Season. From the Justice Department to the white house. Ill speak with the times reporter who spoke the story of what trump told the russians. I want to begin our juchtd correspondent evan perez. You are reporting first here on cnn. What are you learning from your sources. Reporter erin, theyve begun researching impeachment proceedings. This is to prepare for what Officials Say is a distant and unlikely possibility. The president could have to fend off an attempt to remove him from office. Two people briefed on the discussions tell cnn the Research Efforts are informal and theyre being done out of an abundance of caution. They believe the president has the backing of allies in congress and that impeachment is not in the kashds according to the people weve talked to. Even dwems have tried to calm the wrim people talk this week out of kesh that its premature. Theyve begun collecting information on how such proceedings would work. A white house official we spoke to this evening afternoon the story just aired is saying that white house lawyers are denying that they ever started researching impeachment. Erin. Does this mean that the president at this time is going to go ahead and hire an outlawyer . Thats a discussion thats now being had right now in the white house. Theres a broader internal effort to bolster the president s Legal Defense which has become a lot more complicated with the appointment of a b special count. Earlier this week, close advisors to the president , including two lawyers who have served as surrogates for the president visited the white house to discuss the needed to hire personal attorneys for trump. Erin . Thank you very much, evan. More on that in a moment. I want to get our other breaking news story in here. What President Trump told the russians in the oval office about jim comey. Matt rosen berg is out front front. Matt, i told the russian the u. S. Intelligence i just fired the head of the fbi, a real nut job. I faced great pressure because of russia. Thats taken off. Now, just to be clear, right, this is a quotation. This isnt a paraphrase. This is a quotedation. Yeah. Thats what were thats what was in the notes. We were read portions of the summary. Theres a note taker. They write a summary which is circulated to people in the white house, department of defense and obviously, the cia. Thats what was in the notes was that quote. This is trump telling the russians, you know, that he just fired and bragging almost, boasting about firing the head of the fbi who obviously runs all our counterintelligence against the russians. Its a pretty remarkable statement. It is remarkable. You also know a little more about what he said, right . Yeah. And were going to have an update on line soon. He joked with ambassador kislyak, im the only guy who hasnt met you. Kislyak has met a lot of people. He discussed how americans were obsessioned withst ukraine. It wasnt clear what he was acting. During that same meeting trump shared intelligence with the russians that was given to the u. S. By the israelis with the express condition that we do not share that with any of our allies, let alone russia. The statement i faced pressure from russia, thats taken off. But hi made a joke about kislyak. Kislyaks conversations with general Michael Flynn, general Michael Flynn never met you fro my campaign, apparently. Joke i joking. The barch that trump is making this joke to again, to be clear, weve reported is believed by u. S. Intelligence to be not only a top russian spy but a top spy recruiter. What was their reaction to all of this . They seemed to be in a great mood. At one point in the meeting somebody asked if there was any fake news and the Russian Foreign ministers replied, no fake news. They seemed to have a pretty good time chatting with each. In ordinary times this would be probably a good reaction. Theres a lot of special counsel investigating that. And im not quite sure the white house seems to either understand what it looks like and how bad this looks. Theres also the possibility a lot of people talking about obstruction of justice. Not a lawyer, not going to get into it. This is trump saying i fired jim comey to relieve pressure on the russia investigation. That cant look good. Its clear thats what he was saying. Youve been working your sources for this. We have two major bombshells and the president joking to the Russian Ambassador. Notes taken by an american in the room. Someone who would be a note taker. Then that information was shared. We know the president shared classified information with the russians. We know as youve reported tonight that he faced pressure from the russian vaegs. Thats why he fired jim comey. Do you feel now that youve been read essentially the full rundown . Look, i cant say if theres more to come up. If theres more to come from this meeting. Id be stunned. What else could they have gone over here and what else could have happened in that room . I just at some point it had to end. Right . I guess well find out, though. All right. And quickly before you go, matt, i know youre not going to disclose your source, but why do you think all these leaks are happening . On the far right theyre saying its the deep states out to get President Trump. Theres no deep states, theres no great spy network who takes down president s here. People are serving our government, both appointees and career people. Theres no hold overseas or anything like that. These are a broad group of people seeing whats happening and theyre horrified. Thats why theyre talking to reporters. People are seeing things that they think are wrong and that most people think is wrong. They want that out in public because there seems to be no way to stop it in private. Were back in a moment. I want to go to athena jones at the white house. These are stunning developments. What is the response from the white house tonight to this reporting . Hi, erin. The white house is not denying this report, which is notable. White house press second sean spicer put out a statement that read in part, by grandstandingant politicizing it, james comey created unnecessary pressure on our ability to engaged and negotiate with russia. Now hes referring there to some deals the president hoped to make with russia on syria, ukraine, defeated isis. He closes that statement by saying the threat to National Security from these leaks of private and highly classified conversations. So the white house clearly not happy about this. But also not explicitly denying this bombshell report. This is all happening, erin, as you know, the white house team, sean spicer among them, are on a plane heading to their first stop in this highstakes foreign trip. Theyre expected top land in saudi arabia early saturday morning, our time. A little before 4 00 a. M. Well have to see what else breaks during the hours in the air. Thank you, athena. They are fully wired on that plane. Its not as if they dont have wifi. They could be responding if they choose to. Out front, alan dershowitz, john avalon, david chal on, julia and former senator rick santorum. Matthew rose berg is with us from the New York Times. Alan, the president is quoted by an american official in the room from this as i think matthew was fair to point out, what else could have happened in this meeting. Again i just fired the head of the fbi, he was crazy, a real nut job. Obstruction of justice . Not when it comes to President Trump whos known top puffer and exaggerate and b. S. And say anything that comes to his mind. So for anybody else that would be obstruction of justice but not him . The president has the authority to tell the director of the fbi you shall not investigate a, b, and c. You must investigate c. The president is in charge. Thomas jefferson told his attorney general, get aaron burr. He called witnesses in. He gave them immunity. He called the chief justice of the us, John Marshall and said if you dont convict that guy, im equipment peechg you. We have since created rules that say no contact between the president and the fbi, nothing contact between the president and Justice Department. Those are not capitol hill law rules. Those are internal rules. So to make a case of obstruction of justice on a criminal level. Im talking about impeachable level that is different. Then we have a hard constitutional record. Do you really need an offense, high kriemts in order to get an impeachment. The answer is yes. When most people hear this, 245i8 have the reaction matthew had. I faced great pressure because of russia. Now thats off. Its clear, he fired him because he didnt want anymore of the russia investigation. Up understand what his point is. So what . Most people wouldnt think, so what . Theyd think this is a problem. I agree. Impeachment is a political question. The congress in looking at this yeah, they look at the criminal statue and say an on the other hand citizen says would this be obstruction of justice. Did he really fire comey to suppress investigation. We were talking about the Flynn Investigation at that time. The very next time he invites the russians in who, by the way, are being investigated in a counterintelligence operation and he says to them celebrating, hey, the pressures off. No more Russian Investigation. And by the way, the fbi director is a nut. From a criminal standpoint that could create an article of impeachment. Thats what were hearing from evan, lawyers who have known the president for a long time rl researching just that. Impeachment procedures so they are prepared. Yeah. Well, i think it would be der liktd in duty if they didnt. I think your job if youre a white house lawyer is to prepare for every eventuality even though we are miles and miles away from impeachment proceedings, actually, beginning here. But erin, step back for a moment and look at these last ten days. This has moved from what was a distraction to the young Trump Presidency to completely consuming it. Yeah. It may go down in history as the even if he weathers through this, the single greatest squandering of opportunity to be elected the president of the United States and now his entire presidency is defined by this very investigation. So, john, let me make a point here. The president was in the oval office with two top russians, that it appears from his own joke hed never met before in his life. Apparently, he said he was the only one in his campaign that hasnt met kislyak. He told them that the man who ran americas fbi, the top Law Enforcement official in the United States was a crazy nut job. Yeah. Everyone think about that for a second. Whatever your politics are, its stunning. How damaging is it . Its damaging, its disrespectful to a man whos widely disrespected out of the u. S. Government. Its the kind of cartoonville ain language you would not expect a president to say. There is no way, i think to sugarcoat or spin, or oh, this is just locker room talk with the russians. This is incredibly disrespectful. Others worthy of some psychological analysis. I dont think we should be so glib. I was under a lot of pressure because of russia he says to the Russian Foreign ministers and the ambassador. Now that pressures off. In what rational world does not that not reference to what certainly looks like to the layman obstruction of justice. Senator santorum, what do you say . When you read it, i just fired the fbi, he was crazy, a real nut job. I faced great pressure because of russia, that takes it off. How do you intercept that . First of all, i dont believe that the president thinks the firing of jim comey is going to take away the Russian Investigation. I dont think he believed it when he said that or i dont think he believes it now. Why did he say that . Donald trump the idea that people are outriejd, that trump says outrageous things. Wrv you been during the last 18 months . This fayning of outrage. This is who the American Public elected. They elected someone who is why outrageous in some of the things he says. It does put people, you know, off. It creates all sorts of incendiariry remarks from hose who dont like him. But donald trump, i dont believe, fired jim comey because he thought it would end the investigation. Hes not a fool. Its fully created more of an investigation. The idea that joking around senator, i know it has in the past few days because of these revelations but clearly when he had these meeting he thought witte relieve the pressure. I dont believe he thought that was going to end the investigation. He knew the investigation was going to continue. Senator. What youre saying is the president is a liar. As you well know, sir. Nert senator, senator. You cant take a lot of what he says youre saying the American Public understands that the president used high personally lies all the time. You would have son an entirely different tune in the clinton impeachment. You would have said its part of bill clintons nature. So you got to apply the same to both sides. You know youre spinning. Im not spinning. I ran with against this guy. I understand the high personally. I understand what he does. Do i believe its proper conduct from a president . No. I wish he wouldnt do that. Ill continue to say this. Dont, you know, overreact to a president whos been doing this for 18 months. Under the bus for the russian foimts . What is worth overreacting to, then, senator . I would say whats worth overreacting to is to show that the president of the United States, actually, number one has tried to obstruct justice. I dont think theres any evidence of that. Number two, the whole basis of this investigation, that there was collusion between the Trump Campaign and the russians, theres still no evidence to point to that. The joke about that in my opinion would be appropriate p given whats been made of this. In the New York Times ashl, he talked to several government officials. Juliette, one of them who was defending the president , theyre not denying this occurred, ok . Ok. It was a negotiating tactic, the white house is saying thats why he said these things. Does that make sense to you . It makes sense in the sense that thats what we hear from the white house. This is trump adds mitted, right, to disclosing class night information about a likely israeli asset in an isis cell who was delivering us information and said that was a hue imagimanitarian declassific. One of the challenges with these unbelievable head looibs from the New York Times and other newspapers is we tend to forget the cumulative evidence. Were talking about this one piece today and looking at it from someone whos been a lawyer and has been in interNational Security. Ive got the firing of comey, right. Ive got an sbruf with lester holt in which the president setds he wants it to end. Ive got tweets that say he views the entire russia investigation as a joke. Three im sorry. We have comeys memo, a wink and a nod. I want to clear up. We have to look at this cumulatively. Its bad. Theres no question about it. You can say its a joke, but its not. Its actually the rule of law. Its about the investigation. Which one fierchl thing on the senators point. This is not about collusion only. People like me have not been talking about collusion. Its likely this investigation has to do with financial dealings which weve talked about as well over the past 18 months. If we put collusion on a pedestal, we may not get there but still, a lot of bad things have been done. White house lawyers are looking into impeachment. So viewers understand here, obviously, there is a Legal Standard for obstruction of justice. Many believe this wouldnt make but a lot of people would. Fine. When it comes to impeaching a. Of the United States, the criminal standard for justice is not what needs to be met. Nobody knows the answer to that question. Im a civil libertarian. Im shocked that so many libertarians want to broaden one of the worst statutes on the books. They want to convict somebody based on huffing and hyperbole. I am consistent. I was strongly opposed to the impeachment of president clinton. The aclu is not doing it, the departments arent doing it. The republicans are happy with the special counsel. The media is relying on blockbuster reports every day. Somebody needs to stand up for civil liberties. You say intent doesnt matter. What hes saying, to most people, i think would be the intend to obstruct juflt. Now we know that the investigations going to continue and if anything has gotten more intense because we have a special prosecutor. He didnt succeed, so therefore, its not obstruction . No, no. This is a completed obstruction, arguably. I disagree with alans assessment. Hes reaching back to aaron burrs trial and those people wrote the constitution. Yes, i know they did. But Richard Nixon was you know, the impeachment charges against him, one of the biggest ones was based on obstruction of justice. And of course bill clinton obstruction of juflt so they did illegal modern history suggests that obstruction is a perfectly acceptable charge if you can prove it. I say that after today, when he talks about comey being a nut to the russians and he says the pressure is off in the Russian Investigation, it certainly looks like he fired comey to suppress the russia investigation. Youre not saying thats obstruction. You trying to jump in . No. It was david. David. Impeachment is a political process. What is the political trigger to it, not the legal trigger to it. Remember, republicans are in charge to do it, david, the cumulative bill but what im saying is so rapid, it has consumed the presidency. Were not there yet. We havent seen that yet. We need to watch for this. The moment that republicans feel that donald trump is a threat to their political power is the moment you will see this escalate quickly towards Something Like that. Well look for the polls to come out. We have two special elections coming out. When members of congress, republicans, start feeling that their jobs are at stake here, that is when youre going to see this move very rapidly. I want to ask matthew, i know we still have you here. Their lack of response tonight or their lack of denial could perhaps be significant. Lets see if it is. When the story on leaking classified information came out, the white house fate back. When the allegations of trump trying to stop the investigation, they fought back yesterday. Remember this . Came out tonight as reported is false. Did you tnt urge former fbi director james comey in any way, shape, or form to close down the investigation of Michael Flynn no, no. And also next question. Clearly they have no fear of denying when they want to. The story in the Washington Post also involved classified information. Theyre saying were not confirming or denying because this kangs classified information. That doesnt seem to add up. How significant do you think it is that they are not denying tonight . They fwoibasically denied it by not speaking on it. Theyve got notes. They cant deny this. Theyre in the air right now. I think they took off, we were in touch with them and our story published probably half an hour after the plane got airborne. I guess well see in the next few days how the trip goes. In israel trump will have other things to talk about. Yep. He leaked their swejs. Its going to be a rough trip, i suspect. Senator santorum whos doing all the leaking . This is a white house document. Ask the reporters, theyre talking to the leakersers, not me. Matthew answered hes not going to disclose the sources. He says its people who care deeply about this country. I dont think theres any secret that there are a lot of people in this administration who are not fans of donald trump or and who are republicans, who are not for donald trump in the primary, who see trump as somebody whos different than any kind of republican weve seen before and i wouldnt be surprised that a lot of those people are trying to leak things trying to undermine his presidency. Were looking at lawyer privileged information, lawyerclient privileged information. Planning for a possible impeachment. If anybody ever leaked my lawyerclient privileged information or yours, wed be up in arms. The civil lib erlts union would be jumping up and down and theyre not. Someone who actually has voted in an impeachment, i can tell you what david is saying is right. This is a political decision, not a criminal law decision. Republicans are not anywhere near that, but i would say this. Unlike democrats who will never break with the president , no matter what they do, i dont care. They can find him with a smoking gun and a picture, they wouldnt break with them. I would say this to President Trump, this cant continue for a lot longer. I any one reason theyre not responding is they want to change the narrative. They want to talk about saudi arabia, israel and the mooegs. Hopefully that will beginning to give comfort to republicans this hes actually interested in doingbeing president and doing something positive. I want to Say Something about whos leaking. Look, ive dealt with sources who have axes to grind, dont like the policy. That isnt who these people are. These are people who care for this government and what theyre seeing, they think is wrong. These are people to say a few of them would never talk to me. They are seeing things that they believe is genuinely wrong. Ok. But you have two guys. Former intelligence official and a current intelligence official who take the fact that President Trump leaked to the russians information about security of israel. Ok. Isis doesnt know about this. Only the russians know about it. Now you have two intelligence officials going to the Washington Post and publishing to isis a fact that is unknown to them no. Namely, the city where this occurred they cannot post its not included no, no, no. Youre missing the point. Informationing from russia. Most likely given to iran. You have to remember that. Iran has very good relations with isis these days. They have past regs with russia. Let him finish. Then alan respond. The fact is that when you tell the russians what israels came blimts are, that goes to iran, that in itself is intelligence. That in the itself is useful. But the sources made it much worse. They compounded it. Why . We wouldnt know about this at all. Why do we need to know about it . Well, we we dont need to know about it. Commit a felony. We ought to be putting them jail. Best of luck. I think matthews absolutely right. One of the reasons why i dont stay up late at night, because why . This became public. The president has a solemn duty to protect the allies and what they are willing to disclose to us. So did excuse me, alan. The failure to do that, i think was a story, period. Also will impact, i think rightfully so, the extent to which other allies will want to tell us what sources and methods are. Look, the president arrived the president took off with more political than hes about to land. If you think the rest of the world is not following matthew in the New York Times, you are wrong. They are also watching this. This is not a witch hunt. This is not democrats going crazy. This is serious stuff. I disagree with that. Youre missing the important point. Our allies would never have known about this if the Washington Post didnt publish it. We wouldnt have known it either. How do you know that our allies didnt already know . Didnt know about it information New York Times, the Washington Post. Sit better for them to find out that way or when their agent gets killed . Its better that they not find out at all. They wouldnt get killed because isis would have never known about it. Quickly why trump is wrong, even as alan is right. The president of the United States, prior president s got along with people like j. Edgar hoover, j. F. C. K, lyndon johnson. Can i finish . Yes. He picks a fight with Law Enforcement and the Intelligence Community. Now, the Intelligence Community does have the pour to destroy him and by picking a fight with the Intelligence Community hes undermining his ability to be an effective. All right. Dont you wish john f. Kennedy all of you staying with me. I want to go to sunlen on capitol hill. Of jim comey we are learning hes going to teff, not just that hes going to testify, hes going to do it in public, right . Thats absolutely right, erin. In front of the snetd intelligence committee. Democrats and republicans on that committee calling for him to do just that. We know that no date has been firmly set yet but the committee saying they hope that will be scheduled after memorial day. They want this to happen in the short term future. This is significant, as you said, because its not happening in a classified behind closed doors setting. This will be in public, an open session on camera. The chairman saying tonight that he hopes that will bring more clarity to the questions and the acting member mark warrener saying that mark comey deserves to tell his story. And this is also a Significant Development because there was some concern and some doubt up here on capitol hill this week in the wake of the special prosecutor bob mueller being chosen that that would really take the option off the table for james comey to testify in public. A Big Development tonight that hes actually doing that. Sunlen, you have been talking to lawmakers tonight on 2ru6r7s comments as reported by the New York Times what are they saying . Its been silence so far from republicans but democrats are wasting no time to seize on this. Some have called it unpatriotic, the comments by trump. They say it could show a clear attempt at obstruction of justice. Heres what dan killedy said earlier tonight. Its dumb founding. Just when we think this president has gone as far as he can possibly go, we hear this sort of a report. If its true, i mean, this is its bad for the United States of america. You got to wonder what is going on inside the head of donald trump. So strong words there, of course, and we also heard from patrick leahy. He was a former chairman of a committee. He said on twitter this is what obstruction looks like and he quoted that quote in the article that says that donald trump said i face great pressure because of russia, thats taken off. In a couple of moejts well get some answers. Now ri678d blumenthal who sits on the judiciary committee, senator, second time weve spoken this week. You heard someone quote. Ill say it again. I just fired the head of the fbi. He was crazy, a real nut job. I faced great pressure by russia. Thats taken off. Kwoilts thats what he said to the Russian Ambassador. It is sadly, tragically for our nation, mounting evidence of obstruction of justice. Not proof, but evidence that has to be put together in a mosaic that could lead to charges. The president shoovbl putting pressure on the russians because they interfered in our election. There is bipartisan consensus that the russians meddled in our Democratic Institutions in an unprecedentsed scope and scale and they are testing us around the world and then donald trump is saying to them that he was relieved because he had just fired an fbi director who was investigating ties between his campaign and that russian interference. I dont know if you heard but the New York Times reporter was on. He said the president was joking with sergey kislyak. Oh, nice to meet you. I appear to be the only person in my campaign who hasnt done so yet, joking. Sean spicer is saying it was actually to your point hes saying comeys investigation was the problem. It was creating unnecessary pressure on the white houses ability to negotiate with russia. Those are their words. Now theyre saying the investigation was what was hurtsing the United Statess ability to negotiate with russia. Do you buy that . The russians need to pay a price for their sbrrns in our election. They need to be told and shown that they cannot test us around the world, in ukraine, in violating the inf treaty in syria and other places where were going headtohead with russia that they cannot in this way interfere with our elections and do other things without paying a price. Theyre going to continue to meddle in our elections in 2018 if we dont do something. You used the word mosaic. You have been saying that there has been mountsing evidence. Senator leahy your colleague tweeted out this is what obstruction in all caps looks like. Are you closer tonight than you were two nights ago or three nights ago. Are you closer now than you were then that this truly is obstruction of justice . Speaking like a prosecutor which i was for a number of years just like my colleague senator leahy was, every piece of evidence puts the case closer. But first we fwheed to follow the facts wherever they lead. Youre not thats the job of the special prosecutor, bob mueller, and i will be happy toe tell you when i am there. Yeah. The point here is that we need an independent truly under went well resourced investigation that has a mandate to pursue this issue. I asked rosenstein yesterday point blank will you permit this obstruction of justice investigation to be pursued under the terms of what youve directed bob mueller to do and he was pretty unequivocal that yes, he would. You believe that level of inquiry will continue. Quickly been we go. When a layperson hears i fired the head of the fbi, i faced great pressure because of russia, thats taken off, youre saying that to a layperson that may sound like obstruction of justice but to you, not yet. Well, it soundsed to me like obstruction of justice. I agree with senator leahy that it looks like obstruction of justice but it has to be put together with evidence. So it is, but its not enough. Its going in that direction for sure. And were not there yet in terms of a charge, a criminal charge. But you know, a prr r prosecutor puts together a case with a mosaic. At the same time other investigations have to proceed and an independent investigation is necessary. The American People will be told the full story whatever the charges are and they will know how to stop this russian aggression and interference in our Democratic Institutions. Rather than telling the russians kwfl and classified information, rather than telling them jokes or saying that the pressures been relieved, the president of the United States needs to be tough with them and make them pay a price. Senator, thank you very much. I appreciate your time. Our breaking News Coverage continues. Well fake a brief break and well be right back. Hi guys. Its great to be here. In the desert. At the mall. On the mountain. At school. At the beach. In the big easy. Yeah. Yeah. Today i want to show you guys the nextgen chevy equinox. What do you think . Thats pretty. Pretty sexy. Its allwheel drive. Look at that. It looks aggressive. But not overbearing. Its not too big. Not too small. It looks like it can go offroading. But at the same time, it looks like a car you can take to a nice event. You can dress it up or dress it down. Seems like the perfect car for anybody. I would take it anywhere. I want one. I love it. Shes a bad mama jama. Chevy stepped their game up. 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Other side effects include gas, stomacharea pain and swelling. Talk to your doctor about managing your symptoms proactively with linzess. Ykeep you sidelined. Ng thats why you drink ensure. With 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. For the strength and energy to get back to doing. What you love. Ensure. Always be you. But with my back pain i couldnt sleep or get up in time. Then i found aleve pm. The only one to combine a safe sleep aid plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. And now. Im back aleve pm for a better am. A breaking news bombshell tonight as the president embarks on his First International trip. Hes actually in the air while this breaks. We want to make it clear, hes got the ability to communicate. They know whats happening. White house lawyers researching impeachment procedures out of an abundance of caution. Jim comey, whom he had just fired day before, 2 head of the fbi was crazy and a nut job and his departure had relieved great pressure on the president reported today. Thank you to our panel for being here. Congressman, you just heard the interview with senator blumenthal. Hes talking about obstruction of justice. Ill be honest with you, it wasnt completely clear but hes saying what the president said to the ambassador of russia was obstruction of justice. He doesnt believe a full mosaic is there for charges. Theres nothing there for impeachment. I think this is the democrats getting ahead of themselves. Unemployment is going down, Economic Growth is going up. Border crossings are down about 60 , Economic Optimism is high. Health care reform has passed the house and the democrats havent been part of any of i would. All theyve said is resist, resist, resist. This has given them something to rally around. Im surprised the senator would say we need to punish russia. Theyve given russia just what they warm fronted. Certainly theyd have enough sense to shut up and say lets fight these s. O. B. S on our own quiet terms and do to them what weve done to north korea and jam some Computer Systems but instead theyre givingst russians exactly what the russians wanted. What in the world are you talking about . Lets not pass the graveyard with talking points about economic indicators. When you say were not dealing with facts. Talk about what is happening right now, congressman. Right now. If you youll get a full chance to respond. The president of the United States to the Russian Foreign ministers calling the hid of the fbi a nut job and saying that hes thats not Hillary Clinton if Hillary Clinton said that to the Russian Foreign ministers youd be screaming bloody murder on tv and you know it. I think youve had the bloody murder portion ever since the election. Deal with the news tonight. Congressman heres tonight. Heres the situation. If the liberals were really concerned about russia thats not it. They would get in the back room congressman may i ask you a question. You guys have lost your moral authority, pal. Oh, i do you support, do you condone what the president said . I dont know the circumstances and it was a meeting in the oval office with the Russian Foreign ministers and the Russian Ambassador talking about firing jim comey. And who was the source . The New York Times reporting on an undisclosed source. The white house is not denying it. It was taken on notes by someone in the Trump White House who took notes. And the context was he said it jokingly or he said it this is a matter of National Concern that this guys a nut job. We dont know. We know that the New York Times has thrived on undisclosed sources ever since President Trump has been congressman, theyre not denying that it happened. No one is denying it. I have to say this congressman, congressman listen. I appreciate that you are doing the best that you can in what is the indefense building now. Im going to talk. Youve had a good long run at it. Im going to say my part. I know you very well. Youre a patriotic american. You said you want to see us defend our country from the russians and yet we have a president that puts down americans and defends the russians, including one that served as honorably as the fbi chief. This president is now letting me down even at the level of just being a bad crook. Listen, a crook knows to be quiet. What the thing hes saying right now, the president of the United States, the things hes saying right now, if he were doing something, if he were trying to figure out a way to get his administration through these problems, he should be dwooit. He is being louder and talking more than anybody involved in anything criminal or otherwise. But you have a president that cannot get the administration through this situation. He cannot deal with the facts in front of him. He cannot attack did russians. You want to attack the russians. Hes attacking americans. How can you sit here as a patriot and say hes doing anything right at all . It was against he was so in with the russians why would would he drop the bombs in syria. Rrnt you a parent . Have you ever had a kid get in trouble and point to the other kid . Thats what youre doing. Dont talk about the other kid. What im saying lets talk about the other kid. The kid right now dropped bombs on the Syrian Forces that russia is backing. How is that in with the russians . Question. Question to the panel. Hows that . Ill tell you right now. He is not doing anything that is remotely causing problems for the russian agenda all he wants. He can bomb all the concrete he wants. You have not said anything about the elections. You have a president who defends elections. Why b dont you care more about this country than reply to that, jack. When mueller continues the investigation and with people like sue rice and unmasking, and if he follows where the senator said lets follow the facts and i think were going to learn that there was absolutely no collusion with the trump administration. Lets just be real here, but for once, wouldnt you feel more comfortable right now if pike pen mike pence were president right now . I like mike pence, but not necessarily. Mike pence is in the white house when the president is gone. But trump is my president and pence is my friend and vice president. I think a lot of people are frustrated about the leaks and the single sourcing, by the way this did not have single sources, it had multiple sources. David sanger, let me give you a chance to respond to this, as a reporter, as someone from the media, as a reporter for the New York Times. Sure. Thanks, erin. Yes, there are Anonymous Sources involved in this and if you go back over the obama administration, the Bush Administration before that, youre going to see Anonymous Sources, but thats not the issue. The issue is do we fichundamenty believe i story. But this came from a note taker. This isnt even a participant in the conversation. The stories earlier in the week were jim comeys account versus President Trumps account. Its the official note taking that took place during this whole thing. Secondly, the white house has not disputed the facts, they have just put a different interpretation on it. They have said that the president s comments meant that it reduced the pressure on him that was keeping him from conducting the diplomacy. People are going to have to decide whether they believe that interpretation of events or whether they believe the interpretation of events that erin was exploring with senator blumenthal, and one would suggest that it took the pressure off the investigation. Thats all thats out here right now. But the absence of a white house disputing the facts what we have right now. We know that the statement is untrue. Nobody believes that comey is crazy or a nut case. So the president starts by telling the russians an absolute incredible untruth. But now we want to say, but the second thing he told them about the pressure, that we believe. Now you have to reconcile the fact that we all dont believe the first half, we want to believe the second half. But the second half sounds as puffy as the first half. Its not true, even if he believed it, its not true, its demonstrably false. I think we can say it was offensive to a lot of people, but maybe the question from allen they want to know, is that on obstruction, is that you have to have jury tampering and a criminal case. I dont know if this meets that threshold at all. As offensive as it is to the New York Times, and other lovers or donald trump, i dont know why there was necessarily this great cry for obstruction all of a sudden. Nixon was charged with obstruction of jaws. You dont need jury tampering to have obstruction of justice. It was all in terms of with what they want, what they say the story is, versus what others are interpreting it as. And allen, the first part of the statement we know to be untrue, obviously the second part is where the dispute is. I think what the professor misunderstands, its not whether its true or false, most of what donald trump says are false, the question is what is he frying to achieve . I think what holds it together is hes trying to a ing ting to russians. And hes trying to appease the russians in that meeting, hes probably trying to appease the russians not that meeting, so firing of the fbi head whos not part of the russians. If im Donald Trumps lawyer youve been his lawyer all night. You have now given the best possible defense, not to obstruct justice, but to appease the russians, which he has a perfect right to do. I have to hit pause here, because we do, van, finally have to make a commercial break. Thank you, well be right back, because one republican breaking his silence talking about this tonight will be my guest next. avo come with us. To a new world. Deeper than the ocean. As unfathomable as the universe. A world that doesnt exist outside you. But within you. Where breakthrough science is replacing chemotherapy with immunotherapy. Where we can now attack the causes of disease, not just the symptoms. Where medicines once produced for all, are now designed to fit you. Today 140,000 biopharmaceutical researchers go bodly to discover treatments and cures unimaginable ten years ago. And are on the verge of more tomorrow. Breaking news, the white house now researching impeachment proceedings, the white house is bracing for that situation. Congressman, good to have you back. Not many republicans are talking about this tonight, let me give you a chance to respond to the president s words as reported by the New York Times about feeling relief that the Russian Investigation was over because of the firing of jim comey. Your reaction . Can you say that again . Your reaction to the president s words as reported bring the New York Times today . Listen, there are a couple of things, he had several words that were reported by the New York Times today, i think it was the nut thing with comey, and i got to say, this is a patriot, he has served his country very well, i dont agree with that assessment. But of course there is context with text, and we dont know the context of the meeting itself and what he was trying to do. We dont know that of course, but i dont agree with that assessment, obviously, i think there has been such a microscope of course, some of it legitimate, you have an nyt reporter on here earlier that said that comey was seeking more resources in the investigation when the Deputy Attorney general said absolutely not, that did not happen at all to his knowledge and he was even in the story. So theres this we have a special prosecutor whos been appointed, let the facts lay where they may and lets see what happened. You talk it about President Trumps fitness for office. The fbi director says that the president asked him to stop the investigation into general Michael Flynn, thats in the comey memo, thats of course according to comey, the president denies it. And the president said, i faced great pressure from russia because of the firing, has your opinion of the man, the en. I would be hypocritical if i said its not worrisome to leak information and endanger peoples names. I mean thats a big deal. Obviously its a big deal. I havent lost my confidence in the president to be our president. I just havent. So there was some stumbles this week, and there will be more stumbles, there always are with every president. But you believe he is still fit to be president of the United States . I believe hes still fit and the people around him are as well, many of whom i have Great Respect for. And obviously any president has to have great things around him to perform. I appreciate your time and thank you so much for coming on. And to all of you, i hope you have a good weekend, thanks as always for joining us, a. Im about to utter the single shortest looped phrase in news today. Our top story is, because as quickly as we say it it is made obsolete by the next story and the next one after that. On top of the president boasting to the russians in the oval office about that nut job comey. We have just gotten word that james comey will testify, will testify publicly before the Senate Intelligence committee. For that, lets go to the capitol. When is this going to happen . What do you know . Reporter we know as of now no date firmly has been set. Theres the