comey, as james comey testified in front of congress. big news. also big that we are only hearing about it right now. >> absolutely. yeah. interesting this didn't come out sooner if he was interviewed last year. >> makes you realize, the special counsel is probably doing a lot of things we honestly have no idea about. >> right. and they don't leak. that's also very clear. but of course, mueller is probably going to be asking comey or probably ask comey for the memos he wrote contemporaneously after he had these meetings with the president in which trump asked him, you know, for loyalty and asked him to drop the investigation into michael flynn. so it's very likely that comey gave these documents to the special counsel that he described his conversations with trump and that mueller is using it or has been using it to further this obstruction inquiry. >> let's read a portion of this "new york times" report. the interview focused on a series of memos, he wrote about his interactions with mr. trump that unnerved mr. comey. in one memo, mr. c

james comey was the director of the fbi. he stayed on when trump became president. then trump became president and in may of 2017, trump fired james kcomey. initially the white house offered a shaky explanation trump had to be fired about something how he handled the clinton e-mail investigation months earlier. that did not last. the president soon spilled the beans and told nbc's lester holt in fact, the russia investigation had been on his mind when he decided he had to fire james comey. he then also told two officials from the russian government in the oval office that firing james comey as head of the fbi would relief pressure on him on the issue of arussia. that happened in quick secession in may. james comey being fired and the explanation completely unraveling within 48 hours. that was in may. then in june, james comey testified before congress and he -- it was riveting and it was very important testimony, right? comey testified that before he was fired by president trump, president trump had pressured him multiple times to drop the fbi russia investigation,

james comey was the director of the fbi. he stayed on as the director of the fbi when trump became president. then trump became president and in may of 2017, trump fired james comey. initially the white house offered a sort of shaky explanation that comey had to be fired because of something about how he had handled the clinton e-mail investigation months earlier. that did not last. the president soon spilled the beans and told nbc's lester holt that, in fact, the russia investigation had been on his mind when he decided he had to fire james comey. he then also told two officials from the russian government in the oval office that firing james comey as head of the fbi would relief pressure on him on the issue of russia. that happened in quick succession in may. james comey being fired and the white house explanation that it had nothing to do with russia completely unraveling within 48 hours. that was in may. then in june, james comey testified before congress and it was riveting and it was very important testimony, right? co

one is james comey himself, right? well, the president has already fired him and the white house and republicans in congress have been smearing james comey and denouncing him and doing everything they can to undermine his credibility. one of the other people comey brought in, andrew mccabe, deputy director of the fbi, who the president has been publicly denouncing for months. he is reportedly getting retired out of the fbi, at the old age of 49. there's been reports that the attorney general has been pressuring the fbi -- current fbi director chris wray to get andrew mccabe out there. we believe he's still going to retire out very shortly. one of comey's other corroborating witnesses was the general counsel of the fbi, james baker. he has mysteriously been reassigned to a job nobody can describe with responsibilities no one can name. nobody knows where he's been busted down to some tertiary spot where he's basically responsible for watering the plants. but the president has been taking shots of him at well. and then th

james comey has a unique perspective on what that narrative is. i agree with what you were just saying. we're now getting near the end of this investigation. there's only a handful of relevant players left to interview and then mr. mueller will decide what he wants to do. >> how about the president? you were talking about the little fish, two medium-sized fish, now sessions. we know mueller. do we know anything more about the president speaking to mueller's team. >> we don't, in terms of how the internal negotiations are going between the president's legal team and robert mueller's team. what we have reported and do still believe is the case for fr our sources is that there is a real split among people who have influence with the president on whether or not this is a good idea. i've talked to several people who have told me that they have made it clear to him and those around him that it would be horrible for him to do -- to just sit down with robert muchlt eller in any way, shape or form for a whole host of reasons. one, because they think that i

one is james comey himself, right? well, the president fired him already and the white house and republicans in congress have been smearing james comey and denouncing him as a terrible person to under main his credibility. one of the other people who comey broug ht in, andrew mccab who the president has also been publicly denouncing for months. he's now reportedly getting retired out of the fbi within the next pew wefew weeks. retired out at the old age of 49. there is reports that the attorney general is pressuring the current fbi director to get mccabe out of there from "the washington post" and cnn and axios.com that the current fbi director threatened to resign if he was removed from the fbi but we believe he's going to retire out shortly. one of the other corroborating witnesses was the general counsel of the fbi jim maker that remains for now but misster ju -- mysteriously been reassigned. nobody knows why he's been ousted from his senior position and busted down to a spot where he's responsible for watering the

jeff sessions and james comey are of key interest. sessions for his meetings with the russian ambassador during the campaign, and of course the fact that he was involved in the firing of james comey. and of course as for former fbi director james comey, he took many notes that he's talked about about his interactions with the president and, of course, the special counsel will be very interested in comey expanding upon those. the president weighed in on sessions' interview on tuesday. >> did the attorney general tell the special counsel -- >> not at all. not at all. >> did you talk to him? >> no, but i'm not concerned. >> reporter: jeff sessions' interview is an important part of the probe. the white house says it is cooperating. >> robert mueller's team also reportedly interested in why the president asked fbi director andrew mccabe who he voted for in the 2016 election. mccabe was the acting director at the time of the discussion according to a report first reported by the "washington post" and then "the new york times." the presiden

jeff sessions and james comey are of key interest. sessions for his meetings with the russian ambassador during the campaign. and of course the fact that he was involved in the firing of james comey. of course as for former fbi director james comey, he took many notes that he's talked about about his interactions with the president and of course the special counsel will be very interested in comey expanding upon those. the president actually weighed in on sessions' interview on tuesday. >> the attorney general told the special counsel -- >> not at all. >> did you talk to him about it? >> i'm not at all concerned. >> reporter: jeff sessions' interview, a major development in the russia probe. the white house has continually said that it is cooperating with mueller's investigation. >> thank you for that. >>> joining us this morning, making his long-await "early start" debut, cnn political analyst errol lewis. i know you've been long waiting to get up at 3:00 in the morning to join us. we appreciate it, especially on a huge day in this r

comey and the drama that then filled cable news tv screens as james comey was shown boarding an fbi plane in los angeles having just received the word that he was fired. the tv cameras stayed on the plane as it taxied to a takeoff from los angeles to bring the fired fbi director home. and today, harold lee of nbc news reports the day after donald trump fired james comey he became so furious watching television footage of him boarding a government funded plane back to d.c. that he called acting director andrew mccabe to vent. trump demanded to know why comey was allowed to fly on an fbi plane after he had been fired. these people said mccabe told the president he hadn't been asked to authorize comey's flight but if anyone had asked, he would have approved it three people family with the call recounted to nbc news. the president was silent for a moment and then turned on mccabe. suggesting he ask his wife how it feels to be a loser. an apparent reference to a failed campaign to state office in virginia that mccabe's wife made in 2015. mccabe replied, okay, sir. trump then hung up the

he has to learn and he's learning and i hope this james comey firing james comey was a lesson to him that there are levers of this government and ways to operate. you're not sitting there on 59th street. >> how much longer is it going to take him to learn? >> i hope this was a good lesson. this investigation. this investigation, the mueller investigation is a self inflicted wunld. >> he is still tweeting about how he can control the doj and the fbi. he's talking about it in interviews. when he is going to learn? >> what he said on the doj -- listen, i'm not a surrogate for him. >> you know him so well, sam. that's why we have you on. you understand the man. you spent a ton of time with him and yurg heou're helping us undd who the president of the united states is. >> i would say that he has -- he's very defiant and if you tell him you cannot do something, he will want to do it. if you tell him you cannot fire james comey, you should not fire james comey, it will look bad to fire james comey, it could give the appearance of obstruction of justice, who knows what else james comey is lo

comey, and then of course he fires james comey, and he has said as much in public he fired james comey because of the russia investigation. >> hold on, jim, because i got to correct you. not only does it not say in the story that the president asked for someone to go and look for dirt on comey, the allegation was that someone in the justice department asked some low level staffer to do it and the justice department has flat out denied -- >> just parsing words. >> no, because we need to make sure we're being clear here. please don't throw shade -- >> i'm not trying to throw shade. >> look, i'm sorry that you hate the president so much -- >> i don't hate anybody. >> no, you do. you started off by criticizing the president. >> how can you make the judgment that i hate the guy simply because i ask a question about him and i make notice of the fact he hasn't been truthful. >> jason, you haven't answered the fundamental question here, which is this is part of a pattern by the president taking multiple steps of his own admission to get in the way it seems of the russia investigation. he said

you can fire james comey because of the way he's conducting it. >> okay. i mean, that's quite -- that hair has been split pretty thinly there, has it not, jack? you're saying he can fire him because he doesn't like the way he's running the investigation. and there's a distinction between that and how he's running the investigation? >> he can fire him without cause. he's the president of the united states and comey works for him. he can show where he tampered with some evidence or lied to him. i'm quoting alan dershowitz on this. >> there's your trouble right there. >> let's go to the source, michael. >> it's correct, what jack says, ha the president has the authority to fire the fbi director without cause. if, however, he fires the fbi director with bad intent, with corrupt intent, in order to obstruct the investigation, that can be actionable as an indictable offense, or to take dershowitz's point, but as an abuse of office and impeachable offense. >> strategy -- >> he doesn't need to destroy it. the obstruction of justice statute is endeavoring statue. y

and then he fires james comey. he's said as much in public that he fired james comey because of the russia investigation. >> i have to correct you, i did go through and read the story twice to make sure i was getting it right. >> not only does it not say in the story that the president asked for someone to go and look for dirt on comey, the allegation was that someone in the justice department asked some low level staffer to do it, and the justice department has flat out denied that. and said it did not -- >> you're just parsing words. >> no, it's very important, if it's not true, we need to make sure we're being clear here. please don't try to throw shade, because i'm making sure that -- >> i'm not throwing shade, i'm just trying to -- >> no, you are. >> the simple fact is, this president has never -- >> properly. >> at all in his entire year about. >> i'm sorry that you hate the president so much. >> i don't hate anybody. i'm just the guy asking questions. how could you make that judgment that i hate the guy, sim

now james comey has revealed that to the world. he was an extremely compelling witness but now we know that he's also spoken to robert mueller's team secretly at the he end of last year and jeff sessions also has information potentially about donald trump's state of mind when he fired comey and whether it was, in fact, related to the russia investigation or whether it was related to comey's handling of the hillary clinton matter as the memo describing the firing stated. sessions also has information potentially about trump campaign interactions with russia. sessions had meetings with russia bams dor, then had to go back and clean up and ad miss that those meetings happened. while not surprising they are deeply significant interviews and very important witnesses. >> i think the way that mike schmidt put it when he first broke this story for the "the new york times" and you were able to confirm it, is that comey is the central player, the central player if you're looking at the obstruction piece of this investigation? >> that's absol

to james comey firing him. he said i greatly appreciate you informing me on three occasions that i'm not under investigation, but i concur with the decision that it's time for you to go. that's the first question for special counsel mueller. >> jeffrey toobin, how significant is the fact that the attorney of the united states, jeff sessions, spent several hours last wednesday answering questions from robert mueller and his team? >> well, again, it is evidence that i think the mueller team is tending towards the end of its investigation. as preet said, you don't get many chances. you only usually get one chance to interview the top people, like the attorney general, like the president. so they would not have brought jeff sessions in unless they had all the evidence that they wanted to question him about. but he is a central figure. he is someone who has told inconsistent stories about his own involvement with the russians during the campaign. in addition, he was intimately involved in the decision to fire james

james comey has a god complex. james comey seems to think that he is a single arbiter of what is true and moral and good in the country these days. if james comey wanted to be a politician of his his clout score on social media, then james comey should have run for office. but this charade, this embarrassing charade where he pretends that he was above it all, and by the way, he pretends that the fbi should be free of political influence, which it should, by the way, while he oversaw an investigation to the clinton email scam, by the way, sean. >> sean: if he's writing and exoneration -- -- >> you have got to be kidding. >> sean: we are telling the truth. >> he called for an independent justice department and fbi. and you guys have worked yourselves into the position that you think he's obstructing justice? >> sean: we are talking about deeds. let me explain it to you in simple terms. >> okay, that's what i need. that's what i need. >> sean: if your writing and exoneration with a guy that openly finds this president

this is right after james comey was fired. and andrew mccabe was essentially there meeting the president in a job interview. he was up for the position of acting director. the administration interviewed him and several other candidates for that position. and he was potentially in line to be nominated to be the full-time director. so the president is sending a very clear signal to him in that meeting, just as he did in his first meetings with jim comey after taking office they expect you to be loyal to me. i want to know that you're someone that has my back, someone that supported me in the election. i'm going to let you know that i disagreed with the fact that your wife was supported by an ally of hillary clinton. he was telling the fbi director very clearly i think if you want to get this job, i expect you to be loyal to me. not to the constitution, not to the rule of law, but to me, donald trump. >> and betsy, it's very clear as we see in this sequence donald trump has gone through three fbi directors so far. one acting dire

listen to this. >> someone said to me that you described the firing of james comey. you're a student of history. as the biggest mistake in political history. >> that would be probably -- that would probably be too bombastic even for me but maybe modern political history. >> so you're smiling but he's obviously a very blunt guy. >> well, yeah, i might put archibald c up there as blunders by presints. cleay this is what set in motion the entire special counsel investigation. but for the president having done this, it's not likely that there would have been a need for a special counsel. there may have been a need for sessions to recuse himself because he worked on the campaign and that's what the doj regulations require, but not necessarily a special counsel. >> and i'm sure the special counsel is going to want to question him about what he said in that michael wolff book about that trump tower meeting being treasonous, that money laundering potential i will ly e heart of all potential crime there is. they're going to want to get into all of that. >> steve bannon says i

the "new york times" also reports that days before james comey was fired, one of jeff sessions aides asked a congressional staffer whether there was any damaging information on comey in an effort to underfine the fbi director. the doj denied this account. the new evidence relating to mueller's obstruction of justice probe raises new questions about jeff sessions' future as attorney general. he offered his resignation before but the white house suggests he's still safe. >> right now, he's focused on doing his job, we're focused on doing ours. we don't have any reason to see there's any different today than there was yesterday. we feel like we're in a great place and move being forward. the attorney general will continue showing up to work this week and next week just like he has every day since we started and keep doing good work and moving the president's agenda forward. >> and new developments tonight pertaining to the so-called steel dossier. republican senators chuck grassley and lindsey graham referred christopher steel to the justice department for a criminal investigation. thes

comey, the motivation for the firing of james comey because, remember, the initial explanation, wolf, that the white house stuck by was it was because of comey's handling with the clinton e-mail investigation when the president contradicted that himself soonafter saying it was actually his handling of the russia investigation. this is part of the big picture that the special counsel is looking at now. granted, though, it is a high bar to establish obstruction of justice and you would also need to prove, as i understand from talking to our many legal analysts, you have to improve the nefarious intentions or corrupt intentions by the president as well. still the subject of investigation but not clear this is something that the special counsel will eventually be able to conclude, wolf. >> we all remember that that meeting that the president had in the oval office with the russian foreign minister lavrov, the then russian ambassador to the united states, kislyak, in which he similarly suggested he was getting rid of comey because he was pressing on this russia investigation, right? >> ab

the firing of james comey. why that took place. whether there was any cover-up of the real reasons for those actions. that i think is going to be the heart of what mueller's team will be asking about. >> and it follows what else we learned. that the attorney general of the united states was questioned last week by mueller's team. that's pretty extraordinary when you go to the top of the justice department. >> well, he is a very important witness in this case at two levels. in part because he has given inconsistent answers himself about his connections as member of the trump campaign to the russian government. so he was going to be asked about it. so more importantly, he was a key player in the firing of jim comey and he was a witness to those events. so that will be a very big part that was, i assume, a very big part of what he was asked about when he was interviewing. >> when he testified before congress, we all heard the clips. he didn't remember this. couldn't remember that. can you do that before a special counsel robert muelle

after the president fired james comey, "the new york times" reported that the president had asked james comey to shut down the fbi investigation of michael flynn in the day after "the times" reported that deputy attorney general rod rosenstein acting in the place of recused attorney general jeff sessions announced the appointment of robert mueller as special prosecutor. according to "the times," quote, mr. trump erupted at mr. sessions upon hearing the news in an oval office meeting. the president said the attorney general had been disloyal for recusing himself from the russia investigation and told mr. sessions to resign. mr. sessions sent his resignation letter to the president the following day and mr. trump rejected it sending it back with a handwritten note at the top, not accepted, the note said. tonight's "the new york times" reporting intersects with michael wolff's new book on a central point in the investigation of obstruction of justice and that is the president's role last summer in telling white house employees what to say to "the new york times" when "the times" discovered

comey -- >> the two men come from completely different worlds. >> james comey is a professional lawman. he has a respect for the traditions of the justice department. >> should it be about the facts and the law. that's why i became fbi director. >> donald trump, on the other hand sack, businessman. >> he expects absolute loyalty from everybody working for him. that's the culture in which he has operated for many, many years. >> their relationship got off to a bad start. before the inauguration, james comey was in charge of telling donald trump about the dossier. the controversial document contained allegations about the president gathered as part of an opposition research during the campaign. >> i didn't want him thinking that i was briefing him on this to sort of hang it over him in some way. >> it turns out that's exactly what the president thought, according to an interview he gave "the new york times." >> trump's reaction was anger. he said it was completely false. >> the encounter apparently didn't sit well with comey either. >> we know he went back to the fbi suburban and pulled

benjamin is a msnbc legal analyst and friend of former fbi director james comey. the reporting that the president asked the acting director who he voted for, donald trump or hillary clinton. mccabe says he didn't vote for anybody. today the head of the rnc, mcdaniel, was asked about this meeting on cnn. here's how she explained where donald trump came from. >> i know this is a big story. i think it's just a conversation. i don't think it intends all these terrible things that people are trying to put forward. >> was it inappropriate. >> i don't know. i asked people who they vote for sometimes. it's trying to get to know somebody. i don't think the intentions are as bad as being put out. >> the rnc isn't denying it but she believes it's donald trump saying i want to get to know you, know who you are, andrew. tell me who you voted for. what are your politics? >> a message for mcdaniels, if you ever meet an fbi agent, don't ask that question. it is very hard to overstate how inappropriate that question is with respect to somebody who is career law enforcement officer

the president fired james comey. the issue is why. >> was something specific happening? was there a moment? >> the white house coms department didn't know about this. >> the media team was scrambling to answer reporters' questions. >> they couldn't come up with some talking points, a statement, an explanation and basic facts. >> and sean spicer was left standing by the bushes. >> just turn the lights off. >> no camera for a moment. >> let just relax and enjoy the night, have a glass of wine. >> they deliberately didn't tell the press office because they thought the press office would leak it. this is at that moment when he was hugely mistrustful of his own staff. >> at first, a memo win by deputy attorney general rod rosenstein was given as the justification for the firing. rosenstein was overseaing the russia investigation, as attorney general jeff sessions had recused himself. that recusal had infuriated president trump, who had saw it as disloyal. >> he expected a certain measure of personal loyalty from sessions, which is not how the u.s. government is supposed to wo

i think james comey should be asked about it. if f.b.i. agents or staff have questions about what james comey said and whether he was telling the truth, they shouldn't answer those questions or direct those questions to him privately. i think it's worth having a public discussion about that. >> sandra: fair enough. and more on this with chairman bob goodlatte coming on with us in a few moments. steve hayes, thank you for coming on. >> bill: what this signals for the mueller investigation. alan dershowitz joins us later this hour. stay tuned for that. president trump sparring with chuck schumer saying his offer on border security has been pulled. question, was there ever a deal in the first place? our panel takes that up this hour. >> sandra: newly released text messages between the two f.b.i. officials, one of them apparently thought there was no there there. house judiciary committee chairman bob goodlatte has been investigating all this and he joins us next. >> it could be a technical glitch. it is suspicious. will they aggressively reco

comey, so sessions involved in the firing of james comey, keep in mind as i said earlier, not just in questions with obstruction of justice, sessions, himself, lied or didn't disclose contacts that he had during the campaign and the transition with russians known to u.s. intelligence, including the russian ambassador to the u.s., so it keeps opened more than one line of investigation for the special counsel, that's why he would have interest in speaking to both of them. >> i want everyone to stick around. when we come back the white house says they haven't fired mueller, in part because the press would react. do they completely misunderstand how serious the situation is? when you look at the mercedes-benz glc... with its high-tech cameras and radar, contemporary cockpit, 360 degree network of driver-assist technologies and sporty performance what's most impressive about the glc? all depends on your point of view. lease the glc300 for $449 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. directv has been rated number one in customer satisfaction over cabl

trump, why did you fire james comey? he's going to have to say what he said to lester holt or say something else. then he'll say, mr. trump, why did you tell mr. holt why you fired him on russia? he'll have to say that. mr. trump, did you tell him to fire james comey? and if he doesn't say what his snoets s snoets s notes say, he's in trouble. his friends on tv are not crazy. he'll be asked, did you fire -- if he answers him, i fired him because he quit my golf club. nobody is going to believe he was fired because he quit his golf club. so he has a problem when he goes in that room. >> so what does this do to the president's calculation the lawyer is going to make a certain set of recommendations, but we all know donald trump is going to make a decision possibly on his lawyer's advice, possibly his friends on tv's advice, we don't know. he's going to make the decision. he now knows he's going to be interviewed by a special prosecutor who knows the president tried to fire him. will he submit to that interview? >> i don't

the president fired james comey. the question is why. >> the white house coms department didn't know about this. >> the media team was scrambling to answer reporters' questions. >> they couldn't come up with talking points, an explanation and basic facts. and sean spicer was left standing by the bushes. >> just turn the lights off. >> no camera for a moment. >> let just relax and enjoy the night, have a glass of wine. >> they deliberately didn't tell the press office because they thought the press office would leak it. this is at that moment when he was hugely mistrustful of his own staff. >> a memo written by rod rosen ste stein. >> he expected a certain measure of personal loyalty from sessions, which is not how the u.s. government is supposed to work. >> "the new york times" reported when trump heard that sessions might recuse himself, he ordered white house counsel don mcgahn to stop it. and trump is still angry at sessions. >> it's a bunch of dominos. rod rosenstein appointed a special counsel and he believed th

shortly after james comey's firing last year. the president asked mccabe who he voted for in the 2016 election. does that worry you? >> deeply. look, the notion that some of your guests, that this was just a casual conversation. and people do it in small talk. let's not forget the context. the fbi director comey had just been fired in part because of the russia thing and because he didn't swear loyalty to the president. it is in that context that mr. mckab is summoned to the white house and asked this question. completely inappropriate. another remind per this president, the oath is to serve the people of the country and the constitution. not to serve the person of the president of the united states. it is another example of not understanding the fbi, the department of justice, do not work for the individual donald trump. they boriwork for the american people and the constitution. and the notion that the vote of a particular individual would be an appropriate question to ask someone, particularly as you try to test his loyalty. i

robert mueller's team questioning james comey last year. the topic, his memos of interactions with president trump before he fired him. it has been confirmed mueller's team interviewed jeff sessions. as far as we know he's the highest ranking official and first trump cabinet member taking questions from mueller's team. we will bring you more with "shepherd smith reporting" see you then. >> dana: the state department revealing multiple americans were injured or killed in afghanistan over the weekend. they're among 22 people killed in the terror attack. an official said 14 victims were foreigners and 8 were afghans. more than 150 people were rescued or escaped. president trump taking action on trade today. hefty tariffs on solar panels and washing machines. how does this affect you. jerry wallace, who better. every policy decision has up sides and down sides. what is here. >> it's interesting. we haven't done this in a long time about. 16 years with this kind of tariff applied, or tax. that's what it is for goods coming in from overseas. if y

mueller's old boss james comey admitted leaking. this may all be conspiracy theory connecting distant dots and forcing them together as facts. but you have to admit the whole thing is just bananas. i don't think they were politically motivated democrats. they were forces aligning against an anti-establishment president who is just annoying enough to ask the wrong questions and strip the society of their secret powers. i'm kennedy. kennedy: are these effects correspondence between a couple of lovers talking politics or lovers talking shady deep state behavior. this is all very, very disconcerting. but is it just a series of disconnected facts that don't point to anything? >> here is the part that disturbs me as a former prosecutor. where are these missing texts. you heard attorney general jeff sessions saying we are going to leave no stone unturned to get to the bottom of this to determine if there is any wrongdoing and take it to the fullest extent of the law. why don't they have that information? and why are fbi counter-intelligenc

james comey. you may remember that in watergate, the interference with the fbi's investigation of watergate was the direct cause of nixon's resignation, when it was proved beyond a doubt that nixon gave the order to interfere with the fbi, that was the obstruction of justice that ended any support remaining for nixon. >> when sessions, the attorney general, testified before congress, you remember, he couldn't remember a lot of facts. he couldn't remember this, couldn't remember that. he was testifying, of course, under oath. when he testifies before the special counsel's staff, can he do that? can he say, i don't remember this, i don't remember that? >> if it's legitimate that he doesn't remember, he can say it. if it is pretextual to avoidancing questions, then that's troublesome. but he didn't testify with mueller, he was interviewed by mueller. >> what's the difference? >> testifying under oath would be before the grand jury and that's a different phase of the investigation. >> but if he's bein

comey, so sessions involved in the firing of james comey, keep in minds as i said earlier, not just in questions with obstruction of justice, sessions, himself, lied or didn't disclose contacts that he had during the campaign and the transition with russians known to u.s. intelligence, including the russian ambassador to the u.s., so it keeps opened more than one line of investigation for the special counsel, that's why he would have interest in speaking to both of them. >> i want everyone to stick around. when we come back the white house says they haven't fired mueller, in part because the press would react. do they completely misunderstand how serious the situation is? you ready, babe? how do you become the most trusted brand of suvs? go, go, go! we've got room. you make it for those who are running a bit late. run into a little trouble or might just be running low... alexa, tell starbucks to start my usual order. so that the morning routine stays routine. that's ford, and that's how you become the most trusted brand of suvs. ♪ why people everywhere are upgrading their water fi

james comey never put on his fbi hat. he never really supported what we do. and it's very disconcerting to all of us who served the agency but also it's concerning to the agents who have still there. they don't want that to happen. they want to do their job. they believe in the constitution. let the facts take you where you're going to go and don't have a preconceived notion of what you want to do before you get there. kelly: it appears that james comey kept all of this to himself and only tot a select hand of people who knew what was going on between he and the attorney general, loretta lynch. what do the agents do now. as we heard attorney general jeff sessions say he wants to restore integrity within the fbi. >> i think he's done that. we have a new director now. and i think he sees what happened there. i have actually been to an occasion with him in the last couple of weeks. i think he gets it. it starts at the top. if the director of the fbi does not support the agents in the field, then we'll have it again. and congress should look at that. i would like

he fired james comey because of the russia investigation. all of it adds up to the potential for a charge of obstruction of justice against the president. and the "times" reporting today is another brick in the wall. >> how do you see it? >> well, donald trump as a candidate and now as president has a fundamentally flawed understanding of the role of the attorney general and the role of the justice department. he thought on the campaign, he apparently has still thought that throughout his first year as president, that the department of justice and the prosecutors and investigators are an arm of the white house. and he doesn't understand the independence that the attorney general needs to have. jeff sessions, whether people disagree with his politics, with his policy positions, or the policy in the justice department, in probably the most decision he had to make, which was recusing himself in the russia investigation, he did the right thing. and he adhered to the ethics advice from the professional ethics lawyers in the department that the ri

the president fired james comey. the issue is why. >> did something specific happen? was there a moment -- >> the white house comms department didn't know about this. >> the media team scrambling to answer reporters' questions. >> they couldn't come up with talking points, a statement, an explanation, but the basic facts -- >> and sean spicer left standing by the bushes. >> okay, hold on, just turn the lights off. let's just relax, enjoy the night, have a glass of wine. >> he deliberately didn't tell the press office because he thought the press office would leak it. he was hugely mistrustful of his own staff. >> at first a memo written by deputy attorney general rod rosenstein was given as the justification for the firing. rosenstein was overseeing the russia investigation. after attorney general jeff sessions had recused himself. that recusal had infuriated president trump, who reportedly saw it as disloyal. >> he had expected a certain measure of personal loyalty from sessions, which was not how the u.s. government is supposed to work. >> "the new york times" repor

bannon's feud with him, james comey. some of his reporting has been kra corroborated, some verified. one woman says didn't say that to him, another verifies account to the word. wolff doesn't directly quote anyone in some claims and sourcing at times is vague. here's what he says in the preface. it is worth noting some of the journalistic conundrums i faced dealing with the trump administration. many the result of white house's absence of official procedures and lack of experience of its principals. including dealing with off-the-record or deep background material later casually put on the record. sources who provided accounts and shared them widely as though liberated by first u.s. ranss, frequent -- setting of parameters on conversation. source's views so well-known and shared, not to. wolff also notes, everywhere in this story is the president's own constant, tireless and uncontrolled voice, public and private, shared by others on daily pacis, sometimes virtually as he utters it. bear that in mind as we bring you pass

if james comey wanted to be a politician and of his cloud score on social media, then james comey should have run for office, but this charade, this embarrassing charade, where he pretends that he was above it all, and by the way, he pretends that the fbi should be free of political influence, which it should, by the way, while he oversaw an investigation of the clinton email scam, by the way -- >> sean: did he obstruct justice to you? if he and peter -- >> you guys have got to be kidding! >> sean: no, we are telling the truth, uterus have to keep up. >> he called for an independent justice department and fbi and you guys that -- >> sean: those are the words. >> you say he's obstructing justice? >> we are talking about deeds. let me spin it to you in simple terms. if you are writing and exoneration, with a guy that openly finds this president loathsome, and is writing that he was fbi girlfriend at the time, and the exoneration even takes out the legal standard that hillary clinton clearly broke, mishandling of classified information, destroying classified information, those are both felo

james comey was fired in may. that certainly speaks to the timeline we're looking at what was going on in the investigation. are these things interrelated or not related at all? >> well, i think they could be related. i think particularly if there were some kind of conclusion reached about the guilt of people who were investigated by the very agents who had the text messages. but i think that i view it more as a side issue of those messages seem somewhat inappropriate and i think the inspector general report which we're waiting for will have a lot to say about those text messages and the conduct of some of the agents involved and whether they crossed any ethical lines in making some of the comments they did. but, you know, at the end of the day the facts of this are the facts. and if the facts turn out to exonerate the president and there is no collusion, then that stuff all becomes somewhat irrelevant. i think for institutional reasons the inspector general and others will want to follow up. it doesn't necessaril

we know mueller has taken that testimony and has james comey's story. so what exactly is the president of the united states saying about that? is he saying it's a lie? is he saying there's some nuance here? that's a really important question, i think. >> robert costa, let me put that to you. what is the white house's position about what jim comey asserts for the reason behind this firing? >> at some point, they're going to be forced to answer that question when it comes to the special counsel. the real question i have as a reporter, i'm trying to figure this out when i talk to my white house sources, is will the president actually meet with robert mueller and his team? because there could be a negotiation in the coming weeks and months about whether it's a written response to the special counsel's question. whether it's an actual in-person interview. these are things that are being talked about inside of the west wing by ty cobb and john dowd according to people familiar with those discussions about how to handle this as it continues to heat up. the whi

why did he fire james comey? what was the reason? was it to obstruct the russia probe? as you'll remember, there was the reporting that the president allegedly asked james comey to drop the investigation into michael flynn. why was that? so this is all being worked out. they're in the process of it. sources tell us, though, anderson, that these discussions are still in the preliminary stages at this point. that don't expect anything very soon because there is a lot to be worked out still, anderson. >> is there any indication about how the interview would take place or if it will happen? >> so right now sources tell us that basically, what the lawyers would like is to sit down with mueller and first try to present a case to them to tell them why there is no case, essentially, on the obstruction of justice front. from there, i think there is more of a willingness to open the president up to perhaps written answers to questions as sources have been telling us. an in-person meeting would be sort of a last resort. but these are all things that are being worked out. and again

thinking about the fact that james comey is talking to them about the memos. michael ynn has pleed guil guilty. >> it all helps. all these people are part of the corroboration team to say what do we know, what testimony do we have to corroborate? remember, george papadopoulos, don't know what he has provided, how long he was cooperating, conversations we may not know about, hope hicks. there's a variety of people that may come into play. think about the jigsaw puzzle. up until now, we in the media have seen all these pieces around. mueller's team has the job to figure out how many pieces they need to get a clear picture of what they need to complete. every investigation, every interview is going to give that a much more clear shape. when you get higher and hirer to trump, we or not talking about somebody on a fishing expedition trying to figure out what possibly can be fined, they'll know the answer to every question they intend to ask. >> laura, continuing on that, what kind of access would the president's lawyers, the president himself have to anything that

trump, why did you fire james comey? he's going to have to say what he said to lester holt or say something else. then he'll say, mr. trump, why did you tell mr. holt why you fired him on russia? he'll have to say that. mr. trump, did you tell him to fire james comey? and if he doesn't say what his notes say, he's in trouble. his friends on tv are not crazy. he'll be asked, did you fire -- if he answers him, i fired him because he quit my golf club. nobody is going to believe he was fired because he quit his golf club. so he has a problem when he goes in that room. >> so what does this do to the president's calculation the lawyer is going to make a certain set of recommendations, but we all know donald trump is going to make a decision possibly on his lawyer's advice, possibly his friends on tv's advice, we don't know. he's going to make the decision. he now knows he's going to be interviewed by a special prosecutor who knows the president tried to fire him. will he submit to that interview? >> i don't think so. i don't

>> harris: leak. >> leaking james comey. >> harris: different connotation. that means there was some sort of movement behind it. you just don't move it -- hair mayor my point is this we can talk about how james comey went about this and the content of the memo and the fact that he was fired the way he was has led us to the special counsel we have today. >> katie: which was his goal for leaking by the way. >> maria: the president shouldn't have fired him. >> harris: it isn't that i passed it along to a friend i leaked it. >> katie: i know the state department didn't care about classified information how it was handled. >> maria: that's a personal shot someone just worked there. >> katie: not a personal shot. we should care how classified information is handled. >> maria: i certainly care. >> harris: the same talking point for lack of a better phrase well, it wasn't born classified. >> maria: there is a legal distinction. >> harris: that was the same sort of information used to defend president obama when he said on "60 minutes" he knew for a fact hillary clin

you got to listen to what james comey just said. first he said he made the conclusion after the interview. we know that's a false statement because he made the decision months before the interview. by the way, it wasn't just the interview of the former secretary of state. other witnesses were granted immunity that have not yet been interviewed when he made his exculpatory statement saying that she's not responsible and no violation of law come up before the key witnesses were put forward or interview. then he said, she may have lied during the interview, and that maybe would've changed it. this is washington speak for what? an examination or investigation that from its offset, let's look at what it transpired he appeared let's put it into a context. number one, just weeks ago, we had a revelation about the number department of justice bruce ohr, whose wife is working for fusion gps with christopher steele on the dossier. while her husband was serving as the number four in the united states department of justice. that's one. number t