would hillary clinton have fired james comey? >> you know, hillary clinton wasn't elected president of the united states, donald trump was. i think this is a classic example of how the trump administration is trying to get us to debate, you know, what would hillary have done. let's go back to 2016 and relitigate the campaign and not keep the focus on the choice that donald trump made here. >> we're going to do that, but i'm not part of the trump campaign. this is me asking you. would hillary clinton have fired james comey? >> i honestly have no clue. you know, we were running a campaign, we were focused on winning votes, and this discussion never came up and never -- we never frankly had the opportunity because she wasn't elected to even make these sorts of considerations. you know what, frankly, it doesn't matter. what's concerning here today is that the same day that subpoenas were coming out in the fbi probe into russia, all of a sudden donald trump decides to fire james comey. and not just that, he decides to make the excuse

many people respected james comey. so it is unclear at this point why the president is coming out on the attack, especially in light of the fact he was considering the president visiting fbi headquarters today. we know plans are in place for him to go over to the headquarters. they have been making preparations for that at the bureau. but two officials telling us those plans were scrapped because of the timing of this and now the timing of these tweets, the optics of this and the relationship between the president and the fbi seems to continue to erode. the president not doing himself any favors with these tweets. >> how will this be received by the current eastbound membmembe. honesty is an unreasonable expectation. that is a message by the president this morning after the message released by the white house about why the fbi director was fired were proven to be untrue. as a active president with lots of things happen, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with about your sit. maybe we should cancel

james comey is not going away. just like former director of national intelligence clapper, former acting attorney general sally yates, will be called before public hearings of these multiple senate and house committees that have investigating this. just as michael flynn was fired but he is not going away. in fact, he has many legal problems and many strands of investigations focusing on him. the investigations won't go away. the people who have been leading the investigations, they will be asked hard questions in public and classified settings. >> this episode itself is going to be part of the congressional investigations. >> strip away the formality. call this what it is. i stopped listening to kellyanne conway when the president fired the guy investigating the campaign for inclucolludes the shafrn russians. she wanted to compare that to a drinking game. it's bigger than trump. it's about america. it's about protecting our institutions. they don't care about that. that's what their disdain shows in their answers t

under james comey? well, i've had questions nd concerns about some things hat he's said and i always wondered why nothing came of the e-mails, the situation with the one was ever no prosecuted for that. mean, there was confidential, classified information that were in some of the e-mails and approved to ren't have that, had it. kind of shake me some that nothing ever seemed to that.n from host: thanks for the call this morning. rose up next, denver, colorado. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span, call. you for taking my am calling to say that i am orry to see that f.b.i. director james comey has been and the timing of it and the season of it. a parallel to it with the video clip you have been showing where the president director or eted former director now, james comey, with a kiss on the cheek handshake, hand pat on his back. that to president where judasa judas, kissed the lord jesus on the and had the government of him harisees there to take nder arrest and lead to his crucifixion. host: rose,

if there was a sign in retro spect, he never brought up james comey and we never discussed james comey. but there was a clear sense of grievance the president had with how the russia investigation story was still beingdy gusted. he took us into his private dining room there in the west wing and tivoed up the senate hearing and basically gave his color commentary about the parts of the testimony he thought were most important, you know, implying that the witnesses were against him, trying to smear him and making the case once again that that tweet he put out, you know, a month and a half ago, that the president wiretapped him was correct because there was testimony that, you know, names were unmasked and not authorized by the white house that could have included members of his staff. >> you know, doug, as a republican, as a republican strategist, as a former communications guy, you have got sean spicer in the bushes or among the bushes. i like how they had to correct their reporting. aside from that and you've got sara huk by sandering doing the briefing, this white house has completely

director james comey. plus, i sit down with maine senator susan collins to talk about the comey firing and the fate of the republican's health care bill as it makes its way to her side of capitol hill. and, searching for hope in havana. why cancer patients are making the trek to cuba for a promising medication. >> i'm surprised mick's still here. so, i do believe that outside of divine intervention, there's some sort of scientific basis to what he's doing. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

james comey has shown a lot of m ista kes james comey has shown a lot of mistakes over the last year, certainly, that as you have seen from many of the comments from democrats including senator schumer, that he should be gone. frankly i think it is startling that democrats are not celebrating because they have been calling for it for so long. i think this needs to question limit. back in october, this president was applauding the fbi director when he reopened the investigation into hillary clinton's e—mail. he seems happy with it at that point. what changed? the president's position. he was a candidate, not the president. 0nce you take over leading the department of justice, that's you take over leading the department ofjustice, that's different from being a candidate in a campaign. there's clear distinction between those two things. also, having a letter like the one he received, having that conversation which outlined the atrocities in circumventing the chain of command in the department ofjustice. any person of legal mind and authority knows what a big deal that is, particularly

i trusted james comey. i thought he had made some mistakes last fall but i never called for his resignation. i thought he was a straight shooter. frankly, i'm offended at the president's comments today. this is a continuing pattern of disrespecting the men and women who serve in our intelligence community. i think the president would be better served regardless of his views, supporting the ic rather than continually questioning, repeatedly calling into question the leaders' integrity. >> the president just told lester holt that he was going to fire director comey, whether or not that he had recommendation or not. and he called director comey a sh boat, a grandstander. do you agree with that? you just heard something different. >> i'm not going on speak for senator warner. i put out a statement the night of the director's he firing. i found him to be one of the most ethical, upright, straightforward individuals i've had the opportunity to work. he provided our committee more access to information than any di

comey remaining there was firing james comey and now donald trump has gone and done that. >> then john podesta who chaired hillary clinton's campaign echoing the words democrats who called comey's firing nixon on. podesta tweeting didn't you know you're supposed to wait until saturday night to massacre people investigate underground. that's reference to president nixon's firing of special prosecutor archibald cox which led to resignation of the attorney general and deputy attorney general. it wasn't even seven or eight minutes after the news broke that comey was fired you're seeing reference to nixonian and archibald cox and saturday night massacre. >> both sides of the ailes now. republicans very critical of the timing here and that's what is the focus. this morning a range of other former officials with insight pushing back against the comey firing. former u.s. attorney, the federal prosecutor in new york who was fired by the president after being told he was staying on tweeting, everyone who cares about independence and rule of law in america should be troubled by the timing and the

secondly, james comey is no archibald cox. james comey, what he did, he should have been fired last july for basically usurping his power within the department of justice and making the statements he made with regard to the hillary clinton e-mail investigation. thirdly, i think this whole matter of watergate, people have to understand it wasn't just the break-in to the democratic headquarters. it was a whole series of illegal acts. i mean, no question about it, the matter under investigation here is extremely serious. the idea that a political campaign of somebody running for president is conspireing with a foreign government to undermine his opponent is extremely serious and unprecedenteded. >> it doesn't get much more important to that. >> norm eisen, ambassador, we have a good point here which doesn't have to be mutually exclusive that james comey acted inappropriately during the campaign and that his firing yesterday is extremely suspect. your take on it? >> well, whatever you may think of the campaign conduct and there is

peter doocy has a look back at james comey's career and how he got to this point. >> before james comey became the seventh director of the fbi, he was born in new york, raised in new jersey and married to his college sweetheart prayed he prosecuted martha stewart while serving as the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york and in 2003, the 6'8" comey was nominated by president george w. bush to be the deputy attorney general. the next year, colby had a showdown with top administration officials because they tried to get a hospitalized attorney general john ashcroft to reauthorize an nsa program from his hospital bed. >> i thought i witnessed and effort to take advantage of a sick man who did not have the powers of the attorney general. >> comey admits he was a registered republican for years but ended up being nominated to lead the federal bureau of investigation for a 10-year term by a democratic president. >> he doesn't care about politics. he only cares about getting the job done. >> comey confronted the rise of isis, telling "60 minutes" he preferred the term loan rat to

james comey may not have said that three times, james comey may not have requested that dinner. what have you learned? >> let's go back to the tweet to start with if we can look at it one more time. the president said that these were leaks talking about the dinner. a dinner that the president himself has just described. so i think you have to start and first of all say, assuming that mr. comey had talked about the dinner, would that be a leak, the same dinner the president just talked about. that's point one. point two is, all the people that we have talked to about this dinner, and i'll get to the substance in a moment, none of them were james comey. these were all people who had been told about this dinner january right after it happened, by mr. comey. this -- in other words, these were -- we talked to people who had been told about the dinner at the time. we did not hear about any of this from mr. comey himself. all right. having set that aside now, what do they say? they say first of all, despite the fact that the president said in the interview with lester twice that mr. co

director james comey. plus, i sit down with maine senator susan collins to talk about the comey firing and the fate of the republican's health care bill as it makes its way to her side of capitol hill. and, searching for hope in havana. why cancer patients are making the trek to cuba for a promising medication. >> i'm surprised mick's still here. so, i do believe that outside of divine intervention, there's some sort of scientific bato

james comey had served in a high-ranking position. he'd been deputy attorney general in the george w. bush justice department and that was at a time when the george w. bush justice department was implicated in having given legal cover to the bush administration's policy of torturing terrorism suspects. on paper, that makes somebody with a resume like james comey not a likely candidate to be given a big promotion to a high-profile job in any democratic administration, let alone the obama administration. on paper, it didn't much make sense that the obama administration would hire somebody from the george w. bush justice department to come run the fbi. on paper, it didn't make sense. in real life, james comey was able to tell a dramatic story of him standing up to the george w. bush administration when that administration had tried to pressure the justice department on the justice department on a controversial surveillance measure. gave that dramatic testimony in congress and nobody who heard it ever forgot it. so he had that going for h

comey remaining there is firing james comey. now donald trump has done that. >> twilight zone. i was as disappointed and frustrated as anyone as how the e-mail investigation was handled. but this terrifies me. are you surprised by the reaction from the clinton team? >> not at all. all things legal are not expedient. legally donald trump had the authority to fire james comey. even though barack obama had appointed him to a ten year term, the president, the sitting president has the authority to fire the fbi director. but what's so stunning about this is when you look at the timing, as we've been talking about, and the explanation it's employment law 101. if you're firing someone because of their performance you want to make sure that that termination occurs close in time to the actions giving rise to the termination. if the termination is related to what happened in terms of the investigation of hillary clinton's emails back during the 2016 campaign you would have expected to see from the department of justice a memorandum, close

james comey was let go because of his handling of hillary clinton's e-mail case, at this hour there are protests underway across the country. this is sky fox over senator diane feinstein's office in san francisco. we have live team coverage tonight and reaction from california lawmakers. we are in oakland where another protest is taking place, first we go to the nation's capitol and lauren. >> reporter: good evening, the white house is pushing back hard on the idea that former fbi director james comey was let go because of the russia investigation, they are saying that the president lost confidence in a man many on both sides of the political aisle wanted to see gone. >> he was not doing a good job. >> reporter: today president donald trump offered little insight into his decision to fire former fbi director james comey, the optics of sitting next to henny kissinger seemed a strange choice to some considering the comparisons to water gate. >> you will hear calls for a new investigation. >> reporter: the democrats on the senate floor this morning made a plea to ron rosenstein to appoint

peter doocy has a look back at james comey's career and how he got to this point. >> before james comey became the seventh director of the fbi, he was born in new york, raised in new jersey and married to his college sweetheart prayed he prosecuted martha stewart while serving as the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york and in 2003, the 6'8" comey was nominated by president george w. bush to be the deputy attorney general. the next year, colby had a showdown with top administration officials because they tried to get a hospitalized attorney general john ashcroft to reauthorize an nsa program from his hospital bed. >> i thought i witnessed and effort to take advantage of a sick man who did not have the powers of the attorney general. >> comey admits he was a registered republican for years but ended up being nominated to lead the federal bureau of investigation for a 10-year term by a democratic president. >> he doesn't care about politics. he only cares about getting the job done. >> comey confronted the rise of isis, telling "60 minutes" he preferred the term loan rat to

many of them truly like james comey. and so when i heard the first part of your show, who else is the president going to fire next, there are a lot of people working on these investigations that cannot be fired that will not be fired, and that are going to get to the bottom of this. >> senator, you were just describing the president's explanation for why he fired james comey. he is admitting it was his decision that the rosenstein memo was a pretext and he made it in part because of the russia investigation. there's also these claims by the president that he had conversations with director comey in which the director assured him he was not the target of an investigation. this is contested information. associates say they're quite sure a conversation like this couldn't happen. the president has suggested there might be tapes of that conversation that would somehow vindicate him on this matter. if obstruction of justice is a possibility here, either in terms of the firing or in terms of any pre-firing conversations that th

james comey is out. who should be his replacement and what should we look for in that candidate. >> someone who is a face to america. someone that a lot of american people would recognize. has obviously a high degree of integrity. is from law enforcement. my suggestion is ray kelly, the former police commissioner from new york city. that's a face that america knows. when you are taking a look at the threats we face internally. the threat from terrorism. cartels, gangs, a big city police commissioner like ray kelly would be an excellent choice. there is other good people out there. that's not a bad place to start. steve: pete, why did comey have to go. >> comey had to go. he lost the confidence number one of the political class here in washington. you know, you have been playing some of the hits over the last six, seven, eight months of people on the democrat and republican side of the aisle who said what is this guy doing? he is doing things that an fbi director should not be doing. he has lost the confi

markets are mixed following firing of james comey. asian markets higher after swearing in of the south korean president. nancy, good morning. can you take us through the global markets? >> good morning, lewis. that abrupt dismissal of fbi director comey keeps investors on edge. the most immediate was in the u.s. dollar trending slower, they recovered some losses on the green back. expect equities to open lower on wall street according to u.s. futures. although the comey firing may not have immediate impact on markets according to some investors, it is a larger concern it could once again distract from putting through pro-growth agenda in congress, specifically talking tax reform. that's the uncertainty that may weigh on investors' minds. keep an eye on walmart. according to sources, telling "the wall street journal" they could be set to pay a $300 million settlement for foreign bribery allegations, goes back to a five year investigation, the government has been exploring. this sum said to be far less than the near 1 billion dollar sec

they are also likely to make statements on the president's firing yesterday of fbi director james comey. the president tweeting several times today about that, including saying that "james comey will be replaced by someone who will do a far better job bringing back the spirit and prestige of the fbi." we expect to hear more about that at the white house briefing coming up at 1:30 this afternoon. the president at this hour meeting with the russian foreign minister this morning, sergey lavrov, who is also meeting with secretary of state rex tillerson. also this afternoon, the democratic policy committee holding a hearing on the trump administration's health care plan. they plan to hear from citizens who might be affected by the loss of coverage under the current health care law. we will wait for this hearing to get underway. there was a vote underway right now in the senate, procedural vote on moving forward with some legislation. the hearing should get underway shortly. the senate judiciary committee getting set t for nomination hearing this morning for several people, including noel fra

liz: saying to james comey and the fbi downplay it. call it a matter, not a criminal investigation and sounds like mey went along with it. so do you think the president was correct in firing james comey? what did you think of that? >> yes. but let me get back to that. you know, what jim comey should have done in my view that day when he knew there was no grand jury, and he had to know that there was no way president obama or the attorney general was ever going to allow any kind of indictment of hillary clinton. he should have stood up at a press conference and resigned as the director of the fbi. that's what he should have done. but instead, he danced with the devil for months, and that really got him into all of this trouble. and his ego got bigger and bigger, you know? he did some strange things. smart guy lacking in common sense. and did it happen correctly? absolutely it happened correctly. you know, the president was waiting for someone to look into this thing, someone that could look into it. the democrats dragged and dragged, th

one person who would be really great to hear from on this is james comey. tonight we learn that we might get that opportunity. senate intel announced that the former director james comey has agreed to testify at an open hearing. this is a thing that goes to motive, right. if firing the fbi director was to try to stop the russia investigation, his accelerating and expanding that investigation right before he got fired, maybe that was the trigger for firing him. that's part of the narrative now. but what if it isn't true? just about every major news organization in the country is going to be making a correction if that story is wrong. or theustice department is going to have to eat its hat, including the acting director of the fbi and the acting attorney general on this issue. one of these two sides has to be wrong. we'll figure it out. that does it for us tonight. see you again monday. now it's time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." lawrence, i'm sorry i ate your first minute. >> oh, no because you ramped us right into that comey hearing that is o

we all know that's not why james comey was fired. and he gave the president the cover to do what he wanted to do to try to quash this investigation. >> you know rod rosenstein. i just want to get your reaction to "the new york times" editorial saying to him -- saying directly to rod rosenstein you have one choice. appoint a special counsel who is independent of both the department and the white house. is that the best choice for rod rosenstein at this point? >> you know, i've known rod for 25 years. we were baby prosecutors together doing public corruption cases in the justice department. and when you do those cases, you're taught you have to prosecute just like you would any common criminal. you don't treat them differently because they are a politician. in fact, you set the politics aside. so did rosenstein know that trump would take what he said and use it to his political sflang yes, he did. at the same time, it was his honestly brokered opinion. i do think that means, though, now there is an impetus for rosenstein to appoint a s

that james comey handled the clinton e-mail investigation. well, we know that russia has been very much engaged in this country. there was just much engaged in this country. there wasjust some much engaged in this country. there was just some subpoenas issued involving some of mr trump's associates in regards to that probe. we know that russia has been engaged not only in the united states but engaged in european countries to try and bring down a democratic, free elections. so we know that this involves russia, and we need to know what they are doing and how they are operating in what contact they have in the united states, in order to protect ourselves. now, while some republicans have criticised comey‘s sacking, they don't support the idea ofan sacking, they don't support the idea of an independent prosecutor or a commission, largely they have fallen along party lines, with most republican senators i have spoken to today supporting the president's actions, even those who are big critics of him, such as senator lindsey graham, who has been

i'm going to try to figure this out before james comey testifies. it is bizarre that this isn't settled yet and it's not just weird, it's important. this is a thing that goes to motive. if firing the fbi director was to try to stop the russia investigation, his accelerating and expanding that investigation right before he got fired, maybe that was the trigger for firing him. that's part of the narrative now. what if it isn't true? just about every major news organization in the country will be making a correction if that story is wrong or the justice department is going to have to eat its hat, including the acting director of the fbi and the acting attorney general on this issue. one of these two sides has to be wrong. we'll figure it out. that does it for us tonight. now it's time for "the last wor withawrence o'donnell." i'm sorry i ate your first minute. >> you've ramped us right into that comey hearing that is on the schedule but without a precise date yet. we just have a feeling it's going to be in early june and that has to be one of the quest

she would have immediately fired jam james comey. i'm sure it is the very people that would have been cheering and celebrating comey being dismissed will be the very ones saying hi shouldn't have been. >> i can tell you, we certainly would not hear. i can also tell you that the very people who this morning are cheering the firing of james comey in the trump camp are the very ones who were praising him last fall for his courage and his tenacity. >> why was there urgency to act on it without a replacement lined up? once it was written why was there anner gent si to act on it? >> i think when you receive a report that is so clear and a recommendation by someone like the deputy attorney general you have to clois but to act. there was no reason to sit around and wait and it was time to move forward the deputy director of the fbi will step in as the acting director for the time being and so to pretend like there is pure chaos and no leadership i think is a little bit disengene use. >> there's so much flying around the president's decision

james comey could testify to both committees. so why isn't he? why is he picking the senate intelligence committee over the senate judiciary committee? which actually has jurisdiction over the fbi and the justice department. the reason is the senate judiciary committee is frequently a partisan circus compared to the senate intelligence committee. the senate judiciary committee has 20 members. the intelligence committee has only 15. that means there are 11 republicans on the senate judiciary committee and only eight republicans on the senate intelligence committee. the senate judiciary committee has a large group of republican senators who don't want to focus on the real issues that james comey is there to testify about. james comey knows that ted cruz on the senate judiciary committee and john cornyn and orrin hatch on the judiciary committee and chuck grassley on the judiciary committee and senator kennedy of louisiana on the judiciary committee would once again reliably push whatever trump talking points they think will work that day. ted cruz

carolina: james comey encabezaba investigaciones asÍ como el exmandatario. javier: esto nos recuerda el escÁndalo de richard nixon y el escÁndalo del watergate. reportera: el presidente mantiene su decisiÓn de despedir al director del fbi. el vicepresidente del congreso tambiÉn saliÓ ante las cÁmaras para decir que no tenÍa nada que ver con la investigaciÓn que james comey. el fbi se queda sin un lÍder. esta investigaciÓn no se sabe cuÁl será el futuro de esta, los cuales citas tanto republicanos como demÓcratas aquÍ en el congreso estÁnpidiendo un grupo independiente que pueda continuar con la investigaciÓn, de salmos que estÉn washington. al momento no ha hecho ninguna declaraciÓn pÚblica. la noticia se le dio cuando estaba en los Ángeles mediante una carta que el presidente mandÓ directamente el fbi. james comey nos encontraron el edificio en ese momento en la que la carta le daban clases a sus servicios por 10 aÑos, le decÍa que bÁsicamente yo no habÍa confiado su trabajo, tenÍa que devolver la confianza de esta agencia pÚblico

president trump has stood by james comey through a lot. [laughter] i thought, actually, to be quite frank with you, he would be one ofhe first fir. he never out of the news. he was always in the forefront of the news, there was always confusion be every time he opened his mouth, and i think it was a long time coming. but it was certainly, in this particular case without a doubt, warranted. >> one of the problems is when you're the story, something has gone wrong, and that was the story consistently. he would also give speeches. he was someone who clearly liked or did not mind being this front of the camera. his involvement seemed to be very different. his attitude, of course, irritated people. but both sides, both democrats and republicans were appalled at one thing or another. and i think that's an indication also. the president's right in his letter, it's got to be about trust with an agency like this. and someone in this kind of environment who is looked to with respect and trust when it comes to their choices. charles: respect and trus

we're watching the fallout from the firing of the fbi director james comey. to hear the president tell it, it's cut and dry. his critics are not convinced. >> there's a great many outstanding questions about the circumstances of director comey's dismissal. >> why did you fire director comey? >> because he wasn't doing a good job. very simple. >> and reports that director comey just asked for more money to investigate russia's meddling. that plus senators from both sides will join us live. who will run the fbi next? let's get to it. first on the fox news deck, seven days ago, the president's spokesman said president trump had full confidence in fbi director comey. yesterday the president fired him. today another spokesman said the president lost confidence in him and considered firing him from the day he was elected president. the change, according to the white house, president trump questioned comey's reasoning for staying at the fbi. >> i think one of the big catalysts that we saw was last week on wednesday director comey made a pretty starting revelation th

trump and the firing of james comey. >> oh, yes. and it's a very, very clear and strong look at intent. what was extraordinarily inappropriate about the comments, remember, the fbi is doing a counterintelligence operation against the two russians who were in the room, the russian ambassador and the foreign minister. to tell them that, in essence, the investigation has been terminated, and because he's nuts and he's craze glee, words to that effect, just seems incredible and to tell them that the pressure is off. >> air force one just took off and let's go to nic robertson who is near where the president will be staying there injury ya riyadh. there's this opportunity to maybe go overseas and it could help the president. but this meeting with the russians, nic, just continues to get more surreal. >> it's going to come up and dog him here. obviously he's going to be asked questions about it. but it gets to that question of when president trump is in a room with other officials, how does he behave, how does he respond with them? and th

we do not know if james comey will appear at that hearing. furthermore, we also heard today from the senate intelligence committee, advice chairman mark warner i want to say saying he too wants odom hear but listen to how it's played out. the change of tone on both sides the hawks and the will on this investigation. >> the great concern by republicans and democrats alike is this notion of the president constructively obstructing justice, literally asking the head of the fbi director to drop the investigation into his connections to russia, michael flynn's connection to russia >> did he ask? did he order? did he get his opinion? there's an awful lot. i'm not going to sit here and pass judgment or basically condemn or convict them until i see the facts and that's being on intelligence committee is what we receive. >> reporter: so there we are. a momentous day here at the fbi. we should tell you that late this afternoon, there was another big development apparently a new name has been added to the list of potential new fbi directors. that name b

james comey called it extreme carelessness. is there any legal distinction in your mind as an attorney general? >> it is clearly gross negligence. any time you talk havingng classified information, that can jeopardize lives. we should've started this off by saying there are so many great men and women around this country and the federal bureau of investigation, who do great work every day. and hopefully they will have a new permanent leader soon. they have jeff sessions at the helm of the attorney general's office. they are going to continue to do great things and it will be up to them to investigate it. not the white house. >> sean: pam bondi, good to have your back. your insight and analysis. we appreciate it.te when we come back, we need your help. a very important question of the day, as "hannity" continues. your insight and analysis. we appreciate it. we appreciate it. liberty mutual stood with me when this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night, so he got home safe. yeah, my dad says our insurance doesn't have tha

james comey. >> it just doesn't make any sense! >> this is the kind of authoritarian behavior we've seen spread in other parts of the world. >> am i surprised by it? not necessarily. >> he's lost the confidence of people at the fbi. >> everybody's had a problem with comey. >> he's done his job well, and i don't think he deserves to be fired. >> the fbi has been way too involved in politics. >> this has nothing to do with russia. >> i have serious question about the times the white house. >> if there was ever a time that circumstances warranted a special prosecutor, it's now. >> hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington. wherever you're watching, from around the borworld, thanks ver much for joining us. we're standing by for what should be a very eventful white house briefing later this hour. the unexpected firing of the fbi director, james comey, will certainly dominate this briefing today by the deputy press secretary, sarah huckabee sanders. you're already looking at live pictur

many of them truly like james comey. and so when i heard the first part of your show, who else is the president going to fire next, there are a lot of people working on these investigations that cannot be fired that will not be fired, and that are going to get to the bottom of this. >> senator, you were just describing the president's explanation for why he fired james comey. he is admitting it was his decision that the rosenstein memo was a pretext and he made it in part because of the russia investigation. there's also these claims by the president that he had conversations with director comey which much the director assured him he was not the target of an investigation. this is contested information. associates say they're quite sure a conversation like this couldn't happen. the president has suggested there might be tapes of that kpfrgs that would somehow vindicate him on this matter. if obstruction of justice is a possibility here, either in terms of the firing or in terms of any prefiring conversations that the pre

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. abreak through your allergies.? try new flonase sensimist allergy relief instead of allergy pills. it's more complete allergy relief in a gentle mist experience you'll barely feel. using unique mistpro technology, new flonase sensimist delivers a gentle mist to help block six key inflammatory substances that cause your symptoms. most allergy pills only block one. and six is greater than one. new flonase sensimist changes everything. trish: all right. everyone, the firing of james comey shocking a whole lot of folks, but i'll tell you

james comey's performance. >> why did you fire director comey? >> he wasn't doing a good job. >> the president jumping all over democrats saying given what james comey did in the final days of the presidential campaign they had already, democrats screamed and yelled about how they lost confidence in comey, something he should be fired, the president has done that and is shocked by the criticism. the president weing dems have been complaining for months about director comey, now that he has been fired they pretend to be aggrieved. phony hypocrites. one of his spokespeople, sarah huckabee sanders took the podium fish on spicer yesterday and basically said comey went around justice department procedures while he was fbi director. >> director comey made a startling revelation that he had taken a stick of dynamite and thrown it into the department of justice by going around the chain of command when he decided to take steps without talking to the attorney general or the deputy attorney general on holding a press conference and saying he would not know

comey that say that james comey also cares a lot about james comey, and if he feels like his honor is being impinged here, he might desire to go forward with that. stephen moore, aside from that point, when you have the president of the united states threatening the man who was just fired as fbi director, a man that the acting fbi director just said yesterday still engenders a considerable loyalty within the ranks of the fbi, what does that do to morale within the fbi today? if you're an fbi agent, if you're an investigator on the russia case, on nianything, wha are you supposed to think today? >> in professional football, there is something called bulletin board material, where the team that you're about to play trash talks you and they put it on the bulletin board to motivate the team to go out and beat the team that's talking about you. this is bulletin board material for the fbi. there is very few people threaten fbi agents or fbi directors because there's just no money in it, it's not going work out for him. >> matt lewis, i read everything you say on tv and twitter with extraord

james comey called it extreme carelessness. is there any legal distinction in your mind as an attorney general? >> it is clearly gross negligence. any time you talk having classified information, that can jeopardize lives. we should've started this off by saying there are so many great men and women around this country and the federal bureau of investigation, who do great work every day. and hopefully they will have a new permanent leader soon. they have just sessions at the helm of the attorney general's office. they are going to continue to do great things and it will be up to them to investigate it. not the white house. >> sean: pam bondi, good to have your back. your insight and analysis. we appreciate it. when we come back, we need your help. a very important question of the day, as "hannity" continues. innovation and performance at a price you can afford. and that's a pretty sweet dream. visit the certified pre-owned sales event, now through may 31st. only at your authorized dealer. the best or nothing. hey dad, come meet

i was going to fire james comey. he always maintained james comey. he always maintained james comey lost the confidence of his staff, it is another damaging move the man who has taken over the fbi has denied the senators that was the case. i hold james comey in the highest regard and i have the highest regard and i have the highest respect for his abilities and his integrity and it has been the greatest privilege and honour of my professional life to work with him. ican my professional life to work with him. i can tell you all so that director comey enjoyed broad support within the fbi and still does to this day. our washington correspondent explains the intriguing developments today in the aftermath of the sacking of james comey. the problem for the white house is that as president is trump points out and as director kobe points out in his farewell letter last night, it is perfectly within the president's right to sack the director of the fbi. —— director comey and it seems, as donald trump said in that interview, that he wa nted said in that in

the president's firing of james comey. democrats are questioning the president's motive. >> kennedy: the mainstream media getting in their shots as well. one anchor comparing the president to a fifth grader and giving white house officials and some on roles. is there a double standard at work here? >> harris: plus our #oneluckyguy. "outnumbered" on the top of the hour. >> jon: we'll see you then. thanks. >> jenna: a fox news alert. a wildfire going through south georgia today now threatening to jump the state line into florida. more than 140,000 acres burned so far in the fire and only 12% contained. residents are urged to evacuate is about 700 firefighters -- go >> this is the biggest wildfire in the country and the u.s. forest services -- it's also allowing aircraft to come in and drop off flame retardant chemicals, helicopters are scooping up water from the local lakes to dump on the plains. this area is sparsely populated, but that's little comfort to residents who live here, some have chosen to protect their livestock

many of them truly like james comey. and so when i heard the first part of your show, who else is the president going to fire next, there are a lot of people working on these investigations that cannot be fired that will not be fired, and that are going to get to the bottom of this. >> senator, you were just describing the president's explanation for why he fired james comey. he is admitting it was his decision that the rosenstein memo was a pretext and he made it in part because of the russia investigation. there's also these claims by the president that he had conversations with director comey which much the director assured him he was not the target of an investigation. this is contested information. associates say they're quite sure a conversation like this couldn't happen. the president has suggested there might be tapes of that conversation that would somehow vindicate him on this matter. if obstruction of justice is a possibility here, either in terms of the firing or in terms of any pre-firing conversations that

he loved james comey when it came to the letter october 27th. he said many, many nice things. do you not think it looks fishy that after comey came out and said there's possible collusion the trump team and russia, that he gets fired? >> i think people wanted him fired in both parties. and there would not have been a time when you could fire somebody like him without having fingers pointed at you in different directions. hillary talked about him wanting more resources. i can tell you this, he was criticized for going slowly. i know the first thing any bureaucracy says when they're accused of going slow, we need more money. surprise, surprise. sometimes they slow down on purpose so they can get more money. so, the fact that he's saying that now but -- we don't even know the department of justice -- >> maybe he was fired because he wasn't moving quickly enough on the russian investigation. >> the department of justice denied it. they would be the ones that would be the appropriate authority to ask an appropriations committee member to ask the president for more money. i don't th

i don't think we should be going to james comey. i sus pektd there's a reason behind it, but i don't think that changes the underlying bad behavior of the president and trying to stifle this investigation. >> but does it not take some of the wind out of the sails of democrats? and know there are people who are legitimately surprised there was so much democratic push back because they thought i thought these democrats hated him. nancy pelosiy said he needs another job. >> at the end of the day the way trump handled this, who actually believes that trump fired him because of the way he handled the investigation to hillary clinton's server? it's such a joke that anyone would actually believe that. so, you know, lots of unanswered questions, which is exactly why we need a special prosecutor and independent commission to look into tat. >> and cong congressman kingston, the trump white house has now completely changed story. they said the firing was because of deputy attorney general rob rosenstein. and this evening they put out a few tim

people concerned the way that james comey was let go. you and your colleagues explaining some of that raw anger and that fear. we heard sarah huckabee say he lost the confidence of folks inside the fbi. how do you see this playing out when it comes to morale in the bureau and when it comes to that future of the russian investigation? >> that's a great question. comey has lost the confidence of some member s in the fbi and no all agents and some my agents are talking to are troubled and disturbed by what happened. so, there's a conflicting accounts within the fbi, obviously. in terms of the investigation going forward, as far as we know, it's continuing. it's being over seen by rod rosenstein the person the fbi director had reported to. i'm not sure if there are any kind of change down the road and certainly pressure from democrats in the senate to have a special prosecutor or more independent investigation. but as of now, the white house is saying they do not believe that is necessary. >> roger stone is one of the folks along with rudy g

unfair way that james comey treated hillary clinton during 2016. that is just not credible. especially given the fact that we know that simultaneously there is an investigation of the russian influence on the trump campaign in 2016. >> reading this rosenstein letter from the deputy attorney general which i know you have read many times as we have as well, is there one thing in this letter that you disagree with that goes to the point of removal of the fbi director? he says it is because of the way largely that comey handled hillary clinton and the e-mail scandal. is there one thing you disagree with in rod rosenstein's letter? >> the one thing i would disagree with is there is an ongoing inspector general investigation of that very matter and that there should have been a completion of that investigation before any final decision was made. rod rosenstein just started on this job. there is an open inspector general investigation. and even if that was the conclusion ultimately that was reached, it still does not answer the question of why donald trum

comey, does that open it up, then, for james comey and allow him to come out publicly and say no, i did not request a dinner with the president? this is what happened at that dinner. this is what was said. he asked -- he basically demanded loyalty of me. how much of that can james comey now say? >> well, i think he can say all of that, lawrence. he obviously can't reveal any classified information. but i don't think classified information is the question. if he is going to put words within james comey's mouth, it's within his rights. the american people, an accounting of what actually happened. did he actually say throw times you're not under investigation? did he actually -- was he summoned to this dinner and asked for loyalty or ask for loyalty? i hope he will answer them. i hope congress will ask them. i hope congress will finally after today's incredible events, insane events, congress will finely get some backbone and start to get serious about some of investigations of what's happened here. >> let's look at one of the parts of the interview with lester holt today where he talk