80th birthday. Happy birthday, ted. Hes a great, great man. He did so much for all of us. We are grateful to him. The program airs tomorrow night, 8 00 p. M. Eastern, right here on cnn. Erin Burnett Outfront starts erin Burnett Outfront starts right now. Captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com President Trump calling for respect and decorum in the white house. This is reality. Plus, President Trumps legal team pushing back on specific questions from special counsel robert mueller. And were going to tell you what they are. This as trump says he has written the answers to mueller himself. And the Breaking News this hour, the Washington Post reporting that the cia has concluded the Saudi Crown Prince personally ordered the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi. Not what President Trump wanted to hear. What will trump do now . Lets go outfront. Good evening, im erin burnett. Outfront tonight, lashing out after a court ruled against the president and in favor of cnn. A judge saying the white house must temporarily reinstate jim acostas press pass. In response, President Trump speaking aloud, threatening to walk away from all Press Questions he doesnt like. He says its all about decorum and respect. Rules and regulations, what do you mean, specifically . Decorum. You cant take three questions and four questions and just stand up and not sit down. Decorum. We have to practice decorum. You were there. You understood, and you understand we want total freedom of the press. Thats very important to me. Its more important to me than anybody would believe. But you have to act with respect. Youre in the white house. Decorum and you have to act with respect when youre in the white house. Like this. Trump is on his hero journey right now, and he might not expected to have a crazy mother
[ bleep ] like kanye west run up and support, but best believe we are going to make america great. For me, also as a guy that looks up to you, looks up to american industry guys, nonpolitical, no [ bleep ] with the beep on it, so i had the balls, because i have enough balls to put on this hat. Lets just quote again what the president said today. You have to act with respect. Youre in the white house. So, in the president s own words, heres what should have happened to kanye west. If i think somebodys acting out of sorts, i will leave. Ill say, thank you very much, everybody, i appreciate you coming, and ill leave. Like this . No, im standing in that spot. I love this guy right here. Let me give this guy a hug right here. I love this guy right here. Yeah. A hug for kanye, but for reporters he doesnt like, his own lack of decorum is on
prominent display. What a stupid question that is. What a stupid question. But i watch you a lot, you ask a lot of stupid questions. The same thing with april ryan. I watch her get up, i mean, you talk about somebody thats a loser, She Doesnt Know What The Hell shes doing. I dont even need words here, do i . This isnt about decorum or respect for the white house, right . Its about controlling the press. The president making it clear that if he cant take away press passes, fine, hell manipulate other journalists to accomplish his goal of silencing the questions he doesnt want. He didnt hide his intent. Let me play a little bit more of what he said today so you can hear it for yourself. If i think somebodys acting out of sorts, i will leave. Ill say, thank you very much, everybody, i appreciate you coming, and ill leave. And those reporters will not be too friendly to whoever it is thats acting up. Thats the crucial final line, right . Trump will leave if he doesnt like a question so hes betting
that losing access to him altogether will make all the other reporters get in line and silence the reporter who was, quote, unquote, not being too friendly or acting out of sorts. Im sorry. Acting out of sorts. Look, this isnt about decorum or respect. If it was, President Trump would know that a question a president doesnt like is showing respect for the white house, because that is what a free press and democracy is all about. Maybe he should listen to what a president he says he greatly admires had to stand and take. Sir, if i may, the polls show that a lot of American People just simply dont believe you, that the one thing that youve had going for you more than anything else in your presidency, your credibility, has been severely damaged. Can you repair it . What does it mean for the rest of your presidency . Well, i imagine im the only one around who wants to repair it and i didnt have anything to do with damaging it. He didnt kick him out. Didnt like the question, tried to answer it. Tough questions arent disrespectful or lacking decorum. Having someone in the oval office dropping fbombs and then
giving them a hug is. Jessica schneider is outfront. Jessica, the president responding directly to the judges ruling in favor of cnns jim acosta, which temporarily is forcing the white house to Reinstate Acostas Press Pass and what were hearing today is he seems to be saying hell find other ways to silence those he doesnt want to hear. Reporter and that seems to be the message, really, from every facet of the white house, not just the president. Even Sarah Sanders said in a statement immediately after the judges ruling that the white house, they plan to develop rules and procedures in their words, and they say there must be decorum at those Press Conferences and any interaction with the president. Whats interesting is the judge in this case, timothy kelly, hes a Trump Appointee, been on the bench for just about a year, he also touched on that possibility when he read his ruling today. He said, its quite possible the president may never call on jim acosta again, but then judge kelly quickly pivoted and he said that that potential decision from the white house to not call on jim acosta, he said that wasnt relevant to his decision today, and that
decision today, erin, it was a very narrow ruling here. The judge found that jim acostas Due Process Rights were likely violated when the white house revoked his pass so suddenly. He said that since acosta didnt have any notice or an opportunity to challenge the decision, and as a result, the hard pass must be instated reinstated, which it was. You know, but this was just round one, and by all accounts, it looks like the white house is going to move forward with this fight. The Justice Department has said as much, and of course theyre also going to try to get a much broader ruling on their broader argument that First Amendment protections dont mean an absolute right to access at the white house. So, this litigation path, erin, it could take a while, and in the meantime, you heard it there from the president. Hes going to tamp down on press availability, maybe not ask call on reporters that he doesnt like their questions. He said it today, he might limit the number of questions. He might bar them from making statements. So there could be a lot of implications here, erin. All right, thank you very much. You know, you talk about, you
know, penny wise, pound foolish, this is pretty stunning. Former adviser of four president s, david gergen, former staff member, Margaret Hoover and cnn senior political analyst mark preston. Margaret, youre with me. No problem calling someone stupid or a loser if he doesnt want to hear what they have to ask but now, fine, well reinstate the press pass but we may not hold the availability. We may not allow questions. We may try to get you guys all to turn on each other. Not about decorum. Well, its all about decorum so long as decorum is a oneway street and thats the deal with President Trump is that decorum is a oneway street. He wants to be treated with respect, but he expects a certain kind of coverage from the press, because this is what he is actually good at in the private sector was branding and marketing himself and he did that by very carefully crafting how the press covered him, and it just turns out that when youre a private entrepreneur and businessman, theres a lot more flexibility to be able to do that with the tools and levers of the press and not when youre the president of the United States. I mean, you know, david, you
see how he talks to reporters. Kanye west, obviously, we saw that laid out. Have you ever seen anything like that . What do you make of that juxtaposed with decorum and respect being the words of the day from President Trump . Well, we havent seen anything like kanye west before, and i trust we will never again. See a person like that in the oval office speaking like that. Its hard to bring your kids in to watch television these days sometimes, isnt it, but its good to see you back. Look, i think the fundamental issue here is the right of the public to know and hold the president accountable, and parliamentary governments, the Prime Minister has to go in every day and answer and have Question Time and respond to in a very public way Whats Going On within the government. We dont have that in this country. There is no Question Time for president s, and the only thing we have are these these press gatherings. When the press can ask questions on behalf of the country. So its really important to maintain that tradition. That goes all the way back to teddy roosevelt, over 100 years of president s answering questions on a regular basis. Franklin roosevelt used to have two Press Conferences a week on average over 13 years and was very, very accessible and it was a lot of decorum, a lot of respect shown to him. Frankly, i think that the respect theres higher respect shown to a president today than when i first went to washington. When i first went there, the president the Press Conferences, usually the press would stand up and there would be a lot of shouting and jumping to get the president s attention. Now people are sitting down and i think there is more decorum. What is at issue here is this Decorum Argument is really is a cover so that they can they can control the press and turn away questions that are inconvenient, which i think then reduces the publics capacity to know Whats Going On. I would add one coda. That is, this was a significant victory today in the courts for
cnn and for freedom of the press, especially because it came from a Trump Appointee to the court. Right. That is obviously significant, as you and Jessica Point out. Mark, you know, the clip that i played, Sam Donaldson asking former president reagan something he didnt want to be asked, right . Other president s get this. This always happens. As david said, they used to stand up and certainly with the Press Secretary, i mean, its one more question, one more question, yelling, i mean, if you arent tough, dont go in that room. But no ones ever been you havent seen banned no ones been banned from these Press Conferences, no one losing credentials, so what happens here for trump . Well, a couple things. One is i would take what he said today, his warning, very seriously. I do think that the white house is going to continue to clamp down on the amount of information that they send out and quite honestly a lot of the information theyre sending out right now is misinformation, so i agree, we have to have these News Conferences every day. We have to have the back and
forth with the administration. Otherwise, were not going to be able to keep them in line and its worth noting, even if you dont like cnn, if youre watching us right now or if you dont like jim acosta as a person, its not about us. Its about you and i think that people need to understand that because if they come and knock us out, theyre coming for you next and thats very, very scary. Right. Thats the precedent, margaret, that would be set here and whats amazing is that what the president s saying is, i can get there another way. Fine. Have your little press pass. I dont have to call on you. I dont have to hold the press conference. I can have your peers turn against you. And what hes trying to do is also send a message to journalists who cover him in a way that he views as favorable, and hes calling on them, giving them 45 minutes to show up at the white house and giving them as much time as they want with him. This just happened with the daily caller. Two reporters were called Out Of The Blue for a sitdown with the president. There is a criticism amongst republicans that the president s writing here too, that the medias unfair, the medias been unfair to president s for a long time. Theres no president that believes the media is fair to them, okay . This is the system of checks and
balances. Theres not not the clintons, not bush, not obama, not hillary clinton, and nobody believes its fair but thats the entire, by design, by the founders. This is why we have a First Amendment. This is why we have a series of checks and balances and so this is so we, we, meaning the American People, can hold our government to account. By the people, of the people, for the people. You know, david, let me play, again, the interview with fox news. When you talk about the friendly outlets that he chooses to give his time to. Let me just play again what he said to them about acting up. Here he is. If i think somebodys acting out of sorts, i will leave. Ill say, thank you very much, everybody, i appreciate you coming, and ill leave. And those reporters will not be too friendly to whoever it is thats acting up. Just walking out and leaving, david. What would be the precedent for that if he just started doing that every time he didnt like a question . I just think it would be very
inhibiting for the whole set of exchanges if youre always going to be on edge if you ask a question that he finds inconvenient and he walks out. If theyre going to have a set of rules, its got to be when a Reporter Asks a question, that reporter can have a followup so you can dig a little deeper. Its got to be that you do call on the wire services, you do call on the leading organizations out of there. You dont go ideological on them. Its got to be a set of rules that serves both the president and the public. And the press. And yet, mark, he also hes already made it hard for some, right . The reporter he called stupid is a cnn reporter hech. He didnt like her questions. The reporter he called a loser, april ryan, people know her as well. He has no problem humiliating someone and denigrating them in a way that lacks decorum and respect, thats for sure, when he doesnt like them already. No question and we can just lay it at the footstep of his own house. We heard Melania Trump the other day say shes not surprised that people make fun of her or dont understand why shes pursuing this goal of ending
cyberbullying. Well, we know why people make fun of her because of that, because her husband is really leading the charge in cyber bullies. He needs to be careful. All you do is risk rallying a real backlash from the press and the American People if you make the entire press the enemy of the good the enemy of the people or the enemy of yourself, what are you doing but risking a backlash because if youre not tough enough to go out and take questions on behalf of the people you represent, whos the weak one . All right. Well said. Well leave it there. Thank you all. Next, President Trump reveals he has personally responded to bob muellers questions. I write the answers. My lawyers dont write answers. I write answers. The president s longtime friend and attorney, jay goldberg, responds. Plus, Breaking News, the Washington Post this Hour Reporting that the cia has concluded the Saudi Crown Prince personally ordered the assassination of a Washington Post columnist. But the president reportedly resistant to accept his own
intelligence chief. Why . And kelleyanne conways husband reveals what he really thinks about the trump administration. The administration is like a [ bleep ] show in a dumpster fire. Iyou may be at increased riskf for Pneumococcal Pneumonia a potentially serious bacterial lung disease that can disrupt your routine for weeks. In severe cases, Pneumococcal Pneumonia can put you in the hospital. It can hit quickly, without warning, making you miss out on what matters most. A single dose of the prevnar 13® vaccine can help protect you from Pneumococcal Pneumonia. Prevnar 13® is approved for adults to help prevent infections from 13 strains of the bacteria that cause Pneumococcal Pneumonia. Dont get prevnar 13® if you have had a severe allergic reaction to the vaccine or its ingredients. Adults with weakened Immune Systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. The most common si