kelly in our cnn bleacher report. that is 2:30 today right here on cnn. >> that is trouble, but fun trouble. thank you so much coy. >> all right. smerconish starts for you right now. i'm michael smerconish coming to you from the home city of the philadelphia eagles. we welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. well, after weeks of drum rolls, the knnotorious memo is out. it aims to discredit the steele dossier partly because he leaked his findings to reporteris cough. is cough is covfefe is here to discuss. but what if it is not prove of

wrongdoing but rather russian espionage disinformation to disrupt both parties and their country? and if this 2005 picture of barack obama and lewis farrakhan was made public back when it was taken, it might have derailed his election. what lesson can we learn. and plus super bowl lii should be a dream come true for this fan. so why am i dogged with doubts? but first, at long last the memo is now in the public domain. this is the outcome sought by congressional republicans and their support ertz and in ters president. whether it was in long term part is an interests, that remains to be seen. and until yesterday, the president enjoyed the best of all worlds. gop members of congress were quick to give interviews talking about the dire picture that the memo painted.

one said it would make watergate look like the theft of a snickers. that is impossible to refute when you can't taste the candy. as a result the president's base was inflamed about a document none had actually read. but now it is out. and subject to scrutiny. the memo explains the breakdown of the legal process meant to protect americans. the focus is carter page who was on the fbi radar before the rise of donald trump and whose role in the campaign the president has gone great lengths to minimize. the memo suggests page was surveilled with the approval of a fisa court based on an october 21, 2016 probable cause order that relied on intel that the court did not know was paid for

by the clinton campaign. i think that funding source should have been revealed. and so too the fact that the original fusion g pchlps clienta conservative media outlet. the nunes memo doesn't raise that objection and even if more had been told the fisa court, it is not clear that the fisa order wouldn't have been somed anyway. after all christopher steele wasn't employed by dnc or hl hillary, he was hired by fusion gps. and what about the date of the first of four applications? october 21. that was in the final days of the presidential campaign. the wikileaks dump had already taken place. the third and final presidential debate was two days prior. if the aim were to undermine the trump campaign and prevent his election, you would think that this deep state apparatus would have mobilized much sooner. and actually the russia investigation was under way before carter page having

nothing to do with him or fisa as referenced in the final paragraph of the nunes memo. it was in july of 20 on 16 three months before the first fisa court application that the probe was begun. it was after george papadopoulous told an australian diplomat that the russians had dirt on hillary clinton. the point is, the russian probe was begun before and independent of carter page. you get the point. are there troubling questions raised by the nunes memo? yes. some. but done arunder a microscope, not undermine robert mueller's probe. i'm withholding final judgment until the read the democratic response. and speaking of which, i don't see the grave concerns that the fbi claimed it had about the kepts of the nunes memo, that the democrats and fbi worked so hard to keep the new any new ne

mem poe know out of the public only makes me drusful of both sides. 12k9d i want to know what you think. go to per csmerconish.com and a this question, what do you think was more politically potent, #release the memo or the actual nunes memo. i'll tell you the results at the end of the program. now, one reason the memo says the steele dossier should be discredited is the accusation that steele linked his alleged findings to the media including my next guest. the carter page fisa application cited this article by michael.

it says it is derived from information leaked by steele himself to yahoo! news. joining me now is the correspondent for yahoo! news. compa michael, this gets confusing for some who are not read in temperature give me context so i can understand the reference to you in that memo. >> well, i have to say, i was as surprised as anybody that i was cited in the memo and apparently was cited before the fisa court. but the story that i wrote in september 2016 was the first story to reveal that there was u.s. intelligence investigation of somebody associated with the trump campaign. and that was carter page. christopher steele has acknowledged that he came to

washington in september of that year and briefed multiple journalists including one from yahoo! news, me. so i am free to talk about that and say yes, in fact, he did. i heard -- i met him and heard when the work he was doing and the concerns he had that he had picked up about carter page's contacts in moscow during that trip in july. i then went when checking out christopher steele, talked to people who had worked with him, talked to others about carter page and how he had been on the radar screen of u.s. officials for some time. and i did confirm what to me was most significant part of what christopher steele had to say, which was that his material had been presented to the fbi, the fbi was very interested in it

and following up. and that was in fact the story that we published at the time, that there was a u.s. intelligence investigation into these allegations relating to carter page. we did not say that we had verified with christopher steele -- what christopher steele had to say. that's what the fbi was seeking do and that's what we reported. >> so the implication of the nunes memo is that the yahoo! source and dossier source but one in the same and therefore not to be relied on, which begs the question cha whwhat additio did you do to confirm? >> tlrm multip . >> there were multiple sources quoted in the story about carter page and interest in him. that was the thrust of the

story. whether or not carter page met with the specific individuals referenced in the steele dossier is still unknown to me and i believe as far as i can tell to the u.s. government. now, carter page has acknowledged in his testimony that he did have meetings in moscow with russian -- a senior russian government official and an aide to igor setchen, the guy cited in the dossier, head of the russian energy firm and a close crony of vladimir putin, on the u.s. sanctions list. he had denied at first that he had had any meetings of such a nature. he acknowledged before the house intelligence committee that he met with the head of investor relations. and the deputy prime minister. and wrote e-mails to the trump

campaign citing these meetings and offering to provide the insights he had demeaned from his trip to trump campaign officials. look, this is a highly selective memo clearly. there is much more that went into that fisa application. we know both from the democrats and from our own sources in the u.s. government which we haven't yet seen. until we see the full picture, it is very hard to nknow to wha september my story would have been a factor in the decision to grant a fisa application other than to say, and this is probably the most important thing, there were three renewals of this fisa application. >> with probable cause for each. >> and that goes far beyond what was in the original application. the fbi would have had to have gotten fruitful intelligence that it could then go back to the court and say here is the

basis for continuing this fisa. >> i'm limited on time. an important quick final question. we've all heard about christopher steele. you dealt with him. did he strike you as being motivated bipartisanship, by annimus toward donald trump or concern over security? >> the latter. look, he is a serious guy. he was the mi-6 russia specialist for many years. and we'll have in the forthcoming book some very interesting stories about the role that he played for mi-6. he had this private investigative firm. he was well regarded in the field. he was known as a russia specialist. he had been a source for both the fbi and the state department for many years on matters relating to russia and ukraine. so i checked him out at the time. he was clearly a serious guy. and yeah, what he had learned,

he was seriously concerned about. he thought it was a genuine national security threat. the accuracy of what he had to say, the jury is stilt out. but the fact that he had these credentials and was concerned was something that was concerning to the fbi. >> mike isisikoff, thank you. among the goals is to discredit the steele dossier. but my next guest says there is another more sinister possibility. daniel hoffman is a retired cia agent who served in the former soviet union. he was a station chief. he is the author of this "wall street journal" piece the steele dossier fits the kremlin playbook. you say it might be the product of russian espionage. how so? >> i spent many years working against russian intelligence and i'm very well aware of the challenges of collecting information or intelligence

inside russia. and we know that mr. steele little never traveled there, and in-that the fsb, their internal security police, would have detected his efforts to collect information from russian sources on the campaign, on the trump campaign, and on donald trump. and then i think that they would have sought potentially to use that as a channel to weaponize disinformation against us. it would absolutely fit with the fsb play book i go obookplayboo playbook as well. >> some question contents, but there are aspects that have been borne out. now, how does that factor into your could have all been the product of espionage? >> russian intelligence when they are feeding you information, whether a double agent operation or propaganda, is to give you high percentage of information that is true. 90, 95% might be true.

and that is to create for the reader at least a picture that, well, this looks like a pretty good report. it enhances the veracity of the overall report. and then he will sprinke in their themes, which they wish to propaga propagate, which are not true and those are designed to influence the target audience. >> so the most salacious aspect of the dossier, the so-called shower, you know what i'm talking about, does that come from the playbook as something that they create or as something that they carry out or both? >> it could be either one. it absolutely could have been something they created. they have certainly done that plenty of times. they have tried to use honey traps with people when those honey traps aren't successful, they will just simply make up the information themselves. and in this case i think they know that if they had supplied salacious information, i mean that is kind of a red cape in front of donald trump's charge. remember that the president had

said during the campaign that he thought that the system was rigged against him. i think the russians were listening very carefully to that and maybe after the election if the russians had thought secretary clinton would have won, that donald trump would have criticized and rightly so this dossier paid for on by the dnc with this salacious information as evidence that the system was rigged against him. >> so here is what i'm taking away, that this guy christopher steele would have been known to the russians because of his role with mi-6, the fact that he was doing his surveillance remotely would have ended up on their radar screen, and coupled with the knowledge by the russians that they cracked the dnc server, lends itself to a situation whereas puppeteers they could sit back and manipulate this whole process. >> right. and then the last step is what we may see now. i would encourage the viewers to be on the lookout for russia to continue to use our social

networking and media sites to highlight what we're now seeing as acrimony and part is isan bickering. those are themes that russia will seem to propagate through disforegoi disforegoiinformation going for. >> makes it hard to understand what is truth and what is fiction. daniel hoffman, thank you so much for being here. what are your thoughts? tweet me. what do we have, katherine? it didn't live up to the hype because the memo was incomplete. this was a dud and nunes didn't even read the underlying intelligence. this was a joke. well, radu, a lot of people got worked in to a lather over what they thought was going to be in it and what they do now and where they go for their information now remains to be seen, right? a critical analysis of this i think brings me to the same conclusion as you. i could go through this memo

line by line and ask questions in a need to be answered. and pick it apart frankly. the president politically speaking i think would have been better served politically speaking had it never seen the light of day. and that is what i'm asking by the way at smerconish.com. go to my website and answer the question, which was more politically potent, #release the memo meaning all the hype, the buildup, or the actual nunes memo? we'll tally the results at the end of the program. up ahead, robert mueller's russia probe continue, but will it result in a case for obstruction of justice? and what happens though when mueller finishes? two constitutional law experts are here next. 'sup, world? it's the box with 30% savings for safe drivers. 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. ♪ say what up, rocco. new year, new phones for the family. join t-mobile, and when you buy one of the latest samsung galaxy phones get a samsung galaxy s8 free. yahoooo! ahoooo! plus, unlimited family plans come with netflix included. spectacular! so, you can watch all your netflix favorites on your new samsung phones. whoa! join the un-carrier and get a samsung galaxy s8 free. all on america's best unlimited network. this is the story of green mountain coffee roasters dark magic told in the time it takes to brew your cup. first, we head to vermont. and go to our coffee shop. and meet dave. hey. why is dark magic so spell-bindingly good, he asks? let me show you. let's go. so we climb. hike. see a bear. woah. reach the top. dave says dark magic is a bold blend of coffee

with rich flavors of uganda, sumatra, colombia and other parts of south america. like these mountains, each amazing on their own. but together? magical. all, for a smoother tasting cup of coffee. green mountain coffee roasters packed with goodness. there'swhatever type ofhe end of eweekender you are,ton. don't let another weekend pass you by. get the lowest price when you book at hilton.com thisreally passionate about- i really want to help. i was on my way out of this life. there are patients out there that don't have a lot of time. finally, it was like the sun rose again and i was going to start fighting back now.

when those patients come to me and say, "you saved my life...." my life was saved by a two week old targeted therapy drug. that's what really drives me to- to save lives. and when youod sugar is a replace one meal... choices. ...or snack a day with glucerna... ...made with carbsteady... ...to help minimize blood sugar spikes... ...you can really feel it. now with 30% less carbs and sugars. glucerna. the more you know the the commute is worth it.me, for all the work you pour into this place, you sure get a lot more out of it. you and that john deere tractor... so versatile, you can keep dreaming up projects all the way home. it's a longer drive. but just like a john deere, it's worth it. nothing runs like a deere. now you can own a 1e sub-compact tractor for just $99 a month. learn more at your john deere dealer. you're so cold, come in!

what's wrong? it's dry... your scalp? mine gets dry in the winter too. try head and shoulders' dry scalp care it nourishes the scalp and... ...keeps you up to 100% flake free head and shoulders' dry scalp care beyond the nunes memo controversy, robert mueller is continuing his investigation. he knows a lot more than we do. but based on what we do know, what kind of case for obstruction of justice is coming together for robert mueller and where does this investigation end? joining me now is ken gormley, president of duquesne university and author of the book the president and the constitution, as well as the biography of

watergate archibald cox. and jonathan turley is professor of constitutional law at george washington university, he is author of the piece drought cry over nunes memo is damming for democrats and fbi. jonathan, let me start with you. so i hold in my hands the nunes memo. where is the cause for the grave concern on the part of the fbi? >> well, turned out to be a bit of an empty grave and that is really what is the focus of my piece. you know, there are very good arguments on both sides about how significant the facts are of the memo. what i think should concern us first and foremost is that we went through a week of members and the fbi saying that there would be grave consequences, this would undermine national security, that these are serious breaches. and then we got the memo. and i've been doing national security work for a very long time including fisa cases. and this memo really didn't even come close to anything that i think anyone would say is

classified let alone disclosing sources and methods. and that should be a matter of concern. because some of us who have been critics of fisa and critics of the intelligence community have been arguing for years that the fbi routinely classifies information to prevent their embarrassment, for political or tactical reasons. this is a rare case where that allegation i think is more than evident and obviously true. and i think that we need to go back to these members and to the fbi and say what gives? i mean, you can object to how this process worked, but you sold the public on the fact that this was a memo that would undermine national security. and it isn't. i mean there are lots of objections the fbi made, but you will notice that in the objections made by the director, he said this is inaccurate by omissions. that is not an argument of classification, that is an argument of how the facts are portrayed. and that concerns many ofis, this fits a pattern of precisely

that type of taktd cctical use classified laws. >> penultimate paragraphs of the memo are those i would argue that say that the initial fisa court was not advised of the funding source for the dossier that led to the surveillance of carter page. but i have a couple reactions to that, one of which is so what because the employer for christopher steele was not the dnc or that firm, it was fusion gps. and i know this as a trial lawyer in the court of law, day in and day out, information comes from investigators. you can cross-examine in-on the bas on the basis of the source, but we don't throw it all out. >> my view is that it is clear, and you said this earlier to your credit, that it should have been revealed. i mean, the fact that -- >> i agree. >> -- fusion was funded by the clinton campaign and dnc certainly in the latter part is obviously very important and the question is why wouldn't it be revealed. it is also equally important that steele is quoted as saying that he was desperate to try to

keep trump from being elected. but how material is that? we really don't know. there is this reference that the investigation preceded the dossier. i think there is a great deal in the fisa application that is not in this memo. i think both sides undermined their case. i think the republicans sold this as a combination of the pentagon papers and the zimmerman telegram and i think that the democrats radically overplayed their position by saying that this would be a grave breach of national security. and at least most of us saying who can you trust in this. and i think the answer precisely as you said earlier is that we just have to get all of this stuff disclosed. we have to start to release the transcript, see who is lying. because the first thing the public needs to know is who they can believe. because right now, most of us believe neither side. >> professor, thank you so much for being here. >> thank you. >> let me go to ken gormley.

you say the best way for president trump to protect himself is to not engineer the firing of robert mueller. how come? >> well, as you said, i wrote the biography of archibald cox. cox knew all along that president trump nixon could fire him. he said the president can always work his will. the question is at what cost. so it was not until nixon fired cox that you had the firestorm of protests that led to the appointment of a new special counsel, subpoenaing of more tapes and unraveling of the nixon presidency. so you do that at your peril. the part of it that i have argued we have not discussed that much is what happens if mueller's investigation goes forward. and the part that we have not discussed so much is that most

scholars agree that a sitting president cannot be indicted or prosecuted while in office. alexander hamilton in federalist 69 made that point that the only remedy if there is even if mueller found some criminal culpability would be removal from office by impeachment. only after that can there be some kind of criminal prosecution. otherwise you could paralyze the executive branch. >> so ken gormley says you can't indict a sitting president. so let's say mueller reaches a conclusi conclusion, ominous conclusion for president trump. i assume he takes that report to rod rosenstein and it is rosenstein within the attorney general's office who now has to decide do i give it to the congress, does it get made public.

where exactly are we going next. is that fair to say? because now then i come back to your original point which is to say the president would hurt himself to fire mueller and i assume you would say similarly he'd hurt himself if he were to try to fire rosenstein. >> absolutely. i agree with you. and the key thing is that the real firewall that protects the president in this case or in any case is congress. if there is even a whiff of partisanship by mueller's investigation, by rod rosenstein, by the fbi, if that report was then sent to congress, are you you would have to have more than 50% of the congress in the house vote to indict the president. and then you would need two-thirds of the senate which is controlled as you know by republicans to vote to remove the president. it is almost impossible unless there was a terrible smoking gun which the president has said

absolutely doesn't exist. and which i take him at his word. it would be virtually impossible to remove him. that is why no president in the history of this country has ever been removed. so the best thing a president can do is not take the bait and get caught in that constitutional bear trap and not provide the grist for the public outrage that existed in watergate that ultimately brought down president nixon. >> well, you've just given the president some pretty good legal advice. very timely. because yesterday he was asked about rosenstein and whether he is like i to fire the deputy attorney general and he said you figure that owoone out. so hopefully he is taking your free advice. thank you so much for being here. >> good luck to your eagles. >> thank you. let's see what you are saying on twitter and facebook. can this memo be used as another piece in the obstruction of

justice puzzle? penny, my gut check says no because it is more the work of nunes and his staff rather than the president. the president allowed to be released. but keep an eye on this, that democratic memo and whether it sees the light of day will similarly be determined by the president. what will he do after the five daytime period when it is on his desk. hopefully he will release it so we can read and understand egg. if you haven't gyet gone to answer the survey question, do it. which is more politically potent? #release the memo or the actual memo now that it is out? up next, a 2005 picture of then senator barack obama recently sur fafaced that showe him with louis farrakhan. if it had been made public during the 2008 presidential

race, perhaps it would have derailed his candidacy and i think there is a lesson in that. my day starts well before

i'm in the kitchen. i need my blood sugar to stay in control. i need to shave my a1c i'm always on call. an insulin that fits my schedule is key. ♪ tresiba® ready ♪ (announcer) tresiba® is used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. don't use tresiba® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar, or if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. don't share needles or insulin pens. don't reuse needles. the most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause dizziness, swtiting, confusion, and headache. check your blood sugar. low blood sugar can be serious and may be life-threatening. injection site reactions may occur. tell your prescriber about all medicines you take and all your medical conditions. taking tzds with insulins like tresiba® may cause serious side effects like heart failure. your insulin dose shouldn't be changed without asking your prescriber. get medical help right away if you have trouble breathing, fast heartbeat, extreme drowsiness, swelling of your face, tongue, orhrhroat, dizziness, or confusion. ask your health care provider if you're tresiba® ready. covered by most insurance

and medicare plans. ♪ tresiba® ready ♪ patients they ask me all of the time. i tell them the thickness of your enamel determines essentially how white your teeth are going to be. the strength of your teeth needs to be there in order for that whiteness to last. i would definitely recommend pronamel strong and bright to my patients to keep their enamel strong, help to keep stains away, and polish their enamel. they're going to get whiter, brighter teeth. this is a really great product for my patients. ♪

a picture of barack obama recently surfaced that might have sunk his chances of being president had we seen it sooner. and i think there is a lesson in that. it is a 2005 photograph taken at a congressional black caucus meeting of a young senator obama before he decided to run for president. he is smiling with nation of islam leader louis farrakhan. the photographer says he did not make the picture public at the time because he believed it would have made a difference to obama's political future. even after obama was nominated, elected, reelected, the photo

was kept under wraps. mohammed finally decided to release it as part of a self published book. in 2008, opponents tried to paint obama as a left ring radical and he had associated with some of the latter. intense focus was brought to his friendship with bill ayers, co-founder of the underground, a group founded in 1969 that bombed numerous public buildings. and reverend jeremiah wright who obama had known since the '80s. he officiated the obama wedding. but wright also said some notoriously anti-american things in the wake of the september 11 attacks and in march of 2008, abc ran an article detailing all of writght's controversial sermons. obama repeatedly had to distance position and finally with his

nomination on the line, he gave a major address on race at the national constitution center. i was in the room that day when obama declared that wright's comments were only divisive and destructive, and he also added when rigwright suggests that mie taker farrakhan somehow represents wofrnt gre represents one of the greatest voices of the century, there are no excuses. just imagine if this photo appeared soon after that quote. farrakhan is toxic to a large swathe of america due to black separatism, he is a man with a history of controversial statement, maybe the most drink wo cringe worthy ways about jewish where he said you cannot say never again to god because when he puts you in the oven, never again don't mean a damn thing. in combination with a photo of farrakhan, senator obama's relationship with ayers and

wright could have looked all the more damning. the case for his radicalism would have been that much stronger not just in the right wing media, but in the center and on the left too. fear of a radical president could have prevented an obama white house. here is the kicker. as president, obama was no radical. if anything, he was a left of center moderate. domestically obama was a mixed bag. his trademark legislation the affordable care act was a policy idea created by the very conservative heritage foundation. for those who thought obama might be a closet socialist, he surely disappointed. when he refused to prosecute any of the major figures from the 2008 financial crash. he also stacked his deficit commission with fiscal conservatives. meanwhile president was the biggest proponent of free market thinking and education using his department of education to encourage and fund charters across the country. he went so far as to violate pakistan's sovereignty in order to kill osama bin laden.

president obama may not have favored the words radical islam, president george w. bush's drone attacks in the war against terror and he never did close gitmo. the list could go on and on. bo obama on didn't violate gun rights and he was the deportation president on immigration. by nate silver's measure, this political record made him a completely middle of the road democrat. the group estimated that obama was the least liberal democratic president since 1945. now, one can debate whether obama was a true centrist or a standard left of center democrat, but radical? he was not. and maybe this is what they mean when they say a picture is worth a thousand words. let's check in on your tweets and facebook comments. what do we have? a picture of obama with farrakhan context please.

a pictuktcture of trump with ru spies in the oval office? i just gave you the context. there is always story, right? still to come, for this, life long philadelphia eagles fan, tomorrow should be pure thrills. but there are aspects of the big game that are giving me pause. look at that guy. i will explain. fees? what did you have in mind? i don't know. $4.95 per trade? uhhh and i was wondering if your brokerage offers some sort of guarantee? guarantee? where we can get our fees and commissions back if we're not happy. so can you offer me what schwab is offering? what's with all the questions? ask your broker if they're offering $4.95 online equity trades and a satisfaction guarantee. if you don't like their answer, ask again at schwab.

the more you know the the commute is worth it.me, for all the work you pour into this place, you sure get a lot more out of it. you and that john deere tractor... so versatile, you can keep dreaming up projects all the way home. it's a longer drive. but just like a john deere, it's worth it. nothing runs like a deere. now you can own a 1e sub-compact tractor for just $99 a month. learn more at your john deere dealer. what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah.

♪ everybody two seconds! ♪ "dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance..." through the tuition assistance program, every day mcdonald's helps more people go to college. it's part of our commitment to being america's best first job. ♪ yes! ours is still buffering. what's happening? you're experiencing a network delay. you both need to be watching that on the iphone with verizon. the best streaming network. how long have you been here? i've been here a couple days. (avo) get the best unlimited on the most awarded network. and now, when you buy iphone 8, you'll get one on us. and i recently had hi, ia heart attack. it changed my life. but i'm a survivor. after my heart attack, my doctor prescribed brilinta. it's for people who have been hospitalized for a heart attack. brilinta is taken with a low-dose aspirin. no more than 100 milligrams as it affects how well brilinta works. brilinta helps keep platelets from sticking together and forming a clot. in a clinical study, brilinta worked better than plavix. brilinta reduced the chance of having another heart attack...

...or dying from one. don't stop taking brilinta without talking to your doctor, since stopping it too soon increases your risk of clots in your stent, heart attack, stroke, and even death. brilinta may cause bruising or bleeding more easily, or serious, sometimes fatal bleeding. don't take brilinta if you have bleeding, like stomach ulcers, a history of bleeding in the brain, or severe liver problems. slow heart rhythm has been reported. tell your doctor about bleeding new or unexpected shortness of breath any planned surgery, and all medicines you take. if you recently had a heart attack, ask your doctor if brilinta is right for you. my heart is worth brilinta. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help.

. did you notice i wore a green tie today in solidarity with the future super bowl champion philadelphia eagles. i've been supporting the birds since rooting for roman gabriel and the fire high gang back in the 1973 season with my father and brother, i was a season ticket holder about and such a fan of gabe that i wrote him a li let's are litter i still have. i wanted him to know that my brother and i hung a banner that said win one for the gaber. as an adult, i'm excited, but

conflicted. i'm apparently in good company with broadcast legend bob costas. it was supposed to be his eighth and final super bowl, instead he will be watching at home like the rest of us. that is a loss. he has anchored 12 olympics and 10 nba finals while earning 28 emmys. in an e-mail to sports business daily, costas said the decision was mutually agreeable and that he was actually happy about it, quote, i have long had ambivalent feelings about football, so it is better to leave the hosting to those who are more enthusiastic about it. well, i canned a te attest to h ambivalence after interviewing him including last november. >> no matter how exciting it is, no matter how dramatic it is, no matter how much we value the generational connections, no

matter how interesting it may be, the nature of the sport is that not all or not most, but a substantial and alarming number of those who participate especially if they participate from youth football on, are going to suffer significant brain damage along the way. >> it's not that costas is anti-football. as he's told me, he grew up a fan. he address mimires who he's met appreciates the bonds that it has developed among its fans. but he also calls them as you see sees them which is why the concussion legacy foundation has honored him for his leadership keeping concussion and cte conversation in the national spotlight. there was nothing new about costas' observations. he's said of the same thing over the spab ofn of a decade and of on nbc on sunday night football

concussions. the hundreds of subconcussive hits those take a greater toll than the concussions. it may become like the roman circus where people watch it, but they don't let their kids play it. >> costas can no longer embrace the game as he has in the past and so he feels he is not the right person to present to an international audience. football's declines in both television ratings and youth participation suggests that costas speaks for many. including me. that didn't mean i'll root for the eagles any less, just signifies that i'll do so with an awareness i did not have when as a boy i first walked into veteran stadium wearing my number 5 jersey with gabriel on the back. still to come, your best and worst tweets and facebook comments like this one -- smerconish, as disrep putdable

as the eagles fans may be, we still need you to beat the stinking patriots. i'men a e an eagles fan. fly eagles fly. i saw a poll that said that 16% of americans are rooting for the patriots. whatever the number is, i know it is a lot less than are rooting for the eagles. because the character of this team and because we're ready for another dynasty. it is your last chance to respond to the survey question before i read the results. which do you think was more politically potent? #release the memo or the actual nunes memo. results in a sec. family. join t-mobile, and when you buy one of the latest samsung galaxy phones get a samsung galaxy s8 free. yahoooo! ahoooo! plus, unlimited family plans come with netflix included. spectacular! so, you can watch all your netflix favorites on your new samsung phones. whoa!

join the un-carrier and get a samsung galaxy s8 free. all on america's best unlimited network. let's team up to get the lady of the house back on her feet. and help her feel more strength and energy in just two weeks

yaaay! the complete balanced nutrition of (great tasting) ensure with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. ensure. always be you. before i hadburning,oting, of diabetic nerve pain, these feet... loved every step of fatherhood... and made old cars good as new. but i couldn't bear my diabetic nerve pain any longer. so i talked to my doctor and he prescribed lyrica. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions, suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worse depression, unusual changes in mood or behavior, swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling or blurry vision. common side effects: dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain, swelling of hands, legs, and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you.

those who've had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. now i have less diabetic nerve pain. ask your doctor about lyrica. this is the story of green mountain coffee roasters dark magic told in the time it takes to brew your cup. first, we head to vermont. and go to our coffee shop. and meet dave. hey. why is dark magic so spell-bindingly good, he asks? let me show you. let's go. so we climb. hike. see a bear. woah. reach the top. dave says dark magic is a bold blend of coffee with rich flavors of uganda, sumatra, colombia and other parts of south america. like these mountains, each amazing on their own. but together? magical. all, for a smoother tasting cup of coffee. green mountain coffee roasters packed with goodness.

hey, time to see how you responded to the survey question. i'm eager to see the results of this. which do you think was more politically potent. #releasethememo or the actual memo now that we have it? whoa, 8,209 votes cast. hit me with it. 71% say it was #releasethememo meaning the last two weeks, the campaign, all that was said about it, than the memo itself. i think that's the right call. i'm in that 71%. it was much more effective for the president when he had hannity working everyone into a lather and we couldn't read what they were talking about. here it is. now i can road it and understand what it says. are there some troubling aspects? yes. does it undermine the whole mueller probe? no. that's not how the president sees it. he just tweeted.

memo totally vindicates trump in probe. no collusion, no obstruction. mr. president, here's what i take away from the memo. the memo says that in the first of the four fisa orders that were sought and received relative to carter page, the court wasn't told that the underlying evidence gathering for the steele dossier was paid for by the ds, the court should have been told that, but that doesn't mean the evidence was bad in and of itself, nor does it mean the court wouldn't have gone ahead and provided the court order for a fisa investigation and surveillance of page to begin with. that's what i think a lot of folks are missing in all of this. another one. what else is coming in during the course of the program? smerconish, amazing how you mask that you're really a trump supporter. very clever and manipulative. truth be told, let me tell you truth be told. this is the truth be told.

my opening commentary of this program, which you may have missed is one in which i articulated my viewpoint that there's really not much there there. if i were here to carry the president's water, i would be doing what they do on fox, which would be to stoke your passions without much evidence. no, sorry. i'm naurt here to carry the water of the president. nor to do him in. my allegiance is only to you, the viewer, to tell you for better or worse how i see these things. one more if we have time. love how people are always trying to figure out. one more thing, i have to say this. take that off the screen for a second. you're so conditioned. truth be told, you're so conditioned to believe anybody who pops up on your screen has to be from the left or the right that when a guy like me comes along and doesn't have it all figured out but doesn't see the world idealogically, you don't know how to react to it. now i ate up my time. i'm see you next week. thank you.

manatees in novelty ts? surprising. what's "come at me bro?" it's something you say to a friend. what's not surprising? how much money matt saved by switching to geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. the more you know the the commute is worth it.me, for all the work you pour into this place, you sure get a lot more out of it. you and that john deere tractor... so versatile, you can keep dreaming up projects all the way home. it's a longer drive. but just like a john deere, it's worth it. nothing runs like a deere. now you can own a 1e sub-compact tractor for just $99 a month. learn more at your john deere dealer.

there'swhatever type ofhe end of eweekender you are,ton. don't let another weekend pass you by. get the lowest price when you book at hilton.com with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis? how do you chase what you love

do what i did. ask your doctor about humira. it's proven to help relieve pain and protect joints from further irreversible damage in many adults. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. humira has been clinically studied for over 20 years. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ready for a new chapter? talk to your rheumatologist about humira. this is humira at work.

saturday morning. we've been waiting for you. i'm christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. >> this morning, president trump is claiming he's, quote, totally vindicated in the russia investigation. >> the president said the controversial republican memo which was released yesterday shows there was no collusion and no obstruction during the 2016 campaign and since. >> but the fbi says that report is missing some key details. democrats claim it's misleading and even some republicans object to its content. >> abby phillip is live in washington. this is the first comment from