trump and mr. comey. they also highlight some of the dialogue that went on between these two gentleman saying "i hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, letting guy, io." he is a good hope you can let this go. "i agree replied only, he is a good guy." there is more to the story and we will reach fortunes of it this morning -- four should -- fortunes -- portions of it this morning. (202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, .ndependents, (202) 748-8002 the story prompted a response from the white house. well the president has expressed his view that mr. flynn was a decent man who served our country he has never asked mr. comey or anyone else to end any investigation including the investigation involving general flynn. this is not a truthful or at portrayal ofurate the conversation between the president and mr. comey. the story gives a little bit of a background to the meeting. here is more from the times, saying "despite the conversation the investigation of mr. flynn has con

last week mr. trump fired comey, and that led yesterday to mr. trump's own justice department appointing a special counsel to mavestigate. margaret brennan is at the white house. >> there was no collusion, and everybody, even my enemies, have pid, there is no collusion. >> reporter: president trump said the appointment of special counsel robert mueller to probe russian election meddling is dividing the country. >> well, i respect the move, but the entire thing has been a witch-hunt, and there is no collusion between, certainly myself and my campaign, but i can only speak for myself and the russians-- zero. >> reporter: the president strongly denied interfering with the f.b.i.'s investigation. >> did you at any time urge former f.b.i. director james comey in any way, shape, or form he close or to back down the investigation into michael flynn? and also, as you look back-- >> no. no. next question. >> reporter: and mr. trump dismissed democrats' claims that he may have obstructed justice. >> i think it's totally ridiculous. everybody thinks so. >>

mr. trump praised the move. he brought his reputation and brought it back, mr. trump said that the rally that month. a lot of people want him to do the wrong thing could he did the right thing -- do the wrong thing. he did the right thing. he reversed course once again when mr. comey, just two days before the election, told congress that the new information in the clinton pro didn't change the fes determination not to prosecute. he says hillary clinton is guilty. changing thoughts about mr. comey. event he reacted to every through the prism of his own reelection chances. he thought it was great when hard oname down o clinton when in the end he exonerated her with no new evidence on the laptop in new york. he was saying that the fbi was reading the system. -- rigging the system. there no clear pattern of thought here except what helps mr. trump personally. if you apply that same logic to the action he just took, there is reason to believe that moving mr. comey out of the way gives him reason to believe that he can either stall or potentially even shut down the ru

so why did mr trump do it? the white house has linked the sacking to mr comey‘s treatment of hillary clinton back when the fbi was investigating her e—mail use as secretary of state. many democrats think it's about something else. anger at the current fbi inquiry into alleged links between the trump campaign and russia. this is the view of the leading democratic senator, chuck schumer. i have said from the get go i think schumer. i have said from the get go ithinka schumer. i have said from the get go i think a special prosecutor is the way to go, but now with what's happened it is the only way to go, only way to go, to restore the american people's faith. are people going to suspect cover—up? absolutely. if an independent special prosecutor is appointment there still can be some faith we can get to the bottom of this. if not, eve ryo ne get to the bottom of this. if not, everyone will suspect cover—up. chuck schumer isn't the only senator urging the appointment of an independent special prosecutor to d

comey and mr. trump and trying to understand what it was that mr. trump didn't like about mr. comey and what was it about mr. trump that really concerned mr. comey, and in the process of that i learned that there was a series of memos that comey had written about every single interaction with that he had had with trump because comey was so concerned about what trump may try and do to the fbi. >> well, the "times" detailed another suggestion by mr. trump to comey. speaking about leaks to the media, mr. trump reportedly floated the idea that mr. comey should consider putting reporters in prison for publishing classified information. >>> adam schiff is the ranking democrat on the house intelligence committee. in that role he met with former fbi director james comey often. nancy cordes caught up with the congressman at the capitol. >> have you seen this memo and and did you ever discuss with director comey about his concerns about the president? >> i did not see the notes or the me ho or have a conversation about the president ever suggesting that he drop the investigation. this i

trump to shake their hand. mr. netanyahu had much of a sunday in a closed cabinet meeting with a right wing member. these conditions in the west bank and elsewhere said saying examinationsexpectations are low for break through. neither are the prime minster or the president or the palestinian authority wants to risk angering the american president or portrayed the reluctant party. you see the picture the president in saudi arabia yesterday and israel today. continuing on several more countries before returning to the united states. this is charles north carolina, independent line. you're next. caller: what's the topic that i should address? host: we're asking people to talk about the potential changes in medicaid and social security programs. caller: for medicaid, my concern as a rural physician taking care a lot of patients who are on medicaid and lot of patients that need to be on medicaid, i see these cuts as devastating to the rural health situation. i think they will lead to the closure of a large number of ru

last tuesday donald trump fired fbi directorjames comey. mr trump said he was doing a bad job. he was also in charge of the fbi investigation into collusion between the trump campaign team and russia. the next day mr trump met russia's foreign minister and the russian ambassador to the us. fast forward to monday and the washington post published this article. it alleged donald trump shared classified information in that meeting. and that intelligence officials were shocked and concerned at what the president had done. the next morning, donald trump confirmed information had been shared — but said it was appropriate. while that political maelstrom played out, the new york times entered the fray yesterday. its story claimed a memo written byjames comey after a meeting with the president details mr trump saying, "i hope you can let this go". that is referring to the investigation into michael flynn. that is with reference to these flynn investigation. allegedly asking for an investigation to be let go. the white house refutes that claim. even for a man for whom controversy is a

mr. trump signed 31 executive orders. that's the most for any president in his first 100 days. he also got supreme court justice neil gorsuch confirmed. major garrett has more. >> i donald john trump do solemnly swear -- >> reporter: it began with an inaugural address more sour than soaring. >> this american carnage stops right here and stops right now. >> reporter: what followed, a fractious tenure that occasionally strayed from the facts and put the white house at odds with congress, the courts and at times itself. the president's spokesman sean spicer. >> this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period. >> reporter: trump's inaugurationro president's twitter account. professional protesters, he said. very unfair. >> ho, ho -- >> reporter: the president spawned more protest with an executive order that tried to ban travel from seven muslim-majority countries. but federal courts blocked it. the order illuminated white house divisions. advisers like steve bannon pushing trump in a nationalist direction, while son-in-law jared kushner and chief of staff rei

that sayays of the possibility r someone like mr. trump. mr. trump won a promising things he can't deliver. he won by being a good speaker it had cyber help from foreign powers. there are many reasons why he won. for one reason he could win as he could say, look, it is nala guard the out there. i am an oligarch, but i am your oligarch. that is not true. he doesn't care about americans. there are plenty of other oligarchs behind them, they just weren't americans. it you can only tell that story in a situation of radical inequality. that radical inequality has its roots, i think, in the false story we told ourselves since 1989, that history came to an end capitalism brings a margarethe and so forth. history never comes to an end. there was a moment in 1989 that we had to reshape things. he missed that moment and betrayed younger generations. why don't i mentioned mr. trump? it is largely because i think he is not going to change. mr. trump is not a young man. he has from sets of ideas. he has a certain kind of personality. he is going to push aga

mr. trump then asked mr. comey for his loyalty, but mr. comey only promised to provide his honesty or his honest loyalty. why did the president allegedly ask director comey for his loyalty? on march 4 president trump tweeted without evidence that, quote, how low has president obama gone on tapping my phones during the very sacred election process. this is nixon watergate, bad or sick guy, end quote. on march 20, mr. comey testified he has no information to support mr. trump's claim. why does the president try to distract the public's attention by blaming president obama for the russian investigation? on april 12 an interview, mr. trump said that mr. comey saved hillary clinton during the campaign and said it's not too late to remove mr. comey. mr. trump continued but, you know, i have confidence in him. well, see what happens. you know, it's going to be interesting. what changed between mr. trump having confidence in mr. comey in april and firing him in may? may 3 mr. comey testified before the senate judiciary committee and said it makes

trump praised the move. he brought it back, mr. trump said. a lot of people wanted him to do the wrong thing. he did the right thing. president trump reversed course when just to disrupt election he told congress the new information in the clinton probe did not change the fbi's the termination of to prosecute. at a rally in michigan that evening, mr. trump accused comey of rigging the system to protect mrs. clinton. " you can't review 650,000 email and eight days. you just can't do it." hillary clinton is guilty." changing thoughts about mr. comey? guest: he reacted the of his own prism of reelection chances. he thought it was great when comey came down hard on clinton when in the end he exonerated her saying there was no new evidence on the laptop in new york. that he was saying the fbi was reading the system. -- rigging the system. there is no clear pattern of thought here except what helps personally. i think there is reason to believe moving mr. comey out-of-the-way give some reason to believe he can either stall or potentially shut down t

speaking of mr trump and his policy, he famously almost immediately pulled out of ttp. everybody else is going to go ahead, is that right? that is correct. it is officially out of intensive care. the trans—pacific partnership which everybody thought was dead in the water is actually getting a lease of life. we have ministers from the 11 trans—pacific partnership countries agreed over the weekend that they will complete repertory work by november to quickly enact this free trade pact, even without the us. and, sally, after initially appearing reluctant to move ahead without america, japan is now at forefront of a push along with new zealand. support has built amongst the tpp11, despite being only a quarter of the trade amongst the original members. moving forward , the original members. moving forward, this good of the bargaining position of the members in bilateral talks with the us. and it could also undercut the increasingly regional dominance of china, which is not pa rt dominance of china, which is not part of the tpp. that is a bigger but let's pretend to featu

mrtrump is not mr trump is not just mr trump is notjust meeting the most senior israelis but the most senior palestinians as well. what is his approach to those discussions? he will need mark wood abbas in bethlehem, they figured that was an easier place to get to —— mahmoud abbas. that is another surprising thing about donald trump since coming to power, and some israelis have been taken aback and his standing in the polls has dropped because he has had a meeting in the white house with president abbas. i spoke to people who are part of the delegation and they were surprised by how warm president trump was and how he has moderated some of his statement about settlements, but example used to say they are not an obstacle example used to say they are not an o bsta cle to example used to say they are not an obstacle to peace but made it clear to be israelis he would like to see at least a pause in the settlement building. the fact he will not announced in this visit the move of the embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem, that also came after talks with thejordanian king. he is listening

we just saw the motorcade of mr. trump. the people we saw come out of the car was jared kushner, sister-in-law and senior adviser, and his wife, his daughter, ivanka trump. we're keeping an eye on the live pictures of the trump team, the trump family and mr. trump, being welcomed in saudi arabia. and oren, what i was going to ask, is you referred to the middle east peace process. and you said they're relaxed about this. is there anyhance that mr. trump gets traction on this? gets going on this? it's been frozen for so long, and frozen despite numerous efforts and attempts by the obama administration. >> reporter: it's had fits and starts. after nine months, talks broke down. what can we expect from trump? the expectations from the beginning were try. a meeting between netanyahu, apa abbas and trump. that would have been a big deal. but those expectations have been severely scaled back. trying to get traction. it look like he's going to make an effort. the speculation here is that the arab leaders, including abbas, will pres

i think mr. trump will be impeached. if he's not impeached, and if he's impeached, i think he's going to go to jail. think story is not over. caller: i think it's very suspicious on james comey's art about what he did. must be available for consumers that look like you're from any location in the world. i mean, it could be a possibility that it wasn't russia. i'm just saying. thanks for your time. host: if you go to the hill website, they have a running list of republican senators and how they've kind of responded to the firing of jim comey and where they stand on it. among the list of senators critical or concerned, john booseman of arkansas, richard burr, the senate intelligence committee chairman who said in a statement, "was troubled by timing and reasoning of director comey's termination." bob corker of tennessee saying the case for removal of the federal bureau of investigate laid out by the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein was thorough, his removal at this particular time will raise questions. that's people

and lots of mixed messages from mr trump in these latest television interviews. in one he is willing to meet with the north korean leader, in another he isa the north korean leader, in another he is a threat. absolutely, and we are seeing a variety of different approaches to the problems posed by north korea from the trump administration. they have been looking to work with china, to get it to use its leveraged in regards to north korea. also working with united nations, and in a separate move they have sent an aircraft carrier group to the region. now, the latest prong of action, if you like, in regards to north korea, a sort of charm offensive on the part of donald trump, who yesterday described the leader there, kim jong—un, isa described the leader there, kim jong—un, is a smart cookie, as he put it. and now saying that he would be willing to meet with kim jong—un if the circumstances were right, even going as far as to say that he would be honoured so to do. well, the white house very swift to play down any suggestion that any sort of meeting might be

mr. trump described the deal as "tremendous investments in the united states." >> hundreds of billions of dollars of investments into the united states, and jobs, jobs, jobs." >> stewart: u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson said the arms deal will bolster joint efforts to deter regional threats from iran, and to combat islamic extremists groups in syria and yemen. >> this huge arms sales package reduces the burden on the united states to provide the same equipment to our own military forces, and will strengthen saudi forces for the future, so that saudi arabia is more capable of carrying a greater share of the burden of their own security. which, as i indicated, is important to the u.s. national security as well. >> today was a truly historic day in the relationship between the kingdom of saudi arabia and the united states, and we believe the beginning of a turning point in the relationship between the united states and the arabic and islamic world. >> stewart: tomorrow, the president w

i am going to say that i do not have a lot of expectations for mr. trump. i think he is going to speak to power their in muslim countries and then when he goes to israel, he is going to speak to the jewish community, and that is pretty much it. i do not have a lot of expectations for him. i did not vote for him. i just do not trust him, but that is my opinion. i think -- i do not think there will be a lot of expectations. it will be interesting to watch for that do not think he will go to much off script in a muslim country, but i don't think he is going to go off script, particularly in a muslim country. host: thank you. we will continue to watch the live teachers, and when that speech starts by the president in riyadh in saudi arabia, we will bring it to you live on c-span. as for now, thank you for your participation in the program today. will be back at 7:00 tomorrow morning, as we are every day, with another edition of " washington

they recommended comey's ouster, and mr. trump asked for their reasoning in writing. mr. trump made his final decision yesterday. comey was in the los angeles f.b.i. field office when he learned of his dismissal from television reports. rosenstein's memo to the president criticized comey's handling of the clinton e-mail investigation. it did not mention the ongoing probe of russia's meddling in the u.s. election. today on capitol hill, vice president mike pence said comey's dismissal had nothing to do with russia. >> it was time for a fresh start at the f.b.i. >> reporter: but sources tell cbs news just last week comey asked rosenstein for more resources for the f.b.i.'s russia investigation, something the justice department denies. on monday, president trump t eeted, the president's the president's decision made without a successor in mind caught his press staff flat footed and with few answers on tuesday night. iny wasn't he fired at the tiginning of this tministration? sty was he fired today? >> i think biggest reason is really, really simple: he'd lost nfe confidence

trump asked comey to "let go of the investigation." and that led yesterday to mr. trump's own justice department appointing a special counsel to investigate. margaret brennan is at the white house. >> there was no collusion, and everybody, even my enemies, have said there is no collusion. >> reporter: president trump said the appointment of special counsel robert mueller to probe russian election meddling is dividing the country. >> well, i respect the move, but the entire thing has been a witch hunt and there is no collusion between certainly myself and my campaign, but i can always speak for myself and the russians. zero. >> reporter: the president strongly denied interfering with the fbi's investigation. >> did you at any time urge former fbi director james comey in any way, shape or form to close or to back down the investigation into michael flynn? and also as you look back -- >> no. no. next question. >> reporter: and mr. trump dismissed democrats' cs >> i think it's totally ridiculous. everybody thinks so. >> reporter: despite saying last week that he had de

it brought mr. trump into the question. up until this point, the reporting from us and other outlets had been about mr. trump's associates and their ties to russia or what the federal government may be looking at with regard to the fbi investigation, our story brought mr. trump's behavior into question and it gram mr. comey, the man that he fired. the man after having ts interaction with mr. trump on february 14th in the oval office, in which he asked him to look the other way, he went back and memorialized this in a detailed memo that exists today and can be subpoenaed by the hill. it moves the ball forward in a way we hadn't seen before in this story. >> assuming that this memo is authenticated, look back a week to president trump sitting down with lester holt around why he said in his own words, he fired james comey. take a look. regardless of recommendation i was going to fire comey knowing there was no good time to do it. in fact when i decided to do it, i said to myself, you know, this russia thing with trump and russ

mr trump is leaving behind fresh controversy in washington. there are claims he said that by firing the fbi chief, james comey, it relieved great pressure on him. a very public disagreement within labour over trident here comes the bride. the middleton marries james matthews. a very public disagreement within labour over trident after shadow foreign secretary emily thornberry says the party could abandon its support for the nuclear deterrent. the tories defend their pledge to cut net migration to "tens of thousands" after it comes under fire from former chancellor george osborne. hassan rouhani is re—elected as iranian president, defeating his conservative rival in the first round. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. donald trump has arrived in saudi arabia this morning on his first foreign tourjust arabia this morning on his first foreign tour just as arabia this morning on his first foreign tourjust as a married —— embarrassing new claims are made about the sacking of james embarrassing new claims are made about the sacking ofjames

mr. trump is here flow as president for a contentious meeting of the leaders of the nato alliance. but his words about muslims haunted him back home today. a federal appeals court voted 10-3 to block his partial ban on travel to the u.s. by citizens of six mostly muslim nations. the reason, according to the chief judge, bigotry. jeff pegues is following this. >> reporter: the president's executive order would have temporarily suspended visas from iran, libya, somalia, sudan, syria and yemen. the decision from the fourth circuit court of appeals keeps it from going into fek, writing for the majority, chief judge roger gregory wrote, mr. trump's order speaks with vague words of national security. but in context drips with religious intolerance, animus and discrimination. the travel ban was a cornerstone of president trump's campaign. >> donald j. trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the united states. >> reporter: shortly after taking office the president signed a first executive order that was also blocked by the courts. this version which dropped a

an american israeli led the local election campaign for mr trump. the relationship with israel has been repaired and, again, 8 years of obama, the american—israel relationship was discouraged. putting daylight between the united states and israel, i mean, that's not daylight anymore. we work together, as we should be. but what will the president say about settlements like this one, where mr zell lives? they're seen as illegal under international law but israel disagrees. in ramallah, palestinians want president trump to show commitment to the idea of creating a palestinian state. to move forward in a two state solution, it starts with recognising the state palestine and getting the boot of occupation off of our neck. that is something that the us could pressure israel into doing if they would be serious about holding israel accountable. there is official optimism here about president trump's visit. but on both sides there is also doubt about whether his unconventional businesslike approach can achieve a peace deal where so many others have failed.

are you familiar with the dossier about mr. trump compiled with some guy in england? >> i am. >> did you find that to be a credible report? >> well, we didn't make a judgment on that and that's -- that's one reason why we did not include it in the body of our intelligence community assessment. >> you didn't find it credible enough to be included. >> we couldn't corroborate the sourcing particularly the third order sources. >> ms. yates, are you familiar with the dossier? >> i am. if i could try to clarify one answer before as well because i think senator graham you may have misunderstood me. you asked if i was aware of any evidence of collusion and i declined to answer because answering would reveal classified information. i believe that's the same answer that director comey gave to his committee when he was asked this question as well and he made clear that just because i say that i can't answer it, you should not draw from that an assumption that that means that the answer is yes. >> okay. fair enough. >> i also think if i may sir that this illustrates what i was tr

german news reports quoted mr. trump as saying the germans are very bad when it comes to trade. robyn curnow, cnn. >>> philippine president rodrigo duterte appears to have put his foot into it again. he jokingly said that if any of the soldiers were to rape three women, that he would personally claim responsibility for it. mr. duterte made that remark in a speech to soldiers on mindenou island where he imposed martial law. he is trying to crush isis rebels. chelsea clinton blasted the remark. she took to twitter saying this. quote, duterte is a murderous thug and rape is never a joke. in the meantime, the oust preside -- u.s. president, donald trump has announced solidarity in his use of martial law to combat drugs. >> do not force my hand into it. >> reporter:'s the mastermind of a bloody drug war, has personally bragged about killing people and this week has imposed martial law to fight drugs. he has even compared himself to hitler for his quest to exterminate drug criminals. human rights groups have condemned him. president trump praised him in what the white house describes

today mr. trump didn't deny it. >> i won't talk about that. all i want is for comey to be honest. >> reporter: a similar dodge from press secretary. >> are there recording devices in the residence? >> as i said for the third time, there is nothing further to add on that. >> there is no example of any modern white house recording any conversations that take place inside it unless you go back to the dark sinister time of nixon. >> reporter: the white house is still also trying to explain what led to comey's firing after initially blaming the clinton investigation, the president now admitting -- >> i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. it's an excuse for the democrats for having lost an election they should have won. >> reporter: a very different explanation than the ones given initially. >> no one from the white house. that was a d.o.j. decision. >> because of the actions the department attorney general outlined. >> reporter: increasingly on defense over the mixed messaging, mr. trump tweeting today he's a

>> reporter: mr. trump blames immigrants for violence. he often fired up his rallies by raising the murder by an illegal immigrant of a woman in san francisco, a sanctuary city. but according to the department of justice, the incarceration rate for illegal immigrants is 1/3 that of citizens. >> to lay criminality at the feet of immigrants is not only morally unfair, it is factually wrong. >> reporter: one of jim kenny's first acts as mayor was to declare philadelphia a sanctuary. which means his police do not ask about citizenship and will not hold illegal immigrants if the only reason is that i.c.e. wants to he says it violates the constitution to hold people without a warrant. there are more than 600 cities, counties, and states that consider themselves sanctuaries. two years ago there were half as many. >> we've ordered a crackdown on sanctuary cities. >> reporter: president trump is now trying to cut off federal funds from these sanctuary cities. but he's been stopped so far by the courts. >> this is not us versus them. this is we uph

during the campaign mr. trump said he hoped he and mr. putin could work together. last month he said u.s.-russian relations may be at an all time low. >>> the white house is pushing for a health care vote but there's a disconnect between the president and congressional republicans. >> pre-existing conditions are in the bill. i said has to be. >> reporter: in the interview president trump insisted the party's bill doesn't weaken protections for the sick. >> one of the fixes discussed was optional for the state. >> sure in one of the fixes and they are changing it. >> it would be permanent. >> of course. >> that's a development. >> reporter: except it hasn't happened. the gop's latest bill does give states the option to let insurers charge sick people more, a move that brought conservatives on board but alienated moderate republicans like charlie dent. >> it will affect people with pre-existing conditions and make insurance that much more expensive for them. >> reporter: in harrisburg, pennsylvania this weekend president trump pushed his party for a vote. >> i'll be

to what's happening to mr trump?‘ ships on the market is down to what's happening to mr trump? a lot of it can be attributed to that because right now we are in earnings season, so companies are reporting how well they have done in the last quarter. a lot of these earnings have been quite positive. and we're having some positive economic data and overall the us economy is looking good. so what can drive markets to fall like they did on wednesday by 371 points? it has to do with the uncertainty. the reason why we saw the trump bond was because everyone was excited on wall street we will get tax reform and a cut to banking regulations. but everything happening in washington right now is taking attention away from any of those moves, which is why we saw the drop. fast forward to today and we saw a recovery on the markets, but nothing that can bring us markets, but nothing that can bring us back to where we were before the trump dump. don't go anywhere, i wa nt to trump dump. don't go anywhere, i want to come back to,

mr. trump said he got a little when mr. trump was with mr. turnbull and front of the cameras, this is what they said. take a listen. >> we had a great call. guys exaggerated that call, a big exaggeration. we had a great call. right?a great call, we had a very, very good call. that was fake news. >> exactly right. best call was the ever come a good call, all those smiles. spin room potentially, but in this case, it was the smile room. rishaad: i will take it from here. didn't lookbull particular you comfortable there. how is this being seen? can it be considered a win for the austrian prime minister? ramy: i have been wondering that myself. or so, the hour optics are pretty good. everyone seems to be having a good time, talk of this refugee deal between the u.s. and australia. looking back at the past 24 hours, it has been an interesting time. mr. turnbull has been here for the past 24 hours, and mr. trump came in late to this meeting. they were supposed to have one hour together, then squeezed to 30 minutes. in the meantime, it seems that mr.

are you familiar with the dossier about mr. trump compiled by some guy in england? >> i am. >> did you find to be a credible report? >> well, we didn't make a judgment on that. that's one reason why we did not include it in the body of our intelligence community assessment. >> you didn't find it credible enough to be included. we couldn't corroborate the sourcing, between the second and third sources. >> are you familiar with the dossier? >> if i could try clarify one answer before as well. i think he may have misunderstood me. you asked if i was aware of any evidence of collusion and i declined to answer because answering would reveal classified information. inthat's the same answer that director comey gave when he was asked this question as well. and he made clear and i would like the make clear, that just because i say i can't answer it, you should not draw from that an spumings means the answer is yes. >> if i may, there illustrates what i was trying to get at in my statement about the unique information fbi straddles between he intelligence and law enforcement.

director of the fbi james comey to close down an investigation into links between mr trump's national security adviser michael flynn and russia. the times reports mr comey was so appalled at this suggestion that he noted it down in a memo, and a powerful committee of congress is now demanding to see that memo. white house officials insist the story is not a truthful or accurate portrayal of what was said. james comey was sacked last week. general flynn was forced to resign in february after giving a misleading account of his contacts with the russian ambassador. reaction from politicians in congress has been swift. the republicanjason chaffetz, chairman of a house of representatives oversight committee, said in a tweet his committee is going to get the comey memo, if it exists. i need to see it sooner rather than later. i have my subpoena pen ready. in the letter to the acting director of the fbi, andrew mccabe, he says the fbi has a week to get the memo and all other notes detailing president trump's conversations with mr comey to his committee. the democratic senators dick durbin an

mr. trump: it took guts for director comey to make the move he made. abouter: but is it really the way the fbi conducted the hillary clinton investigation? why not do it when donald trump first came to office? how do you reconcile it with the praise that was heaped on james comey? left the fbihas feeling very sore about the way their director has been treated. and into the washington maelstrom, but who should arrive today? none other than sergey lavrov, the russian foreign minister in a joking mood. >> was he fired? you are kidding. curiously, for the camera loving president, the press was kept away. this feels like a house of cards on steroids. theyand other world when -- another whirlwind day in washington. question ise big the timing and the justification. guest: yes. it is the why and why now? it feels a bit like house of cards, but spending the day at the senate felt like we were back in an election campaign where you have people from both parties at loggerheads and very different positions. let's start with the democrats. they are now calling for

the picture shows mr trump standing with turkish president erdogan. the two leaders held a meeting at the white house on tuesday. and the straits times reports on how hackers have pirated disney's latest pirates of the caribbean film, dead men tell no tales. the hackers are demanding a whole lot of booty for not releasing the film online before it hits the cinemas on 26 may. now, kasia, what stories are sparking discussions online? rico, if you are ever stuck for a birthday present for me, look no further. this pair of diamond earrings have just been sold in geneva. as you can see, the flawless, pear—shaped diamonds are not matching colours. they were sold separately because blue diamonds are much rarer than pink ones. but the i6—carat gems will remain a pair, as they eventually went to the same buyer. and i know, rico, you are waiting for the price tag. they fetched an eye—watering $58 million. wow. not bad. i like the blue one. i like both! let's return to the developments coming from the white house. the new york times is reporting that james

no explanation has been given as to why mr trump could not make the event. ms trump has sent arab twitter into overdrive and is currently trending with the top hashtag in arabic, #trumpsdaughter. still to come, also will have failed to qualify for the champions league for the first time in 20 years, despite a 3—1 victory over everton. welcome back. donald trump has called on muslim nations to take the lead on combating terror in saudi arabia. in scotland leaders of six political parties have taken part in a televised debate ahead of next month's general election on 8th june. britain's exit from the eu and the issue of scottish independence from the uk have been central topics in the debate. what are the key moments? you said that independent and the decision for the uk to leave the eu would be key, we always thought they would be, and so they were. we had an independence referendum in 2014, most voters voted to stay in the uk, but the snp leader nicola sturgeon has been saying that since then the brexit vote, where most voters in scotla nd wa nted brexit v

mr. chairman, a letter was sent just recently for mr. trump's then , to mr. trump and on to senator lindsey graham. that letter was supposed to be an explanation of the president of the united states' involvement in the finances and vice versa of russia and president trump. it does not in any manner, shape or form, mr. speaker, go into any partnership which may exist. there's nothing about that. ere is nothing about the russian state bank financing a deal involving mr. trump's hotel partner in toronto. nd number three, the financial , imes enforcement network fincen, which is called, which is part of the treasury department but independent, independent, they have independent investigative powers. they are looking into the money laundering in that situation. they are already investigating that with these russian oligarches. -- russian ting oligarchs. very interesting. the speaker pro tempore: the question of order, the gentleman is reminded. mr. pascrell: i'm sure you will be interested to know how foreign investments have enriched the president of the united

basically seven days after mr. trump came into office, he asked mr. comey to come to the white house for dinner. and ath that dinner, mr. trump quickly said to him look, do i have your loyalty? and mr. comey said you will have my honesty. but this answer does not appear to have satisfied mr. trump as he brought it up again later in the meal and he said do i have your loyalty? and mr. comey repeated again and was not willing to give a pledge of loyalty. and mr. trump said i guess i have your honest loyalty, and and he said yes, my honest loyalty, but this is seen as an early sign that the relationship was not going to work out. >> let's make this clear, part of the contradiction, michael, is who invited who to dinner, right? >> correct, it's our understanding that mr. trump invited mr. comey to the white house. he did not want to come to the white house. even under president with obama. he didn't want to play basketball with mr. obama because he didn't want to appear too chummy. >> so he told lester holt that he already decided to fire hymn no matter w

mr. trump was never accused of explicitly mentioning israel, just inappropriately divulging information it provided, something he did not deny today and has now perhaps reinforced. mr. trump became the first sitting president to pray at the western wall but he was not accompanied by netanyahu or other israeli officials because the administration refuses to recognize it as part of israel. secretary of state rex tillerson. >> the wall is part of jerusalem. >> reporter: if a president started his first foreign trip in saudi arabia over the weekend greeted by a canon salute, jet flyover and later a traditional arabic war dance. in a speech to leaders of 15 majority muslim nations the president dialed back his harsh anti-muslim campaign rhetoric. >> this is not a battle between different faiths. >> reporter: the president urged the leaders to do more to fight isis and al-qaeda. >> drive them out. drive them out of your places of worship. drive them out of your communities. >> reporter: the pre