Transcripts For FBC Cavuto Coast To Coast 20170510

Firing means that the buildup or hearing the buildup or investigations may be totally justified, i take nothing away from that, distracts from things like getting cost Efficient Health care act together. Then of course tax cuts are contingent on that together. We were just talking about the cook report that was out yesterday that seems to show republicans now have better than even chance of losing the house and losing 24 seats, what it would take. There is easy precedent for that, in recent elections no less, than you can understand part of my concern. I laid out there, im going to be looking through that prism here, to frame this debate. So, it is not so so much pros and cons. You heard that to death, that you want to shoot yourself im sure. Im looking at prism of you and your money. Things a lot of folks want to see, including yourself might not. So, what is the fallout on all that . Blake burman with the very latest on all of the above. Blake. Reporter to your point, not just taxes and health care but the white house is trying to get done this year potentially infrastructure. There is a spending deal that needs to get done by the end of the year. They need to deal with the debt ceiling. As you add all those things up, things the white house wants to get done not just in the first year but certainly the first 18 months, you have to question where things go here and political waters are murkier and more toxic in washington, d. C. , as it relates to the firing of jim comey. We heard from President Trump moments ago on camera for the first time, the president said this was a decision that had to be made. Why did you fire director comey . He wasnt doing a good job, very simply. He was not doing a good job. Did it affect your meeting with the russians today . Excuse me . Did it affect the meeting with the russians . Reporter the meeting with the russians, Sergey Lavrov and sergey kislyak, entirely different issue. To jim comey, mike pence, the on capitol hill, he made pretty much the same argument President Trump made, the Vice President says there needs to be a fresh start. Simple fact is director comey lost the confidence of the american people. The support for the president s decision being expressed in this Capitol Building and around the country i think is reflective of the fact it was time for a fresh start at the fbi. Reporter neil, we spent a lot of time talking about the timing of these big policy things the white house want to get out there. The timing is starting to get more clearer comeys replacement, Andrew Mccabe is the number two interrim. There is search underway for temporary interim after that. The senate will have to confirm the president at pick that would take some time. Neil that is simple majority of that pick . 511. Neil thanks very much, blake burman. As i said at the outset, this is prism we examine this next couple hours. Does this alter the trump agenda, whether you like donald trump, dislike donald trump, that isnt the issue so much as the economic agenda which is something that he wanted to get back to. Does this take attention away from that . Red alert politics editor ron meyer. What do you think . Absolutely, easy to agree with the host but honestly youre on point. Not just the distraction in the media, what most Trump Supporters are discounting. Media is obsessed that the republicans are working on the agenda. That is not necessarily true. Especially moderate republicans in those 24 tough districts come out and said trump needs to be investigated by independent prosecutor, independent investigator over russia now that this happened. All because of that second paragraph in the letter from trump to comey demanding his resignation or firing. So all this is done basically taken pubs further away from trump and away from what theyre working on. Neil i think youre referring, you told me three times that im not part of this and all but i thought that was just an addon in there that races all sorts of security questions, gets back to the idea, even republicans like john mccain is pouncing on it. Wonder getting away from the stuff that a lot of investors want to see . I think his motive this isnt about you investigating me. This is about you doing a bad job. That is what he meant to say. The way he said it almost brought up more questions. This is the problem, republicans moderates you need all the votes to pass tax reform. You need all votes to pass Obamacare Repeal once it comes back from the senate. You need all votes to do deal on with democrats on infrastructure. All three things we need to get the American Economy where it needs to be, to make sure the next generation has economic opportunity. Make sure those places elected trump, economically depressed areas have a chance. Make sure people with retirement accounts invested in wall street have a chance at retirement. All those things need to happen, this year, frankly we see what the democrats are doing. 2018 will be all about the election, not about getting anything done. This is making it worse by alienating moderate republicans who are in tough districts that democrats are targeting. Neil im thinking of some of the early republican critics of donald trump. Justin amash comes to mind, critical the way the president reacted when they were early opponents to his, sort of strongarming them on the original health care measure. And that theyre salivating at opportunity to return the favor to him. It gets back to the agenda where this president is counting on them to deliver the goods. Now they go back to him, well, about those goods. Heres the thing, all of those republicans from the most moderate to the most conservative like justin amash, praised donald trump when he was doing a good job. Gave the speech at joint session of Congress United everybody. Everybody was ready to get agenda done. When trump is out there succeeding moderates will rally behind him. When trump is fighting divisive media battles, maybe he didnt need to be fired, but did it have to be right now . Neil there were enough doubts about him and he was handling the whole. Mail thing. Now Russian Investigation all that, that is going on. So this looks like its a way to silence all of that. It might not be the case but that is how it is interpreted where he pounced early on when he just got the job, it would not have raised nearly the hackles it has now. Especially when none of the justification has to do with things he did recently, right . All the justification were hearing, handling of the clinton investigation. Wasnt that mostly last year . So that is what im saying. The way this firing happened, the way they rolled it out left more questions. There are questions that are coming from republicans in tougher districts. That is fundamentally why it is detrimental to the trump agenda. Instead of getting trump agenda going, making populist republican run on it in 2018. They push it back. Republicans might not have much to run on if they dont get something done and get the economy going. Neil youre right on all counts. Thanks, neil. Neil a lot of people with this Development Last night was shocking, shocking. Obviously they have not been watching fox business network. They have not been listening to my buddy Charlie Gasparino, recently as last week that comeys job wasnt such a sure thing. If you talk to fbi agents with which i do on occasion about the politics of the place, they would concede that they believe that james comey, the director, is, he has a very tenuous hold on the job. They live from daytoday fearing that donald trump will change his mine and ask for his resignation. Neil always worries me when charlie is talking to fbi agents period. But i understand what he was saying there. Used to call the fbi forever bothering italians. I heard that. What do you make of that this . Sure enough it happened. Now what . Well i could tell you that inside of the fbi, the rankandfile is pretty devastated. For all his negatives, weve been talking about this for a while, how he handled email investigation he is loved by the troops. They think is a guy that supports the bureau, supports their efforts neil even though some in the bureau didnt like the way he exaggerated the email treasure trove . I think there was some wringing of the hands of that, for most part james comey is wellliked. Fallout who is next . The names that are coming up, the ones that we talked about in the past. Rudy giuliani given mixed signals. He came on our show he wouldnt deny he is possibility. Neil what about Chris Christie . Chris christie is another one, new jersey governor, former u. S. Attorney for new jersey, newark district. Trey gowdy, a former prosecutor and ray kelly, maybe the best cop new york city ever has had, former police commissioner. Neil they have someone with no controversy. With rudy, not saying he has done anything wrong. Neil right. This happened with vinnie viola wanted to be the army secretary. He has a business. The business does work overseas. And just that sort of, you got to iestigate that. Can that get through the confirmation process . That is always a problem. Neil need 51. Or 50, Vice President breaks the tie. That is where wiggle room in the senate. Ray kelly would be easiest one. For this reason. Neil christie wouldnt because of bridgegate. That would be a problem. Ray for this reason. He has a stellar record of accomplishment in had new york city. He has worked for, i mean, nominally a republican but he worked for democrats and independents. He was David Dinkins police commissioner. He was Mike Bloombergs police commissioner. He is very progressive forwardlooking guy when it comes to police tactics. Neil he would be a very independent sort. Yes. Neil people thought he would have his number but fbi director once in that job gets a very independent role. Then it becomes optics here. I will tell you this, neil, you and i have said from day one james comey should never day one the meaning minute donald trump was elected, he should be out. Like i said the fbi really believed he was going to go. The they knew his hold was tenuous, the fact that donald trump waited until now. This will be a real issue. I tell you, we should be right now debating whether the 15 Corporate Tax rate is really going to add xamount of jobs and keep the dow at 21,000. Neil i think that is put off. I dont like it. I think that is put off. You might be right. This is confluence of politics and finance and markets why you have to watch us. Well bring that to the table. People have to watch this stuff. This market is really skiddish. Neil any delay, it is like a rock skipping on a pond. One monthay on this means another two months on the next phase of health care, another three months on tax cuts. Right. Neil you could play it out, suddenly see youre at christmastime here, no tax cuts. Likelihood having 2018. For those waiting on that, reality of that could mean, youre going to have a rude wakeup call. Here is the doomsday scenario which i hope doesnt happen for the markets sake and economy sake. Say republicans lose the house next year, okay . Just think about what the investment, what happens when democrats control all the investigative committees. Neil forget it. The fact trump hasnt released tax returns. Still holds his company, his kids run it. He hasnt divested. That is fodder for investigations. Now is the time to do all your fiscal reform, to give republicans something to run on, to not be distracted with james comey, by the way, say he kept him in the job, okay . What would have been the worst thing if he kept him in until he got through most of the stuff through congress . Was he neil democrats are feeding this narrative, not just the democrats because number of republicans are saying maybe we moved quickly russia investigations that he did this for a reason. That the president was anxious that comey was getting a little too close to this . He had asked for more funding for this investigation. That they sensed wait a minute, where is this going . Think about the downside of that. So this get rid of him. The place is in a little bit of disarray, all those agents, i know a lot of fbi agents, if theyre sitting on something that looks bad, guarranty that will be leaked out. Neil absolutely. So this could make that matter worse . Im just saying. Neil which feeds a trump narrative, we know how this goes. We wouldnt do this knowing full well that is distinct possibility. I think he should have sat on comey. Let him spin his wheels with the investigation. Not going to come for a while. Get legislative achievements. What is the worst out there . Flynn met with a russian guy couple times . Neil i think it would be with or without flynn well get leaks. Right. Neil remember yesterday, before we got word of comey firing we were hearing about subpoenaing those who worked around flynn, all of that. Were already getting a sense, even prior to his being dismissed, that he was on the hunt. Yeah, im sure he was. Listen, they had some, there was some smoke there. The question is, when is the right time to fire an fbi director . Neil never a right time. Bill clinton was the last to fire an fbi director in 93. Im saying, last week was a really good week for President Trump. Got through health care. Looked like there would be modifications in the senate. It will get through, tough but get through. He has a tax plan waiting. Looks like he is pushing for it. Main part of his fiscal legislative agenda, why the dow could go up and higher. Ready to roll. Neil why isnt it tumbling . I believe. Theyre still thinking it will get through. Getting ahead of themselves. Dude im telling themselves, if you were to tell me why is not firing when he was elected . What is knew . Is there anything really new . Neil you calling me dude. Youre the pumpkinspiced latte. Neil i appreciate that. Nixon library had a chance to play on to this, say for those who are saying this is analogous to saturday night massacre in 1973, when Richard Nixon got rid of Archibald Cox and special prosecutor and attorney general they opted to resign. In that we never fired an fbi director. Thats true. So when Nixon Library seizing on this to say, your worse than us. That is where you stand. More after this. alarm beeping vo when you wake up with miracleear. Your mornings can come to life with sound. Our exclusive Speech Isolation Technology transforms a bustling cafe into a clear connection that helps you hear the laugh that made you fall in love with her in the first place. And, at miracleear, we take the time to get to know you, grandpa so we can ensure you hear what matters most in your world. Call, click or come in today to learn how to start your better days. Miracleear. Hear a better day. What should happen now . What must happen now, is that mr. Rosenstein appoints a special prosecutor to oversee this investigation. Today well no doubt hear calls for new investigation. Partisan calls should not delay considerable work of chairman burr and vice chairman warner. Too much is at stake. Neil all right, so many prosecutors, so many investigations, so little time. Former White House Security Council Staff year Gillian Turner on all of the above. Obviously this changes democrats tell and some republicans i guess, this warrants more examination and even more involved investigations. Where is this going, gillian . Well, as you mentioned there are multiple ongoing investigations now surrounding this issue. I think firing of the fbi director really complicates this, entrenches the Trump Administration in the middle of this political debate, i think much to their disadvantage unfortunately. Neil they must have calculated that gillian, this is exactly the response they would have gotten. There were reports they thought democrats hated comey so much they wouldnt complain about it, but maybe miscalculated . Hard to see logic there, when you think the ole basis in the Trump Administrations own words for the ring happening is the fact that comey allegedly mishandled the Hillary Clinton email investigation and how that played out. But that ended seven month ago. Why are they, you know this is why time something now at the center of, is now the center of attention neil that is a bit of specious argument, we think, he treated Hillary Clinton unfarley and just might have caused her to lose the election. I dont know if that is such a good approach to this but anyway. Look he chose to keep him on at that time. Neil bingo. Bingo. Despite the mistake that he made. Again, why is he firing him now. There is still no good justification. Neil what happens now, gillian . People support more investigations or no, special prosecutor or no, my view on this, neil, all youre concerned about is money, money, and tax cuts, all im saying good someone is. Neil it will drag out and put less time and effort into that stuff because weve learned with congress theyre not good at walking, talking, chewing gum at the same time. That is true. And from an optics perspective, the other thing the Trump Administration is now dealing with another personnel crisis. If the firing of the acting attorney general. Neil right. Then the National Security advisor was not enough. Look, couple month into office, you fired three of your major cabinet level players that is big sort of scandal in of its own. That is what democrats focus on now. To be honest, the Trump Administration brought this upon itself. I think it was terrible decision from an optics perspective, that he made the decision now. Neil you know, it is a little ironic, that democrats, some are complaining saying, the very ones who were calling for comeys head, saying he should be fired for the way really, you know hurt Hillary Clinton and politicized this whole investigation, their argument, now theyre aghast at what the president has done. How much of a fight is it going to be for comeys successor . Because that is the next battle, more immediate battle to come . Not openly most immediate battle, but the most urgent priority from a National Security perspective, which is what i care about. Who will be the next director of this agency . It will be someone President Trump appoint for period of 10 years, its a very, very important position. So he is starting to think, i think internally, now about how to line that person up. But, seems like there is not someone in the pike ready to go because we would have heard about that in tandem with the firing announcement i. Neil you got to wonder, be careful what you wish for. The looking the last president to fire fbi director bill clinton in 1993 got rid of william sessions. Louis freeh, his replacement, haunted him and far worse than problem for Clinton Administration than sessions ever could have been. Maybe the president should be cautious here . You know, there is no easy about the calculations like house of cards, dominoes, whatever analogy you want to use, whenever one key position shifts it has wavelike effects and spreads to other departments and agencies. It divides people inside of the white house. We already heard these reports last night a lost white house staff, key white house staff felt blindsided by this, they were upset they were not alerted in advance. There are spiraling effects that will have to be part of this damage control campaign, i think President Trump will have to take the reins on himself. Neil be careful what you wish for. You just might get it. Gillian, great stuff. Appreciate it. Thanks, neal. Neil ive been getting emails. Cavuto, all youre concerned is about is money, money. That is not true. I think about stocks a well. That is some people feel this is nixonian. Folks at Nixon Library complaining. No, no, but theyre right, nixon folks are right. I will explain. At crowne plaza we know Business Travel isnt just business. Theres this. a bit of this. Why not . Your hotel should make it easy to do all the things you do. Which is what we do. Crowne plaza. Were all business, mostly. Hidden in every swing, every chip, and every putt, is data that can make the difference between winning and losing. The microsoft cloud helps the pga tour turn countless points of data into insights that transform their business and will enhance the game for players and fans. The microsoft cloud turns information into insight. Im 51 years old. M. Wh i was diagnosed with pneumoccal pneumonia, it was huge for everybody. She just started to decline rapidly. I was rushed to the hospital. My symptoms were devastating. The doctor said, pam if youd have waited two more days, you wouldve died. If id have known that a vaccine could have helped prevent this, i would have asked my doctor or pharmacist about it. Neil following meet media headlines, nixonian, nixonian, firing has hint ofamous saturday night massacre, 1973 Richard Nixon, fall of that year but there are glaring differences here, in fact profound ones. Connell mcshane wasnt even born. Researched this with his usual rigor and will update us on what the differences are. Reporter just a young lad yourself, mr. Cavuto in those days. Neil indeed. Reporter media, politicians, pundits, everyone seemed to trip over themselves to make the nixon saturday night massacre comparison. Sitting president fired the then who was heading the investigation into his administration. There are questions about the timing of this comey firing as youve been talking about, also key differences between what happened now and what happened in october of 1973, socalled saturday night massacre. The one that really stands out, the most basic terms, president nixons attorney general and Deputy Attorney general refused back then to fire a key official. In this case the white house has told us that President Trumps attorney general and deputy ag recommended the firing. To go back in time, Archibald Cox was the Watergate Special prosecutor, he was closing in on president nixon and president refused to turn over tapes of some of his white house conversations, mr. Nixon ordered firing of mr. Cox. Rather than comply with the order to fire him, the attorney general Elliot Richardson and deputy ag, william ruckleshaus, they resigned. They didnt gohrough, stepped down. Jeff sessions, current attorney general, deputy rod rosenstein, they recommended fire to President Trump. All reached a such a level, official twitter account of the nixon president ial library is not this out. Fun fact, president nixon never fired director of the fbi. Hashtag, not nixonian. Senator Chuck Schumer have called for the russia investigation to be stepped up to similar level what we saw in the watergate days. They have been calling it, stepped up calls for pegs prosecutor to be appointed which exactly what Archibald Cox was so. Neil even though other concurrent investigations going on in the house and senate, there are a lot of investigations going on. Reporter some john mccain want a special select committee as opposed to special prosecutor. Applestoapples comparison is not necessarily there to 1973. Neil buddy, thank you very, very much. Connell mcshane, that drama played out all those years ago. You know who ultimately did and pulled trigger and got rid of cox, robert bork. He became a failed Supreme Court candidate and that issue came up that was then, this is now. President trump, secretary tillerson meeting with t Russian Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, the media making note of timing. This was scheduled way in advance. Judicial watch president tom fitton on the meeting. Do you find the timing curious . I know this was telegraphed. What do you think . The left suggested that comey should have been fired a long time ago but he shouldnt be fired now and never by donald trump. That doesnt make any sense. You know, it would have been in trumps political interest to leave comey in place because he was compromised. He was in effective. He was bungling. He didnt seem to know what he was doing. Didnt have trust from anyone but he did courageous and brave thing by upholding accountability necessary from our public officials, namely the fbi director who was acting if he was both the judge and jury and prosecutor in the criminal case as he was overseeing including, Hillary Clinton. You know i think he was political in the sense he helped Hillary Clinton but in doing so, he egregiously violated her rights by attacking her from the podium last july. I mean you may recall, i was on the show with you, neil, shortly after that press conference excoriating him an defending Hillary Clinton. Now, i want to see Hillary Clinton prosecuted and potentially go to jail but comey really wanted it both ways. He saw himself law to himself. He is just an fbi director. He is bureaucrat, needs to be held accountable. Trump did the right and courageous thing. Neil should the president have done it earlier . The fact is, youre quite right, it got to the point where republicans and democrats didnt like comey, testifying on capitol hill, you got the front row seat of contempt for him. But the time president was to have done this right in the beginning . This Russian Investigation going on and separate reports tom, were getting comey was asking for Additional Fund to help with that investigation. Maybe that was the trigger point. Or at least that is what the conspiracy theorists are going to say. That would just made the white house timing all the more suspect . Well there was russia investigation when he came in too. Neil youre right. He would be attacked no matter what he did. His gut was to fire him immediately. Counseled by establishment republicans, establishment washington, dont make waves here. He should trust his gut. Thankfully he finally got an appointee at the Justice Department after months of delay by democrats in the senate, who finally looked what comey had done, did analysis, it became clear in a really dramatic way that he couldnt be there anymore, especially giving his testimony last week, where reaffirmed virtually all his misconduct, misstating the law, playing politics. We dont want politics as head of the fbi. We need someone good in there, will at least have confidence of large swaths of american people. Neil very clear that comey didnt see this coming. Just couple days ago you will have to put up with me for six 1 2 years. Apparently not. He thought he guaranteed himself a job by yelling about the Russian Investigation. And taking away, as he thought the option of President Trump to fire him. Trump was not going to be cowed and intimidated. Good for President Trump again. Neil you dont think, my biggest thing i was raising at outset of the show, tom, at very least sorting these things out takes time. Washingtons uncanny ability not to move on multiple issues at the same time is going to push back a trump agenda which might be actually the agenda of his enemies . I disagree with you. I think the legislative agenda will keep on churning. Neil i hope youre right. Those things can proceed. The president was hired and paid the big bucks to do type of work. If he is going to expend Political Capital and have a legacy for ages, these type of actions that he is going to be remembered for. I think in a positive way. Which actions . By taking steps to make sure the head of the fbi director is legally enforcing the law. Neil my only point distraction delays. I hope not. It will have to be done before 2018. You know, look, politics neil betting it wont. Betting it woken. Yeah. Neil would you like to bet with me . You know, i believe, i believe that tax reform and some type of health care repeal, you know, somehow and, i, i think it would have been a lot harder, this is what atypical what President Trump did, the tough thing isnt getting tax reform and repealing obamacare monstrosity or reforming it or fixings it, whatever, the tough thing is doing things like this. He deserves credit. Neil good seeing you again, my friend. Thank you. Neil by the way, white house will get a chance to respond to this. Well go to the White House Briefing less than an hour now. Sara Huckabee Sanders will do the honors as she did last week. Did a very good job standing in for sean spicer. She will get to field a lot of questions, one or two i suspect come up. Former secretary of state henry kiss ink, everything is back to the 70s, is meeting with President Trump. A lot of you, neil, does that mean you will give us your Henry Kissinger impression . Yes, yes. If you stay tuned it is coming up. 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If that as close we get, that works great in government. Got to be able to pay for it. That is the challenge. I can think of way to pay for it, dont give huge tax cut to millionaires like me. Neil all right, you have to give republican senator bill cassidy credit for going into the belly of the beast, if that is accurate way to go on Jimmy Kimmels show. I dont think it is necessarily is. He took on critical questions and comported himself very well. The senator with me right now. Senator, Jimmy Kimmels message was make sure the preexisting conditions are covered, even if it means forgoing the tax cut, removing some of taxes associated with obamacare, and sticking it to the rich. I think that was the gist of what he was telling you. What do you think . So, neil, actually yes, i am my was echoing candidate trumps pledge to the american people. On the campaign trail if you will, the contract he developed, his plan, replaced plan, would cover those covered, care for those with preexisting conditions. It would eliminate mandates and lower premiums. Technically to lower costs but probably everybody understood that to be lower premiums. Jimmy was echoing trumps contract with the american people. Neil what he talked aut senator, pointing out telling story of his newborn son, that preexisting condition, heart ailment, affecting a newborn, would not technically be covered under some of the plans the house originally kicking around and still might not in some state. What do you say to that . Thats a fair statement. That would not fulfill President Trumps contract with the voter. Neil but the president liked that house measure, which includes this provision where states have a Broad Authority to do just that . Well, two things, one, they had to get it through the house. That was a Political Animal to get through the house. Two, a contract obviously is bilateral. And so the president made that with the voter. I can promise you people are watching what the president does. They hate the president. If he doesnt fulfill the end of the contract, they have commercials already cut. We would be naive not to think that. Vox. Com, they went to some county in southern kentucky voted overwhelmingly for trump. It is a poor county. Many people on some version of obamacare. They heard the president. What they want is better than obamacare and they believe the president is going to deliver. Vox will have a followup video, if he doesnt, and i think he will, but if he doesnt, a followup video with those same voters. Im sure their tune will be different. There is a lot at stake here. Neil what is your view on preexisting conditions . First of all, you want them covered. That was clear, right . The principle of insurance is to expand your risk pool. Obamacare tried to do it with mandates. Cassidycollins bill, Susan Collins and i, four other cosponsors would expand the risk pool without mandates. Neil but you still cover preexisting conditions, right . Totally. Neil someone with a preexisting condition pay high every premium or be in a riskier pool because he or she has that condition . So you may have a invisible risk pool or reinsurance pool, this is commonly done. Think exxon mobile. Exxonmobil has 50,000 employees. If one person gets a liver transplant, their risk pool is so big, peoples premiums do not even ripple. On other hand i expect exxonmobil has reinsurance policy, when someones expense goes over 200,000 they have reinsurance policy for that different case. There is different mechanisms to protect overall risk pool, fundamentally a lot of people need to be insured. Neil do you think you sort out differences, in the end, problem with obamacare, Affordable Care act math doesnt sustain it, whether people like the law or not, as you pointed out the math doesnt support generous benefits to so many people that folks love but not affordable. Even saddling the rich with it. So is your plan, whatever you come up with the in Senate Spread wealth out, limit those benefits, what . Well whatever we do has to save as much as what the house bill does. So we have to save at least 134 billion over 10 years. But our plan, im a doctor. You give the patient the power, the system lines up to serve the patient. You put in price transparency, prices go down. Lasix eye surgery is a cashbased service and price has come down over past 10 years. In our cassidycollins plan, give tax credit to the patient, put in price transparency. She knows what he he is is paying before she gets test as opposed to a getting a bill six months later. Neil good for you going on jimmy kimmel show. He obviously respected you. We have a lot more coming up. Look at dow, would be in a freefall here. What if i told you most of this was disney . It came out with numbers strong for every part of its business. I mean the theme parks and a lot of streaming efforts, except for espn. Espn, which used to be a cash cow is now a cash dud. What the Company Hopes to do to reverse that after this. When this bell rings. It starts a chain reaction. Thats heard throughout the connected business world. At t Network Security helps protect business, from the largest Financial Markets to the smallest transactions, by sensing cyberattacks in near real time and automatically deploying countermeasures. Keeping the world of business connected and protected. Thats the power of and. Looking from a fresh perspective can make all the difference. It can provide what we call an unlock a realization that often reveals a better path forward. 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Every Internet Group needs to come together like you successfully did three years ago. Neil all right, john oliver, starting a revolt against the fcc by the guy who runs it, about dont, even think of reversing Net Neutrality which allows Internet Service providers like verizon, at t, from alternating speeds and transmissions you get from some of your favorite sites. The law as it stands now you cant do that. Ajet pai says were regulating these things like utilities of the old days. It is simply antiquated. That approach is wrong but it started that, oliver line, to get people on the line to let the fcc know how they felt, to a lot of vulgar online attacks not only against ajet pai, anyone on fcc would harbor a view that would call reversing that standard, that Net Neutrality standard. Washington free beacon liz harrington. I cant even repeat some of the comments the fcc got, all of that. Lets say they were not in keeping with the onable nature ever exchanges online. What, explain what happened here . Right, so john oliver is calling calling this a grassroots campaign. He is asking, he has about four million viewers, to flood the fcc website with comments. It is not really surprising that you have a lot of vulgar, obscene and downright racist comments when john oliver himself is calling this campaign, go fcc yourself. That is not that surprising you get a lot of nasty comments. But a broader point here, theyre calling this grassroots. It is really not anything of the kind. It looks like astroturf. Look at comments, thousands are using fake names. Thousands of comments are using john oliver, theyre using donald trump, using barack obama, using homer simpson, michael jackson, and the rest. You look where the website go fcc yourself, directs you to comment on Net Neutrality rule, it is registered with a Canadian Company called tuco. This company partnered with a liberal nonprofit group, fight for thfuture in the past for these comment campaigns which last year, you had a copyright regulation regarding the internet. There were 85,000 identical comments, all registered using the same website from this Canadian Company. Neil use be obscene language. You cant necessarily blame john oliver for that but you do have to wonder what is so bad reassessing this standard, this Net Neutrality standard calls on all major Internet Service providers to police how they operate with the googles and some of these others out there, so they dont favor one over the other. But, whats missed here, is that the government is deciding this. So the government can barely account for what it is doing, let alone what these companies should be doing, right . That is the root of the issue. Obviously, the Trump Administration and pointing chairman pai as chairman, he has a different view. He wants it to be more free marketbased. They think the Obama Administration was misguided government more control over regulating neil fear if they didnt intervene the way they did, that that the Service Providers would have favored only their stuff or friendly stuff they like and not competitor offerings . Wouldnt that be very blatant . Right. And so, here you have Internet Service providers, do you want it to be more like free market or Utility Companies . If Everyone Wants toatch netflix, higher factor speed for that. So Net Neutrality isnt good if Everyone Wants their internet with the way theyre used to getting it. That is the controversy. Neil liz harrington, thank you very, very much. Some awful stuff online look at it. Come on, a laugh or worse . We will have more after this. [phone ring] hello. Hi, its anne from edward jones. Im glad i caught you. Well im just leaving the office so for once ive got plenty of time. Whats going on . So those financial regulations being talked about . They could affect your accounts, so lets get together and talk, and make sure everythings clear. Thanks. Yeah. That would be great. Weve grown to over 900 billion in assets under care. By being proactive, not reactive. Its how edward jones makes sense of investing. Boston college is a leader in thinking and educating on these incredibly important issues. This is a great place to have it. Hope to do it many more times. I would love to be invited back again he is now running the fbi. In lieu of the old boss. All the latest developments now. Adam, even with the headlines it appears to be business as usual in the u. S. Senate. That means pushing forward with the republican agenda on tax and health care reform. The white house official says the administration does not want the search for the new fbi director. They have to appoint a special prosecutor. To work with the republicans on healthcare. With the friends on the other side of the aisle want to join us i want their input. Its is appointed and has taken our democratic colleagues this long to come around but i look forward to hearing our ideas now and i look for to joining in a robust debate. As we pursue smarter healthcare decisions. The powerful Senate Finance committee are calling for director comey to testify in an open hearing about the status of the investigation into russia in trump associates. A source close to the Republican Leadership tells foxbusiness that congress can walk in to gum at the same time. Raking is on the fbi. Think them very much. About the agen that the markets have been so looking forward to. The lower regulation agenda. Still a very Generous Health care agenda. If any of that is delayed remember the rollout of this is dependent on things going almost like clockwork. Something like this. That might look dicey. If you have a handicap lets just say the tax cuts. Maybe including the structure. As were saying we can walk and chew gum at the same time. They were probably not going to be able to debate these proposals on the tax cuts. Now they will also discuss a new fbi director into pass that person. So, im wondering there isnt much knowledge dash make all of the branch between the parties here. Lesst would seem on the tax cut thing. It drives an even bigger wedge between both sides. Some republicans in the house whether that has changed this a little bit so that some of those republicans would be more than happy to delay that to first get to the bottom of this. You could see it as a opportunity for republicans to have a little bit more time to look at healthcare if you go to that specific issue. They already were not going to take up necessarily with the house and what they have already passed. They were looking at making drastic changes to that. It was gonna take weeks and months on healthcare. From that point of view if they were to shift here which we seldom had yet. But when the president does put it out there. It could potentially give them a little bit more time on healthcare. It will remind viewers that the president has not put out a tax plan so much as he put out a list of goals and thinks that they would like to do but they are still working with house and Senate Republicans to come up with something that is a little bit more developed. I imagine behind the scenes it is still proceeding along. They are doing at least that. But the full details of that could be months off right was to mark. Thats absolutely right. We are about to ep into the White House Press briefing. This discussion will not be on the tax plan today or healthcare. It was seemingly very abrupt last night. Thank you very much. She will be at that briefing. She did a pretty good job filling in for sean spicer. You can imagine i would think one or two questions on this subject will come up. He worked for him in the past and as i said if you are going to get rid of the guy it should been done earlier isnt that right . I know him to be a man of integrity my former colleagues had grown weary of defending the fbi. But we question is the judgment of stepping out of normal procedures and stepping out and Holding Press Conferences about ongoing investigations. And stepping into the role of the precutor there is a distinction between the fbi and the department of justice for very good reason. An impartial body makes prosecutor decisions. They conducted the investigations. We were all very troubled by that. We are used to very powerful fbi directors. They set the standard there. But we also are reminded in the case that he was fired by a president in getting rid of william sessions. He ended up being far worse than sessions in the relations there. Who ended up being far more a thorn in the side then probably sessions could have ever been. But what should the in ministry should be looking for. There are others. They actively campaigned and supported donald trump. Does the fbi worry about that close political affiliation. It turns out the kind of person we get. I served under louis free. I think both of them played it straight they did not seek the press out. They did not seek the limelight. They knew the job was much bigger. They call it overtime. He was a good director. He did not make it about himself he played by the rules in his ego played no role. I think you need a louis free or a Robert Mueller who knows that that role is much bigger than themselves and you play by the rules and the established policies and procedures you can just make them up and added ad lib. As you go. What do you want to see and do you think that investigation will continue now there are not. I think if you were to say President Trump was trying to shortcircuit the investigation i think the impact into the effect is opposite. However steps in that chair is going to go through a blistering confirmation process and i think there is can be a tremendous sunshine in transparency on whats going on and i dont think theres any possible remote chance of that this investigation gets swept under the rug. I think the perception there is i think people think that this investigation is leveled at present trump and its not. This is a very important distinction. It might be something in the Trump Campaign. I think we wouldve heard by now whether there was any scrap of evidence. Would you do in a letter. I would not had put that in the letter know. And where and how would he had known that. At that is the case . I think that was his way of reinforcing because he knew that he isnt the target because he knew that letter would get tremendous play in the press. He could only have gotten from the director himself. s top diplomat top diplomat at the white house with the present. Today. What we do every night is like something out of a strange dream. Except that the next morning it all makes sense. To power global ecommerce Fedex Networks are massive, yes. A little magical. Fedex. Com slash dream we would be an even not as bad of shape if not for disney on the dowel. On the dow jones industrial. Its the only reason why we are down to the degree we are. It is a steepest fall among the components. And not because the Earnings Report yesterday awful it was great. 20 increase in activity. It will cost about 10,000 per ticket at disney world or disneyland. And yet because of the problems with espn the layouts and continuing. And their fears that they cant get their mojo back. If not for disney we are doing okay. This fear that this is going to extend is not evidencing itself. A lot of people look at that as an entertainment each will fund. Neutral fund. A good proxy on how the economy is doing. The higher programming costs and declining viewership. The profits are up. In the numbers that they both here in the u. S. And also at the newest park in shanghai. An increase of 9 . 4. 3billion. 174 per ticket just to get into the park for the day. And then add up all that money theyre spending once the side. They seem willing to spend in certain places for example the theme record profits. They have lowered the minimum amount to receive Free Shipping to 25. The previous minimum of 35 was established in february after walmart dropped its Free Shipping the minimum from 49 to 35. They will see how low they go. In the meantime intention to whats going on in the white house. The president and secretary of state for having a one on one on one. What to read from all that. Why did you fire director comey . Because he wasnt doing a good job. Did it affect your meetings with the russians. At that one on one this whole think came up with a weird timing on all of it. He was a deputy National Security adviser. James very good to have you. Timing is everything. I know it because it was in advance of the week. In the week ahead calendar. That would ce to keep things. He probably knew that he was going to pull the trigger roughly at the time he did. Those things are prepared always in advance. What i dont think is he saw the blowback that this would generate in the media and in Congress Unless he didnt see any problem despite of the substance you have to talk. The protocol would have required that as well. We should not read to much into this. What is your sense of where this goes from here. A lot of investigations. What a special prosecutor deal with this once and for all or what is your sense. You never end these things. We are still adjudicated the clinton impeachment effort from almost 20 years ago. I would say the cleanest and best way forward is a special prosecutor. If they would appoint someone rather like the nomination for the Supreme Court 70 who is above all reproach. If its someone like Jeff Sessions seems to be very close to the president there would be a terrible problem first of all getting approval in the senate and secondly there would be a belief that this is all cooking the books against. To make it ought to be careful what you wish for. Bill clinton thought when he got rid of no relation to Jeff Sessions. New guy would be just the solution. Legend has it that they did not want to resign sooner because he didnt want bill clinton picking his replacement. What is some of the names that have been mentioned. And touting the candidacy. This is the most Serious Investigation with have in the last several hundred years. It involves not just watergate and what bill clinton was doing in the oval office involves an attempt by a powerful other state to possibly to deliberately try to throw an american election. That is usually significant. This is something that the president has to get out of. If they are there with the unequivocal elections. I dont have any idea that there were unequivocal connections. With present trump personally there arent. If he doesnt stop trying to gain this beer with tweets are that ridiculous letter he used it to justify it with the statements about what they were exonerated. Any legal office would have stopped. I had worked in the white house. I understand why he doesnt just let this go. If you will the suspicion. It was clearly an add on. Because the lawyers and such that was just extreme. Nothing about potentially legally damning. Where do you see this whole thing going. I see again it can either go to a special prosecutor but the administration will fight back and well had support from the republicans in congress so probably wont go there. With Something Like giuliani. And that will lead to a real crisis in our constitutional system because the democrats wont just try to vote against it they will block it. You will have mass had mass protests and other things. Or it can go to again Something Like that who everybody acknowledges and recognizes is a man or a woman of total integrity. The problem here though is that is what everybody thought about rosenstein. The guy who wrote the letter that initiated this. But it looks like this. It looks fishy because all three letters were dated the same day. That is not how in the bureaucracy ive ever seen it works. Has a problem. They overwhelmingly voted for them. They are going to be very suspicious of anybody who has advanced to play that role. That is your dangerous danger here. We are waiting may be some interests answers to some of the questions. From sarah Huckabee Sanders. About a week ago when she stood in last friday i believe for shauna spicer. She will do the honors today and you can bet the overwhelming majority of questions will likely be on model money supply. Things are headed. Because as we live longer. And markets continue to rise and fall. Predictable is one thing you need in retirement to help protect what youve earned and ensure it lasts. Introducing brighthouse financial. A new company established by metlife to specialize in annuities life insurance. Talk to your advisor about a brighter financial future. Neil we are minutes away from the White House Briefing. This will feature sarah Huckabee Sanders. Calls after the firing of james comey for hiring, an independent prosecutor look into all of this. Chuck schumer is advocating that. In fact my next guest. He was doing long before others were saying that, talking about senator mark warner of virginia, Senate Intelligence committee vicechair. Senator, you think prosecutor is only way to go here, right . Neil, yes i do. We need somebody with independence to follow the facts. The truth, i was a longtime supporter of jim comey. I had critique, by i always had faith this guy would follow the facts. He may not have been a very good politician but he was honest in his view how he approaches the case. Now when you have the attorney general recuse himself, unfortunately the Deputy Attorney general put his name on a memo that didnt pass the smell test, somehow comey was fired because, they were concerned about how comey treated the clinton email debacle, really doesnt pass the smell test. I think we need that special prosecutor. I would hope he or she would be appointed by senior most official, career official at justice. Neil how would that work though in concert with your investigation of the Senate Intelligence committee and house counterparts . I mean would you all stand back to see what the prosecutor does . Not at all. If you go back, again, im not going there the way a lot of my democratic colleagues are all the time, if you go back to the watergate analogy, there was a special prosecutor acting coincidentally at the same time as Watergate Senate committee investigation. So, you know, were looking at different neil he was fired. Archibald cox was fired by Richard Nixon. He was fired. The socalled saturday night massacre being compared to. There was Leon Jaworski replaced him after that. My history may be a little off. Neil no, youre right. I think there was neil im way too young. I read history books. Way too young and good looking,. Neil there you go. Even with the past health issue you had. Neil senator, this is interesting, there is it will veer way out of control, and hurt the agenda on repeal and replace health care. A lot of republicans telling me, not you individually, senator that is the goal here. To disrupt and distract that agenda because you guys dont like it. Neil, neil. Neil what do you say . I know when people are grasping for straus. The democrats didnt fire jim comey. They didnt come up with the nonbelievable answer, gosh eight months ago he didnt treat the clinton email neil but a lot of your colleagues were angry at him and some recommended he did amen, hold them accountable for what they said. That is your job. But my sense here, the idea somehow this whole thing is a smokescreen, even though it was created by the white house to avoid dealing with health care, i got to tell you, even in todays washington neil, that is a real stretch. Neil then what do you think in the letter that came out, the president referring to these three occasions which he had, paraphrasing here, senator, been exonerated, that he wasnt the source or focus of that investigation, how would know that . Wouldnt have to have come from comey himself . You would think so, neil. Again an example where director was talking about investigations that are ongoing. One thing that is clear, he has, director comey testified said, there were investigations going on between people affiliated with the Trump Campaign and trumporg and the russians there. Has been no indication those investigations are drawn to a conclusion. Im not sure where the president got basis to make those statements. Neil yeah i was wondering our investigation by no means reached any conclusions. Were doing it in meticulous way. Were seeing the, kind of more minor figures before we see some bigger names. Some of these names like page and stone and flynn and manafort. But, we have not reached any conclusion on neil no i like the way you are working with the republicans. Your committee is a model for that. It is not going quite the same way in the house. Having said that, senator, some names popped up for this job, udthe likes of rudy giuliani, Chris Christie. What do you think of those two if they were to be president s choice . With all due respect to both of those individuals who both had distinguished careers they would be absolutely the worst choice a president could make. Neil why . Theyre both known as hugely active partisans. There are twoways that i would urge the president to go about making the selection. One at least on fbi director, go back to 60vote margin, so you have to pick off eight or 10 democrats. Neil that is not going to happen. That is not going to happen. Second, would be to enter into consultation with the democrats so you come up with a consensus choice. If you end up putting in somebody who is hardcore partisan at this point i think you will see a revolt actually at the fbi and Justice Department. I think youre going to see the democrats go, go over the brink. You know, im not normally one who kind ever goes over the edge but, if the president nominated somebody like mr. Buell giuliani, i would join doing Everything Possible to stop them. That is not what the country needs right now. Neil senator warner, thank you very much. We do appreciate it. Thanks, neil. Neil meantime this nixon comparison heard great deal about, senator warner is there really one there . Nixon library said say all you want about Richard Nixon, he never fired director, zinger at donald trump. We have carl higbee, Fox Business Networks Charlie Gasparino. The nixon one is wanting. Way to early to compare to watergate. A aide that serve ad few weeks, i guess, general flynn, in a major capacity in the cabinet was found to have lied to the Vice President or maybe to the president himself. He was quickly exited out of the door. Neil right. You know, give me some stuff on trump. I will say this though. This is going to be haunting trump for a long time. Here is the other thing, the republicans lose the house, they will face tremendous investigative pressure from every House Committee and subcommittee controlled by democrats next year, on stuff like this, taxes neil same thing republicans promised to do with Hillary Clinton. Same stuff. Neil the last time we had a president fire fbi director was bill clinton in 93, when he did that. With william sessions. No relation to Jeff Sessions i might point out and louis freeh came in his place. He went from the frying plan into a big ol fire with freeh. Is it possible, is it your sense, that if it was the Trump Administrations goal to find friendlier fbi director, not everyone is of that view, that is something some democrats raised, history suggests that is always the case, right . Well you mean in regards to identifying a acting director . Neil a director comes in, could be worse than the one you pushed out . Well, im not sure about that but i think that specifically why neil definitely a case with bill clinton with freeh. He was nightmare for the Clinton Administration. There is different kind of comparison here, why it has been compared to sort ever nixon both of them, both administrations or at least Campaign Teams were being investigated, and unfortunately for trump, as you know has been said in the previous stuff that has been happening is that he has been under investigation or at least not him, the campaign team. Comey said that then you have grand jury subpoenas going out for michael flynn. All of that timing around this makes very questionable. Neil timing issue comes up. Carl, once again there might be nothing there there. Everything is impressions in this town. Im wondering whether that is one thing that the president has to fight. If he wanted to get rid of the fbi director, the time to have done it very early on within days after becoming president and he didnt. Right. There are two things here. First is the fall lure of the Communications Team to articulate why they fired him when think did. Really dont need a reason why to fire him. You could point to a dozen reasons. Neil absolutely. Florida nightclub shootings, to sarno, including clinton emails. But they need to articulate out the timing, could they fire him now . Could justify bly make the case, so many people getting confirmed to the senate and didnt want to deal with it and neil make your rationale you didnt want to do something the way they were piling on Hillary Clinton, i mean that is a little disingenuous. That is the political rationale. He at some point figured out comey was going to be looking into him for now until forever. These investigations neil apparently had assurances didnt go all the way to him. To him, but whatever under underlings could lead to a lot of smoke or maybe him. Democrats hate this guy so much right now, why not pull the trigger. It is so obvious. Neil that is what worries me. I dont care your views on this particular subject, but i do worry about the business of the nation, and picking up the economy and all that, whatever your prescriptions are frozen in place with this, maybe for perfectly valid reasons. Maybe they can walk and chew gum at the same time, i asseed to my history that is often difficult to do. Are you worried we become all crisis all the time here . I was, i dont know who you are directing the question to . Neil to you, im sorry. I was going to say, i mean trump is the one who fired his fbi director. He kind of created this crisis. Youre hearing last night neil many in your party wanted comey out a long time ago . There was subset of folks not happy with comey. The timing is very questionable. The facts have been the facts since start of the year with regards to what happened with clinton and comeys handling of it. He could have fired the start of the year. Waited until a time he is more in the news, trump himself about, michael flynn, about the Russian Investigation. So now it just creates unfortunate stink for him that now theyre going into every time trying to explain. Neil might be perfectly valid reasons were missing here. But the letter itself, carl, does raise questions as to why now, and what changed . So, how does the administration counter that . I guess well see at approach with the press conference. Right off the bat trump can counter this. People like schumer, this is, Chuck Schumer, this guy is profoundly ignorant in how he runs his messaging because donald trump could come out tomorrow or tonight say, look, chuck, i will raise the stakes here. I will publicly back an independent prosecutor if youre willing to resign your seat if independent prosecutor comes back with nothing. If he does that, Chuck Schumer will not put his money where his mouth is. He will never do that. He doesnt have any convictions. You start opening door to independent prosecutor, lets be real clear. Bill clinton was never indicted on whitewater. Whitewater opened up door to eventually monica lewinsky. For him to go there he woulding out of his mind. Chuck schumer will not go with it. Donald trump is not going there. Donald trump is not going there. This ask why im not in favor of special prosecutor. Im in favor of independent Bipartisan Commission where both sides of aisle. That always works out real well for everybody. 9 11 commission, 9 11 commission did amazing work on both sides aisle. I dont see why that cant apply here. Neil you are a riddle wrapped in a conundrum. I try. Neil you surprise me. Thank you all very, very much. Well get more updates on this. We are going to probably hear one or two questions on White House Briefing moments away. Stick around. I have asthma. One of many pieces in my life. So when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my longterm control medicine. 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Ask your doctor if 24hour breo could be a missing piece for you. Learn more about better breathing at mybreo. Com. Neil we were just talking the implications of tax reform during the break here but anyway, Speaker Paul Ryan continuing the tour pushing for that but all of this other stuff going on, say it mildly is distracting on that agenda. Connell mcshane with the very latest. Reporter hey, neil. Speaker of the house on the road promoting tax cut agenda of current president. On any formnal bay that is pretty big news story. Today is not normal news day. Im not sure this ryan trip will be front and center. He plans to be in ohio, the speaker, tour a couple factories, one is an aluminum producer. One is a contract packing company. They will have roundtable with local and political leaders out there in the key swing state of ohio. Ryans office he will give at the roundtable discussion what they describe as opening pitch for tax reform, the opening argument for tax reform. But the question still remains, how fast can republicans move from that opening pitch to the final pitch . You know back in march, treasury secretary mnuchin telling you, the two of you, that the bill would be signed, sealed, devered by august. But was less optimistic in the Financial Times interview saying it would be delayed by health care. Recently speaker ryan would be hopeful to get health care through the senate in next month or two, set things up for tax reform by the end of the year. Here we are, waiting for White House Briefing, neil. Does the comey firing, which is obviously a big topic complicate things further. Well see. Ryan is out on the the road to e a pitch. Neil dont go on anywhere, connell. Our mutual friend, Charlie Gasparino is here. How this comes up here, i cant see how it doesnt delay. One thing i tell you, mark sanford, congressman from south carolina. Neil very critical quite often. Brought up in one of the shows he was on the house that drove the health care bill, not the white house, the house. So maybe there is an independent sort of committee there that paul ryan can assemble that can drive the tax vote. Neil we do know enough in the house ways and means where theyre cooking this up, kevin brady the chairman has had a plan outlined for almost a year now. More than even health care. Neil absolutely. They have been focused on taxes. I dont put it past them they can drive the bus on this. One thing we know most republicans agree on is some need neil they tell you they delay this, connell, you and i chatted before, they delay this, health care things has to roll out you push this into next year i dont think it is happening. In an Election Year you dont put good odds. We are talking today about the comey story. Separate from that being delayed, timetable wise if all the people talk to health care goes late summer, maybe to end. Summer that puts tax reform at very end of the year at best. A lot of people are betting on early next year. Only thing this comey story does at least in the near term, it eats up a lot of public conversation. Times, whether it is White House Briefing or appearances, or the things that would be used to sell it, maybe even paul ryan in ohio will not get as much attention, tougher to get traction to sell it in that way. Neil the briefing is moments away right now. But if they delay this, katybarthedoor. Sarah Huckabee Sanders doing the honors. Light crowd. Slow news day. So i have heard. Good afternoon, everybody. As most of you i think know sean is on reserve duty for the rest of this week. So i will be briefing you today and in the following days. I have a few announcements here at the top before you i take your questions. I have an update on the tunnel collapse at the Hanford Nuclear waste site in washington state. The incident is moving from the emergency phase toward the recovery phase, after extensive testing we remain confident at this point that there has been no indication of worker exposure or airborne radiological release. Personnel begin tang s to stablize and fill thhole over the partiallycollapsed tunnel last night. We expect those efforts to be completed today. The site remains closed to nonessential personnel. Dedicated experts on the ground are looking closely at what next test should be taken with respect to mitigating future tunnel breaches n washington, d. C. , today, as sean mentioned yesterday the president is focused on preparations for his upcoming foreign trip. He met this morning with the Russian Foreign minister following on the visit of secretary of state tillerson to moscow last month. A readout of that meeting went out an hour ago. I refer you to that for further questions on the meeting. Outside of d. C. As part of the administrations ongoing effort to address the Opioid Crisis in america, secretary price continues his listening tour learning from those on the front lines battling the epidemic. Today he will meet with officials in maine and New Hampshire to discuss how the administration can best support the local initiatives to combat this tragedy. Secretary zinke is in utah today visiting National Monument sites and vest iting with local officials to comply with the president s executive order that ordered a review of National Monument designations. The secretary 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. Secretardevos is in dayta beach, florida, to deliver the commencement address at bethunecookman university. The university is a great example of the topnotch education hb cus historically provided and continue to provide to their students. I know the secretary is honored to be there today. There is also another nugget of big news as you guys may have been paying attention in regard 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. And most importantly, the rankandfile of the fbi had lost confidence in their director. Accordingly the president accepted the recommendation 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 are Senate Majority leader mitch mcconnell, speaker of the house, paul ryan, senator chuck grassley, Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer, senator feinstein, senator lindsey graham, House Majority leader kevin mccarthy, House Minority leader nancy pelosi and congressman bob goodlatte. Later in the evening he spoke to senator bob corker, chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations n addition to all of the big news happeningthe white house today, it is also my daughter scarlets fifth birthday. Since im here and you guys arent, i wish scarlet a happy birthday. With that her first birthday wish probably would be you guys are incredibly nice, and now i will take your questions. I think it would be helpful establishing the fact a coup broader questions. Number one. Yes or no, did the president direct Bob Rosenstein to write memo on james comey. The president had again, lost confidence in director comey. Frankly he had been considering letting director comey 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 asked that they put those concerns and their recommendation in writing which is the letter that you guys have received. So is the white house assertion Bob Rosenstein decided on his own after being confirmed to review comeys performance . Absolutely. Most of america had decided on their own that director comey was not the person that should be leading the fbi as evidenced by the numerous comment that weve seen from Democrat Members in the house and Senate Republican members, members of the fbi and people across the world. Senator Dianne Feinstein was told something directdifferent directly from the president. He asked rosenstein and session toes review this . Is she lying . He asked them for recommendation based on nversation ty on my. He asked them to put the recommendation in writing. They came to hill on his own of the president lost confidence in comey from the day he was elect. He wasnt sure he shouldnt fire him. May 3rd sean came out had full confidence in the fbi director. He questioned director comeys reason needed to stay at fbi. He had countless conversations with members from within the fbi. One of the big catalysts 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 the Deputy Attorney general, when holding a press conference and telling them he would not let them know what he was going to say. And that is simply not allowed. Somebody like the Deputy Attorney general, rod rosenstein, who everybody across the board has unequivocally said this guy is a man of up standing character and essentially the Gold Standard at the department of justice, when you take an action like that, when you go around the chain of command in the department of justice, then you have to make steps and take action to make a recommendation to the president and that is what he did. Sean . Investigations john, go headed. How do you respond. Well come back to that. Until you said from the podium, president lost confidence in him last weeks or months, we thought this was all rosensteins doing. When was it, and i when was it that the president lost confidence in james comb hi . What was Tipping Point . I think an erosion of confidence . I think that director comey has shown over the last several month and frankly the last year a lot of missteps and mistakes and certainly, i think that, as you have seen from many of the comments from Democrat Members including senator schumer, they didnt think he should be there. They thought he should be gone. Frankly i think its startling that democrats arent celebrating since they have been calling for it for so long. Jonathan. Followup. Reporter i have another one i need to ask you of. Two question limit around here, right . Reporter followon that. You said you made a lot of missteps and mistakes. Back at end of october this president was applauded the fbi director when he reopened investigation into Hillary Clintons emails. He seemed quite happy with him at that point. What changed . I think the president s position. Ones, he was a candidate for president. Not the president. Those are two very different things. Once you take over leading the department of justice that is very different than being a candidate in a campaign. As you guys know there is very clear distinction between those two things. I think also having a leer like the one that he received and having that conversation that outlineed the basic, just, atrocityies in circumventing train of command in the department of justice. Any person of legal mind and authority knows what a big deal that is, particularly in the department of justice. Particularly for somebody like the Deputy Attorney general who has been part of the Justice Department for 30 years and such a respected person. When he saw that he had to speak up on that action. Think that was the final question. Reporter real quick question on meetings this morning. The president accused by democrats trying to circumvent the russia investigation by firing comey. Meets with the Russian Foreign minister around ambassador of the. He is considered being nixonian. Timing is the president poking a finger in his critics eye . These meetings have been on the books for a while. They just didnt happen this morning. There is not a strategy to go after the democrats on this i think frankly the saddest thing 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 him to attack him doing his job . Maybe spend more time doing their jobs and we wouldnt have the all the problems we do. Jonathan. Reporter sarah, isnt it true the president decided to fire james comey and asked the Justice Department to put together the rationale for that firing . No. Reporter when did he make the decision . He made the decision for the final decision to move forward wit was yesterday. But i know that he has been contemplating it for a while. Reporter how do you explain what Dianne Feinstein says, that the president told her that he was concerned with the mess at the fbi and asked the justice partme to look into it . Iant speak for senator festein but i did speak directly to the president. And heard directly from him that he, again had been considering letting director comey go pretty much since the day he took office but, that there was no request by him to have a review at the department of justice. Reporter was the reason for the firing what was written by the Deputy Attorney general . Is that why he did it . That was final piece that moved the president to make that quick and Decisive Action yesterday. Reporter what did he mean in the letter yesterday that he wrote, informing comey he was being fired . He said on three separate occasions comey had told him that i am not under investigation . What were those three occasions that the fbi director told the president he wasnt under investigation . Im not going to get into the specifics of their conversations but i can tell you that director comey relayed that information to the president