Suggestion. Pot should be cleaned up. Regulated. Healthy. Let me be clear, of course, no woman should be forced into this line of work and anyone intending to make them indentured servants should be prosecuted by the full extent of the law. Not a guy that lost his wife in 2011. As it is, i tweeted, it represents the largest waste of resources since Jussie Smollett. Now, about that case, i was in chicago on thursday, after empire actor smollett was charged with a felony for filing a Police Report against an alleged hate crime against him. That was the lead story, page 1 above the fold of the chicago tribune, which was bad timing for usa today and the rest of us. That was the same die that paper published a lengthy investigative piece about an examination of 900 yearbooks across the country. This nationwide review involved 78 reporters across 25 states and reporters collected more than 200 examples of offensive or racist material from public universities in the south, Ivy League Schools in the northeast, liberal art itself, boutiques and division i powerhouses the analysis proved something i recently deposited here. Namely, there is nothing unique about virginia. When it comes to blackface. The editor of usa today herself needed to apologize when the 1988yearbook at Arizona State was revealed to show a photograph of two people at a Halloween Party in black makeup dressed as mike tyson and robin givens. It should have dominated the conversation on thursday, youd think the documentation of widespread racist images would be a time for national dialogue. But it wasnt. Because all of the oxygen was taken out of the room by Jussie Smolletts alleged hoax. Thats the damage he inflicted. If the Chicago Police are correct and he made it up, his victims are people of color and gays who are the real targets of hate crimes i crimes and he robbed us all of an opportunity for reflection like that which usa today sought to provide. Even to the detriment of it own editor. Joining me now entertainment tonight hose michelle turner. Michelle, Jussie Smollett, does he ever work in this town yet again . Wow, somebody asked me this question yesterday, i said it will be a tough road back for him. People come back from this, think mel gibson and Robert Downey jr. Junior, they have come back and res recked their careersch theyve had different scandals. This is so fresh, so new. Its such a charged environment right now and what he is alleged to have made up involves race, involves homophobia and those hot button topics, i think it will be extremely hard for him especially if he is convicted of this to come back and work in hollywood again, of course the general consensus is in hollywood the liberal town who embraces somebody, for somebody to make Something Like that up, they would become a pariah. If he did it. If hes convicted, the longer he avoids admission, contrition and seeking redemption the worse off he s. Maybe im naive. We do love a comeback story. Yes. Hes got every right if he didnt do it, of course, he should deny it. But we love a comeback story. I cant help but thinking if there were a quick admission and seeking of contrition, in the long term, people night be receptive to that . Yeah, im a believer in Second Chances as well. If full disclosure, i know jussie, im friends with him. Wolf blitzer asked ne other day, if he did it, if he apologized to you, would you forgive him . Of course. Because we all deserve Second Chances. Lest id be the one to say, no, no, no, when i needed to ask for forgiveness in my life. I think you are right, if there was a situation he said, okay, maybe i will admit to this, again, he is denying it all. He is doubling, tripling, quadrupleing down, maintaining his innocence, if there was a situation, he was contrite, did the works behind it, because he would, in, in fact, he did this and he would have a lot of work. A lot of repair work in so many different arenas to do. As things stand, he is denying the charges. Did the studio have an alternative . Some might argue that hes entitled to a presumption of innocence and they should have let him keep working. You know, i think they were up until yesterday, they were standing behind him vigorously. You saw several statements by the studios the writers at empire, the executive producers saying we believe in him. He is a part of our family. Once the spect cam at court happened, once he was charged and went back to work and had this really emotional you know time with the cast and crew, saying to them im sorry what you have been through still maintaining his innocence. I think everybody was split. Tant the executive producer said, this Work Environment right now is so divisive and so charged, we got to figure out the best way forward for the majority of us to get through this season. What do we do . Keep making this a tough spect cam for one person or do we say, all right, lets take the rest of everybody, do the best we can and deal with this later . I think you know thats what they did. But im interesting to see how this plays out, jamal lyons is the central characters of that show. Pulling him out, recreating the entire story line is going to be something to see how they figure this one out. Im not sure how they do it. Is there a road map for this . Im thinking rosanne, charlie sheen, kevin spacey. It doesnt seem to line one any one of those. Yeah, you know, it zvenlt ive heard a lot of people say, well, listen, rosanne got fired. Why shouldnt he get fired . I think thats a nuanced conversation people can have. I dont know. I really dont know. I mean, people in hollywood as well as myself, i cover this, are really just gob smacked by this, michael. Nobody understands what happened here, because the idea of what we thought Jussie Smollett was, ive never heard anyone until all of this say a bad word about him. He is widely known as the most generous, kind, funny, engaging guy in hollywood. An activist, mu six, actor. All of those things, come from a great family. Now this. So nobody know what is to do wit or where to put it. You know what im saying . Its odd. I know what you are saying. What i find offensive are those from political purposes from either side find flee in this situation. Heres one thing we should agree on. Whatever occurred, its sad. Its a sad story. I agree with you. I said, we are making this right and left. I think we need to talk about right up and wrong. Thats whats really, you know, and to be fair, if, in fact, this is true, i do believe that jussie thrust this political conversation into this by saying, they said this is maga country, that type of thing. Sure. That becomes political and people take sides right there. No doubt. I do think it has become a bit of a political football, this whole issue here. He has become the posterchild is for all things that the right looks at and blames and then you know Trump Supporters become all things the left look at and blame. It just didnt make this it doesnt fix it, you know what im saying . It doesnt fix it at all. It makes it worse and mucks it up even more. I will say this you mentioned something at the top, if, in fact, he did this, all he did was make it worse for you know young black, gay folks. Yep. And to a attorney e certain extent i agree, i also say, if you out there, if you go into a situation and say i dont believe you now because of Jussie Smollett, you didnt believetime people in the first place. Thats a copout. Its a coward way out and there is in no circumstance you can say Jussie Smollett said something or did something or lied, so, therefore, all you all lie. Michelle, thank you. I appreciate your commentary. What are your thoughts . Tweet me at smerconish or go to my facebook page. What do we have . Smerconish, of course you dont. Do you not see the real victim here. The women forced to perform sex acts on gross old men. You didnt listen to my commentary, put that camera back on me. I clearly said no woman should be forced into this line of employment and to the extent thats what went on here, then those who forced them into a life of indentured servitude should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Thats not a 77yearold guy robert kraft. Just saying. Up ahead, we learned that muellers report is coming out next week. Will there be everyday of collusion . Or will he be vindicated. And Bernie Sanders stumbles into the race, to face a question, does he have a white male problem. Plus, could this hoop stars disintegrating nike abolish rules for players making money. Ill explain. An unjection™. Its all about the big picture. With miguel, our certified financial planner™ professional, we looked at business insurance, our mortgage, even our plans to adopt. Its not about this fund or that fund its about us. Welcome to our complete freedom plan. Its all possible with a cfp professional. Find your certified financial planner™ professional at letsmakeaplan. Org. Brushing only reaches 25 of your mouth. Fied financial planner™ professional listerine® cleans virtually 100 . Helping to prevent gum disease and bad breath. Never settle for 25 . Always go for 100. Bring out the bold™. We learned last night special counsel Robert Muellers report is not coming out until next week, and Paul Manaforts case many thought were intriguing details were under seal. Whenever muellers report is delivered what will we actually see . He explained the decisions reached by the special counsel and it will be up to the newly appointed attorney general William William barr what happens to that . Will the president be vindicated . What is the possible political fallout. Joining me now is a constitutional law scholar and professor of law at george walk universit washington university. Allow me a long setup. If a collusion conspiracy case is figured to be made, youd figure roger stone would be factored in it. He was indicted for process crimes. You can say, the feds can charge successibly, now comes word mueller is finishing up. Doesnt the absence of additional indictments against stone suggests as the president would say no collusion . Well, it does. You have to call them as you see them. There is no evidence thus far of collusion between the Trump Campaign or President Trump and the russians and hacking these computer systems. Moreover, its really quite unlikely, right . If you were a kgb spymaster, would you really collude with donald trump and put yourself one tweet away from destruction, on perhaps the most secret operation in its recent history . The answer is no they wouldnt do that. Would you hold a hyper sensitive meeting at trump tower with half the media downstairs and not actually produce the evidence promised, instead, talk about adoptions . No the most obviously explanation is probably the right one. That there was not collusion in the hacking of the system. What appears to be the case is that stone wanted to get access to this information. Thats not illegal. Journalists, operatives, academics, all try to get their handson material like this, whether its whistle blowing or it came from one source or another. There is nothing illegal in that. I they so far were one collusion short of making that case. Okay. Ki only imagine the blowback that the two of us will get for delving into details. Its okay. I just want to follow the facts. How about this, so if youve got manafort and kilimnik at a cigar bar in new york city. Again, im looking at it from 40,000 felt and i say, if muellerer going to indict manafort for collusion, that would have happened by now and it hasnt. Whats fascinating, i wrote a column recently, mueller has done a better job finding ukrainian collusion than russian collusion. Whats astonishing is how many ukrainians were involved. Manafort was in the pocket of ukrainians. Its true, many were pro ruchlths there is a lot of different ukrainians and contracts to the ukraine floating around here. But there really still is not that critical piece of evidence that shows some collusion before the hacking. What is clear is that many people wanted to see these emails. So did a lot of journalists. So lets talk about the president for a moment, bill in his confirmation hearing i thought had an interesting exchange. Roll that tape. And the other thing is if you are not going to indict someone, you dont stand up there and unload negative information about the person. Thats not the way the department of justice does business. It sort of shows you what happens when you start disregarding the normal procedures and established practice is that you sort of dig yourself a deeper and deeper hole. Professor turly, hes talking about jim comey, not by name. Im not pulling a comey. Im not going to hammer hillary without indicting her. So apply that now to the current president. Yeah, for full disclosure, i testified after bill barr at that hearing in pfeiffer i favor of his confirmation. She also my former client. I represented a bunch of former attorneys general. But bill barr means it. The senators ask me, why wont he commit to releasing the whole report . I said, because thats unethic cal, you are asking him to do something he cant promise. Under federal law. He has to review the report and remove certain types of evidence. If he would have said yes, i would have opposed his confirmation. He didnt, he is an ethical lawyer. Bill barr, i have known him, he will take it to the bank, he will try to disclose as much as possible. Does that mean he will do a comey . No. He is a straight shooting prosecutor. Hes friends with mueller. You know, they are cut from the same bolt in that sense. So i think he will try to get as much out as possible. Under the law, it says he supplies a summary as to what was stated. Michael as you know, that will not satisfy anyone no matter how full that summary may be. The democrats in the house may then try to subpoena the whole report and or bring in mueller. Give me the 20second answer, what of the process there are 20 minute seals out there . I am not discounting mueller could have a sealed indictment and bring one down next week. There is a Strategic Value in holding them off to the very end. What is clear is that he is winding down on this report and we are going to have some answers, one way or the other southeastern than later. We should be giving out your email address, not mine. I appreciate it very much. Thanks, michael. Lets see what you are saying via my twitter and facebook pages, what do you have . Smerconish, i want this to be over, i am tired and getting old. I hope i can muster some optimism for the future before i die. I think you will get your wish. I have been saying it feels like were in the 11th hour, this time it really appears to be the case. Up ahead, senator sanders raises questions and money, where he stands on race and gender issues. The New York Times, Amy Klobuchar how she treats her staff. She ate a salad with a comb and then asked a staff tore clean it. Tmobile will do the math for you. Right now, when you join tmobile, you get two lines of unlimited with two of the latest phones included for just one hundred bucks a month. Has been excellent. They really appreciate the military family and it really shows. With all that usaa offers why go with anybody else . We know their rates are good, we know that theyre always going to take care of us. It was an instant savings and i should have changed a long time ago. It was funny because when we would call another insurance company, hey would say oh we cant beat usaa were the webber family. Were the tenneys were the hayles, and were usaa members for life. Get your usaa Auto Insurance quote today. Ensure max protein. To give you the protein you need with less of the sugar you dont. straining ill take that. cheers 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar. Ensure max protein. In two great flavors. I am aware of the intense interests concerning developments over the last few days. This has been a difficult time. Tonight at 9 00 Eastern Daylight Time the president of the United States will address the nation on radio and television you. All of you. How you live, what you love. Thats what inspired us to create americas most advanced internet. Internet that puts you in charge. That protects whats important. It handles everything, and reaches everywhere. This is beyond wifi, this is xfi. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Xfinity, the future of awesome. In his first 24 hours as a 2020 president ial candidate, senator Bernie Sanders raised 6 million from 225,000 donors, far outpacing others who jumped in the race. He immediately fought into hot water for his response when asked if he thought he best represented the current Democratic Party. We have got to look at candidates, you know, not by the color of their skin. Not by their Sexual Orientation or agenda. And not by their age. I think we have got to try to move us towards a nondiscriminatory society, which looks at people based on their abilities, based on what they stand for. You might not find that objectionable. But it received blowback by Democratic Women on twitter, like the president of the liberal think tank center for American Progress who said at a time when folks feel under attack who they are, saying race, gender or Sexual Orientation or identity doesnt matter is not off, its simply wrong. Son after, sanders was suddenly sing a different tune when asked what he looked for in a running mate. He said this. I think we would look for somebody who is maybe not of the same gender that i am and maybe somebody that might be a couple years younger than me. So apparently gender does matter. This interested me, sanders is one of two straight white men who has so far announced, whereas nearly all of those who havent yet decided are straight white men, derek holder, as pointed out in this piece in politico, how does a straight while mail democrat run for president . Answer, very carefully. Bill share is a contributor to real clear politics. Why does it seek like the white guys as a group are hesitant . Well, i think that democrats, in general, have a pretty big appetite for nominee that is going to be an advocate for fighting bigotry, for healing the country on racial and gender lines, and if you can embody that, that, you are partway there. I dont know that that means free white male versus no shot by any stretch, nor do i argue that if are you a woman of color you are getting a free ride. Sexism, racism, those candidate versus to put up with as well. For the candidates like bernie, there is an extra challenge to communicate how are you going to be the advocate, representative of a Democratic Party that sees itself as the party of civil rights. In your piece for politico, you drew on Ron Brownstein and his analysis, hes the best of the numbers crunchers and data analyzers, not just because i think hes here at cnn. Can we put on the screen and have our guest speak to the Democratic Base at least as it existed in 20s 16 and how that factors into this. The composition of the voting electorate . Well, the. As as brownseed found, the electorate is over 60 women. Over a third nonwhite. Over a Third College educated white, a particular segment of the electorate. You can see there is a big opening for candidates who dont fit the traditional straight white male model. However, you look at the current primary polling, who are the top two candidates . Joe biden and Bernie Sanders. You take all the straight white males in the field, they take them about twothirds of support as it stands today. Thats not the story, its not necessarily predictive. It shows there is plenty of opportunity for you know nonwhite voters and female voters to support straight white male candidates. Nobody is suggestled they are chased out of the party. The story on the New York Times i think is the talker of the day. Eighth discussion about how senator klobuchar interacted with her staff. It begins with an anecdote and losing a fork for the salad. The senator according to times continues to eat her salad with her own comb and then to ask the staff toer to clean. Some would imagine, thats sexist reporting. Would that write that amen in next do anecdote about a man, would i be eating a salad or ask somebody else to clean the comb, what thoughts do have . Every candidate will have some moment where a story like this some kind of scandal or quasiscandal of varying degrees of severity will crop up. And the challenge for that candidate is, how do you handle it . You are looking at 2008, when the Jeremiah Wright videos came out, how is barack obama going to deal with this, he came out with speech race for america. He knows how hor to hand him what is coming out at him. Hillary clinton gets hit about the private email server. She has a press serve e conference, unsatisfied, doesnt put the questions to bed, it hangs over her for the entirety of the campaign so i think voters want to see, how do you deal with this stuff. Elizabeth warren has already had a tough time to go falling into trumps pokes hons that trap. Thats definitely limited her ability to be right back out in the pack so far. Now its klobuchars turn. Senator klobuchar, her answer is, he brought it out in a town meeting, look, im a hard worker, im demanding of myself and of staff. But im telling you, this is something thats hard to get out of your head. Saying to a staffer, i just ate a salad with my comb, go clean my comb. Thats the thing she has to worry about. Are there going to be individual incidents that seep oust that make her look either weird or abusive . I dont know. This is the one that will be the end of it for her. So far as you point out, she has had an answer for this. She turns the table and suggests it shows how demanding she, she has high standards, high standards for the president and high standards as president. If there is more drip, drip, drip, if there is a staffer that comes on camera and articulates a story that seems horrific. That might be harder for klobuchar to deal with. There thanks for being here. My pleasure. Take care. Lets check in on your tweets and facebook comments, what do we have . Smerconish, of course, its defensible, shes a super defensive, staffers only job. She was probably pissed. A man does this and there is no story. A woman not allowed to be tough bosses . Should she have used her hand . I thought very resourceful, using a comb. I guess did the chrome get cleaned before it went in the salad . Still to come, 30 seconds into a game the sneaker of duke basketball star Zion Williams shredded and twisted his ankle, why the only people not to make money off College Sports are the athletes . Plus, i was shocked to learn that more than half the recycling in my hometown gross e goes straight to the incinerator, is everything we think about recycling wrong . A lot will happen in your life. Wrinkles just wont. Neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repairs dermproven retinol works so fast, it takes only one week to reveal younger looking skin. Making wrinkles look so last week. Rapid wrinkle repair® pair with new retinol oil for 2x the wrinkle fighting power. 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Could a torn speaker follow a long overdue incident, 30 seconds into the biggest game of the season, dukenorth carolina, College Basketballs duke freshman 59 williamson pivoted with the ball and his nike sneaker basically disintegrated. His foot popped out. It shown an influence on the shoe Company Money has on basketball. Nike pays millions to keep athletes exclusively in footwear. The athletes see none of the money. He raises the fact that players like him are prohibited from go pro straight from high school. Joining me joe no cera and author of indentured the rebellion against the ncaa. Joe, do you think this will be a turning point in a cause you long advocated . I think its a minor turning point in the sense that people are talking about it just thinking about it. I dont think it will be a turning point in terms of what the ncaa does or the nba does, although, i will say, this is important to know that just the other day, the nba and Players Association started talking about lowering the age of the draft to 18yearsold. Thats the game changer. Right. Then i guess you are inclined to go straight into the nba and bypass a college education. Now im dock your bidding. In a perfect world, wed rather they get an education and then go to the nba. No doubt about it. That would be the best of possible worlds