>> pelley: we begin tonight with breaking news. 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. presidential election. late today, in an oddly worded letter in which the president declares his own innocence, mr. trump told comey that he has 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 another six years to go on a 10-year appointment. recently, he has been controversial with both democrats and republicans leading the investigation of hillary clinton's emails and the russian election tampering probe. major garrett is at the white house for us now with the breaking news. major. >> reporter: scott, the letter now-former f.b.i. director james comey was characteristically blunt. it reads in part, "you are hereby terminated and removed from office, effective immediately." accompanying letters released by the white house come from senior justice department officials who say comey had to be fired because of actions and the lack of action he took with regards to hillary clinton in 2016 and the investigation into her email server. those senior justice department officials say not only was comey wrong not to pursue charges. he was wrong to have a press conference announcing that fact, and that he had failed to acknowledge both of those errors and both of those breaches with protocol, and that forced the president to accept their advice that comey be terminated. one letter from the new deputy attorney general rod rosenstein says in part, "the f.b.i.'s reputation and credibility have suffered substantial damage." the letter goes on to say, "the director announced his conclusions about the nation's most sensitive criminal investigation without the authorization of duly appointed justice department leaders." attorney general jeff session also wrote to president trump, "i have concluded that a fresh start is needed at the leadership of the f.b.i. the director must be someone who follows faithfully the rules and principles of the department of justice." shortly after those letters were delivered to the president, the president sent his letter firing the now-former f.b.i. director. also in this letter-- and, scott, you referred to it-- an odd statement from the president tying comey to the ongoing investigation into russia and possible collusion with possible trump officials during the campaign. the president's letter to comey resident in part, "i greatly appreciate you informing me on three separate occasions that i am not under investigation." the president goes on, "it is essential that we find new leadership for the f.b.i. that restores public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement mission." president of the united states was asked if he still had confidence in comey. he said he did. now, less than a month later, he does not, and comey has been fired. >> pelley: major garrett, thanks very much. now, comey is only the second director of the f.b.i. to be fired in the history of the bureau. the last time it happened was president clinton in 1993 firing william session. but that was on a charge of violating ethical codes. and there's no suggestion of that here. let's go now to our chief congressional correspondent, nancy cordes. nancy, what are you hearing there? >> reporter: well, scott, what preceded all of this was a controversy that gained steam over the course of the day over some inaccurate comments that direct comey made when testifying before the senate judiciary committee last week. he was describing his decision to reopen the clinton investigation 11 days before the election, and he said that it was because of what agents found on the laptop of anthony weiner, husban abedin. take a listen to the way he described it: >> huma abedin appears to have had a regular practice of forwarding emails to him, for him i think to print out for her, so she could then deliver them to the secretary of state. >> reporter: at one point, comey even said that abedin sent hundreds and thousands of emails to her husband, but pretty quickly, sources close to the investigation were telling cbs news and other news outlets that actually, abedin only sporadically sent emails to her husband, and that most of the emails ended up on his laptop because of the unintentional backing up of a blackberry. the f.b.i. even had to issue a correction to his testimony late this afternoon. it caused a lot of confusion among senators here on capitol hill, but notably, no one was calling for him to be fired over all of this. the congressional reaction to this surprise firing really runs the gamut. saying, "a fresh start will serve the f.b.i. and the nation well." but then you have democrats, like bob casey of pennsylvania, saying, "this is nixonian, that a special counsel should be appointed," and ron widen of oregon saying, "no one in trump's chain of command can be trusted to carry out an impartial investigation." >> pelley: jeff glor, our chief justice correspondent, and you have 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 meddling investigation. >> reporter: well, it is midstream in this investigation, and that's why this move is stunning, and there's really no other way to describe it. and it is the timing that is important here. this is an investigation that is being conducted by the f.b.i.'s counter-intelligence unit. it is very secretive and confined to that division of the f.b.i. and so to make this change in midstream raises the direction of the investigation and who will come next to lead it. >> pelley: 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. he's a man well known for integrity. what is the list of possible replacements at this point, at this early point? >> reporter: well at this point it's pretty short, and there is one name on that list, and that's 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 enforcement circles. >circles. >> pelley: jeff pegues, thank you very much. john dickerson, our cheech washington correspondent is with us. john, the political climate on all of this. this is quite a surprise. >> reporter: quite a surprise. and already there was a considerable amount of back-and-forth and political blood in the water on the russia question this week alone. and now you have a situation where-- if you read the letter explaining why comey was let go, it's thick with criticism of his handling of hillary clinton's email situation. that was something, obviously, deeply political. now, this week he's released. he's in the middle. the f.b.i. is investigating connection between russian meddling in the election and the trump campaign. so the political ramifications here will be ongoing, will be constant, and whoever is going to handle this super-charged atmosphere. >> pelley: john dickerson, thanks very much. we're going to be following the details and developments on this breaking story, and there will be 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. washington's governor called it serious, though no radiation has been detected so far. john blackstone is following this. >> reporter: the collapsing soil created a 20 by 20 foot hole over a tunnel containing radioactive debris at hanford. it's the nation's largest storage site of nuclear weapons waste. destry henderson said 5,000 work herself 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 radioactive contamination. >> 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 during world war ii, is buried at hanford, as is defense department nuclear weapons material through the 1980s. a massive cleanup effort costed $2 billion a year is aimed at decommenting a site half the size of rhode island. >> the crisis isn't over yet, and, you know, so we're waiting to see how dad bad can it get? >> reporter: tom carpenter is with hanford challenge, a watchdog group monitoring safety at the site. in spite of the fact that the cleanup is going on, costing a couple of billion dollars a year, it's actually getting more dangerous in some ways. >> more dangerous with time. we're g in the future. this is a wake-up call. >> reporter: at hanford, less than 200 miles from seattle, ought awl but essential workers have been told not to report for work tonight. official says they're looking for a way to fix the tunnel, scott, without making that hole any bigger. >> pelley: jakubowski 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 here's david martin. >> reporter: facing a stalemate in which the afghan army is suffering what the pentagon calls shockingly high casualties, the trump administration is preparing to send some 3,000 u.s. troops back toofg. toofg-- to afghanistan. the exact number would depend on how many allied troops were sent. the top commander in afghanistan said he needs more the plan, which has not yet been presented to president trump for a decision, would allow american advisers to operate closer to the front lines and give them greater 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. the goal is not to defeat the taliban but to convince them they cannot win and and are better seeking an end to the war. according to cami mccormick, it comes dune to which side cracks first. >> war say clash of wiles, right, 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 conduct raids against terrorist groups like isis and al qaeda. the u.s. military went in to afghanistan 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 weapons to syria's kurdish fighters, something that president obama declined to do in order to avoidangering turkey. the kurds are fighting isis around the terrorist group's capital in the town of raqqa. turkey, a nato ally, has fought for decades against kurds who want independence. coming up next on the cbs evening news, spirit was willing, but the pilots didn't show. chaos broke out. on a perfect car, then smash it into a tree. your insurance company raises your rates... maybe you should've done more research on them. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't 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? 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so let's start talking about your long-term goals. knowing your future is about more than just you. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. >> pelley: more penn state fraternity brothers went before a judge today, charge inside the death of timothy piazza, a 19-year-old pledge. here's jericka duncan. >> reporter: the remaining eight beta theta pi members rushed in and out of the courthouse this afternoon. william brennan represents joseph enz, who is chargewith recklessly endangering another person. >> it's unspeakable. it's a very, very sad and tragic case. >> reporter: district attorney stacy parks miller charged a total of 18 penn state university students with crimes ranging from hazing to aggravated assault. >> it's the saddest thing to say but the only reason this came to the surface was because timothy died. >> reporter: he died from traumatic brain injuries, according to this detailed grand story of a pb pledge night that included heave drinking and allegation a disregard for piazza's life-threatening injuries. he fell down a flieft stairs, the report says, and went in and out of consciousness for over 12 hours before his fraternity brothers called 911. surveillance cameras throughout the frat house captured much of what happened. >> without the tools we had this time, would we have had the whole picture? >> reporter: and those tools being? >> those tools being the video and being, you know, the-- the electronic devices. >> reporter: parks miller says in many ways that video brings to light a long-standing culture of hazing. according to a 2013 "bloomberg news" report there have been more than 60 deaths in the last eight years involving initiation rituals. writer and former praternity member david berkman, has produced "haze: a greek trag"edy. that shows why people continue oto gou sometimes deadly. >> it's about terminology, about building brotherhood, sisterhood. these are going to be families, if & if we go through something har, if we're tested we do bond. >> reporter: all of the fraternity members posted bail. scott, a preliminary hearing has been scheduled for next week. the district attorney tells me there's a possibility that video might be played at the hearing. >> pelley: jericka duncan, thanks. and we'll be right back. when i feel controlled by frequent, unpredictable abdominal pain or discomfort and diarrhea. i tried lifestyle changes and over-the-counter treatments, but my symptoms keep coming back. it turns out i have irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea, or ibs-d. a condition that's really frustrating. that's why i talked to my doctor about viberzi... ...a different way to treat ibs-d. viberzi is a prescription medication you take every day that helps proactively manage both abdominal pain and diarrhea at the same time. so i can stay ahead of my symptoms. viberzi can cause new or worsening abdominal pain. do not take viberzi if you have no gallbladder, have pancreas or severe liver problems, problems with alcohol abuse, long-lasting or severe constipation, or a bowel or gallbladder blockage. pancreatitis may occur and can lead to hospitalization and death. if you are taking viberzi, you should not take medicines that cause constipation. the most common side effects of viberzi include constipation, nausea, and abdominal pain. stay ahead of ibs-d with viberzi. could be preventedrrent with the right steps. and take it from me, every step counts. a bayer aspirin regimen is one of those steps in helping prevent another stroke. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. when a fire destroyed everything in our living room. we replaced it all without touching our savings. yeah, our insurance won't do that. no. you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, isn't it time to let the real you shine through? 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