sean spicer: no. reporter: how important is it that the fbi director be loyal to him? sean spicer: the president wants loyalty to the country. and to the role of law. reporter: in the dinner with james comey, does anyone have an audio recording of what unfolded uring the january 27 dinner? sean spicer: i am not aware of that. reporter: a follow-up question -- what can the administration do better when it comes to communication? today, the president tweeted out that he felt from behind the podium, it is not always possible to present the information with perfect accuracy. sean spicer: so, look. we come out here every day and we try to do the best job we can to communicate what the president has done and it -- and what he is doing for the american people. we get here early and we work beyond being here at the podium. we get here early and we work late. we do what we can but the president keeps a robust schedule. you are very well aware. and as you can tell by the activities of next week alone. and somet

sean spicer: i'm moving on. john: reporter: he said "russia must be laughing up their sleeves watching the u.s. tear itself apart over the democratic excuse for losing the election." what did the president mean by that? sean spicer: i think the president's comments about russia and the collusion have been very clear. ithas been very clear that is one thing that he believes that the notion that there is collusion is a hoax, and that has been reaffirmed by several people. thate wants to make sure he is focused every day on doing what is best for the american people. reporter: how is the u.s. tearing itself apart? sean spicer: this is a subject that comes up over and over again when it has been stated on multiple occasions that there is no illusion -- there is no collusion that occurred and yet the narrative continues to be perpetuated. reporter: do you think this is what russia wanted all along? sean spicer: we have made it clear at this podium several times and the president made it clear what his feelings are on

>> melissa mccarthy does a better sean spicer than sean spicer. >> and we were looking at bernie sanders and how well larry david pulled that off. >> exactly. >> this is the video that "snl" has released, the hair and makeup. >> i love her dimples. >> the forehead is exaggerated. not even a forehead. >> last question, sean spicer was back at the podium. on navy reservist duty. sarah huckabee sanders has stood in his place. not giving enough material to late-night writers. >> opposite end of the spectrum, that southern charm. >> yeah. >> you know, when i hearings i want to have a mint julep and bet on horse racing. you know, that saying, it's not what you say but how you say it. she could say anything and it could be fine. like i do declare we're at war with north korea. all right. let's play croquet. it's all good. listen, the bushes thing is the best, that he was in the bushes. is he a press secretary or a cub scout leader? what are we doing? this is the only press conference in the history of the white house where reporters walked away with poison ivy. we'll have a press conference. yo

look at what happened to sean spicer. being involved in this stuff in a very proactive way, this is for political professionals. >> look at what happened to corey le wan dow ski then. he's roaming around the white house at night out in clear view, two people that the president thinks are very loyal, even though he did fire him during the campaign. he puts it this way about those two, they are not polished characters being brought in. they are killers and the president loves that. >> yeah. the president has -- i don't know. the word killers, but, yeah, the president does like these loyalists, these people that are fiercely going to defend his agenda. >> tough. >> yeah, he loves tough. but compare this to the clinton administration. in the early years they found themselves floundering. and they brought in david gergin. they brought him into a democratic administration to right the ship. i think they said a political professional, and that is probably what's really required here from the white house. not necessarily a loyali

sean spicer kept it tight. if you saw, he even answered that question about jared kushner straight reading from a script. he's not going to go off script. all the scrutiny from the president himself around his communications team and how they're handling them service, clearly sean worked really hard to stay on message. >> peter alexander is in the white house. do you think he was meant to leave at 41 minutes after hour or as soon as the conversation became about media coverage of the president, sean spicer's had enough? >> good question. i can't get into his mind but certainly there were a lot more questions that needed answers. one of them was as we were talking about this idea of fake news. one after jared kushner's name has been the top of several headlines. one thing sean spicer could not do is rule out the fact that jared kushner had conversations with russian officials about back channel communications with moscow during the transition period. if i had got a question, i was trying to get one answered at t

as we await press secretary sean spicer. spicer is likely to face lots of questions on that at the daily white house press briefing coming up soon. meantime, as questions continue over jared kushner's motives in meeting with russian officials last december, the counselor to the president kellyanne conway pushing back. >> i'm not going to comment on any of that because there is no reason to, frankly. we know that there have been many news reports recently that have the facts wrong. this entire thing is just a rush to judgment. it >> jon: fox anchor and attorney garrett joins us now. jared kushner is a focus of this investigation, not a target of this investigation. what is that terminology mean? >> if he was a target, then that means essentially that the feds have some evidence of a crime. but he did not get a target letter, so that means they don't have any evidence. so they just want to talk to him and see where this investigation goes. look, it's not a crime to talk to the russian ambassador. people think he's the bogeyman

sean spicer is regurgitating what his boss likes. he sees these snippets and they pull them together and validate the position. but i think bigger picture, sean spicer also read the quote from merkel, which has been taken as a bigger critique of the president where he read the quote from her and it didn't sound as bad, actually. she never mentioned trump. we as pundits basically have interpreted that through analysis as a slight against trump. this is a break in the alliance. but i think when trump supporters inundate my inbox and have a complaint, that's your analysis but really she didn't mean that and that's your interpretation, your bias. and i think that is something that we have to wrestle with as journalists, as we provide analysis, we should be fair and really provide the context that is analysis and not exactly what she said. >> point taken. point taken. 100%. philip, back over to you on your piece from today on how the president consumes intelligence. tell me about that. >> yeah. so ashley parker and i have a piece at "the

sean spicer should be coming out in any moment. our own brooke baldwin will pick up our special coverage right after a quick break. about peopled it's ay and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you he's a nascar champion who's she's a world-class swimmer who's stared down the best in her sport. but for both of them, the most challenging opponent was... pe blood clots in my lung. it was really scary. a dvt in my leg. i had to learn all i could to help protect myself. my doctor and i choose xarelto® xarelto®... to help keep me protected. xarelto® is a latest-generation blood thinner... ...that's proven to treat and reduce the risk of dvt and pe blood clots from happening again. in clinical studies, almost 98% of patients on xarelto® did not experience another dvt or pe. here's how xarelto works. xarelto® works differently. warfarin interferes with at least six blood-clotting factors. xa

sean seems -- miss huckabee seemed concerned with the question. >> sean spicer said he is doing the best job he can and so many communication staff members him sometimes they don't have access to the president. that's a big deal, to not necessarily know what the president is thinking or believing or why he made a decision before you get on to that podium. >> that podium is a big deal, big things happen at that podium. it's not just talking to a bunch of reporters, which it may look like, it's talking to the american people and the rest of the world. >> i think the real problem here is this is a president who lives moment-to-moment and minute-to-minute. he lives in his own head sometimes. he says whatever works for him in that moment. and he has a press staff often rushed to catch up to what he has said most recently. and he changes the game on them all the time. so i have no sympathy for them. on the other hand, this goes back to the first day on the job. when sean spicer came out there and lied to the entire country about the crowd size at the inaugural. it was ridiculous. >> that set t

sean spicer just moments ago said i can't comment on that ufrl a press cretary. then people sayelissa mccarthy is disrespectful or colbert is obscene. but donald trump's words and actions are sadly indecent and obscene. >> is it easier or harder when you have a situation like this? i can just say if you're working on capitol hill, i can't tell me how many people have told me the constant pace of news is overwhelming. i've never experienced in decades as a journalist the pace of news. you constantly have opportunity. is it easier or harder? >> donald trump is making america laugh again. there is upside. he is giving comedians an abundance of material. we would trade not having donald trump as president and having less material with another president. there is a difference. george bush was great for xheed yanls. he wants to ban muslims. we could be put in internment camps. so jokes are him less fearful. it is very unique. >> there are so many people talking about "snl," one of the things they're wondering drgs they find somebody to play sarah huckabee sanders. any

you know sean spicer. he is a wonderful human being. he is a nice man. >> is your press secretary today and tomorrow. will you be tomorrow? -- will he be tomorrow? president trump: yes. he gets beat up by these people. they don't show the 90 questions that they asked an answer properly. -- and answer properly. >> when will you make a decision? president trump: i want use names, but another president doesn't do what i'm feeling. i am not sayin-- doing. another president will sit in the oval office and do practically nothing all day. i am doing every minute of the day, i am doing something. i am cutting prices. this nation has such unbelievable potential. the thing is they cannot keep up with it. they do their best. if they give an answer is a little bit off, they are liars and horrible. i would recommend we don't have it. >> when will you make that decision? president trump: over the next couple of weeks. they will be unhappy because the ratings are so high that i don't know what these networks are going to do. they are going to start to

waiting for the white house press secretary, sean spicer. we'll take you there when it happens. >>> first, headlines this hour. casting call, wanted, one fbi director. democrats have their own ideas about who should be hired. >> anybody who has been involved in politics in one way or another, i believe, will not meet the test. >>> and tapes or no tapes? that is the question. at the white house, at least. trump said he recorded conversations with james comey. he is told if they do exist, turn them over. >>> courts are hearing trump's travel ban. >>> joining me from washington, a team of reporters covering the white house and the hill. let's start with nbc's hallie jackson who is inside that press briefing. hallie, they're looking for an fbi director. who are the top names right now. >> katy, there's eight of them. the department of justice has been interviewing among them people like senator john cornyn, for example, someone who has raised eyebrows, particularly on capitol hill. there is concern that could politicize his position. they are me

so we'll talk to sean spicer about all of this. i know you've been reporting on this, as well, part of the decision to hire mike flynn, to move forward with that appointment had to do with trust and loyalty. the fact that he had been onef president trump's then candidate trump's, earest supporters and a foreign policy adviser on the campaign trail. so a lot to dig into when this briefing gets under way. >> mike flynn met with donald trump in the summer of 2015 when no one else was taking him seriously. so that went a long way in terms of building trust and a relationship and he came onto the campaign in 2016 in february as a foreign policy adviser. then became very visible, as we all saw him during the campaign, especially at the republican national convention. kristen welker, thank you very much. mike, preview for us this other big news, this sally yates hearing and the testimony she'll be giving in front of the subcommittee, what do we expect to learn from her? >> reporter: well, the way we understand it, is that sally yates, whe

ago with sean spicer. take a listen. >> few more questions for you, sean. number one, israel is the ally here who provided information that the president then shared with the russians. it is our reporting that that is the case. can you please speak to that? >> i cannot comment specifically on that. im's obviously pleased to see the ambassador's comment. we appreciate the relationship that we have with israel and appreciate the exchange of information that we have with them. that being said, i'm not going to comment any further on that. >> he was just referring to a statement that's been put out by the israeli ambassador basically saying that israel has full confidence in its intelligence share something relationship with this country, with the u.s., and that it looks forward to deepening that relationship going forward. as we heard earlier today from h.r. mcmaster, national security advisor who did brief reporters on camera, he insists that everything the president said and shared was, in his words on mult

this is sean spicer's first on-camera briefing since president trump's overseas trip. all of this coming as president trump's communications director mike dubke resigns. so is this just the start of a major shake-up at the white house? we're on it, but first here as we await sean spicer, it will be interesting to see what he has to say on all this. i want to bring in republican representative ron desantis, member of the house committee and oversight and government reform, a committee following the russia investigation very closely. welcome, congressman. g to have you back on the program. your take on the "washington post" allegation. >> the media has been doing a lot of the stories where there's a lot of smoke, really not fire or facts but a lot of smoke, and i was struck by the kushner report because for months now there's been a narrative that there was some type of illicit collusion between the trump campaign and the russian government, but then the fact that they may have tried to backchannel during the presidential transition is curious because if they were collud

. >>> plus the world according to sean spicer. his description of the president's overseas trip, historic turning point, outstanding. and a long-time admirer of national security advisor h.r. mcmaster says the day has come for him to step down. that man is my guest tonight. let's go outfront. good evening, i'm erin burnett. tonight the white house press secretary in his first press briefing in two weeks not answering reporters and repeatedly charging their questions are based on anonymous sources. here is sean spicer responding to questions about the russia investigation and jared kushner's communications with russians. >> what your question assumes is a lot of facts that are not substantiated by anything but anonymous sources. your question presupposes facts that have not been confirmed. so again, i'm not going to get into confirming stuff. there's an ongoing investigation. i'm not going to dignify partisan accusations of anonymous sources and alleged unsubstantiated attacks. >> anonymous sources. the thing is, it turns out that

things that sean spicer can actually really talk about. he gave a laundry list at the beginning about how great the nato summit was and kind of gave a back to business summation at the top of the press conference, you know, we're doing this, we're doing that, we're working on health care that means a lot to the president, we're going to work on tax reform. >> right. >> but whenever he was asked about the big news of the day, it seems to me that he has a diminished role in what he can say. so i would agree with david that this is kind of the precursor to not having sean out there very much because it's very difficult, as we learned during the lewinsky scandal, to have a press secretary out there who can't answer questions. >> do you think his lane is shrinking because, as dana pointed out, this creation of the war room? >> yeah. it might be. absolutely. >> steve hall, to you, just going back for a second on the conversations about the reporting, about the communications that jared kushner was trying to set up with the russians, what did you

and sean spicer. that is despite spicer repeatedly talking about what he believed was a false narrative, there was nothing from the white house on what the actual, if they believe it was false narrative. there was no intication or a denial of being more explicit. that was striking and he came in prepared. they asked about the german leader. there was not as you expect to see something a little more substantive from the white house on some of these questions. frankly they linger as much now at 3:00 after the briefing as they did moments before the briefing as well. it was notable that spicer said that the president himself is his own best messenger that may be true to what we have been talking about and even during the campaign. donald trump likes to speak for donald trump. what we are seeing is not donald trump speaking for donald trump. he did not hold a news conference while on his foreign trip for nine days as is custom for a president to do and didn't get his own message about his son in law other

sean spicer doing his job, and not answering questions that the president's personal attorney ought to be answering. >> okay. and eric lishblou, and if you are just tuning in, gives your news? >> what we are hearing is that c comey the fired fbi director and bob mueller the named special investigator a few weeks ago have a talked and met and worked out an agreement, and the parameters for comey to testify publicly which is a big deal. there are some questions since mueller was named about whether he would essentially allow that go forward or not, because of the concerns of could it bleed into the investigation if you have a fired fbi director, and so what we are hearing is that comey is going to testify as soon as next week before the senatele intelligence committee, and they wroshg it out, and it is -- they are going to work it out, and he is publicly, and he is eager to get into discussions with the president which are becoming so notorious about the investigation you remember as you referenced the one-on-one conversation where trump allegedly told him to drop or let go of the michae

well, look, i finds -- sean spicer finds himself in that position a lot. but clearly there is -- the tweets highlight something really important here, which is that there is clearly a lot of frustration building in this white house about the lack of an agenda, a forward movement, and all these things they talked about on the campaign things that simply aren't getting done. so all these -- the wall, where is that? so the question is what are they going to do to start pushing forward on these agenda items? and it seems really far off as this russia probe just takes over everything. >> you know, kevin, it seems unlike, majority leader -- senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is not going to change the filibuster rule. he has said that he won't. it was then senate majority leader harry reid did the nuclear option with judges. it's not unheard of, it's just that most of the senators don't want to do it because they know someday the shoe will be on the other foot. >> a couple days before we left on the international trip, i interviewed mitch mcconnell, and he s

looking at live pictures right now, sean spicer will brief reporters, take questions as well. likely to be pepped on a whole bunch of issues including health care. certainly on the expectations for a very important senate judiciary hearing coming up later today on the russia investigation. also later this hour we expect to hear from the fbi director james comey. he will be speaking at the anti-defamation league summit here in washington. we left heard from director comey when he spoke and testified before the senate judiciary committee the other day. the committee's next hearing begins next hour. the former director of national intelligence james clapper will testify along with the former acting attorney general sally yates. yates is expected to layout exactly what kind of warning she gave the white house about their choice for national security adviser, the fired michael flynn. bring in jim acosta. sally yates wasn't the only one who warned the trump administration about hiring michael flynn as the president's top national security adviser. you have breaking news on this. wha

what are you listening for afternoon from sean spicer? >> i'm listening for sean spicer to justify why, after sally yates told the white house that michael flynn was lying and that he was going to be a problem and that their national security adviser might have been compromised by the russians that they still kept him on for something like 13 days. i think the administration needs to understand and make people understand why that decision was made because it goes to the heart of how this administration functions, whether or not they're vetting people properly, what are the decisions they're making in regards to people who to russia. that all goats to the heart of it so i would be surprised if sean doesn't get up there and start talking right away about salary yates or somebody's going to be peppering him with questions about salary yates and specifically what she told the white house. >>> . >>> let's take a quick break. we haven't gotten our two-minute heads up from the white house. they're roughly 20 minutes later. sean spicer heading to

let's first get what sean spicer said to recorders just a moment ago. ma many. >> did president comey inform investigations to the president? why did he say that? why did he tweet that? what should we affirm on that? >> as i said, the president has nothing more to add to that. >> does he think it's appropriate to threaten someone like mr. comey not to speak? >> i don't think -- that's not a threat. he simply stated a fact, that tweet speaks for itself. i'm moving on. >> is the president of the united states currently taping conversations playing in the metal office. >> that tweet speaks for itself. let's go right to that tweet. james comey, better hope there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press. no tapes. is donald trump actually recording folks inside the white house while he is meeting them without their knowledge of this? a source close to james comey spoke to our own can dalanian and said he hopes there are tapes. that would be perfect. we've got a team of reporters here to win. we have josh earnest, we have net pr

sean spicer ended with a smile there. the crowd there in the briefing room, they were just as feisty as always, asking a lot of follow-up questions about what's been going on lately, in terms of statements the president make that seem to perhaps contradict some of the things that his press officials are out saying. john roberts is live from the briefing room right now with more. john, what'd you make of that? >> reporter: good afternoon to you. earlier today in the middle of a tweet storm the president sent out a tweet that was quite remarkable and something that i have never seen a president say, at least publicly. i have been covering white houses going all the way back to 1999 when he tweeted out, quote, james comey better hope there are no, quote, tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press. what the president was talking about was an article that suggested james comey, during that conversation that they had over dinner, was asked by the president to basically give an oral loyalty pledge and that

sean spicer and the communications director had about an hour's notice so there was no strategy. the president didn't care quite frankly. he thinks they are incompetent the way they handled it and they should have been able to line up and put together a coherent argument. the president was trashing sean spicer privately throughout the weekend wouldn't be surprised if he lets one of them go to a. i have a big question i've been dyindying bounce off of somebody like you. it would do a much better service to the james buchanan administration. if old and toothless and the presidential cabinet had a multibillion network that provided for what is a political corruption at the highest levels of the. i'm really kind of excited and curious what you think will be the quantum leap forward. >> we got the question and i would let you answer. >> guest:. we are only slightly more than 100 days in a. the national security side with the exception. on the other side things are still fairly symbolic and you have other people concerned about donald trump getting rid of the fbi director. the campaign

. >> did you ask the president if he had installed -- >> sean spicer wrapping up what was at times a very contentious press briefing and the big headline emerging out of that, sean spicer speaking for the white house will neither confirm nor deny that there are any recording devices in the oval office or around the president himself. this, of course, an enormous issue after president trump this morning tweeted out about fired fbi director james comey. james comey better hope there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press. this being seen by many as a threat to mr. comey not to talk about the conversations or dispute in any way. president trump's characterization of that meeting over dinner the two men had. pierre thomas, what do you make of this? sean spicer asked directly several times in this press briefing if, in fact, president trump recorded that conversation, that meeting. he side stepped it completely. >> you're right. he was asked repeatedly to answer the question whether there are recording devices at the white house taping conversations. he wo

sean spicer is back after a short break for naval reserve duty. the white house press secretary was back at his perch today, and so is spicy, melissa mccarthy. the comedienne was spotted in her spicy suit rolling through traffic this morning on her mock white house press room podium. mccarthy is hosting "saturday night live" tomorrow, and the show released this promo video. ♪ i feel pretty, oh, so pretty ♪ i feel pretty and witty and bright ♪ ♪ and i pity any girl who isn't me tonight ♪ ♪ such a pretty face, such a pretty dress, such a pretty smile, such a pretty me ♪ ♪ i feel stunning ♪ and entrancing ♪ i feel like running ♪ for i'm loved by a pretty wonderful boy ♪ >> who knew she had such a great voice? snl isn't the only late night show taking on the white house. late show host stephen colbert, who president trump referred to as a no-talent guy, hit back at trump last night. >> the president of the united states has personally come after me and my show, and there's only one thing to say. hee hee hee hee hee. yay. mr. tr

sean spicer tried to steer the conversation toward the circumstances. he said we have to see the provocative behavior. there's a lot of conditions that would have to happen and those conditions are not there right now. so clearly trying to say this is something that is hypothetical at this point. this is not even in the immediate foreseeable future. but you get the sense here that the president just in the continuation of all this comments from over the weekend calling him smart and then saying he would be honored, you get sense that he's trying to flatter kim jong-un in a respect here and it's unclear if that is by strategy or just something the president is doing here. but again, the word honored, as we have been talking about, certainly is going to resinate for quite some time. it's the wrong word, pamela. >> it does make you wonder. is he trying to appeal to kim jong-un to butter him up so that the tensions will deescalate. you heard sean spicer even say during the briefing that, look, kim jong-un is someone who rose to power at a young age in had h

saying, sure, sean spicer gets beat up a lot. he undermined him and threw him under the bus a little bit. >> we will get to that in a little bit. david axelrod, you worked for president obama. did he demand loyalty from all of the people who worked for him? did he say i want you to be loyalty, you have to pledge your loyalty to me? >> you know, i think that this would be so far from his mind to demand loyalty, particularly if there was an investigation going on touching his people. the president had very strict ethical guidelines in the white house which is why you had no major scandal attaching itself to the white house during his years there. >> jeffrey, i will play a clip for you. james clapper, former director of national intelligence. the white house and president keep citing stuff that he said to say there is no confirmation of any collusion between the trump campaign and russia. he was on msnbc today with andrea mitchell. listen to this. >> it's not surprising or out of abnormal that i would not have known about the invest

sean spicer trying to downplay that. there's this world view in the "wall street journal" this morning talking about how it is not a gobble community, the world is not, it's an arena of competitors, companies, countries, nongovernmental actors. it's a real departure of what's been the world view of republicans and democrats for the past 70 years. >> because of globalism we're more reliant on one another than we have in the past. that will continue to be case as we move forward together. i think it's very obvious that president trump and chancellor merkel have extremely different policy views how they view the world. sean spicer will say they have a great relationship and if merkel is asked i'm almost certain she would say the same thing. it's obvious at least to me based on several statements she's made since the first meeting with president trump that she does not see eye to eye with him on many fronts. >> so this "wall street journal" op-ed really, folks, lays out the trump doctrine, the foreign policy. what do you mak

now, here is what press secretary sean spicer just said in the briefing today. and take note of what he would actually not comment on or what he would not explain when it comes to conversations between the president and mr. comey. >> did president trump record his conversations with former fbi director comey? >> i assume you're referring to the tweet. and i've talked to the president and the president has nothing further to add on that. >> why did he say that? why did he tweet that? what should we interpret from that? >> as i mentioned, the president has nothing further to add on that. >> is there -- are there recording devices in the oval office or in the residence? >> as i've said for the third time, there is nothing furthe to add on that. >> does he think it's appropriate to threaten someone like mr. comey not to speak? >> i don't think that's -- that's not a threat. he's simply stated a fact. the tweet speaks for itself. i'm moving

the white house press secretary, sean spicer. who was invited by president donald trump to come to today's meeting with pope francis. the white house told cnn, wow, that's all he wanted of spicer. the vatican limits the number of people who can visit the pope at one time. and the president had plenty of people that list. the communications advisor, the president's former bodyguard and his social media advisor all were on that list, but not his press secretary. mark preston is our senior political analyst out front. mark, you got to the parish as sean spicer, he's not just a katri catholic, but a devout practicing catholic. but it seems like he was excluded. >> sean spicer very well thought of within the church. and he doesn't necessarily talk about it but someone who absolutely follows it and is observing -- his inability to actually be in that audience with the pope is really hurting him. but it just says more about donald trump and his lack of loyalty that he surrounds himself with than it does in his pettiness not inviting sea

a very good job under very tough circumstances. >> sean: so has spicer. >> sean, i guess -- is he back today from his military duty?

. >>> sean spicer is taking the podium. he's been going over a couple developments from over the weekend and scheduling for next week. let's take a listen. >> the small business week awards program later this afternoon. back to the president's schedule. after speaking with the community bank members, the president had lunch with vice president mike pence, secretary tillerson and secretary mattis as well as general mcmaster before meeting separately with secretary tillerson. i also want to add that fema held a call for the remaining threat of continued severe weather over parts of the southwest to the mississippi valley, which has already killed five people in texas. secretary of homeland security kelly participated in the call and the white house is in contact with local governments in these affected areas. we'll have those communities in our thoughts and prayers and encourage everyone to follow the directions of their state, tribal and local officials to stay safe. finally let me run down for what we're expecting for the p

to sean spicer and sarah huckabee sanders. you went through a million briefings at the white house correspondent, it can be contentious? >> dana parino on. do i think republicans often get tougher questions? a lot of times they do. the people in the mainstream media want to admit that or not. look at the wall the -- all of the root of this according to new york times story is that the president feels grievance, he's not gotten credit for winning the election and they say on the jump and unpredictable presidency shaped by deep resentment. where is the front page story of deep resentment on the left and they don't feel credit on why they should have won? hillary clinton talked about this a week or so ago and agreed and the leftist is marching the streets with anger and "the new york times" is focusing on the president's anger. this president has not gotten a fair shake, that's true. my point to be absolutely clear is that he is not getting a fair shake but he sometimes makes it worse by engaging in these, maybe there's tapes, fo

you got sean spicer saying one thing, then you have the vice president trying to support that. you have members of the republican party in congress tryings at the consistent line only to then have the president once again shift. i'm getting whiplash trying to remember what's the story today about why the firing occurred. >> and it does seem -- you know, you dealt with crisis management and t the lines of communication don't seem to be clear at all, and the president complains about how spicer and how it's treated then he puts them in a difficult position of trying to maneuver and figure out what he's supposed to say about the tweets >> i think that's right. the same is true for the vice president, i think probably most challenging thing for this president and i know a lot of people voted for him thinking what a great advantage to have an outsider. he clearly does not understand administrative procedure. this is not the first time that a member of his cabinet, his spokesperson, his white house, vice president didn't know the direction that he was going. and people will forgive m

>> i was wondering what sean spicer's excuse was going to be about the funding bill. i hadn't thought of saying this is something he shouldn't have even been dealing with when he's been talking four months about how we're going to get the funding for that walsh it's going to happen, we're going to defund planned parenthood, sanctuary cities, they're out. guess what? none of that came true. i was marvelling at the spin of sean spicer there, but i don't think anyone's buying it. it's a big disappointment for conservatives. >> sandra: what didn't conservatives get? >> i'm a conservative. i'm not entirely disappointed because of fact we are increasing 21 billion in military spending tphp is the budget that you off set that increase by increases in domestic spending like they've done in the past. and then secondly on the border security front, the $1.52 billion is also a step in the right direction in ensuring border security and increasing enforcement in that area. now, would you want to see defunding of planned parenthood? absolutely. but that's something that could be l

i do think sean spicer is doable in earnest. james comey could be the next -- and open investigation to hillary clinton female. >> there were folks within our agency who were frustrated with the outcome of the hillary clinton case and some of those folks were very vocal about that , those concerns. intrepid catherine herridge reports of former fbi agent suggests anger a strong that the new leadership could revisit the clinton case and the immunity deals made during the original investigation. malice, are they going to reopen the hillary case? >> i've been predicting for months that trump said he is not persecuting hillary so once he's in the white house the trap is set. these petty and vindictive and has many other great qualities. i have no doubt -- this kennedy. kennedy: cabe said the next sentence is a lot of them are really upset with the way the hillary investigation was handled which is why comey is out of a job. >> it's interesting there's word that president trump had made the decision to get rid of comey months ago. as

sean spicer said he's not expected to brief reporters. this comes as the russia probe appears to be expanding. a source close to michael flynn the ousted national security adviser said flynn will provide documents to the senate intelligence committee related to their russian investigation and now the probe appears to be touching two other aides close to the president. one is his personal lawyer michael cohen and another a surrogate for the campaign. both have been contacted by investigators on capitol hill who want to know more about them. just another indication that this cloud, this controversy about russia just is not leaving this white house any time soon. back to you. >> trump attorney michael cohen said he's not been subpoenaed by congress but if he is he will gladly testify. cohen telling cnn he has nothing to hide and there is quote no shred of evidence that implicates him. as for spokesman sean spicer not holding a briefing today, instead the white house is offering up a briefing with veterans affairs secretary. it's not clear wh

we are also awaiting the daily white house briefing from sean spicer as political fallout continues after the firing of fbi director james comey. >> jon: chief intelligent correspondent catherine herridge has more on the search for comey's replacement but we begin with kevin corke at the white house to tell us about the president's upcoming trip. >> good afternoon, you're right, and waiting for what the president ready for his overseas visit, he has a massive amount of work to get done not only internationally but domestically his priorities are taking shape this week as well, very busy morning as you can well imagine as most mondays are as president not just talking about what's going to be happening overseas, talking about what's happening here in the usa on the domestic front, he signed a proclamation in honor of national police week directing the department of justice to develop a strategy to better prevent and prosecute crimes of violence against law enforcement officers. this is all happening as the search for a new fbi director continues in the wake of the ousting of james comey. t

just ask sean spicer. we asked a group of young people when they thought they should start saving for retirement. then we asked some older people when they actually did start saving. this gap between when we should start saving and when we actually do is one of the reasons why too many of us aren't prepared for retirement. just start as early as you can. it's going to pay off in the future. if we all start saving a little more today, we'll all be better prepared tomorrow. prudential. bring your challenges. i'start at the new carfax.comar. show me minivans with no reported accidents. boom. love it. [struggles] show me the carfax. start your used car search at the all-new carfax.com. and it's also a story mail aabout people and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you on his big overseas is trip, the president lectured nato allies frustrated other g-7 leaders and a b

you know sean spicer. he is a wonderful human being. he's a nice man. >> is he your press secretary today and tomorrow? is he going to be tomorrow in >> he's doing a good job, but he gets beat up. >> will he be there tomorrow? >> he's been there from the beginning. >> with me jonathan swan national political reporter for axio, pulitzer prize winning columnist for the washington post. chief correspondent for the washington examiner. jonathan, first to you. your thoughts about the president suggesting he does not have any at all press briefings or that he have them every two weeks and that he handle them himself. or he also said answer questions in writing. >> well, i can tell you the president has been incredibly frustrated with sean spicer specifically and his press team in general. he's been venting all week privately about spicer. he thinks that he's been poorly served. he views the whole comey incident not as a failure of himself as not giving them enough time, but he thinks their response was incompetent and that he was completely e

sean spicer is 15 minutes late now, but these things always change. we will bring it to you live when he steps to the podium. >> jenna: it is his party. >> jon: yes, it is is. >> jenna: he shows up when he wants, that is how it goes. fox news alert, the aftermath in texas where one tornado touched down in texas. storms across the south and midwest killed at least 15 people, that system now on the move which means you need heads up on this. adam klotz is live in the foxworth dude mack weather center with more. >> the very system you're working on talking about is working through the eastern midwest, stretching down into the south east, as of now, not particularly severe weather but still pretty good thunderstorms wrapped within the system. couple areas we still need to pay attention to. this is looking back off to the left, portions of southern indiana stretching to arkansas, 12-8 inches of rain, as a result, still flooding issues that take a little while for some moisture and rain to run into the creeks and rivers. as a result, we have flood advisory

it is surprising, to your point -- there's sean spicer. i will stop talking. >> we will go to the briefing. >> good afternoon. the president this morning met with general mcmaster, as you know, general mcmaster is helping lead the team that's organizing the president's upcoming foreign trip. this week the president has been focused on meeting with the team getting ready for the various stops he will be making in meetings he's going to be having. during his many conversations with world leaders, the president has seen a great desire for america to reengage and be a leader once again in helping solve the world's complex problems. he's already made moves both behind the scenes with leaders and his public statements to show them that america is reasserting its leadership on the world stage. these visits are another important part of resurgence. while on the trip the president will further strategic objectives in the region including new opportunities that will strengthen the united states and her al hilies while weakening our enemies. many of

what did sean spicer say? >> what we've seen the administration turn to china and more recently russia, to try ramp up the pressure on north korea, of course, we had that missile test over the weekend. we know that it land uncomfortably close the russia. based with officials here. so it stands to reason that would be part of strategy now to try to get north korea to scale back and to essentially end these nuclear provocations. but tfg question is, will this administration and how seriously is the president thinking about potentially a preemptive strike? they have continued to say that is a last resort. certainly it only adds to the tensions between the united states and north korea and will only turn up the pressure on allies in that region. >> from the pentagon's position, do we know, did president trump speak to xi jinping over the weekend? sean spicer saying well, there's pressure that russia and china need impose new sanctions and the president and the administration liked the talk about what a good meetin

you think it's sean spicer. she place sean better than sean this today this happened her spiesy character driving in motorized podium past cnn what do you think? >> i mean i'm sure trump when he saw that he probably thought sean spicer was moonlighting first of all what are you doing? the other thing is that -- i sort of -- i don't feel bad for sean spicer but you know every time melissa mccarthy does he he is getting yelled at by daddy trump. president trump is yelling at him every time that happens. >> if you were in that position do you think you would be ultimates by it or would you just take it in stride and laugh? people making fun of you i don't know. >> i think you -- if it was any other time in history maybe you could take it in stride and laugh. you know that like that commercial goes out or goes online and immediately spicer gets a text come to my office. you know that it's not -- it's not good for him for melissa mccarthy going at him like that. he hid in the bushes this week. >> you think we're seei

. >> you know sean spicer. he is a wonderful human being. he's a nice man. >> is he your press secretary today and tomorrow? >> yeah, he is. >> will he be there tomorrow? >> he is. well, he's doing a good job, but he gets beat up. >> will he be there tomorrow? >> yeah, well he's been there from the beginning. >> stephen: ok, he's firing sean spicer. ( laughter ) he's always been here! >> jon: mm-hmm. >> stephen: luckily, that time sean spent in the bushes will come in handy next week when he's working at home depot. ( laughter ) i have to say something here -- donald trump, if you're watching, first of all, you're a bad president, pr ( cheers and applause ) ( piano riff ) second of all, please, please, please don't take sean spicer from us. ( laughter ) where am i going to get my daily dose of veiled anger and condescension? sarah huckabee sanders is okay, but she doesn't have that certain je ne sais "whaaaa?" ( cheers and applause ) we've a great show coming up. danny mcbride is here. when we return. stick around. when you're close to the p

we're waiting on the press secretary sean spicer. he's going to be taking questions from the news media very soon. later this hour we'll take that as soon as it begins. lots of important questions the reporters are going to be asking. the white house and republicans, they're trying once again this week to get movement on their plan to repeal and replace obamacare. their first effort failed to get a vote. but there is hope among the republicans that compromises could lead to success this time. one sticking point has been coverage for people with pre-existing conditions t.'s something president trump has guaranteed, guaranteed will remain in the bill. >> pre-existing conditions are in the bill. and i mandate it. i said it has to be. >> one of the fixes that was discussed pre-existing was optional for the states. >> sure. in one of the fixes. they're changing it. >> so it's going to be permanent. >> of course. >> joining us from capitol hill, bill cassidy, a member of the health education labor. let me 50 get your thoughts about this co