Pelley this is our western edition. In a surprise move this evening, President Trump fired the director of the f. B. I. James comey was leading the investigation into whether associates of mr. Trump colluded with the russian government to influence the u. S. President ial election. In an oddly worded letter in which the president declares his own innocence, mr. Trump told comey he had concluded that comey is not able to effectively lead the bureau. Comey, who is well known for integrity, was appointed by president obama and had about six years left on a 10year term. Recently, comey has been controversial with both democrats and republicans leading the investigation of Hillary Clintons emails and the Russian Election tampering probe. Major garrett it at the white house. Reporter the letter from President Trump to combing is blunt Deputy AttorneyRod Rosenstein writes he wrote comey made the decision after attorney general Loretta Lynch removed herself from the investigation. A meeting between lynch and former president bill clinton had called her impartiality into question. A letter from attorney general Jeff Sessions to the president also dated today says, the director must be someone who follows faithfully the rules and principles of the department of justice. applause President Trump had given comey a public show of support after his inauguration and as recently as april 11. I have confidence in him. Well see what happens, you know. Its going to be interesting. Having repeatedly told this congress we are. Reporter testifying before Congress Last week, comey defended his decisions to go public in july and sent a new letter to congress in reopening the clinton investigation just days before the election jiek i saw speak and or conceal. There was an election in 11 days, lordy, that would be really bad. Reporter in his letter firing comey, mr. Trump referenced the f. B. I. s current investigation into whether Trump Campaign officials coordinated are russian operatives during the election. That i am not under investigation. Comey was in the los angeles f. B. I. Field office when he heard of his dismissal. Scott, comeys firing has stunned f. B. I. Agents across the country. Some worry the Russian Investigation may now be compromised and wonder if it will proceed aggressively or at all. Pelley major garrett, thanks. Now lets go to our chief Congressional Correspondent nancy cordes on capitol hill, where commi comey testified just week. Mr. President , with all due respect, are you making a big mistake. Reporter democrats used terms like nixonian to describe comeys firing. They argue President Trump is trying to thwart the f. B. I. s investigation into his inner circles potential ties to russia. Connecticut senator Richard Blumenthal now we need a special prosecutor who is independent of the president and the department of justice who can conduct an investigation objectively, aggressively, impartially. Reporter but cowght p South Carolina republican Lindsay Graham said a fresh start will serve the f. B. I. And nation well, and maine republican Susan Collins said democratic outrage is misplaced. First of all, the president did not fire the entire f. B. I. He fired the director of the f. B. I. And any suggestion that this is somehow going to stop the f. B. I. s investigation of the attempts by the russians to influence the elections last fall is really patently absurd. Reporter but there is a growing list of highprofile republicans who are critical of the president s move and one of them is richard burr of north carolina. He is the chair of the Senate Intelligence committee, which is overseeing the russia investigation. He says he is troubled by the timing and reasoning of director comeys termination, and, scott, he says it confuses an already difficult investigation. Pelley nancy cordes on guestol hill. Now, jeff pegues, our chief justice correspondent, and youve been covering comey and the f. B. I. For years now. Jeff, bring us up to date on where the f. B. I. Is on the russia election meddling investigation. Reporter well, it is midstream. In this investigation, and thats why the move is stunning. Its the timing that is important here. This is an investigation being conducted by the f. B. I. s counterintelligence unit, is very secretive and confined to that division of the f. B. I. And so to make this change in midstream raises questions about the direction of the and who will come next to lead it. Ey welley now, before he became f. B. I. Director, james comey was the Deputy Attorney general, the number two in the justice department. He was appointed by president bush to that position. Hes a man well known for integrity. What is the list of possible replacements at this point, at this early point . Tt reporter well at this point n s pretty short, and there is one name on that list, and thats the Deputy Director of the f. B. I. , andrew mccabe. He is a duke graduate, also well respected in the Law Enforcement community. But his name also surfaced back over the summer in connection with the clinton email server investigation because his wife had accepted donations during her campaign in virginia from a democratic operative. And so, there are questions that some members of Congress Might raise about mccabe, but he is well respected in law thforcement circles. Pelley jeff pegues, thank you very much. John dickerson, our chief washington correspondent is with us. John, the Political Climate on all of this. This is quite a surprise. This is likely to ratchet up, even higher the partisan combat over the investigation into russian efforts to influence the 2016 election. It was already high enough this week as parties paired off over why it took so long for the president to fire former National Security adviser michael flynn. Now democrats will renew their calls for a special prosecutor, and theyve already been joined by republican john mccain. The argument is that only someone free to investigate without being fired or the fear of being fired can do the job. This will send shock waves through the f. B. I. , put a cloud over the investigation, if an independent one is not initiated, and it will lower the trust in american institutions which analysts say was the russian intent in meddling in the election all along. Pelley dirk thanks very much. Were going to be following the details and developments on this breaking story, and there lawyer a full report on all of the overnight details on cbs this morning tomorrow morning. In another developing story, an emergency was declared today at the Hanford Nuclear reservation in washington state, a vast Storage Facility in the eastern part of that state, part of a tunnel used to transport radioactive waste collapsed. Washingtons governor called it serious, though no radiation has isen detected so far. John blackstone is following teis. Le reporter the collapsing soil aeated a 20 by 20 foot hole over a tunnel containing rgdioactive debris at hanford. Its the nations largest storage site of nuclear waste. Testry henderson is with the Emergency Operations center and f id 5,000 workers had to take cover. What that means is shelter in place. This is purely precautionary. Again, no employees were hurt and no indication of a spread of tdioactive contamination. A reporter the tunnel contains rail cars used decades ago and stored plutonium and uranium. All the radioactive waste from the manahattan project, which tested and built the atomic bomb s ring world war ii, is buried at hanford, as is defense lepartment Nuclear Weapons material through the 1980s. A massive cleanup effort costing 2 billion a year is aimed at decontaminating a site half the size of rhode island. The crisis isnt over yet, and, you know, so were waiting to see how bad can it get . Reporter Tom Carpenter is he site. Ford challenge, a fe spite of the fact that the cleanup is going on, costing a couple of billion dollars a s ar, its actually getting more dangerous in some ways. More dangerous with time. Dare going to see more tank failures in the future. This is a wakeup call. D, reporter at hanford, less than 200 miles from seattle, all but essential workers have been told not to report for work tonight. rficial says theyre looking for a way to fix the tunnel, scott, without making that hole any bigger. Pelley John Blackstone for us tonight. John, thank you. After 16 years and 2,396 american deaths, there is no victory in afghanistan. Now, President Trump is considering whether to send more troops, and heres david martin. Reporter facing a stalemate in which the afghan army is suffering what the pentagon calls shockingly high e sualties, the Trump Administration is preparing to send some 3,000 u. S. Troops back to afghanistan. The exact number would depend on how many allied troops were sent. The increase was requested by general nicholson, the Top Commander in afghanistan said he needs more trainers and advisers for the afghan army. The plan, which has not yet been enesented to President Trump for a decision, would allow american advisers to operate closer to the front lines and give them e eater authority to call in air strikes against the taliban. An enemy which can still carry out attacks, like this one last month on an Afghan Military base that left 140 dead. General nicholson has estimated it would take two to three years to regain an advantage over the taliban. Ehe goal is not to defeat the taliban but to convince them they cannot win and are better off seeking an end to the war. According to cami mccormick, it comes down to which side cracks first. War is a clash of wills, isght, but who wins . Who wins and who loses . Who loses is whose will is lost first. Reporter after the increase u. S. Troops would number close to 12,000, some of which would s nduct raids against terrorist groups like isis and al qaeda. The u. S. Military went in to anghanistan after 9 11 to prevent it from ever being used again as a base for attacks against the united states. 16 years later, afghanistan has the highest concentration of terrorist groups anyplace on earth. Scott. Pelley david martin at the pentagon. President trump will send soapons to syrias kurdish prghters, something that president obama declined to do in order to avoid angering thrkey. The kurds are fighting isis around the terrorist groups eypital in the town of raqqa. Turkey, a nato ally, has fought for decades against kurds who want ide inming up next on the cbs tening news, spirit was willing, but the pilots didnt show. Chaos broke out. Chaos broke out. You do all this research on a perfect car, then smash it into a tree. Your Insurance Company raises your rates. Maybe you shouldve done more research on them. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Liberty Mutual Insurance. Due to your first accident. Flea bites can mean misery for your cat. Advantage® ii monthly topical kills fleas through contact. Fleas do not have to bite your cat to die. Advantage® ii. Fight the misery of biting fleas. My frii say not if you this protect yourself. Ary. What is scary . Pneumococcal pneumonia. Its a serious disease. My doctor said the risk is greater now that im over 50 Pneumococcal Pneumonia. Yeah. Yaha. 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Today a judge issued a temporary restraining order against their union. Manuel bojorquez has more. Reporter at the Spirit Airlines ticket counter, fists and bodies were about the only things flying last night. It erupted after a week of canceled flights at four spirit airport hubs across the country, coaving passengers stranded and their patience short. Debbie mcgrandy has had three flights canceled. Very angry, angry, angry people. Everybody had places to be and couldnt be there. Reporter spirit is blaming a pilot work slowdown due to a contract dispute for the disruption disruption. In a lawsuit, the airline says t has had to cancel 300 flights over the last week impacting some 20,000 passengers, costing them 8. 5 million in lost revenue. At Fort Lauderdale airport today, it was calmer. The passengers like mike mcgraff were still frustrated. It feels like we have no oontrol over this. This is wrong oh, my god tok at what you did to him reporter from united to american hey, bud, you do that to me and ill knock you flat. Hey, you stay out of this reporter on board and in the terminal. Do you know why im videotaping you, because you auys have terrible Customer Service. Reporter the tensions setween airlines and passengers have reached a Tipping Point for cae industry. They cannot go on this way with this kind of news day after day. Reporter charles leocha, president of the Passenger Advocacy Group travelers united, onys Airlines Need to refocus on Customer Service as a top priority. All the way from the c. E. O. Right down to the gate agent. Right now, the airlines are thinking about one thing thats profits. Reporter Spirit Airlines paul berry this isnt a Customer Service issue. This is a pilot issue not showing up to fly their flights. 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