way. we ve seen this very strong statement from sarah sanders, his spokesperson, calling comey a political hack and mccabe a chronic liar, so it seems likely that rod rosenstein would want to stay the course. he s been there for about two years and i m sure it feels like 20 for him and in some ways, can t get out soon enough but i think he s a loyal steward of the institution of the justice department and wants to be there as long as it s within his choice and power to do so, i think he ll stay unless somehow president trump wants to fire him before then. chuck rosenberg, does any of this impact chris ray s ability to continue to do his job day after day as fbi director? it really shouldn t and for some of the same reasons that barbara just articulated regarding the deputy attorney general. chris wray is an institutionalist, he follows the rules. by the way, this wasn t opened
extraordinary, but one thing that i think is quite likely is that we have all of these public facts that we know.ve it is quite likely that the fbi had additional facts as well that caused them to make this decision to open this investigation. i can imagine that agents were extremely reluctant to open an investigation against the president of the united states and would do so only after extreme scrutiny and very high level approval. and so there s certain things that we know. the triggering event, perhaps, the firing of jim comey and statements mad, to lester holt but additional facts unknown to the public at this point. lightning round questions, some of which came up in the conversation just now. do we know for a fact that all this became slid into, morphed into what is known is the mueller inquiry or any other subsets of an fbi inquiry that may already be open?
we are back tonight. in this segment, we have no other charge aside from continuing to discuss the breaking news that started us off tonight. the headline from the new york times the bracing the fbi opened inquiry into whether our president was secretly working on behalf of russia. and a reminder because we sometimes lose our perspective with the daily barrage of russia stories, just the mention of this allegation is, of course, a first for the american presidency. we have the very best in the business standing by to continue our conversation. barbara mcquaid, chuck rosenberg and frank figliuzzi on the phone. barbara, we just learned mr. rosenstein planned to stay, according to nbc news reporting to, in effect, see the mueller investigation and statement through. do you think anything we ve learned today and tonight does anything to jeopardize that trajectory? i don t think so unless president trump panics in some
indication of an early defense strategy.di we ll play that and talk about it on the other side. if you re keeping track at home and get a pen and paper because this is worth remembering, this is why you should never criticize the fbi. you think it s your birthright as an american. you can do it. i wouldn t try it though. they might open an investigation into you without your knowledge into something appalling, maybe it s beating your wife or dealing fentanyl to kids or betraying your country. you don t need to have done it but once they investigate you, they can always leak i don t know two years later that they were investigating you for the crime that you didn t commit or at least they found no evidence you committed.d. at least never charged it for n you, but it doesn t matter because you re instantly discredited. don t criticize the fbi.te very unwise.it chuck rosenberg, your is response. that s a deeply and profoundly troubling statement, brian. here s why.hy it s not just b
counsel inquiry and if that s true, it certainly looks like it turned into a full. although we can t be certain.nt the standard for a full inquiry is specific and arcticulable fi facts. that someone is or may be an agent of a foreign power. this is sobering same. chuck rosenberg, a statement from rudyam giuliani, if it was a counterintelligence , investigation and it obtained any evidence, it would have to have resulted in some action being taken or they are imperilling our national security.in this shows how out of control they are. they being the feds, the fbi. chuck, does he have it right there? i m afraid not, brian. and a shocking development, he doesn t have it right.ki counterintelligence investigations are hard, they re cumbersome, they re complex and often take a very long time. the outcome doesn t necessarily