White house and john roberts. Good evening. Good evening to you. White house is disputing report in the New York Times tonight that back in february in a private meeting in the oval office, the president asked then fbi director james comey to drop the investigation into Lieutenant General michael flynn, former National Security advisor. According to a note that was reportedly written by comey about the meeting, President Trump allegedly said to the director about the flynn investigation, i hope you can let it go. The white house and a background statement said while the president has repeatedly expressed his view that general flynn is a decent man who served and protected our country, the president has never asked mr. Comey or anyone else to end any investigation, including any investigation involving general flynn. This is not a truthful or accurate portrayal of the conversation between the president and mr. Comey. What we do not know at this point at least is what the president did say to the former fbi director. The white house is saying what he didnt save, but we dont yet know what he did say, and we may not know and told mar morning sometime after the press secretary, sean spicer, has a conversation with the president about that. In the meantime, the white house the still pushing back hard against the news that broke last night and that is that we could go tomorrow, the president shared some highly Sensitive Information, intelligence, about terrorist threats with russian officials. In the roosevelt room, with turkish president erdogan, President Trump paused, eager to give his side of the story and what he told russias foreign minister. We had a very, very successful meeting with the foreign minister of russia. Our fight is against isis, as general mcmaster said. I thought he said, and i know he feels, that we had a great meeting. With the foreign minister. Were going to have Great Success over the next coming years and we want to get as many to help fight terrorism as possible. White house pushing back against claims that the president jeopardize National Security by sharing information about threats to airlines with sergey lavrov. Sources say it goes well beyond the current ban on laptop computers. Emphasizing that we have common interests. An organization that had taken down a Russian Airliner and murdered over 200 people pretty was wholly appropriate to share what the threat was as a basis for common action and coordination. The reporter who broke the g down smoke in ansident and his attempt to wriggle out of the controversy. I think the white house has sought to create this kind of confusion in an effort to deflect or blunt the impact of a story. The exhalations from the warehouse fell on deaf ears at capitol hill. Bob corker told reporters the white house has got to do something soon to bring itself under control and in order. Obviously they are in a downward spiral right now theyve got to figure out a way to come to grips with all thats happening. Of the republicans won a full read out of the president s meeting with lavrov, among them Barbara Comstock was that once again we are faced with inexplicable stories coming from the white house that are highly troubling. We need to have immediate classified briefings on what occurred at this meeting so that congress can at least know as much as russian leaders. Sources tell fox news the threats the president described were developed apart by israel. Critics screamed at divulging such information could damage intelligence partnerships but israel didnt seem to mind. In a statement to fox news, ron dermer saying israel has full confidence in intelligence sharing with the United States and looks forward to deepening the relationship. White house is attempting to turn the focus from intelligence to the fact that it leaked. I think National Security is at risk by this leak and leaks like it. The president has been plagued by leaks white house staffers insist are designed to hurt him. Radio host Eric Erickson said this was designed as a wakeup call. This is a strong trump supporter who really wants the president to succeed and at this point is, among other people in the white house, driven to desperation to try to get the president s attention. If the president s supporters have joined the legion of leakers and attempt to get his attention, that adds an entirely new level of headache to what the white house is experiencing. Back to the call comey memo, the warehouse did not have any new information live in the akron statement they released as this was breaking, they did have some questions they will be asking tomorrow and that is, if comey was so worried about things as he expressed in the memo, why did he not share his concerns earlier with the Deputy Director of the fbi, department of justice, and congress . If director comey was keeping memos on his interactions with President Trump, had he also kept memos about his interactions with other officials, like Hillary Clinton and barack obama . Bret the likely hit on the testimony by the acting fbi director days ago, mccabe. They are saying, if you remember to last week, the Intelligence Committee briefing, andrew cade, Deputy Director, not acting director of the fbi, stated under oath he had seen no evidence to suggest that the white house was trying to interfere in any way with the russia investigation. Bret okay, john roberts, with a long day on the north lawn of the white house. Thank you. Chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge has been working her sources all night. What are you hearing . We know about the meetings the president had with the fbi director. What about the context . Thank you. Law enforcement source confirms that the former fbi director documented at least one meeting with President Trump that made him uneasy. Its not clear from our reporting site whether it was the midfebruary meeting cited by the New York Times or the president reportedly asked comey to let go of the investigation into former National Security advisor michael flynn, who had resigned. Or a january meeting, whether the president asked comey for his loyalty and in response comey said he would always be honest with the president. White house has of course disputed both accounts. Because of his background as a lawyer, career prosecutor, and bureaucrats, sources say comey is known as a copious notetaker and its Standard Practice to take notes during our meeting after meeting. In early march, to accept of the meeting cited by the times, comey probably stated his intent to serve out his 10year term during a speech of boston college. The comments strikes current and former agent does know noteworthy, possibly reflecting comeys unease after the flynn meeting. Boston college as a leader in thinking and educating on these incredibly important issues. This is a great place to have it. Hope youll do it many more times. You are stuck with me for another six and a half years. There is a present event for fbi notes. Robert muller provided notes to validate comeys version of events. Bret what about possible double standards . During testimony last week at the senate National Security hearing, acting fbi director Andrew Mccabe was pressed on the integrity of the russia probe. Has the dismissal of mr. Comey in any way impeded, interrupted, stopped, or negatively impacted any of the work, any investigation or anything ongoing projects at the federal bureau of investigation . As you know, the work of the men and women of the fbi continues despite any changes in circumstance, any decision. There is no been cashed there has been no effort to impede the investigation. You cannot stop the men and women of the fbi from doing the right thing, protecting the American People. Critics note president obama on more than one occasion made public statements that appear to downplay Hillary Clintons use of a private server exclusively for government business. That was the subject of an ongoing fbi investigation. I dont think opposing National Security problem. I think it was a mistake shes acknowledged, and as a general proposition, when we are in these offices, we have to be more sensitive. And stay as far away from the line as possible when it comes to how we handle information, how we handle our personal data. After that interview, the white house spokesman appeared to walk practice comments, saying there was no attempt by the president to undermine the importance or independence of the fbis work. Bret i guess you have, james comey is a detailed notetaker and memo writer but not a lot of notetaking or memos that Hillary Clinton interview. Well, there are substantial three oh twos from the interview. The question is whether it was appropriate not to do it under oath. Fbi agents with tell you it doesnt matter if you are caught lying to an agent, the oath doesnt have any dispensation for you. Bret james comey was invited to speak on capitol hill today behind closed doors. But said no. Media reports say comey wants to appear publicly. The search for his successor meantime goes on, as the furor over the president s relationship russia and all of this backandforth reaches new levels every day. She Congressional Correspondent mike manuel is on capitol hill. Good evening. Republican leaders on capitol hill been keeping a low profile much of the evening after this latest New York Times blockbuster report. It was House Oversight chairman Jason Chaffetz taking the lead, sending a letter to the fbi, setting a may 24 deadline demanding all memoranda, notes, summaries, and recordings referring or relating to any communications between comey and the president. South Carolina Republican congressman trey gowdy, for federal prosecutor made the case for needing to see the relevant paperwork and needing to speak with the former fbi director. I want to see the memo. Obviously i want to talk to director comey to determine how contemporaneous his recording of the conversation was but also importantly, not just what was said but what did director comey here. How did he take it . That can only be done with all due respect to the New York Times, that can only be done by looking at the memo and talking to director comey. Democrats on capitol hill pounced. One democrat from maryland calling for an outside 9 11 Style Commission to investigate. Turn it over to a commission outside of democrats in congress, republicans in congress. Put experts on it and get to the bottom of what happened. Its also possible were going to need to independent counsel, independent prosecutor to do it because it looks like theres a staph infection in the department of justice where everywhere you turn someone is compromised by virtue of the russian connection. All of this erupting as there is uncertainty about the future of leadership of the fbi and controversy about its past. Republican lawmakers withdrew from consideration within the last 24 hours. John cornyn says he wants to remain in the u. S. Senate. Trey gowdy, who you heard from earlier, says hes not interested in serving the fbi at this point. It seems that the Political Climate the latest, any lawmaker with a r or d next to his name would face a brutal confirmation process. Bret mike emanuel, thanks. As mike mentioned, House OversightCommittee ChairmanJason Chaffetz sent a letter to the fbi asking for all information about these memos. Congressman Jason Chaffetz joins us. Thanks for being here. Your reaction to the story. I have a copy of your letter here. What youre looking for and what you hope to find. Well, lets see if its true. This is one where we can find out the truth behind it. If there are such memos, documentation, we would like to see it from the fbi. If i need to issue a subpoena, i will issue a subpoena but i think they will cooperate. Bret are you hoping to hear from the fbi director, former fbi director, in testimony . And what is the status . I think trey gowdy, a moment ago, laid it out right. Lets see if the documentation as they are, then we need to talk to the person who wrote those. That would be director comey and get his take on it. Whether that is a public hearing or we talk behind the scenes, im not quite sure yet. We are going to let the facts take us where they are. The first step is finding out if its true, that there are these memos. We will bret we know the fbi director did not tell at the time anyone up the chain, it seems like, and just before he was fired calmly he did not say this memo existed or concerns about the conversation to the senate Intelligence Committee chairs. Senator burr and warner. Do you question whether this is all coming together . It begs the question. If there was as he perceived undue influence. Could have talked to the oversight committee, the judiciary committee. Could have talked to the intel committee, devin nunes. Could have talked to the Senate Intel Committee and something couldve gone public. The documentation and how it was perceived, the conversations, if they happened, thats where we need to figure out the facts. Bret House Democratic caucus chair today talking about this. I am for restoring faith and confidence by the American People in their government. I think we are at an alltime low right now. I think the most recent incident in terms of what the president may have said to mr. Comey when he was the fbi director. It will be more than troubling right now. What i want to get to is the facts. The only way to do that mister the confidence is through an independent commission. I think the process here in terms of the house and Senate Intel Committees is not working properly. Bret what about the call for an independent commission or special counsel of some sort . No, i think there are plenty of outlets and plenty of ways to do that. Theres no evidence that there was some sort of crime committed. There was nothing criminal that happened. If these memos are indeed they are, lets review those first. Well be done by republicans and democrats alike but we will do that as publicly as we can. Some of the information may be classified and we cant share it, but i think the public would understand. We need to exhaust those types of avenues before we try to go to some independent approach. I dont think those would truly be independent. This is the system weve had in place and i think we need to give it a shot. Bret white house aides, Trump Supporters are saying the president is under siege here. Many saying that some of these stories are not panning out. Critics say this is a lot of the president s own doing and how they white house is handling some of this and specifically what is being set at these key moments. Your thoughts. Well, i think the democrats have a newfound commitment to open this transparency and accountability. I welcome them to finally come to the table in doing that. They certainly didnt help us all over the last eight years its very serious matters where there was criminal wrongdoing, where people were literally killed. I didnt see them coming to the table with such veracity and such commitment that i see now. At the same time, i do think the white house could have handled some of these situations much better. I would hope they could learn from some of these key mistakes and inconsistencies which lead to this narrative that we are not getting the full truth. Bret last thing, director comey has a history of coming forward, when he was with the bush administration, as the Deputy Attorney general. He did not come forward with any concerns when president obama, as mentioned by Catherine Herridge, said a couple things for different times about the Hillary Clinton server and email investigation. Where do you think director comeys mindset was. You dealt with him. He was very good at being open and transparent with us, answering all of our questions in a public setting to a point. There is still documentation and its difficult to extract it out of the fbi. We will see. Now that he is the former director of the fbi, lets see if these documents are there and what he would like to say about them. You are seeing that playing out right now. We sent a letter. They have a week to produce it and we will want to talk to mr. Comey. Bret House OversightCommittee ChairmanJason Chaffetz, thank you for your time. What is the mood at the white house . Are there more comey memos . Is another shoe going to drop . We have you covered on all sides of the story. Our 11 00 p. M. Special report continues after a quick break. If its true, its disconcerting and opens up a new chapter of scandal and controversy in this country. We need to get to the truth. We need to find out what happened and no president , no government official, no one in this country should be