had fired comey was to relieve the pressure that the president felt on him arising from the russia investigation. that is precisely within the confines of the federal obstruction of justice statute, which prohibits any person from endeavoring to interfere with or to influence a federal criminal investigation. in my view, there is not much of a line of defense other than the diversion, don't look here, look there, that the president or his people can mount. >> john dean, do you agree? what did you hear? >> i would agree. in fact, i would add to what phillip said. trump's own words again when he was speaking with lester holt who said, well, i got rid of the director because that fbi investigation thing, it was a phony story, fake news and what have you. he just displayed in a remarkable fashion the kind of criminal intents you need and