Learned what was going on yesterday. Your thoughts, your reporting since then . Look, im still the same reaction, im just still stunned by the news. Although when it comes to donald trump, you learn no longer to be shocked. Theres not a lot of political sense this makes. You cannot figure out if this makes any sense unless the motivation is one thing delay or put off the Russian Investigation. You cant help but look at it through that prism under any other. Look, two things were true. James comey had lost credibility with democrats and republicans. 40 minutes before this news was announced, i had Richard Blumenthal on yesterday. I asked him if he had confidence in comey. He wouldnt say that he did. Diane feinstein last week walked the line. Frankly, democrats would have been more over the last two weeks, would have called for his resignation if they felt comfortable that donald trump would appoint somebody that they thought they would feel comfortable with at the fbi. So that is you thought comeys job was safe because politically no one felt comfortable calling for his removal because of where he was at that moment. But now, look, its clear, President Trump did this in a way that was a bit i would say harried is he knew it was something he wanted to do. It was something hes been thinking about a while. I dont think he sought a lot of internal advice. Yeah, i was going to say a lot of folks were walking and shell shocked yesterday. If youve spent time talking with donald trump the last week, whether a reporter or a supporter and you talk to folks, hes been pondering this in the way he does those things. But i dont think staff took it as seriously perhaps as suddenly there it went. Now, a more sensitive question. Its been said over and over, donald trump took a different route to the presidency than i guess pretty much every other occupant of the presidency. Most of them kind of studied up on american history, because it was their line of work. Studied up on the presidency and all things federal government. Can it be said that he maybe had not immersed himself in the notion of tenyear terms, maybe had not thought through what a big story this would be, that taking out the fbi director is a thing that we tend to cover very closely if he did ill tell you this, he is surprised that there respect more democrats greeting this with, well, comey deserved it. He thought he would get more on that. That seems to surprise him a little bit. But somebody close to him said, youve got to remember, theres certain rules about donald trump that you have to remember. One of them is, he doesnt run from controversy, he runs to it. Because he believes ultimately controversy can help elevate an issue. And controversy can stir the pot and can buy time. And he never and if you think about his career, thats how thats been his philosophy. And thats how hes worked. So this is why conventional political advice, he would get it. He usually shuns it. Because the conventional political advise, dont touch him. You need to wait. You need to wait until theres more cause. You need to create a process and you need to know who youre going to replace him with. All of those things. And hes seeing it as an opportunity that nope, i think ive been wronged here. Im willing to elevate him and have this fight on my terms, because you 2340e whknow what . The people around me have done a poor job defending me on russia. So i do believe hes frustrated there isnt more people defending him on this, and hes im going to take matters into my own hands. If you look at his past, is hit m. O. Do you think he would agree the morning after, that taking out the guy, rightly or wrongly, that cast himself in his own movie as elliott ness, has used this controversy to elevate all things russia . He would never admit this was a mistake. He will never, ever go down that road. So the answer is no, i dont think he would wake up this morning. He sees it as, well, i got rid of comey and guess what . I slowed down the investigation yet again. Yes, i have elevated it. But guess what . Its going to take a while to get back on track. Chuck todd with us here. Kelly odonnell is standing by on a beautiful string day on the white house lawn. And so kelly, pick right up at the where we left off in our conversation. We do have the matter of this threepage letter saying this is happening because he was mean to Hillary Clinton. Well, based on my reporting, brian, ive been hearing the president did in fact believe there would be democrats who, based on those actions during the Hillary Clinton email investigation, would say in effect that this was a just dismissal. However, the timing. The white house surprised by the fact that given the timing and give given the new responsibilities since the election of this russian interference investigation, under which that has happened with comey, how quickly they would turn to be defenders of comey. That surprise jolted the white house. At the same time, a lot of frustration at the white house that there has not been more focus on things like how did information about Michael Flynns conversation with the Russian Ambassador that generated the warning to the white house from the department of justice, how did that end up in the news media . The leaks as the president would say. His frustration that has not been investigated. And that the questions to people like former director of National Intelligence james clapper, who said he was aware of no collusion between Trump Associates and russia during the election, that that wasnt getting more attention. So one of the things that can be the unintended consequences sometimes of President Trumps actions, he does like the controversy and shaking things up. But sometimes he expands the oxygen given to a topic, instead of moving on. So back when Michael Flynn was asked to submit his resignation, there were those in the white house that thought that would turn the page. No longer part of the trump administration, over and done. Thats not been the case. Today, just to give you some of the choreography of the white house, there was no public event scheduled where the president would interact with reporters. There was a high profile, close door meeting with serge lavrov that happened behind the scenes. We have learned that the Russian News Agency was permitted inside, not those from the u. S. White house press pool. So that is an issue that causes some consternation around here. That was off camera. And then there was a hurryup, collect the pool, the group of rotating reporters and photographers, hurry up and get to the oval office where there was a meeting with henry kissinger, who served as secretary of state and former National Security adviser to president nixon. And that is where President Trump said when responding to a question that he thinks that james comey just wasnt doing a good job. Kelly, i almost have to physically restrain chuck todd from jumping across the desk. You just did report, kelly, theres one news agency allowed in the trumplavrov meeting and it belonged to vladamir putin . Reporter one might say its an extension of the russian delegation. But yes, that is our understanding. We have been waiting for an official White House Photo of the meeting between lavrov and President Trump. So far, the only visual image of that has come from the russian side. So there are questions about that, and why that took place, given the fact that it was a closed meeting. Im sorry, that would be a rejected plot line in house of cards. You cant make that up. Andrea mitchell . Well, not only was the u. S. Wires and others kept out, this is a Government Agency from russia. And the Russian Foreign minister tweeted out the pictures of the president and lavrov immediately. We were told we were going to get a White House Photo. They immediately tweeted out those pictures within minutes. So the russians had it all out globally. Well, the White House Press corps was kept out. Its unprecedented. Kristen welker, who also covers the white house today happens to be on capitol hill. Kristen, i guess this will put to rest any complaints about press access, because after all, they were allowed in. Reporter well, of course, those questions are just going to continue and undoubtedly my fellow colleagues at the white house have been pushing back againsthat toughout the day. In terms of what happenedere on capitol hill, the headlines we had a chance to ask Vice President mike pence about all of this. This is an administration in damage control for all of the reasons chuck and andrea and kelly were laying out. This president did underestimate the sharp backlash he was going to get. He hasnt answered significant questions from the press. It was really his Vice President who answered the most substantive series of questions. In fact, his aides were wrapping him and he continued to stand there and answer our questions. At the center of this, questions about whether or not the president fired director comey to try to tamp down the investigation into russia. I put that question to the Vice President. Take a look at that exchange. And i believe that was the wrong video. I did ask Vice President mike pence if the president took this action to tamp down the Russian Investigation and now we do have that sound. Lets take a look. Did the president fire director comey to impede the Russian Investigation . Well, as you know very clearly, as has been stated repeatedly and the president has been told, hes not under investigation. Reporter so a swift pushback there. We put a number of other questions to the Vice President , including if President Trump directed the acting ane general toook into the fbi, into director comey, and he st of punted on that question. So i think thats a point that youre going to see a lot of reporters come back to, as well as the timeline, why now . That is something thats being criticized, not only by democrats but republicans as well. And the Vice President saying that this was the right decision for the right time. Pu thats but thats going to be at the center of this. If President Trump had a problem with james comey, why didnt he fire him when he first got into office . Ive been talking to lawmakers here on capitol hill. The conversation has revolved around whether there should be a special prosecutor appointed at this point, given all of these questions about the russia investigation. Not surprisingly, a number of democrats have said yes. What is significant is that you have more and more democrats saying theyre going to hold up their vote for an fbi director until they see a special prosecutor appointed. So they see that as a bargaining chip. That includes senator warner and senator blumenthal. We havent heard any republicans say that yet. But thats where were going to be focused. There have been a number of republicans who have been critical of the timing of this, including senator burr, as well as senator sass and senator kennedy, who said the timing of all of this was less than impeccable. Senator tim kaine, Hillary Clintons former running mate, was asked if this was a constitutional crisis. He wouldnt go that far, but he said its certainly a test of our constitution. Kristen welker, thanks. Pete williams was part of our coverage as the words started to filter in to us early last night, and then late last night as the now former fbi director comey was on a private jet back to washington. Pete, i wonder if youve had time to take a breath and sum up what weve just witnessed, considering this man and the fbi in general, department of justice even more largely,s a huge part of your beat and has been in washington. You said on the air last night that hes got to get back in his office and get all his stuff. But also among the stuff of the fbi director are file drawers that are safes and a whole lot of secure information. And its not too early to ask how that transition works. Thats already under way, brian. There is now an acting director of the fbi, andrew mckab. Hes been in the fbi for 21 years and he was chosen by james comey to be the deputy director. So hes now in charge and somebody who had james comeys confidence. So that transition has been fairly straightforward. The Justice Department has been talking to several people, all of them fbi insiders, who they say would be possible interim fbi directors. So theyre looking at the possibility of putting someone in charge, perhaps mccabe. Apparently they anticipate its going to take some time to get a new fbi director nominee put forward, and ultimately confirmed. So apparently they dont want to just go along with the acting director. These are the five people. Adam lee is the special agent in charge of the richmond office, michael anderson, in charge of chicago. Mccabe is now the acting. So theyre all looking at these for fbi interim director. A bit of a back and forth today, brian, on whether or not james comey discussed with the Deputy Attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, the man who wrote that memorandum summarizing why comey should be fired of his handling of the clinton email investigations. Weve been told by several people, congressional people, that james comey told members of congress that last week, in the past week, he had met with Rod Rosenstein, and asked for more resources, specifically for the investigation of russias influence on the election, and any possible connection to Trump Campaign staffers. The Justice Department is strongly pushing back saying no, there was no such request for those resources met. So you have the Justice Department telling us that comey did not request more resources than the investigation. You have people on the hill telling us he told members of congress that he did. So theres a bit of a disconnect there. But i can tell you, brian, despite in addition to or however you want to put it, to matter what the Justice Department and the white house are saying, theres a very strong feeling at the fbi that james comey was fired, because he wouldnt back off on the russia investigation. That feeling permeates the place today. Pete williams, our justice spo correspondent. Pete, thank you. Andrea mitchell, 1 16 p. M. Were coming up on a scheduled 1 30 start for the White House Briefing. Because its germane in this new world we live in, you have a snippet of an interview today with vladamir putin, who is very much a part of the news, and a part of the conversation in this country. Well, of course, the irony of the Russian Foreign minister being in washington, seeing the president at the very moment that the russia investigation is front and center did not escape anyone, including serge lavrov. I asked him today whether it was going to overshadow the talks at the state department and white house. He said, was comey fired . Youre kidding, joking of course. But vladamir putin was playing hockey, and was asked by cbs news, i believe, about the Russian Investigation. Here was his response. I believe its translated later into english. Lets roll that. How will the firing of james comey affect u. S. russian relations . Reporter there will be no effect. Your question looks very funny for me. We have nothing to do with that. President trump is act in accordance with his law, the constitution. What about us, why us . So vladamir putin is the guy in the hockey uniform. His spokesman to the right, it was a little hard to hear. He basically said there will be no effect. President trump is acting in accordance with his law and constitution. And what about us . You see im going to play hockey with the hockey stick and i invite you to do the same. A very Interesting Exchange in russia today. But very clearly also the fact that the president and vladamir putin are both denying russias involvement in trying to interfere with the u. S. Election. But even republicans on capitol hill disagree with the president on that. Richard burr and other key players, the head of the intelligence committee, lindsey graham, all agree that russia needs to be investigated. The only question now, who is going to do it now that james comey is gone. Brian . Vladamir hookey vladamir putin in a hockey uniform. Ill get it right. This is the world were living in. Andrea mitchell, thanks. You can see our other guests waiting to come on with us. Were going to fit in a break. When we come back, our coverage will lead up to the beginning of the White House Briefing today, to be conducted by Sarah Huckabee sanders. Ur whole day s. Awww. Try this. For minor arthritis pain, only aleve can stop pain for up to 12 straight hours with just one pill. Thank you. Come on everybody. You cant quit, neither should your pain reliever. Stay all day strong with 12 hour aleve. Thereit comes to technology, about my Small Business so when i need someone that understands my unique needs. My dell Small Business advisor has gotten to know our business so well that is feels like hes a part of our team. With one phone call, he sets me up with tailored products and services. And when my advisor is focused on my tech, i can focus on my Small Business. Wesh back with our live rolling coverage, and we have if the White House Briefing goes off as scheduled, were seven minutes away from that. No knock on this white house, but very few of these briefings go off at their scheduled start time. Its just the kind of event that kind of slides. You know you have a captive audience, those of us covering and watching at home. And you know the reporters are not likely to just get up and leave the Briefing Room prior to the event. So youll see the familiar faces of correspondent there is in the front row, talking to their respective networks. Robby mook is with us, Campaign Manager for the Hillary Clinton effort. It was in this very studio during the five to six hours yesterday, we were just coming to grips with this news, just looking at this threepage letter from the Deputy Attorney general over at justice. Pretty much blaming the dismissal of comey on his mistreatment of your candidate and email record. You went on social media yesterday to say it was the Twilight Zone and that this terrifies you. Why is that . Well, first of all its terrifying that the president this is now the third person in the Law Enforcement community who has been fired who was undertaking investigations into mr. Trumps campaign or his associates. But secondly, the idea that he would think that the American People are gullible enough to think that the reason he fired the director yesterday was that he was trying to help Hillary Clinton is so patently absurd, its scare yes that the president thinks he can get away with that. I think focus at this point has to be all on the congress. This investigation has can no longer be trusted within this administration. The congress itself has been unable to conduct a meaningful investigation itself. This has to go to an independent prosecutor. But i think theres a bigger question about the constitution. And you have a president who is trying to hold himself above and beyond the law. He fires anybody who he thinks is looking too closely at what he or his associates did. And, you know, 7th grade civics class here, another branch of government has to step in and check him. I was honestly saddened today that leader mcconnell decided it wasnt worth doing the right thing, that are not going to have a special investigation into this. And im just very worried. I hope that democrats and republicans in the congress who want to do the right thing continue to protest until this gets to an independent entity. Because elections have consequences, its interesting. The democrats are on the Minority Side and the senate and house, there was talk last night they were going to block any vote on a new fbi director until a special prosecutor was named. But the options are now limited as you point out. Exactly. Honestly, thats what is distressing about this. I just dont understand at this point what the what mr. Mcconnell or some of these other Republican Leaders think their job is. If all they do is rubber stamp what this president does and he becomes more autocratic every day, why do we even have a congress. What is the point of having different branches of government if theyre unwilling to check each other. A lot of republicans are looking deep inside and making the decision that their country and constitution, to which they swore an oath by the way, is more important than their partisanship. Some people may lose their jobs or an election or the primary. I just think the honorable thing to do here is to step up and do whats right because i do not think history is going to look kindly upon mr. Mcconnell or any other leaders about any party who tried to prevent the right thing from happening here. And it will happen eventually. I trust the system will work. But i dont know what some of these members of congress think their job is. If its not to hold the president accountable regardless of his or her party. Robby mook, thank you very much for being part of our coverage this afternoon. We appreciate it. Robby mook appearing from capitol hill. Katie, to the question everyone had initially yesterday, why nowsome that is the big qution its a question thats remained unanswered by this white house. They havent come up with a sufficient answer. Ive been speaking to associates of donald trump, aides of donald trump, and they say this should have happened on day one, he should have fired him after he was inaugurated. After all, comey was somebody who was a target from both parties. Up and down during the campaign. He did not do so, there by giving him his full confidence. Last week, sean spicer said comey had Donald Trumps full confidence. So what happened in the last few days . This is a large question. We have our own reporting that said fbi director comey went to the Justice Department, went to Rod Rosenstein and said listen, we need some more resources. The doj is pushing back on that, but were standing by our reporting when it comes to that. Was donald trump just watching a lot of television and seeing the russian news not go away . Did he just get fed up in after all, all of those statement tas were put out yesterday by the doj, the deputy a. J. , and donald trump were stated yesterday. So was this happening for some time . Deputy a. G. Rod rosenstein was only in office for a couple weeks. Did he really come in and decide to take this review on his own . So there are a lot of very big questions. But if you go back to the campaign, brian, youll notice that President Trump used director comeys press conference and the reopening of the investigation to his vantage, quite of especially when he reopened tt investigation. We have to remember at that time where the campaign was. They were still reeling from the access hollywood tape. They were being barraged with various accusations from women about donald trump inappropriately touching them. They were pushing back on all of this. The poll numbers were sinking. They were seriously worried about this campaign cratering. Donald trump was on a teleprompter all the time. He was starting to come up with broader conspiracy theorys about a global conspiracy to make sure he doesnt get into office by the banks, the media, the democrats, by Hillary Clinton, et cetera. And this breathed new life into his campaign, the reopening of this investigation. He praised it. Jeff sessions, who was a Campaign Adviser at the time, praised it on fox business. Now they are saying that they think what he did is inappropriate and using that as their excuse to fire him. Katy tur, who will be watching with us. Weve reached the 1 30 mark. Theres no end case it is imminent. Well get some indication when the press aides come through the blue door to the left there of john roberts. And usually theres an announcement. We can see nbcs hally jackson standing by. So the gentlemen in the studio with us, hugh hewitt is here with us. And Princeton University professor eddie glau. Hew, we are of a certain age. We remember the words the soviet news agency tass, that would be the mouthpiece of the government. Can you possibly defend their admission, their allowance into that event today at the white house . And larger question, what is going on here . Only if american reporters are allowed in on equal access. They are not an arm of the delegation, they are a news ency. And if theyre going to be in the oval, that is a mistake by the press team that needs to be corrected. What is going on here is not the saturday night massacre. True. And i think we agree there are some there are no tapes or subpoenas. In fact, there is a recommendation from the Justice Department. There was an exchange between patry leahy and james comey. Rod rosenstein is where i think we begin reporting. Hes a Deputy Attorney general, the direct report from the fbi director. He made the recommendation. I trust hes not part of a coverup of the russian collusion. Do you believe that threepage leter . Very much. In fact, i know many of the people mentioned in that letter. Its the Deputy AttorneyGenerals Club referencing. And i think we might see mark phillip, former Deputy Attorney general, be the new fbi director. But i believe every argument in there because theyve been made to me by former prosecutors since last july. The fbi does not make decisions about prosecuting. He overstepped, and in that memo there is a rebuke to him, you ought to have admitted it by now. Professor, you heard the man. It doesnt appear this is about the Russian Investigation, but he was mean to Hillary Clinton. Do you buy it . Absolutely not. If this was really the rational for firing comey, it seems like it should have happened earlier. I think we need to be very careful in terms of how democrats are defending this issue. Theyre not defending comey, i dont think. I think what theyre doing is defending the integrity of the process, and theyre defending the constitution in this instance. And comey just happens to be the vehicle for that defense. But i want to be very clear. It seems to me that theres a convergence of too many factors, the three people he fired, the subpoenas issued. We can go down to Michael Flynn, sa peeng ubpoenas issued around flynn. Just too much converging it seems to me. Chuck todd indicated in his years of knowledge about this president that this was part and parcel of the package you get. This was donald trump acting perhaps on impulse, perhaps on anger. Perhaps mindful of the consequences, though it certainly looked like the entire west wing was scrambling a little bit surprised that when you fire the fbi director, who has a tenyear term for a reason, theres going to be some hubbub in the press. Theres only been one fbi director fired for reason before. Unless people are willing to say Rod Rosenstein was part of a coverup, it is impossible to get to where the professor is going. It is possible for me to see i have an opportunity to get rid of comey. I have this wonderful memo. Cant that threepage letter be true without ergo theres a coverup . Thats what people need to get to. Rod rosenstein made a recommendation to fire comey. It arrived on the president s desk and he agreed. But that is not the orchestration of a coverup. You dont find the timing suspicious . No. I trust Rod Rosenstein because hes a life long prosecutor in the Justice Department who served president obama for eight years. Ari covers legal issues for us. You went into this last night. You just found some curious elements of the threepage letter from the Justice Department. Starting with the date. Yeah. The date of the letter suggs that suggests it arrived and the president immediately made this decision. There are things that not everyone is a bad, il moral person. But it strains credibility when you look at that letter to think that was a fulsome process of a Deputy Attorney general in the first twoeeks that involved policy. Lets not forget that nowhere in that letter does really deal with the fact that theres an open internal watch dog investigation of the very issue that is purportedly the reason for the termination. That is more than odd. That is totally without precedent in the removal of fbi directors. The only other one removed was after the completion of a process. Ari, to my other point, and we dont mean to split hairs here, can both be true . Can the gist of the threepage letter be true that he went beyond his scope and his responsibilities, but can it also be true that has nothing at all to do with why he was fired . That could be true, as you put it. It could also be a contributing or mixed factor. So we dont know. I just think the letter leaves more questions than answers. And any lawyer can say it doesnt look like the normal process. This is an organization, a federal bureau of fbi and the department of justice that are interested eed and committed t process. Senator warn heer of virgini and senator burr of north carolina, senator warner has been taking reporters questions. I think thats still going on. Perhaps we can listen in. The attorney general has to recuse himself and the Deputy Attorney general, who i voted for but then ended up in his First Official act firing the guy who was supposed to lead the investigation and in effect, he was supposed to oversee. And then to put forward this memo that was laughable that somehow theyre firing him because what he did with clinton means to me that if we dont get a special prosecutor, and that special prosecutor ought to be appointed by someone who is a senior career official, not another one of these political appointees. The fbi is the department of justice is saying that director comey never asked for more resources. Is that incorrect . Wouldnt that be a good idea for him to come in and testify to that issue . [ speaking Foreign Language ] all right. We were listen thing to senator warner. Democrat Tammy Baldwin from wisconsin, fellow senator, has been listening to this and waiting to be part of our coverage. Senator, i want to ask you about republicans and urge you to name names. On the other side of the aisle, you guys are in the minority. So on the other side of the aisle, who are you looking to among your colleagues to step up and be ait of a profile and encourage here . Because you have been handed an extraordinary circumstance. Theres no question. And we can never lose sight of the underlying issue here, which is russia, a hostile power, has influenced and interfered with our democracy. It continues to do so. And so i actually would call on all of my republican colleagues to put country above party. It is only one part of a larger investigation that looks at trumps close affiliates and their ties to russia, whether it involves colluding with the russians to interfere in our elections, or just being compromised because of their financial or other relationships there. But this overall investigation into russias continuing interference in our democracy is vital. Of course, the activities of donald trump over the last 24 hours, the firing, et cetera, also raises concerns and anxieties about the rule of law in the united states. He just removed the top cop on the job of this russia investigation. We have to have confidence that this is going to continue. And i agree with senator warren, who just said that we need a special prosecutor to be tapped for this task. They have be totally independent. Ow with the concerns that have been raised, you know, with Jeff Sessions recusal, and now with Rod Rosenstein being brought into question after he was asked by comey to put Additional Resources into this investigation, i think it should be the top Civil Service prosecutor in the department of justice who names that special prosecutor. How do you think senator mcconnell has behaved so far in this . You know, i am very concerned that he has not taken the underlying question with the seriousness that it requires. Again, russia has interfered with our democracy. Weve seen in europe that they continue to do the same thing there. Theres no reason to believe thats going to stop unless we get to the bottom of it. Senator Tammy Baldwin, thank you very much for being part of our coverage from capitol hill. Well continue to watch this. 1 41 p. M. We were looking at a 1 30 start time. To be candid about it, no one thought we would be under way at 1 30, including all the people connected with this broadcast and in our studio. So the time is sliding. Well continue tour live coverage on the other side of a break. More people than ever are making the move to nissan. Because of rogue, the best selling suv in america. Titan, with americas best truck warranty. And the most advanced safety features on altima and other best selling models. Thats why were americas fastestgrowing auto brand. Get 0 financing for up to 72 months on 11 models. Adult 7 promotes alertness and mental sharpness in dogs 7 and older. ray the difference has been incredible. She is much more aware. She wants to learn things. vo purina pro plan bright mind. Nutrition that performs. [customer] have you ever walkedp into the paint store feeling like you should really know more than you know . Satin versus semigloss, and. I dont know [team member] yes. 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Tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. Or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired eling, or blurry vision. Common side efcts are dizziness, sleepiness, weig gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. Dont drink alcohol while taking lyrica. Dont drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. Those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. With less pain, i can be more active. Ask your doctor about lyrica. Chairman burr and i sent out a joint request to former director comey to appear before senate intel next tuesday, may 16th. Weve not heard back. We just sent out the letter this morning. He was scheduled to testify before the committee tomorrow, along with all the other heads of the intelligence community. And so my hope is, hell take advantage of this opportunity. Senator warner of virginia, in the hallway on the hill, moments ago. And it becomes so important now, say nothing of the republican majority in the senate, but how the democrats behave, how many different pages they are on. And what they decide their strategy should be. You may recognize a new entrant into our conversation, and thats matt miller, former spokesman for the Justice Department under eric holder. Matt, given your past and the fact that we are waiting for sah Huckabee Sanders for a briefing at the white house, how would you counsel todays briefer . Sean spicer is off on naval duty, but to treat the threepage letter yesterday saying were firing the head of the fbi because he was mean to Hillary Clinton. Well, i think the answer would be to tell the truth about it. The explanation we got from the white house last night asks us to believe that Rod Rosenstein, in his first two weeks in the job, decided to conduct this review all on his own accord. That seems unlikely to me. I dont know why a Deputy Attorney general would come into office and immediately decide to take on this enormous, controversial task. Apparently it defies common sense. If this was not something that was from the bottom up, from rosenstein going to sessions, going to the president , but rather reverse engineered, as i suspect it was, when i came up with the decision first when i looked tat best way to justify it. They should just come clean now, because Rod Rosenstein is going to have to testify before congress eventually, and theyre going get asked and have to answer under oath. So they better just get the truth out. Our 1 30 eastern briefing has just been called for something closer to 1 50 eastern time. Live picture ofhe Briefing Room in the west wing. On the far left is a blue door that slides open and closed. On the other side of that is something called the lower press office, not designated due to rank or importance, just because its down a slanted hallway from the upper press office. And the press secretary traditionally is waiting just behind that door. The twominute warning has been given. Again, Sarah Huckabee sanders will be the briefer. Sean spicer, from time to time, has taken days off to pursue and fulfill his duty in the u. S. Naval reserve. That duty has been carried out over at the pentagon. And here is todays White House Briefing. Quiet crowd. Slow day today. Thats what i 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. Ive got a few announcements here at the top before i take questions. I have an update on the tunnel collapse at the Nuclear Waste site in washington state. The incident is moving from the emergency phase towards the recovery phase. We remain confident at this point that theres been no indication of worker exposure or an airborne radiological release. Personnel began taking steps to fill the hole last night. D we expect the efforts to be completed today. The site remains closed to nonessential personnel. Dedicated experts on the ground are looking closely at what next steps should be taken with respect to mitigating future tunnel breaches. In 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 about an hour ago, and i would 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 meeting with local officials to comply with the president s executive order that ordered a review of National Monument designations. The secretary also 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. And secretary devos is in dayta beach, florida to deliver the commencement address at Bethune Cookman university. The university is a great example of the top notch education hbcu has historically provided and continue to provide to their students, and 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 former fbi director james comey. The president in recent months lost confidence in director comey. The dea lost confidence in comey. The bipartisan intelligence made clear they had lost confidence in comey. Accordingly the president accepted the recommendation of his Deputy Attorney general to remove james comey from his position. Before the news broke, the president spoke to several members of congress to inform them of his decision. Those members 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 senator goodloe. In addition to the news out of the white house today, its also my daughter scarlets 14th birthday. Im the first to wish her a happy birthday. Out of that, i think she would agree you guys are incredibly nice. And now i will take your questions. I have some broader questions for you. Yes or no, did the president direct Rob Rosenstein to write this memo on james comey. No, the president , again, lost confidence in director comey, and 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 in their recommendation in writing, which is the letter that you guys have received. So its the white houses assertion that Rob Rosenstein decided on his own, after being confirmed, to review comeys performance . Yes, and i think america had decided on their own that director comey was not the person that should be leading the fbi based on numerous comments weve heard from the house, the senate, members of the fbi and across the board. Rosenstein sa, it is said, w told something different. Heskedim to put that recommendation in writing but they came to him on their own. The president lost confidence in comey from the day he was elected. On may 3rd, he said he had full confidence in his fbi director. Why did he say that . Again, hes questioned director comeys reason for needing to stay at the fbi. He had countless conversations with members from within the fbi. I think one of the big catalysts that 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 that he would not let them know what he was going to say, and that is simply not allowed. And somebody like the Deputy Attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, who everybody across the board, has unequivocally said this guy is a man of upstanding 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 thats what he did. What about the Russian Investigation . Does it have to do with the investigation into russia. How do you respond to this . Well get back to that, im sure. As you stand at the podium right now, you say the preside lost confidence in comey in the last weeks or months. We thought this was all rosensteins doing. When was it that the president lost confidence in james comey . What was the i think it was an erosion of confidence. I think director comey has shown over the last several months, and frankly the last year, a lot of missteps and mistakes, and certainly i think that, as youve 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 this since theyve been calling for it for so long. I have another one i need to ask you, too. I think theres a twoquestion limit around here. Follow on that, you said that he made a lot of missteps and mistakes. Back at the end of october, this president was applauding the fbi director when he reopened the investigation into Hillary Clintons emails. He seemed quite happy with him at that point. What changed . Well, i think the president s position. One, he was a candidate for president , not the president. Those are two very different things. Once you take over leading the department of justice, thats very different than being a candidate in a campaign. As you guys all know, there is a very clear distinction between those two things. I think also having a letter like the one he received and having that conversation that outlined the basic just atrocities in circumventing the chain 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 is such a respected person. When he saw that, he had to speak up on that action, and i think that was the final catalyst. Just a real quick question on the meetings of this morning. The president is accused by democrats who try to circumvent the russia investigation by firing james comey. He meets with the russian f ambassador of the united states. The timing of all of this, is it just ironic or is the president poking favor in the critics eye . This didnt just happen this morning. There is not a strategy to go after the democrats on this. I think frankly the saddest thing is that the democrats are trying to politicize and take away from something the president should be doing. He should be meeting with the foreign minister, he should be meeting with people like kissinger, and for them to try to attack him for doing his job, maybe they should spend more time doing their jobs and we wouldnt have all the problems that we do. Isnt it true that the president had already decided to fire james comey and he asked the Justice Department to put together the rationale for that firing . No. When did he make the decision . He made the decision for the final decision to move forward with it yesterday, but i know hes been contemplating it for a while. How do you explain what Diane Feinstein says, that the president told her that he was concerned with the mess of the fbi and asked the Justice Department to loo int it . I cant speak for senator feinstein, 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. Was the reason for the firing what was written by the Deputy Attorney general . Is that why he did it . I think that was the final piece that moved the president to make that quick and Decisive Action yesterday. What did he mean in the letter that he wrote informing comey that he was being fired . He said, on three separate occasions comey had told him that, i am not under investigation. What were the 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. Jeff . Following up on that, sara, did the president ask director comey whether they were under investigation when they had these meetings . Again, im not going into specifics of their conversations. He obviously made a decision to