Transcripts For WTTG Fox 5 News 630 20170511

Recommendation so you had already made the decision. I was going to fire regardless of recommendation. In that exclusive interview President Trump called ousted fbi chief james comey a showboat an grand stander. He said he would have fired him regardless. There were a lot of story lines that came out after the fact one was that Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein had allegedly suggested he might resign because he was unhappy that it was insinuated he was the sole reason behind it. Keep in mind about 10 days ago sean spicer had said the president had full confidence in jim comey and then Sara Huckabee sanders at the briefing the other day said that, well, you know, reporters were misguided. I mean you know we did see a lot of different headlines, corrections. I believe even the Vice President came out and said the president acted based on these recommendations so today a little bit of a different story there from the president. Meantime on capitol hill the man who replaced Comey Andrew Mccabe took the heat of the Senate Intelligence hearing. Hes the acting director stepping in for the fired director. His testimony was scheduled before the shakeup but it is all anyone talked about. Mr. Mccabe for as long as you are acting fbi director do you commit of informing this committee of any effort to interfere with the fbis Ongoing Investigation in the links between russia and the trump campaign. I absolute dollar. In light of whats happened in the last 48 hours its critically important that we have that assurance. The work of the men and women of the fbi continues espite any changes in circumstance, any decisions, so there has been no effort to impede our investigation to date. Quite simply put, sir, you cannot stop the men and women of the fbi from doing the right thing, protecting the am the constitution. There was one thing that he also testified today, there was the suggestion again by Sara Huckabee sanders the the briefing that jim comey had lost on the confidence of the rank and file of the fbi. Heres the problem there. That was not the case today. He came right out and said that was one of the first things we heard from andrew mccabe. Todd shepherd investigative report for the Washington Examiner joins us. Was there anything else that sort of surprised you. No, but certainly the fact that mr. Mccabe did counter so many things that had been put forward by the administration. It certainly put the administration, if you saw the White House Press briefing today they spent almost the entire time trying to reconcile these corrections and look, as long as youre spending a whole day in the White House Press Briefing Room trying to reconcile these stories thats another day that youre not advancing your agenda and, you know, forward these different stories may have. Worked for the trump for the trump campaign, its a lot different when youre in administration at the white house. Sure. How much of this is sort of the lack of Institutional Knowledge and Sara Huckabee sanders has the not been in d. C. For a long while sean spicer certainly has. Did it seem that there was that disconnect between what was said the other day and what came out today in testimony . Gosh, you know, i think thats an excellent question because theres been a lot of that questioning over the last couple of weeks, especially the Institutional Knowledge between the Communications Team and what goes on in the oval office. So but i think the core problem for the press team, maybe not isnt lack of Institutional Knowledge, i think its the fact that the president is a wild card with a lot of his statements and so they find themselves sort of chasing him continual to try to catch up with what hes really thinking or the last thing he said. In todays hearing we know that some of the senators asked m m president s claim. We heard in that letter that he sent to james comey where he said three times you told me i am not under investigation. For our viewers who werent watching, were you surprised . What was the answer . What did mr. Mccabe say. Well, mr. Mccabe said he could not comment on any conversation that former director comey might have had with the president. Now, of course, the president explained what he knew of the situation with Nbcs Lester Holt but look, the president created a situation here that basically just gets everybody dirty. This is the equivalent to bill clinton having a conversation on the tarmac with former ag loretta lynch. The ethics are highly questionable at best. Theyre terrible at worst. And again, it just puts everybody in a compromising situation where nobody looks clean. The president shouldnt be asking that question and the fbi director shouldnt be giving an answer. If i remember correctly the president was very vocal about that, too. Right. Yeah. Well, that it was at a dinner and two different phone calls in which he he got these answers from director comey. If director comey comes out and refutes this completely, then again, we just have this this episode where both the president and the former fbi director look even worse and nobody can come out a winner on this. All right. Todd shepherd thanks for coming in. We appreciate it. You bet. Thank you. So, theres a question a lot of people have and if youre outside of washington, you dont know the answer and i thinkth at gm point where has sean spicer been. Hes been absent from the White House Press briefing for the past two days. The the white house says hes fulfilling his navy reserve duties. But there is also some speculation among some insiders that his absence could become more permanent and he could possibly be replaced by his backup sara hulk beep sanders or weve heard other names thrown out there. We asked on twitter who is better at leading to us white he briefings. Some responses one person said write in ballot a potato. Another said neither. Theyre both sneaky phony snakes with mumble mouths. These are both people who President Trump is very confident in transmitting his message out there. And we should its point out this is all speck delays sure, sure it is. Lets bring in ronica cleary right now. Ronica, do you have any more details on this . Reporter hey, jim and shawn. We really got to talking about this. There was a tweet last night from Jonathan Swann a reporter, he said that he had confirmed that President Trump was in fact exploring the possibility of replacing sean spicer. Now, as you said that would possibly be filled by Sara Huckabee sander its the deputy press secretary. Its definitely the talk inside the White House Press briefings, whats going on. So, we are asking people what do you just think about the possibility of a new press secretary . Were live at old ebbitt. Lets check in over here. What do you think about the possibility of a new press secretary . I sure will miss the snl skits. They are something else. Lets come over here. We have two ladies over here. What do you think about the possibility of a new press secretary. Definitely a good idea cause theres way too much attention on him than on the stories that hes actually trying put out. Reporter he is a news maker. Yeah. So we think its a good idea. Reporter well, he definitely makes news in those briefings. Come on back here. We have some brave souls over here. What is your name in caleb schultz. Reporter where are you from. Colorado. Reporter colorado, thats where my husbands from. Great state. Okay, lets talk about the news. Lets talk about what actually matters. What do you think about the possibility of a new press secretary. That would disappoint me. I kind of like sean spicer. Hes direct, hes a no nonsense guy. I like that. Reporter he is very direct when im in that room i have definitely felt that. All right, back here, whats your name . Barbara. Reporter barbara. What do you think about the possibility avenue new press secretary of a few press secretary. Well, i think that whats Melissa Mccarthy going to do . Is she going to be able to get the new press secretary as well as she does spice arrayment second snl reference. Last one. What do you think yeah or nay. I think he should go and somebody should put him out of his misery. Reporter it certainly looks like a tough job, that is for sure. Were sending it back to you, jim and shawn. All right. Always a lot of opinions there and speaking of Melissa Mccarthy. Theyre putting spicer in the promos. A Republican Campaign Consulting Firm in maryland under investigation by the fbi. Fox5s Anjali Hemphill joins us live tonight from annapolis. Anjali, what is going on here . Reporter well, jim and shawn, still a lot more questions than answers at this point and things out here have quieted down for now. But i can tell you that earlr reports that more than half a dozen fbi agents showed outpatient to the third floor of this building along main street in annapolis with a warrant to search and seize records. Now, according to the local newspaper, the capitol gazette, the president of Strategic Campaign group his name is kelly rogers told reporters this morning when i he believes the fbi was here. He says it involves consulting work his firm did for robert cuccinelli. In a civil suit cuccinellis people allege Strategic Campaign group and conservative strike force thats a pac raised more than 2 million by assuring donors the some and would go to help elect the gop candidate. The suit alleges rogers group and the pac failed to follow through on promises for an extensive media campaign. And rogers told that capitol gazette reporter he believes todays fbi raid stems from those allegations and he also told that reporter the investigation would clear his name. Now, the fbi right now is only confirming to us that they conducted a Law Enforcement search on a facility here along main street and we did make several calls to this Consulting Firm today but we did not hear back. This is of course a developing story. We are working to get you much more on this. Stay tuned to fox5 news at 10 00 and 11 00 where we hope to have more. Anjali hemphill. Anything on your mind . Tweet us five at 630. Back after this. You can even talk about the rain. Anything you want. I cant stand the rain introducing the fios gigabit connection with download speeds up to 940 megs that are 20x faster and more powerful than most people have. Incredibly, its 79. 99 a month for one year. Comcast charges you 89. 99 for a triple play that only offers 200 mgs speeds. Switch to the most powerful internet at the most revolutionary price. Get fios gigabit connection for 79. 99 a month and well give you tv, hbo for one year and multiroom dvr service for 2 years all with a 2 year agreement. So act fast. Go to fiosgigabit. Com welcome back. Criminal gang members linked to illegal immigration in d. C. Maryland and virginia and across the country. Tom fitzgerald a live tonight at ice headquarters in southwest with the latest on this. Tom. Reporter yeah, this was a pretty big operation shawn and jim. This went on for six weeks. They started this in march and all told now in revealing this they say theyve arrested 1,378 people. They have seized 491,000 of money and theyve also taken 238 weapons off the streets. Now, this is some video that we obtained today of this operation over the last couple of weeks. Now, this was not only nationwide, this was in our area as well, d. C. , maryland and virginia. In all, in our area, 52 people were arrested. And, you know, one of the examples they used was over in Fairfax County. In Fairfax County they arrested 11 people. They were and are being part of the ms13 street gang. They say that house that they were operating out of came under suspicion of sex trafficking. They contacted the Fairfax County police the Fairfax County Police Worked in conjunction with ice and they were able to move in and make arrests. Now, keep in mind the environment were in right now. This spring ice issued a memorandum listing jurisdictions across the country that do not cooperate with ice, places that when an immigration detainer comes in, the jurisdiction for whatever reason ignores it. A lot of times these are called sanctuary cities. They have policies like this even if the local governments havent passed these laws. Well, we asked the director, tom holman tonight about the difference in operating in a jurisdiction that honors ice detainers and works with federal Law Enforcement when it comes to immigration policy and what its like to try to operate in a community that does not work with ice. Heres what what that risk puts to Law Enforcement and the public. When they get released without our attention, theyre back in the streets. So, now we got to go find the individual many times we dont know where they are and the recidivism rate is between 30 and 40 percent. Theyre going to commit a crime in many cases and now we got to send a team out to look for these people in a less secure environment out in the public. Reporter you know, the rub here, though, is that while this debate has raged over illegal immigration in this country, you talk to the experts, the people who are on the front lines of trying to enforce the laws, they will tell you many of the victims of these illegal street gangs are immigrant populations themselves. Some of the groups that they run into are the most of the arrests in this group involvesas the director tonight shawn, saying these criminal illegal alien street gangs in his words are the biggest threat facing the public right now. Well, and when you look at what weve been covering lately, we had the Court Appearance today with the murder of the girl in gaithersburg, that was all linked to the ms13 in some way shape or form so this is a real concern and i think were hearing more and more about it these days. Reporter and theres an important difference we delayed in talking to ice officials. They say theres been a change of late and the change is this. Typically, you know, most peoples knowledge of gangs is that they have territory, they have areas that they control and if anybody else comes in, well then a gang war breaks out. That is starting to change. They are seeing cooperation, they are seeing collusion amongst these gangs. Some have expertise in trafficking, some have expertise in weaponry. Theyre seeing more and more that these groups are starting to come together and Work Together presents a larger challenge to the Law Enforcement officials that are trying to fight it. Certainly understand that. All right, thank you very much, fitz for keeping us updated tonight. We appreciate it. What day is today . May 12th. May 12th. What is it may 11th. Thank you. Easter is long over, right. Yeah, it is. The question is, why were people all excited about this easter bunny . Thats not what shawn spicer is up to these days. Were going to talk about it after this. Award winning interface. Award winning design. Award winning engine. The volvo xc90. The most awarded luxury suv of the century. Jena bush hager says her dad is a feminist. Hager said the way she parents is a reflection on how she was actually raised. She said people laugh at this but i think my dad was a feminist. He showed us that we could be whatever we wanted to be. I want my girls to feel that way. I want them to feel strong and capable and conquer the world. Hager says her dad always pushed her and her twin sister to be the smart test most capable thing they could be. I think that is called being a great park. Thats the way you want to raise your kids period boys or girls. There was a lt of attention paid for the bush girls miss behaving. Speak for yourself. I didnt do anything wrong. I was fine, too. I was boring. I was a perfect teenager. But in the grand scheme of things, theyre doing quite well. I have family in the dmv. You read this story. A new pet hanging around the white house this week. This is marlon bundo. Marlon bundo. Mike pence brought his bunny to the family named marlon bundo. Part of the draw was they got a chance to meet marilyn. Very cool. Now, the internet w over that talking about the bunny in the white house. Marlon bundo. I wonder who named the bunny. Thats anybodys guess. I think the pences have one child if im not mistaken. I dont know if its a daughter. I could be wrong. Who knows. Maybe it was mrs. Pence who did it. Could be. All right. Love and politics dont always mix and according to a new study the change in the administration is causing a spike in divorces. What . Well talk about it on five at 6 30 next. Apparently love and politics dont go together like a horse and car ramp. Carriage. New Study Suggests President Trump may be the reason for more divorce. Reporter is President Trump building couples . A new poll suggested politics of the day isnt just pitting the parties against one another, its splitting relationships, too. I have never seen so much relationship drama over politics ever before. Reporter in the new study virginia based polling Firm Wakefield Research surveyed over a thousand couples and found one in 10 of them broke up over political argument. Might not be too much of a surprise that among millennials that number was a lot higher at 22 percent. Disagreements over trump beeny even appear to be trumping what couples usually clash over. According to the poll one in five couples say that in the last six months they fought more about trump than about money. Lois brenner is a divorce attorney. Ive never seen anything like this before in the 35 years ive been practicing because. Controlling and who are abusive kind of insist that their spouse agrees with them and when the spouse says, no, i wont, it gives t reporter that said, outside of avoiding toxic people, which we should anyway how do we make sure a party a senate or a house divided doesnt divide our houses, too. Do not bring up your political believes. One person wanted a date and the girl said thanks for the debate instead of the date. Reporter on the flip side if disagreeing over a president is enough to break up a couple was the relationship that strong to begin with . Its a good excuse. Yeah. Absolutely. Sure if youre looking for an excuse blame someones political views. Reporter on the Upper East Side Jennifer Llamas fox news. I dont think its fair to blame politics. If youre going to break up your relationship breaks up because of that then there was some other issues there. Yeah. cause your relationship should be Strong Enough to not break up over your partners political preferences. Were here in d symbol i think of the early 90s, the early years of the Clinton Administration james carvel and mary matlin, theyve coexisted. Theyre still together. I once new Independence Airlines didnt run anymore but you get on the airline and the two of them did the year head announcements before the flight. Real. Carvel did his left for the plane and marilyn matlin was giving her instructions for the right. Arnold schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver i think its safe to say they didnt break up over politics. Something a little bit different. Something else. When you look at the kennedy clan which maria is involved in but that you have it. I want to correct myself. I said mike pence has one child. He has three. I dont have my Vice President s straight sometimes but there you have it. Thank goodness for google. Yeah. All right, so, thank you so much for joining us tonight. We hope you guys stay inside and sta yeah, because we got a lot going on tonight. Well be back with more news at 10 00, 10 30 and 11 00 in the meantime make eight good night and well see you soon. Announcer today on tmz harvey Jada Pinkett Smith certainly had the right to go nuclear on a paparazzo who scratched her car. You scratched my car, homie. Harvey but thats not how she rolls. Its funny because its actually a twodoor rollsroyce. Harvey thats why i said it, jeff. [laughter] meek mill showed up to aces strip club and he brought with him 20,000 in single dollar bills. Harvey if you could go with a lesser stack that has fives, arent you a more desirable guy to strippers . Do you know how much quicker youre going to burn through your resource . If i could tip with 50 cent pieces, i would. [laughter] scott disick, hes back to his partying ways. We shot french montana. And we said have you heard scott disick needs to go to rehab. Everybody needs to go to rehab. Harvey are you taking vegas . The vegas rehab is fun