rolling their lava down toward the ocean floor. so all of that is what they're dealing with here, as well as those toxic gases in the air. so it's a very tenuous situation here. >> thank you very much. just incredible to see that over your shoulder. thanks so much for that report. thanks to all of you. anderson starts now. good evening. two big breaking stories tonight. one on narrowing the questions robert mueller can ask the president, and the other deepening legal quick sand for michael cohen. one of his business partners, the man known as the taxi plea, copping a plea, agreeing to help prosecutors, which means talking to team mueller potentially. evgeni freeman was accused of failing to pay more than $5 million in taxes and faced four counts of criminal tax fraud and one of grand larceny.

"the times" reports his cooperation will keep him out of prison. this follows another plea deal made with paul manafort's former son-in-law. more reporting now on this from cnn's reporter who joins us from washington. what do we know about this deal that the michael cohen's tax partner made? >> reporter: we know that jane friedman, known as new york's taxi king, pleaded guilty to state tax fraud charges. he was facing multiple charges for evading $5 million in taxes in new york state. so today, his plea deal is that he's going to plead guilty to this one count for just $50,000 in taxes. so that's a significant reduction in what he could be facing. also as part of this plea agreement, he's not going to face jail time. the "new york times" is report thing is a cooperation agreement, which means he will be -- he's agreeing to cooperate with new york state and federal authorities about any investigations that they have ongoing. and friedman was a long-time

business partner of michael cohen. so he will know some of michael cohen's business operations and dealings. that is going to be the question of what is going to be of most interest as part of this cooperation agreement. >> is this part of a bigger strategy to get michael cohen to work with the special counsel, by having this guy flip on michaelcoen? >> reporter: we know that the office in manhattan started their investigation in part as a referral from special counsel robert mueller's team. the u.s. attorney's office said they're looking into michael cohen's personal financial dealings, and as part of that search warrant, they were looking specifically at information relating to cohen's taxi business and some of his partners. this is potentially a steppingstone to mueller's case. but it remains to be seen. the u.s. attorney's office has not charged michael cohen with any crime. they're investigating him.

and friedman has knowledge of some of cohen's tax medallion business. there's no suggest that donald trump was involved, so it will have -- we'll have to see what friedman knows about cohen beyond the business, and if there's anything at all. but it will put pressure on michael cohen as he's face thing investigation. and if friedman does know something about him, that will put pressure on him and inform the u.s. attorney's office, which is investigating him and ultimately he lly leads to pote they think there is a case and bring charges or not. now more breaking news. cnn reports about efforts to limit the scope of questioning, when and if president trump sits down with robert mueller. cnn chief political analyst gloria borger joins us now. >> my colleagues and i have learned that the president's legal team is trying to narrow the scope of any potential

interview with the special counsel to russia related matters that occurred before trump's selection. now, our sources are telling us that in trying to avoid a standoff, one possibility they're thinking about is this limited trump interview, plus, they're offering written answers to questions regarding the issue of obstruction, which we all know is an issue that the special counsel is clearly very interested in. and they're also insisting that if there is an interview, they want an audio recording with the president so there's absolutely no question about what was said. >> is there any indication that mueller would agree to these terms? >> no, there isn't. there isn't. we've been cautioned by a couple of sources that particularly regarding written answers to questions about obstruction, mueller has suggested that this is not something that he could live with. and so we don't know, anderson, whether if they can't reach any agreement, and one source said to me, we're inching towards

something hopefully, but if they are not, this could wind up in the supreme court. and these kinds of proposals gives, you know, the trump attorney's kov tore say look, we tried and we tried and we tried, but we couldn't reach any conclusion here. >> it does seem like we've heard more about these interview negotiations since rudy giuliani joined the president's legal team. you know, obviously you're not going to talk about who your sources are. but it seems like -- is giuliani the one driving all of these stories? or at least in, you know, in recent weeks, it certainly seems like it. >> you know, rudy giuliani first of ault has only met with the special counsel once. i think his prime purpose right now is to kind of speak to one person, and that's the president of the united states, who has been very happy when giuliani punches back for him. you know, this legal team hasn't had a real spokesman out there. but in terms of doing sort of

real negotiating at this point, i think that's up to a lot of the other lawyers involved, and giuliani seems to me to be functioning as a spokesman and weighing in once if a while, and presenting the president's point of view to the american public, which they really haven't had in the past. >> gloria, thank you very much. speaking of rudy giuliani, joining us now with her new reporting is maggie haberman and the rest of my panel. i understand you talked to giuliani today. what did he tell you about this timeline? >> he called me because mike schmidt and i had reported on sunday that he had said that the special counsel had told the legal team they hoped to have this wrapped by september 1st, but they made clear it was contingent on an interview with the president that's all that this negotiation is about, and that these meetings have been about. he called because he -- there had been reports that he might have made that up.

i think there's a lot of suggest shun after that after a reuters report. he said everybody in the room on their legal team who came in with them heard it the same way, except for jay sekulow, one of the president's other lawyers, which heard the end of summer. but regardless, it was roughly the same time frame. his point was they have heard from mueller's office in the past when mueller's folks have been unhappy with something that trump's team had done. they did not say anything this time, and he just wanted to articulate that. >> is there any planet on which robert mueller would agree to not ask the president about possible obstruction of justice, about things that happened after he took office? >> you know, listening to the reporting just now, i think there's a possibility that what they are trying to float publicly is actually what the president is willing to be interviewed on. so not so much what the special counsel would limit the questions, but maybe this is

what -- and i'm sort of extrapolating here, maybe this is what the trump team is willing to be interviewed on, and what they're suggesting is that anything beyond these particular topics, they would say the president is not going to answer that question -- those questions. so when what they're doing is they would be forcing the special counsel's hand to issue a subpoena. >> paul, it is no coincidence that all these, you know, leaks or public statements from rudy giuliani, it's all coming -- it seems like it's coming from the president's legal team and it seems like they're trying to play this out in the court of public opinion. >> yeah, they are. and giuliani having been a politician and a u.s. attorney is kind of adept at using the criminal justice system and politics together in a way maybe that other lawyers don't. and i think giuliani understands that a president would be expected to give testimony. the american public would expect it. they wouldn't expect him to take the fifth amendment.

so he's trying to present the case that the president wants to talk and answer reasonable questions and it's unreasonable for mueller to not accept these terms. >> michael, do you think the president appreciates rudy giuliani and others if that is who is floating these stories in the press? is he the kind of investigator that's susceptible to pressure like that? >> i don't think he's sus septemberib -- susceptible to pressure. what is going on is that the real lawyers representing the president are negotiating with mueller's team about the terms of an interview. i think those are very complicated and sensitive negotiations. i think that both sides want it to remain that way. but then you have the likes of giuliani, sort of blabbing, i don't know how else to describe it, anderson, to the press about, you know, his ruminations. and i don't think it furthers the interests of his client, and i don't think he's really attune

to what's going on in the nitty gritty of the conversations between the real lawyers and mueller's representatives. >> giuliani argued that the president can't be subpoenaed, because mueller agreed to abide by doj past precedent, which a sitting president can't be indicted. can the president be subpoenaed as a witness? >> he can be subpoenaed, and the legal team has made clear if he is a pinaed, he will challenge it. it could go through the courts and really drag things on. so i do think that that is part of their strategy. there are arguments for -- that i think the special counsel has. for example, one argument that has been levied against the president being able to participate in criminal proceedings is it takes away from presidential duties. i would think that a new legal analysis would need to be conducted as it pertains to this

specific president, because he occupies the presidency and executes his daily schedule in a very different way than we've seen prior presidents, with his executive time, a lot of time on the golf course. so the argument that prior administrations have made that the president can't devote any time, and it would take away from his exercise of his duties, that's one fact that they would have to overcome. >> may i add one thing to that, anderson? i think that there is a clear distinction between indictment, trial, and incarceration on one hand, which is what i think the olc opinion addresses. and then the judicial process to obtain evidence, a grand jury subpoena or otherwise. i don't think the olc opinion is as clear on that front end about can the president resist giving testimony as it is clear on the indictment, trial, and incarceration period. so the real lawyers representing

the president and mueller's team are discussing what does the term "criminal process" mean in those olc opinions. does it encompass testimony or just the indictment trial and incarceration? >> i just wanted to add, i wouldn't rule out in the end mueller cutting a deal with the president to get some kind of statement, win or audio, from the president. i say that because ultimately trump has nothing but contempt for the judiciary and the judicial system and the criminal justice system. i can see him taking the fifth amendment ultimately if a subpoena is served, which means in the end, mueller gets no information. and my experience as a prosecutor has been prosecutors would rather take some information from a potential defendant in a case than get nothing at all. so we'll have to see how this wraps up. >> it's interesting, because michael zeldin is referring to the other lawyers on the president's team as the real lawyers, rudy giuliani more as the public face of the team.

>> it's both true and not true. it is true that there are other lawyers, particularly the ras k raskins who were hired with rudy giuliani. the president wanted rudy giuliani out there because nobody knows who the raskins are. so he has giuliani out there to make a splash. but he does have rudy giuliani out this to be pushing their case. what he is doing is he's out there pushing a position, and that position is setting up an argument by which if they force mueller to subpoena the president, that is going to be the route they take. and i think that they are taking a gamble that even that might not happen. i don't think that -- anybody i talk to, and i said this before, anybody i talk to around the president says nobody except occasionally the president wants the president to do this interview. they are basically running out the clock as much as possible. >> gloria, i know you wanted to add something. >> look, i think this is kind of a legal game of chicken in a way, because i think the trump

team is gambling that mueller perhaps wants to avert this fight, this extended fight that would take this case to the supreme court. and there are some on that team i talked to who say look, we don't think he wants to do it. if he does want to do it, we are happy to go there and we will. but they're trying to put as much on the table to show that they're negotiating in good faith, in case it does end up in the courts, and they can say look, you know, we tried. we failed, but we tried. >> i have to take a quick break. we'll pick up the conversation next. and later, keeping them honest about all the talk of spying and infiltrati infiltration, including from the president himself. an track from farm, to pot, to jar, to table. and serve with confidence that it's safe. this is a diamond you can follow from mine to finger,

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stories. the other could turn up the pressure on michael cohen according to "the new york times." his partner in the taxi business pleading guilty to tax charges, agreeing to cooperate with state and federal prosecutors. maggie, sit clear -- i mean, the implications or how big a development this is regarding michaelcoen? >> it's not clear. anybody who has business entanglement with michael cohen, it's going to become of interest. i'm assuming we and others are hearing that there is some implication -- i got a statement, unsolicited from evgeni, saying this, saying -- >> this is the guy -- >> who pleaded guilty. he said, i med guilty to a felony. this is me taking responsibility for my actions. michael is a dear friend and pass sich clienive client, that. this is a very difficult day for myself and my family. i don't know that he would know everything about michael cohen's

businesses. it sounds like he managed some of michael cohen's medallions. but i do think it's likely prosecutors are using him to try to add pressure to michael cohen to make some move of his own in terms of talking about donald trump. >> paul, just given what you know about the legal system here in new york, i mean, he was accused of failure to pay more than $5 million in taxes, and grand larceny. i assume if he gets this deal, he gets a deal where he's not facing prison time and a $50,000 fi fine. what kind of a deal would he have to -- what kind of information would he have to have in order to get that deal? is that an unusual deal? >> yes, that is an unusual deal, facing that much jail time and that much of a fine, so i would say he's trading something substantial, but is it something substantial about cohen that

would lead back to the president? there have been ongoing investigations of the taxi industry in new york. it could be a lot of information about that. and i think the other thing you have to consider also is that mueller was very careful about passing off the cohen case to the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york. because it at least appeared to be unrelated to the russia investigation. now, this is something that spins off of the cohen investigation, so this could turn out to be a new york thing primarily, rather than the path back to the trump administration. >> this is a state plea deal for friedman, the taxi king, as the times is reporting. but he could -- to paul's point, he could assist federal prugters, as well. >> he could, although i have to agree that i am tending to be a little bit cautious based on what we know so far before drawing too straight of a line

between this plea agreement and potential implications for the president and the overall russia investigation. so -- >> do you think it has potential implications for michael cohen? >> certainly. it's important that we recognize that there is a piece of the investigation concerning michael cohen that is only about his business dealings and this taxi or whatever other financial stuff he was into in new york. and there is some piece of this investigation that is only about that. now, does michael cohen know other things about the trump organization, financial dealings or his other interactions with the president and his campaign team over the course of the campaign? sure. i'm not saying there couldn't eventually be leverage that is placed on michael cohen that would affect those larger investigations. but i just co-thido think it's important to point out that there's a piece that only deals with michael cohen's business

dealings. >> to those of the president's allies saying the southern of new york investigation into cohen is a convenient way to investigate things beyond mueller's mandate to implicate the president. >> i think there's no factual predicate for that. i agree that this plea agreement is a plea agreement that's directed at michael cohen and his businesses, particularly perhaps his targeted medallion taxi business. beyond that is really too speculative to know whether or not he reaches the president or anything es, blse, but we do kn that the cooperation agreement is to cooperate with state and federal prosecutors. so clearly the southern district wants cooperation into their inquiry, which is cohen specific. and we'll have to see as time progresses whether cohen cooperates, and if he does cooperate, what does he have, if anything, to cooperate with respect to? we just don't know that? thanks, everybody.

coming up next, one of three people approached by the fbi source that the president is suggesting may have been a spy in the campaign. carter page joins us. the latest on the real danger from lava bombs in hawaii, coming up tonight. there's nothing small about your business. with dell small business technology advisors you get the one-on-one partnership you need to grow your business. the dell vostro 15 laptop. contact a dell advisor today. those we love is an act of mutuality. we can help with the financial ones. learn more or find an advisor at massmutual.com every legacy

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former trump campaign foreign policy adviser carter page joins us in a few moments. by the time a confidential fbi

source contacted him 234 skrul of 2016 to assess his ties if any to russian intelligence, he had been on the fbi's radar for quite some time. in 2013, audio surveillance picked up suspected russian spies discussing attempts to recruit someone identified only as male number one. mr. page confirmed that he was male number one, but said his contacts with the russians in question did not include any sensitive matters. a short time after this, fbi sources got in touch with him in 2016. the justice department persuaded a foreign intelligence surveillance or fisa court that there was probable cause to think he was acting as an agent to russia. mr. page has yet to be charged with any crime and he denies any wrongdoing. those are the facts that we know. it's important to state the facts up front, because they seem to be islands these days in a sea of alternative facts or unfounded claims and red hearings where the russia investigation is concerned.

these days, law enforcement and counterintelligence officials are painted as agents of a dark conspiracy or deep state agents. today, sitting next to the president, south korea, the president did just that, raising the specter of spies in his campaign. >> if they had spies in my campaign, that would be a disgrace to this country. that would be one of the biggest insults that anyone has ever seen. it would be very illegal, aside from everything else. it would make probably every political event ever look like small potatoes. >> you may not have noticed, but the president used a small fig leaf, the word "if" to cover a very loaded word, spy. now, the president refused to answer a later question today about the deputy attorney general overseeing the russia

probe. >> do you have confidence in rod rosenstein? >> what is your next question? excuse me, the president of south korea, he doesn't want to hear these questions, if you don't mind. >> the president does not want to offend his guest or was he done talking about russia because he made his point? he said the word spies. in the last week or so, he's tweeted if the fbi or doj was infiltrating a campaign for the benefit of another campaign, that is a really big deal. he quoted fox news, saying apparently the doj put a spy in the trump campaign. he tweeted, wow, word seems to be coming out that the obama fbi spied on the trump campaign with an embedded informant. sunday, he tweeted i here by demand that the department of justice look into whether the fbi surveilled the trump campaign for political purposes. if you think for a minute that the choice of words is

accidental, listen to how many words have been using the same talking points. >> major developments again tonight on the deep state. spying on the trump campaign. >> possibly paid informants to spy on the trump campaign. >> may indicate that the obama administration did, in fact, spy on the trump campaign. >> the spying they did on the trump campaign. >> i'm shocked to hear that they put a spy in the campaign. >> fbi spies. >> or maybe two spies. >> the spi revelations. >> to spy on the republican candidate for president. >> if they ran a spy ring, that is an absolute red line. >> from one spy to two spies to a spy ring, that's devin nunes, the chairman of the house intelligence committee, who should be familiar with real spy rings, as well as how real counterintelligence investigations work. just to refresh everyone's memory, the way they work is how they play out with mr. page and perhaps others.

his confidential source was not embedded into the campaign, he was asked to glean information from several purposes, one of them pap pgeorge papadopoulos. this was happening in the middle of an operation the u.s. intelligence community would warn the trump campaign about in the summer of 2016, according to nbc news, and later conclude reading from their report, we assess russian president vladamir putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the u.s. presidential election. russia's goals were to undermine faith in the process, denigrate secretary clinton and we further assess putin and the russian government developed a clear preference for president-elect trump. we have high confidence in these judgments. one of the people who met with this confidential source was

carter page. thanks for being back with me. do you remember when you first came into contact with this confidential infor significant -- informant? >> yeah, i was attending a conference at cambridge university. madeiline albright was there. >> this was in the summer -- >> july of 2016. >> was that after you had been to russia? >> after. >> so it was the week after. >> yes. >> how did -- i mean, was there anything unusual about your conversations with this guy? >> i never found anything unusual whatsoever. you know, there's a lot of allegations out there right now. >> was that the first time you had met him? >> yes, absolutely. >> so we're not saying his name, but it's been -- he's an academic. did -- i mean, did he -- was he direct with you? did he try to befriend you? take you out to lunch or dippnn

and chat you up talking about russia? >> well, it was a long 2 1/2 day conference. so basically from morning till late at night, we were at various debates, conversations about foreign policy and politics. >> and then how much did you stay in contact with him after that? >> we ended up staying in contact for over a year. so but it's someone you typically meet people -- >> and the contact over the year, was it just by e-mail, did you see him again? >> we met up several times, yep. >> did he ask you to come back to england? >> no, no. that was the only time i ever met him in england. so it was always in the beltway, inside the beltway. >> did he ever ask you for documents about the campaign or anything like that? >> we always, you know, we would talk about various things that are happening. you know, he's someone who is, you know, long-term -- someone who had been part of the establishment in republican politics. so typically, you know, around

the convention time and the halfway through a presidential year, there's -- you keep bringing on more people in terms of potential supporters from the party, et cetera. it just seemed like something like that. >> did he ever -- the implication that he's a spy, spying in that campaign, if someone was a spy spying on that campaign, i would think they would want internal campaign documents that you might pass along or, you know, memos or thig that would give them a view into the campaign itself. did he ever ask you for anything like that? >> we had open conversations, so it's difficult for me to ascertain much -- >> but you never gave him any documents from the campaign this >> i -- you know, not that i can recall. there weren't too many documents. we were part of an informal campaign volunteer committee. >> you tweeted about this guy, he never seemed suspicious, just a few scholars changing ideas. he had interest in policy and

politics. the president has repeatedly seemed to indicate he's a spy infiltrating the campaign. that doesn't sound like a spy n infiltrating the campaign from your description. is that fair to say? >> having been through what i've been through in terms of the defamation by major media outlets, i have two co-defendants, one is the broadcasting board of governors -- >> you also accused the clinton campaign of human rights abuses, going after you because you're a man and a catholic. >> look, it is well founded, and again, it's their lawyers that have admitted to this. they were paying for this dodgy dossier. that came out last october. so a lot of the allegations, things we were talking about last march when we were having our conversation, a lot keeps being proven true.

>> i'm wondering, you know, you -- do you believe that the president is using this -- is using this basically to try to weaken the mueller investigation? >> i see no connection with it. you know, he always said, we're looking out for the forgotten man. i was -- i've always been looking to just kind of get justice in terms of what's been going on. and to the extent that we kind of get some real information out there, as to some of the abuses, and increasingly, there's been a lot of evidence that's come out, particularly in early february when the house intelligence -- both the democrats and the republicans, their memos continue to show that there was a lot of wrongdoing really to this -- >> what are you saying is wrongdoing here? >> abuse of process, in terms of the fisa court. it's interesting, because in this lawsuit, the department of justice, if you're suing the u.s. government, represents the

federal agency. and they pleaded that, you know, there was no -- part of the sovereign immunity that there's a caveat that you can then hold them accountable. >> it's not just an individual who like -- i mean, a judge did sign off on a search warrant and the bar is high for a fisa warrant. >> well, this is the challenge i'm having, because department of justice gives this false information related to, you know, there's no abuse of process. and that's exactly what they were pleading if my case, and then two days later, this is a pleading in late january, two days later on february 2, a lot of evidence comes out showing that's exactly what happened. >> finally, just on this confidential informant, do you believe he was a spy infiltrating the trump campaign or based on your interactions, were most of your discussions about russia? >> no, no. we were talking about all sorts of foreign policy. we're two scholars -- >> do you believe he's a spy who

is trying to infiltrate the campaign? >> we'll see. there's increasingly -- this is drip, drip, drip, where there's a lot of information coming out. >> there's a lot of allegations, but you're one of the few people that met and talked with this guy. so i'm wondering as you see it now, maybe more information will come out, but as you see it now, did you get a sense as you look back this is a guy who is trying to weasel into the trump campaign to get documents and stuff, or if you remember any of your conversations, was it focused more on russia and any interactions you may have had? >> i've been shocked with some of the abuses that have happened, which i have learned about. >> you won't give your opinion one way or the other? >> i don't like to make accusations without hard facts. >> based on your personal experience, do you have a feeling? >> you know, i don't like jumping to conclusions. >> fair enough. carter page, thank you very much. the incoming president of the nra says a culture of violence is partly to blame for

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john chiang's father came it'here with little money,on. but big dreams for a better future. now john has a chance to make history. a champion of the underdog, john took on wells fargo when it ripped off working families. and against the odds, he helped saved california from financial disaster during the great recession. ...leaving more to invest in progressive priorities like education, healthcare and affordable housing. john chiang. the proven, progressive leader we need for california's future. oliver north, the incoming president of the nra, is offering several theorys about what's behind the epidemic of school shootings in the united states. not surprisingly, he doesn't mention access to guns, but

tonight, we're keeping them honest on where he is trying to shift the focus. he says the problem is we're trying to treat the symptom without treating the disease. >> the disease in this case isn't the second amendment. the disease is youngsters who are steeped in a culture of violence. they've been drugged in many cases. nearly all of these perpetrators are male. and they're young teenagers in most cases. and they've come through a culture where violence is commonplace. all we need to do is turn on a tv, go to a movie. >> male teenagers steeped in a culture of violence. he mentioned tv and movies but he didn't mention the usual suspect, which is video games. both republicans and democrats have at times wondered if the video games are having some effect on young minds. president trump brought it up after parkland, so why do you think oliver north made no mention of video games? keeping them honest, perhaps this video from 2012 can provide an answer.

>> call of duty, black ops 2, great opportunity for me to be a consultant on a script, as it were, the story plot. worked with some remarkable young developers of this story. and obviously one of the greatest entertainment media in the world. i mean, there are more people playing those things at any one time than all of the other entertainment media you would ever want to see around the world. >> so oliver north was a consultant on what's considered the most violent games out there, call of duty. not only was he a consultant, he appeared in a video hyping a version of the game on which he consulted. >> i don't think the average american grasps how violent war is about to become. there is no longer a defined battle space. the enemy would be anywhere, and it could be anyone. >> well, not only kid oliver north appear in that video, he shows up in the game itself. a younger fictionalized animated

version of himself, but there is he, in call of duty, black ops two. you can debate what effect, if anybody, video games have on kids. maybe you believe it's part of the problem or harmless fun. but we think it's fair to point out the hypocrisy of mr. north, a character in a video game, probably doesn't have that much authority to lament the culture of violence boys are exposed to, or if he is concerned, he might want to admit he profited from that violence. we invited him to be on the program, he declined. just before air, i spoke with senator bernie sanders. these comments from oliver north about the culture of violence, it's pretty hypocritical, given that he was -- he did a lot of work for one of the most violent video games out there. >> yeah, it is. it is a little absurd. i mean, the truth is, i've got to tell you, i'm not a great fan of these very violent video games. i don't think it's a good idea

to have small ckids, young children shooting down people in video games. but yes, there is an element, there's strong hypocrisy if mr. north was involved in video games and is now condemning them. >> you also look at the other things mr. north listed, teenagers are doped up on ritalin, he blames television and movies. there may be some validity in each of the things he says. but the one thing he's not pointing the finger at at all is access to guns. >> let us be clear. right now in this country, we have 300 million guns floating around, including an estimated 5 million semiautomatic weapons, and we have a lot of people who are dealing with mental crises today. last year, we lost over 40,000 people to suicides.

and people are in many cases in desperate shape. what we need to do, and this is where, anderson, the good news is, the american people, gun owners, nongun owners, are united in saying we need common sense gun safety legislation. that means expanding background checks to make sure that people who should not own guns, people who are criminals, people who have a series, a history of domestic violence, people who should not own guns should not be able to get guns. almost everybody in america agrees with that. people agree that we should eliminate the gun show loop how else, where people are able to avoid background checks. people agree we should end the strawman provision that allows people to buy guns legally and then sell them illegally. there are a lot of things that have overwhelming support among the american people to go forward with keeping guns out of the hands of people who should

not have them. the obstacle there is, in fact, the organization that mr. north represents, the nra. and i would hope very much that the congress finally has the guts to do what the american people want, and does not continue to be intimidated by the nra. >> it's so interesting. you had president trump in the wake of the parkland shooting is sort of taunting must ining re saying you're scared of the nra, doing it to their faces, and even last friday after the shooting in santa fe, said his administration is determined to do everything to secure schools. you know, he spoke one thing after parkland and then met privately with the nra and then spoke publicly to an nra convention. do you take the president at his word at all? >> no, i don't. i don't mean to be hyper political here, but one of the tragedies of the trump administration is that fewer and fewer people believe anything that he says. you're right.

after the parkland crisis, he brought members of congress together. what are we going to do? and i will support this. you bring me the legislation, i'll sign it. then the nra comes in and his views completely change. so the truth is, and i say this with no joy in my heart, whatever he says on monday doesn't necessarily mean anything on tuesday. there is no evidence to believe he will stand up to the nra, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of americans, gun owners, nongun owners, want to see real action. >> i want to ask you about what's going on with this confidential source. is this anything other than a diversionary tactic to weaken the investigation? >> that's what i believe it is. you know, the american people believe, whether you're republicans, democrats, independent, that it should be our voters, the people that determine the outcome of

elections, not russians, not people from any other country. and what mueller is trying to do is -- and this is a guy that was widely supported by democrats and republicans when he was fbi director, a man wildly respected. so instead of cooperating with this investigation to allow it to run its course, what trump is trying to do is deflect attention from the investigation and go after those people who are trying to secure the truth. let this investigation play out. i've been asked a million times, do i think trump should be impeached? i don't right now. let the investigation play out. let the truth come out and leave mueller and his team alone so they can resume this investigation. >> let me ask you, though, if the tables were turned and you found out that a person who was on the periphery of your campaign for president had said

something and sent a confidential source to interview that person, would you have a problem with that? >> i think what is interesting about this, trump is trying to make this into a political thing. to the midwest of my knowledbese investigation did their best any candidate, me, trump, anybody else, they would have said they would have leaked something. that is not what happened. they believed, as i understand it, that there was reason to investigate the possibility of collusion. that's what they were doing. >> senator sanders, i appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you very much. 17 months into the trump administration, there is certainly one constant, which is twitter. no question the president has post aid thousand tweets. the question is were they all written by him or by staffers? coming up what may be some of the answers. a lava threatening a power plant in hawaii. we'll take you to the big

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president trump has posted thousands of tweets since his inauguration and the white house considers them official statements. but the boston globe thinks that some of those tweets may, in fact, be the work of white house staffers. randi kaye has more. >> on october 31st, donald trump tweeted, special council is told to find crimes, weather crimes exist or not. i was opposed to the selection of mueller. see the spelling errors? it may not be the act of the president at all. the staff is now in the act, sending twitters under his name. >> the staff intends to use poor grammar and sentence fragments

and will capitalize random nouns. it's sort of like ben franklin style of writing. >> annie lynch is chief correspondent for the boston globe. she's spoken with sources who tell her oftentimes it is white house staff tapping out the president's thoughts and the president himself is signing off on their mistakes. >> the staff is just getting better at mimicking the style. it's becoming a little bit less clear who is who. i was talking to one person and he said you couldn't necessarily tell if a tweet was written by the president or by a staff member in his style. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: if there is one giveaway the tweet is actually by himself, it's spelling. or more specifically, misspelling. like spelling his wife melanie instead of melania. those are all likely president trump. >> the capitalization and the use of the really unusual

punctuation where a clear question will end with a period or exclamation point instead of a question mark, that -- those are elements of the staff, so those are not clear tells. the spelling is the clearest tell. >> reporter: dave robinson is a data scientist and a reporter with the atlantic magazine. he's developed a twitterbot called trump or not that somehow tells the likelihood of whether trump wrote a tweet himself. >> he's more likely to use language like crazy, badly, loser. his angry tweets show the real signatures of being from trump. >> this somewhat bland tweet from trump's twitter account blasting his new cia director had just a 15% chance of being written by the president himself. but this tweet from last month

using words like "witch hunt" and "fake news," along with two exclamation points has a good chance of being written by the president. the next time you think donald trump is in his oval office typing out a tweet to you, think again. randi kaye, cnn, new york. we have a big night ahead, including that president trump is trying to narrow the scope of any interviews by president mueller. in other words, no questions accepted about possible obstruction of justice. more ahead.

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