i'm jimmy, this is my definition of fresh since 1983. ♪ this is cnn tonight. i'm don lemon. it's 11:00 p.m. on the east coast. live with all the new developments right now in the russian investigation. 13 russians indicted charged with attempting to interfere with the 2016 presidential election. deputy attorney general rod rosenstein the russians conducted information warfare against the united states. yes, they used those words, information warfare. so what is the president doing about this threat to american

democracy? he puts out a statement saying, we must unite as americans to protect the integrity of our democracy and elections. but you have to wonder whether the president really wants to do anything since his own intelligence chiefs testified this week that he has not specifically directed them to take action against russia. we'll go live to florida, where two days after 17 of their classmates and teachers were gunned down and vigils are held for the victims, students are making a passion plea demanding that this country do something about america's gun epidemic before the next shooting. and we're learning more exclusively about the shooter. group chat messages show he was obsessed with race, violence and guns. more on that in just a moment. >> i want to get to the russia investigation first. cnn global affairs david rohde tp carl bernants here and laura coats. thank you for joining us. david i'm starting with you. i want to play what ag rod

rosenstein said today announcing the defendants indictments. >> the defendants conducted what they called information warfare against the united states. with the stated goal of spreading distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general. >> information warfare. distrust in the candidates and the political system in general. what do you think? >> i'm amazed at the braisenness of this campaign, the intensity and the sophistication. i think vladimir putin was definitely personally involved and he wanted to get hillary clinton -- i've had former cia officials tell me before this came out how they felt u.s. intelligence activities were increasing cautious and the russians were taking risks. this was far more risk involved and more aggressive than i expected we'd learn. >> carl, i want to bring you in do you read anything else into the special counsel, where he may be going with this? is this all of it? >> it's a step.

and i think the language of the indictments is very interesting on that count. because it refers specifically to this series of indictments and leaves room for additional indictments. it's quite careful about that in laying the groundwork for possibly further indictments. but more important than that we saw rod rosenstein up there as the fact he delivered this news. if you would have talked to somebody in the white house four days ago, they would have told you that the president is determined to replace rod rosenstein in the next few weeks. he wants this investigation buried and the way to do that is through getting rid of rosenstein. it's going to be very difficult after today, if not impossible, for the president of the united states to get rid of rod rosenstein, who became today the spokesman for this investigation and its integrity. and also was saying, i believe, in a way, the president of the united states is not above the law. that's part of the message of him getting up there today.

i think -- this was a seismic event. >> as arsino hall used to say, things that make you go hmm. first i got a note saying are you watching the news? i turned it on. i said what is rod rosenstein doing on my television set? that was a good assessment. i thought the same thing. interesting to see him up there. laura this is referred to as a conspiracy carried out with unwitting individuals associated with the trump campaign. i mean, the president and his team say this means that there is no collusion. does it mean that? >> no, it doesn't. i know they're hanging every thread to show there may be exoneration and to pre-empt any condemnation of themselves or members of the inner circle. but the actual indictment speaks little to the issue of collusion, not because there is absence of it. but in fact what they're trying to do is find in otherwise term. one of the complaints anyone has

had is, what is collision? what do you need to establish collusion? well what mueller has done is given different categories of information that he believes are unlawful behavior linked to specific laws. for example campaign finance. the ideas of having people identify themselves before they make either investments or try to influence an election, or they try to nefariously hide identity for a variety of reasons. foreign administration act issue. you have the money laundering. all different categories of information that frankly resonate with manafort, gates, donald junior accusations against him. so all of these categories of information are more about mueller's investigation team and their strategy about trying to figure out what collusion would look like and what you would hang your hat on for a legal hook of each of the things. >> yes, it's interesting david because the president has been calling the russian interference, a hoax, a witch hunt. now his own justice department is coming out and alleging that

this happened all along with his own intelligence officials. does the president stand alone along with, you know, maybe his republican allies in congress here? >> i think he is increasingly isolated. i agree with carl it was powerful that rod rosenstein made the statement. he is now personally associated himself with the investigation and it makes it harder for trump to fire him. >> and mueller. >> mueller, definitely. this was a huge statement by rod rosenstein that he supports mueller, that this investigation is about the integrity of american democracy and there is nothing more important than that. in terms of the isolation, again all of our top intelligence chiefs, in a polite way, rebuking the president earlier this week at this hearing. and then paul ryan making a strong statement far stronger than the president. so he is very isolated on the russia investigation. i said it before. that doesn't mean he will not fire robert mueller. i still think there is a chance he will do that. losing his temper. it would be incredibly foolish of him to do it, but i think

think there's a chance. >> i have a question that's about bannon. because adam schiff said that steve bannon will likely be held in contempt of congress after refusing to answer questions before the house intelligence committee. but he answered all the questions posed by mueller's team. mueller's counsel team over the course of two days this week. why would he not be cooperating with congress, but cooperating with the special counsel? what's the difference? >> i could only speculate. but one supposedly he is claiming that the white house is -- is asserting an executive privilege and keeping him from testifying before the committees on the hill. now, whether that's true or not or the extent to which the white house is doing that, i don't know. i think his options are much more limited with the special prosecutor, that he doesn't have much protection there. and that he has to answer legitimate questions. and that's what's going on. >> yes. >> and you know also. >> go ahead, laura. >> to that point, think about it. mueller's power could lead him

to incarceration. >> right. >> congressional power could lead him to getting perhaps a slap on the wrist or being scorned in the public square. but there is not a whole lot of things that congress can do if they hold him in contempt. they have to rely on the department of justice and a federal judge to be able to make the contempt stick and have a penalty attached. i'm sure he is far more cooperative with mueller's team because there is a criminal penalty attached to that. and frankly the alternative is more pleasing to him if not entirely benign. >> i have to ask this, remember when the reporting saying that flynn was somehow making a deal with the special counsel and would plead to -- cop to something and was cooperating, and everybody said it was fake news, and it turns out it was real. now you have rick gates doing the same thing. what's going on here? >> well rick gates of course was charged in tandem with paul manafort, the long-term associate. he's been his right-hand man for

years. you remember when he was famously arraigned, he didn't have an attorney present. he was worrying about who was representing him. there was a delay having the charges read against him. now we found out he has been speaking with the mueller team and had a queen for a day investigative meeting. that interview is where you are able to give all the information and answer questions about your actual charges that are against you right now, in that 12-page indictment without additional penalties attached. essentially tell us everything that may help us in the investigation and possibly a flip against manafort. but you got to remember, before any prosecutor, any reasonable prosecutor who has most of the chips in their favor, before they would entertain that conversation, the information they're hoping to receive has got to be credible, has to be helpful and can't be gotten from anywhere else in the world. and so if he is having these meetings, having the discussions, if he is talking about being a cooperator, it's really bad news for paul manafort. >> yes.

>> it could go farther than that because rick gates traveled with the president through the campaign. they spoke frequently during the transition. he was also elemental to the transition, spoke with the president then. and also, if indeed donald trump is truthful in saying there's no there there and i have not, quote, colluded in any way, it's possible rick gates could be the person who would exonerate him. >> exonerate the president. >> i got to ask this question here. >> he is a crucial witness. >> i got to ask the question quickly because today the white house chief of staff ordered overhaul of security clearances saying certain people with temporary won't have access to certain information. are you surprised by the changes, david? >> it's about time. >> about time. >> they've had a systemic problem with in. >> that includes jared kushner. how do you solve middle east peace without security

clearances? thank you. when we come back, we'll go live to florida, to talk to grieving students demanding action on guns as they mourn lost classmates and teachers as we learn more about the shooter. including group chat messages stating his intention of becoming a professional school shooter. ♪ oh, look... another anti-wrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair® works in just one week. with the fastest retinol formula available. it's clinically proven to work on fine lines and wrinkles. one week? that definitely works! rapid wrinkle repair®. and for dark spots, rapid tone repair. neutrogena®. see what's possible.

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stoneman douglas high school. tonight there was a vigil for the victims at a park near the school. 17 angels on a stage with candles, flowers, and signs demanding action on guns. joining me now three students at that vigil, jack, joy and vincent or vinnie as he likes to be called. thank you for joining us. you guys are so strong. and tell me about the hair you guys all ended up dying hair the same color. tell me why. >> yeah, our great friend jauquin oliver he passed in the shooting. and he was a huge fan of the musical artist frank ocean. and frank ocean released an album titled "blond" where on the album cover he had blond hair. our friend dyed his hair blond to commemorate that album. >> it's just whenever we see ourselves in the mirror with the blond hair it's even more

greater semblance that jauquin is with us, because that's what matters. >> it's a piece of him with us. >> you guys are so amazing. i can't really explain. that is great that you did that. and i'm so happy that you're here. and i want you to talk about -- we have been hearing a lot from politicians in the wake of this tragedy. and i'd like your perspective on what you think politicians need to know about what you experienced. >> well, there is nothing to really be said other than -- other than the fact that the first step when dealing with a situation like this is to address love, reconciliation, comfort and just support for the peers and the people who have been directly involved and impacted by this situation. and then you proceed to address the political agenda regarding gun violence and gun control. because the only way for us to move forward with this issue is for us to be able to come to terms with it and become a family at first. and as far as what we felt in that moment and at the vigil,

i've never experienced a greater feeling of unity, family and support by my people. >> you guys are -- you know, you talked about your friend jauquin how he liked frank ocean. and it appears that there's great diversity at the school. you're young open-minded kids. cnn learned in a private instagram message group, the shooter espoused racist anti-semitic views in addition to obsessed with guns and violence and race. were you aware of that? were your friends aware of any of this? >> nobody was aware that he was anything like that. we always knew he was kind of a secluded kid. didn't talk to anybody. but nobody saw that in him, you know. >> no one could predict this. >> go on, say again.

>> no one can really predict this. this is -- this is something you watch on tv, not something you experience inside of a classroom, not something that you experience texting your friends to see if you're still going to be able to talk to them tomorrow morning. >> yeah, it is -- he went off the charts. like we all used to know of him in middle school. used to always be that crazy kid always doing something like stupid and all for the humor of other students. and at that time we were all immature. we didn't -- we laughed at it. and once we went to high school i saw him periodically. and for the past, like, year i don't think i saw him. and i think i saw him like last year. and i haven't seen him since. >> yeah. i want to read this. and, joey, perhaps you can respond. it's a part of an open letter written by another student at your high school. it says, this tragedy is about a

gun. my best friend texted me as the tragedy began. his text read, second fire drill today. i hear gunshots. we're about to die. his text did not read, i hear a mental illness we're about to die. i hear a sick minded person, we're about to die. the text read, i hear gunshots and we're about to die. can you relate to this, joey? >> yes, i mean, i walked out of my classroom when the fire alarm went off. and we just thought it was another fire drill, you know. we didn't think anything of it. we have fire drills all the time. we're kind of just used to walking out, getting in our specific areas for fire drills. and then i hear gunshots. and everyone kind of realized like it was a real thing. and we all ran back to our classrooms. >> vincent, i understand you said you don't have a particularly strong opinion on guns, but you do on security.

what are your thoughts on that? >> well, i really think security should be armed. and i think we should have more security at our schools. we really only have one officer at our school at all times. and he is not -- i don't want to say he is incapable of protecting us, because he is not incapable. but it's impossible to kind of save us in that situation, you know. >> with so many students. >> like i think if we had more people -- yeah. i think if we had people in every building who were armed, this could have easily been prevented. >> jack, something that has stood out, too, about the students of your high school is how outspoken and knowledgeable you all are about the issues surrounding this event. are you optimistic speaking out about this can really bring real change? >> the only thing that's keeping me happy right now is knowing that this is it. this is the end.

because with these words, with every single student speaking out, this is it. because people don't listen to politicians. people want to hear from those who are experiencing it. and this is the first time on any sort of scale on any platform anywhere in the country where people of my age are able to speak out right about something that's so quintessential to the safety of the lives of so many people. and having the ability to speak and voice your opinion and demand that you will be heard is something that marks every single douglas student. and i'm proud to wear the letters because i know every single one of my family members in that school will be representing us and will be speaking because we know that change is coming. >> um-hum. so let's talk more about this then. let's -- because you know, i read the letter from the student of -- or the text from the student, and it said you know, he -- no one said i hear mental illness. they said i hear gunshots. the president blamed the

shooting on mental health. and he said nothing about a gun issue. i'm just wondering if you guys had the opportunity, because the president was there -- if you had the opportunity to meet with him, what would you say to him? >> if i were to be able to meet with the president, i would just let's him know that you can -- you can never take the bullets out of the gun. in this situation, the shooter is going to do anything they can to carry out their goals. and we can't take the bullets out of his gun. we can just put on the vest. that vest has to be metal detecters in schools. if it has to be that, if it has to be giving guns to security officers, just -- we can't stop these people from thinking. but we can make it harder for them to act and we can make it impossible for them to touch us. >> what do you say, joey? >> that's the only thing i'd be willing to say. >> i think i would tell him it's not about mental illness.

obviously that is a big factor, because no person in their right mind can go and shoot up a school like this. but i think that we really need to have better background checks. this kid was diagnosed with autism, i believe at age 11. this kid really should not have been able to acquire a gun legally, or at all. so i just think i would tell him, yeah, it is somewhat about mental illness, i guess, but in reality, it really is more about the guns. >> you know mentally ill people are less prone to violence than the general population and usually violence is usually thrown upon the person who is mentally ill. so i don't want to speak about mentally ill people and further stigmatize them. it's that this person should not have been able to get a gun? you guys understand that, right? >> yes. >> yeah. >> yes.

>> he wanted to hurt people. >> we have known him since sixth grade. he has loved to hurt. we can't do anything about that. >> yeah. so listen, i understand you guys wanted time to speak to the folks. so you've got the floor. what do you want to say? >> if there is anything that the people of america need to know, it's that it's one thing to remember, it's another thing to never forget. and stoneman douglas is a name that must live on in your heads hearts and actions every day. none of what i'm saying is premedita premeditated. none of this is spoken, written to me by anybody. everything that i'm saying right now comes from the heart. because i know for a fact the only way that we are going to move forward as a country is if we come together as a family. and the only thing that's going to keep us together as a family is love and support. jauquin. >> i think you have to go and tell everybody you know that you love them because you don't know when the last time you will see them is. i woke up, went to school. didn't know if i would come home. i don't remember if i told my parents i loved them that day,

you know. you could literally be taken from this earth and you would never be able to tell your family that you loved them, you know. i don't know when the last time i told jauquin that i appreciated his jokes, that i loved him, that i liked being around him, you know, like the one thing everyone needs to know is go and tell everybody you know that you love them. >> i think that no child and no kid, no one should ever have to go to school and feel like they're going to die that day. it is just -- it's just terrible. and i think that if anyone is going to stop this from happening, it's going to be everyone in parkland, because we have came together as a community, and we have -- it's been spreading so much love. and without that, i really don't

know where i'd be right now. and i know we're going to make change, because change is well overdo. >> the one thing we can say is remember these faces because we're not done. you'll know when we're done. >> you guys are fantastic. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> best of luck. if we can do anything to help, let us know. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back. >> never stop saying stoneman douglas. >> thank you.

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breaking news tonight, confessed florida shooter nikolas cruz wants to plead guilty to murdering the 17 victims as a way to avoid the death penalty. that word from the broward county public defender's office. but no word from prosecutors who need to agree not to ask for capital punishment and instead agree to life without parole. also breaking tonight new images of the shooter, including a photo of him holding a gun at a window, two showing him wearing a flak jacket, one where he is also wearing an orange cap and a photo of him wearing a uniform. we're learning exclusively

tonight that group chat messages show the shooter was obsessed with race, violence and guns. let's bring in james allen fox a professor of criminology at northwest northeastern university. pardon me extreme killing. >> that's okay. >> understanding serial and mass murder. yes, i know there is a big difference there. thank you for correcting me. >> sure. >> welcome to the program. good evening to you. some of the things he wrote -- he says i hate jews, n word immigrants, after one group member said he hated gay people cruz wrote shoot them in the back of the head. on payday cruz let the group know he planned on spending the money on body armor. he then asked the group if it was legal to wear body armor to school. someone asked him why he wanted to know and he wrote i think i'm going to kill people. we are way way behind on red flags aren't we? my goodness. >> he also told them he was joking when they called him on it. yeah, the red flags are obvious in the aftermath. that's the thing about it. there are a lot of yellow flags

for lots of people out there. he is not the only one who hates jews and blacks and gays and not the only one who has written awful things on the internet or made videos that are disgusting and crude and violent. the issue here is how predictable that behavior is. with hindsight, well that's 2020. now, i know that we can bemoan the tips that were not passed down through the ranks. but think about how many tips there are every year about people who are all talk, who want to be big shots but never actually take a shot. that's really the problem here. we'd like to predict the behavior, but we really can't. >> yeah. james is it common for people who commit these crimes -- or these kinds of crimes to have such extremist views? >> sure. look at dylan ruth in south carolina. there are a number of mass killers who are filled with

hate, anger, and oftentimes they go after certain groups of people that they despise. see, they're often individuals who themselves are failures but they blame other people for their problems. and they want to get even. this man certainly does fit the profile of a mass killer. someone who is a failure, a failure at school, someone who has suffered loss, the loss of his adoptive mother. and someone who is fascinated with violence and hence full of hate. but, you know, that description is not unique. it fits lots of people out there. fortunately most of whom will only dream and fantasize about killing, but will never turn their anger into action. >> have you seen, james, other cases where this many warning signs were missed? >> yeah, there are. and the good news is that we are

so aware now of the possibility of school shootings that we have seen many averted cases. in fact, just one the other day in washington state. individuals who talk big, who talk about wanting to shoot, maybe even have guns, and they're turned in by relatives, by friends. now, whether they actually would have carried out their -- their fantasies is questionable. but the good news is that people have taken it seriously. you know, the problem here is that's not a perfect system. there never is. it's difficult to predict behavior. if we try to lock up every single nikolas cruz who talked like he did, yet didn't have a criminal record, i'm not sure what we do with all those people. >> interesting. from what we have learned so far -- >> um-hum. -- what are the most significant characteristics of this gunman, do you think? >> well, of course only guns.

and the kinds of guns. a 19-year-old really has no business with guns like this. i think there's been lots of talk about that too. i do want to say something about the mental health angle. i'm glad you said something to the courageous kids a moment ago about this confusion between mental illness and mass murder. the fact is that most mass killers are not mentally ill in a severe way. sure they may be depressed and angry and maladjusted. but they don't hear voices, they're not be people who would be committed. the problem is we're always talking about mental health and access to mental treatment in the aftermath of a shooting. why don't we talk about that three weeks from now? why are we so concerned about mentally ill is it because we want to -- because we care about the well being of the mentally i'll? no because we care about the

well being of the people they may shoot. which only adds to the stigma as you indicated. >> and also we want to place the blame on something else other than the obvious, as you said, the most significant characteristic of this man was the guns and that's it. >> and the blame is on cruz. >> and the blame. >> and i want we want to -- the governor wants to blame folks in law enforcement. and it's unfortunate that the word didn't get through. but the real culprit here is the person who pulled the trigger. >> thank you so much. i appreciate it. james allen fox. >> any time. >> when we come back allegations that a former play mate had an affair with donald trump early in his marriage to melania and the "national enquirer" helped keep it secret. ronan farrow joins me next with his bombshell new report. does your moisturizing romine does. an mvp? aveeno® skin relief. with oat oil and natural shea butter, it softens very dry skin and lasts for 24 hours. aveeno®. it's a game changer.

a new blockbuster report in the new yorker details allegations of an affair between donald trump and a playboy playmate and highlights what may have been systematic efforts to cover up stories that could be damaging to trump. the affair allegedly began a year and a half after donald married melania trump and just months after their son barren was born. joining me now is the man who broke the story. ronan farrow. our breaking the stories left and right. >> thank you. >> you detailed in affair on businessman, a playboy playmate,

the karen mcdougal. the white house is denying this. the bigger part of the story is about how donald trump and his allies tried to keep it out of the press. >> right. this is a system of clandestine meetings and intermediaries in the media and legal packets that kept stories quiet. in this case there is a woman at the heart of it that freely admits that she signed up for the silence but says that's been onerous and she didn't understand the implications and regrets that. >> apparently they paid her $150,000 at the national enquirer, paid for the story so they wouldn't have to run it. it's called catch and kill. >> catch and kill is a term commonly referred in the tabloid media with the intention of acquiring a story to bury it. i talked to former employees of ami, this media company for this story.

and one after the other, they talked about the influence that provides over the person whose dirt is acquired. >> they promised to do certain things for her and that never came to fruition. >> that's a matter of dispute between mcdougal and the company. fe she feels there were unfilled promises there. but one thing that seems apparent from the voluminous communications we obtained for the story is they contacted her intermittently over the past year, after being keen on locking it down leading up to the election. they buried the story for the election it would seem. that was the effect of this. and then after the stormy daniels story broke recently there was a resumption of interest. you know what had been sporadic contact between more intensive. and there were overt efforts to get new contracts. >> did they amend her contract? >> more recently they have not. >> let's talk about the pattern of catch and kill. you include a quote in your piece from jerry george, a

former senior editor of the enquirer. he says, we never printed a word about trump without had his approval. how do donald trump have that influence at the enquirer. >> i don't know how literally he means trump gives approval. we don't report in this piece donald trump ordered this operation. however, david pecker, the head of ami on the record said he is a loyal friend of donald trump's. and here again, you know we talked to six former employees who said that this is a publication that was doing work on behalf of the president in their view. >> no direct indication he had anything to do with burying it? >> that's not what we're report ing. >> in terms of the affair when was it and what did karen say it happened? >> karen mcdougal met donald trump at a party at the playboy mansion in 2006. and this initiated an affair of many months. this was bear in mind several months after the birth of barron trump. >> it was a taping of the episode of the apprentice and you can look up the footage where she appears in some of

these group shots. she talks about him treating her well and her being impressed and finding him polite and smart. this was a consensual affair. however, it illustrates commonalities between allegations of consensual affairs and other women claimed non-consensual advances. >> very similar to the allegations by stormy daniels. >> many commonalities. >> many. >> offering money for sex shows up in a number of claims by women. offering purchases of real estate shows in a number of of them and also the mcdougal story. >> she alleges she wrote down her account he offered her money after sex and she said what. >> she said i'm not that kind of girl. and was hurt by this. >> you also wrote that karen mcdougal met members of the president's family and gave a tour of the trump properties. and you wrote this, in trump tower she wrote trump pointed out melania separate bedroom. he said she liked her space,

mcdougal wrote, to read or be alone. what do readers make of that? >> in many ways there was an elaborate system to conceal the affair. she talks about donald trump flying her to properties around the country and various events. but then secretly reimbursing her for instance. but in other ways it was quite brazen. she did meet the family according to her account of events. >> 15 women came forward accusing the president either of non-consensual touching. >> um-hum. >> or of consensual affairs. and again, just because this corroborates some of the methods and mechanisms used -- or allegedly used by donald trump and his organization around affairs and around the allegations. that he completely denies. >> that's right. i think one of the important things here is that we now have a proliferation of different stories about that he now president trump -- and they corroborate each other. >> let's talk more about the extent of the sourcing and reporting, because the enquirer said we didn't print it because we didn't find it credible. >> that's right. obviously as is always the case

we gave the enquirer and the parent company, ami, and the white house ample tunt for input. that's in the comment. the white house says never a relationship and this is fake news. the ami says it wasn't credible. >> why did she go public now? >> she talked about over the past year -- this is present day on the record. she did feel she had to say this, even as frightened as she was, seeing women come forward, even though she acknowledged it's different since it was consensual she talked about the me too movement and made her braver, and made her recognize the costs of silence and the importance of speaking out about the silencing of women by powerful men. she said she hopes her speaking inspire other women to do the same. >> i don't know if you can answer this i'll ask. do you think this will make a difference with the president with his supporters? >> you know, don it's not for me to say whether a story moves the needle or not. but i think actually her message there, that women's voices can

be powerful and that there are acute costs to the silencing of women is one that needs to be heard. and it's true for a lot of different women and a lot of different situations. >> always a pleasure. thank you ronan. >> thank you don, feeling is mutual. good to be here. when we come back, much more on the pattern that seems to be emerging about president's behavior when it comes to women. plus, why melania trump drove air force one today without her husband.

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here we go again. another potentially embarrassing story for donald trump about an alleged affair and a major hint that the first lady is not happy about it. i want to bring in tara setmayer and alice stewart. so, listen, i don't mean to be cheeky about this but it's true. here we go again. i'm sure you heard this exclusive story alleging president trump had an affair with a former playmate while

married to melania. the white house didn't explicitly deny it. they just called it more fake news. what do you think? >> well, it's not fake news. it's consistent with donald trump's pattern of behavior his entire adult life. let's not forget this was a guy who carried out a very public affair on the front pages of the new york post and the tabloids when he was married to his first wife ivana. it's clear he hasn't changed at all. so what did melania think, he was going to be a decent person, transform into a decent guy? no. she she knew what she was getting when she married him. that's probably why they have the second bedroom. and then stormy daniels, it was going on at the same time. and they used the same lawyer to have these pay offs going on. so this is who donald trump is.

i think it's despicable. a lot of people warned about this. it was all evident on his howard stern appearance. >> but that didn't matter. he was still elected. >> unfortunately. >> i'm sure it won't matter now to supporters. it may matter to i don't know independents or -- >> right, it will. because you're seeing a shift in women right now. his polling numbers are terrible. >> allison, what do you say to this? >> my heart goes out to melania. it's bad enough to have a husband -- >> mine doesn't. >> -- facing all these credible allegations of infidelity, and my heart goes out to her. and i don't blame her from exhibiting some independence from him on a lot of these things. not wanting to take the walk of shame across the south lawn today. i don't blame her. >> let me tell you what happened, then you can jump back in. because she broke with

tradition, drove by herself to marine one instead of the traditional south lawn with the president. what kind of statement with that? >> it says i don't want to sit there and pretend everything's okay when it's clearly not, and i don't blame her. and in a lot of these opportunities where it's protocol or standard operating procedure to show your support, she just can't do it, and i don't blame her. if i can touch on one thing you talked with ronan about, the influence of friends of this president that have been able to hide and exploit certain stories. you talked about the catch and the kill with this certain story, where they captured this playmate's story and killed it. if you recall back when ted cruz was running for president, we had donald trump's friend, roger stone, create some story and pitch it to david pecker who was more than happy to display on the "national enquirer." so just the opposite of the catch and kill, it was hatch and

fill. so they hatched a phony story and filled the pages of the "national enquirer" about ted cruz having five affairs to discredit him and to help boost donald trump. so this is just another example of using friends in the media for your own personal benefit. >> yet their the ones that scream fake news and they're the purveyors of it. >> it was surprising to me, and again you mentioned she did it for the state of the union because that was when the stormy daniels story was coming out, and then she pulled out of the trip to davos at the last minute. >> yep. >> i'm sure she'll probably continue to exert independence as alice said. why don't you feel sorry for her? do you think she knew what she was getting? >> yeah, i don't feel sorry for her. she chose to marry donald trump. she knew who he was. he was a disgusting womanizer when she married him. maybe the only part with a little bit of sympathy she didn't expect it to be like this.

and now she has to be publicly put up with him and be embarrassed like this, shamed like this in public. but, again, she's got a choice to stay or leave. >> alice, i'll give you the last ten seconds because i really got to go. >> i think she knew who she married, but at the same time she never envisioned that she'd be the first lady of the united states and have her dirty laundry aired out for all the world to see. >> i'm sure she didn't. >> in that regard, i feel for her. >> that's it for us tonight. thanks for watching. you won't see these folks at the post office

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with the announcement of the new indictment, u.s. special counsel robert mueller made it impossible for president donald trump to keep calling the russia probe a total hoax. a former intelligence chief predicts there's another shoe to drop. plus, as victim funerals take place, details about the parkland, florida shooter and how the fbi failed to act on a tip before 17 lives were ended. fans alleged sex crime scandal.