Transcripts For CNNW Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 20170519

Coming. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. This is cnn breaking news. Breaking news tonight after days of increasingly troublesome headlines. Cnn learned that white house lawyers began researching impeachment procedures. Sources say the white house only considers impeachment a distant possibility at this point. Also, the noork times is reporting that President Trump bragged to Russian Foreign minister and Russian Ambassador of the oval office about his firing of fbi director james comey saying it removed great pressure from the russia investigation. The report also says mr. Trump called comey crazy and also, im quoting him now, a real nut job. Tonight, the white house is back tonight telling the story raising new question bets president s intent on firing comey at the same time. And speaking out about how the then fbi director tried to keep his distance from the president because comey was so disstushed tu disturbed by his behavior. The friend saying comey tried to blend in with white house curtains, trying to not be noticed by the president. We are covering that and more this hour with our guest including former policy adviser to Hillary Clinton, jam sullivan. And our correspondents and specialists are also standing by. Lets begin with evan perez and breaking news. Evan, what are you hearing from your sources . Wolf, white house lawyers have begun researching impeachment procedures. This is simply an effort to prepare for what officials still believe is a distant and unlikely possibility that the president o wo have to fend off attempts to remove him from office. Two people briefed on the discussions tell cnn that Research Efforts are informal and done at an abundance of caution. It is believed the president has the backing of republican allies in congress and that impeachment at this point is not in the cards. According to pemt who have been briefed on these legal discussions. We should note that even democrats tried to calm the impeachment talk this week out of concern it is premature. White House Counsel has begun collecting information on how such proceedings might work. We reached out to the white house for comment and they did not comment, wolf. Does this mean that the white house president needs hire outside lawyers . Thats the discussion thats being had right now. Theres a broader internal effort to bolster the president s Legal Defense which has become a lot more complicated with the justice departments appointment of a special counsel to pursue the investigation into russian meddling in the 2016 election. Earlier this week close advisers to the president , wolf, including two lawyers who served as surrogates for the president , Michael Cohen and jay discussed his need to hire personal lawyers. Good reporting. Stand by. I want to get more, our White House Correspondent sarah murray is following the breaking news as well. All of this comes, sarah, as the president is heading on his first overseas trip. Thats right, wolf. The president may have left the white house but his troubles are certainly following him on what is going to be a high stakes adventure through five different nations now. The president hoped to use this as a turning point, a way to reset the message. But just based on the news this evening, it is clear that is going to be very difficult to do. Donald trump leaving washington behind today. As he aims to use a high stakes foreign trip to escape his marred presscy. New york times says trump told officials in an Oval Office Meeting that firing james comey relieved some of the pressure on him in the russia investigation. Trump reportedly describing comey who was overseeing the russia investigation at the time, as a real nut job and saying, i faced great pressure because of russia. Thats taken off. The white house did not deny the account. In a statement White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said by dwra grand standing and politicizing russias actions james comey created unnecessary pressure on the ability to engage and negotiate with russia. The investigation would have always continued. And obviously the termination of comey would not have ended it. Trump allies say this is an opportunity to move beyond complaint about the russia investigation. The entire thing has been a witch hunt. There has been no collusion between certainly myself and my campaign. And refocus on his president ial agenda. We want to get back and keep on the track that were on because the track that were on is record ksh setting. And thats what we wachbt to nts break very positive records. Thats what trump colleagues are wishing for as well. Clearly it is my hope he does right the ship, that he improves, so we can get going. But in washington, the discussion is still dominated by the chaos of the past few weeks. Largely caused by the president s own actions. As questions continue swirling about the president s snap decision to fire comey and where the russia investigation now held by a special counsel will lead. There will be at least two pressing items on the president s agenda upon his return one of course is whether to hire outside Legal Counsel now that there is special counsel overseeing that investigation into russia. But the second is choosing who will be his next fbi director, who he want to name to that slot, after firing james comey. Wolf . Sarah the at white house. Thank you. Lets get reaction from capitol hill right now. Where republicans were already exhausted by this weeks chaos before all the latebreaking news broke. Our Congressional Correspondent Phil Mattingly is joining us. Phil, even with the president now traveling on his first stop in this overseas trip, drama continues. Yeah. No question about it. Look, what you pointed out, wolf, is spot on. Republicans i have spoken to throughout the week, very supportive of the president throughout this point, the word i hear repeatedly is exhausted. They are tired. While they havent specifically responded to the stories, it certainly isnt going to help that process. Democrats wasted no time weighing in. I just spoke with a michigan democrat who said he is dumb founded by what was released in the New York Times story about this meeting. Joe crowly, chairman of the Democratic Caucus said president calling anybody a nut job is quote like the pot calling the kettle black. He also said he is essentially at this point run out of words to describe how he is supposed to respond. Some democrats have gone even further than just being befuddled, if you will. Senator patrick lachey, and former chairman tweeted out this is what obstruction looks like. Not every democrat is taking na leap but there is further action to get further action on this. Cummings has requested the chairman of that committee, jason chafe its, ask for an official transcript of the meeting between the president and russian officials and if that transcript exists and it is not handed over, he is asking for the republican chairman to subpoena that transcript. We are waiting to hear back to see what jason chafie its says about that. Clearly they are seizing on it at the moment. Wolf . Thank you. Phil mattingly on capitol hill. Lets get more reaction. Jeffrey toobin is joining us. Jeffrey, first of all, breaking news that were getting, that white house lawyers have started researching impeachment procedures and even though these sources say that the white house lawyers think its a distant possibility. Well, its rational and smart for them to do. And i remember in 1998, when this moment happened, first they started with the white House Counsel staff. People like lanny davis and lanny brewer, later greg craig. But they brought in outsiders. David kendel, nicole sellingman. That became the impeachment team. Another big similarity is the clinton people said look, we are not going to be forced from office unless democrats turn against us. Our party. The person they were concerned about was not henry hyde or tom delay or Newt Gingrich or any of the republicans. They were concerned about geb hea gephardt, the democratic leader. In keeping their party in tact, just as the republicans are trying to keep their party in tact today, thats the key to staying in office. And so you think it will be smart for the president to start as they say lawyering up with private attorneys. Absolutely. I mean, this is a serious investigation. And you know, i think the public is sophisticated enough to know that if you hire a lawyer that doesnt mean youre guilty of anything. And especially when you have, you know, document requests that are going to be coming in and demands for tapes and that all of this relates to official white house operations so the white House Counsels office will handle some of it. But some of it involves donald trump personally and he needs a lawyer. You remember, and i was covering it at the time, that point as president of the United States, he was impeached in the house of representatives but not convicted in the u. S. Senate. It is a long process. It is a long process. And there is also a very big difference between the situation that clinton faced in 98 and trump faced today. The republicans controlled the house of representatives. So they could convene impeachment proceedings with henry hyde as chairman and you know, his political opponent were running the show. Sew really couldnt stop that. Now you have the republicans in control of the house of rep zens ifs a representatives and they will be very reluctant to open up any process of impeachment proceedi proceeding. Trump is in a bet are plater pl clinton was. Now former Foreign Policy adviser to Hillary Clinton, jake, thanks for coming in. Thanks for having me. Whats your thought on the cnn report that lawyers started researching impeachment even though they think it is a dison to the possibility. I think given the past two weeks and what is revealed to the way the president interfered in this investigation that is a prudent step for them to taken a not surprising they would be taking it. I think jeff toobin is right when he says that americans are smart enough to know that just because you hair lawyer doesnt mean youre guilty at the end but certainly what we have seen over the last two weeks suggests it would be prude yent for trump and the Trump Administration to consider this possibility. Another bomb shell report that came out, New York Times saying President Trump told the Russian Foreign minister and Russian Ambassador to the United States in the oval office, that the firing of the former fbi director james comey took great pressure off of him. Let me read the quote from the New York Times. This is the quote of the president. I just fired the head of the fbi. He was crazy. A real nut job. I face great appreciapressure bf yaush. That russia. Thats taken off. Im not under investigation. What do you think this says about two russian diplomat. This is other thing that donald trump has done that is totally shocking but not totally surprising. We have seen him admit on television that he fired james comey because of the russia investigation. Now when he brings the russians into the oval office, laughing with them, smiling with them, chuckling with them, he tells them that the fbi director is a nut job and he was fired because of the pressure he was under. And he felt the pressure would be easing off. This is utterly and completely unacceptable for him to do no anyone, let alone to the russians. It is brazen. But at the end of the day, we have seen pattern of behavior from donald trump which suggest we sort of should have expected this. Some say it is moving closer to obstruction of justice. I think it is certainly in the neighborhood of obstruction of justice. Im not someone who can reach that legal conclusion. What i will say is we can now report definitively without any contradiction from the white house that donald trump has told the russians that he fired jim comey to get the pressure off of him because of the Russian Investigation. People should be able to draw their own conclusions. Will that office be made available to investigators, special counsel bob mueller or investigators in congress . I think it will be hard to keep it from the fbi. Whether or not they decide that the executive branch prerogatives allow them to keep it from congress is another matter. But i think bob mueller will have the opportunity to talk to people about what went on in that meeting and what it says about Donald Trumps state of mind. So you work for joe biden. Work for the president as well. President obama. Work for Hillary Clinton. Can you imagine then having a conversation with russian officials, visiting the oval office, visiting washington, about an fbi director who had just been fired . Absolutely not. Lets take a step back for a moment. Donald trumps chairman of the joint chiefs, joe dunford, called russia the Number One National Security Threat facing the United States. Donald trumps Intelligence Community concluded with high confidence that russian intelligence mounted a Massive Campaign to disrupt the American Election and helped get donald trump elected. We should be pushing back on russia, not inviting them into the oval office and telling them, hey, by the way within guys, i fired comey because the pressure from the trump Russian Investigation was getting too great. That is not something you would see from any normal rational person occupying the oval office. Here is the official reaction from the white house. Sean spicer put out a statement, press secretary, to the New York Times bomb shell report. Quote, by grand standing and politicizing the investigation into russias actions james comey created unnecessary pressure on our ability to engage and negotiate with russia. The investigation would have continued and obviously termination of comey would not have ended it. Once again the real store i have that our National Security has been undermined by leaking of private and highly classified conversationes. What he is suggesting is that this is a strategy that president had in negotiating and dealing with the russians. I found that statement odd but strangely candid. What sean spicer is saying is trump wants to cut deals with the russians and he is finding it harder to cut deals with the russians as long as this investigation is going on. Lets bury the investigation so he can get about the business of cutting deals with the russians. That sounds more incriminating than exculpatory to me. I followed all of the other white house statements reacting to bomb shell reports and almost always theres a flat denial. The story is not true. No evidence of this. Its false. In this particular statement, theres no denying it. I think they finally realized they were caught in so many lies and that New York Times had dead to rights here that they have recognized they need to come up with some explanation that they know what they are doing. At the end of the day the fact doesnt change that real issue here is trump fired jim comey, fbi director, as a means of disrupting and undermining and in his words, easing the pressure of the fbi investigation. That fact is something that in all this circus, in all this madness, in the daily drum beat, we cannot lose sight of because it is critical for his office. The state department during the campaign, as well, im just curious, have you had the chance to speak with her about all of her reports . I saw secretary clinton earlier this week. I was reminded when i saw her that she warned the country that donald trump was putins puppet. He is acting like it. He is calling russians into his office, the oval office, to say, hey, guys, dont worry. Were going to ease the pressure off of this thing. I got rid of this guy. It sound like what Hillary Clinton was saying on the campaign trail is bearing out in realtime and we are watching it unfold before our eyes and the challenge is, that this is ultimately a threat to americas a National Security and this is certainly the opposite of putting america first. I want to be precise. Did she remind you she called in putins puppet . No. In the course of our conversation about this, i thought of the fact that this had happened during the campaign and its amazing now to go back and look at the statement she was making and the statements others on the campaign were making and how in fact all of those warnings are coming true just in the first 120, 125 days of this administration. We have more to discuss. Ive got to take a quick break. Much more with jam sullivan right after this. Oh no, looks like somebody needs a new network. 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Most common side effects are vomiting and diarrhea. Dont wait. Ask your veterinarian about apoquel today. Apoquel. Its itch relief worth barking about. Bark albreakthrough withyou back. Nondrowsy allegra® for fast 5in1 multisymptom relief. Breakthrough allergies with allegra®. Were following breaking news and reports that President Trump bragged in the oval office to top russian officials that firing fbi director james comey assisted pressure from the russia investigation on him. And reportedly called comey and im quoting now, crazy and a nut job. Tonight, the white house is not denying the story. Were back with jake sullivan. Foreign National Security adviser for joe biden and adviser to Hillary Clinton. In that same meeting, jake, in the oval office with the two russian officials, the president reportedly gave classified information to the russians. About various aspects and general h. R. Mcmaster said what president did was holy appropriate and just sharing that kind of information with the russians if he wanted to. Is this troubling to you . I think the most troubling part of that report is him being quoted saying, i get the best intelligence. You want to know, you want to see how i get the best intelligence . The reason for doing this is essentially to brag. To be the narcissus he has proven time and time again that he is. And the combination of narcissism and ignorance, plus the view that russians are friends so what does it matter, is what all added up to him doing this. I think that is very troubling. I dont think the president should be sharing that kind of information with a hostile foreign power with are yaush for the purpose of demonstrating what great intelligence he gets. Cnn is reporting as well as other news organizations that Israeli Intelligence was the source of that confidential classified information. Do you believe this could deter not only israel but other friendly countries from sharing sensitive intelligence with the u. S. . I think you have seen plenty of reporting that many of our close partners including a nato and other countries are more nervous than they were before. Because they recognize the threat that russia poses to the United States. They know that sharing highly he is nottive classified information with russia is a bad thing, an good thing. That donald trump would be well advised to learn that himself. And again this goes back to the fundamental issue that he seems to have on point after point when it comes to the u. S. russia relations. You were National Security adviser in the white house during the obama administration. If this would have happened on your watch, what would you have done, with the president of the out had an Oval Office Meeting with russians, shared this kind of intelligence . This is so far from possible to have happened with president barack obama that i never even thought about what we would have done. He never would have even conceived of doing Something Like this. It is an impossible hypothetical to answer. Do you think that u. S. Through the president shared with the russians could wined up in the hands of the iranians because russia and iran are allies that try to bolster the regime of al assad and hezbollah for that matter, another arch enemy of the scisraelis. Think are furious and they are worried that this informs is going to get into the hands of the iranianes who represent a threat to israel, threat to ally nets region and threat to the United States. This is one more reason why this is so dangerous and one more reason why russia cant be trusted because of their relationship with iran. You were top adviser to Hillary Clinton during the campaign. I want to get your quick reaction. Joe biden saying this, and you work for joe biden as National Security adviser as well. He said this about Hillary Clinton, i never thought she was a great candidate, i thought i was a great candidate. Your response . I love joe biden. I respect him deeply. He is almost never wrong. But i off ybviously dont agreeh him on this. Hillary clinton was a strong candidate. Winning 3 million more vote than donald trump. Faced head winds in closing days of the campaign and ran a historic race with a a historic candidacy. You think joe biden will run in 20 in 2021 . I dont know. This is something he will have to grapple with and answer for himself. You must have mixed feelings about comey being fired. Hillary clinton remember on may 2 she blamed him and at least in part for losing the election. She said, it wasnt a Perfect Campaign but i was on the way it winning until a combination of comeys letter and russian wikileaks. What is your reaction to the decision of the president to fire comey . This so polarized age. A time when it is hard to hold complex thoughts. This is one of those circumstances where i have to hold a complex thought which is on the one hand, i think what Trump Administration did at firing comey to ease pressure off the Russian Investigation as the president himself admitted was completely wrong and potentially even obstruction of justice. But that what Rod Rosenstein wrote in his note about what comey did last year was a fair statement that in fact comey did abuse his office in the various steps he took last year. I believe both of those things were true and both of those things can be stated clearly and that doesnt let the Trump Administration off the hook. The fact that jim comey made mistakes last year is no justification for trump to fire him because of russia. When i said you had mixed feelings, i was right. You were right. Thank you dot president s newly revealed remarks about james comey about when he fired the fbi i director, plus north koreas latest missile test. Is the country getting closer to a Nuclear Weapon that can strike the United States . Breaking news tonight. New york times reporting that the president bragged to the Russian Ambassador in the oval office about his dismissal of james comey. The document summarizes the president saying quote i just fired the head of the fbi. He was crazy. A real nut job. I face great pressure because of russia. Thats taken off. Im not under investigation. End quote. Lets dig deeper with our specialist and analyst, Matthew Rosenburg of the New York Times is with us. You help break that story for the New York Times. How significant is this book shell . I think another piece of evidence that shows donald trump when he fired jim comey wanted to shut down the russia investigation. And on top of that, this isnt a one on one conversation that we have one side of. There was a third party in the room taking notes. Thats how we know. It was circulated and dozens of people in the executive branch of the government, obviously we found out about it. And it really shows that also beyond that, this incredible chumminess with the russians. I will talk about the fb i director, calling him crazy. Just fired the day before to someone who is not the representative of a friendly country. Put it that way. And you know i think for a lot of people in the fbi, Intelligence Community, they were furious about the comey firing. This wont make them feel any better about it. Not necessarily an audio transcript of the conversation but a diplomat or some other person taking notes and summarizing those notes and distributing the substance of the conversation within the u. S. Government certain circles. Yeah. That is Standard Practice in all these meetings. We also have to remember this is the meeting where trump shared Israeli Intelligence, that they gave to the oous au. S. And said share with anyone. Thats another matter they keep coming and coming. Laura, the whole notion of obstruction of justice has been raised as a possibility. Now we are reporting, cnn vorting, that white house lawyers have begun researching impeachment even though they dont think its imminent or likely but they are researching it. What are you hearing . Right. My colleague broke the story tonight. But i think its important to recognize this is just good lawyering. Given the news of the day. They are trying to make sure they are not caught flatfooted and trying to make sure they can fend off anything that comes their way. Not necessarily thinking this is inevitable bui inevitablebility but making sure they are well prepared in this situation. Is the white house a legal team right, jeffrey, to be concerned . They sure are. First of all, i like to say, matt and his colleagues are doing such an amazing job and such a Public Service in doing this kind of reporting. But lets just think about one thing. June 23, 197 2, rich yard nixon and hr elder minnesoalderman, s the breakin of the water gate tape, lets say for National Security reasons we need to shut down the investigation of the watergrate breakin by the fbi. Think how closely paralleled this situation is. Where comey saying where President Trump is saying, i fired comey to get rid of the pressure. Aeb and he is saying it to a foreign power. It really looks lot like obstruction of justice. Im not here to convict anybody of anything, but this is certainly very prime territory for dirichter muler to investigate and he has free reign to do it. So the White House Legal Team should do some research on impeachment. Oh, she might even want to stay late tonight. Let me give you the official white house statement, sean spicer issuing this statement. By grand standing and politicizing the investigation into russian actions james comey created unnecessarily pressure in our ability to negotiate with russia. The it would have continued and termination of comey would not have ended it. Once again the real story is that our National Security has been undermined by the leaking of private and highly classified conversations. They are not denying the report. We learned from the New York Times this is distributed widely within we would assume the Intelligence Community. Wont go that far of how they got it but the fact of the matter is that clearly this conversation happened. That statement though really is a misdirector a poor attempt at misdirect when it says the real story here is the leaking of classified information. No, no, the real store i have that donald trump had russians into the oval office and had this conversation with them. And to the point, theyre not our friend. Theyre our enemies. The fact that donald trump feels like he could work with them is in itself puzzling, i think, in the very least. Basically the story broke minutes after air force 1 took off from joint base andrews outside of washington. Rebecca, this is the president s first foreign trip, very important trip. With all the commotion and all the crises, matters unfolding here in washington, how is this going to impact this trip . Ways speaking earlier this week with a republican strategist who works closely with the administration. This strategist told me they were hoping before the stories of the past couple of days that this trip would be a reset for the administration. That this would afford the president an opportunity to move on from all of these daily correspondents, scandals, suggestion of scandals to come and reset his administration but now this is going to be presumably the is up text for the entire trip. Would you expect that in meetings with foreign leaders there might be questions from donald trump about how he handles the scandal and chaos surrounding his administration. And no doubt all of this stories that come out of his triple also be discussing that as well. Phil, White House Press secretary said let me read it one more time once again. The real story is that our National Security has been undermined by leaking of private and highly classified conversations. Did this leak of your perspective, you work for a long time, cia, undermine u. S. National security in any way . Well, he called the fbi director a nut job. How is that classified . He said the same thing in public forumes to the American People and tv. If its class fieified, how des us to openly in the press secretary is playing a game here. The transcript of that is certainly classified. Im sure they talked about syria for example. That is and smud remain classified. If you reveal to you tell something to our adversary, isis. A simple classification is what advanta advantage could do you give the adversary. But if there is public knowledge, president s comments about the fbi director, just because it is in a top secret document it should be classified adds well. So if the president talked about the weather that should be classified too . He is playing a game. Im not playing with him. We can play this issue because his conversationes with the fbi director are not classified. In that same meeting they discussed highly classified intelligence that israeliscy plied and about syria that really was classified. That is a picture of the Russian Ambassador and smiling broadly with the president and that picture released by the foreign minister and no u. S. Media allowed in to take pictures at the start of that meeting in the oval office. Phil, New York Times also spoke to one official who defended the president by saying, this conversation was negotiating tactic with the russians. You buy that . I dont by that. How do you consider that a negotiating tactic . This is simple. When i was seven years old, i called my sister stupid. My mother took me into the garage, took out a bar of soap and washed my mouth out. Forget about the oval office and President Trump. When you are dealing with someone with the Service Record of jim comey, whether you like him or not, it is inappropriate to use the language the president is using. It is not about negotiating with the russians. It is not about jim comey. It is about whether the president should be using about a Public Servant and it is quite simply, as my mother told me, dont t is wrong. President trump calling comey a nut job, according to the New York Times. There is more breaking news right after this. S with me . Were like a sports team here at ally. If a sports team had over 7. Im in. 7,000 players. Our plays are a little unorthodox. But to beat the big boys, you need smarter ways to save people money. We know what you want from a Financial Company and well stop at. Nothing to make sure you get it. One, two. And we mean nothing. [boy] cannonball [girl] dont. [man] not again [burke] swan drive. Seen it. Covered it. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum more breaking news on the Senate Intelligence committee has Just Announced that the former fbi director, james comey, has agreed to testify in public. Were hearing that this hearing will be scheduled some time after memorial day. A press release just issued by the Senate Intelligence committee. Quotes senator rich are a burr, chairman of the committee, senator mark warner, vice chairman of the committee. Saying comey committed to testify in open session before the committee. Press release saying will opening hearing will be after memorial day. A statement from senator burr. The committee looks forward to receiving testimony from the former director on his role of the development of the Intelligence Community assessment on russian interference of the to 16 electi elections and i am hopeful itll clarify for recent event broadly reported in the media. That statement from burr. Senator warner added this, i hope that former director comeys testimony will hope answer some of the questions that have arisen since director comey was so suddenly dismissed by the president. I respect that director comey will be able to shed light on issues critical to this committees investigation of russian interference in the 2016 election. Our congressional reporter, manu raju is up on capitol hill. Yet another Major Development unfolding right now, manu. This is going to be a hearing a lot of us feared it would be behind closed doors but itll be in open session. Yeah, thats right, remember, wolf, Senate Intelligence committee initially wanted to talk to comey in a classified session after his firing and he said, no, he wanted to do it in an open session. And there were a lot of questions about whether or not comey would be able to come in an open session in a public hearing after the naming of the special counsel. Because of concerns that perhaps something that james comey could say could undermine that investigation. But clearly here comey made the decision after negotiations that were occurring behind the scenes with richard burr and mark warner that he is ready to go public. The question is how much would he be able to say . Would he be able to reveal conversations that have been heard with President Trump where he allegedly said that he should drop the investigation into michael flynn. Comey memo suggesting that President Trump wanted him to end that investigation. Will he go into any of the details from the three conversations that President Trump said that comey said that he was not under investigation himself. All those things will be on the table here but the question, wolf, will he be able to remark about these matters publicly or will he try to shy way from saying these things because they almost certainly are part of bob muellers investigation. But clearly wolf, a Huge Development here that this is going to be public and keep the issue front and center and could be problematic for the white house, wolf. Its interesting, manu, im looking at the continuation of the statement from senator warner, the vice chairman of the committee. Director comey served this country with horchor for many years and he deserves an opportunity to tell his story. More over, the American People deserve to hear it. This was only a few hours after the New York Times quoted the president of the United States as telling russian dpirnls in that Oval Office Meeting that the fired fbi director is crazy, a real nut job. Thats going to escalate the critically important nature of this open hearing. No kidding. No question about that, wolf. Also, that other key point in that article, whether or not comey was fired in order to ease pressure from the russia probe as the president apparently said to russian officials in that meeting. Does james comey believe that his dismissal was in relation to the russia probe . Does he think the reason he was fired was an effort to kill that probe into the Trump Campaign, the collusion that may have occurred with russian officials. We have not heard that from james comey. That will be a question front and center for the democrats and the republicans in the committee and it shows, wolf, also where the investigations, both on capitol hill and what bob mueller almost certainly are going to go looking at that issue of the possibility that the president may have done things that tried to interfere with the investigations both by the fbi and perhaps on capitol hill. It looks like the republican chairman and the democratic vice chairman of this critically important committee, they seem to be woshing closely together in this investigation. Correct me if im wrong. Thats certainly the way its going. Its going a lot better than the house Intelligence Committee investigation was going bmp chairman devin nunez on the house side was forced to temporarily step aside from that probe. But theyre taking pains to work together. Theyre putting out joint statements and news conferences. Spooens have come from warner and burr, even though one side could do the subpoena without the support of the other. The question, wolf, is when the committee tries to reach a conclusion over some of the key issues, including whether there was any improper collusion between Trump Officials and russian officials, whether or not the two sides can get together on those two central questions. Im told this, woman, this investigation is a long ways away to coming to a conclusion. Theyre a ways away from making some of those key decisions that could actually force these two sides to split along party lines. Jeffrey toobin is still with us. The kwlelegal impact could be enormous, jeffrey. Yes, and you can be sure that james comey before he agreed to testify went to his long and dear friend robert mul r and said, look, do you want me to hold off because youre just starting your investigation and presumably mueller gave him the green light and said, look, your testimony is what it is and the documents are what they are. You can go ahead and testify. So this is obviously going to be a very key moment both in the investigation and in the trump presidency. I think a lot of people are going to want to watch. Im sure we will have live coverage, i guarantee. You didnt have to check with the brass to know . No. Whether well have lye coverage. No. Ive been working theyre at cnn for 27 years. I predict well have live coverage of that Intelligence Committee. The report we had at the top of the hour, jeffrey, that white house lawyers are now beginning some research about impeachment, although they think thats a distant possibility. You think its smart lawyering . It is. Lawyers are paid to be nervous and lawyers are paid to, you know, confront worst case scenarios. I think we need to be rational here and recognize that impeachment is a possibility. 120 days into Donald Trumps presidency, is it something that he would like that its even a remote possibility, that were even discussing it . I think thats an indication optical how things are going, but whether he will actually be impeached or there will be impeachment proceedings, i do think it is still a very remote probability. Laura, the announcement that the former fbi director is going to testify in open session before the Senate Intelligence committee, who knows what hes going to say . But it will be so significant. Absolutely. And we have to remember this is before we even have a new fbi director slated. We were seeming probably to get the announcement this week but it didnt happen before the president went on his trip and its coming on the heels of the special counsel announcement of bob mueller. Everything hes investigated is directly tied to what james comey will be discussing. Obviously, the two men are very close and worked in the fbi together and certainly, i cant imagine that james comey would want to get out ahead of muellers investigation. Do you think he cleared this before making the ajoumt that hed be willing to testify right before memorial day with his special counsel . Do you think he checked with him . It might be the case where he doesnt even want to touch that. He doesnt want to make one single call that could be intermented in any sort of way. He may decide, look, what im going to say isnt going to imfeed investigation and its just talking about things within my personal knowledge. And james comey would know what would or what would not interfere with a federal ongoing investigation. Its worth remembering that james comey has a history of a very explosive blockbuster hearing in 2007 when he testified on capitol hill on the rush to the rush to bed side and that james comeys testimony was the bombshell in that story that blew that wide open, and so you can expect, i think, some fireworks on capitol hill when james comey testifies. This is a Major Development. Give me your thoughts. Right. It is a Major Development. As ive been known to say the last 120 days or so, lets look at who we are. We have a president who is so under the gun. He should have full control of the government right now. Every decision he has made has really been has been a poor decision both personally, quite frankly, and policy wise right now. I dont think weve ever seen an administration, wolf, so early in a term under so much scrutiny. How worried should the advisors be about comeys testimony . I have a dpirchtd take on this. Were talk you can about half the story. The two pieces are what the americans did, parts of the Trump Campaign and what the russians did. I think the most important aspect of what jim comey talks about is not the relationship with the president of the United States. Its his involvement in the last electionsings. What do you think the russians took away from the last meeting . I think i know. Next elections 2020. Lets do the same thing. I hope comey talks less about the president and the United States and watching the russians act and in discussing how we prevent that next time around. How open, phil, can he be given that the theres a new special counsel investigatesing, there are other investigations, how open can he be in talking acts all that. I think he can talk a lot about that. Some of that has already been declassified by the u. S. Government he has to talk about stuff thats sensitive and theres a whole nother piece. Do you have any thoughts on what we should be doing. For example, should we providing Cyber Security to u. S. President ial candidates the same way the secret service protects candidates physically. Are you surprised jeffrey that he agreed to testify in open session as opposed to behind closed doors . I am, actually, since the Mueller Investigation is just getting started. I think he they asked him. Hes a private citizen. He has said he wants to testify. He wants to tell the story. Guess he just wants to tell his story. Laura, its consistent with his background, isnt it . Absolutely. He doesnt want any sort of taint. He doesnt want any sort of misunderstanding about exactly what he says in that room. Look what happened this week with the Deputy Attorney general, rob rosenstein. All of the different stories were hearing about what happened. Our special coverage continues right now with erin burnett out front. Good evening, im erin burnett out front breaking news, cnn learning tonight that white house lawyers have started research researching impeachment procedures. The New York Times reportsing if. Telling russian officials, one accused of spying. According to the times, trump said in full, i quote him, i just fired the head of the fbi, he was crazy, a real nut job. I faced real pressure because of russia. Thats taken