Intelligence. That awareness is what led to comey to act unilaterally when he publicly declared that the investigation was over last summer. Our chief Political Correspondent dana bash helped break this story for cnn. Shes joining us. Dana, tell us what you and your team have learned. As you mentioned cnn has learned that this is the key, that the fbi director james comey, then fbi director, knew that a critical piece of russian information related to the Hillary Clinton email investigation was fake but he felt that he needed to take action anyway because he was concerned that if the information became public, fake or not, it would undermine the investigation and the Justice Department itself. Now, this is according to multiple sources talking to my colleague and myself. It was because of these concerns that comey decided to publicly declare that the Clinton Probe was over last summer without consulting then attorney general Loretta Lynch. You may remember that earlier this week the Washington Post reported on this intelligence and the doubts about its credibility. The fact that comey felt that he had to act based on russian disinformation is a stark example of how russian interference really did impact the Decision Making at the highest levels of the u. S. Government during the 2016 campaign. The russian information claimed to show that then attorney general lynch had been compromised in the clinton investigation because of emails between the then dnc chair Debbie Wasserman schultz and a Clinton Campaign operative saying lynch would make the fbi Clinton Probe go away. According to one Government Official in classified briefings comey told lawmakers that he was afraid that this information would, quote, drop and undermine the investigation, but comey didnt tell lawmakers at the time that he doubted the accuracy of the information even in a classified setting. According to one Government Official the fbi director felt that the validity of the information didnt matter because if it came public he had no way to discredit it without burning sources and methods. In public comey gave the notion for breaking protocol and making this announcement last july because bill clinton had boarded then attorney general Loretta Lynchs plane which was inappropriate. Thats why he decided to speak out. Thats right. I am told he didnt even mention that in classified settings on capitol hill. He didnt talk about the plane incident. Instead he told lawmakers that this russian information was the primary reason he took that unusual step to announce the end of the Clinton Probe himself. It sounds like the russians were still successful in their operation, even though comey knew this socalled memorandum was fake, he still acted as a result of it. At least in part. Wolf, if you think about the chain of events that ended up this all ended upsetting off, when comey held his press Conference Announcing no charges against clinton he took the extraordinary and some say inappropriate of calling Hillary Clinton careless. Clinton aides are claiming that her reputation was damaged with voters and never recovered from that press conference and that press conference likely wouldnt have happened without russian interference. Also talking to many officials on capitol hill and elsewhere, dissemination of fake information is still a major issue. Multiple sources tell us that russia is still at this moment trying to spread false information on trying to cloud and confuse ongoing investigations. I want to bring in our panel. David is with us. David gregory and our legal analyst, former federal prosecutor laura coats is with us as well. David, if youre a democrat, your head is probably exploding right now getting a lot of this new information on what prompted the then fbi director to go ahead with an extraordinary News Conference last july. As dana said, a sort of cascading series of events that would cause those democrats to be banging their head on the table. It seems to me whats going on here is that when the Washington Post story broke the other day, there was this notion that jim comey was duped. I think what as dana is reporting, telling folks on the hill and others, is to sort of clean up that notion, no, he knew. Can i ask you a question. Maa i not know the answer. Timeline wise, did he know because the Justice Department got the memo or the intelligence in march, right . Did comey know at the time it was fake when he gave the press conference . We have been told that he knew pretty much that the fbi knew pretty much right away that it wasnt true. These briefings i talk about classified briefings on capitol hill, this was a few months ago when he was trying to explain sort of expost fact to what happened. Sort of an autopsy. Exactly. The problem, david gregory, is that even though the fbi director james comey at the time knew it was a fake memorandum, what he feared was it would be released. But a lot of people out there would automatically believe there was a conspiracy going on between the then attorney general Loretta Lynch and Debbie Wasserman schultz, then head of the dnc, and Clinton Campaign operatives. I think to take the larger view, jim comey based on everything weve heard through reporting, ours and others, was trying to contain a situation that was getting out of control. So this thing is playing itself out. Remember whats happening at that time. Youve got a candidate, candidate trump saying the fix is in. The government is conspiring to let Hillary Clinton off the hook. So this kind of thing drops as dana reports. Then all of a sudden the fbi is in a position, wait, youre not prosecuting and you have all this information even though its fake information . Comey at all point is reaching a conclusion which is nobody would bring any criminal charges to Hillary Clinton or people around her. This does not rise to that level. But hes trying to control the politics because he has fbi a l agents who work for him. Hes got conservatives on the hill who want to see her prosecuted. Who go back to the petraeus case on his handling the information because it was intentional and think that there was unfairness here. Hes trying to manage all of this and realizes ultimately that he cant by coming out publicly and saying that nobody would have ever charged her but at the same time she was reckless. This thing was just too big to contain and it shows just how successful the russians were at pushing on open doors of cynicism and disbelief among americans about Hillary Clinton, our institutions and our electoral system. Jim comey also had an american elector rat that he wanted to have faith. He also just wanted everyone when the information became public to have full faith in the investigation. Thats very important. Im anxious for your analysis as a former federal prosecutor. The role of the fbi is not to be the defensive politician whos safeguarding the integrity of democracy. The role is to be unseen and proactive investigator. So all of his endeavors to try to preserve the integrity of the fbi really undermine it because while he took the role that he did, and i was critical back then and essential tar and feathering in the Public Square and then try and usurp the role of the public prosecutor. The reason you cant do that and the reason he shouldnt have been responsive is you have to allow the investigation to go and run parallel and ultimately end at the desk of the people who decide the issue. In his intention and maybe they were pure, maybe they were ego based. Who knows. But his intentions missed the mark because what it did is show that even when it comes to knowingly fake news, you have to address, you he felt the need to try to put in the public an investigation that was yet not closed or should not have been in the public eye. Youre 100 eye. Could have been ego. Could having good intentions. Could have been both. We also have to be critical of attorney general lynch who took herself out of this game kp sane is the decider. She felt that she couldnt or wouldnt and thats a huge i think a huge area where shes vulnerable to criticism as well as him even though youre 100 right. Lets be clear. What she said was not that she would turn a blind eye to the career prosecutors. Her statement was she would defer to the recommendation of her career prosecutors and ultimately the fbi underlining their investigation. That happens every day on most cases. She or right now Jeff Sessions is not going to be the one to decide every single case. They must defer to the ones who are nonpartisan. If the fbi wasnt going to charge, they should just shut up. But youre right, she does have some responsibility, but ultimately speaking, it still, even with that moment, was not the fbi directors role to then give a full press conference about the intentions of something he could not control. Why couldnt comey simply d have said theres a fake memorandum, its phoney, its fake, forget about it, it has nothing to do with this investigation. He didnt even Tell Congress behind closed doors that he knew it was fake. Thats right. Sources i talked to was the information was given to congress but not that it was fake. Thats mind boggling. I dont know the answer to that. Maybe he was not sure even though it was classified setting that it wouldnt get out. Because to answer the first part of your question is that there was a lot of concern about protecting sources and methods and that if the u. S. Government let it be known that they knew that this was a fake document or fake piece of intelligence from the russians and the russians would figure out where they got it from. Dont you know another part of this answer which is what comey has said . He wanted to blow the whistle on the russians in the course of the campaign and he claims, i forget whether he said this publicly or through reporting, that the administration, the Obama Administration did not want to do that because they didnt want to put their thumb on the scale and make it seem they can they were trying to sway the election. Theres a lot of people trying to put their arms around this thing, except donald trump who was out there saying the fix is in and its a big conspiracy. In early october the Obama Administration did put out a statement saying the russians were that was earlier in the summer. But by october 8th i think that memorandum signed by jay johnson, the secretary of Homeland Security and the director of National Intelligence at the time, they issued that Public Statement accusing the russians of intervening. I want to quickly play a little sound. This is Hillary Clinton delivering some of her commencement address at her alma mater, Wellesley College up in new england. And she drew a parallel to what happened back when she was delivering her graduation commencement address back in 1969 and what she suspects might be going on right now. Listen to this. If any of you are nervous about what youll be walking into when you leave the campus, i know that feeling. We were furious about the past president ial election of a man whose presidency would eventually e eventually end in disgrace with his impeachment for obstruction of justice. She went one step further and she said back at that time that president , referring to nixon, fired the man who was in charge of the investigation. She would know these facts because she served as a staffer on the Watergate Committee after her college days. Of course nixon, just to get the factual record right, wasnt impeached. It was the threat of impeachment. He was about to be impeached and then offered his letter of resignation. Exactly. But watching that speech which was a takedown of trump without calling him out by name, weve seen multiple Hillary Clinton appearances and speeches since the election where she just doesnt give a heck about anything anymore. This woman that used to be the most scripted, afraid of her shadow, consult ent laden, weighing in mher mind, say this say that, in the last six months we keep seeing her in a way she just doesnt care about the perception of her remarks as she once did and feels emboldened to make these remarks against the president. Its interesting. What does she have to lose . She wants to speak out. Exactly. I suspect shes not going to be running for anything anymore. If she wants to speak out, she can speak out. No question about it. She was in her ultimate comfort zone giving a speech to wellesley graduates, 40 plus years after she gave a speech to wellesley graduate when she was one of her own. It was very fiery, very tough, she knew her audience would lap it up, which she did. And the fact that she made those pair le parallels is something that how could she not do that . That speech 40 plus years ago was so notable for its idealism. Its actually very sad to see on the other end of it that she, Hillary Clinton, is in a place of so much cynicism because i think a lot of younger people probably feeling that way and we cant lose hope in the system, nor should she lose hope. I think she has to take some responsibility for where she fell short and i know thats coming. We have to wait for the book. All right, guys. Everybody stand by. A lot more coming up. Still ahead, new details in the investigation into this weeks deadly attack in manchester, england. British authorities are now working to contain the Terror Network that they believe was behind the suicide bombing. Plus well have more on Hillary Clintons commencement speech to wellesley grads. She called out the president on several issues including his budget proposals, the russia investigation and a whole lot more. In the years to come, there will be trolls galore. They may even call i a nasty woman. E artificial ingredients. Kind never had to. A nasty woman. Y a nasty woman. O a nasty woman. U a nasty woman. And a drizzle of dark chocolate. Give kind a try. Ready or not, here i come. Ek. galo ais the hard part. Northrop grumman command and control systems always let you see the complete picture. And were looking for a few dreamers to join us. You need one of these. You wouldnt put up with an umbrella that covers you part way, so when it comes to pain relievers, why put up with just part of a day . Aleve, live whole not part. Tell you what, ill give it to you for half off. Tech when your windshield needs to be fixed. Trust safelite autoglass. For these parents, driving around was the only way to get their baby to sleep. So when their windshield got cracked. Customer we cant drive this car. Tech . They wanted it fixed right. So they scheduled with safelite. Our exclusive trueseal Technology Means a strong, reliable bond, every time. At safelite, we stand behind our work. Bye, bye. Because the ones you love, sit behind it. parents whisper jingle safelite repair, safelite replace. President trumps First International trip since taking office now winding down. The president and World Leaders are meeting in italy right now, but the trip has not provided the escape from the russia controversy that the administration hoped it would. Our senior White House Correspondent jeff zeleny is joining us live from sicily. The administration was asked earlier about whether sanctions imposed against russia for election meddling will continue. The president s top economic adviser said right now we dont have a position. So what is gary cohn saying to clarify the administrations position . Wolf, that was so interesting when he said that yesterday. Certainly raised eyebrows. But just a few moments ago in a briefing with reporters here in sicily, gary cohn sort of changed his statement and he said very bluntly. He said were not lowering our sanctions with russia. If anything, we would probably look to get tougher on russia. The president wants to continue to keep those sanctions in place. So wolf, that was the president s top economic adviser saying something that weve not really heard from the president at all along this entire week. Thats talk about russia. He clearly wants to avoid the controversy thats happening back in washington, but by doing so, hes raising questions about if hes willing to get tough on the russian president. Of course that is a central sort of unspoken question in the hallways here in the meetings and other things, what Donald Trumps view of russia is and is he willing to get tough with president putin. The g7 summit in sicily where you are right now following the president s speech to nato allies where he scolded members for not meeting their financial obligations. One analyst described the speech as diplomatly innept a and insulting. The president of course has made these comments but it was a surprise he was doing it in that moment and his dedication to eight 9 11 memorial. There really were some jaws sort of dropping because of this. But the the challenge here is that shows the advisers inside the white house, their disagreements. This is the steve bannon view, the America First view of this white house here. So some leaders certainly were not that thrilled by. That wolf, were getting new word just a short time ago that the president is going to have a oneonone meeting with the german chancellor here this evening. Angela merkel. He will be talking of course facetoface for the fir