reporter: of course you see there s a two-prong goal. the white house correspondents dinner is going on in washington. s samantha bee has been skewering the president and attacking and in talking to other attendees, people who live in the late night political kind of world, that s really the goal here tonight, too. they are here to kind of laugh at president trump and make levity of the situation but also a celebration of journalism. let me ask you, ali, are you getting that same kind of dripping sarcasm from the other people that you re talking to? reporter: yeah, but it s not a dripping sarcasm. the people were serious about talking about the state of
trump to have people like that in the white house, it shows it s a sign of disrespect. they were snaring at her in the photo, it was intentional. one of the party members thought they ought to give their index finger that went too far. they were having fun at her expense. i think it s inappropriate in the white house. i think hillary s right, we shun the go too far with this, the trump people do have an argument, that saturday night live and other institutions have been skewering him for weeks. if it s the clintons, bill clinton always show utter respect for the white house? not in the minds of a lot of conservatives. i hope this is a one day story and we can move on to more important things. but the difference between snl and calling the president of the united states a subhuman mongrel.
states! so, i think it speaks to the connection between these two guys, not only friends, similar backgrounds, similar age trump is three years older, both born and raised in and around new york city, trump in queens, o reilly on long island, but also sort of the approach that they take to life. if you listen to donald trump s campaign trail speeches, kate, and then you go and listen to bill o reilly in one of his segments where he just sort of talks to the camera, there s a whole lot of similarities there, and my suggestion is, it went o reilly to trump, not trump to o reilly, that trump borrowed from o reilly. i found that fascinating in your take on this, is that you argue essentially that o reilly laid the groundwork for a trump presidency. i mean, i think in a lot of ways he and i think roger ailes behind the scenes as sort of the architect of what fox stood for, did do so. the obvious things are the populism, the antielitism, the skewering of political directness, the need
sinai. in the nile, delta, cairo, and other egypt towns and cities a series of attacks on police and government officials and on christians going back several years. alison? all right. cnn s ben wedeman, thanks very much. keep us posted on details, not just of this first blast but a second blast at a second church. thanks very much. nikki haley s claims are slammed by russia. the defense secretary said last week s chemical attack is russia s fault. plus, violence after thousands of protesters take to the streets in venezuela. why they say the government is violating their human rights. also, alec baldwin is back on snl, skewering the president on jobs, and the economy. do you like that i bomb syria? are you right there?
fifth-most watched broadcast in history. and lady gaga was a big hit with audiences, bringing in 117 million viewers. that s the second-most watched halftime show ever, behind katy perry s performance in 2015. and something that people are watching, saturday night live. well known for skewering donald trump. but now, the show goes after the press secretary, sean spicer. and spicer has advice for the actress that spoofed him. reporter: melissa mccarthy added spice to secretary sean spicer. she began by apologizing on behalf of you to me. and that apology is not accepted. reporter: a sketch for the ages, tweeted one critic. might be the best snl skit ever, raved glamour magazine.