street. >> reporter: is that you? >> yes. >> reporter: fred shirley made a turn on paul manafort. a mouthful. genie moos, cnn. >> turn left on paul manafort drive. >> reporter: new britain, connecticut. >> i don't know where to start. thank you for joining us. anderson starts now. >> good evening, we begin tonight with "keeping them honest" new evidence the chairman of the house intelligence academy is not impartialen the russian investigation evidence that he is protecting the white house, not seeking the truth and it comes straight from the chairman's own mouth, words caught on tape that he sees the role of house republicans as shielding the president in the robert mueller investigation. it was obtained by a progressive group, fuse washington, and private fund-raiser by cathy morris rodgers, the congressman

speaking, shall we say, his truth. so therein so it's like your classic catch into situation where we were a -- this is what puts us in such a tough spot. if sessions won't unrecuse and mueller won't clear the president we're the only ones, which is really the danger. that's why i keep and thank you for saying it by the way, i mean, we have to keep all these seats. we have to keep the majority. if we do not keep the majority all this goes away. >> if this was an isolated statement it might be seen differential, a partisan fund-raiser. keep in mind this is not one-of-a-kind, part of pattern for nunes. you will remember the chairman's revelation, we'll put that in quotes back of may of last year the u.s. spy agency had in the chairman's words incidentally collected information about u.s. citizens involved in the trump transition. he was, he said, alarmed by it.

so alarm he rushed to the white house to brief the president and reporters. the president needs to know these intelligence reports are out there and i have a duty to tell him that. >> it later turned out he had gotten those so-called intelligence reports from the white house itself, from a secret visit he made the night before. just to underscore what was done later revealed by me and refuted by republicans with knowledge of them came after the president famously tweeted this. terrible, just found out obama had my wires tapped in trump tower just before the victory. nothing found. this is mccarthyism. funny how that neatly dovetails with the chairman's stunt. this is not an isolated incident, even after he was forced to recuse himself from the russia probe he influenced it by quashing subpoenas and records and eventually launched

his own investigation and the people doing it also seemed to please the president who gave him a big old attaboy. >> a very courageous man. he's courageous, congressman devin nunes. thank you very much, devin, for being here. appreciate it. >> back in february, congressman nunes released a video of the wrongdoing of congressman page. >> it's appalling. it's a misrepresentation. it isn't even a relief of intelligence, it's a relief of a distortion of it. >> you can discount that. you might expect the housetop democrat to say that, of course. how about a republican? say the president's hand-picked fbi director. here's how christopher wray reacted. we have great concerns about material omissions of fact that might fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy. the president's fbi director is at war with attorney general rod

rosenstein threatening to impeach him for not providing enough records to congress yet reported when some documents are provided nunes does not actually read them nor will he answer many questions, especially not outside the friendly confines of fox news. >> you stepped aside from this investigation? >> just like you know already i'm not going to talk about intelligence committee business. democracy dies in darkness, my friend, get to work. >> the leading democrat party propaganda -- >> the chairman can say what he likes about the press. keeping him honest, it's his own partisanship at issue here. the house intelligence committee is not just any committee, one of two legislative bodies responsible for offer seeing some of the most important agencies we have and keeping the deepest secrets we hold. it matters whether or not a committee chairman is carrying water for their president and

matters whether the committee chairman lives up to his words and sentiments like these. >> we will follow the facts where they lead. when we get enough facts, we will then figure out a way to let the american people know. >> there he is giving an interview to fox. there was reaction from a nunes spokesman telling cnn, i'm quoting not surprised to see the left wing media spin chairman nunes' routine observations as some nefarious plot since these same media outlets spent -- congressman, you heard your colleague, chairman nunes saying essentially it's the job of republicans to protect the president? >> our job is to protect constituents and idea of democracy so we can have free and fair elections and no adversary ever would be able to disrupt that. what i heard on that tape is

exactly what i saw behind closed doors with the witnesses devin nunes was unwilling to call, the subpoenas hwa unwilling to issue for the record and all the efforts he made to do what he could to act as donald trump's fixer in congress. now, the american people can judge it for themselves because they now heard it for themselves. >> saying it's his job and the republicans' job to clear the president. some people have been saying this is a partisan politician making a partisan speech at a fund-raiser. to that, what do you say? >> america was attacked by russia. they didn't attack us to just screw around or test software, they attacked the idea of america, that if you work hard here, you can make it anywhere here. they want to undermine that so that idea doesn't go to russia. you would think republicans and democrats would unite as an anti-dote towards that attack and make sure it doesn't happen again. every time we need devin nunes

on a committee that has always been bipartisan, he has chosen to put the president ahead of the country. now, in 89 days we have a chance to go in a different direction and not make it just about politics, about us and democracy. >> i'm sure if it was democratic president, there are democrats who would fault the same way. >> i hope not. >> congress is supposed to be a check and balance on the executive branch. your democratic congressman said nunes should resign for perverting the oath he took. >> i think that paul ryan, speaker ryan should remove devin nunes from being the chairperson. i don't think he should resign. that's on his constituents. if they also believe we have a duty to protect our country above anyone else they should vote him out on november 6th. i hope they do. they have a strong candidate i think will work in a bipartisan

way so this doesn't happen again. >> you saw our reporter talking to devin nunes and trying to get a statement from paul ryan all day. there has been radio silence. should the house leadership condemn these comments in your opinion. you said he should take him off the committee. >> paul ryan should condemn this because this goes to the corruption donald trump promised americans he would clean up. when i go across the country or talk to my own constituents, they're concerned about their healthcare and paychecks and concerned nothing gets solved in washington because it's all about power and corruption. if we wanted to show the american people that's not what washington is about and they are empowered, we should get rid of a corrupt chairman doing everything he can to protect the president in the investigation. >> you really think he is corrupt? >> i think he's been corrupted with power and he believes his job is to protect president trump. our country suffers because of

that. because the house intelligence committee chairman cannot show unity and protect us against future russian attacks, as we speak right now, the russians are attacking us. they're not afraid of us. they believe devin nunes and donald trump have given them green lights. i think there's too much corruption and what this election is about. >> congressman swalwell, thank you. i want to get two more views, from wilson, author, and president of the senate conservatives fund. rick, these comments by nunes, are they really a surprise, considering all of nunes' past behavior when it comes to defending the president and the things we've seen him do? >> devin nunes said out loud what everyone has known for a long time. he admitted his culpability in an effort to obstruct the investigation to the ties of the president of the united states to russia. this is a guy who is now

facilitating what is essentially a conspiracy to obstruct justice and essentially facilitating for political purposes only an investigation that could get into the heart of the russian meddling in our elections. i think it was one of the most shocking -- i'm not surprised because devin nunes is about as intelligent as a bucket of warm spit. i'm shocked he did it in any room whatsoever where anyone could have had a recording device. this is 101 stuff. this guy went out there and said things that put him as a target as someone who is inordinately corrupt and aiding and abetting the obstruction of an investigation into russian attacks on our country. >> ken, is it chairman nunes' and other republicans job to clear the president? >> not to clear him, no. he's come to the conclusion, quite publicly, that there wasn't collusion. that's different from the russian attacks on our elections. you heard the congressman just

before us conflate the two. he jumped from one to the other quite smoothly. frankly, the president messes himself up doing this, too. there is a difference between the two. what devin nunes is doing inelegantly, i will grant you, the democrat side of the democrats saying, elect me so i can impeach the president. you have one of the biggest donors in tom stire. this is an element of the campaign this year. it is an element of the campaign, whether it should be or not, i think not, it is, on both sides of the aisle. one side wants -- they're selling impeaching the president and the other side is selling protecting the president from impeachment. that's the reality of this election. it isn't new. >> rick. >> ken, i want to say this very clearly. devin nunes did not come to the conclusion that there was no collusion with russia or

conspiracy to engage with russia, he simply said he would stop any investigation that could lead to that. we will never find out if we have devin nunes in charge of this. this is the proverbial fox in the henhouse problem and nunes has stated over and over again. he's gone out with wild claims about unmasking and all these secret reports he produced and all been completely non-entities, nothing burgers of the worst kind. we see the secret agenda underneath all this theater he's been engaged in. that agenda is to -- >> secret? >> to protect the donald trump presidency no matter what. this is not his job as a sworn member of congress. they swear to uphold the constitution, they're a co-equal branch of the government. i know you know that. they're not a bunch of junior managers at a trump golf club trying to make the boss happy.

>> look, devin nunes can easily, and he appears to believe he is doing both of those things. he of course has not said what you just said he said, he has said the president hasn't colluded with the russians. that is his conclusion. you may not agree with that conclusion, you're waiting for actual evidence to show up. >> why would we want that? >> and then of course the continuing rhetorical problem of people on both sides of the aisle that conflate the russian involvement in our elections pleural, and the question of collusion of which there is -- >> the president himself -- >> and i don't know about the -- >> ken, you pointed out -- >> devin nunes -- >> has you pointed out -- >> can i finish? >> you pointed out as the president impeachment, impeachment is a political

underundertaking. >> you can keep going. i will ask you this question. as you pointed out, the president continues to call the mueller investigation a witch hunt. he's not talking about the allegation of collusion, talking about the entire thing as a witch hunt. devin nunes in that tape says if sessions doesn't unrecuse himself, if mueller won't clear the president, it's up to house republicans. that doesn't sound like a co-equal branch of government. >> that's the conclusion he's come to. >> well, and he's done that insofar as he has the authority to do it. >> he hasn't seen any of the evidence. >> that's not completely true. there's overlapping evidence they have the mueller folks have. >> and what happened in watergate, there still isn't evidence of collusion, and that's because there wasn't collusion. there was involvement by the russians in the election but that's not -- >> you say based on -- you've

seen the mueller evidence? >> no. i've seen what you've seen. >> we don't know. >> we don't know and you don't know. >> the double standard in 2012, when we had a president lean over and say to the president of russia, hey, let's deal differently before the election, and when we get past my election, i'll go easy on you. that's what president obama said on a hot mike. >> ken, i'll see you and raise you -- >> that was actual collusion. >> ken, i'll see you and raise you the president in this united states in the oval office with a russian spy and russian armed saying, i fired comey to get the pressure of russia off me and a president whose son met with and said, if you're bringing me what i think it is, i love it, met with representatives of the russian government and lied about that meeting persistently. the president of the united states wrote a statement or helped to write a statement lying about that to cover up the

conspiracy and collusion. i think we have a lot more trail to travel down with the evidence the mueller investigation has been gathering. what you saw in this recording with devin nunes, he doesn't care. he can have a videotape of vladamir putin handing trump a bag of cash and he would say, no, we have to protect the president, no, we will block any investigation, we will try to get the deputy attorney general fired so we can have our people short circuit into the president's investigation into russia and investigation into the interference, which is part and parcel of the president's team colluding with russia in this election. >> ken, i want you to respond and we have to go. >> this does appear to be where you end up depends where you start. rick starts with -- you heard the book title. i am a truth finder and truth seeker and also litigated in the fisa court so the unmasking is a serious deal to me. there is no collusion here.

>> you can't say that -- you have not heard the evidence. >> anderson, i answered that question. asked and answered, your honor. >> the collusion so far, my qualifier, what we've seen so far spending more time than was spent in watergate is no evidence yet. you don't have any either. you're describing circumstances -- >> we do not have the evidence. i'm saying we should as americans to wait for the investigation to conclude. as a law enforcement officer i assume you believe the same thing. >> yes. i just think all the information they need is available at this point. what else is there to get? >> ken, appreciate it. rick as well. for the record we requested devin nunes tonight. he did not respond to our question. coming up new clues with what robert manafort is up to, the president's ex-partner and the citizenship of the first lady's parents and how they got through in the first place, a

door of their son-in-law trying to slam shut for others. and director spike lee and a story from decades ago rings terribly true today. board of directors the chili pepper sweat-out. not cool. freezing away fat cells with coolsculpting? now that's cool! coolsculpting safely freezes and removes fat cells with little or no downtime. and no surgery. results and patient experience may vary. some common side effects include temporary numbness, discomfort,and swelling. ask your doctor if coolsculpting is right for you and visit coolsculpting.com today for your chance to win a free treatment.

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. the judge in the paul manafort tax fraud case made headlines saying he was wrong. and that won't the other news. rick gates could signal how important he is. what are you learning about a discussion lawyers had with the judge about gates? >> reporter: anderson, as the president continues to attack the whole mueller investigation as a witch hunt that's run its course, we learned more evidence in fact the focus of this investigation, beyond the manafort trialy the question of russian interference and the question of whether the trump campaign cooperated with that russian interference is still an open investigation. there was testimony on tuesday, rick gates, the former deputy campaign chairman for the trump

campaign, was questioned about his interviews, more than 20 interviews with the special counsel. the prosecutor said he wanted that testimony kept secret, because as the prosecutor described in papers presented to the judge, that relates to an ongoing criminal investigation in his words. what are the two lines of investigation special counsel are looking at. manafort's financial crimes we've been following these last few days at court and also russian interference and was there any cooperation from the trump campaign. by the prosecutors saying that is part of an ongoing criminal investigation, you get an indication that line of inquiry is still not closed. there have also been clashes between the prosecutors and the judge and the judge at one point admitting he was wrong. what else did he say? >> that's one of the interesting qualities of this trial. the judge is a very vocal judge. i've been there several times as

he chastised a prosecutor almost like a schoolteacher, telling him to look him in the eye and give a yes answer instead of a yeah answer. there was a moment yesterday the judge disputed the prosecution's ability to keep an expert witness inside the courtroom, in this case, a former irs agent and expert tax witness, the crime involved tax evasion. the prosecutor said, wait a second, judge, you approved this decision earlier, just look at the transcript. lo and behold they looked at the transcript and the judge did in fact approve that. today, a bit of mea culpa from the judge, i did say that was okay, my fault, my bad. >> thanks very much. a happy moment for first lady melania trump as her parents became u.s. citizens and the parents controversial calls to end the immigration policy that brought them here. according to a source with

direct knowledge, she did what many children do, sponsored her parents' green cards. this is what the president is trying to eliminate. he calls it chain migration. under the current broken system, a single immigrant can bring in virtually unlimited numbers of distant relatives. >> we want to get rid of chain migration. ending chain migration. >> ending chain migration. >> this was a schumer deal. schumer wanted this. >> we have to get rid of chain migration, all of these things we're talking about. >> a guy comes in and then you have to bring his aunt, his uncle, his father, his grandfather, his grandson. >> a total desires that threatens our security and economy. >> and by a different marriage -- >> provides a gateway for terrorism. they think it's good politically. i tell you what, i think it's horrible politically. what do i know?

but i did become president in a year and a half. the first in-law's attorney calls it family reunification, not immigration and bedrock policy. the first lady's office declined to comment. what can you tell us about the process the first lady's parents 20 went through to become citizens? >> we're learning how melania trump's parents came to this country and became citizens earlier today. it was in fact the first lady who sponsored her parents for their green card. to be clear, and you made clear, this is not out of the ordinary, a way many americans bring their family members to this country. the first lady's parents are from slovenia. we've seen them around washington, d.c., and sometimes travel with the president and first lady. up until this point we didn't have clarity how they had gotten their green cards, turns out the first lady took advantage of the

family migration card like so many others do so they could settle down. >> all in contrast from the president's personal position. has the white house had anything to say about the disconnect? >> it's incredibly noteworthy melania did this for her parents and a practice her husband does not like. we heard president trump, you just played a great clip there, rail against the family migration policy many many times, refers to it as chain migration. that particular part of family visa is a category trump wants to get rid of all together because he says they are harmful to this country. the first lady's office is not commenting on any of this, however, we do have a statement from victor and his wife's immigration lawyer, he told me earlier today, i can't comment on the president's politics when it comes to my clients but i have stood up against the

president's emigration policies personally. you're seeing a disconnect between the president's policy views and the fact his wife has taken advantage of that policy for her parents. >> a source close to the white house tells cnn president trump is scheduled to have dinner with his personal attorney, rudy guiliani and going back and forth whether the president will agree to be interviewed by president counsel, pros and cons on that ahead. saving on this! saving on this! saving in here. rewarded! learn more at theexplorercard.com so what do you guys want? pistachio. chocolate chip. rocky road. i see what's going on here. everybody's got different taste. well, now verizon lets you mix and match your family unlimited plans so everybody gets the plan they want, without paying for things they don't. jet-setting moms can video-chat from europe. movie-obsessed teens can stream obscure cinema. it's like everyone gets their own flavor of unlimited. (chuckles) it's a metaphor. simile, not a metaphor. hm. well played.

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a source close to the white house is telling cnn president trump and his lawyer, rudy guiliani, are having dinner at the president's golf resort in new jersey, certain what they

will discuss with the ongoing negotiations of a possible interview with robert mueller and that the mueller team limited the areas of questioning what they fear a perjury trap. joining me, alan dershowitz, author of the case against impeaching trump -- impeaching trump. >> what do you think the president talks about what he calls a perjury trap. can you picture mueller agreeing to that? >> i can't. the strategy has been for guiliani to make mueller an offer he can't accept to paraphrase the godfather. trump says he wants to testify. all his lawyers are unanimous saying he couldn't testify. the end result making mueller an offer he can't accept, mueller to be the one that turns down the deal. trump says, i wanted to talk to

mueller. it was mueller's fault and he didn't accept a reasonable offer from my lawyers and we're off to subpoena land. >> isn't the easiest way to avoid the perjury trap is to tell the truth? >> that is correct. part of the issue is whether or not the president really intends to testify, or be interviewed voluntarily by the special counsel's office. if he doesn't really want to be interviewed, which the longer this has dragged out, it appears to be, then the strategy that alan just described, i think is accurate, they're really just playing game, more for pr purposes, to make it appear that he wants to be cooperative, when, really, what they want is just to drag it out and force the special counsel to issue a subpoena. the allegation that it is a perjury trap really is silly because if the president had a story that we wanted to tell there would be no risk of per

injuring himself. >> professor, let me ask you about the perjury. >> sure. >> if the president has, as he insists nothing to hide and done nothing wrong, why all this brinksmanship. it's not the american public's fault that the president had a disconnect from the truth. >> first of all, no lawyer ever puts the interest of the united states above the interests of his country. there was a bear rhys ster in 1815 who said, i have to put the interests of my client over the interests of the country. a lot of other people put the interests of the country first. first, let me explain why every lawyer you ask, every defense lawyer would give you the same answer he would be walking into a perjury trap. let's assume he was asked one question, did you know about the meeting in the trump tower with your son? let's assume he honestly didn't know and answers that honestly, no, i didn't know. one witness says he did know.

that witness is cohen. cohen may be lying. at that point, the perjury trap has been sprung and mueller could theoretically charge him with perjury and not telling the truth. you never advise a client to answer truthfully if there is another person who will answer differently and that person will be believed by the prosecutor. that's what we call a perjury trap. >> does that seem viable? first, you're referencing michael cohen who said there were other people present in the room. if there's not actual documentation, why would the prosecution decide to side with michael cohen who has lied about other stuff? >> we don't know whether michael cohen has been interviewed in any way. using michael cohen as an example doesn't comport with using someone interviewed under oath or in front of investigative agents or before the grand jury.

the bigger point is that if the president had a story he wanted to tell, then they would want to submit to a voluntary interview. i agree, most criminal defendants or criminal subjects, i should say, would not want to be interviewed voluntarily. they would be interviewed pursuant to a subpoena or requested to come in before the grand jury. i think the president's legal advice is consistent with what most subjects of an investigation would do. the difference is that he's the president of the united states and publicly his team has said that there is no reason that he should not be able to tell his side of the story. >> professor dershowitz, for guiliani to say if this isn't over by december 1st, this would be in violation of the rules. there actually isn't a rule.

customary but not codified anyone. do you agree the former u.s. attorney is over his skis about this? >> no, i don't think so. one thing mueller doesn't want to become is comey and doesn't want to be accused of influencing the election. i'm told mueller was furious at comey when comey did what he did before the election last time, even though they're close friends. to the last thing he wants to do is be accused of having any influence on the midterms. >> thanks so much. i want to give you a quick update on a story we've been following, 11 months after hurricane maria death toll was 64, they're admitting it may be closer to 1400. cnn had to sue the government to get the statistics. according to researchers who took part in a study by harvard and other schools the puerto rican government was less than helpful providing access to their stats.

documents show 1,027 more deaths than normal occurred after the storm ended in 2017. officials say that's only an estimate and haven't officially updated the death toll. the study of harvard and others had shown the deaths could be higher than the 1400 figure and the president praised the response to hurricane maria. the national park service said it received a permit nor the group, called unite the right, to stage a rally across the street from the white house. it comes a year after a rally left one counter-protester dead. the speakers will include the organizer of that rally along with the grand wizard, kkk, david duke, who is the subject of spike lee's new movie about an african-american infiltrating the kkk, a true story. be right back. oh!

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there's a rally planned in washington this coming sunday by a nationalist group called unite the right. they were the rally last year at

charlottesville, virginia, when violence broke out and a protester was mowed down by someone driving a car. and spike lee's amazing new movie "black klansman" who infiltrated the kkk. and spike lee is on the cover of "time" magazine. that's your first cover on "time" magazine? >> ever. >> i would have expected three or four by now. >> no. >> i have to ask you about your t-shirt. god protect robert mueller. did you make that yourself? >> no. but -- there's a history in this country, so i just hope god puts his hands on him and he gets to do what he has to do, to the end. >> i want to ask you about this film. i went to see it a couple of

months ago actually. it's a period film in the '70s. have you ever heard of this story before? >> no. >> explain. >> i was called out of the blue sky, i have a project for you. what is it? in six words, he pitched it, black man ill filtrates kkk. >> were you in? >> i'm in. is it true? it's true. automatically i thought the great david chappell. >> very briefly, this is an african-american police officers, the first on this police force. >> colorado springs. >> he sees an ad for the kkk in the newspaper, calls them up and starts talking to them. >> no. he left a message. >> he left a message. >> he left his name. they call him back. so the premise is that he needs

a white -- to play him in person. that's adam driver. >> right. >> it's set in the '70s. >> '70s. >> i mean, it's so evocative of that time. it is so timely today. >> yes. that's the thing that blows you away when you're sitting there watching this. >> that was the plan. with my co-writer, we did not want this to just be a history lesson, even though it took place in the '70s, we still wanted it contemporary. a lot of stuff said way before the '70s saying them and you hear them today and the lexicon of politics and guys in office. >> it's one of the things so startling about the film is we like to think about we've evolved and things change, and, you know, i mean, this doesn't go away. the questions have raised the divisions, it doesn't go away.

>> well, i've been on this show many years talking about the same thing. the thing -- i know i might be giving a spoiler alert. i was in mueller's vineyard august 12th. i watched what i feel is homegrown american red, white and blue terrorism. >> you're talking about last year at charlottesville? >> august 12th. and my house is at the 18th hole. i knew they were coming because i saw the secret service in the trees at 18 holes. he's on the golf course, turns his phone off and just relaxed. when i told him he hadn't heard about it. >> you went up to him and told him? >> he hadn't heard about it. >> what did you say to him? >> i don't remember exactly.

i don't want to give the whole thing, i want to tell this -- i thought he heard, he didn't hear about it. the film "black panthers" opening on the one year anniversary of charlottesville. >> that was intentional? that was important to you? >> very much so. what happened there -- here's the thing for me, the president of the united states had a chance to denounce hate. hate groups. the whole world saw what happened and he didn't do it. >> there's good people on both sides. that friday night -- the tiki torch rally, to go to the robert e. lee statute. these were young white males, hundreds of them, this is in the video, chanting, jews will not replace us, blood and soil will not be the slogan. they're not wearing masks.

>> left and right. >> does it -- did it surprise even you? you focused on -- you've done so many films about race and race in america, did that even surprise you, though, how blatant it was? >> no. you know why? because this guy we've got in the white house is not even a dog whistle, it's a bullhorn. then, also, anderson, we've seen a rise to the right. it's not just america, it's worldwide. this thing has happened worldwide. >> one of the things lebron james said in that interview with don lemon the other night, he believes the president has created an environment people who hold toxic racist views feel more empowered to give voice to them. >> they have the green light from the white house. >> you think it filters down from the top that way. the top down. all mexicans are rapists.

we can be here three hours with the hateful statements he said. >> what do you hope people get from the film? >> i'm very leery of providing takeaways. i respect the audience intelligence too much. i think if we just look at this film and the ending, we've got to do better. we've got to do better. >> i'm not going to say what the ending of the film is. >> ends in charlottesville. >> the theater i was watching it in, you could have heard a pin drop afterward, the impact. >> that's one of the things we want to do, connect the past to the present. i'd like to say at this time god bless susan, who is coming up on the anniversary of the loss of her daughter again, and a terrible act of american terrorism.

she no longer has a daughter because of that. >> we'll be talking to her tomorrow. you have kids. do you have these conversations? >> oh, yes, we do. because i had these conversations with my parents. one of my most -- it's not a fond memory, but april 1968, in front of my stoop in brooklyn, new york, i hear a woman screaming. screaming at the top of her lungs. and then, as the voice gets closer, that sounds like my mother. and then, as she got closer, she was screaming, they murdered dr. king, they murdered dr. king. so, i'm 61. so i was -- that was a sweet spot. i was young enough to see everything and not old enough to

go to vietnam. it was all the turbulence of '60s and '70s, right there in brooklyn, taking it all in. >> would you want to sit down with donald trump? >> no. >> have a conversation? >> i don't use his name either. agent orange. got it from busta rhymes, shout-out to brooklyn, busta. >> do you consider him your president? >> no. might be putin. >> so what -- what -- >> you look kind of shook, anderson. >> no -- i find the movie -- i was shaken by the film. >> thank you very much. when i thought of it as a period piece, oh, it's a look back. it's so -- there's such relevant things -- >> that's what people responded to, it's not just a history

lesson, even though it takes place in the '70s, it's also the world we live in, the >> spike lee, it's always good to talk to you. appreciate it. i want to check in with chris and see what he's working on for "cuomo prime time" at the top of the hour. >> listening to you is what i'm doing, talking to spike. i think you do the right thing when you confront the conversations, anderson. they're not easy to have. obviously they're not even easy for us to have sometimes. but we have to talk about what is real in this country because we're seeing what happens when you don't. it winds up getting harnessed and weaponized anyway. the same issues wind up getting used. the film is important. the anniversary coming up is important. and god forbid that this stupid idea of having yet another set of unify the -- whatever they're called with these demonstrations they want to have to mark this

anniversary. we'll be watching it. we're going to be talking about it tonight as well. and we're going to be testing power tonight. everybody's talking about kris kobach, the secretary of state of kansas. trump made that governor's primary for the gop into an entire different echelon of election by getting involved. these on our show tonight, and he's got a lot for us to ask him about. so we'll have the show with him tonight. we're also going to take to take you through the reality of what's going on in puerto rico and what the president owes the people there. >> nine minutes from now. more than 20 lawmakers are asking the president to immediately declare a disaster in california because of wildfires burning throughout the state. i'll speak to congressman mike thompson about that next. dodged the law. ed bood even when they brought you in, they could never hold you down. when i built my family tree and found you, i found my sense of adventure. i set off on a new life, a million miles away. i'm heidi choiniere, and this is my ancestry story.

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because of the catastrophic scope of the destructive wildfires. it includes the mendocino complex fire which as of this morning had burned 304,000 acres. it's the largest fire in the history of california. joining me now is congressman mike thompson. thanks for being with us. the president has declared a state of emergency in california. you're urging him to do more, declare a major disaster declaration. can you just explain what that distinction means and how it would help fighting these fires. >> well, thank you, anderson. in my district -- and you nailed it. over 300,000 acres burning in that mendocino complex fire. we've had good support from the federal government. the local assistance grants from the federal government have been there to help us fight the fire. but we also need help in addressing all the problems associated with it. the public assistance, the shared financial responsibility between the state, local, and federal government, and the

individual assistance that will allow people to get the help they need to rebuild their home and to get back in their home. this is -- this is just a terrible situation, and in my county of lake, this is the fourth year in a row that we've had major forest fires. and people are devastated by this, and we really need the president to declare the disaster and to be forthcoming with all the federal resources that we can muster. >> i know you and other lawmakers sent the letter to the president two days ago. have you heard anything back as of yet on it? >> i've been in contact with fema. we've been in contact with the white house. it's running its course. but the president could do a world of good by stepping it up and making the declaration now. there's a lot of lives depending upon this. it would make life much easier in these devastated areas. and folks really need the security of knowing that their

federal government's with them. >> you know, one of the things the president has said about this, and i'm wondering how concerned, if you were concerned, about what the president tweeted several days ago, that it was a lack of water is to blame for the difficulty in containing the fires because every fire official i've talked to said that's simply not the case. it's not a problem of water. >> well, we have the water that we need, and i'd really like the president and everybody else to stop tweeting and focus on the disaster at hand. folks need help. people need help. our communities need help. and that's what we should be focusing on. >> in terms of your own district, constituents, how are they doing tonight? >> well, they're doing a little better. people are repopulating their homes. but we still have a fire that is not contained. it won't be contained for another month. it's burning, and we have red flag warnings again tonight.

and this could exacerbate the situation. and today we had another fire break out in another part of my district in napa. so this is an ongoing threat. the fuel load is very, very heavy. resources are stretched. we've got so many firefighters, so many aircraft and pieces of equipment out there. we really can't -- we really can't sustain a lot of this. we need the help from the federal government. the people that i represent want to know that their federal government is with them and will be with them through this terrible time. >> certainly our thoughts and prayers are with not only everybody affected by this fire but all the men and women on the fire line who are working around the clock. i know your son is a firefighter who could be drawn up to deliver mutual aid if necessary. i mean the firefighters just don't get enough credit, and it's extraordinary what they're doing, just working around the clock. so we appreciate you being on, congressman thompson. thank you so much.

>> well, thank you. and thank you for mentioning the first responders. the community has been fantastic. first responders are real heroes and heroines. thank you, anderson. >> we wish you the best. the news continues right now. i want to hand it over to chris. "cuomo prime time" starts now. thank you, anderson. i am chris cuomo, and welcome to "prime time." the gop primary for governor in kansas should have been a ho-hum race, that is until president trump got involved and went against the gop incumbent in favor of kris kobach. yes, that state official who helped trump with that fugazi voter fraud panel. well, the race is now a hotbed of controversy. it is too close to call. then kobach declared victory. then his lead was cut, and an official is blaming the secretary of state for getting it wrong in favor of kobach. the secretary of state is kris kobach, and his office would oversee w