this is "new day weekend" with victor blackwell and christi paul. >> happy saturday. we're grateful to have you with us. very smart, very stable, maybe, even a genus, that's how

president trump is defending himself this morning as he unleashes on his critics. >> just minutes ago the president sent out a trinity of tweets that say attempting to reshape the narrative after the scathing tell-all was released. the president is saying like he is really smart? >> like, a trinity of tweets i like that victor. the president has been very busy on social media starting with the russian collusion story. here's what he wrote, now that the russia collusion after a yea year's study, the democrats and mainstream media are taking out the ronald reagan playbook and screaming mental intelligence. actually throughout my life my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being like really smart.

crooked hillary clinton also played these cards really hard and as everyone knows went down in flames. i went from very successful businessman to top tv star to the president of the united states on my first try. i would think that would qualify as not smart but genus. and a very stable genus at that. so the president is taking this head on and addressing some of the chatter that has, frankly, predated this book by michael wolff which delved pretty deeply into the president's habits. his reading or lack thereof. his repetition of words. we also know that democrats on the bill have gotten a briefing from a psychologist on this very subject and some of that is penetrating the west wing. now, the president is actually today at camp david just north here of washington. and he's supposed to be meeting with members of his cabinet and congressional leaders. these meterings are about the 2018 agenda. and what they want to accomplish on policy, immigration, daca,

infrastructure, for example. but instead, we've heard quite a bit from the president about this book, the michael wolff book that has clearly gotten underneath his skin. the president is very angry with the revelations tweeted overnight about him. and about this former chief strategist steve bannon who is devoted repeatedly in the book trashing the president and his family. >> abby philip for us in washington. thanks soa s so much. joining us lynn sweet, republican joseph pirelli. and richard painter. thank you for being with us. we appreciate it. councilman borelli, your reaction to the tweets this morning? >> well, you know, i think he's absolutely right. this is something that was used against president reagan to try to undermine and discredit this presidency. and as someone who has actually spent time around the conference time with donald trump over the

past two years, i can say that not only is this false, but it's false, incorrect, and it's a shame that this is a tactic that some in the democratic party are using to undermine the president. >> is it necessary, councilman, though, to talk about how smart you are, to talk how genius, how stable your mentality is? i mean, is that for him to say? would it be better for somebody tolls s else to say it? >> well, i say it's not for a psychiatrist who was hired by a democratic politician to say. i think for the president to take it head on that's his right to do so. as far as him being a little bit of an aexaggerator, that's what the president is known for. >> your reaction. >> this tweet is indicative of the president's mentality.

that saying if a public corporation, if the crew chief executive officer were sending out tweets like this at this time of the morning. the board of directors would have him removed from office by noon. and yet, we tolerate this time of erratic behavior from the president of the united states, while he's in control of num weap nuclear weapons. i've been a republic dan for 30 years. i used to be act any of in illinois and minnesota. if we're going to to tell rate this kind of immature conduct from the president. i'd have to say ronald reagan would be disgusted at the idea of people meeting with the russians to collaborate and get dirt on their political opponent. he would be absolutely disgusted. and it's really shameful. where we are now in our country. >> paul, is there an understanding, however, let me play devil's advocate, that this

book by michael wolff, there had been a lot of people, a lot of journal effoists who come out a have said there are things in this book that are factually untrue. does the president not have a right to defend himself? >> he certainly does have a right to defend himself. but it's unusual for a president to do so. there are going to be a lot of books written about the president. by the way, he's an old hand at this. there's been books in the past. and he's sued the authors of those. he should know to back todown a take the sources that he has, and there's been pushback in a lot of people in the white house who said, hey, we never said that to wolff. that would be really smarter than saying i'm a really smart guy and i'm not crazy. if i'm a lawyer defending this

case, and i put a witness on the stand and say how smart are you and are you mentally stable? they'd take my law license away. so that's not a good way to defend your defense. >> secretary of state rex tillerson has come out and said there's no reason to question the president's mental stability. jeff flake from arizona said overnight the same thing. he doesn't think there's a mental issue with the president. he just wants him to get on with the work that he does. i want to read to you, though, if we do have the sound, producers, please let me know. michael wolff did an interview overnight with the bbc. and he talked about the fitness. the mental fitness the president may or may not have for office. we have that. let's listen. >> over this period that i witnessed the seven or eight months, they all came to conclusion, gradually at first and then faster and faster, that something was unbelievably amiss

here. that this was more peculiar than they ever imagined could be. and in the end, they had to look at donald trump and say, no, this man can't function in this job as president. he may have been elected president, but that does not turn him into president. >> lynn, do you get the sense this is really about mental stability, per se? or about a mental mind-set? that this is a businessman in political shoes. that he's just not used to walking in? >> well, i would say, i have an analysis that's a little different. and that is -- this is why the tweets are so valuable because we don't have to guess to what the president is up to this morning. we've had six tweets on a variety of subjects that tell us that he is consumed with this idea of letting -- of his -- how this vulnerability, he's consumed that he's either not smart or not stable.

i think these words don't have mass distinction. psychiatrists are not making any clinical diagnosis. but the skill that allowed him to become president is not the same skill set that allows you to be president. and i think, in essence, that's what this debate is about. and it's the essence of the michael wolff reporting here. >> so, councilman borelli, she makes a good point about what's happening right now. we know that the president is at camp david. he's got the majority of his cabinet with him. they're supposed to be having conversations about 2018, the agenda, the policy, where they go from here. would you have encouraged him to send out tweets like we've seen this morning? >> well, i think this is what the media is talk about right now. i mean, i certainly think the president at camp david with all of the elected leaders of our country are discussing the policy issues of 2018, but i want to point out just how bizarre the audio was you that played. this is a person, an author who is on television trying to

convince the american public that everyone who in in the white house that works for president trump is incompetents. nobody actually believes them. i think the fact that we're taking the fact that in the introduction of it the author givers a disclaimer. i think the fact that we're even treating this as gospel is somewhat bizarre to me. >> no, i don't think -- not everybody is treating it as gospel, let's be honest. we have journalists who are saying and as we pointed out many times this morning, a lot of people are saying i did not have the conversations -- >> sure. i just looked "the daily mail" cover page. the website. there's five or six top articles pulling excerpts from this book. that's driving the narrative, unfortunately. >> lynn, go ahead. >> i just want to say, sir, it's more than that. we also have the president this morning weighing in really heavily. this is not just one string of

quotes out of a book. it's layered on all of the events of the past year, all of the other analysis, and also we have this massive now treasure trove of the tweets of president trump which lets us know what he's thinking, sir, and i think without those added on and in complement to the book, we wouldn't be having this discussion. and yes, when you have a book with provocative and even explosive charges, we're sorting through it. people are trying to verify and all that. so, i think let's look at this as it comes. okay. this is a first draft here of history, and the book is part of it. >> okay, but -- >> let me just say and interject that the president -- >> go ahead, richard. >> people have written talks about presidents, critical books, movies. george w. bush had books written about him "fahrenheit," 911 and so forth. lots of things we didn't think

was true. what did president bush do? he didn't comment on it. he did his job. he didn't run around putting out public states. >> richard -- >> let him finish. let him finish. i'll let him respond. >> this is childish. george w. bush acted like an adult. so did everier in president, we have a president that is acting like a 5-year-old on twitter. this is embarrassing to the united states. i don't care about the book. the twitter feed shows in and of itself shows that this president is not mentally fit for office. >> councilman borelli, i'll give you a chance to respond. >> thanks. well, we are talking about the book. i think you're well-read, richard. can you tell me one other book in this introduction that's a nonfiction book that has a disclaimer that says things are not true? you can name one other? >> i'm not interested in d disclaimers ever books. >> nobody is saying that

everything is true. we have maggie haberman saying details are wrong. we have the. william reporter, mark berman this morning, or overnight feeting that he was not at the four seasons hotel for breakfast as was written in this book. so there are people who are coming out and saying, look, there are a lot of questions about the credence of what is written in this book. and some things are outright wrong. i do want to move on real quickly because we only have a couple minutes, to the president at camp david today. and noticeably absent is jeff sessions. we understand that a good part of the people in the contact are ther cabinet are there. they're talking about legislation and policy, as well as immigration. and daca, we believe on the agenda there. why would jeff sessions not be? is it because of everything that we've seen in the last couple of days in terms of what has happened with jeff sessions? >> paul callan, your assessment there.

>> i think, christi, it demonstrates a distance, vast distance between the president and the attorney general. you would expect the attorney general to be there. sessions was one of the moving forces behind immigration reform when he was an early senator and early support of trumper, of course. his absence just speaks volumes about the fact that i think the president wants him out. i think the president remains angry that he recused himself from the mueller investigation. sa and possibly, he already has in the back of his mind substituting a new attorney general if he can. >> paul, i want you to add something for me, if it is true that people lobbied for him to stay in his position, meaning reince priebus and ex-secretary sean spicer, did anybody cross a legal line when asking jeff sessions not to recuse himself? >> that line would be crossed if mueller put together an obstruction of justice charge. and he claimed that one element

of the charge was the attempt to get sessions out of the investigative chain of command because sessions was a pro-trump advocate. i don't think in and of itself that makes out an obstruction of justice. but i think in coordination with a lot of other things, depending upon what the special prosecutor comes up with, it could be part of a case. >> lynn, paul, joseph, richard, i know your time is precious. we appreciate you giving some of it to us. thank you so much. north korea agrees to face-to-face talks with the south. but some skeptics have their doubts that kim jong-un has piecemapae peacemaking on his mind. and we'll take a look at this statement. >> president absolutely believes in the first amendment. but the president also believes making sure a statement is accurate before pushing it out

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well, new this morning, south korea says it has spoken by phone with north korea once again. seoul has given pyongyang a list of delegates who will attend talks between the two countries that happened on tuesday. >> it will be the first high-level face-to-face discussions between the north and south in two years. some are asking could this pave the way for a future sitdown with the u.s. cnn spoke exclusively with secretary of state rex tillerson. he said it's too early to tell. >> some are speculating that this may be their first effort to open a channel. but agency you know, we've had channels open to north korea for some time. and so, they do know how to reach us when -- if and when

they're ready to engage with us as well. >> will ripley is following the very latest from seoul, south korea, for us. will, there's a lot to talk about. set the parameters, frame everything for us. >> well, this is certainly significant that these talks will be happening on tuesday. and what's particularly interesting to me is the timing here from the moment that kim jong-un mentioned in his new year's address that he's willing to potentially have talks with south korea, south korea made the offer. and in five business days an extraordinarily quick amount of time they actually set a date for talks. north korea normally until so keen to schedule these talks that quickly. and it shows they have motivation here to speak. and some experts that i've been talking to here in seoul say that that motivation could very well be increased pressure they're facing because of the sanctions. and sanctions that have been pushed in large part by the trump administration. so is this maximum pleasure

leading north korea to feel that they have to sit down and try to start to talk with south korea, in hopes that perhaps the south will try to convince the united states to ease some of these sanctions and economic pressure before things really go downhill. in it wasn in 2018 and beyond. cnn did speak with secretary of state rex tillerson talking about the climate right now and where the talks could potentially lead, even though there's still a lot of skepticism. >> all right. will, we'll, of course, be watching those talks on tuesday. will ripley for us in seoul. will, thank you so much. so secretary of state rex tillerson says the trump administration backs iranian protesters including their calls for a peaceful transition of government. >> he says the u.s. is also considering additional sanctions on iran if they do not change their behavior. the secretary is the latest in a string of white house officials to condemn the iranian government since demonstrations that you see here broke out across the country last week. now, this is coming nearly a year after then national

security adviser michael flynn put iran on notice following a ballistic missile test launch. le lso the white house says president believes in deciphering the accuracy of information before it's put out. next, something a little different. we'll take a closer look at that claim by revisiting one of my childhood frustrations. president trump said steve bannon has been dumped like a dog after bannon was slamming the president in the book "fire and fury." we'll tell you what else he's saying about his old ally. revenr urge to smoke all day. it's the best thing that ever happened to me. every great why needs a great how. going somewhere? whoooo. here's some advice. tripadvisor now searches more... ...than 200 booking sites - to find the hotel you want and save you up to 30%. trust this bird's words.

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do you remember this party

game? at kids' birthdays and baby showers. there's a big jar of candy, everyone tries to guess how many pieces are in a jar. i'd stare and try to guess on size and shape. but really, it's just a guess. everyone who wins closely gets the jar. i was always off. i was so bad. but something happened this week that led me to this, a jar of gum balls. interestingly it was something that white house press secretary sarah sanders said. watch. >> president absolutely believes in the first amendment. but as we've said before the president also believes in making sure information is accurate before pushing it out as fact when it certainly and clearly is not. >> a commitment to making sure information is accurate before speaking it as fact. listen, objectively. that simply does not correspond with the president's record. and there are hundreds of recent examples. >> you look at what's happening

in germany. you look at what's happening last night in sweden. sweden. who would believe this, look back there, the live red lights turning those suckers up fast. >> in florida, getting hit eye were the strongest winds recorded. >> if you look at president obama and other presidents most of them didn't make all. >> it's the largest tax cut in the history of our country. >> we've essentially repealed obamacare. >> and we broke the record of harry truman. >> now, that's just a few of them. according to the fact-checker blogger of "washington post" president trump has made 1,950 false and misleading statements since january 20th, 2017, inauguration day. think about that, 1,950. that's an average of five a day. at this pace, he'll hit 2,000

the first year in office. that's stunning but also hard to grasp. so, i thought how do i make something conceptual like a false statement, concrete, tangible. then i remembered that game i hated as a kid, the jar of gum balls. 1,950. stand by. two jars, have we reached yet, 1,950? not yet. watch. i move it over here. three. are we there yet? stand by. when i was a kid, i never knew how many gum balls were in those jars, but in these four 1,950, i know because i put them there. i just wanted you to know what that looks like. so when the white house touts

the president's commitment to accuracy and facts. remember his record, 1,950. all right, joining me now, joseph borelli trump supporter and republican commentator. richard painter, and cnn reporter michael d'antoni author of "the truth about trump." michael, let me start with you, you're the buyographer here, the number is stunning. there's a difference between perception and free wielding with no care for facts. which one is it for the president? >> well, i think he began his life deceiving. you can talk about the number of floors in trump tower which he's always overstated. or his wealth which he's also always overstated. that was proven in a lawsuit, you know, he made the mistake of subjecti ining himself to a

deposition and had to reveal that he wasn't even half as rich as he claimed. so, this is a fellow who started out deceiving people. then, i think he lost any contact with the need to be accurate. so, he's now in an office where people count on him to speak factually. he's not accustomed to that. it's really something that's not important to him. so, we're now facing a president who is a public official and leader of the free world, whom we can't trust to speak accurately. because i'm not sure he knows what that is. >> well, this morning, joseph, he tweeted out that he's really smart. that's a quote. you can check the president's tweets. now, i know you support the president's agenda. but on track according to "the washington post" have made 2,000 false or misleading claims his first year in office that has to give you pause? >> well, by all standards you would have committed a falsehood

because it's 1950 to be clear. >> no, exactly what i said was on track in his first year since the past 2000, which is accurately 5.6 per day. but go ahead. >> what "the washington post" is saying in the state, the number one refuted claim repeated 81 times, is that the stock market is all-time high and needs to go up. they're saying that is misleading because trump dismissed obama's stock market as a bubble. i don't think that's misleading at all. the second most repeated -- >> you don't think there's -- that an exaggeration is misleading? >> no, i think they're nothing compared to the whopper, like if you like your doctor you can keep it with health care. or that we're not spying on american citizens when it came to snowden. the number two most repeated

that "the washington post" pointed out the mandate that effectively killed obamacare. that's an argument that cnn's own has made in an op-ed for cnn.com on november 15th. sometimes, the president can exaggerate, sometimes can overstate. that's his personality. so i don't think "the washington post" is being clear about what they're saying. >> richard, to you, and the discussion of legislation, as i pointed out joseph supports -- or councilman, i should say, supports the president's agenda. but of course, there are concerns about the president's relationship with truth. how does that number, that growing number of false statements and misleading statements impact his ability to get legislation passed? >> i think it will. because people know that he doesn't tell the truth. in his home state of new york alone with the pathetic remnants of what used to be a great republican parties in new york,

nobody trusts donald trump. the bankers don't trust him. that's why they won't lend him any money. $900 million or so of casino bonds unpaid when he said he would pay back the investors. people do not trust donald trump. we wonder where he's getting his money because americans in the financial community, the business community, do not trust him. and we knew this before the election. and we now have a president who people don't trust. you've just been keeping track of the lies that have been told since he entered public life in the political arena. but he's had a serious problem with the truth for a very, very long time. and i think the republican party is going to be very, very big trouble, if we don't face up to the fact that that he is not fit for office. we need to put mike pence in there and give this another try. this is not working out. >> when you say unfit for office, do you mean mentally,

psychiatrically unfit for office? we did learn there was a briefing from a psychiatrist with members of congress saying the president is unraveling having not examed him herself. from what perspective do you say unfit for office? >> i think psychically. when you think about him saying his button is bigger than north korea. that's the way 5 years old talk. you don't give 5-year-olds the nuclear weapons. this is insane telling republicans to grow up and get out of there. this is a travesty for the republican party and could end in a nuclear war or something really tragic. we need to get ahead on this

situation very quickly. once again, i don't agree with mike pence on a lot of issues but he would be a lot more stable in that office than trump trump. >> councilman? >> i just don't know how we can let richard take this stand. we're talking about a "washington post" back checker. and somehow he's rolled that into we're going to be facing a nuclear arm mageddormageddon. and with "the washington post" saying that the stock market is going to go up. richard does he think that's a face statement? >> i don't care how high the stock market is because there's a nuclear war because we have somebody tweeting out that his nuclear button is bigger than that of north korea. we cannot have somebody like that in the stock market. it doesn't matter where the stock market is when things go sky high. you keep talking about fact

checker at the "washington post." we can talk about each of those lies. casino owners and $900 million of bonds that he said he was confident he could pay off but the really important thing is, are we safe in this country, with this man in the white house, in his state of mind? that's what's matters. >> let me get michael back into the conversation. that's what matters. and there are certainly concerns from people who are either quoted in the book or having being described as being in places who say they were not there. or did not say certain things. your reaction to just the last 72 hours, after the first quote came out about what stephen bannon had said about the president? >> well, there are a few things going on. and i think, where the book is concerned, i think michael wolff gets the tone right. i think that he paints a sketch of the president that's about accurate as it could be. and this is a man who has

presented himself as what he calls a comic book character. that's the president's own words. so it's very hard to get more than a sketch of it. where wolff fails is where he offers details that he doesn't support well with the facts. or didn't reveal his sources. and i think that's a disservice to journalists. because what it does is, it opens up this crazy debate where someone could say, well, yes, we're on track for 2,000 lies and distortions. but this one particular thing, take the stock market, for example, i'm going to argue about that for five minutes so we all ignore the pattern of what's going on. this is a technique. it's like saying well, president obama lied three times. actually it's been fact-checked he's lied about four or five times a year. so, you've got one president who lied four or five times a year. and he did, this claim about keep your own doctor.

that's true. but this is a technique. it's like saying, hey, there are 50,000 head of cattle over there, but look at that sheep. this must be a sheep farm. it's ridiculous. it's but it's a thing the president has done his whole life to avoid responsibility. >> we got to wrap it there. michael d'antoni, richard borelli, richard painter, thank you. >> thank you. we're going to talk about the shots that the president is taking at steve bannon after bannon was quoted slamming the president in the book "fire and fury." what is next for steve bannon? we'll talk about that. also, the olympics 33 days away. there was some drama at the figure skating. what does it mean for the people representing the women's figure skating team, we'll talk about that. no, i picked the wrong insurance company.

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all right. it is a war of sorts in washington. president trump versus steve bannon. the president now lashing out at his former alg lily, saying tha sloppy steve bannon cried when he got fired and begged for his job. and that he's been dumped like a dog by everyone. now, bannon was quoted by "fire and fury" author michael wolff by saying that trump has lost it. >> so political commentator and publisher of morninghangover.com with us here, kurt, thank you for being here. first and foremost, where does bannon go from here? >> i think bannon is on a little bit of a contrition tour. deciding with the board of directors deciding to keep him

or not. the big thing to keep track of how do they feel about not just bannon but how did mercer feel about heim being at breitbart. are they okay with him there being there and funding breitbart and keeping that layer of separation? that's what everyone is waiting for. it's been reported that rebecca mercer is have been deliberate about this. not making any rash decisions. he's already spoken out about steve, severed ties with his on specific projects. the attention is where that goes next, what the mercers want. and steve is going to lay low and probably avoid talking about this as much as possible. >> i want to read a quote from you, you said, some might have expected or even hoped for ban ton respond to trump's tantrum in behind to give trump the

brig breitbart treatment. which usually consists of a blitz of negative stories. why do you think that's not happening? >> i think they were blinded side, i think everybody did, people call it a war, but it's kind of one-sided right now, it's donald trump pummeling steve bannon, and bannon is not retiring fire. >> is he trying to save himself? >> absolutely, he's trying to save himself. hoping to get another second lease on life here. >> save himself for what? where does he want to be? >>breitbart. he knows once he has that platform, he can use it to kiss up to donald trump and make amends. one thing we've learned over time trump is very susceptible to making up with people. he blasts people. and rejects them, his own attorney general and the senate.

just because he hates you today doesn't mean he won't embrace you tomorrow. i think steve is banking on that. >> i want to read another quote from you. saying breitbart's savvy treatment of its own reporter as a sop to trump with whom they forced to face the realities of the gop that for years i completely ignored because that was my team. >> explain that to us. >> one of the things i've learned in my own professional career. i've been in d.c. since 2006. i've worked in the house, senate, and was a consultant as you know for breitbart. and when you're in it every day, it's very easy to think about what's going on almost as a competition. it's us versus them. us trying to beat them. our bosses, their success is our success. and it took me to removing myself to understand that. to explore what i personally feel about different issues, you

know, after spending almost a decade talking to other people it was incredibly liberating to wake up one day and not have to do that. and i have the luxury and freedom to be able to explore what i believe. that's why i left the republican party and joined the democratic party. >> when it comes to what is the future for bannon, we have to look backwards. do you believe there was an inevitability that these two were going to break apart. and how will president trump's agenda look moving forward without bannon? >> i think it was inevitable that these two larger than life egos collided with one another. you look back to february when steve was on the cover of "time" magazine. shortly after that, he got code billing in another book written. and those teams went crazy that the subordinate got equal

billing. steve is a boss. he's not meant to serve anybody. in the white house, it became clear that was a role he was not going to do well in. and that's why this friction erupted. trump is going to look like trump. i think one of the takeaways with banner side-shrilined and neutered, he's playing the trump instincts and that's why these crazy things happen. people will now see it's trump being trump. he is that crazy, that he's unfit for office and republicans are going to own that. >> there's a base of people that think otherwise. >> kurt bardella, we appreciate your insight. >> thanks for having me. >> sure. two commercial airplanes collide in toronto. we've got information about the people on those planes, and we'll tell you how this happened. also, are the new england patriots on the brink of

breaking up, andy scholes? >> exactly, could this be the last year of brady and belichick? i'm going to tell you what the team had to say about reports of dissension in the ranks. differe? complete the job with listerine® help prevent plaque, early gum disease, bad breath and kill up to 99.9% of germs. listerine® bring out the bold™

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all right. this could be a frightening situation when two commercial jets collided on the ground at toronto international airport last night. >> imagine the weather. look at this. we've got video here of these two planes that collided. good news, no one was injured. there was a small fire forced them to evacuate dozens of passengers. this happened as one of the planes backed out while the other was being towed, there were 168 passengers and crew members on one of the planes. the other plane, empty. this be the final run for the new england patriots. >> say it ain't so.

ant andy scholes is here with "bleacher report." the trio of tom brady, bill belichick and robert kraft, they've built one of the greatest dynasties ever seen, according to an article by espn, despite five trophies, their relationship has soured. so much so that this could be the final year for the trio in either belichick or brady may move on after this season. now, the patriots leasriots rel statement saying they remain unified. and the statements about them are highly exaggerated or inaccurate. the patriots have a bye this weekend. jon gruden is leaving "monday night football" to return to coaching and doing it to his former team, the oakland raiders. gruden is going to get the richest ever, 10 years, $100

million. on monday night's national championship game in atlanta between georgia and alabama is the most expensive college football ticket ever. it kind of makes sense a home game for georgia and alabama going for as much as $1,400. that's actually down from earlier in the week when the cheapest ticket was nearly $2,000. to sit in the nose bleeds as georgia and alabama hit the field monday night at 8:00. the usa skate team announcing three women to be at the olympics. 19-year-old bradie tennell, mirai nagasu. and karen chen. they finished first, second and third. ashley wagner who took home bronze in the team event in sochi. she said she was furious with the judges after finished fourth

in the competition. despite finishing fourth, the 26-year-old said she deserved to be on the olympic team. the selection team decides which athlete will represent the u.s. four years ago, the committee picked wagner over nagasu even though she finished fourth in the event. not this year guys, they went with who went first, second and third. there was controversy even though she wasn't in the top three. >> thank you, andy. >> all right. are you going to sing -- >> no, i was going to, then i heard the first note then i thought, bad idea. one cannot be the loneliest number especially if you're the lucky person who won the mega millions jackpot last night. >> winning ticket sold in florida. >> hey, florida. >> a lot of people there can share. no word who won the jackpot or where it was sold. but it lasted this jackpot 23

straight drawings and no winner until last night. >> mega millions pot may be relatively empty right now. and relatively, because it's still millions of dollars. >> yeah. >> but you still have a shot at nearly $500 million. 570 for the powerball jackpot. the next drawing for that game is tonight at 11:00 eastern. >> so, you see, there's a chance. >> so, you say there's a chance? >> yes, there is. all right. for those who are not so lucky, you may want to work from home this weekend, given the frigid temperatures. >> yeah, it's outf fudoubt full was president trump's justification for beaming into the white house press via -- >> a little chilly. >> yeah. even though the oval office is down the hall. here's jeanne moos. >> reporter: president trump calls -- >> the final frontier -- >> reporter: getting briefered

up to the white house briefing. >> we have a message from a special guest we want to share with you. >> reporter: thank you for being with us today. there he was preordered citing benefits from the tax cut. as sarah sanders stood by a bit awkwardly. >> here he is pops up in this giant video screen behind sarah sanders. >> it's like 200 steps from the oval office. >> reporter: trump so afraid of questions he appears at the press briefing via pretaped video taunted a critic on twitter. well, he did avoid zingers? >> are there tests that go along with that. >> reporter: read one tweet, trump's giants head at this presser makes me think of the wizard of oz. somebody pull down the curtain. but there was no curtain-gr

curtain-grabbing toto. >> the great gods have spoken. >> reporter: to disturb the briefing. >> thank you, mr. president. >> reporter: instead of making the trek from the oval office, the president made like "star trek." >> ready to beam up, jim. >> energizing. >> reporter: hail to the star chief. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> like only jeanne moos can. >> only jeanne moos. that's it for us. stay with us, though. >> yeah, "smerconish" comes to us after this break.

♪ i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia. we welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. the president was up early tweeting defenses. his mental health. calling himself, quote, like really smart and a very stable genius. part of the ongoing white house response to the book that he helped propel to number one by having its