and may stop treatment. other side effects include upper... ...respiratory tract infection and headache. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take... ...and if you're pregnant or planning to be. ask your dermatologist about otezla today. otezla. show more of you. tonight two lawmakers have announced their resignation from congress amid sexual harassment allegations and investigations. one senator, one congressman, one democrat, one republican. senator al franken announced his resignation on the senate floor earlier today. then this evening republican congressman trent franks put out a statement saying he'll also be leaving congress. the sexual harassment scandal that is whipping through the government doesn't seem to be affecting some other men who have been accused, at least not enough to resign as those lawmakers have. in alabama, of course, roy moore has shown he's no intention of dropping out of the united states senate race and the president of the united states, who also, as you know, has been accused of sexual harassment by multiple women, he's called them all liars. tonight, president trump's approval rating is down to 32%, according to recent polling. i'm joined with the latest. what do we know, first of all,

about the reason congressman franks is stepping down? >> reporter: well, anderson, it's very clear that we still have a lot left to learn of what made him make this decision to step down and any potential misconduct making that decision. first and foremost, this congressman did release a lengthy statement a few hours ago here and he really tries to explain that he believes this focuses around a conversation he had with at least two female staffers in his office, a conversation he said was about his infertility issues with his wife, about surrogacy as well, and he doesn't deny wrongdoing, but he admits that he could have made them feel uncomfortable. perhaps most notably is that very quickly after we saw a statement from speaker of the house, paul ryan, far from a perfunctory statement, he came out and he said that the allegations are serious, requiring actions. he was made aware of what he calls these credible allegations last week. he called for the congressman in private to resign last week, and

also we know that the house ethics committee launched an investigation for the stated intention to determine whether franks had engaged in conduct that they say constitutes sexual harassment. a reminder, of course, a member can skirt ethics investigation by resigning. so essentially when he resigned tonight, the ethics investigation comes to a halt. >> and senator franken made his announcement on the floor of the senate. talk about how that was received and how that went. >> reporter: yeah, it was interesting. franken really defiant, i should say, in his speech on the senate floor earlier this morning. notable that he did not make an apology to any of the accusers. he did not apologize directly in any way. and he seemed real steadfast at still defending himself against allegations. he said some of the allegations about me were just not true. others i remember very differently. it was notable that he used such a public platform, the floor of the united states senate, of course, to make his resignation speech.

but notable that in that speech he really took some jabs, not only at president trump but potential senate colleague roy moore that could be joining senators if we wins his race in alabama. he said, it's kind of ironic that we have a man who was caught on tape bragging about sexual assault, talking about president trump. also a senate candidate who has the full support of the republican party while preying on young girls. that line not lost on a lot of people up here. anderson. >> has a date been set for when franken will official leave, or resign? >> reporter: he said, i will be resigning in the next few weeks. i did follow up with his office and asked what that meant. as of now, they have no date certain set for his official resignation. they say between now and then, which we believe would happen in the next few weeks, he would continue to carry out his senatorial duties. >> thanks very much. joining me on the panel tonight kirsten powers, paul begala, jack kingston, april ryan, bryan

lanza, and margaret hoover. kirsten, democrats really now would like to think they're winning the moral highground because of al franken and conyers stepping down, being pushed by democrats to do that. can they claim that? >> yeah, i think they definitely can. i know the immediate talking point when the senators came out and started demanding that franken resign, and it started with ben schapiro, who's a conservative journalist, saying, oh, the democrats are only doing this to get the moral high ground so they can attack roy moore. in fact -- and i hear a lot of people repeating this, but there hasn't been any reporting to show that. in fact, the reporting has shown something completely different including my conversations with people who were involved and politico did reporting that this grew out of women senators being frustrated with these accusations and believing they were credible. and they were putting pressure on him to resign and they were giving him time and space to do it. so the idea this was just done for political reasons i don't think is born out. if people want to keep repeating that, they need to report that out and get some real evidence that that's what happened, because i think this did grow

out of a belief that he did this and he needed to resign. >> paul, is it easier for democrats to do this with franken and conyers because those seats are not going to be taken over by republicans, whereas the roy moore seat could go to a democrat? >> no. because the next time it could be a state where a republican governor is. a republican could win this special election quite easily. minnesota is a democrat state, but it's not unheard of for republicans to win there, or independents like jesse ventura, who sort of trumped before trump. that's an insult to governor ventura, but sort of an independent outsider. but kirsten made a point before we came on, in the greenroom, about how it's more important for the democrats not just morally but politically. democrats' are the party of women. so i went back and looked. the last seven presidential elections, seven, democrats won the women's vote every single time. seven out of seven for 25 years. they've never lost women. you know how many times they've won the men's vote? once. barack obama carried men by one point. so there would've been one four-year period, in the last 25, when we had a democratic president if it weren't for the women of america. so democrats do owe a special duty of loyalty and activism to

women because we're the party of women. i have to say, the woman to my right is the one that raised the point. i did the research for it. >> congressman, do the democrats have the moral high ground here? >> no, i don't, because -- and i'd say this. i mean, this is the party that has the legacy of barney frank, with jerry stubbs, it has the legacy of bill clinton, and -- and i say this. the republican party doesn't have the high ground either. we're the party of bob packwood, larry craig. so i think both parties have members who have done things that we're all embarrassed by. i like to say, when i was in leadership, we had to deal with duke cunningham, for example. what happens in these congressional scandals is, your it's a collegiate body and you like everybody, democrat or republican behind the scenes. and then somebody comes to you and you know them and they say i'm innocent, this is all partisan, and you kind of believe them. then you start looking at it, and you look under the hood, and say, whoa, that's not true. i think probably what happened with both of these gentlemen today is that the ethics

committee looked under the hood and said, wait a minute. this isn't just seven women. there are a lot more and it's going to be drip, drip, drip. it's not good for the institution. you can't withstand the onslaught that's about to happen. there's no way to keep it secret. and i think the democrat party and republican party have made practical decisions. i mean, you know, tim murphy, not too long ago, paul ryan had to deal with it, i think he did the same thing today with trent franks -- >> what about donald trump and roy moore? >> i think in terms of roy moore he is denying it, and i think donald trump it's the same thing. >> al franken denied it, too. >> well, he denied it, except for there were pictures. and that was completely -- >> i did this last night with somebody else. there was one picture and then there are seven other accusations and he denied them, and he denied them again on the floor today. the democrats still believed the women. >> you know, i think the democrat party has to make their decision on that, and i think what's happening in roy moore is the republican party is something a little bit

different, just slightly. okay, this happened 40 years ago. two of these women may be credible, two of them might not be. >> these women? these were children. these were teenagers. >> well, actually, there was wub who was 14, i think. the other was 19 or 20. >> jack, come on. >> there was 16. >> thank you. >> i'm saying in terms of the value, you can look at this and you can respect this conclusion if somebody says, you know what, he was guilty, but i wasn't perfect either. that was 40 years ago. there have been no other allegations -- >> but it is interesting -- >> i'm saying -- >> -- with roy moore, he's the only one that has a record of lying in court. i mean, judges kicked him out the second time as the chief justice in alabama because he was -- in their unanimous opinion of the judges, misleading, misrepresenting what he had actually done. so it's interesting that people don't believe these women, but it's actually moore who has a track record of not being believed in court. >> not even not being believed in court. how about his track record in

public service and everything he said publically in public life for the last 30 years. this is a man who believes that 9/11 was caused because america had strayed away from christianity, he believes that homosexuality should be illegal. he believes in the supremacy of the bible over the constitution. he has a personal belief that president obama was not born in the united states. the list -- >> muslims should not serve in the house. >> this goes on and on. muslims shouldn't serve in the house. that islam is a false religion. i mean, the things he's said over and over again. so it's just shocking that this is the thing that gets us to national scrutiny and becomes a national story. but it's because now it's of national relevance, right. that's why all these people are saying why is this just coming out, now? it's political. well, actually, it's political because this man is up for the united states senate. this was a state issue before. this is a national issue and a national office and a moral issue at the national level now. >> bryan, how do you see it?

>> listen, moore is going to have his judgment day. it's going to be next tuesday. you're right, it is a national issue. it's an issue that each month we hear more information. we still have those secret settlements that took place -- those members of congress that did those secret settlements. that's going to come out. i think the more information that comes out is a good process. but how you deal with moore, you know, the more the national media, and the national people get involved in this race, they're emboldening the alabama voter to vote yes for moore. so i think we have to be careful. we sort of misplayed our hand early on on how to deal with this. i think mcconnell sort of spent too much money where it became a negative and allowed moore to elevate himself beyond all these attacks. now, you know, the voters of alabama are going to have their say, and it's probably going to grotesque a lot of the rest of the voters in the country. >> i'm looking at this on several issues. this is a very, very serious issue. i've talked to several democrats on the hill who were actually working with conyers. and they were really hurt. they were hurt because they said, this is serious. because they had to do something and they said -- at that time

they said, you know, conyers is going, they said the rest have to go. and now we're seeing it happen. and the trickle down effect is going to be enormous and it's leading to the white house. then when we go to the issue of women. i'm thinking of my conversation with gloria steinem this week. she talked about how she's seen a sea change when it comes to women, women being believed. think about years ago, anita hill, how she was treated when she was testifying about clarence thomas in this hearing for him to be confirmed as supreme court justice. now, look, women are being taken seriously. but i'm thinking about what you said about women. look at the women who voted overwhelmingly for trump, 51% were married women. married women. white, married women. and gloria steinem said something very interesting, i'm thinking about this with alabama. how married women -- 51% of

married women voted for -- white women -- married white women voted for donald trump. and she believes they were actually -- because they are socially and economically dependent on their husbands maybe that's how it can go there as well. so women will play into this. we have to take a quick break. coming up next, our randi kaye had some questions for the republican party chairwoman about why the party is once again writing checks to the moore campaign. her exclusive answers next. and later, the follow-up to the trump tower meeting between donald trump jr. and the russians that the trump campaign said did not happen, now we know differently. we'll bring you the details on that ahead. parodontax, the toothpaste that helps prevent bleeding gums. if you spit blood when you brush or floss you may have gum problems and could be on the journey

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just five days to go until the alabama special senate election. with so many allegations swirling around and so many politicians' careers circling the drain, republican roy moore set by allegations, but yet still in a close race with his democratic opponent. he'll get a boost tomorrow from president trump's visit to neighboring pensacola, florida for a rally that will be seen on alabama tv. and, of course, the republican national committee is endorsing moore by pumping dollars into his campaign. first the rnc suspended their support for moore when the allegations of sexual assault first came to light. they got back behind him soon after president trump got off the sidelines and endorsed him. and since that happened monday night, we've been asking someone from the rnc to come on the program, they have declined each day. so we sent randi kaye to see if she could talk to someone from the rnc. >> when it comes to what's happening in alabama, who do you believe? do you believe roy moore, or do

you believe the women who have come out accusing him? >> well, we've said all along these allegations are incredibly disturbing. that if they were proven true, the candidate would be unfit to serve in office. but it's up to the voters of alabama right now. this is democracy, they're going to see this play out. they get to make that decision. it's not up to me. and the president has said we want to keep the seat republican, the rnc is the political arm of the white house, and we want to support the president's agenda. >> can i just follow-up? because we didn't really get an answer on what you believe or who you believe. >> it's not up to me. it's up to the voters of alabama. ultimately they're going to have to make that decision next tuesday. this is something that's getting a lot of media. they're going to have to go into that voting booth and make a decision as to who's best to represent them. >> is that why the rnc decided to support roy moore again and send funding his way? >> this is democracy, the president has indicated he wants to keep the seat republican and we're going to be -- we're the political arm of the

white house, so we're going to make sure the president is able to accomplish his agenda. thank you so much. >> back now with the panel. paul, i'm wondering what you make of the rnc support. they took out support from roy moore, then as soon as the president -- it seems like the president getting off the sidelines allowed cover for people to get back in. >> yes. she says to randi, we're just the political arm of the white house. in part the party is, but that is an actual party with a great tradition. in 1991, when david duke was running for governor of louisiana, president george h.w. bush called him a charlatan and racist and denounced him because it was more important to put principle over party. by the way, his opponent at the time was edwin edwards, the controversial governor who went on to serve his state making license plates in the penitentiary. this is a case where roy moore's opponent is the guy who prosecuted the klansman who murdered little girls at the 16th street baptist church in birmingham. he's a fine man. so turning away from roy moore does not croak the republican party.

there would be a perfectly good albamian who would take that seat, and i hope he does. what it shows is they're no longer the party of ronald reagan or george bush. they're the party of donald trump and roy moore. that's the republican brand. >> bryan, is the republican party now the party of donald trump and not the party of reagan? >> yes, of course it's the party of donald trump. just like during the 2000s the party was the party of george w. bush. if you look at what the president is saying here, he's saying let the voters of alabama make the decision. the press has had their time to share as much outrage that exists. we've heard all these victims. and he's going to let the voters decide. >> should al franken not have stepped down? should it have been up to the voters of minnesota? >> i think al franken had to make that decision for his constituents. and he basically lost broad support from his fellow u.s. senators. he said the ability for him to function had become untenable for him. moore is going to come to d.c., assuming he wins on tuesday, and we'll see how tenable the position is for him here in d.c.

there will be a review. this may be the first opportunity we get him on the record discussing the things that took place in alabama, 40 years ago, 30 years ago, maybe even 20 years ago. this is going to be that first opportunity if he wins on tuesday, and we should have that process. >> the thing that's shocking to me is, as a republican who's been an operative, who is a consultant, who works in the space when i'm not on television talking about it, is how actually unified the republican field is in support of roy moore, no split. you've got one or two republican electives, maybe three in the senate, cory gardner, tom tillis, ben sasse, who have really said, no, this guy cannot serve in the u.s. senate. and then you have an entire universe of consultants, of super packs, grass roots people all of whom are staying away from this race. no one is taking a moral stand. >> that's not true. >> let her finish. >> no one is taking a moral stand against roy moore. >> paul ryan is. >> no, he's not putting money behind it, he's not putting organizational support behind it.

but paul ryan is the speaker of the house. on the senate side and putting money into this race against roy moore, a man that many republicans and many americans, regardless of your political affiliations, but mine especially as a republican, doesn't want associated with the republican party or the republican brand. very few people are willing to put their money where their mouth is, that's what politics is about. >> let me say this as somebody who co-hosted a fundraiser for luther strange, i may be the only one in the -- >> where is the republican money going against roy moore right now? not in the primary, because that's money down the drain. we all know roy moore was going to win the primary, that was a difficult primary, we know what alabama primary voters do. what about the general -- where is the money right now? >> i think a lot of this also -- we talked about this a little bit this morning. i think some of this could be happening because there's so few democratic -- so few republican women senators. this was led in the democratic party by the women. because there is so many of these democratic women senators and they're the ones who came out first and then some of the men followed. but this was mostly done by women. so we see what happens when you don't have women representatives, i think, where

people are not taking it seriously. >> as a corollary, you see it in the house of representatives as well. where are the republican women in the house of representatives coming out against farenthold, and franks. and really saying in a unified voice we can't have this behavior on our side of the chamber eithers. i'd like to see them come together and say, in our caucus we will not support this. >> if the republican do it, you now are point ago finger there and you have to point a finger down the road at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. it's the spotlight that's blaring and red hot. the president said at one point he was going to sue those women. this president at some point has to come out and say something. he has moved the goal post and december 12th, if roy moore wins that seat, the goal post has been moved and now you have a whole crop of different types of politicians or people thinking they're politicians coming into the race who have any kind of thing in the background and people saying i like them.

>> just quickly, does everyone here think roy moore is going to win? >> he's got a chance. >> there is a third option. colonel lee buzzby is running as a write in. he was a deputy to general kelly. our white house chief of staff. he's running as a real republican, an alabama republican, as a write-in. he may siphon off enough votes from honest good republicans who can't bear to have a democrat but -- what do you think, margaret? >> i think it throws it to doug jones you have republicans splitting their votes, and then doug jones, a democrat wins the seat. >> you said his name three times. >> i think the people of alabama see this as their race and i think in kind of defiance of what they would call the washington establishment, i think roy moore is going to have the momentum to win. >> it's their race. >> even the roy moore spokesperson is from ohio. >> i want to get back to something about the republican

women. it is disingenuous for democrat women who defended bill clinton for decades -- >> why does it always go back there? this is now. >> they're still taking money if they're outraged by bill clinton. >> as someone who was around for that -- >> she quickly backtracked because the democrat party -- >> paul, then we have to go. >> every charge back then was aired, everyone was heard, it was investigated, adjudicated, jack doesn't like how it happened, the result, that's been done. it's not been done with donald trump, they've not had their day in court, of impeachment or in the media. more revelations on what happened after the trump tower meeting in june 2016. new e-mails from people in the room and russians. a cnn exclusive next.

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breaking news on the russia investigation. previously undisclosed e-mails show some people in the room at the trump tower meeting last summer followed up afterwards. jim sciutto has the follow-up for us. jim, what are you learning about the e-mails? >> reporter: since the beginning when the trump tower meeting was revealed. you remember, the trump world explanation has been twofold, one, that the meeting was a one-off, there was no follow-up. and two, the meeting was exclusively confined to russian adoptions. we've seen that story break down. these newly revealed e-mails further break down. one e-mail shows there was, in fact, follow-up. communications by participants in that meeting after the fact, and two, that the conversation looks like it extended beyond those russian adoptions. i'll give you an example, june

14, 2016, five days after the trump tower meeting, rob goldstone, who set up the meeting, e-mailed one of the russians in the room, as well as another russian on the day it is revealed, it is broken that russia hacked the dnc he forwards them a cnn story on that e-mail breach and says, isn't this eerily weird in light of what we talked about in that meeting. raises the question what did you talk about in the meeting? was it related to the dnc hack, was it related to some other e-mail breaches, et? we know going into the meeting don junior was told the russians were going to bring damaging information on hillary clinton. at a minimum for congressional investigators it raises hard questions. >> i understand there's a separate e-mail about a russian social media site, their version of facebook, and wanting to get candidate trump on the site. >> reporter: that's right. a series of e-mails where ron goldstone, repeatedly reaching out to the white house

social media director, suggesting and encouraging that trump should have a site on russian facebook. in fact, we are told that that subject, the idea came out of this trump tower meeting. so again raising the question or giving evidence at least of following the meet ing and further evidence that the subject discussed inside that meeting not confined to the issue of russian adoptions. congressional investigators have the e-mails and we know rob goldstone is going to be appearing before the senate and house intelligence committee as early as next week. you can sure he'll be asked about these conversations. >> jim sciutto, thanks. >> thank you. >> let's go back to the panel. >> what this is a reminder of is that what we have seen this far terms of e-mails is just the tip of the iceberg. we've only seen what donald trump jr. has released from his e-mails. we haven't seen e-mails from

paul manafort or kushner or others who were in there. >> what we were told publically, in the statement initially was not true. sort of everywhere along the way it seems what we're told isn't really the whole story. we were told there wasn't any kind of follow-up and now there was follow-up. so it brings us back to the same thing over and over, which is why are you not telling the truth about what happened if nothing happened. it's what people do when they're hiding something, right? >> bryan, how do you answer that? why not in the beginning come out and say, here's what happened? >> clearly the revolving disclosure hurts and adds a lot of questions and feeds a lot of cable time. if you look at the position of the administration, let the investigation happen, let the mueller investigation happen, they've cooperated by every measurement we've asked of them so far. these things are going to continue to dribble out as the investigation comes close to an end. there's not that many more people for mueller to interview.

there's not years of reams of information for them to review. this was a year and a half long campaign. let the information come out. you have e-mails of people reaching out to don to follow-up, this may speculate and ask hard questions. the fact that is currently exist, that we do know is that senator feinstein said she sees no collusion. this is a senior ranking person -- >> she's not part of the mueller investigation. >> she's part of the committee that's reviewing some of the russia information, specifically the collusion. she says she's seen nothing. i don't know why we can't work off that narrative rather than create the narrative that other stuff is taking place, that hasn't. >> you were critical of the ken starr investigation. >> somewhat. >> the words you used to describe it were corrupt, out of control, a witch hunt, you wanted an investigation of the investigation. why is that not your position now. >> i said corrupt in the sense that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

he had 78 million dollar, four years and his investigation kept going until he found president trump clinton had been unfaithful to his wife. and starr -- first off, it was the first case starr ever prosecuted. he never did a traffic ticket. bob mueller has been doing this all his life. he was one of the great investigators and prosecutors. during the time he was going after clinton, starr was also working for cigarette companies who were clinton's biggest enemy and fight. working against your biggest ene enemy. the grand jury information was leaking on a daily basis out of starr's shop. it was a completely leaky vessel, mueller buttoned up and tight. no conflict of interest, doesn't leak. true professional, happens to be a republican. starr was also a republican. it was a completely different set of facts. that's why mueller is going to know. mueller has all the e-mails, you know what else he has? he has general flynn.

that's a sherpa who can walk him through all of that. the truth will come out. the fact we have a comfort tent professional, happens to be a republican, leading it. that's a very good thing. >> i would say this to my good friend mr. begala, you have three of the are prosecutors on there who are democrat donors including james gaurl and max dowd along with gene reed to hillary clinton. that's relevant. number two you have bruce orr now with the doj, who's been busted because he talked to christopher steele about the dossier before the election end. then you have peter straut who interviewed huma abbadean, and yet did not hold them to the high standard they're holding mike flynn, even though flynn was interviewed by the same guy. he was also involved with the dossier, saying the dossier was credible. so i think are from a republican

standpoint, you can say, look, the mueller operation isn't exactly pure either. >> good luck with that. if that's your story, you stick to it. >> we would say the same thing about starr. >> i was right and you were wrong. starr went on to disgrace himself at baylor university. he's a disgraceful human being. >> the president was impeached. >> you want to keep litigating clinton because you can't defend trump. >> you were the one talking about ken starr. >> i was asked about starr. not a big fan of ken starr. we'll continue the conversation and talk about how the slate of issues affecting president trump's approval rating. and we'll take you to the scene of one of california's many fires now burning. it could be getting worse before it gets better. details ahead. carl, we have a question about your brokerage fees. fees? what did you have in mind? i don't know. $4.95 per trade? uhhh and i was wondering if your brokerage offers some sort of guarantee? guarantee? where we can get our fees and commissions back

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investigation. previously undisclosed e-mails show some people in the room in the trump tower meeting in june 2016 followed up immediately afterwards. that includes an e-mail from the publicist who helped set up the meeting. rob goldstone, to two of the russians who were in the room. the e-mail contained a link to cnn reporting about russian's hacking of dnc e-mails. gold stone described it as eerily weird. back now with the panel. when you say t there's not many more people to interview here, the end is in sight, what do you think of here? >> i think back to a couple weeks ago when sarah huckabee-sanders said we have it on good authority that it's going to be over soon. and i asked her, who told you this, when is it going to be over? i kept asking her. she couldn't get it together. and the next day she had to come back and say, well, we are hopeful. this is not over by any stretch of the imagination. the drips and drabs keep coming.

mueller is doing his job. going back to the issue of mike flynn. mike flynn is going through this plea deal. when you do a plea deal you go for somebody bigger. there are three people who could be bigger, junior, kushner, and bannon. we have to see -- i understand that you're hopeful as well, but this is real. this is not a myth, this is not conjecture. this is about the democracy and a sacred process in politics that was hampered by the russians and how far or when did these people engage in this communication. >> do you see donald trump jr. called back or being subpoenaed to testify publically on capitol hill? because he pled attorney/client privilege because an attorney was in the room when he was talking to his father. preet bharara was on before and

said mob figures tried that before, having a lawyer sitting there like a potted plant it doesn't work. >> his position so far has always been that somehow there have been negotiations that prevented him from having to go in front of the cameras. i think the white house and his lawyers will do everything they can to keep the cameras on him. i agree all of this is going to come out eventually. the scope of mueller's investigation is broader than the matter of collusion as well. the point we have to get to the bottom of and this should be nonpartisan. is to what extent did the country of russia interfere in our elections, and to what extent will they try again and to what extent were they successful? beyond the collusion point, this is the most important point in the context of our democracy. >> that came out the day of the billy bush tape. that information came out that

day of the "access hollywood" tape. we know that they tried to manipulate the media and social media. we know that they tried to manipulate things. i don't understand what you're saying, what did they do and how did that do it? >> april, that's just what we know. what about the facebook ads. like there is a whole lot -- >> that's what they talked about in october. >> it's not just what we know. that's the point. robert mueller has access to individuals, information, highly confidential and classified details that all will come out, and by the way, is far broader than whether or not there was collusion with president trump. which at this point is not clear there was collusion with president trump. we need to know all of it. >> there's a problem with a president who continues to ask vladimir putin if you did it and he says i believe him. and then you have -- and anything that happens in russia of this magnitude, vladimir putin said look the obama's administration intelligence community said over and over

again, when you have something like that, vladimir putin knows what's going on. i hate to bring these two together, but you have this going on and you have the issue with the olympics. you don't think he knew that either? >> this is why you have to have a credible independent investigator and why it's so, frankly, unpatriotic, that the far right are going around trying to undermine the credibility of the highest independent institution we have right now in the context of examining this election. >> the goal post is forever moved. >> if they're looking at everything, chi agree with you, put it all on the table, but shouldn't they also look at the connection between the clinton campaign and the dossier. >> here we go again. >> i'm asking the same question. >> did russia go there? did russia mess with the election in the '90s for bill clinton. >> what did the fbi use that dossier for? did they use it to justify the

special prosecutor? make the recommendation for it? does that not disturb us as americans? >> bryan i know you wanted to get in. >> russia getting involved in our election through facebook or whatever channels, it's not the first time a foreign country has tried to do that. >> don't we want to know about it? >> absolutely. we're at the beginning of it. we had congressional hearings when the chinese got involved in the bill clinton campaign with the illegal fund-raising that took place there. this is a pattern countries do, interfere in our elections. and we do deserve -- and the voters want, you know, to hold the elected officials responsible to find out the facts. as we get closer to the facts, let's not conflate the facts with one congressional hearing with another congressional hearing with mueller's investigation. they're all separate things. but the only one that matters from a legal liability is mueller's investigation. they have a couple people so far lying to him. they've been able to get manafort, gates, i think it's something the administration needs to be concerned about.

but let's be honest, it's not going to be a four year investigation, it's not even going to be an additional six months. it's near the end because there's not that many more people to interview. >> no, it's not. a big break, including new polling to overcome including the president's popularity. details coming up next. . the ford year end sales event is here. i can guide you in. no, thanks , santa. i got this. santa: uh, it looks a little tight. perfect fit. santa needs an f-150. that's ford, america's best selling brand. hurry in today for 0% financing for 72 months across the full line up of ford cars, trucks and suvs. for a limited time, get an additional $1,000 cash back on top of 0% financing for 72 months. get these exclusive offers during the ford year end sales event. get these exclusive offers directv has been rated number one in customer satisfaction over cable for 17 years running. but some people still like cable. just like some people like wet grocery bags. getting a bad haircut.

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new polling tonight, two items that matter to republicans, of course, for 2018, the popularity of their tax legislation and the popularity of the president. tonight new numbers on both. one is a record low. the latest survey showing 32% approval for the way president trump is doing his job. and a new pole from cbs showing 35% approval for the tax plan. with 53% saying they disapprove. only 16% saying they strongly approve oc approve of the plan. how troubling are these numbers? >> i can't wait to hear jack. he's going to blame this on bill clinton i'm sure. >> paul will blame ken starr. >> but they're really bad. this is incredible, and this is a president that is obsessed with the polls. so i would assume this is something that bothers him. also remember the economy is doing pretty well. typically when the economy is doing well, presidents have good

approval ratings. in fact, they usually track closely. so this is a clear message from people that they're unhappy with how the president is governing. >> how do you see it, bryan? you're a supporter of the president, obviously. >> they've had a tough year. they've had a legislative agenda they've fallen short on. you'll see changes in the next month. a tax plan that's going to gain popularity among the base, people he made promises to. and you'll have more legislative victories on the back end of the congressional cycle. the numbers, i think, will improve. they have to improve. that's just where we are. >> it seems that president trump has been making moves geared toward the base to just solidify the base. you can argue on roy moore, jerusalem, the campaign promise, it's very popular among some of his voters. >> it's an interesting strategy, it's clearly a strategy to retreat to my base. we keep covering that.

we keep covering the people saying yeah he could shoot a guy on fifth avenue and won't lose support. it's interesting to talk to people who are that committed. if we had a functioning mental health system, it really would be. if you look at the whole, he was at 46% four months ago, on laek day. now he's at 32. i'm interested in the people who have quit on him. i've talked to pollsters, i knew it wasn't russia, this is not driving the politics. i think bryan is right. russia is not his political problem. it turns out what you hear a lot is tone, temperment and twint twitter. on election day, one out of five voters said they didn't think he the temperment to be president, but they took a risk on him, because they wanted a wrecking ball. and they wanted to believe what

he told you when donald trump looked at you and said i can change. i'm going to be so presidential you'll be bored. now we know that's not possible. i think that's why 36% of his folks -- he's lost support. >> those 30% of the people who are lost still look themselves in the mirror and say he's better than hillary clinton would have been. i'm not bringing it back to hillary clinton. that's what the republican base is saying, because they feel like they had a false choice or two very bad choices and they truly believe she would have been worse. so any sort of future in terms of trump's prospects, beyond 2018, really for 2020's re-election depend on who he's up against. >> let's be honest. there's buyer's remorse within the republican party. and i hate that -- >> don't tell me that. i know very well. >> there is a percolating -- group of people with buyer's remorse. but at the same time i really wish that we could stop looking at those who approve and look at the larger number that disapprove. i think we flipped it the wrong way. the ones that disapprove. and i mean i understand

republicans who are still supporting him love the fact that he is pro gun, antitax, pro life and the things that the republicans like. but at the same time i believe that people are getting upset with the twitter, the covfefes and i found you in the president -- the former president was looking through my microwave and wiretapping me. and then other things. you know, going down the line from charlottesville to just the backdrop of the navajo code talkers with andrew jackson. those kinds of things just resound in the wrong way for people -- >> but there were plenty of those people during the campaign complaining about donald trump -- wasn't saying things -- there were enough other people. and that's why we're focusing on them, because those are the people that got him elected president. >> but now that he's in office he's not presidential at all.

>> but in terms of the tax cut, i think that really what's going to happen is once people get their reduction and they see the economy -- and remember we are still at a 25-year low in unemployment. we're still at a consumer confidence level that's breaking records. home ownership is up. so many good things about the economy. now people going into the election and they say don't want to change things -- i don't like donald trump. i don't like jack kingston. i don't like whomever. but right now i'm doing okay. so that's what's really important. i think in the long run, paul you know it. because bill clinton wasn't really popular all the time but people thought you know, the economy's doing great -- >> he didn't have one day at 32. >> is that the most number one thing, if you can't grow it right now is shoring it up vital? >> obviously shoring it up's going to be vital but also it's one thing we forget what happened last november and we sort of forget what's happening currently. last november it was trump against hillary clinton. it wasn't trump against trump. it was the moodia tried to sort

of box trump in with his previous statements. it became all these segments about donald trump. but the voters were also voting for hillary clinton. they had that choice. this election we're going to see in november it's going to be a choice between donald trump and nancy pelosi, donald trump and chuck schumer. those guys, they're not equally popular around country either. you have a battle royale on divisive figures we see how it place. >> it's donald trump against kim jong un and the precipice of war and this is an issue as well. this is a nation that's war weary. >> got to take a break. coming up the latest on the devastating wildfires across southern california. an update when we come back. you're looking at live pictures right there. just incredible to see these flames. we'll be right back. alright, and before that? you mean after that? no, i'm talking before that. do you have things you want to do before you retire? oh yeah sure... ok, like what? but i thought we were supposed to be talking about investing for retirement? we're absolutely doing that. but there's no law you can't make the most of today. what do you want to do? i'd really like to run with the bulls.

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iugh... nothing fits.. you're just bloated from gas. 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. it's the last thing that thousands of firefighters who have been working around the clock trying to fight the fires need in southern california. two more fires. that's what they got today as military personnel as well working around the clock trying to make headway. this is an aerial shot of a fire in san diego county that shows how devastating these fires are in neighborhoods. you can see dozens of homes on fire. just unbelievable. about 25 minutes later a much-needed water drop. steve price from our affiliate kfmb joins us now with the latest. i understand the wind is really strong where you are, it's made

things difficult for authorities trying to contain the fire. have they made any progress? >> reporter: yeah, we are having wind gusts, 20, 30 miles an hour, which is rare for fires in the evening, anderson. usually what happens is mother nature will cooperate at night. the fire will kind of lay down and then firefighters can get containment. tonight, 0% containment. i'm just going to let you see how quickly the iwind is blowin into the trees. the orange glow unfortunately at this point as i mentioned that fire is 0% contained. 5,000 homes being threatened as we speak this evening. and at this 20 homes lost including the one behind me. so definitely without question a devastating night for the people in san diego county in the community of bonsall. >> your live shot is pretty incredible flames burning behind you that's the residue of a home? >> reporter: yeah, this is a home.

and i talked to some firefighters. they said they tried to get here to save this house but they said the winds were whipping so quickly, the embers moving in all different directions, unfortunately they couldn't save this one home. that said, they have done an amazing job, even with the wind doing water drops out here to save all the other homes in this particular neighborhood. we did see several sheds go up in flames. we saw several vehicles go up in flames. but as far as homes this is the only one lost in this particular area. there were several mobile homes in one area where the fire started and that's where they lost most of the structures. i should also tell that you a lot of people in the area that have thoerss and they were able to get a lot of those horses out of here as well. unfortunately some did pass away. >> and evacuation orders are in place? >> reporter: evacuation orders are in place for the people in in immediate area. they haven't told us exactly how many people. but they have set up three emergency evacuation shelters

for those people tonight. >> wow, steve. appreciate you talking to us tonight. and again our thoughts and our prayers our best wishes are all the people there and all the firefighters, military personnel battling the flames. thanks for watching "360." time to hand things over to don lemon. "cnn tonight" starts right now. see you tomorrow. thank you very much, anderson. look at that. we have got a lot more to come on those wildfires raging all across southern california. look at that. ventura county, california. we'll get to that in a moment. a lot to cover. this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. i want to begin with two body belows to trump white house. breaking news on the russia investigation and a new poll full of disastrous news for the president. first that dark cloud hanging over the white house, getting darker tonight with new evidence that there was more to that infamous trump tower meeting than anybody first admitted. sources telling cnn the british publicist who arranged the meeting with