new details are emerging from donald trump jr.'s testimony on capitol hill about that june 2016 trump tower meeting where he was promised dirt on hillary clinton. his story about that meeting changed multiple times after the news broke. he said in a statement that it was about russian adoption, a statement that the president had a hand in putting together and a statement that was proven to be misleading and incomplete at best. trump junior testified about the statement before a house committee today and manu raju joins us now with the latest. let's talk about this testimony. in the last hour, i was talking to congressman swalwell. i understand that donald trump jr. evoked attorney/client privilege when asked about conversations with his father. >> yeah, that's right. that was earlier this year after the initial reports came out about the trump tower meeting from june of 2016.

now, what donald trump jr. told the committee today was that he could not disclose this meeting that did occur after those initial reports came up, the meeting between him and his father, because of attorney/client privilege because it occurred in the presence of attorneys who were in the room. now, you'll recall, anderson, how this played out. first "the new york times" reported this story. there was an initial statement that was misleading about exactly what that meeting was about. we know that he was promised dirt on the clinton campaign. and then afterwards, he met with his father. once he released, on twitter, all of those e-mails that occurred in the run-up to the meeting where he was clearly promised dirt on the clinton campaign. so that was the first time that he said he talked to his father. presumably they talked about all these issues, but he would not disclose the contents of that conversation because he said simply there were attorneys in the room and he couldn't do that. >> and trump junior is now

saying he communicated with hope hicks, not the president, about the trump tower meeting response. >> yeah, that's right. initially right afterwards, we are told that donald trump jr. said today that he texted with hope hicks, the now communications director, about that initial response to the story that was coming out in the "new york times," and as i mentioned, that was misleading at first about saying it was mostly about russian adoptions, not mentioning the fact that russians had promised -- he was promised dirt from the russians on the clinton campaign and that he was told that this was all part of a russian government effort to help his father's campaign. that was not included in that initial response. but we know from our own independent reporting that president trump was involved in the drafting of the response on air force one, was in communications with hope hicks. but donald trump jr. himself said he was talking to hope hicks. and this raises some questions too, anderson, because some legal experts say that, look, there was a criminal investigation going on and the white house seems to have been

misdirecting and misleading the public about what was going on and perhaps trying to mislead investigators as well, anderson. >> i also understand that you have new reporting about michael flynn. >> yeah. earlier today, elijah cummings, the top democrat on the house oversight committee, said that he had a whistleblower who could provide information about michael flynn on the day of donald trump's inauguration exchanging a text message with a business colleague about nuclear projects that they wanted to move forward with in the middle east, part of a project with russia. and he told this colleague that they were good to go on this project, because, he assured them, that the trump administration, as part of its first moves, would roll back sanctions on russia. now, this is according to this whistleblower's account. now, cummings is -- gave this information before today to the special counsel's office. we know the special counsel reached a plea agreement with michael flynn who pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi.

the question is what do the republicans in congress do on this. trey gowdy, the chairman of that committee, anderson, said tonight that's not something for his committee to look at. said the house intelligence committee should look at that instead. anderson. >> all right, thanks very much. a lot to talk about with the panel. joining me on the panel tonight, kiersten powers, jason miller, paul begala, tara setmayer, and scott jennings. i have my lawyer on speakerphone so we're totally covered in attorney/client privilege. nobody else will be able to repeat what we say. have you -- i mean, i'm just going to throw this out for the panel. have you ever heard of somebody claiming attorney/client privilege just because there's an attorney in the room? >> i am a lawyer. the privilege is between the lawyer and her or his client. that's the privilege. so that clients can talk to their lawyers in confidence. there's a priest/penitant privilege. so if i confess to my priest, they can't call him into court. there's a spousal privilege in many states where spouses can't -- there's not a daddy dearest privilege. you know, there's not -- fans of

"the godfather" know freddo never should have turned on the don. so i'm wondering maybe he's -- like there's a godfather privilege or something? this is nuts and it's never going to stand up if the republicans subpoena him, but i don't know if they will. >> isn't it also if another person is present it's not attorney/client privilege either, right? i mean, the idea is it's between two people. >> if there's a third person in the room, they can ask that third person and she can testify or he can testify. >> right. >> right. but we understand why we need that. we want clients to talk to their lawyers. >> let me jump in. i think there's a bigger point that we're missing here. that don junior went up to the hill today and he testified. and the biggest news coming out of that is a process story about who was maybe in the room and attorney/client privilege or the fact that he was speaking with hope hicks and not the president directly on air force one. if there had been something particularly compelling that was said today, that would have leaked out in two minutes. >> isn't that what we're talking about? he wouldn't say what was talked about because it was covered by attorney/client privilege. so if he was subpoenaed and forced to, then maybe there would be --

because what is it he doesn't want to talk about? >> you know, for one of the first times, i've actually -- a little bit of my faith in the president's legal team is restored here. where i say, finally these guys just quit talking. quit blabbering. haven't seen leaks. but if there was something, i think, that was said today, of course, the members on the hill would have leaked that out in two seconds. >> look, the only reason why you come up with a cockamamie legal strategy is to conceal something. if everything was above board, we wouldn't be talking about this -- this crazy use of attorney/client privilege. >> by the way, he could have waived attorney/client privilege, which doesn't really exist, but he could have waived it anyway if he wanted to say what was -- >> of course. that's right. we have to remember something here. and i've said this from the very beginning. donald trump jr. and his role in all of this could be very important when it comes to russia. follow the money. president trump and his businesses have done business with russians, russian banks, russian money, all kinds of russian deals, oligarchs, for years. donald trump jr. himself, back in 2008, said that a majority of

their assets come from russian money. he bragged about it. trump has tried to do business in moscow for 30 years. he's been fascinated with it. he has hundreds of millions in dollars of debt that are owned by international banks, including deutsche bank, which now -- $374 million i believe there. and now deutsche bank is, from we understand reported, the mueller investigation is looking into those records to see what's going on. what's famous about deutsche bank, they have gotten into a lot of trouble with u.s. regulators, and they've been famous for money laundering with russians. there's a lot of things here concerning russia, money and business, and trump has always said that he would -- if mueller crossed a red line into their finances, then we might see something happen there, potentially firing him. so i would pay attention to what comes out of anything donald trump jr. says and where mueller is going with that, in addition to what the committees are doing in the house and senate, because of those ties to russia. >> do you think it likely that the republicans on that committee would subpoena donald trump jr. to come back and

compel him to say what -- >> i don't know. good question. i don't think it's out of the question that they would do it. i think a lot of people today are predicting there's no way they would do it. i'm not sure that's true. i think they legitimately want to get to the bottom of things. you know, paul and i were here the night with you that this story broke about air force one staff being involved in dictating donald junior's response. and i -- we were talking about it earlier. i couldn't help but think about that night, because we said the staff on that plane is going to get roped into this. here we are with poor hope hicks who's going to get roped into this. so i regret for the staff that was on the plane that they're now going to incur all these legal costs and have to go answer all these questions. i don't know if they did anything wrong. the anxiety and all that goes in to having to testify in a matter like this, it is significant. especially when you're the white house communications director, like hope is. she's already under a lot of stress. and so it's a bad thing that's occurred. i'm sure some people who are doing their level best to serve their country now are going to get roped into it. >> the other thing is robert

mueller is not going to stand for invoking of attorney -- of a nonexistent attorney/client privilege, i would imagine. >> right. you have a fifth amendment privilege, and i'm not saying that he would assert that, but you do have privileges. you can refuse to answer. or you can just be in contempt. this happened in several cases, where the prosecutor can't get a witness to cooperate, a judge can then find you guilty of contempt. he has options. but the most important thing is that he not lie. at least he put up a cockamamie excuse to not talk about a conversation, but that's better than lying, i've got to say. but i've said this from the beginning too. these people are going to get hung up on lying. mr. mueller is not going to tolerate that and he's going to know. he's going to know everything. he's going to know more than that witness. that's the problem with these things is when the prosecutors know a lot more than you, your only recourse is to tell the truth. >> i think it's also good discipline that they recognize the fact that basically capitol hill is a circus. and it's ultimately mueller's

team that they need to make sure that they're focused on, that they tell the truth to. capitol hill, they're not the ones with actually the legal power. that's basically just a big pr stunt. >> well, i guess maybe they're testing out this strategy with the house members because it's not going to work with mueller. you're not going to think you're going to outsmart anyone on mueller's team. if they think they're going to do that, they're in for quite a surprise. >> get a quick break up. a majority of democratic senators calling on al franken to resign amid sexual harassment allegations. the question, of course, is will he? plus we're less than a week from the special election in the alabama u.s. senate race. controversial candidate roy moore, accused of unwanted sexual contact and sexual assault. i spoke with moore's campaign spokeswoman and tried to get her boss's take on the allegations and a number of other issues. the -- i don't know if you call it explosive issue, but an interesting interview coming up.

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more breaking news tonight. senator al franken's office says he still hasn't made up his mind about whether or not he'll resign amid sexual harassment allegations, even though an announcement about his future is scheduled for tomorrow morning. this comes as 32 democratic senators have now called on franken to step down. senator kirsten gillibrand was the first when she wrote on facebook enough is enough and then she spoke out at a press conference. >> senator franken is entitled to the senate ethics investigation process, but i don't think congress is equipped, i don't think they have the tools to do the kind of accountability that the american people are searching for. i do not feel that he should continue to serve. everyone will make their own judgment. i hope they do make their own judgment. >> back now with the panel. there is a possibility, kiersten, that he won't resign tomorrow. do you think that's a real possibility? >> i think it's a very slight possibility. i think the expectation is that he will resign.

when you have pretty much the entire party turn against you, i think it's hard to fight against that. look, i think what happened, based on conversations that i've had with people who sort of know the story of how this came to be, was a lot of the women senators had been very upset about this, the women democratic senators, and were kind of giving him the space to work through this. then when we had the sixth accuser come out, it kind of got to this place of, okay, we've given you time to kind of decide to do the right thing and you're not doing it, so we're going to have to call on you to resign. they didn't want to call on him to resign. they like him, they respect him, but they also don't want to look like they're enabling this kind of behavior. >> and politically it makes sense if the democrats want to have an upper hand on this issue, considering what the republican party is doing with roy moore, there is no way that they could stand by and allow the al franken situation to go without calling for his resignation at this point with multiple accusers. i think he would have survived if it had just been the one. now, when you start getting multiple accusers here, it just

looks -- it just does not look good. you can't -- >> there's also commonality among most of the incidents. >> yeah. >> same thing with roy moore. i think there's a commonality too with that. they were all teenage girls. and i think that at least it's better late than never in a situation like that because republicans are looking at never with the support of roy moore, which is just despicable. >> it is striking that, to my knowledge, only one republican senator, 30 democrats have called on their fellow democrat who is popular, who's really well liked and well respected amongst his colleagues but 30 democrats have and susan collins, republican of maine, who is always the one. so maybe franken's last-ditch effort, he could switch parties, because apparently he'd be welcomed there. roy moore, donald trump. >> i think we've met the quota. >> he'd fit right in. >> mcconnell actually issued a statement today and said that he didn't see how franken could continue to serve as all of this was unfolding today. so, look, i think what is setting up here is a situation where if roy moore makes it to washington, he's going to face similar kinds of pressure. the difference, of course, is

that roy moore has been removed from a political office not once but twice already. i doubt that if a bunch of people called on him to resign he would care. and so, in his case, the senate ethics committee process may be the only process that could ever move him towards not being in the senate. with franken, obviously, he's thinking through the politics of it. i don't think moore would succumb to that pressure. >> he doesn't care. >> you do have this asymmetrical accountable. john conyers, who rightly was described on as an icon, also was called on by the leader of his party in the house, nancy pelosi, to resign. he's going to retire. now senator franken, vast majority of his colleagues calling on him to resign. meanwhile, the republican party and republican president are campaigning for a man accused of far worse than senator franken was accused of. and, of course, the president himself boasted of his sexual assault. and yet republicans across the country voted for him. >> the two parties are not in sync. >> what you need to remember here is it is risky for senator gillibrand to come out and have done this, because he is -- franken is so popular with the

democratic base and the democratic base is angry that franken is being held accountable and that trump is not being held accountable. i don't agree with that, i think the democrats need to hold people accountable based on their own principles. but the truth is, it wasn't an easy decision for the democratic senators to come out and turn against franken, because they really could pay a price for that with the base. >> i actually have to commend the democrats who took swift action today. i think they probably should have done it a bit earlier, and i hope that they show the same courage -- >> how can you say that after donald trump is president? i don't even understand. like, how could you say something like that? >> i hope they show the same courage with bob menendez. >> but what are you talking about, jason? >> why don't they show the same courage with roy moore? >> you're happy that they did it but nobody did it with donald trump and there are more people accusing donald trump of worse things than franken -- >> donald trump said it wasn't true. flat, period. end of story. >> franken says it's not true. >> we have him on tape bragging about it. >> no, franken admitted -- >> no, franken did not. >> he admitted to it. >> no. the only thing franken -- >> yes, he did. >> the only thing franken has admitted to is the thing that we have -- >> the picture. >> -- we have a picture of. but the things where people have said they they tried to kiss -- where he tried to kiss people, he groped people, he has denied every single one of those things. so you're saying he should resign because of a picture, but donald trump should not resign because of accusations of sexual

assault. >> franken admitted it. >> no, he didn't, jason. >> then why is he stepping down? >> because there's so much pressure -- because he has all this pressure from the democratic party. the only thing he's admitted to is the thing we have a picture of. with everything else, he has said he has not groped anybody and he has not forcibly kissed anybody. that's not how he remembers it. >> do you think he's wrongly being accused? >> no, i believe the women. i don't think people -- i mean, we have consistent stories of all these different things happening to different people, same story basically. i believe them. i'm with senator gillibrand. she said i believe these women. >> after next tuesday, after roy moore wins, we can get rid of roy moore and bob menendez and have the governors appoint two new senators and the senate will be a better place. >> bob menendez, i'm not one to necessarily defend a democrat that was brought up on corruption charges, but he was acquitted. >> it was a hung jury. the jury was 10-2 in favor of acquittal. >> right. >> it's going come back up. it's not done. >> so you're saying bob menendez should resign even though he was exonerated? >> it's a corruption trial. he's not exonerated.

this is far from being done. >> no, i mean, if they're -- they're not going to retry him because of what he just said, 10-2. they're not going to retry him. >> i just don't understand how republicans can be calling on people to resign. >> what does democrats have to do with roy moore being credibly accused of being a child molester and republicans should not be backing him? what does that have to do with anything? >> so you don't think bob menendez did anything wrong? >> i think bob menendez did something wrong, but the court of law he wasn't convicted. so we move on to someone who has credible charges against him. >> he hasn't been cleared -- >> roy moore -- >> roy moore hasn't been convicted of anything either. >> no, but he has credible charges against him. based off what you just said, if al franken should resign, then roy moore should have stepped aside. >> that's what i said. get rid of moore and menendez, the senate will be a better place. >> miss leeds was interviewed by anderson in the last hour. a woman who has a very specific and horrifying account of being assaulted by donald trump on an airplane. and her allegation comports precisely with the language donald trump used in the "access hollywood" tape bragging to

billy bush about how he grabs women by the privates, i'm not going to use our president's language, because even for a foul mouthed, potty mouth like me it's too coarse. but that matches up just perfectly. the guy is an admitted -- a bragging sexual assaulter and the entire republican party reveres him. >> and then we had a national election and president trump won. and i think it was definitely argued out in front of people across the country. >> so that's okay then? >> people made their decision. the president said it didn't happen. obviously she's entitled to have her -- >> he bragged about it. >> i think the prevailing issue right now -- i mean it's gotten much bigger lately in a lot of different sectors, and i don't think most people want to see people in different parties treated differently. and so if you believe that al franken should resign, by definition, you don't believe that roy moore should be in the senate. if you're sitting at home tonight thinking, yeah, i'm glad franken is gone and i'm voting for roy moore, please go reassess your political compass, because it's spinning right now. let's get a quick break. up next we'll hear what roy moore's campaign spokeswoman told me earlier tonight about the allegations against him, and

what she said when i pressed her on some of moore's other positions to find out if she actually knew about them. we'll find out ahead. and could be on the journey to much worse. try parodontax toothpaste. it's clinically proven to remove plaque, the main cause of bleeding gums. for healthy gums and strong teeth. leave bleeding gums behind with parodontax toothpaste.

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the alabama election will send either roy moore or doug jones to the united states senate, happens in less than a week. as you know, multiple women have come forward accusing moore of sexual assault, sexual abuse, or pursuing relationships with them when they were teenagers. i spoke with moore's campaign spokeswoman janet porter earlier tonight, i want to play you some of that conversation, and i tried to get her to respond to some of his stances on various issues. janet, you believe these women are all lying, yet roy moore is the person who's been removed twice as chief justice of the supreme court in alabama. the second time he had his honesty challenged by the alabama court of the judiciary. judges unanimously said he had not been credible and they found his use of case law to be incomplete, misleading and manipulative. that's a quote. so you don't believe any of these women, but you believe roy

moore who was removed from office after being found to be not credible and misleading? >> first off, when we talk about believing the women, i would ask the question of maybe some lacrosse players at duke university, ask them if they believe every woman who makes an accusation. if we did a lynch mob media against innocent people, as we did with lacrosse, there would be some lacrosse players in jail right now. let's look at what the judge did. he stood for the ten commandments. he said that i have the freedom of religion to display these commandments. it's not limited to the four walls of the church. >> actually, what the judge did is he violated state and federal regulations and he was removed from the supreme court for that, and then, four years later, he misled the judges by saying he didn't order probate judges not to marry same-sex couples. they said he was essentially lying. >> here's what really happened. having been down here in alabama, i'm learning a whole lot about what's going on. and one of the things that i learned is that what the rule of

law really means is that you follow the constitution, not activist judges that are acting outside the constitution. and that's one of the reasons why -- >> you're telling me alabama has a lot of activist judges? >> -- the people of alabama love him so much. pardon me? >> you're telling me the judges, all of whom voted against him and took him off the court, they're all activist judges? >> well, judge -- judge roy moore was sworn to uphold the constitution of the state of alabama and the constitution of the united states of america, and that's what he was following. that's why, anderson -- >> let me understand. he took an oath to mislead, he took an oath to manipulate? he took an oath that endangered probate judges? >> no. don't put words into this formula. >> you're saying he took an oath, and i'm telling you what the judges found him guilty of. >> he took an -- well, you know what, sometimes rulings aren't necessarily accurate. i mean there's all kinds of things that can be said about someone, but what he did is quite different. >> let me tell you what roy moore said about those judges. he said -- >> the constitution of the united states. >> he at the time said those judges were radical homosexuals

and transgendered activists. do you really believe that the judges on the alabama court of the judiciary are radical homosexuals and transgendered people? >> i really don't know about the judges and what their orientation happens to be. >> well, you said you'd been down there, you've been looking into it. i thought you would have looked to see if they are homosexuals or transgendered people running the court. >> it matters not to me. what matters is we have someone willing to defend our religious liberty, defend marriage as the constitution as he's sworn to uphold the constitution in the state and the nation. >> i do want to quickly ask you about where the judge stands on a number of issues that he's spoken of in the past, but not as much recently, because we haven't obviously been able to get to him directly. does judge moore still believe homosexual conduct should be illegal and that homosexuality is still the same thing as beastiality? >> well, i think that what judge moore -- i can't answer that question, but what i can answer. >> you don't know that? that's what he said in the past. >> i don't have that answer. >> can you get back to us on that one? >> i can tell you what he does believe regarding that issue. regarding that issue, if you want to talk about making sure we don't have sexual predators --

>> no, i'm not talking about sexual predators. i'm talking about anybody that's homosexual, gay, lesbian people. >> let me answer, if i may. you've got to let me answer, cooper -- excuse me, anderson, mr. anderson cooper. let me just say. he wants to put out a welcome mat in front of these young girls, if you are a junior high school girl or if you are a high school girl, what abortion jones is saying is we're putting out a welcome mat to any boy who's feeling like a girl that day, he's free to walk into the bathroom, the locker room with his camera phone and shower with your daughter. >> i've heard you say that numerous times. >> people in alabama are not going to take this radical position. they're not going to take the radical position -- >> can you get back to us -- >> -- that says, i can't tell you i won't take your gun away. >> can you get back to us -- >> he said i can't tell you i won't take your religious liberty away. that's where abortion jones stands. >> can i ask you, as the spokesperson, can you get back to us on whether or not he still believes that homosexuality should be illegal? >> i believe that he believes the bible -- >> i'm just asking, can you get back to us? if you don't want to answer that question, that's fine. but can you get back to us? >> yeah, i can look into that for you. >> can i ask you, does he still believe that 9/11 may have

happened -- >> i think really what we need to look at public position -- >> i'm asking his public position. does he still believe 9/11 may have happened because, quote, we distanced ourselves from god? that's what he said in the past. does he still believe this? >> you know, this is the thing. a lot of people talk about god and how they're christians. in fact, if you look at the commercials of roy moore's opponent, he's telling everybody what a great christian he is and how he defends -- >> you don't know the answer about 9/11 either, do you? >> the fact of the matter is -- i don't know the answer to 9/11. no, i'm sorry. >> does he still believe an american citizen who's a muslim should not be able to serve in congress? >> i think that what he's getting at there is that we believe in the rule of law by the constitution, not sharia law. i think that's really the bottom line and what we're looking at. >> he said that keith ellison should not be allowed to use the -- to swear on the koran. >> he'll lose his job if he has to to stand for that constitution. >> so you don't know the answer to that either? whether he still believes that? >> it's a message -- i believe his position has to do with whether we follow the constitution or the ridiculously oppressive to women sharia law.

>> does he still believe that keith ellison shouldn't be allowed to swear on the koran? >> if you want a guy that's for women's rights, anderson -- if you want somebody that's for women's rights -- >> i get you don't want to answer these questions and that's cool, but i'd rather you say you don't want to answer them rather than ignore them. >> i'm answering them. he picks the constitution over sharia law, and the people of alabama agree. >> does he still believe that there's sharia law that exists? that communities in the u.s. are being ruled by sharia law as he did in the past? does he still believe that? >> i think he sees that there is a movement toward that. if you look to -- up to detroit and -- >> that's not what he said. he said there were communities being run by sharia law. does he still believe that? >> well, there are communities overseas that are being run -- >> no, no, in the united states. illinois. he said illinois. >> i'm not sure if there's any in america but there's a movement toward that and he stands for the constitution. that's what you know. >> if you could get back to us on that, that would be great too. >> he's going to fight -- he's going to fight -- i've already told you what i know and that is the constitution should trump any -- >> you told me what you know, but you don't know what his position is. as his spokesperson, i'd love to hear his position. does he still believe barack obama wasn't born in the united

states? >> that is his position. i can tell you with some confidence that this is the guy that stood with the constitution even when it cost him everything. you don't have to question that. we already know that. he's been through the fire and he's come out gold. that's what the people of alabama know, and they're not going to be bullied. they're not going to be told what to do by the lynch mob media and not going to be told what to do by pro abortion democrats. >> two more questions. >> that's what we're going to see six more days from now on the 12th of december. >> you're his spokesperson, i'm just trying to get his positions down. does he still believe that the u.s. has become the focus of evil in the world because the u.s. promotes things, in his words, like same-sex marriage? >> you know, you can ridicule biblical beliefs if you want. >> i'm not ridiculing, i'm asking you -- i'm giving you quotes of exactly what your candidate has said. >> the bible has some clear things to say about a lot of issues -- >> you're the spokesperson and you seem, a, unwilling -- i know -- you're not from alabama, but you seem either not to know what his positions are or unwilling to actually tell me what his positions are. >> it's very public knowledge that he stood for marriage

between one man and one woman, as it has been for 200 years in the united states. that's not a secret. there's no news flash there. and the people of alabama do, too. >> i'm just wondering does he still believe the u.s. is the focus of evil in the modern world? that's a pretty bold statement. >> he has stood for the constitution, and that's really what it's all about. it comes down to who do you want to represent the people of alabama. >> i appreciate your time, janet porter. thank you very much. >> more of that interview is online. the election in alabama is five days away. you can count on cnn to cover every minute of it. when we come back, more breaking news. the white house admits the president's recognition of jerusalem as the capital of israel hurts the peace process. we'll hear from the chief palestinian negotiator, next. crohn's disease.

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officially recognized jerusalem as the capital of israel and started the process of moving the u.s. embassy there. the announcement was met with widespread condemnation from pretty much every world leader except the israeli prime minister. palestinian officials said the decision would undermine america's role in the middle east peace process and now cnn is learning that senior white house officials acknowledged the choice has, at least, temporarily derailed that process. i spoke with the chief palestinian negotiator saeb erekat just before air.

here's that conversation. when the president says that this is a long overdue step to advance the peace process and to work toward a lasting agreement, to that you say what? >> i say president trump became part of the problem, not part of the solution. he knows very well that we were engaged with him and his team very seriously in good faith in order to achieve the ultimate deal. and the main principle between us was, as we agreed with the israelis, no side should take any steps that preempt or prejudge issues of status including jerusalem. then comes president trump to announce that jerusalem is the united capital of israel. that's dictation, not negotiation. i think what he did tonight, he really disqualified the united states from any future role in peace making. that's the honest truth. he's rewarding the israeli government for a settlement activities, dictation, human rights violations and the system that they are creating. the fact is such a speech on jerusalem with all its history, religion, what it means to muslims, jews, christians,

arabs, and this decision in order to -- i don't know, maybe for internal reasons, for other reasons, but that's destroying the two-state solution, that is destroying moderates like us in the region and that's crowning extremists in this region. >> so are you saying that the u.s. no longer can be viewed as an honest broker in the peace process? >> anderson, i know that the united states was always biased towards israel and i know israel is part of america's political life, but we had an agreement that no side should preempt or prejudge issues. now comes the american congress and issue -- comes the state department to issue a closure order for the office in washington. comes president trump to speak about recognizing israel as the capital of israel, and moving -- instructing his people to prepare for moving the embassy. what's left? if you can dictate jerusalem before negotiations begin and you want to dictate security,

i'm saying that we -- this issue should be left to negotiations between the two parties. now the united states, president, acts more israeli than the israelis. what's left for him to play a role with me and the israelis? >> the president did say that the u.s. isn't, and i'm quoting him, taking a position of any final status issues, including the specific boundaries of the israeli sovereignty in jerusalem or the resolution of contested borders. do you believe he left the door open for jerusalem also being the capital of a future palestinian state? >> i don't think so because what he said overdue that jerusalem is the capital of the jewish state israel, and then he said united. so by the fact when president trump says i recognize israel, overdue, 70 years, that's what i chose, whatever it is, he's dictating and accepting israel's annexation of jerusalem. and he knows, and we told him, it's meaningless to have a palestinian state without jerusalem as its capital. >> so what happens now? there's reporting that

palestinian authority officials are prepared, if necessary, to sever ties to the white house. is that in the cards? would you support that? >> no, look, look, i think it's premature to jump to things now. i think there will be an emergency meeting for the palestine central council, which is the highest legislative body for the plo. maybe in the next two or three days. and then they will study this and make the decisions and announce it. i think -- personally speaking, i think if the two states are undermined between the mediterranean and jordan, palestinians should focus on one state equal rights. judaism to us was never a threat, will never be a threat. judaism is one of god's great religions, like christianity, like islam. i think if the israelis and the president of the united states believe in dictating, i believe the palestinian struggle should not speak about two states as president trump mentioned, i think our struggle should focus on equal rights. settlements or peace, i think the israeli governments have

chosen. settlements -- and i think the president of the united states have decided to reward such settlement activities and such violations committed by israel, and he himself is violating american positions, violating international law, violating terms of reference provided for for the peace process, and above all providing agreements signed between us and the israelis, not to dictate but rather negotiate issues for permanent status including jerusalem. >> what does that mean? you say focus on equal rights as opposed to a two-state solution. are you saying that if this continues that palestinians should not be seeking a two-state solution? >> i don't think we can anymore. if the president of the united states decides that jerusalem is the capital of israel and he wants to push the world to do that, it's meaningless. we told him it's meaningless to have a palestine state without jerusalem as its capital. >> i appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you. >> back now with the panel. joining the conversation is peter bynart. peter, how do you see the president's decision today?

>> i think what saeb said is very important. if the two-state solution dies, what you will see is a mass movement for one state of equal rights between palestinians and jews, which will mean the end of a jewish state of israel. the reason donald trump -- >> how so? >> because if there is a -- if there is an equal democratic state for all people between the mediterranean and the jordan, it won't have a jewish majority and it won't have a jewish character. that's where the palestinian national movement is going. not because people like erekat want it to go there, but because this president and this israeli prime minister are fore closing the possibility of a palestinian state. it's important to understand the reason previous presidents didn't recognize israeli control. 40% of the people who live in the city of jerusalem are not israeli citizens. they are palestinians who live without basic rights. they are not israeli citizens, they're not palestinian citizens because there's no palestinian state. so what previous american presidents said is when there's a palestinian capital in east

jerusalem and those people have basic human rights, we will recognize israeli's legitimacy over west jerusalem. by giving that to benjamin netanyahu, someone who has repeatedly said recently that he doesn't support a two-state solution at all, what you're basically doing is giving him the blessing to never allow a palestinian capital in east jerusalem. and as saeb rightly said, a palestinian state without a palestinian capital in east jerusalem is like a state in westchester with no access to new york city. it's absurd. so you're killing the two-state solution and you're moving palestinians toward a push for a one-state solution. >> even if the president says today we're leaving open the possibility of not defining the boundaries of a palestinian capital? >> you've destroyed the palestinians' leverage. the one thing the palestinians had -- the palestinians are a very weak party. they're not a state, they don't have an army. the one thing they have on their side is recognition. is the idea that the world will withhold recognition of israel in certain ways until it comes to terms with the palestinians. if you give benjamin netanyahu that recognize without him having to give the palestinians anything, which is what he wants, you've cut the palestinians off at the knees. that's what i think he was trying to say.

>> scott? >> this has been u.s. law for 22 years. republican presidents, democrat presidents, on june the 5th of this year, 90 united states senators voted to affirm this as the position of the u.s. government. donald trump ran his campaign pledging to rebuild the u.s. relationship with israel, and we can see the israeli response today. they're extremely happy. our relationship with israel was left in tatters by the obama administration. i think what donald trump has done is to rebuild that relationship. most americans and certainly most people who support the president are going to see this the way israel sees it. but again, i want to stress, this is a bipartisan position. virtually everybody who's run for president has taken this position. 90 u.s. senators on june the 5th. i think we're generating a lot of controversy because people hate the president, not because they want to recognize the political reality in the united states. >> and the other point, too, let's not lose sight of the fact that the president came out today and said he's in support of a two-state solution. >> no, he didn't say that. he said he would support a two-state solution if the parties agree on it, which is different than the position

george w. bush, barack obama -- no, they took the position that was american policy. >> the palestinians are not committed to a two-state solution. >> no, the palestinians have a specific proposal on the table, i can give you the details, for a two-state solution. >> then why are they talking about walking away? >> because they're saying that the two-state solution is being destroyed in front of them. >> it's because they don't want to negotiate in good faith. >> no, actually, if you look at the negotiations, they negotiated in extremely good faith. >> saeb erekat also said in the interview, which i don't know that we played that part, if the president had said, you know, i recognize jerusalem is the capital for israel, east jerusalem as the future capital of the palestinian state, that would have been different than what he actually said, which he made no mention of that. >> or get something for it. this has been -- scott's exactly right. it's a bipartisan position in america. it's been our law for 22 years that we're going to move our embassy to jerusalem, jerusalem is the capital of israel. why have we not done it? because that's a piece of the

final status. jerusalem is the most difficult piece of real estate on god's earth, and so we don't want to take one tiny piece of that final status and preempt it. we could have gotten a lot for this. a lot. and donald trump in part was elected, the art of the deal. i can make a deal. he just gave away his most powerful piece of leverage in the most dangerous territory on earth. we've got to take a break. >> he promise today get this done. we're going to continue that. it was a campaign promise, the president followed through on it, one of several he's kept. we'll get into that next. i can see it and i know you feel it. take gas-x®, the #1 gas relief brand. it relieves pressure and bloating fast! so you can wear whatever you want.

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find your awesome, and change the way you wifi. whether you agree with his positions or not, president trump has kept a number of his campaign promises, including today with his announcement on the middle east. take a look. >> i have determined that it is time to officially time to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. while previous presidents have made this a major campaign promise, they failed to deliver. today i am delivering. back now to the panel to. the point -- jason, you made it earlier. this is something politicians have promised for years, they run it and ignore it when they get in office. s to the president's credit, whether you believe it was the right thing to do or not, he did

follow through. >> from both parties, this isn't just a republican or democrat thing, politicians from both sides have been doing this for decades. he took that step and showed he had the follow through and he has other campaign promises i look forward to see him implementing. but there's one point no one has made tonight, jerusalem is israel's capital. that's where they have their center of government. that's where -- who are we to come in and say that -- you might think that's your capital, but we're not go to be acknowledge it? that's just silly. >> but the united states is supposed to be playing an honest broker role in this dispute. and so when you take sides in an argument, you sort of give up the idea of being an honest broker. so i think there is an argument against doing it. there's a reason that even though people said they were going to do it that they didn't actually do it. it's not because they were just wanton campaign promise breakers. they just recognized it could lead to a lot of problems and

make it more difficult to achieve an agreement. >> at this point, i think there's a risk in doing this. i happen to agree with trump's decision to do this actually. jerusalem is the rightful capital of israel and has been for a very long time. and the fact that this is not new. s i.t. it is a bipartisan effort. chuck schumer was a co-sponsor of the resolution in june. i think that this may not necessarily kill a potential peace plan there. obviously this has been a challenge for many, many years. it may never happen. but i think there's a little bit of overstatement how this is going to destroy any idea of peace. i mean, for israel, any move forward for a peace plan has to have an acknowledgement that jerusalem is israel's capital or else it's a non-starter. you're never going to have a peace plan without that element of it.

so i think it's a little hyperbolic to say this is blowing things up, because israel would never negotiate unless that was included. >> west jerusalem is israel's rightful capital. there are sacred spaces for jews in east jerusalem that need to be protected, but israel occupied east jerusalem in 1967, and the palestinians that live there are not israeli citizens. they live in a colonial status, which they are subject to israeli control. so israel does not have democratic legitimacy in east jerusalem. if you want to praise israel for being a democracy, in east jerusalem it's not a democracy. the vietnam war was also a bipartisan effort. we all know the democrats and republicans can get together in pursuit of things that make no sense. and this makes no sense. >> the holy sites in jerusalem have been protected internationally while israel controlled those areas. [ overlapping speakers ]

>> it's extremely difficult for palestinians from the west bank, especially men under the age of 40, to even get into east jerusalem to pray at the mosque because they can't -- most palestinians in the west bank are not committing terrorism. israel has brutal control of movement in the west bank for the palestinians. we have to take a break. the latest on the fires in california. crews are trying to get the upper hand. the weather is not helping. the latest from the fire line. (matthew) my wish was a clubhouse, but we call it "the wish house". (mom) and it just immediately brought something positive in our life. "oh, i gotta get up get matthew on his treatment." (matthew) it's not that bad, though. (mom) yeah. (matthew) the good thing about the surgeries is i get to have a popsicle at the end. (mom) he makes the best of everything and he teaches us to be strong and brave, too. (vo) through the subaru share the love event, we've helped grant the wishes of fifteen hundred kids so far. get a new subaru and we'll donate two hundred fifty dollars more to help those in need. ♪ put a little love in your heart. ♪

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infections or have flu-like symptoms or sores. liver problems can occur with entyvio. if your uc or crohn's treatment isn't working for you, ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio. entyvio. relief and remission within reach. breaking news out of southern california. several fires are burning tonight. tens of thousands of people are forced to evacuate in los angeles all due to this frightening fire near the 405 freeway, one of the nation's busiest roadways. this is a commute many people never forget, part of the freeway shut down today due to the flames, but reopened. officials are warning more intense winds will make efforts to contain the fires difficult. the biggest trouble spot, north of l.a. and ventura, that's where paul vercammen is tonight. paul, the fire department just gave an update on the fire. what did they say? >> reporter: well, they confirmed this is a monster of a fire, anderson. 90,000 acres have burned. only 5% contained, if you look off to my right shoulder, this

is northwest of the city of ventura, this is where it's burning close to the pacific ocean. it seems every canyon, every ridge is ablaze. the firefighters cannot go up there too dangerous to try to fight it with hand crews, they have to let it burn down toward the 101 freeway and the pacific ocean. the concern, of course, you can see these embers in the air. if those land on a roof or hit a house or a tree, they can spot fire and that can cause more damage to homes. another point they made, they say 150 structures have been burned. they didn't raise that number at all, they confirmed that they are going to have more structures burned, they don't have the ability right now to go out there and do the kind of damage assessment as they call it, to go ahead and count how many homes have burned, anderson? >> you see those trees on fire right now. there are more fires threatening other parts of southern california as well? >> reporter: there are. this is the big one, what you got is, you saw there was that fire you talked about on the 405

freeway. there's other fires in los angeles county. and so you basically have a situation where they are spreading resources as best they can. california works under that mutual aid pact where fire departments help each other. here standing in ventura county, i can see the mud flaps from monterrey county, and others who have come from los angeles, they have to be so mindful to not put all of their resources into one region, that can leave a place vulnerable, and the next thing you know, that area can go up, and they won't have the firefighters to defend it. it's a real conundrum right now, because these winds and fires have been so bad. >> they're fighting it overnight? >> reporter: they are. they're keeping crews overnight, they're working in shifts. this fire alone here in ventura county, they estimate there's going to be 2,000 firefighters on the line, some of them will come from out of state, and i was talking to the public information officer, he was nice enough to do an interview with

us. he said one of the challenges we're having, we have a lot of eye injuries because of the ash. we're getting these guys as many hot meals as we can. >> paul vercammen, thank you. our best to all the people there facing the flames. >> thanks for watching 360, time to hand it over to don lemon. "cnn tonight" starts now. this is cnn tonight, i'm don lemon. we have major breaking news tonight on the russia investigation. and this is big. the president's own son and namesake refusing today in a marathon all day session to tell the house intel committee what he and his father discussed after news broke about his june 2016 meeting in trump tower with a russian lawer who trump junior believed had dirt on hillary clinton's campaign. the president's son invoking attorney-client privilege, leading to questions like exactly why he would do that. let's remember, he first claimed that meeting was about russian adoptions, a story