Figured out we hadnt even figured out exactly what happened with khashoggi, and hes still, you know, doing this. But you never want to do that. Its not even too soon, chris. Listen, the president of the United States should be held to a different standard than just about everyone else. Last week he said, when people were criticizing him for saying that he fell in love with kim jongun, and he said it was a figure of speech. People knew what he was talking about. And eric holder said the same thing. He goes, i didnt really mean physically kick them. It was a figure of speech. So they seem to make an exception for the president when they want him to get away with this awful behavior, but they dont do it to anybody else, democrat or republican, mostly democrats. And so the hypocrisy is just really beyond belief here. The president of the United States should not be condoning violence in any way and encouraging people to do it. Thats all he knows how to do. Thats all he likes to do. And the crowd loves it. You saw Corey Lewandowski. Smart guy. Savvy guy. Could not say the words trump was wrong. What does that say about Corey Lewandowski . It says he knows where his breads buttered is what it shows. That there you go. That is the crux of all of it. Okay. Thank you for the help with the name. Im expecting a donation to the southampton animal shelter. We will be watching the thread. If anybody comes close, and even if they dont, you tell me who gets closest, well make a donation. It is a very worthy cause. 100 . Two rescues. God bless you, don lemon. Thank you. Be safe out there on the water. Its probably the last weekend youll be able to go out. Oh, no, no. Long season to go, son. Long season to go. See you, sir. This is cnn tonight. Im don lemon. The saudis admitting tonight what everybody knew had to be true already. Washington post journalist Jamal Khashoggi is dead. But after more than two weeks of stonewalling, now the latest cover story in a long line of them takes over. Saudi state tv claiming against every bit of credible evidence that khashoggi got into a fist fight or brawl that ended in his death. Just another unbelievable cover story. So lets lay this out. So a lone journalist at the embassy to get paperwork for his upcoming marriage. His fiancee waiting outside. Immediately gets into a fight, a brawl, with multiple saudis, most of whom are reported to have links to the Kingdom Security services. One of them, a forensics expert, able to dissect a body in seven minutes. Reportedly carrying a bone saw and they dont even attempt to explain what happened to khashoggis body . Do you believe that story . Do you believe that story . The president says he does. I do. I do. I mean its again, its early. We havent finished our review or investigation, but its i think its a very important first step. Meanwhile the saudis are still playing for time, announcing it will take them another month to put together a report on exactly what they claim happened. And guess who is heading up the committee charged with putting together that report . Thats right. Crown Prince Mohammed bin salman. Yes, the very same crown prince who u. S. Officials have told cnn had to have known about the operation that ended in khashoggis death. Fox guarding the henhouse, anybody . But President Trump seems to think the saudis are on the right track. This is a president who earlier this week claimed that khashoggi could have been the victim of socalled rogue killers. It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows . Rogue killers who somehow got inside the heavily guarded saudi consulate. And when nobody bought that, double down on his defense of the saudis, saying, here we go again with, you know, youre guilty until proven innocent. Defending them with the same words he used to defend Justice Brett kavanaugh against Sexual Assault allegations. Not a good look. But with anger and outrage growing, this president is all about the campaign trail, hitting the road for four rallies in the next five days and testing out his latest talking points with the midterms less than three weeks away. Remember its going to be an election of the caravan. You know what im talking about. As you know, im willing to send the military to defend our southern border if necessary. All caused because of the illegal immigration onslaught brought by the democrats because they refuse to acknowledge or to change the laws. So heres a fact check. As i mentioned last night, forbids using the military for civilian Law Enforcement duties outside of military bases. The president also playing the part of a human Bumper Sticker with this slogan. Democrats produce mobs. Republicans produce jobs. So wait a minute. Democrats produce mobs . Remember when the president said this last night about greg gianforte, the montana congressman who as a candidate body slammed a reporter just for asking a question about health care. Any guy that can do a body slam, hes my kind of [ cheers and applause ] hes my guy. I shouldnt say this because theres nothing to be embarrassed about. So i was in rome with a lot of the leaders from other countries talking about all sorts of things, and i heard about it. And we endorsed greg very early. But i had heard that he body slammed a reporter. And i said, oh, this is terri e terrible. Hes going to lose the election. Then i said, well, wait a minute. I know montana pretty well. I think it might help him, and it did. Mob. Mob. And he doubled down today. Do you regret bringing up last night at your rally the assault on a reporter by a congressman . No, no, no. That was a tremendous success last night in montana, and greg is a tremendous person, and hes a tough cookie. And ill stay with that. For this president , its all about winning. Winning at all costs. And now he is pulling out all the stops just 18 days away from the midterms. The vote that could decide the fate of his presidency. Max boot is here. Also april ryan and olivia nuzzi. Good evening to all of you. Max, first with you. The saudis said khashoggi left the consulate alive. It took them over two weeks to come up with their new story that he died in a fist fight. Why should anybody, especially the president why should they believe this . Its utterly baffling, don. I mean as jamals editor at the Washington Post said tonight, this is utter bullshit. It is just unbelievable this notion that Jamal Khashoggi, a 59yearold journalist, got into a fight with 15 saudi goons and somehow wound up getting dismembered. Yeah. I mean this is just so unbelievable. The saudis are truly insulting our intelligence by expecting us to believe that. But donald trump is happy to collaborate in this coverup. So he goes in, 59, and gets into a fight, right . Then they cut up his body. I mean why . If he goes in and starts a fight, its presumably would be his fault. Then why would they cut his body up . It doesnt make any sense. It makes absolutely no sense. Who would start a fight with 15 guys. Maybe the rock, but not some 59yearold journalist, okay . It makes zero sense. President trump doesnt seem concerned that the crown prince is leading this investigation. As i said, the fox in the henhouse. Hes leading the investigation. But the central question is what did the royal family know, right . And this is supposed to be a thorough investigation. Obviously its not. Well, the people who are implicated in this heinous murder are all people very close to crown Prince Mohammed bin salman, mbs. It just strains krecredulity th he did not know and in fact ordered this operation. There are leaks coming from u. S. Intelligence to suggest he did in fact order this operation. The leaks talk about a kidnapping operation, so its unclear whether he also ordered the murder. But the fact that you had this 15man team, the fact that you had a pathologist with a bone saw, i mean who comes to a fight with a bone saw . That indicates to you that this was fairly nefarious intent here, and this attempt to whitewash the crown princes involvement is just ridiculous. Its absurd, and its truly unbelievable that, you know, donald trump is somebody who does not believe that barack obama was born in this country, but he believes this cock and bull saudi story . I mean can you explain that . I cant. Olivia, im not sure if you can explain it. But seriously, i think the real question is who on earth would expect anybody to believe this story . It sounds like a guy sitting around going, yeah, i know what well say. Why dont we say this . You think we can say this . How about that . It just makes absolutely no sense. Its a ridiculous story, and no sane person would believe it. And i dont know that i believe the president believes it either. I think that donald trump is just not interested in classic American Values like promoting democracy or human rights. He does not care about the free press. He does not care if journalists are injured or murdered because of the work that they do. And i think that what he he is kind of using, saying that he believes the story as a way to avoid having to explain why he just doesnt care. Right, yeah. And why he cares more about u. S. Businesses and their relations with the government there and why he cares more about them helping him achieve his objectives in the region than he cares about let me ask you a more specific question about that because the president , you know, said responding to khashoggis death is not the simplest situation. That was a quote from him. Is he basically saying that torture and murder, that its okay as long as you buy u. S. Military equipment . It seems like he is for a change being semitransparent and just saying that its complicated to deal with a situation like this because he seems to be weighing whether or not its worth doing the right thing, or its better for him to do what he wants to do, which is to maintain the relationships that we have to benefit his own objectives and u. S. Business interests. And i think its pretty shameful that we have a president out there who is appearing this gullible, a. I think thats embarrassing on the world stage. But, b, who is openly saying that you have to weigh Something Like this. Its not clear that you should just do the right thing, that you should just advocate for what is obviously the right thing to do here. I think its one of the worst moments in his presidency so far. April, i can see you want to get in. Let me start by asking this question. Senator Lindsey Graham tweeted this. To say i am skeptical of the new saudi narrative about mr. Khashoggi is an understatement. So who do you think the president is going to side with . Will he side with republican lawmakers like graham or the saudis . The president is going to side with his own interests. Don, right now were watching this president and those who are supporting him support what hes doing. I mean from the onset, the president never really took this situation as seriously as other president s would have. You know, this president in the midst of all of this called Stormy Daniels a horseface. The president also, you know, at the very beginning said that Jamal Khashoggi was not an american. He talked about rogue persons who came, and he never really took this seriously. And the question now begs, is this president involved with the saudis to a point with his business dealings that its affecting his president ial behavior and his attitude and his moves. April so its yes . So youre around the white house, right . Thats your beat. So what is the read . What is the feel there . Are the people around him going, oh, we dont know . Are they standing behind the story . How do they feel about these different tales being spun about whats happened to him . Theyre spinning their own tales, number one, as well. Trying to keep us informed enough to pacify us. But this as it goes on and as were hearing information from the saudis and from other places, you know, theyre trying to galvanize and make themselves look like they are serious about this. But we have to remember and the president proved this at this rally. He does not like the press, period. Mmhmm. And if he did if he did at any moment have a bit of compassion about this issue, he would stand and ask for and demand answers. He is not i mean in the oval office when hes talking to reporters, hes laughing and joking. This is a moment of seriousness where the world is watching. The World Community put more pressure on the saudis than we did to get answers. So there is a lack of concern from a journalist who has covered white houses for 21 years in my opinion about this situation. Well, you mentioned don hold on, olivia, because i got to get to the break. But you mentioned the rally, so i want to talk about the rallies. You think this language is heated at a boiling point now, wait. Its getting revved up. The president at a rally tonight, the message and how far will he go to win the midterms. Well be right back. What do you have there . P3 its meat, cheese and nuts. I keep my protein interesting. Oh yea, me too. I have cheese and uh these herbs. P3 snacks. The more interesting way to get your protein. They seem to be the very foundation of your typical bank. Capital one is anything but typical. Thats why we designed capital one cafes. You can get savings and checking accounts with no fees or minimums. And one of americas best savings rates. To top it off, you can open one from anywhere in 5 minutes. This isnt a typical bank. 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Well, what i wanted to say was that april was talking about some of the things that the president hasnt done to respond adequately or even just not disastrously to this tragedy and to this outrageous story. But its not just that he hasnt responded adequately. He hasnt done the bare minimum of not coming out and supporting violence an american journalist, or against any journalist onstage at a rally. I mean thats the bare minimum, you would think. Even just from a cynical, political optics perspective, i think ordinarily in politics here, you would be advised not to do Something Like that. Mmhmm. Whether or not there was an International Story like this unfurling. But in a climate like this, as the president of the United States, to not be able to just restrain yourself on a topic like that as the world absorbs the details as they emerge about this gruesome murder, it just it strikes me as just a real low point in this presidency. And sometimes i think were so up close to these things that its hard to see how its just simply outrageous. And i think its good to kind of take a step back and just look at how how uncomplicated it is, how despicable this is. I think youre right about that. I took time off a couple weeks ago and i said when i came back, if you stand back and look at this, it is, again, my favorite term, the theater of the absurd. Every time a headline would you look at it, and you say, what has our country come to . And, you know, she mentioned the rallies. The president is going to be out there on the campaign trail. I think hes got up until the midterms, max, and he has four rallies in five days coming up. Is this what republicans need in the days before the midterms . Well, they obviously think trump going out there in red states is going to pump up the base. Its interesting to me, don, the way that trump is running. Theyve totally given up running on the tax cut. Theyve given up running on the economy because theyve seen the polls and they know by about a two to one margin, the people think the tax cut is benefiting the rich and corporations ralthser than the middle class. So instead of running on the economy, they are essentially running on the culture war. You know, attacking reporters, its not a bug. Its a feature. That is how trump is running because he wants to elicit this passion from his base against the enemy of the people, which is what he calls the news media. Now hes resurrecting this caravan, the same thing he did back in april when you had this bedraggled group of latin american refugees heading to the american border, and donald trump makes it seem like the red army, that the barbarian hoards are at the gates, about to invade us. Hes doing it again because theres another caravan, and hes screaming hysterically about these poor refugees. He doesnt care about, you know, a reporter getting murdered and dismembered, but he cares about these poor refugees who are heading towards our border, who are no threat whatsoever to us. But this is the culture war that the republicans are running on to generate base enthusiasm in lieu of anybody being enthusiastic about the tax cut. Look up the definition of the word chicanery and youll know what were talking about here. April, trump is repeating the tag line that democrats create mobs. Republicans create jobs. Hes trying to remind voters of Justice Kavanaughs bitter confirmation battle. The pol is that the gops best bet right now . Well, you know, the gops best bet is to do things to rally the base, and this president understands the stakes are very high. Don, he himself believes and leading into these few days before the november midterm elections, he believes that the house could be taken by the dems, and he doesnt want that because if that does happen, they will try to do impeachment. But if the senate stays republican, there will not be removal if there is impeachment. But you have to remember the way that the president rallies his base is to divide