ground, and do something about it. get lawmakers to do their jobs, hold power to account, when there's breaking news around the world, run out there with wolf blitzer. >> we're looking forward to the show tonight. looking forward to it every night. cuomo primetime, 9:00 p.m. eastern only here on cnn. congratulations, chris, on a very, very exciting news for all of our viewers. that's it for me. "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. "outfront" next, sarah sanders appears to be caught in a lie on the trump tower russia meeting. and this one's on tape. how can americans believe what this white house says? plus, trump doing a victory lap, claiming he's accomplished more than any president. what does that mean when our closest allies say they've been alienated? and bill clinton addressing its tone-deaf comments about the monica lewinsky affair. he's now saying more tonight. let's go "outfront." good evening, i'm erin

burnett, "outfront" tonight, caught red handed, sarah sanders, it appears is not being truthful. caught saying something untrue about the infamous june trump tower meeting. the stories about trump's involvement in drafting the letter about the meeting have shifted again and again. as we learn of a bombshell from trump's legal team, an admission that president trump himself dictated the letter. when confronted about this today, sarah sanders deflected again and again and agn. >> you said last august that the president did not dictate the statement about the trump tower meeting during the campaign, but the lawyers wrote to the special counsel that the president did dictate that statement. what's the reason for that discrepancy? >> like you said, this is from a letter from the outside counsel, and i direct you to them to answer that question. >> certainly didn't dictate the statement. i wonder if you could tell us the basis was your comment when you made that in august. >> once again, this is a

reference back to a letter from the outside counsel. i understand but it's also pertaining to a letter from the president's outside counsel, and therefore i can't answer i >> i can't answer it. well, at least today she couldn't, because she was more than happy to answer questions about last august. and nitively. >> can you clarify the degree to which the president -- >> he certainly didn't dictate, but, you know, he, like i said, he weighed in, offered suggestion, like any father would do. >> well, of course the problem is, trump did dictate the letter according to trump's legal team, quote, the president dictated a short but accurate response to "the new york times" article on behalf of his son donald trump jr. now, of course, there's the -- whatever you want to call it -- mistruth on dictating or not dictating and then there's the point there, they say it's accurate. the don junior statement itself was that's misleading, it was not accurate.

it said the meeting was about russian adoptions, but we know he took the meeting after being told he'd get dirt on hillary clinton. which is why the president's lawyers admitting that he dictated that misleading, not accurate statement is so significant. the white house is facing a crisis of competence. it spokes to people's ability to tell the truth about basic facts. the press secretary cannot be trusted to tell the truth to the amer people when asked direct questions from the podium. what can we trust from the trump administration? sanders was asked that question today. >> how are we supposed to know what to believe? if the lawyers are saying it's entirely inaccurate? >> once again, i can't comment on a letter from the president's outside counsel and i direct you to them to answer it. [ all speak at once ] >> you said he did not dictate. the lawyers said he did. what is it? >> i cannot respond to a letter from the president's outside counsel. we've purposely walled off and i

refer you to them for comment. >> this is the no the first time the president and all his men have said something over and over trying to convince the american people that what they're saying is true. if you say it enough times, people start to believe it. take for example, paul manafort, the guy who's been indicted by the special counsel bob mueller. today, president donald j. trump tweeted in part, paul manafort came in the campaign very late and was with us for a short period of time. the president is ignoring that manafort was his campaign chairman, the man his allies admit was responsible for getting him the nomination in cleveland. instead the president emphasizes how long he was there which is intellectually dishonest. manafort was not a bit player. the trump administration thinks if they say something enough, people will believe it. >> there's been discussion of paul manafort, who played a very limited role. >> no, he didn't. and the next day, spicer was forced to say he should have been more precise in his words. because yet again in the case of manafort, the facts get in the way of team trump's story.

and now reporter ken vogel from "the new york times" obtaining texts from one of manafort's daughter to another, in which one of them writes, they're living in the same building all day and they go up and down all day long, hanging and plotting together. but i guess it was an insignificant role, right? no. pamela brown is "outfront" at the white house. with sarah sanders again today, yet again we are confronted very explicitly she said it was not dictated and now it was. is there anything that we can take at face value if the white house? >> it becomes increasingly difficult when the statements she makes from the podium are contradicted, in this case, by the president's own lawyers in this letter to roberter back in january. it was clear sarah sanders of the obfuscating when repeatedly pressed by reporters today on that discrepancy. she just kept saying i refer you

to the outside counsel, rather than correcting the record or explaining why she said he didn't dictate, but only weigh in, in the past. statement.side counsel released jay low, one of the president's attorneys, who was one of the authors on the letter said the statement in january reflects our understanding of the events that occurred. it is worth noting that jay sekulow himself on at least four occasions also said early on that the president did not dictate the statement on the don junior meeting. clearly something changed because in the alert he was a part of in january, he along with john do yw, said he did dictate. but it's unclear why sarah sanders didn't correct the record and why she couldn't talk about something she has talked about in the past. in the past she said that he didn't dictate, so why couldn't she correct it now? when there have been inconsistencies or discrepancies in the past, she said, i gave you the best information i had at the time. more recently she did that on

whether the president knew about the stormy daniels payment. she said, i would never knowingly give false information as a person of lahuman decency. so it's puzzling today why she couldn't just correct the record. >> i want to go to my panel. appreciate all of your time. john, you heard today sarah sanders, i can't talk about it. obviously she was very happy to talk about it and give a very definitive and explicit answer last summer. now the lawyers have come out and said the answer is untrue. now she says she can't talk about it. how big of a problem is this? >> well, erin, i happened to be watching the briefing today on . sort of reminisced as i was watching it on poor ron ziegler who found himself in inconsistent stories. what ron did, he finally got to a point where he declared all of his prior briefings inoperative.

that could happen here. and i also thought about how those press secretaries who have had a journalistic background have dealt with the situation, like gerald terrahost, who was gerald ford's pre secretary for a short while. because when ford pardoned nixon, terrahost said, i've had enough, i've told the press this wouldn't happen, so i'm out of here. so i don't know how she's going to handle this, but she has lost credibility. >> i mean, april, this is the issue. you're in that room, that press briefing room so many days. i just want to play again, josh dawsey, "the washington post" reporter when he said, how are we supposed to know what to believe. here's the exchange. >> how are we supposed to know what to believe? how can we believe what you're saying from the podium if the lawyers are saying it's entirely inaccurate? >> once again, i can't comment on a letter from the president's outside counsel and i direct you to them to answer it.

>> the words are, you said he did not dictate. the lawyers said he did. what is it? >> i cannot respond to a letter from the president's outside we've purposely walled off and i would refer you to them for comment. >> does that capture the mood in the room of how you feel, how other journalists feel, that now when you ask her a question, you don't know whetherer answer is honest or not? never mind whether she knows whether it's honest or not, you just don't know whether is honest. >> it captures the mood, it's captured the mood for months, maybe even longer than that. the bottom line is the question that we need to really wonder about is if sarah was lied to, and that's what she gave us, we do know that the president weighed in. but more so she said she's been walled off purposefully by rudy giuliani and that's a fact. they are finding out things from watching the news themselves,

hearing what rudy giuliani has to say. the question is, was she lied to, and how much has she been walled off, and how long has she been walled off? so i'm not going to say she's lying to us purposefully, but giving us things that she was given. the trust factor is huge. there's a lack of trust which ad a lack of credibility. and we have to continue to go over and over and question her and anyone else inside and outside of that w houseo find the truth and the real answers. >> part of the problem here is, what was in the statement was not accurate and it was misleading. so this whole meeting was about russian adoptions and we know the purpose of the meeting was for dirt on hillary clinton. so if the president of the united states, now president, is the one who dictated that, this becomes even more significant. and now his lawyers are sayingd dictation, it's just a private matter with "the new york

times," who cares. do you buy that? >> no. legally, it's a crime to lie in court, and it's a crime to lie to an fbi agent. but politically, lying to "the new york times," to the news media, to the american people, that o to matter. the american people have a right to expect truth and accuracy ir elected officials and spokespersons. while i'm intrigued by john's ideaf having the white house spokesperson just declare a truth bankruptcy and start anew, i don't think that's satisfactory to the american people. and it's part of an ongoing challenge to the rule of law here. again, it ought to be very troubling to anybody who thinks that truth and justice are both part of the american way. >> it should. some out there say, who cares, you keep talking about how he doesn't tell the truth on everything, it doesn't mr. well it does. because people believe you because you keep saying it. it's a big issue and i passionately believe that, i hope others do as well.

john, when sarah kept saying today, i refer you to outside counsel, i can't answer that, another thing she kept saying repeatedly is, stop asking me if he's going to pardon himself, because he h donenything wrong. and here's how that went down. >> thedent hasn't done ything wrong. thankfully the president hasn't done anything wrong. the president hasn't done anything wrong. once again, the president hasn't done anything wrong. thankfully the president hast done anything wrong. i reiterate the fact that the president hasn't done anything wrong. >> why is rudy giuliani out there saying the president can pardon himself? i'm just confused. >> well, she's obviously going to stay on her talking points. that's about the only thing that's clear there. and this whole matter of the self-pardon, again goes back to nixon. four days before he left office, the office of legal counsel issued a memo saying that they didn't believe a president could self-pardon.

it was done by an assistant attorney general, mary lauton. it's never had anything other than a policy statement by the office of legal counsel. it's never been resolved in a court. we don't know how a court would rule. i think a court would say a president could not. i'm one who hopes the special counsel does issue subpoenas and does test some of these points. >> this issue with rudy giuliani saying trump couldn himself. there's been reaction from republicans in congress. the senate judiciary committee chairman chuck grassley said trump should get a new lawyer if that is what giuliani is telling him. and senator ted cruz, just a few moments ago, i gotta play this for you. he's a constitutional expert, right? constitutional lawyer, you know, this is ted cruz we're talking about here. he's asked explicitly whether the president could pardon himself and i have to play you the exchange, david. >> the president says he can

pardon himself. would you agree with that? >> . [ inaudible ] >> that is not a constitutional issue i've studied, so i will withhold judgment at this point. >> david, that was 18 seconds. okay? you heard someone walking, but it was 18 seconds it took ted cruz to come up with an answer to that question. which is, oh, i don't know. what do you say to that? >> you know, senator cruz is ushl usually not short on opinions on constitutional law. so that's what i think you would call a very pregnant pause. john is right, it's an open question legally, although the office of legal counsel at the department of justice which isg

presidential prerogatives, did conclude that the president couldn't do it. you can imagine a court reaching same result on the theory that self-pardoning is abo as self-judging, being a judge in your own case. this is certainly not what the framers of the constitution had in mind. >> april, a quick final word. the 18-second, pregnant pause from ted cruz. never heard him speechless before. >> exactly. his silence was deafening for those few moments, for those few seconds. but the bottom line is, i'm going back to what your last guest said, the framers. our founding fathers created a brilliant system of checks and balances, and it seems that the checks are not balancing out when it comes to this president. and i'm going back to that tweet that the president said, he had the absolute right to pardon himself. i asked the question today, is that an assumption that he will

be found guilty by robert mueller? and again she said the same thing. he's done nothing wrong. the question is, what is going on? can he pardon himself? and there's no checks and balances at this point. >> right, right. first of all, why are you even vant?ng about it if it's not and to any human being, it would seem an absurd concept to put it out there on the table, although i understand it hasn't been legally tested. thank you all. "outfront" next, president trump insisting he's accomplished more in his first 500 days than any president ever. plus, bill clinton speaking moments ago, trying to d damage control after what he said about not apologizing to monica lewinsky and not thinking that he should in any way, shape, or form. and are trump republican leaders just drinking the trump kool-aid when it comes to the russia investigation? >> what i'm concerned most about, like most americans, was there any collusion, there was no collusion. to deliver up to 7 hours of sleep support. number one sleep doctor recommended remfresh-your nightly sleep companion.

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saved me a ton of money. -love you, gary! -you don't have to buzz in. it's not a question, gary. on march 1, 1810 -- [ ding ] -frédéric chopin. -collapsing in 226 -- [ ding ] -the colossus of rhodes. -[ sighs ] louise dustmann -- [ ding ] -brahms' "lullaby," or "wiegenlied." -when will it end? [ ding ] -not today, ron. president trump is bragging about his first 500 days in office, touting his tax cuts and more as quote, 500 days of american greatness. so what's his top foreign policy achievement? sarah sanders was asked about that. >> what does the president think his greatest foreign policy achievement is in the first 500 days? >> i think there have been a number of major foreign policy achievements. certainly i think the strengthening of relationships with a number of foreign leaders. >> sanders referring to the

summit with kim jong-un, but not everyone in the president's own party think that what he's doing is so great with america's allies. after the president's announcement that he's imposing tariffs on imports from canada and mexico. >> it increases acrimony among our friends. our punis our friends. >> and america's allies agree with those republicans. today the british prime minister telling trump that the new tariffs were unjustified and deeply disappointing. the french president calling the decision illegal and a mistake. and the canadian prime minister justin trudeau calls it insulting and unacceptable. "outfront" tonight, mark, i appreciate your tonight. republicans have tried publicly and privately for months to get you not to do this. but it's happening. why isn't the president listening to his own party and

allies? >> keep in mind, this was a platform he campaigned on and won the nomination against a very crowded field and won the election on this policy. so i think he actually has united the republican party. i understand there are people on capitol hill that have some concerns. and i think that the president looks at this and recognizes the eu has four times the size of tariffs on cars that america does. that our neighbors to the north have 300% tariff on butter, 250% tariff on cheese. it's not a level playing field. the president wants to get to true free trade, but that's going to require in the short-term tar offives to make sure we can level the playing field. >> the response has not been a move toward free trade. it's been retaliation, taf tariffs on whiskey, harley-davidson, pork production. this is in several trump-voting

states. does this give him pause at all, that the retaliation here is going to hurt his voters, does he care? >> of course he cares, erin. i think the president believes that the trade policy he's pursuing will help bring along some of the benefits that so many americans receive right now. you led with it a few minutes ago. we have the lowest unemployment we've had in 50 years. it's the lowest unemployment for african americans and hispanic americans in history. the president's instincts on regulatory burden and tax relief have had tremendous impact. he's held off on the tariffs and hoped negotiations would work, but so far we've not received the same sort of access to markets the president wants american workers to have. >> you're in a situation where there's going to be a summit with north korea. the president is talking about a summit with putin. and yet american allies are getting tariffs, one can understand how it's confusing. you're used to dealing with republicans and some are saying they'll push back.

it's not the democrats, it's your own party. here's what a couple ofhem have said. >> we're working on legislation to be able to negate the fact that he's abusing the authorities that were given to him under the national security waiver. >> wouldn't that be support in the house where you sit for legislation that would require the president to get congressional approval before putting on tariffs? there's talk in the senate about doing it, would you support something in the house? >> absolutely. >> mark, have you talked to senator corker? are republicans going to block what you're trying to do? >> erin, i don't think it's news that congress wants to have more authority than the executive branch, and is always looking for another opportunity to have more congressional approval. i think the reality is, the relationship with senator corker is such that throughout the last 18 months it's been up and down, and there's been times where he supports the iran deal, opposes

the iran deal, supports the president and then doesn't, i think that's why he's not running for re-election. >> what about congressman hern? >> we have a good relationship wi hern. but to try to reclaim powers that belong to the executive branch, i don't think it's news worthy. >> if they're going to fight you, that's your problem. are you worried they're going to shut you down? >> i think the reality has been that the republican party has been having a debate on for a long time on trade, and again, this president won the republican nomination with this trade platform. he won the presidential election. this is not a surprise. it's what he campaigned on for the american people. i think he's delivered enormous economic benefit to the american people thus far, and i think he's going to do the same with his trade policy. >> another major legislative problem for republicans right now and for you, mark, is immigration. republicans, some of them threatening to band with democrats, a problem for you because it's your job to deal with them. they want to get a vote to the

floor on a lot of immigration proposals. are they going to embarrass the president? >> i think the president has been clear as to what he wants on the immigration front. we've been working to come forward with an immigration plan in the next weeko ten days that we hope will garner 218 votes in the house they thiat i will do what the president wants to, securin the border, providing certainty for daca, also making sure we have permanent reforms to make sure america stays safe. that's again one of the promises the president made to the american people. >> i want to make sure we're explicit here. you're talking about tariffs is a promise that he made to the american people. i don't recall that as a promise. i recall a wall. i recall fair trade. but slapping on tariffs that americans are going to pay for, that wasn't a campaign promise. >> erin, i think he was pretty clear as to what he thought of nafta and what he thought would be the path way forward on trade. i think, again, what the

ultimate result that we're aiming for is true, fair trade. we wanted to have access to foreign markets for american productsut i believe the president strongly believes in the short-term, 15 months has not produced the results we want on the negotiations. thefore tariffs have been implemented. >> all right. there's news that just crossed . i want to get your reaction. the president putting out a statement. i hope you're aware of it, if not, let me make sure. super bowl champion philadelphia eagles are not coming to the white house tomorrow. no longer coming. because a number of players wouldn't come, because according to the statement from the president, they disagree with their president over the national anthem. who canceled on whom, mark? >> erin, at this point, i don't know. but i know it's disappointing. the president's hosted many world champions, even the patriots last year. so it's unfortunate when politics gets in the middle of this.

i'm a redskins fan, so i look forward to the redskins next year. >> some members of the patriots didn't attend last year, but the president still hosted the team. why is this different? a few have been vocal in their feelings about how they feel about the national anthem and lg and yet it appears, again i don't know whether they canceled or he disinvited them, that could be a significant distinction. but what's the diffee between the new england patriots and the philadelphia eagles? >> i think withhe patriots, there was less politics throughout the process. they were excited to come here and celebrate and be honored for the world champions they are. with many of the eagles players, there's been more politics to the process, but ultimately, this just broke and i don't know wheth whether or not the eagles decided they didn't want to come or wther or not the invitation was withdrawn. >> thank you very much. next, trump tweets that the appointment of a special counsel is totally unconstitutional. according to whom? and president trump, well,

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tonight bill clinton trying to clarify what he said this morning about his affair with monica lewinsky, when he said he hadn't apologized to her ever here's what he said moments ago. >> the truth is, i got hot under the collar because of the way the questions were asked. and i think what was lost are the two points that i made that are important to me. the suggestion was that i never apologized for what caused all the trouble for me 20 years ago. so first point is, i did. i meant it then, i mean it now. i apologize to my family, to monica lewinsky and her family, and to the american people, before a panel of ministers in the white house, which was widely reported.

so i was -- i did that. i meant it then and i mean it today. i live with it all the time. the second is, that i support the "me too" movement, and i think it's long overdue. and i've always tried to support it, in the decisions and policies that i've advanced. >> "outfront" now, keith boykin, former clinton white house aide and rod aspreeno, former candidate for governor of new york and friend of the president for more than 15 years. you heard what he said. i apologize to my family, to monica lewinsky and her family before a panel of ministers in the white house. talking about his public apology. now let me play you the exchange this morning. >> when asked if you ever apologized and you said you had? >> i had. i apologized to everybody in the world. >> you didn't apologize to her? >> i have not talked to her. >> do you feel you owe her an

apology? >> no. i do not -- i have never talked to her. but i did say publicly on more than one occasion that i was sorry. that's very different. the apology was public. >> it is very different, keith. >> he did say on more than one ootion -- >> he said publicly i said it, but he never spoke to her directly. >> i don't know what he means by this, and quite frankly i'm not involved directly. but it wouldn't hurt to apologize. it's not a hard thing to do. it happened 20 years ago. he would be forgiven if he apologized and move on. it was a consensual adult relationship. but i think he needs to learn to use a little more discretion when he talks about these things. this is something he had to expect was going to come up, certainly. i'm reminded someone earlier today, there's a couple examples where bill clinton has hurt

democrats in 2000 when al gore ran because of the lewinsky ing. in 2008 when he mentioned jesse jackson got the same number of votes that barack obama did. that hurt hillary clinton in her race. in 2016, when he stepped on the airplane with loretta lynch. he's done three things that have hurt three democratic presidential candidates, and you would think the guy who is so smart politically would know certain things. >> he was clearly angry. and you're making the point adult consensual relationship. talking about someone who was 21 years old, he was president of the united states. the world has changed in how people see that. yes, she was an adult. but can you really call that consensual when you're talking about an intern in the white house. now this would be held to a completely different standard. >> yeah, and you did have sex with that woman and you never apologized. and you know what, he owes her an apology. he owes her an apology then and now. and for him to sit there and say, i did make an apology publicly, come on. that wouldn't even be acceptable

today and it should not have been acceptable then. his book is the president is missing, that's the title of his book. what's missing is empathy, honor, an apology, those are what's missing. >> he also went on to say, so not only did he try to say, i didn't apologize to her, but i didn't need to, because i apologized to everybody, including her publicly. he said he suffered too. let me play that. >> nobody believes that i got out of that for free. i left the white house $16 million in debt. but you typically have ignored gaping facts in describing this, and i bet you don't even know them. this was litigated 20 years ago. two-thirds of the american people sided with me. >> sounds like trump. >> yeah. and what would the standard be against trump right now? by the way -- >> the standard is, his voters don't care and he might get

re-elected just like bill clinton was. >> the problem is that bill clinton is not the president of the united states. he was the president 20 years ago when this monica lewinsky thing happened. >> which is worse. >> and unfortunately -- it's not worse. what's worse is that we have a president today who has 16 different women who have accused him of sexual misconduct and he's never apologized for any of those, rob. that's far worse than bill clinton's failure to say something she should have said in the interview today about his conduct 20 years ago. we have a president today, in 2018, who has still not apologized for his sexual misconduct with 16 different women. >> first of all, most of them are alleged. the one that they -- and he's not admitting it, but stormy daniels -- >> he said he was going to sue. he didn't sue any of them. you know what, because they weren't lying? just like stormy daniels wasn't lying? >> exhibit a of why trump got elect elected, exhibit a is bill clinton and exhibit b is hillary clinton. people were fed up with them and

their shenanigans. >> how is it they're fed up with bill clinton for something they did 20 years ago but they're not fed up with donald trump with what he's doing right now? >> you just went through the laundry list of why he hurt hillary. and remember, hillary slammed the four women that accused her husband. slammed them. [ all speak at once ] >> no, no, no. >> i just want to -- okay, i just want to jump in here because of the breaking news. you heard mark say he didn't know who disinvited whom. the eagles are unable to come to the white house tomorrow. it appears to imply the president doesn't want them there, but doesn't come out and say he disinvited them. he makes the whole point about -- that they wouldn't -- the whole issue is about not wanting to stand up for the national anthem. >> look, there are a lot of teams that were invited when president obama or bush -- there were personal players who didn't agree with their politics, about you they showed up. once trump got elected, every

team that won the championship, there was division, whether to show up, not show up. first of all -- >> are you blaming the players? >> they should not have been disinvited. the invitation should have remained. >> are you blaming the players? >> i'm not blaming the players, but the players have taken the stance of not going to the office of the president -- >> but you're saying it was the wrong thing to do, should have kept the invitation? they could come or not come? >> today trump is out there saying he can pardon himself. he's disinviting the nfl super bowl champion from comin to the white house. [ all speak at once ] >> they were saying they weren't going to come. >> but the people who wanted to come, he's still disinviting them from coming. this is characteristic of a man who thinks he's an autocrat, a king, a dictator. he's acting that way. giuliani's saying he could shoot somebody and he cannot get indicted for that and the president still thinks he can pardon himself for his cause. >> the warriors, the patriots, the players said, i'm not going because i don't believe in his

politics. they don't show up -- >> because donald trump -- it's the chicken and egg question. donald trump is telling people that -- he's condemning black nfl players before they've even said anything, he was out there condemning african american athletes telling them they did not have free speech about police brutality? >> do you think that when president obama was in the office that every champion in every sport agreed a hundred percent with him? no. >> when did president obama ever disinvite people, when did he ever attack nfl athletes or nhl athletes or mlb athletes and tell them they were not american because they were exercising their free speech? president obama never did that. donald trump is doing that, that makes him divisive. he's dividing us even about something that's supposed to bring us together -- football. he's dividing us about sports. this man lives to divide our country. >> i think they should have been invited and they should have gone. and there should not be a

disinvitation, but they both made it back. it's not just the president. >> bad people on both sides? >> yes. [ laughter ] >> all right, thank you. next, this is the man who may be the next house speaker. >> was there any collusion? there was no collusion. >> interesting he can make that verdict at this point. and the one state that could dash democrats' hopes of winning back the house. do you offer $4.95 online equity trades? great question. see, for a full service brokerage like ours, that's tough to do. schwab does it. next question. do you offer a satisfaction guarantee? a what now? a satisfaction guarantee. like schwab does. man: (scoffing) what are you teaching these kids? ask your broker if they offer award-winning full service and low costs, backed by a satisfaction guarantee. if you don't like their answer, ask again at schwab.

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tonight president tru callingpecial counsel probe unconstitutional, tweeting the appointment of the special counsel is totally unconstitutional in all caps, with an exclamation point. despite that, we play the game because i, unlike the democrats, have done nothing wrong. exclamation point. "outfront" tonight eric swalwell, member of the intelligence and judiciary committees. congressman, unconstitutional? >> yes, the way that he is acting is absolutely unconstitutional. he is not, despite what he thinks, above the law. good evening, erin. you know, he and his white house may not be able to say he's not above the law, but we in congress should say it. paul ryan should say it. kevin mccarthy should say it. mitch mcconnell should say it. when they don't say it, they leave this president unsupervised. when he's unsupervised, he

pushes the boundaries threatening the rule of law and our constitution. >> kevin mccarthy is saying, in fact, that there was no collusion, coming to a conclusion that of course the special counsel has not yet come to. here's what he told our dana bash yesterday. >> what i'm concerned most about like most americans, was there any collusion, there was no collusion, this has gone on for more than a year. it's been investigated in so many different manners. >> this is the man who, you know, if the republicans stay in control, could be the speaker of the house. >> that's right, erin. with paul ryan, we've seen shrinking leadership and just absolute silence. with kevin mccarthy, we would see a parrot for the president. he can't say there's no collusion. he and the republicans on the intelligence committee have refused to look for collusion. in fact, they've done everything but take out the shovels and bury the evidence. they won't even allow the

transcripts out from the investigation we were able to do. they didn't use the subpoena power. they took every witness at their word. people who are not worthy of being taken at their word and never followed up to challenge anything they said. hopefully the senate can do this in a bipartisan way, but if not, and we win congress, come november we have to telhe american people what the russians did and what we're willing to do to make sure it doesn't happen again. >> you say mccarthy would be a parrot for the president. senator cornyn was asked about whether the white house is lying about the president's response to the john junior meeting at trump tower. obviously they said he didn't dictate the letter. now it turns out that he did. as we know it was misleading and inaccurate. cornyn says, quote, i don't know whether it is that they don't go to the trouble to learn what the facts are before they issue statements, about you but it en being a nothing burger, so it's beside the point. the meeting ended up not delivering what don junior

thought it would, so is it beside the point? >> no. in investigations, you can learn a lot about a subject's conduct for the underlying crime, not by what they did and what you know about the crime, but how they acted once an iestigation was launched. and whether it was the firing of jacomey, or what we see now with the dictating of the june 9th meeting, that's called consciousness of guilt. and that may, i think, reflect on that he knew this meeting took place. going back to what i talked about earlier, we have the ability on the house intelligence committee to find out whether or not donald trump jr. was in contact with his father about that meeting taking place. because we have phone records that wot willing to subpoena and follow up to see whether there were calls made to the candidate himself. should have looked into that. >> we know a call was made to a blocked number almost immediately after news of this meeting came. but of course, yes, they would be able to determine if that blocked number was the president's, who has a blocked number.

but we don't know that, because they wouldn't subpoena -- >> but they'll just say no collusion again. >> the president tweeted he has an absolute right to pardon himself. you heard sarah sanders saying, i don't know why anyone's asking if he has the right because he hasn't done anything wrong. but the constitutional expert, ted cruz was asked about it, and there was 18 seconds of dead silence before he said, he didn't know, he hadn't looked into it. what do you say? is the suggestion of the president pardoning himself grounds for impeachment or not? >> you don't have to be a constitutional scholar to know that you can't pardon yourself. you can't be your own judge. that was the opinion of the department of justice. the president's department of juste. back in 1974, they answered that issue with richard nixon. they said no person in america can be their own judge. so that still applies today. that opinion is uncontroverted. it's disappointing that ted cruz can't affirmatively say that to

the american people. that's what's so frustrating. we're not helpless as this president tries to roll over the rule of law.our founders design constitution that puts a check on the president and we just see capitulations up and down the republican leadership. and i don't think the american going to stand for that come november. >> congressmanswalwell, just a few moment ago, bill clinton came out to try to deal with the hub hubb hubbub that has arisen from him saying he's never apologized to monica lewinsky. >> and he was asked about this and here is how he responded. >> you have to really ignore what the context was then. but, you know, she's living in a different context and she did it

for different reasons. so but i disagree with her. >> who do you agree with? him, or senator jilli brand saying is he should have resigned. >> i was raised when you screw up and make a mistake, you say sorry and if it is not good enough to the person you are saying sorry to, you keep saying sorry. what is important is make sure that every woman in the work place is protected. they have to deal with harassment and discrimination every day and we should move quickly. >> the bottom line is him saying he should have apologized. but not weighing in the on

resignation. >> again, i was 15. i think women should be protected and women should be protected in the work place. >> california front and center, eight states are going to the polls. and the jungle primary could be the biggest step yet.miguel mar >> reporter: california democrats, buoyant, counting on a blue wave. and flipping seats from republicans to democratic. if a republicdra democrat is on what happens? >> it means the democrat wins.

>> the fear is that the vote gets so split that no democrat beats a republican. >> reporter: in orange county, an astounding 45 candidates are running for three seats. so many are well-funded, well-organized democrats raising the prospect, the democratic vote could be split so much that only republicans can advance to the november ballot. you were running why did you drop out? >> i dropped out because so many runs were running. >> i withdrew and decided to get behind the one who could win. >> reporter: improve the chances of the remaining 15 democratic candidates. and national democrats weighing

if, spending millions on advertising in english and spanish. a rarely used >> reporter: so worried, national democrats are even running attack ads against some republican candidates in all three districts. trying to d republican turnout. >> we are going to have a tough primary. >> reporter: harley ruda is in a unique position. all of the different aspects of the party is getting behind the campaign. >> reporter: democrats will need more than his vote.

>> if we can get those democrats out to vote and i think it is going to carry over. and i think it is going to get good results. >> reporter: showing more republicans than democrats voting. >> might uel, what does this do democratic chances in november? >> reporter: they need every seat that they can get. 23 seat that's democrats need to flip in order to flip the house from red to blue. if they are locked out of the seats in orange county, that is going to enormously complicate the math for them. it comes down to voter turnout. in the primary off election like we have tomorrow, democrats rarely get out to vote. >> all eyes out on california.

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thank you for joining us. you can watch "outfront" any time anywhere just go to cnn go. anderson cooper with ac 360 starts right now. good evening. cap several days of combative tweets. one of them contained a newly published letter from two of his lawyers. put it go all together, paints a picture of a president perhaps getti getting ready to test the power of the law. declared he has the absolute right