last july president was tweeting about mccabe, saying why didn't attorney general sessions replace mccabe, a comey friend in charge of the clinton investigation? anything that corroborates something that comey said is not going to sit well with the white house. think the question is how angry will this make the president also about jeff sessions who did not replace mccabe. the president believes that mccabe is a democrat, that his wife ran for democratic seat in virginia, hillary clinton donated $700,000 to his wife. so the president believes mccabe was bias from day one. i want to point out however that chris ray, new head of the fbi, has pushed back on suggestions that mccabe operates in any kind of biased way at the fbi. >> robby? >> i think it was terry mcauliffe that made the contribution, not hillary clinton. >> you're right. donated to pac. >> which is separate from hillary clinton. >> virginia state race. democratic governor of virginia. >> head of the democratic party, not usual for them to give to candidates running in virginia. >> jason, you're a trump loyalist, how concerned a

what we're told from multiple sources with direct knowledge of mccabe's testimony is that mccabe, in fact, confirmed that comey told him this directly. when comey testified before the senate intelligence committee he said he told senior leadership about this. he didn't say he told mccabe about it. this is the first time we're hearing that mccabe could be contemporary witness disputing the president's account if special counsel robert mueller decides to look into this further, look into the firing of james comey, perhaps ask mccabe his impression, because according to mccabe, comey told him about this at the time. could be a contemporaneous witness. >> what could you tell us about mccabe's relationship with republicans? >> reporter: number of republicans have been critical of mccabe, don't believe he's necessarily been a fair arbiter at fbi and particularly don't like the way the e-mail investigation was handled, the clinton investigation. and that's one reason why he was brought behind closed doors before two house committees today. he just left today, wolf, after spending nine hours

mccabe is a civil servant and can't easily be touched by the president. as long as we have the rule of law and people play by the rules, everything should work out fine. the fbi is a very proud and very storied institution. presidents come and go and the justice department stays. i think a core sense of that and we will have to see where this all ends up. individuals, in the meantime, put through a lot of pressure as mr. mccabe is right now. >> the fbi agents association felled compelled several times the last couple times the last several weeks defending them. we will talk more about that this morning. stick around, errol and nathan, as we have a lot talk about. >>> president trump allegedly said all haitians have aides. dan is following that story live. >> forceful denials on trump's first full day of vacation in florida. we will have more on that after the break. dry mouth has been a problem for me. i just drank tons of water all the time, it was never enough. my dentist suggested biotene. my mouth felt more lubricated. i use the biotene rinse and then

the president tweeted this today about mccabe saying how can fbi director andrew mccabe, the man in charge, along with -- call me of the phony hillary clinton investigation, given $700,000 for white's campaign by clinton puppets during an investigation. so daniel, just start with the fact check here. how accurate is this tweet attacking the deputy director? >> it's not. it's slightly more accurate than his usual words thabt situation, but still not accurate. what happened was mccabe's wife, jill, ran as a democratic candidate for a seat in the state legislature in virginia and governor terry mcauliffe, his political allies and a virginia democratic party made donations to her campaign, which is standard. so mccabe never got money himself. it was his wife's campaign. there was no evidence that hillary clinton or her team even knew these donations were happening and there's evidence of improprietay whatsoever. >> and we should note that mccabe b according to our sources, has long been plan ini to retire when he was eligible in march. that there is no indication he's being forced out r, but l

mccabe cuts across every facets. reporter: mccabe drew scrutiny, a lose ally of bill and hillary clinton, he oversaw investigation into secretary clinton's private server, devon nunez and his team are probing mccabe's involvement, if any, with fusion gps dossier. >> it talks about a discussion in andrew's office, that could be mccabe. reporter: peter strzok, fbi official removed from russia investigation for sending anti-trump messages to a colleague. saying one that you threw out in andy's office, like an insurance policy in unlikely event you die before your 40. >> this sounds like collusion went the fbi. >> idea that the entire fbi is full of a bunch of liberals, i grew up in a liberal household, and neighborhood, no one said, please be an fbi agent. reporter: demoted justice department official bruce oro revealed to have met with men remind th the -- anti-trump dossier to meet before intelligence committee. lou: thank you. james rosen. tomorrow promising to be as fascinating as today. joining us tonight george wa

andrew mccabe, if he was not a household name before, he will be soon. that's in part because of his role in the hillary clinton investigation during the campaign. we heard some of the context around that from the president's adviser, marc short, earlier today. let's listen to that sound bite. >> terry mcauliffe, the governor of virginia, is perhaps the clintons' closest political friend. he gave $700,000 contribution to mccabe's wife when she was running for office at the same time that they were launching an investigation into hillary clinton. the american people have a right to know that. >> reporter: so, marc short getting some of this right here. there were pacs that the virginia governor, terry mcauliffe, was involved in that gave money to mccabe's wife and to other democrats running for office. the perception here is that there may be a conflict of interest with mccabe as it comes to hillary clinton. that matters in the context we're in today, more than the end of the 2016 election, because mccabe is also a corroborating witness of sorts for forme

asking why he didn't replace mccabe. mccabe. what about the attorney general's future? >> you know come in the attorney general has been pretty much between a rock and a hard place the entire time and the president frankly has not been very supportive of his either publicly or privately. i think it's important to go back to two weeks ago, the hearing on capitol hill in which rod rosenstein made it very clear that former director miller as well as deputy director mccabe have done nothing that shows any type of bias for any misconduct throughout the course of this probe. again, i think it is remarkable to pay that to secretary clinton and e-mails in all the other stuff we want to talk about. let's talk about the substantive underlying charges. even if, which i contend that they are not, even if the fbi or doj is playing politics, their lawyers said professional integrity on the line and don't bring charges unless bring charges and bring charges unless there is regional substantive lawyers said professional allegations to support charges. michael flynn pled guilty. the que

the president isn't, himself, replacing mccabe or firing him. possibly he can't do it because he is a career employee. how does this tweet shape the perception of his involvement with mccabe's departure? >> well, the president has not refrained from weighing in over twitter on a lot of things that he either should not or cannot directly control. whether it be the ultimate arbitrator of the fate of bob mural, rod rosenstein, the deputy a.g., the president could probably fire rosenstein if he wanted to but he hasn't done that. democrats are bracing for what the president might shake-up to get rid of bob mueller. mccabe is another figure, though, in this long narrative that stretches back to the clinton email probe to the era of when the president was getting rid of jim comey. we have seen various reports, you know, of different aspects of what is going on with the russia probe and different revelations what was going on with various fbi personnel at the time the russia probe woo running and clinton email investigation and gives the president plent

going after deputy fbi director andrew mccabe and jim comey on twitter. this is "the washington post" reports mccabe is planning to retire early next year as he faces republican attacks in the probe. joe walsh is warning the president tweeting president trump, quit attacking the fbi on twitter. it's wrong and it's going to bite you in the bleep there and reminding trump it's almost christmas, telling him put your phone down. choining me a former assistant fbi director for intelligence. did these continues attacks on andrew mccabe, do you think that's what has contributed to his decision to retire soon? >> i think andy mccabe is trying to do the right thing for the fbi and the timing is not unusual, alex. it's very typical when a new fbi director comes in there for there to be a clean sweep particularly at that position. what i think we should be

fbi director andrew mccabe is eligible for retirement. in march a handful of outlets reported yesterday that mccabe would retire in the new year. we don't know that for sure but just that he's eligible for those reports seem to have alleged the president trump of most recent storm. he attacked mccabe in the states that the white house defended the tweets on "fox news sunday". >> the president is saying we need to know our civil servants are doing the honorable thing and it's important that the american people know what happened in the investigation. reporter: mccabe present two days in over 14 hours testifying on capitol hill. last week democrat said the closed-door meeting and other attacks on the fbi are less about the integrity of the bureau and more about the special counsel's investigation. >> is a part of a to attempt for diversion from the real issue which is the russian attempt to subvert the last election, the possible collusion or the certain conclusion by many members of the truck campaign and the possible collusion of the pres

mccabe and comey were close. mccabe's only given indications that he believed what he heard and what he's seen. you know, i think this is probably why we've seen attacks on republicans and mccabe and his credibility to try to paint those involved in the investigation as democrats or partisan. these committee hearings are so partisan at this point. i'm not sure what anybody says will change their mind. >> his wife ran for a state office in virginia as a democrat and we've seen some political contributions from a lot of other democrats. >> yeah. >> and that's the main point -- >> wolf, if i could just add one thing, comey also said that he wrote contemporaneous moments about these conversations with the president as soon as he left the president's presence. when you combine contemporaneous moments with corroboration by mccabe, it's pretty darn good corroboration that comey is telling the truth about what went on in those meetings. >> abby, how do you see it? >> i think that's about right. the president has only giv

molly: and any surprise mccabe may be leaving? >> reporter: oh, i don't think it was a surprise to me at all. we've been looking at these stories from earlier on this year all the way back into march when stories broke mccabe was under investigation for the hatch act and questions about him filing his expenses and the fact he's possibly left out senator grassley asked for this from the justice department nearly 700,000 dollars that was donated to his wife through committees when she unsuccessful ly ran for state senate in virginia so there were a lot of issues mccabe was dealing with and then to top it off we find out he didn't recuse himself from the server case as was suggested. he recused himself a week before the presidential elections so he was highly involved in the clinton server investigation and then later, we find out peter strzok was texting to lisa page about mccabe himself saying look , you know we have an insurance policy i wonder if andy's insurance policy will work here so there is a lot of questions. the how far,

it's obvious it is mccabe. this is the circle of people directly involved in the hillary clinton email scandal that migrated over to the trump administration trump investigation. over half the people on the hillary probe donated to hillary clinton or barack obama. have you weissmann, the number two, praising people for defying orders from the president of the united states and then peter strzok, the very person who may have dressed this up dossier as an intelligence document going from the clinton scandal to the trump

mccabe 's closeness with james comey. even talking about mccabe 's reported imminent retirement coming up sometime in the spring essentially pushing this one singular member of fbi leadership towards the door. mccabe if there were to be some kind of obstruction case brought or fully investigated against the president would be a witness because of how close he was with james comey and because of what james comey may have told him about conversations that he had with the president along the way. another unprecedented use of a twitter account by this president to attack a single law enforcement officer still serving at the fbi. >> does it make difference if mccabe is within the fbi and retired if prosecutors want to interview him? >> mccabe has said -- he is a lawyer, not a political appointee. he is a career fbi agent. i have been covering the fbi for 15 years or so. i have never seen anything quite like this moment we are in with the president singling out career people by name and essentially forcing them to the door. and

andy mccabe is being criticizes. why? because before he became deputy director, his wife had the audacity to run for office in virginia as a democrat. that's one of andy's so-called big sins. if we have a government where agents can't have personal opinions, can't donate money to anybody, we're just poe little sizings the bureau even further and undermining the mission of the bureau. >> robert mueller is a an republican. frank, good to see you. happy holidays to you. appreciate it. >> same to you. >>> on the defensive, the white house pushing back against an explosive report that the president made demeaning comments about immigrants. the latest on the fallout from that "new york times" report coming up. the day after chemo might mean a trip back to the doctor's office, just for a shot. but why go back there, when you can stay home, with neulasta onpro? strong chemo can put you at risk of serious infection, which could lead to hospitalizations. in a key study, neulasta reduced the risk of infection from 17% to 1%, a 94% d

andrew mccabe under pressure as he sat through hearings. >> mccabe is loyal public servant and he has served his country well h and f. and for him to be attacked by members of congress the way he's been attacked over the past few years is unconsciousable. what's going on is mccabe is witness to the obstruction of justice by president trump. because he was there when fbi, when he learned of the president to sware loyalty to the president and obstruct the russian investigation. this is intimidation of witness by members of congress. now that he is retiring we see the president taking up on twitter to continue to harass this man who is not only a loyal public servant, but a material witness in the obstruction of justice case against president trump. this is shocking behavior on behalf of the president. and i would have to say in the bush white house when i was ethics lawyer, if any white house staff member had sent out communications some of those tweets we would have had them fired immediateliment and for thes president of the united states to be doing this is a disgrace. >> you signed

he has a bee in his bonnet about andrew mccabe. it may be in part because it's been reported that comey spoke to mccabe after comey had that somewhat disquieting dinner with trump. >> you already have out there, the very question, at least by the investigations, the four on the hill, that of special counsel mueller, and the question of obstruction of justice and the president coming out against another fbi leader, in this case the deputy director. how might this be construed legally, potentially, in these investigations? >> i don't think it really has any specific legal effect. i don't think it's really an act of obstruction. it may, however, make it a little more difficult to -- or a little easier, rather, for trump to try to play off any comments, any testimony given by mccabe, or by fbi general counsel jim baker, who is apparently being reassigned and trump tweeted about that also. trump can just say it was sour grapes that these people back up jim comey's testimony, because they were losing their jobs. and so that i think is th

we need to make sure that was andrew mccabe. if they were coming up with a "insurance policy" in case donald trump won, it's devastating. >> fox has obtained a letter that ron johnson sent to the general services administration to get more answers about the tens of thousands of emails the government agency turned over to special counsel robert mueller peter johnson writing apart "these allegations raise concerns that gsa personnel disregarded federal statutes governing presidential transitions, there by potentially undermining the framework for future presidential transitions." you will remember that a trump transition lawyer or who we can charge that robert mueller's office broke the law by getting those emails. mueller's office is pushed back, saying they obtained emails properly. the bottom line, this is far from last we've heard about it. it is raising questions about mueller's independence. >> shannon: new questions every day. we will await the answers. ed henry, thanks so much. we are following vents on capitol hill minute

mccabe. he at his long house intelligence committee hearing, we didn't see it obviously, we have gotten reports of what happened. he had every opportunity, i think, to lay out why no if there's a case to say this wasn't all about opposition research being used to go after the rival political party. he had every opportunity to say no, it wasn't the dossier or here is why the dossier should be believed and apparently he knows nothing and he wants to share nothing and why this stonewall? now we're, this has been going on a year and a half. the government started looking at the russia story and we're still not seeing from him the argument why this was something other than a opposition research effort being used to go after the rival political campaign. >> we know that there was intervention by the russians in our election everyone agrees about that. every intelligence community member has corroborated that story so there is a reason for it when their investigation into hillary clinton about bengh

well, don, now we have learned one of the people he told was andrew mccabe. mccabe testified before the house intelligence committee that comey did, indeed, tell him about all these conversations soon after they occurred. so that suggests, don, that he could presumably be a witness. he can provide this contemporaneous account of what comey had said occurred between him and trump, and presumably dispute what the president said which is, of course, denying comey's account saying he did not ask for loyalty, but mccabe says that's not what comey said, comey told him the opposite in their private conversation, don. >> mccabe, he's been questioned for hours over the past couple of days. what else have lawmakers been grilling him on? >> reporter: well, in large part today was about the clinton e-mail investigation. two of the republican-led committees in the house have launched a separate investigation into fbi's decision making during the 2016 campaign. in large part, about how they handled the hillary clinton investigation. a lot of republicans are not happy with

now, we have learned, cnn has learned mccabe plans to retire in the coming months. but the tweets that the president has sent have led some democrats to speculate that trump is possibly trying to push mccabe out early. i want to read what you ted lieu has said, mccabe could be called as a witness in an obstruction of justice case. robert mueller is investigating collusion between the trump campaign and russia during the 2016 election. really it has been a conflict between the traditional things presidents do around christmas, calling the troops, teleconference with the troops. president trump also called and helped take calls from the norad track santa feature where kids can call in and see where santa is according to norad. and then he went to a church service late last night with his wife. i want to mention something that was said at the church service, the homily that was given mentioned the fact that words can hurt people. "your words can have as much destructive potential as they do healing." so even on christmas eve, president trump was hearing from people who

well,learned one of the people he told was andrew mccabe. mccabe testified before the house intelligence committee that comey did, indeed, tell him about all these conversations soon after they occurred. so that suggests, don, that he could presumably be a witness. he can provide this contemporaneous account of what comey had said occurred between him and trump, and presumably dispute what the president said which is, of course, denying comey's account saying he did not ask for loyalty, but mccabe says that's not what comey said, comey told him the opposite in their private conversation, don. >> mccabe, he's been questioned for hours over the past couple of days. what else have lawmakers been grilling him on? >> reporter: well, in large part today was about the clinton e-mail investigation. two of the republican-led committees in the house have launched a separate investigation into fbi's decisionmaking during the 2016 campaign. in large part, about how they handled the hillary clinton investigation. a lot of republicans are not happy with t

ohr and mccabe were engaged in. for an agency with so much influence over americans' lives they have to be purer and pure. gregg: republican congressman matt gates joins us. congressman, pleasure to have you with us. you are quoted as saying you believe there was extreme bias in favor of hillary clinton. by that, do you believe that people within the fbi deliberately and for political reasons cleared her in the email case notwithstanding incriminating evidence she broke the law? >> i believe there were people at the highest levels of our government in coordination. i believe there was an fbi piece and a department of justice piece. certainly the tarmac meeting highlights the extension to which you had high-level coordination. the good news is this congressional oversight is creating the transparency and creating change. andrew mccabe just announced his retirement. bruce ohr devoted. the more the american people learn about the pro-hillary bias in the investigation of the clinton foundation and the anti-trump bias th

we have just learned that fbi deputy director andrew mccabe is planning on retiring. mccabe informed senior fbi officials months ago that he was planning on retiring in the coming months. the sources say he told senior agents he's eligible to retire in march and he's not being forced out. president trump is tweeting about this already saying, how can fbi deputy director andrew mccabe, the man in charge along with leaking james comey and her 33,000 e-mails be given for $700,000 for wife's campaign by clinton puppets during investigation? and there's another tweet. andrew mccabe is racing the clock to retire with full benefits. 90 days to go. sam, to you. a lot to unpack here. fbi people retire all the time. >> every single time that the president tweets about a department of justice employee or the ongoing investigation, we no that russia launched an attack against our country to describe it and a free and transparent legal system is a core asset of our democracy system. every time he's undercutting the department of justice, he's starting to do russia's job for them.

trump claims mccabe was biased in clinton's favor why because in 2015 when mccabe's wife was running for the virginia senate, she received a large political contribution from a pac connected to clinton friend, terry mccaulough, in his tweet, trump wrote, mccabe in addition to getting awe the money from clinton puppet, he was using allegedly fbi office e-mail to promote her campaign. mr. trump provided no evidence mccabe did that. democrats say the president's attacks are just another attempt to divert attention from special counsel robert mueller's investigation. into the trump campaign's contacts with russia. cbs news has learned that mccabe has decided retire from the fbi by march. white house official, mark short was asked if it is helpful for the president to repeatedly attack top fbi officials. >> i think the president believes the american people have a right to know what happened with that investigation. >> we are told the president is still celebrating passage of the republican tax cut bill. sources with firsthand knowledge tell cbs news, that he told a group of wealthy peopl

much the funding with mccabe's signature on them. we talk to matt gates. our top story president trump declaring victory and celebrating the passage of the tax reform. it's been an amazing experience. i have to tell you. it hasn't been done in 34 years, but really hasn't been done. we broke every record. >> lou: the president coming away with a cut in the corporate tax rate from 31 to 21 percent. a cut in the tax rate for and a doubling of the child tax credit and big reduction in taxes for small businesses. tax reform bill and eliminating the tax penalty in the obamacare individual man date. >> it is a lot of fun and win and you work hard and lose is not acceptable. >> lou: it was senate majority leader mitch mcconnell took the opportunity on the south lawn much praising the president. >> it is a year of extraordinary accomplishment for the trump administration. [applause] >> lou: well, orin hatch saying without any hesitation that this may be the greatest presidency in history. president trump turning his attention to a deal to kee

whether it is mccabe or the stomach the other players. the general public knows this, and the bottom line, somebody has to answer for this. we are not imputing the empowerment. >> harris: it is behind closed doors with the intel committee, but as it makes news, we will tell you first. meanwhile, white house lawyers are gearing up to meet with special counsel robert mueller's office. "the washington post" reporting that meeting could trigger a new, more consistent phase between the two sides. knowledge of the investigation, most probe it could last well into 2018. white house lawyers have stated publicly that mueller is done with the white house interviews and requests. that was the opposition. the post is reporting that he asked investigator said they need any more information so that it will be soon be over. >> kevin: i think mueller is going to ask for a pardon. >> harris: what? 's before he had not a crime. >> kevin: is more of an a la branch into the trump administration. i do not believe for a second that anything more is going to co

ramping up attacks since learning last night that mccabe will retire in march. here's white house legislative director, mark short, earlier on the agency's investigation of hillary clinton and also reiterating the administration's argument of why robert mueller's investigation should wrap up. >> mccabe looks forward to move on and we wish him well, and the white house has cooperated in every single way with the investigation, and after millions and millions, no collusion has been proven. the president is saying we need to know our civil servants are doing the honorable thing and it's important for people to know what happened in that investigation peufp investigation >> kelly o'donnell is in florida with the president. she's joining me. why attacks now? >> reporter: one could offer the notion he is trying to undercut credibility with people that played a key role in the investigation related to russia and also to the hillary clinton e-mail investigation. the president is trying to say that the fix was in, if you will, with the hillary clinton investigation, and

what we're hearing so far. >> if baker is reassigned or mccabe retires, i think mccabe's retirement, both of them at the same time leaving does present a bit of a vacuum. and it would definitely make people think, well, is he stepping -- is mccabe leaving because it is hard to work in this political environment. i'm sure those questions would be asked. but again, shake-ups do happen and there are still people at the leadership level who were there in the past and a lot of career law enforcement people will remain and a lot of times it is a revolving door. some of the people are leaving to go join colleagues who left to go to private sector as well. so i think again the main thing that they want is a support from their president. and that -- to have baker leave -- would certainly be a shock in a lot of people might not enjoy that. but again it is not unusual. >> and steve, what a space we're in. we're talking about the fbi, a new director who probably does not want to be politicized, yet now here we are on a saturday before christmas and we are talking certainly in a way based on the

lashing out at andrew mccabe. he had a supervisory role in the hillary clinton email investigation and mr. trump claims mccabe was biased in clinton's favor. because in 2015 when mccabe's wife was running for the virginia senate, she received a large political contribution from aipac connected to clinton friends. in his tweet today the president wrote, mccabe in addition to his wife getting all of this money from a puppet, he was using his fbi office email to promote her campaign. mr. trump provided no evidence that mccabe actually did that. democrats ate the presidents attacks are just another attempt to divert attention from robert mueller's investigation into the trump campaigns contact with russia. we have learned that mccabe will retire in march. >> i think the president believes the american people have a right to know what happened in that investigation. >> reporter: we are told the president is celebrating the republican tax cut bill. sources tell us a group of wealthy people at his estate, you all just go

bush put it this way to president trump when talking about andy mccabe. you don't like andy mccabe because he's a witness to your obstruction of justice. of course, he is the deputy fbi director retiring soon. cnn reported that comey told him about the alleged loyalty pledge trump asked him to make when comey was head of the fbi. what is the likelihood mccabe is being treated as a witness in the mueller investigation as part of the obstruction of justice case against the president? >> i think it's very likely he's considered a witness. we don't know whether or not, you know, he has written a report or otherwise recounted what he was told by james comey, but we know this much, we know mueller is looking at obstruction of justice. we know that from the document request he sent to the white house, from witness interviews he's conducted, and i don't think any prosecutor could be looking at obstruction of justice without looking at the testimony of james comey and what we call corroborate, in other words, what can back up testimony of comey? so, comey and the

merry christmas. >> several calling for mccabe's removal. democrats argue the gop criticism are meant to undermine special counsel mueller has the investigation intensifies. let's discuss all this. our commentary writer and editor at "the washington examiner." good to see you. it has been airing of the grievances all year long for this president. i know he wants to take credit for this war on christmas, but this war on the fbi, is it shared by republicans in congress, or is this opinion from the republican senator -- he tweeted this. the thwarted isis inspired attack on san fran ki-- thankfu christopher ray and his team, the very people the president is knocking on twitter. so is the president's war on the fbi shared by republicans in congress? >> i think you'll find the republican is split. if you look at the investigation into hillary clinton's e-mail server, led by a republican, james comey, finding that there was no indictment on there, was pretty unnerving to a lot of republicans. i think that stuck with many members in the republican p

mccabe was also closely tied to fired fbi director james comey. as you said, nbc has some of this reporting as well, that when mccabe was on the hill talking to the house intelligence committee earlier this week, he confirmed that comey had confided in him exactly what comey has testified to, namely that the president had asked him for his personal loyalty. in that oval office meeting a short time before he was ultimately fired. that makes mccabe essentially a corroborating witness in this russia saga. and someone close to mr. trump's perhaps biggest foil and foe in the russia drama, james comey. so he's particularly large target for the president, and seems to be drawing from some of the fox news coverage of this issue to continue hammering those points over the course of this weekend. >> going so far as to quote from it as well on twitter. thank you very much. joining us from west palm beach. >> i want to bring my panel, jennifer reuben, an opinion writer for "the washington post." >> jennifer, let me start by asking you about this president's i

mccabe, the former number two at fbi. in many areas of law, it matters after something happens to you, that you come home and mention it to friend or family, contemporaneously, right in the moment. and i guess the comey corroboration is the headline from mccabe's hours and hours of testimony, correct? >> i think that's right. not that many of us doubted mr. comey to begin with, with his memos written contemporaneously, but to have andrew mccabe backing that up. and that instance of trump asking for loyalty is so in-character. we know from "the washington post" reporting that he had concerns about gorsuch not being loyal enough. we know donald trump values loyalty above all else. but keep in mind the messenger here, andrew mccabe has become something of a punching bag for republicans, especially republicans in the house who are trying to muddy the waters, allege bias at the fbi. they've taken aim at mccabe and tried to make him a toxic figure. i'm not sure if that will impact sort of the import of him corroborating mr. com

the pressure on mccabe may be having an effect. this weekend "the washington post" reported he was planning to leave his post around march when he was eligible for retirement. here's what one republican congressman said earlier today. >> and sat in on questioning last week of andrew mccabe. he can't go fast enough. anybody that has that much disrespect for the republican party, for the president of the united states, this goes way beyond just having a political opinion like everybody does. >> now, that sentiment may be what's behind a move also reported in the "the washington post." at the house intelligence committee representative devin nunes and a small group of house intelligence members are discussing writing a report next year that would discuss alleged corruption at the fbi. it would focus on the conduct of fbi officials in the course of the russia investigations, those people said. now, a number of house republicans are calling for an end to the russia investigation. today congressmen gomer, who you just heard from also sai

mccabe, quote, said he did. whatever republicans are trying to get out of these senior fbi officials, getting it out of them, getting it on the record that the fbi thinks that dossier is of sufficient credibility to meet fbi standards for opening an investigation, that is counterproductive for what the republicans are trying to do. this follows the other leak that we got from mccabe's testimony this week where cnn was able to report something very important about the president and his criminal liability for obstruction of justice. james comey, as you remember, he says the president pressured him about the mike flynn investigation before he fired him as fbi director. james comey has said under oath that he informed other fbi officials at the time of that pressure that he was receiving from president trump. well, this week under oath in congress the fbi deputy director, andrew mccabe, confirmed that. he confirmed that, yeah, james comey told him at the time about those conversations with donald trump and what dona

one of the issues about mccabe that seems to have piqued the president is mccabe's wife ran for office last cycle as a democrat and was supporting by a hillary clinton ally, terry mcauliffe and some pacs of his in virginia. the president took issue with that in several tweets. we won't read through all of them but you get the general idea here that this man andrew mccabe has gotten very much under the president's skin, both for his involvement on the russia side of things and for his involvement on the clinton side of things. it's a bad mix and it's brought us to this unprecedented situation of the president of the united states attacking one prominent law enforcement officer at a federal law enforcement agency which overall, he controls. >> garrett, what are we expecting next, in the next few days from the president? >> reporter: well, he's here in palm beach until the 1st. he has nothing on his public schedule, but i do expect we will see more potentially golf course diplomacy, more visitors here. we have had spottings of trump friends and allies in palm beach although nothing we are

mccabe, the former number two at fbi. in many areas of law, it matters after something happens to you, that you come home and mention it to friend or family, contemporaneously, right in the moment. and i guess the comey corroboration is the headline from mccabe's hours and hours of testimony, correct? >> i think that's right. not that many of us doubted mr. comey to begin with, with his memos written contemporaneously, but to have andrew mccabe backing that up. and that instance of trump asking for loyalty is so in-character. we now know from "the washington post" reporting that he had concerns about gorsuch not being loyal enough. we know donald trump values loyalty above all else. but i'd keep in mind the messenger here, andrew mccabe, he's become something of a punching bag for republicans, especially republicans in the house who are trying to muddy the waters, allege bias at the fbi. they've really taken aim at mccabe and tried to make him a toxic figure. which i'm not sure if that will impact sort of the import of hi

tweeted mccabe is racing the block to retire with full benefits. 90 days to go, question mark. along with another attack. john miss tole who pistole who tweeted. this. react to the attacks on fbi and leaders. former acting cia director shared the tweet writing i've served in both democratic and republican administrations. seen strange things. this is really strange stuff. james comey wrote sadly we're at a point in political life anyone can be attacked for partisan gain. james baker stepping down served our country incredibly well for 25 years and deserves better. he's what we should all want our public servants to be. haden tweeted he was and is a lawful servant. suggests making donations in his . john brennen tweeted he was donating. competence and respect for rule of law. not surprised donald trump fears them along with the rest of the fbi. >> as we mentioned. president trump spent the christmas holiday at private club in mara la go in florida. last night tweeted i hope everyone is having a great christmas. tomorrow back to work in order to make america great again. happenin

here's what you need to know about andrew mccabe. last week he told a house kbhe -- committee that he would corroborate what james comey has said publicly that the president asked for his loyalty back in that oval office meeting. that thrust mccabe into a national spotlight that he's largely been out of but he's been familiar to folks who follow the virginia local political scene or watch a lot of fox news where the fact his wife ran for a seat no the virginia state senate and received some large donations from pacts connected to the state's governor. a close clinton ally has gotten a lot of attention. the white house director of legislative affairs talked to him again. take a listen. >> he's perhaps the clinton's closest political friend. he gave $700,000 contribution to mccabe's wife when she was running for office. at the same time they were launching an investigation into heen. the american peop -- hillary clinton. the american people have a need to know that. >> reporter: the idea this money came directly as opposed to pacts he

mccabe, the former number two at fbi. in many areas of law, it matters after something happens to you, that you come home and mention it to friend or family, contemporaneously, right in the moment. and i guess the comey corroboration is the headline from mccabe's hours and hours of testimony, correct? >> i think that's right. not that many of us doubted mr. comey to begin with, with his memos written contemporaneously, but to have andrew mccabe backing that up. and that instance of trump asking for loyalty is so in-character. we know from "the washington post" reporting that he had concerns about gorsuch not being loyal enough. we know donald trump values loyalty above all else. but keep in mind the messenger here, andrew mccabe has become something of a punching bag for republicans, especially republicans in the house who are trying to muddy the waters, allege by yos ias at the fbi. they've taken aim at mccabe and tried to make him a toxic figure. i'm not sure if that will impact sort of the import of him corroborating m