ex-f.b.i. director james comey who admitted sparking the probe by leaking information to the "new york times" is nothing more than a calculating, cunning, partisan political hack at the -- at home in the d.c. swamp. during last week's hearing, comey admitted he intentionally gave a memo to his friend hoping it would lead to the appointment of special counsel. quote, i asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter, unquote, comey told lawmakers. quote, didn't do it myself for a variety of reasons but i asked him to because i thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel. and so i asked a close friend of mine to do it, unquote. what comey's admitting to under oath can in the be overlooked here or understated. his end goal was the appointment of the special counsel with -- which just so happens to turn out to be his longtime friend, robert mueller. by leaking information, comey could be putting himself again in serious legal trouble if those memos were cl

flynn in the f.b.i. did you or any f.b.i. agent ever sense that mr. flynn attempted to deceive you or made false statements to an f.b.i. agent? >> i don't want to go too far. that was the subject of the inquiry. >> did you ever come close to closing the investigation on mr. flynn? >> i don't think i can talk about that in an open setting either. >> we can discuss these more in a closed setting, then. mr. comey, in 2004, you were a part of a well-publicized event about an intelligence program that had been recertified several times and you were acting attorney general when attorney general john ashcroft was incapacitated due the illness. there was a dramatic showdown at the hospital here. the next day, you said that you wrote a letter of resignation and signed it before you went to meet with president bush to explain why you refused to certify it. is that accurate? >> yes, i think so. at anytime in the three and a half months you were the f.b.i. director during the trump administration did you ever write and sign a letter of resignation and leave it on

flynn in the f.b.i. did you or any f.b.i. agent ever sense that mr. flynn attempted to deceive you or made false statements to an f.b.i. agent? >> i don't want to go too far. that was the subject of the inquiry. >> did you ever come close to closing the investigation on mr. flynn? >> i don't think i can talk about that in an open setting either. >> we can discuss these more in a closed setting, then. mr. comey, in 2004, you were a part of a well-publicized event about an intelligence program that had been recertified several times and you were acting attorney general when attorney general john ashcroft was incapacitated due the illness. there was a dramatic showdown at the hospital here. the next day, you said that you wrote a letter of resignation and signed it before you went to meet with president bush to explain why you refused to certify it. is that accurate? >> yes, i think so. at anytime in the three and a half months you were the f.b.i. director during the trump administration did you e resignation and leave it on your desk. >> letter of resig

the f.b.i.'s washington field office. i'm here to provide an investigative update on the shooting that occurred this morning. i would like to thank the alexandria police department, u.s. capitol police, and medical response teams who responded to the scene this morning for their quick and decisive actions. actually saving lives. i remind you that this is an active investigation and details continue to unfold. i stressed this earlier and i'm going to underscore it now. that the f.b.i. is not going to talk about the character or nature in which we are investigating this case other than to say we continue to work this as an active investigation and an ongoing matter. there has been some confusion about the injuries involved. our statements sent out earlier today, this afternoon actually, identified the number of victims and their injuries. let me just review that quickly for you. five individuals were shot. a congressman, a united states capitol police officer, a congressional staffer, a lobbyist a

fired f.b.i. director james comey laid it all out accusing the president of lying and saying he was fired because of the russia investigation. meanwhile, fox news has learned the president's legal team will file a complaint with the justice department and the senate judiciary committee after comey revealed he leaked details of a memo to be friend to be given to the media. >> bill: the response. despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication is what the president writes. and wow, comey is a leaker. let's start there at the white house. kevin corke begins our coverage from the north lawn. how else is the white house reacting today? >> i think the word is with indignation. in the case of the president's private attorney, with the promise of a formal complaint to the department of justice inspector general. just part of the fallout from yesterday's riveting testimony lasting some two hours and 40 minutes. in addition to director comey's assertion that the president lied abou

the f.b.i. the president never wavered during the fiasco of these hearings and the false reporting of the left-wing national media. today the president declared comey is not only a liar, but a confessed leaker as well. he held a rose garden news conference in which said he will be able to testify under oath that he never asked comey for a loyalty pledge. that he never asked comey to drop the investigation into former national security advisor general michael flynn. fox news chief white house correspondent, john roberts, with our report. john: there was a lot of anticipation about what the president would say about the testimony on capitol hill. it turns out he said a lot. in the rose garden president trump spoke for the first time in public about james comey's testimony on capitol hill. he said he would be happy to tell the details of their meetings to robert mueller, under oath. the president said he never asked comey to shut down the investigation. >> i didn't say that. >> he lied about that.

of the f.b.i., all things the acting director of the f.b.i. denies is the case, i would have thought somebody would have had that conversation with director comey. let's go to the april 27 meeting. i think the chairman brought it up, by the time april 27 came around you'd been named as the chair of then-candidate trump's national security advisor so showing up at the meeting would be appropriate. attorney general sessions: that was the mayflower hotel? senator warner: yes. it's my understanding that the president's son-in-law, jared kushner was at the meeting as well. attorney general sessions: i believe he was. senator warner: you don't recall mr. kushner having conversations with ambassador kissly yak? and you don't recall having conversations with ambassador kissly yak? attorney general sessions: i don't recall that. there was nothing inappropriate if i did have a conversation with him but i don't remember having that. senator warner: but when you refreshed your recollection, this one didn't pop

i asked former f.b.i. director whether your role in firing him violated your recusal given president trump said he fired comey because of the russian investigation. director comey said this was a reasonable question. so i want to ask you just point blank, why did you sign the letter recommending the firing of director comey when it violated your recusal? >> it did not violate my recusal. it did not violate my recusal. that would be the answer to that. and the letter that i signed represented my views that had been formulated for some time. >> mr. chairman, just so i can finish. that answer in my view doesn't pass the smell test. the president tweeted repeatedly about his anger in the investigations about his associates in russia. the day before you wrote your letter he tweeted the collusion story was a total hoaxed and asked when will this tax-payer funded charade end. i don't think your answer passes is smell test. >> senator i think i should be allowed to briefly respond at least and would say the letter

he said i was inside an f.b.i. vehicle with an f.b.i. laptop and important to memorialize our conversation and he did that moving forward. so there may be some other memos that would fill in gaps of the meetings he didn't address in this opening statement and also said it wasn't something he had done previously. but everybody wants to know those memos when they first surfaced in press accounts, who leaked them, where did they come from? are they federal documents that can be subpoenaed? >> he described he had two one-on-one encounters with president obama and did not take notes of that. he did not feel it rose to the level of significance as james comey comes in the room now. one of the two he details is the farewell meeting toward the end of 2016. so here is the man of the hour, james comey taking his seat as the cameras click into place here. we should hear chairman burr bring us all to attention and then we'll get into today's hearing. the way it is set up is that each senator on the committee gets seven minutes for a question and ans

former f.b.i. former f.b.i. director james comey told the senate intelligence committee that president trump ordered him to call off the investigation of former national security adviser michael flynn. for two and a half hours today, comey described a series of highly unusual meetings and phone calls in which mr. trump bypassed comey's boss, the attorney general, and asked comey directly to publicly clear the president of wrongdoing. a special counsel has taken over the russia investigation and could look into whether mr. trump committed obstruction of justice when he asked comey to drop the flynn inquiry, and then fired comey when he did not. in perhaps a sign of the legal and political jeopardy, the president, for once, did not speak for himself. he left it to his lawyer to deny all. we have extensive coverage, beginning with nancy cordes. >> i was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting, and so i thought it really important to document. >> reporter: comey told senators that it was

trump described the f.b.i.'s russia investigation as a cloud and asked comey what comey could do to lift it. the testimony, based on comey's notes, also confirms the president's statement that he was not under investigation. chief congressional correspondent nancy cordes begins our coverage. >> reporter: comey's seven-page opening statement describes his conversations with the president in detail. seven days after the inauguration, comey says, the president invited me to dinner. it turned out to be just the two of us. my instincts toll me that the one-on-one setting meant that the dinner was, at least in part, an effort to have me ask for my job and create some sort of patronage relationship. sure enough, comey says, the president said, "i need loyalty. i expect loyalty." i didn't move, speak, or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed. we simply looked at each other in silence. >> he wanted to have dinner because he wanted to stay on. >> reporter: the president has claime

judge jeanine: former f.b.i. director jim comey's stunning testimony continues to dominate the headlines. jay sekulow, part of the president's legal team joins us. i want to talk about james comey's legal exposure. i want to talk about what i see as a former prosecutor real problems for james comey. let's talk about the federal records act, and james comey writing a report on an f.b.i. laptop, after meeting with the president, isn't that a federal record? >> you asked me if that's a violation of the federal records act. it's also a violation of u.s.c.641. look at what he did. the f.b.i. director gave his information to a third party to leak. i think james comey has serious legal exposure. the special counsel should be looking into his activity. the way he conducted himself with distribution of that memo on government property, basically a 302 report, it raises serious issues. judge jeanine: we have conversations with the president of the united states. is that classified or is that something that can willy-nilly

we know the f.b.i. has a dossier complied by a former british spy that has a lot of allegations about what the russians may have on trump, and we know that itself was not enough to prompt an investigation of trump. if that were to happen, it would mean that there would have to be new information here that would lead f.b.i. investigators to believe that there was more there on what the russians have on trump. >> rose: is it your impression that the dossier is hardly relevant because of its questions about its origin? >> i think the dossier was initially dismissed as this very salacious document that had pretty off-the-wall accusations in it. but my sense from talking to folks at the f.b.i. since then is they didn't necessarily dismiss it as much and that they were actually able to corroborate significant portions of it right off the bat based on intelligence they had. these were not the most salacious parts of the report. it was more basic stuff about things going on inside of russia and russia's attempt

the former f.b.i. director gave his highly anticipated testimony before the senate intelligence committee earlier today. in his opening remarks, he said president trump lied to the american people when he said agents lost confidence in him. >> although the law required no reason at all to fire the f.b.i. director, the administration chose to defame me, and more importantly the f.b.i., by saying the organization was in disarray, that it was poorly led, that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader. those were lies, plain and simple. and i'm so sorry the f.b.i. workforce had to hear them, and i'm so sorry the american people were told this. i work every day at the f.b.i. to help make that great organization better. charlie: comey also revealed he turned over memos documenting his conversations with president trump to robert mueller. it is the first public suggestion the investigation will look into trump's firing of comey. during the testimony, president trump spoke at a meeting of faith leaders a

as f.b.i. director comey restated today, 2016 could just be a dress rehearsal for what's coming at us in 2018 and 2020. the intelligence agencies said that they would try to do it again. russia is no match for the military might of the united states of america. russia is no match for the economic might of the united states of america. russia's autocratic, clepto krattic, dick at that torial style of -- dictatorial style of government is no match for the might of the united states of america. but the russia has figured out a way to use the internet to penetrate the democracies of the world on the cheap. it's not expensive to have paid trols to orchestrate fake -- trolls to orchestrate fake news and try to sway the electoral process in the united states or in the netherlands or in france or in other countries of the world. now, we don't have all of the facts. that's why we need an independent outside investigation by a commission that we set up outside of congress. no democratic members of congre

the former f.b.i. director, in a statement to the senate, details how president trump asked for his personal loyalty, asked to drop the investigation into michael flynn, and called russia a "cloud" hanging over the presidency. then, the pressure is on. top u.s. intelligence officials remain tight-lipped in a high- stakes congressional hearing about whether the president has tried to influence them. >> you could clear an awful lot up by simply saying "it never happened." >> i don't share-- i do not share with the general public, conversations that i have with the president. >> woodruff: also ahead, a twist on terrorism in the middle east. a stunning dual attack in iran leaves at least 12 dead and 40 wounded, with isis claiming responsibility. all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressin

he denied he tried to lean on the f.b.i. director, fired f.b.i. director james james comd he also denied he misled congress when he testified in his confirmation hearings earlier this year that he only had a couple meetings with the russians. and he tried the clear up all of those mistakes he made i think with some success today, judy. >> woodruff: carrie, i'm sorry you're having microphone troubles. let me go back to lisa desjardins for a minute while carrie gets the earpiece straightened out. so, lisa, i know you've been talking to these senators on the committee in the days and weeks leading up to this. for them, how crit cam was this testimony by the attorney general? is this just one more step along the long road of this investigation? >> i think the answer is it was both critical and it was just one more step along the road of this investigation. judy, i think we're at the pilot where each one of these kinds of hearings is critical. many of these senators say they're not sure where all of this is leading yet. they're still asking these first

besides flynn, the f.b.i. is now scrutinizing former campaign chairman paul manafort; former campaign adviser carter page; trump confidant, roger stone; and his son-in-law, jared kushner. >> do you believe donald trump colluded with russia? >> that's a question i don't think i should answer in an open setting. aise said, when i left, we did not have an investigation focused on president trump. but that's a question that will be answered by the investigation, i think. >> reporter: a lawyer for michael flynn did not respond to requests for comment. scott, comey noted that during their meetings, the president did not ask him to take any action on the russian interference in the election, and comey warned that the russians would be back. >> pelley: jeff pegues, thanks. coming up on the cbs evening news, we'll get the perspective of political veteran leon panetta, and later, millions tune in to comey tv, part c-span, part super bowl. then she came to louisiana as a slave. i became curious where in africa she was fr

as if we didn't already know the f.b.i. was in disarray after your repeated debacles with hillary clinton in the runup to the presidential election. poor jim. you sounds like a 2-year-old. grow up. on second thought, don't. you are tall enough. but what do we know? jim comey doesn't much like donald trump. actually admitting he felt slightly nauseous that he might be responsible for trump's win. he's done something he has never done with other presidents, including barack obama. he decides donald trump might lie to him. so he calculates to document every alleged word of their encounter, take it with him. then leak it to the press. the only problem, the record is a federal record, and removing it a clear violation of the federal records act. some foresight though, huh? thinking the president will lie to him. comey's crystal ball pat work. so he gives it to a friend to give to the "new york times" in order to get a special counsel to investigate the president. while he was head of the f.b.i., trump was not under investigation

fired f.b.i. director james comey will be in that room screen left before the senate intelligence committee one hour from now. the testimony before the testimony already rocking washington, d.c. seven pages of sometimes vivid details in the trump/comey saga that tees up that could be an afternoon of fireworks on a critical day ahead in washington, d.c. as we say good morning in new york city. this is special coverage of the james comey testimony here in "america's newsroom." good to have you with us. we'll find out together what we get today. >> shannon: it will be a great. today's hearing caps off a long drama. it will be former f.b.i. director james comey's first public testimony since he was fired by president trump on may 9th. his written testimony zeroing in on repeated encounters with the president including a statement he hoped he would back off the flynn probe as well as a demand for honesty loyalty. >> here is a segment. he said this. the president said i need loyalty, i expect loyalty. i

trump wanted to end the f.b.i. probe of former national security adviser michael flynn, and his russian contacts. comey says he began writing it all down, after an initial meeting last january. >> you've had extensive experience at the department of justice and at the f.b.i. you've worked under presidents of both parties. what was it about that meeting that led you to determine that you needed to start putting down a written record? >> a combination of things, i think-- the circumstances, the subject matter and the person i was interacting with. circumstances first: i was alone with the president of the united states-- or the president-elect, soon to be president. the subject matter: i was talking about matters that touch on the f.b.i.'s core responsibility and that relate to the president-- president- elect personally. and then the nature of the person: i was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting, and so i thought it really important to document. that combination of things, i'd never

the f.b.i. director he fired last month. comey told the senate intelligence committee the president directed him to drop the f.b.i.'s investigation of former national security advisor michael flynn. today, he said he lied under oath but his testimony proved there was no collusion between anyone in his campaign and russia and the president himself did not obstruct justice. our coverage begins with margaret brennan. >> president trump said he would be happy to speak with special counsel robert mueller about his conversations with james comey. it would be a significant moment in an investigation that has gone from examining the trump campaign's ties to russia to whether the president -- he denied the accusation he pressured the f.b.i. director. he also said he did not ask for his loyalty. president trump: there would be nothing wrong if i did say that, but i did not say that. >> the president attacked comey for leaking details of their conversation to the press. comey testified yesterday shortly af

the f.b.i. agents work for him. that in and of itself is a form misconduct that could result in his termination. you can't have a special counsel's office running an anti-presidential campaign on their own. so now he's got a leaking problem just like his buddy, mr. comey. let's not forget mueller and comey are pals. so there is a conflict of interest there. this is a mess. lou: it's clearly an attempt to subvert the government of the united states as well as the administration of donald j. trump, president of the united states. what are his options? how should he deal with it? this has reached crisis proportions without a doubt. >> this is a rough assessment. it's not nice to say. but frankly the left wants the president impeached, and if it could jail members of his family they would go for that, too. it's just that vicious. it's just that dirty. the president is faced with a new attorney general to eliminate the conflict of interest with respect to attorney general sessions or exercises his au

the f.b.i. agents work for him. that in and of itself is a form misconduct that could result in his termination. you can't have a special counsel's office running an anti-presidential campaign on their own. so now he's got a leaking problem just like his buddy, mr. comey. let's not forget mueller and comey are pals. so there is a conflict of interest there. this is a mess. lou: it's clearly an attempt to subvert the government of the united states as well as the administration of donald j. trump, president of the united states. what are his options? how should he deal with it? this has reached crisis proportions without a doubt. >> this is a rough assessment. it's not nice to say. but frankly the left wants the president impeached, and if it could jail members of his family they would go for that, too. it's just that vicious. it's just that dirty. the president is faced with a new attorney general to eliminate the conflict of interest with respect to attorney general sessions or exercises his au

and i'm so sorry the f.b.i. workforce had to hear them, and i'm so sorry the american people were told this. i work every day at the f.b.i. to help make that great organization better. charlie: comey also revealed he turned over memos documenting his conversations with president trump to robert mueller. it is the first public suggestion the investigation will look into trump's firing of comey. during the testimony, president trump spoke at a meeting of faith leaders and politicians in washington and pushed back against the media and his political opponents. president trump: they will lie, they will obstruct, they will spread their hatred and the prejudice. but we will not back down from because, ass right the bible tells us -- [applause] president trump: we know the truth will prevail. charlie: for the latest on this developing story, here is a report from the cbs evening news. >> i was concerned he might lie about the nature of the meeting so i thought it was important to document. >> he told them it was the pr

today fired f.b.i. director james comey previewed the testimony he will give the senate intelligence committee tomorrow in its investigation of russian meddling in the u.s. election and whether anyone in the trump campaign was involved. the committee released comey's opening statement today, in which he says the president pressured him to drop the f.b.i. investigation of mr. trump's former national security adviser. comey says mr. trump described the f.b.i.'s russia investigation as a cloud and asked comey what comey could do to lift it. the testimony, based on comey's notes, also confirms the president's statement that he was not under investigation. chief congressional correspondent nancy cordes begins our coverage. >> reporter: comey's seven-page opening statement describes his conversations with the president in detail. "seven days after the inauguration," comey says, "the president invited me to dinner. it turned out to be just the two of us. my instincts toll me that the one-on-one setting meant t

there was an open f.b.i. criminal investigation of his statements in connection with the russian contacts and the contacts themselves. and so that was my assessment at the time. i don't think it's for me to say whether the conversation i had with the president was an effort to obstruct. i took it as a very disturbing thing, very concerning. but that's a conclusion i'm sure the special counsel will work towards to try to understand what the intention was there and whether that's an offense. >> director, is it possible that as part of this f.b.i. investigation, the f.b.i. could find evidence of criminality that is not tied to the 2016 elections, possible collusion, or coordination with russians. >> sure. >> do you believe that you were fired because you refused to-- to take the president's direction? is that the ultimate reason? >> i don't know for sure. i know i was fired-- again, i take the president's words-- i know i was fired because of something about the way i was conducting the russia investigation. of,

senator king: did you ever -- did the f.b.i. ever brief the ump administration about the advise interof interact -- of interacting directly with the ambassador? director comey: there were a variety of defensive briefings given to the incoming administration about the counter intelligence risk. senator king: back to mr. flynn. would closing out the flynn investigation have impeded the overall russian investigation? irector comey: no. unlikely except to the extent -- there is always a possibility if you have a criminal case against someone and you bring it and squeeze them, you flip them, they give you information about something else. i saw the two as touching each ther but separate. senator king: with regard to your memos, isn't it true in a court case when you're weighing evidence, contemporaneous memos and contemporaneous statements to third parties are considered probative in terms of the va lidity of testimony? -- validity of testimony? senator king: thank you. chairman burr: senator lankford. senator lankford: director come

we went back to the f.b.i. today and said please clarify for us and tell us where we were wrong and they did not provide us that information. howie: i have had instances in my career where people said that story was wrong, but you don't get the difference. juan: this is "mediabuzz," so let's get to it. the "new york times" said they believe it's road in the characterization of the contacts with the people in the trump campaign. were they russian intelligence officers. and the black and white characterization of who is a russian intelligence officer. if you are in the banking business and having contact, you are not considered by the f.b.i. an intelligence officer. howie: gillian, what do you think about comey's point about sources who talk on the periphery and the sources who do know aren't talking to reporters. gillian: i was glad he said that. that was my perspective as a former employee. people who don't know are talking about this the most. that absolutely was my experience at the white house. people with t

the director of the f.b.i. if you are president of the united states. and yet he did. but it conveys a mindset of the way he sees the world and the way he operated in business and he's brought that into the white house. robert: kim, if there are no tapes it is perhaps the president's word versus former director comey's word. in that scenario, how does it play out throughout the rest of the country? are they really going to value comey's credibility over the president's? kimberly: well, i think so far. when you check the polls james comey has a bit, a bit more credibility over the president at this point in time. you have a lot of factors. james comey said what he said under oath. he is a former director of the f.b.i. you saw the members of the senate intel committee on both sides of the aisle viewed that with a lot of credibility and were very respectful to him. the president has done a lot to undermine his own credibility and so that will be tough. i think with his base they are with him. they are going to def

comey would keep his job as f.b.i. directo director. as a direct effort to prevent that investigation from going further, that looks a lot like a quid pro quo. during questioning from a republican senator, senator risch, mr. comey told us that he took the president's conversation with him about the f.b.i. investigation into general flynn as a directive to scuttle that investigation. it is clear that the president -- that president trump's legal defense is to refute mr. comey's account. well, the president threatened mr. comey with the release of tapes of their conversation. presumably, that includes the conversation when president trump asked director comey to, quote, let go, unquote, of the flynn investigation. it's awfully curious that no one from the president's team will either confirm or deny the existence of the tapes. when the tapes are the only way to prove that mr. comey's testimony which came under oath are false or misleading. president trump, if you disagree with anything the director said today, play the tapes for all of am

the f.b.i. is in charge. they plan to have a news conference in just about 30 minutes' time. around the corner from us. we'll listen closely to see what if any political motivations may have had to do in this really charged timing. >> have i still got shots being fired? >> we got one in custody. we need medics. scott: chaos as republican members of congress came under fire practicing early wednesday morning for a charity baseball game. representative mo brooks was feet away. >> i thought it was a car backfiring at first until i see the rifle barrel. a white male taking careful aim at congressman, staffers, whoever he could get ahold of. >> he had a lot of ammo. i think he must have been secured behind the third base dugout for a while. tough to get to him. scattered in every direction. filling a dugout or hopping the fence to get away. >> it went on for what felt like ten minutes. >> a guy, i don't know who he was but he was out here on the field. he was shot early on and he was just laying ther

f.b.i. chronicled the warrantless collection, not just phone metadata, but phone and personal data and the unmasking of identities in spy data about millions of americans. this domestic surveillance was all being done on computers supplied by the f.b.i.. so these supercomputers, which are f.b.i. computers, they are using them to do domestic surveillance. gee, we have been assured that does not happen. we've been assured in hearings in our judiciary committee over the last 12 years i have been here and we have had a lot of hearings on these issues, we have been assured this isn't happening. . . this guy who knows enough to steal 600 million classified documents on 47 hard drives without getting caught. e says it's happening. mr. speaker, let me parenthetically insert here, we've had a number of conversations with f.b.i., different intelligence officials that use section 702, allow this is kind of widespread collection, if we're going after what we were told would be foreign terrorists, known