So rather than try, i want to tell you about my experiences with him and observations and interactions and what an impact he had on my life. When this network was referred to as fledgling fox news channel, i was on assignment in denver technically working for our affiliate news service. When i was hired here, there was no channel. Hadnt happened yesterday. My crew and i were at a restaurant and pool hall. I got a page to call new york. Roger ailes was on the line. That had not happened before. It was frightening. I never met him personally. Smith, he said, youre doing a good job out there. How is it going . Everything is great, mr. Ailes . Were working hard. He said do you want to stay or live . My contract was up. What are you going to say to that . Of course, i want to stay. Okay. Ill call that agent and sign you up with the channel. Thats it no more messing around. Come to new york and see me soon. Keep up the good work. Conversation over. Roger ailes had just called me and he wants me to be on his team. I had never been so excited about a work moment. This gig was hard. We lacked resources. We werent very good at television yet. Everything didnt work and we dont know how to work at everything that did. People laughed at us. You work at fox5 . No, fox news channel. What is that . Its like cnn but its fox. Oh, ive never seen that. Really it wasnt like cnn. There was an underdog spirit here that was exhilarating and our leader was inspiring like none other. We worked not for fox news but for roger ailes. He was with us in the bunker fighting for respect and fighting for viewers, fighting to win. Our enemies were msnbc and cnn. We would conquer thing and become the most powerful name in news and do it as a team and reap the rewards from it, all of us and he fought with us. As we fought, he would protect us from all comers. America would be a better place for our efforts. He said it with authority and he never waivered for one second. Because he said it, we believed it, mostly. It all seemed impossible frankly. Roger and i didnt meet regularly in the early years. He didnt like my then agent, so we didnt communicate well. As it became clear that our prim time programming was going to serve a conservative audience, i began rethinking this business relationship. I wasnt a political guy. I was a news guy. Chase the story, gather the facts. Report without fear of favor. Its what i wanted. Is that what he wanted . Roger assured me it was. We cant have fox news without the news. Our news will be fair and balanced. When its not, youll be here in my office and youll get set straight. That day must be 16, 17 years ago. My dad came up in the conversation. We talked about how important fatherson relationships are. Roger and beth ailes just had a son, zach. He was the love of rogers life. He wanted to help make america a better place for his new son. Thats how he thought. We talked about how close my father and i are. How my relationship had survived and thrived in a mess sy divorce. He asked about growing up in mississippi. Roger was a small town boy. Born in ohio. No connection to power. Look what he accomplished. I could too. Stick to your instincts. He told me be good, treat people well and be happy. Negative people make positive people sick. Stick with me, said roger ailes. Sky is the limit. As we finish the 15minute that suddenly was an hour, as i stood to leave his office, a hug. A big embrace. Love you he said. Tell your father i think the world of you. I want to meet him soon. Go get him. The boss loves me, cares about my father, has a new baby for whom he wants to make the world a better place. It was heavy. Felt important. I was sold. One random afternoon in the basement newsroom of this building, we got word of a School Shooting in colorado. Columbine, high school. I was on a plane in minutes. We broke format and i reported nonstop for hours. Skeleton crew. Few resources in the middle of a horror show. Talking to kids that just lived it. After a day or so, roger called and made sure i was okay. He said lots of viewers for the fledgling news channel. Bet your dad is proud of you. Let me know what you need. He would promote me to anchor and gave me some news hours. In the privacy of his office, he said do whatever you do in the field. Do that in the studio. Ill tell producers to lay off you. Do it straight. When you get out of line, youll hear from me. And i did. But he let me do the news. To my face he encouraged it. Behind my back, managers and others, he railed against hit. Get him in line hes going rogue my young producer, jay wallace who is now the president of the news network would get the blame. He and others took a lot of heat. I was doing what r. A. Told me to do. It was complicated. So much here, was and is. But it was working. In new orleans after katrina, as a calm after the storm exploded, he called me, asking, what is happening there . Excuse me. I need a tissue. What is happening there . I told him the levees may break and the city may flood and we may need more resources here and facilities to live without services for a long time. Got it. Im sending the cavalry. He did. Dont be a hero and get yourself hurt. I love you. He always had our backs. I think we were first to report nationally that a breach had happened. A parrish president had seen it, reported it live on local radio. I was listening, i heard it. I was from that region. I covered new orleans. I knew what that meant. The city would flood. I reported it immediately without telling anybody. We were ahead of the Wire Services and the other networks. I later learned that Network Headquarters here in new york exploded the story. Hes ahead of the story. What is he doing . In the space i occupied, it was a personal thing. Roger was torn. The city was destroyed. My reporting was divisive and partisan. It wasnt or shouldnt have been. Roger inside new that. He spoke against the trouble for the white house. Id get blamed. Im not privy to the details of what he told others it wasnt positive. But with me, it was different. He was proud. He said keep up the good work. It was complicated as everything here was and is. By now he had me hosting daytime hours that i would anchor for 12 years. Those were the good times. Sometimes the facts upended the fateful. Then it was less pleasant. He wanted me to deliver the facts. We cant have fox news without the news. Keep doing it. I love you. Being in the public eye is rewarding but comes with many challenges. Roger knew that. He would try to prepare me for that and lead me through it. When a blackmailer entered my lives and my family, he held my hand and saw me to the other side. When details of my personal life became public, he supported me. My partner, geo and i went to a party at his amazingly beautiful home overlooking westpoint. He said ill man turret if anybody gets near this place. He had one. We had not attended a work function the two of us together before. As we arrived, roger and his son and beth greeted us on a glorious days. Beth took geo by his haim and gave him a glorious estate. They never met. She and roger treated geo and me like family. It was a signal to our fox team and to everyone else that our relationship is a good thing, respect it. Roger had and he did. If that event, roger told the 150 or so friends on hand the history of our nation through the view below us. He was aweinspiring. They arranged for fireworks to celebrate americas birth. We ate barbecue, laughed through the day and night. Ill never forget it. Through the years, there were crises through everyone, some public, some private. Many unmentioned to this day. He was my champion and my mentor, my father in mississippi was there for me, no doubt. Hes the greatest man ever. But roger was a father figure, too. We talked of it often. I never left his office, never once, no matter how uncomfortable overall experience might have been without finishing with a big embrace and those comforting and telling words from mr. Ales, keep up the good work, i love you. Roger helped everyone in his life and he never spoke of it. He gave his time and his money and influence and gave his heart. Then last year, last year we began to learn of another side of roger ailes, another part of his life. I didnt believe it could be true at first. This man i so admired despite our differences. It all came to a head as hundreds of us were in cleveland for the republican convention. The accusations were mortifying. All cameras were trained on us, all of them. We were the news. Tears flowed daily off camera. So far from headquarters, confused an helpless and under attack. Roger would want us to perform to serve our audience, and we did somehow. In our private work space there by then surrounded by guards keeping prying reporters away from us, a cell phone was being passed around. Rogers on the line. I took it in my hand and said, roger hey, how are you doing . His voice was firm and reassuring. Im okay, roger. Were all working hard. There was a private exchange then. He told me keep up the good work. Keep everybody motivated and on point. Well get through this. I love you. That was the last we spoke. He left the company and the rest is history unfolding to the true victims, respect and comfort. Its all so complicated. Everything here was and is as he was. Roger ailes was a patriot. He was the biggest personality and the most influential and powerful man i encountered. He changed my life and everybody in my family forever, for generations to come. He guided me and supported me and protected me and told me he loved me like a father. And i love him. To his wife, beth, his son, zach, the rest of his family and close friends, sincere condolences and great respect. Roger ailes dead today at 77. May he rest in peace. Tech when your windshield trust safelite autoglass. Our exclusive trueseal Technology Means a strong, reliable bond. At safelite, we stand behind our work. Because the ones you love, sit behind it. parents whisper jingle safelite repair, safelite replace. Shepard theres breaking news now on fox news channel. President trump just minutes ago or minutes from now set to hold a joint News Conference with the columbian president , juan santos. Weve just been informed that President Trump says hes close to announcing his pick to for the new fbi director and his top candidate is Joe Lieberman. This is breaking news. It just happened. This comes as the russia investigation threatens to overshadow any issues President Trump and the columbian president discuss. The News Conference could be the first choice about the appointment of a commercial counsel to oversee the trump team ties to russia and more about a air strike in syria. A u. S. Official said forces were operating in a deconfliction zone. Russia has been propping up the regime. The pentagon reports that the russians were in contact with the pro assad forces before the war planes targeted them. President trump sounded off about the russian investigation. He said this is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in american history. He also tweeted, with all of the illegal a took place in the Clinton Campaign and obama administration, there was never a special counsel appointed. Were waiting now for a tape play back. This tape playback will be President Trump discussing the matters just mentioned. Here it is. Well, its a great honor to have president santos of columbia here. We will have long discussions today. Columbia has been making great progress. We are working on knocking out the drugs. We have a problem with drugs and you have a very big problem with drugs. Were working very hard around very diligently. Well be spending a lot of time together today. I know in the future, a lot of time and mr. President , its an honor to have you with us. Thank you very much. We will be talking about venezuela. Were very close to an fbi director. Is senator lieberman on the list . He is. When will you make an announcement . Very soon. Thank you very much. Thank you. Shepard as you as you can tell and probably imagine, lots of questions for this president today. All of those questions for this moment at least unanswered. The time will come. I dont remember a news day quite this big, not in recent memory did spite it all. John roberts is with us from his post at the white house. John, update us as you can. You heard the president saying hes very close to naming an fbi director im told by Senior Administration officials. The leading candidate is Joe Lieberman, who was the attorney general in connecticut. So hes got some state Law Enforcement background. No federal Law Enforcement background. He spent a lot of time in the federal government and he knows a lot of people. Joe lieberman, by the way, 75 years old. So he would be sort of up there in terms of age as far as the history of fbi directors go. But i think that the president likes him because he was a democrat, hes an independent. Hes a defense hawk. Hes tough on Law Enforcement. I think a lot of democrats probably see Joe Lieberman as much of the republican ideology than they do the actual democratic ideology, though he continued to caucus with the Democratic Party after going independent. We do not know in the president will make the announcement before he leaves for saudi arabia. With the president saying that hes close, its probably safe to say if hes not made a decision, hes on the cut cusp of it soon. Shepard breaking news. Lindsey graham speaking live. Lets listen. Clinton hired an individual lawyer to deal with all things related to ken starr. So the white house could conduct its business. If i were the president , i would focus on defending the nation and trying to get his legislative agenda through the congress. One of the side benefits of this is that congress has been sidelined, not completely but pretty much. We can go back to dealing with legislative matters that affect the American People. The bottom line, the president may not have liked this decision. It was made. I had questions about it. I honor it. He couldnt have picked a better man to do the job. Most people in that meeting are generally okay with the idea of the special counsel. What they dont understand yet i would be reluctant to subpoena someone or a document in their possession if i thought they would be part of a criminal investigation. Did you get an explanation from rosenstein about why comey was fired . This is limited to what congress can do. I find it hard i would be reluctant to subpoena someone or a document in their position if i truly believe they were part of a criminal investigation. Did you get a satisfactory explanation from rosenstein about why comey was fired . Mr. Rosenstein viewed the whole process as something that mr. Muller will speak on, not him. Were you satisfied with the answers you received about the firing of director co me . Mr. Rosenstein wrote the memo, the fact that what he believed the fbi director did in july was inappropriate. Senator, was he tasked to write that memo . He did not. Ill let you ask him that question. Now that we have a special counsel about all things related to the process of the memo, i think youll need to talk to mr. Muller. I have to go. Thank you, senator. Shepard Lindsey Graham speaking on capitol hill. So much to get through. Catherine herridge is live with us. Catherine, to you. Senator graham was in the briefing with the deputy general. His bottom line is that based on what he heard from the Deputy Attorney general, that this fbi investigation has crossed a critical threshold. It has moved from a Counter Intelligence investigation to a likely criminal investigation and senator graham said this will limit the ability of congress to obtain evidence and also to get witnesses to testify publicly here on capitol hill. I pressed senator graham on whether Rod Rosenstein called this a criminal investigation. He said he did not use that term. But based on everything he heard, he believes it is crossing that threshold. This will limit congresss ability to conduct an independent investigation because almost every once he said will want to understand what the jeopardy may be with the special counsel, shep. Shepard wow, criminal investigation. Sounds like a very sober tone, catherine. It was. Look, just for some context, a Counter Intelligence case is one of the most highly classified that can be run by the fbi. Its a way to gather information, gather intelligence about spying in the United States and the recruitment of americans. Typically these cases do not result in criminal charges. Senator graham has just said based on the briefing with the Deputy Attorney general, that he believed its crossing the threshold from an fbi case to a criminal matter. With that in mind, witnesses will not be willing to come to capitol hill to publicly testify because they have that right against selfincrimination, shep. Shepard catherine, where do we see this going now . Well, were waiting for the other senators to come out of this briefing to see if their read out is consistent with what we heard from senator graham. He said that he felt satisfied by what he heard from the Deputy Attorney general about the firing of james comey. Im going to turn around here. We have another senator speaking. Shepard senator claire mccaskill. He wants wide latitude to Robert Mueller where the investigation should go. As a former prosecutor, i respect that decision. He learned that comey would be removed prior to him writing his memo. Say again. He knew that comey was going to be removed prior to him writing his memo. Joe lieberman has been emerged as a top candidate. I think its a mistake to nominate anyone that has run for office. I spent a lot of time in Law Enforcement. This is a moment that we need a Law Enforcement professional that has never campaigned for a president ial candidate, never campaigned for office, never worn a party label to head the fbi. What is your takeaway from the revelation that director comey would be fired . Im not going to comment any further. We dont have all the facts. We dont have documents, we dont have sworn testimony. He was very careful about not going into any detail surrounding the removal because he wants to give Robert Mueller the opportunity to make his independent decision as to where the investigation is going. What about the congressional investigation . Do they take a back burner . There were questions about him cooperating with the congressional investigations. He wants to give Robert Mueller the opportunity to deconflict. He generally obviously expressed a design to cooperate with the congressional investigation. Senator Lindsey Graham said he thinks this has crossed an important threshold from a c. I. Case to a criminal case and may limit congress ability to get witness and bring in witnesses to testify. I mean, lindsey is a former prosecutor. Ill let his comments speak for himself. What i sensed from him was an over arching desire to make sure that Robert Mueller had complete discretion to take the invest where he thought it needed to go. Well, the headline from senator mccaskill is that during the briefing still ongoing, the Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein confirmed to senators that he already knew fbi director james comey would be fired before he wrote that memo was his assessment and what the damage had been from the clinton investigation to the fbi and the Justice Department as well, shep. Shepard he already knew that comey would be fired when he wrote the memo . Pardon me. I had my ifb turned down. I apologize. Shepard he already knew he would be fired when he wrote the memo . This is what senator mccaskill has just told us. A critical element of the timing. Rod rosen stein said he already knew director comey would be fire before he wrote that memo. Shepard that is critical for reasons that i hope youll explain to our viewers. Well, theres been a whole back and forth, shep, over what exactly was the chain of events that led to the fbis dramatic termination. When the rosenstein memo from the Deputy Attorney general was first released publicly and distributed among reporters, it was said that it was the foundation, if you will, the argument upon which the president made his decision to determination the fbi director, which is no small thing because its typically a fixed tenyear term. What the Deputy Attorney general according to the senator has just told them, even before he hit the keyboard, even before he started thinking out his argument and what he had learned from other former attorneys general, he already knew that it had been decided. That comey was going to go. So the question then becomes, was the rosenstein memo kind of cover for that decision. Right . I think thats been the heart of the reporting since comey was terminated last week. Shepard catherine, thank you. Well watch your camera should any other senators come up. Now, i want to go to john roberts. Some dramatic turns here in the matter of two or three minutes. And what catherine was talking about is an important piece of information. We knew the president had decided to fire comey before he went to Rod Rosenstein and asked him to write a memo. We didnt know that rosenstein knew he was going to fire him. Senator mccaskill said that hiring Joe Lieberman was a mistake. And a group of Network Anchors had lunch last week and the president saying in quotes to the nomination for the the app t appointment of the prosecutor prosecutor. He says we have a lot to do, all things that we discussed. That shows a very divided country. The president went on the say that he thinks its a poor excuse for democrats having lost an election that they should have easily won. He said again, i think it shows division, shows were not together as a country and its a very, very negative thing. The president adding at the end hopefully this can go away quickly because we have to show unity if were going to do great things with respect to the rest of the world. So the president last night, im told, when he was first given this information, shep, by his white house counsel, stoic about the whole thing. He said okay, those are the cards weve been dealt. Put on with the statement and move on with the agenda. In the nearly 24 hours that has passed, he seems to have ruminated on it to some degree and hes got a bit of rolling boil. He said it was a witch hunt, that in all of the Hillary Clinton and barack obama dealings that never was there a special prosecutor appointed. So he feels put upon here, shep and singled out and now hes lashing out. Shep . Shepard stand by. I want to get reaction from capitol hill. Our longtime producer, chad pergram is on the line. This is what members on the republican side said they were worried about. They said theres so much drama, it would be hard to move the agenda. Mitch mcconnell made that statement. Paul ryan also made it. Look what they have to do. They have healthcare and then the granddaddy this fall, the debt ceiling. If youre caught up in this drama and this is where mcconnell and ryan said, we dont need this drama, theyre very concerned on the republican side of the aisle, shep, that this will pirate that away and they cant get focused on anything. Once you get to the debt ceiling, its a heavy legislative lift that it commands every bit of cubic centimeter of political oxygen to get that across the finish line. You cannot crash the debt ceiling that concerns people here as President Trumps political capitol among republicans is starting to dwindle significantly. Shepard dwindle significantly. Do you have specific examples . Theres been a number of republicans that ive talked to the past 24 hours that said, you know, weve heard this rattling from the democrats about impe h impeachme impeachment. Vice president pence doesnt sound bad to them. I asked speaker ryan about that. He said good grief. I dont want to give any credence to that. I said wait a minute. You have people on your side talking about that. To be fair, were long way away from that. There is some blood in the water and that gets hard when you have what catherine is reporting and john to get reporting, to deal with healthcare and the debt ceiling, its a big challenge. Theres this First International trip coming up. Ive heard it described today as littered with minefields. Your thoughts on what this is they hope this will be and what it could be. In some respects, thats where they hope this can calm down. Theres concern about that. We had this incident here at the turkish ambassadors resident here. These are the types of concerns that they have. They want to see if President Trump can be president ial and do that on the world stage. Shepard breaking news. Senator marco rubio speaking live. Lets listen. Hes widely respected with his professionalism. He will conduct a fair and thorough investigation. Likewise, i have full confidence in the senate part. Just on the briefing, senator, is it your belief this has cross add threshold from a Counter Intelligence investigation that typically result in charges and this is a criminal case . I cant comment on the Justice Departments effort. Its in the hands of the special counsel. The Counter Intelligence parts moves forward. I dont think they need to be in conflict with one another. Is it your understanding that rosenstein knew james comey would be fired before he wrote the memo . Im not sure he addressed that. Senator mccaskill and Joe Lieberman is one of the candidate. Do you think he would be okay . I have great admiration in Joe Lieberman. Its the president s decision to make. The president just said that appointing a special counsel hurts our country terribly. Do you agree . Were a nation of laws. Were going to follow the law. Theres a special counsel. Everybody should cooperate so they can conduct their work and put forth an investigation that is thorough and fire and arrive at the truth. Senator, the president called this a witch hunt. Were a nation of laws and were going to follow the law. The president is entitled to his opinion. Its not a criticism. Thats a reality that our institutions work. The acting attorney general is recused on the russian matters. He has appointed special counsel, a person of high esteem and have respect for. Meanwhile, the senate will continue its work on the Counter Intelligence aspect of this matter. Everybody should fully cooperate. Senator, based only what you heard today, are you more comfortable or less comfortable than what has transpired in the last week . I dont know if its a level of comfort. Were a nation of laws and we have institutions irrespective of politics or peoples political views. The laws and rules will be followed. Thats whats happening now. Theres a special counsel that i believe will conduct a fair investigation that will establish fact and lead us to the truth wherever that may be. I have full confidence in the Senate Committee on intelligence and conducting its investigation of russian interference in our election. Senator graham said that would be sidelined. Its outside the pursue what do you think about the comey memo . Hes very careful on everything he said. Very limited on everything he said. As he said, he didnt want us to come out here and tell you. Look, i understand the desire of the Justice Department to ensure that no american is treated unfairly through disclosures and the like. I also understand that congress has an Important Role to play in oversight and in our constitutional authority. That should not be impeded and hopefully there wont be conflict. I have to go. One of the things that is striking about what we heard from senator rubio, seems to be some conflict with what we heard from senator mccaskill. Senat senator mccaskill said that he had known that fbi director james comey would be fired before he wrote his memo and made a recommendation. Senator rubio is saying that he didnt feel the Deputy Attorney general offered that definitive an answer. The Deputy Attorney general was careful in his language in part because he didnt want senators coming out here and making this information public. On this question of whether the investigation has crossed a threshold from a c. I. Case to a criminal case and whether it will impact congress, senator rubio said the russian probe can continue to go forward. Hes optimistic there will not be blocks as a result of the special counsel, shep. Shepard thanks, catherine. Well watch your remote to see if more senators arrive. You may have heard, the president had lunch with some of the Television News anchors including bret baier and our chief politics anchor. The president talks about news, special counsel overseeing the fbis investigation. Brett is with us from his studio on capitol hill. What was the tone of things, brett . What did it feel like . Well, i hit the, shep, it felt like the tweets that the president sent out this morning calling it a witch hunt. Calling it saying it was unnecessary. Think john roberts read the quote that we sent out from the lunch that was put on the record saying that it was divisive and that the president wanted the country to move on and to come together to achieve big things. I think thats the tone and tenor of the lunch. It was originally set up to forecast the foreign trip that he starts tomorrow night starting in saudi arabia. That information the white house is hoping to turn the page as you well know with all of the coverage. This first stop in riyadh will be 54 arab and Muslim Leaders pledging to fight tear rich. The saudis pledging 350 billion in weapons purchases from the u. S. , 163 billion in u. S. Investment with companies. All of the ceos that go on the trip as well. So the white house is really hoping that this trip changes shepard well get back to brett. Dick durbin is speaking live. I think at the outset, he gained a lot of support from his decision to appoint bob mueller as the special council when it couple to this investigation and any involvement by the trump campaign. Mueller is widely respected, smart, principle. Most of us that know him and worked with him for years believe he will always put country first. That is critical for credibility. Mr. Rosenstein answered a lot of questions but declined to answer a lot as well. Many of the questions he declined to answer came down to his concern with whether or not he would interfere with the investigation. So we left with more information but not all the information. Based on what you heard today, sir, do you believe that the Deputy Attorney general knew before he wrote that memo that james comey was going to be fired . Yes. What was it that he said he knew the day before. Did he indicate he was pressured to writing that memo . No. You heard from senator graham that said based on the briefing he believed this crossed from a Counter Intelligence investigation to a criminal investigation. Is that also your assessment . That is the possibility of director mueller to determine whether any laws have been broken and crimes committed. We have to leave it to him and trust him. I want to make that clear to everyone here. I thought the Deputy Attorney general rosenstein faced a stark decision. He could either appoint someone of the stature of director mueller or resigned to protect his own credibility as a professional prosecutor. He made the right decision in appointing mueller. Mueller has the responsibility to decide if a law has been broken. Will the special counsel did he explain why he decided to appoint a special counsel . Yes. To make sure the integrity of the department of justice was protected and to make certain the American People felt that this would be handled fair and justly. Can you state how the president planned to fire comey he didnt go into detail. Do the congressional investigations take a back seat theyre different investigations. Theyre Counter Intelligence investigations. Theyre critical investigations. I trust the Senate Intelligence committee will meet their responsibility. Theres more to be done. I think there should be an independent Bipartisan Commission that asks the fundamental question, what are we going to do the next time that putin comes after us on the election. What were the biggest Unanswered Questions a lot of questions about details. The role of attorney general sessions. In each instance he made it clear to us, he felt that this had the danger of going too far and getting information that bob mueller might need. The president has referred to the special counsel as a rich hunt. What do you make of it . Its an outrageous statement. Anybody that knows mueller and his service to the country in the military, a federal judge and as a director of the fbi, to characterize any undertaking by him as a witch hunt is unfair. Did he shed any light on the comey memo . The document no, no conversation about that. Was he asked about that . Not directly. Im done. Shepard senator john mccain coming out. We want to stay with this and listen for he im. Senator mccain, can you please take some questions . Senator mccain, can you please take some questions . Senator mccain. Senator mccain, can you come to the microphone, please . Shepard watching how the sausage is made is not always the most pleasant but the sausage is usually delicious. Go ahead, catherine. Do your work. Okay. So we were not able to hear what senator mccains read out on this was with the Deputy Attorney general. But we just heard from one of his senate colleagues, senator dick durbin. What he said, hes given us a date. He said based on the briefing that the Deputy Attorney general knew on may 8 that james comey would be fired. I have to grab my calendar to understand how that syncs up with the other data points here and the timing of the writing of the memo. The senator has just told us that it was may 8, that was the date that the Deputy Attorney general knew already what the outcome would be with the former fbi director, james comey. He was a little less definite. Its one of these situations that everybody hears something different. He was a little less definite about this idea that it had crossed a threshold to a criminal investigation and that this would negatively impact their investigations on the senate side into the russian alleged contacts with the trump campaign. But he did indicate again, one of the themes that has come out of the stakeout today that the special counsel, the former fbi director, Robert Mueller has a broad scope in this investigation. If it leads to criminal charges, he will pursue them. That i think is what the Chilling Effect is that the other senators have talked about. It may limit people from publicly coming to testify open the hill and to provide documents and other evidence because they they may face real legal jeopardy. The tone of every senator who has come out and spoken has been extremely very sobersided, very serious. Senator rubio, i dont know if this came across in our discussions from the stakeout but seemed a little unnerved but what he had heard and what is transpiring right now. I cant speak with the senator but that is my sense being close and putting our questions the him. Shepard very interesting. Thanks for the observations. To bret baier who had a lunch with the president and other anchors. I feel like, bret, whether for him or against him, how is he holding up . The wagons are circling. You wouldnt know that, shep, sitting at the table. It was the same donald trump we saw in the campaign talking to reporters. It was the same. Trump we saw before the joint address. As you can imagine, he has he talked about a wide range of things. As you can imagine, the questions ran the gamut. A lot of it was off the record. What was on the read and ill read it again, john roberts i think referenced it earlier, but this is the president asked about the choice of special prosecutor and Robert Mueller. He said it hurts our country terribly that shows were mixed up, not unified. We have important things to be doing whether its trade deals, military, stopping nuclear, all the things we discussed today. I think this show as very divided country. It happens to be a pure excuse for the democrats having lost an election that they should have easily won because of the Electoral College being slanted so much their way. Thats all this is. I think it shows division, shows were not together as a country and i think its a very, very negative thing and hopefully this can go quickly because we have to show unity if were going to get great things done with respect to the rest of the world. Its the rest of the world, shep, that theyre focusing on now. They see, Senior Administration officials see, a lot of positive feedback from world leaders, not just in the middle east and the arab countries, but also along these stops as they get to the nato conference and the g7 and they think theyll cobble together this trip to turn the page and turn the narrative. As you can imagine on capitol hill, the focus is laser focused on where this is all going. Shepard stay if you can. I want to go back to capitol hill. Listening live. Did somebody review the memo saying that they should be the provence of mr. Muellers investigation. Like totally backed away from ever going there. Did he give you the day of may 8 . Did he tell you may 8 was the day, the point at which he knew that james comey would be terminated . I missed the beginning of his opening statement. I can not say for sure. Is it your impression based on the briefing this has cross add threshold from a Counter Intelligence to a criminal matter . He stressed this is an investigation. He didnt go beyond that. He said to say that it went beyond that would prejudiced peoples opinion as to the nature of it. Theres no predetermination that someone committed a crime. Will the appointment of a special counsel negatively impact congresss ability to investigate . That was never raised. Is it your understanding that rosenstein new that comey would be fired from before he wrote that memo . He did comment that the president has made such statements. The president has said that a special counsel would hurt our country terribly. Do you agree . I dont think it hurts our country. What do you make of that . That the president knew he was going to fire comey before he had a conversation with rosenstein about writing the memo . Rosenstein said nothing was final until it was final. You can imagine the president saying i want to fire the guy. But until it happens do you think the president directed him to write the memo . I dont recall that. The white house said the president made it his decision to write the memo based on rosensteins memo. Turns out that was incorrect. That was raised as a point and he deferred the rest of the exploration of that to mr. Mueller. What is your view of a potential nomination of Joe Lieberman to be fbi director . Ive not heard that. Hes emerged as a leading candidate. Thats interesting. Democrats said that he didnt think a politician should be nominated. So i suppose joe qualified as a politician, but maybe, you know, you have to define politician. Mr. Mueller is going to look into the firing of comey . Senator leahy, do you have a comment . The attorney general knew that i felt before i went to the briefing that the public deserves a strong, open public oversight by the congress and how russia had tried to influence our country and whether they still try to influence our country. That would be dangerous. We should go ahead with that. Robe Robert Mueller is a good man, an honest man. Ive known him for years. I think the appointment of Robert Mueller was a very good 1. But as good as that appointment is, theres a lotbetter. It does not leave the congress and the house to say, okay, our job is done. We dont have to investigate this. We do. Does a special counsel make that independent investigation tougher Going Forward . No. We have two different things. The special counsel will do their investigation. They have tools and abilities that Congress Might not have. But the American Public has every reason to wonder what is happening to our government. Why are we being manipulated by russia, a country that does not have our best interests at heart. Thank you, senator. Shepard senator cardin now. No, this is john cornyn. They are all lined up it would appear. Your take away we just got through with a very important briefing from the Deputy Attorney general who has appointed Robert Mueller the former director of the fbi to head up the investigation into the russian issue. One of the issues i raised with him is my concern that we have multiplicity of congressional committees investigating this same matter and how can we best coordinate those activities with director mueller and the fbi so we dont interfere or impede his investigation. We understand the importance of the executive branch doing their end of director mueller doing this investigation. We dont want to do anything to get in the way. But it seems to me that with all of the various oversight investigations occurring in the Senate Intelligence committee, the judiciary committee, subcommittees of those committees, that that is a train wreck waiting to help. So im hoping that we can get through the majority leader and perhaps senator, the democratic leader, some sort of agreement what will be Deputy Attorney general rosenstein asked for, which is a single point of contact so we can coordinate and facilitate this. Is other problem is, we could well just inadvertently impede an investigation and basically make it impossible for them to take the matter to court. We dont want to do that. Would you be surprised to learn that the president had already decided to fire james comey and told rosenstein that before he handed him the memo . The fbi director serves at the president s pleasure. So hes not limited in terms of the rationale for it. My understanding that that was one of the rationales but not the complete rationale. Initially the white house said i cant that wasnt me. I heard the same thing you heard. Senator, you removed yourself from the consideration of fbi direct or the. We understand that Joe Lieberman has merged at the top of the list. An acceptable nomination should it happen . I think in a very divided nations capitol and a very divided country, Joe Lieberman is probably the only person that can get 100 votes in the senate. Hes wellrespected. The president said this is a witch hunt, appointing a special counselor could hurt our country. Do you agree . What i interpret his saying is regard to his activities. Theres no basis to it. Clearly russia was very much involved in trying to undermine Public Confidence in our elections. Its a serious enough matter that were conducting a broad bipartisan investigation on the Senate Intelligence committee that i sit on giving access to the most sensitive evidence. So were taking this serious. Are you u. Suggesting they sh narrow down the investigation . No. Theres a lot of requests from the fbi and the department of justice. So we need to coordinate with the special counsel how we seek witnesses, documents and that sort of thing. You can imagine if theyre getting multiple requests from all sorts of committees that it will be a lot of confusion and delay. I dont think its in anybodys interest to delay or impede or impair this investigation. So the congressional inve investigation can continue thats right. But were not the fbi or the department of justice. Were conducting oversight investigations. Thats i think our appropriate role. Shepard the news is like an avalanche coming down a mountain. Bret baier has been with the president. The president seems like himself. Yes. Pretty undeterred it seems to move forward. The big news today so far is that he is going to make a decision soon on fbi director that Joe Lieberman, former senator from connecticut, democrat, is the leading candidate. And that you just heard from the Deputy Attorney general and from senators saying that he knew that comey was going to be fired. Remember, that just in context, President Trump said that to lester holt, too in the nbc interview. He said he had decided long ago he said to fire james comey and thought that that would be a popular thing to do with democrats who had criticized comey throughout. Shepard brett, thanks a lot. Well like for you tonight as always. 6 00 eastern, 3 00 pacific on special report. Chad, just a quick word. Down to almost no time. But Joe Lieberman . You have to remember that Joe Lieberman was a democrat. He lost his primary. He became an independent. Hes not apolitical, his polypolitical. Chad, brett and all the game, Catherine Herridge and the rest, thanks very much. The dow is up at the end of the session. Closing bell is wronging and the markets will close in 10 seconds. Im Shepard Smith in new york. To you and yours, the best of afternoons. Your world with neil cavuto is next. Fox news channel. Fair and balanced. Neil shepard, and amazing tribute to our former boss of roger ailes. I want to get into more developments that roger loved so much. Two quick developments. Were following all of these senators that have just met with Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney general that just appointed Robert Mueller, the former fbi director to look into the ties between the trump folks and russia. They seem to be welcoming this appointment and