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tv   Erin Burnett Out Front  CNN  August 4, 2017 4:00pm-5:00pm PDT

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multiple counts of rape and sexual harassment. those cases involved accusations from three different women. >> thanks very much. that's it for me. thanks for watching. erin burnett outfront starts right now. >> next fishing expedition. that's what the trump white house calls the russia probe as special down cell bob mueller going out-of-bounds? the attorney general vowing to crack down on leaks. if it weren't for leaks michael flynn could still be national security advisor. how is american dream week going for the american white house? let's go out front. >> i'm erin burnett. tonight fishing expedition. that's what president trump, aid kellyanne conway is calling bob mueller's investigation. a probe seizing on trump's financial ties to russia. >> these types of endeavoring
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end up being fishing expedition. they're a broadly cast net and i would remind everybody that in terms of president trump, he has said that he has no financial dealings with russia whatsoever. >> conway sounding like ken star, who investigated bill clinton. here is star speaking to cnn. >> that's a serious matter because we do not want investigators and prosecutors out on a fishing expedition. >> a fishing expedition. never mind the irony of ken star calling an investigation a fishing expedition. remember white water? ken star started by investigating bill clinton about a failed real estate deal in 1994. four years and $40 million later, the impeachable crime discovered was clinton's lie about having sex with monica lewin ski. back then, democrats argued that
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star completely overstepped his bounds. sound familiar? well, it's what trump is now accusing mueller's investigation of doing. trump said if mueller pursued an investigation of his finances, that would cross a red line. trump saying, quote, i think that's a violation. look, this is about russia. the problem is trump's wrong. it isn't a violation for mueller to delve into his finances. here's a letter from then acting attorney general rod rosenstein appointing mueller and spelling out the scope of his investigation. he is given authority into any links and/or coordination between the russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of president donald trump. any links. those words are crucial. links, of course, can be financial. and legal experts tell us it is fair and square for mueller to be looking at trump's finances. cnn is reporting exclusively tonight that cnn is not just focussed on trump and his
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associates finances but also on possible financial crimes. so this question then should be asked. are any possible financial crimes on the table? again, let's go to mueller's order. it says he could investigate any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation and any other matters within the scope of the investigation. so if looking at trump's finances unearths a crime unrelated to russia, it seems to be completely on the table. jason carroll is outfront tonight. and jason, new developments in the russia investigation clearly something front and center for trump as he is about or he has just begun his vacation. >> reporter: right. new developments and a lot of folks wondering what the president thinks of these developments. but as you know, a number of questions were shouted at the president as he left washington ands headed for new jersey. those questions went unanswered and there was no press
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conference. typically in the past when a president is left with a summer break from the white house, we have seen a press conference here and there, not in this particular case. but it is clear this is a president that has strong opinions about this russia investigation. we heard some of those opinions last night at that rally in west virginia. statements that we've heard before talking about, you know, basically saying the story is a total fabrication, blaming in part on the democrats who he says have sower grapes over losing the election. what's also clear about this, erin, is those who are advising this president feel strongly at this point they do not want him answering direct questions from the press. it's okay for him to hold a rally, speak to his base or even tweet every now and then. although, there's been a lot of controversy about that. but we haven't seen him tweet about it this week as well. that's certainly good news to a number of gop lawmakers who feel as though they don't want him talking about this russia investigation. they want him focussed on the
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economy and jobs. the administration is calling this a working vacation, if you will, that he's going to be working through this. his son-in-law and ivanka will be here as well as his newly appointed chief of staff. >> thank you very much, jason. and democratic senator from cnnecticut sits on the senate judiciary committee. senator, i appreciate your time. so is it fair, in you view, if this investigation ends up with some conclusion, something, but something, that has nothing to do with either the election or with russia. >> the question is, erin, what would have nothing to do if it's related to financial crimes, money laundering, illegal bribery, relating to russia and involving a member of the trump campaign. certainly it's within the bounds of the mandate that robert mueller has as special counsel. he is investigating precisely those kinds of dealings.
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>> what about in the lines of ken star who was looking at a failed real estate deal and found sex with an intern. what about if they're looking at financials and they find a financial crime but it is not related to the election or russia? is that fair game as it was for president clinton? >> for the special counsel to be pursuing financial crimes or dealings that may lead him to charge others like michael flynn with financial crimes and then for michael flynn to provide evidence that's relevant to collusion and conspiracy between that trump campaign and the russians also is well within the mandate of the special counsel. >> my question, i don't know if you're avoiding it or you're answering it implicit tichlt it sounds like you're saying it's not fair if they find a crime not related to the election or russia. >> any kind of crime is fair for the special prosecutor to
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pursue. if the special prosecutor finds a violation of law, he can pursue it himself or he can turn it over to another prosecutor. the grand jury now, very important to understand, erin, and this point i think has been neglected, is an arm of the court. it is not only an investigative tool that can be used by robert mueller as special counsel, it is an arm of the court. so for any of these folks to be saying, well, it is a witch hunt, it is a fishing expedition, the point here is that the grand jury gives this investigation a permanent and a degree of protection that gives it independence and integrity. now there is an effort and i'm part of it to give another layer of protection to the special counsel by requiring judicial review if donald trump seeks in a wholly unprecedented, extreme way to fire this special counsel, bob mueller.
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but, remember, that he -- donald trump cannot fire a grand jury or a district court judge. >> right. which is an important point. now, the president, as you know, senator, has repeatedly mocked the russia investigation. he's called it a hoax and his supports cheer him on when he does so. here he is last night. >> the reason why democrats only talk about the totally made-up russia story is because they have no message, no agenda and no vision. the russia story is a total fabrication. >> blaming democrats, calling it a fabrication. sounds a lot like, well, hillary clinton 19 years ago talking about ken star's investigation of her husband. here she is. >> i do believe that this is a battle. the great story here for anybody willing to find it and write about it and explain it is this vast right wing conspiracy that
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has been conspireing against my husband since the day he announced for president. >> do you think he'll be successful in framing this as a political witch hunt? sounds like he's doing exactly what she's tried to do. >> the four major intelligence agencies, all of the intelligence community, including his own appointees have said that there was russian interference. that point is beyond dispute. what's under investigation is trump campaign conspiracy with the russian meddling and possible obstruction of justice. those three points are what are under investigation by the special counsel and that is not a vast left wing conspiracy or a conspiracy by anyone. it is proven fact. >> before we go, i want to ask you one thing on where this is going. congresswoman maxine waters went on the view. she was asked if he was going to
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run for president and here's how she asked for president. >> i am not running for everything except the impeachment of trump. [ applause ] >> all right. she's not the only one pushing impeachment. congressman al green. when you hear her words, does that make you wince? is that appropriate? >> what is appropriate is for this investigation to pursue all the facts, all the evidence, wherever it leads. >> but you have been careful with that word. i can't see you going out and making a comment like that and laughing. >> i am not talking about indictments or any other remedies that may be pursued here, erin, because i truly believe as a former prosecutor, as well as now a member of the judiciary committee which has its own investigation into the firing of jim comey as possible obstruction of justice that we need to follow facts without leaping ahead to the remedies that may be pursued, indictments or anything else.
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>> i notice you used the world indictment and not impeachment. obviously very careful there. >> next, the fbi on election night, their worst fears realized. tonight how investigators knew russia was meddling as votes were being cast. plus, the trump administration gets tough on leakers. is that because some leakers are exposing their lies? and american dream week has come and gone. did the white house kill its own message? and when youod sugar is a replace one meal... choices.
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new tonight, cnn learning exclusive new details from inside the fbi about the crucial moment leading up to president trump's victory on election day. the agency we now know launching a large scale operation to monitor information that was believed to be coming from russia, literally as the votes were coming in. our pamela brown broke this story and they're out front tonight. you guys have had a very busy week with so many breaking stories. let me start with you. you're learning some fbi analysts spent election day literally scrolling through facebook, why? >> that's right, erin. it was a day on election day. by that point, a fake news had become very prevalent and the counter intelligence analysts and investigators were huddled in a room here in washington, d.c. at fbi headquarters monitoring social media. and what they could see was streams of fake news, negative stories being posted about
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hillary clinton. some having to do with her health. according to multiple sources. they were able to identify suspected russian links to the accounts that appeared to be pushing the fake stories. interesting here, erin, that the conversation on facebook, on social media because of the fake news was starting to change people's views of hillary clinton. it was clearly affecting their views of hillary clinton. >> all right. pamela, was the fbi team coordinating with the white house on this election damon toritor i not. >> so you had teams at the fbi, at homeland security, office of the director of national intelligence holding conference calls every three hours with a team at "the situation room" in the white house to discuss any possible problems. while there were some minor issues that popped up across the country from alaska to georgia there were no major incidents or disruptions of the actual vote. we should point out the fbi
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decline ed declined to comment. >> trying to get an understanding of how different it was in the 2016 election than it may have been before. >> well, quite different. you know normally the fbi is monitoring for terrorist threats during big events, during nights where there may be a lot of coverage, a lot of activity. it is not uncommon for them to set up situation rooms, their own kind of situation rooms and monitor this. certainly this was an uncomfortable territory for the fbi given the first amendment free speech, protections even for fake news stories. one official said we were right on the edge of constitutional legality. the official said we were monitoring the news. but nonetheless, erin, this is still part of the counter intelligence investigation that the fbi has been conducting into russia meddling in the election. >> all right. so, pamela, we know a lot of the fake news that we're talking
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about here was specifically intended to spread false and negative information and some of it related to hillary clinton. so when donald trump won, what was the reaction? >> well, at the time overall there is a big concern that the vote will be tampered with in some way or it will be hacked. initially there was a lot of celebrations. officials were really relieved. they exchanged congratulations with one another because there were no major problems. we spoke to one official who had the opposite reaction. in fact, that night as everyone was celebrating, this official had the reaction of, are you kidding me? whatdy that i had worked, meaning what the russian did worked. and this official said the government's response to the election was a, quote, failure of imagination. of course, erin, we'll never know if the russian disinformation campaign had any impact on the outcome of the election. but in the view of these officials what the russians were
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trying to do and push out with the fake news, they accomplished. >> thank you both very much. and now former republican congressman from new york joins me, along with former press secretary for hillary clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. as you hear this report, i know you were with the campaign as the votes were coming in. what is the reaction you just heard? >> well, in one sentence, not surprising. we did know for many weeks about the phenomenon of fake news. we saw spikes of it. for instance, you recall that hillary clinton had a fainting episode around the time of 9/11 anniversary ceremony in new york and for weeks after we saw articles popping up suggesting there were medical reports proving she had park son's disease. you saw another spiker after jim comey's letter came out where you saw articles saying this was an ingive lent of an indictment.
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what we didn't know is the nature of the sponsorship of these, how much it was state sponsored by the russian government and the sophistication of it in terms of the sophisticated targeting method. they knew what types of voters would respond in donald trump's favor to these types of reports. >> you are shaking your head? >> sure. erin, if we want to look at the roots of some of the problems that we've had with russia and surely russia is an adversary, lee smith has written eloquently about how russia speaks to disrupt democracy throughout the world. we're the world's most powerful and most formidable democracy, so it wouldn't be surprising the russians would try to influence the process in some way. but the amazing thing is this, that enormous blind spot that james wrote about a couple of days ago in "politico" it was
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policy pursued by the obama administration, including secretary clinton that lent a certain amount of putinsy to russia that it should not have. it is hardly surprising that the russians would endeavor to maximize their -- >> an interesting point. but brian let me make the point to you, though, because you said that you felt stories about whether her health had swayed voters, right? hillary clinton has spoken about these fake news stories and their impact on the election. here is part of what she has said. >> if you look at facebook, the vast majority of the news, news items posted were fake. they were connected to, as we now know, the 1,000 russian agents who were involved in delivering those messages. >> brian, the question for you, and this is a really important
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one because as pamela said we don't know if this affected the outcome of the election is this, can you point to a fake news story that would have swayed a vote or were these being circulated among people who already had a pretty strong point of view and didn't like her? >> it's hard to say, erin. it may very well just be that. but we have heard testimony in the months since the election from fbi counter intelligence officials that have talked about the sophistication with which the russians mounted this campaign. they didn't just write these fake news stories. they had a sophisticated army of twitter bots and other adopted personas on line that described themselves as midwest earn blue collar voters so people would share it and believe it if you thought it was your neighbor down the street when it was really somebody operating out of eastern europe. >> why do you shake your head at this? he's right. this did happen. and it happened on the bernie
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sanders hillary clinton primary. why shake your head at this? why can't the president admit, yeah, they tried to help me? >> because there is no evidence that the president endeavored to engage the russians in helping him. >> okay. but that's not the point. he still doesn't admit they tried to help him. >> if anybody should understand fake news, i will gave brian and secretary clinton credit because if anybody should understand fake news, it would be secretary clinton because she -- she purveyed fake news after benghazi. >> again, you're changing the conversation. i don't want to talk about benghazi. i did a whole hour long documentary about benghazi. >> it is outrageous to cry fake news when she herself utilized fake news to try to advance her cause as secretary of state. >> what's the matter with just focussing on this issue? i'm freely willing to admit that i can't say that this changed the result of the election. but even if it didn't, it is
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still a problem that republicans and democrats should be able to come together and solve. marco rubio said during the campaign that in the next campaign it could be the republicans that are the target of the russian government or another government. let's resolve to get to the bottom of this and stop these effects to meddle in the democratic process. >> i agree with you that we should have the most robust defense possible against meddling in our government or free election process. >> but you are not admit whag the problem was. how can you say you support a solution? >> there is no -- there is no evidence that president trump had anything to do with -- >> that's not the point. it's not collusion. >> let's bring in something else. >> no, no, no. answer the question i just asked. why can't he admit, why can't you admit they tried to help him. collusion is a separate issue. >> it is evident that the russians endeavored to meddle in
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our democracy. >> against hillary clinton. >> wrong, wrong. who was the source? >> it's not refutable? >> fusion gps had relationships with russians. they were funded by the russians and then by the democrats in producing the christopher steel doccier against candidate trump that was defunked. >> that we have never reported on the contents on this network. >> well, then perhaps to your detriment. >> no. because we will report things when we confirm they're true. >> kudos to you for not reporting the contents because they were fallacious. but the point being that the issue regarding russia is twofold. one is that, yes, we understand, the russians will try to interfere in the conduct of great democracies such as the
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united states. >> again -- >> should we have the most rebust defense against that, absolutely. >> they did so to help one candidate and not another. >> they tried to meddle in our election and tried to disrupt democracy, not elect donald trump. even if they were, that's not donald trump's fault. >> that may be the problem, that he thinks those two things are related. >> i think the problem here that frustrates any mutual effort to try to solve this issue is that trump and trump supporters conflate two things. the reason that, as you were explaining t counter intelligence officers and homeland securitys on election night for high fiving is because there is no evidence of tampering with the totals. there was probably an attempt by the russians to meddle with that and no evidence that that happened. that is something to be proud of. however, the obama
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administration official is also correct in saying there is a failure of imagination if we only settle for solving that problem. there is the larger effort to influence the national conversation here and spread fake news on behalf of one candidate. and regardless of whether donald trump colluded with the russians in that project or not, republicans and democrats alike should have an interest in upholding the democratic process here in the united states. and we can't ever approach that problem if people refuse to acknowledge the problem exists. >> not at all. >> we have to leave it there. >> the entire output of complete media outlets has to do with fighting president trump, so i think there is a lot of meddling that's going on. >> or calling out the truth when people fail to speak it. >> next the trump administration vowing to go after leakers. but to the point i just made, without leaks would we know the president shared highly classified information with the russian or would michael flynn
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more reliable. with technology that can update itself. and advanced fiber network infrastructure. new, more reliable equipment for your home. and a new culture built around customer service. it all adds up to our most reliable network ever. one that keeps you connected to what matters most. tonight embattled attorney general jeff sessions taking up an issue that infur rates his boss, leaks to the media and sessions is vowing to crack down on them. >> i have this message for our friends in the intelligence community. the department of justice is open for business and i have this warning for would be le leakers, don't do it. the department will not hesitate to bring lawful and appropriate
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criminal charges against those who would abruce the public trust. >> sessions now saying the number of active leak investigations has more than tripled and, yes, leaks can be dangerous. he has a point. but others have exposed misleading statements and outright lies from donald trump's white house. without leaks we wouldn't know that this statement from donald trump's lawyer is not true. >> the president didn't sign off on anything. he was coming back from the g-20. the statement that was released on saturday was released by donald trump jr. and i'm sure in consultation with his lawyers. the president wasn't involved in that. >> that's trump's attorney deny whag the washington post later exposed, that the president dictated the letter by saying it was about adoption. and then there is this leak, in may the washington post reporting trump revealed highly classified information to russia's foreign minister and ambassador. trump's national security
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advisor went out to deny the story on camera. >> the story that came out tonight as reported is false. the president and the foreign minister reviewed a range of common threats to our two countries, including threats to civil aviation. at no time, at no time were intelligence sources or methods discussed. and the president did not disclose any military operations that were not already publically known. >> trump himself, though, then inadvertently confirmed the washington post report and added more information that the post had declined to print. >> i never meant to, the word or the name israel. >> general mike flynn losing his job over a leak. the former national security advisor fired after the washington post revealed he has discussed sanctions with a russian ambassador and lied about it. matt rosen berg, april ryan and
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mark preston. and thanks very much to all of you. matt, you have had major scoops from leaks that have impacted the public's knowledge of the russia investigation, things we would know about that are important that we know about thanks to your reporting and your sources. you first reported trump told officials that firing james comey relieved great pressure on him. so my question to you, matt, is what is the motivation behind why people are choosing to share this information, to leak this information with you? >> i'll also note that in that meeting where trump talked about the great pressure being relieved by firing comey, he also called comey a nutjob to the russian foreign minister. he denigrated his own fbi director. why are people telling us this? leaks have all kinds of motivations. i think in the popular imagination it is one political rival leaking against the other. but in these cases, when we are
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hearing things about these sensitive meetings and sensitive information, very often it is people who see things that are going wrong on the inside and feel that either the corrective mechanisms on the inside aren't working, whether they're not willing listened to and by leaking they are going to draw attention to something and get it fixed. they may be right or wrong and i'm not going to judge this, but their intentions are keeping in line with free press, which is we are a check, one of the last resorts. one nothing on the inside is working, have somebody on the outside give some attention to it. >> anthony scaramucci in his brief tenor told cnn that the leakers are white house staffers trying to derail president trump's presidency itself. here he is. >> there are people inside the administration that think it is their job to save america from this president. okay. that is not their job. >> april, when you talk to your
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sources, is that any of their goal? >> you just heard it, leaking in good faith and for some it would be considered whistle blowing. you have a lot of people very concerned with the newness of this administration and the novice approach that many of these intercircle trump officials are taking to include the president and, i mean, i think back to water gate. i was a kid when it happened. was that, you know, a problem? things changed because of whistle blowing, because of the leaks. you know, major issues were found out and brought out to the public. deep throat was really considered a hero and he was t outed how many years later and he was viewed as a hero. then you also have the issue of -- you also have the issue of this whole -- this whole piece going to the press. i talked to the national press head. he is very upset. he hates this idea that the
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first amendment is being attacked -- a vailed attack on the first amendment and also the fact that it's an attempt to undermine the freedom of the press. >> so speaking of freedom of the press, mark, what about what they're now saying. the attorney general said he's going to not just go after the leakers but the leak recipients. he's going to be issuing subpoenas to media outlets that publish this information. >> that's not going to play well with the rest of america. i think what is key tonight is leaking in good faith. and we should just let's pull the curtain back a little bit. we should explain to all our viewers that there is sensitive information that is passed along to news organizations every day. and in many cases i would say most cases, when information could lead to death, when it could lead to putting u.s. troops in harm's way, that there is a deal cut where information is held back so that doesn't
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happen. >> by the way, one of those instances was one of the ones we reported from the washington post. they didn't report israel was the country that shared the information because that could put an israeli agent's life at risk. but then the president obviously did put it out there when he was with the prime minister netanyahu. the president has spoken about the leaks. and in this one line, here is how he kraktized the whole situation. >> the leaks are real. you know what they said. you saw it. and the leaks are absolutely real. the news is fake because so much of the news is fake. >> now, as we all pointed out at the time, that doesn't make any sense. but if it weren't for the leaks, we wouldn't know many of the mistruths coming from administration. we have given some examples. there is others like that next meeting with vladimir putin. we could go on and on. >> i mean, there are literally dozens at this point.
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and, look, if the administration doesn't want leaks, i would advice it i guess to not get into meetings with the russian foreign minister and all the fired fbi director a nut job, to not get on the phone with the ambassador and say don't worry about it. we're going to work it out. it will be great once we're in office. there are so many examples here. and in every single one of these cases, these leaks have resulted in changes. so i think they're almost making the case for themselves there. i think it is important what april said about the word whistle blower. these people could be viewed as whistle blowers. that's an important distinction and something we need to start saying more of and to shift that term. we're not talking about people like, oh, i don't like kellyanne conway so i'm going to leak about that. >> the big leaker was anthony
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smar mu economy, right? the thing is, though, mark, there is a flip side here. and i guess this is a big question as american citizens we could care about. someone leaked the actual transcripts, right. and they were pretty shocking. they were pretty shocking reading, okay? but these were private phone calls between two world leaders and i asked james clapper, the former head of national intelligence about this particular pair of leaks, and here's what he said. >> i think it's a terrible thing that these got leaked. it's certainly during -- my experience with him and i got to read such transcripts of such conversations during my time and they were treated as very, very sensitive documents. this is not a good thing. it is really bad and it just shouldn't happen. >> mark, where do we draw the
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line? because it is hard to take the moral high ground about some leaks and have others that many would acknowledge and obviously the obama administration concurred that no matter what was said on these calls, the leak is not good. >> well, i would say a couple things. one is there is no national security information that put people at risk that came out of those phone calls. in fact, what came out of those phone calls and out of those transcripts is we found out the president yet lied again, specifically when you get to the point of building the wall and basically groveling to the mexican president to not talk about it anymore. the second thing is i would say i was pulled aside by a gentleman who grew up in communist hungry and he said thank you so much. he said you are fighting for a free press. i grew up in a country without a free press. it was oppressive and awful. he goes, thank you for doing it. we will make mistakes in the immediate yachlt but the oh nus is on us to make sure we do the right thing. >> can i jump in.
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>> all of a sudden with another president. then the president can't be honest with a word leader. >> well, don't get on the phone call and -- sorry. sorry, april. >> go ahead. no problem. no, i mean. i'm thinking about that call with the head of australia where the president it was supposed to be a great call, correct, and it wound up being one of the worst calls. very angry. it's important that we know the truth. if the president is saying that these calls are great because if something happens between the united states and australia, we're saying, wait a minute, one minute the call was great. what happened? there needs to be some honest transparency. and when we don't have it, that's when these whistle blowers come out and give the washington post or "the new york times" or whomever transcripts to say, this is not what happened. and i believe it is more whistle blowing right now than just i don't like this person, i don't
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like that person, just crazy leaking. >> i appreciate all of you taking the time. obviously em passions perfectives. thank you. >> the president beginning his 17 day vacation. his supporters in a crucial state say the clock is ticking, though. they want a legislative win. >> and it is american dream week at the white house. but of course you may not have known that based on the news this week. this is crabfest at red lobster. with choices like the classic crab lover's dream and new favorites like dueling crab legs with dungeness and snow crab. it's happening right now right here at crabfest. red lobster. now this is seafood. we, the people, are tired of being surprised with extra monthly fees. we want hd. and every box and dvr. all included. because we don't like surprises. yeah. like changing up the celebrity at the end to someone more handsome. and talented. really. and british. switch from cable to directv.
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so we know how to cover almost almoanything.hing even a swing set standoff.
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and we covered it, july first, twenty-fifteen. 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 ♪ my doctor recommended i switch laxatives. 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. when we see people, we see their hunger. their courage. we see their dreams. we see the things that built our nation. and we wonder, what would happen if everyone had equal access to education? what would they discover? what new worlds would they build?
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that's why we built a university for people. not for profit. president trump riding high on a strong jobs report, tweeting, quote, excellent jobs numbers just released and i have only just begun. many job stifling regulations continue to fall. movement back to usa. but as his approval rate drops, is this economic news enough for the president to maintain his support in michigan, a state he won by the slimmest of margins, a crucial state to his future. we are outfront. >> reporter: john and brenda, skaper and first mate of the misbehaving voted for and still support the president. but -- >> i think he put up a wall around him and he's only letting
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a select few enter that wall. >> is that a mistake? >> it is a mistake because a manager appoints people that he should be listening to. >> a manager in the automotive industry for 46 years says the president must listen more, tweet less and adapt his business skills to politics. >> does he have a credibility issue and are some of those self-made? >> some are self-maide, yes. maybe his ego is getting in the way of how he used to run a company in new york. >> brenda, a lifelong republican says the president should get out of campaign mode. >> he needs to listen to his cabinet members who he hired. he can't run the show by himself. and i think he needs to lose a little of bhis ego and get toug skin. >> trump won michigan by less than 11,000 votes.
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just north of detroit helped hand him the victory. trump won it big time by more than 48,000 votes. brian, an auto worker for 32 years, met candidate trump. then helped bring him to mccomb county. >> i'm probably one of the biggest trump supporters in the county. >> he says the president needs a big legislative win to prove he has the right stuff. >> if you had one thing to tell him to do right now to turn it around, what would it be? >> focus like a laser beam on your legislative agenda. get with the leaders in congress in the senate to move your legislation forward. >> gun rights brought voters like christine walsh out for candidate trump. >> he made very big promises here in mccomb county. is he keeping them? >> i think it is a work in progress. >> how long do you give
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>> at least after of his first term. >> reporter: as summer fades, the president's supporters sticking by him, but looking, hoping for a win. >> hoping for a win, and pointing out they want a legislative one. why do think they there's not been a legislative win so far? >> reporter: all of his big promises, whether immigration, health care, the health care thing has struck them very deeply. they're angry at the media, angry at the deep state over that, and over all the problems. they are most angry at centrist republicans and if things continue along this line, i think that fight within the republican party will intensify. >> that obviously could spell big problems for the party overall. miguel, thank you very much. and now, j.d. vance, author of the best seller, j.d., you just heard the couple talk about you need to check your ego,
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self-described biggest supporter of the county for president trump say you got to get a legislative victory. is president trump's base holding firm, or is it at risk? >> i think it's a little of both. some of the folks you talk to said he has a long leash. folks aren't going to abandon him in six months. they'll give him a little time to accomplish his agenda. but what you hear from a lot of different people if you're on the ground talking to pa ing ti a broad recognition things aren't going well right now. and whether well comes in the form of a big legislative win or another big victory trump can pin his hat on, folks think the president could do a little better. and if that persists over the next couple of years, i do think he'll lose some people from his base. and in michigan, where he won by 11,000 votes, losing some could
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mean the difference between re-election and not. >> it certainly could. there's a new quinnipiac poll showing a very dramatic move. trump taking a major drop in noncollege educated white voters, 43%. it's a plummet when you look from month to month. it was 71% just before he took office. what accounts for this sharp decline? >> there are a couple of things. the first is that even if the economy is going broadly well, obviously that economy doing well doesn't reach across all sectors of the country. so even though you see unemployment numbers doing reasonably well, what's happening in the industrial midwest, michigan and ohio, the economic recovery still hasn't fully set in. a bigger problem, i think, is the feeling that the big pushes that the president has really made on health care, on some of these other issues, haven't really materialized.
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so when people see the president going after a major health care reform effort, and then failing, and when people are frustrated about the way the health care system is working right now, that leads to this sense that the president just isn't able to deliver. again, that isn't a permanent sense, but it is this sort of thing where if it persists, people are going to get upset. >> j.d., thank you very much for your perspective. good to see you. >> nice to see you. next, it's american dream week at the white house. so was it a bad week to support slashing legal immigration or not? this is a story about mail and packages.
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and it's also a story about people and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you man: let's go! man #2: we're not coming out! man #1: [ sighs ] flo: [ amplified ] i got this. guys, i know being a first-time homeowner is scary, but you don't have to do this. man #2: what if a tree falls on our garage? woman: what if a tornado rips off our roof? flo: you're covered. and you've bundled your home and auto insurance, so you're saving a ton. come on. you don't want to start your new life in a dirty old truck. man #3: hey. man #1: whoa, whoa. flo: sorry. woman: oh. flo: you're safe. you're safe now. woman: i think i'm gonna pass out. can you stop using the bullhorn? flo: i don't make the rules.
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you may not have known it, but it was american dream week at the white house. that makes the number of themed weeks held by this administration seven. but somehow they seem to trounce on their own messaging. tom foreman breaks it down. so what did the white house want to highlight this week and what did we get instead? >> reporter: they wanted american dream week, erin, to highlight the fact that they are doing things to help the economy, they believe. for example, cutting regulation and red tape, working on better trade deals, maybe finding a way to help small businesses, rewrite the tax code. through it all, hopefully create
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millions of jobs for normal people. but they derailed it by their own actions. monday, the news was all about how anthony scaramucci had been fired after ten tumultuous days. tuesday, the story was how the president had, in fact, helped donald trump, jr. draft a statement about that meeting with the russians at trump tower, something the white house had denied. wednesday, they rolled out their immigration plan which immediately had critics saying, this doesn't sound like the american dream to us. thursday was about the phone calls between the president of mexico and primary of australia. and now robert mueller panelling a grand jury. and all of that, erin, has pushed american dream week way back into the shadows. >> and it's not the first week that ended up in the shadows, at least the way the white house wanted it. they've been using these theme
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weeks for quite some time. >> they've been trying over and over again. look at the different themes they dropped down here and tried to push. yet each time, look what happened. infrastructure week over here. when they tried to do that. that was a week that james comey was in front of congress testifying how the president fired him. what about energy week? that was the week that the president went after those msnbc hosts on twitter, creating a huge uproar, even in his own party. what about made in america week? the trump family businesses immediately came under fire for their own foreign suppliers and the things that they rely on foreign markets for. bottom line is, the white house has tried to set the agenda and tried to control the discussion over and over again. and over and over again they have pushed their own story line aside with their own problems and actions. erin? >> tom foreman, thank you very much. and thanks to all of you for joining us. hope that you have a great weekend. you can watch "outfront" any
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time, anywhere. "ac 360" with anderson begins right now. good evening. we begin with a cnn exclusive. new details unreported until now. not only did the russian tampering go until the final vote was cast, we're learning it went up to the line when it comes to the line of the first amendment. the adversary, disinformation designed to influence voters from russian sources. we have the scoop tonight. tell us about how some members of the fbi, how they spent election day. >> so, anderson, on election night, counterintelligence was huddled in a room at fbi headquarters here in washington, d.c. on election day, monitoring social media. what they could see was streams of fake news, negative stories about being posted about hillary clinton. some having to