totally new. instead, he moved over from the fbi the director of the fbi to start being the head of the cia to replace william casey after casey died in 1987. that was an interesting decision that reagan made right at the end of his term in 1987. that, of course, even though it filled the job at the cia, it left an opening at the top of the fbi, right? move the fbi director over to the cia. interesting for the cia. but now a big hole to fill at the fbi. and they are being an opening at the top of the fbi, that was a very, very rare thing at the time. i mean, there haven't been that many people who have run the fbi. for almost the first half century of its existence, the fbi had exactly one director, its founding director jay edgar hoover. hoover died in office in 1972 after being fbi director for more than 40 years. so when hoover died, nixon got to appoint his replacement who was then the only -- only the second person to ever hold the job. his name was clarence kelley, the second director of the fbi. he served for about five years. then the third director was william webster. he w

for president trump fbi director nominee, christopher wray. any hearing of these over states and the implications for national security. later, a hearing on past congressional and executive branch criminal investigations. >> christopher wray, president trump's choice to leave the fbi received tough questions from both republicans and democrats on whether he will remain the bureaus independent. he denied being asked to give a loyalty oath to president trump and got to be loyal to the constitution and the rule of law. this portion of the hearing is three hours. [inaudible conversations] >> today, first of all i should say welcome to everybody. particularly our former colleague and nominee and all of the families and friends and other citizens here for a very important nominee hearing. you're welcome. the committee is considering, as you know, the nomination of christopher wray to be the interactive the fbi. congratulations to you and your family on your nomination. this is an important day for you, your family and most importantly, this is an important day for the country considering t

termination to support the termination of the director of the fbi. it was simply the right decision. we go forward with confidence that the president, as he has done so many times in this administration, he will select that individual who will be able to lead that agency and the outstanding men and women of the fbi back to a place where that that agency can enjoy the confidence of the american people. >> as you know very clearly, as has been stated repeatedly in the president has been told, he is not under investigation. director clapper said there is no evidence of collusion between our campaign and any russian officials. let me be clear with you. that was not what this is about. that is not what this is about. the president took strong and decisive leadership year to put the safety and security of the american people first by accepting the recommendation of the deputy attorney general to remove director comey as head of the fbi. the american people have to have confidence in the federal bureau of investigation. because of the action the deputy attorney general outlined to the presiden

. >>> yesterday acting fbi director andrew mccabe give a different account than president trump on the condition of the fbi under former director james comey. president trump has said the fbi was in disarray but mr. mccabe told the house appropriation subcommittee that director comey enjoyed a deep and positive relationship with the men and women of the fbi. this came during an hour long hearing on the fbi budget for fiscal 2018. the subcommittee is pleased to welcome today drew mccabe to present the fiscal year of 2018 fbi budget request. the fbi is our premier federal domestic intelligence agencies. the fbi leads anti-terrorism, counterintelligence and national security efforts while also combatting gangs, financial fraud, human trafficking, and public corruption. it is the indispensable partner to state and local law enforcement agency and our liaison with federal law enforcement partners. we're grateful that the fbi is leading the investigation into the wednesday morning shooting at the congressional baseball practice. we are deeply grateful for the work that your officers do every

." >> the fbi, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. >> james comey is out. >> that includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the trump campaign and the russian government. >> the president of the united states has fired the man leading the investigation of his own campaign. >> he's become more famous than me. >> tonight, how the white house is explaining its seismic power play. how democrats are reacting with senator elizabeth warren. the shades of nixon with john dean. what all of this means for the russia investigation and what it means for american government when "all in" starts right now. >>> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. absolutely explosive news out of washington tonight. one senator says it has plunged the country into, and i quote here, a full-fledged constitutional crisis. the president of the united states firing the man who was leading the investigation into possible collusion between the government of russia and

-span twos book tv. the confirmation hearing for christopher wray. the nominee for fbi director. he appeared before the senate judiciary committee on wednesday where he faced questions on the russian investigation and the president's firing of james comey. he is a lawyer who previously worked for the bush administration as assistant attorney general. this portion is just under three hours. citizens here for a very important nominee hearing. you're welcome. the committee is considering, as you know, the nomination of congratulations to you and your family on your nomination. your family on your nomination. this is an important day for you, your family and most importantly, this is an important day for the country considering the importance of the fbi and law enforcement in america. i welcome you, mr. wray and your family, to the committee. the ranking member and i will give opening statements and then senator nunn will introduce the nominee. mr. wray will then give his opening statement and introduce anybody that he wants to that's here to support him and people that aren't here supp

of attorney general. it is a challenging time for the department of justice as well as the fbi. i described judge bell then as a man noted for his quick mind, his candor, his integrity and his independence. years later in may of 2003, judge bell contacted me, i was out of the senate at that stage. praising chris wray as a rising star and he suggested i recommend him to my former senate colleagues as a terrific choice to be confirmed tahead t the criminal division of the department of justice. since that time i followed chris' career in and out of government and i satisfied myself fully that my support for chris in 2003 was well placed. i can assure this committee that chris embodies the same traits that enabled griffin bell to rebuild public confidence in the department of justice, quickness of mind, candor, integrity and independence. a couple of questions. what is the basis of my confidence in chris? senator feinstein, i hope to address some of your questions in answering that question i pose. from his service as assistant united states attorney in atlanta 1997 where chris worke

"new york times" account of this is just stunning. he was addressing a group of fbi employees in los angeles when the television in the background flashed the news that he had been fired. in response, mr. comey laughed. he said he thought it was a fairly funny prank. and then his staff started securing around in the background, told mr. comey that he should step into a nearby office. mr. comey stopped addressing the group. he proceeded to shake hands with the employees he had been speaking to and he stepped into a side office where he confirmed that he had been fired. at that point, he had not heard from the white house. shortly after that, rachel, after all of that, it's been on television, a letter from the president was delivered to the fbi's headquarters just 7 blocks from the white house, the letter arrives after it's been on television, after comey find out that way. >> yeah. so the idea that this is something they've been cooking since last july and they rolled out in an orderly way today because they taken their time to get this right, it defies -- it really does defy bel

, continuing coverage of this breaking news. the president firing the fbi director james comey, bret baier is next. we will see you back here. an important show tomorrow. >> bret: a massive political shock wave hits washington. >> i was flabbergasted, to say the least. >> the president did not fire the entire fbi. he fired the director. speak with the goal was to act on recommendation of the deputy attorney general and the attorney general. >> the administration has to answer the question why now? >> bret: president trump writing the letter that he believes comey cannot lead the fbi. >> essentially puts the nail in the coffin for president trump to fire him. >> bret: tonight, new questions. did the president hint at comey's firing a month ago? >> we will see what happens. it's going to be interesting. >> bret: what happens next in the russia investigation? >> catastrophically compromise the investigation. >> the investigation going on in the intelligence committee. >> bret: we have all of the angles covered. a special edition of "special report" starts right now. good evening. welcom

intelligence. the nsa collects it as part of the row tain surveillance and after that the fbi asked the nsa to collect as much information as possible about the russian operatives on phone calls to search through troves of previous intercepted communications that had not been analyzed. valentine's day bombshell. trump campaign officials and associates had repeated contact with senior russian intelligence officials and other russian officials while russia is attacking the united states. then, to try to sway the election in trump's favor, bombshell comes out february 14th, comes out one day after the mike flynn resignation, which was over his serupticious contacts with russian officials but steps on the tail of that story. it's huge, sort of oh clouds the impact of the mike flynn story because this story the next day is even bigger than that. but then something happened to that story, remember? february 13th, flynn resign, feb 14th, "new york times" posts this bombshell story. what's the headline? trump campaign aides had repeated contacts with russian intelligence, february 14th. feb

general accountability office about the cancellation of the fbi headquarters consolidation project and what comes next for housing the fbi. the council project will have replace the current fbi headquarters, the j edgar hoover building located at 935 pennsylvania avenue with the new hecklers in maryland or virginia. involved in exchange for the j edgar hoover building with a private developer. they would then in turn have a campus like facility with proper safeguards for security, suitable for the focus of the intelligence agency more than simply a law enforcement. the new facility would also consolidate the myriad of fbi satellite offices which would make the bureau more efficient and save taxpayer dollars. no doubt that there is a need to replace the fbi's existing headquarters. the men and women of the fbi would keep a safe deserving office building that meets their needs. security and efficiency arguments for their case is clear. bill is not clear is why the project was suddenly halted. when congress was not notified advance and what happens now. senator should not to find out abou

president fired the director of the fbi, james comey, three days ago now, we've now got multiple reports that the fbi's investigation of the russia issue, the russian attack on the presidential election last year and the question of whether or not the trump campaign was involved in it somehow, we now have multiple reports that at the time that the fbi director was fired by the president, that fbi investigation into the trump/russia issue was expanding and accelerating. and the director himself was involved in the expansion and acceleration of it. "the new york times" was first to report in the days before he was fired, director james comey reportedly requested additional resources for the trump russia investigation. basically we don't know exactly what kind of resources he was asking for, if it was money or man power or other fbi resources. but basically he wanted to put more fire power into that investigation. thereafter "the wall street journal" reported james comey accelerated his own personal pace of work on the investigation. he previously been briefed weekly on the progress

a little bit brian williams will be covering the confirmation hearing for fbi director nominee christopher wray. first chris jansing picks up the coverage right now. >> thank you, joe and mika. i am chris jansing in for stephanie ruhle. this morning, damage control. don junior telling what happened in that meeting. >> in retrospect i probably would have done things a little differently. >> and whether or not there may be other connections. >> i've probably met with other people from russia, certainly not in the context of an actual formalized meeting. >> this morning, what did the president know? his lawyer weighs in to nbc. >> the president did not see any emails relating to this at all. do you know when the president saw the e-mail? when everybody else did. >>> plus this hour the president's choice for fbi director gets his hearing on capitol hill, where questions about russia and loyalty are sure to drive the day. >>> the hearing on christopher wray starts moments from now. take a look, live pictures of the hearing room. our brian williams will join us for full coverage. but

under siege. fbi director investigating links between russia and aides to the president fired by the president. what's next for the fbi? the russia probe? and why the timing? why now as everyone asking questions. good morning everybody welcome to "early start". i'm dave briggs. >> i'm christine romans. it's wednesday, may 10th. 5:00 a.m. in the east. we're so glad you're here this morning. hard to overstate the smaug and far reaching impact of president trump's decision to fire james comey. there's mounting criticism of that decision from all sides and calls are growing louder from democrats for a special prosecutor now that the president has fired the man leading the investigation into possible collusion between trump aides and the russians. now house democrats are asking for the preservation of all documents related to that probe and to comey's firing. >> the fbi director's unceremonious termination cokes of wear gate. president acting on advice from attorney general jeff sessions and deputy attorney general rod rosenstein who cited comey's handling of the hillary clinton earn mail

tonight, fbi director james, has been fired by president trump. news that is rocking a president's capital. tonight, he terminated the fbi director from that following recommendation from his attorney general jeff sessions and the deputy attorney general. the removal of the fbi head is only the second time that has happened in the history of the federal bureau of investigation. the present in his statement said a lot but part of what he said at the beginning is this, the fbi is one of our nation's most cherished and respected institutions. today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of law enforcement. many arguing that this move was long coming, that it can be traced back to these words perhaps by mr. comey last july. watch. >> although we did not find clear evidence that secretary clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive highly classified information. our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case. >> ma

with some good legal advisors before you did that. >> should i call the fbi? >> i think it would be wise to let the fbi -- >> you are going to be the director of the fbi. here is what i want you to tell every politician. if you get a call from somebody suggesting that a foreign government wants to help you by disparaging your opponent, tell us all to call the fbi. >> to the members of this committee, any threat or effort to interfere with our elections from any nation state or any non-state actor is the kind of thing the fbi would want to know. >> i will take that we should call you. that's a great answer. now this is what don junior said saturday before the e-mail came out. if i can find it here. this is his statement. about what i just read to you. it was a short introduction te meeting. we discuss aid program about the adoption of russian children. that was active and popular with american families and was ended but is not a campaign issue at that time and there was no follow-up. i was asked to attend the meeting by an acquaintance but was not told the name of the person i would

did that. >> the answer is should i call the fbi? >> i think it would be wise. >> if you get a call from somebody suggesting that a foreign government wants to help you by disparaging your opponent, tell us all to call the fbi. >> to the members of this committee, any threat or effort to interfere with our elections from any nation-state or any nonstate actor is the kind of thing the fbi would want to know. >> i will say we should call you and that's a great answer. this is what don, jr., said saturday before the email came out. if i can find it here. this is his statement. about what i just read to you. ed was a short introductory meeting and i asked jared and paul to stop by. we primarily discussed a program about the adoption of russian children, that was active and popular with american families years ago and was since part of the russian government. it is not a campaign issue at that time and there was no follow-up. i was asked to attend a meeting by an acquaintance, but was not told the name of the person i would be meeting with before hand. do you think that's a fair summary

the first year of this presidency, the cops from our hypothetical scenario are the fbi, beloved little brother bank robber getting chased is obviously mike flynn. the way the president allegedly tried to block the cops in their pursuit in this case was by pressuring the fbi director, pressuring director comey for his loyalty, pressuring him thereafter directly to drop the fbi investigation into mike flynn and then, of course, allegedly firing the fbi director because he didn't aseed to those demands and there are some parts of this scenario that are settled. we know for a fact that, you know, mike flynn robbed the proverbial bank. he plead guilty. we know that he lied to the fbi and the fbi f pwas pursuing him because he was making false statements about the russian government. in our hypothetical, we know why the guy was jogging and why the other two were racing after him. there are two open questions for us as a country in terms of the president's lie ee's liability part of the scandal and both of those open questions we got important pieces of information about today. the fir

accountability office of the cancellation of the fbi headquarters consolidation project and what comes next for housing the fbi. the council project would have replaced the current fbi headquarters, the j edgar hoover building, located at 935 pennsylvania avenue with a new headquarters in either maryland or virginia. the project involved in exchange for the hoover building with a private developer. using need to replace the fbi's existing headquarters. the men and women of the fbi need an office building that meets their needs. the security and efficiency arguments for their case is clear. what is not clear is why the project was suddenly halted and congress was not notified in advance and what happens now. senators should not have to find out about a decision of this magnitude by reading about it in "the washington post." how this decision was made, it is possible the mechanics of this deal led to this eventual outcome. the exchange of the j edgar hoover building which was at the heart of this proposal may have been doomed from the start. according to the gsa inspector general, only eight buil

begin next week. they vote could come next week. on our radioverage app. the acting fbi director denied the claims that the fbi is under disarray because of james comey. he testified on the budget request for 2018. this is just over one hour. >> the committee will come to order. we are is indispensable to state and local law enforcement agencies. we're grateful that the fbi is leading the investigation into the wednesday morning shooting at the congressional baseball practice. we are deeply grateful for the work that your officers do every day and for looking into this terrible tragedy. we're very, very grateful for the work of courageous work of the capital police. the law enforcement officers of alexandria who saved a lot of lives that morning and for all the first responders who came out to help. our thoughts and prayers are with our whip majority whip steve scalise. zachary bart, pat micah, special agent david bailey and special agent crystal greiner. we pray for their quick recovery. the threats that face our country, director and the safety of all americans appear to be gro

serious allegations against the fbi in this matter. attorney general jeff sessions says as of today he's getting out of the way but all this time thus thus far, has he been in the way of those investigations already? has attorney general jeff sessions been investigating the fbi's investigations thus far? specifically has he been telling the fbi to not share information about what they found with congressional investigators? because tonight one prominent congressional investigator says the fbi is actually blocking the trump/russia investigation from moving forward. did jeff sessions instruct the fbi to do that before finally recused himself at 4:00 this afternoon. or -- and this might be worse -- did the fbi make a decision to obstruct the investigation on its own? did the fbi itself decide of their own accord to obstruct the congressional investigation into this matter in which case we have to ask if the fbi will continue to block the congressional investigation of this even now that jeff sessions is out will they continue to do that for their own reasons? and what happens if the fb

administration recently canceled its search for a new fbi headquarters to replace the aging j edgar hoover building. officials from the fbi and the general services administration testify about some of the obstacles they faced and the future of the bureau's headquarters. the senate environment and public works committee is chaired by senator john barrasso. >> good morning. i want to thank everyone coming to be with us today. we convene a hearing to listen to testimony from government witnesses from the general services administration of the federal bureau of investigation and the general accountability office about the cancellation of the fbi headquarters consolidation project and what comes next for housing the fbi. the council project will have replace the current fbi headquarters, the j edgar hoover building located at 935 pennsylvania avenue with the new hecklers in maryland or virginia. involved in exchange for the j edgar hoover building with a private developer. they would then in turn have a campus like facility with proper safeguards for security, suitable for the focus of the int

8:00 eastern on c-span two. >> fbi director christopher wray testifies. he talks about the investigation led by special counsel robert mueller into russian influence and comments made by president trump on twitter about the reputation of the fbi. this is three hours and 40 minutes. >> the judiciary committee look on the order. the chair is authorized to declare recesses of the committee at any time. we welcome everyone to today's hearing. i will begin by recognizing myself for an opening statement. thank you, director wray, for appearing for your first time in front of this committee, and thank you for your service to our country and your new position. there is much to discuss today, and we look forward to your answers. the president recently tweeted that the fbi is in tatters. while some will take umbrage with president trump's assertion, it does appear to me that, at the very least, the fbi's reputation as an impartial, non-political agency has been called into question recently. we cannot afford for the fbi, which has traditionally been dubbed the premier law enforcement

with the president of the united states. one in which he said he planned to fire the fbi director james comey regardless of recommendations by officials. he talked about what happened when he asked comey if he, the president, was under investigation. plus, in washington, lawmakers have been firing questions at the man that took over running the fbi after the president fired comey. >> did you ever hear director comey tell the president that he was not the subject of an investigation? >> did you commit to informing this committee of any effort to interfere with the fbi's ongoing investigation between links of russia and the trump campaign? >> has the dismissal of mr. comey impeded, stopped or negatively impacted any of the work any investigation or any ongoing projects at the fbi? >> director, has anyone in the white house spoken to you directly about the russia investigation? >> shepard: all the answers are coming up. the affordable care acting director, andrew mccabe. that's coming up. first from the fox news deck, an entirely new explanation of the firing of james comey. from the

set with me today, a power powerful, a former fbi assistant director, reporteder for the guardian and national political correspondent for the washington post. let's great to it. this is a routinely scheduled hearing but at an anything but routine time. what are we expecting here? >> reporter: you're absolutely right. the first testimony from fbi director james comey since the march hearing when he did divulge very carefully without giving statement beyond the simple statement that the fbi was investigating alleged russian meddling into the 2016 presidential election. there are going to be a lot of questions about that from both sides of the aisle. you're right. i'm here outside the senate room. the judiciary committee with a standard oversight committee raerg. very auspicious given everything that's happened, given the fact that hillary clinton spoke yesterday and laid much of the blame for her defeat at the feet of the fbi director. he just walked into the room. didn't have a comment. it's all against the backdrop. continuing to tweet is donald trump, the president tweeting this

. fbi director james comey has been fired by the trump administration. take it away, bret. >> bret: this is a fox news alert. i am bret baier in washington. moments ago, breaking news that no one saw coming today. we learned president trump has fired fbi director james comey. this comes just moments after the bureau issued a correction to a statement comey made to congress last week about the hillary clinton email investigation, and it is the latest chapter in what has been an extremely rocky tenure for the nation's top law-enforcement official. the news breaking 15 minutes ago, coming from the white house for that's where we had. she white house correspondent john roberts starts us off tonight. this is obviously earth shattering. >> to say no one saw it coming would be an understatement. clearly the attorney general and deputy attorney general and the president knew about it. fbi director learned about it a short time ago, and bret, this goes back to last year which is really the most surprising part of it. writing a memorandum for the attorney general, the deputy attorney general

his interactions with the president and the president's words to him with senior people at the fbi. >> and i discussed the lifting of the cloud and the request with the senior leadership team who typically, and athink in all of these circumstances was the deputy director, the general counsel, the deputy director's chief counsel and in a number of circumstances, the number three in the fbi and a few of the conversations included the head of the national security branch. so that group of us that lead the fbi when it comes to national security. >> that group of us that lead the fbi when it comes to national security. that's the group of senior fbi officialing he clued in contemporaneously to what the president was doing leading up to firing him after pressuring him to stop the russia investigation. that list of people he just gave not by name but job title, that's an important list of people. if the president is going to be on the hook in a criminal sense or obstruction of justice or anything else improper about his interfering with the fbi, that list, those people are going to be imp

. simply put, you cannot stop the men and women of the fbi from doing the right thing and upholding the constitution. >> parting worlds, trying to reassure the fbi saying the president could fire him for any reason or no reason at all. the bureau still shaken. >> you're going to have people who like what the boss is doing, and people who don't, but i think he had the support of the rank and file. >> you have to ask yourself how much evidence do i need to support my claims at this point. when will i be believed or not believed at this point. >> and the presidential connection. the fiery letter claiming comey told him three times he was not under investigation. >> why did the president feel it was necessary to include that bart in there? >> i spoke to him correctly, and he said those conversations did take play. >> do you have proof? >> i spoke directly to the president, i think that is a pretty good source. >> does the president have any proof of those conversations? >> that is something we'll have to ask him. >>. >> and good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. we have heard from and

the country. >> at a conference with intelligence community, fbi director james comey talked about the bureaus relationship to intelligence agencies and its counterterrorism efforts. he also sits down for an interview with former national counterterrorism center director michael leiter. this is one hour. >> thank you for that kind introduction. i did take a shot at the new england patriots on live television, which i heard about from one of my brothers who betrayed the family when he moved to massachusetts and became a patriots fan. [applause] >> what i want to do very briefly is share with you some thoughts that are top of mind today for the fbi, and then i want to shut up and take questions bu but i will try to avoid answering from the great michael leiter. [laughing] and i'm determined not to make news for those of you who are following this. [laughing] first things, i want to talk very, very briefly about how the fbi is thinking about our cyber strategy -- can you hear me okay? how the fbi is thinking that our cyber strategy and that i want to talk about a unique challenge to a

people. the fbi, federal prosecutors made a lot of arrests in this scam and it ended up involving like every freaking corner of the mafia universe. the indictment in that stock scam where felix sater got indicted included people from the gambino crime family and the gravano crime family and genovese crime family and columbo crime family. in addition, it also involved as "the new york post" put it at the time, it involved the bor borscht boys. when felix sater was arrested in 2000 as part of this organized crime roundup around this $40 million stock scheme, the government's case against him in particular followed a very interesting path. sater got arrested along with all of those mobsters in the year 2000. he did end up pleading guilty in conjunction with that case that they brought against all those mobsters, but they treated him in a very different way. after he pled guilty, they did not lock him up. in fact, they didn't even sentence him after his guilty plea for more than ten years. they arrested him, they secured his cooperation, they got him to plead guilty to something but t

senate judiciary committee hearing again with fbi director james comey testifying. beginning around 10:00 eastern time today. >> nchi don't know whether the e is 10:30 or 10:35 but there's a vote scheduled on the senate floor. it's my intention to keep the meeting going during that vote and we'll take turns going. so, somebody needs to be he preswpr presiding while i go vote. i'll run over and run back and we'll do the questioning according to the fall of the gavel or early birds. so whichever rule applies. director comey, welcome. we thank the fbi for what it does to keep america safe. there's been a lot of controversy surrounding the fbi since the last time you were here in 2015. in march, you publicly acknowledged that the fbi is investigating allegations of coordination between the trump campaign and russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 election. under president obama's order, former dni clapper had been in charge of the intelligence community's review of that inferns. mr. clapper testified that president obama asked the intelligence community to compile all available informat

the fbi director testifies before congress and reveals a criminal investigation of the trump camp's possible links to russia, a probe that began back in july. james comey joining with the national security agency director to flatly declare that is no information to support mr. trump's claim that he was wiretapped by president obama or by british intelligence. comey also publicly confirming for the first time that the feds are investigating russia's alleged meddling including the possibility of collusion with the trump campaign. also tonight, the white house is refusing to back off from the wiretap claim or offer any apology claiming today's hearing didn't change anything. mr. trump's official twitter account going into overdrive, commenting about the hearing realtime. the president and many republicans are downplaying testimony that could be damaging on the administration, focusing instead about who leaked information about the russian investigation and whether laws were broken. i'll talk with all of that about the democratic who took part in the hearing, house intelligence committe

it inappropriate for that time? >> no. charlie? >> how important was the fbi director's failure to stop -- >> i think that's probably one of the many factors. i mean, you can't deny somebody that that wasn't a problem, and so i think that was just another -- one of the many reasons that he no longer had the confidence of the president or the rest of the fbi. >> do we expect more firings from the justice department? >> not that i'm aware of today. >> going forward, does the president want the department of justice to shut down what he has called the taxpayer charade investigation? >> he wants to continue with whatever they see appropriate, and see fit. just the same as he has encouraged the house and senate committees to continue any ongoing investigations. look. the bottom line is any investigation that was happening on monday is still happening today. that hasn't changed, and, in fact, we encourage them to complete this investigation so we can put it behind us, and we can continue to see exactly what we have been saying for nearly a year. there is no evidence of collusion between

, they say no fbi director, particularly james comey would do that. >> jon: paraphrasing with the president had to say in that letter where he fired jim comey, he said i appreciate you telling me on three separate occasions that i am not the subject of an investigation. that's obviously -- it surprised me that it is a republican senator who is asking that question. >> i'm sorry to interrupt you, but they're talking about james comey's firing in the hearing right now. >> when you refused to discuss his investigation between russia and trump associates, i stated my fear that if the information didn't come out before inauguration day, ed might never come out. with all the recent talks in recent weeks about whether there is evidence of collusion, i fear some colleagues have forgotten that donald trump urged the russians to hack his opponent. he also said repeatedly that he loved wikileaks. the question is not whether donald trump actively encouraged the russians and wikileaks to attack our democracy, he did. that is an established fact. the only question is whether he or someone assoc

reported that the fbi investigation into the trump-russia affair was focused in on money, on potential financial crimes committed by people close to the president. and, you know, before that was posted in "the times" on friday night, that point was sort of surmisable from some other things we had seen reported, like for example grand jury subpoenas for business records for security records from mike flynn, also from the treasury's financial crime unit. we had some indications that money was becoming central to the fbi's investigation. or at least to some of these investigations. but that "washington post" report on fday night was the first direct, clear reporting we had that financial crimes are the point or at least a point of focus for the fbi. so that was one thing "the post" broke on friday night. the other scoop they had on friday night was the other one that made the headline. russia probe reaches current white house official, according to people familiar with the case. so a person of interest in the trump-russia investigation. not just who was a trump associate or worked in busi

investigation. obviously they have made clear publ publicly that the fbi is investigating potential collusion during the 2016 presidential race and russian operati operatives. >> is the president expected to say something himself? >> he's been camera shy and this may be a good indication of why his public schedule has ben so light. the white house has said he will not be coming out, not making a statement and they're not going to say anything else even on paper about this tonight. >> wasn't jeff sessions recusing himself from anything to do with the russian investigation? >> yes, he did. i think that's why the white house is taking pains to point out it was the deputy attorney general who made this recommendation and then to sessions and then to the president. >> but jeff sessions was still involved. >> yes. they both took it to the president and i think that's why you're seeing concern from both republicans and democrats about the timing of this and the way it's being handled. >> and comey was at an event in california when he learned he'd been fired. >> donald trump sent one of hi

anniversary of the fbi. [applause] my thanks to the attorney general in many other distinguished guests and my special thanks to the directors webster and sessions to be here with us on this day. together they represent three decades in which we saw a strong emphasis of white-collar and organized crime with intelligence activities. we witness an ovation the crime solving technologies with a dramatic expansion of the international program. so let's go back further into history 100 years ago attorney-general organized a group of investigators under the justice department july the bureau of investigations opened its doors the first employees numbered 349 detectives, 13 civil-rights and 12 accountants. and they investigated fraud and copyright and win the trust issues. compare that to today and intelligence driven comic technologically supported agency of over 30,000 employees. network of 56 field offices during the united states than 61 attache offices overseas. employees who are combating crimes such as terrorism, cyberfried, human trafficking and money laundering. and j. edgar hoo

president of the united states just threatened a man he hired as fbi director. there will be people saying this is donald trump being donald trump. he says things on twitter. but this is the commander in chief threatening a man who is leading an investigation into the president's own campaign, an investigation that is still ongoing. the president just wrote james comey better hope there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press. i want to bring in jessica in our washington bureau. this has to do with apparently calls for pledges of loyalty and also claims from the president that he was assured by the fbi director that he wasn't under investigation. >> and these tweets threaten to further erode the relationship between president trump and the fbi. president trump coming out on the attack and threatening the former fbi director james comey saying he better hope there are no tapes of our conversation before he starts leaking to the press. the differences in those conversations in that dinner meeting they had earlier this year. but of course we know that th

against fbi director christopher wray and deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. the committee says they are still mulling on information and fbi officials rolled to hillary clinton email investigation. the agencies have until the end of today to turn over all requested materials or the resolution will be triggered and presented next month. this is "outnumbered." i'm harris faulkner pretty here today, host of candy on fox business, kennedy herself. from a national security staff or under president bush and obama, gillian turner. from a deputy spoke person for the state department, marie harf. today's guy in the middle, former u.s. ambassador to the u.n. and fox news contributor, john bolton is outnumbered although he tells us often that he doesn't feel that way. >> exactly, great to be here again. >> harris: happy monday. >> kennedy: he fights ninjas in the alley for practice. >> harris: i've seen him. this will be a walk in the park. good to have you. look get to it. house until chairman devon nunez says the fbi director and deputy attorney general are stonewalling on information a

white house clearly wants to get its point across on this fbi story that we have been doing reporting on and they clearly are upset at this and these other news organizations are protesting because there was a blockage here, so we'll have to see how serious this goes if there are more ramifications from this, but look, the white house does not mind this fight. the white house in some respects the president wants this fight. it fires up his base to a large degree. >> this is what i mentioned a moment ago, he had tweeted a couple of days ago and doubled down on this notion that he thinks the media is the enemy of the american people. here he was. >> a few days ago i called the fake news the enemy of the people and they are, they are, they are the enemy of the people because they have no sources, they just make them up when there are none. they're very dishonest people. in fact in covering my comments, the dishonest media did not explain that i called the fake news the enemy of the people, the fake news. they dropped off the word fake. and all of a sudden the story became the media is the e

bit. when you look at what happened and what my happen going forward, one of the jobs of the fbi is to cooperate with the board of elections and assist with cyber attacks. and i hope you will help us prepare going into this next election. >> i think the integrity of our elections are very much who we are. it's what makes us a free and independent country. and the fbi has a huge role in that. >> in a broader fashion, russia has vast criminal networks that it uses to sew instability. at the end of last year, we heard about this in baltics, ukraine and georgia. and a lot of times they're using shell companies, as are other entities, half of all homes in the u.s. worth $5 million being used by shell companies. do you think the fbi should use it's existing authority in requiring more transparency in luxury real estate transactions. i think you said at the beginning that you're more likely to find a terrorist not with his finger on a bomb, but with his hands on a check. >> senator, i'm not familiar with the particular program you describe, but i can tell you that i strongly agree that fol

be fbi director, does christopher ray have to give a pledge of loyalty to the president or administration? because that's key given the testimony of the fired director last month. >> you testified that the president asked you to be loyal to him. and you said you would be honest and be the head of the fbi. >> got very awkward and i said, you will always have honesty for me. and he said honest loyalty. >> another issue for both republicans and democrats, is how christopher ray is confirmed to maintain the integrity of the fbi. and president trump was accused of asking him to let go of the investigation. that's what we expect to dominate the proceedings on the hill. >> bill: thank you. >> shannon: meanwhile president trump comes to his son's defense this morning. white house correspondent, good morning. >> and strong defense of donald trump jr., who tweeted out this morning, my son did a good job last night. he was open, transparent and innocent. this is the greatest witch hunt in presidential history. it is a huge political and public relations problem for the president. and

there was politicalization about that -- all regularly tried to politicize and weaponize the fbi against civil rights activists and against lots of other people that weren't able to fight back against that big and overreaching state. and i think one of the reasons that you've received so much support for this mission and this calling today, is that you think this mission and this oath to defend the american constitution on behalf of the people not on any -- that's why you have so much bipartisan support for your confirmation today. would you also pledge to this committee that if ever directed by the white house to shut down or curtail an investigation that you would report that back to this committee? not necessarily in a public setting, but at the very least in a classified setting, would you commit to that any influence from the white house to curtail or end an investigation you would report it back to this committee. >> i would make sure that i was compliant in all my legal duties but if i can i would bring it to the appropriate committee's attention in the appropriate way. >>

house select committee on benghazi, former new york police commissioner ray kelly. also acting fbi director angela mccabe and former fbi director john pistole who's the president of anderson university in indiana. deputy white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders took questions on the james comey firing and said the president had lost confidence in mr. comey's ability to lead the law enforcement agency. >> polite crowd. >> [inaudible] >> so i've heard. good afternoon, everybody. as most of you know, sean is on reserve duty for the rest of the week, so i will be briefing you today and in the following days. i have a few announcements at the top before i take your questions. i have an update at the tunnel collapse in washington state. the incident is moving from the emergency phase to the recovery phase. after extensive testing we remain confident that there has been no radiological release. personnel begin taking steps to stabilize and fill the hole over the partially collapsed tunnel last night. we expect efforts to be completed today. the site remains closed to nonessentia

>>> happening now, breaking news, lies and defamations by fired of fbi director james comey repeatedly accusing the president and his administration of lying and defaming him of the fbi and say he was fired because of the russia investigation. >> president trump's lawyer is firing back and calling comey a liar and a leaker. comey tells lawmakers he took president trump's hope to end the investigation and firing michael flynn as a direction from mr. trump. >> comhe leaked his memo to the news media through a friend in hope of a special counsel will be appointed. that's the matter? >> republicans seize on comey's claim that loretta lynch told him to call the probe into hillary clinton's e-mail a matter rather than an investigation. is that what prompted comey to go public with the result. >> i am wolf blitzer here in e "the situation room." this is cnn breaking news. we are following breaking news, extraordinary testimony by the former fbi director james comey, appearing before the senate intelligence committee accusing the trump administration and the president of lying and d

russian bank v.e.b.? >> nothing that i can talk about in an open setting. >> was the fbi able to confirm any criminal allegations contained in the document? >> mr. chairman i don't think that's a question i can answer in an open setting. >> is the not true mr. flynn was and is a central figure in this investigation in the relationship between the trump campaign and the russians? >> i can't answer that in an open setting, sir. >> when you read the dossier, what was your reaction given it was 100% directed at the president-elect? >> not a question i can nance open setting, mr. chairman. >> does that mean the dossier is not being reviewed or investigating or fold up on in any way? >> obviously can't comment either way. i can't talk in an open setting act the investigation. >> did you have at the time that story was published any indication of any contact between trump people and russians russian intelligence officers, government officials or associates of the russian government >> i can't answer sitting here. >> did you ever come close to closing the investigation on mr. flynn? >> i

everyone questioning his decision to fire fbi directdirect er james comey as democrats voice their outrage over the move. >> as i reflect on the decision to dismiss director comey, i become incredulous, thinking about the ongoing fbi investigation. >> caught off guard. with most of the country, reporters, lawmakers, james comey himself stunned by the news, the white house found itself unprepared for the blowback from democrats and republicans. the trump administration scrambling with an all out blitz to defend the president's decision. >>> and just a coincidence? hours after firing the man leading the investigation into the trump campaign's possibl ties to russia, the one person president trump is meeng with today in pers, russia's foreign minister, sergey lavrov. >> is the comey firing cast a sh shadow over your talks, gentlemen? >> was he fired? >> yes. >> you're kidding. you're kidding. >>> good morning, everybody. i'm chris jansing in new york. this morning, president trump clearly following the coverage of his sudden and dramatic decision to fire fbi director james comey, both

. president trump firing fbi director james comey. the bombshell announcement, something that was completely undppd to anyone came just moments ago. trump in the letter hand delivered by a bodyguard he's had for decades wrote to comey that he is terminated and removed from office effective immediately. the letter goes on to say "while i greatly appreciate you informing me on treat the separate investigations that i'm not under investigation, i am under the impression you are not able to effectively lead the bureau. this is stunning. the president just fired the man who is leading an investigation into the trump campaign and whether it colluded with russians in rigging the u.s. presidential election. jeff zeleny is out front at the white house. joseph, nobody seemed to have any idea that this was coming. >> reporter: indeed, erin. this was a very closely kept credit at the white house. i'm told only a handful of top advisories knew this was coming. i am told moments ago that the president himself has been considering this, been thinking about this for at least a week. did not necessarily have