something he is going to have to balance if he does do the public testimony. i think it means we re going have more news days ahead like this, lawrence. it s going to be a huge news day we can easily predict when james comey testifies. thanks, rachel, very much. thank you very much. well, the president flew off to saudi arabia today. the last president in a white house under fire who tried to get away from it all by jetting off to saudi arabia was richard nixon. in the thick of the watergate investigation, president nixon embarked on a trip that included saudi arabia and two months later, president nixon waved goodbye to washington. as he resigned the presidency. president trump apparently president trump apparently told the russian officials that james comey was a nut job. i just fired the head of the fbi. he was crazy, a real nut job, mr. trump said. i faced great pressure because of russia. th s taken off. i find it outrageous.
crazy. a real nut job. photos were captured by a photographer by the russian government, allowed in the room. details of the conversation included in an official white house document, read to the new york times . trump has acknowledged russia was on his mind when he fired the fbi director. when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. reporter: the times reports the day after, the president told the russian officials, i faced great pressure because of russia. that s taken off. adding, i m not under investigation. in the same meeting, trump also shared sensitive intelligence with the russians. all of this sets the stage for a coming showdown with comey. expected before long to tell his story to congress. the president claims comey assured him he was not under
the damaging new developments. starting with the new york times report. what are you hearing from the white house? reporter: the white house is not saying a lot more about all of this. besides that statement they put out in response to that bombshell story in the new york times that the president was talking about with the russians how he fired the fbi director jim comey, to take pressure off him during this russia investigation. the viewers of the comments the president made and he talked to white house officials, they are not disputing what is reported in terms of what the president said. i just fired the head of the fbi. he was crazy. a real nut job. i faced pressure because of russia and that s taken off. i am not under investigation. when asked to respond to all of this, is press secretary, sean spicer, did issue a statement. it accuses comey of grandstanding and politicizing this investigation. by grandstanding and politicizing this investigation
washington post reported that trump revealed highly classified information inside the oval office. and tuesday we learned about the comey memo saying he asked the fbi director directly to drop the investigation into former national security adviser michael flynn. on wednesday, the justice department appointed a special counsel to investigate russia s interference in the presidential election. and there were smaller stories like the turkish security forces beating a peaceful protesters on the streets of washington, d.c., as their president looked on. today, the president departed this country on air force one headed for saudi arabia at 2:30 p.m. and just 30 minutes later the plane barely out of the d.c. metro air space. the new york times dropped the report the president told russian officials he d been under great pressure but firing james comey, quote, a real nut job, took the pressure off. two minutes after that, a current white house officials a person of interest in the russian
comey will testify in open session some time after memorial day. his first public appearance just before that announcement was made i asked the ranking member of that committee senator mark warner for his reaction to the news that someone in the white house is under investigation. well, chris, i m not going to comment on anything i may have been briefed for as a member of the gang of eight, any classified information, but we ve got a lot of work in front of us. the president told russian officials in the white house that james comey was crazy, a real nut job. what s your reaction to him telling a russian officials that? i find it outrageous. you know, it s one of the reasons i believe so strongly james comey deserve an opportunity to come before our committee in open session and tell his side of the story. it s remarkable that a president