that's all the time for tonight. i hope you have a great weekend. time to hand things over to don lemon and "cnn tonight." breaking news tonight. on the russia investigation, this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. the russian ambassador told his superiors he discussed campaign-related matters with jeff sessions during the 2016 campaign. that is according to the "washington post" according to intercepts by spy agencies. sessions said he never discussed campaign issues with russian officials. this is not the first time information has come out to contradict his state m ments ab russia. plus, a white house shakeup. a battle pressed secretary sean spicer resigning after scaramucci, a trump fundraiser without any communications experience is named communications director. let's get to all of this.

justice correspondent evan perez is here. cnn contributor john dean, the author of conservatives without conscious, and intelligence analyst, bob bear. 21 laws for assassins author. another blockbuster report from the "washington post." they are reporting that south korean -- attorney general sessions discussed the campaign with russian officials. russia's ambassador to washington said he discussed campaign related matters, including policy issues important to moscow, with jeff sessions during the 2016 presidential race. contrary to public assertions by the em bbattled attorney genera. what does this mean for the attorney general? can he stay in his job? >> you know, don, i think when you have an attorney general with the word embattled in front of his name, it's always a bad sign. i think that's what we have

here. the attorney general, i think, is already, frankly, on thin ice. we don't know how much longer he can last, given the fact that the president this week told the "new york times" that if he had to do it over again, he wouldn't have hired jeff sessions as his attorney general pause he didn't, you know -- not knowing he was going to recuse himself from this russia investigation. so this is a very crucial moment. if jeff sessions is going to stay in office, he's going to have to come out and explain this to members of congress who are asking about it, don. i think, we hope, that this might be the last of these revelations because he certainly can't handle another one of these. >> bob, the doj issued a statement. i'll read from it. obviously, i cannot comment on the reliability of what anonymous sources described in an intelligence intercept that the "washington post" hasn't seen and has not been provided to me, but the attorney general stands by his testimony from last month, before the senate intelligence committee, before he specifically addressed thd

and said that he never met with or had any conversations with any russians or any foreign officials concerning any type of interference with any campaign or election. but that is a response to interference with the campaign. that's not what the "washington post" is reporting, right? >> it's a non-denial denial. at this point, we can't trust sessions. he said, i can't remember what happened in the conversation. i was as a senator. all of these leaks from kislyak conversations back to moscow have proven to be right. i think this is just horrendous. as a former intelligence officer, american official, senator, campaign worker, it doesn't matter, where colluding with a foreign power, a hostile foreign power, it is treasonous. it is not technically indicta e indictable, but for a former intelligence officer, it is treasonous and he should resign. >> listen to what sessions said

when he recused himself from the russia investigations back in march. >> let me be clear, i never had meetings with russian operatives or russian intermediaries about the trump campaign. and the idea that i was part of a, quote, continuing exchange of information during the campaign between trump surrogates and intermediaries for the russian government is totally false. >> carl, that is a direct opposite of what the post says, quoting current and former u.s. officials, who say they intercepted former ambassador kislyak, talking to the kremlin about these meetings. how much trouble is sessions in? >> he may or may not have committed perjury. the senate intelligence committee needs to call him back to testify again. and i would hope that finally, now that the president of the united states has thrown the attorney general of the united states under the bus, that maybe mr. sessions would open up and

come forward and tell us what all of his conversations with the russians were about, what his conversations with president trump about the russians were about and perhaps he can be the enabling of this coverup to unravel. now, i realize that might be a kind of dream here, but he has not been forthcoming. nobody in this administration has been forthcoming about any of their dealings with the russians because there is a coverup. that does not mean that there's been an obstruction of justice. this might well have been. but we need to know why it is the president, the president's family, mr. flynn, mr. sessions and on and on and on, nobody has come forward and said, hey, here's what we talked to the russians about. here's what happened. so that's why we have the special prosecutor. that's why we have congressional investigations. and it is also why the attorney general of the united states is now under a great cloud that

could be projurious. >> don junior releases e-mail after changing his story. >> this is what has happened continual from everybody from the president to his children to the attorney general of the united states to the national security adviser, mr. flynn, to the president of the united states. everyone has changed their story under duress, yet nobody has come forward and said, here's what the hell happened. >> john dean, if this reporting is true, this entanglement with russia goes all the way up to the top law enforcement officer in the land. he has recused himself, but is that enough? >> well, he certainly has put himself in jeopardy with this situation by not coming forward. i think he's a man who wants the job. he wants to stay in as attorney general. he's going to have to come forward in the next 24 hours and address this in some way. he's got to square it with the president first.

he's got to square it with the department he represents. so he's in trouble right now. as i say, it's quite evident he likes this job. it is a dream job for him. and i think he'll fight for it. >> because even though the president threw him under the bus in the "new york times" interview, he's still saying he is going to stay in that position. so, evan, if sessions resigns, could the president appoint someone who hasn't recused him or herself on russia, someone who could make the mueller investigation go away? >> you know, don, that's the most interesting -- one of the most interesting possibilities here for the president. i mean, we know that he's very angry. the focus of his anger is pop mueller, the special counsel and this investigation. he thinks he's going to get a raw deal on this. he preferred sessions to have some reign over it. so if he were to get rid of sessions in some way, he could appoint a new attorney general. obviously, the senate would have to confirm that person. and that person, you know,

presumably would not have any of the issues that sessions has. he didn't -- you find somebody who didn't work in the campaign. wasn't part of any of that. and that person would be able to now take over the leadership of this investigation. what mueller would be is still the special counsel but he'd be reporting to the new attorney general. that person has power over the invest investigation. >> mr. bear, i imagine a question for investigators would be, how reliable is the information in the intercepts of kislyak? unlike in the case of lieutenant general michael flynn, whose own communications were intercepted via incidental collection, these are russians speaking to other russians. how do they know who is telling the truth here? >> you know, frankly, i love intercepts. it is two people on the phone. they expect privacy, especially when you're talking to your boss in moscow. you're not making stuff up. intercepts are gold standard of intelligence, frankly. and i always go with the

intercepts as opposed to somebody like sessions, you know, who right now, we know his credibility is -- whatever he has to say, we can't believe. so i'll go with the intercepts over sessions, for sure. >> carl, this bomb shell comes two days after the "new york times" interview that we've discussed so much, where the president unloaded on sessions that he would never have hired him if he knew sessions was going to recuse himself. is this a coincidence? you were on earlier. i think the "washington post" says they've been working on this a long time. >> they've been working on the story since june, apparently. i think something much more important happened. that is, the president of the united states, in his interview with the "new york times," expressed himself in authoritarian tones and substance unlike anything we've seen on the record from any president of the united states in our modern history. and that is what the real story is here. he has threatened to people that i've talked to that he wants to undermine this investigation, that he wants mr. mueller's

investigation shut down, that he wants him fired, that he wants his people pardoned if need be. this is extraordinary. this is the way the dictator in the banana republic talks about the judicial system in caribbean islands. this is something we've never undergone before, having a president of the united states talk on the record like this. that's what we're dealing with here while we have a coverup that we don't know exactly what the coverup goes to. >> six months to the day almost. >> almost to the day. how is it the president and none of the people around him have said, here's the story, american people. this is why i did what i did. this is what i said. this is what mr. flynn said. let's open this up and make it go away, if nothing happened here that was not nefarious. >> john dean, made in america, six-month old administration, what do you make of the uphevel

of the president's team? >> now they've appointed a new special counsel who, apparently, is going to be outside of the office of the white house counsel, who is going to be a coordinator of all the counsel that are outside. i don't know how this is going to operate, where you have cobb as a special counsel in the white house who has no attorney/client privilege, is going to be controlling and directing the messaging of the outside counsel. don, i'd hilike to say somethin else. if you look closely at the regulations under which mueller was appointed, it is not as easy as people think for trump to fire him. he has lots of protection. he has due process. he can go to court if this is necessary. if he is preemptively removed. so i think people are wringing their hands a little bit about how easy he can be disposed of, when as i read the regulars, fi

it has to be for cause, could be a new attorney general, could replace the deputy attorney general now in charge, but it won't be that easy to dispose of mueller, particularly if he wants to fight and stay in the job. >> the former prosecutor said the same thing on this program the other night. it is not as hard as people think it is and some make it out to be. evan, we've learned tonight something else. that donald jr. and paul manafort struck a deal about appearing not in public before the senate judiciary committee. >> what they want to do is they're going to provide documents and information that the committee has already requested, don. then secondly, they're going to sit down with the senate -- investigators from that committee, the judiciary committee, and they're going to answer the questions. so that was a big compromise that was struck, frankly, at the last hour. we were, you know, monitoring the situation today.

we were being told there were dpoe negotiations on the phone between the sides, pretty much up to the hour this was announced, 5:00 p.m. eastern. they managed to avoid a standout, where they'd have to do a subpoena. you know manafort is under investigation and he could have liability issues if he were to testify open endedly in a hearing like this. >> i appreciate you all staying up late to do this, especially you, carl. i know you had other plans. what a trooper for the breaking news. 182 days of sean spicer, the white house shakeup that leaves the embattled press secretary on the outside looking in.

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spicer is gone. scaramucci is in. listen to what he said about trump. >> why is -- >> from queens county. bring it, donald. >> you're close to walker. >> all right. that was two years ago. now he really, right now, loves president trump. really. >> but i love the president. i'm very, very loyal to the president. and i love the mission that the president has. i love the president. i obviously love the country. i love the president. >> so here to discuss now, cnn's senior media correspondent, brian stalter, and analyst april ryan. it'll be interesting times, you covering here as our media correspondent and you covering from the white house, april. brian, we heard the lavish praise of the president, his professions of love. >> right. >> it is to please his number one viewer, the president, but can he help get this white house out of this crisis mode?

>> no. i don't think any smooth talker, no matter how slick, can get the white house out of this crisis that it finds itself in. if scaramucci can help this administration be more honest, don, to stop making so many misleading and false statements, that would be an improvement. that could help the white house. >> you're saying this is beyond messaging? >> it's very difficult. >> he/she is in charge of messaging. >> right. >> the problem the white house has is beyond messaging. it's part of the problem. >> i think we'll see scaramucci encourage the president to give more interviews. this time last year we said, let trump be trump. let trump be trump. that was the advice tv commentators were giving to the campaign. let the campaign boss be who he is. let trump be trump. we'll see scaramucci encourage the president to give more interviews, say whatever you want, don't feel restrained. though his lawyers don't want him talking about the mueller probe, we may see more of that

from the president. >> maybe he can, april, and i'm sure people around the country are hoping that he can, help this white house in whatever way he can, at least with the messaging. he can't really help them with the investigations, but spicer was as combative as scaramucci is smooth. i want you to listen to this clip from his press room appearances. >> this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period. both in person and around the globe. when we use words like travel ban, that misrepresents what it is. i've said it from the day that i got here until whatever, that there was no connection. you got russia. if the president puts russian salad dressing on his salad tonight, somehow it is a russian connection. every single person -- well, i appreciate your agenda here, but the reality is -- no, no, no. hold on. at some point, report the facts. let me -- >> i am just reporting what -- >> you're asking me a question, and i'm going to answer it.

the president -- i'm sorry. please stop shaking your head again. we didn't use chemical weapons in world war ii, you know. you had a, you know -- someone has despicable as hitler who didn't sink to the -- to using chemical weapons. >> sean, do you have -- >> sean! >> hey, sean. >> sean! >> sean, come on. sean. >> so, april, we saw a lot in that clip. >> wow. >> you're reliving all of it, right? >> sean's greatest hits. >> do you think sarah huckabee sanders is named press secretary now, do you think we'll see a change in tone, maybe not as combative, maybe not so much fake news, espousing from the podium? >> we'll have to see, don. i mean, because what they've been doing before is just not working. and we've seen that because sean spicer is now gone. he's been embattled since day one. he's now gone.

and he was one of those on the list that president trump had a bull's eye on. but when it comes to how they're trying to deliver the message, you know, this administration is very much steeped and spun to the point where they contradict themselves. well, before today, they contradicted themselves. not only that, they just came out saying things that just didn't make sense in some instances. then you had a president who would contradict them. so they have to rein in the staff and also maybe rein in the president and for the president to be himself is one thing. but when he goes out there and does a covfefe, or said former president obama was wiretapping him, and some of the other allegations, and also the thing about comey and this tape, you know, i wish there was a tape, that's where the danl is.

you can have the best communications machine in the world, but when the principal is doing what he wants to do, he can meet with the "new york times," meet with anyone, brian stelter, with you, but when he continues to defeat himself, there within lies the problem. you can spin, you can send a message out, but when you continue to do the same thing over and over again, you defeat yourself. >> brian? >> i think april would make a great communications director. i think a lot of reporters have this same sense. sitting in the brief room every day, feeling frustrated by the non-answers and by the spin and the nonsense. i think a lot of reporters are wondering, can it improve with sarah sanders at the podium and scaramucci behind the scenes? i'm very skeptical. skeptical this can cause improvement to the message. >> can i ask you and april something? we all knew sean spicer. we all interviewed him.

he had a lot of political capital. he had a lot of -- he'd garnered respect from the media. all of a sudden, within a day -- >> right. >> -- it was gone. what happened? >> trump happened. >> the first day -- >> trump happened, right, april? >> hmm. >> what happened, april? >> yes, i'm going to agree with brian, yes. that first day, when he walked out there, channllenging the numbers, size matters, it was an ugly day. you do not use that podium for that. then he came out there, discombobulated, very angry, when this should have been a day of celebration. even though he had women walking around the nation and the world protesting against him. you know, you're supposed to be above the fray, but it showed right there that there was a disarray within that white house. >> what was your relationship like with him? you knew him before, and others. did those relationships change? >> i knew him before. i was shocked. i was shocked that saturday.

i was shocked that saturday when he did that. sean was -- you know, sean was great prior to. you know, first couple of weeks, he was great. but after a while, when the twitter verse came in, the trolls came in off of twitter and said, why is she asking questions, when that base said that april ryan shouldn't be in the room, the mood changed. even the president -- i had a former white house press secretary call me and say, do you think the president told sean spicer to do that about shaking your head? so after that, things changed with us. i wish him well but, you know, unfortunately, he lost his credibility in that job. i mean, sometimes going out, spinning to the point where you questioned if it was a lie. and the credibility issue, we didn't know if we could believe him. we're always fact checking. but it was a way bigger issue now with this administration.

>> i've got to ask brian, can he get it back? can he get the credibility back? >> i think that's a -- i don't have a yes or no answer to the question yet. i think this white house's credibility is a bigger problem than spicer's personal credibility. spicer can get a television deal. cnn notably said today that we're not interested in picking him up as a contributor. i thought that was notable. fox, you could see fox hiring him or nbc, another network. i could see him rebuilding his public image through a television commentator deal. whether or not he can do that, the important issue is the white house's credibility. scaramucci has a heck of a challenge now, trying to improve that. >> good luck to him. i mean it sincerely. if sean spicer wrote the book, i'd read it but he probably signed a non-disclosure. >> he's not going to tell everything. >> thank you, both. >> yeah. >> appreciate it. >> it's not going to be a tell-a tell-all. >> thank you. up next, why president trump is bringing scaramucci into his

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the new white house communications director scaramucci leaving no doubt for

his feelings about president trump. saying over and over during his introductory news conference he loves the president. here to discuss, the author of "the truth about trump." good evening. >> evening. >> never ending, right? let's talk about scaramucci. smooth businessman. likable. dana bash says she thinks that this is what president trump feels he sees when he looks in the mirror. do you agree? >> i agree. this is exactly the person he sees. i felt that way across macron, too. donald trump imagines himself in his 30s, a nice head of hair, scaramucci has a nice head of hair, except his is normal hair and very good salesman. he is a fellow who could talk a lot of rich people out of a lot of money, which is what he's done throughout his career. so this is exactly the person he wanted. i think he would have preferred him from the start. >> he does care about appearances and looks.

he told -- president trump. according to the "new york times," he said that mike pence looked like a vice president. the reports he didn't like john bolton's mustache and that kept him from getting a role in the cabinet nomination. he basically told sean spicer to get a makeover. the ill-fitting suit, what have you, the tie and shirt weren't right, to get a makeover. how much of this is about optics for this president? >> optics are incredibly important the to him. we had -- the president and i, when we did our sessions of interviews, we talked about my appearance. he told me i was a good looking guy, though later on, he changed his mind. he wants to flatter people and he wants to be flattered, as well. he has a strict dress code at the white house. he wants people to look the part. you know, in a way, we occupy this age when the surface matters more than ever. >> that comes to reality television and also comes from the beauty pageants.

>> absolutely. >> having to give an appearance when people walk into a building, especially if you're trying to sell real estate, right? >> he spoke to me actually about how cheerleading is really important. this is a beef he had with president obama. he said obama started out, he was a really great cheerleader, but something happened to him. i think the cheerleader function is real to him. >> today, anthony scaramucci used the podium at the white house to say how much he loves the president and how much he -- how loyal he is to him. he also said this. watch this. >> the president himself is always going to be the president. i was in the oval office with him earlier today, and we were talking about letting him be himself, letting him express his full identity. i think he's got some of the best political instincts in the world. perhaps in history. if you think about it, he started his political assent two years and two months ago and has done a phenomenal job for the american people. the people i grew up with identify with the president and

love him. we're going to get that message out. >> the strategy is let trump be trump, right? isn't that what's getting him in trouble, especially if you look at the latest round of interviews and so on? but is that why scaramucci got the job, because he's like, let trump be trump? >> absolutely. think back to who also said that. it was corey lewandowski. both of these people, we have men who project a certain tough guy image. scaramucci's far more polished than lewandowski and i think he'll stick in a way that lewandowski didn't. the president loves people who say, i love you and buy into the president. scaramucci is never going to forget that. >> listen, he hasn't always been, scaramucci, so loyal to donald trump. it's just not -- it's not that surprising, because a lot of people -- a number of people around him now were very critical of him in the

beginning. then overnight, they loved him. this is fox business news, august of 2015, after trump criticized hedge fund guys paying nothing in taxes. watch this. >> he's a hack politician. >> you're in trouble now. >> probably going to make elizabeth warren his nominee with comments like that. it is anti-american. it is very, very divisive. >> you think donald is a -- >> he'll be president of the queen's county bullies association. you got to cut it out now and stop all this crazy rhetoric spinning everybody -- >> why is he resonating? >> a dude from queens county, bring it, donald. >> you're close to walker. >> bring it. >> hey, look, he takes it as good as he can give it, right? >> precisely. >> the same as what trump does. >> yes. >> but i don't think anthony scaramucci is as thin skinned as donald trump because he is self-deprecating. before you answer, today, scaramucci was asked if the

president was aware of the comments. here's what he said. >> brought up every 15 seconds. one of the biggest mistakes i made because i was an unexperienced person in the world of politics. i was supporting another candidate. i should have never said that. mr. president, i personally apologize for the 50th time for saying that. >> a lot of people made comments about donald trump like that, including kellyann conway, who came on cnn, saying he made his business off the backs of poor people. on and on and on. he should release his tax returns. now these are people who are closest to him in this administration. why wasn't he punished, she punished? a lot of people get punished for saying bad things about donald trump or being critical. >> what the president assumes is that they didn't really mean it and they were just battling. and this is what the president himself does. >> it is politics. this happens. >> it is politics. >> i don't get it but it happens. >> i don't get it either. you know, the president will say three different things before lunch. he doesn't expect to be held accountable.

and he's not really going to hold these people to account if they will serve him. right now, this is another billionaire. i think brioni should make the uniforms for the white house softball team. >> the administration billionaires row, a big fraternity house. it's a nice one, too. thank you, michael. >> thanks, don. when we come back, more on our breaking news. jeff sessions reportedly discussed trump campaign related matters with the russian ambassador according to intercepts of russian conversations. now, should sessions step down? she gave me advice. she said...d ...dadgo pro with crest pro-health. 4 out of 5 dentists confirm... ...these crest pro-health... ...products help maintain a... ...professional clean. go pro with crest pro health crest pro-health... ...really brought my mouth... ...to the next level. going somewhere? whoooo. here's some advice. tripadvisor now searches more than 200 booking sites to find the hotel you want

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one year ago tonight, donald trump officially accepted the republican party's nomination for president. you know what else happened at that convention? a meeting between jeff sessions and the russian ambassador. we don't know what they talked about. tonight, the "washington post" is reporting that sessions had conversations about campaign-related matters with the ambassador. that's according to intercepts of the russians. let's discuss. scott jennings here. alice stewart. jason candor. i want to start with you, scott. the "washington post" is reporting that then-senator jeff sessions discussed trump campaign-related matters with the russian ambassador, according to intercepts with the

russians discussions. so if this reporting is true, has jeff sessions been misleading the american people, the people who have been asking him about his interactions with russians? >> it is true that it would have been better had they gotten all the initial disclosures about the meetings correct. here's what we know about the thing tonight. all we know is the russian side of the story. we know kislyak sent a cable to russia. they frequently lie on these things to throw off american intelligence. it could have been a meeting about nothing. right now, all we know is it is jeff sessions and somebody that republicans think is of a man of high integrity verse the word of a russian who sent a cable that no one has seen. until someone shows me something that says jeff sessions did something wrong, i'm going to believe in jeff sessions rather than a russian cable. >> even though he misled? >> it'd be better had they gotten the disclosures on the

meetings on the front end. i suspect they'll have to clean it up with the congress. i'm sure he'll get a chance to do that. i think somebody that served the country the way jeff sessions did deserves a benefit of the doubt. >> will he step down? >> i think his main focus and goal has always been on following the letter of the constitution. in his recusing himself from this case, i think it was the right move to make. clearly, it would have been inappropriate for him as the attorney general to investigate a campaign that he was part of. he was right to do that. he did it for all the right reasons. the only issue here, i think the meeting itself, there's not a problem with that, it is just the changing story line of what was discussed. same with don jr. and his meetings. the changing story line. >> the disclosure. >> this was a very, very important question he knew was going to be asked during his confirmation hearing. there should have been a set and concrete response to that and stuck with it every time he was asked. unfortunately, it's changed a little bit. then again, i want to see more evidence and more information about specifically what was said in the meeting. >> jason, after the former fbi

director, james comey, was fired by president trump, he testified before the senate intelligence committee and said that -- well, here's what he said about the attorney general. watch this. >> our judgment, as i recall, is that he was very close to and inevitably going to recuse himself. for a variety of reasons. we also were aware of facts i can't discuss in an open setting that would make his continued engagement in a russia-related investigation problematic. so we were convinced -- in fact, i think we'd heard the career people were recommending he recuse himself, that he was not going to be in contact with russia-related matters much longer. that turned out to be the case. >> jason, he was aware of facts that he couldn't publicly discuss. is it possible this new reporting is what he was talking about? >> yeah, it is entirely possible. likely. but even if it is not, what we know now is that regardless of everything else, even if you don't believe the intelligence

community, which is generally what the trump administration would prefer, even if you don't, what we do know is that jeff sessions was asked a question a while back in a hearing and he lied. then he came up with a different answer. sorry about that. here's the truth. now we have this information. what he's saying is, what i need you to do is believe the thing i said after you caught me lying. i'm inclined not to believe him about that. >> symone, what about the timing in all of this? this reporting come out the same week we heard the president throw jeff sessions under the bus. >> yeah, i mean, look, i was on a plane. when i got off the plane and read this, i was like, this looks like something the trump people planted. we don't know. we also don't know if perhaps this came from the white house. a leak that came at the behest of donald trump. maybe because of something that donald trump and jeff sessions had recently discussed and maybe he's upset about. we have no clue. what we do know is that where there's smoke, there's usually fire. people are lying. the links to which are my

colleagues and some of our republican friends are going through this, stay silent on this, or twist it so it is not such a big deal, is absolutely conce concerning. i think we need to get to the bottom of this. jeff sessions needs to come out and tell the truth. it is something we haven't necessarily gotten from this trump administration just yet. >> so, scott, i see you -- unless you have a giant television, it was inperceptible. >> i walked with a reporter who wrote the story. this reporting on this issue tonight has been in the works for weeks. the concept that there is a conspira conspiracy, where donald trump is leaking something, that is ridiculous. >> it's not unheard of. wait, this is something donald trump has done. he has a track record of doing this. when a businessman in new york, he'd call up the newspapers, pretend to be someone else and leak information. he'd give it to other people to leak. let's not pretend the president is -- >> stand by. >> it's what the russians do. >> we'll be right back.

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something. ium can rr sure he thought he was going to have an easy first day and sean spicer resigns and it becomes something bigger than it is. i don't think it would be as big a story if sean spicer hadn't resigned. >> that was the driving force for today throughout a doubt. the honeymoon period is over. and the philosophy, let trump be trump, that is awesome for a campaign. however in the administration there needs to be a little bit more discipline. i think he's phenomenal. he'll be a great supporter of the president, clearly he loves him. that's what donald trump wants. but what we need is an administration a little bit more on message and on offense, not defense. >> listen, he has no experience as a communications director. when you run a press shop and you have this russia thing, that ain't easy. >> but what you do is you put all the information out there to

those doing the investigation, let it run its course and you spend your time driving your message, pushing your legislative agenda, going out to this country and repealing and replacing obamacare. and leave on message and take the twitter out of his hands and leave russia alone. >> good luck. so jared kushner and ivanka trump were both in favor of hiring anthony scaramucci. what do you think of that? does it seem like jared is quick to shake things up? >> and i think jared kushner and ivanka trump have no idea what they're doing. it lends to the fact this is somebody who knows the president. the president feels comfortable with scaramucci.

but that does not mean this was the absolute best decisions from a communications and press position. i'm concerned we've got a communications director that has never run a communications plan and up until recently had never run a press release. >> there's something else. he used to work at goldman sachs. scaramucci, steve bannon, gary cohen, deena pow, are ayou surprised by the long list of goldman sachs alum, considering how critical he was of that company during the campaign and tying hillary clinton to wall street? >> repeatedly dispointed in the fact that the president doesn't actually stick to any of the things he promised the american people in terms of actually standing up for people, big corporations. but i'm not surprised by it.

it's what is the larger issue here which if new guy comes in and just crushes it, he is incredible that job, that will improve the life of one american, president trump and look at how much time they spend on what are they going to do about communications? maybe if they put that kind energy into improving the lives of the american people, instead of just trying to make the president look good all the time, then maybe people would like what they're doing a little bit better. >> scott. >> i'll keep going. >> what do you want to see from him? >> there's no qualifications for this job except one. clearly he likes his style. his combative nature on the television camera. i think we're going to see a combative, forceful argument from a communications director. i think what we'll be looking forward to is what kind of

planning aprparatus can he put n place to make sure the entire of the government is work on a strategy that also delivers the message. >> and keeping people honest, especially on their disclosures. thank you all. coming up, sean spicer just might be breathing a sigh of relief that he won't have to deal with melissa mccarthy's spicy. .

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the minute melissa mccarthy took the stage as spicy on "saturday night live," the bit became classic. it couldn't have been easy for the real sean spicer to step thum podium every day. now we may have seen the last of spicy. but here are some of the greatest hits. >> and our president will not be deterred. in his fight against radical muslims. just eat as much candy as you want because it's probably our last easter on earth. >> are you okay? >> are you kidding me?

>> the real sean spicer giving as good as he got. >> i think tweeting out great way to start a friday, here are the actual numbers that you all have reported is a bit -- i mean -- don't make me make the podium move. >> stay tuned to see what happens next. that's it for us tonight. cnn special report. after o.j. the thermen tapes. >> the following is a cnn special report. the detective and the tapes. >> do you use inthe word -- describing people? >> they swayed a verdict. >> not guilty of murder. >> and divided our country.