Senator john mccain. It will head for a funeral home tomorrow and the senator will lie in state at the u. S. Capitol, just the 31st person to do that. Joining me now, president ial historian, Douglas Brinkley and retired general mark herling, doug, this is a week long week for senator john mccain the likes we havent seen. You dont see this for anyone other than a u. S. President , perhaps Robert Kennedy, the one exception to that. Maybe not sense Robert Kennedy have we seen this outpouring of emotion for u. S. Senator. I think thats exactly right. The fact Senator Mccain will be lying in state in the rotunda of the u. S. Capitol building one of only 31 others to have had that honor. We do it for president s or Supreme Court justices. The country has fallen in love
with john mccain this week. We always loved him and admired him. The more were learning about his lifelong career in politics and Military Service the more were kind of nostalgic and longing for the virtues that he had. They did a beautiful job in phoenix. Cindy mccain, thats where she was born and raised, the ceremonies today and eulogigies were deeply inspiring, particularly joe biden able to say, im a democrat and mccain is from a different age, a long ago age we would bury our differences and senators could be great friends. All around, its been remarkable how the country is really recognizing what a giant for the ages john mccain was. He and defense secretary james mattis there. You know this is a very meaningful time for him as well. Retired marine general, he said of john mccain, we have lost a
man who steadfastly represented the best ideals of our country. With us also, retired general mark hertling, general, it seems to me this moment were looking at right now much of it is about john mccain and reference he gave this country, i think much of it has been emotional because of where we are as a country. Yes. The comments by secretary mattis, Retired General Mattis hit the mark. What weve talked about and all the speakers have talked about in Senator Mccains ceremony this afternoon was his presence, how he reflected a presence of leadership. Where we are right now, were all yearning for that, a character of honesty, standing out for the idealism of our country, the values our nation holds dear, what is represented
way. I dont think anyone would dispute john mccain did it his way but he was saying my way should be our way, The American Way and to remind us what that way should be. On the idea of my way, he certainly planned this week in a very unique way. Its not everyone who could have former Vice President joe biden and Wide ReceiverLarry Fitzgerald speak at a ceremony just days before a republican president , george w. Bush and democratic president barack obama, again, doug, very significant and poignant. Absolutely. Larry fitzgerald, the Arizona CardinalWide Receiver was just marvelous today. He talked about the differences. Hes white, im black. Im an athlete and he was in the military. He went on and talked about all their differences. In the end, they were great friends. I thought it was poignant the senator, in his last days, asked Larry Fitzgerald in his last days to be one of his youeulog
because were divided and were great pals and he did a great job as did joe biden. Theres he hearse departing and tonight, it will go to the funeral home and tomorrow, lie in state at the capitol and there will be a ceremony at the capitol and before the burial on sunday. Every step of the way, there will be more remembrances and more speakers. We saw the family. Theyre in the cars right now. We saw the family deplane moments ago. I saw smiles on their faces occasionally, which is nice to see because theyre in the middle of what has to be a searing emotional week. But theyve been given, i think, some solace and some strength by the words that we heard,
including from Vice President biden, i think really spoke to them, general, directly today. It sure did. Not just Vice President biden but all of the speakers today. The vicepresident was particularly good, but as douglas just said, Larry Fitzgerald was also phenomenal. I was watching that ceremony with a group of other people not con descendingly, Like Star Wars political figures coming together sometimes grumpy and testy but always had a love of life and a love of country. It was pulling so many people together. I think the Vice President , in using his humor the way he did, really bonded with the audience and showed how people with two different ideologies, political
ideologies can still come together and find the best way ahead for our great nation. I think we all need to be reminded of that often, and we should, opposed to the divisiveness weve seen recently, we need to start pulling together and have those conversations and laugh a little bit more and have a beer with one another to talk about what separates us first and what might unite us a little bit. Senator mccain would certainly endorse the beer notion for sure. Senator and general, thanks so much. We saw this powerful emotional Memorial Service back in phoenix. This is a look at some of the most poignant moments. Amazing grace how sweet the sound for some reason, john mccain asked me to be his Chief Of Staff when he got elected. On my first day at 7 00 a. M. , john mccain picked me up at my house, i went to the car, i said, well, you want me to drive . He said, no, im going to drive. I said, want me to sit in the back seat . [ laughter ] im no expert on this, but i thought the staff drove. No, get in the car, boy, get in the car. The time will come, whats going to happen is six months will go by and everybodys going to think, well, its past, but youre going to ride by that field or smell that fragrance or see that flashing image and youre going to feel like you did the day you got the news but you know youre going to make it when the image of your dad, your husband, your friend crosses
your mind and a smile comes to your lip before a tear to your eye. Thats when you know, and i promise you, give you my word, i promise you, this, i know that day will come. Were saying goodbye to a man who meant so much. John mccain, back in washington, d. C. Tonight. As all this unfolded, there was other Breaking News today. A new interview with president trump. Well tell you about it next including his thoughts on the russia probe. Later, the other big story, New Reporting, Maggie Habermans reporting, what Michael Cohen might have been trying to buy from the National Enquirers publisher, more dirt than Stormy Daniels and Karen Mcdougal, tell you all about it on 360. Grew up the youngest of three kids. Raised a good sport. And became a secondgeneration firefighter. But i couldnt bear my diabetic nerve pain any longer. So i talked to my doctor, and he prescribed lyrica. Nerve damage from diabetes cause diabetic nerve pain. Lyrica is fda approved to treat this pain from moderate to even severe diabetic nerve pain. Lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions, suicidal thoughts or actions. Tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worse depression, unusual changes in mood or behavior, swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or blurry vision. Common side effects dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs, and feet. Dont drink alcohol while taking lyrica. Dont drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. Those who have had a drug or Alcohol Problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. Now i have less diabetic nerve pain. And i love helping the future generation step into our shoes. Ask your doctor about lyrica. Step into our shoes. This is the kid i went to the he was a cutie h. And if you go down, thats me, above him. You won best looking in your senior year of high school . Somebody had to win it. My Best High School moment was the day i walked across the stage. My dad. Couldnt read real good, so, it was a milestone for me. Ancestry now has over 300,000 yearbooks from all across the country. So go back to school with your family, and discover more of their stories. Start searching for free at ancestry. Com. At at t innovations, we give you more for your thing. Here were adding tv and movies from our unlimited plan to the powerful new Samsung Galaxy note9. The perfect device for entertainment productivity. So, its essentially the ed helms of devices . How so . Well hes both very entertaining and very productive. You think . Yeah, i do. And thats my completely unbiased opinion. Buy a galaxy note9 and get one free. More for your thing. Thats our thing. Little things can be a big deal. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not a cream. Its a pill that treats moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis differently. With otezla, 75 clearer skin is achievable. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. It may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Otezla is associated with. An increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts,. Or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. Tell your doctor about your medicines and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Otezla. Show more of you. It has been day of moments to remember whether john mccains solemn final journey or this, more Breaking News what the president is now saying about the Russian Investigation and job security and other range of subjects that almost certainly will be tomorrows headlines. Mr. Trump talking about all of it when he sat down with bloomberg news. The senior White House Correspondent joins us now who also happens to be a cnn political analyst. I want to start with this. You asked the president whether he would comply with a subpoena from mueller. He didnt give you a clear
answer to that. What did he say . No, he didnt. He said he thought the investigation itself was illegal. This is very interesting. What does it mean three, four months Going Forward . He wasnt explicit about it. When we asked him the question, he said, i would answer that in a different way, i dont agree with that being the point of the question. Said it was improper or because of all the elements he believed had been revealed to be sort of hinky about the investigation. Hes complained about that before we know that. For him to come out and say that he thought it was illegal seemed to me to be a turn. The investigation is illegal. Well come back to that. You asked the president about attorney general Jeff Sessions job security. Lets listen to what he said. Id just like to have Jeff Sessions do his job and if he did id be very happy. The job entails two sides, not one side. Not part of this audio, you really seemed to push him on how long he has that job security. It didnt seem like the president was willing to give him one second past the midterm elections. I do think its important the president probably the Republican Leadership sounds like a big sigh of relief, the president is now committed or resigned or whatever to saying, all right, let me set my concerns aside, through november, thats something that Mitch Mcconnell and Lindsey Graham and basically every republican have wanted to hear him say out loud and he said it. The followup question is okay, what about after the midterms he didnt want to touch. Maybe its to his credit he didnt want to touch it. Didnt want to tease it or have that become the news. He didnt say, no, this is all overblown, everything is fine, instead he turned back to this idea that you could see throughout the conversation hes so frustrated with Jeff Sessions he feels thats why there is this ongoing probe of him. Not related i understand the topic of impeachment came up,
did he seem worried it was a possibility if democrats took back the house . No. Actually his answer on the impeachment question, if democrats take over the house, do you think it would hurt your ability to govern if they proceeded with impeachment or do you think it would actually help you to get reelected . He said, i dont know. He said, i dont think they can. His reasoning for why he said they couldnt is because hes done a great job, is what he said. Also, what he said, essentially, if they do that to him it will create a new precedent where every president will face impeachment when the opposite party takes control of the house. Hmm. You also asked the president pointblank did he think he messed up on how he handle the passing of senator john mccain. What did he say about that . He said, no. I said, do you think you screwed it up, could have united the country. He said, no, i dont. I did everything they asked me
to. That he said he respected Senator Mccains contributions to the country. But he also went on to talk on his own terms about how deeply they disagreed on so many issues. He made pretty clear their policy and personal animus. We asked him whether he thought john mccain would have been a better president than barack obama. Notably, he declined to answer the question. A lot to chew over there. I know theres more in the interview as well. Margaret, stick around, stay with us, i want to bring in cnn political analyst, Maggie Haver Man who has a great piece in the New York Times well get to in our next segment and cnn analyst, Jeffrey Toobin and on the phone, alan dershowitz, author of the case against impeaching trump. I want to start with what we got from margaret, saying the Mueller Investigation is illegal. Im guessing thats not the last
time he will say that. Its not true. As senator moynihan liked to say, everyone is entitled to their own opinion but theyre not entitled to their own facts. Robert mueller is an employee of the department of justice, a prosecutor like any other. The idea he is an illegal, that there is something fundamentally improper about this relationship, about this investigation is completely wrong and not supported by the law or the facts. It may be mueller is doing a bad job, maybe hes brought inappropriate cases, we can have those disagreements. The idea that he is an illegal actor is just a Talking Point for the president s base. It is not based on anything real. Alan dershowitz, professor dershowitz, you are on the phone with us. The president said he is basing that notion on what he has heard from great scholars. I am guessing that he means you. I think he watches you on tv quite a bit. You have said there never should have been a Special Counsel, but i dont believe you have said that Robert Mueller is doing an illegal investigation. Quite the opposite. Ive said that i disagree with my friends, even a great scholar who has written a powerful article appointing the case of Special Counsel and giving him the ability to rule without the senate is illegal and plausible situation and here i agree with Jeffrey Toobin. I always said i thought the appointment of Special Counsel was lawful. I thought it was unnecessary and the Southern Districts and other districts could handle it. I thought it raised serious policy questions, theres really no check and balance effectively on the Special Counsel. Ive been critical of Special Counsel. If the president meant me, id be flattered if he called me a
great legal scholar, i think he must have meant steven. Ive never taken that position, this is a lawful position but in my view, misguided. If the president is watching this live or tivo later, mr. Alan dershowitz, a great scholar does not think its an illegal investigation. Maggie, to you, the president was flat out asked many different ways if he would fire Jeff Sessions. He seemed to rule it out until election day and seemed like where we were headed all along. He wouldnt give him one minute past. He doesnt like Jeff Sessions. Whether you think what hes saying about the both sides you should investigate, whether thats a Fair Assessment how an attorney general should do his job based on a political consideration or not is a different question. He has been frustrated with Jeff Sessions for over a year now. This has been going on since march of 2017. I think that Lindsey Graham has
a point when he says this is a relationship that is disfunctional, it is clearly disfunctional. To margarets point, to the president s credit he didnt try to dress this up as something different. He did say this is where its going. What i think is happening is he is having some kind of discussion with members of the senate about who could get confirmed and under what circumstances you could get Jeff Sessions to leave. This president does not like Firing People for all of this talk about what a bad job he is doing yet he had the option of firing him. He got a Resignation Letter from him last year and got that back. Their hope is they can get sessions to resign and they might. Doesnt seem like they want to have it happen before the midterms. They dont want anything to happen before mid terms. The only thing protecting Jeff Sessions right now is midterms. Jeffrey, hang on. There are interesting nuggets in this interview. Margaret, i understand alan
wiseleberg, the ffo of the trump investigation who was granted immunity in the Michael Cohen investigation, you asked him about the president about that. What did he say . What we wanted to know from the president , did he feel that mr. Weisselberg had either betrayed him or put him in legal jeopardy by this arrangement . He said, absolutely not. He said 100 his friend, Alan Weisselberg had not, hes a very good friends and whatever his discussions were, had been very short, in terms of anything he would have told the prosecutors. So the president seemed to be saying he didnt feel that weisselberg was doing anything to hurt him or to try to hurt him. Interesting. Jeffrey. So the president seems to have some knowledge or at least claimed to have some knowledge of the weisselberg testimony right there. Could the president be right its limited to a very specific period of time or should he be
concerned weisselberg could say more . I would not be surprised if weisselbergs attorney spoke to trumps attorneys and told him what he was asked about and what he answered. One of the great unanswered questions, i dont know the answer to it, is, is the Southern District which obtained the guilty plea for Michael Cohen, where Michael Cohen said i did these illegal acts at the direction of president trump, then candidate trump, are they following up on that . Are they doing more investigation . I dont know the answer to that yet. It may be that weisselbergs testimony was directed to getting the guilty plea, which was successfully completed, but will they go back to him and say, what more can you tell us . I dont know. Maggie, do you know . I dont know. Id like to know. We will talk more about Alan Weisselberg. While i still have you on, the
subject of alan, you said you thought the this is a bigger threat in your mind than the russia investigation. Weisselberg is the guy that knows where all the financial bodies are buried. Should the president be more concerned about him . He should be and especially enough if he thinks weisselberg said anything incriminating. Thats not the issue. Did he say anything that builds gaps in the prosecutions case. If you say, i said nothing, that will hurt the president. You dont know what gaps there are. Weisselberg may have told about a meeting or encounter, something they didnt know could lead to other issues. The president should be concerned about weisselberg and cohen. I would expect his legal team is concerned he may be putting forth a positive face on this but he should be deeply concerned. Ive always said he should be
more concerned about the Southern District where he doesnt have constitutional defenses than the mueller probe, which is about his presidency, where he has constitutional defenses. They may not be perfect but theyre better than the situation hes in, in the Southern District. Alan dershowitz, thanks so much. And margaret, thank you for bringing your reporting to us. Maggie and jeff, stick around. Up next, maggies latest reporting what could be decades of dirt on donald trump and New Reporting what candidate trump and donald kohn might have been talking about in that secret recording you probably heard on cnn but might still have questions about, new evidence they were talking about buying more than just the silence of Stormy Daniels and Karen Mcdougal. Flintstones meet the flintstones. Theyre the modern stone age family. From the town of bedrock. Meet george jetson. His boy elroy. With instant acceleration, electric cars are more fun to drive and more affordable than ever. Electric cars are here. Plug into the present. Electric cars are here. Plug into the present. But i am a simple farmer. Bas my life is here. [telephone ring] ahoyhoy. Alexander graham bell here. No, no, my number is one, you must want two two, i say like my father before. [telephone ring] like my father before. Ahoyhoy as long as people talk too loudly on the phone, you can count on geico saving folks money. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Ito take care of anyct messy situations. And put irritation in its place. And if i can get comfortable keeping this tookus safe and protected. You can get comfortable doing the same with yours. Preparation h. Get comfortable with it. The phrase, Catch And Kill just got catchier. When cnn got ahold of the tape talking to donald trump about the enquirer publisher we didnt know it would be a bigger purchaser of caught and kill stories than just Karen Mcdougal. The headlines, National Enquirer had decades of dirt and he wanted to buy it all. When you do, watch for the phrase, all the stuff. I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend, david, you know, so im going to do that right away. Ive actually come up and spoken to Allen Weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up about funding. Yes. Its all the stuff. Here, you never know what that company if he gets hit by a truck. Im all over that. I spoke to alan about it when it comes time for the financing. What financing . Its getting old. No, no. How are you . So thats the candidate and his fixer a couple months before the election, all the stuff, cohen says, in case he, meaning david pecker, gets hit by a truck. Remember, former National Enquirer editor said pecker kept a safe of story files and do some of the National Stories include more dirt on donald
trump . This suggests so. Maggie joins us in a moment. This is the money quote. He and his lawyer at the time, michael d. Cohen, devised a plan to buy up all the dirt on mr. Trump the National Enquirer collected on him dating back to the 1980s according to several of his associates. This includes older stories and his marital woes and lawsuits and tips about Marital Affairs and golf and the Purchase Plan was never finalized. Now, we know there could be a whole lot more about his private life the president wants to conceal. But, keeping them honest, wait a minute, havent he and his surrogates been saying there is absolutely nothing to conceal . No truth to any of this . Why, yes, yes, they have. The president has addressed these directly and made very well clear that none of these allegations are true. Did he know about the payment at the time . Not that im aware of. As i just said, as we have addressed on a number of times,
the president has denied these allegations. I dont have anything else further to add. Look, the president denied these allegations and weve spoken about this issue extensively and i dont have anything else to add. Beyond that, i would refer you to the outside counsel. Did you know about the 130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels . No. The president has denied and continues to deny the underlying claim. Neither the white house or president has budged from the allegations and even after the tape came out and after standing up in court saying it discloses the dirt. Who will you believe . That, the tape, all the reporting including the New York Times latest or this from the president just yesterday. We do everything straight. We do everything by the book. So whether or not the president does everything by the book, Maggie Haberman and Jeffrey Toobin sure do, back
with us now along with cnn commentator and former republican president ial president , rick santorum. Maggie, youve been sitting here the whole time while ive been talking about you and your reporting. Thank you for that. Since youre here coincidentally, what im talking about, walk us through it. The president and Michael Cohen, youre saying wanted to buy decades of dirt. When my colleague and i first wrote about the existence of that tape, we didnt have the audio, it was described by people on both sides familiar with it in the very narrow context of Karen Mcdougal and reimbursing her and that was what we focused on for weeks it turns out actually, there had been this discussion about obtaining everything, because there was a concern that david pecker was going to leave ami and they would be leaving this information in the hands of somebody they didnt know. As you said, this was a grab bag of information. Some of it may not even have
been anything fleshed out or real or actually confirmed, tips, random stories, things about golf. It was this pile about donald trump and we know he likes control. Clearly, you can see from this grab bag of stuff, david pecker had been at ami for a really long time. This was pretty clear from the audio and our reporting this was not some plan Michael Cohen dreamed up, he said this in court, what he was told to do by donald trump is go deal with this, so he was going and dealing with this. In the court papers, there is a reference to the candidate, hes not named. There are clear references on that tape to Alan Weisselberg, who was given immunity to testify to this. They have connection to this. Where this leads, i dont know, im not a Campaign Finance lawyer. It is possible the president is saying i was buying these things for years and had nothing to do with the election and becomes
more complicated with the election. You and David Pecker Have Information on a long relationship. There is information, it could be a part of it. David pecker, American Media actually published an inhouse magazine for the trump hotels. They were Business Partners with trump in certain ventures, thats how close they were. What i thought was so fascinating about maggies story was how, as long as david pecker was there, everything was going to be fine. They could keep that certainly is what pecker said to me in very explicit terms, we bought Karen Mcdougals story because we wanted to protect our friend, the president. That apparently was the Guiding Principle for all of the editorial decisions at the National Enquirer. Whats so fascinating about this story, they were so concerned
pecker might leave they wanted to get their hands on all the dirt so that pecker, even if he was gone, theyd still be protected. Not like youre speculating about that. We heard it on the tape. They say it. They said it out loud. What did he say, if you get hit by a truck, a very new york way of putting it. Were guessing its a euphemism. If youre listening, i am remembering the senator santorum deeply concerned about decades of dirt and maybe scurrilous dirt on a president ial candidate now president , im guessing at this point that the president supporters, doesnt move them at all, i imagine, this is what youre going to tell me, they already baked it into the cake, the access Hollywood Tape didnt move it, nothing else will move. Ive been listening to this and im having a hard time
keeping my dinner down. This is not a very pleasant conversation to talk about the president of the United States and all of these potential scirrulous types of activities, not fun to listen to. We understand the president has a sordid past and he had, you know, did a lot of things that were a lot worse than even what maybe he was trying to protect himself from. They voted for him anyway. I dont like it and i find it to be, you know, a Compounding Effect of the character of the man, but at the same time, i think that, as you just said, has been baked into the cake. Rick, isnt it really the case we will have the
kavanaugh hearings next week, hes promised to appoint judges who will overturn roe v. Wade. Here comes judge kavanaugh, soon to be justice kavanaugh. Donald trump could hang on the ceilings having sex with anybody he likes, as long as he gets roe v wade overturned, you dont care, isnt that the way it works . Were talking about things prior to him being president , i dont think there was any question in then minds of any voter about donald trump and his personal activities. That was pretty much made clear. So, what theyre assessing him now and will continue to do is his performance as president. I think if they look at the policies hes made and the appointments hes made to the judiciary, i think most conservatives are very happy about it. Theyre not concerned about his behavior. All that talk about character we heard about bill clinton and
the role model to americans, thats all nonsense, right . You dont care about character, you care about winning . Excuse me. I think i just said its very disturbing to me and i dont like it, its something i find reprehensible, but the issue the issue is with bill clinton, as you know, jeffrey, very well, bill clinton wasnt impeached because of bill clintons behavior in the white house, he was impeached because he committed perjury, so lets just get to the reality of it. Lets quit trying to confuse the issue. Whether this president told the truth or not may become an issue as well. I want to give you the last word on this. It was your story. Look, i think the focus of our story was not the dirt or sorting through it. The focus of our story was about the interactions between president trump, then a businessman and a hedge fund owned newspaper that was taking
losses at that point, burying stories because of its relationship with the president , and then an effort to try to get hold of all of that apparently on the order of the president. Thats what its about. Not about a private citizen. But but if it was to sway the election, did the president order Michael Cohen to do it, as he testified in court under oath, again, thats the key question here. Senator, Jeffrey Toobin, maggie, thank you very much. Lets check in with chris cuomo to see what hes working on the top of the hour. Spicy little bit of Moral Relativism you have going on the top of the docket to be sure. We will bring in a key player, michael avenatti. He sees it different. What does this information mean to his litigation, to his efforts and how he now sees it as a part of the overall investigation and russia probe. We have him on the show. We will also have a big debate about what matters in this kind of situation and what doesnt. We have a good show coming up for everybody and we will take on this story about whats going on at the border. Can an american really be denied a passport on the basis of where they live . Chris cuomo, thank you very much. Coming up, the president is claiming, without evidence at all, in an interview he did a year ago, was somehow fudged. Keeping them honest, next. Always Anonymous Sources and are pure fiction, enemy of the people. You have to wonder if the president has anxiety about the upcoming book from bob woodward. In an avalanche, the president ranteded against cnn. Whats happening at cnn is happening on different networks, nbc news the worst. Andy lacky is about to be fired . Lester holt got caught fudging his tape on russia. Lester holt did not get caught fudging the tape on russia. He indicated to lester holt he got fired in part because of the russia investigation. I was going to fire regardless of recommendation. He made a recommendation, highly respected. Very good guy, smart guy, republicans and democrats like him. Made a good recommendation. Regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey knowing there was no good time to in fact when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a madeup story. So now more than a year later, the president says Lester Holt Fudged the tape. Theres of course no evidence of any fudging. Repeat, no fudging for the part that is potentially damning, the president is on camera in the middle of a sentence. No cutaways, no edits. Add to that the fact that an extended version of the interview has been on the nbc news website since may 11th, 2017. But for this president and for some of his followers, evidence just doesnt matter. All that matters is what the president says no matter how many times he lies, contradicts himself, or simply makes things up. It all seems to be part of his
pattern of trying to discredit words that he doesnt think are good for him even if they came out of his own mouth. Hes doing it now. He did it with the Access Hollywood kwiegs tape when he bragged about sexually assaulting women. When it came out, he apologized for using what he called locker room talk. Then more than a year later, you started suggesting to people, including at least one senator, that it wasnt even his voice on the tape. Now what he wants you to believe, what lester holt said on camera, was somehow fudged. Lets not forget he flatout instructed his followers on this just a month ago. Dont believe your own eyes and ears. Just stick with us. Dont believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news. And just remember what youre seeing and what youre reading is not whats happening. Keeping them honest, what youre seeing and what youre reading is happening. No matter how many times the president says you shouldnt believe even actual footage of
him talking or books. Well take you back to the radio analogy, in the words of radiohead, this is really happening. Joining me now, cnn Global Affairs analyst and Washington Post columnist max boot. So, max, we just heard the president say what youre seeing and what youre reading is not whats happening. So for him, once again, hes attempting to discredit a recording of himself. Right, john. I would say that donald trump is revealing himself to be a marxist, not karl marx, groucho marx, who said, who are you going to believe . Me or your own eyes . Clearly he wants his followers to believe him rather than their own eyes. This is taking it to a whole new level. This is basically denying reality in the way that authoritarian dictators always try to do with their followers and to just rewrite the script. Any guess about why he might be doing it now, why he might be choosing to say that this tape where he talks about russia
being a reason for firing james comey, why hes saying he didnt say it. Why he might want to explain a way a tape on which he confessed Obstruction Of Justice . 9 only issue is why it is taking him so long to try to make these ludicrous claims. I think what you see with the president is really getting worse because the facts are turning against him so markedly. I mean last week, remember, we cant forget this. His own attorney implicated him in two federal crimes. And as a result of that, you see a spike in his tweets about the socalled rigged witch hunt. He is feeling the heat, and so he is lashing out. And because the facts are so unfavorable to him, he is trying to challenge the very validity of the facts and of reality itself and complaining yesterday, why is google producing search results that arent all about protrump . Because the news is not protrump, but he cant handle it. While youre here, i do want to ask you something about the president told bloomberg. He said, he can be patient with
kim jongun. The quote, i have greater patience than any human being in the world. People dont understand that about me. Do you think that having patience with kim is the right path here . No. American president s have had patience with north korean dictators going back to the 1990s, and theyve been hornswoggled at every turn. Donald trump promised that was not going to happen to him, but it has. I mean he is basically in the position of somebody who spiked the ball on the 50yard line, and now he doesnt know what to do. Does he pretend that he scored a touchdown or does he go to work and try to move the ball down the field . Hes sort of saying its a field goal. He says, youve had no missile testing, no rocket testing. We got back our hostages. There have been no nuclear tests, and thats pretty good. Remember what he said immediately after he got back from singapore. He said there is no longer a Nuclear Threat from north korea, and that is just nonsense because everything weve learned since then is that north korea is actually expanding their nuclear program, expanding their
missile program. Theyre not dismantling it. And thats the reality hes dealing with. Thats why last week he told mike pompeo not to go to pyongyang because the north koreans were not delivering. But at the same time as hes admitting that the deal that he agreed to is basically falling apart and is meaningless, at the same time hes trying to pretend he still has a great relationship with kim jongun. Everything is going just great. So you have these competing impulses at war with one another in almost everything that he says. Max boot, great to have you with us. Hopefully well see you again soon. Reminder. Dont miss full circle,s 360s daily interactive newscast on facebook. You can see it week nights, 6 25 eastern at facebook. Com Anderson Cooper full circle. Up next, more on a Heros Journey to his final resting place. Senator john mccains casket arrives in washington where he will lie in state tomorrow at the capitol. Including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. It helps block six key inflammatory substances. Most pills block one. Flonase sensimist. Most pills block one. Its absolute confidence in 30,00or it isnt. Arts, its inspected by mercedesbenz factorytrained technicians, or it isnt. Its backed by an unlimited mileage warranty, or it isnt. For those who never settle, its either mercedesbenz certified preowned,
or it isnt. The mercedesbenz certified preowned sales event, now through august 31st. Only at your authorized mercedesbenz dealer