I said, ill consider it and see what happens. At that time, he told me, you are not under investigation. Did you call him . In one case, i called him. Did you ask him, am i under investigation . I said, if its possible, would you let me know, am i under investigation . He said, you are not under investigation. New reports contradict the president s claim. One current and two former fbi officials tell nbc news the white house summoned comey to dinner shortly after the inauguration. The president is not correct. The white house called him out of the blue. Comey didnt want to do it. He didnt want the rank and file at the fbi to know about it. The former official added that he tried to stay way from the Russian Investigation. Telling the president , look, sir, i really cant get into it and you dont want to. After dinner, President Trump asked whether comey would pledge his loyalty to him. According to two sources who heard comeys account, the fbi director declined to make that pledge. He told trump he would always be honest with him but he was not reliable in the conventional, political sense have the lester holt asked the president if he felt he had betrayed him about wiretapping and the Russian Investigation. You didnt take that as a sign of disloyalty . I dont think of it as loyalty. I want whoever the director is to do the right thing. What about when he went public and said there was an fbi investigation looking at your campaign and russia . Did that anger you . I ask that because there was a sense there was building anger. I know, every once in a while, you will say that in the newspaper, somebody will report or have false sources that maybe dont exist because of the media, the way the media is. No. Did you ask him to drop the investigation . No, never. Did anyone from the white house no, i want it speeded up. Any surrogates on behalf of the white house . No, not that i know of. I want to find out if there was a problem with an election having to do with russia or, by the way, anybody else, any other country. Coming up on morning joe New York Times reporter, micha Michael Schmidt will join us. President trump contradicted the statements of mike pence claiming that Rod Rosensteins recommendation to fire comey came after he made the final decision. Did you ask for a recommendation . What i did was i was going to fire comey. You had made the decision before i was going to fire comey. There is no good time to do it, by the way. In your letter, you said, i accepted their recommendations . You had already made the decision sgchlt will i was going to fire regardless of recommendation. President trump flatly contradicted what the vicepresident said. It was russia and not the handling of the clinton investigation that was on his mind. Regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey, knowing that there was no good time to do it. In fact, when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a madeup story. It is an excuse by the democrats for having lost an election. So that right there stands in direct contrast to what had been the white house message since comeys firing. This absolutely has nothing to do with russia. It has everything to do with whether the current fbi director has the president s confidence. Reporter they said there is investigation between Campaign Officials and russian officials. Thats not whoo this is about. The president took strong and decisive leadership and put the safety and security of the American People first. What about the president s dissatisfaction with the russian probe, did that play into this . Let me be very clear. The president s decision to accept the recommendation of the Deputy Attorney general and the attorney general to remove director comey as the head of the fbi was based solely and exclusively on hit commitments o the best interest of the nation. Joining us, jordan hill. How do you think the white house is explaining or going to explain the apparent contradiction sns. They are really struggling too, ayman. What the president did in his interview was essentially take the paper trail the white house had built to explain the firing and tear it into pieces. We saw Sarah Huckabee sanders in the Briefing Room try to say, i havent spoken to the president yet before she had denied that the president had decided already to fire james comey before that memo came out. Today, they are going to have to really go on the defensive again. Sean spicer returning to the Briefing Room will have a lot of questions to answer. Let me play you this. This is more of what President Trump said about director comey and his interview. He is a show boat, a gr grandstander. The fbi has been in turmoil. You know that. I know that. Everybody knows that. You take a look at the fbi a year ago the, it was in virtual turmoil, less than a year ago. It hasnt recovered from that. I also want to have a really competent, capable director. He is not. He is a show boater. He is not my man or not my man. I didnt appoint him. He was appointed long before me. I want somebody who is going to do a great job. Speaking of that, who is the president going to be looking at to lead the fbi, you think . There are a number of names that have surfaced. One of them is mike rogers, the former chairman of the house intelligence committee, someone who has served on President Trumps Transition Team for a brief period last year and he was a former fbi agent. Another name that has surfaced, former nypd commissioner, ray kelly and one out of the box name that has come up is marek garland. President obamas nominee to the Supreme Court. I think would be doubtful he would take this post under President Trump given that he was a lifetime employment to the second most powerful court in the nation. Thank you very much for joining us. Roughly 48 hours into his role, the acting director of the fbi mass thrown cold water on the claim to justify President Trumps decision to fire james comey. Andrew mccabe joined the head of other intelligence agencies on global threats. He refuted the white houses claims about comey standing with fbi agents in the scope of the bureaus russia probe. Yesterday, a white house spokesman said this is one of the smallest things on the plate of the fbi. Is that a correct statement . Sir, we consider it to be a highly significant investigation. You would not characterize it as one of the smallest nings you are engaged in . I would not. Do you feel like you have the adequate resources for the existing investigations that the bureau is involved in to follow them wherever they may lead . If you are referring to the Russian Investigation, i do. I believe we have the adequate resources to do it and i know we have resourced that investigation adequately. I can tell you also that director comey enjoyed broad support within the fbi and still does to this day. We are a large organization, 36,500 people across this country, across this globe. We have a diversity of opinions about many things. I can confidently tell you the vast majority of fbi employees enjoyed a deep, positive connection to director comey. Despite mccabes testimony contradicting the claims that fbi officials had lost faith in comey as director, Sarah Huckabee sanders doubled down on that claim yesterday. I can speak to my own personal experience, i have heard from countless members of the fbi that are grateful and thankful for the president s decision. I think that we may have to agree to disagree. I am sure there are some people that are disappointed. I have heard from a large number of individuals. Thats just myself and i dont know that many people in the fbi. As the New York Times points out, the chance of countless agents calling the white house to complain about their director and being ran to the Deputy White House press secretary is precisely zero percent. The economist sat down with President Trump for a wideranging interview focusing on his economic policies. The main focus of the may 4th interview published yesterday was the president s recently announced tax plan. Trump and treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin would not go into specifics saying they are contemplating things. When asked if the wealthiest americans will benefit the most . President trump said, i dont believe that. On the subject of his own unreleased tax returns, the president and his director seemed to differ on if and when. Trump said, he might release them when he is out of office. I am very proud of them. I did a good job once the audit is over. Asked if this would increase the deficit he said, it is called priming the pump. It is okay if it increases the deficit. It may only add for two years. You understand the expression, prime the pump despite the reporter answering yes twice. Because i havent heard it. I came up with it just a couple of days ago and i thought it was good. As the New York Times points out, not only does it date back to the Great Recession but was commonly used back in 2009 and they can trace the original of the phrase back to the early 1800s. President trump watches a commission to invest gait claims of widespread voter fraud despite little evidence to support it. Heavy rain is hitting part of the heart land. How is the week end shaping up. We are going to ask meteorologist, bill karen, whin we come back. Mom gets breakfast in bed. You get to do the dishes. Bring em on. Dawn ultra has 3 times more greasecleaning power. A drop of dawn and grease is gone. Are you one sneeze away from being voted out of the carpool . Try zyrtec® its starts working hard at hour one and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. Stick with zyrtec® and muddle no more®. Introducing new depend real fit briefs. Now more breathable than ever. In situations like this, theres no time for distractions. Its not enough to think im ready. I need to know im ready. No matter what lies ahead. Get a free sample at depend. Com if you want to stay on top of your health, one simple thing to do is take the pledge to go and get screened for the cancers that might affect you. So stand up to cancer and take the pledge at getscreenednow. Org it only takes a minute to take care of yourself, and nothing rhymes with org. Did you know slow internet can actually hold your business back . Say goodbye to slow downloads, slow backups, slow everything. Comcast business offers blazing fast and reliable internet thats over 6 times faster than slow internet from the phone company. Say hello to internet speeds up to 250 mbps. And add phone and tv for only 34. 90 more a month. Call today. Comcast business. Built for business. Welcome back. President trump has signed an executive order to take action over his claims that millions voted illegally costing him the popular vote. He signed the order without cameras present creating the Election IntegrityCommission Led by mike pence, will investigate allegations of voter fraud and suppression and look at vulnerabilities in the election system. Chris kovac has been tasked to save as the vice chair. He has been the driving force behind the strictest votestr i. Laws in the country and pushed to crack down on undocumented immigrants. Lets get a check on your weather with nbc meteorologist, bill karins. Give us some good news. A rainy saturday in the northeast but sunday for mothers day . A little improvement. Other areas will be just fine on mothers day. Yesterday, in oklahoma, we had all the bad weather and some damage done. Still, some thunderstorms waking people up early in louisiana, mississippi. By the time the weekend is all said and done, we are aware we could get some flooding out of this. It doesnt look like it. Widespread 12 inch rainfall interior sections of the northeast and all the way down through the midatlantic, including washington, d. C. Our rivers can handle it. We may get some minor urban flooding, lower over the bridges or where drains are clogged. Thats about it. Here is the timing. Starting with this morning, we are watching the storms in louisiana. We tracked the storms into alabama, into northern georgia. The rain breaks out through the appalachians and into areas of west virginia. If we get any flooding out of this, we have to watch the mountainous regions of virginia and west virginia. 8 00 p. M. This evening. Richmond, looks like the light, steadier rains will be arriving for you. If you have late evening plans, have the raingear with you from the midatlantic to the delmarva. 5 00 p. M. Saturday, the rain ends in raleigh, charlotte, rain ending in d. C. By 5 00 p. M. It will be still pouring. The rain moves in during the day in philadelphia, new york, and as we go through saturday evening. Notice the rain ends in philadelphia. The heavier rains are in northern new england. For todays forecast, not bad today. Northern half of the country, the heavier rains will be in the southeast. As we go through the weekend, we will track that storm up the coast. A lot of people are looking at a nice mothers day forecast. The middle of the country is warm, 80s, 90s in texas. Southeast is great. Northern new england can put the complaints in my mailbox. Authorities in new orleans have taken down a statue of jefferson davis. Crews Wearing Masks to cover their faces worked under heavy Police Protection to dismantle the monument you see on your screen. Opposing crowds had gathered as the statue was being removed. Those against the monument say it represents racism and white supremacy. Still ahead, without two star players, the San Antonio Spurs managed to eliminate the houston rockets. Sports coming up next. Stressful days can lead to sleepless nights making you feel helpless. Take control of your sleep with unisom® sleeptabs. You fall asleep 33 faster and wake up recharged with all the benefits of a good nights rest. Take control of your sleep with unisom®. Its the simple things in life that mean the most. Boost® simply complete™. No artificial flavors, colors or sweeteners, plus 10 grams of protein and 25 vitamins minerals. It doesnt get better than this. Boost® simply complete™. vo more dper rollres for mom bounty is more absorbent, so the roll can last 50 longer than the leading ordinary brand. So you get more life per roll. Bounty the quicker picker upper how to brush his teeth. woman vo in march, my husband didnt recognize our grandson. woman 2 vo thats when moderate alzheimers made me a caregiver. avo if their alzheimers is getting worse, ask about onceaday namzaric. Namzaric is approved for moderate to severe alzheimers disease in patients who are taking donepezil. It may improve cognition and overall function, and may slow the worsening of symptoms for a while. Namzaric does not change the underlying disease progression. Dont take if allergic to memantine, donepezil, piperidine, or any of the ingredients in namzaric. Tell the doctor about any conditions; including heart, lung, bladder, kidney or liver problems, seizures, stomach ulcers, or procedures with anesthesia. Serious side effects may occur, including muscle problems if given anesthesia; slow heartbeat, fainting, more stomach acid which may lead to ulcers and bleeding; nausea, vomiting, difficulty urinating, seizures, and worsening of lung problems. Most common side effects are headache, diarrhea, dizziness, loss of appetite, and bruising. woman 2 vo i dont know what tomorrow will bring but im doing what i can. avo ask about namzaric today. Time for sports where the western conference final is set in houston where news with an ankle injury would keep Kawhi Leonard out of the game. Sparked fierce of another 27point loss to the rockets like the one in game one. The spurs blew out houston, 11475 punching their ticket to the next round. The 39point win came on a season high 34 scored by lamarcus aldridge. San antonio will meet the warriors in game one on sunday. Turning to major league baseball. The pirates and diamondbacks in phoenix. Zack greinke with a gem on the mound striking out 11 batters and carrying a nohitter into the 8th inning until Gregory Polanco steps up to the plate. This one is hit hard again. That one is gone. He breaks up the nono with a so low shot to the right that cuts the dbacks lead in half. Arizona goes on to win it, 21. In new york city, the yankees trailing the astros in the bottom of the 9th. On the ground, base hit to left. He charges. The throw by jake is in time. Astros win thats a rocket. Houstons jake more is sick cuts down Jacoby Ellsbury at home sending astros home with a 32 win. A low light for you in san francisco. Reds second baseman, scooter jeanette waving off his teammates to field the popup hit to shallow right field. He misjudges that ball turning it into a double for brandon crawford. Cincinnati still wins it 32. The only thing worse than an error like that is doing it twice ask the rays kevin gill mire who makes a virtually identical misplay while charging a ball hit to the ground in center field as he did on monday. This allows for an insidethepark home run during a fiverun 8th inning for the royals. Not good. An Honorable Mention for tampas Chris Dickerson who reached over the wall to take a home run away from eric hosmer in the first inning. Nice play there. The royals beat the rays 60. Some good baseball highlights. I have to say, i learned how to field a ground ball in little league. Too much, too soon. Trash talk. Still ahead, developing defending michael flynn. President trump stands by his decision to delay flynns firing for 18 days after being warned by former acting attorney general sally yates. Plus, President Trump talks about his tax plan in a new interview. The details are still scarce. Well dig up what he said coming up. T