challenger but the president earlier today predicts he would win that matchup and win it easily. >> i think we'd beat him easily. i just feel like a young man. i'm so young! i can't believe it, i'm the youngest person. i am a young, vibrant man. i look at joe, i don't know about him. i don't know. i would never say anyone's too old, but i know they're all making me look very young, both in terms of age and i think in terms of energy. [ laughter ] >> look, if he looks young and vibrant compared to me, i should probably go home. >> we begin there, maybe that's a joke, maybe not. on day two of joe biden's third campaign for president, biden just wrapping up his first national television interview just a short time after president trump took some pot shots at biden's age, at his intelligence answer i had energy levels. biden sat down on "the view" talking about his time at the white house with president obama, accusations of inappropriate touching and why he believes it's his time this time to be president. we'll bring you some of that long sound in just a moment. first we're joined live from new york, arlette, this was the first national forum. joe biden knew he'd face questions about his record in the past and why he thinks he's best for the future. what are the headlines? >> reporter: well, john, we may be seeing joe biden coming out in a short moment but really the appearance on "the view" gave him the chance to bring his message back to voters. over the past 24 hours, you've also seen one of those controversial issues from his career, back in the spotlight, and that was his handling of the 1991 testimony of anita hill and the hosts of "the view" questioned him about that. yesterday you had anita hill telling the "new york times" that she felt that biden's apology was basically saying i'm sorry for what happened, but not accepting responsibility for his mistakes, and he was really pressed about that moment, and biden basically was saying that he regrets once again, this is something he's repeatedly said over and over that he regrets the way that she had been treated, but he wasn't offering that full-throated apology for his personal involvement, since he was the chair of the senate judiciary committee at the time. one thing he did say today was he acknowledged that mistakes were made and he said that he was sorry for those mistakes, but i think a lot of critics of the former vice president are wanting to see a more forceful answer and explanation from him relating to this. on another topic, something that has also come up in recent weeks are these allegations that he's made women feel uncomfortable in their interactions, and that was something that was also discussed on "the view" and it's kind of similar to what biden told me three weeks ago when i asked him about this. i pointed out to him and said there are some women who want to hear you specifically say "i am sorry for making you feel uncomfortable" and the vice president today as he told me before, he's not sorry for his actions, because he didn't think there was any mal-intent behind that. this will come back over and over especially when he's on the campaign trail and people are going to further scrutinize the way he interacts with people. >> arlette saenz, we'll see if he's in the mood to talk when he comes out. jack cue sin niche, phil mattingly, michael bender and lauren lopez. we'll go through a number of these. day two for joe biden. other candidates say why are we doing all of this here? he has several issues he has to get through, one the anita hill controversy. can he explain away his role as the chairman, anita hill had a conversation with the former vice president, quoted in the "new york times" saying she didn't think of it as an apology. she wants to hear more. here is today. >> so here's your opportunity right now to just say you apologize, you're sorry. i think we can clean this up right now. >> well, by the way, i did. i understand, look, i'm not going to judge whether or not it was appropriate, whether she thought it was sufficient, but i said privately what i've said publicly. i am sorry she was treated the way she was treated. i wish we could have figured out a better way to get this thing done. i did everything in my power to do what i thought was within the rules to be able to stop things, but look, take a look at what's happened. what i did, we got past, when we got through that god-awful experience she'd been through -- she's one of the reasons why peeve the me too movement. >> yes. >> she was one of the reasons why i was able to finish writing the violence against women act, she was one of the reasons why there was never a committee i involved with a w that didn't have women on it. the women i campaigned for would come on the committee, so she's responsible for significant changes and she deserves credit for it, and one of the things you saw is how about the last hearing? >> yes. >> we haven't, there's so much more work to do, to figure out, the one important thing i know, is and if there's anything in terms of mind-set of supreme court hearings and those kinds of circumstances, supreme court hearing is not a trial. it's a job interview. it's a job interview. and you don't have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt anything as to why you shouldn't put so-and-so on the court, and so look, obviously i'm grateful she took my call. >> knowing you for as long as i have, i don't know why it took you so long to call her. i wish it had happened earlier. >> i tell you what the deal was. i did not -- since i had publicly apologized for the way she was treated, i had publicly said it, i had publicly given credit for her, the contributions she made to change, again to change this culture in a significant way, that what i didn't want to do, and i didn't want to "invade" her space. i didn't want to get in the situation where this became -- and then when i heard all this about, and it was legitimate, expecting a call, every time the phone rang, and so i spoke to some leading women advocates in this area, some who knew her and i said could you see whether she'd take my call, and i was grateful she took my call. >> you know, i think what she wants you to say is "i'm sorry for the way i treated you" not "for the way you were treated." that would be closer. >> well, but i'm sorry the way she got treated, in terms of, i never heard -- if you look back at what i said and didn't say, i don't think i treated her badly. we still haven't figured it out, how do you stop people from asking inflammatory questions? how do you stop these character assassinations outside? there was a full-blown attack on her, in order to try to get the defense quote/unyoquote for clarence thomas. >> so he knows, he knew for months, if not years actually, whenever next he ran for president, this was going to be an issue. how is the answer? >> it's not a good answer. you'd never know he had as much time to prepare for that question as he had, and all you need to do is read a little bit about the anita hill hearings to know that biden could have done more. there were women that wanted to testify in support of aknow ta hill and they were blocked. so you know, the thing about joe biden is that there is an inauthentic, not an inauthentic bone in his body. that's why you don't hear him apologize because he didn't think he did anything belong. >> that's a problem, in the summit in houston, texas, a room filled with women of color, activists, operators, voters, influencers and they aren't pleased with his responses so far. they feel as though he isn't actually listening to them. he isn't actually listening to lucy flores. he isn't listening to anita hill and there doesn't seem to be any kind of, look, i'm taking responsibility for this now and i do apologize for what i did, for my role in everything, which we haven't heard from him. >> is it an example of stubborn pride, he thinks he did the best he could at the time, getting in the way of him finding a more articulate way to say yeah, i'm sorry? >> i think yes, and i think to jackie's point, this is what he genuinely believes and the hard part s people might look at this as what is the political positioning early in the campaign to turn the page on this. that was what the call to anita hill was and the back story why that occurred. this isn't about a political positioning or the optics or what this means. this is about a broader issue that has come to the forefront in this country, defining how this country operates will define large portions of how the democratic primary operates and he needs to figure out a way to assuage concerns and make right what a lot of people think was wrong. to laura's point and jackie's point, when you listen to that, you feel like he's going back into the technicalities of what the judiciary committee was or wasn't able to do as opposed to understanding in this moment, at this time, in this primary, he needs to go a different path. >> he needs to get from his past, which is considerable, and all human beings have things in the past you weren't perfect, but he has to get up high enough up the hill where he's above the clouds, there are some others, the question is have they thought it well enough out or they believe to the point about the sheet of people, the biden team believes there are activist groups and they should be listened to and important piece of the democratic constituency. out in iowa, new hampshire, the country at large, the rank and file base of the party will give him more of a benefit of the doubt. >> i think part of that is you raise a good point here is that the focus here should be on biden and this raises a question about the campaign he has around him. this call with anita hill sounded like it was several weeks ago and the "new york times" did what it doesn't look like the campaign did, follow one anita hill, before the campaign started talking about it, and watching this unfold here, i just think the lesson for biden is jeb in 2016. jeb came out in 2016 as the prohibitive front-runner. there was a question immediately facing him about his brother's decision to invade iraq. jeb could not find for weeks a good answer to that question. there are some fundamental problems with jeb bush's campaign. this was a moment early on that just encapsulated all of those that we'd see play out and eventually do him in, in that primary. >> we'll continue the conversation, again a number of long answers from the vice president to very important questions, his relationship with president obama, not endorsing in this campaign. we'll remember the recent stories, several women felt uncomfortable by joe biden what he calls a tactile politician, touching them, invading space. we'll get to that when we come back. how do you get skin happy aveeno® with prebiotic oat. it hydrates and softens skin. so it looks like this... and you feel like this. aveeno® daily moisturizer get skin happy™ when you start with a better that's no way to treat a dog... ...you can do no wrong. where did you learn that? 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(team member) this is wells fargo. welcome back. just want to let you know, the president of the united states took the stage in indianapolis, speaking to the big nra, national rifle association meeting today. we'll bring you any news from that speech as it happens. back now the president on stage there in indianapolis, you see. again we'll monitor that speech. the other big news joe biden, the democrat who would like to take on the president in the 2020 presidential election giving his first big national interview after joining the race yesterday, appearing on "the view" last hour, among the issues joe biden was asked about was recent reports that several women over the years have felt uncomfortable, believing joe biden was too quick to touch them, too quick to get too close to them personally. here is the vice president saying he's learned a lesson. he'll now respect personal boundaries. >> are you sorry for what you did? are you prepared to apologize? >> i have to be and everybody has to be much more aware of the private space of men and women. it's not just women, but primarily women, and i am much more cognizant of that, but i am so -- like for example, i actually thought in my head, when i walked out here, i mean, do i -- >> i know. >> we're friends. do i hug? i have to be more careful, even including whether i sit down next to somebody and not invited to sit down. so that's my responsibility. i have to be more aware and it's totally legitimate for someone not to have to say, no, no, don't get in my private space. it's my job. it's my job to read that no, no, this is space that no one wants me to invade. >> yes, okay. >> but anyway, i think it's legitimate and i think it is, and to -- but i don't think anyone's ever said that i invade their space, in a way that was designed to do something other than making them feel uncomfortable but not harassment. >> nancy pelosi wants to you say "i'm sorry yi invaded your spac. request >> i'm sorry i invaded your space and sorry this happened, but not sorry in the sense that i think i did anything that was intentionally designed to do anything wrong or be inappropriate. >> the body language there, again, he believes, i had no ill intent, but that's not, that's about him. he's not processing there's someone else -- >> in the equation. he sounds very flippant about it, "so i invaded your space." where this is a problem, biden is trying to run a campaign saying i can win back the states that clinton lost. i can win in ohio, and in michigan, and these answers may be okay to other men, but to the core constituency, the democratic base, which is women of color, which is black female voters who consistently turn out for democrats, they're not okay with his answers, and this is where he could have trouble in states like south carolina, or other early primary states like nevada, where women of color are actually starting to pay more attention to candidates like warren and harris. >> i keep on going back, i think i was sitting here when he gave that speech to a group of union folks and he made a joke about this, and there is this sense that he is, he's as you said, laura, not listening and at the end of the day, it's like time is passing us by, guys. he feels like, he doesn't feel like he did anything wrong, and it does feel like he's got to be careful about saying the same thing to everybody on this campaign, because joe biden is known for kind of speaking off the cuff. can he keep -- i want to know if he can keep that sort of the first part of that answer consistent. >> i just, to me, it's interesting, and often the way things are processed in washington, are different from the way they're processed out in the country, so let's see what happens. that is an important point to make. go back to obama can't beat hillary, trump can't win the republican nomination, trump can't be president so let's be careful. in a sense he knows this is his last chance to become. of the united states, whether it's inappropriate space or touching, the anita hill, other issues he'll be asked about. he knows the quicker he can move past these, if you're explaining in politics, you're losing. my question is, was he as prepared for that session, a friendly session, as he should have been? >> i think one of the questions i have in watching that, and frankly seeing the video he put out related to it a couple weeks ago, is this part of the strategy, to your earlier point of the broader country, the states that he thinks he's strong in the constituency he thinks can he win in, not unlike the comment when he was asked about progressives and is he progressive enough. i'm in my own lane. these are the people i'm reaching out to and that's the way i think i can win. i don't feel i have to compete on the far left, i don't feel like i have to compete with some of the democrats in this campaign that are going in policy directions i'm not willing to go to. this is where he is and he believes this is how he turns the page on this issue and moves forward. the reality is based on "the view" interview he just had, he'll be asked about this day to after day after day after day, does he change this answer or get this behind him and get into his campaign? >> if he could prove that right by winning or doing well, that changes the conversation. nobody votes for nine months. to your point, when he does these town halls, when he does more interviews, when he goes into these states, 50% in some states 60% more of the democratic voters are women in many states, a lot of women of color as well. that's my question, in this time, which is one of the reasons he waited so long to get into the race. another issue is, he was vice president for eight years, barack obama. president obama is saying it's a presidential tradition, i'm not getting involved in the primaries. joe biden asked earlier today wouldn't you like to have your former boss on your side? >> i didn't want it to look like he was putting his thumb on the scale here. and that you know, i'm going to do this based on who i am, not by the president going out and trying to say this is the guy you should be with. so that's why i asked them not to. >> hmm. >> he wasn't going to, is my understanding, that he made it clear especially early. he has not ruled out president obama has not ruled out getting involved later. he just thought with 20 candidates in the race, that it was best for him to stay back and let the party have this debate. do you want me to care for all or fix obamacare, the green new deal or joe biden and a known figure or a tony harris or a john delaney or pete buttigieg and a new face? the president thought stay back. i get you want to be like we're buds, and they are, but i asked him not to. >> not only what you said, good spin for president obama, that's good spin for vice president biden. the president is going to stand back. this is up to the voters and we're going to have a robust debate here. if the base of the party, as laura mentioned before, is minority candidates, excuse me, minority voters, black women, biden is hinting he didn't really want obama's help. i can't imagine that that sounds, that rings right with anyone who his previous answers here on whether or not he was inappropriately handling invading space, you know, is not resonating either. the thing to watch with biden i think is the earlier point about his authenticity. the best thing about biden is him connecting to voters. the risk here is the career politician trying to explain away everything, as you mentioned, if you're explaining you're losing and so far, there's been a lot of explaining from joe biden in this past hour. >> we'll watch as this continues again, it's day two. up next, the president taking a victory lap after some very good economic news. >> we're knocking it out of the park, as they say, and we're very happy about that. t 24/7 me. kind of like how you get 24/7 access to licensed agents with geico. hmm? 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( ♪ ) only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol®. for fast pdid you know you can save money by using dish soap to clean grease on more than dishes? using multiple cleaners on grease can be expensive, and sometimes ineffective. for better value, tackle grease with dawn ultra. dawn is for more than just dishes. it provides 3x more grease cleaning power per drop, which cuts through tough kitchen messes, pre-treats laundry stains, and even tackles grease build-up on car rims. tackle tough greasy messes around your home, and save money with dawn ultra. brand power. helping you better. stronger than expected economic numbers today and the president is in a mood to celebrate. he spoke at the white house. he spoke again before boarding air force one at joint base andrews and spoke yet again just moments ago in indianapolis. >> our economy is now the hottest anywhere on the planet earth. just this morning, we learned that the gdp smashed expectations with the economy growing at an annual rate of 3.2% in the first quarter, always the worst quarter, for whatever reason. >> here's what made the president happy. you see the numbers, here the commerce department says this morning the president's right. the economy grew at an annual rate of 3.2% in the first three months of the year, a number that was better than expected, and it continues as you watch it stretch out over the last couple years, a stretch of decent to strong growth in the wake of the big republican tax cut. the new gdp number fueled by increases in consumer spending, business investment, exports, and state and local government spending. 3% growth rate would be a gift for the president's re-election campaign but can it be sustained in that's the question. ana swanson of the "new york times" joins our conversation. the president has every reason to be happy. there are if you dig deeper some warning signs plus the big trade negotiations. what is the longer term outlook? >> that's right, it is a good number. if you look under the hood, there are some reasons to be a little more cautious. you did see some short term factors that are really inflating growth in the quarter, including businesses stocking up on inventories. you saw a drop in imports, but you know and i know that the president doesn't really care about the details. he's going to look to that headline number, which is strong, and he's going to run with it. >> the question is what happens if the second quarter drops? this is the risk, web you get on the news is great car, sometimes it becomes a roller coaster. >> it's always the danger of economic experience, why you don't hear a lot of presidents or top government officials talking about the stock market which this president has kind of thrown that norm out of the window, which is good reason. the stock market is great, a dip a couple months ago and is back in record territory and to your earlier point, if you go across the top line, keeping a scorecard, the top line numbers the president would want to care about, the economy looks very, very good right now. that being said, including some of the factors you pointed out, there's long been the expectation that given the length of the bull market, given the length of where things are right now, that at some point, it's going to not be as great as it is right now. i think the danger is that happens over the course of the next six to nine months. >> the president of the united states has the right to say the united states is the envy of the world. growth in japan 0.5%, and the 3% for the united states looks great. we live in a globalized economy. we live in a shrinking world. do those bad numbers around the world eventually pull back on us, because so much of the u.s. economy is dependent on global trade? >> i think they have to. the u.s. does look like a bright spot in the global economy right now, but you know, economists are expecting growth to slow later this year. the president is probably not going to hit that 3% growth target that he's been talking about. economists see that as unrealistic. he could, however, hit something more like 2.5%, which really isn't that bad, given how long the economy has been growing. by the time we get to july, this is going to be the longest economic expansion on record, and that's something that voters know. they can feel. >> do voters know it enough? let's take the point of the economics into the politics of this. the longest economic expansion on record, is pretty good. an unemployment rate below 4%. that's pretty good. if you look at the trump map in most of those states, pennsylvania has the lowest unemployment rate it's ever had, for example. here is brendan buck, used to work for speaker ryan. "the economy is an important issue for him because it allows him to break out of his base, and there aren't a lot of those for him. trump has incredible ability to focus attention. he could set the conversation you are feeling better than you were. to get that message to break through you have to be relentless and disciplined" a polite way of say you should be tweeting about that, not about mueller and the witch hunt and don mcgahn. the president talked about it three times today but has a history of talking about the reports right after they come out and then going back more into his, instead of trying to tell a good story, telling an angry story. >> have to change our expectations here of what it means to stay on message particularly for this president. i do think it's a little bit of yes and no here, but mostly yes, when it's about trump, when it's about himself and about what he perceives as his accomplishments, he's very good at staying on message, but the note piece of that, what you were alluding to. there will be blips along the way, tweets that have the campaign scratching their heads, not unlike a few weeks ago, trump's interest in recalibrating health care that left everyone wondering what was going on. but it will always come back to trump and it will always come back to trump for the economy. the risk there is if things start to take a downturn a little bit, and what he says then, but we know what he'll say then, blame powell at the fed, he'll blame democrats for not passing his trade deals fast enough. there will be plenty of targets for trump along the way. >> there's a bit of a larger picture, where is the money going. where are wages at. where are health care costs at, and that's something that democrats went on last cycle, health care, and it's still, i was just on the campaign trail and again, i know i mentioned this a lot, but so many voters are talking about health care still, and they want to see movement on that, on prescription drug prices. so that's a winning issue possibly for democrats. >> challenge for the president to stay focused on the good but challenge for the democrats to figure out where the weakness is, if you get out of a president as a relatively strong economy. up next, new details on the 2016 russian hacking. if you dig deep into the mueller report it's more local than originally thought. now at t-mobile buy any samsung galaxy s10 and get a galaxy s10e free! dad, it's fine. we have allstate. and with claimrateguard they won't raise your rates just because of a claim. that's why you're my favorite... i know. are you in good hands? there's brushing...and there's oral-b power brushing. oral-b just cleans better. even my hygienist said going electric could lead to way cleaner teeth. and unlike sonicare, oral-b is the first electric toothbrush brand accepted by the ada. oral-b. brush like a pro. ♪ corey is living with metastatic breast cancer, which is breast cancer that has spread to other parts of her body. she's also taking prescription ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor, which is for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive her2- metastatic breast cancer as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole was significantly more effective at delaying disease progression versus letrozole. patients taking ibrance can develop low white blood cell counts, which may cause serious infections that can lead to death. before taking ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection, liver or kidney problems, are pregnant, breastfeeding, or plan to become pregnant. common side effects include low red blood cell and low platelet counts, infections, tiredness, nausea, sore mouth, abnormalities in liver blood tests, diarrhea, hair thinning or loss, vomiting, rash, and loss of appetite. corey calls it her new normal because a lot has changed, but a lot hasn't. ask your doctor about ibrance. the #1 prescribed fda-approved oral combination treatment for hr+/her2- mbc. i'm workin♪ to make each day a little sweeter. oral combination treatment to give every idea the perfect soundtrack. ♪ to fill your world with fun. ♪ to share my culture with my community. ♪ to make each journey more elegant. ♪ i'm working for all the adventure two wheels can bring. ♪ at adp we're designing a better way to work, so you can achieve what you're working for. topping our political radar today, maria boutinha sentenced to 18 months in prison for promoting russian interests before and after the 2016 presidential election. the federal judge said "this was no simple misunderstanding by an overeager foreign student" and said butina's conduct was "sophisticated and penetrated deep into political organizations. "she said she regretted her decisions and asked for forgiveness. the mueller report claims russian hackers compromised one florida county in the lead up to the 2016 vote. dan mccray an adviser verified voting telling cnn mueller knows more than the rest of us so we can assume the report is correct even if we don't know which county. sources tell cnn the homeland security department's request for more troops at the southern border is now at the pentagon. acting secretary of defense patrick shanahan has yet to sign off. some requests from dhs have been denied in the past. currently 3,000 active duty troops and 2,000 national guard personnel deployed in support of border security. president trump weighing in on the recent measles outbreak across the united states. he says parents must vac nate their children against the disease. >> reporter: what do you tell parents about getting their kids max nated. me sayasles on the measles. >> they have to get the shot. the vaccinations are so important. this is really going around now. they have to get their shots. >> that's a big switch from a few years ago. here is the president in a 2020 tweet, "massive combined innoculations to small children is the cause for a big increase in autism." to be clear, the centers for disease control declared there is no link between vaccines and auti autism. when we come back, the president out on the road. a group that helped him in 2016, the national rifle association, the president speaking at their big meeting right now. g. a product of mastery. lease the 2019 es 350 for $389 a month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. president trump speaking this hour, you see it right there, the national rifle association's leadership forum, in indianapolis. a little bit of old-fashioned red meat to the republican base. >> i'm a champion for the second amendment, and so are you. it's not going anywhere. it's under assault. it's under assault, but not when we're here. not even close. >> president banking on big help from the nra in 2020. you see the numbers from 2016. that's big league money, $30.3 million the nra spent on behalf of president trump. tax filings show the group's revenue down. the nra is outspent by gun control groups in the 2018 midterms. the organization's internal problems pose a bigger question to the president, can a wounded nra help him again in 2020? how big? there have been the story written before is the nra, is it on the verge of decline, disappearing, losing its relevance? the nra survived every cycle of that story so far. are we at a point, is it a fair question? is it a weaker organization than it was, when it was important to the president? >> slightly, i think. if only because of some of the results. trump's going to campaign like he's doingcampaigning on gun la his accomplishments are doing anything to affect the status quo. in other parts of the country we've seen a little bit of a chipping away, including a place called florida, not only a major battleground butlogical grou re zero for a lot of the nra loosening of gun laws over the last few decades. it was a republican legislate your, senator scott had major backing from the nra. there are opening signs the nra maybe isn't quite as strong but that's not going to matter for president trump. he campaigns just the same way and the same sort of tones that the nra does, and this is, i mean he said it here today. democrats are trying to disarm you, immediately followed by a statement saying, so you need to go out and vote. it's not subtle here for them or him, and just to motivate those base voters. >> they are less important when there's a republican president, because they don't have to work as hard, frankly. aside from trump banning bump stocks, which i mean, it is the most major gun legislation or gun action that's happened in quite a while. you see them weaken in these kind of administrations. that said, can they bounce back is an open question, because there is gun violence is going to be a big issue in 2020, and -- >> the democrats are much more open about making it an issue than in past presidential campaigns. >> that's an interesting point. the two house democrat bills on background checks universally. the party is not afraid to campaign on this and not afraid to campaign in districts they flipped from red to blue. that is a shift but i also think, thinking the nra prowess and power defined by campaign contributions is misunderstanding. when you talk to members from the district, the nra's message is what resonates, so it's a little bit different in '16, they spent so much money on president trump but more the nra's message and approval than it is in a lot of these districts and states than it is whether or not they're going to drop a check for you. >> i think it is relevant now that the gun safety groups, the anti-gun groups have some money behind it. >> real money, more money. >> when democrats or republicans that weren't as pro-gun when out on a limb, they were on their own. now they have money behind them. >> michael bloomberg decided to stay on the sidelines and said he'll spend more money. we have birthday wishes, first lady melania trump turns 49 today. the president from his official potus account retweeted these well wishes first on the official white house twitter account, the president tweets personal account but happy birthday to the first lady. we'll be right back. let's see, aleve is proven better on pain than tylenol extra strength. and last longer with fewer pills. so why am i still thinking about this? 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[ cheers and applause ] and i didn't need a gun for that one, did i? >> that's the president, just moments ago a dressing the nra in indianapolis, a fact check machine back at work, the coup theme again doesn't square up with all the facts but it's a theme the president likes. take a listen last night on fox news talking to sean hannity. he brought up fox network reporting on text messages between preeter strzok and lisa page, hannity says it shows they were discussing recruiting people in the trump administration, they could "develop potential relationships." >> this was a coup. this was an attempted overthrow of the united states government. the biggest problem with the mueller report, he didn't mention any of this. he didn't mention strzok and page and mccabe and comey and the lies and the leaks and the overthrow. the iq report coming out in three or four weeks, from what i hear, is going to be and should be, and almost has to be a blockbuster, because he has access to information that most people don't. >> we'll see if the ig report tracks the president's prediction. fox's own report notes it's unclear from the text messages if it might have been an effort to build a bridge with the new administration, but, but coup. coup? >> no. there is not a coup, not an overthrow. the mueller report, now that we've seen much more of it, does not look good for trump. it doesn't square with what barr wrote, what ag barr wrote. there were open massive open questions about obstruction, which it looked like mueller was trying to tell congress, this is something that you guys should pick up, and look into, and determine yourselves with your investigations whether or not this requires further action. >> and among those examples of potential obstruction, detailed under oath, a dozen people or more from inside the trump administration, under oath, aides to the president, no the angry democrats, saying among them, don mcgahn, the president called him and said get rod rosenstein deputy attorney general and get rid of mueller. the president this morning saying it didn't happen. >> i never told don mcgahn to fire mueller. if i wanted to fire mueller, i would have done it myself. it's very simple. i had the right to, and frankly, whether i did or he did, we had the absolute right to fire mueller. in the meantime, i didn't do it. i'm a student of history. i see what you get when you fire people, and it's not good. >> does he mean recent history, if you fire comey you get a special counsel investigation or deeper history? i digress. >> got to be careful there trying to interpret what he's saying but in one sense, he is giving credence to the mueller report that he told mcgahn to fi fire, in the mueller investigation, because he's saying he doesn't want to do it, and that would kind of square with the idea he wanted someone else to do it, to inoculate himself. there is a sweet spot. democrats and republicans say there is a sweet spot for trump and the mueller report here. there say certain segment of americans who are, have had enough with the russian investigation, that it's been difficult to follow, doesn't affect their pocketbook and -- >> they don't include the president, because he has to keep tweeting about don mcgahn. he's not done. >> how far are you going to go? in another part of that departure this morning, the report as a ruling saying there was no collusion, and no obstruction. that's not correct. he's showing this morning that he is capable of taking this too far. >> i this i this is one of the reasons that they're going to fight tooth and nail to get don mcgahn from testifying to congress. they know the optics of that. a lot of people won't read the mueller report. it's easier to see what happened when someone's talking about it on television. >> don mcgahn will be under oath as he was before the special counsel. don mcgahn stands by his story, not one, correct me if i'm wrong, not one of the many trump administration officials including those close to the president have come forward to say the damning things they said in the report are not true. not one? >> not one. >> that's why the president wants to change the subject. thanks for joining us for "inside politics" today. hope to see you sunday morning. brianna keilar starts right now. have a great afternoon. >> i'm brianna keilar, live from cnn's washington headquarters, under way right now, from anita hill to personal space to his age, joe biden's apology tour gets another stop. president trump defending against biden's criticism of his charlottesville remarks saying general robert e. lee was one of the greats and saying biden makes him look young. america's economy smashing expectations in the first quarter, hear why. and uproar after a judge orders the release of a coast guard officer who plotted terror against celebrities and had an arsenal for