Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Brooke Baldwin 20180129

The Union Address whether the president will mention at all this ongoing russia probe which you said, you know, is really russia fever that the country needs to get out of its system. Will he address it in any way . To answer your question we want full transparency. Thats what we have said all along. Well make a decision when and if that becomes necessary. In terms of the state of the union, im not getting ahead of the president s address. Its tomorrow night. I know you are all excited and will eagerly tune in and can see at that time exactly what will be included. April . Is there a need to address it . We have addressed it every single day we have been here. Its a question you guys ask over and over again. In fact, we spend more time on that than any other topic despite the fact that time and time again, poll after poll says no one cares about the issue and its not the thing that keeps people up at night. Wed love to talk about the things that do. My guess is that will be the focus of the president s state of the union tomorrow. April . Two topics. Back on the state of the union. Typically when the president s give the state of the Union Address, particularly his first, president s are normally optimistic when they say the state of our union is whats the state of our union . You will hear it tomorrow night. We have an economy thats booming. Isis is on the run. We are remaking the judiciary in a way that believes in upholding the constitution. There are great things happening in this country. You can expect the president to talk about what we have done this year and what well do in the years after this. I want to go to the issue of black unemployment. Is the president going to start targeting black up employment as hes saying that unemployment has gone down over his watch . I have never heard of a targeted approach from this administration. Is the administration aware that the black Unemployment Rate from december, 6. 8 . The white Unemployment Rate is 3. 7 . The asian Unemployment Rate is 2. 5 and the hispanic rate is 4. 9 . The black Unemployment Rate continues to be higher and is actually more than two times that of the white Unemployment Rate. Is that something this administration is touting or trying to fix, make an active effort to fix in 2018 . You can see from the steps we have taken already we are trying to fix unemployment for all americans. Thats the point the president has made time and time again. He wants it to be better for everybody. We have made significant progress in that both through the number of regulations that have been cut to make it a more jobfriendly market, a more jobfriendly environment, and certainly adding to that the tax cuts and tax reform legislation that the president led on has been historic in whats happened and in the way its helped our economy and certainly helped create jobs across the country. Why did he take issue with jayz then when he was talking in terms of black america . He took issue. He screamed in all caps, have you seen my black unemployment numbers . They are better than they have been and we are making progress. We want to continue to do that. Look, we want every day to be better than the day before. Again, certainly for black americans, hispanic americans, across the board this is a president who wants life to be better for all americans. Hes going to keep fighting and pushing for it. You will hear him talk about that again tomorrow night. John . Thank you, sarah. The former attorney general of the United States eric holder described Andrew Mccabe as a dedicated Public Servant who has served the country well. Would the president , would you describe him in that same manner . I dont have a personal relationship with him. Im not going to describe him. I think we have talked about the concerns we have with some of the actions that hes taken. In terms of anything specific regarding the Deputy Director, particularly the news reports of today, i would refer you to the fbi. Francesca . Based upon past tweets the president put out regarding mr. Mccabe doesnt seem to be a big fan of mr. Mccabe. Is he disappointed hes leaving his post as the deputy fbi director. I havent asked you. I can tell you that he didnt play a role in the process. Again i would refer you to the fbi for specifics. Thank you, sarah. In one of the president s tweets in december he said Andrew Mccabe is, quote, racing the clock to retire with full benefits, 90 days to go. Does the president believe Andrew Mccabe should be allowed to retire with full benefits . I would refer you to the fbi. I have a question about the state of the union. You mentioned who was going to be in the first ladys box. You talked about the guests but i cant hear about the president s family. Can you say which of the family members will be there and can you potentially preview for us some of the travel the president may take . Usually the president takes travel to push his agenda afterwards. In terms of family, all of the president s children and the first lady will be at the state of the union with the exclusion of baron. I dont believe hell be attending as of now. In terms of travel, well keep you posted on any scheduling announcements we have over the week. Margaret . Thanks, sarah. I want to ask you a question about the at work and also the treasury, i believe the deadline is today [ inaudible ] can you tell us whether thats going to happen and whether the names will be public and the impact on sanctions . Will portions of that be public . We expect the reports today. I would refer you to the department of treasury for specifics on that. If thats something you could coordinate that would be helpful. We are coordinating and they are taking the lead. For questions specific to it, reach out to the department of treasury in terms of timing. I will let them know you said they can tell us. On 5g, i know there is a lot of speculation about what might happen and whether there is a security case to make for one secure network, but some experts including the republican fcc chair, i guess, are concerned about the idea of one nationalized network. Can you bring us up to speed on whether the idea is dead or alive, where that stands . As we outlined in the National Security strategy, i believe it was on page 19, a few people will be proud of me for memorizing that. We discussed the need for a secure network. Right now we are in the earliest stages of the conversation. There are no decisions made on what it would look like, what role anyone would play in it. Simply the need for a secure network. Thats the only part of this conversation we are up to now. Just one network or multiple possible networks . There are a lot of things on the table. These are the earliest stages of the discussion period. There is no decision made other than the fact, the need for a secure network. Dave . Tomorrow night will the president talk about an urban revitalization plan . Im not getting into the details beyond what was discussed last week on the state of the union. I think it is something worth tuning in to. One last question. Hunter . Thank you, sarah. The president has touted black unemployment when faced with allegations of racism. Given the numbers, why do you think so many in the Africanamerican Community are still so uncomfortable with the president . Thats a question you have to ask them. We hope and pray and expect to spend every day working to build a greater relationship within that community. As i said before, with all americans this is a president who wants to lead for everybody. Hes not looking to lead for any one person, any one group. He wants to be the president of the United States. If you look at the policies hes enacted over the first year you can see hes doing exactly that. Hes building an economy that helps every american. Hes cutting regulations that help every american. Hes helping put isis on the run which helps on the safety and security of all americans. Hes helping secure the border and put an end to loopholes in the failed immigration system. Those things benefit all americans. Thats what we have done in the first year and look forward to in the next seven years. Thanks, guys. Im brooke baldwin. You are watching cnn on monday afternoon. Watching Sarah Sanders in the White House Briefing as major breaking news is hitting. She was answering questions about Andrew Mccabe. Hes already left the building. The fbis second in charge stepping down effective today. Hes been the Deputy Director. He was expected to retire in march in his 20plus years with the agency mccabe was there for the clinton email investigation, obviously the current russia investigation and has been a frequent target of President Trump. The president even seized on the fact that mccabes wife was a democrat who ran for state office in virginia. Amidst myriad tweets coming out against him from the president , let me read one for you. Why didnt attorney general sessions replace acting fbi director Andrew Mccabe . A comy friend in charge of the clinton investigation but got big dollars for his wifes political run from Hillary Clinton and her representatives. Drain the swamp. Lets go to the white house. Jim acosta is the chief White House Correspondent who asked an excellent question which was, you know, you were asking the question about the pressure thats been put on multiple people, as you pointed out, multiple levels of government on doj, fbi and folks central to the investigation. Shes saying that all the questions about mccabe, dont ask us, ask the fbi. What did she say about the pressure . I was looking at this quote. Its remarkable what Sarah Sanders said. She did say, yes, the president has been applying pressure. She said the only thing the president applied pressure to is to get it resolved so you guys and everyone else can focus on things Americans Care about making sure everybody gets the russia fever out of their system once and for all. Thats an acknowledgment that the president has applied pressure. She didnt say there hasnt been pressure. That would have been lying. Hes tweeted about the fbi director. There are reports including from cnn that he wanted to fire special Counsel Robert Mueller and so on. Thats a pretty interesting acknowledgment from Sarah Sanders. What she was trying to say and the way she was spinning it is the reason the president is doing this is there is nothing to see here with the russia investigation. We wanted to get it done as soon as possible. Thats not how Law Enforcement investigations work. Thats not how special counsel investigations work. There isnt really much you can do as the president of the United States to expedite that investigation. You can try to do what nixon did during the watergate era and have a saturday night massacre of that rsort. As Lindsey Graham and the speaker of the house said at the russia investigation that the Mueller Investigation should go on. That would cause something of a constitutional crisis. What we have seen from this president as far as he thinks it can go. One of the questions is whether or not any of those efforts crossed the line into illegality that would fall under the heading of obstruction of justice. When i asked Sarah Sanders if there was anything improper, illegal, obstruction of justice she said no. It hardly puts the matter to rest. Thank you, jim. For more on Andrew Mccabe lets go to our cnn crime and justice reporter. For people just tuning in learning this guy after 20 plus years, supposed to retire two months from now and now has already left the building. Why . Reporter thats a good question, brooke. We are getting different answers depending on who we talk to. Certainly people at the fbi are telling us that it was Andrew Mccabes decision, that today would be the day he leaves. We dont know why. We dont know what sparked this decision. Did something happen over the weekend . One person said perhaps he was fed up with everything and just came in, thought about it over the weekend and decided today was the day. We have jims reporting where people are basically saying he was forced out. There are different stories here. People are perceiving it differently. Essentially just to give you color about what happened today, there is a monday morning meeting with executives and Andrew Mccabe walks in to the meeting, tells the staff he will be leaving, hes stepping down today. He portrayed it as his decision, that he ultimately made the decision. Thats essentially what we are told happened. He left the building. Signed out. Well see. Hes still technically an employee of the fbi. Hell be on terminal leaf through probably mid march, march 18 which is the date he was expected to retire. What this means to the men and women of the fbi and how they found out about this. How they found that Andrew Mccabe was no longer the Deputy Director was through the media. They are not happy. They feel they should be told by the leadership whats going on. Of course. We expect Christopher Ray to have a phone conference calling the leaders across the fbi to brief them on what happened today. Maybe after that well get a better answer as to exactly why today. It does come as a surprise in the sense it happened today. It is not a surprise he was leaving the fbi, but why today . Stay with us on cnn. More on this breaking news. The fbi Deputy Director Andrew Mccabe stepping down effective immediately. Sources describe the move as a surprise. Well talk to the panel next. Also ahead, Hillary Clinton under fire for letting a former Campaign Aide keep his job after he was accused of repeatedly sexually harassing a young woman. Hillary clintons former Campaign Manager who called for his firing is now speaking out to cnn saying that it was a mistake and she was over ruled. Blasting Hillary Clintons newest response. More on that coming up here on this busy monday afternoon. This is cnn. Im brooke baldwin. But prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. vo just one touch. Ith with fancy feast creamy delights, she can have just the right touch of real milk. Easily digestible, it makes her favorite entrees even more delightful. Fancy feast creamy delights. 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Today, the new new york is sparking innovation. You see it in the Southern Tier with companies that are developing powerful batteries that make everything from cell phones to rail cars more efficient. Which helps improve every aspect of advanced rail technology. All with support from a highlyeducated workforce and vocational job training. Across new york state, were building the new new york. To grow your business with us in new york state, visit esd. Ny. Gov. We are back with breaking news here. The fbi Deputy Director Andrew Mccabe is now out. He has essentially sped up his retirement in mid march. It is now if he ceffective as o. Why, we dont know. Deputy independent counsel in the investigation of president bill clinton and the affair with Monica Lewinsky joins us as well as gloria borjer and chris cillizza. Welcome to you all. I know there is a lot we dont know. A lot of head scratching at the moment. Gloria, beginning with you and almost piggybacking off jims question at the briefing. Given the pressure on the fbi and doj, given that mccabe is mentioned in this nunes memo and has been in cross hairs of the president for months, alarm bells or not. Sure. We knew he was going to retire. He wants his entire pension and this may have been the first moment he could do this and still get the pension. We know from jims reporting that he was told by ray im starting my new management team. Clearly you are not part of it for this limited period of time. If you look at the big picture here you have a president who was upset with mccabe, publically tweeting about it. Jeff sessions, his attorney general went to ray, the head of the fbi and said you have to get rid of that guy. Chris ray was upset enough to go to don mcgan, white house counsel, and complain. We know the game of telephone from the oval office all the way down has been going on for quite some time regarding mccabe. The way in which this was done was completely surprising to people. A bit disorderly. Which leads me to believe there was more to it than just, okay, im leaving because i can. Right. That gives a notion to the fact, the possibility he was really pushed. Right. Chris, i want your two cents. Again, to illustrate to people watching along all the different tweets. This drum beat from republicans and the president suggesting that he couldnt do his job since his wife ran as a democrat and raced in the state of virginia. Here is one from the fbi. Andrew mccabe is racing the clock to retire with full benefits, 90 days to go. What are you thinking . Did the pressure get to him . Sarah sanders saying the white house wasnt involved, that might be true over and over she said. President trump departmeidn want him gone today. But my guess is the fbi senior officials are aware the president has a twitter feed. Do you think . Maybe. If not, they should be. They clearly know his feelings. Lets get to the root of it. Why donald trump thinks Andrew Mccabe had to go, which we know he does, is because Andrew Mccabes wife ran as a democrat for state senate in virginia in 2015 and Terry Mcauliffe donated almost half a million to her campaign. She lost, but in trumps mind terry equals the clintons. Therefore because his wife got money from someone affiliated with the clintons who, by the way, was also governor of virginia Andrew Mccabe was against him in some way. Remember, this is a president who openly talked about a deep state conspiracy within the Justice Department to undermine him that he clearly thinks Andrew Mccabe was part of. You summed it up perfectly. Well, i do what i can. Well done. Solomon, let me read another tweet. This is from former ag eric holder. He said fbi Deputy Director Andrew Mccabe is and has been a dedicated Public Servant who served the country well. Bogus attacks on the fbi and doj to distract attention from a legitimate criminal inquiry does longterm unnecessary damage to the foundations of our government. Whether we find out whether he stepped down early, was pushed out, gloria mentioned when ray resisted pressure from sessions and trump to fire mccabe, whats the message here . Well, let me say first of all, you can be a dedicated Public Servant and screw up. Jim comey was a dedicated Public Servant and he screwed up the way he handled the email investigation and went public with it. Andrew mccabe i hate not to join the party, but Andrew Mccabe definitely should have recused himself from the email investigation and the Clinton Foundation investigation. I believe the idea that he should not get pension benefits is ridiculous and illegal. But he should have been reassigned the minute he became head of the fbi. You can hold two ideas in your head at the same time. You can believe somebody was a dedicated Public Servant but he was in fbi leadership. He made a couple of mistakes. One, he definitely should have recused himself. Terry mcauliffe is not a normal, everyday clinton supporter. Hes a longtime, deeply tied crony responsible for campaign loans that mr. Mccabes wife didnt have to pay back. Secondly, something that has to be understood, the fbi and doj investigation of mrs. Clintons email server was deeply flawed. You talk to anybody who is in federal Law Enforcement, the way the investigation was handled, the side deals, immunity deals is deeply, deeply disturbing. He was part of that. Now, you notice i said that. I dont believe mueller is tainted by that. Im not attacking the fbi in order to taint mueller. You can have two ideas in your head at the same time. One, mueller is an honorable guy that should go forward. Two, the fbi messed up in the clinton email investigation and may have messed up in the fiza investigation. Terry mcauliffe did give money but it was contributions, not a loan. That would be illegal. I didnt mean to say it was a loan. Its contributions. 700,000 you said she didnt pay back. We dont pay back contributions. I mean yeah. She didnt have to pay it back is my point. Thats the whole point. Its 500 from mcauliffe, 200 from people who wouldnt have contributed without mcauliffe. He should have recused himself. He made decisions in the Clinton Foundation investigation that limited what agents can do. He should have recused himself. Its a nobrainer. Hes not immune from criticism. On mccabe, hes mentioned, gloria with rosenstein in the secret republican memo being floated around today. Again, Sarah Sanders said no one at the white house has seen the memo although its clear that they are fine with declassifying the memo which would be defying their own doj. But ultimately you have the last two men standing. Ray and Rod Rosenstein. What would this mean for them . We reported last friday that the president has been griping about Rod Rosenstein and hed like him to go, too. We know thats the case. When you look a mccabe and everything thats gone on here, the question has to be asked about was there an order and was it inappropriate . We have seen the president greenhouse publically about how hes frustrated by the fact that he really doesnt control the Purse Strings or any strings, i should say, at the fbi. That the fbi and the Justice Department behave independently. And he is frustrated by that. But that hasnt stopped him from letting the attorney general and letting chris ray and sessions letting ray know how he feels about mccabe. So, you know, it does kind of muddy the waters here. The white house says, you know, we knew nothing about this. No fingerprints on this. We were not involved. But you would be remiss if you didnt ask the question, the fact that the white house let this be known so publically and over such a long period of time have any impact on this. Right. Thats the question. Quick final thought, solomon . I think its the most likely explanation. There could have been pressure. That would be unfortunate. The most likely explanation is that he was at a point where he could take his accumulated leave and it would run through march and he decided to take pressure off chris ray and resign right now. Might be. Solomon, chris, gloria, thank you very much. Thank you. Still ahead here, were going to talk about Hillary Clinton and how her former Campaign Manager going back to 2008 says she suggested firing an adviser accused of sexually harassing a female staffer. It was Hillary Clinton herself who over ruled her. The Campaign Manager is speaking out. New year, new phones for the family. 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With Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, you wont have to worry about replacing your car because youll get the full value back including depreciation. Switch and you could save 782 on home and auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Hillary clinton under fire for refusing to fire a Campaign Aide accused of sexually harassing a young subordinate. The female staffer alerjs Burns Strider who was an adviser for Hillary Clinton touched the woman, kissed her forehead and sent suggestive emails while they were working on clintons 2008 campaign. Now clintons Campaign Manager is coming forward Patti Solis Doyle who urged Hillary Clinton herself to fire strider. Shes now speaking out. A young woman complained about Burns Strider jess oconnell. Now the ceo of the dnc, against Burns Strider who she reported to. The incident was brought to my attention. I did my due diligence, interviewed the parties involved, looked at the evidence, looked at emails he sent, other documents. I came to the conclusion that there was Sexual Harassment involved, that the young woman was very credible. My recommendation to the senator was to fire him. I was over ruled. You werent the only one who believed this was the right avenue to take. Correct well, you know, there were a few people involved in the investigation, so to speak. People involved in it believed he should not be working in our campaign. So she over ruled you personally . I was overruled, yes. Ultimately strider didnt even go to the counseling that was a part of his docked pay, pay commensurate with a demotion, has to go to kouns counseling and he didnt go to counseling. You were gone at that point. Who made the decision on instead of him going that these things would happen that he was going to face these consequences of counseling and docked pay . You know, i said i wanted our campaign to be better. I believe we were. There was an axios item today where, you know, Campaign Staffers now are being interviewed and they laugh at the idea that there was an h. R. , there is an h. R. Process. In our campaign, i went to the lawyers. But this was lawyers looking at lawyers and operations people and me, senior management. We came up with a process. We did everything, i believe, but fire him. I want to ask you about how Hillary Clinton has responded to this. She says a story appeared today this was a few days ago about something that happened in 2008. I was dismayed when it occurred but was heartened the young woman came forward, was heard and had her concerns taken seriously and addressed. She doesnt admit that she messed up. Right. She doesnt admit that especially in light of the fact that at the time you were recommending he go. Its not like no one was saying he shouldnt go. We are now in an era where people say, duh, he should have gone. Right. Why doesnt she just look back and say, this was the wrong call . I dont know. I was disappointed by the tweet, the response. It was the wrong call. I wish she had said it was the wrong call. I wish she said, you know, having to do it over i would have fired him. Our cnn senior washington correspondent Brianna Keeler joins us and dana bash. Great interview. My takeaway is Hillary Clinton made this mistake in not firing strider during the 2008 Campaign Days and by not firing him according to Patti Solis Doyle, that allowed him to harass other women years later. Thats right. Shielding him allowed him to go on and then head up what was essentially the Shadow Campaign for Hillary Clinton before she declared her candidacy. He was heading up correct the record, a super pac messaging operation. As a reporter for Hillary Clinton, if i needed information i would go to correct the record. I had a professional reporter source relationship as so many people did with Burns Strider. This is where you went. If you wanted to be a young staffer on the campaign this was perhaps the precursor. You might go to correct the record to try to get a job. He didnt get the job without at least there being a tacit blessing from Hillary Clinton. He was shielded. Then he was allowed into this other role where the behavior continued. I think it was the series of mistakes here. Keeping him on during the campaign. Allowing him then to go to correct the record. The final topper was a response from her where shes not admitting that there was a problem. At least with hindsight here its so clear mistakes were made. Right. Even this is an opportunity to use as a teachable moment. You dont see Hillary Clinton doing that. Its something even supporters of hers are wondering, you know, why . Jumping in on that. Also going back to the interview here where she says at the time when the allegations came forward during the 2008 campaign it sounded like Patti Solis Doyle was saying, you know, we were just a couple of months ahead of the caucuses in the primary. It would have been a distraction, dot, dot, dot. Right. She as the Campaign Manager whose job it was to shield the campaign from distractions also felt his behavior was egregious enough that it was a fireable offense. I really have to say we know patti as a cnn contributor. Yeah. It took a lot of guts to come out and say the things she said, particularly at the end of the interview clip you played about her saying that she was even disappointed realtime in the fact that Hillary Clinton hasnt said, you know what, it was the wrong call. When i say guts, its because its not easy to publically go up against somebody who you work so closely with. She admires her. Obviously patti feels vindicated. She also tried to give it was clear in giving bri the broader context of the Hillary Clinton she knew as somebody who let her bring her 3monthold baby into work and was aggressive about promoting women. At the end of the day she didnt protect women he allegedly harassed. Lets go to the grammys. There was a moment, speaking of Hillary Clinton, a funny haha moment depending which side of the aisle you are on from Hillary Clinton reading a snippet from the Michael Wolff fire and fury book which is riddled with inaccuracies and funnies depending on your side of the aisle. He had a longtime fear of being poisoned. One reason he liked to eat at mcdonalds. Nobody knew he was coming and the food was safely premade. Thats it. Weve got it. Thats the one. You ithink so . The grammy is in the bag . In the bag. What do you make of her saying yes to the sketch . There is a lot of bad blood between Hillary Clinton and donald trump. Supporters of hers will say, whats the big deal . Shes trolling him. But he trolls her all the time. Hes obsessed with her and talks about her. At the same time, yeah. Shes going for a reaction. He obviously watches these things, keeps an eye on her. Its a sensitive spot for him. She is trolling it. Nikki haley jumped in and said Hillary Clinton ruined the grammys, called the book trash and that music and politics should be separate. We did a segment on this in the last week where this book infers that nikki haley slept her way to the top with the president which is just asinine to get to where she is. Still, does she have a point, dana . She does. Her point should be taken more broadly. Big picture im a huge fan of the grammys. The grammys did a masterful job of bringing up political topics in a not subtle way but more policy oriented and artful way whether it was bono at the statue of liberty or Camilla Cabelo talking about d. R. E. A. M. Ers. This was so in your face political. I think they did well up to that point. It is not just political. The fact that Ambassador Nikki Haley was making is that its questionable how much of this stuff is true. And the fact that the author went on a tv show and said, what i wanted to put in there was x meaning the suggestion that the president and his u. N. Ambassador are having an affair and didnt do it puts the whole content and context of the book into question. Maybe they taped it a long time ago. It might have been a better idea to scrap it. The second part, i think, of the tweet shes making two points. She has issues with the book and she made it clear, nikki haley did. The other part is separating politics from music. Thats a ridiculous request when you think about it. Yeah. Think of the role paging bob dylan. Or beyonce. So many. Toby keith after 9 11. Right. Music and politics in many ways go hand in hand using it as an expression platform. Ladies, thank you very much. Good to see you. Coming up, President Trump taking aim at jayz after the rap mogul criticized his shole countries comment and trump bragging about the black Unemployment Rate in response. Its not about money at the end of the day. Money doesnt equate to happiness. It doesnt. Thats missing the whole point. Morning on the beach was so peaceful. Until. It. Wasnt. Dont let type 2 diabetes get between you and your heart. Because your risk of heart attack or stroke is up to four times greater. But there are steps you can take to lower your cardiovascular risk. Talk to your Health Care Provider today about diabetic heart disease. And find out more at heartoftype2. Com. Your heart and type 2 diabetes. Make the connection. They always refer to me as master sergeant. They really appreciate the military family, and it really shows. Weve got auto insurance, homeowners insurance. Had an accident with a vehicle, i actually called usaa before we called the police. Usaa was there handson very quick very prompt. I feel like were being handled as people that actually have a genuine need. Were the webber family and we are usaa members for life. Usaa, get your insurance quote today. President trump is challenging one of the woerlds biggest hiphop stars after rapper and businessman jay z sat down with Cnns Van Jones over the weekend tweeting somebody please inform jay z because of my policies, black unemployment has just been reported to be at the lowest rate ever recorded, he says in all caps. Jay z criticized the president on his appearance on the premiere of the van jones show. The president s boasting of black Unemployment Rates was precisely what was being discussed. Here they were. Its not about money at the end of the day. Money doesnt equate to happiness, it doesnt. Thats not missing the whole point. You treat people like human beings. And then, you know, thats the main point. You cant treat someone like it goes back to the whole thing, treat me really bad and pay me well. Its not going to lead to happiness, its going to lead to like, again, the same thing. Everyone is going to be sick. With me is cnn political commentator errol lewis. What did you make of jay zs response . Your point is exactly right. He specifically had just talked about, van jones had as he set up the question, saying the stock market is booming. If youve got a 401 k youre doing fine. Yet there is all of this antipathy in the black community to donald trump. What is that all about . Jay z was making a point i think most people can understand. If you want to argue by analogy, you cant have a spouse and verbally and even physically abuse that spouse and then turn around and say, hey, i bought you a pretty nice house, what are you complaining about . People wanting to be treated with respect. People dont want to have their countries referred to with obscenities. And the reflexive take whatever i give you, what the hell do you have to lose, it goes before the campaign trail when donald trump is asked about black america. His reflex is to find some way to be dismissive, to show some kind of disgust or disregard and say take whatever i give you. Right. The whole point under discussion there was thats really no way to lead the country. And even going back to just for the sake of facts, 2010 was when that rate began to improve. Unemployment for africanamericans. When you read your history books, you have private citizen trump really criticizing obama for those lower numbers. At one point when there was good news, he would say those are fake poll numbers. You remember . Listen, the president is doing something that many president s before him have done. Eisenhower did it, nixon, kennedy, johnson, you try to pump up the economy as you go into a reelection. Hes doing that. Hes throwing rocket fuel on this economy. The numbers are going to look great. A lot of people are going to get jobs. Hes doing part of his job. Thats fine. People that does not give him a pass on whether or not he uses disgusting racist obscenities to refer to entire countries and entire communities. Thats not going to work for him if he wants it to work. Now, if he wants to be divisive and if he wants to be a racial demagogue, fine, he continue doing what hes done ever since the birtherism controversy that he leaped into. This is my last question for you, the fact that you have jay z sitting in a studio with van jones talking about trump. Trump, ping, tweets about it in a critical way, in a way of boosting his own black unemployment numbers. You look at someone like eminem, white rapper, really took the president down in that video from the b. E. T. Awards and crickets. Whats up with that . It doesnt work. It doesnt work for the president politically. There are a lot of people who criticized obama. Trump was the one who went to birtherism. There are a lot of people who have problems with donald trump. Hes not going to respond to all of them. Hes going to pick a colin kaepernick. Hes going to pick a jay z. Hes going to pick a van jones. Hes going to go to where he thinks he can score some political points, turn around to his base and see, im with you, lets fire those other people. Lets insult their countries, lets insult their hopes and dreams. Lets disregard them and treat them with disgust. He seems to think thats going to work for him. Its really unfortunate. Hes not the first politician to play that kind of racialized politics. Unfortunately he may not be the last. Will it work for him . In the long run, who knows. Its an important question for everybody else. When you see the president doing things like that, are you also willing to say, hey, my 401 k is doing pretty well, the hell with it, or are you willing to take a higher road, which is hopefully what all of us will do. Yes, we will do. Thank you so much. Jay z was nominated for eight grammys last night. Came home emptyhanded after losing out to bruno mars and Kendrick Lamar in several categories. The rapper was honored with the grammy industry icon award saturday night and can add that to the Shelf Holding the 21 other grammys hes won over the years. Coming up here, more on the breaking news today. Deputy fbi director Andrew Mccabe stepping down immediately. What were learning about this surprise departure, next. How can you make your hair Even Stronger . Use pantene shampoo together with 3 minute miracle daily conditioner. Their prov formula is like a multivitamin. Making your hair 2x stronger see the difference when you add 3 minute miracle daily conditioner. Let office depot® officemax take care of you. This week all dell pcs are up to twenty five percent off save even more when you purchase a dell monitor. And make sure you protect your investment. Office depot® officemax. Officedepot. 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I wanti did my ancestrydna and where i came from. And i couldnt wait to get my pie chart. The most shocking result was that im 26 native american. I had no idea. Just to know this is what im made of, this is where my ancestors came from. And i absolutely want to know more about my native american heritage. Its opened up a whole new world for me. Discover the story only your dna can tell. Order your kit now at ancestrydna. Com. We continue on, youre watching cnn, im brooke baldwin. Thank you for being with me. The white house just responded to the major breaking news today involving the fbi. Andrew mccabe has already left the building. The fbis second in charge is stepping down effective today. Deputy director mccabe was expected to retire in just a couple weeks in midmarch in his 20plus years with the agency, mccabe was there for the clinton