Transcripts For FOXNEWSW Happening Now 20170511

As it relates to an independent counsel than i do, but we share one similarity that we are both committed to finishing this investigation by the Senate Intelligence committee because that is our job. We are going to do it right because that is what is expected of us. Anything short of that is to say to 85 other members of the United States senate and American People, we are the wrong ones to do oversight on a daily basis. We believe we are right in are going to prove it in the dash cover reporter your path is clear for instance with subpoenas . We are very comfortable. Speak of the president understood that we needed it and we will have the proper process in place. Reporter the president said in his letter that he was we cannot comment on that, that is a conversation that took place supposedly between director comey and the president. Our job is to make sure that we follow the intelligence where it leads, and hopefully at some point, we will be able to make a determination and as to whether that statement is true. I would just add that i would refer you to mr. Mccabes comments about what traditional procedure would be, that is not something that in traditional case would be discussed. Reporter use of this meeting was to set up the rules of the road. How would you describe it so fa far . Did director comey come up at all of this meeting . He did not come up, he was not the subject of it. Though there are some details to work out, there was acknowledgment and understanding of the need for us to be able to pick up the phone, share with them what we were likely to do and could get immediate clearance on whether that interfered in any way, shape, or form with their investigation. The only thing i would clarify on that is the dag did not address it, but i raised the. 1 of the reasons i felt the need for the independent counsel was because of the very messy process that went through the firing of kim call me. Reporter the disparity between the testimony today in the white house account that russia is not a tight priority. I would address that listen, i dont think that is up to senator warner and myself to make. The president has made a determination if at any point he doesnt feel he is, than a change would be made, if, for some reason, the dag determine he could not carry out his job, he would make a decision. We dont have the luxury of picking who we work with. We work with who was inserted in the roles, and we work out the pathways that best accommodate the needs of what our mission is and in this case, it is the investigation. One last question. Reporter have you got a response to your subpoena . Reporter the president said he was going to fire director comey whether or not he had the recommendation or not, and he called director comey a showboat, grandstanding. Do you agree with that assessment . Reaches her to something different. Im not going to speak for senator warner, i will let him do that. I put out a statement the night of the director firing. I find him to be one of the most ethical, a bright, straightforward individuals i have had the opportunity to work with. He provided our committee more access to information than any director of the fbi. Sure, there were fbi employees that disagreed with how he handled the clinton email announcement and his interaction or lack thereof with the attorney general at the time. The lions share of fbi employees respect the former director, and it shows the professionalism that he brought to the role that he was in. I am sure he will at some point have an opportunity to share, if he wants to, his side of the story, but i am confident that the vice chair and i look forward to working with acting director mccabe in the interim or whoever the president chooses because at the end of the day, mark and i do realize that whoever is president has the authority to pick their director of the fbi. We do not fault that. I trusted jim call me. I echo with the chairman said in terms of his willingness to work with our committee. I thought he made some mistakes last fall, but i never called for his resignation. I thought he was a straight shooter. Frankly, i am offended that the president made those comments today. This is a continuing pattern of disrespecting the men and women who serve in our intelligence community. I think the president would be better served regardless of what his views would be to support the ic rather than continuing to question and candidly, repeatedly calling into question the leaders integrity. Thank you, guys peered we have a very busy day. Jenna they do have a busy day, and we have a busy day because of it. That is the chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee. What they were doing today was previously scheduled. They have a vague hearing on worldwide threats, part of it was open and we sought to play out on fox news over the last several hours in part will be closed, behind closed doors dealing with classified information. They are moving to that portion of the hearing, so they stepped to the microphones in the meantime because a very interesting meeting happened while we took a little break here on happening now. That is they met with the Deputy Attorney general. That Deputy Attorney general was pointed to by the white house as wanted the reasons why james comey was fired. So the meeting took place. Apparently, these two lawmakers came forward as a united front to say there is a way forward to continue to investigate russias connection perhaps meddling into our election and to answer some questions about the continuing controversy around james comeys firing. A lot to get you, it we have a lot more to get to here on happening now. Jon also this fox news alert, we are awaiting the Daily White House briefing on the same day as the new acting fbi director testifies on capitol hill for the First Time Since the firing of james comey. Jenna that is right, Andrew Mccabe was asked pointblank if he ever heard director comey tell the president that he was not the subject of an fbi investigation. We will have more on that. Were covering all of the news of happening now. Senate investigation zeroing in on President Trumps former National Security advisor. What the panel is demanding from mike flynn. Plus secretary of state Rex Tillerson again meeting with his russian counterpart. Reporter does the comey firing have an effect . What is the question . Jenna monday after their discussion following the firing of fbi director james comey. And an illegal immigrant deported 15 times now accused of a crime that has devastated one family. We just need to make sure our country is safe for our kids and for future generations, that we are not letting bad people stay here and keep coming here. Jenna it is all happening now. Jon we begin with a fox news alert as we await the start of the White House Briefing. Sarah Huckabee Sanders no doubt bracing for an onslaught of new questions following the testimony of acting fbi director Andrew Mccabe. In front of that senate committee. Welcome to the second hour of happening now. Jenna hi, everybody, im jenna lee. That briefing set to start about 20 minutes from now, todays intel hearing was the first time we heard from mccabe since the unexpected firing of director james comey. Classified testimony will be heard as we mentioned behind closed doors later this hour. In the meantime, comic expressing mccabe specifically on the ongoing Russian Investigation and the dismissal of his boss. Mccabe assuring that committee that the loss of comey will not impact the work of the bureau. Has the dismissal of mr. Comey in any way impeded, interrupted, stopped or negatively impacted any of the work, any investigation or any ongoing projects at the federal bureau of investigations . As you know, senator, work the men and women of the fbi continues despite any changes in circumstance, any decisions, so there has been no effort to impede our investigation to date. Simply put, you cannot stop the men and women of the fbi from doing the right thing, protecting the American People in upholding the constitution. Jenna that question asked over and over by different lawmakers in different forms, similar answer given. Kevin corke joins us live from the white house. What a day in we are looking to the White House Press briefing, my colleague john roberts will be in there for that. Some major revelations, first of all, he rejected outright this notion that had been floated in some areas of the media that somehow the fbi was asking for more resources to continue the Ongoing Investigation into possible russian meddling in 2016. He said flatly that we have all the resources we need. He also seemed to contradict what President Trump himself had to say about possibly being informed by then fbi director jim comey that he was not under investigation and the socalled russia affair. You may recall the president said in a letter firing comey that the outgoing director had informed him on that one, not to, but three separate occasions that he was not the subject of a probe. Today, republican senator Susan Collins of maine tried to get to the bottom of it. Heres her exchange with mr. Mccabe to clarify. So it would be unusual and not Standard Practice for they are there to have been a notification from the fbi director to President Trump or anyone else involved in this investigation informing him or her that that individual is not a target, is that correct . Again, maam, im not going to comment on what director comey may or may not have done. Im not asking you to comment on the facts of the case, i just want to know what is Standard Practice. I am not aware of that being a Standard Practice. In case youre wondering, that doesnt mean they did not have a private conversation and maybe it was exchange indirect conversation. No one knows but the president and mr. Comey unless one of them comes out to say otherwise peered meantime, for his part, the former director reached out to his colleagues at the fbi to tell them in a very personal way, so long. He said to all, ive long believed a president can fire an fbi director for any reason or for no reason at all. Im not going to spend time on the decision or the way it was executed. I hope you will not either. It is done. I will be fine. Although i will miss you and the mission deeply. As for those who may possibly replace the outgoing fbi director, pretty good but it will not be mr. Mccabe, his wife, of course, a longstanding democrat in the state of virginia, very close ties to the clintons and commonwealth Governor Terry mcauliffe. The ongoing process of vetting people, figuring out who might be interested or be a good fit continues even as we speak. Jenna kevin, thank you. Jon for more on all of this, lets bring in Chris Wallace, anchor of Fox News Sunday here on Fox News Sunday and network in your local fox station. Among other things, we got a confirmation from the head of the fbi that a great number of fbi directo unhappy with the way then director comey handled the Hillary Clinton investigation. Yes, they were unhappy with the way he specifically handled that, but mccabe also gave a great endorsement and said that despite the concerns about that particular case, he had widespread support inside the fbi. Jon there was also this, big headline and major newspapers talking about then director comey and his request for resources. According to the new york times, the headline said that he had asked for, its a days before the firing, comey asked for more resources for the russian and gray. In a post, days before he was fired by President Trump. The wall street journal , comeys firing came as investigators stepped up russia probe. But the director, the acting director of the fbi seemed to throw cold water on all of that. Listen to this exchange. All right. Go ahead. Do you have the tape or not . Okay, here it is. Sir, if you are referring to the Russian Investigation, i do. I believe we have the adequate resources to do it, and i know that we have resources that investigation adequately. If you are referring to the many constantly multiplying counterintelligence threats that we face across the spectrum, they get bigger and more challenging every day. Resources become an issue over time. But in terms of that investigation, sir, i can assure you that we are covered. Jon does that dismiss all of those headlines . It certainly raises doubts about them. I cannot say he dismisses them because again, we dont know. There are an awful lot of people who have said, including members of congress, that comey went to them and said he was asking for more resources, also some Justice Department Officials Say that, but then you have Andrew Mccabe, s so often in these stories, you will get different people telling different versions. It certainly raises questions about those headlines at the very least. Jon the president just spoke with Nbcs Lester Holt, and heres part of what he had to say. You met with the Deputy Attorney general rod rosenstein, did you ask for a recommendation . What i did is i was going to fire comey, my decision. You made the decision before they came to you. I was going to fire comey. There is no good time to do it, by the way. They were around you accepted their recommendation but you already made the decision. I was going to fire regardless of recommendation. Jon so it was not Deputy Attorney general rod rosenstein, it was the president s, the presence decision. And that completely blows out of the water the whole narrative that we were getting from the white house on tuesday. I mean, if they were they recommendations were just an addon, in fact the president was determined to do it anyway before he heard from Jeff Sessions the attorney general and rod rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney general, why did the white house release the president s letter and the sessions letter and the rosenstein letter all at the same time . That was very much the narrative we were getting from the white house on tuesday. This was as a result, and it seems in large part to come from the Deputy Attorney general of concerns about the way he had handled the Hillary Clinton case, both in july of 2016 when he held the News Conference and then 11 days before the election when he sent the letter out. That story fell apart within 24 hours because this became true which was clearly that the president had lost confidence in comey peered people can talk about what the reason was, but he lost confidence in him and id to fire him anyway. It doesnt sure seem as if he was using the letters from the attorney general and Deputy Attorney general as cover and a cover that did not last very long. Jon its going to be fascinating to see Fox News Sunday this weekend, Chris Wallace the host. Thank you. Jenna fox news alert, top american and Russian Diplomats are both in alaska after their sit down yesterday in d. C. Although a second meeting between secretary of state Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov is not scheduled at this point. They are in alaska for discussions on regional climate issues. Chief correspondent is live in fairbanks along with them. This comes in the backdrop of the dismissal of james comey, the investigation that is continuing and of course, here we are again, speaking about the russians. That is naturally what the focus has been ever since Russian Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov touched down in the United States. The backdrop of the dismissal of james comey, the backdrop of the investigation into alleged contact between the Trump Campaign and russian officials during the election season. That, therefore, is what weve and media have been asking both men and about when they appeared publicly today. Not popular with the russians, just as it has not been popular with the Trump Administration. In fact, the Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova released a Statement Today in the wake of mr. Lavrov being questioned about james comeys dismissal, et cetera, and she said this indicates the colossal bias of the mass media, the lack of independent thinking and controlled by certain political groups. When foreign minister lavrov was asked about the dismissal of james comey yesterday, he almost seemed to mock the question, listen here. Reporter does the comey of firing cast a shadow over your talks today . No kidding, no kidding. Here at the meeting of the Arctic Council and fairbanks, alaska, what the two are supposed to be talking about along with the six other representatives of the arctic nation is climate change, et cetera, but we will be asking them about comey and the Russian Investigation if we get another chance. Jenna we will be watching, jonathan, thank you. Jon this fox news alert now, we are awaiting the White House Daily briefing where we are expecting more reaction to the comey firing as another key figure in the Russian Investigation, the president s former National Security advisor, just received a subpoena from the Senate Intelligence committee. Lawmakers want some documents from Michael Flynn which they say are relevant to the investigation. Joining us now fox news anchor and attorney gregg jarrett. So what is the significance here of him getting subpoenaed by this committee . This is very routine, the work of defense lawyer, the Committee Said please head over your documents, the lawyer said no, give me a subpoena, they issued the subpoena. It used to be that you could invoke the fifth amendment relative to documents. 40 years ago, the Supreme Court said sorry, only your verbal testimony that can be selfincriminating. It does not mean, receiving a subpoena, that flynn did anything wrong, only that the committee wants to see what he has that may be relevant to their investigation. Jon what kind of documents . They probably want any scrap of paper related to any discussions that flynn had with russians including the Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak that has been so controversial. Also any documents reflecting his visits overseas to russia for which he received money for paid speeches and so forth. Its a little bit like a fishing expedition come you throw a lot of lines and come and see what you get, if you snag anything. They want to look at documents before they speak to him, and that will of course bring up the question of immunity. Jon he has offered to testify in exchange for immunity, right . Does that suggest he is may be hiding something . The popular impression is you are guilty of something if you ask for immunity, thats not necessarily true. A lot of innocent people ask for immunity. Why . Because their lawyers do not want them to be targeted by overzealous prosecutors who may conjure up erroneous charges. Given the hyperpartisan nature of what is going on in washington right now, that is the sound advice from the lawyer. There are several kinds of immunity is, complete, limited, we will see what happens. If he does not get immunity, he will probably follow the advice of his attorney and invoke his fifth amendment. Jon that is going to be fascinating to see what happens next in this investigation, gregg jarrett, fox news anchor and attorney, thank you. We are awaiting sarah Huckabee Sanders to step to the microphone there in the White House Briefing room. The briefing today is going to be a hot one, you know. It is scheduled to begin any minute now. We will take you there live when it does. For the strength and energy to get back to doing. What you love. Ensure. Always be you. Jon fox news alert, and in this one the fbi director was fired, sending all kinds of cascades through washington, there has been an awful lot of speculation out there that President Trump fired james comey and part because of the investigation into russian meddling in american politics and in particular its ties to the Trump Campaign. The president sitting down with Nbcs Lester Holt refuted that, listen. Did you ask am i under investigation . I asked him, yes. I said if it is possible, will you let me know, am i under of education . He said, you are not under investigation. He has given sworn testimony that there is an Ongoing Investigation into the Trump Campaign and possible collusion with the russian government. You were the centerpiece of the Trump Campaign what i can tell you. I know i am not under investigation, me personally. Im not talking about campaigns or anything else. I am not under investigation. Jon there you have it from the president himself, i am not under investigation, he says. Jenna what a moment for the president to say, i am not under investigation or feel that he has to answer that question in public. We really have to take steak and where we are right now. Again, waiting the White House Press briefing. In the meantime, though, theres all this reflection on what has happened in the last 24 hours. In the oval office, what could be described as a very unusual scene unfolded yesterday. The president met with the Russian Ambassador to the u. S. And the foreign minister, that is not unusual, but images from the event were not taken by the White House Press pool but by the russians who were invited inside for that photo opt along with their equipment. American media was not allowed inside. Russian media was, and here is where we are now. Lets bring in how we kurtz, fox news analyst and host of media buzz. The media lies about a lot of things, we know that better than anybody. Sometimes it is difficult to discern what is with a complaint and what is not. How do you view what happened yesterday . The optics are absolutely awful. I cannot figure out who thinks it made sense to bar the American Media and let the russian photographers in. It would be one thing if they just barred all press, i would not agree with it, they would be an effort to play down the meeting with the two russian officials a day after the firing of james comey. But to then let the russians end than all of american newspapers and Television Networks have to run pictures taken by russian photographers just kind of symbolizes how whatever you think of the decision to fire james comey, great debate obviously about that, the white house is handling all of these objects involved this has really been shaky, in the interview we just saw the excerpt from with lester holt also feels that because you now have the president saying something very different than his own spokesman has been saying over the last two days. Jenna the significance of this cannot be underscored enough. Part of the american government, the american experiment, if you welcome the freedom of the press is what we are seeing. That is why we go to the press briefing every day is because this is a life exercise and having access to the president and access to the leader of a country that does not happen in many countries all over the world. So the significance of not allowing the American Media but allowing other media to come in flies in the face of tradition, would that be fair . It is a shot at the u. S. Press, especially rubbing salt in the wounds by letting the Russian Media in, clearly there is a very troubled relationship between the two sides, but that is why we have a Free Press Even when the meetings are ones you prefer not to publicize. At the same time, why do we go to the briefings every day . We question people like sean spicer and sarah Huckabee Sanders, and we try to examine their answers. Theyve been saying that this was all rod rosenstein, the reason the president did this was the recommendation of his Deputy Attorney general who is overseeing the investigation because Jeff Sessions had recused himself. Now President Trump contradicted that with Nbcs Lester Holt to say i was going to fire him anyway so that is setting off a whole new round of questions which i am sure we will see in the upcoming moments for the briefing. Jenna control room, do we have that . We played we have two clips from lester holt, the big interview is going to be airing tonight, making is already which is why we want to share it. We played a little bit just at the beginning but heres the part you just mentioned, lester holt asking the president about how the whole firing went down. You met with the Deputy Attorney general rod rosenstein, did you ask for a recommendatio recommendation . What i did is i was going to fire call may come my decision. You made the decision before they came to you. I was going to fire comey. There is no good time to do it, by the way. They were around you accepted their recommendation, but you already made the decision. I was going to fire regardless of recommendation. Jenna okay, this is directly contradicting with the white house said yesterday during the press briefing. What are you going to be looking for when the white house tries to clean this up . Its going to be a difficult mess to clean up because white house officials were not even confirm that the president had asked for this letter from the Deputy Attorney general, made it almost like he was just rubberstamping a decision made by the Justice Department. The president says he was going to do it anyway. That puts a whole different light. That does not mean the decision was wrong. The president has a case here that i think some in the media are kind of downplaying or even ignoring. I am seeing excessive coverage of words like kook, dictator, fascism, and that is not a fair way to cover this, but the president contradicts the people who speak to reporters on his behalf, that raises a really serious question that we need to follow up on. These are fair questions when the white house cannot get its story straight which appears to be the case right now. Jenna right now, we saw at the press briefing, allow us the exercise of actually questioning the white house directly on irregular basis to help to inform the American Public who we work for about what work goes on in the world. The point you are making as well, the media in some cases is dismissing the claims that the white house has as to why they decided to fire jim comey and why that is also important. Ive seen so many journalists as well as commentators using this loaded language that basically just presumes that there is some kind of cover of. We sorely do not know that. Dont know if the investigation will lead anywhere, and it presumes the president is not telling the truth about why he fired james comey, and so that has been disturbing as well. Jenna with some of the inconsistencies, that is difficult for the media to sort through as well. We will see if we can get clarity. Thank you, we will be back to the white house in just a momen moment. Why do we put so much effort into engineering the canam defender . Because a job worth doing, is worth doing right. Canam defender. Tough, capable, clever. Get a a 1,000 cash rebate on 2017 defender models. Visit your local dealer for details. Jenna we are awaiting the White House Press briefing, we did that get news from inside the white house that the president just signed an executive order and at strengthening federal Government Cybersecurity as well as protecting the nations Critical Infrastructure from cyber attacks. This is important because we always like to mention when the president is assigned an executive order but comes on the same day we are continuing to watch the Senate Intelligence hearing now behind closed doors talk about worldwide threats and one of the big topics this morning besides the firing of james comey was that the threat of cyber attacks. Again, the president signing an executive order aimed at strengthening Cyber Security. We continue to await the press briefing. Jon a family trip to disneyland ends in disaster after a drunk driver slammed his pickup truck into their vehicle, fracturing the school of their 6yearold boy. The man is pleading not guilty, and now we are learning that he has been deported back to mexico 15 times. Adam housley live in los angeles with more on that. Not only had he been deported 15 times since 2002, we also found out he has a criminal record as well, multiple arrests, in fact. This is constantino bandoacosta and a san diego courtroom yesterday for his arraignment. The judge ordered the media to obscure his face so we cannot see him but according to police and police in chula vista right across the border from tijuana and california, he was last deported just in january. His last arrest is Domestic Violence against his wife, now back in jail, this time for drunk driving and hitandrun, suspected i should say, and the good news is 6yearold lenox lakes the father says his doctors expect him to make a full recovery. All this happen saturday night, the family on their way home from disneyland, one block from home, they stopped to get hamburgers and milkshakes went he allegedly slammed into the familys honda accord. According to border patrol, he slammed his pickup truck into them on the passenger side, he was speeding and ran a stop sign then fled the scene. Border patrol agents found him about an hour later hiding in his smashed up truck. Lenox as a mother managed to crawl out, found her son bleeding, he was not breathing, and she revived him. He has since undergone at least two surgeries on his skull, his father benjamin told fox news this morning that the right now the focus is really on him getting healthy enough to head home, but he is also urging the president and congress to do something more about the illegal immigrant criminal issue, take a listen. I dont not think it is republican or democrat. As americans, we need to make sure our country is safe for our kids and future generations that we are not letting bad people coming and stay here and keep coming back. The father also says he never really thought about sanctuary cities before, but the family now says that they are against it. They do not think it represents all illegal immigrants, i should say, but illegal criminals need to be dealt with. As you imagine, they set up a gofundme account for expenditures because it from what we have been told, no insurance, no drivers license for this suspect and also probably no money to pay for any of these medical expenses. Jon what a story. Adam housley, thank you. Jenna as we await the Daily White House press briefing do to start any moment from now, we learned that one of the countrys Biggest Insurance Companies is pulling out of obama character completely. Aetna says it will pull out of the last two states where it was offering plans. Hear more from the Fox Business Network is gerri willis. The nations biggest insurer will withdraw from the obamacare marketplace in 2018, exiting nebraska and delaware. The company had already said it would pull back from iowa and virginia. Losses are mounting for aetna which expects more than 200 million in red ink from the exchanges on top of 700 million it lost between 2014 and 2016. Aetna is not alone. Humana and United Healthcare also pulled the plug in anthem is expected to reduce its participation as well. The move by aetna is just one more sign that obamacares promise of offering a market place of affordable coverage is crumbling. Today, more than a third of the nations counties only have one insurer, and states across the nation are fighting to see if werewolf sign on for 2018 in the coming weeks. In iowa, the last remaining insurer medical has announced plans to pull out, worse, coverage has become unaffordable. In maryland for example, carefirst is seeking approval for a 52 rate hike appeared in connecticut, rate hikes fluctuate from 15 up to 34 as the options narrow, more people are falling out. Good ridges one. It reduces our quality of life frankly. Yes, we have the plan in place, but with a huge deductible and paying those premiums, it really doesnt cover anything, and it puts us in a really bad spot. I Hope Congress do something because it is ridiculous that they would if they would have to use this health care, they would fix it. In a heartbeat. After premiums for her obamacare posse surged to 1512 a month, she and her husband opted for shortterm coverage that does not meet obamacare requirements but doesnt fit their budget. Unfortunately, the solution is not permanent and she says she is not sure what the couple will do once they are coverage lapse lapses. Jenna real people affected by all of this absolutely, thank you. Jon some new information out on the persecution of christians around the world with Vice President pence addressing the issue today. Chief washington correspondent james rosen live in d. C. With that. Good afternoon. The state department reporting that christians are facing persecution and numerous conflict torrent regions around the world. Vice president pence drew applause at a conference in washington today by declaring that christians are being subjected by the terrorist group isis do nothing less than a genocide in iraq and syria, the first time the Trump Administration has used that term. Those are marks came at the first ever world summit in defense of persecuted christians, an event that brought together victims and their advocates on a stage by the reverend franklin graham, billy graham evangelistic association. Pence noted in syria that the christian population has dropped since the civil war there started six years ago from 1. 252125000 million. In iraq, its fallen over 80 since the u. S. Invasion there but mr. Pence vowed that all of those affected or pained by the persecution of christians have an ally and his boss, President Trump. Hes made it clear that americans will stand by followers of christ in this hour of need. Our administration is fully committed to bringing relief and comfort to believers not only across the middle east but across the world. The graham Group Reports that christians are now one of the most victimized groups in the world with some 215 million christians experiencing high, very high, or extreme persecution in some 50 countrie countries. Jon james rosen and washington, thank you. Jenna the press briefing was such a start around 1 30 eastern time, and we are within we often get a twominute warning, a little bit past that time, so we expect the deputy, Principal Deputy press secretary sarah Huckabee Sanders to step in and do so and just a moment to get the press briefing underway. As we are awaiting the press briefing, nbc has been releasing different clips from lester holts interview with the president. Of course come that interview happening at a crucial time in there all these questions about why and when the president decided to fire jim comey paid we have a little bit more of that. Guys, do we have time for that . A little more of that interview we want to go ahead and play for you. Hes a showboat, a grand standard. The fbi has been in turmoil, you know that, i know that, Everybody Knows that. You take a look at the fbi a year ago, it was in virtual turmoil. Less than a year ago, it has not recovered from that. Jenna the deputy fbi director mccabe was testifying before the senate and his open hearing today and refuted that claim. He said, not directly, we did not have the claim from the president , but what Andrew Mccabe said is the fbi respected jim comey and had a great deal of camaraderie around his leadership. We have had different reports come to us at fox news with different opinions come about because that opinion came from that deputy who is now the acting fbi director, we want to make sure to point that out to you. Also with so much different sound bites coming from nbc, we wanted to play as much as we can because we do expect various networks to be asking about that interview and what the president actually just said. So we want to make sure you have an idea of where those questions were coming from because we just received some of those clips within the last half hour or so. Jon as Chris Wallace pointed out, despise in the face of the additional story we received from the white house was that rod rosenstein, newly confirmed Deputy Attorney general, had wanted james comey fired. Hed been on the job about two weeks after his senate confirmation, went to his boss, attorney general Jeff Sessions. Sessions, we were told, conferred, they went to the president and he conferred and assigned the firing letter. Now President Trump throws all of that out the window and says, i did it. Here now, sarah Huckabee Sanders. Another light crowd today, good afternoon. First off, before we get started, i would like to bring up Homeland Security advisor tom bossert to tell you about an executive order on Cyber Security that the president just signed. He will take a few of your questions and respectfully, i ask that you keep your questions for him on the topic of the executive order and do not worry, i will come back and answer all of the rest of your pressing questions as soon as he wraps up here with that, i will turn it over to tom. Thank you, sarah. Thank you very much for your time. A couple things positive to report today. The first is that President Trump about an hour ago signed an executive order on cybersecurity. That executive order among other things is going to keep his promise that he has made to the American People to keep them safe including in cyberspace. I would like to do a few things. I promise that we will distribute the executive order, but if i could, i will preview the executive order for you, walk you through three primary sections and then we can take your questions. Among other things, at least as an observation of for me, i think the trend is going in the wrong direction on cyberspace and it is time to stop the trend in reverse it on behalf of the American People. Weve seen increasing attacks from allies, adversaries and primarily nationstates but not only those, sitting by and doing nothing is no longer an option for your President Trumps action today is a very heartening one. There are three sections. They are in priority order. The First Priority for the president and for our federal government is protecting our federal networks. I think it is important to start by expanding that the way we operate those networks on the behalf of the American People often contain their information and data so not defending them is no longer an option. Seen past tactics and efforts that have succeeded any to do everything we can to prevent that from happening in the future. A few things on federal networks. We have practiced one thing and preached another. It is time for us now, in the present has directed his departments and agencies to implement a new framework, a Risk Reduction framework. It is something we have asked the private sector to implement and not forced upon ourselves. From this point forward, departments and agencies should practice what we preach and it limit the same framework for ricks direct Risk Management and reduction. This second note of point and protecting our federal networks is that we spend a lot of time in inordinate money at protecting antiquated and outdated systems, we saw that with other things. With that, the president has issued a preference for federal procurement of federal i. D. For shared services. Moving to the cloud tubers do i protect ourselves instead of by their security claims. Third is that it directs all Department Agency has to continue key roles but also centralizes risk so we view our federal ids when Enterprise Network. If we do not do so, we will not be able to adequately understand what risks exist and how to mitigate it. A number of thoughts on that. Among other things, that is going to be a difficult task so modernizing is imperative for our security, but modernizing is going to require a lot of good and hard governance and responsible for the is president s American Technology council is going to run that effort on behalf of the president out of the white house and we have great hope that there will be efficiency there but also security. I would probably note to you that other countries have taken 23 years to learn what we just came up with n23 months which is that we cannot promote innovation without first thinking through Risk Reduction. During that together is the message that we have learned by doing it together is a message we would like to encourage private sector folks to adopt. 2 in the executive order is our Critical Infrastructure for cybersecurity effort, the president has directed the president s cabinet to begin the hard work of protecting our nations most Critical Infrastructures, utilities, financial and healthcare systems, telecommunications networks. Hes directed them to identify additional measures to defend and secure our Critical Infrastructure. He has continued to phat doing o longer an option. The executive order not only requires the departments and agencies to help those Critical Infrastructure operators but to do it a proactive sense. It is a message toward action. We have seen bipartisan studies and observation over the last eight years, both parties have made powerful recommendations, they have not been adopted for various reasons. This executive order adopts the best and brightest of those recommendations in my view. Im going to stop with those three and take questions. Reporter quickly if i could. Go ahead. Reporter first, was the russian hack in any way responsible or an impetus for this . Number two, i talked to i. T. People who say putting stuff on the cloud actually can be problematic as far as security. So what additional security measures what you applied to the cloud to make sure that it is not as risky as some of the i. T. People tell us it would be . A couple questions there. Let me state some things first. The third section of the executive order may be the one i suspect skipped over, it speaks to two halves, not only the need to develop the norms and inoperable open Communication System that is the internet, the United States invented the internet so its time to rig an insurance policy that is long overdue peer the russians are not the only people that operate in a negative way on the internet, the russians, chinese, iranians, other nationstates are motivated to use cyber capacity and tools to attack our people and government and data. That is something we can no longer abide. We need to establish the roles delete accruals of the road for proper use of the internet but also deter those who do not want to abide by those rules. An insert of your first question, no, it was not russian motivated, it was a United States of america motivated issue. Reporter and the second question about the cloud insecurity on the cloud . We do not move their shared services, we have 198 agencies try to develop their own advanced production and collection efforts, that is not a wise approach pretheres always going to be risk, so the question are we still at risk . Yes, im not here to say the president signed an executive order that established a cyber secure road in the u. S. , but if we do not move the support services and shared services, we will be behind the eight ball for a very long time. Reporter sitting around doing nothing, is it your contention that the Obama Administration, that was his approach to cybersecurity, sitting around and doing nothing . Number to come you talked about when Enterprise Network, does that mean every system throughot the federal government under this executive order, the mission is to make them all the same or protected in the same way . I will answer them in reverse order if i can. What we need to do is view the federal government as an enterprise as opposed to just viewing each department and agency as its own enterprise. The department of how man security and secretary kelly will play a large and leading role in this effort and implement in the president s executive order and Enterprise Network coverage of thousands of employees and their contractors and so forth, they are responsible and the secretary of each Department Agency will remain responsible for ensuring those networks but we need to look at the federal government as an enterprise as well so we know longer look at things to say you can defend your opm network with the money commencement for the opm responsibility appeared opm, as you know is the crown jewel so to speak of our information and background in security clearances. What we would like to do is look at that in save as a very highrisk, high cost for us to bear, maybe we should look at this as an enterprise input collectively more information protection they are that we would normally put into opm looking at their relevant importance to the entire environment. Not just their budget but based on what they do. Each department and agency has a responsibility to protect its own networks but they now have the responsibility to identify their risk to the white house to the president so we can look at what they have done and just as important, what risks they know they have but have not mitigated. There are a lot of identified risks but also identified and not remediated risk, so that Mitigation Strategy has to come through a centralized place producing other countries like israel adopt a centralized view of Risk Management and acceptance of decisions so that answers your question. The second question, though, reporter the previous admission approach from your Vantage Point . I think that the observation is that we have not done a basic blocking and tackling. Thinking of the internet as loving that the American People benefit from. I think what we have focused on is the federal i. T. Portion of it. I think a lot of progress was made in the Administration Previous but not nearly enough, we are going to change that prelooking at this from the perspective eight deterrence strategy, yes, the administration had an obligation to do it but did not do it. Reporter i was wondering if the Administration Knows what kind of cyber attack constitutes an act of war . Theres a lot we talk about with what is a cyber attack, what is war or not, but i think the most important thing in answer to your question as we will not draw a red light in cyber war at this point today. Its not within the direct scope of the executive order but it also would violate the president s primary mission did not telegraph our pledges. If someone does something to the United States we cannot tolerate, we will act. Reporter the goal is to secure the internet that americans use and enjoy. The technical standards for most things on the internet are put together by Many International standard organizations and engineers, things like that, and often are not in the United States. Has there been any talk of outreach to these sorts of bodies to try to build insecurity to the next generation of protocols . Absolutely. The message here is not just protecting the people of america. We have in America First perspective, but the idea of having likeminded people with similar viewpoints like our allies developing with us for the open operable internet is something key to figuring out how we will define what is and is not acceptable. We cannot cut off the internet at our borders that expected to operate in a viable way. If there are good ideas coming out of germany, we will take them, or anywhere else. Reporter image of the American Technology council recently, either going to be significant to Silicon Valley or tech leaders coming here . We know the president has had phone calls with people like mark zuckerberg, but what can we expect to have people coming to the white house, someone like him working closely with the president when it comes to that counsel . I wont tell you who the president did or did not talk to because i will probably get it wrong but there is a lot to learn from private industry. Among other things, needs to come to the white house in an appropriate way so we talk on a regular basis to leaders, some are technical, some business leaders. My point of calling out the American Technology council was to point out that they are going to have a leadership role in modernizing our federal i. T. That has a lot of reasons. There are efficiencies and cost savings that are beyond just security. These executive order speaks to the security component of a and i would drag you then to the American Technology council and their efforts to think about the other efficiencies. As in example, we have heard numbers that suggest the federal government spends upwards of 40,000 per employee on their i. T. Service cost, and that is so out of line with private industry that secretary ross and others will have a very easy time buying and many making money off a company so poorly invested so you think that you will see that input from those leaders and for the next step, i cant answer it specifically but i would like to take the opportunity and the opening for us to think too many do make two or three people, one that is high on my list is rudy giuliani. I like to thank him for the great advice, a few other members of congress, ratcliffe, nunez, collins, a cane in particular, senator byrd in the white house. Senator burke, there are a number of people that provided thought leadership and taken action on pass legislation that has improved our cybersecurity r the last eight years. I dont want to be critical of anything to happen over the last eight years but i look forward to the improvement. Reporter a former Obama Administration official who dealt with other countries and other entities in other countries, he said that there were tens of thousands of attempts to hack into Government Systems daily. Can you quantify, can you confirm or deny that . No. The answer know is that we see that happen, and we then start getting into a numbers game. What i think would be a better argument right now, not to cut off that question, it is a reasonable one, but the better answer is to figure out how we can provide a better way to defend our federal i. D. And those networks and data that we operate. If we do it based on an individual attack basis, we are probably looking at it the wrong way. Reporter so correct to say from entities around the world daily . I would say without numbers, the trend line is going in the wrong direction. Additional attacks, number, volumes and occasionally additional successes trouble us, that is the best way i can quantify it for you today. Youre welcome, thank you. Reporter can you say why the cybersecurity order was delayed . This was going to come out one day into the administration and there had been a lot of talk about concern from Silicon Valley and tech leaders with the direction it was going in. Do you have some sense of the kind of support that this order has or not from the tech world . I want to answer and reject part of your question. We did see some concern but i dont think they remain. Ill look forward to their response after they read the president s executive order. One arose when they read the voluntary call of the president s executive order which i brought today that we reduce greatly the number of bot attacks in the United States. Thats gonna require voluntary Cooperation Among all the different owners and operators of privately held companies. Those things are gonna have to happen voluntarily. What the president calls for is for the government to provide the basis for that coordination without defining whos in, whos out. Its a voluntary operation. We know they have the technical capacity, if they have the will, to come together and reduce those numbers dramatically. The president is asking for secretary of Homeland Security and commerce to facilitate that. What we thought we saw was reflections of a concern that there would be a compulsion. Thats something i can put to rest today. Then if i could, the