and we feel comfortable for what we do for russia. and by the way, i'm here to do exactly what is important for us. >> thank you very much. >> thanks to matthew for that interview. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in the situation. erin burnett outfront starts right now. a new e-mail tonight revealing an attempt to set up a meeting between trump officials and vladimir putin during the campaign. the person behind that e-mail now president trump's deputy chief of staff. cnn exclusive reporting next. and is donald trump fit to be president? former director of national intelligence, james clapper, is my best tonight. plus that enthusiastic supporter at the trump rally holding up a blacks for trump sign, who is he? i'm jim sciutto.

out front tonight, a cnn exclusive. a revealing reveal under new skrooutny by investigators. te mail detailed an effort to arrange a meeting between top trump officials and russian president vladimir putin during the campaign. multiple sources say that the e-mail was sent from rick dearborn, now trump's dep any chief of staff. it was sent around the time of the june 2016 trump tower meeting. and russians offering damaging information on hillary clinton. dearborn was a top campaign aid at the time. manu ra manu raju broke this story. >> investigators have unearthed this e-mail from this top trump aid that references previously unreported efforts to arrange a meeting between trump officials

and vladimir putin. this is according to sources with direct knowledge. the aid, the president's deputy chief of staff and former chief of staff to jeff sessions sent this brief e-mail to campaign officials relaying information about an individual who was seeking to connect top trump officials with putin. the person in this e-mail was only identified as being from, quote, "wv." it is unclear who this person is or whether dearborn acted on this request. now, that source told me that in the e-mail he did appear to be ske skeptical of the meeting. as i mentioned, the former chief of staff of jeff sessions, as well as a top policy on the campaign and investigators have questioned about whether he

played any role in arranging two meetings that occurred last year between the russian ambassador at the time, sergei kislyak and sessions. he was also involved in helping arrange a 2016 event at the may flower hotel, which trump delivered a major foreign policy address and where there may have been an encounter. he did not respond to multiple inquiries seeking comment. white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders declined to comment, but she would not respond to a bunch of e-mails about the basics of what this e-mail was about. she said we're not going to comment on potentially linked documents. >> this e-mail produced to congressional investigators. we know the timing could be key because it was set around june 2016, the same time as trump's meeting with the russian lawyer here in new york. have you found any connection between the two? >> we don't know if there is any

connection between the two. we don't have many details other than the fact this e-mail does not now exist and something investigators want to know more about and question dearborn about as well. this kind of request made by this unidentified west virginia fits a pattern of russians trying to develop human intelligence and seek partners in part of their covert operations. but a lot of questions unanswered. but it appears to fit a pattern of russians trying to work with the campaign. we'll see if this is another example of that or whether the campaign didn't do anything with that. we still don't know those questions just yet. >> with the cnn exclusive report tonight. thanks very much. outfront, former director of national intelligence james clapper joins me now. general clapper, thank you for taking the time. we are reporting that investigators are focussing on this e-mail from rick dearborn, then a top policy aid in the trump campaign.

two staffers in that e-mail relaying information about an individual looking to connect trump officials with putin. you of course led the intelligence communities assessment on russian interference in the election, based granted on what little we know about this now. what can you make of this development? >> well, i can't make a lot of it and on its face it may or may not be nefarious. this would have been, had we known about it at the time, the kind of thing that, to use the phrase i used before, would have caused the dash warning lights to blink. but in the absence of knowing the actual intent and content, you know, it is hard to comment much on this revelation. >> understood. you have said that during your time as director of national intelligence, you saw no direct evidence of political collusion, any form of collusion between the trump campaign and russia. though, of course, investigators

still probing the depths of that. as you look at the pattern here of russians at least reaching out to trump world to establish contacts, meetings, e-mails, et cetera, from the russian side, is there any significance of those contacts? >> well, we made the point in our intelligence community assessment that the russians clearly favored trump. then candidate trump, to be elected. so they saw in him the potential for improvement in relations, perhaps ultimately relief of sanctions. so they saw an array of hope with him. so it's not -- it's not surprising, in fact, i think very consistent they would want to try to engage with him even more inauguration day. >> understood. okay. i want to turn now, if i can for a moment to ask you about the president's campaign rally last

night. you said his speech made you question his ability, his fitness to be commander in chief. can you tell us what signals, what signs, what evidence have you been watching that give you that level of concern? >> oh, jim, at the outset, a couple of points i need to make. first of all, this is very, very difficult for me personally to be critical of a president. my dad served for 28 years in the army and instilled in me respect for the commander in chief and the incumbent in that position. and certainly in the 50 years or so that i served, 34 of that in the military, that was clearly my instants. i have served as a political appointee, so this is not about politics. it is about the country. my comments motivated by that.

and what caused concern is this sort of heckle -- jekyll hyde business where he'll make a scripted speech which is good and then turn around and negate it by sort of, you know, unbridled, unleashed, unchaperoned trump. that to me is -- that pattern is very disturbing. so today he made a very conciliatory speech professing or asking for unity, which is what he needs to do. last night i was all prepared to talk about afghanistan and actually i thought the way that turned out was good. he made the right decision. and essentially reversed a campaign position. he's not the first president to do that. and he came out in the right place. it appears there was a deliberative process involving his national security team and they prevailed on him with the

position he came out with. that's what i was prepared to speak to. and then the bizarre performance at this rally, which i found very disturbing, and one other point i need to make, repeat something i did say last night, which has not been quoted as i don't speak for the intelligence community. this is me as a private citizen now, so i'm not representing the ic. so i do want to make that clear. >> i understand. >> just the pattern of on again/off again and of course, you know, as i mentioned last night, he was very quick to call out or characterize the intelligence community as nazis, but seemed somewhat reluctant to call out the real ones, the wanna-be nazis in the case of charlottesville. so that sort of thing and the personal engagement i had with him before he became president and then, again, this on

again/off again, who is the real president trump. and i thought leon panetta made a good point in the wolf blitzer session about a decision that the president needs to make, about what role does he want to play in -- as president. does he want to reinforce divisiveness or promote unity and get on with his agenda. >> you're not saying he is mentally unfit. you're raising questions about his judgment, in effect, in the office of president. >> exactly. i'm not a psychologist, psychiatrist. i cannot make any comment about his mental health, his sanity or any of that sort of thing. i just -- all i can comment on, really, is the behavior that i have observed. and i find that worrisome. >> it sounds like you saw -- i don't want to say a different

trump, but at least a different message from trump in his comments today as opposed to yesterday. do you believe personally that the president can right this ship? >> actually, i do. i think he could, and i think it would have profound impact on the country. if he can, in an unguarded moment, convey sincerely his scripted appeals for unity and so that the body language matches the words and so far there is a discord there. they don't necessarily comport. >> understood. if i could turn to another topic. president trump last night referenced how he has in his view gained north korea's respect. here's how he said it last night. >> you see what's going on in north korea. all of a sudden, i don't know,

who knows. but i can tell you what i said, that's not strong enough. some people said it was too strong. it is not strong enough. but kim jong-un, i respect the fact that i believe he is starting to respect us. >> now today new photos from north korea appear to show unexpected advances in pyongyang's missile program. state media saying today that president trump's posts were weird and ego driven. as you look at north korea's behavior here, do you see evidence that north korea is fundamentally changing its behavior in response to trump? >> no, i don't. i think the north koreans already have an abiding respect and have had for a long time

about our military capabilities and what we could do to them. and the president's rhetoric i don't think had any impact on that one way or the other. and the thing that concerns me about, you know, using up his nonkinetic chips, by engaging in this rhetoric, i don't think that's particularly helpful and the north koreans are bent on achieving a nuclear missile capability. and they are not going to deviate from that. at least not by virtue of threats. i think the only path ahead with the north koreans is some form of negotiation. so i think what secretary tillerson has been saying is exactly right, and i think secretary mattis, who has been very careful about distinguishing between a peremptory attack, which would be a disaster of apo apocalypti

proportions. but we will retaliate. and the north koreans understand that. so i think that the path ahead for them is through some form of negotiation. >> thanks very much for joining us tonight. >> thanks, jim. thanks for having me. >> next, more on our breaking news on the russia investigation. this as we're learning from republicans how consumed the president is with the russia investigation. plus, a shut-down threat from the president if he does not get the funding he wants for his border wall. will he go through with it? white house officials chiming in. and hillary clinton reveals what she really wanted to say during this famous debate moment. >> back up, you creep. get away from me. this is not a cloud. this is a tomato tracked from farm to table on a blockchain,

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♪ sailin' away on the crest of ea wave, it's like magic ♪ ♪ rollin' and ridin' and slippin' and slidin' ♪ ♪ it's magic introducing the all new volkswagen tiguan. ♪ higher and higher, baby the new king of the concrete jungle. welcome back to outfront. we are following breaking news. cnn learning tonight that congressional investigators discovered an e-mail from a top trump aid that references a previously unreported attempt to arrange a meeting between trump campaign officials and vladimir putin. sources say the aid is rick dearborn, now president trump's deputy chief of staff and that the e-mail was sent around the time of the recently revealed june 2016 trump tower meeting

involving donald trump jr., jared kushner and paul manafort. mark preston and mark fisher, the author of the donald trump buy y biography. mark, if i could begin with you here. top member of the administration, another meeting attempt at a meeting between trump campaign officials and in this case vladimir putin himself, how significant these news? >> very. we haven't talked about russia. it has been an issue that is taking the back burner to all the other controversies that president trump has engaged in. but the fact is if this e-mail exists as we are told, there is more smoke around potentially where there could be fire. we saw donald trump several times try to squash any of these

investigations, whether it be the congressional investigations or whether it be the investigation by the fbi, former fbi director. now we see that it is much more widespread, jim, than was previously saw. i should note time and time again, we have seen donald trump say there was never any collusi collusion. >> sources telling cnn this rick dearborn e-mail sent around that june 2016 trump tower meeting, donald trump jr., the russians offering damaging information on hillary clinton, while certainly no collusion established at this point, what are we seeing potentially from the russian side here? multiple attempts to reach the trump campaign it seemed from multiple directions. >> yeah. i think this episode tells you more about what the russians were trying to do than shedding more light on what the trump campaign was trying to do because we don't know what the response was yet. but it is an indication of what

we knew, a concerted effort by russia to make inroads into this election and this is a much more direct sort of aroach to approach somebody within the ranks of the trump campaign through what seems to be somebody with at least american ties, if not american themselves. it shows that basically it was not one offs but there were multiple avenues that were being pursued, which is something that you would frankly expect if russia was bent on trying to establish connections or trying to trump -- help the trump campaign or be involved and affect the elections somehow that the things wouldn't be accidental. this goes towards establishing a pattern of behavior that was happening from moscow, the question for whether this affects the probes of the trump team is going to depend a lot on what the response was to that in treaty and whether it was positive, whether it was negative, whether it went beyond just dearborn. and those are questions not yet

answered by what we know. >> and former director clapper reminding us it is the u.s. intelligence assessment that the russian preference was for trump to win. mark fisher, it's cnn own reporting that part of the feud between senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and donald trump, is donald trump being in the words of sources talking to cnn irate that mcconnell did not stop or somehow protect the president from this russia investigation? "the new york times" had similar reporting last night as well. you have literally written a book on donald trump. how do you explain that continued focus there? >> well, he clearly never liked it when things go on that he doesn't know about in advance. he doesn't like surprises or people criticizing him. just as we saw last night, the way he reacts when people tell him what to say, so the contrast between that stiff formal speech

and the very next day, that lashing out, we see the same thing in regard to the investigation, where he was given words to say sometimes that he honors the investigation, will cooperate with it. but when it is the real donald trump we see in reacting in public as well in private with people like mitch mcconnell, saying where is the loyalty, why aren't people allowing me to do my job, why are they coming atp he reacts with anger. >> this is part of a pattern here, right? because he expressed privately and publically frustration with james comey for not protecting him from the investigation. publically criticized his own attorney general for recusing himself from the russian investigation, not protecting him and now the senate majority leader. that shows, does it not, a fundamental disregard for checks and balances? these people don't work for the

president. >> right. you literally took the words out of my mouth. what you are seeing here right now is a misunderstanding of how things work and how our government was set up. it is a basic civics lesson. when donald trump was elected president, he thought he was going to come in and that congress worked for him, that everybody worked for him. that's not how our government has been established. when you see the likes of mitch mcconnell, lindsey graham or john mccain, these are all folks that have seen presidents come and gone and they're still here. most of these members of congress will remain here. he's got to be careful about trying to push them around. >> i want to ask you because there is a personal element it seems to the battle between trump and mcconnell. but there is also a political element here with donald trump appealing to his base. i wonder, does donald trump have a point here in that it's not like the republican base or

americans in general are particularly happy with senators and lawmakers in washington. is trump on to something here in effect taking it to the establishment as it were republican party? >> well, congress's approval ratings have always been -- not always, but lately business mali low and i suppose it is easy if your approval ratings are equally low. but that's kind of been the way it's been for a while. and, yeah, he can make political headway off of that, but i don't think it's going to shake lawmakers to their core. they believe in some of these strictures about the why legislative process working, protecting people incumbent in their seats and not necessarily -- they're not following trump in endorsing jeff flake, for example, because they know power can shift in d.c. quite quickly. so you don't want to play fast

and loose with the rules. you don't want to play fast and loose with the questions of loyalty. and a lot of these members have been in place for a long time and have seen washington go through different iterations, seen population numbers rise and fall. but are going to be suede by certain political messages from the president but attacking the core of their institution is probably not going to work because it hasn't worked thus far. >> thanks to all of you. next, trump's two sides. he's one way reading from a teleprompter, different way when he's scripted. plus, trump threatening to shut down the government in order to get his border wall. steve king is outfront. the best routes,o planng nobody does it better. he's also a championship-winning football coach. look at that formation. but when it comes to mortgages, he's less confident.

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breaking news, whiplash. the president goes unscripted and unhinged on message with a call for unity all in less than 24 hour. president trump speaks at the american legion convention in reno, nevada today, stuck this time with a teleprompter. >> it is time to heal the wounds and seek a new unity based on the common values that you night us. we are one people with one home and one great flag. >> so note those remarks and then look at this. trump in phoenix just last night unscripted. >> it's time to expose the crooked media deceptions and to challenge the media for their

role in ferments divisions and they are trying to take away our history and our hearitage. the only people giving a platform to these hate groups is the media itself and the fake news. >> something of a roller coaster, we're seeing with this president. he began his rally last night with this message of national healing. >> it is time for us to follow the example of our brave american soldiers. they form a single, unbreakable team. that's what we are, we're a team. as a nation, we're a team. >> minutes later, though, he was back on to some petty political pay back. >> one vote away, i will not mention any names. very presidential, isn't it? very presidential. and nobody wants me to talk about your other senator, whose weak on poborders, weak on crim.

nobody knows who the hell he is. >> he was talking, to be clear, about his fellow republican senators mccain and flake, both of arizona. jason carol is outfront where the president wrapped up his scripted speech. how is the white house staff dealing with these two different sides of president trump? >> well, certainly there are a number of people in the white house who would rather deal with the trump they heard today. he was scripted, on message, guided by the teleprompter and well received. they said it was measured. they called it focus. one veteran from florida said it was a welcome departure from what he heard yesterday. so that was trump today versus yesterday where you've got some of his own people, sarah huckabee sanders, for example, saying there would be in discussion of that controversial former sheriff and then trump goes on ahead and talks about him. you hear there from the sound

where he even said he had been advised not to talk about the two senators and goes on to all but name them. frustrating for some of those within the administration, but there are still some of those who recognize that rally, that campaign style speech he gave yesterday was not for the press or critics. it was really for his base. they also recognize that donald trump is a man who ascended to the white house by being himself, being unscripted. and, so, there are people who certainly want to stay on track and see him be more presidential. if the past is any indication, extent more from this man to be as he is has been in the president. >> don't wait for that pivot, jason carroll. dan, jason miller, and

communications director for the president's transition team. dan, pfeiffer, really night and day the comments last night and today, the unscripted ones and then the scripted ones. how do you explain that difference? >> well, i think, you know, we have been having this conversation for almost two years now. there is only one donald trump, the one we saw last night. maybe he's tired. maybe his advisors have a little luck to not get him to do something crazy or detrimental to his overall effort. but he always reverts back to the mean and that is divisive, off the script. phoenix knows donald trump. and a few minutes on a teleprompter isn't going to change that. >> how do you respond to that? we know dan worked for a different party, but it is in the comments themselves. strikingly different messages. fewer than 24 hours apart.

>> well, jason carol stole a little of my thunder earlier when he said members of the mainstream media are not the target members. but looking at the past three days of president trump's remarks, you know, he gave the speech about troops in afghanistan on monday. he gave the campaign style speech last night in phoenix. today he had the veterans event in nevada. i think you look at some of the messages that did come across in all three events. he denounced bigotry and hate and embraced unity. he did it in different styles and different ways. in monday it was at the beginning of the event. >> he had the message of unity and very quickly made comments not very unifying you must admit. >> look, he made it very clear denouncing bigotry and hatred and embracing unity. i think an important take-away

from this is president trump, particularly on some of these more unifying messages is doing it not just where you expect him to but where you wouldn't expect him to. part of the reason why president trump won, the reason why he is so popular is because he's not a boring politician or a blow dried stiff who just gets talking points wheeled out to him and sounds like every other politician on capitol hill. there is a reason why he won and so convincingly in places where a lot of republicans don't always do that well. >> if that formula is working, why is his approval rating in the mid-30s? >> well, he's always had a mix of styles. there is another survey that said in a lot of the key states his numbers haven't moved that much compared to where they were before going into the election. fundamentally people voted for donald trump because they wanted change. they wanted to see things done differently. if they wanted to see a

skriflted politician, they could have voted for secretary clinton, but they didn't. look, the fact of the matter is we still have a pretty divided country when we talk about politics, but where i do think the president has an opportunity now as we look ahead and start getting into the fall and talking about tax reform and some of the other things, these are unifying themes and issues you can bring people together on. >> dan? >> let's put aside his campaign style, whether that worked or whether it didn't. jim is right. his approval ratings are historically low for a first-term president or any term president, frankly. he's not a candidate. he's president. when the president of the united states goes on stage and essentially leads the audience into chanting cnn sucks, questions the pay tre pay trio reporters, that is not unifying.

he has yet to understand the gravity of his words as pt president. that has consequences. it has political consequences in the sense that his approval ratings are in the toilet and it is dangerous for those reporters who are there to be treated that way and have the crowd incited against him and problematic. >> dan, very important point of distinction here is when president trump ran and won, it wasn't just about taking on the establishment democrats. i mean, it was also about taking on the establishment republicans on capitol hill. >> you can still say something about john mccain when he's suffering about brain cancer. that wouldn't kill him to have the tiny shred of dekrcencdecen >> he didn't say anything about mccain's medical issues, but he

referenced the fact -- i mean, he referenced the fact that he was a deciding vote against moving obamacare repeal forward, which is exactly accurate. and i think a lot of supporters out there would wish that the president would get out there and do that a bit more. >> gentlemen and to our viewers, we're watching here trump arriving just moments ago back on the south lawn of the white house from his trip to reno today. there is the president. we talked a little bit about approval numbers. i want to show numbers from a new poll getting to the president's credibility as well. this poll from quinnipiac university asked the question, is president trump doing more to divide the country or more to unite the country. two to one margin says he is doing more to divide than unite the country. jason, how do you answer that? >> i don't think so. again, i think a lot of this is the coverage we see on tv.

when it is constant coverage talking about a divided country, people are going to think it is divided. >> to be fair, a lot of our coverage is playing the president's comments as we did on last night and again today uninterpreted. the people had an opportunity to hear the president's words. >> but, jim, where i would respectfully disagree is the fact that again his criticism of bigotry and hate and his embracing unity, a lot of those messages haven't always been played nearly as much as we've seen some of the other comments. i don't think people necessarily get the full picture of everything that the president is saying. >> as a matter of fact, we played all the comments from start to finish. but i get your point about perhaps editorial emphasis. jason miller, dan, thanks very much for joining us tonight. and outfront next, the president threatens to shut down the government if he does not get the money for his border wall. why would he do that? i'll ask congressman steve king.

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new tonight, think twice about a government shut down. that is house speaker paul ryan's message to president trump after the president threatened to close the

government last night to make sure that the wall is built. >> i don't think a government shut down is necessary and i don't think most people want to see a government shut down. ourselves included. >> outfront now republican congressman from iowa, steve king. thanks for joining us. >> thank you, jim. >> as you know, president trump said last night he'll willing to shut the government down if that's what it takes to build his border wall. your own leader in the house, paul ryan says it is not necessary and not in the party's interest to do so. who's right? >> i agree with both of them. and i know that, you know, paul ryan and i had this discussion back in january and the discussion was about the president needs -- we need to provide the president the resources he needs to secure the border. that said to me resources to build the wall as well as to enforce the law. and when the president says he will deal with the government shut down if necessary, i don't think it will be necessary.

and i think that's what paul ryan is saying, it won't be necessary. we'll get the resources to the president's desk. but if the democrats are able to obstruct this and find a way to shut the government down over it and i'm not sure they can do that, but if they can do that, the public won't tolerate a government shut down over denying a mandate from the american people delivered with the election of donald trump. i think republicans will come in line and i don't know that democrats will. but historically, they have voted also for building a fence, a wall and a fence on the southern border. >> as you know, donald trump during the campaign did not think a shut down was a good thing at all for a president back in 2013 he tweeted, and i'm quoting here, my sense is that people are far angrier at the president than congress via the shut down. an interesting turn. listen to what else he had to say. >> nobody wants a shut down.

>> whether there is a shut down, who knows. that would be horrible. >> i think the pressure is on obama to make a deal because he doesn't want this on his resume. >> isn't it the pressure on president trump now to make a deal? >> i think president trump has sent a good message to the congress. and that is i'm going to insist i get the $1.6 billion to start the construction on the wall on the southern border. that's a presidential promise. if he's not willing to demand that funding, then he's not following through with the impetus and dedication and commitment he made. i think it's a good tactical maneuver. >> even congress who live along the border don't believe is necessary, is that worth it to fulfill a campaign promise worth shutting down the entire government on all the other budget priorities that your own party has? >> well, i imagine this. i mean, let's just imagin the

sequence of this would come about in this way if there was going to be a shut down. an approapriation bill would be started to the president and if the president said the money is not in here i insisted on, i'm going to veto this bill, go back to work. that's the cycle of it. it would be the willful function of congress to refuse to fund something the president demanded. then who's going to blink, the president or congress? i would say we already know that congress is going to blink because they blinked in 2013 over a much higher principal than this. we also know that democrats were ready to shut the government down if they didn't get the half a billion dollars in funding for planned parenthood. if you look at the value of the vince pals principals involved, if there is going to be funding for the president and the only thing that keeps that from happening is if the president doesn't insist. i think he will.

we've got to get started building that wall and i am going to have to convince will herd it is a good idea. >> the white house prepared papers to pardon william pio. i want to remind our viewers, a judge found his office engaged in systematic racial profiling of latinos, ordered him to stop detaining people based on suspicious of being undocumented ig -- immigrants. is this someone who deserves a presidential pardon? >> i believe so. and i saw this because i sat on the judiciary committee and i have been down to that county. i visited with him some years ago. i watched as this political prosecution was put together when the democrats were in the majority. they didn't like the idea he was

enforcing immigration law. >> it was a judge who declared him in contempt. it wasn't democrats in congress. it was a judge that declared him >> well, judges aren't perfect either, and judges have a political agenda, too. the chairman of the senate judiciary committee went to the floor about six months ago and gave a little lecture to chief justice roberts that said if you're concerned about our confirmations being political, stop making political decisions with your court. we've got a politicized court and a lot of obama appointees who have been political. it's also the case for a number of others. >> you are close with steve bannon, president trump's now former strategist. the day he was fired he gave an interesting interview to the weekly standard and he said "the trump presidency that we fought for and won is over. we still have a huge movement, and we'll make something of the

trump presidency, but that presidency is over. it will be something else, and there will be good days and bad days, but that presidency is over." that's a remarkable charge to make. do you agree with him, that agenda, in effect, that trump voters elected him to enact, that that's over? >> well, even if i had a suspicion that it is, it's my job and my commitment to continue to push the agenda that are the convictions that i believe in and i promised my constituents i would promote. i wanted that platform in the oval office, the american people came together and elected a conservative platform with border security in it, into the oval office, and mike pence is a component of this, as well. i think that might have caught steve bannon on a pessimistic day. i have not talked to him about that quote, but i have spoken with him since then. i know he's committed to the

trump agenda and platform. he's not going to let up and i don't intend to let up. he had two big white boards on that office in the west wing. on it were the list of all of the trump promises. i think steve bannon is going to continue to promote those -- that agenda that is the trump agenda. and i think the president will follow through on most of those, as well. i've got some concerns, but i think the president needs help on this wall. i think he should have an individual who would be responsible for the full package of the wall, the strategy, the political strategy, the engineering, the funding, all the pieces. i don't know if the president knows that's not central -- >> congressman, thanks for taking the time tonight. >> thank you. tonight, we're learning more about one of the more noticeable attendees last night, this man

that reads trump and republicans are not racist, and holding that sign blacks for trump. his views are ones that the trump campaign might not want to be associated with. jessica schneider is "outfront." >> reporter: he calls himself michael the black man. >> i love the signs behind me. blacks for trump. i like those signs. >> reporter: but the man behind the sign -- >> i'm about to tell you something. >> reporter: is a controversial conspiracy theorist. he once heckled barack obama in florida. his group saying obama was endorsed by the kkk. >> hold on, everybody. >> reporter: his website that he promotes on his t-shirt spews headlines, race war to kill all black women in america and hillary is the racist.

the man whose real name is maurice, has a knack for getting himself up close and personal with the president. he was within feet of donald trump at his victory party on election night. and was hobnobbing with there are governor rick scott in march. the trump campaign isn't responding to questions about how this man always seems to get so close, or if they're concerned about his past. he admits that he joined a black supremacist cult in the '80s, led by a man charged in connection with 14 murders and served 11 years in prison. he was acquitted in 1992 of conspiracy to commit murder charges. he insisted in a radio interview wednesday morning he doesn't get his prime spots at rallies courtesy of the president or his team. >> i wasn't placed there. i put myself there.

they've seen me a lot of times. so i was like -- i was about sixth in line. i got there like 8:00 that morning. >> reporter: he's been politically active for years, supporting republicans. >> the democrats, they're the worst thing that ever happened to the black man. >> reporter: he performed before a rick santorum rally, though a spokesman said the senator had no role in booking the entertainment. >> i am utterly against hillary. >> reporter: and michael the black man says he plans to remain prominent. >> i was glad to be there to keep the message out to let everyone know what the democrats are doing, destroying the black man and white man of america. >> reporter: and the white house is not answering questions why he was able to get so close to

the president last night. simonette insists he waited in line for his prime spot, but he seems to be in close proximity to the president and his team quite often. up next, hillary clinton on donald trump in her own savage words. no need with thending thcars.com app when on the lot, scan a vin to pull up all the info you need to help get the price you want. start scanning today.

tonight, we're learning what hillary clinton was really thinking and feeling during the presidential campaign. that brings us to tonight's number, 318. it was 318 days ago that clinton

was feeling incredibly uncomfortable during one unforgetably awkward debate moment. here's jeanne moos. >> reporter: call it lurking, call it looming. it certainly looms large in our memory of the clinton-trump debate. spoofed by snl with music from "jaws." we've heard hillary talk about it. >> i thought, whoa, this is really weird. >> reporter: but we never heard her talk about it like this. >> it was incredibly uncomfortable. he was literally breathing down my neck. my skin crawled. >> reporter: in excerpts from her book, "what hand," hillary describes their second debate. >> go ahead, donald. >> i'm a gentleman, go ahead. >> reporter: gentleman? she thought not. trump paced behind her, swayed behind her, as she debated whether to stay calm and keep styling -- >> or do you turn, look him in

the eye and say loudly and clearly, back up, you creep! >> reporter: prompting this tweet, i need a backup you creep t-shirt asap. some fact checkers say that trump wasn't intentionally looming over hillary, but was staying by his chair in his assigned space. at times, it looked like he was using his chair to exercise. trump has said hillary walked in front of his position to get closer to people asking the questions. >> believe me, the last space that i want to invade is her space. >> reporter: hillary's space was definitely invade back when she first ran for the senate. >> we'll shake on it. >> i want your signature. >> reporter: george w. bush handled al gore's invasion with a nod. >> and i believe i can. >> reporter: hillary now says she may have overlearned the lesson of staying calm. >> i kept my cool, aided by a

lifetime of difficult men trying to throw me off. >> reporter: in a debate, what goes on behind your back doesn't stay behind your back. jeanne moos -- >> back up, you creep. >> reporter: cnn, new york. >> thank you very much for joining us tonight. i'm jim sciutto. "ac 360" starts right now. good evening. what a difference a day makes. well, a day, a speechwriter, and teleprompter. president trump today speaking to veterans in reno, reading from prepared remarks on a teleprompter calling for national unity. >> it is time to heal the wounds that divide us, and to seek a new unity based on the common values that unite us. >> heal the wounds, seek a new unity, common values that unite us. normally strong words that few would take issue with, except when these words are coming from president trump, many americans are wondering what do they mean? last night, thede