To face challenges with russia and china. But we begin this morning with todays eye opener, your world in 90 seconds. Theres still belief we can get o the bomb of this. If not, everyone suspects a coverup. President trump tells fbi director youre fired. This is what leaders do. They take Decisive Action based upon the information theyre given. Thats what President Trump did today. Hes full of criticismf ohis handling of Hillary Clinton emails. There was clearly a loss of confidence in director comey. I forgot my badge. Former president barack obama made his first overseas appearance after leaving office. They always blame the i always tell people you get the politicians they deserve. Theyre looking at how to safeguard an area around a nuclear site after a mysterious tunnel collapse. Violent landing after it landed at the air base. A tlltha put em up. A family dog playing a very dangerous game of tag with a bear. Go get him. They win in overtime. And all that matters President Trump fired fbi director james comey. Fired him. I mean if hes gone, whos going to investigate the russian ties ohhhh. On cbs this morning. Remember two years ago how we all made jokes that if donald trump ever became president , hed say, youre fired, youre ahhahaha. They have a good time. Announcer this mornings eye opener is presented by toyota. Lets go places. Welcome to cbs this morning. President trumps decision to fire fbi director james comey stunned washington and is sending shock waves through the agency. President trump sent a letter to comeys office late yesterday dismissing him. He told the director, quote, it is essential that we find new leadership. James comey was in los angeles. He was actually speaking to fbi agents when he learned of his dismissal. The white house said the attorney jgeneral and the deput both recommended that he be fired from the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Critics ask what it could mean with regard to the investigat election meddling. Margaret brennan is at the white house with the ouster. Good morning. Good morning. The president has the power to dismiss the fbi director for any reason and yesterday he found one. Director james comey learn of his fate by television reports. He cut short his los angeles visit after learning of his sudden firing. Official notice was delivered via email and a letter hand delivered to fbi director writing, quote, you are hooesh terminated and removed from Office Effective immediately. The president also referred to the ongoing fbi investigation into whether members of his campaign colluded with russia. Quote, while i greatly appreciate you informing me on three separate o im not under investigation, e nevertheless concur with the department of justice that you are not able to effectively lead the bureau. White house deputy spokesperson sandra per sons insists the firing was not related. Any investigation that was taking place would continue to take place. She said the just tigs department lost faith in the fbi director due to his handling of the Hillary Clinton emails. Tell me what you would do. Would you speak or would you conceal. In a 2 1 2page argument yesterday, he wrote, the fbis reputation has suffered substantial damage and almost everyone agrees the director made serious mistakes. No reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case. He faulted comey and said that the case should be closed without prosecution and he quoted comeys characterization why he reopened 11 days before the election but during that time then senator Jeff Sessions and then candidate trump praised comey. Fbi director comey did the right thing. Whelp he found new evidence, he had no choice. And it took guts for director comey to make the move that he made. Shortly after his election, mr. Trump told 60 minutes he was not sure whether comey would serve the rest of his 6 1 2year term. Are you going to ask for his resignation . I think i would rather not comment on that. I have not made up my mind. I respect him a lot. I respect the fbi a lot. Two months later the president warmly embraced him and announced he would stay on. The white house staff was here well into the night and were told the search for comeys replacement has begun. Charlie, the only event on the president s public schedule is a closed door meeting with russias top lavrov. Hes the highest ranking visitor to make a visit to the white house. Jeff pegation is here with the reaction inside the fbi and the events that led to comeys firing. Good morning. Good morning. Comeys firing stunned officials at the fbi, but looking back there were several signs of a rift. On several occasions comey defied President Trump on the Russian Investigation. Youre stuck with me for about another 6 1 2 years. James comeys dismissal sent shom waves. Everyone is stunned. This will do damage to the fbi that will take years to recover from. One recently retired said anyone under 50 is working on their resume. Comeys firing is raising questions about whats next into the counterintelligence investigation between the campaign though the investigation began last july, comey first publicly acknowledged it in march. This will also include whether there were any crimes that were committed. He said he had no evidence that there was an investigation during the obama administration. Attorney general Jeff Sessions recommendation comes afterward. I should have slowed down and said i did meet one russian official. In recent weeks federal prosecutors have issued grand jury appeals to security advisers of michael flynn. Flynn is one of Trumps Campaign representatives that is under scrutiny by the fbi. I think its important to call out what the russians were trying to do with our election. Last wednesday comey said investigations, he had no regrets. The only thing i may regret is when i answered the call to be recruited by the fbi when i was living happily in connecticut. Just last week on capitol hill comey said clinton aide huma abedin shareholder hundreds of emails with her husband anthony weiner. He said it was not accurate and it was far smaller. Comey was fired later on in the day. The Deputy Andrew mccabe is now in charge. In fact, it was like a dozen emails, right . Exactly, exactly. Any word on who will replace comey . No. We know mccabe will take over. How long will that last . Well have to see. Is the fbi divided . In a way, it is. Part of itas clinton email investigation. But still comey was widely respected for the most part. Jeff, thank you. Some Congressional Democrats compared President Trump to Richard Nixon who ordered the firing of the watergate scandals independent. Schumer said he told the president he was making a big mistake. Trump responded saying, quote, i no longer have any confidence in james comey and acted so indignant. Nancy cordes has more. Nancy . Arizonas john mccain renude his call for an independent Congressional Commission to look into russia but democrats without question are going much farther than that. Theyre saying the only thing that will work is a special prosecutor. Some of them describing it as a constitutional crisis. It was brazen, one of the a president , compromising an investigation. Democrats savaged the president s decision calling it nixon yan, mindboggling, and a cover up. If there was every a need for a special prosecutor, there is now. Chuck schumer called it systematically firing those who crossed them. They fired sally yates, pa reek and now james comey, the very man leading the investigation. This does not seem to be a coincidence that some republicans were saying the same too. One said, i just cant do it. Other republicans like Lindsey Graham said the fbi needs a fresh start after comey got tangled up in the 2016 campgn forward both at the fbi and in the Senate Intelligence committee in a bipartisan way. And yet the republican chair of the Senate IntelligenceCommittee Said comeys dismissal further confuses an already difficult gchlgts comey was scheduled to testify tomorrow. Is he still going to attend . I doubt that hell attend on thursday, but its still my strong desire to have now former director comey come and testify before the committee. Thats senator mark warner. Hes the top democrat. He and chairman burr met with comey as recently as monday, and by all accounts comey has been very accessful on this russia investigation, which is a big part of the reason that democrats are so sorry to see him go even though they believe, charlie, that his handling of the clinton investigation contributed to her loss. Thanks, nancy. C n townsend iswas homeland securit adviser for president bush. Good morning. Good morning. The question is was this firing because of how comey handled the emails with secretary clinton or does it have to do with a connection between the trump team and russians . Its clear that hes served two republican and two democrats. Its quite clear from his memo that this goes back to the clinton email. I think the thing that raises the Russian Investigation is the timing of it. Would we have asked the question if the president dismissed him on day one . I think from their point of view, they gave him time to right the ship, that, the fbi that was in turmoil and after the email inclui concluded, and he haunt done that. I heard it described as a grotesque abuse of power. Is it that, or were there grounds for dismissal in your opinion . The language thats being used is very inflammatory. Grotesque use of power, nixonian. Its staffed by career men and women who have devoted decades. By the way, gayle, the very same investigators investigating the russian claims yesterday are investigating today subpoentoda. Subpoenas are going out. I do think under the Justice Department guidelines how you handle investigations, he violated those. Many of the men and women in the fbi were dismayed at comeys handling v political process during the president ial election. Rose rosensteins memo citing disagreeing with his handling of it. The state is wrong. There are consequences, and jim comey is suffering. Have to tell you ive known him for 30 years. Hes smart, honest, ethical, and its unfortunate to see him go. The current director, mccabe, how long do you expect him to say . The problem is he, too, is caught up through his wife in Democratic Politics and that would be quite temporary. That would be a better way to learn it than on the news. President trump just posted a new tweet saying this. The democrats have said some of the worst things about james comey including the fact that he should be fired, and now they John Dickerson joins us from washington. John, what can you tell us about what youre hearing in washington in response to the president s tweet today . The tweet is the president is seeing this through a political lens and there will be a lot of backandforth between republicans on this. The important thing to focus on this decision is it takes place in a much bigger context. There are people working at this. This is a decision thats not just about politics. This is a decision they have to look at and say are the reasons of this being put forward and the timing and the way it was handled, why did all of that happen . Is it for all of the reasons stated in the letter about comeys dismiss alg or is there Something Else happening there. And that sense of doubt and getting rid of that doubt is crucial if if the fbi is going to go forward. The president is making a political case but there are reel ramifications of the fbi and other things that are up in the air and a sense of turmoil. John, will this focus more on the Russian Investigation . Well, yes, of course, because thats still ongoing. The president , remember, has called the investigation into whether the russians were involved in the investigation wlit was a witch hunt. Usually its we look forward to this investigation, well doering we can to help. The president has said the fbi and the two in congress are in a which huntd. One other is the white house is saying the president took Decisive Action. Remember what happened monday. There was a conversation about why the president took so long to fire his National Security adviser michael flynn, 18 days after he lied about his contact the question is does the pretty take action when its in his interest or delays it . Its not just because we need to know whether the pretty is tris telling the truth. Thanks, john. Thanks for joining us. The United States plans to provide heavier arms to a kurdish militia. It is expected to play a leading role in fight to drive isis from its stronghold in russia. Turkey, a key nato ally, views the kurdish as terrorists. Turkish president is expected to raise the issue when he meets the president next week in white house. Secretary jim mattis promised to work closely with turkey to address its concern. Ahead, new video shows a passengers on a southwest Airline Plane and how the flight Surveillance Video from a fraternity where a penn state student suffered deadly injuries is called a playbook of the crime. Ahead, the prosecutor tells us what the cameras captured during a night of heavy drinking and hazing. Youre watching cbs this morning. Announcer this portion of cbs this morning sponsored by cigna. Together all the way. I love you. But i love him. I love him, too. So do i. They also know you should get your annual checkup. 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Where, for the first time ever, everything is 30 off. Like bolo bracelets for layering. Her soontobefavorite new earrings. And a stack of rings for her to mix and match. The numberone jewelry store. For mom. Every kiss begins with kay. Ykeep you sidelined. Ng thats why you drink ensure. With 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. For the strength and energy to get back to doing. What you love. Ensure. Always be you. Forced to shelter in place when a tunnel storing Radioactive Material collapsed in washington state. Well take you to the Hanford Nuclear site where one scientist said a series of disasters is waiting to and crash tests with trucks reveals how it could save it was kind of obvious that james comey was getting fired. Take a look at how sean spicer answered when a reporter asked if President Trump had confidence in comey. Does President Trump have confidence in james comey . I have no reason to believe i have no so thats a no. Spicer then added, if you speak to him, can you ask him if he has confidence in me . Its an interesting take. A lot of people feel that way, james corden. Thats interesting that some of the white house reporting is that the whole communication shop was out of the loop on this. They didnt know about the letter or the firing, so were caught flatfooted in trying the defend the president s decision, which raises the question about the urgency. Which could explain why sean spicer answered the way he did. Welcome back to cbs this morning. James comey, apparently like everybody else, found out he was fired from news reports on tv. He was being questioned when a tv in the background viewed it. He laughed and called it a funny prank. His staff scurried around and then he was called into an office where he was told he indeed had been fired. Comey had not heard from the white house at that point. Heres look at this mornings headlines. The Philadelphia Inquirer said the amtrak engineer will not face any charges. Brandon bostian said he did not remember why the train was speeding. Prosecutors cant say h with wanton disregard. New tests show a truck with underride guards can save lives. They can prevent a car from going underneath a truck in an accident. The government does not kurchltsly require them. Nhtsa says it could prevent hundreds of car deaths a year. The former president was impeached and jailed in march on corruption charges. Moon fa