree is that he is a businessman. he's a businessman first and foremost, he's not a politician, and he's not necessarily thinking through all the ramifications of how this is going to go down or how it's going to look. >> he's just saying this thing isn't working. it didn't work for democrats. it's not working for republicans. it's certainly not working for me quote, the president, says trump. and scott and i are usually on different sides of the aisle. but i will grant you you're right. the timing as the russian investigation is getting underway, not great. but guess what? there's a fix for that. you create a special board to investigate it and now mr. trump is free and clear and able to run the business of the white house, as a matter of fact, i think he intends to. >> okay. and, mark wanted to get something in before i made the businessman point.

but what was that, mark? . >> to scott's point. by scott saying that this is suspicious timing, that would suggest that the president made this decision on january 20th or january 21st that the democrats would praise this decision.

trish: all right. just moments ago we heard from white house secretary about president trump's decision to fire fbi director james comey. our own blake burman, he was there asking some questions himself, including a very good one about how this would affectuture policies, in terms of tax reform and health care reform. he joins us right now with the very latest. hey, there, blake. >> kind of laid out the timeline as to the president's thinking into fire james comey yesterday afternoon. sanders saying that it actually dates back to election day when the president was elected, and she

said that's when his mind-set sort of changed on things. she made the argument that there's a bit of a difference between being a candidate and then being the president-elect and the president after that, and that's why his position on comey was able to evolve. sanders saying that the president's faith essentially and the former fbi director had eroded over time, and she kept circling back to how the fbi director comey, the former director handled the hillary clinton e-mail investigation by saying that he through a stick of dynamite toward the department of justice. take a listen to sanders just a while ago. >> director comey made a pretty startling revelation that he had essentially taken a stick of dynamite and thrown it into the department of justice by going around the chain of command. i think it's been an erosion of confidence. i think that director comey has shown over the last several months and frankly the last year a lot of missteps and mistakes.

>> trish, sanders said that the final decision was indeed made by the president yesterday. you mentioned the question that i asked, sarah huckabee sanders, it was pretty much as follows with everything that you've got to do from here out. finish up health care, tax reform, raise the debt ceiling, pass the spending bill, infrastructure. a handful just to name a few with everything that happened yesterday, that widened the divide. how are you going to go about accomplishing those? she said that they were shocked that democrats were against the president's actions yesterday because of past statements that they made toward comey and sanders said to me quote, i think that's why one of the reasons we have to get back to the issues and frankly draining the swamp a little bit further as it relates to the interim mccave, he will be meeting, trish, with the president this afternoon. trish. trish: all right. interesting times. what i can blake burman, thank you so much. but, again, everybody saying this was an equal opportunity

firing; right? i mean, in other words, when hillary clinton had done the same thing? he had lost confidence of both parties. but as you can imagine in the environment in such we now live, folks like chuck schumer and other democrats on capitol hill are just absolutely positively losing their minds over this, and you know why? they smell blood. it's a political tip, and it teps them drive the narrative that they've been advancing over and over and over again that somehow russia and donald trump excluded together to♪ cost hillary clinton the election. we've got more on that things are headed. because as we live longer... and markets continue to rise and fall... predictable is one thing you need in retirement to help protect what you've earned and ensure it lasts. introducing brighthouse financial. a new company established by metlife

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trish: all right. the democrats are blasting president trump right now because he fired fbi director james comey. remember? the guy that they didn't like. the guy that may have cost hillary clinton the election. i mean, the one thing that you have to say about james comey is at least everyone hated him; right? well, the president blamed the handling, the democrats saying nope, that's not it. it has to be somehow that he was onto something about russia. here they are. >> there is little reason to think that mr. rosenstein's letter is the true reason that president trump fired director comey. we know director comey was leading an investigation in whether the trump campaign colluded with the russians.

serious offense. were those investigations getting too close to home for the president? >> well, that's what the democrats would like you to think; right? they're also calling this firing outrageous, brazenly interfering. and they want an independent special committee on the russia connection. others worry that this could distract congress from the very important stuff they've actually got to get done so that all of us have a better economics future. health care reform. tax reform. these things will really matter. adam shapiro joins me right now from dc with more on the politics of all of this and what it might mean for any economic policy or lack thereof. hey, adam. >> hey, trish. well, right now business as usual but there's breaking news. the senate intelligence committee has confirmed to fox that they've invited former fbi director james comey to testify in a closed session before the committee next tuesday.

so will be heading to the hill. but sources close to the republican leader, trish, they've told us that obviously congress can walk and chew gum at the same time. breaking news, this is what they saitoe. breaking news won't prevent efforts to push health care forward. in fact, secretary treasury steve mnuchin as well as the president's economic adviser gary cohn met today at the white house with members of the steering committee. it's all part of the listening sessions with the hill that the administration is conducting. so they met yesterday with members of the finance committee, which is crafting legislation on tax reform. business as usual. it's one reason vice president pence was on the hill this morning meeting with members of congress. the vice president says the president's decision to fire comey was the right decision at the right time. >> the simple fact is director comey had lost the confidence of the american people. the support that i heard from members of the senate today and when i was over by the senate chamber, the support

for the president's decision that's being expressed in this capitol building and around the country i think is reflective of the fact it was time for a fresh start. . >> but, trish, there are democrats like senator juan who is ranking member of the senate finance committee has been very critical of comey in the past, and he is calling for comey to be quote immediately called to testify in a open hearing about the status of the investigation into russia and trump associates when he was fired. of course, as we told you at the top, it's going to be a closed hearing or testimony, if you want to call it that before the senate intelligence community on tuesday. former fbi director james comey will be there. back to you. trish: you know what? that's good. that's healthy. that should be the process at this point. adam shapiro, thank you very much. i'm joined for an analysis of all of this. and you were saying before we went to break, adam johnson, that we need this kind of

transparency. if you think the guy is bad at his job, he's bad. but those who want to get to the bottom of it, they absolutely should. >> well, there's a problem when the head of a internal spy organization, that's what the fbi is in effect. cia is external, fbi is internal. spy might be harsh, but that's what they're doing. when you have the head of that organization who effectively becomes the news, that's a problem. that's dysfunctional. it doesn't work for republicans. it doesn't work for democrats. mr. trump, president trump was correct to remove mr. comey from this position. in fairness, if you really want to do it the right way, now create a special prosecutor where you actually look at the situation and maybe not prosecutor, special investigator to figure out whether there was anything that was done with russia that should be considered here. fair enough. but you need a new head of the fbi. trish: you know, look, sarah sanders saying when she was asked specifically that question was he aware?

was president trump aware that james comey had asked for more resources just a day before the firing. more resources so he could inveigatrussia and she said, no, she did not believe the president had any knowledge of that. so as you heard mike pence say, as the white house was presenting this, it was time. they needed to move on. and, mark, we heard for weeks, have we not, that he wanted to put someone in of his own there. we've heard everyone from rudy jewe giuliani to chris christie, and reporting that he was hearing that james comey's days might be nimble and bill clinton got rid of the head in 1993 as well. >> this is chief executive and how he acts. he draws information from a lot of sources, he puts people in charge, so he has great confidence in. and when he loses confidence,

he replaces them. just that simple. and look at it this way, trish. here we are talking about before the meeting next week. any republican on the hill who doesn't insist that compelled to testify is disservicing this country the party and the white house. that's what we should expect from the republicans on the hill. trish: but, look, as mark points out, it may be business as usual. this is just part of the deal. there's a new president in. this particular fbi director was under fire from literally everyone. i don't know how he had a friend anywhere, given that he had alienated both sides and many had felt, looked rather incompetent. scott, how do we move forward from here when you got chuck schumer doing what chuck schumer is doing? >> well, he's doing the right thing. there's a big problem here; right? the big problem is you're all right.

all the republicans are right in one way. on the other hand, though, this is the gentleman who was investigating trump and the trump campaign possible collusion with russia. if you want to do it the right way, he would have had a replacement in the rose garden immediately saying here's a new, strong independent fbi leader to go forward, or we're going to name a special prosecutor either way. trish: it didn't even happen 24 hours ago. right, scott? >> whenever this has been done before, for example, you mentioned bill clinton, he did it that way. and if you've been unhappy with comey for all of this period of time, then why not do it that way? and, by the way, the democrats aren't really crazy about comey. but they were calling for his head eight months later, if you will, because they want this investigation. the problem the democrats have is that this investigation now isn't clear where it's going, and it needs an independent leader, which is no, i think the president is going to be forced to name a special prosecutor or independent

commission. that's trump's fault. nobody elses. >> thank you, scott, thank you, adam, thank you, mark. big newsday. we are getting reports today that the fbi is in complete chaos, turmoil. obviously, i mean, people are saying my goodness, they have no head of the organization right now. james comey has been fired. our own charlie gasparino, he has been talking to sources within the fbi, and he has some exclusive information for us next. do not forget charlie told you just a couple of weeks ago that it looks like comey's days could be numbered. he joins us next en this guy gote in the middle of the night, so he got home safe. yeah, my dad says our insurance doesn't have that. what?! you can leave worry behind wheniberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance.

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trish: all right. everyone, the firing of james comey shocking a whole lot of folks, but i'll tell you one person who this did not shock at all. in fact, he ld you this may happen. our very own charlie gasparino. in fact, just last week, he said on air right here on fox business that comey's job just wasn't safe.

watch this. >> if you talk to fbi agents, which i do on occasion about the politics of the place, they would concede that they believe that james comey, the director is -- he has a very tenuous hold on the job. they live from day to day fearing that donald trump's going to change his mind and ask for his resignation. trish: well, there you have it. charlie joins me now with more scoop. >> i'm still shocked when i saw it yesterday, even though i was obviously mentally prepared for it. trish: yeah, you were hearing this. >> yeah. trish: but still, i think everybody was shocked. i imagine folks within the fbi right now are still a bit from this. >> listen, republicans don't like james comey because they believe he should have endited hillary clinton the first time. that he came up with a tortured louisa hodge not to indict her, that the intent that she did not show was prevalent basically in the fact that she had a server and she knew she was receiving

classified information on the server to say that -- it's like saying there's no intent on robbing a bank. what's the intent? well, the fact that you're robbing a bank is the intent. and i think that that's what republicans would say and there are some of those people in the trump administration. democrats, obviously, don't like him because they think that, you know, think by mentioning this stuff, he would -- he was exposing hillary clinton's negatives; right? trish: right? >> i think comey himself thought that that am i buy him some time. there were those close that knew his days were numbered. trish: you think he knew? >> yeah. i think he did. i think he knew trump could change his mind in a minute and never had a full vote of confidence. trish: do you think he has a vendetta against trump? >> no. here's the problem trump has. he has a huge optics problem. if i were he, and i think i said this on air. the minute he's elected, he

should have said james comey doesn't have a job. trish: and the political capital. >> now that he does it here, and i can tell you this from the same fbi agents that told me, you know, that he was day to day and tenuous, they're also saying there's smoke to this russia stuff, and they're investigating it. so the optics of it is simply so bad -- i'm not saying anybody did anything wrong. trish: no, but i hear you. >> you fire somebody in the middle of an investigation, you're going to get comparisons, even though i think it's a ridiculous comparison to nixon. trish: so he's got to correct it now. very quickly, we just have 15 seconds. who do you think, charlie, is going to get the job? >> i actually have, and i don't think anybody is. the names that keep come up are tray gowdy, chris christie, rudy giuliani, who i think you interviewed once, he

didn't quite deny it. although, now he's denying it. that's a more broad. you know, i think a good choice would be ray kelly because he's nonpartisan. but here's the thing donald. trish: didn't i tell him 15 seconds? they're going to cut us off. good point. see you back here.

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trish: all right. breaking right now. senator, the third ranking senate republican joins us now on this big news out of the white house that president trump has fired fbi director james comey. senator, thank you for being back with me here today on a pretty important newsday. what's your reaction? >> well, i think like everybody else. surprised. everybody was caught off guard by this, trish.

but i don't think it should come -- the timing, rather, i think was the surprise. i don't think it should be unanticipated in terms of the decision itself. obviously, there's been a lot of conversation over the past several months about james comey and whether or not he should stay or whether he should go. trish: you think he should go? >> republicans and democrats alike have concluded that he should. that's a judgment ultimately by the president. i don't deal with him or interact with him on a regular basis. he's always thought done a nice job when he briefed us in classified settings. but in this last year, he has gotten outside of his lane as to the job of the fbi. and he's been very politicized, and i think that has hurt his credibility and the question is whether it compromises his ability to be effective in the job. >> so, senator, right now the democrats are spinning a narrative that james comey knew too much and was going to investigate too much. and this is what we're hearing from your calling ere in the senate.

chuck schumer. do you think this is now going to impede your ability to get other things done? i mean, when we think about tax reform, health care reform, and some of the pressing issues on your agenda. >> that would be my concern, trish, is that we would be able to focus on the things that people want to focus on. the democrats today are blowing this up. there's a lot of hyperbolic language out there, given the fact that senator schumer said he had no confidence a few months ago in comey as well. so this is being politicized at the moment by the democrats. but i hope when things settle down, we'll be able to focus again on the agenda because a lot of work that the american people want us to do to try to grow the economy, create better-paying jobs, raise wages in this country, reform health care, which is originally what we're here to talk about. but this news obviously has disrupted that and the democrats are having their day in trying to draw attention to this. but in the long run, i think that's going to be a failing strategy. >> so in your view, do you

think that his firing, donald trump's firing of james comey had anything to do with james comey getting too close to something on the russians? >> i have no idea about that. all i know is what the administration has said and the person who recommended this, the deputy attorney general is somebody who was just approved by the senate by a vote of 94-6. people think he has tremendous integrity. this is his recommendation and as to other issues, there's no evidence of that. trish: should thereby an independent investigation to figure out the answer to that? >> well, i don't think there's been any suggestion that there's any criminal wrongdoing. this is on intelligence, counterintelligence, and the intelligence committee is leading that. the fbi is doing another separate investigation. there are plenty of investigations out there going on. so i think it would be really premature to talk about any kind of special investigation >> senator, thank you so much. good to see you, sir. >> thanks, trish.

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>> the senator to time tie me a few minutes ago that james comey firing is being politicized by the democrats. liz claman over to you. the former fbi director quote committed atrocities in the chain of command. after mistakes and missteps. and now the search is on. compiling the list of candidates to replace the ousted fbi director. while sitting next to the former secretary of state the president said he fired,