his final months a the fbi. he was attacked regularly by our president and his allies as the russia investigation intensified. the president had him fired 26 hours before he would have retired with full pension. and today the president was at it again, lashing out at a career fbi man. quote, wow, so many lies by now disgraced acting fbi director andrew mccabe. he was fired for lying, and now his story gets even more deranged. he and rod rosenstein, who was hired by jeff sessions, another beauty, look like they were planning a very illegal act and got caught. the president goes on to say, there is a lot of explaining to do to the millions of people who had just elected a president who they really like and who has done a great job for them with the military, vets, economy, and so much more. this was the illegal and treasonous insurance policy in full action.
is what it was like. you could go to any floor and you would see small groups gathering in hallways, some people even crying. peter, obviously you and i reported extensively on that moment, the fallout in the wake of that. just sort of paint the picture at the white house, the reaction, the mood as this bombshell dropped this morning. what was also striking, andrew mccabe describes, as we ve heard other critics of this president, a scene that you would find in a godfather-type movie, a mafioso type scene, where the man who was then the acting director of the fbi is having the screws put on him. we re hearing this now from some of the president s allies including lindsey graham who of course is the chair of the senate judiciary committee, is the whole political situation that exists in this country as we anticipate the results of the special counsel s, robert mueller s russia investigation. lindsey graham, chairman of the
bombshell, nbc news justice correspondent pete williams, the host of this show, andrea mitchell, traveling in poland with the vice president, nbc correspondent peter alexander and u.s. attorney paul charlton. pete, i do want to start with you and just get the big picture. some remarkable revelations in this book from andrew ma caccab. he talks about everything from discussing the 25th amendment to launching the justice probe. remember, he wasn t just deputy director, he was acting director of the fbi. he says the president called him the very next day after firing comey saying, everybody is proud of what i ve done, what s it like at the fbi? from then on mccabe says he was very concerned about the president and his ability to tell the truth and that he was concerned that the russia investigation be put on solid footing. now, as for the 25th amendment, and this is the provision of the constitution that says a president can be removed from
this one from former fbi deputy director andrew mccabe, telling his side of the story nearly one year after being fired by former attorney general jeff sessions just before his retirement benefits could kick in. mccabe, a career fbi official with a close relationship to former director james comey, was the subject of persistent public ridicule from president trump. the president calling his march 2018 firing a great day for democracy, alleging mccabe was aware of corruption and lies within the fbi. the former deputy director shares his recollections of critical conversations with his boss rod rosenstein, internal justice department debates over possibly removing the president from office, and his private discussions with president trump immediately after director comey s dismissal. take a look. i was speaking to the man who had just run for the presidency, and won the election for the presidency, and who might have done so with the aid of the
the 25th amendment. and frankly i find any suggestion of it to be absurd. this president s been producing for the american people. and i couldn t be more proud to stand with him. and the words, the writings of a disgraced fbi agent won t change that fact for the american people. and you had never heard of this before? i had never heard any discussion of the 25th amendment by members of this government and i would never expect to. as you can imagine, the vice president was disparaging about andrew mccabe and defensive of president trump. and president trump has certainly made him a frequent target, as we ve been discussing. paul, as pete just mapped out, we did get that response from the justice department saying that mccabe s recollections are inaccurate and factually incorrect. just put this into a broader