more about trump and comey. before we begin, exciting news out of south korea. this week they elected their new president moon jae-in. but what's more exciting is how south korean tv showed which candidate was winning. ♪ all right, south korea, you win! k. pop, gangnam style! this is the greatest. from now on every major government announcement has to be revealed this way to connect with millennials. if president trump says he's taking america into another war, the very least he can do is twirk when he's giving the news. that's right, yeah, yeah. uh-huh, that's right. so much winning, so much drinking. ( laughter ) i like how that video bothers some people more than another war. but let's move on to someone not dabbing much lately. former f.b.i. director and current linkedin power using justicuse jamescomey whose contg was justified according to them. >> the rank and file and president lost confidence in comey. >> trevor: that's a good reason, if agents in the f.b.i. don't respect the director of the f.b.i., then he can't be effective. it's the reason they had to kill mmufasa. it's,

, trump's getting closer. ♪ >> breaking news -- jim comey is out at the f.b.i. >> the f.b.i. director james comey has been fired. >> today president donald trump informed f.b.i. director james comey he has been terminated and removed from office. >> trevor: wow. trump fired the f.b.i. director. you can't just fire the f.b.i. director. like, i mean, if he's gone, who's going to investigate russia's ties to -- oh! ( laughter ) ( applause ) and you know what? you know what? i know we said trump was an african dictator, right? but right now -- but right now, even africans are watching this going, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo! wow, that trump does not (bleep) around, eh?! ( laughter ) this is a blockbuster and tomorrow we'll cover more on the show, but i have to share the reason trump is giving for firing comey. there's no other way to describe it. it's a master stroke. this is the trump administration's explanation for firing the head of the f.b.i. this is what they say. the memo says "i cannot defend the director's handling of the conclusion of the investigation of secretary clinton's e-mails." an

. "hardball" starts right now. chris is standing by. >>> trump on the run. let's play "hardball." >>> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. a late-breaking story tonight in "the new york times" sheds new light on the russian campaign to influence the 2016 election through the trump campaign. according to the times, quote, american spies collected information last summer revealing that senior russian intelligence and political officials were discussing how to exert influence over donald trump through his advisers. the conversation focused on paul manafort, the trump campaign chairman at the time, and michael flynn, a retired general who was advising mr. trump. tonight we look at how investigators continue to bore down on donald trump even as he poses with the pope and goes to impressive meetings in europe. look, we know this is a serious business. this russian deal of trump's, the fbi is on the case, the former cia director just said he doesn't like the looks of it. and we now have a special counsel gearing up and trump himself is starting to lawyer up. well, tonight i

breaking news on top of breaking news. the latest report comes from reuters saying president trump's son-in-law, jared kushner has at least three undisclosed contacts with the russian ambassador during and after the 2016 presidential campaign. seven current and former u.s. officials told reuters. tonight, tonight's reuters report notes, fbi investigators are examining whether russians suggested to kushner or trump aides laxing it would allow russian banks to allow financing to people with ties to trump, said the current law enforcement official who was a source for the article. joining us is jonathan, the reuters reporter who just broke the story. this is a story coming on top of an earlier story. tonight, it's all about jared kushner and how much contact did he have with russian officials and what has reuters learned? >> we learned at least three calls between jared kushner and the russian ambassador. two of them before the election and there were contacts after the election not only between mr. kushner and president trump's former national security adviser, michael flynn. we report

by ed morrissey. there is no real evidence that are turning on trump. obviously we're just coming off the president's 100-day in milestone. but what prompted you to look actualether trump voters ly have some buyers remorse here? guest: well, there's been a narrative going on in the media primarily anecdotal that trump's him.s have been turning on and that is part -- it's sort of an extension, if you, of the campaign narrative that was going on even amongst journals that trump 's voters would eventually dump him for somebody else. back to august 2015 really when trump was first in the debates first came up and people would say this is what's going to lose voters.s it doesn't. there's a loyalty amongst his base. and some of the data, rather than the anecdotes that have come out since then, have really shown that. the people who voted for trump are sticking with trump. really terribly surprising because he's only 100 days into a presidency. him're obviously giving some time to get accomplished what he said he was going to accomplish. host: anecdotes, you're talking about one of the thing

house seat. it was a district that donald trump won by 27 points. what was the margin in the special election? republicans won but it came down to 7 points. that was 20 points in the democrats' direction. think about that. the democrats in kansas, they made up 20 points in the special election. again, we don't know what the final number is going to be here, but donald trump won montana by 21 points. let's say it landed at 6 points which is where it is right now in montana. that would be a gain for the democrats of 15 points off the donald trump margin. we also have, don't forget coming up in georgia in the suburbs of atlanta, you have a district down there that donald trump won by just one point. you have a runoff there coming in a few weeks. democrats, they'll be sorely disappointed if they don't win that one. they want to be able to see in all these special elections at a very minimum, they want to see progress in their direction. make no mistake about it, they also want to see a win. they thought they had an outside shot of pulling that off in monlt mont tonight, especially when y

specified that this morning that today was the only day when president trump could come to see the pope, because obviously there are schedules for the rest of the trip. or that the wednesday audience is about to start we're actually seeing thousands of pilgrims already lined up and assembled in st. peter's square right behind me. certainly this would probably serve better president trump than pope frais because in a way there's many things that po fncis i presume would like to talk to president trump about. migration, refugees, climate change, capitalism, all that stuff that he's been very vocal about. and in a way president trump is not -- in a way this could be on paper the easiest meeting of all during this trip because it's just a swift and friendly and courtesy visit. but on a human level this could be the most challenging because president trump is not used to face a high authority that is as outspoken and holy in a way as pope francis. >> absolutely. >> on the plane he said, pope francis said i'm going to be very honest with him. i expect him to be very honest with me. i'm n

counties that voted for donald trump and why. we're joined by jordan allot he's executive producer, and daniel allot. good morning gentlemen. daniel allot. tell us about the project. what it is and what sparked it. guest: trump's america is generally an effort to repair a bit of journalististic malpractice. it became clear after the election most of the media did not anticipate donald trump's rise or his victory. frankly, most journalist were not all that interested learning about what motivated his voters. this sort of prompted us to say we want to get out there and learn who these people are and what they care about and track that. host: tell us about the journey. what has it taken you and who you talking to? jordan: we gone to couple of different counties. i think really the goal is to give a voice to people throughout the country who felt left behind or ignored by the media, by what they would look at as a political elite. our goal is to give them a voice and not editorialize it. give them a voice through the priorities that they have and the challenges that they have and families a

is democracy now! >> why did you five director comey? pres. trump: he was not doing a good job. amy: did president trump fire fbi director james comey just days after comey asked the justice department for more resources to investigate the trump campaign's ties to russia before the 2016 election? we'll speak with history professor ruth ben-ghiat who argues this could be trump at his most dangerous. her book in progress is titled, "strongmen: from mussolini to trump." we will also get response from socialist city seattle councilmember kshama sawant. then we speak to one of the lawyers leading the charge against trump'p's muslim ban. >> if you look at it and say, how in the world can he be trying to tie this to national barring when he is children from coming in to be reunited with their parents? their parents are already living here, who are united states is distance and lawful permanent residents? amy: we will speak with matt adams. he is fighting an order from the department of justice that instructs his group to cease and desist from assisting unrepresented immigrants facing depor

going i can't believe what trump did yesterday. by the end of it it is more like i can't remember what trump did yesterday, that was so long ago. well, today's news was that the justice department is now appointing a special counsel to head the investigation into russian election med el-- meddling, right? that's a good thing, yes. and people are talking about president trump being in real trouble this time, which means for trump, it's a normal wednesday. like when he heard they appointed a special counsel, he was probably like special, like important, or special like the guy i made fun of, which one? so the new man of the hour is robert mueller, right, who actually ran the fbi before comey. and he had been enjoying himself in private law practice. i can only imagine him sitting at home watching all this comey stuff probably saying man, i'm glad i'm not part of this any more. i'm just like-- ring ring hello, yeah, oh for god's sake. would it help if i said i'm too old for this [bleep]? okay, see you in an hour. bye. you know what's funny about this whole situation is that we're experien

trump presidency is being viewed by those who live and work outside of washington. from washington journal, this is 30 minutes. >> we're joined by two brothers who are traveling the united states talking to people in specific counties that voted-for-donald trump to find out why and if that support will continue. we tear joined by jordan allott and daniel allott, the washington examiner. he's their deputy commentator edit editor. good morning. thanks for joining us. daniel, tell us about the project, what it is and what sparked it. >> trump's america is generally an effort to repair a bit of journalistic malpractice that's happened over the last two years. it became clear of the election that most of the media did not anticipate donald trump's rise and victory and frankly most journalists were not at all interested in what motivated the voters. this prompted us because we wanted to get out there, learn who these people are, that they care about and track that over time. >> where has it taken you and where do you do and who are you talking to specifically? >> we've gone to a certain

classified information? according to the "new york times" today, president trump also told those russians that firing james comey had relieved pressure on him. the times quotes a document summarizing the meeting. the president said, i just fired the head of the fbi. he was crazy. a real nut job. i face great pressure because of russia. that's taken off. that's the quote. he added, i'm not under investigation. that's also what he said to the russians. the white house did not dispute the account today, saying by grandstanding and politicizing the investigation into russia's actions, james comey created necessary pressure on our ability to engage and negotiate with russia. a very different reaction from democrats. senator casey from pennsylvania tweeted, if there was any question as to why comey was really fired, donald trump just answered it. as i said, nixonian. meanwhile, the "washington post" stated that the state of the investigation, quote, the law enforcement investigation into possible coordination between russia and the trump campaign has identified a current white house of

, there is no evidence that trump voters are turning on trump, obviously we are coming off the president's 100th day in office milestone but what prompted you to look into whether trump voters actually have some buyers remorse here? >> well, there's been a narrative that's been going on in the media, primarily anecdotal but in fact entirely anecdotal that trump voters have been turning on him and this is part, it's an extension if you will of the campaign narrative that was going on even among conservative journals that trumps voters would eventually dump him for somebody else. this goes back to august 2015, really , when trump was first embraced, when the debates first came up and people would say this is what's going to lose from his voters. it doesn't.and there's a loyalty amonghis base and some of the data , other than the anecdotes that have come out have shown that. the people who voted for trump are sticking with him and that's not really terribly surprising because he's only 100 days into his presidency.they're obviously giving him time to accomplish what he said he was going to ac

impeachment. and all have been brewing at the white house during the short tenure of president trump, particularly over the past week. but at what point is a house impeachment investigation actually warrant ewarranted? tonight, a conversation with allan lichtman about his text which is about impeachment throughout history. allan lichtman, coming up, in just a moment. ♪ ♪ >>> and by contributions to your pbs station, from viewers like you, thank you. ♪ >>> allan lichtman is an author and professor of history at american university. he joins us tonight from washington. good to have you on the program, sir. >> great to be with you. >> before i jump into the book, let me start with a clip. today, president trump was in israel, standing alongside their p.m., mr. netanyahu. listen to what mr. trump had to say. >> just so you understand, i never mentioned the word or the name israel. never mentioned it in that conversation. they were all saying i did. so, you have another story wrong. never mentioned the world israel. >> professor, i don't know how you hear that. but it sounds to me a

the speech is going to have a nuanced mess ablg. hoping that president trump had negative things to say during his campaign. the saudis have put that to one side. the speech here, needs to be you wansed when he delivers a message that says, the leers of the arab and muslim cubs here, need to put forth a more peaceful and tolerant image of islam. certainly, the leaders believe they are. trump's visit here will break a record, in his visit to saudi arabia will be the longest of any president. president bush in 200 w8 was he. president trump will exceed his visit by a couple of hours. and also, when president obama came here a year ago and the contrast for the rollout and reception that we're seeing being built up at the airport today, compared to last year when president obama came. i remember the reporting when president obamarrived was saudis didn't send senior enough representatives to the airport to meet and greet with him. the fact that king salman is out at the airport. he may not be in the swielterin heat. he may be in a v.i.p. reception area. but absolutely, this is a warm wel

the terror and national security front. president trump ordering the justice department to go after information leaked by u.s. officials on the manchester suicide bombing. the leaks causing u.k. officials to shut down intelligence sharing with the u.s. over the attack, fearing they jeopardize the race to hunt down the co-conspirators. more raids underway. we will talk to kat. we learned today that the family of the manchester bomber we have had substantial terror ties. his father was allegedly affiliated with a group affiliated with al qaeda. the brothers planned to bomb a venue in libya. and salman abedi had paramilitary training in syria. why wasn't he in custody? >> kat: bad communication. with nato, they are going to try to improve their intelligence. this is a huge operation and it obviously is a bad thing that the u.k. no longer feels comfortable sharing more information they are learning with us. >> eric: also, lisa, if you think president trump is being too tough on terror and immigration and the new look overseas and see what's going on there, maybe you think twice. >> lisa

. ( laughter ) another thing that happened last week, more russia. former trump national security advisor michael flynn says he's going to plead the fifth rather than testify to congress, yes. he won't speak to anyone unless they are russian spice. ( laughter ) also, the f.b.i. is now rooking into jared kushner after it came out that, before trump was president, jared tried to set up a backchannel to communicate secretly with russia. so now, basically, we've got jared, flynn, jeff sessions, paul manafort, carter page and just today trump's lawyer michael cohen, all linked to the russians in some way or the other. wouldn't it be funny if everyone in trump's campaign was talking to the russians except trump? ( laughter ) but only because the russians didn't trust him. ( laughter ) they're like -- (russian accent) whatever you do, don't tell him. don't tell him. ( laughter ) it may be a new week but most of us are dealing with fallout of national buffoon's european invasion. ( laughter ) it's true, last week was president trump's first international trip. when someone travels, there is often

. ivanka trump take her first trip as a white house official. why are the media pundits beating up on the first daughter? this is "mediabuzz." the debate over the president's first 100 days reaching if fever pitch. i went to the wise house and sat down with sean spicer. you challenged the media obsession with the first 100 days. but you and your campaign pushed the message out,n why pin it on the press. sean: they are telling us they are doing a story with the first 100 days, and we recognize the volume of incoming, made sure we did things like put together a web page that lists out all the things the president has done whether it's national security, keeping the country safe offend off radical islamic threats or the bored or -- or the border. howie: the president has a lot of accomplishments. sean rrp thank you. howie: and putting neil gorsuch on the court and regulations rollback. sean: neil gorsuch is the first president since 18819 to confirm in a hostile way -- what does the "washington post" do? they said yes, but. but at the same time you look how long it has taken to get the cabin

taken of president trump and sergei lavrov. the meeting was closed to the american press. the second photo is of mr. trump and the russian ambassador to the united states. his name is sergei kisliov. he was in the oval office to meet with president trump. this ambassador is familiar to many americans. it's familiar to me because president trump's national security advisor michael flynn resigned because of communications he had with this ambassador that he tried to keep secret and misrepresented not only to the american people but to the vice president of the united states. the warm smiles and harty hand -- hardy handshakes stand in stark contrast to the way that the white house has treated three department of justice officials, sally yates, bahar, and koim. he asked ms.ates to serve as attorney general, he asked mr. bahar to stay on, and he indicated that mr. koim could stay on as director of the f.b.i. then it appears that each of the three justice department officials were in charge of investigations that started to become a concern in president trump's white house. we heard on mon

dedemocracy now! pres. trump: look at the way i have been treated lately. especially by the media. no politician in history -- and i say this with great surety -- has been treated worse or more unfairly. amy: a week after president jamesfired fbi director comey, the justice department taps comey's predecessor, robert mueller, deserve a special counsel to investigate alleged in the choiceng 16 election. we will get the latest with marcy wheeler. ,hen we remember javier valdez whwho died momonday in mexico ar he was dragged out of his car and shot 12 times less than a block from the office of the newspaper he founded. live is dangerous to be a and to do journalism and tread and invisible line trauma the bad guys -- drawn by the bad guys. this is what most of the country is living through. amy: we will hear javier valdez in his own words and speak to anabel hernandez, another mexican journalist who has also faced death threats for her reporting on mexico's drug trade. and we will look at how more than 50 farm workers here in california were recently exposed to highly toxic pesticide, who

. the trump administration wants house republicans to vote this week on their health care bill. cnn's kurn whip count and it changes every hour as you might now since watching "new day" last year. it has 21 republicans against it. they could only afford to lose one more vote could republicans be on the verge of another health care defeat. >> the debate getting overshadowed by president trump's comments in a series of interviews. he's raising questions about why president andrew jackson couldn't have prevented the civil war and sounding alarms with his outreach to some of the world's reogue leaders. what is the state of play? >> very much in flux here on capitol hill. as you mentioned, as well as it changed within the last hour or so. we saw mike pence trying to whip up support. we were asked how he thought he would do. house republicans are trying to create this sense of urgency to get this done, this time before they are recessed if they go out on friday. but house speaker paul ryan really understanding this is a do or die situation. has yet to schedule a vote on this. >> mr. vice pr

sources say that testimony could come next week. will comey confirm the reports that president trump asked him to end his probe into michael flynn's investigation? outside ties, the white house is now referring all questions to the probe to his lawyer. >>> climate changed. his white house and cabinet are divided on the issue, but senior officials say president trump is expected to withdraw from the nearly 200-nation paris climate agreement. the president says he'll make a decision very soon. >>> and all thumbs. after trading private cell phone numbers with at least one foreign leader and worrying intelligence veterans in the process, president trump sends out a garbled incomprehensive midnight tweet and leaves it up all night. is it time to turn in his phone? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." this is known breaking news. >> fire fbi director james comey plans to testify as early as next week. comey is prepared to go before a senate committee to address the stunning accusations that president trump urged him to end his investigation into michael flynn ice ties to russi

, jason rothman and jonas ferris. tim cook, jason is railed against the trump administration policies, this is a funny pot for apple to be in, no? >> well i think i agree with tim cook. i think any sensible business person would. it is a numbers game. it not a patriotism game. i think that tim cook has every right to keep a quarter of arillion dollars outside of the u.s., if he bring its back he will have to give away a third of it. that is bad for the companies and that is bad for shareholders. on other side of the coin, i think i want to own a company with that much cash. at some point they will make a deal, some of that money will come back that will be good for the company. liz: a interesting point, jonas, apple's tim cook like much of silicon valley has criticized trump. we know that apple story, that apple uses cheap labor overseas to makes it iphones. is this a dangerous spot for any company to be in whether or not it is being patriotic. >> you are not going to publicly shame a corporation to may more tax than they legally have to. this does not mean going -- any rate

presidential election. amy: president trump fires fbi director james comey just weeks after comey confirmed the fbi question is is a must getting trump's ties to russia before the 2016 election. is this the beginning of another watergate? senate democrats are calling for a special prosecutor. >> if deputy attorney general rosenstein does not appoint an independent special prosecutor, every american will rightly suspect that the decision to fire director comey was part of a cover-up. amy: we will spend the hours between two pulitzer prize-winning journalist glenn greenwald of the intercept about the firing of comey, the future of the fbi, and more. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president trump fired fbi director james comey tuesday , only weeks after comey confirmed the fbi was investigating whether trump's campaign collaborated with russia to sway the 2016 election. >> i have been authorized by the department of justice to confirm that the fbi, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is inv

talking about that." president trump also targeting the witness with this one -- " @sallyyates under oath. if she knows how classified information got into the newspapers soon after she explained it to white house counsel." with that, let's get to cnn's chief national security correspondent jim sciutto. a lot of expectations riding on this one, jim. what are you watching for today? >> reporter: well, listen, you have two witnesses here, james clapper and sally yates, who have become something of lightning rods for the gop's reaction to the russia investigation. sally yates being accused, really, of being an obama appointee, kind of a shill for the democratic party in terms of her role in this, clapper as well. this is despite the fact that both of them are long-term civil servants. they both served republican and democratic administrations, so you have that. but we do know that yates in particular is going to deliver a testimony that contradicts the white house narrative here, specifically on general flynn. she's going to say that on january 26th, she warned the white house, gave a f

. yesterday afternoon president trump fired the fbi director, removing the seventh direct your in a little over the -- director in a little over three years. tell us what you think, the phone lines are open. democrats, (202) 748-8000 is your number. .epublicans, (202) 748-8001 , (202) 748-8002. you can also catch up with us on facebook and twitter. we want to hear your reaction. two banner headlines, first the washington times. trump fires comey, citing judgment doubts. another banner headline, trump fires comey amid russia inquiry. the new york times printing the letter that president trump penned for james comey yesterday informing him that he was terminated from office effective immediately. youaid, while i appreciate informing me on three separate occasions that i'm not under investigation i nevertheless concur with the judgment of the this that you are not able to effectively lead the bureau. firing we turn to katie bo williams, staff writer for the hill newspaper. talk to us more about the reasoning and timing. guest: the administration is saying that this is over comey's handling of

, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian at msnbc headquarters in new york. president trump wrapping up day one of his nine-day foreign trip. he's in riyadh, saudi arabia, receiving a warm welcome. he's wrapping up with an official dinner and tour of the palace. tomorrow is the highly anticipated address to the muslim world, a speech drafted by stephen miller, the white house adviser, behind the controversial muslim ban. while the president is focused on diplomacy, the controversies he left behind here in the u.s. continue to generate headlines, including that jim comey will testify before the senate intelligence committee after memorial day. >>> before that, the president has a foreign trip to get through with plenty of diplomatic headlines. the president and his team hit the ground running. president trump signing a nearly $1 $110 billion in arms deals with saudi arabia effective immediately. plus, another 350 billion over the next ten years. take a listen to this. >> it was a tremendous day. i just want to thank everybody. but tremendous investments to the united states and our military

day mark of trump's presidency. which means he no longer has that new president smell. if i had to guess i would say he now smells like nepotism and steak sauce. and so because it was a hundred days it was time for the media to take a look back. >> president trump's 100th day in office, has he been changed by holding the highest office in the land? >> the magnitude of the office has changed donald trump in some ways. the vice president told us it was obvious from the first time he walked into the oval office. >> he sat behind that desk and i could just tell from the look on his face, how moved he was. >> thompson: yeah, i think that look you saw on trump's face was him going oh [bleep], this joke went way too far. so some people think that being president has changed donald trump. but has it? has it really? on saturday to mark his 100th day, donald trump held a giant campaign rally in pennsylvania. and watching it, it it was hard to tell if it was april now or april a year ago. cuz trump he's speech at the rally sounded hella familiar. >> make america great again. >> our jobs were

intelligence? how do we protect our allies? since donald trump seems determined to think of no one except donald trump. first, last, and every moment in between. elizabeth warren gets tonight's last word. you can see our entire interview with elizabeth warren on our website. "the 11th hour" with brian williams starts now. >>> tonight, the president is apparently lawyering up. donald trump expected to retain a private attorney to represent him in the russia investigation. >>> also, the cia's concerns. the former director shares his worries from 2016 about the russian contacts with the campaign. >>> while michael flynn is taking the fifth with the senate committee, now the senate committee has subpoenaed his company. and companies can't take the fifth. "the 11th hour" begins now. good evening once again from our headquarters here in new york. day 124 of the trump administration, and the president is hiring a lawyer. it comes less than a week after the department of justice appointed a special counsel to oversee the fbi russia investatn. sources familiar with the decision tell nbc news presi

, jobs *. kennedy: president trump wrapping up an historic trip overseas on his first trip as the firestorm continues in the united states over the russian allegations. the new study from harvard that will shock the left. plus, "watters world" goes looking for hillary clinton. jesse: $20. i think hillary has been here. kennedy: i'm kennedy in for jesse. president trump embarked on an historic trip to three holy cities. first up, saudi arabia let's head to riyadh, saudi arabia where john robert has been with the president all day long. john: good morning from saudi arabia. i think you could say by most accounts president trump's first dave his first foreign trip has been a success. they can be truth with peril, one wrong word, one wrong move can often derail the entire plan. the closest he came to a mistake is drinking tea with his left hand instead his right hand. the president is very popular here in saudi arabia. the king came out in 100 degree heat to make sure he was standing to shake the president's hand. the deal from the united states will include the fad miss i will system

trumps road to the white house in january. we talked to kellyanne conway and everybody around us the moment of the present selection and we wanted bannon and one of our producers said the texan said we would like you to come back we are shooting a trump tower and bannon wrote basically you don't want me. all you guys want to do is make me darth vader. that was after the media saying there's got to be more to this guy than he is self-aware. i wanted to know everything i can about him and i spent the last months going and behind the this sort of fireworks around the trump administration and the chaos and disruption which i always felt with a little bit of the dodge. i went down inside to what we are still looking forward to this shakespearean struggle going on in and around the oval office and that's where we reside in our broadcast tonight. >> host: when it comes to steve bannon what's the perception that you talk about and what have you found out by looking at him specifically?- >> one person told me that bannon is the message and trump is the messenger. it's not quite as clear-cut a

covering the unfolding of president trump's firing of fbi director james comey. what happened to him just to be clear at the outset, the president firing the head of the agency that's investigating whether his campaign colluded with russia. it comes a day after what is embarrassing testimony on russia by sally yates. it was done at the -- jeff session actually recused himself from the russian investigation because of his own contact with russians that he didn't initially disclose and it's being justified with apparently no sense of irony, on the basis of director comey's handling of the investigation of hillary clinton, which candidate trump celebrated at the time and praised director comey for. that's what this is. it's also unprecedent, potentially explosive. a lot to cover. i understand this was being planned for over a week, what have you learned? >> reporter: we do know that something that president trump had been considering, what we're being told by senior administration officials the deputy attorney general was confirmed two weeks ago, he had time to look over james comey

president donald trump's son-in-law jared kushner had at least three previously undisclosed contacts with the russian ambassador to the united states during and after the 2016 presidential campaign. seven current and former u.s. officials told reuters. tonight's reuters report also notes fbi investigators are examining whether russians suggested to kushner or other trump aides that relaxing economic sanctions would allow russian banks to offer financing to people with ties to trump, said the current u.s. law enforcement official. who was a source for that article. joining us now is jonathan landay, the reuters reporter who has just broken this story. jonathan, this is a story coming on top of an earlier story tonight by "the washington post." but tonight it's all about jared kushner. it's all about how much contact did he have with russian officials, and what has reuters learned? >> so we've learned there were at least three calls between jared kushner and the russian ambassador sergey kislyak. two of them before the election, and there were contacts after the election. not only betw

he did point to the same thing that the relationships here are important to trump and something >> so it won't be a completely new relationship, and that's something where a lot of eyes are, of course, after this leg of the trip. >> and alley, what can you tell us about president trump's arrival? we're look at the tarmac right now. we see the plane, quite a long red carpet, a lot of dignitaries there. there seems be a rather elaborate arrival. is this normal? and for a president coming to visit, there seems be a many formal events coming. they're really obviously rolling out the red carpet for trump, or is this something they do for most dignitaries that come visit. >> quite, literally rolling out the red carpet. as i'm sure you can see the royal guard lining the carpet. they were sweeping that carpet juste the air force one pulled up to makeure it was clean. and president trump will be soon descending down these steps. and there is a lot of anticipation, excitement. in talking to soddy officials, there is a lot of excitement for the relationship they'll have with president trum

♪ >>> this is a special edition of "nightline." "trump under fire." shock waves across washington tonight. the special counsel to take over the investigation into russian meddling in the u.s. election. so what does that mean for the embattled president? >> no politician in history has been treated worse or more unfairly. >> trump taking heat from all sides. some lawmakers calling for extremes. >> the president must be impeached. >> but many supporters saying this is all just dirty politics. >> if you think they're just going to hand you your country back without a fight, you're sadly mistaken. >>> and behind closed doors. a west wing reeling from one scandal to the next. >> this is a white house in panic mode. >> as the outsider who said he'd fix washington tries to get his hoe this special edition of "nightline," "trump under fire," will be right back. "nightline." "trump under fire." >> good even. thanks for joining us. another astonishing turn of events out of washington. the newly appointed special counsel taking over the investigation into russia's this as the trump administr

. donald trump is expected to say i'm not part of that paris accord, so sacre bleu as it were. trish regan. trish: big news, the beige book, straight to adam shapiro and get the intel. >> reporter: trish, districts reporting slower economic growth despite labor markets continuing to tighten. districts report economic growth at modest or moderate pace but boston and chicago report growth has slowed to a modest pace and in new york indicate economic activity has flattened, consumer spending softened with little to no change in nonauto retail sales, moderate growth in manufacturing, new home construction and nonresidential construction growing at modest to moderate rate. wet weather across districts and a majority of districts have a positive near-term outlook. the labor market continues to tighten. district cites shortages across a widening range of occupations and one firm had to raise salaries 10%. rising input costs, lumber, steel and other commodities continue to go up. prices fall for groceries, apparel and automobiles. district reports slowing economic growth but the tightening l

and out. before another democrat compares donald trump to richard nixon and watergate, i want you to take a look at what happened to the dow back then. ben stein lived it. and was the only one here who was bern in that period. >> you were born then. neil: will you just work with me? we have charles payne, charlie gasparino. adays off today. but i want to go back to this whole thing. that history is repeating itself in a watergate way. what do you say? >> i don't think it will be repeating itself in a watergate way. the republicans had an he normous disadvantage in congress. than was no fox news then. i don't get paid by fox news so i'm not saying that to a.k. the people at fox news. there was a sensitive person in the white house named richard m. nixon who would foimed if you if yelled at him too much and trump is a different kinds of guy. the market did go down, but it was an extremely good buying opportunities. after the serious correction wednesday the market corrected back up again. it's always a good time to buy stocks when people are worried, and now is no exception. neil: t

were shooting in trump tower and me, n said, you don't want you want to make me darth vader, say, as enough for me to there has to be more to this guy than if he can be that self-aware, there is more to me than meets the eye. i would like to know everything can to know him. i went in behind the fireworks administration, chaos and disruption, i felt was -- bannon is the message messenger, it e is not quite as clear cut as that, obviously trump has a well perspective, lots of people inside the film say trump good at gut arly instinct and had been reading bannon was the of utive editor of, ran out washington called bright bart embassy by the supreme court. it was bannon who everybody says trump's gut ake instinct and turn them into what ideology as bannon-ism, that made it coherrent what saying about america first, about muslims and muslim ban, as they talked about all the islamic terrorists, all those kind of sortss and all of that is of has coherrence that leads battle that ration happened on capitol hill in 2013 post-2012 the election. so that is bannon. bannon-ism, the sort of coher

president, donald trump signs a $110 billion arms deal with saudi arabia, despite the kingdom's ongoing atrocities in yemen. we will look at trump's trip to riyadh and his message to the islamic world, as well as the election in iran where president hassan rouhani has been elected in defiance of iranian hardliners. , you, the iranian people, rejected the call of those who wanted to return us to the past and keep us in the same situation as before. and you helped push us forward. amy: plus, we will look at turkey's crackdown on protests -- not just in turkey, but even here in the united states. last week, turkish president recep tayyip erdogan looked on as members of his security detail assaulted a group of peaceful protesters outstside te turkish ambassador's residence in washington. we will speak with one protester who was hospitalized. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president trump is visiting israel today as part of his first trip abroad as president. during the two-day trip, he and secretary of st

>>> just moments ago, president trump meeting pope francis at the vatican, the start of a busy day for the president overseas. we're live in rome with more. >>> a stunner from the former head of the cia, john brennan goes public. says the russians did, in fact, make contact with the trump campaign. >>> manchester. remembering the 22 victims who lost their lives at a concert bombing. also learning more about the attacker and what police are looking for now. >>> some concerns that there could be a risk of another attack potentially. >> raising the terror threat level there in the uk. good morning, everyone. welcome to "early start". i'm dave briggs. >> i'm christine romans. it's wednesday, may 24th, 2017. president trump and pope francis face to face shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries. the two leaders meeting in private seeming to put their differences aside after disagreeing on several important issues during the campaign. >> the latest stop for the president on his foreign trip that will take him to brussels later today. sara murray is live in rome with more on trump's visit

move, fiveve powerful groups are now aligning to takedown president trump. their goal is simple, they do not want president trump to govern and they will do anything and to say anything to stop him from enacting the agenda you elected him to enact. we're going to explain tonight what you can do and how to fight back and that's tonight's opening monologue. last night we told you about the five groups that are wanting to stop president trump. these groups are the swamp that needs to be drained. let me explain, you've got the destroy trump media, perhaps among the worst, they are bitter, they are hostile. every night, constantly coming up with one bizarre conspiracy theory after another, lie after lie after lie. you've got a group lot number t, the democrats. totally unhinged, they still can't get over the fact that donald trump one and hillary lost. number three, perhaps the most dangerous, the deep state. they are targeting president trump. selectively leaking informationa true or not true. they are at war with the president united states, numberr four. the never-trumpers, group

trump from the very beginning. people like chuck schumer spent more time slowing down nominations than actually solving -- >> i see you opening your mouth but we have to go. thank you both for joining me. that wraps it up for me at this hour. joy reid is next. >>> we thought this would be a day when the only big story would be the arrival of pope john paul in havana this afternoon. then the unexpected. reports of a new sect scandal involving president clinton, allegations one of his closest friends intervened improperly. the role of a white water investigator. >> that was january 1998 about the allegations of bill clinton's affair with monica lewinsky. it would be nearly a year until they voted to impeach him. that began months earlier in the court of public opinion often hours after the lewinsky scandal exploded into the news, one of the first people to publicly consider the possibility of impeachment was not one of clinton's political end ms. but one of his closest allies. clinton's own form he senior adviser, george stephanopoulos who had left politics to become an analyst for

ever been around. >> nobody else speaks to trump's base as powerfully as steve bannon does. that's not something jared kushner can do, that's not something ivanka trump can do. >> narrator: a hard-line nationalist... >> it's america first, in the most literal sense. >> steve gravitates toward countercultural conservative figures that resonate with middle america. >> narrator: ...who promised disruption. >> what bannon said was, "we are going to do everything we can to take your power away and move it somewhere else." >> narrator: tonight on frontline... >> deconstruction of the administrative state. >> narrator: "bannon's war." >> frontlinis made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major support for frontliis provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information is available at macfound.org. additional support is provided by ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change world

, stunning news. even for president trump who has been known to shock people, president trump fired fbi director james comey just hours ago. first the official version of what happened according to the white house is that fundamentally this was done on the recommendation of deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. he was just confirmed by the senate 94-6 at the end of april. he was in charge of the investigation into russian interference in the u.s. election because attorney general jeff sessions was not forthcoming about his meetings with the russian ambassador and recused himself. so rosenstein came into the job. he looked at comey's behavior relating to the clinton e-mail investigation last year. he found it wrong, he found it deeply troubling and he recommended that since comey has refused to admit his errors he should be fired. he recommended that to jeff sessions and passed it on to president trump. end of story according to the white house. here are the problems according to those who are skeptical of this decision and this president. president trump shares exactly zero of rosenst

story gripping the nation tonight. how president trump reportedly revealed classified information to russian officials. i am ari melber in for lawrence o'donnell. we begin with the question many intel officials are posing. how do you stop leaks to adversaries if they're coming from inside the oval office itself? >> the story that came out tonight as reported is false. >> president trump revealed highly classified information to the russian foreign minister and the russian ambassador last week during a meeting at the white house. >> what donald trump stands accused of in this article is something he ran against. >> the president did not disclose any military operations that were not already publicly known. >> i think the credibility of this administration is shattered. top down. >> sean spicer once again refusing to confirm or deny whether or not the president of the united states was taping the fbi director. >> let's hear what he says. >> i think they're trying to shift the narrative. they're trying to punt this discussion. it's not clear if sean spicer knows whether or not there are