is training people in the booming culinary and hospitality industry. and if you are there, you can taste it for yourself. >> we developed this oodles of noodles. it is not quite a cooking class or quite a demonstration. >> we showed the guests how the make the noodle. >> yeah, yeah, yeah. >> and so teach the guests how the say in vietnamese. >> they are practicing the english, and they are developing the confidence, and their tableside with the guests and tasting and having fun. it is very, very uplifting experience. >> well, not only that, but every single student in neil's program has found a job after the class to help end the cycle of poverty for hundreds of families, and you can see the stories at cnn heroes.com.

thank you for watching. thank you for watching. our coverage continues. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> good evening. we begin with keeping them honest. and he is protecting the white house and not seeking the truth and it is coming from the chairman's own mouth. and words on tape suggesting that he is seeing the role of shielding the president from robert mueller's investigation. msnbc made a secret recording obtained from a progressive group at a private fund r-raise for congresswoman kathy mcmorris rogers. this is congressman speaking his truth. >> bear in mind this is the classic catch 22 situation where

and so that is why we have to keep the majority. if we can not keep to a majority, all of this is really all going to go away. >> this would be seen as a partisan politician making a part san speeisan speech, but t not one a kind, but a pattern from noon necessauneoon nune, i obtained information about the trump transition, and he was alarmed by it. so alarmed that he rushed to the white us to the brief the president and the reporters. >> the president needs the know that these intelligence reports are out there and a i have a duty tole tell him that. >> yeah, so, it later turned out that he had gotten the so-called intelligence reports from the

white house itself from a secret visit that he had made, and there the night before and to underscore, this stunt, which is what it is revealed to be and the allegations later refuted by democrats and republicans with knowledge of them came a couple of weeks after the president famously tweeted this, terrible, and just found out that obama had my wires tweeted in trump tower and nothing found. mccarthyism, and funny how that dovetails with the chairman's stunt. again, this is not an isolated incident and after he was forced to recuse himself from the russian probe, he continued to influence it squashing the democratic attempts to call witnesses and subpoena records and additionally he launched his own campaign to investigate the investigation itself, and the people doing it seemed to please the president who gave him a big ole attaboy. >> a courageous man. courageous. congressman devin nunes.

thank you for being here. >> and just after that, he revealed the wrongdoing with cart r page, aer page, and thii response from the democrats. >> it is appalling, and not a release of a mamaterial, but a distortion of it. >> and you might expect that, but what about the hand-picked fbi direction and this is how christopher wray reacted from the bureau. we have grave concern about the omissions of fact that impact the memo's accuracy, and the fei run by the president's own director, and chairman nunes is in opposition with the fbi director rod rosenstein, and when those documents are provide, he does not read them or answer questions outside of the friendly confines of fox

ne news. >> you have stepped aside from the investigation. >> just like you know already, i won't talk about the intelligence committee the business. >> why is that not in any of the memos, sir? >> democracy dies in the darkness, sir. get to work. >> and can you tell us about the lead democratic -- >> salty, but keep in mind it is his own part sanship in issue here, because the house intelligence committee is not just one committee, but one of two bodies responsible for overseeing the most important agencies that we have and keeping some of the deepest secrets that we hold. so it matters whether or not a committee chairman is carrying water for the party or the president. it matters whether a chairman is living up to his words and sentiments like these. >> we will follow the facts where they lead. and when we get enough facts, we will then figure out a way to let the american people know. >> and look, he is giving an interview to fox. and there was reaction from a

nunes spokesman who said it is unsurprising to see the left spin it as some nefarious plot since the same media outlet spent the last year touting no russian conspiracy or conclus n conclusion. so you are saying that it is job of the colleagues to protect the president from the councilman moo mueller, and is it your job to protect the president? >> no, anderson. it is to protect the constituents and the idea of dem ra kra si and that we can have free and fair elections and no adversary would ever be able to disrupt that. what i heard on that tape is exactly what i saw behind closed doors with the witnesses that he was unwilling to call and subpoenas he would not issues for the records and the efforts that he made to do everything that he could to act as donald

trump's fixer in congress and the american people can judge for themselves, because they have now heard it for themselves. >> he is saying it is his job and the republican's job to clear the president. and some people have said, look, this is a part san politician making a partisan speech at a fund r fund-raiser and to that, what do you say? >> well, america was attacked by russia. they did not attack us to just screw around or test software. they attacked the idea of america that if you are working hard here, you can make it anywhere here. they want to undermine that so that the idea does not go to russia, so you think that democrats and republicans would unite as an antedote, and every time we need devin nunes, he has chosen not to. and now the voters in 89 days have an opportunity with a new prosecutor to go in a different direction and make it not about politics, but about us, and our

country and our democracy. >> if it were a democratic president, there were people who felt the same way to protect their democratic president -- >> well, i hope not, anderson. >> but congress is to be a check and balance on the exec executive branch. and ted liu said that he should resign for perverting the oath that he took. >> i think that paul ryan, speaker ryan should remove devin nunes from being the chairperson, but he should not resign. that is on the constituents, and if they also believe that we have a duty to proetect our country above anyone else, they should vote him out on november 6th. i hope they do. they have a strong candidate who i think that will work in a bipartisan way, andrew jans who is going to hope it does not happen again. >> and you saw our reporter trying to get a statement from devin nunes has been trying to get a statement from paul ryan and radio silence. should the house leadership condemn these comments in your opinion? you said that he should take him

off of the committee. >> paul ryan should condemn this, because this goes to the corruption that donald trump promised americans he would clean up. when i go across the country or talk to my own constituents, they are concerned about their health care and paychecks and concerned that nothing is solved in washington, because it is all about power and corruption. if we want to show the american people that is not what washington is about, and that they are empowered, we need to get rid of the corrupt chair ma to do everything he can to protect a president under invest gamt. that is something that paul ryan could do right now. >> you really believe that he is corrupt? >> i think that he has been corrupted with power, and he believes that his job is to protect president trump. our country suffers because of that, and anderson, because the house intelligence chairman cannot show unity and protect us from future russian attack the, as we speak, the russians are attacking us, and they are not afraid of us. they believe that devin nunes

and the president have give n them a green light. there is too much corruption, and that is what this election is going to be about. >> thank you for your time. and now, let's get two more views. obvious obviously a fan not of the president, and also the president of the senate conservatives fund. rick, i mean, these comments by nunes, it is a surprise when it comes to defend ing ting the prt and the things that we have seen him do? >> well, devin nunes said out loud what everyone has known for a long time and he has admitted the culpability in an effort to obstruct the ties of the president of the united states to russia and he is now facilitating what is essentially a conspiracy to facilitating for political purposes only an investigation that could get into the heart of the russian meddling in the elections. it is one of the most

shocking -- look, i'm not surprised, because devin nunes is as intelligent as a warm bucket of spit, but he did nit n a room where there could be a recording device. so he did it where someone is inornd naordinantly corrupt, an aiding and abetting russian attacks on the country. >> and ken, it is really the cabinet's job to clear the president? >> not the clear him sh, no. but he is come to the conclusion quite publicly that there wasn't collusion. that is different from the russian attacks on the election and you heard the congressman before us conflate the two, and jump from one to the other quite smoothly and the president quite fr frankly messes himself up between the two. there is a difference between the two and what devin nunes is doing inelegantly, and he is out

to say, elect me to impeach the president, and you have one of the biggest donors tom stir funding that program, and so this is an element of the campaign this year. it is an element of the campaign and whether it should be or not, and i think not, it is on both sides of the aisle. one side wants their selling impeaching the president, and the other side is selling protecting the president from impeachment, and that is the reality of this e leng shun and it is -- election and it is not n new. >> rick? >> i want to say this clearly, ken. devin nunes did not come to the conclusion that there was no collusion with russia or conspiracy to engage with russia. he has simply said that he is going to stop any investigation that could lead to the that. we are never with going to find out if we have devin nunes in charge of this, and this is the proverbial fox in the henhouse problem, and nunes has stated

over and over again, you know, that he is caught up with these wild claims of unmasking, and the secret reports that he has use and complete nonentities and nothing burgers of the worst kind and now we see the secret agenda underneath all of the theater that he has been engaged in, and that agenda -- >> secret? >> to protect the donald trump presidency no matter what. that is not his job as a sworn member of congress. they swear to uphold the constitution and a co-equal branch of government, and you know, that ken. they are a co-equal branch of government and they are 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 the believe that he is doing both of those things. he of course has not said what you just said that he said. he has said that the president hasn't colluded with the russians, and this is his conclusion, and you may not agree with that conclusion, and

you are waiting for actual evidence to show up of it. >> i have evidence. 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, plural, and the question of collusion of which there is none. >> and ken, the president himself continues to call the mueller investigation a witch hunt. >> and there is no evidence of that. >> and ken, as you point out -- >> and the president -- >> ken, as you pointed out -- >> can i finish -- >> no, because you pointed out that the president -- >> impeeachment is a political undertaking. >> ken, as you point out. >> and the constitution, and if you keep going, i want to ask you this question. the president continues to call the mueller investigation a witch hunt. he is not talk about the allegation of collusion, but he is talking about the entire thing as a witch hunt. devin nunes in that tape says that if sessions doesn't

unrecuse himself, if mueller won't clear the president, it is up to house republicans. that is not sounding like a co-equal branch of government. >> that is the conclusion that he has come to. >> and he has done that insofar as he has the authority do that -- >> and what about -- >> well, that is not completely true. there isis overlapping evidence that the mueller folks have. >> and he has not seen all of the evidence -- >> we are further down the road than in watergate, and still no evidence of collusion, and that is because there wasn't collusi collusion. there was involvement by the russians in the election, but it is not collusion. >> and so you are saying that based on and you have seen the mueller evidence? >> no, i have seen what you have seen, anderson. let's not get trif yal about this. >> and so you don't know. >> and the double standard in 2012 when we had a president lean over to say to the president of russia, hey, let's

deal differently before the election, and when we get past my election, i will go easy on you, that is what president obama said on a hot mike. >> ken, i will see you and raise you with the president in the oval office with the russian spy. >> that is actual collusion. >> i will see you and raise you the president of the united states in the oval office with a russian spy and russian ambassador to say that i fired comey to get the pressure of russia off of me and the president whose son met with and if you are bringing me what i think it is, i love it met with the representatives of the russian government and then lied about that meeting persistently, and in fact, the president of the united states wrote a statement and helped to write a statement lying about that meeting to cover up the conspiracy or the conclusion, and people ha -- collusion, and we have a lot more trail to go down what the mueller investigation is gathering, and what you have seen with this recording of devin nunes, he does not care. and devin nunes can have a

videotape of vladimir putin handing trump a bag of cash and he would say, no, we have to protect the president, and we have to get the deputy attorney general fired so that we can have our people short circuit the president's relationships with russia and the investigation of the interference which is part and parcel of the president's team colluding with russia in this election. >> ken, i want you the respond and then we have to go. >> this is not appearing to be where you end up, and then where you start. you heard the book title. i am a truth seeker, and i have litigated in the fisa course, and the unmasking is a serious deal to me. there is no collusion here. >> you can't say that, because you have not seen the evidence. you said that you care about what happened in court -- >> anderson, i have answered that question. asked and answered, your honor. >> and you have not seen -- >> but i said, what we have seen

is more time than spent in watergate is no evidence yet, and you don't have any either, and you are describing the -- >> we don't have the evidence, but we should as americans all wit for the investigation to conclude and as a court off z i assume that you believe the same thing. >> yes, and i believe that all of the information they need is available at this point. what else is there to get? >> thank you, rick and ken. we requested devin nunes of course tonight, but he did not respond to the request. and what may be happening with paul manafort's previous partnership. and why the citizenship of the first lady's parents, and how they acquired it. ookus. to take care of any messy situations. and put irritation in its place. and if i can get comfortable

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that in fact, the focus of this investigation beyond the manafort trial and the question of russian interference and whether the trump campaign cooperated with the russian interference is still an open investigation. there was testimony on tuesday where rick gates, of course s, former deputy campaign chairman for the trump campaign was questioned about the interviews more than 20 interviews with the special counsel. the prosecutor here said that he banted the -- wanted the testimony kept secret, because that relates to an ongoing criminal investigation in his words. the two the lines of the investigation that the special counsel are looking at is manafort's financial crimes as we have been following here in the last few days in court can, but also russian interference and any cooperation from the trump campaign. by the prosecutor saying there that it is part of the ongoing criminal investigation, you get the indication that this line of inquiry at least is not closed, anderson.

>> that is fascinating. also clashes between the prosecutors and the judge in the case. the judge at one point admitting that he was wrong. what ems tid d-- what else did e say? >> that is interesting things in the trial. the judge chastised the pr prosecutor almost like a tool teacher telling him to look him in the eye and give a yes answer instead of yeah answer, but there was a moment yesterday where 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. of course, the crimes alleged here involve 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 were granted citizenship today, the parents of melania trump. obviously what is a big day for her and her parent is drawing attention to the president's 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. >> you have chain migration. this is 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. >> his third niece by a different marriage. >> provides a gateway for terrorism. >> they think it is good politically, but i will tell you that i think it is horrible politically, and what do i know? i did become president in like 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 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 policy like so many others do in this country so her parents could settle down here. >> 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 giuliani, in the middle of the going back and forth whether the president will agree to be interviewed by the special couns counsel. we will have more on that. (phone ping)

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giuliani are having dinner tonight in new jersey. they will have a lot to discuss with the negotiations of a possible interview with the president and robert mueller, in addition to the fact that they have and joining me is allan desh show wits and cnn legal analyst carykor can dare ra. 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

-- perjurying 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 famous barrister 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 pernjury for telling the truth. so you never advice a client to answer a question truthfully if there is another person who will answer the question differently and that person may be believed by the prosecutor and that is what we mean by 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? >> well, first of all, we don't know first of all 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. most criminal defendants, i agree, criminal defendants or criminal subjects i should say, excuse me, would not want to be interviewed voluntarily. they would be interviewed pursuant to a subpoena or they would be requested to come in before the grand jury. so i think that the president's legal advice is consistent with what most subjects of an investigation would do, and difference is that he is 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

anywhere. do you agree that the former u.s. attorney giuliani 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 devastated the island of puerto rico, the death toll was 64, but now the government of puerto rico is admitting that it may be closer to 1,400. 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 1,427 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 federal response to hurricane maria. the president also h figures in this story. 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.

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there's a rally planned in washington this coming sunday by a nationalist group called unite the right. it is scheduled for lafayette park directly across from the white house. they were the rally last year at charlottesville, virginia, when violence broke out and a protester was mowed down and killed by someone driving a car. and spike lee's amazing new movie "black klansman" who is a story of a black colorado policeman who infiltrated the klan back in the 1970s.

it is a true story. and spike lee is on the cover of "time" magazine and happy he is with me. 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 infiltrates the 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 officer, and the first african-american police officer on this the police force. >> colorado springs. >> and he sees an ad in the newspaper for the kkk and calls them up and starting 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 things, phrases and things that were said way before the '70s and you will hear them today, and the lexicon of the politics and the guys in office. >> it is one of the things that is so startling about the film is that we like to think about we have ele volved and things change and, it is, you know, things -- 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 martha's vineyard august 12th. i watched what i feel is homegrown american red, white and blue terrorism. >> you are talking about last

year in 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 vice 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 runs koun. all mexicans are rapists, and we would be here three hours with the research of the hateful statements that he has 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 topsy-turvy crazy insane world that we are living in today. >> spike lee, it is always good to talk to you. appreciate it. >> thank you, thank you. i want to check in with chris and see what he is working on with "cuomo primetime" 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. what do you have there? p3 it's meat, cheese and nuts. i keep my protein interesting. oh yea, me too. i have cheese and uh these herbs. p3 snacks. the more interesting way to get your protein. stay at la quinta.

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as firefighters in california continue to battle more than a dozen fires, a group of lawmakers is asking for a disaster declaration. more than 20 members of the

house are asking the president to immediately grant the request 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. i am sorry it is under these circumstances. 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. they are out there everyday and their life is on the line for their community. thank you, anderson. >> than you, congressman. >> 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