it ended up in the fbi's possession, what did the fbi do with it? and your answer to us is you will not give us meinformation on that today? >> my answer has a couple parts to it. they're certain of the various questions asked here today. there's some topics i think it's not appropriate to discuss in open forum. there's some topics that are classified. >> whether you use it or not though is not classified. go ahead. >> there are some topics where even though the information is classified, we can and do and will share it with the committees in an appropriate setting. and then there are some topics that go straight to even it's not just a question of classification that goes straight to access to sensitive sources and methods which is something that all of us as americans have to take very, very seriously. >> the chairman confident intelligence committee has a right to that. you won't even produce it to the chairman of the intelligence committee. here's the problem. whether strzok was involved in this needs to be disclosed to congress. whether the dos

whereas thomas o'connor, president of the fbi's agents association said the fbi continues to be the premier law enforcement agency in the world. they're dedicated to their mission. suggesting otherwise is simply false. i'm curious if you think their defense of the bureau is wrong or misplaced and i hope you'll address the matter in your testimony today. your job requires you to have the courage in these circumstances to stand up to the president. that responsibility is far more than a matter of politics. there are real consequences for allowing the president to continue his attacks on the fbi and to continue unchecked in this manner. for example, fbi statistics released last months show a marked increase in the rise of hate crimes in the united states. your data indicate 6,121 hate crimes against 7,615 victims last year alone. last week about 70 of our colleagues wrote to me and chairman goodlatte asking us to, quote, convene immediate hearings to determine what can be done to stem the tied, unquote, of this violence. i agree completely. this committee should address the matter without dela

this is not your mother's fbi. what's wrong with the fbi is not the average f every day agent. if the management at the fbi that is the problem and that management has not improved with the arrival of mr. christopher wray. i cannot understand how the current fbi director can tolerate having andrew mccabe on his staff at this point given his history and his track record. i think the fbi is in very serious trouble. it started with james comey. comey, the dirtiest cop in america, destroyed the fbi's reputation with his bizarre personal behavior, beginning way before his july 5th news conference. if the bureau is in trouble. it needs a major overhaul, and if it continues to resist congress, i believe the contempt of congress for the current director and other people in the agency is absolutely justified. >> tucker: this is the most powerful agency of the federal government, they can literally take the break the front door f your house. >> shore up when you were in bed in order to frighten you like they did with mr. manafort. what a disgusting awful display of raw political power. n

it ended up in the fbi's possession, what did the fbi do with it? and your answer to us is you will not give us information on that today? dir. wray: my answer has a couple parts to it. there are certain of the various questions asked here today. there are some topics i think it is not appropriate to discuss in open forum. there's some topics that are classified. mr. desantis: whether you use it or not though is not classified. go ahead. dir. wray: there are some topics where even though the information is classified, we can and do and will share it with the committees in an appropriate setting. and then there are some topics that go straight to, even it's not just a question of classification, the goes straight to the access to sensitive sources and methods , which is something that all of us as americans have to take very, very seriously. mr. desantis: the chairman confident intelligence committee has a right to that. you won't even produce it to the chairman of the intelligence committee. here's the problem. whether strzok was involved in this ne

you step back from these individual attacks they're making against the fbi and various fbi officials against comey, mueller, mccabe and baker, what republicans are doing is work their way down the list of the witnesses who could corroborate james comey. we know they're going after comey directly. we know there are five or six of these witnesses, senior officials at the fbi who comey told. as of right now they're trying to destroy two of them, mccabe and baker. who doesn't think they're just going to keep going down that list? everybody is focused on whether or not the president is going to fire robert mueller. what the republicans are trying to do right now is instead destroy the credibility of the evidence that robert mueller could use against the president for obstruction of justice, and they're doing it by trying to destroy the careers and reputations of the witnesses that mueller could call. if it destroys the fbi in the process, apparently they think so be it. merry christmas. more ahead. stay with us. patrick woke up with back pain. but he has work to do. so he took aleve. if h

the fbi's credibility is on the line every time an fbi agent shows up and opens up their credentials and introduces themselves as part of an organization that is respected around the world. and to have a president diminish that organization, i think, is absolutely crazy. and the president -- this is where the president needs to start to understand that this is a little bit bigger than yourself in this case. i mean, the drama credit card of this administration is over its limits. you cannot continue to ramp up these, i think, pejorative attacks on america's institutions that we will need when the president is here, and when the president is gone. these are really important. the men and women of the fbi deserve a lot better than this. >> there you go. mike rogers, lisa monaco, thank you very much. >>> "cnn newsroom" with poppy harlow and john berman is going to pick up after this very break. (whining) aww, i see a big puppy. i see a b-i-i-g pu-u-ppy. hey greg! that's ford, america's best-selling brand. now get exclusive holiday offers, with 0% financing for 72 months across a full line

the fbi is honest. the fbi is strong and the fbi is and always will be independent. the former acting attorney general sally yates came to the agency's defense. the fbi is in tatters. the only thing in tatters is the president's respect for the rule of law and the educated men and women deserve better. they retweeted the suggestion that the current head of the agency christopher wray should clean house. alberto gonzalez said criticizing the president would be tricky. >> nothing preventing them from coming out and talking about the great work that the did the department and the fbi is doing. if the white house believes they should be doing things better than expressing dedication to doing a better job, i think directly contradicting the president, you can express support for the fbi without contradicting the president or taking them on directly. >> let's discuss with mike rogers, the former head of the house intelligence and a former fbi special agent. the cnn national security commentator. should the current head of the fbi defend his agency. >> i hope he stays out o

the fbi is honest, the fbi is strong, and the fbi is and always will be independent. did you welcome his tweet and do you agree with it? >> well, i believe that description of the fbi alliance with my own description. as my folks will tell you, i'm not really a twitter guy. i have never tweeted, don't have any plans to tweet. and don't really engage in tweeting. >> you've been at the fbi long enough to know the reputation of previous directors. what was the reputation of director comey within the agents of the fbi? >> well, my experience with director comey was that, when i worked with him, which was back in the early 2000s, was that he was a smart lawyer, a dedicated public servant, and somebody that i enjoyed working with. we haven't stayed in as much touch over the last several years and, of course, there's now the ongoing investigation, but my experiences have all been positive. >> do you know the reputation of director mueller within fbi agents and fbi lure? >> my experience has been that director mueller is very well respected within the fbi. >> when you were in

did he know flynn lied to the fbi and that's part of why the fbi was after him? we got important parts of both of those open questions. if not answer tonight, we at least got more information about them. first is the question whether or not the president in fact put pressure on the fbi about the flynn case. did he block the cops innocently or not while they were trying to go after flynn? now, the basis of the belief that the president did that is the sworn testimony in an open hearing in congress by james comey who was in fact, fired by the president after what he says was a sustained campaign by president trump to interfere with the flynn investigation. according to comey's sworn testimony, the president was unsubtle about it. comey says the president demanded loyalty. comey says the president told him directly he hopes james comey and the fbi would let the flynn matter go. but this is, as i say, an open question. this is a he said, he said. the white house denies that the president ever pressured the fbi director about the flynn investigation. james comey says

he has pled guilty to lying to the fbi. so, we know that he lied to the fbi. we know that the fbi was pursuing him, at least in part, because they knew he was making false statements about his connections with the russian government. in our hypothetical, that means we know why the guy was jogging down the street in the first place and we know why the other two guys were racing after him. but there are two open questions for us as a country, in terms of the president's liability in this part of the russia scandal. and both of those open questions we got really important new pieces of information about today. the first basic question is one that is contested by the white house, and so, it therefore has to be seen as at least some what of an open question. the first question that has been open, in terms of this liability for the president is, did he really put pressure on the fbi? did the president really back his proverbial car out of the driveway to block the cops running down the street after mike flynn? all right. that's the open question number one. was ther

he spoke at an fbi ceremony, declared the fbi to be a disgrace. he was asked about the prospect he might pardon his national security advisor. he said i don't want to talk about pardoning mike flynn yet. we then got a red flag thrown by the top democrat on the intelligent committee who went public with his concerns that he believes it republicans in congress are trying to end the house intelligence committee into the russia scandal by the end of this month. he thinks they're trying to wrap it up now. he said he believes the republican's view is shutting down our investigation is a necessary prerequisite to shutting down bob mueller. thereafter we runner hadded the president's legal team is going to be meeting in person next week with robert mueller and his prosecutors. we're not exactly sure why. we then got conformation from the wall street journal that those subpoenas that had been reportedly sent to duch bank which the president's lawyers tried to throw cold water on, we got conformation they have in fact received multiple subpoenas from the mu

the president said the fbi is in tatters. let's listen. >> put out as a justification for closing the investigation of the former secretary of state. as i said mr. chairman, i believe the standard is gross negligence. i leave it to others to conclude whether extremely careless and gross negligence are the same thing. but i will say that the particulars of the investigation and the decisions that were made and whether or not it was handled appropriately is, as i think it should be, the subject of an outside independent investigation by the inspector general and look forward to his findings as i'm sure the committee does as well. >> in july of 2016 the state department revealed that former secretary of state hillary clinton exchanged on her unsecured private server nearly two dozen top secret e-mails with three state department officials. the classification top secret means, in part, the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to national security. can you explain to the

agent to re-up his attacks on the fbi. he said the agency's reputation is in tatters. a former fbi assistant director will weigh in on those comments next. plus, we have more on our breaking news. cnn learning that the white house's chief lawyer, the white house counsel told president trump in january that michael flynn had misled the fbi. this is raising new questions about what the president knew when he urged jim comey, the fbi director to drop his investigation of flynn and why trump's lawyers is now claiming that the president cannot, is incapable of obstructing justice. we'll be back in a moment. the morning walk was so peaceful. until... it... wasn't. don't let type 2 diabetes get between you and your heart. even if you reach your a1c goal you are still at risk for heart attack or stroke. talk to your health care provider today about diabetic heart disease. and find out more at heartoftype2.com. your heart and type 2 diabetes. make the connection. was supposed to be a wake reup call for our government?sh people all

did the fbi pay for it or part of it? did fbi agents believe the contents or use them to drive their russia investigation? these are basic and central questions and yet the fbi just ignored them, they didn't feel like answering.. they rarely do. back in 2015, two islamic extremists attempted to shoot up a mohammed cartoon contest in texas. later it emerged that anst undercover fbi agent knew the two shooters personally and had even egged them on to "tear up texas." that agent even traveled with the terrorists to the scene, was present right before the attack and try to flee as it began. it's hard to believe that actually happened in america, but it did happen. you would probably like to know why it happened, wouldn't you? senator ron johnson of wisconsin would like toba know. he has repeatedly asked the fbi to explain why it shielded terrorists, how it could have failed to stop the shooting that happened later. and he still doesn't know. senator johnson's request to repeatedly have been stonewalled by the fbi. a year befo

>> not fbi people. the audience were not generally fbi individuals. he addressed the audience as he saw the audience. true, only two mentions of the fbi i think and both in a somewhat glancing nature, but he praised local law enforcement, which they deserve, but did not praise, or heed praise on the fbi. >> interesting. because after the president made his initial comments a couple weeks ago about the fbi there was testimony on the hill by the new director, chris wray. a lot of agents, fbi people in the country awaiting to see what chris wray would say when asked about the president's comments and when he said the fbi was in tatters. let's listen. >> tens of thousands of agents, analysts and staff working their tails off to keep americans safe from the next terrorism attack, gang violence, child predators, spies from russia, china, north korea and iran. the fbi that i see is tens of thousands of brave men and women who are working as hard as they can to keep people that they will never know safe from harm. >> which i thought was a great answer. >> it

for almost a year while still working for our fbi collecting a check from us also a high ranking fbi agent looking under mccain actually changing the language from grossly negligent to extremely careless. also working with christopher steel the one who brought broached the trump dossier bought and paid for to destroy a donald trump by the clinton campaign the report is he signed the application and applied the warrant which was then used as the veil in the trump campaign then used to illegally mask americans but first the neck a director of the fbi refuses to give up that information and then after being on loan from the fbi almost as one in the same at this point is because of the anti-trump text messages to his mistress know as a lawyer for the fbi said to show house proportion than is coming and they sent the fbi merry by having an affair with the fbi i lawyer to working human-resources then he is qualified to counsel on how to conduct yourself at work. by the way that is the only reason he was promoted then why wasn't she devoted? maybe because that is not the only reason. and as

. >> and it wasn't just the fbi. president trump right there, out with new comments or non-comments on mike flynn. he's talking about the threat from north korea, russia, alabama and taxes, too as we get ready in a matter of hours to finally get a look at the final text of that big plan. senator marco rubio reiterates this morning he's holding out, looking to leverage his votes for more money for child tax credits. the president today seems to be amenable to that. we have pete williams and peter alexander standing by. peter, i want to start with you, we're taking a live look now. any minute the president coming up to speak at the fbi. on his way there, you had an opportunity to talk with him about a lot of headlines related to this speech. let me put this into perspective. he talked about the fbi. he has slammed the agency before. he's angry at the fbi because of the russia investigation. and there's a lot of news this morning on where he is, where his head is at when it comes to that investigation. >> reporter: we'v

the fbi investigated. it is possible hostile actors got in. that is what the final report on the email scandal said. it is possible. kind of leavings things open, doesn't it? fox news discovered another language change. catherine herridge's reporting revealed originally fbi found it reasonably likely that hostile actors gained access to emails. reasonably likely she was hacked. not possible but reasonably likely. there is a big difference. possible got hillary off the legal hook. grossly negligent was changed to extremely careless. that is another language change that worked in hillary's favor, lowering her legal jeopardy. perhaps this sounds like nitpicking. it's not. it's serious stuff. the investigation of hillary clinton was corrupted by her supporters inside of the fbi. and we're not talking about low level people. we're talking about peter strzok who played a key role in the investigation. andrew mccabe, the number two at the fbi. remember the meeting they held where they couldn't take the risk of a

why wouldn't you be calling the fbi and say what? you gave money to gett information from russian intelligence? >> no. the information came from mr. steele, a retired british intelligence agent. >> tucker: where do you think he got it? >> from a variety of sources some of whom were russians. either in russia or maybe -- >> tucker: that information provided by the putin government influenced a u.s. investigation into a sitting president. >> i think you are going way out on a limb. >> tucker: i am not. >> you are. >> tucker: you are saying that's okay.. that information from russian intelligence -- >> back up a bit. we know from our intelligence agencies who got information from their sources in russia and other places that the russiane government attempted to and did engage in influencing the american presidential election. we also know from our intelligence agencies that got information from russians, not only did they attempt to influence the presidential election, they attempted to hack into our electoral process. t description, ru

>> not to the fbi. not in a case we're working. >> president trump spent the weekend defending himself on twitter and blasting james comey, the fbi and the justice department. on saturday, trump tweeted i had to fire general flynn because he lied to the vice president and the fbi. in the past, the white house had only claimed flynn was fired because he lied to the vice president. the tweet seemed to confirm that the president knew flynn had lied to the fbi, a crime, by the way, according to comey, trump asked him to drop the investigation into flynn. so he lied. he thought he discovered that flynn had lied and then asked comey to take care of the guy. talk about obstruction. yesterday trump's lawyer dowd said it was he who wrote the tweet, not trump. he said he mistakenly conflated flynn lying to the fbi with lying to the fbi. he then told "the washington post" that the president knew in late january flynn had probably told the fbi the same inaccurate account he gave to the vice president. well, also ye

this is not an fbi matter. this is something jeff sessions intake. >> kennedy: with his recusal, can he do that? be three appeared before the court and that affects everything that will happen for him to let next three years. when the president thrown his support behind and battled g.o.p. senate candidate judge roy moore. he says republicans need him for their agenda. the race is neck and neck. voters head to the polls a little more than a week. in war way to? what would it mean for republicans? stay close. >> kennedy: we've got more "outnumbered" in just a moment. first up, let's touch base with harris faulkner and what's coming up on "outnumbered" over time in just a few moments. >> harris: thanks for waving back. south korea getting ready for their biggest ever joint military drill and as that happens, north korea is morning as tensions flare up as to nuclear war. the u.s. will be held responsible. which of the trump administration do next? event tomorrow, the supreme court is set to hear the case of the bak

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

that brought about swift condemnation from folks who know the fbi best from sally yates -- the fbi is in tatters? no. the only thing in tatters is the president's respect for the rule of law. the dedicated men and women of the fbi deserve better. this from former ag, eric holder. nope, not letting this go. the fbi's reputation is not in tatters. it's composed of the same dedicated men and women who have always worked there and do a great apolitical job. you'll find integrity and honesty at the fbi and not at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. the president railing against what sounds like every man and woman who serves in the fbi. >> and the idea, irrespective of those individuals who put their life on the line and serving communities across the country, this is all about how he wants to create a narrative around these institutions of government and culture and society. and have -- reshaped in his image, in his mind thought if you will. people look at them the same way he does. the idea starting with the media. now a significant number of americans think the media are not good for america, ant

the fbi has talked about that a little bit. but of course, he also wants an urgent mission for the fbi is persuading congress to renew a provision of federal law allowing them to look at e-mails of people overseas and authority about to expire and it's a top priority for the fbi to make sure it's renewed. >> and, pete, on the other side of the screen watching that judiciary committee hearing get under way and keeping an eye on that. pete, thank you. as we talk about russia, we have to mention the big, new developments of donald trump jr. and former trump national security adviser michael flynn. kristen welker at the white house. i know you have been reporting a lot on this donald trump jr. meeting, marathon session with the house investigators, and the bafflement from some in congress that donald trump jr. invoking attorney/client privilege of conversations with his dad. neither are lawyers. what's going on? >> reporter: that's right. here's what we learned yesterday after donald trump jr. was on capitol hill testifying before

the fbi is an apolitical organization. of the 35,000 employees, 99.9% are there to do their jobs, not put their finger on the scale and follow the evidence wherever it may lead. >> have you ever seen the fbi under attack like this before? >> well, pamela, i'm old but not that old. going back to 1948 when j. edgar hoover was accused of trying to tip the scale against truman, it was bad back then. during the civil rights issue, some said they had animous. in my lifetime, no. one half of my life i spent in the fbi. i served 25 years and i have never seen such partisan attacks, such political ping-ponging. scrutiny is good and healthy because we serve at the pleasure of the president and at the pleasure of the american people. the fbi is there to investigate federal violations and to make sure that they do so a politically. unfortunately, a segment of the population don't think that's true and i hope that changes. >> james gagliano, thank you so much. >> thank you. >>> just ahead, more of this developing story on deputy direct

. >> it's a shame what's happened with the fbi, but we're going to rebuild the fbi. it will be bigger and better than ever. it is sad when you look at those documents and how they've done that is really, really disgraceful and you have a lot of very angry people that are seeing it. it's a very sad thing to watch. i will tell you that. >> loved it. all right. so the president is -- is speaking a lot. he's making a lot of headlines heading to quantico. we will bring you more of those in a moment. a lot going on here in new york at the u.n. meantime secretary of state rex tillerson about to address the u.n. security council on north korea. the world will be listening for more apparent disconnections potentially between what the president has said on north korea and what his secretary of state rex tillerson has said on north korea. let's go through all of this. abby philip at the white house with more. quite a busy friday morning there? >> it definitely is. bright and early, the president is heading out this morning for quantico, but he's actually not meeting with fbi ag

who could fire the fbi director, the fbi deputy director and influence decisions within the fbi from outside the fbi? >> well, i think they are truly independent. they can be fired. you can fire the director and keep going down the line but with 35,000 employees, at some point the buck is going to stop. i worked with fbi agents for over 20 years and they are the most professional dedicated to mission people i ever met. that's why i find this attack on the fbi to be so harmful. in self-interest, president trump is trying to undermine the credibility of the fbi for this case but the effect is undermine public credibility in every case. if you ask agents, they won't care and say i have thick skin and i can take it. in terms of the thousands of cases pending around the country, bank robbery cases, while collar crime, the jury hears the president say they are a disgrace. i think this is incredibly anti law enforcement and procriminal to make these statements. >> edward, you were outside the beltway u.s. attorney in the west heern district of tennesse. when barb says this is nationwide imp

and because of that, they've said the fbi was in tatters, that the fbi, the chief law enforcement, top law enforcement folks in this country, are questionable. some of their allies on television said they're like the kgb. they've questioned you, questioned the justice department, that i have question they've questioned some of the most loyal, dedicated, fearle lesles people in our country. and i find it repugnant. and what do you think that they say that there's something wrong with the fbi and that they're like the kgb? >> congressman, as i know you're aware, i've expressed concerns with certain aspects of certain things done by the fbi. but in general, throughout my experience working with fbi agents throughout the decades, i've found them to be an exceptional group of public servants, very loyal, faithful, and dedicated. and i believe some of the finest people that i know are agents of the federal bureau of investigation. >> i thought about them, sir, when i warmed the army/navy game. and i thought about them, because i have the honor, as everybody up here has, of recommending some

president, when did you find out he lied to the fbi? >> of course lying to the fbi is a federal crime and his lie is extrickably tied to the russian investigation. wolf, the then acting attorney general, sally yates, considered those lies important and damaging enough that she thought they opened the then national security advisor to potential blackmail from russia. >> you're also getting some new information from the courts right now about paul manafort, the trump campaign chairman who was seeking an opportunity to avoid being under house arrest. >> that's right. a little more than a month after he was arrested for multiple crimes related to his work for ukraine, for the pro-russian government of ukraine, he violated the prosecutors argue the terms of his plea agreement. he was allowed some freedom of movement. he was allowed out of house arrest, allowed off of gps tracking in exchange for him putting up $11 million in property assets. during that time as well the judge instructed him not to make public comments related to the case tha

and the fbi has been looking at this for well over a year now. now we have two people, one very senior person who worked in the white house admitted to lying to the fbi about their contacts with russian officials about the purpose of the contacts. for fieinstein she said by her committee, here's her saying that today. i see it in the hyper phonetic attitude of the white house and the comments every day. the continual tweets. i see it most importantly in what happened with the firing of director comey. it is my belief that that is directly because he did not agree to lift the cloud of the russia investigation. that's obstruction of justice. >> that is the key as the senator said. the lifting of the sort of russia investigation that frustrated the president. comby is certainly the former fbi director and the obstruction, whether or not that firing had anything to do with the investigation and the fact that the fbi would not let flynn go. remember the president asked the former fbi director and all of that still under investigation. what we learned

the reputation of the fbi. with the time i have -- we haven't heard from you. with the time i have left will you respond to this tweet by the president. it the fbi's reputation in tatters? >> mr. chairman, may i have time to answer this question? because it's something that matters to me. >> go ahead, please. >> congressman, there is no shortage of opinions out there. what i can tell you is that the fbi that i see is tens of thousands of agents and analysts and staff working their tails off to keep americans safe from the next terrorist attack, gang violence, child predators, spies from russia, china, north korea and iran. the fbi that i see is tens of t thousands of brave men and women who are working as hard as they can to keep people they will never know safe from harm. the fbi that i see is reflected in folks like -- n >>> the committee will reconvene. we were in the questioning period with the director of the fbi and the chair recognizes the gentle woman from georgia. >> thank you, mr. chairman and directo

not even the guys with guns at doj and fbi. they're thinking they may come up with information, neutrally, they may not. but may come up with information damaging to the president. this is a campaign to make sure if and when that information emerges that the institutions that would out that information have been sufficiently slandered and called into question so americans throw up hands and say i don't know what is true. profoundly dangerous to this republic. >> thanks so much. we'll get reaction from the white house next. i use herpecin l.re, it penetrates deep to treat. it soothes, moisturizes, and creates an spf 30 barrier, to protect against flare-ups caused by the sun. herpecin l. >>> breaking news tonight, fbi's deputy director may be able to corroborate that president trump asked former fbi director james comey to pledge loyalty. that's something that comey says happened and the president de denied. sources tell manu raju that mccabe testified before the house intelligence committee that comey told him about the conversa

i mean, the fbi, and i'm sure everybody here knows an fbi agent or two. they tend to be very skeptical of politicians. so i actually read every single one of the agent in question's texts, and they read to me, yes, he hatd -- he did not think highly of donald trump but didn't think highly of chelsea clinton or eric holder or hillary clinton or really any politician. so it is a bit on the tin foil hat side of conservatism to sit there and think that rod rosenstein, who is a trump appointee, who works for jeff sessions, are part of a grand conspiracy. >> i agree with crow. this whole thing started about peter struck, the fbi agent, because mueller demoted him. >> fired him. got rid of him. fired him from the russia probe. >> the idea that mueller is compromised by the guy who he says, oh, no, you can't do this. go away. you're endangering my investigation because you're partisan, that's crazy. >> this is not the fbi 1955 going after martin luther king jr. this is part of the kulcult of oppression that has taken over the modern republican party these days. t

second, you've got a president under investigation by an fbi director firing that fbi director. third, you've got a recused attorney general recommending to the president that he fire the fbi director, regarding the matter as to which he's recused, and then underlying all of that you have this truly passionate and i think well thought through and sincere and real take-down of comey's behavior by a clearly infuriated and frustrated rod rosenstein. how that all stacks up? tbd. >> the -- the thing i'm trying to decide whether to ask you about is the timing here because obviously, you don't have insighting into why rod rosenstein acted when he did. the timing of it related to the russia investigation has a flashing red siren on top of it that is screaming suspicion in terms of the trump/russia investigation. if this was driven by those things he put in his memo, if it was driven by the handling of the clinton investigation, what explains them doing it today? especially given they know that we'd all see the connections to all the russia -- >> rod hasn't been there long. so he comes i

>> it's important to distinguish the reputation of the fbi from the character of the fbi. reputation is damaged by every incident that comes to public attention. but the character of the fbi is a function of the approximately 37,000 employees. as i said earlier, i have been very impressed with the character of the agents and employees who i know personally. >> do you believe that the fbi as an agency is politically motivated? >> i don't believe you can characterize any agency. we all recognize there can be individuals who do things they shouldn't do. but that's something we address when it comes to our attention. >> deputy attorney general, what can you do to protect the integrity of special counsel mueller's investigation and the results that it comes out with? >> i don't think there's anything special we need to do. director mueller has a mandate and is conducting an investigation and will continue to conduct it until it's concluded. >> you have said this a couple times. do you have full faith and confidence in director mueller's ability to conduct this investigation? >>

fbi director wray agrees with you. he said he was well respected within the fbi. i think everybody on the other side of the aisle agreed with you when you appointed him and everybody in this judiciary committee and probably everybody in this congress agreed with his appointment as fbi director which was unanimous, his reappointment which was unanimous by republican bush and democrat obama. everybody respects that man in this country. obviously we knew that would be an exception. but the fact is they didn't start to dislike him until he started to get issues that affected the president that currently serves this country. and because of that they said the fbi was in tatters, that the fbi, the chief law enforcement, top law enforcement folks in this country are questionable. some of their allies on television said they're like the kgb. they've questioned you. they've questioned the justice department. they've questioned some of the most loyal, dedicated, fearless people in our country who served the rule of law. and i find it repugnant and awful. i wonder what you th

text messages from the fbi agent peter strzok and his fbi lisa page were discovered. and according to a brand new poll a majority of you, the american people, believe that special counsel robert mueller's tainted and corrupt investigation is biased. we have been telling you the rest of the media needs to catch up. that's happening right in this breaking news opening monologue. ♪ a major development in the clinton server scandal. you've got to pay close attention tonight. this is going to be a blockbuster hour. we here at fox news have obtained the draft of james comey's exoneration statement that let hillary clinton off the hook as it relates to the email server. the document shows that the term grossly negligent was, in fact, changed to extreme carelessness in two places. remember, grossly negligent is the legal standard which would have meant that clinton broke the law. and here's the other piece of new information. in the part where comey was talking about foreign actors, accessing clinton server, the word likely accessed was removed. this is national security. a

the head of the fbi agents association firing back saying, fbi special agents put their lives on the line to protect the american public, suggesting otherwise is simply false. comey and former deputy attorney general sally yates coming to the bureau's defense with yates declaring, the only thing in tatters is the president's respect for the rule of law. the dedicated men and women of the fbi deserve better. >> what has been shown is no collusion. no collusion. there's been absolutely -- there's been absolutely no collusion. >> reporter: president trump attempting to down play the guilty plea from fired national security adviser michael flynn before this damning tweet posted on saturday from his account asserting that he had to fire general flynn because he lied on the vice president and the fbi. the tweet suggests the president knew flynn lied to the fbi when he allegedly asked comey to drop the bureau's investigation into flynn, a conversation comey testified handled the day after flynn was fired. >> that's why i understood him saying is drop any investigation connected to flynn's a

the fbi is honest. the fbi is strong. the fbi is and always will be independent. christine and dave? back to you. >> thank you. >>> fbi agents association joining comey in defending the men and women of the bureau in a twitter statement. the group's president said every day the fbi special agents put their lives on the line to protect the american public from national security and criminal threats. this is why the fbi continues to be the perferemier law enforcem agency in the world. agents are dedicated to their mission. suggesti suggesting otherwise is simply false. >> no not letting this go. the fbi's reputation is not in tatters. it's composed of the same dedicated men and women who have always worked and did a great job. you'll find integrity and honesty at fbi headquarters and not at 1600 pennsylvania avenue right now. >> jeff sessions is dealing with inconsistent cz inconsistencies of his own. >>> michael flynn's plea deal raises a host of questions. why did the former national security adviser feel he had to lie to the fbi about contacts with the russians?

fbi director wray agrees with you. he said he was well respected within the fbi. i think everybody on the other side of the aisle agreed with you when you appointed him. and everybody in this judiciary committee and possibly everybody in congress agreed with his appointment as fbi director which was unanimous. his reappointment was unanimous by bush and obama. everybody respects this man in this country. >> i didn't. >> obviously we knew that would be an exception. but the fact is they didn't start to dislike him until he started to get to issues that affected the president that currently served this country. and because of that they've said the fbi was in tatters, that the fbi, the chief law enforcement, top law enforcement folks in this country are questionable. some of their allies on television said they're like the kgb. they've questioned you, they've questioned the justice department, they've questioned some of the most loyal, dedicated, fearless people in our country who serve the rule of law. i find it repugnant and awful. i wonder what you think about whe

fbi, dea, marine corps, and academy family welcome home. if you have a young child with you, they are going to get frustrated and they are going to cry. those noises have become a welcome part of this reunification. please stay with us. if you're able, i asked everyone to please stand for the presentation of colors by the united states marine corps honor guard and our national anthem. afterward, please remain standing for the invocation. ♪ >> father god, we ask for your special braces to rest on us on this awesome day. blessed are you, lord god of all creation, whose goodness fills our hearts with joy. who has brought us together in this sacred place, the fbi academy at quantico, this day to work in harmony and peace. strengthen each one of us with your grace and wisdom. thank you for your story and our lives as we write our history this morning. may you be evident on every page. for the love of god, amen. continue, let's take a moment to remember carlos wolf and sandra cohen who we lost this week, as wells 24 law enforcement professional

a fbi facility. and two big name republicans move from a no to a yes, presumably because their price was met, as we get our first look at the new tax bill that may become law. "the 11th hour" on a friday night begins now. >>> and good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. day 330 of the trump administration. a day the president has decided to weigh in on the status of the russia investigation. the fate of michael flynn. and his relationship with vladimir putin. and he continued his attacks on the fbi, right before making a speech at the fbi training center. but we begin with the president sounding a familiar theme when asked if he thought special counsel robert mueller was biased. >> you'll have to make that determination. we're hoping for a very -- let's put it this way. there is absolutely no collusion. that has been proven. when you look at the committees, whether it's the senate or the house, everybody, my worst enemies, they walk out, they say, there is no collusion

the lies he gave in talking to the fbi. but, nicolle, one point we shouldn't lose sight of is the people who interacted with flynn, they know who they are. so whether it was, you know, takior pick. the vice president, kushner, sessions, trump, somebody else who was working on the transition team in the white house staff, they know what their interactions are. they know that flynn is now under an obligation. in order for him to gain the benefit of this plea agreement, he has to tell mueller everything he knows. he has to be truthful. he has to tell fully everything he knows. he can't leave anything out. if he, does the plea agreement is off and instead of looking at this very modest 0 to 6-month sentence, flynn is looking at who knows how much time behind bars. >> it's an important point. we'll keep this conversation going. everyone is staying put. after a quick break, we'll find out how they're reacting inside the white house today when we come back. >>> talk about a catastrophic hire. especially the transition. was mike fl

what was he tried to obstruct the fbi from getting to. now i think we've got lots of pieces of that. but i do think we have to let the mueller investigation move a little bit further to understand the second piece of this. but the obstruction case seems to be as clear-cut as you can imagine given comey's testimony today. >> so i want to ask you about your jum-- judgment of the credibility today, james comey, the president's lawyer despite yesterday's saying that the written statement totally vindicated the president and not contesting the substantive claims but today claimed that comby was not telling the truth under oath and comey at one point implicated loretta lynch, saying her handling of supervision of the clinton matter, that she's instructed to use that words, made him uneasy. a statement close to loretta lynch today sort of saying the basic set of fakes but with a different interpretation. i ask this to say do you trust james comey ultimately? >> well, listen, there is no question that many of us -- myself included -- have questio

i've always had a lot of respect for the fbi. i started in politics during the nixon era when you still had some -- not necessarily best people in the fbi and other agencies. and i think over the last 20 or 30 years we've tried to clean that up and move it forward. somehow it's politicized in the last eight years and i think the justice department was the lead of that. and i think there's no question -- i've never seen in all of the years i've been around politics, ever an attempt to tip the balance as they did. they were pro-hillary and anti-trump. and the idea that you were going to let the people make their choice, have a check mate system of. gregg: it never made sense when james comey stood up in july of 2016 and laid out a failly meticulous case of how hillary clinton had violated the law in the handling of her e-mails and then said but no reasonable prosecutor will bring this case. now we're beginning to learn how that all occurred. people changed the wording in his statement to clear her when nirnlly he was going to refer

but let's talk about the fbi. you spent time in the fbi. every former fbi and current fbi agent i've spoken to in the last week or so is of one voice. as an agency it may have issues it deals with on an ongoing basis. to say the fbi is in tatters and in need after rebuild is not only incorrect but a lot of people felt highly inappropriate for the president to be commenting on the fbi in that fashion. >> for sure. he's degrading the integrity of a u.s. institution which is going out and trying to execute the justice program he laid out in a speech. you want fbi agents to go into trump-supporting areas and do investigations, find leads, get tips. when he talks about making the fbi bigger and better, guess who was picked to do that, mueller. right after 9/11, he kept the fbi together. they were talking about breaking it into two pieces. mueller did it so well that he was actually asked to stay by a democratic president to stay longer. >> back then there were issues with intelligence gathering, real structural issues in our law enforcement agen

deputy director andrew mccabe, former fbi director, james comey, and fbi lawyer, james baker. the president pouncing on reports that mccabe is planning to retire in march, going after the fbi deputy over donations his wife's campaign received from a super pac connected to virginia dpmgovernor terry mcauliffe, a close friend of the clintons. the president hasn't shied away from attacks on the justice department or the fbi since taking office. still, the white house insists that trump has more confidence in the fbi now that he's hand-selected the man in charge. >> i think he's very pleased to have chris wray running the fbi. >> reporter: the criticism coming amid growing questions from republicans over the credibility of special counsel robert mueller's russia probe. >> if the president continues to try to, you know, undermine the legitimacy of that investigation and if republicans continue to try to help with that, i think that puts us in peril. >> and while the president says he is back to work today, there are no events on his public calendar here in mar-a-lago. the white hou