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
your former colleagues. a lot of the folks you are still in touch with at the fbi. give us a reality check on morale and how you think they will fare. well, my first response when i saw this reporting was that i just wish it hadn t happened. you know, to be honest with you and i m a huge champion of freedom of the press and this needs to get out and public service, but i also know that we have a president that is mercurial at best and i m concerned he s going to react in a way to this, we have already seen some communication from the white house tonight that causes him to act out against special counsel mueller and/or rod rosenstein before it s time, before they have done their job. that s troubling to me. the other thing we ll keep hearing is the notion of deep state. this notion there s a conspiracy somehow, that there s a rogue fbi or was a rogue fbi.
fbi officials had grown suspicious of mr. trump s ties to russia during the 2016 campaign but held off on opening investigation into him, the people said. in part because they were uncertain how to proceed with an inquiry of such sensitivity and magnitude. the president s activities before and after mr. comey s firing, may 2017, particularly two instances in which mr. trump tied the comey dismissal to the russia investigation helped prompt the counterintelligence aspect of the inquiry, the people said. and according to the times, one of the instances was a letter that trump wrote with the help of senior aide, steven miller, before he fired comey laying out the underpinning reasons for doing so. times reported on that letter back in 2017 and notes that then white house counsel don mcgahn