at today's sessions hearing. >> the equivalent of being made to go to the back of the bus. >> major holes in tillerson's sanctuary. >> were we lobbying before or against? >> i'm a germaphobe, believe me. >> when "all in" starts right now. good evening from new york, i'm chris hayes. there are just nine days until donald trump becomes president of the united states. today we were inundated with news, much of it disturbing, about what to expect when he takes office. in fact there was so much news today it is, frankly, impossible for us to fully cover what we saw and heard, which may well have been the point. we are going to aggressively cover the issues we have deemed most important and they are big ones. among them, the president-elect evoking nazi germany to characterize u.s. intelligence agencies, offering kind words to the russians who the intelligence community believe hacked the dnc and clinton campaign. trump's secretary of state pick exxonmobil ceo rex tillerson possibly lying under oath at his confirmation hearing about exxonmobil lobbying against russian sanctions and an impassioned and unprecedented plea from a sitting senator, cory booker, to reject trump's attorney general nominee senator jeff sessions over his record on civil rights. but we begin with the story we believe to be most important at this pivotal moment and what this day with as about. the nearly incomprehensible set of conflicts of interest that result from refusing to relinquish ownership of a multibillion dollar organizations that is engaged with businesses and countries around the world, the full scope of which we still don't know. that's because trump refuses to release his tax returns. >> well, i'm not showing tax returns, as you know, they're under audit. >> reporter: every president since the '70s has had an irs. >> i've never heard that. you know, the only ones who care about my tax returns are the prevented from doing so so there is no way of knowing whether they were genuine documents or just phony visual aids like the supposed trump steaks that trump showed off last march which turned out to have been purchased from a south florida meat company and still had the labels on them to prove it. to explain the steps he took, trump brought to the stage attorney sheri dillon whose lau firm won the 2016 law firm of the year. she said trump is not liquidating his assets because doing so could lead to "unreasonable losses" for trump and this is simply too high a burden. >> the approach we've outlined today will avoid potential conflicts of interest or concerns regarding exploitation of the office of the presidency without imposing unnecessary and unreasonable losses on the president-elect and his family. >> that position prompted this response from the head of the office of government ethics independent trustee as oge has advised him to do. he did not deal with his emoluments clause problems, the unconstitutional flows of funds and other benefits from foreign governments and their agents. what he announced with his children is more like an ethics sieve, full of holes. so he gets "f" across the board. >> i should say that walter shaub gave a remarkable speech, we exerted some of it. he basically agreed with you, norm, this is not my area of expertise. mr. painter, what about the argument that was made explicitly by the president-elect's lawyer that forcing divestiture would essentially cost the president-elect too much money. that it would be too painful, too large, to unreasonable a financial sacrifice? >> well, in the bush administration as the chief ethics lawyer i worked with a lot of incoming cabinet officials who sold off assets and left money on the table, stock options and other money, and, yes, it cost them money to enter public service. i took a substantial pay cut to go work in the white house. that's what public service is all about. i am thrilled to have a president who has friends all over the world who will offer him $2 billion and so forth, that's great, but that's got to stop as of january 20. he's got to focus on being president and this is -- business is worth a lot to him but i'm sure he could sell it off for a couple of million dollars which is plenty of money for him, but this government everyday spends more money than that business is probably worth and he is in charge of it as president of the united states. he's got to focus on his job and walter shaub's job at the office of government ethics is to advise government officials including the president on complying with a conflict of interest standard and walter is exactly right. there has been a political war against the office of government ethics this week conducted by super pacs and against walter in particular, trying to line him up for getting fired by the president or something like that and i have said this at the brookings institution this afternoon. if there's a saturday night massacre aatoge, we won't stand for that in the united states and we won't stand for a president who would tolerate that. this is an independent agency that implements ethics laws in the executive branch. walter shaub has a job to do and he is doing it and it's time for the president to focus on his job and to divest for those business enterprises instead of attacking the office of government ethics. >> i should note the saturday night massacre a reference to the attempted firing of key department of justice officials by richard nixon which essentially was the end of the end. >> well, they did fire them, they got down to robert bourque who would take care of the job for them. but that's not going to happen and we won't let that happen in this administration unless president trump wants to go the sa way nixon went. >> those are strong words and i want to talk about -- i'll let you -- you gentlemen referred to as a constitutional crisis, which you, ambassador, referred to. it bans emoluments for american officials. sheri dillon issued kind of fro from the bench her constitutional ruling, quite clear about what is and is not an an emolument. here's what she had to say. >> since president-elect trump some people want to define emoluments to cover routine business transactions like paying for hotel rooms. they prevent what the president-elect isn't aware of. these people are wrong. >> you're wrong ambassador is that correct? >> like many of her client's tweets and statements, it's tolly incorrect. the emoluments clause, it's a fancy 18th century word. all it's intended to say is that presidents of the united states cannot get cash and other benefits from foreign governments and you can understand why that would be a coern, how cane know if somebody's getting these $2 llion offers. >> right. >> let's say that came from a foreign government. we don't know if a foreign government was involved in that or not. how can we know they're doing what's in the best interest of the united states? the founders were very concerned about that. they put this in the constitution and donald trump is allowing all of that to continue. it's absolutely shocking. >> ambassador norm eisen and richard painter, gentlemen, you have been really, really helpful in understanding and navigating all this and i thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you, chris. still to come, filmmaker michael moore with his reaction to the slights, vendettas and unanswered questions from the president-elect's first press conference. as that press conference was going on, we got our first chance to hear trump's pick for secretary of state and his somewhat inconsistent views about russia. we'll dive into the rex tillerson hearing ahead. >> let me ask you this question -- is vladimir putin a war criminal? >> i would not use that term. >> well, let me describe the situation in aleppo and perhaps that will help you reach that conclusion. (vo) maybe it was here, when you hit 300,000 miles. or here, when you walked away without a scratch. maybe it was the day your baby came home. or maybe the day you realized your baby was not a baby anymore. every subaru is built to earn your trust. because we know what you're trusting us with. subaru. kelley blue book's most trusted brand. and best overall brand. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. a body without proper footd needssupport can mean pain. the dr. scholl's kiosk maps your feet and recommends our custom fit orthotic to stabilize your foundation and relieve foot, knee or lower back pain from being on your feet. dr. scholl's. of this is the equivalent of being made to go to the back of the bus. it is a petty strategy and the record should reflect my consternation at the unprecedented process that braug us here. >> the confirmation hearing of senator jeff sessions. congressman cedric richmond had strong words for the senate judiciary committee's decision to place key testimony against sessions from members of congress at the end of today's hearing. the former chairman of the judiciary committee and ranking member senator patrick leahy said he cannot remember a time when lawmakers who testified were put at the end of the hear. among those testifying at the end of the hearing today, civil rights icon and congressman john lewis and senator cory booker who today we believe just became the first sitting senator to testify against a colleague in a confirmation hearing ever. >> if confirmed, senator sessions will be required to pursue justice for women, but his record indicates that he won't. he will be expected to defend the equal rights of gay and lesbian and transgender americans but his record indicates that he won't. he will be expected to defend voting rights but his record indicates that he won't. >> it doesn't matter how senator sessions may smile, how friendly he may be, how he may speak to you. we need someone who can stand up, speak up and speak out for the people that need help. >> joining me now, share lynn ifill. share lynn, i should be clear your organization has been a strong opponent of senator sessions. let me ask you if you saw anything in the last two days that changed your mind? >> no, i didn't see anything that changed my mind. in fact, chris, i saw several things that deepened the concerns that we expressed about senator sessions, we've been familiar with him since 1985 when lawyers at the naacp legal defense fund represented three civil rights activists, two of whom had been close friends of martin luther king who senator sessions prosecuted when he was u.s. attorney in alabama. they were acquitted but that prosecution had long-standing affects on that community in terms of intimidating black voters who were questioned by the fbi and who senator sessions allowed to be intimidated by members of his team. so we've known him and his record for a long time. what i heard yesterday was in my view what is a very cynical effort to dismiss a record of over 40 years senator sessions has been a u.s. attorney, the attorney general of alabama for about two years and then the a united states senator and in that time we've had an opportunity to see where he stands on a variety of civil rights issues. he was rejected, as you know, by the senate judiciary committee in 1986 when he sought to become a federal district judge because they found that the evidence of that prosecution and statements he was accused of making made him unsuited to be a federal district judge. yesterday he said he was wrongly characterized, you can find our report on our web site that starts looking not only from 1985 but up to this century and 2017, including during the campaign of president-elect trump where senator sessions was a close ally and was the first sitting senator to endorse president-elect trump. >> i want to talk about one specific area that i've been following myself for a book i wrote and something you and i have spoken about, which is policing. particularly because this justice department under president obama i would say, particularly in the second term, has played a muscular role in the civil rights division in patterns and practices investigations of cities from chicago to cleveland to baltimore to ferguson and consent decrees that are federal efforts to reform policing externally for localities that have proven to be unable to do that for themselves. here's what senator sessions had to say about those consent decrees today. take a listen. >> it's a difficult thing for a city to be sued by the department of justice and to be told that your police department is systematically failing to serve the people of the state or the city. so that's an august responsibility of the dow jonat general and the department of justice so they often feel forced to agree to a consent decree just to remove that stigma. >> that was obviously yesterday. what do you make of that answer? >> well, i think you have to combine it with even more testimony yesterday, the fact he was endorsed by the fraternal order of police, there was a phalanx of law enforcement there to support him yesterday and the head of the fraternal order of police testified on his behalf today and they all essentially said the same thing, and what they said and what i heard out of the mouth of senator sessions is that he intends to be a champion of local police, that he does not believe the federal government through the department of justice should be intruding in local policing matters. he said specifically he thinks that too many people, including the department, are paintin entire place departments as being engaged in unconstitutional conduct when in fact it's just a few officers, a few bad apples, something we've heard before. we he's a proponent of that view. he has been skeptical about consent decrees for many years, not just recently. but what we heard from him at this hearing makes me quite certain that senator sessions, if he is confirmed, will be taking a very different tack on policing reform. i do not expect pattern and practice investigations, i do not expect consent decree. i hope he will continue work of the cops office that works on retraining police departments but that remains to be seen. i was not encouraged by what i heard from his lips yesterday and what i heard today. as you know, local practices like in ferguson, it was the department of justice that discovered this kind of pyramid scheme that ferguson was running, it was department of justice that discovered unconstitutional policing in baltimore and we need to department of justice to be engaged in that activity. >> those patterns and practices report which is you can find on line are remarkable reading produced by that same department that the senator would be running, sherrilyn ifill, thank you for your time. >> thank you, chris. up next, nine days away from his inauguration, president-elect donald trump escalated his feud with his own intelligence agencies by -- and i'm not making this up -- comparing them to nazis. that story after the short break. just thinking about it? at red lobster's big festival of shrimp, get your perfect pair for just $15.99. choose 2 of 6 new and classic shrimp creations, like bold new firecracker red shrimp. exploding with flavor? yeah they are. or try new creamy shrimp linguini, and new sweet bourbon-brown sugar grilled shrimp. flavors like these are big. and for just $15.99, they can't last. so hurry in. so we know how to cover almost almoanything.hing, even a rodent ride-along. [dad] alright, buddy, don't forget anything! [kid] i won't, dad... [captain rod] happy tuesday morning! captain rod here. it's pretty hairy out on the interstate.traffic is literally crawling, but there is some movement on the eastside overpass. getting word of another collision. [burke] it happened. december 14th, 2015. and we covered it. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ >> trump referring to an unverified dossier containing embarrassing claims about his alleged ties to russia which was prepared by a third-party individual, not members of the intelligence community, and published not by the intelligence community but by buzzfeed news. that came after the president-elect opened his press conference with a broadside against american intelligence officials whom he blames for talking to the press. >> i want to thank a lot of the news organizations here today because they looked at that nonsense that was released by maybe the intelligence agencies, who knows but maybe the intelligence agencies which would be a tremendous blot on their record if they, in fact, did that, a tremendous blot. >> and in a particularly astonishing moment, frankly, the president-elect admitted openly to setting traps for the intelligence community in an attempt to find out whether they've been leaking about his classified briefings. >> i said maybe it's my office. maybe my office. and what i did is i said i won't tell anybody, i'm going to have a meeting and i won't tell anybody about my meeting with intelligence, nobody knew, not even ronne, my executive assistant for years. she didn't know. i didn't tell her. the meeting was had, the meeting was over, they left and immediately the word got out that i had a meeting. >> now based on the reporting over the past few weeks -- and admittedly it's a lot of anonymous sources and hard to make sense of -- it's clear at least a significant portion of the american intelligence apparatus appears to believe that the incoming president of the united states, their future boss is potentially the turned asset of a foreign adversary and at the same time that same man, the president-elect, seems to think that the intelligence apparatus is out to destroy him politically by staging a kind of soft coup. it's a recipe for a major constitutional crisis in the very near future. and the urinar. tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have a sudden decrease or loss of hearing or vision, or an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis. today for the first time. trump's response to the election hacks, the claims of ties between his inner circle and the kremlin and his general stance towards russia all make up at this point the single most controversial aspect of the president-elect's foreign policy. so it was fitting that today while trump was giving his press conference, his nominee for secretary of state, rex tillerson, was testifying in his first confirmation hearing on capitol hill. tillerson has had extensive contact with the russian government as the ceo of exxonmobil, even winning russia's order of friendship award in 2013 after making a half trillion deal with the government-owned oil company. asked about russia's role in the election, he sounded a somewhat different note than his would be boss. do you believe during the 2016 presidential campaign russia intelligence services directed a campaign of active measures involving the hacking of e-mails, the strategic leak of these e-mails, the use of internet trolls and the dissemination of fake news? >> i did read the interagency report released on january 6. that report clearly is troubling and indicates that all of the actions you just described were undertaken. >> senator bob menendez, a democrat, asked whether tillerson's responses reflect the views of the president-elect himself. >> i assume to some degree you've had some discussion about what it is that that world view is going to be in order to understand whether you're willing to execute that on behalf of the person you're going to work for. >> in a broad construct in terms of the principles that are going to guide that, yes, sir. >> i would have thought russia would be at the top of that considering the actions taking place, is that -- did that not happen? >> that has not occurred yet, senator. >> that's pretty amazing. >> senator menendez asked tillerson about his company's history of opposing economic sanctions including those leveed against russia for its invasion of crimea. this was the response. >> first, i have never lobbied against sanctions personally. >> the company you directed did. >> to my knowledge exxon never lobbied against sanctions, not to my knowledge. >> new jersey senator bob menendez. shortly after that your colleague senator corker said "mr. tillerson i believe you called me to lobby against sanctions." later in the committee meeting you then pulled out the lobbying disclosure forms that showed exxon had filed disclosure forms to lobby on sanctions. do you believe that mr. tillerson was being deceptive with you today? >> well, he was either avoiding the truth or his management style has got to be ofoncern as he seeks to head one of the biggest departments of the federal government, the state department, not only with its operations here but across the world. it's impossible to almost believe that you could spend and direct millions of dollars in bobbying activities as those reports that i submitted for the record show and not know that was happening and not know they were lobbying against sanctions. the second thing he said to me when i presented the evidence, he said to me "well, it doesn't say whether we were lobbying for or against." in what world would he have lobbied for sanctions that would have hurt the bottom line of his company? so it clearly was at least not transparent and worrisome because if he really didn't know, how do you operate a large institution like the state department and what's your management style? >> he also -- exxonmobil responded saying let's be clear, we engaged with lawmakers to discuss sanction impacts, not whether or not sanctions should be opposed although that strikes me as a distinction without a difference if you come to a member's office and say "this is going to hurt our bottom line" you don't have to say "that's why you should oppose it." >> absolutely. mr. tillerson said it was to seek information and guidance. well, you don't have to have a lobby disclosure form in order to seek information or guidance. you have a lobby disclosure form because you are taking a specific position for or against a specific piece of legislation or regulatory action. that thing about getting information is not tenable because you don't need to do that to file a disclosure form. they were clearly lobbying against sanctions on iran, russia and other iterations of those sanction regimes. >> so was this fundamentally deceptive? i asked at the beginning but he says he never personally lobbied then you have your colleague saying "you called me." do you feel the answers he gave today were forthcoming and truthful? >> no, i have serious questions as to what he answered. on the whole sanctions regime, which is part of our limited arsenal of peaceful diplomacy tools so you don't have to go to war over disputes, he had it all over the place. he has a history of lobbying against it to exxonmobil then he says they can be powerful -- a powerful tool. and when i asked him today, without specifying with sanctions, do you not believe on the face of everything russia has done including trying to affect our own national presidential elections that additional sanctions should be called for and he wouldn't commit to that. so i have a real concern as to where he stands as it relates to that and other issues. >> all right, senator bob menendez, thank you for your time, appreciate it. >> thank you. still to come, today's press conference served as a stark reminder of the temperament of the incoming president. i'll talk about it with michael moore ahead. plus, a truly, truly bizarre thing 1, thing 2 that you have to see after this break. 90% of the world's largest supercomputers run on intel? that means you can take a universe of data - in your case literally - and turn it into medical discoveries, diagnostic breakthroughs... ...proof that black holes collapse into one singularity. i don't know what that is. but yes. innovation runs on supercomputers... ...and supercomputers run on intel. you are super smart. and super busy. ♪ ooh! ufo! false alarm, eyelash! has been a struggle. i considered all my options with my doctor, who recommended once-daily toujeo®. now i'm on the path to better blood sugar control. toujeo® is a long-acting insulin from the makers of lantus®. it releases slowly, providing consistent insulin levels for a full 24 hours, proven full 24-hour blood sugar control, and significant a1c reduction. and along with toujeo®, i'm eating better and moving more. toujeo® is a long-acting, man-made insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. it contains 3 times as much insulin in 1 milliliter as standard insulin. don't use toujeo® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar, or if you're allergic to insulin. allergic reaction may occur and may be life threatening. don't reuse needles or share insulin pens, even if the needle has been changed. the most common side effect is low blood sugar, which can be serious and life threatening. it may cause shaking, sweating, fast heartbeat, and blurred vision. check your blood sugar levels daily while using toujeo®. injection site reactions may occur. don't change your dose or type of insulin without talking to your doctor. tell your doctor if you take other medicines and about all your medical conditions. insulins, including toujeo®, in combination with tzds (thiazolidinediones) may cause serious side effects like heart failure that can lead to death, even if you've never had heart failure before. don't dilute or mix toujeo® with other insulins or solutions as it may not work as intended and you may lose blood sugar control, which could be serious. toujeo® helps me stay on track with my blood sugar. ask your doctor about toujeo®. daddy! lets play! sorry kids. feeling dead on your feet? i've been on my feet all day. dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles have a unique gel wave design for outrageous comfort that helps you feel more energized. dr. scholl's. feel the energy! thing 1 tonight, the ongoing saga of the capital hill art heist. for 35 years, the house has sponsored a nationwide art competition for high school students in which a winner from each district has their work displayed in the capitol for an entire year. this painting is one of hundreds of winners from 2016 done by a high schooler in missouri who lives just miles away from ferguson where michael brown was fatally shot in 2014. as you can see, the painting depicts several figures as fferenanimals, a police officer who appears to be a warthog is aiming a gun at another figure who appears to be a wolf. a second officer depicted with unspecified animal-like figures. that painting has been stolen three times in six days, leading one congressman to seek charges for theft against one of his colleagues and another to say "we may just have to kick shall be's ass." we'll tell you who's behind the heist in 60 seconds. just like the people who own them, every business is different. but every one of those businesses will need legal help as they age and grow. whether it be help starting your business, vendor contracts or employment agreements. legalzoom's network of attorneys can help you every step of the way so you can focus on what you do. we'll handle the legal stuff that comes up along the way. legalzoom. legal help is here. stimulan you know how your you might be surprised. stimulant laxatives make your body go by forcefully stimulating the nerves in your colon. miralax is different. it works with the water in your body to hydrate and soften, unblocking your system naturally. miralax. a high school student's painting has been stolen from the halls of the capital three times in less than a week. who's responsible? well, four republican united states congressmen so far. last fridayepresentative duncan hunter of california was the first to snatch the painting, falsely claiming it depicts police officers as pigs and returning it to the office of missouri congressman lacey clay who represents the artist's district. yesterday morning representative clay and fellow members of the congressional black caucus returned the painting to its rightful place. clay even asked capital police to press charges against hunter but they declined. later tuesday, doug lam born was the second republican congress to just take the painting down with no authorization and, again, congressman clay had it returned to the gallery wall. before the end of the day, congressman dana or arohrabached brian ban bin removed it for a third time. as of this evening, the painting is back up but the fight continues. congressional republican staffer "making it a top priority" to request a review from the capital architect on whether the painting should be removed. and speaker paul ryan told members he will try to take it down to which congress a.m. black caucus chair cedric richmond responded "if this is something speaker ryan thinks is one of his priorities in a new congress, to pick on an 18-year-old art student who only depict what is he sees in his community, then i just think that's sad." ritis, and you're talking to your doctor about your medication... this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further damage. this is humira helping me go further. humira works for many adults. it targets and helps to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. humira has been clinically studied for over 18 years. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ready for a new chapter? talk to your rheumatologist. this is humira at work. lindsey graham. i've been competing with him for a long time. he's going to crack that 1% barrier one day. i didn't realize lindsey graham's still at it. >> president-elect donald trump's performance in today's press conference served as a stark reminder he is still the same person he was during the election. as trump stands poised to become the president of the united states entering office with a 37% approval rating, he still seems most comfortable pursuing vendettas, responsing to slights and engaging to outright intimidation. while the president-elect couldn't resist a jab at former enemies like senator lindsey graham today, most of his it have -- vitriol was reserved for the people in the room. >> most of the media outlets are fake news. i could name them, but i won't bother. you have a few sitting in front of us. as far as buzzfeed which is a failing pile of garbage writing it, i think they'll suffer the consequences. they already are. i'm not showing tax returns, they're under audit. >> reporter: every president since the '70s has had an audit. >> reporter: since you're attacking us, can you give us a question? mr. president-elect, since you are attacking -- >> not you. not you. >> reporter: can you give us a chance? >> your organization is terrible. i'm not going to give you a question, i i can you state categorically -- >> you are fake news. >> that man -- not the man sitting down, the man standing up, is about to become the most powerful person in the world. i will ask filmmaker michael moore what that means for our democracy next. ♪ don't let the food you eat during the day haunt you at night. nexium 24hr... shuts down your stomach's active acid pumps... to stop the burn of frequent heartburn... all day and night. have we seen them before? banish the burn with nexium 24hr. we're not professional liathletes... ...but that doesn't mean we're giving up. i'm in this for me. for me. along with diet and exercise, farxiga helps lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. lowering a1c by up to 1.2 points. do not take if allergic to farxiga. if you experience symptoms of a serious allergic reaction such as rash,... ...swelling, difficulty breathing or swallowing,... ...stop taking and seek medical help right away. do not take farxiga if you have severe kidney problems,... ...are on dialysis, or have bladder cancer. tell you doctor right away if you have blood or red color in your urine,... ...or pain while you urinate. farxiga can cause serious side effects including dehydration, genital yeast infections in women and men, serious urinary tract infections, low blood sugar, and kidney problems. stop taking farxiga and call your doctor right away... ...if you have signs of ketoacidosis... ...which is serious and may lead to death. i'm in this for my family. i'm in this for me. ask your doctor about farxiga... ...and learn how you can get it for free. so we know how to cover almost alanything.ything, even mer-mutts. (1940s aqua music) (burke) and we covered it, february third, twenty-sixteen. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ for patients like lynn, advanced genomic testing may lead to other treatment options that can work. learn how genomic testing is changing the way we fight cancer at cancercenter.com/genomics >> well, first of all, i'll speak as a director, then, as a film director. it was a masterful performance, he owned the room, he owned the day, this should be very distressing to everyone. >> you think it was politically effective today? >> absolutely. especially for he and his side. >> as showmanship? >> as such -- i did this in my hold. take those same words you just showed "you are fake news." put those words in nixon's mouth, it would have sounded like the paranoid that nixon was. put those words in george w. bush's mouth, you know, it would have sounded defensive like a little boy. this guy pulls that off and he pulls it off over and over and over again and confuses the situation with so much -- you don't know -- we don't have enough time here to deal with everything that was said and done but speaking as a director, once again, the props, the trump steaks were replaced by file folders that -- by the way, i don't know if this has been reported, they wouldn't let the reporters -- >> we did. one of our own reporters tried to look. >> yeah, because of course somebody went to staples and hour earlier. >> i don't know but that certainly is plausible. >> creatined this problem that looks like a law student's dorm room, you know? it really -- >> it's like obviously we've thought this through and obviously we've addressed the conflict of interest, just look at how many sheets of paper there are. >> just look at all this paper in an era where none of this is really on paper. so this is where now after this -- what happened today the threat against cnn and nbc has suffered the same sort of threat before. >> he attacked our reporter katy tur on multiples on occasions. >> absolutely. so now it's critical that the media do its job and do not be afraid, do not back down, do not try to -- because buzzfeed screwed up in some way because of the michael cohen thing, don't now not do your job because this clearly was something that wasn't vetted. >> so here's my -- you're referring to that dossier which circulated, published by buzzfeed that contained a bunch of unverified and possibly unverifiable, frankly, outlandish and lurid accusations. you could tell from the first moment that in a smart tactical sense they were going to attack the weakest point so that was distinct from the cnn report, right? but he conflate it had two very wisely, i thought, to attack them both and -- >> correct. and the main story, really, if you're a serious journalist, isn't the salacious prostitute stuff. it's the second point which is was there collusion between the trump campaign and any russians during the campaign? that's worthy of the investigation that apparently the fbi and others are doing right now. >> we should note jim acosta -- that was the question he was asking, can you state categorically it was dodged. acosta then said afterwards someone from abc asked that and the president-elect said no so i want to enter that in the record. here's my question to you. i have watched this play out in the transition period and what i've noticed is this. donald trump ultimately became president-elect i think because he was able to profit off a forced choice between himself and hillary clinton and hick because of 30 years in the public eye because of different factors, he was able to say you may not like me but it's me or her. it strikes me he has replaced hillary clinton with the media. he is now running against the media. >> the scary part of that analogy is you have hillary who won but because of the democrats and who they are and the way they are she lost. >> well, she didn't win in the sense that she did not win the 270 electoral votes necessary to become president. >> well, let me put it a different way. if donald trump had won by three million popular votes -- >> things would have played out differently. >> what would be going on right now? >> i agree. >> in fact, he laid the ground work for it. >> correct. >> so play that out. so when you say the press has to be uncowed and i agree with you, my own personal perspective on this, they have to focus as much as possible which is very difficult to do, very difficult to do. >> yes, right because you're dealing with somebody with certain issues, we'll call it that just to -- >> who likes to pick a million fights. >> and says a million crazy things. he will in one moment say he believes russia did hack into the dnc and literally less than a minute later -- >> say i don't know. >> maybe not, maybe it was some other country. fortunately the 400 pound guy sitting on the bed has been left out of the discussion but it could be other countries. it could be other countries. so this is crazy time but it's so important. we're laughing about this but the media. >> they said this story has been floating around, did you hear it? >> i had heard word of it. i didn't read the dossier. but what i had read was david corn's piece based off this dossier. in terms of the first order of questions, i think you don't publish that dossier, that's my own personal feeling because you have to verify stuff that you publish. that's my feeling. >> no, that's correct. >> thank you. >> and as someone who -- i myself have had buzzfeed print things about me that aren't true so i -- >> now you're sounding trumpish. >> well, no, it's just the truth that this is where this is going to be the undoing of the press if they don't do what you just said, if that kind of serious journalism doesn't happen and and we should point out that nbc universal is an investor in buzzfeed. any time that's mentioned it should be said. >> yes. they are. so we should say here, though, that that the -- you're getting at the pay dirt here, what is the term he used? they appropriate this term, fake news. fake news is this term -- >> he's one of the founders of in the the obama era. he created the fake news of the -- >> barack obama is not a citizen. >> and he said that there was intelligence. >> that's right. he was called by a reputable source that there was intelligence. he himself was going to -- he was hiring investigators to support his fake news. he is the godfather of this deck ka -- decade's fake news. for him to say fake news -- >> well, this is a great point. as a person who launched his political career off of unverifiable and ultimately incorrect conspiratorial and frankly racist theories about the president's crypto kenyan birth and forged documents and all this stuff. >> and the fact that -- the way he deals with the sex thing is his defense is i'm a germaphobe. he just admits it publicly on tv "i'm a germaphobe." like to him that takes care of any sex -- like sex is all dirty and germy. whatever. >> well -- >> that's what he used. >> this could have never happened. >> i won't get into the weeds. >> this couldn't have happened because i'm a germaphobe and i know where they put the cameras in the hotel rooms, i have hotels. >> that was also fascinating. but the term fake news and what i found potent about that is describe this specific thing that happened during the election, you see it all the time, in your facebook feed, denzel washington endorses donald trump. that's jus not a true thing and the people that wrote that know it's not true. it's not even that important, frankly, but not true. >> he even tweeted -- i put out a movie against him called "trumpland" just before the election and he tweets "thank you, michael moore, for putting out trumpland." and it's like -- i thought at the time he sees his name in the title. it's -- to a narcissist it's always a great thing to see you name. >> to be mentioned, yeah. >> but it's just -- >> but we're through the looking glass. he has appropriated this term to say it's a judo move where it's -- it's fake news. >> this was genius today. he pulled it off now we'll see if the press decides to back down or come back at him. >> and stay on the conflict story. >> and stay on the fact that he is a founder of fake news and that's -- and when he says things like "over the weekend i was offered $2 billion." have you ever heard a president or president-elect ever say "yeah, i just got offered $2 billion." >> and i have to say, i was happy for that moment because it was news, we didn't know that and it concretized precisely the conflict problem we have been trying to illustrate on this show. michael moore, thank you. >> and thank you and let me just