♪ i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia. we welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. the real news in this week's inspector general report is that it confirmed the justification that deputy ag rod rosenstein once gave president trump to fire james comey. so what does it mean if mueller

tries to tell rosenstein there was obstruction of justice? and much fun was made of the over the top hollywood style movie the president showed kim jong-un at the singapore summit. but as a propaganda exercise, did it actually deserve five stars? plus, a lawsuit accuses harvard of limiting asian american admissions by downgrading applicants regarding personal traits like, likability, kindness and being widely respected. do the ivies discriminate against asians? and john travolta with me to talk about his new movie about convicted gangster john gotti based on a book by his son gotti jr. i'll ask the two of them if the film glamorizes the gangster life. first, we finally got the inspector general's 500-plus page report this week about the fbi's hand ling of hillary clinton's e-mail and

predictably, both sides claimed victories of a sort. much has been said but not that which i think is most important. for me, the ig report crystallized the looming conflict that will have to be faced by deputy attorney genera rod rosenstein. so let's gain this out. the report says that fbi director james comey was right to not charge hillary clinton regarding her extremely careless handling of e-mail. but it criticizes comey for being insubordinate to loretta lynch. he should not have spoken publicly about an investigation that did not result in an indictment. in doing so, he ignored both practice and protocol. but the report concluded that he did not act with political bias against hillary, hence there was something for everyone to point to in the report. plenty of blame to go around including for the fbi agent and lawyer who had an affair and exchanged inappropriate texts,

including agent struck saying he'd stop president trump's election. even if his bias didn't impact his work. the ig report will soon fade but the issue that will remain is special counsel robert mueller's probe which is investigating whether the trump campaign cocluded with the russian meddling and whether president trump obstructed justice with regard to the probe. presumably the latter focuses on president trump's firing of comey. did the president act with the intention of thwarting a lawful investigation? that's the issue for mueller. critics will say the president fired comey to stop the russian probe. including the investigation of michael flynn and the president himself. and that he admitted as much to lester holt and the russian ambassador. the president will say he's got an unfettered right to fire comey and that he did so based on the recommendation of the justice department. and who made that written recommendation? rod rosenstein. remember, it was rosenstein as

deputy ag who sent this memo to ag jeff sessions on may 9, 2017 tharkts provided the justification for president trump to fire comey. in the memo, rosenstein is sharply critical of comey's handling of the clinton investigation. he ignored another longstanding principle. we do not hold press conferences to release derogatory information about the subject of a declined criminal investigation. and there was this. the way the director handled the conclusion of the e-mail investigation was wrong. as a result, the fbi is unlikely to regain public and congressional trust until it has a director who understands the gravity of the mistakes and pledges never to repeat them. having refused to admit his errors, the director cannot be expected to implement the necessary corrective actions, unquote. that language sounds just like the scolding of comey in the ig report. so here's my question.

how can rosenstein remain the arbitter of what happens to mueller's report on obstruction given that he himself provided the basis for the president to fire comey? even if it was a pretext used by trump, rosenstein wrote it. mueller will soon hand to rosenstein his assessment of whether the president obstructed justice when he fired comey. the president will say he was following rosenstein's memo. the logic of which was just reaffirmed by the justice department inspector general. that's going to put rosenstein in an untenable position as a fact witness for the president's assertion. it's hard to see how he can carry out his role. but it's easy to surmise that any obstruction case was just made that much harder. that's my view. i want to know what you think. go to my website. answer this question -- will the rosenstein memo rargd comey's

firing ultimately protect president trump against a charge of obstruction of justice? joining me to discuss is nelson cunningham. he was federal prosecutor in new york's southern district under rudy giuliani. also served as general council of the senate judiciary committee under joe biden and white house general counsel under bill clinton. thanks for coming back. react to my opinion with your own. >> it's a pleasure to be with you. i think if we were talking about criminal charges of obstruction of justice, you might be right. but i think the likelihood that the recommendation by robert mueller will be to indict the president is close to zero. it's a constitutional rabbit hole that would take years to litigate through the courts whether or not a sitting president could be subject to a criminal indictment for actions that he took either before or during his presidency. i think it's highly unlikely

that mueller will go there. so what will mueller do? he might recommend impeachment. if he concludes the pattern that the president exhibited starting with comey -- not even starting with comey. the famous -- the firing of comey, the work on the memo on air force one. the president's reaction to the news of the trump tower meeting. there's a whole pattern and practice of things that could be construed as obstruction. if mueller concludes and recommends the president should be taken to task for that, it would be impeachment and that would fall to the house of representatives and rod rosenstein is not conflicted. he becomes a fact witness and not -- >> but nelson, it doesn't -- correct me if i'm wrong but the mueller report, when it's produced on obstruction, whatever the findings might be, does not go directly to the congress. there's a very important way station. and that's rod rosenstein.

how can rosenstein take potegs of that report where a critical issue was the decision to fire comey where the president's view was drafted by rosenstein himself? do you not see a conflict in that? >>rosenstein's decision when he gets -- first of all, you make a very good point. let me start there. you put your finger on something that we all need to give some thought to. but the decision that rosenstein makes when he gets the report is what do i do with this? do i sit on this and keep it confidential? or do i make all of it or part of it public? do i make all of it or part of it available to the house of representatives and to the senate? that is a fairly simple binary decision. any small role that he might have played in one part of the charges that mueller might be recommending, you put your finger on something important but i'm not certain it's going to be at the end of the day

dispositive. it's something for us to keep an eye on and to view as we see mueller move forward to conclusion. >> so let me now play contraryian with my own opinion. something that you made reference to. there's the view of the president which is i have the unfettered right to fire comey, and i was relying on an opinion by rod rosenstein. i fired comey because of the way in which he handled hillary's e-mail, as crazy as that would sound to many. of course, contrary to that is the interview that he gave to lester holt. let's remind people of some of what he had to say. roll the tape. >> but regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey. knowing there was no good time to do it. in fact, when i decided to do it, i said to myself, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. it's an excuse by the democrats for having lost an election that

they should have won. >> nelson, react to that tape and its significance. >> as a prosecutor, there is nothing better than the witness' own words, especially when captured on tape or video. i think the president could not have been clearer in his comments to lefster holt about why he fired comey. at the begin thafth week he called rosenstein into his office and said i want to fire comey. please write me a memo justifying it. and rosenstein went off and rose the memo after the president had already decided to fire him. we know from his own words to lester holt what was going through the president's mind. whatever the recommendation, i was going to fire him because of this russia thing. as a prosecutor, there's nothing more satisfying than playing a tape like that to the fact finder. >> nelson cunningham, thanks for your expertise. >> a pleasure to be with you. i want to know what you at home think go to my website at

smerconish.com. will the rosenstein memo regarding comey's firing ultimately protect the president against a charge of obstruction of justice? i know it's a little bit in the weeds. but you can handle it. what's going on via twitter and facebook? i'll read some during the course of the program. what do you have? your analysis of the ig report is off base and biased. it revealed a double standard. the fbi announced news of investigations about clinton but not trump. secondly, trump has publicly stated he fired comey because comey would not stop the russia investigation. i don't think that my view is biased, april. i'm trying to call them as i see them based on the evidence. i'm just drawing attention to the fact that the president's view in terms of the paper trail, why he fired comey, the rosenstein memo, was bolstered by the ig report. the president can now point to

the ig report and say, see, i told you so. that's why i did it. is that conflicted in the record? is there other evidence? there certainly is but it's a strong point for him, i think. one more if i've got time for. quickly. damn you smerconish for making me think. this obstruction thing is going nowhere. that's my view aynex. i'm trying to say i think the claim, we don't know what mueller has. let's begin with that. but based on that which is in the public domain, it seems to me that the case for obstruction against the president was this week made more difficult. up ahead, that seeming me sophomoric video the president delivered to kim jong-un on an ipad, was it more sophisticated than first believed? and the asian-american students lawsuit against harvard for discrimination got a new twist. they are accusing the university of rejecting them because of their personalities. plus, i talk with john tra

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question about the singapore summit had nothing to do with did trump give up too much or what are the details or what's the timeline. no, no, no. i am interested in that four-minute video that the president showed kim on an ipad showing what north korea can be if it will allow itself to be integrated into the world community. in some quarters, the white house is being derided for use of that video as if it's an elevator pitch. trump trying to sell kim a timeshare in phoenix or some such thing. that was my first reaction, too. but when i looked at it a second time, what stood out to me was the basketball dunk. in the midst of all of this footage showing progress in north korea, trains and buildings and medical advance, comes the dunk of a basketball. >> a story about a special moment in time when a man is presented with one chance that may never be repeated. >> that's when i said, is this

the equivalent of when we went to the drive-in in the '70s and the image of a hot dog would go sailing by and suddenly you felt hungry? is it possible that this was not some slap dash production but rather was the result of thought and deliberation as to how do we reach based on some psychological profile? how do we reach chairman kim? is it more sophisticated than we might have thought at first blush? joining me is dr. ken declava, a former u.s. diplomat and psychiatrist who used to work with the state department. he's profiled various world leaders, including kim. doctor, on a propaganda scale, how many stars out of five? >> good morning, michael. i give it 4.5. >> and why 4.5? >> i agree with what you were saying in your introduction that the video is remarkably sophisticated, and i think it

was carefully and thoughtfully designed to appeal not only to chairman kim but also to other members of the north korean elite and also in an indirect way to the people of south korea and president moon. i thought it had symbolism, powerful emotions and marvelously put together. >> let me run through some of the images. i think we're showing, as you're speaking, a portion of the propaganda video. the basketball dunk. i'll show a still shot of that. he's a basketball fan. we know that from dennis rodman. that was intended to appeal to his emotions? >> yes. in a nice way. the important thing about the video overall is kim jong-un likely grew up with videos. as you know, his father, the previous leader kim jong-il, was a media, film and video buff who

had a collection of over 30,000 films and saw himself as a film director and was actually in his earlier part of his career the director of pop ganda and withinant so far as to kidnap two south korean filmmakers who he kept in north korea, i believe, for nearly a decade to help him direct video production. so a young kim jong-un as a child and adolescent grew up with this exposure. so i think that way of trying to reach out to chairman kim and influence him again shows a great deal of sophistication and i believe real thoughtfulness. i think -- >> there's an image of a symphony in that propaganda video. why the symphony shot? i want to quickly run through some of these and have you tell me briefly why are they there. why the symphony? >> i think the symphony was wonderful. and it echoed the visit of the

new york philharmonic to pyongyang in 2008. and at the end of that performance which was for about i think 1,000 people from the north korean elite, the symphony played a beautiful korean song that all koreans know. and the entire audience wept. and writers, christian amanpour talked about the emotion in the room when she did her piece on cnn. and writers of "the washington post" have talked about how much emotion that stirred at the time and really raised a lot of hope. and i think the video -- >> sylvester -- >> it's very beautifully done. >> sylvester stallone in the oval office with president trump. why the stallone image? >> i think again, similar to the basketball dunk, and sort of hinting at chairman kim's friendship with dennis rodman, i think it was designed to appeal in different ways.

>> final question, how will we know if it worked? >> i think we won't know yet, but i think the real way to know if it works is how it plays into the ability of president trump to develop a personal relationship with chairman kim that can lead to a more lasting diplomacy and the beginning as we've seen, president trump said this is part of a long process. but i think the ability to deepen those relationships and hopefully lead to lasting diplomacy. i might add that a personal relationship may not be enough. the work of diplomacy is very difficult. but without that type of personal relationship, an ability to reach chairman kim's psyche, if you will, then diplomacy would be very difficult. so i think -- >> doctor, thank you.

>> i think the video was a very unique and singular way to try and reach him. and the media reports i've seen is that kim jong-un, chairman kim liked the video. the other thing we'll look for is whether the official north korean news agency kcna posts the video or fragments of the video on their website. >> doctor, thanks for your experti expertise. we appreciate it. >> thank you very much. i appreciate being on your show. >> what are you saying via twitter and facebook? what do we have? the movie trump showed kim was more suited to pitching a trump rezorts than achieving denuclearization. pcc texas, that's exactly what i thought. and then i watched it again and i recognized this. i was not the intended audience. one more, quickly. why can't you just give the man credit for what he's done regarding north korea. if it was obama did this, praise

would be coming in by the droves. i don't like trump either but i do give credit where it's due. lauren, were you not paying attention? that's exactly what i just did. i said when i saw the video the first time, i didn't get it. and then i gave him the benefit of the doucbt and just brought n an expert who pointed out we were not the intended audience and he thinks it was pretty effective. come on. up ahead -- asian americans are now on the vanguard of the latest debate over affirmative action. students are suing harvard saying that even when they ace standardized tests, they are being discriminated against in the admissions process. and it's being blamed on their personalities. plus, john travolta plays mobster john gotti in a new role based on gotti jr.'s memoir. does it glamorize the bad guys? i'll ask travolta and junior. i have type 2 diabetes.

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the lawsuit against harvard university for discriminating against asian american applicants just took a new twist with claims the bias against them is, a, quote, personal thing including such traits as positive personality, likability and attractive to be with. this according to federal court filings in boston on friday by students for fair admissions based on an analysis of more than 160,000 student records. their argument is that asian americans scored higher than other racial or ethnic groups on quantifiable measures like test scores, grades and extra curricular activities only to be rejected via the more subjective personal ratings. here's the question. is there an unspoken quota on the number of asians at the ivies? joining me to discuss is indian

american vijay, head of admissions consultant sos admissions and author of the book "almost black." the true story of how i got into medical school by pretending to be black. his sister the actress mindy kaling. quickly remind people your own story. >> so many years ago, i posed as an african-american in order to gain admission to medical school and take advantage of the school's racially discriminatory affirmative action policies. i managed to get in despite the fact i had a low 3.1 gpa. although i don't recommend that anyone do the same today. >> do you believe there is an unspoken quota at harvard and elsewhere on the number of asians? >> well, actually, if you look at their statistical data, it shows that. what happens is harvard is basically arguing in court that asian americans don't do as well in a category that they call personality traits. which is essentially subjective

category based upon things like letters of recommendation. but if you look at their own admissions data, it shows asian americans do as well on personality in interviews as other racial categories. however, in the admissions office, rates personality on a trait they call demographics. when harvard says asian americans have weaker personalities than other categories to get into admissions, what they really mean is asian americans don't help us fill our racial quotas. that is what the demographic trait means. >> what's really going on here in your view? is it your view that asians do so well on those quantifiable measures that they would frankly be dominant at harvard and elsewhere unless there were these other factors at play? >> so according to harvard's own admissions data, based on objective things, test scores,

asian americans would be 43% of the class. they are 19% of the class. because harvard uses criteria such as demographics, which is a fancy way of saying racism to discriminate against asian americans. so they are very, in their internal data, they're very clear they consider race as a factor in admissions and that they use these quote/unquote subjective criteria to discriminate against asian americans even though they perform as well in things like interviews as other applicants. >> right. but the purpose, i guess, ultimately, and maybe harvard wouldn't say it this way, but i will as a father whose children have gone through the admissions process and so i'm, therefore, familiar generally with the way this all works. what harvard would say is we're trying to have balance on our campus. not for only asians but also for students of color, for whites, et cetera. they all benefit when we've got

a good mix in our student body. is that not a worthy goal? >> this is what we call a justification for racism. if you look at other campuses like ucla where i went to or the university of michigan or uc berkeley, you'll find they have diverse student bodies and great educational experiences for their students. without practicing racial discrimination in the form of afurmative action. i reject your argument that afu affirmative action racism is essential to improve the quality of education for students. >> i think you're reading a bit too much into what i said but i'll verbalize it this way. as the father of four white students, only two of whom are now in school, i think they benefit from being surrounded by being surrounded by a very diverse population. so the goal of diversity is not just for the student who otherwise might not be admitted but also to the benefit of white

kids like my own because i think that it's healthy for them to have interactions with people of all perspectives. a very quick final word from you. >> i think it is in many ways the ultimate form of racism to assume that blacks, hispanics and white people are not going to be able to compete based upon race and by the way, i have a -- >> not what i said. >> if you happen to be asian american, don't disclose your race on your application to college or graduate school because -- >> how about this. to be continued. to be continued. i don't know if that was deliberate but you misunderstood what i said. my kids benefit by going to school with your kids. that's my point. >> yes, absolutely. answer the survey question at smerconish.com. will the rosenstein memo regarding comey's firing ultimately protect president trump against a charge of obstruction of justice? up next, do the movies glamorize the mobsters? my interview with john travolta about playing the late notorious

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to help protect yourself from a stroke. i am totally blind. and non-24 can throw my days and nights out of sync, keeping me from the things i love to do. talk to your doctor, and call 844-214-2424. john travolta playing john gotti. that's a movie i had to see. the dapper don was one of the era's most notorious mobsters. he was sent to prison in 1992 where he died from throat cancer a decade later. the new movie called "gotti" is

based on shadow of my father, the book written by gotti's son john a. gotti jr. it took seven years to come to fruition. i spoke to john travolta and junior, where else, but at dante and luigi's, a south philly restaurant that itself has been a part of mob lore since a hit on a mobster there in the late '80s. john gotti jr., i know from reading your book, i know from interviewing you before just how much you revered your father and revere his memory. are you happy with john travolta's depiction of dad? >> over the moon with joy. >> really? >> john did an amazing job. >> if he's given you five stars, does that mean it was too sympathetic a portrayal of his father? >> well, of sympathy is a different word than empathy or duplication. my job as an actor is to live up to an authenticity.

so that's what i was doing. i have to become john senior. that's my job. so how i feel about john senior has nothing to do with my portrayal of that. i am viewing through his eyes. so, you know, i have to do all the due diligence to earn that viewpoint. and john junior here helped me tremendously understand his father because, you know, imagine i'm growing up in new york as well. and i'm seeing the more glamorous side. the teflon don and the suits and the glamour and charm and all that kind of high end appeal, but i don't understand the, let's say, the structure of the mafia as we know it or any of the details. i don't know the family elements. so that's my due diligence and my research. but my job is to be authentic

about being john gotti sr. so i don't know if empathy or sympathy has anything to do with this. >> how did you approach the due diligence? i know from john junior that you went into the house. you wanted to see the clothes and get the whole vibe, but i'd rather hear it from you. >> well, all of that helps you build a character. that's my technique from day one. my mother was an acting teacher. i grew up knowing how to built a character. so you take all the elements and you only use what's necessary for the piece you're doing. but every single thing that -- i would listen to everything john said because only through john's observation and john's mother's observation, victoria, could you absorb the detail that you need to understand the characters. so how he felt, how victoria felt, what i saw on video itself or the familiar family footage,e

elements added. john junior and victoria were kind enough to allow me to wear the personal effects. so there was even the cologne scent from the overcoat, the tweed and velour overcoat from senior. that helps. the jewelry. i wore this beautiful jewelry. the scarves. it was all these bits help besides my own personal observation of how, you know, because i'm a physical actor. i'm able to duplicate physicalities well. all this adds up to a performance that i felt i owed the family accuracy and attention to detail because, look, i'm a famous face. you can't -- i have more of a duty to delve deep into disappearing than your average

actor because if you see me in it, you then are not lured into the storytelling process. so it was much more important, i felt, for me to do that. >> leaving gotti off the table for this question, what's john travolta's favorite mob movie? >> "the godfather i." >> how come? >> i thought it was beautifully structured. beautifully told and visually perfect. every great piece of art is interpreted. what it did for me at a time in my life was just elevated me and i got lost in that film. and what i like about our film, compared to that, let's say is that that was a tale. and this is truth. and i think this is the first really -- this is the first time it's ever been done. >> why do you think his father was so revered in certain quarters. in that movie you see the

firework display, the police show up. he wants the fireworks to go off, and they go off. at the end of the movie, those real images where people are disappointed because he's been convicted at the end of a trial. i don't want to give away too much, but it's really stunning he was able to engender such support. >> this is my question because i never -- my memory of capone and dillinger was they were not particularly liked or admired at the level. john gotti sr. was adored as a human being. i needed to understand why because i only saw one side of it. i saw the side that most people saw. i went to, i think it was long island where i interviewed the venues that your dad did business. and -- >> whatever shops are still open from my father's time. >> what did you learn? >> i learned something that started to solve my riddle which is why he was so loved.

i didn't understand hither to that point that small businesses, which have a hard time surviving, could very easily go into the red. john gotti sr. was able to put them back into the black and into profit so nobody ever went out of business. >> do you think that his father would have been comfortable today looking down at how he was able to disassociate himself from the mob and walk away from that life? >> i am taking a guess, but, yes, because of the following. i don't think it was the same gang that john senior grew up with. i think he observed that whatever the success was of that life was no longer as valid as it was in his day. so my feeling is that john junior got out at the right time. john had a very sincere and honest care and concern about his family more than whether the

mob was going to work anymore or not. dad would be saying, you know, what wasn't bad timing. you got out of dodge at the right time because you could have gotten into more trouble. >> do you worry this all glamorizes the life? >> i don't actually at all because how glamorous is it to be dying of stage 4 cancer in prison and your son, who you adore, is on the other side and you haven't -- you can't be with him or the rest of your family? how glamorous is it all these stressful court cases and this is a group that lived on a cliff. the glamorous part is they had a sexy life, but i mean, underneath that, let's look at it. honestly, i think this film looks at it for the first time in a very truthful way. >> i agree. you have to look at it from this

perspective. my father did make it look glamorous because he looked glamorous. he was handsome, easy to look at. he was erect, his hair perfectly cuffed, clothes tailor made, kuftsom made. nobody had the same suit my father had or same tie. we made sure of that. we always wanted him to be special. he carried it in a special way. however, what most people don't know is that he spent, as my brother peter said, so many thousands of meals alone in his meal eating that meal by himself. he spent ten years, ten years in solitary confinement. his last days, handcuffed to a bed. and he choked on his own blood and vomit. he suffocated because all the muscles were corroded and collapsed around his throat. so he suffocated on his own vomit and blood. i don't call that glamorous. >> i enjoyed the movie very much. thank you. >> thank you for your time. still to come, your best and worst tweets and facebook comments like this one --

you don't think you're glamorizing gotti by featuring him on your show? no, i think i'm delving into the personality of a famous 20th century figure. we'll give you the final results of the survey question in a moment. will the rosenstein memo regarding comey's firing ultimately protect president trump against a charge of obstruction of justice? vote at smerconish.com right now. rtant for people with asthma. yes. it's a targeted medicine proven to help prevent severe asthma attacks, and lower oral steroid use. about 50% of people with severe asthma have too many cells called eosinophils in their lungs. fasenra™ is designed to work with the body to target and remove eosinophils. fasenra™ is an add-on injection for people 12 and up with severe eosinophilic asthma. don't use fasenra™ for sudden breathing problems or other problems caused by eosinophils. fasenra™ may cause headache, sore throat, and allergic reactions.

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time to see how you responded to the survey question at smerconish.com. it was cerebral, wasn't it?

was the rosenstein memo regarding comey's firing ultimately protect the president against a charge of obstruction of justice? survey says -- 7,951 votes cast. 74% say no, it will not. 26% say yes. here's some of what else you thought during the course of this program. what do we have? smerconish, what specifically did trump do to prevent the russia investigation after the firing of comey? if nothing, where is the obstruction? well, there are a whole series of events -- i don't want to limit it to the firing of comey because there were a whole series of potential aspects maybe that no one in and of itself constitutes a claim for obstruction of justice. to some eyes when you put them together, the totality of the circumstances suggests that was the case. i'm not rendering any judgment on that. i'm simply noting that the i.g. report released this week to me,

very reminiscent of what rosrosenstein wrote as a oasis -- rod rose rosenstein wrote as a basis for the period to comey. are you normalizing a totally acceptable presiden president @realdonaldtrump? no, i'm only replying to those who say everything he's done is perfect is or is to be faulted. quickly one more -- discrimination is discrimination, i don't like it, sad that it still exists. campai xavier, i think we all benefit from a diverse student population at all of these institutions. thanks for watching. catch up with us any time oncnn go and on demand. see you next week. had to. but then, we were like. what are we doing? the nicodermcq patch helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. nicodermcq. you know why, we know how.

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good morning. thank you very much for being with us. it is saturday, june 16th. i'm christi paul. >> i'm martin savidge in for victor blackwell. the president doubling down on false claims that the democrats are blame for the thousands of immigrant children being separated from their families. and pending trial. wild the when the wakes up -- while the president wakes up at the white house, his former campaign manager, paul manafort, is waking up in the vip section of a jail. and backlash. chinese state