address or facebook account and choose your favorite. then confirm your selection and you're all set. and this year you can also vote through facebook messenger. you can vote up to ten times a day per method every day through december 12th. then rally your friends by sharing your vote on social media. my friend and cohess kelly rip ka joins me to reveal the 2017 hero of the year live during our 11th annual cnn heroes and all star tribute sunday, december 17th. meet all this year's top ten heroes and voted every day at cnn heroes.com to help decide who should be our cnn hero of the year. all ten will be honored at the 11th annual cnn heroes, an all star tribute but only one will be named hero of the year. join anderson and special guest host kelly rip ka, live sunday, december 17th. thanks for watching. good evening, it's been a

highly consequential week in the russia investigation. we're now one guilty plea and two indictments into the probe and it either looks like the end or the beginning of the end. and where things go from here is anybody's guess. what does seem clear tonight is as the amount of testimony and documentary evidence grows it will get harder and harder for anyone involved to tell flat out falsehoods when the accumulated evidence might say otherwise. here is the president back in february. >> can you say whether you are aware that anyone who advised your campaign had contacts with russia during the course of the election? >> well, i told you general flynn obviously was dealing, so that's one person. but he was dealing -- as he should have been. >> during the election? >> no, nobody that i know of. >> well, since then we've learned that jeff sessions had on several occasions, jared kushner had in trump tower, paul manafort had with jared kushner at that same trump tower meeting. also george papadopoulos. that's at least of all those we know about so far. he's the member -- papadopoulos is the member of then candidate

trump's foreign policy advisory panel. he pleaded guilty to lying, of course. here he is meeting with mr. trump last year. we also know that papadopoulos pipd the idea of setting up a meeting with candidate trump and vladimir putin and mr. trump, quote, heard him out. today, though, before leaving on his asia trip the president said he didn't remember. >> i don't remember much about that meeting. it was a very unimportant meeting. took place a long time ago. don't remember much about it. >> the president's memory fails him there. this is the president who just recently said his memory could never fail him, that's how good it is. >> there's no hesitation. one of the great memories of all time. >> one of the great memories of all time. as we said, though, it is not just the president's statements that are coming into question. it's those of his attorney general and others. >> anderson, the president has just arrived in hawaii embarking on arguable the most important overseas trip of his presidency, but with these questions still swirling, changing storiesment first, he and his associates saying no meetings with russians gs as you noted.

that turned out to be false. then they said there was no discussion of anything untoward. that we now know is false because at least some of his advisers have discussed the question of dirt on hillary clinton to be supplied by the russians. and we now know that this is vep of interest to the special counsel. >> tonight new revelations darken the cloud of the russia investigation hanging over the trump administration. the first contradicting attorney general jeff sessions' claims in testimony just last month. >> you don't believe that surrogates from the trump campaign had communications with the russians. is that what you're saying? >> i did not and i'm not aware of anyone else that did. and i don't believe it happened. >> in fact, court filings unsealed this week show that former trump campaign foreign policy adviser george papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty to making false statements to federal investigators, suggested at a march 2016 meeting that trump meet russian president vladimir putin, a source adds

that sessions, then a top campaign national security adviser and suggest gart, rejected the idea. >> another former campaign foreign policy adviser, carter page, tells cnn that he testified before the house intelligence committee behind closed doors thursday that he informed sessions he was traveling to russia during the 2016 presidential campaign. though he said that the trip was not tied to his role with the campaign. papadopoulos's account is placing another trump adviser under scrutiny. sam clovis, who served as deputy campaign chairman. court documents show that papadopoulos contacted a campaign supervisor, who the "washington post" has identified as clovis, about a potential trip to russia to meet russian officials. the supervisor responded, encouraging papadopoulos to make the trip. papadopoulos's account was unsealed the same day as indictments of former campaign scharm paul manafort and his deputy rick gates in relation to their lobbying work for the ukraine government.

the government alleges that they received tens of millions of dollars for their work and to hide that income laundered the money through, quote, scores of united states and foreign corporations, partnerships and bank accounts. manafort and gate have pleaded not guilty to charges, which cover activities prior to trump's presidential campaign. >> jim, i understand you're learning more about pail manafort and rick gates and when a trial might be. >> that's right. there's now a proposed date for may 7 owed. this, of course, of 2018. that could move a little bit. the estimate is will take at least three weeks for the trial and keep in mind that's going to take it into the summer of 2018, which is, of course, before the very important midterm elections. we know the president has wanted this investigation to end, this cloud hanging over him to disappear but we know at a minimum with manafort and gates it's going to continue well into next year. >> thanks very much. it's hard to believe, david, it was just four days ago that

manafort and gates turned themselves in. we found out about papadopoulos. >> yes. well, i think the papadopoulos element was one that really jarred everyone around the president because whereas they were expecting the manafort indictment and perhaps gates, they were comfortable that that was about other matters, at least on the surface it was about something that had nothing to do with the campaign. and then papadopoulos came along, and as part of his proffer and his plea, mentioned others in the campaign who he talked to or at least were referred to other campaign officials. and that promises trouble down the line. this is how prosecutions work. you start at the corners of this and you work toward the center of the puzzle. and i'm sure that that is one of the reasons why the president has been so outspoken this week about other matters and pointing in other directions.

there is a great deal of anxiety around that white house right now. >> well, you also give the sense that we really have only seen a tiny portion of what special counsel mueller already has. the proverbial tip of the iceberg. >> yeah. this is the way these things work. they take time. everyone is impatient to know how the story ends, but if you look at all of these major investigation, they tend not to unfold that way and oftentimes, you know, one thing leads to another. and as you work your way up. now, we don't know where it will lead, but clearly it's not going to stop with george papadopoulos or with manafort or gates. there's going to be more. i think there seems to be broad agreement on that. >> and the president has certainly turned up the volume this week on his calls for secretary clinton and the democrats to be investigated. would you imagine that these calls from the president are only going to increase?

>> well, absolutely. look, one of the habits of donald trump is when there's an inkweent blaze over here accident he starts one over here. and all weeklong he's been harming on the justice system itself relative to the events in new york and the terrorist attack there, calling our justice system a laughing stock. and then starting last night and into this morning, basically demanding even as he said it wasn't his place to do so, demanding that the society department open up investigations on hillary clinton and others. and, you know, i think this is his reaction to the growing intensety of the mueller investigation. but the thing, anderson, that gets me is here is a prosecuted who saw willfully and so enthusiastically exploits passions around the flag, passions around the national

anthem. but doesn't apparently appreciate what those symbols stand for. one of the most important things that sprays us from awe to come raesz is the fact that pruds can't order the justice to go after -- he said they out to go after hick, to go after his political opponents. there's been for time i am memorial a separation between presidents and their justice departments and the fbi. when i was in the whous i couldn't contact the justice department. i konl contact the fbi, nor did i try. but if i had an issue, it was plain. you go to the white house counsel. he would be the repository of your requests. he would follow-up on things. the president was very cautious when i was in the white house about commenting on matters that were under investigation. so this is a complete departure from tradition, and it's a dangerous one. and as this thing intensifies,

god knowing what it's going to leave. >> david axelrod, appreciate it. next, hillary clinton's campaign manager speaking out for the first time about the former democratic party chairs complain that the primary was rigged. and explosive allegations about martin luther king jr. we'll talk about the facts, any behind them and why they were kept secret. why the fbi was collecting all this information and judge j. edgar hoover was so folk you on dr. king. will make tossing and turning a thing of the past. plus, during our veteran's day savings event, save up to $500 on select adjustable mattress sets. find your exclusive retailer at tempurpedic.com.

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controversy and accusations have swirled over the last day and a half since the former dnc chair publicly claimed that the democratic primary was rigged in hillary clinton's favor. not only top democrats but also the president himself weighed in and here's his comments from today. >> you want to look at hillary clinton and you want to look at the new book that was just put out by donna brazil where she basically bought the dnc and she stole the election from bernie. so that's what you ought to take a look at. >> now for the first time clinton's former campaign manager roeb mook speaks out. he'll join me in just a moment. first a new document comes out that sheds light on the story. so what exactly is dop that brazil claiming that prompted this reaction from president trump. >> well, so in excerpts of her new book, around son, donna

brazil alleges that an agreement that hillary clinton's campaign signed with the dnc gave clinton control over who they higher. we have read the documents. this is the key one here. and what she's talking about isn't backed up really by what we read in these documentsment what we do know is the dnc was broke following the obama years. the cln ton campaign wanted the dnc in good shape for the general election, presuming that hillary clinton would be the nominee. so they were, as is allowed, joint fund racing with the party. they eventually raised more than $50 million for it. and they did have this agreement that they would get input on a communications director higher on the primary. in the end the dnc didn't stick to that. but this idea of how much money would be raised and spent for expenses, that actually didn't happen. and this document further emphasizes the committee's neutrality when it came to making decisions related to primary debates.

>> the democratic party was pro hillary clinton, right? i mean, even if that wasn't why they made this formal agreement. >> absolutely. the democratic party apparatus was pro hillary. all of the big democratic money and talent mobilized behind her. they really shut out all of the other potential establishment democratic candidates from putting together viable campaigns by doing that and that's why there was an opening, only for a candidate like bernie sanders who was not an establishment democratic candidate. but the document is not the key herement it's want the key to how the field was cleared for hillary clinton. the key was actually and ironically, people like donna brazil and other people. that is the ridiculously ironic part about this. remembering donna bra sill resigned from cnn because she was caught in the wikileaks e-mails funnel a question to the town hall campaign, trying to help clinton out. and now she is promoting her book. the bottom line is this is really the side of politics that gross everyone out. >> appreciate it.

thank you. joining me now is robby book. the memo says your campaign got to weigh in on who the directions director was before the general election. was that fair? >> well, first much all, anderson, i want to underscore some things breeian asaid. when the dnc approached both campaigns, they were broke. they weren't going to be able to make payroll. they were not in a really bad place. both the sand ergs campaign and the clinton campaign signed fund racing agreement, so we both thought it was a good thing to sign up for. the only difference was sanders didn't raise any money and we did. >> sanders was racing money -- i mean, you guys had big money donor. sanders was getting more donations from individuals and smaller donations. >> well, and that would have been great. it would have been great for the dnc to raise jointly with him. hillary turned over her e-mail list to the dnc after the election was over.

so it's really important for those low dollar donors to be part of the dnc process. but the dnc came to our campaign and said we need help. you know, we're not prepared for the general election. we created the memo of understanding that was there. it wasn't about the primary election. and as breeiana said we were very frustrated with the dnc many fiems. the idea that we had any control over there is laughable. we simply put guard rails in about how the money that we raised needed to be focused on the jenner election activities that were really going to matter. >> right. but my understanding that communications position actually had to be filled even more the primary races. >> well, that's correct. i mean, this is a perfect example -- >> so that wasn't just about the general election. >> well, no. it absolutely is. the purpose of the dnc while a primary is going on is to hold republican candidates actable. and there was nobody filling that post. it was a big problem. it was something that any

democratic should have been worried about. we explicitly set a date by which they had to hire someone. we were distressed that there was no lead voice out there speaking against donald trump and ted cruz and everybody else. >> was the sanders campaign also offered a chance to enter into an agreement. >> they were. and if you look at the memo that came out this evening it expoliceel said in that memo that we as the clinton campaign acknowledge that other campaigns were welcome to enter an agreement with the dnc of their open. we would have beyond welcomed that. more resources coming into the dnc, we would have loved to have participated with the sanders campaign talking about all the issues of how to order and prepare for the general election. we had a very good working relationship with the sanders campaign, particularly as the primary came to a close. i worked very closely with jeff weaver. we got a lot down, the unity -- >> right. but clearly jeff weaver and the sanders campaign believes that things were rigged against them.

>> well, here is what i'll say about this. politics is politics. people have to go there -- go out there and say what they need to say. i think it's dangerous to say that this contest was rigged for the following reasons. >> because elizabeth warren by the way is also saying that now. >> and elizabeth warren and bernie sanders are important  members of our party. they're an important part of our politics. we can't make the case to working people in this country that we're going to be -- that we're going to stand up for them and fight for them if we're fighting each other. we can't do that. hillary clinton won this peopleary with almost 4 million votes. that's a bigger lead than barak obama are over her when she lost and conceded in 2008. the idea that the dnc could rig a contest is laughable. the calk can you say contests, those contest, the caucuses that were run by the party bernie

sanders won overwhelmingly. so if we look at what the party actually managed in this process, bernie sanders won those corner tests. we barely won iowa. we've got to focus our anger on donald trump and this outrageous tax plan that the republicans are proposing. >> so is this just about donna brazil trying to pedal a book. through somebody who didn't work at cnn she gained access to one town hall question and she gave that or at least traemtd to or in an e-mail gave it to somebody in the clinton campaign, which is kplooetel unethical. she lost her job, you know, i frankly view it as i huge betrail of everybody who worked at cnn the fact that she did that. i don't see her attempting to in any of those e-mails attempting to give information to the sanders campaign. it seemed like she was more than happy to cozy up to the clinton campaign and now she has a book to sell, she's now spinning this

yarn. >> i feel like all this is water under the bridge. and donna brazil has served our party for 30 years. she is been a champion for democrats. it was my honor and privilege to work with her achair of our party -- >> do you think it was appropriate for her to do that about a town hall question. >> i don't honestly know the specifics of it. it sounds like cnn looked into it and took action as they saw fit. but again, anderson, i'm just not interested in these things in the past. this is why we've got to move beyond 2016. we have a governor's election less than a week away in virginia. we've got critical midterm elections. and this tax plan the republicans are proposing is outrageous. so that's the fight. that's where we need to be as democrats. >> i do want to ask you about the dossier because we haven't had you to the record about that. were you aware that the clinton president was at least in part funding it along with the did i know but i'll only ask you about the clinton campaign.

it seems like nobody in the clinton campaign has stood up and said i knew this and i was the one who helped sign off on it. >> look, i didn't know that we were paying the contractor that created that document. i didn't. i'll tell you, you know, what i did know and that is that when we started to look into donald trump's business dealings, it was this massive tree of llcs and shell companies. we were overwhelmed. they were out of our league on it, frankly. and so i asked our lawyer and i gave him a budget allocation to invest this, particularly the international aspect of the my understanding is that dossier is the product of not just research that was financed by our campaign but also by republican donors and that they put that all together and gave that to the press. >> right. right. jonathan skill was hired, i guess, after the republican people who started it dropped out and once you guys were paying for it. i think the dossier was something that was compiled later. were you, were other people in

the campaign or who in the pain was seeing the memos that jonathan steel was putting out? you guys are paying for opposition research. you must have been seeing the fruits of that throughout the campaign. >> well, we were getting briefings that were put together by the hau firm with information. i don't know -- >> and they wouldn't say we'd higher this guy, jonathan steel and he's got sources in russia and this is information in drips and drabs. christopher steele, sorry. >> what i've known is what i read in the press that i think it was $1.2 million that was spnt on this overall project and i think it was like 120,000, some fraction of that went to this company. so i don't know who else, you know, contributed to these reports. snoo but were you seeing -- you mu been seeing -- i mean, you're saying you're getting briefings from the lawyer. you mu been seeing was it in memo form, okay, now there's this interview and this person is saying this about the

president's business dealings in russia or this activity? >> well, when you're on a campaign, u a strategic team and you come together and go overall this information. so our internal team was presenting information, our lawyers was presenting information. and we sort of learned things in pieces. i just can't attribute to you what piece of information, you know, came to us at what time or where it came from, frankly. as campaign manager there's a lot going on and so i just wanted to know what was important to find out. >> okay. just finally, is there somebody at the dnc, you were the campaign mrk, is there somebody maybe at a slightly lower level who knew about christopher steel, who just knowing, okay, we're paying this lawyer who actually new the nuts and boilts of whofts gathering the information and how it was being gathered. >> ron the answer to that. it's possible someone at the dnc knew about this. we had dozens of researchers on

the campaign. in fact, one of the reasons were trying to get resources into the dnc was to make sure they had a lot of opposition researchers working on all these sprps. i unfortunately don't know the answer to had ha. >> and to those who say that this could have been some sort of collusion, if christopher steele was being fed disinformation from people who had connections to the russian government, that essentially your campaign was helping pay for for some of that disinformation. >> well, look, they chose what to put in that dossier, and so i can't speak to that. i'm proud that we were able to assemble some of the research that has brought this to light. anderson, you have to remember i went on television the first day of the communication. my colleagues were on television saying something is wrong with russia. russia hacked the dnc. russia when john podesta was hacked. and frankly it didn't get a lot of attention and i'm just glad that it's coming out now. i'm glad that there was research there. i can't speak to what fusion was

dool. but i'm just glad that we're paying attention to this now and frankly i wished we had paid more attention on it on the campaign. >> appreciate your time. up next praking news from the jfk naegs files. explosive dossier not about jfk but on the reverend dr. martin luther king, junior. we'll explain what's just been released. flrn ♪ everyone deserves attention, whether you've saved a lot or just a little. at pnc investments, we believe you're more than just a number. so we provide personal financial advice for every retirement investor.

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tonight coming from the national archives and another batch of jfk assassination files. the reverend martin luther king jr. reflects then director j. edgar hoover's deep suspicion and obsession with dr. king and it speaks to just how far he and fbi went to discredit dr. king. the items are explosive but they are unsubstantiated. cnn gary's tuck man joins us now. what are you learning? >> well, anderson, among the more than 600 documents released late today by the national archives is this one. a never before seen file titled martin luther king, jr., a current analyze. it's dated march 12, twot 68 and includes a number of explosive allegations about the civil rights leader who was assassinated 23 days after this report was first compiled. among the claims detailed, martin hoouter king jr. was involved in extramarital affairs

and other sexual activities that if true and real publicly would have been devastating to dr. king and his movement. in addition there are pages and pages of details about his organization the southern leadership conference with alleged ties to known communists. sp finally details about supposed financial improprieties by dr. king. i want to stress that the fbi under director j. edgar hoover at the time had been investigating him for years at this point in the homes hopes of -- >> what does this have to do with the assassination of jfk? i don't get why this document would have been in there. >> exactly. that's why we have so many questions tonight. there's no mepgs of john f. kennedy. it is also stamped, reviewed by the fbi and dated may 8, 1994. meaning it was reviewed by the

archives 23 years ago but september secret until today. >> there are still thousands of jfk assassination documents that have not been released, right? >> right. and that's also still unclear what's going on with that. we do know that last president trump sent out this tweet that read in part after strict consultation with general kelly, the cbs and other agencies, i will be releasing all jfk files other than the names and addresses of any person who is still living. and they are being released on a rolling basis by the national archives. there are still thousands of pamz get to be released accident so much more to come. >> all right. thanks very much. appreciate it, gary. there is a lot more ahead to cover throughout this hour and the next two hours. i want to bring in doug brinkley and also clay born carson. doug brinkley is obviously a presidential historian. doctor carson, what do you make of this being released, the

information and is any of it new to you because i feel like a lot of it has been out there before. >> i think the allegation that king had affairs during his lifetime have certainly been out there. j. edgar hoover conducted a vendetta against king, and it started with the allegation that he had ties to communists. and really didn't lead anywhere. there were people who were associated with martin luther king who had in the had ties to the communist party. but that investigation did not produce anything of great note. king fired the one person he felt was still involved with the organization. he continued to have a contact with stanley levy son who had once been a member of the communist party. but the result of that was that

hoover then got authorization from robert kennedy to tap the phones and bug the rooms of martin luther king, and that led to information about king's sexual activity which hoover tried to pedal to news media. he was pretty much unsuccessful during his lifetime and i think what's striking about this is that this was a file that could have been released in 1968, and in that climate it probably -- you can hardly guess how people would have responded to it because it's simply an allegation. >> right. >> by an unnamed person, an informant. and it's striking that identify gone through some of the jfk documents that were released.

the fbi and other federal agencies go to great lengths to keep out the names of informants and their own activities. but in this case it seems like what they're really doing is invading the privacy of a person assuming that this is true, they're definitely invading the privacy of the of every offspring of this relationship. again, the relationship itself, it's not -- you would -- the person that we should be asking is the informant. >> yeah. >> whoever gave this information. >> doug brikly, one of the things that's so interesting about this is that sort of how the public understanding of dr. king has change over the course of time, but you look at -- you think back to this time and what a revolutionary figure he was. you know, we think of him

through a particular lens, but it was also focus on the ground the vietnam war, on poverty in america, in addition to requests for social justice and civil rights. but you really get a sense of the fear, the concern the fbi had about him because he was such a transformation alfigure. >> absolutely. and i agree with everything dr. carson just said. but let me add, what makes this a bomb shell document is the date, march 12th, 1968. you know, only weeks later martin luther king jr. will be dead and the fbi, people are wondering did the fbi hound king to his fate. this is not a good document for the fbi. it shows the deeply paranoid about what they call the washington spring projects, the march on washington of 68, the poor peoples' march. but the lead rft document is the fear the fbi has that stockley black nationalists have teamed up with dr. king in the first

wave civil rights christian group and are now going to have a violent america in the spring. to quote dr. king saying apparently this fbi document, jails are going to be the only safe place to be this spring because there's going to be so much violence in america. >> i engined this out. a couple weeks later lyndon johnson doesn't run for re-election at the end of march of 68. and there's this fear that this summer may be a very violent one. and they're following king around in this document. there's about sex parties in miami in 196. some of this was almost kpratd stuff in these 23 page of smearing really of dr. king. >> dr. carson, that's the thing about this. when i first heard about this, there's obviously the concern that something like this could harm dr. king's legacy. but when you actually tart to look at it, i mean, it really

just seems to reflect terribly on j. edgar hoover and the fbi at the time. >> i think, again, if this had been released in 1968 the first thing anyone would have done would have been to question the source. these are anonymous informants who are spreading dirt about mart ip luther king. obviously some of them are black informants who probably disagreed with king's position on the war and other things at that time. so the motives of these people need to be questioned as well as what they're alleging about martin luther king. and i think that when we look closely at this, what we see is that there is a person who is trying his best to damage martin luther king's reputation. and, you know, i wish in some

wais that -- well, i i would wish obviously that that person had been named so that then we could go to that person and say, well, what was the basis of this? >> appreciate you being on. doug brinkly as well. as we've seen in recent weeks and months over again, this white house has trouble with the facts at times, with the truth. now, you might say all whtsz lie. he said press secretary sarah huckabee sanders is taking it to a whole another level. we'll talk to him next.

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to see someone in government not to tell the truth is certainly nothing new and to hear white house press secretary spin information certainly isn't new either. but have we now entered a new

age of misinformation. focusing on press secretary sarah huckabee sanders, her trouble with the truth goes back long before this week, though. everything you're about to hear is in this sound bite is actually not true. >> i don't think it's appropriate to lie from the podium or any other place. this is the process has people calling us a joke and calling us a laughing stock. >> specifically said that he received a phone call from the president of mexico -- >> they were direct conversations, not actual phone calls. >> so he lied. >> i wouldn't say it was a lie. that's pretty bold accusation. the conversations took place. they just simply didn't take place over a phone call. they happened in person. i have haefrd from a large number of individuals that work at the fbi that say that they're very happy with the president's decision. >> that we're the highest tax -- >> we are the highest tax corporate nation. >> that's not what he said.

>> the highest tax corporate nation. it seems pretty consistent to me. sorry, we're going to have to just agree to disagree. >> joining us is frank bruny and scott jennings. frank, you right that you watch sarah huckabee sanders's press briefings with what you described as sheer awe. i know you didn't mean it as a compliment, we've actually -- and you toolel miss sean spicer. can you just explain that. >> when i watch sean spicer he would get this panicked look. he would appear to be flus terd, like he kind of knew he was a man swinging against the current and he was never going to keep his head above water. sarah sand irsz seems comfortable -- >> i don't see her attracting the sensor, the ridicule that sean spicer did and i think that's interesting because nine months to the trump administration we're all accustomed to being lied to.

they're so -- pod portrayed as good because i worry bigger than her is the trump information is lowering our standards for government. >> you think this has become normalized? >> absolutely, yeah. it's not every press secretary that we've watched over the decades has tried to make or her boss to look as heroic as possible, portray them in the best light. she goes the extra mile -- >> scott, i'm wondering what you make of what frank is saying and the job that sarah sanders is doing. >> well, two things. number one, i think that if what you're wishing to r is for a white house press secretary to walk out to the podium and trash their boss or correct their boss or sort of line up with where the press corps is donald trump, that is not fg to happen. it's not going to happen in this white house. it's not going to happen in any white house. and number to, i appreciate what frank says about previous press

secretaries, but i think that he's describing sarah sanders and sean spicer before her as though they have taken it to a level they've never seen when i remember watching josh earnest at the podium about his victories. i remember watching why the $4 million we paid iran. i tend to think people are viewing these press secretaries through the lens of their own personal hatred for the president and that is rubbing off on how they view the staff. >> well, i respectfully disagree. i think if you watch especially over the last week and that's why i wrote the column at the end of this week. if you watch sarah huckabee sanders' may have at the electric turn this week, thaurs a kiept of contempt that she and so many others in the trump administration show for the media. >> the moment we heard earlier on sanders was pressed. in fact, that's not accurate and

she weaved this response i guess for the president's allieds they would say, look, she's just hemming him clarify hiss remarks. >> she's, but she's also pretending that that's exactly what he said. and there was a moment this week, the president gd that our justice system is a joke and lying stock. it was farther than his verbatim words than what jim acosta had explained. >> frequently sarah is in the position of having to explain again and again and again what donald trump does so well. he absorbs peoples' emotions and then he reflect those emotions particularly in his base in a lot comments. and i think that's frequently mischaracterized as her lying or trying to keen things up. but she's dplang what donald trump is doing and it tons to bafl the media that that's what he does very well. and so i think that press secretaries over the years have

evolved from public information officers spew essentially the chief white house pun did it. thefr the core reflection for how the occupy apt of the oval office seeing the wofrld. and we're going sarah. i'm want sure we heard previous pet draish maybe he should have and that's a debate we could have. use the world contempt. i would respectfully that the media, frankly, hold donald trump in comb. i tend to degree ratcheting down the contempt would be better, but this is want a one way treat when it comes to defect in this briefing room right now. >> it's not a one way street, but to pretented that we can evaluate in the context of all previous press secretaries is to prepare something bigger which is that donald trump is a frul any normal president. would you really say that, scott? >> no. i agree with you. this isment a normal presidency as compared to what we've seen. but i do think what is normal is

the white house press secretary essentially being a reflection of how that particular president views the world. now, how i views the world may be different and abnormal as you put it, but that doesn't make the press secretary abnormal in what they're doing, which is reflecting how their boss seize things. >> when she was asked about the president's ridiculous and, you know, incredibly inappropriate tweet about mika bra zen ski, she kind of went on this refrry about what a heroic man he was and tough and strong and americans love himment it's always too much and too far. now, if that's what the president demands, that's what the president demands, but she is under no obligation to continue serving him. >> not only is that what the president demands in this case, but what you just described to her is exactly what donald trump does. you would probably argue that he always goes too far, that -- >> i would argue that, yes. >> i go back to this point. the white house press secretary has become a reflection of the thinking of their boss. it was true for obama's press people, for bush's, for clinton's, and it seems to get

more pronounced as time goes on. but it is not unique to this white house, even if this presidency is not normal. it's not unique to this white house. >> frank bruny, scott jennings. appreciate it. thank you. up next, what president trump says about military judge's decision to not give bowe bergdahl prison time for deserting his post in afghanistan. we'll also talk to retired navy seal jamie hatch. his u knit's k. 9 was also killed. his take on berg daul's sentence in a moment. smart planning is helping the new new york rise higher than ever. as the world leader in unmanned aerial systems, we're attracting the world's best talent to central new york. and turning the airport into a first-class transportation hub. all while growing urban areas into vibrant places to live and work. across new york state, we're building the new new york. to grow your business with us in new york state, visit esd.ny.gov.

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for fast gas relief without passing the gas. accused of obstructing justice to theat the fbinuclear war, and of violating the constitution by taking money from foreign governments and threatening to shut down news organizations that report the truth. if that isn't a case for impeaching and removing a dangerous president, then what has our government become? i'm tom steyer, and like you, i'm a citizen who knows it's up to us to do something. it's why i'm funding this effort to raise our voices together and demand that elected officials take a stand on impeachment. a republican congress once impeached a president for far less. yet today people in congress and his own administration know that this president is a clear and present danger who's mentally unstable and armed with nuclear weapons. and they do nothing. join us and tell your member of congress

that they have a moral responsibility to stop doing what's political and start doing what's right. our country depends on it. bowe bergdahl is a free man tonight not heading to a prison cell for a lengthy incarceration. a military judge sentenced bergdahl to a dishonorable discharge from the army, and no prison time. the decision after bergdahl pleaded guilty to desertion and misbehaving in front of the enemy. in 2009 as you may know, bergdahl walked away from his base in afghanistan, captured by the taliban and held almost five years. bergdahl said he spent most of that time living in a metal cage, chained to a bed, repeatedly beaten and tortured. bergdahl was released in a controversial prisoner swap for five guantanamo bay detainees. today on twitter the president slammed the judge's decision writing "the decision on sergeant bergdahl is a complete and utter disgrace to our country and military." several service members were

badly wounded looking for bergdahl in afghanistan. their lives, families' lives have been forever changed. navy s.e.a.l. jimmy hatch was shot in the legs searching for bergdahl, gone through 18 surgeries, had to retire from the military and spent days wrestling with pstd. his combat dog was killed in the search for bergdahl. he now runs a non-profit group, buys vests for military dogs and police dogs around the country. he testified during bergdahl's sentencing. it's an honor to talk to him tonight. jimmy, first of all, what went through your mind when you heard what bergdahl's sentence was, that he wouldn't serve any time in prison? >> there's people right now in military brigs serving sentences and dishonorable discharges that did less than go a-wol and get a lot of americans hurt and chanced a lot of americans with getting killed. >> for you, the most important thing, i understand, was that he be dishonorably discharged.

>> yeah, it was, and, you know, so i guess i got my wish with regard to that. >> yeah, bergdahl's defense cited, you know, his treatment in captivity as a reason for him to avoid prison time, saying essentially he's been through enough as a hostage. i heard you say you don't think he gets the right to call himself a hostage. >> right, essentially he was a volunteer, now, wasn't he? so i guess -- >> by walking off you're saying he volunteered to be a hostage? >> exactly. >> do -- he's actually now -- my understanding is they're going to appeal the dishonorable discharge, which he received as part of his sentence. >> i think it's absolutely insane that anybody could look at sergeant bergdahl's actions and objectively say, well, you know, he was not dishonorable in his conduct. he was certainly dishonorable in his conduct. >> i heard you say in the courtroom you got the sense that

people in the courtroom didn't fully understand what it's like to make the kind of sacrifices that people in combat zones, that your team, that you and others, are making every day. >> that -- yes. i felt, in one particular instance, there was a senior chief, mike toussaint, who's retired, who was the handler of remco, the canine killed saving my life and others' lives that night -- >> remco alerted your team to the presence of the taliban who were right there. >> had the dog not alerted us, we'd probably all be deceased. so there was a point, senior chief toussaint brought remco's vest to the courtroom and the prosecution entered it as evidence, and i remember colonel nance said what's the purpose of this -- >> that's the judge. >> right.

and the major said, hey, it's to show the government lost government property, essentially. and i wanted to speak up really badly and i looked at major hasan, he kind of shook his head like don't do it. what i wanted to say is it means a hell of a lot more than the government lost some property. it means that that dog saved our lives and then was taken out of the battle from my crew from there on out. >> you talk about yourself having a life sentence. and others who were injured as well having a life sentence. >> yeah. for sure. i mean, think about master sergeant allen. you know, takes him an hour -- his wife, it takes her an hour to get him out of his bed. so essentially master sergeant allen has a life sentence. he can't speak. he can't interact with his family. his wife has a life sentence. his children have a life sentence. you know, specialist morita who was hit in the hand with a rocket-propelled grenade, can't use his hand. you know, that's a life

sentence. >> i was just reading online an article, you were talking about that you actually met -- you actually shook hands with the attorney for bergdahl. and you -- >> yeah. >> and you actually thanked him for -- for what he was doing. the line you said was, i found it really powerful, and i don't want to misquote it, but it was something -- do you remember what you said to him? >> you know, i wanted those guys to know that i was grateful for them representing him in spite of the fact that i definitely dislike their client. they -- they take the constitution seriously and they wanted to do their best for him. i said thank you for that. and then as i -- it was mr. fidell, his civilian representation. as i walked away mr. fidell looked at me and motioned for me to come over to him, put his arm around me and, quietly, because we we were in a hotel lobby and

said,man, your fly's undone. it's hard to hate a guy like that, you know? >> i think that -- i don't know, i'm not sure i would have the strength and character you have to go up to the person defending this person and thank him for, you know, doing something which is constitutionally mandated. >> i don't know that it's strength of character. i guess i just feel like this is a crazy time we live in and there's, you know, twitter tacticians and comment section commandos. i think the legal system that we have, while flawed, certainly, i think it's important to recognize that even with sergeant bergdahl, somebody who obviously i don't have any great positive feelings for, you know, he was represented. he's an american and he deserves his day in court, so to speak. i may not be happy with, you know, colonel nance's decision, but i didn't see all evidence and i don't know what's going on in his head, but i can -- i'm an american, too, i can say, hey, man, i think it should have been a lot more severe.

>> is there anything else you want to say, jimmy? >> i think that the cultural discussion around this type of thing is unfortunate, and i wish that we collectively, you know, there's very few americans are out in gun fights on the regular, and a lot of people like to comment on what that means, but i think there should be a little respect for it i guess. >> jimmy hatch, i appreciate you being with us. thank you. >> thanks, anderson. >> jimmy has a book coming out about his nearly 25 years of military service, including how he was wounded in the search for bowe bergdahl. it's called "touching the dragon and other techniques for surviving life's awares". it's going to be published in may. if you'd like to help him purchase life-saving ballistic vests for police dogs around this country, check out spikeskayninefund.org. up next, president trump arriving in hawaii. first stop before he heads to asia. he can't escape the russia probe cloud. we'll get a live report from honolulu ahead. for every social.