Including president ial candidate and onetime frontrunner. We begin, though, with a flurry of developments, most of them pointing in a single ominous direction. One in which the president of the United States tightens his grip on federal Law Enforcement in ways never seen before. With former fbi Deputy DirectorAndrew Mccabe in our last hour called everything we know about the criminal justice system. Shimone, the timing yesterday, you have attorney general barr asserting no one, not even the president , tells him what to do. Today, hes doing exactly what the president wants. Thats right. And just think about this, anderson. We started this week by Something Else really interesting from the department of justice. On monday, the attorney general in a press conference confirms that he is sending the material that Rudy Giuliani collected in ukraine to prosecutors in pittsburgh to take a look at that material. And then just from there, throughout this entire week, day after day, what we have seen are really interesting, weird things coming out of the department of justice. You have the attorney general saying he was unhappy with the sentencing that roger stone was getting. And that sort of just set off a whole chain of events. Mutiny, really, inside the u. S. Attorneys office here in washington, d. C. And then, of course, its just continued from there. And now, we have word coming on the end of the week, another thing that, certainly, the president is probably very happy with. And its another investigation of the investigation and that has to do with Michael Flynn, the attorney general. Privately. Really, they have not made any kind of public announcements. Really, through sources were learning that the attorney general wants prosecutors to take a look at the investigative steps that were undertaken in the Michael Flynn investigation. Certainly, something thats going to make the president very happy because, as he has said publicly, he feels bad about Michael Flynn. And he feels that hes been treated unfairly. The one thing that hasnt gone the president s day is the doj dropping its criminal investigation of Andrew Mccabe. Right and that came very suddenly. You know, we were not expecting that today. For months, we ever been trying to figure out whats going on with that investigation. I mean, Andrew Mccabes own attorneys were trying to get answers from the department of justice and they were not getting those answers. And of course, the president has attacked Andrew Mccabe. Saying that hes been part of this witch hunt that the fbi undertook in investigating him. So that, certainly, is something that he is not happy with. The timing of that is also very interesting because thats also coming out of the same u. S. Attorneys office here in washington, d. C. , that a lot of people inside that office are very unhappy with how the department of justice has been conducting some interfering in some of these investigations. Anderson. David gurgen, cnn legal analyst, and david axelrod, currently, cnn political commentator. David axelrod, the way attorney general barr is handling these cases, do you see it as the attorney general running interference for the president . Well, sure looks that way. And it feels as if what happened yesterday was kind of a head faint as he proceeded along a road to try to undo some of the some of the work that had been done before him relative to flynn and stone and others. And and, you know, the president s been pretty open about it. You know, i did a podcast the other day with adam schiff and adam schiff said the thing thats so chilling is its all done in the open like this. The president s very blatant with his tweets and his comments and it and it normalizes that. Because and ill leave it to keri, who is more qualified to speak about this than me. There is no law that prevents a president from directing the Justice Department to do things. There are norms that have been in place for generations. Since watergate. That have prevented president s from doing such things. And he has hes blown em up. Keri, is i mean, the president has said, you know, that he has the right. He tweeted about this. The legal right to get involved in criminal cases. Hes just chosen not to. Right. So i think very early on in his presidency, he obviously was advised about the scope of executive power and was presented with a very broad view of executive power. So there is certainly an argument the Justice Department is part of the executive branch. He is the head of the executive branch. So there is an argument that he can have influence over investigations. But david is exactly right. It breaks through every norm and established protocol across administrations of different political parties. And i cant stress that enough. That it has been the tradition of the department in the interactions with the white house, over many, many years, that the white house and the president stays out of criminal investigations. And so its one thing for a president to be briefed, for example, about National Security investigations. Or to be briefed on a major development. But for the president to constantly be putting pressure on the department and and davids point about the president doing it out in the open is so significant because it doesnt really matter at this point whether the president gives the attorney general an order to do something. The president puts it out there, every day, that he wants the department of justice and criminal prosecution to be used for political purposes. Yeah. I mean, david gergen, attorney general barr made a point in that interview yesterday saying the president s never called me and, you know, never told me to to something specific about a criminal case. To carries point, he doesnt have to call anybody. Oeg hes just seniding it out. You could ask a kid in kindergarten what he thinks about roger stone and he could tell you if he watches the news. I think we have to get ag barr a little time to see if hes honest. Im very skeptical that he wants to be truly independent. But its very clear that the president of the United States believes that he has the right, and he will exercise it, to take a sword to his enemies for the department of justice. And and and build a shield for himself and for his friend through the department of justice. Thats what we call weaponizing the department. The same thing we saw in ukraine. He he he weaponized our diplomacy. And now, hes doing it for lawandorder purposes. And to go back to this, i remember well after watergate. Where the whole effort was to clean up the department of justice and to create the most independent Agency Within the executive branch. And that has been done by every Administration Since then. They have had a code within the within the department of justice. You do not put your finger on the scales of justice. Particularly, if youre the president of the United States or someone in the white house. And, anderson go ahead, david. Yeah. I was going to say, as a as a member of the obama administration, we were instructed, splexplicitly, you not have discussions with the department of justice. The white House Counsel will speak to the department of justice, will speak to the fbi director. Unless youre directed to by them. There was real, really scrupulous attention paid to that. So this this is so far out of the norm. And i think this was true in most administrations. Let me just make one point. I think what the president s ultimate goal here is to muddy the waters about all of these convictions. Because i think were headed for a pardonpalooza after the election. Whether he wins or loses, i think you are going to see a number of these people pardoned. And he wants to lay the predicate that there was something wrong with the with the case in the first place. That he won the election fair and square. Yeah. Carrie . With respect, though, to to bill barr and the attorney general, you know, it goes beyond. I think this issue, what were seeing, goes beyond what david is describing in terms of the rules about contacts between the white house and the Justice Department. And there was actually a hiccup in the Bush Administration and it was attorney general who tightened up those rules and then those rules stayed consistent throughout the obama administration, as well. So, again, it goes across parties. But what were seeing here is different because bill barr has a credibility problem. And it goes back to april 18th of 2019, when he misrepresented the findings of the mueller report. And many statements that he has made since then. And so i think david gurgen is being generous to bill barr in his interpretation of his interview this week because i think that bill barr was really struggling to try to present a impartial approach to the building itself. To the Justice Department workforce itself. And that was his audience for the interview. And all he was complaining about was the president s tweet. Hes not tweets hes not indicating at all that hes going to change his conduct, which is consolidating control within his office for any investigation that is of interest to the white house. Or that touches these related matters. Whether its flynn, whether its stone, or others. Carrie, we mentioned today that charges were dropped against former Deputy Director of the fbi, Andrew Mccabe. Hes been a favorite target of the president and obviously the right wing. He is now a cnn contributor. I spoke with him in the last hour and i just want to play some of what he said for our viewers. Aside from being understandably angry about all of what youve been through, has it been in a way surreal . I mean, in the past couple minutes while youve been on with me on fox, there is a banner font calling you a liar. Did you ever expect in any way to be dealing with anything like this . Anderson, i spent 21 years in the fbi as a part of an institution that prides itself on fidelity, bravery, and integrity. And to be removed from that organization and, unfairly, branded a liar because that was the desired outcome by the president , has just been one of the most sickening and demeaning experiences of my life. Its horrendous. And it is unfortunate that having listened to propaganda like fox news, you know, there are people in this country that will believe that forever. I cant do anything about that except continue to live and to speak out in the way ive tried to do over the last year. To stand up for what i believe in. And to tell the truth, however inconvenient for the president or anybody else. Carrie, i wonder what do you make of what happened to mccabe . I mean, have you seen anything like that . Well, you know, i read the Inspector General report when it came out a long time ago. And i was underwhelmed by it. And so i understand there was the criminal referral that came out of it. But i dont think it shouldve taken this long for the Justice Department to come to a decision that there was obviously nothing prosecutable about andy mccabes conduct in that matter. And, you know, what has happened to andy mccabe really makes me sick. He andy mccabe is somebody who has spent his years in the fbi. One of his jobs as the head of the counterterrorism apparatus of the fbi is probably the most bo bonecrushing job in government. This is a guy who just spent years protecting this country. And the way that the president has treated him and the way that the Justice Department dragged this out for him really is a disgrace. Yeah, david gurgen, i mean, so much has happened in only a week and a half since the president s acquittal. I mean, are there any checks or guardrails left on this presidency . I mean, is this all just a preview of whats to come ahead, ahead of the election . Yeah. Thats a really good question. Let me just put a footnote to carrie. The most vile thing the administration did was to fire mccabe on the eve of retiring and cost him his entire savings by the government. But we need to wrap up here, anderson, for the night. But nonetheless, i think the big question is the president so emboldened that no one will stop him . Or what mechanisms do we have . Certainly, the democrats do not want to go down a new rabbit hole and conduct all sorts of hearings and have a semiimpeachment kind of deal. That just is not in everybody anybodys interest. How do we now have checks and balances . Put checks and balances into place so this president stays within the guardrails . Yeah. Question to be answered or lets hope. Some way. David gurgen, thank you. Carrie, david axelrod, again. Quick reminder, adam schiff is davids latest guest on the podcast. Go check that out. Next, the bloomberg effect and controversy over one of his policies as new york mayor. Well talk about that with former philadelphia mayor. Also tonight, can joe biden survive politically . Well look ahead to nevada, South Carolina, and beyond when we continue. To help cover the essentials, as well as all the things you want to do. Because when you have a retirement partner who gives you clarity at every step, theres nothing to stop you from moving forward. Who gives you clarity at every step, i appreciate what makes each person unique. Thats why i like liberty mutual. 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It only takes a few seconds, and it wont affect your credit score. Finally a totally different way to finance your ride. Only from carvana. The new way to buy a car. One of the central figures in the democratic president ial campaign wont even be formally competing in the next two big contests. The South Carolina primary and the nevada caucuses. Michael bloomberg, his polling bump and Massive Campaign spending are looming large in both places. And across the entire primary race. That said, there are certainly challenges. Namely, the controversy over the policy once endorsed and enforced as mayor of new york. Stopandfrisk. Yesterday, he talked about it. There is one aspect, approach, that i deeply regret. The abuse of a Police Practice called stopandfrisk. I defended it, looking back, for too long because i didnt understand, then, the unintended pain it was causing to young black and brown families and their kids. I should have acted sooner and faster to stop it. I didnt, and for that, i apologized. Joining us now, former mayor of philadelphia, currently Bloomberg Campaign cochair. Michael nutter, you hear bloomberg. Certainly not enough to satisfy his democratic opponents, though he is polling well with africanamerican voters. Is there more he can or should do to address that . Because i think back in 2018, he was still supporting stopandfrisk. Well, anderson, as you well know in this work, first of all, youre in a campaign. So opponents are going to seize on anything that they can. But i think, more importantly, yes, there are things that mike can do. He will continue to talk about this, as you played the clip. That was literally last night. There are conversations still to be had with folks who were affected, negatively, by the policy and practice in new york city. And i know for a fact, talking with mike, i mean, he has a much deeper understanding and a personal feeling about the fact that he supported a policy that was already in place. Focused on reducing violence. Focused on saving peoples lives. Mostly, black and brown men. But that he caused pain and that is painful to him. And so hell continue to talk about this. But also, hes not running for mayor of new york city. Hes running for president of the United States of america. And so in that regard, its also about what can you do to try to alleviate some of that pain . The Greenwood Initiative is certainly one. Trying to help triple wealth for africanamericans. 100,000 new businesses with employees. A million new black homeowners. Our proposals regarding infrastructure and putting people to work. Working with banks to make sure that theyre acting proper