Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With John Berman And Poppy Harlow 20180221

All right, good morning, everyone, john berman here. Were following major breaking news stories this morning. The first ee advantage gellist billy graham passed away at the age of 99. More on that in just a moment. The president takes on his own attorney general again, asking why his Justice Department is not investigating the Obama Administration over russia meddling. Also happening now, Florida Shooting survivors rallying at the State Capitol for gun reform. Never again never again never again never again as they chant never again, dozens of their classmates are inside pushing lawmakers for tighter gun control laws. Tonight some of those students will join jake tapper for a live town hall on gun laws and school safety. Well start with cnns Diane L Gallagher who has been traveling with the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in tallahassee right now. Reporter john, they are inside meeting with lawmakers at this moment. Ive been texting with some students that i rode up with on the bus. So far so good they say. They feel they are experiencing positive dialogue and been confronting lawmakers on the vote yesterday not to take up discussion on the bill that would propose to ban assault weapons in the state of florida. They say they are getting good reasoning and this is why they came here. They wanted to show and express ideas but also wanted that twoway discussion so they could understand lawmakers and lawmakers could understand them. That is not to say they do not have a long list of very firm demands. They want some form of gun control at the state level enacted and they are moving onto the national level, they say. Its been one week since a shooter came into their school, massacred 17 of their classmates and their teachers and on this day they say they are using the memory of them and the students of their classmates still in the hospital to sort of light that fire underneath them. They stayed up last night, john, they wrote speeches and did talking points, a lot got an hour, two hours of sleep on a floor at the civic center here in tallahassee. Not too long from now theres going to be a bit of a rally in this area. Theres going to be students from fsu, High School Students and many of them were able to take the day off today as an excused ab sentensence they wan support the other students in leon county here. Were expecting young people to be here supporting them. Weve seen some of them this morning. The mayor of tallahassee will lead a march from sort of a fountain area in the middle to the steps of the capitol building, this is a community trying to show again, that they support these Stoneman Douglas students and what they are trying to do here. Diane gallagher in tallahassee, thanks so much. As you can see the students survivors rallying right now at the State Capitol trying to pressure lawmakers. Tonight florida politicians meet face to face with the survivors of town hall. Stand up, the students of Stoneman Douglas demand action. Cnns caylee hart tong. Reporter the students and survivors of Stoneman Douglas along with their parents and teachers and administrators will have the opportunity to confront elected officials even a spokesperson from the nra and begin a conversation that they hope will affect change. Among those on the stage youll see tonight, ted doich, the democratic representative for the district, that includes parkland and many students telling me hes been a tremendous resource to them. The states two senators bill nelson and marco rubio, who comes with a very bright spotlight on him because these students, teenagers have not been shy about calling him out for millions hes accepted from the nra. I wouldnt expect students to take it easy on him tonight with their questions and i dont think they will either on the nra National Spokeswoman who will be here as well. President trump as well as floridas governor rick scott were also extended invitations and both declined the opportunity to come here and speak with students or to appear via satellite. We expect tonight john to be a powerful and emotion allal even i have live pictures i want to show you which get to just this issue. These are live pictures, weve seen pictures from broward and Miamidade County of student walkouts, students have walked out of their high schools in both of these counties, i think to show solidarity with the students of Stoneman Douglas high school, to stand up and call for action, hundreds of students walking out of these high schools right now to demonstrate and have their voice heard. Were going to keep our eye on these demonstrations throughout the morning. Perhaps even as they grow. Look at that. As far as the eye can see there, students walking out of these high schools. This is from our affiliate wsvn, happening in miamidade and Broward County as well. We want to go back to tallahassee, joining me is rachel catangna a sophomore. You cant see the pictures im looking at right now but whats happening is that students in high schools from high schools across florida are walking out right now to show their solidarity with you. How does that make you feel . That makes me feel great. I mean, just knowing that not only my my friends but the whole entire state and really the whole world with us makes me feel so amazing and that just drives me more to know that things are going to change. Youve been in tallahassee since yesterday, meeting with lawmakers, do you feel youre making a difference . Oh, yes, definitely, for sure. We woke up early yesterday and spent all day meeting with legislators and everything and talking to them and really getting our point across that there needs to be change and to make america safer. What are you pushing them on specifically . I understand that youve been challenging lawmakers on ar15s, what questions have you been asking . Yes, well, see my thing is i dont theres a toy in america thats banned throughout america, i forgot what its called but banned because its a choking hazard for little children. I dont understand why thats banned but the ar15, literally been involved in every single mat shooting is not banned. I think weve been pushing on banning the ar15. Again, thats a tall order for some lawmakers. We just spoke to matt caldwell, a representative in the statehouse right there who says in his mind that would never happen, that should never happen. If it doesnt get as far as you want, do you feel there are other measures you can all agree on that would be at least somewhat satisfying to you . As long as theres somewhat of change, i dont want any more to die because of the firearm situation. As long as theres a change and people are genuinely safer, then i would be satisfied. How is this shooting changed you . How has it made you look at life differently, rachel . Okay, so this is a story ive been telling a lot. The day of the shooting i sat sit in lunch with my teachers classroom and i was sitting there studying for a test i had later in the day. I looked up and saw all of my friends having fun and drawing on the board and just having fun and being with each other. I was like, wow, i should be with them right now and having fun. And then instead im sitting here doing my test. I know tomorrow is never guaranteed. The next five minutes is never guaranteed. I would rather get straight fs in school and go live my life and be with my friends than get straight as and this is really taulgt me to eat the cake and buy the shoes and make the most of life. Tomorrow is never guaranteed. Its been a huge impact on me. As a parent i can tell you you should always eat the cake and always buy the shoes. I wouldnt stop studying all together. Wouldnt settle for straight fs. Im going to describe the pictures im seeing on my screen. I want you to know about them. Im looking at the sea of people from Broward County in florida, a sea of students who have walked out of their high schools and Holding Signs right now in part of a giant demonstration, again, supporting you, supporting your efforts in tallahassee right now. I guess my question to you, is one of the things weve heard from cynics, including reporters and people who covered School Shootings before, this moment wont last. You know, yes students are speaking out right now but will you be out there one month from now, two months from now, two years from now fighting this fight . Whats your message . Yeah, i mean, i know that for example my instagram feed, the day of the shooting was all douglas. It was all dedicated to douglas. And since then its faded away back to the traditional selfies and pictures of your friends and stuff. I definitely have seen it fade on the social media and stuff, but like everyone from douglas, were all saying, this is not going to fade, not this time. Were not letting this fade. A change will happen. Thats why we have a march i believe its the end of march and no matter how long it takes, something will happen. Were not going to let it fade. Rachel, what do you say to those people, those conspiracy theorists out there who say youre an actor or say youre being put up to this by liberal lawmakers. Is anyone forcing you to come on tv and talk right now . No, not at all. Im not getting paid for this. I want to come out here on behalf of my city and my town and just spread the message on behalf of those who cant. Im going to make sure that those 17 innocent people who had their lives taken from them did not die for no reason. No one is paying me to do this. Im not a crisis actor, not even sure those are real. No, they are not real. Rachel, i know you are real. I know what youve been through is much too real. And im deeply sorry youve had to go through this but i have to say i think the whole country is proud of the spirit youre all showing right now. Rachel, thanks so much for being with us. Again, i want to show tsh. Thank you so much. Thank you. I want to show viewers again these pictures. This is broward right here where hundreds maybe thousands have walked out. On the left hand side is miamidade from wplg right there, a number of students if the helicopter can find them also walked out of high schools, demonstrations across the state of florida and thoughts i think across the United States as these students speak up and speak out. Other news this morning, President Trump, taking a swipe, a new one at his own attorney general this morning asking why jeff session no s at the end is not investigating the Obama Administration for russian meddling . State with us. 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We have new reporting from the white house this morning, this after the president called out his own attorney general anew asking why the president s Justice Department is not investigating the obama white house. Heres new insight about whats going on in the president s head. Reporter thats right, the president is channelling the latest frustration over the russia investigation and this time hes focusing his ire on his attorney general Jeff Sessions once again after he tweeted this morning, if all of the russian meddling took place during the Obama Administration up until january 20th, why arent they the subject of the investigation and why didnt obama do something about the obama . Why arent democratic crimes under investigation . Ask Jeff Sessions. If you cover this white house, we saw this coming from a mile away. It was simply a matter of time before the president revoice his frustration. He hasnt said so publicly as of late because his attention has been focused elsewhere but he has been frustrated with Jeff Sessions and this all stems from sessions recusing himself from overseeing the russia investigation, something he did last march and something that has continued to antagonize the president in the recent months since then. Now with this flurry of headlines over the russia investigation and the indictment of those 13 russians on friday, it is something that has resurfaced. And were told as the president watched the Deputy Attorney general rod rosensteins press conference on friday, he voiced his anger at this once again and someone who spoke with the president said hell never get over sessions recusing himself. John . Jeff sessions, attorney general appointed, nominated by the president of the United States who serves at the president s discretion. Thanks so much. Joining me right now is u. S. Congressman castro from the state of texas. Hes on the Foreign Affairs Committee Also and Intelligence Committee. Congressman, thanks so much for being with us. If i can, your reaction to this latest statement from the president if all of this meddling happened during the Obama Administration, why isnt it the Obama Administration under investigation the president says. Your reaction. You see the president do this over and over again. He tries to distract from the attention being focused upon he and his campaign and his associated and does it by diverting attention to Hillary Clinton or barack obama or somebody else. The fact is that president obama ultimately kicked russians out of compounds in the United States and also personally confronted Vladimir Putin on the meddling. Now the president and administration basically said they made a decision. They didnt want to be seen as trying to place a finger on the scale so close to an election. That may not have been the best call but theres a logic and rationale for that. So this is just President Trump already having been in office over a year again trying to distract from getting to the truth about whether he or his associates colluded with the russians who interfered with the 2016 elections. Days after indictments of 13 russians for meddling in the u. S. Election for ultimately trying to help elect donald trump. You yourself have suggested that the battle against these Cyber Threats and information threats, you call it the new 9 11, Jeff Sessions Just Announced he wants a task force to look into this. That enough to allay your concerns . Its an important first step. Dont get me wrong, theres only one pearl harbor and only one tragedy of 9 11. But we have to make sure that the vulnerabilities that exist in our National Security protocols in this cyber age are not exploited. In my work on the Intelligence Committee and on Foreign Affairs, i have not seen an adequate response by this administration or really this congress in terms of protecting against that. So not only myself and not only liberal or democrats but also republicans and conservatives are very concerned that in the cyber age, many of basically just about everything that runs on a computer and everything thats networked is vulnerable to sabotage. You said its a good first step. Interesting that first step as you put it is taking place 14 months into the administration, two years after in some cases russia meddled in the election. I want to get you on the news on the day on guns. The president asking for measures from the atf to ban bump stocks and president wanting strict eer background checks, making it clear the president is open to the notion raising the minimum wage and 18 to 21. This may not be everything you want. Im sure its not everything you want. But are these positive steps could you support these measures . John, they are positive steps if the administration and the Republican Led Congress actually take those steps. In other words, if it becomes more than just talk and on so many issues, it really is just talk and nothing ever happens, just like daca and immigration. If they actually do something, then yes, its a positive step but i also think we do more than that. Often times for example, the issue of guns is pitted against the issue of Mental Health. I dont think we have to play those two things against each other. We should spend more money and dedicate more resources to Mental Health issues and also be able to say we ought to ban high capacity magazines for example, make sure we have universal background checks, ban bump stocks so you cant turn a semiautomatic weapon into a fully automatic weapon the way that las vegas shooter did. Theres a lot more work that needs to be done. Finally, the curious case of Jared Kushner, if we can right now, New York Times is reporting that Jared Kushner, Senior Adviser to the president pushing back on restrictions on security clearance that might be imposed by the chief of staff. The chief of staff says the new measures wont impact Jared Kushners ability to work for peace but cant both be true, can they . If hes coming back on access to classified materials, how could kushner lead middle east peace efforts . Thats the thing. Jared kushner, with no permanent security clearance and interim security clearance, has been able, had access to the nations and really the worlds top secrets. Theres even been reporting that perhaps Jared Kushner is reading the president s Daily Briefing to him, the most sensitive of information. He should not be in that position. Either he is able to qualify for a permanent clearance or hes not. And right now it looks like he cant so he shouldnt be in that job. Congressman, thanks so much for being with us. If you have access to a monitor ill put up pictures that i know youll be interested in. These are student walkouts all over the state of florida, the students leaving their buildings today walking in support of the students from the Stoneman Douglas high school. Those students in tallahassee today, rallying lawmakers for change. Well be right back. You might take something for your heart. Or joints. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brainhealth supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. Russia says it will not rule out retaliation against the u. S. If it imposes new sanctions over the 13 russians indicted for meddling in the u. S. Elections, meanwhile, a key part of the special counsel Robert Muellers timts is the fact that russian tr trolls duped americans during the election. Drew griffin reports. Reporter she may well be one of the unwitting americans Trump Supporters who helped the Russian Internet trolls infiltrate communities by spreading russianmade messages without knowing it. Lauren goldbarb who still runs the Team Trump Broward Facebook Page thinks thats all bs, right down to the timing of when Robert Mueller decided to release his indictments. I think its a coverup, thats my opinion, covering up the blunder on the shooting that was done at the high school. One group the russians operated under was called being patriotic, calling themselves an online community. They were actually Russian Internet trolls trying to direct unwitting americans to rally, antiHillary Clinton messages and even telling them what to print on the home made signs. According to the indictment, the russians under the online name being patriotic encouraged Trump Supporters to stage a flash mob on august 20th. And the Team Trump Broward group responded. Lauren goldfarb post the information on the Facebook Page they still runs, cochair of the Team Trump Broward was there holding a crooked hillary sign. Dolly wouldnt talk to cnn, her told us we are disgusting and not to talk to them and fake news, part of the cover. What part in this is a coverup . Are you saying thats not true . The russians . I dont care if they were involved or not, that to me is the least important thing. But they were involved with you. Did you guys know that . They werent involved with us, just make sure you report it correctly, that you know you guys were involved with being patriotic, right . Very patriotic. Being patriotic helped organize these activities that you posted on your own facebook account. Those were legitimate. Those were russians. They were not russians. I dont go with the russians. Come on, give that group was russian. I have nothing to do with the russians. Well apparently you did. No. Reporter even though the indictment says the russians organized the rally, ms. Goldfarb said she never communicated with any russians and no one at her events were anything about americans for trump. The russians pretending to be trump organizers also reached out to harry miller in Boynton Beach paying him to build a page. He did just that. Appearing at rally s and on friday, miller who now lives in pennsylvania tweeted, this is the cage the russians paid for. By phone he says he learned about his unwitting involvement from the fbi. Now believes it was russians who called him on the phone, paid him between 500 and 1,000 to build this cage. They had that beautiful website. They very supportive of the supportive of the candidate, theres there was nothing, nothing at all to lend you to think its anything other than people trying to support a candidate. Reporter the russians werent just recruiting unwitting Trump Supporters, as cnn reported last october, a Group Calling itself black fists turned out to be russians trying to infiltrate black communities and seed social unrest. Other groups were encouraged by Russian Internet trolls to hold protests against police, for and against immigrants, sometimes encouraging both at the same location to increase the possibility of violence. The indictment also reveals this post election protest outside new yorks trump tower was organized by russians on facebook. Grew so large even cnn covered it. Michael white, one of the original occupy wall street organizers says he believes he was contacted by russian trolls in may of 2016. He worries about the long term effects. If it is true that a russian created activist grew is indistinguishable from an american created activist group, that will have negative impacts on our ability to create social movements that are positive and benefit ourselves and not some sort of foreign power. People will always be wondering, is this a real event . I think that may have been part of the goal of the russian thing. For Lauren Goldfarb there is no russian thing, it is all as she repeatedly told us, bs. Bs and please report that. I dont believe that. Thats [ bleep ]. I know all of the people that were with me. Thefrp at my meetings and all Trump Supporters, okay . Uhhuh but did you realize that you guys were in communication electronically with russians . Not me. You were posting stuff on the facebook. Hillary clinton was and so was all her bandits. Mueller youre in charge of the facebook account, right, you were posting and reposting almost word for word the information that was coming out of this Internet Research agency no, goodbye. In st. Petersburg. You dont believe that . Nope. [ bleep ]. Thank you. Wow. Fascinating. Drew griffin reporting. All right, we have pictures from florida, new demonstrations across the state. This is a middle school from westin florida. Well be right back. Any chance of an upgrade . Any chance of an upgrade . Upgrade . Pretty please . Look into my eyes. Could be twins. Have you thought about being a model . Dont upgrade your seat. Upgrade your airline. Fly emirates. The best Economy Class in the world. Jen, ive got questions. Boots or flipflops . Boot great. Smokey or natural eye . Ugh, natural. Good choice. How about calling or texting . Definitely calling. Puppies or kitties . Sorry, cats. Dry eyes or artificial tears . Wait, thats a trick question. Because they can both get in your way. Thats why it is superimportant to chat with your eye doctor if youre using artificial tears a lot and your eyes still feel dry. Next question. Guys, its time for some eyelove these are from westin, from a middle school where students have walked out in solidarity with the students from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in tallahassee pushing lawmakers today for action on gun reform, this after 17 students and teachers were killed just one week ago in parkland florida. In the state weve seen pictures over the last hour of thousands of students walking out of their classrooms to protest and to use their voice to speak out in support of the students from Stoneman Douglas. Joining me now, cnn political analyst, and Washington Bureau chief for the daily beast, Jackie Kucinich and former Communications Adviser jason miller and democratic strategy jamal simmons, jason, you know a representative and aide to a Florida Republican was fired after suggesting that these students were seen by the thousands are paid actors, there have been others who suggest they are being put up to this by political activists. Whats your message to the people delivering this message . I think that was good that the action was taken to fire the staffer, thats certainly not the opinion or sentiment coming from the white house, where were seeing the president take swift and Decisive Action. Holding a listening session this afternoon to talk about how to prevent these types of tragedies in the future and also seeing the president issue notice to the department of justice to talk about bump stocks to see what we can do there as well to go if theres something that goes and converts a semiautomatic into a fully automatic weapon. These are common sense reforms and i think also to say that people who are saying that these students, these whether it be the middle schoolers you just showed or High Schoolers are somehow child actors, they should be asamed of themselves. That is not the sent. The president of the United States is sending out. These watched their friends get killed and burying them and calling for action. I dont know if you heard because youve been having audio issues, jason has said the president has taken swift and Decisive Actions on gone, a listening session and making a statement yesterday saying he opposes the sale of bump stocks. Are these positive measures, is this swift and Decisive Action . The president is talking about doing things but this is not the beginning of this problem. Im not sure how long ago vegas was when the bump stock issue happened and Steve Scalise shooting occurred in the first year of presidency. We havent seen donald trump do anything of importance or with speed in a Republican Controlled Congress that he ought to be able to move legislation through. We just havent seen him do it. Whats encouraging right now, youve got 16 and 17yearold young people on the streets, walking out the schools and i talked to my neegs in chicago yesterday. They are having moments of silence organized and this is something spreading out of florida and the last place i would want to be is a member of congress or politician going to a press conference or town hall and having young people having dieins in front of me while im trying to talk about some other issue and taking money from the nra. Were looking at pictures right now from florida where some of these students are walking out. There are 17 flowers up on the stage, jackie for the seven students and teachers who lost their lives in the School Shooting. Weve been talking to students marching on tallahassee meeting with lawmakers and they are adamant that theyll get the change. Weve also spoken to lawmakers there adamant that they will not give the students everything they are asking for. One republican lawmaker i spoke to said assault weapons any discussion about that, not even really open for debate, jackie. Thats i mean theres lots of reasons, i dont think its because of money from the nra. When it comes to when it comes to lawmakers here in d. C. And there in florida, its the people that are part of the nra. Its the constituents that dont necessarily want these measured these measures pushed forward. So thats what they are contending with. The question is, whats worth losing your seat for . Whats worth pushing for this . That is that is the question. And you know, we saw members of Congress Lose their seats after the 1994 assault weapons ban. Well see. It really is an open question because weve seen i dont mean to be cynical here but weve seen a lot of momentum towards change only to see it kind of people forget and move on and to see it peter out. John, the one thing we did see, the one thing we did see that happened in a previous generation is that when children got involved in birmingham back in the 1960s, that did turn parents in a very different direction on civil rights. John, to make one additional point go ahead, jason. I was going to say that as we talk about addressing this problem, yes, there are some direct things we can do with say regard to bump stocks but i think we have to look at the big picture here with Mental Health issues to make sure Law Enforcement are getting tips such as the fbi or even d. C. F that were following up on those tips to stop the tragedies from happening. The whole attitude of lets go and just try to confiscate an entire class of guns, i think has failed as we saw who has asked for con fis indication . Thats what many on the left are pushing for. I havent heard that at all. Its all over. Its all over. Take a look. The political left is completely up in arms and want to use this as an opportunity the assault weapon ban jason, you used the word hang on. You used the word confiscate, which you know is not true. That is exactly where the political left wants to take this, yes, it is. No, the assault weapon ban hang on. Hang on. Because there was certainly half of what you said there is 100 true. Mental Health Discussion is something people want to have right now, background checks is something people want to have and you are correct people are talking about assault weapons and a ban on assault weapons. No one that i have heard has gone further than the assault weapon ban that was in place for a decade that confiscated nothing from no one. It banned sales of weapons of a certain class that were modified in a certain way but i havener heard con fis indication discussed any anywhere hang on. On social media, all over. Thats the kind of language that inflames this debate. If we can, i want to change focus, theres other big news, the president of the United States deciding to talk about russia. He woke up during executive time the first thought was not to the death of billy graham or meetings hes having with students later today but the russia investigation. Jackie, criticizing his own Justice Department for not investigating the Obama Administration. Your thoughts . Its kinds of a rinse parepe, doesnt seem he can get russia out of his mind. Look, over the weekend he conflatted the School Shooting with the russia investigation, saying the fbi should do their jobs instead of looking into russia, im paraphrasing here and instead of looking into School Shootings it this is an obsession. He wants i think there was a thought that these indictments on friday would mean it was all done and over. Its not. This russia investigation is ongoing. Jamal, i want to give you the last record. I do push democrats on this. You think the Obama Administration, its fair game to criticize them for the reaction too russia and russian medaling during 2016, right . While the Obama Administration was trying to focus on rules and do things in ate way that would have the least political impact in the middle of the campaign, Mitch Mcconnell was not willing to put the country first. He instead wanted to play politics and now donald trump is trying to also play politics come on, obama and biden did nothing after the russians invaded crimea and nothing he didnt just criticize the Justice Department. And obama and biden did nothing. One at a time. You guys talking over each other doesnt happen. Another thing ten words or less, jason. Obama and biden did absolutely nothing. Trump will get it done. Well, okay. Obama told Vladimir Putin to stop meddling which is something we havent seen trump do. Nothing with crimea or russian meddling jason miller, jamal, Jackie Kucinich, we appreciate it. Billy graham has passed away. Well have much more on his life next. Life goes on, yes, life goes on. Ive always wanted to share a special moment with my mom. I think surprising her with a night ski trip would just be the biggest gift i could give her. Lets make that happen. Shes gonna be so excited. Take me where i want to be. Let me dream, oh, let me dream. 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Tripadvisor. The latest reviews. The lowest prices. Billy gr ham has passed away at the age of 99. A preacher to the masses and counselors to president s from harry truman to the present. President trump just wrote the great billy graham is dead. There is nobody like him. Hell be missed by christians and all religions, a very special man. Joining me now is randall balmer, chair of the department of religion at dartmouth. Thanks so much for being with us. Billy graham, a century, a remarkable century of life in a remarkable inflew ens, not just on American Religion and america in general. What was the unique role do you think in the last 100 years . Its hard to boil it down to a single thing. I think more than anything what he did was bring evangelicalism into the mainstream, that is to say, he grew up in a very narrow what woe could call fundamentalist home and foresake the narrow constructed fundamentalism of his childhood in favor of a broader evangelicalism and cooperated with other religious leaders and so forth. He was a very charismatic individual and the power of his care is ma made evangelicalism acceptable to Many Americans and throughout the world. Made his faith accessible to everybody, from every class and every race, just cultural. You look at pop culture, all the way from the guy from unbroken to Queen Elizabeth herself. He had an impact across society. He did. He was a remarkable man, extraordinary charisma, i remember i could feel he was there, he had that sort of magnetic personality. And he was able also to boil down the rudd ments of his faith in a way that was accessible to the masses. This is to say he understood how to speech in such a way he wasnt being con descending and he could communicate with average folks. And he had a relationship with every president since harry truman. Thats a remarkable statement. People should step back and think about that for a second. Thats true. The relationship with truman did not get off to a good start because graham was very young then and he didnt really understand white house protocol. And one of the great ironies is that the president to whom he was closest thee lodgeally, jimmy cart er, was a president with whom he probably had arguably the most distant relationship. One of the great ironies of american president ial politics over the last half century. And so incredibly close to Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon and billy graham had to answer for a lot of his relationship with nixon and he would own up to the difficulties he had as well. He did and mr. Graham really had a way of kind of plunging in to politics. He was drawn to politics like a moth to a flame. He just loved politics. In fact, many people encouraged him to run for office himself and he didnt do that. He was drawn to it. Randall balm eer, thanks for helping us understand that remarkable life. Images i want you to see, students walking out of class in florida in a push for gun control measure and breaking news on the president and his relationship with the attorney general. Stay with us. A little to the left. 1, 2, 3, push easy easy easy horn honking alright alright weve all got places to go weve all got places to go Washington Crossing the delaware turnpike . Surprising. Whats not surprising . How much money sean saved by switching to geico. Big man with a horn. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. Booking a flight doesnt have to be expensive. Just go to priceline. Its the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40 . Just tap and go. 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