After Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein today said this. Theres a kneejerk reaction that suggests that we should be transparent about what we do in government, but there are a lot of reasons not to be transparent about what we do in government. The man who has been in charge of the mueller investigation, Rod Rosenstein right there, making the case to not be transparent . Moments ago, the ranking democrat on the Senate Intelligence committee, mark warner, firing back on twitter. Quote, the mueller investigations records, particularly those concerning product by the president conduct by the president , are a matter of National Interests and must be made available to congress when the special counsel files his report. And warners comments coming after adam schiff, the democratic chairman of the house intelligence committee, called it a, quote, double standard for the Justice Department to not release the report, given the hundreds and thousands of pages theyve released in other investigations, just over the past two years. And as schiff and warner take on the doj, fighting for the Mueller Report to be released to the American Public, warner is also preparing to question the president s former fixer, Michael Cohen. Cohen is just hours away from the first of three days of testimony on capitol hill. Warners committee will kick off testimony that a source close to cohen has told the wall street journal will cause, quote, chills. Cohen, of course, the cooperating with mueller after being sentenced to three years in prison for crimes that according to federal prosecutors, were committed in coordination with and at the direction of donald trump. Shimon prokupecz is outfront live in washington to begin our coverage. Shimon, pretty interesting, you hear rosenstein making the case that perhaps transparency is not such a great thing. How much pressure is the doj going to face here . You obviously saw these immediate responses from schiff and warner. Theres going to be immense pressure on the department of justice. And what we could be seeing is much of what we saw from republicans, when they were trying to get information from the department of justice, into the trump investigation, into the russia investigation. So no doubt, theres going to be immense pressure. And i think people like adam schiff and mark warner are laying the ground work there. Theyre certainly hinting that theyre going to fight. They want all the information that the department of justice has, as it relates to this investigation. The problem is, though, that, you know, while it may come as a surprise to some that were hearing from Rod Rosenstein, no doubt that this was done today, with the intention, you know, i think, certainly, to prepare the American People that we may not see this report. We may not see everything that we certainly want to see. All right. Shimon, thank you very much. And it is sort of stunning, you know, i dont know as a citizen to say, my gosh, are we at this point that we say, we may not see it . I know its one thing to see it, but is it possible . Outfront now, laura coates, former assistant u. S. Attorney with the Southern District of new york, harry sandig, and our chief correspondent, dana bash. Really, harry, we may not see it . Thats one thing to say, its another to actually say that after one year and eight or nine months, we might not see it . Its hard to believe that we wouldnt see anything. But i think what the Deputy Attorney general said today, what it really relates to is there are doj policies, there are federal laws involving grand jury secrecy, involving classified information. And these are good reasons why sometimes things are not made completely transparent by the department of justice. Its still hard for me to believe that there wont be some public version, some public rendition or even some private rendition made available to members of congress, who, after all, have a duty to consider the possibility of impeachment or removal, if they if doj concludes that there were crimes committed. Right. And i guess, laura, thats the thing, if there were crimes committed or anything involving the president , you say, im not going to put that out there yet because we dont want to indict a sitting president , but then you give some of that to congress and theyre going to move ahead on impeachment and not be able to give a reason why. All of this doesnt seem to add up. This is all the comey caveat that rosenstein was talking about. The idea that you do not want to present the American People information that you do not youre not able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. We didnt like the idea of comey coming in and usurping the role of the department of justices office saying, theres all of this out there, not enough to prosecute, but theres all of this out there. That tar and feathering did not satisfy people then and it should not now. Having said that, the idea for transparency is different when it comes to the president of the United States versus other people. The doj policy says, you cannot indict a sitting president. If there is reason to believe in the report that there is enough information to indict the president , well, then, trr transparency is a must, because the criminal process is not available, but the political one would be. And who is it . The government for, of, and by the people, congress. The transparency i buy with respect to the regular old american citizens is not enough proof. The president of the United States, a very different role by design. I mean, dana, it is pretty incredible, though, to say you could be at a point, if something happens, you would put it in there for everyone to see, because you couldnt indict. Its a shocking situation to imagine you could be in. Right. And it makes sense on its face for rosenstein to make an argument that he tells people, prosecutors in his office, and hes done this his whole career, when youre in a court of law, when youre dealing with the potential of criminal charges, you need to be able to back it up. But as laura said, this is really, really different. This is a question of what and if the president and his people did that may not reach the point of criminal charges, but could be incredibly alarming to members of congress and to the American People. So i think theres transparency and then theres transparency, if that makes sense. Theres not wanting to get ahead of regulations, but then theres the political reality of where the department of justice and more importantly, members of congress and the public are, after all of this time and all of this money spent on this investigation. I mean, so you could be at a point, it sounds like, from what danas saying, youre very close, but not there. Who knows what you are, but you could conceivably be at a point where youre close to a criminal act, or maybe at a point where a lot of people felt you are, but they couldnt prove beyond a reasonable doubt and youll go ahead and plop that into the political realm . I think thats right. And thats in part, as has been said tonight and by others, that impeachment is not just the matter of sort of a special kind of indictment for the president. You could be impeached without ever having committed a crime. If the overall lay of the land suggests that this person shouldnt be president , because of things theyve done, even if it isnt a crime in the title 18 of the u. S. Code, impeachment is still possible. And thats why it really is important that at least some version of the investigative findings be shared with congress. Laura, do you think at this point that impeachment proceedings are inevitable, when you look at the house . That theyre going to go down that path, pretty much regardless of whats in here, or not . I think they will seem to have some foundation to at least initiate the discussions around high crimes and misdemeanors. Remember, there are many parallels to what happened the last time, when there was actually nixon in office and an impeachment proceedings that was on the horizon, as well. Didnt quite get to the same level were talking about here, but the analogies are there. And the reason for that, erin, is really because youve got this foundational principle of the actual collusion probe was about whether or not somebody as a member of the campaign sought to try to influence the election. We already know, through roger stone, as an adviser, through Paul Manafort, there was that, we have Michael Cohen on the horizon, getting ready to testify about what the president may or may not have done or told him to do, with respect to Campaign Finance violations. The underlying theme is that there is somebody who is trying to influence the election and hijack it from the American People. If thats the underlying theme, there is more than enough reason to go forward with a discussion, at least. Now, the senate may be the overwhelming hurdle, but they cannot actually overcome. Right. And if i can just take a crack at the answer to that, i dont think it is a given that impeachment will be out there. I think a big part of the answer to that will be, whats in mueller, but also, what, if anything, drips out of other places in the Justice Department, here in new york, the Southern District of new york. What, if anything, the newly empowered democrats in the house find and unearth. Because, impeachment is inherently a political process. Its a decision based on a very vague, you know, letter of the law in the constitution, high crimes and misdemeanors. Its up to congress to interpret that. But you also are in a place where, on the one hand, nancy pelosi, the democratic leadership in the house, have so much pressure from the left to just do whatever, throw whatever throw the books at him as much as they can. But on the other hand, you have the reality that this president is going to face voters in november of 2020. So it could but to them to decide. And harry, also, as dana and laura talk about other things that are going to come out, you dont know how many other grand juries are impanelled. You dont know what else is out there. We dont know what we dont know. We do know Michael Cohen is going to go this week. And sources close to him say the testimony is going to cause chills. In front of the American People, hes going to talk about maybe not russia, but everything else, donald trump. What he knows about donald trump. His dirty deeds as Michael Cohen has called them. How significant could Michael Cohens testimony be to this . I think it could be very significant. This is someone whos very close to the president for many years, who has information according to the Southern District that the president directed him to take actions that amounted to a crime, that Michael Cohen has pled guilty to. And his credibility will very much be under the microscope. Hes a somewhat damaged witness. Hes already been convicted of lying to congress. And people are going to be scrutinizing his testimony carefully. How does hep answer questions from the democrats and the republicans . Does his tone change, does he get angry . Does he exaggerate and mind read for the president . Or does he just say what he saw, what he knew and does he have corroborating evidence . Which of course, prosecutors have said they have when it comes to Michael Cohen. Theyve basically said, we know hes a liar. Everything they say he did at the direction of donald trump, they have other evidence for it, whether it be emails or what it is, audio files. Donald trump jr. Was trying to go at the credibility of cohen today. I want to play for you what he said, laura. Youve got a president trying to deal with, you know, a major world issue and to try to, you know, distract or whatever it is by bringing in a convicted felon and known liar . Its pretty pathetic, but it really shows you how much, you know, the democrats hate trump. Trying to make it political, laura, but going down that convicted felon route, i want to emphasize, they put in the Southern District, right, that they have other evidence to show that what cohen says about the direction, doing things at the direction of donald trump is true. And were going to hear more about that this week. Yes, we should. And of course, the idea this is a partisan policy, remember, the sdny is not some extension of congress. Theyre not political appointees in trying to make this all about trump. The underlying theme of all of this is whether the members of the Campaign Trump has it and donald trump jr. Seems to think its all about the president of the United States exclusively, but the actual collusion mandate was regarding people who were a part of the campaign. So before going down the path about convicted felon, let me remind you about Paul Manafort who the president has lauded and said that he is someone to look at. The president and his son better not go down the path of being in glass houses, because people will throw stones and its going to shatter. Thank you all very much. And to remind anybody, no matter what comes out of the Mueller Report regarding the president , you have more than 30 entities or individuals charged, a hundred charges, people are going to jail, people are pleading guilty. Theres a lot thats come out of this. And next, live pictures of the red carpet they have rolled out a red carpet for jeong jeong, literally, and he is about to arrive in vietnam for his second summit with President Trump. But is the president really going to take on a person he has said this about . He wrote he beautiful letters and theyre great letters. We fell in love. Plus, as the house prepares to vote on a resolution that would block President Trumps Emergency Declaration, trump has a warning for republicans tonight. And the president calling spike lees acceptance speech, which doesnt mention the president , a racist hit. Why . Okay, max. Time to help mrs. Tyler reach her health goals im in but first. Shelfie the greattasting nutrition of ensure. With up to 30 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals ensure. For strength and energy. Ensure. Uh, well, this will be the kitchen. And wed like to put a fire pit out there, and a dock with a boat, maybe. Why havent you started building . Well, tylers off to college. And moms getting older. And eventually we would like to retire. Yeah, its a lot. But Td Ameritrade can help you build a plan for today and tomorrow. Great. Can you help us pour the foundation too . I think you want a house near the lake, not in it. Come with a goal. Leave with a plan. Td ameritrade. 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It has been eight months since their first meeting. And according to u. S. Intelligence, kim is as committed as ever to his nuclear arsenal, but that reality has not stopped President Trump from his alternate reality. My relationship with congress co kim jongun is a good one. I got along great with chairman kim. I got along great. A man i have gotten to know and like and then we fell in love, okay . No, really. He wrote me beautiful letters and theyre great letters. We fell info love. He sure must be in love to declare, as trump has, there is no longer a Nuclear Threat from north korea, because that is the opposite, the complete opposite of what his own secretary of state, mike pompeo, just told cnn. Do you think north Korea Remains a Nuclear Threat . Yes. But the president said he doesnt . Thats not what he said. He tweeted, there is no longer a Nuclear Threat from north korea. He did. He did tweet it. So it is right there, right . Black and white. No longer a Nuclear Threat. But heres the truth, okay . No matter what mike pompeo tries to do in terms of his verbal acrobatics, the president has never been on the same page as his own intelligence chiefs, despite praising north koreas decision to publicly destroy at least three nuclear tunnels in front of cameras around the globe. Remember that . That was public. But then trumps own intelligence officials have been saying that north korea has not fundamentally stopped its nuclear program. In fact, here is trumps director of national intelligence, dan coats, just days ago. Weapon currently assess that north korea will seek to retain its wmd capabilities and is unlikely to completely give up its Nuclear Weapons and production capabilities, because its leaders ultimately view Nuclear Weapons as critical to regime survival. One of those leaders, of course, is kim. Outfront now, gordon chang, author of Nuclear Showdown north korea takes on the world so, trump tweeted what he tweeted, he says what he says, but the people in charge are trying to tell another narrative. I think whats going on here, erin, is that trump is trying to entice kim into good behavior. You know, trump was very clear about this. At the g7, which proceeded by a few days the summit, he said, im giving the guy, kim, a onetime shot to do the right thing. So i think trumps trying to create this environment thats so favorable that kim will feel that he can secure enough to give up his weapons. Everyone has tried to entice the North Koreans. The russians, the chinese, the south koreans, every attempt has failed. You can get the North Koreans to do what you want, but youve got to club them over the head. And thats not what happened here. We laugh, hes this brutal person, its ridiculous to laugh at it, but it seems on some level to be ridiculous. Mike pompeo and jake tapper, i thought that exchange was pretty interesting, right . It is what it is. Pretty it is what it is. Pretty stunning. I mean, theyre in direct conflict about their assessment of north korea. And the secretary of state and the president are usually on the same page when you go into a big summit like this, fwhobut not o this occasion. Listen, i think all of us would like the president to make advances on reducing the north korean threat. You know, i think were pleased. We ought to be pleased about the fact that theyre not testing at the moment. But thats nowhere close to denuclearization, which is the heart and soul of all of this. And to think that how in the world can the president say hes fall en in love with a guy who orders assassinations, you know, runs the concentration camps, has forced labor. And by the way, as his own aides were telling him, is mentally deranged . How can you fall in love and expect to make serious progress . We need something you know, weve got in coates and in pompeo hardheaded realists on this. And we have a president who thinks that at his first summit, produced as he told his aides, you know, he produced gold in the television ratings. Presumably, hopefully, this will be a more serious conversation. I mean, gordon, the president , what i find sort of shocking about all of this, right, is that he thinks he knows more than his intelligence chiefs, right . When anything he knows is a subset of what they know, right . What they are telling him. So just kind of saying, well, i dont care what you guys say. I had an eyetoeye, heart were in love, its great. Yeah, well, first of all, kim is in a regime, it is a oneman regime, but if kim were to decide, despite everything, to actually sort of do what trump wants to do, there are so many people who would kill him, because they depend, their livelihood, on kim maintaining the regime that his father and his grandfather said. As you said, regime, not just a single person. Kim and others in the regime. So even though you might build this personal connection with kim, it really doesnt matter for so many different reasons. And weve got to understand that. Otherwise, you know, were going to try to build a relationship, which is completely irrelevant. I mean, so, david, what does the president do here . I mean, what the pomp and circumstance of this, like, hes not getting the coverage he got last time around. Sure not. You can only go to the well so many times on issues like this. And thats why i think its very, very important that the administration pull itself together and have a message that all of them believe in, and not one where were very confused about what they really believe. And the North Koreans, you know, think that you inevitably weaken yourself going into negotiations and coming out of negotiations, if youre sixes and sevens on your own team. Right. Thank you both very much. Crucial 48 hours. And next, President Trump warning republicans, going against his own party, said, do not vote against his Emergency Declaration. Tomorrow, they will make their big choice. Im going to ask republican congressman mike turner how hell vote. And President Trump take on director spike lee, claiming his acceptance speech was a, quote, racist hit. You wouldnt accept an incomplete job from any one else. Why accept it from your allergy pills . Flonase sensimist relieves all your worst symptoms, including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. And all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. Flonase sensimist. You can barely feel. Ron soh really . Going on at schwab. Thank you clients . Well jd power did just rank them highest in Investor Satisfaction with full Service Brokerage firms. Again. And online equity trades are only 4. 95. I mean you cant have low cost and be full service. Its impossible. Its like having your cake and eating it too. 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Senator thom tillis writing in an oped tonight that while he agrees with trumps vision for border security, quote, his National Emergency declaration was not the right answer. Now, this is after trump has warned republicans not to vote in favor of a resolution of disapproval. That vote is tomorrow. And by the way, its going to pass in the house. They are going to go against the president. The question is, what will happen to the senate. And the president took that on, as he was getting onboard to go to hanoi, tweeting, quote, i hope our great republican senators dont get led down the path of weak and ineffective border security. Without strong borders, we dont have a country and the voters are on board with us. Dont fall into the trap. S clearly, this was on the president s mind as he boarded that plane. This is going to be a big vote for him tomorrow. Thats right. It is a big vote for President Trump, as he heads to vietnam for the north korean summit. He is clearly focused on this house vote tomorrow, rebuking his National Security declaration for border wall funding. White house officials expect this resolution to pass the house easily, noting the only thing trumps team can do is try to keep the bills margin of victory being embarrassingly large, according to a white house aide weve been speaking with. In the senate, the path forward for this resolution is less clear. And that is why President Trump, as you heread there in that twe, is warning gop senators from wavering. A lot of senators have come out against the National Security declaration, but they have not said how they will vote, unlike senator thiillis. The bottom line, its more about optics concerns here at the white house, because the white house believes it does have the Veto Authority and that theres not enough votes in congress to override it. I spoke to one white house official this evening, erin, who said, look, this is all for show, but that doesnt mean that theyre not paying close attention to the votes tomorrow. All right. Erin . Pamela, thank you very much. And i want to go now straight to the republican congressman, mike turner, who, by the way is on both the intelligence and armed as much ass committee. So all of these coming right in the center of your jurisdiction. Senator, you werent in favor of the president using an Emergency Declaration to build his wall, right . You have said it will set a dangerous precedent. How are you going to vote tomorrow . Well, weve been asked to vote to disapprove. And all nancy pelosi has offered so far on the disapproval side is her statement that building a wall is amoral. What i have said, erin, which you have characterized correctly is im very concerned about this as a precedent. However, we do have a circumstance where we do need to take action on the border. What i dont want to see is the president cannibalizing funds for our National Security to address the issue on the border. Now, i just spoke to congressman Adam Kinzinger who just came back from his Air National Guard deployment on the border. On the border. Yes. He was there personally. He said he saw obvious drug trafficking, human trafficking. He believes its a National Security. You mentioned im on the Armed Services committee. We had senator rood testify before our committee and said that there are portions of the border where people are crossing unimpeded. And we had admiral gilday who said that every day, people are being able to cross the border and then troops that are down there are not in sufficient number to be able to stop them so are you going to vote to rebuke the president for his Emergency Declaration or no, i will not be supporting Nancy Pelosis measure tomorrow. What nancy pelosi needs to do, and this would be what i think the country wants, is to sit down with the president of the United States and negotiate a package to appropriately fund closing the border. The problem is that shes created such a box for herself, where she claims that closing the border would be amoral, that shes having trouble coming to the table. So the president s taking action. Hes now going to have to go to court to prove that this is a National Security. But we cant take her statement of it just being amoral as a statement of disproving its a National Security. But in other words, youre essentially coke okokay with hi it. You say you arent, but you arent voting with her to go the other way. I am not joining nancy pelosi for a plan of open border. I believe that as speaker, she should be coming to the table, which is what the American Public want and negotiating a solution to close this border. The president will now have to go to court to establish that this is a National Security. But i believe this is a dangerous precedent and i believe that we should not be cannibalizing our National Security dollars for this. I think congress so to be clear, you dont want to this National Emergency. I want them to sit down and get this border closed. Thats not going to happen. So nancy pelosi has created this false choice of a National Emergency or this amoral closing of the border. And the American Public overwhelmingly want the border closed. Its part of our National Sovereignty and its something that we need to do. Well, the American Public dont want a wall. If you ask the Republican Party if you ask them if they want a barrier, theyll say yes. The wall has been politicized. But certainly, the American Public dont believe that closing the border is amoral. And thats the gridlock were in here, where nancy pelosi said its immoral, the president s declaring a National Emergency, the president s going to court, nancy pelosi is going to the house floor. I will not support an open border and i will not support so you think thom tillis is making the wrong decision . Hes being very clear, he does agree with President Trumps vision for border security, but he says the Emergency Declaration is not the answer and hes going to, you know, vote to disapprove on the senate side . Thats his own personal choice. And my personal choice is that the resolution as written by nancy pelosi is asking this congress to declare that the National Emergency is over. Theres no National Emergency. And im certainly not going to do that. I think absolutely that the president and nancy pelosi because we really are down to these two people, need to sit down and negotiate this and fund closing the border, which is overwhelmingly what the American Public want. Since you are on the intelligence and Armed Services committee, i want to ask you about some big news that happened today. Some people may not be aware, this is very big news out of iran, which the president has made central to his foreign policy, the foreign minister there, javad zarif went to instagram and resigned on instagram. You see the message there. It was rather strange, to be honest with you. I sincerely apologize for the incapacities to continue serving in all the shortcomings during the service. Do you have any idea whats going on here . I do not. And its certainly troubling, because he has been a champion of Going Forward in negotiations. Certainly and ive made public statements before, iran has been seemingly complying with the deal. What needs to happen now is our allies need to join with us in working with iran to negotiate the terms of the deal. You know, deal is flawed. There are three problems with the deal. One, its limited in time and it should be in perpetuity. And two, there are limitations on the inspection regime. And theres no limitation on missiles. And you know, you certainly dont need an icbm for conventional weapons, its only part of weapons of mass destruction. This is a troubling development, because we dont know who we will be negotiating, but i think hopefully this will give our allies some renewed impetus to join with us on this. Well, certainly, javad zarif is a fluent english speaker, knows this well, talks to journalists. It will be a very big change, at the very least. Thank you so much, congressman. Thank you. And next, director spike lee using his acceptance speech at the oscars to say voters must make the moral choice between love versus hate and trump firing back today. Plus, democratic voters fired up for the campaign. Why . A little bit of ptsd, sort of, about what happened in 2016. And a lot of are afraid its going to happen again. We treat soup differently. 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But the person hes talking about tweeted in response, quote, be nice if spike lee could read his notes or better yet not have to use notes at all when doing a racist hit on your president who has done more for africanamericans, criminal Justice Reform, lowest unemployment numbers in history, tax cuts, more than almost any other president. Joining me now, angela rye. So the president has come out with his list of things he says hes done, but the key words were racist hit, to describe what he said spike lee did. What do you say . Well, i think that the president maybe needs to take a class or just read a dictionary on what racism actually is. A basic definition would indicate theres nothing racist. I think spike lee didnt even mention race except for the fact that its now been 400 years since the first inslaenslaved an came to the shores of this country. Maybe he was offended that, because maybe he thought thats when america was at its greatest point, when the first slave got here. It sure seems that way, especially when hes taking credit for things he hasnt done, specifically the africanamerican unemployment rate. He should really thank president obama, but it would be hard for him to do that, since hes still questioning his citizenship, which is really the racist thing to do. I mean, so, mia, heres the thing. He lists off his accomplishments, right . Criminal Justice Reform, lowest unemployment numbers in history for black americans, okay. But, when i said he didnt use his name, of course, he was talking about trump, but it seemed that he was trying to be bigger than that, basically making it a republican democrat thing. Right, republicans, anybody who would vote for trump, anybody is a republican, is a racist. Does that go too far . First of all, lets just say, the first half of that speech or the first three quarters of that speech was really beautiful. He talked about he just honored his Family Members that got him through school and talked about the people that have worked hard to get us to where we are. And i think its really interesting that the president would actually say, hey, by the way, youre attacking your president and i think he should have just left it alone. People are entitled to their opinions. Theyre entitled to say whatever they want to. I think the other issue, also, i actually agree with angela on the fact that he really cant take credit for all of the things that weve that congress has done. Lets talk about criminal Justice Reform. Ive worked on criminal Justice Reform with bobby scott and simpson brenner from four years ago. This is way before the president had anything to do with criminal Justice Reform. Those are even tax reform. I bet you paul ryan knows more about the tax code than the president does, because weve worked so hard that is a safe assumption. It is a safe assumption. So i think that one of the things, one of the problems that the president has is one, he takes a lot of credit for instead of being a team player and saying, hey, i helped make this happen, he takes all of the credit for the good things that happen. Lets just put it this way. I think its important for us to empower black americans, to say, we are not going to allow the president to tell us how to behave. History is going to write about what we do and the things that we do to make this country a better place to be. Ive certainly take that stance. Im not going to run away from my president because i disagree with what the president is doing. As a matter of fact, im going to hold him accountable to the republican platform and the principles that we believe in. That means calling him out when he says things that are stupid and policies that arent american. I mean, you know, angela, in the epilogue to his movie blackkklansman, lee does explicitly connect trump to the events in charlottesville in virginia in 2017. Let me just play the clip quickl quickly. You had a group on one side that was bad and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent. [ chanting nazis, go home ] not all of those people were neonazis, believe me. Not all of those people were white supremacists. You also had people that were very fine people. All right, angela, putting aside if its even possible of the absurdity that not all of those people were neonazi, when thats what they were doing and the principles that they were espousing, the good people on both sides, do you think thats why trump responded to spike loo lee last night because of film, or do you think he even knew that was in there . I doubt that he knew that was in there. I think this president is so fragile, his ego is so fragile is all he heard was someone who wanted a worthy competition in 2020 and that was sufficient. He happened to be a black person talking about what he wanted in an election, and that alone again is how trump defines racism. So i would challenge him to take a moment to define what racism really is. The president , as we all know, is wrong, is errant in what he said about charlottesville. It is troubling and for spike lee to produce a movie that really has a face race and a dress race, that in and of itself is not racist. For all the trump trolls on twitter, that is not what makes you racist, to talk about race, to deal with racial tensions in this country and the divisions that exist do not make us racist. It means we want to deal with it. Mia, why do you think the president responded . I dont know if he knows when to respond and when not to respond. And i think that he does take things very splernl. I cant tell you how many timesive had times i ive had to stay away from facebook, because not everyones going to agree with you. Its okay i think as a president , you have to understand, you are the president of the United States. And you have to use every opportunity you can to unite people, to unite americans and to say, look, if theres something that is harmful, i want to try and fix that. The other thing im going to say is that racism didnt start with the president. Its not going to end with the president. And i think that its incredibly important for all of us i cannot handle if somebody comes does something or commits some sort of racist act or says something and they say, well, the president made he do it. Its okay to do it. Because its the president. And its not by the way, racism has no party line, either. You dont have to look any further than the virginia governor. So if were going to have a conversation about racism, we need to talk about us, we need to start with number one. And we need to stand up and say, i am going to be a beacon of hope. I am not going to become the thing that im trying to fight, which is anger and hatred in this country. Im going to stand as an example of just being a light in this country, an example of how we should behave and love and care for one another. Thank you both very much. For the conversation. Thank you. Next, standing room only, lines out the door, and we are a year away, what, 50 weeks, 49 weeks away from the iowa caucuses. What is going on . Plus, we are Just Moments Away from a crucial town hall for brrnernie sanders, as his Campaign Already announced hes raised 10 million in a week or so, 12,000 of those donors are registered republicans . Who are they . With the most lobss of year like lobster lovers dream with butterpoached, creamy and roasted lobster. Or new crispy, coconutty lobster in paradise. 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Tell your doctor about your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, and medications including botulinum toxins as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. So, give that just saw a puppy look and whatever that look is. Look like you with fewer lines. Own your look with the one and only botox® cosmetic. Just in, a spokesperson for the Bernie SandersCampaign Says sanders has raised nearly 10 million from about 360,000 donors since he announced his candidacy nearly one week ago. So youve got less than a week, youve got 10 zarif. A 12,000 of them at least were registered republicans. Were going to talk about that in a moment. Right now, we are Just Moments Away from what you see on your screen, a special cnn town hall with sanders. This is a live picture of the event which will be in washington. A lot of enthusiasm. Voters will be asking questions next hour but sanders is not the only candidate drawing huge crowds. Reporter we are going to bettendorf to hear kamala harris. An hour trek for megan foster and her family, an iowa democrat sensing a shift for 2020. There is Something Different in the energy this time around. Senator kamala harris. Reporter you can see it in the crowds, in south carolina, democrats packed town halls for harris. They climbed closed bleachers for a view and filled the second floor balconies. Braving blistering cold, indiow lined up for harris north of des moines and in New Hampshire, her town hall was so full, the fire marshal closed the doors. But its not just harris. Its been happening at elizabeth warrens Campaign Stops for weeks. And Kirsten Gillibrand perched here on a restaurant booth as she spoke to an overflow crowd in iowa. Cory booker has jammed his house parties from New Hampshire to iowa. And who can forget Amy Klobuchars determined followers standing fur hours, braving minnesotas winter. Regardless of the candidate, its standing room only. Oh, yes. Reporter why is that . I think that there is just a lot of excitement and curiosity about these different candidates. I think that a lot of people do realize that we absolutely have to get this right. Reporter of course, crowds could be just that, a crowd. And not a sign of things to come. But democrats in ames, iowa, believe this does mean something and have a theory about whats driving them why is this room so packed . Why is every room packed that i go to . Trump. We want to get rid of trump. Im nervous, i mean, im obviously nervous, a little bit of ptsd sort of about what happened in 2016, and i think a lot of us are afraid its going to happen again. Im excited. This is great. I really cant wait. Shes one of my favorite candidates. Reporter a common purpose, an early unifier in this crowd. Whats happening as far as people being so drawn to you and some of your other democratic contenders, whats happening . I think whats happening is that the American Public has rightly embraced the fact that their government and its future is in their hands. I think were all very motivated, you know, it is very real to a lot of people, so, yeah, i definitely think that were all feeling this on a very personal level. Reporter foster is like a lot of democrats i have met many iowa. Personally meeting multiple candidates this cycle, driving hours across the state and democrats ive met here in iowa, south carolina, New Hampshire, do say because of so many candidates, they simply havent made up their minds yet. Theres a lot of time still, erin and one other thing, they also dont have great answers on because of the number of candidates theyre seeing if its going to lead to a splintering of the democratic base. Erin. Thank you very much, and i want to go straight now to rick santorum, republican senator from pennsylvania, and a former president ial candidate, john walsh, a correspondent, and mark preston, our senior political analyst. Joan, okay. Voters engaged this early, and i think it was one of those shots that kyeong had, you saw the in and out, the number of people. What does that say to you . That people are excited about this field. Its a very diverse field. Its a huge field and that they are desperate about getting rid of donald trump. I think you do see, i thought that was a really well produced piece because you hear the anxiety the people have. Its great to have these candidates but we dont want infighting, we dont want a rerun of 2016, where, you know, the wounds of the primary never really healed. People want it to be a boisterous, exciting, packed primary with lots of good ideas but not a lot of drawing blood. Rick, who are the 12,000 republicans writing checks to Bernie Sanders . Either theyre people from vermont, potentially, or there are folks that, you know, are there are republicans who are disenchanted with donald trump and are looking for alternatives. Th thats a realistic thing. But the piece that you just read, its really exciting. I can tell you, i never got crowds like that in iowa, and i won the iowa caucus in 2012. I mean, those are amazing crowds for this early in a caucus, and i think it does go to show that the base democratic voter out there is very very been hyped up, and donald trump has been vilified, he is public enemy number one, and they are coming out in droves, looking, not committing, i think theres very few commitments so far but there are a lot of folks looking and shopping right now. And when you say its interesting, your perspective having been there, the size of the crowds being so incredible, mark, one of the things, though, as rick said, public enemy number one to democrats is donald trump and heres what one of the voters said about that. Why is every room packed that i go to. Trump. We want to get rid of trump. Mark, is it anything to be worried about at this point that its all about him . And its not yet about being for someone else, its all about being against donald trump . Let me tie back to what senator santorum did. I was with him many times on the campaign trail where we had small kroulds acrowds and trave throughout iowa. He went to every county and talked about issues. The reason i say that, democrats have to show that they are fighters, they have to show they are willing to challenge traump and wont back down. At the same time, they cant allow donald trump to take them off message, to be the one whos driving the news narrative of the day. A tweet could take the whole democratic message off course for one day if not for a week, if not for a month, so i think that if youre a candidate right now, you have to go out and say you are willing osteo tato stan him but you want to talk about issues, nobody wants to hear how bad donald trump is over and over again. Thats not going to last. Its interesting, ricks take on republicans for bernie were people from vermont or people disenfranchised with donald trump. We have seen mischief like this before, where somebody might feel, republicans might feel that Bernie Sanders is the weakness candidate so they want to boy him, but, you know, hes got a whole lot more genuine democratic, independent, left wing supporters, so i mean. 360,000 they said, 12,000 republicans. Its still a lot of people, so, you know, i think that it represents a real ground swell, it represents an incredible asset. I think hes probably the front runner at this point, you know, i think hes got such a base, so much fundraising capacity, and, you know, he finished second last time around, so, you know, hes probably the person to beat. You know, i wonder, mark, what you think and maybe i should be asking this to joan given that she covers this as a female, but im going to ask it to you. You know, i remember going to Bernie Sanders events last time around and young women voters would say, you know what, i dont need to vote for hillary because theres been so many women president s in my life, who cares. Are they going to feel that way this time around . Are they willing to put forward a mid70s white guy . Let me go back, and ill just take a little bit of a way of what i just answered, they want a winner. I dont think they care if the person is 80 years old, 70 years old. Any kind of taboos we had on candidates. The taboos that we have had on candidates, erin, have entirely changed they just dont exist anymore. I think its interesting. I think there are a lot of women that want to vote for women. That might feel differently this time around. Not so cavalier. Right. We saw it was not easy to get our first woman president. We didnt do it. Now weve got five women to if i can from. We have two africanamericans, weve got a latino. Weve got an amazing diverse field. I think thats exciting to people. What does bernie need to do tonight . Look, i mean, bernie is a very defined candidate. I dont really think theres much Bernie Sanders can do. He set the agenda for the Democratic Party, and thats, i think, his biggest obstacle, hes well known, well defined. He is the vanguard of the Democratic Party heading to socialism, and i think hes going to have a very hard time closing the deal. I mean theres just too many other attractive younger versions of him that are more interesting. Thank you all very much. And thank you all for joining us. Cnns president ial town hall are Bernie Sanders begins right now. Good evening from washington, and welcome to a cnn democratic president ial town hall with senator Bernie Sanders of vermont. Im wolf blitzer. Senator sanders is back for a second run at the presidency. This time, hes promising to complete the Political Revolution he started back in 2016 and defeat President Trump. Our questioners in the audience are eager to begin. There are democrats and independents living here in the washington, d. C. Area. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome senator Bernie Sanders. [ applause ]