Polite crowd. [inaudible] so ive 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 nonessential personnel. Dedicated experts on the ground are looking closely at the next steps that should be taken with respect to mitigating future tunnel breaches. In washington, d. C. Today, as sean mentioned yesterday, the president focused on preparations for his upcoming trip. He met with the Russian Foreign minister following up with tillerson last month. A readout of the meeting went out about an hour ago and i refer you to that for further questions on the meeting. Outside of d. C. , as part of the administrations ongoing efforts to address the Opioid Crisis in america, secretary price continued his listening to her, tour, learning from those on the front lines battling the epidemic. Today he will meet with officials in maine in in New Hampshire to discuss how the administration invest combat this tragedy. Can best combat this tragedy. Secretary inky is in utah today, visiting National Monument sites and local officials to comply with the executive order of a review of National Monument designations. He took another step to advance the president s America First offshore Energy Strategy by reversing an Obama Administration action to halt Scientific Research in the outer continental shelf. Secretary devos is an daytona beach, florida, to deliver the commencement address at the university that is a great example of the topnotch education at hbcuss have continued to provide to their students. And i know the secretary is honored to be there today. Another nugget of big news, as you guys may have been paying attention in regards to the termination of the former fbi director comey. The president over the last several months lost confidence in director comey. The doj lost confidence in director comey. Bipartisan members of congress made it clear that they had lost confidence in director comey. Most importantly, the rank and file of the fbi had lost confidence in their director. Accordingly, the president accepted the recommendation of his Deputy Attorney general to remove james comey from his position. Before the news broke the president spoke to several members of congress to inform them of his decision. Those members were mitch mcconnell, paul ryan, chuck grassley, chuck schumer, senator feinstein, senator graham, kevin mccarthy, nancy pelosi, and bob goodlatte. Later in the evening he spoke to bob corker, chairman of the Senate Committee on foreign relations. In addition to all the big news happening at the white house today, it is also my daughter, scarlet, her fifth birthday. Since you guys are here and im not, my first birthday wish to her is that you guys are credibly nice. Incredibly nice. Now i will take your questions. Alex . I have a couple of broader questions for you. Yes or no, did the president direct Rob Rosenstein to write the letter . Sec. Huckabee sanders no, the president had lost confidence in director comey and had frankly been considering letting the director go since the day he was elected. But he did have a conversation with the Deputy Attorney general on monday where they had come to him to express their concerns, the president has to that they put the concerns and the recommendation in writing, which is the letter that you guys ever seen. Have received. He decided on his own to review comeys performance . Sec. Huckabee sanders and i think that most of america have decided that director comey was not the person that should be leading the fbi as evidenced by the numerous comments we have seen from democratic members, republican members, and people across Dianne Feinstein said that she was told something directly different. The president said he asked rosenstein and sessions to review this. Is she lying . Sec. Huckabee sanders he asked them for a recommendation and asked for it in writing. They came to him on his own. Again, the president had lost confidence in comey from the day he was elected. He wasnt sure that he should be fired. On may 3 sean came out and said he had full confidence. Why did he say that . Sec. Huckabee sanders he questioned director comeys reasons for staying at the fbi. The big catalyst we saw was last week, on wednesday. Director comey made a pretty startling revelation that he had essentially taken a stick of dynamite and thrown it into the department of justice by going around the chain of command when he decided to take steps without talking to the attorney general or Deputy Attorney general when holding a press conference and telling them that he would not let them know and that is simply not allowed. And somebody like the Deputy Attorney general, Rob Rosenstein, who everyone across the board has unequivocally said, that this guy is a man of character, the Gold Standard of the department of justice, when you take an action like that, go around the chain of command, you have to take steps and action to make a recommendation to the president and that is what he did. John, go ahead. How do you decide sec. Huckabee sanders we will come back to that, im sure. Just now you talked about the president losing confidence in him over the last weeks and months, but we thought this was all rosensteins doing. When was it that the president lost confidence in james comey . Sec. Huckabee sanders i think it has been an erosion of confidence. Director comey has shown over the last several months, last year, a lot of missteps mistakes, certainly i think that as you have seen from many of the comments from democratic members, including senator schumer, they didnt think he should be there. They thought he should be gone. Frankly, i think it is startling that democrats arent celebrating this, as they have been calling for it for so long. Got another one to ask you. Sec. Huckabee sanders i think theres a to question limit around here. [laughter] you said he made a lot of missteps and mistakes. Back at the end of october, the president was applauding the fbi director when he reopened the investigation into the clinton emails. He seemed quite happy with him at that point. What changed . Sec. Huckabee sanders one, his position. He was a candidate for president. Not the president. Those are two different things. Once you take over leading the department of justice thats different from being a candidate in a campaign. As you all know there is a clear distinction between no things. Between those two things. Also, having a letter like the one that he received, having that conversation, that outline for the basic atrocities in circumventing the chain of command and the department of justice, any person of legal mind and authority knows what a big deal that is. Particularly in the department of justice for somebody like the Deputy Attorney general, who has been part of the Justice Department for 30 years and is such a respected person. When he saw that he had to speak up and i think that was the final catalyst. Just a real quick question on the meetings this morning. The president meets with the Russian Foreign and minute foreign minister and ambassador. Hes accused of being nixonian. Meets with the nixon secretary of state. The timing of all of this, is this ironic or is it the president poking a finger in the eyes of his critics . Sec. Huckabee sanders these meetings have been on the books for a while. There is not a strategy to go after the democrats. The saddest thing is that the democrats are trying to politicize and take away from something the president should be doing. He should be meeting with the foreign minister. He should be meeting with people like kissinger. For them to attack him for doing his job . Maybe they should spend more time doing their job and we wouldnt have the problems that we do. Is in it true that the president had already decided to fire james comey and asked the Justice Department to put together that rationale . Sec. Huckabee sanders no. Went did you make that decision . Sec. Huckabee sanders he made the final decision yesterday, but i know he has been contemplating it for a while. Quite how do you explain what how do you explain what Dianne Feinstein said, that the president told her that he was concerned with the fbi and the Justice Department . Sec. Huckabee sanders i cant speak for senator feinstein, but i spoke directly to the president and heard directly from him that he had been considering letting director comey go pretty much since the day that he took office, but that there was no request by him to have a review at the department of justice. Was the reason for the firing what was written by the Deputy Attorney general . Is that why he did it . Sec. Huckabee sanders that was the final piece. It moved the president to make that quick and decisive action. Letter he wrote in forming comey that he was being fired . On three separate occasions, comey told him that i am not under investigation. Were those communications the fbi director told the president he was under investigation . Sec. Huckabee sanders i wont get into the specifics. Going to go to the specifics of their conversation. He made the decision to make that public. Are there concerns it would be inappropriate that they had that type of conversation. Sec. Huckabee sanders no. Charlie . [inaudible] thinkuckabee sanders i that is probably one of the many factors. It you cant deny it. It was one of the many reasons why he didnt have the confidence of the president or the rest of the fbi. Sec. Huckabee sanders should we expect should we expect more firings from the Justice Department . Sec. Huckabee sanders not that im aware of today. Want thehe president department of justice to shut down the investigation . Sec. Huckabee sanders he wants them to continue doing what they see as appropriate. Continuing any ongoing investigations. Any investigation happening on monday is still happening today. That hasnt changed. Behind us andit see exactly what weve been saying for nearly a year. There is no evidence of collusion between the Trump Campaign and russia. We would love for that to be completed so we can all move on and focus on the things that most americans are concerned with. Even if its a waste of taxpayer money, he wanted to continue . Sec. Huckabee sanders nobody wants to waste taxpayer money which is why we wanted to come to completion. Will notme time, you let this go until it does. We would love for that to be completed. Lets move on. Was the white house aware that the grand jury subpoenas for Michael Flynn had just gone out . Sec. Huckabee sanders no, nor should we have been. I would have to refer you. And if the fbi investigations are going to proceed in these allegations with russian interference, will that continue funding . And support who . That be the case. Believekabee sanders i that would fall to the Deputy Attorney general rosenstein. And we are incredibly confident in his abilities, as i believe you can tell by the rest of the senate, including many democrats. Having overwhelming praise from both sides of the aisle. I think there is complete confidence. So that they can have somebody leading this effort that everybody across the board has respect and confidence in. Nobody wants this to be finished and completed more than us so that we can focus on what we need to do here. Sean spicer said just a week ago today that the president had confidence in the director. Notn, pardon me for understanding this, but what happened in the last seven days to shake confidence . Of coursebee sanders you would love to add that in but certainly not. One of the things that took place was the process and the hearing on wednesday where, again, not to sound like a broken record, but since you keep asking the same questions, its only fair i keep giving the same answers. You have somebody, the director of the fbi that reports to the Deputy Attorney general going around the chain of command. Its simply not ok. Its not something allowed in the Justice System nor should it be. It is a huge problem along with the corrections that had to take place over the last 48 hours. [inaudible] sec. Huckabee sanders i believe the president wanted to give director comey a chance but feels he made the right decision. Why did he do it like that . Why did he have one of his longtime security advisers handdeliver a letter to the fbi when the director was in los angeles . Didnt you deserve a phone call or a facetoface conversation . Sec. Huckabee sanders he followed the proper protocol in that process, which is hand written notification. , no matter howe you fire someone, its never an easy process. He felt like following protocol was the best thing to do. Im not aware of that conversation. President aware james comey asked for more resources in the russia investigation . Ended that factor into his decision . Sec. Huckabee sanders not that im aware of. That would be a better question for the department of justice. He said lock her up and the department of justice for not being harsh enough on Hillary Clinton and blamed director comey. How is he moved by a letter that says comey was too harsh on Hillary Clinton . Whited that move the president to fire him . Sec. Huckabee sanders youre looking at two very different positions. He was wearing a different hat at that time. He was a candidate. Not the president. Circumstances change when you become the president. And again, when you go around the chain of command in the department of justice. Like a said before, when you throw a stick of dynamite into the department of justice, it is a big problem. We already knew what mr. Comey had done. Sec. Sanders my understanding was wednesday was the first time the director had openly and publicly made that statement and made that clear. [indiscernible] violence in chechnya with the president not informed on the issue . Sec. Sanders could you speak a little bit . Is a because the president is not informed on the violence . Sec. Sanders a lot of times there are parts of the conversation that are not specifically included in a readout. Im not aware. I have not had a conversation. I was not part of that meeting so i cant speak to every detail and i would have to refer you to the readout on the specifics of what i know was discussed. Has the president in breach been briefed of this issue at all . Sec. Sanders that is something i will have to get back to you on. You said you want the Russian Investigation to continue with doj. Does the white house when special prosecutor to continue to look into it . Sec. Sanders you have a house committee, a Senate Hearing and the department of justice all working on this. I dont think there is necessarily a need at this point tab that. Yet the death of g Deputy Attorney general who is has up independent as it comes because of his bipartisan support. What gives you confidence rankandfile in the bureau have lost faced in the faith in the fbi director . The vast majority are in favor of director comey. This is not supposed to happen. The real losers are 20,000 frontline people in your organization because they lost the only guy working here in the past 15 years who actually cared about them. What is your response to these rankandfile fbi agents who lost faith who disagree that they lost faith in comey. Sec. Sanders we have heard from countless members of the fbi is a different things. In fact, the president will be meeting with acting director mccabe later today to discuss that everything. The morale at the fbi, as well as making an offer to go directly to the fbi if he feels its necessary and appropriate. We will certainly provide further information. They are asking for a voice in the Selection Process of his successor. Is that something the president is for . Sec. Sanders i have not have a conversation but i know its being run through the department of justice. I would refer you to them on what that process looks like at this point time. Who did the president consult before making the final decision to fire james comey . Sec. Sanders he spoke with a number of individuals, but at the end of the day is the president s decision. Could he speak again with the Deputy Attorney general or the attorney general . Sec. Sanders i know they spoke on monday. I believe the next followup was in writing. I would have to double check to be clear. Is it accurate to follow a from the information we have that monday night the president made the final call and set of want this in writing as a recommendation and took the recommendation as the evidence he wanted to provide the fire james comey . Sec. Sanders the decision was made on tuesday. The first conversation he had was on monday when there was an oral recommendation may made in the president requested to see that in writing further. You say you want to move on and focus on things the Americans Care about. You are somewhat halfway home on health care. You still have tax reform to do, a spending bill, that ceiling and infrastructure. Pretty big list. What happened yesterday, you can argue it widened the divide in may d. C. Politics more toxic. How do you go about it, wishing accomplishing all those things without a heightened political environment we are in . Sec. Sanders frankly im surprised it did create a divide since you had some republicans and democrats repeatedly calling for director comey to be gone. I dont to get matters what this president says, he will have democrats come out and fight him every single step of the way. I think thats one of the things thats wrong with washington, and i think its one of the reasons we have got to get back to focusing on the issues draining the swamp further. That he anticipated democratic backlash . Sec. Sanders how could he have considering the fact that most of the people that are declaring war today for the very ones that were begging for director comey to be fired . If Hillary Clinton had won the election, they got she didnt, thank god she didnt, she wouldve fired comey immediately and the very democrats criticizing the president today would be getting in the streets celebrating. Is the purest form of hiphop of hypocrisy. Theres a report in israel that indicated the president made a decision not to move the u. S. Embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem. Can you confirm that . Sec. Sanders the president has not made a decision yet. Followup. Also, in a speech this morning the president was warned against moving it to jerusalem. Does that warning from other arab leaders play into his decision . Sec. Sanders i will not get into the decisionmaking process here. All i can tell you is he is still reviewing it. As soon as we have a decision i know we will be happy to report to you guys. John . Two questions, both related to the selection of a successor to director comey. When president carter chosen fbi director he had a Blueribbon Panel advising him. President s clinton, obama, interviewed several candidates. Is the president going to follow this pattern or does he have some individual in mind at this point . Sec. Sanders i know there are several individuals being considered and the first step will be determining the acting the interim director. That is being handled through the department of justice. I would refer you to denver to them right now the other question i was going to ask was i have two. Im pretty nice, are not. Arent i . Charlotte. Sec. Sanders thats ok. Is a southern thing. I want to make sure we got that in again, happy birthday scarlett. Gone with the wind. Come on. I was going to say it is a fact the association of former fbi agents and veterans of the bureau generally prefer people who have been agents themselves or have a background in the fbi. Only two former agents have been director in the last four decades. While the president consider former agents for the position . Sec. Sanders i would say hes not ruling anything out of this. This point. The department of justice this handling the first step in the process. Should the attorney general had any role in the selection of a successor . Given the fact in his 100 days, the president himself said he had confidence in director comey at this podium. American people take it face value what the president said about personal issues like this when just two weeks later he is out . Sec. Sanders absolutely you can take full confidence in the words of the president. In terms of whether or not attorney general sessions should have a role, the fbi is doing a whole lot more than the Russian Investigation. I know everybody in this room and probably most of the media around the world would like to that the fbis sole responsibility, but that is probably one of the smallest things they have got going on their plate. There are 20,000 employees that work there. You should have a role in seeing who runs that agency and that department. Does the president have confidence in the acting director sec. Sanders yes, he does. Hes encouraging the fbi to move on from the Russian Investigation. Is it appropriate for the white house to the be directing the fbi . Sec. Sanders i dont think that was the nature or intent of my comment. It was not to direct the fbi, by i think its simply we are fully compliant with help in the process move along. We would like to see a complete its a friendly all of us can move on and focus on things that blake was it earlier like tax reform and health care and infrastructure. Those are big programs, big priorities. Frankly but we would like to be is the number one thing we are talking about here today, every single day, is not fbi investigations but things that frankly affect americans, voters and taxpayers. [indiscernible] was that because of the hearing last week or to the monday meeting the president have with dod officials have a longer doj officials come out of a longer process . Sec. Sanders the department of justice officials were here for other business, not specifically to meet with the president. The topic came up and they asked to speak with the president and thats how it moved forward. Did he talk to attorney general sessions about the possibility of firing director comey . Sec. Sanders not that im aware of. [indiscernible] not that im aware of. The president s statement he talk to comey about whether or not he was being investigated raises several questions. Can you talk about why youre not willing to at more to that, about who asked her that . Sarah who asked for what . The president seems to be trying to exonerate himself in this. Can you talk about why he will not add any more about what the conversation was, when it took place . Can you clarify the three occasions . Sec. Sanders i will not get into specific details. I will check and see we have follow up on that. At this point i want comment will not comment further. I will not comment further. My was a put in the letter in a firstplace . Sec. Sanders that is something far above my pay great that was 0 my pay grade. Thanks, guys, so much. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] cbs center dot the street with blood responding to the James Comey Firing sent out this fleet this morning tweet this morning. How does this affect you as president . There will be no affect. Your question looks very funny to me. Have nothing to do with that. President trump is acting in accordance with his confidence and his role inthe constitution. What about us . Why us . You see, im going to play hockey. I invite you to do the same. I will be here and i will be watching. Thank you very much. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson met with the Russian Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov at the state department today. Theporter asked about firing of fbi director and the foreign minister responded. [camera shutters clicking] welcome. Minister lavrov thank you very much. Tillerson want to express my appreciation for him making the trip to washington so we can continue our dialogue and our exchange of views that began in moscow. The dialogue he hosted on a very broad range of topics. Thank you. Does the comey firing cast a shadow . [all talking at once] hill reports democrats are threatening to slow to senate to a crawl and response to president trumps firing of fbi director james comey. Dick durbin objected to the senate gops routine request to allow 13 Committee Hearings to take place today. So, Senate Hearing scheduled after 11 30 this morning were either postponed or canceled. Senator jerry moran of kansas spoke on the senate floor about it. Ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. The presiding officer without