soundtrack. ♪ i like to move it, move it ♪ i like to move it, move it ♪ >> reporter: funny, president trump doesn't seem like the type to be a paper pusher. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> thank you for joining us. "ac 360" starts now. so can you have a fair win hunt? john berman in here for anderson. the catch comes up because president trump has been talking, but new questions about what he is saying. he spoke at length with "the new york times" off the cuff with no aides present, and he made news on the russia investigation. a new response of whether he thinks it's fair, a witch hunt, or both. here's what he said when "the times" asked him about robert mueller. he said i hope that he's going to be fair. i think he's going to be fair. and based on there, there has

been no collusion, but i think he's going to be fair. and if he's fair, because everybody knows the answer already. so there's a great deal open to interpretation, but "the fair" part is new. one thing is clear, this is not how he normal hi talks about the investigation. this is. >> this russia thing with trump and russia is a knead-up stomad. there's been no collusion or on have you be -- obstruction. >> the president went on to say i think bob mueller will be fair. i saw dianne feinstein say the other day there is no collusion. she's the head of the committee. senator feinstein has yet to reveal she's reached any determination one way or the other on collusion or collaboration. it's hard to know which of her remarks the president is referring to. here's what she told wolf blitzer back in may.

>> do you have evidence that there was, in fact, collusion between trump associates and russia during the campaign? >> not at this time. >> again, that was in may before the indictment of paul man for the -- paul manafort and before george papadopoulos pleaded guilty about lying, and before michael flynn also pleaded guilty. it was before we learned about that meeting at trump tower last ye year. a lot has happened since may. so perhaps the president was talking about this interview, senator feinstein back in early november with jake tapper. >> so we learned this week that former trump policy adviser george papadopoulos traveled to london in 2016 and in april he met with a professor who promised dirt on hillary clinton from the russians. have you seen any evidence that this dirt, these e-mails were ever given to the trump

campaign? >> not so far. >> not so far? have you ever seen any communications that suggested that the trump campaign wanted them to release them through a different means? because obviously they were released by wikileaks. >> no, i have not. >> she neither implicating or clearing the president, only saying she had yet to see evidence that the trump campaign tried to get the wikileaks e-mails. and what she has said more recently is hardly comforting to the president. >> the judiciary committee has an investigation going, as well. and it involves obstruction of justice, and i think what we're beginning to see is the putting together of a case of obstruction of justice. >> a case of obstruction of justice. you did not hear the president quoting that. but back to what he did say, his claim that everybody agrees, even democrats, that there was no collusion. well, here is mark warner, the democratic co-chair of the senate intelligence committee

just last week speaking in defense of robert mueller. >> despite the initial denials of any russian contacts during the election, this committee's efforts have helped uncover numerous and troubling, high level engagements between the trump campaign and russian affiliates, many of which have only been revealed in recent months. >> doesn't sound like he's clearing the president. then there's what the president said on the possibility of reopening the clinton e-mail probe. "i have absolute right to do what i want to do with the justice department, but for purposes of hopefully thinking i'm going to be treated fairly, i've stayed uninvolved with this particular matter." is he saying a decision not to impede or influence these investigations is somehow conditional? it depends on whether he thinks he's being treated fairly. is that what he's saying? to be honest, we don't know for sure. the question is, does he? it certainly is something to talk about, which we certainly

will tonight. first, one of the investigators just before air, i spoke with congressman jim heins, a member of the house intelligence committee. congressman, the president did an interview with "the new york times." and 16 times, no fewer than 16 times he said there is no collusion. there was no collusion between the trump campaign and russia. you sit on the house intelligence committee. you've been investigating this for a long time. is that a fair statement? >> john, we've been hearing that for the last year or so that there was no collusion, and in that year, we've seen michael flynn plead guilty. we learned thanks to "the new york times" the don, junior said sure, i would like to hear dirt on hillary clinton. that's a word people argue about, but there's no question while the campaign was on, the president and his people were very interested in being close to russia, in hearing what russia had on hillary clinton. what happened after that, of course, is why this investigation needs to continue.

look, we're not going to prejudge it. maybe that's as far as it goes, but that's why these investigations need to palestinian. >> papadopoulos and flynn didn't plead guilty to collusion, because there is no collusion crime. you did an interview with alison on "new day" which made news in conservative circles for this statement. you said, i'm not sure i've seen a lot that the american people aren't already aware of. what do you mean? >> the question was about whether there are crimes. the question i was asked, have you seen evidence of a crime. the congressional investigations aren't equipped or designed to investigate crimes. we don't wire people up or issue subpoenas to people. what i meant was, first of all, we need to approach this objectively, meaning we shouldn't be saying there was collusion, and secondly, if there were crimes committed, i don't think it's going to be the congressional investigations that float those crimes. it's likely to be mueller's investigation. >> there's the issue of collusion, and there is no

collusion crime, but there's the issue of obstruction, did the president or anyone around him try to obstruct the investigation into the russia matter. would that be a crime? >> clearly obstruction of justice is a crime. you know, i'm not a lawyer, but when the president fires the head of the fbi, as he fired jim comey, says that he did it because of jim comey's treatment of hillary clinton, and then admits publicly that he did it to lift the pressure of the russia investigation, i'll leave that to lawyers and prosecutors. but that seems like an action that was taken in order to slow or stop the fbi investigation. he's railed on the attorney general, jeff sessions, because jeff sessions has recused himself, not being "loyal" to him with respect to this investigation. i'm not going to make the final judgment on obstruction, but there's a lot of evidence that this president wants that stopped. >> one of the other things he said, he has an absolute right to do whatever he wants to do with the justice department. ranking membership of the intelligence committee says he doesn't see it like that.

>> nobody sees it that way. the president of the united states does not have the absolute right to do whatever they want with the justice department. we are a nation of laws. we are also a nation in which the department of justice has stood apart and independent from the president. the justice department does and must serve the law and the american people and the constitution as a whole. not a man. you know, if we have the guys with guns, and we say the justice department, we're talking about guys with guns, serving an individual president, now we're a banana republic. this is -- what he said is deeply damaging to the tradition of this country. >> but he could fire the attorney general. >> he could fire the attorney general. and we've seen that before in the early '70s. >> he can fire the fbi director. >> and he did, and that got the independent counsel going. so i think my interpretation of the president's calm around mueller, he realized as the drumbeat to fire mueller

accelerated, i think he realized that was a no-go zone politically. >> congressman, have a happy new year. >> thanks, john. with me now, elizabeth foley, attorney susan hennesee, and paul cowan. elizabeth, the president said 16 times during the interview with "the new york times," there was no collusion. but congressman jim heins, who is on the house intelligence committee, says we don't know that yet. we are still investigating. is this case closed? >> well, look, i don't think the case will be closed till the case is closed. there are ongoing investigations. i don't think there's any indication that the president is trying to obstruct either congressional proceedings or the special prosecutor robert mueller's investigation. and i think he has indicated rather clearly he's going to stay out of those processes. let them unfold naturally. but he personally is trying to

tell the american people that there's no there there, and he's confident there has been no collusion. >> paul, it is interesting, in this interview with "the new york times," he says i think robert mueller is fair. it is a distinctly different message than we've been getting from republican s loyal to the president who are suggesting that the mueller investigation is somehow tainted terminally, beyond repair right now. that's a very mixed message. >> totally mixed message. it reminds me of the old good cop, bad cop routine when a suspect is being interrogated. they've been on the attack against mueller and the fairness of the investigation all along. and now the president has become the good cop saying i think mueller can be fair. he's trying to send a message to mueller that he should be reasonable in his approach to this, and that the president doesn't have any personal an nosty toward him, hoping that

will induce mueller to back off. i don't think it will, but that's the message he's trying to send. >> it was interesting, susan, 16 times the president said no collusion. not once did he say no obstruction, and he quoted dianne feinstein on collusion but not obstruction. what signs have you seen that this might be an area that robert mueller at this point is investigating? >> the obstruction area? >> obstruction. >> right. so that's clearly within sort of the purview of that original mandate that rod rosenstein gave to mueller, and also any investigation related to the termination of jim comey. that clearly is a criminal investigation related to obstruction. it is a pretty complex legal question, whether or not the course of conduct of the president can rise to that level. but clearly that's something that mueller's team is considering. >> based on what we've been

hearing from people facing the special counsel, the types of questions he's been asking seeming he's investigating that. whrn we have much more to discuss after the break, including something else the president said. did he praise of obama attorney general signal he expects the same from attorney general jeff session and the justice department? and david gergen on the many ways president trump has left his mark on the office and changed it like few others have.

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we're talking about the president's interview with "the new york times" and his thoughts on the russia probe and his remarks whether he thinks robert mueller will treat him fairly can be read as something more forceful than just expectation. he claims he has the right to do what he wants with the justice department, his repeated criticism of the attorney general and praise for loyalty as he seats it of obama attorney general eric holder, the loyalty he showed his boss, again, quoting the president. holder protected president obama totally protected him. when you look at the irs scandal, when you look at all of the tremendous real problems they had, not made-up problems like russia collusion, these

were real problems. when you look at the things they did and holder protected the president, i have great respect for that. i'll be honest, i have great respect for that. does he see the justice department's role to be his loyal protector? back now with the panel. elizabeth, i want to start with the notion that he he has the absolute right to do whatever he wants to do with the justice department. is that true? >> yeah, it's absolute true as a constitutional matter. look, the dodgj, the special counsel, the fbi, they are not independent agencies. they are directly accountable to the president. in fact, if the doj, for example, for its special prosecutor fbi is not accountable to the president, who are they accountable to? you want these executive branch officials to have some line of political accountability to the president. it's a dangerous situation when they don't. just think back to the herbert

hoover days where he was a rogue bureaucrat because he had dirt on everyone and threatening to blackmail them. you don't want bureaucrats not politically accountable. that's a reason the framers built in accountability to our constitution. >> that may be a legal answer, but think back to richard nixon to think there's an issue beyond a legal matter. sure, you can fire somebody or order someone to be fired, but it will have ramifications beyond a legal matter, correct? >> yeah. one of the things we see at the justice department is a bifurcation. that sort of political accountability, and a number of decisions are committed to career prosecutors, the civil service level, because avoiding that perception of any kind of

pl politicizization. president trump appears to quite not understand that, as he talks about eric holder's loyalty to the president. >> the president lamented that jeff sessions isn't as loyal to him as eric holder was to president obama. >> his continuing attacks on jeff sessions are astounding to me, because sessions, in many respects, has been as loyal an attorney general as you can imagine. the only reason that sessions got out of the russia investigation is he was being accused of lying himself about his own role in communicating with the russians, and had become a witness in the case. that's very different than holder's position in the obama administration. so i think it's really surprising that the president has been so aggressively attacking his own attorney general. >> you know, just to the point of the special counsel, when elizabeth was saying the president has a right to fire who he wants to, we're talking about the attorney general, the fbi director. the special counsel is in a gray

area there. he can order someone to fire the special counsel, but he can't just sign a piece of pain tore get it done, can he? >> well, sure. it's a little bit of a distinction without a difference. clearly that is within his authority. i do think there's a broader question in the subtext of trump's statement, i have the absolute right to do whatever i want with the justice department. that kind of rhetoric is more concerning, because it suggests he doesn't understand the difference between his personal interests, the interests of the american people. the president is not above the law. he cannot discharge his office in a way that violates a fundamental rule of law. that's a central question of the obstruction of justice inquiry as the special counsel is looking into right now. these are complex questions as they relate to the president. but his broad assertions of i can do whatever i want, that just plainly isn't true. >> i see you nodding your head

here. you've written and spoken on this subject of obstruction. in your mind, what the president has done does not constitute in a legal way in your mind obstruction. >> yeah. i mean, not what we know so far. what we do know is that he fired james comey as fbi director, and that certainly cannot be a basis of obstruction of justice charge. obstruction of justice can be committed by the president -- i've heard some people say he can't commit obstruction of justice. certainly the president can obstruct a proceeding of the congress, but by firing one of his su pord -- subordinates, th can't constitute obstruction of justice. >> paul, where do you think the special counsel is right now? we've been on this christmas/new year's break, so we've had a little bit of a time off from

focusing on the investigation. >> i have to say he's been running a tight ship. we're not seeing a lot of leaks as to what's going on. you know, at this point in time, i think he's moved in to the white house. he's interviewed a circle of people very close to the president. it seems to me that he's hit all of the major investigative points that he would want to hit investigation.this he probably had george papadopoulos wired, who was out talking to other members of the trump campaign. he's got a guilty plea from general flynn and he's using that as pressure to get flynn to supply information. so he's got all of his pins lined up in a row here. the question is, is there anything there underneath it? and it's starting to look like he's coming up thin, because he hasn't established at this point anything that we know about direct collusion with the

russians. and i think he's going to be left in the end with either obstruction of justice, lying to the fbi, or one of those what we call collateral offenses that have often done in other presidents, like richard nixon. abuse of power is one. but when i listened to the president today throwing out the olive branch, saying maybe this is a fair investigation, i see a man who has been talking to his lawyers saying back off, and you're going to be facing abuse of power allegations from congress eventually and impeachment. unless you tone it down and he's doning it down. >> all right. great to have you with us tonight. next, more of the president's comments in "the new york times" from that interview and how they're playing out politically for him.

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in the last segment, we talked about the legal aspects of president trump's interview with "the new york times," his claims about the russia probe, special counsel robert mueller and more. now let's talk politics about that as well as other things the president said, include thing on the tax bill and health care. "i know the details of taxes

better than anybody, better than the greatest cpa. i know the details of health care better than most. better than most. not better than the best cpa." joining us now is my panel. congressman, i want to start with you. i want to talk about what he had to say about robert mueller first, the idea that he thinks robert mueller is being fair. he said that over and over again. he also said there's no collusion. do you get the sense that his opinion of robert mueller's fairness is contingent on robert mueller not finding anything damaging with him? >> well, it's hard to say. i think that he was sending a signal that okay, i'm going to quit criticizing this investigation and let the chips fall where they may. as you know, this has been going on previous to robert mueller being appointed. so after 16 months, we don't have a single thread of evidence that even suggests there was collusion. we have some people who lied to

the fbi. we have some people who broke some campaign finance disclosure laws, but nothing that indicates there was collusion. i think the president at this point, he's realizing what the american people are realizing, this investigation is leading to nowhere, and it probably should be wrapped up soon. >> one of the issues here is that collusion as a criminal charge doesn't exist. there may not be proof of conspiracy yet. collusion, small c, was there collusion, was donald trump, jr. colluding with people on the basis of the promise of dirt on the hillary clinton campaign. i understand your point there. brian, the congressman said he thought the president was sending a signal that he was going to back off his criticism of the mueller investigation. did you read it like that? >> i read it the way that you seem to suggest in the premise to your question just now, john. i thought it was a very conditional endorsement of bob mueller's fairness. it seemed like when he made that straight comment suggesting that the department of justice

answers to him and that he -- that it operates under his thumb, it was suggested to me that he thinks he can fire bob mueller whenever he wants. so it was a worrisome interview from my perspective. for that reason, i think it's time as a country we stopped tiptoeing around the issue of asking serious questions about the president and his cognitive state. i thought this interview was life with delusions. you've seen stories from respected people like john harwood, ezra klein from fox, suggesting the president does not seem well. that's a fair -- >> brian, come on! y'all have been saying that since 2015. i mean, let's -- >> jack, i lived -- jack, jack, you can't possibly defend any of the statements that the president made in that interview. and for too long now, for over a year, we've heard people chalk it up and say you have to take him seriously but not literally.

that's just his schtick. he's playing six dimensional chess. there are dangerous, delusional statements that suggests he has a loose grip on reality. i lived through the 2016 campaign -- >> brian. >> jack, let me finish. i lived through the 2016 campaign where hillary clinton had one fainting spell and there were appropriately a bunch of questions raised about releasing additional medical information. donald trump, i think it's fair to start asking questions about whether the man is fit to hold the job. >> brian, i -- >> i mean in terms of -- >> jack, hang on. what did you find delusional, brian? >> i mean, how much time do you have, john? any number of statements contained in that interview that were completely unmoored from reality. he said the democrats have exonerated him on the issue whether there was collusion with russia. that's not true. he says he has a better grasp of

some of these health care policies than any president before or a cpa. he suggested that republicans have -- support him -- >> so that -- >> he said that joe manchin supports him, when manchin didn't feel a need to support -- >> jack, go ahead. >> number one, it's not time according to the democrats to start asking. you guys have been asking since 2015 when he became a threat to you. so to pretend now because of this article we have to start. let's be honest, you want this president to fail and question his insanity and -- >> jack, let me -- >> hang on, guys. tara and scott have been patient here. tara, did you read this as the headline of the interview? >> which "this"? >> brian is suggesting the statements the president made here indicates he's suffering from delusions.

>> not necessarily. there have been plenty of other times where the president has been less coherent and gone off on these strings s on these strings treams of consciousness. this was another classic trump unfiltered. but he's said these things before. the idea of him saying that he knows more about the tax bill than the greatest cpas and all that. that's like when he went on the sunday shows and said he knew more about fighting the war on terrorism than the generals. it's not the first time. he speaks this way because he does delude himself into making himself be the best at everything. that's been the hallmark of his career forever. so that part of his character i think is something that has concerned a lot of us, because you can't get away with that kind of hyperbolic nonsense when those words matter when you're president of the united states. it may work if you're in a wwe match or selling trump steaks or whatever. but when you're president of the

united states, those things have consequences. i think he does it now so often that we're almost numb to it, which scares me, because i don't think we should normalize it in any way. he should be responsible for the hyp hyperbolic -- truthful hyperbole, that's what he wrote about in "art of the deal." >> scott, i am genuinely curious whether or not there have been a lot of republicans criticizing special counsel mueller's investigation very directly right now, if any of them will see the president's statement that he thinks mueller has been fair as a signal to back off. >> i think the president on this "new york times" interview, if you read the way it's written up by the reporters who did the interview, i think the president came off very measured. he came off measured on the special counsel. he came off measured on

collusion by saying what his position has always been, there is no collusion. he came off measured on his achievements for the year. he seemed like a relaxed man comfortable in his own skin. he was unstaffed for the interview. so the democrats get upset when the president attacks the special counsel. then he says today he's going to treat me fairly, and the democrats are upset. they are never happy with what donald trump has to say about anything. so the way i read the article, and most people will consume this interview by reading the write up. i think the president came off fine, and regarding whether the president is sending a signal, i wonder if he's looked at the landscape and said i've got enough surrogates out there keeping mueller honest, i can afford to play the good cop now. >> you were warned your head was sploened, brian. how is your head ?

>> he says he has the authority to do whatever he wants with the justice department. did you consider that measured? >> the justice department is an executive branch agency, and he does have authority over it. he did not say he was going to go outside the bounds of law. i heard democrats suggest the president thinks he can do anything he wants do in and outside the bounds of the law. that's crazy. to suggest otherwise is -- >> he said he could do whatever he wants to do with the justice department but he's chosen not to get involved yet. there was a caveat. it was a little concerning that he was bragging that he has this power. i think the "yet" part makes everybody concerned. >> we're going to leave it there. happy new year to all of you. next, we finally solved the mystery of the golf blocking

white truck of palm beach. what we found out, after a quick break.

well, today we can finally

close the loop and the saga of the white box truck of palm beach. as you remember, on wednesday when cnn cameras tried to got shots of the president playing golf from a public sidewalk, this big white box truck blocked the shut. the sheriff's office didn't own up to it, and yet what to our wandering eyes did appear yesterday, what looked like the same big white truck in the parking lot of the palm beach sheriff's office. it turned out that, yes, yes, that was it. today, cnn crews in florida were able to compare the license plate, and yes, that is the truck that blocked your view from a public sidewalk from the commander in chief. today, no truck, just the president playing golf of a president who claimed he had no time for that once. the episode just the latest example of the trump presidency operating differently than most. it raises questions how the presidency itself is changing.

no man better to discuss that than david gergen. he joins me now. he was an adviser to four presidents. david, big picture here, not golf, but when you look at the president's first year in office, whether you're a trump fan or critic, you know, he has undoubtedly done it differently. what is the most significant change do you think he's brought to the office? >> well, trump supporters are going to say he's strengthened the office, that he's done significant breakthroughs that needed to be done, and is finally connecting with working class americans. so they're going to look upon him with favor. but i must tell you, john, historians are likely to record that this first year has not only been controversial, but it has accelerated a trend that's been a danger for the presidency. that is the seeping away of influence and authority that has been going on now, started long before trump, but has accelerated during his time in office. you see it not only here, but

you see it especially overseas, where with the united states, you know, admitted acknowledged retreat from world leadership, president trump's proud of that, but it's meant that he's lost influence overseas. let me give you an example of what i'm talking about. when many of us were growing up, we looked with awe and a certain amount of reverence toward the presidency, because it seemed to mix the powers of royalty with the powers of a prime minister. you had the head of state and the head of government combined. and so it had this elevated quality, and yet it got things done as the chief executive. over time, especially in the past year, the sense that the president is the head of state, that he represents sort of some noble traditions has all but disappeared. he's very much more in a prime ministerial role. and even with that, with the

tweets and everything else, the level of discourse is below that we've seen from any other president i can remember. >> you know, you brought up his use of twitter. look, you ran communications for presidents in the past here. you know that any white house likes to set an agenda and do things its way, get its message out. and supporters of the president say that he uses twitter to set the agenda, to get that message out. is it that simple? >> i think it's a little more complex in this fundamental sense. the best presidents have used new forms of media as a way to gain innuanfluence and power. franklin roosevelt was the master of radio and his fireside chats are legendary as a form of governing. along came television, and who was the master? john kennedy and ronald reagan. they both used it to increase their influence as leaders and

to bring the country together. donald trump is clearly the master of social media. and you have to give him credit for being able to reach people with these pithy little comments and keep the attention on himself. but at the same time, he's used social media not in a way that previous presidents have, but as a way to divide and conquer. >> finally, david, what do you think people should expect from his second year in office? >> boy, that's a really interesting question. you know, john, typically, i think we've discussed once before, the second year is a rougher year for a president. the congressional elections, everybody turns their attention to that. i think he's going to have a harder time getting democrats to come around on some of the bills he wants to pass than he's imagined. in the past year, the big bill he got through, the tax bill, he only needed 51 votes in the senate to rule.

now he's going to need 60 for most of the legislation he's looking at. that means it will be tough to get big things done. >> david gergen, have a wonderful new year. great to see you. coming up, what the president wrote today about his approval rating and where he actually stands. plus, what his supporters say about his first year in office. (drumsticks click)

the president kicked off his day with a series of tweets, the first reading, while the fake news loves to talk about my so-called low approval rating, "fox and friends" showed my rating was approximately the same as president obama on december 28th, 2009, which was 47%. this despite massive negative trump coverage and russia hoax. according to our polling, at the end of his first year, his approval rating is the worst by any . >> presidents bill clinton and barack obama were at 54%. yes, they were all three elected. while all this is true the president still does have strong support for many of those who make up his base. we spoke with voters for their take on the president's first

year. >> reporter: dawson county, georgia is the heart of nascar country and appears to be one of the most republican counties in a republican state. who did you vote for election day? >> president trump. >> reporter: in the restaurant, every day they honor nascar legends bileliot, known as awesome bill from dawesonville, they honor president trump in his first year in washington. >> gorge washington was the father of the country. abraham lincoln held it together. ronald reagan saved us from communism. now, donald trump will save us from ourselves, he will build a strong economy. >> he's done excellent as far as i'm concerned. >> reporter: sonny sim summons like everybody here, the good news about donald trump is getting swept under the rug. >> reporter: what do you think hasn't been reported that's been ignored? >> he has sat at that desk no telling how much legislation that never gets mentioned. >> reporter: you made up a good

point he said himself he signed more legislation than any president since harry truman. >> he has! >> reporter: here's the thing, though, objective people find out he has signed less than any president since eisenhower. so it's kind of the opposite and the question is, why do you think -- >> who figured that out? >> reporter: it's easy to count them. objective people count them. >> if it weren't for that democratic senate, we'd have some good stuff done. >> reporter: does it concern you when he kind of double shifts a bit, kind of fibs? >> kind of what? >> reporter: fibs. >> every one of them up there is buying liars. >> reporter: many in the restaurant say the news media, democrats and established republicans have been working to keep the president down. >> i don't blame him for nothing. he said what he can do. he's trying to do it. like i say, politicians, you know, how politicians are. >> reporter: how come he doesn't

get responsibility for not being able pull people together when he promised he would? >> he's trying. >> reporter: but proof of that, many here point to the legislation the president just signed. >> that pollman ain't going to create a job t. rich people is what creates jobs vochlt you like this tax plan because of the benefits it gives corporations? >> oh, yeah, definitely. >> reporter: do you think that will benefit a man leak you in. >> yes. >> reporter: how is that? >> it's going to stimulate the economy and everybody is going to be spending money. if you got money, they're going to spend it. >> reporter: so you have faith these big corporations will take that tax savings and invest it in more workers? >> yes, i think so. >> reporter: and with 2018 now on the way, here's advice for the president from his most loyal supporters. >> he can probably do better with his public relations. >> reporter: what would you had advise him if you were his public relations expert? >> not to tweet. >> reporter: if you can them the

president, what would you tell him? >> i would tell him. do whatever you want to do, you are the boss now. >> reporter: gary tuckman, cnn, dawsonville, georgia. >> thank you, gary, for that. so 2018 is almost here, they're already getting recalled for the biggest party, a few blocks from here in time's square. we'll get an update on how cold it's going to be. that's up next. zblrmts

. the countdown to the countdown is on. anderson, andy cohen and about a million other will gather in

time's square to ring in the new year two nights from now. it will be cold. not just here in new york. most of the country will be 20 to 40 degrees colder on new year's eve, allison chinchar is in the weather center. how cold are we talking about this weekend? >> it's not even cold, that's not the right word. i would sigh frigid. look at some of these wind chills. we have wind chill advisory, watches and warnings if effect for over 30 million people. this is the combination of the cold temperatures, also the wind. it will make that feels like temperature minus 25 to my fuss 45 for some of these regions. waking up tomorrow in boston, it's going to feel like minus 13. chicago, by the time you are starting off the new year, minus 23 is the feels-like temperature. that's because we have yet another wave of cold air that's going to be moving back if as we go sunday into monday. now, the main concern with this is what it does to your body. okay. you have to understand.

on a normal basis, you have a layer of heat that is around the exterior of your body. however, when you put wind as a factor, it blows away that heat that sits just on the edge of your body, which makes it very difficult for you to understand how quickly your body loses heat and in some cases, it could be 2-to-4 degrees. that's it before hypothermia would set in. the problem there is we have to talk about snow. because, john, we have winter weather advisories and winter storm warnings in effect all the way until we get to the new year. the problem here is it's for much of the same region that has been dealing with snow the last couple of weeks. namely, around the great lakes. white spread amounts 2-to-4 inches, but there will be pockets on the eastern edges of the lakes. yes, john, that includes erie, which could ends up picking up an additional foot of snow before we hit the new 84. >> all right. allison chinchar talking about

the feels-like temperature. it feels wicked cold. thank you so much. tune in to watch anderson and andy cohen. they will be delivering. the new year's eve starts sunday night here on cnn. i'm john berman. i will be warm for the week. thank you so much for watching "360" the original series "the '80s" starts now. >> we'll be doing for tv what fm did for radio. >> there are some that have accused your videos of being soft porn. >> we mike like to call them -- >> if anybody wants to say how they feel. >> what are your dreams? >> to rule the world. >> michael jackson is the man of the ''80s. >> music is all beat and talk. it's rap music. >> my life is over, so i might as well speak my mind. >> heavy metal glorifies sex