it doesn't mean i think countess luann should be running the country. and that's it for us. thanks for watching. cuomo prime time starts right now. >> your tax dollars at work. that was government working compiling all those letters. anderson, thank you very much. all right, tonight it is time to test. kelly anne conway says she can make the case the president is uniter. the problem is the media, not him. and joe arpaio, the sheriff convicted of defying a federal judge says he's the right man to represent arizona in the u.s. senate. let's get after it. i'm chris cuomo. welcome to "prime time".

all right, facts first. just hours ago an apparent and significant reversal from president trump. is he willing to sit down with a special prosecutor as he promised or not? kellyanne conway is standing by ready to go. one on one. good to have you, but first, let's give you the facts. listen to the president at the white house this afternoon. >> are you open to meeting with him? would you be willing to meet with him without condition or would you demand that a strict set of parameters be placed around any encounter between you and the special counsel? >> we'll see what happens. but when they have no collusion and nobody has found any collusion at any level it seems unlikely you'd even have an interview. >> that's not what he said in the rose garden seven months ago. proof. >> would you be willing to speak under oath to give your version of these events? >> 100%.

>> 100%. mr. trump committed another fact infraction by tweet. republicans should finally take control of the russia investigation. the republicans are in control of every aspect of the russia investigation. know this, republicans are overseeing all three congressional investigations at the justice department, the criminal investigation into russian election meddling, also completely overseen by officials with republican ties. you have all these new gotcha investigations of someone who is not relevant in american politics except to president trump. hillary clinton, that's one reason why. so those are the facts. now it's time to argue the case. let's bring in counselor to the president, kellyanne conway joining us right now. happy new year to you, my friend. it's good to have you. >> hello, christopher. congratulations on your new show. >> thank you. >> a fun four weeks ahead for sure. >> i heard one of your new year's resolutions is to allow

me to finish sentences. so i really look forward to this interview. >> good. just return the favor. so will the president sit down with the special counsel? >> the president and his lawyers have made clear from the beginning this white house is cooperating with requests for information, and that hasn't changed. >> but will he sit down with the special prosecutor? he said sure, 100%. and now he says we'll see, we'll see, i don't know why we have to have an interview, no? >> the president also said as recently as today, there's no russia collusion. your network has been covering it for a year plus. and your morning colleague, allison come ra tay, told a radio show six months ago she's got a little bit of russia fatigue. she wonders every day if she should be covering this segment to segment. >> she got over it. she pushed through it. >> but why is that? christopher, it can't possibly be because we found anything.

where is the evidence. >> you're a -- you're a lawyer. >> you know this has been going on for a year. >> nothing by federal investigative standards. >> chris, think about everything that you have missed covering because of the obsession with the russian collusion investigation, which the president has said as recently as today doesn't exist. and he also made the point that if there is any collusion, that it occurred with the democrats. you look at who paid for the dossier, you look at who was trying to pull different tricks to win an election they lost anyway, and that's very concerning to many americans. look, let's just talk about what hasn't been covered -- >> hold on a second. >> you want to cover who's up, who's down, what's up and what's down, the stock market, what's down is isis and unemployment. >> you can't just run through an explanation, trample the facts and move on. you've got to give me a chance to get in there. >> wait. don't do that just because it

will be a great viral moment or all your promows. >> there's only one promo and you're in it once. here we go. you say it was paid for by the democrats. as we all know, right, it started with a republican funder and then moved onto a democratic funder. you said the president said there was no collusion. that is not -- >> hold on. did the democrats pay for it or not? did the clinton campaign pay millions of dollars -- >> yes, it did. >> that's a fact. >> but fugs "gps" is not a democrat outfit as sarah sanders tried to suggest. you had glen simpson in testimony the republicans wanted to keep quiet and he said, no, i've got lefties, righties, journalists on the left, people from the right, i've never worked for russia. sarah huckabee-sanders stated he hz h his fact because she listened to a man named bill browder. >> chris, this is your show, but i'm talking for the white house briefing room, and are we going to talk about the things that happened this week or even just

today -- >> this happened today. when he said he wouldn't sit down -- >> well, hold on, a lot happened here today. the president had a bilateral meeting with a prime minister of norway. then he had a two on two press conference with her. and then a one-on-one with two on two questions press conference with her. in between he did many things, not least of which was another bipartisan action. at about 5:30 today in the oval office, the president invited in members of the house and senate, democrats and republicans and he signed the interdict act into law. we now have more money for our border control to detect and control fentanyl. which is a major killer in the country. he gave the pen to democratic senator ed markey because he sees -- >> bipartisan spirit. >> it's an action. >> i'm glad you brought it up. >> you won't tell people what's happening. you're telling them what may be and what fantasies may actually come true one day, five

years maybe into an investigation. >> that's not true. and by the way, you shouldn't dismiss national security concerns as fantasy. you shouldn't say it doesn't exist. >> i don't dismiss. >> hold on. >> i let you finish. >> you're talking about national security when it comes to russia and the election, what about national security when it comes to the border? we count on 54 democrats in 2014 to vote for a wall? >> running away -- >> national security is border security and also includes the fact -- >> you're running away from the question. you're running away from the division. of course you are. >> i understand why you don't like it, i just think it's weird. >> that's your opinion. >> i'm going to keep asking it until we get the answers. we'll see because we don't know what mr. mueller has, and for the president to say, hey, there's no collusion. he said there was no contact with anybody on his team with anyone from russia, remember that? >> you can't possibly believe

anyone thinks there would have had to be, and i'll tell you why. >> say again. >> hold on, when the president says that, and i will tell you i have said it because i was the campaign manager for the winning part of the campaign. and the idea we'd have to look any further than hillary clinton to beat hillary clinton itself is a fantasy. i wasn't talking to people in moskow. i was talking to people in north carolina and michigan. there was no reason to have gone anywhere outside of hillary clinton and how unattractive her policies were, how lacking in vision and connective tissue with the forgotten man and forgotten woman she was. we beat her fairly and squarely in this country through this democratic elective process. so many people still can't get over the election, and your network called wrongly again and again -- >> says my friend who can't keep hillary clinton's name out of her mouth. >> hold on. you can't -- excuse me, i'll make you a deal chris, i'll never talk about her again but you can't talk about the 2016 election. >> i haven't mentioned the election once.

>> the only reason they're talking about it -- >> i haven't mentioned the election once. and the only i do, is because russian interference matters and it doesn't delegitimize the president's victory. you guys are frozen in that moment. that's why you bring up hillary clinton -- >> that's not true. nobody here talks about her. >> you just brought her up. >> you're talking about the 2016 election -- >> kellyanne no shouting contest. we're friends. >> you talked about the 2016 election. we won the election, we're going to win the election. >> you just said, we didn't have to look anywhere past hillary clinton to win. is we inclusive of don junior, jared kushner, and paul manafort who went to a meeting with a russian lawyer who was promising dirt on hillary clinton. >> what came of the meeting? nothing came of it and you know it. >> that's not the point. the point isn't what came out of it. >> hey, chris, you can't get

over the election -- so we're going to talk about russia and yesterday -- >> no, you want to skirt around it, it becomes a problem. you want to talk about interdict -- >> you want to talk about fentanyl because it's killing tens of thousands of americans? >> sure, i'm the one that did a documentary on it. i'm the one that went to those guys who are still looking for help from you guys. the manchester fire department they're still waiting on money from you guys. it still hasn't come. >> chris, don't talk about that. we had the chief of the manchester fire department here at the white house several times. he's very happy -- >> have you given the funding to new hampshire to fight opioids since you got in there? no. >> you realize that -- you realize the -- yes, we have. what are you talking about? >> how so? what money has been apportioned? that's what jared brown was saying at the meeting today, this is a good move, stop fentanyl at the border. but you have to give money to the states, too.

>> it's nice to have an administration that's focussed on it. >> we'll see. focus is good if it results in action. >> prevention, education. there is action. the whole reason that the president wants to have a wall, and he will build that wall, is in part to stop the flow of illegal immigration, but in large part to stop the flow of drugs. >> do you know how drugs get into this country? >> through the southern border, the u.s. postal service. many different ways, and it has to stop. >> do you know how the majority of it gets into the country? >> educate me, please. >> you know the wall -- that's another topic. i don't know what you mean when you say a wall -- >> do you want me to answer it? >> no. i don't want to run away from this, this is an important point. putting up a wall is not going to stop drugs from coming into the country and you know it. >> that's ridiculous. >> they come by air and tunnels. i've been in them.

very cramped, very scary. >> you telling viewers no drugs come through the borders. >> no. >> be an apple, don't be a ban nana. >> i'm saying the wall being a difference is a joke. the wall keeping fentanyl out of the country is a joke. it comes by car go planes. this is high grade farm suit pharmaceuticals. >> you don't think any heroin comes through the southern border? >> i said it won't make a real difference putting up a wall. why bring it up today? he muddied up the water of an otherwise good event? >> listen, he's going to build the wall, chris, and the wall will help to stop the flow of illicit drugs coming over our borders. do you know how we know that? because he and our secretary of

homeland security and our chief of staff have asked people whose job it is to be at the border what they need, what they think, and they have told them what they need. and part of what they need is better security. they need the ability when someone crosses the border illegal, they need the ability to remove that person, not have a 10 or 12 year wait period for the disposition of that individual. this president wants to put a wall, and you and owes want to put up a slip and slide. let everyone in. do you think that should be a policy of a sovereign nation. >> i never said that. you had the president come in and say, look the wall can be k mean different nings difference places -- >> you realize -- >> -- that's what he promised. >> there's a physical wall, technology, fencing. >> the president said, it's a big wall, i'll build it in a

year. people said what you're saying now, and he shook his head, saying not me. they're not going to compromise, big brand new wall. it's not a metaphor. >> it's a physical structure and you know it. >> he changed in the meeting, democrats say it, republicans say it. >> you know what's changed? he has said in order to do a deal on daca, it includes a wall, immigration, an end to the visa lottery system. and what bothers a lot of folks, including you it sounds like, you're going to get the main tool out of the way and surprises you if he does a deal on daca. he promised transparency and accountability. even people at cnn have said -- >> are these the let ers? the anchor letters. >> your colleague said he

appreciated the transparency. >> i appreciate it to. because we had a president who groo agreed with the democrats and then the republicans and then said he'll sign whatever he puts in front of them. >> the president said he's going to tackle immigration in a way no one else has. that's what helped him getting elected -- >> what helped him get elected was a hard line on it. >> i think people are nervous he's going to don't get things done. >> why would they be nervous about that? hold on kellyanne conway, that's the right word, yuan fie. i want to talk to you about that. let me pay some bills and take some breaks -- >> you stopped talking about russia anyway. >> you think so? we'll see new a second. so there are no artificial colors, no artificial flavors,

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i've tried lots of things for my joint pain. now? watch me. ♪ think i'd give up showing these guys how it's done? please. real people with active psoriatic arthritis are changing the way they fight it... they're moving forward with cosentyx®. it's a different kind of targeted biologic. it's proven to help people find less joint pain and clearer skin. don't use if you are allergic to cosentyx. before starting cosentyx you should be checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms of an infection. or if you have received a vaccine, or plan to. if you have inflammatory bowel disease tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. serious allergic reactions may occur. with less joint pain, watch me. for less joint pain and clearer skin, ask your rheumatologist about cosentyx. all right, thanks to you for being with us for this cnn special program, part of this four-week run. thanks to you as well, kellyanne

conway for being with us. i was asking you in the last segment when the president would meet with the special counsel. you don't have any clear indication on that. what about the wall. you said you'll tell me right now what it means. does it mean what he promised during the campaign or is he open to the suggestion that security has different requirements in different places? some places censors, fence, some places wall or otherwise, no need for a brand new bricks and mortar all the way across, true? >> what's true is after conferring with the experts who are involved in this process, christopher, the president has discoveries that paraof it will be -- part of it will be a physical wall, part of it is technology, part of it is also fencing. there are rivers, i'm told. there are mountains involved. there's terrain that isn't conducive to building an actual physical structure in some places.

but make no mistake, you've seen the prototypes, i hope. you know that many different firms bid on constructing the border wall. and that is something that's an incredibly important piece of this. but i still can't get you to agree this is worthwhile. you said it's not going to help intradikt any drugs. that they all come through airports and airplanes. >> that's not what i said. >> that is false. >> that's not what i said. >> and i've got to tell you something. if we can bend the curve on the drug crisis alone in this country, we're on the losing side of it as a nation. if we can bend the curve, because this president has declared a public health emergency. >> that's important. >> hold on, he went ahead today in a bipartisan fashion and signed into law the interdict act. if his secretary of homeland security is focussed on this to stop the flow of illegal immigrants but also drugs. if he's pressuring other countries who are synthetically making opioid and fentanyl in

their labs, if he is going to do a public facing campaign for prevention and education, we have to come together. he is unifying this country. when he passes tax cut, it was with all republican votes, but it doesn't benefit only republicans. it benefits people of all political stripes, all backgrounds. >> that's what you say. >> we don't say -- no. no. hold on. people are just starting to see how it is benefitting them and its aspirations. >> it's not even -- >> christopher, hold on. what about the 1 million people who -- >> there's nothing uniting about the tax bill. >> hold on, look at the one million people -- and i hope they're all watching. that would be great. you look at the one million people in the eye and tell them the bonuses they just got from their employers don't matter. >> of course, they matter and that's what businesses do when you give them a tax cut. they feel good about it. they're already holding record-amounts of cash but they're not paying it in increasing wages. >> infrastructure is another unifying issue.

what about infrastructure? >> the problem with the economy isn't how much money corporations have. god bless them and god bless the stock market. it doesn't effect wages. >> it affects people in the tax breaks. we have more people paying 0% in taxing -- >> the wages aren't going up the same way corporate taxes are. you know that. and that's the criticism of giving corporations more of their money back. it's what they will do with it. you can't make them pay more in wages. >> we had a 35% corporate tax rate here, the highest in the developed world. and now it's going to be 21%. >> that's the nominal rate, that's not the effective rate. you made their cuts permanent and the individual cuts temporarily because you were benefitting corporations over people. >> i'm sorry, do businesses benefit from the doubling in the standard deduction, which is for individuals? >> no. that will help people. >> do businesses benefit from the child care tax nearly doubled? >> that will help some people in certain income brackets based on where they live. look, nobody has looked at this tax cut and said this was clearly engineered and designed

to benefit the middle class more than anyone else. >> many people have said that, actually. >> middle class more than anyone else? >> maybe no one you worked with, anyone you discussed it with. >> nobody says it. i worked at mezzanine finance before i was here. i have talked to people there -- >> you'll hear from the manufacturing industry. we hear from the 2 million -- >> i'm sure they like it. you're giving them money. >> 2 million jobs or so created in manufacturing. manufacturing is back in this country, chris? what about all the blighted storefronts, the factories that have been shutdown and repurposed or just sit ing there as an eyesore, as a relic of times gone by. >> they're a problem, and everybody knows it. >> but manufacturing and this president are dignifying all types of work. they're saying some people are college material, go get your four-year degree, but some people should have a -- they want to have a high school

degree and skill certificate. >> that's great. there's all types of labor and that's great. >> we're dealing with congress and the work force development and the apprenticeship program. this is important. this is nonpartisan, and infrastructure should be very nonpartisan. >> the tax bill was inherently partisan. but we talked about that. let me get one more topic -- >> it's benefits down to those who didn't vote at all, who aren't registered to vote -- we don't run around asking people what their politics are when we're benefitting them. >> it benefits different income brackets and corporations. >> no, it doesn't. >> i asked you that, and you answered it. i want to ask you another question. >> i actually talked to people in the middle class each day and it helps them. we hear from them every single day here. >> i talked to people in the middle class, too. some are happy, some aren't. the polls reflect that. let me ask you something else. about the first amendment, is the president really serious of wanting to take a good look of finding ways to abridge the freedom of the press?

>> that's not what he said. he said he was going to look at the liable laws. >> how is that not the same thing? >> it's not the same thing. and this man every single day he comes to work and we see it first-hand and he wants to do good by this country. he wants the economy to keep booming as it is, the stock market, the consumer -- >> what does that have to do with the liable laws? >> christopher, it has to do with everything because instead people are trying to get in his way, trying to nullify his election, trying to throw crocodiles in the water at all chances. it's not going to happen. people in this country see -- >> what does it have to do with the libel laws? i get it. he feels bad. he doesn't like criticism. it's a tough job. >> he actually doesn't feel bad at all. he feels great this country got a new tax cut. that for every one new regulation, 22 are out. he feels great that isis is in retreat. >> look, this is not human reaction. i'm feeling great myself, i think i want to shutdown people's ability to criticize me. they don't go together.

>> he does feel great about himself. what he doesn't feel great about is people lying, facts not being checked. can people just say things with impunity, and that is problematic. >> there's not impunity. you have every ability to talk back. that's what a democracy is about, a battle of ideas. it's not when you shut it down. we tried that in 1798 with the sedition law. it did not work very well. >> he wasn't talking about that. he wasn't talking about shutting anything down. >> he's been saying it for a long time. and for a man who says as many things that are demonstratively false in a pace that we haven't seen any president approach, it's odd that he wants to be in the fact checking business. >> he's successful in a pace we've never seen. even his critics had to admit that in december. here in washington, d.c., the past people didn't even work in december. this man got so much done in just the month of december. the american embassy is moving to jerusalem, its capital. five presidents promised it.

one made good on that promise. >> that's a whole other discussion. there's a reason why republicans and democrats didn't see that as a wise move. >> obamacare is gone, why? 30 million americans don't have health care. >> kellyanne, i have to go. >> they were told you can keep your daca, keep your plan -- unifying the country, immigration, infrastructure. isis in retreat. >> if you want to unify, keep the signature freedom intact. say, hey, bring it on. criticize me, i'm the president. i can take it. i'm a stable genius. that should be his response. >> good luck with the show. >> kellyanne, appreciate your participation. you are always welcome. >> thank you. up next, one-on-one with former sheriff joe arpaio. six months ago he was looking at jail time. now he's looking for a six-year term in the u.s. senate. he got a pardon from the president, but he still has to make the case to you. why should sheriff joe represent arizona? next.

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all right, the man calls himself america's toughest sheriff. will he become america's toughest senator?

24 years ago republican joe arpaio was the top cop in arizona's maricopa county and became famous, some would say infamous, for his harshness. troubling set of facts, he ran out outdoor jail called tent city. arpaio himself described it as a concentration camp. they faced heat in the summer and near freezing chill in the winter. they wore pink underwear, they ate green colored baloney, allegedly. but that was nothing. under arpaio there are also chain gangs for men and women, conditions that rights groups called inhumane, overcrowded and dangerous. remember this was a jail not a maximum security prison. it resulted in multiple lawsuits and a lot of death, especially by suicide. so he was a huge fan of racial profiling. when a judge finally ordered arpaio to stop the practice, he refused on a matter of

principle, he said. and he was convicted of contempt. that's when president trump came to his rescue. he got a pardon by president trump. he's now 85 years old and he's in the race for the seat of senator jeff flake, the trump nemesis who announced he won't be seeking re-election. and he joins us now to make the case to you. sheriff joe, thanks for joining us. >> hey, chris, i think it's been years since we last met, that you interviewed me, if i recall. >> that's true. you look the same. i look a lot older. >> well, it's the italian olive oil for me. >> i'm going to have to up the dose. let me ask you something, sheriff, you've had such a long run, you've had so much controversy here at the end. you've got your health, but you've got your age as well. why take this on? why not just take the pardon? you lost your last race for sheriff to a democrat in an all-republican county. why do this?

>> well, first of all, i disagree with your opening remarks. i'm not going to spend time justifying the tent city and everything else you said. but the question is why am i doing this? well, i'll tell you. first of all, i'm a big supporter of the president. from day one, july 2015, i endorsed him, i introduced him, and i said he would be the next president. i guess i was right on that. so i have a great respect for the president. and between you and i, i don't like what's going on with certain people going after him. he's done a great job, and i want to do something to help him and help the people of arizona.

so i had a long career, 60 years, serving my country. 56 years in law enforcement. joined the army when the korean war started. >> right. >> was a cop in d.c. i can go on and on. but one thing people don't understand, i was a regional director in mexico city with the u.s. drug enforcement, covered latin america, was head of the dea in turkey. >> i get the pedigree, sheriff. but you've been in the business a long time. you went out and now you're asking the people to give you another chance. have you changed? do you no longer believe in profiling latinos and stopping them just because the color of their skin? do you believe in no longer herding people together and putting them in bad conditions? >> that is wrong. that is wrong. >> you were convicted of it. >> my guys do not -- no, convicted by a judge. >> right.

>> no jury. who was very biassed. i'm not going to go into his history. one day it's going to come out, very soon. >> you were told to stop a discriminatory practice and you refused, joe. and you got convicted -- >> i did not refuse. no, no, we had the authority to do it by the federal government. they swore in all my deputies to be immigration officers, and we were doing our job in that period. evidently the judge did not agree with it even though the federal government laid the guidelines how we would do it. but that's just one issue. then he turns it over to another judge for contempt of court. >> right. >> now, that judge refused to give me a jury trial. one day before -- one day before early voting obama's department of justice holder and loretta lynch said they're going to charge me on a misdemeanor, a misdemeanor contempt of court,

get the same time as barking dogs, and then during the election, they charged me. >> why didn't you just stop stopping people because they were mexican? >> we never stopped people because they were mexican. we stopped people because they were committing a crime. and they happened to be here illegally. >> there was an established pattern of your pulling people over because they were latino. that's how you got in court in the first place, sheriff. >> no, no. that's what the judge -- >> that's what the prosecutor said. that's what the prosecutor said. they brought the case. this judge didn't just come knock on your door and tell you you were guilty. there was a prosecution involved because of a pattern of conduct. now either you believe in that kind of stuff and that's what you want to represent yourself as to the voters of arizona or you don't. which is it? >> i'm telling you, you're bringing that up, okay, and i'm telling you again we're not guilty of that contempt of court. and that's why the president realized that and gave me a

pardon, and i never asked for it. so we got a judge that's not going to go against a fellow judge on contempt of court. and everybody in the courtroom knew that i was not guilty -- >> except the prosecutor and the judges. >> well, right -- well, what do you mean the prosecutor? >> somebody brought the case. >> no, no, no. everybody in that courtroom knew that -- i'm not going to say the fix was in. but it was predetermined that i would be found guilty of a contempt of court. so we're appealing that, and we'll see what happens. >> let me ask you something. >> you want to go onto something else? >> let's look at it a different way. you're kind of reintroducing yourself to the voters there. is there any regret that you hold in your heart for the conditions that people were kept in, the nature of immigration enforcement, the birtherism claims about president obama, things that are black marks on

your record? do you have any regret? do you have any change on those? >> well, you know frank sinatra, mentions a highway of regrets. but no, i have no regrets. i did the right thing, my people did the right thing. we were very successful throughout my 24-year tenure, the longest serving sheriff in the history of maricopa county. a few mistakes, yes. >> was the birtherism a mistake? >> oh, now you're bringing that up. >> why wouldn't i? >> i'm going to tell you something. >> do you think it doesn't matter? you want to be a u.s. senator and you were part of a campaign to delegitimize a president of the united states, it matters, no? >> no, i started this because of a fake document, a government document. i didn't care where the president came from. i didn't care at all. and we had the evidence. nobody will talk about it, nobody will look at it. and anytime you want to come

down, or anybody, we'll be glad to show you the evidence. and by the way, you're going to hear more about this fake, phony birth certificate. >> you believe that president obama's birth certificate is a phony? >> no doubt about it. no doubt about it. we have the evidence. i'm not going to go into the all the details. >> even donald trump, the president, said he believes the president was born in this country. >> he never said anything about a fake birth certificate. >> if he had a fake birth certificate, then he wouldn't legitimately be born in this country. it takes us to the same place. it doesn't matter if you want to talk about a forged instrument. or anything else that was fraudulent. either the man was born in this country or he wasn't. the good thing is we know the answer. he was. but if you want to be a u.s. senator, don't you think people should have confidence in your judgment on something as crucial as that? >> well, this has been going on for quite a while, and i had

been re-elected by the way as this was going on. >> you also lost the election. >> that was the last election, and i'm not going to go into the pumping of $3 million and the department of justice announcing the day of voting. so the fix was in emanating from obama and holder, when they opened the investigation 60 days after they took office, chris. and it's eight years until they finally got me on a contempt of court. so evidently it took them eight years to get this sheriff. but that's okay. >> let me ask you something. you say you want to help the president. he's already backed dr. ward, who's running on the conservative line there as a republican -- >> he did not. he did not. he did not. he did not endorse her. >> well, he came out in support of her. my question is this -- >> steve bannon is the one that endorsed her. >> my question is this -- >> doesn't matter.

>> -- if the president would say to you, hey, do me a favor, get out of this race, we already have somebody that we want, i don't want this to be ugly, would you do it? >> i don't think he'll ever say that. i don't think he'll ever say that. >> you think he'll endorse you? >> i don't know. and you know what, i never ask for endorsement. everybody wants my endorsement, every time presidential elections come up everyone calls me for their endorsement. and governors and everything else. so i guess i'm doing something right. >> we'll see soon enough. if you enter the primary, the people will vote and we'll have a decision. and i appreciate you coming on the show. >> never lost a republican primary. so i'm not expecting to lose this one, chris. >> all right, we will see what happens. joe arpaio thank you very much for coming on the show. appreciate your openness to being tested. >> thank you. up next we'll have the great debate. navarro versus shlepp, toe to toe.

what do they think about possibility of senator joe arpaio? maybe i'll give them a pass on that. ♪ ♪ there are two types of people in the world. those who fear the future... and those who embrace it. the future is for the unafraid. ♪ all because of you ♪ ♪

coming at you with my brand-new vlog. just making some ice in my freezer here. so check back for that follow-up vid. this is my cashew guy bruno. holler at 'em, brun. kicking it live and direct here at the fountain. should i go habanero or maui onion? should i buy a chinchilla? comment below. did i mention i save people $620 for switching? chinchilla update -- got that chinchilla after all. say what up, rocco. ♪

all right, it is time for tonight's great debate.

we've got cnn political commentator ana navarro and matt shlapp. former political director for president george w. bush. good to have you both. brother shlapp, help me, i'm talking to kellyanne conway -- look, open disclosure, we've been friends for a long time, we are friends. people are so nasty today. however, on this issue of russian interference, they bring up hillary clinton every time. the president mentioned hillary clinton three times today. why can't be just get religion from the white house on russia interfered, and he believes no one connected to him helped them do that? why can't he just say that simple statement? >> well, i don't know. maybe you ought to go work for him and give him advice, chris. but i mean, he says -- >> don't be cute schlepp. you know it's the right question.

why does it have to be it's about hilly, and it's about null fieing the election? nobody is saying any of that who matters. >> all i can tell you is that we have been talking about this for a very long time, and it seems clear to me. and mike pompeo was the source i listened to on this that russia tried to interfere, and did interfere in this election, and has been doing it for 10 or 15 years. in some people's minds, world war iii has already started on the internet with some of our enemies doing all this cyber terrorism. >> yes. >> and that is a very serious problem, and i think the people around the president take it very seriously. but i think when people slip into the idea there's collusion when there's no evidence presented, i think i'm exhausted about talking about that as well. i think it's time for bob mueller, who i served with and i don't disparage, but it's put up or shut up time. >> because of fatigue? matt's had enough. the president has had a enough. what do you have?

>> too bad. there's a process. the guy is taking his time. the guy is methodic. there's a lot of transparency to this. why does donald trump keep doing this? because he's obsessive. it's either one of two things. look, either he's afraid of what mueller is going to come up, of what they might have on him and his campaign and family or he's really upset that he thinks this -- >> delegitimize -- >> delegitimizes his election. and he's also upset with hillary clinton. hillary clinton is at costco, selling books on sale. >> she's never been to costco. >> she's working at cost co? >> times are tough even with the tax cut? >> guess what, actually i'm a cosko member. she goes and signs book at costco. you've got to go. it's a great place. you've got a hell of a lot of kids to feed. it's better for you than for me who should skip a meal. you know, he just can't let go of hillary clinton, he can't let go of his election. he's now been president for a

year next week, and he's still relitigating and relitigating and relitigating this campaign and this election. he won, let it go. he won, let it go. but his reaction make it bigger. mueller is going to do his thing. stop making it a thing daily. >> yeah, i will be honest with you. i worked in the white house with a special counsel. it's unnerving for a president and his staff. >> your president didn't talk this way. >> i think the book isn't helpful for a lot of these staffers that talked to michael wolff, because they can compare what they told michael wolff to what they told the fbi. so i agree, there's a certain amount of political peril. i talked to a lot of people in government, a lot of democrats and governments throughout the day, and i think there is a

consensus that, unless mueller has something we're unaware of, there isn't evidence of collusion. but i agree. it's a process. all i'm saying is that i want him soon to tell us what he knows and to report back, because i think the american people deserve that. >> i think that book is one of the best things that has happened to the trump white house. it led to trump being able to shed the albatros around his neck that was steve bannon, that led to stupid things like endorsing roy moore in alabama. i think losing steve bannon, this break with steve bannon by trump, by the white house, is a positive thing, not only for trump but the country. >> let's look at the evidence. we saw him have this both sides meeting, had it televised. cute trick by him.

but this ain't making a development deal with a foreign infe investor in manhattan. >> i don't think he needs to know. >> you have two people coming in the room, you -- you have someone on the left who says daca or die, we want a clean bill. you have the republicans come in and say we want security. we remember '86. and we're a little sideways with the base. the president needed to be that bridge, and he went in there and say i'll agree to whatever you come up with -- >> no, no. >> people around that table have been working on the immigration issue for decades. people like bob menendez,

lindsey graham. they could probably write a deal in 30 minutes. >> why did mitch mcconnell say i can't bring him a deal unless i know where his head is. >> he knows something that can pass as a wall -- >> what is the wall? >> chris, you're a very -- >> he said there's fencing, mountains, rivers. >> he promised something totally different. >> who cares? i'm going with what he says now. >> let me try. you're a great lawyer and doing a good job as if we were sitting in the box trying to trip us up. what the american people care about is the big brush shocks of the policy. what the president is making clear is that he wants three things. he wants money for a wall, finally. no more talking about it. let's appropriate the wall, just like hillary clinton and barack obama who voted for money for a fence previously that was never built, let's do it this time. let's end family chain migration. let's have a lot of immigrants

but the people we need -- let me finish. because of the skills that we need in the economy. third, let's stop the diversity lottery system. those are the things that he's asking for, and i think that the real question for the democrats is this, which is as much as they want daca r they willing to give the president anything he wants in ex-change for it? i think that's a live wire. a lot of people are saying don't support him even when we agree with him, because we can't do anything to help donald trump. >> i don't buy that. i think you are going to see the republicans give and i think you're going to see the democrats give. >> that's what is supposed to happen all the time. >> that's right. >> we've got kids who have been coming to congress year after year. we know their stories, we know their faces. they are the most compelling people and heart wrenching stories in america. we have a hard deadline. i think democrats understand with this guy, yes, he is

capable of caring for kid, he is capable of doing it. maybe george w. bush wouldn't have done it. obama would not have done it. but this guy is willing to do it. >> this isn't about clever lawyering, believe me. i'm the weakest mind in this bunch, and i'm comfortable with that. if i cannot believe that he wants the wall that he promised, that he used to distinguish himself from the field, that he insisted every time with the mantra, and who is going to pay for it? mexico. we'll divorce that as a joke. though the base didn't think of it as a joke. >> you look at nafta negotiations -- >> then a tweet after the meeting, he said there's got to be a wall. >> we're renegotiating nafta right now. i think mexico understands that he's serious. >> how do you define a wall? not every wall is a wall is a wall. make it out of legos. >> ana, matt, thank you. i've got to go. tomorrow, we've got senator

bernie sanders joining us live. what does he think the wall is? don't forget, i'll see you in the morning. thank you very much. cnn with don lemon, the man, starts right after this.

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top of the hour, this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. i want you to listen carefully to what the president of the united states said today when he was asked whether he would be willing to meet with robert mueller as part of the russia investigation. here's what the president said. >> it's a democrat hoax that was brought up as an excuse for losing an election that frankly the democrats should have won, because they have such a tremendous advantage in the electoral college. it was brought up for that reason. it's been determined there was no collusion, by virtually everybody. we'll see what happens. >> would y