responsibility for the attack. it's been good to have you with us this morning. you're not done with us. we'll see you at 10:00 eastern for an hour of "newsroom." don't go anywhere, "smerconish" starts now. i'm smithing smerconish, so it begins, 2016 a year in which we'll elect a new american president is finally here. not even the skies over the historic rose bowl were immune from the name calling yesterday. and what would happen to someone in your workplace if they sent an office e-mail like this. that's what some prosecutors and judges have done in my home state of pa where we call it it porn game. plus, this weekend, we begin to say good-bye to downton abbey. the show's creator julian

bellows will be here. but first there's an issue that i want to flag regarding the new criminal prosecution of bill cosby. remember, he's now facing prosecution in a pennsylvania case only because of new mexico that he offered in a civil case which he paid to settle. that speaks well, i think, of the civil system. his defense might be women who accuse him are in it for the money. but if he hadn't been sued by andrea constand, he'd be facing no criminal charges. here's the bigger issue, we know what we know about cosby today only because a federal judge decided that cosby is a hypocrite. that was the basis on which the judge released cosby's sealed testimony from ten years ago. the judge eduardo row breno wrote the defendant has an extension to the public has a significant interest. the judge decided because cosby

thrust himself into the town square on matters of public importance he'd surrendered his privacy. one example cited by the judge was a 2013 interview by cnn's don lemon. cosby discussed the 50th anniversary of the march on washington and today's leadership needs. he also shared his views on rehabilitating african-american juvenile delinquent. in short, cosby told people how to lead their lives. and on that basis, the judge lifted a temporary seal from ten years ago. revealed when cosby was asked by constand's lawyer whether he obtained quaaludes to use for young women with whom he wants to have sex, cosby said yes. but the civil case was settled with a confidentiality agreement. didn't stop the judge from releases the testimony to the associated press on the basis that cosby is a fraud. the judge wrote, the stark contrast between bill cosby the public moralist and bill cosby

the subject of serious allegations concerning improper and perhaps criminal conduct is a matter as to which the ap and by extension, the public, has a significant interest. arguably, had cosby stuck to comedy instead of public policy. his secret admission from a decade-old deposition would have remained hidden in a federal courthouse in philadelphia. so, will this civil testimony come into cosby's criminal trial? did the judge get it right? hadn't cosby negotiated to keep those documents secret? joining me now, two legal experts ariba martin a civil rights attorney and aprominent attorney ted simon has represented amanda knox, robert durst among them. ted simon, is the civil testimony coming into the criminal case? >> well, first, let me wish you a happy new year to you and your

audience, a happy and healthy new year. your question is an appropriate one. and i think the only answer is, we don't know. the ruling was by a federal judge in a civil case. the issue remains open in the state case so it will be an issue. by the way, with respect to judge robreno who i appeared before in many civil cases, his ruling was not limited to the hypocrisy which you pointed out. he indicated there was no final order and felt he a reduced zone of privacy based on the run said. he also didn't have the confidentiality agreement which none of us know. and further, the only parts that were unsealed were motions that in part included references to the deposition. we don't as yet have the complete deposition. even the reference you that made with respect to -- that he had

had acquired quaaludes with the intent of using it for young women also within the criminal complaint, he immediately thereafter said i misunderstood the question. i didn't mean women, but woman. and then he referenced another act that he had sex with a woman with quaaludes but there was no issue with lack of consent. so there's been much to do about the deposition. i think there's more about the hue and cry that's come out based upon the different people that have come out and made complaints. let's not forget -- >> ariba -- pardon me, ted. every case, the pretrial determinations that are made have great significance. but none like this. there are so many issues that are going to have to get resolved that i think will determine cosby's ultimate fate, do you agree? >> absolutely, i agree. michael. the one big issue is whether

those 49, 50-plus women will be allowed to testify. we know that the prosecutor in this case is going to claim that bill cosby had had an modus operandi, or m.o., that he used those drugs to take advantage of women sexually. he's going to want to parade ten or 20 of those women into the courtroom and have them testify about their interaction with cosby. whereas, cosby's team is going to want to limit any testimony from those women and have this case be just about constand. they're already saying this is a consensual relationship between two consenting adults. that's going to be a point in this case is there a signature of sort and is this judge going to allow to give testimony. >> ted simon, if you were in this case, you'd be drawing attention to the fact that she returned to his home after two prior attempts at unwanted

sexual advances or so she says? >> absolutely. i think even more importantly and something that gets lost in the negative trial publicity avalanche that happens in these high-profile cases isn't mr. cosby enjoys the presumption of innocence. that the commonwealth bearings the burden, the burden of proof. and they also have the heavy burden of proving every essential element beyond a reasonable doubt. these are very critical principles which apply here and to everyone else. with regard to your specific question, let's keep in mind, this is one person making one allegation, some 12 years ago, after there was no prompt complaint. a year later, and where a prior d.a. had said there was insufficient evidence to proceed. with respect to your question, not -- it hasn't been really mentioned, that there were two prior occasions, in the criminal complaint, where the complaining witness said that cosby made

advances, some of them fairly pronounced. and yet, despite that, she went back at least five occasions, multiple times, back to his house. went to his home in new york. >> michael can i -- >> yeah, let me say this, and ted it's absolutely right to point out that that's what the defense will rely on. reba, i want to put something on the screen at the risk of people's eyes glazing over. because i think it's of great importance. this comes from the affidavit of probable cause this is the prosecution speaking here's what they said with regard to pennsylvania law because she was fluctuating in and out of conthen us in, the victim was legally incapable of consenting to cosby's actions. the following language by the pennsylvania supreme court regarding consecretary unequivocally supports the above propositions. because the evidence supports the findings that the victim was intermittently unconscious throughout the assault and was at all relevant times in such

impaired physical and mental condition as as to be unable to knowingly consent her submission sexual fondling and penetration was involuntary. >> what we do know, michael, cosby claims he gave her benadryl. 1 1/2 tablets of benadryl. the prosecutor is saying that's a much more serious look that left her in like a paralyzed state that was incapable of giving consent. so the issue of consent and whether she was able to give consent is huge in this case. i just want to get back to what yao other panelist said, about her coming to the house and rejecting him on prior occasions. let's be clear, no means no. your prior consent doesn't have anything to do with whether you rejected someone one time before, two times before or five times before.

that's a huge issue in this case. i think we muddy the waters when we start talking about what she did in the past. because if she wasn't capable of giving consent, she just wasn't capable. >> ted simon, you've tried cases in montgomery county, pennsylvania. let's speak to this venue. i've tried civy eied criminal c you've tried civil cases there. >> what's very important here is both, the during and the afternoon. and once one looks at the before conduct, the during conduct and the after conduct, there is substantial reasonable doubt that one can see. with respect to montgomery county, it is a suburb of philadelphia. it is widely known as an upper economic suburban area. although there is also challenged economic areas. the population has changed. it's formerly was very

republican and it's probably now 8% leaning democratic. you know, there's a fair cross-section. i think it's going to be interesting to do a lot of pretrial polling. not only of the potential jurors, but of the part of the perception of the parties involved, as well as the critical issues that are involved. i mean, let's keep in mind, is this one person making one allegation on one incident. 12 years ago. without a prompt complaint. and, you know, there's a lot of questions that will be preserve. there's a lot of areas for cross-examination. and there's a lot of room for significant pretrial motion activity. why was there a delay, as well as the trial. >> areva martin, does the credibility of all 50 women now rest on the shoulders of andrea constand? >> well, yes and no. the big question is whether any of these women will be allowed in the courtroom to give their

testimony. what we do know, these women feel a sense of vindication now that the charges have been brought because this is what they've been saying all along, is that this has been the conduct of bill cosby. and they feel like this prosecutor stepping up and charging him makes it feel like their statements about him are true. but i have some questions, michael, about this prosecutor and his promises while run for office not just to stand up for victims but he made an exact promise to go after bill cosby. that doesn't sit well with me. i like the fact that he's going to be pro the victim. but to rest his whole campaign on prosecuting one guy. calls into question whether this is about fulfilling those campaigns or pursuing justice. >> it's interesting that you said is that because as kevin steele ran for office, he criticize the old d.a. bruce castor and said you should have done something. but in the same breath, he said it's this new deposition testimony that allows us to

charges cou crosby. well, castor never had access to that. thank you. coming up where hillary uses bill on the campaign trail, is his record with women now back in play? and the amazing british tv series "downton abbey" returns tomorrow night for its sixth and final season. i'll speak to its award-winning creator julien fellows, a conservative in the house of lords and his thoughts on the upcoming election. >> while i'm sure mr. trump has many merits and great skills and talents in the way he's managed his career, whether he's exactly how i would define a politician is perhaps something i don't know that i have anything useful to say on. my li'l buddy? and what if this happened again?

i was given warfarin in the hospital but i wondered if this was the right treatment for me. then my doctor told me about eliquis. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. not only does eliquis treat dvt and pe blood clots, but eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. knowing eliquis had both... turned around my thinking. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. if you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily... and it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. eliquis treats dvt & pe blood clots. plus had less major bleeding. both made switching to eliquis right for me.

ask your doctor if it's right for you.

politics. and there was no letup, as we went rolling into 2016. even new year's day football and the rose bowl game between stanford and the iowa hawkeyes wasn't immune from the name calling and social medial wars. we show you the sky writing attacking donald trump. well, carly fiorina, a stanford grad as got into the act tweeting love my alma mater but rooting for the hawkeyes to win today. that raised a ruckus in the twitter-verse causing carlie curse. lots to talk about with my political panel, bob beckel. he managed walter mondale's presidential campaign in 19 another. michelle bernard and columnist matt lewis. beckel what a rookie mistake, right? i've got some vision of a 20-something inside the carly fiorina headquarters senting out that tweet and not realizing

that's what people hate about politics? >> exactly. i would have thought a month to come up with anything like that. as if anybody in iowa believes that she really wants iowa to win. come on. it's a classic mistake. then again, she's not a very well prepared candidate. >> matt, a lot of the holiday jockeying has been between hillary clinton and donald trump. ruth marcus wrote a column. she's no conservative. she wrote a column on whether hillary has opened the door for attacks on bill for his treatments of women. and it ended this way. i want to show you the last paragraph and have you react to it. but hill ary clinton has made to moves that lead me, gulp, to agree with trump on the fair game front. she is smartly using her husband as a campaign surrogate, and multily calling trump sexist.

these moves open a dangerous door. it should surprise no one that trump has barged right through it. you agree with? >> yeah i do. the clintons play tough. i think what donald trump is doing here is quite brilliant actually. this isn't about winning the general. it's about win be the republican primary which he needs to do first to actually go after the clintons. what he's doing is sending a signal to the primary voters that he's not going to allow the left to define him. he's going to be on the offense. he's not going to be like mitt romney with the bogus women thing. kind of passive, you know. donald trump saying we will fight back. we're going on the defensive. i think it helps him in iowa, new hampshire and the republican primary state. >> i agree it helps in the primary states. i'm not sure of the propriety of it. michelle, donald trump has articulated a list of sexist

statements. and i can articulate a list. >> it's fair game on both of their parts. i don't like the propiratety of it. i agree with ruth when she opened the door when she used her husband as a speaker on her. behalf. donald trump's past grievances against his first wife and second wife are also fair game. but the real question is are they going to make a difference and really what is the path for 270 electoral votes or whoever we're going to find in the general election. i did want to say here's what i find interesting about trump's comments about hillary clinton and whether he is absolutely brilliant or his just happened to flow from him. but one of the things that we're seeing, if you look just in the world of social media and the people who like donald trump, many of them despise hillary

clinton. and if hillary clinton is going to put together the same that obama in 2008, she has to find women, they're looking for a movements not for femininenists. and then there are women who believe that she stays with bill clinton with monica lewinsky and the problems in their marriage. and many believe that they should have come to the rescue of monica lewinsky pop and you've got african-americans part of the 2008 obama coalition all over twitter and social media and saying how is it that, you know, bill cosby is bad. bill clinton is bad. one is a vial rapist and the other person is someone beloved by the country. >> let me get bill beckel to respond to that issue. >> first of all, of all of the

classic mistakes that trump has made and gotten away, taking on the most popular politician in america, bill clinton, i'd have bill clinton on the campaign trail every day. what is trump going to do, carry the blue dress around? people have forgotten about it. that's not of the point. if you're going to run into a general election, it's like the republicans when they tried to impeach clinton. look what happened. the country rebelled. they said clinton is say flandering. yeah, we know. >> if you look at how republicans respond this early right now, they don't have an inferiority complex. but there's a sense that the media is out to get us that political correctness has run amok. we have this thing if you follow twitter, if a republican gets in trouble for drunken driving, we'll say republic chap quit tick. or if a republican gets in

trouble for some controversial, we'll say yeah, robert c. byrd was in the kkk. >> he's pushing buttons that they'd like to have pushed. >> i'd love to have the clinton campaign do it there's stuff on trump that's almost worse. i wish they'd push it out. they don't want to do it because of the propriety. if it were up to me, i may do it anyway. i think trump has more issues on sexist issues. >> sounds like you know something. do you care to share it here? >> no. >> michelle, i want to show you, may cohen writes for "the new york times." put the map up that shows where donald trump is most popular among republicans. let that sear into your mind for just a moment. i'm now going to show you the

handiwork of seth steven de davidowitz. look at where racially charged internet searches are most common. in fact, kathryn, flip back to the other flap which shows where trump is most popular. and one more time, go back to where you find the most racially charged internet searches. pretty compelling, isn't it michelle bernard? >> absolutely. i read the piece in "the new york times" and took a look at the underlying study, and it's actually very frightening. one of the two big takeaways from the article and the study behind it are, number one, the largest percentage of donald trump's supporters at this point in time are actually self-identified republicans who are registered as democrats. and most of them live in areas of the country where we find the most racial animus. it's in the south and as you move west, donald trump loses support.

it is a very scary thing for a person of color. it should be a scary thing for women. it should be a scary thing for anyone who is other than a white male. b because of what donald trump is appealing to. >> it's a little scary for us, too. >> i'm sure. i'm sure. but you won't end up being a tamir rice or someone else that ends imshot dead because of that animus. >> matt. quickly. >> i think what trump is tapping into is understandable, with economic concerns and i do think he's as tapping into a dark side of a forest. you know some bad instincts out there. and if you add it all up, that's why he's so popular. >> bob beckel. one final subject, i predicted that there would be jockeying, punching within your weight class before the holidays and we've now seen it in so far as

jeb and rubio and christie. instead of focusing their issues on donald trump are looking at one another. can that be a winning strategy for one of them to emerge as the establishment candidate? >> well, it has to be. there's got to be three people coming out of iowa, maybe four. they go to new hampshire. i predict right now, we'll wake up the day after new hampshire and say where did that come from? they always upset iowa. there there be three more coming out of new hampshire to go to iowa. this thing could go on with cruz, trump and, quote, a an establishment candidate well into march. >> bob beckel, matt lewis, michelle bernard, we appreciate all three of you thank you. tweet @smerconish. i'll read the best in the program. >> y up next, tomorrow night, "downton abbey" is back for its final season. every line of dialogue in the

series has flowed from the pen of one man, lord julian fellowes. here's what he's written for maggie smith. >> you know how much i value your advice. the point is i won't be hired into anything. not by you or not by him. >> why on earth did you go to bed with him? i'd like to make a dep-- vo: it happens so often, you almost get used to it. we got this. vo: which is why being put first takes some getting used to. ♪ nationwide is on your side nationwide is the exclusive insurance partner of plenti.

end. the last season of "downton abbey" season six. at least here in america, the period piece from the early 20th century featuring british acristo cats, their extended family and servants. in the age of bingeing, what's the best way to watch? i put that question to the creator lord julian fellowes. please give me advice how to enjoy the final season of downton abbey, do i savor them one time or binge-watch? >> i'm the ultimate binge-watcher. >> are you? >> yeah. i try to avoid the spoilers. i get to the end of the series, buy the box and go mad. >> given the attachment that so many of us feel to "downton" did

you feel some sense of obligation to end on a high note, keeping in mind that none of us here in the states knows how it all ends? >> truthfully, we were planning to end on the fifth series. and then when we started to get nearer to that, it just felt as if we had too much to do. we needed really a whole series that was about resolution. so we decided to do six. so it's not as if we're cutting ourselves off short, we actually thought we would end the year earlier. because, you know, it's good to leave the party when the people are still sorry that you go. and not wait until everyone's incredibly relieved. and we just felt we sort of competed the journey really. and it wasn't a bit sad because it's been an extraordinary adventure in my career. very unlikely to be topped. you know, i consider myself lucky to have one of the sort of world sensations, you know. but nonetheless, everything must

come to an end. >> the final season has, of course, already aired in the uk. i think it's kept relatively well under wraps here in the states. i'm sure if i were to go online, i could watch, i could learn everything. are you surprised in a world of a acnn 24-hour news bubble that it's been migrated? >> i think not everyone wants to spoil it for the fans. personally, i wish it went out on the same day. i don't really understand why it doesn't. the bbc with i think it was dr. who, they showed it both days on both sides. that seems to me to be the obvious answer. that.'t know why we don't do >> i know why we're so interested in what goes on in the uk. why this so popular in england? >> nobody knows why it was so successful before it was made.

it was assumed that everyone was dead. everyone told peter finch that he was mad to be making it. well, he's had the last laugh. you know, nobody knows why people want something. it's a combination somewhere in there tucked in there that appeals to people. you know, when i was a child, my mother used to allow us to fool around in the kitchen with flour and milk and make little gray things that we were then forced to eat. one day, i made perfect ones. and they were absolutely brilliant. she said, what did you do? ba did you do? of course, i couldn't remember what i'd done. i didn't know how i made them. i don't know how i made this. >> am i correct that every mind of dialogue flowed from your line from your pen? >> every line. >> how real is that, what happened to concept of the writer's room? >> i don't think the writer's room is as established in britain as here.

it's not as if i don't admire the writer's room, i felt that it was extraordinary because he kept his very distinct style going on all the way through the series. it never weaken. and that seems to be quite an aachievement, as writing every line yourself. i mean, in my case, i don't know, we thought about it, but it just seemed a different rhythm for people to pick up. that's just me. i'm sure there are 500 people who pass this hotel that they could have written but in the event they didn't. >> which of the characters have you most enjoyed writing dialogue? >> answer that home people expect me to give is maggie. she's very interesting to write for. i found things for her -- you see how i sink into it -- with her. she's very, very funny. she's very witty. you never have to explain why a

line is funny. and she does have this marvelous gift to be the same person to take you through tragedy, through drama, into comedy. and she never waivers. she's absolutely solid. she could have a really funny line and then suddenly give us that scene when after sibel had died. really a breathtaking maneuver. and then making a funny crack a few minutes later. it's the first time i've written a series. and a series means the performance you're writing for has already happened with music and a miniseries. you write it, it's finished. they cast it it, they play it. with an ongoing series, as you write, you can hear the voice of the actors you're writing for. and one that i've enjoyed very much.

it's been one of the big pluses because downton is the first series i ever wrote. >> year now on broadway, you wrote "the school of rock." is there a chance that downton ends up on broadway? >> as you were phrasing that i thought there was a question that was going to come at the end of it. i don't know, they talk stage play, musical i've heard muted. some of the newspapers in england is quite determined it's going to be one of these. but nothing's fixed yet. i don't dig in, absolutely not. i think it would be quite good fun. i mean, a play would almost certainly mean a different cast. and that would be something for the public to sort of get past and embrace. but i don't know, you know, who knows. i do love it, it's nothing like that, of course, switching

gears. you remember from the house of lords you do remember the presidential race? >> blimey. >> you're a conservative? >> i'm a conservative, with public knowledge. so in that sense, i might be presumed to say that the republicans. but i have to say that for me, i think hillary clinton seems a more convincing world politician. >> why? >> i think she has a grasp of the political language. what's happening in the world. whereas some of the others see it -- without using any names seem rather insular in their approach. you know, when she first was in the white house as mrs. bill, i think she seemed less broad minded. to have less of a grasp than she has now. but now, after she's been

secretary of state, she seems to be a stateswoman. and i also feel, in as much as i'm allowed to have an opinion about america's government, you know, to see a woman president, it's about time. >> donald trump also regards himself as a conservative. i'm sure he would say he was a tory, if he were in the uk. is he your type of conservative? >> well i'm sure mr. trump has many merits and great skills and talents in the way he's managed his career. whether he is exactly how i would define a politician is perhaps something i don't know that i have anything useful to say on. >> thank you very much. thank you for all of the entertainment that you've provided to so many of us. >> oh, thanks. that's very nice of you. thank you. an interesting chap, right? hey, i want to thank the foundation for breast and prostate health, their president shelli schwartz for allowing me to interview lord fellowes

during their fund-raiser. up next, i've got to tell you about the e-mail scandal in my home state that's called porngate with judges and prosecutors with content like this. i'll explain when i come back. it takes a lot of work... to run this business. but i really love it. i'm on the move all day long... and sometimes, i just don't eat the way i should. so i drink boost® to get the nutrition that i'm missing. boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones

and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. all with a great taste. i don't plan on slowing down any time soon. look for savings on boost® in your sunday paper.

take a look at this image. as you can see it shows a white

guy wrestling a bucket of fried chicken from two african-americans that says "bravery at its finest." imagine, you're an african-american with a court date who is face a prosecutor who sent that image. here's another one, meant to motivation, boobs, what more motivation do you need? not exactly for a litigant in pennsylvania. welcome to porngate playing out in my home state. it's cost one supreme court justice his job. another suspended. at least 60 employees have been fired and another 60 reprimanded. how did we get here? the answer is jerry sandusky. it's complicated but i think i can complain. sandusky, you'll remember the former penn state coach now

serving 30 years for the sexual abuse of ten boycs. the sandusky investigation took 30 months. tom corbett was the attorney general on the case on whose watch it was nirmeinitiated and was running for governor. did corbett drag his feet? enter kathleen kane. when kane ran in 2012, she promised to investigate the sluggish operation of the sandusky investigation. she hired a prosecutor. while h. jeffrey multan jr. found no direct evidence due to electoral politics. but that investigation did uncover something else. widespread circulation of porn 0

griefic e-mails. and kane, and fina, they're enemies. fina didn't like kane's criticism of the sandusky case and was incensed when kane wouldn't pursue criminal charges against democrats all african-american who were caught sending gifts to lobbyists. kane retaliated. she now finds herself facing felony perjury charges for allegedly leaking confidential information in another case to embarrass fina. these days fina and two other my level prosecutors are working for the district attorney's office seth williams who will join me in a moment. kane is fight for her job but also her license to practice law. one more thing, kane has a win sister. herself, a state prosecutor, who apparently sent some off-contlo

images of her own. nobody knows pennsylvania politics better than dr. terry madonna. public affairs at franklin college. terry, how did i do? >> very good. that's an excellent summary. >> it's complicated. >> to saty the least. we learn about eat mails after the multan report. the real problem exists about what attorney general kane did with them. she refused to make a large number of them public, selectively releasing them. and it looked like through the process of releasing them that she was going after frank fina, the avenue for mentioned frank fina. folks in the attorney general's office when tom corbett was

elected. we found out last january that the supreme court of the state said those e-mails were not covered by a grand jury protection order and could be released. newspapers in the state have repeat filed right to know requests to get them. but the attorney general has refused, unless recently. to set-out a process that makes sure those e-mails were released in a timely fashion, accurately released. not holding some back selectively, to benefit the friends and to damage enemies. >> terry, let me ask you a big picture question because this gets a lot of ink at home. the philadelphia inquirer has been all over it. you know i answer phones for talk radio. i don't know if people are incensed but is this sort of thing common and is that the

reason that perhaps the public is unforgiving? >> that's a great point. i think you're right about that. the other thing, despite as you pointed out earlier, it's so complicated. i've been doing this for a long time, like you have. i don't remember a story line with so many subplots. this could be a miniseries on tv. this is going to be a miniseries on tv. we could talk hours talking about the nuances back and forth with kane and her opponents. and it's not likely to end anytime soon. i think number one, you got the complexity of it. number two, you've got almost daily stories by some excellent newspaper information the state, getting into great detail. and then i think you are right. there's a lot of jokes and e-mails circulated back and forth in the workplace. but you hit on an important point, this involved judges and prosecutors that, obviously, need to be held to a higher standard. and then there's the question of

what that means when defendants have cases before the courts in this state. overall, i think the courts in pennsylvania do a good job. the vast majority of the prosecutors are first rate. this is the first kind of scandal like this that we've had. we've had one prior attorney general sent to prison in modern history. but that involved a campaign problem. not something directly to do with his job as attorney general. >> dr. terry madonna. thank you for being here. i mentioned previously the district of attorney is seth williams. seth, thank you so much for joining me. there are a lot of us at home who are wondering why are you taking a political hit by having some of the individuals who sent these e-mails on your payroll? when in fact, they didn't do it on your watch, they did it before you hired them. why haven't you cut them loose? >> well, you make a very good point. but, again, the indicted,

suspended attorney general, you've heard months of hyperbole from her about these e-mails. and this comes at the convergence of sex, racism. you would think she was a companion against those. but as you've stated, and clearly put out here, this was just a reaction, a political vendetta of hers against frank fina. for his prosecution of jerry sandusky. and then for her failure tod philadelphiians for being on tape for failure to take a bribe. all she had to say in her prosecutorial or discretion she chose not to prosecute those cases. instead, she said they were racist. the prosecutors racist. for two years i had to bite my tongue because i new otherwise. for two years they had entered a

motion of selective prosecution based on race we were able to show and her attorney with drew that and apologized because there was no racism within the document. because of that i had to bite my tongue. but the documents showed that the attorney general knew there was no racism and for months she was using the narrative. >> but, seth, if she released the e-mails because of a ven t vendet vendetta. that the guys you've hired sent these things. it is not like she created them out of whole cloth. the city council has voted 13-2, to say to you, can these guys -- to your political peril, you have kept them on your payroll. >> i believe in due process. as an african-american, i want due process for everyone, not just young african-american boys

selling weed on the corner but white prosecutors. the e-mails are ignorant and terrible that people would do this but they weren't employees of mine and two of these employees were just recipients. for political vendetta and vengeance, the a.g. released these. i want all of the e-mails released. the citizens of pennsylvania deserve to know how far did this go? we just can't have them released to attack three people. we need to see all 1 million of these e-mails, even those between the attorney general and her sister that included these same topics. it is unfortunate. i think all pennsylvanians need to know the full truth. >> do you worry about the integrity of some of your prosecutions? i showed that fried chicken cartoon. if there is an african-american being defended by your office, including the individual who

sent that out, doesn't he have a legitimate beef to say, look at how they view me if they think it is funny where a while guy is wrestling two black guys for a bucket of fried chicken? >> people often believe the root of most criminal justice in pennsylvania is racism. to have the a.g. pour gasoline on that fire is terrible. what i've done is taken those three and put them in parts of my office where they handle civil matters. the a.g. has promoted people in her office who did the same things. so i have to be consistent. i have to consider what will happen if i terminate people. will they sue the city of philadelphia? i listened to city council and concerned members of the community and taken them away from actively prosecuting criminal cases but still using their more than 60 decades

combined of legal experience still to help the citizens of philadelphia advance the justice system. >> doesn't appear you intoned fire them. >> i continue to evaluate it. it's an on going process. life is dynamic, not static. i will continue to make judgments for the city of philadelphia going forward. i have changed some of the process and evaluated it. i want to move forward and make sure philadephians are safe. people don't stop me on the street and ask me about this. they ask me about stopping the gun violence on the streets. it is an ongoing process. >> thank you for coming on. i appreciate your perspective. >> a lot of tweets have come in during this hour. i'll get to a couple in just a moment.

i like to say you can follow me on twitter if you can spell smerconish. here is some of what came in. bill cosby is clearly a target of the liberal left and the establishment black community. what a shame that everything is viewed according to the idealogical divide. that is a ridiculous observation. hey, smerf, inform that limey, that we the people don't want a friggin' politician. then, there was this, choosing

between lunch between trump or fellows, sir julian wins hands down. amazing and interesting gentleman. i would rather be a fly on the wall and watch trump and fellows have lunch together. thanks for watching. i'll see you next week.

new information on the gunman that opened fire outside a market in tel-aviv. . >> major flooding, the danger level continues to rise in parts of the u.s. officials in illinois warning a second levee may breech as the mississippi river overtops its banks. turning to politics, president obama is preparing to kick off the new year with a controversial executive order on gun control. he is meeting with attorney general, loretta lynch on monday to discuss options for tougher gun restrictions. you are in the "cnn newsroom."