i remember her when they would come with martin luther king and her father was there and this little girl would be up on the stage playing the piano. that's the memorable time for me. >> yes, she was, from that little girl through her whole life performing at inaugurations. thank you both so much. and thanks to all of you for joining us. anderson starts now. >> his decision to strip one adversary of a security clearance set off an uproar. president trump might not be through. good evening, jim sciutto here sitting in for anderson tonight. we begin with breaking news, a day after president trump revoked cia director john brennan's security clearance and ordered a review of nine others, the "washington post" reporting tonight he may soon be taking more action. here is their lead tonight.

president trump told advisors he is eager to strip more security clearances as escalating attack against foes that criticized him or played a role in the alleged interference in the 2016 election according to two white house officials. the post, josh, shares the byline, joins me now by telephone. tell me what you're learning tonight. >> what we're learning is the president is not done. still actively looking to strip clearances from officials he thinks have wronged him or been at the heart of the russia investigation. we cited a list of officials who he would like. it seems that the president is determined to make that happen. >> so, the list that sarah sanders read from the podium two days ago, yesterday rather, included james clapper, former director of national

intelligence, james comey, the fbi director trump fired, andrew mccabe, frequent target of the president's attacks. to your knowledge, is it people who were on that list who are next in line or could it expand beyond that? >> that is our knowledge. what we're sensing is folks at the white house are attempting to analyze each of these cases to discern, if we were stripping them of a clearance what rational would we have. yesterday, you saw sarah sanders go to the podium and tip off offenses in her mind mr. brennan committed. she said erratic conduct and wild outbursts. the president in a remarkable "wall street journal" later in the day said he linked it explicitly to the russian investigation, it was a sham and these people led it and something that had to be done. a textbook case of his advisors looking for a way to explain his actions less dell tearrius than the way he is doing it. he eventually said what he

wanted to do anyway. that's what's happening here with these other officials. don mcgann and other officials, looking at these names and saying some of these folks have been contentious players in the probe. have they done anything where it would be meritorious to take away their clearance. that is not what is motivating the president by all accounts. >> we should note again as we did yesterday normally clearances are taken away if people misuse classified information, et cetera. you're saying the president himself contradicted the justification given from the white house podium this has anything to do with that. the president himself told the "wall street journal" this is about folks involved in the russia investigation we should be clear does not just include questions of collusion, but a fact that russia interfered in the election.

>> what the president said, he linked it to directly. to most clear most in washington said he has the right to take security clearances away. rudy guiliani told me this afternoon in a phone interview, no one has a right to top secret info. what guiliani was saying is that a lot of these former officials, according to him and the president are using this to try to get contracts, try to make money, these are people the president's obviously not going to call on for advice because he has visceral disdain for most officials he wants to take clearances from and a long time security lawyer in washington really wise about clearances said we can't think of any other president who wanted to take clearances from people he dislikes. how much further will he go? everyone who goes on television a national security official, anyone who writes an op-ed,

anyone who shows repudiation for the president, will they lose their clearance, too, because he doesn't like it. i think you have real concern among national security watchers and critics of the president. you also saw today the retired navy admiral who led the raid of osama bin laden, said, mr. president, i would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well. add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency, a pretty striking comment. >> we'll see if the president takes him up on that, josh dawsey, thanks for your reporting. many people taking exception with what the president has already done, as josh was mentioning there, retired admiral william mcraven. to explain to you who he is, you have to know what he was doing when they snapped this iconic photo in the white house "situation room" back in 2011. the president and his national

security team monitoring the take-down of osama bin laden where was admiral mcraven at that moment? not in the picture. why? he was in afghanistan, overseeing that operation. he has sense retired and made a point of staying out of partisan politics, which makes the op-ed he wrote in today's "washington post" so extraordinary in it. he tells the president, as we just alluded to, i would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well so i can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency. he then ads, listen to this, quote, through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, uh-hhumiliated on the world stage. with us is retired general mark

hurtly. >> thank you for joining us, you served with admiral mcraven. he is no wilting flower. what would compel him to take a remarkable tep here? >> because he's courageous. i think i know bill mcraven very well. as you said, we did serve together in europe. he was the jsoc command in iraq, commanded the first army division. he is a man of courage, of few words, but he is very succinct and courageous in terms of what he speaks, and he's a true american patriot. he understands our constitution, and he knows what right looks like. i was very proud to serve with bill mcraven back when we were both in uniform and especially proud of the fact he did in fact

speak out today against some of the president's actions. >> speak out indeed. through our actions he wrote, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and worst of all, divided us as a nation. there's a tendency of the president's loyalists to dismiss his public critics as members of the deep state, members of the resistantance, members of the obama loyalists. can you say that about admiral mcraven. >> i will keep using the word, courageous. he is a true servant of america. he has dedicated his life in selfless service to our country. anyone who is not speaking out against this despicable action against our president is a coward. retired admiral mcraven has stepped forward and said exactly

how he feels and i think there should be more people saying exactly that. mr. brennan is also a true patriot. >> let me ask you this. you've commanded troops and commanded them in combat. how much does his voice impact the men and women down the ranks, when they see someone as experienced and respected as this, not political by any means, speak out in such strong terms? do they listen? does it have an impact? >> there are many -- you know, there are forces in america's military fall on both sides of the spectrum of the left and the right. they represent america, jim, just like the rest of the american population. they are tending to believe one thing or another based on the narrative that they hear. but what is different in admiral mcraven words, he is speaking

the truth, he is speaking the facts. it has nothing to do with a narrative or opinion, this is the way he sees it in terms of protecting america and seeing that we continue with the right to free speech, i think why he is speaking up and saying, hey, take my security clearance, too. i'll add my voice to that as well. i've only used my security clearance a couple times since i've been retired. if this is what the president is going to do, what i'd say, along with admiral mcraven is, take mine, too. we are speaking out in selfless service to our country. we taken an oath to our constitution of things that are right, freedom of speech, freedom of the press. we have seen that violated in the last 18 months and especially in the last few weeks. as the president has used political means to foster his goals and his objectives. >> general mark hurley, thanks very much. >> my pleasure.

thank you. more on what president trump is calling his own enemy's list. john dean worked for a president who famously and loudly consider the press his enemy. bernstein and bob woodward were perhaps richard nixon's least favorite members of his least favorite profession. amazingly, 47 years ago today, you wrote a white house memo, the subject line of which was dealing with our political enemies, included the quote on how to screw them. how do you compare what president nixon threatened to do then to what you saw from president trump this week. >> there are summimilarities, n question. i didn't understand when i was instructed to write that memo how deeply angry nixon was with

the people he perceived was his enemies. i know from the tapes it was worse than i thought. i was trying to throw in their face something they would find offensive. that memo was approved. what never happened in the nixon administration they didn't execute on these enemies attacks. whereas in the trump presidency, we're seeing the execution first and explanation afterwards. >> it's been interesting to watch many democrats have criticized the president's move here. the republicans largely, some exceptions, have either been supporting the president's move against brennan or shrugging it off as not important. i wonder, when you hear a similar message from admiral mcraven, he headed special operation forces and commanded the bin laden raid and oversaw the bin laden raid. can he be dismissed or put in the same category as john

brennan? >> we see donald trump attempting to put everyone who opposes him into that category, and acting in an authoritarian manner, seeking to undermine their credibility as well as to punish those who speak the truth as they have seen it. there's no reason to expects the same might be true of the admiral. what we're seeing here both in the nixon presidency and worse in the trump presidency are authoritarian actions. in nixon's case with the enemy's list it was authoritarian words. there were other authoritarian actions by nixon for which he was impeached and had to leave office. we are seeing myriad a good number of authoritarian actions by donald trump and those are some of the things the special

prosecutor, mr. mueller, is looking at including a likely obstruction of justice in further of his authoritarian actions. >> we should remind viewers when sarah sanders announced the revocation of brennan's clearance, she read a list of other names whose clearances are now being reviewed, including former cia director, michael hayden and former director of national intelligence, james clapper, dared the white house, families, revoke our clearances. stop talking. >> the most important words, jim, that we've heard, are from president trump in this is interview with the "wall street journal" yesterday, in which he stated without any reservation or qualification that he took this action and might take further action, not because there is any breach of national security, but because quote these are the people who led the

intelligence gathering that began in his view the mueller investigation. he has made it clear he is doing this for retributive reasons, which indeed get into the area of obstruction of justice. let me say one thing i can tell by talking as i have to many lawyers for those who mueller has interrogated their clients as well as i've talked to some of the clients and witnesses. it is very clear mueller is going both for an investigation into likely collusion, conspiracy with a foreign power. we'll see if it envelopes donald trump or not. it looks like it is enveloping those around him as well as those trying to cover up those activities. i think we can tell by now mueller is on his way to putting forth a vast narrative, a report

that illustrates both the cover-up and the actions that were taken that led to the cover-up. the cover up involves donald trump and what we are witnessing now, i believe, and certainly people around the united states i talk to, who support him, believe he is running terrified. >> let me ask you, we don't know how far mueller will go. three people, three of the most intelligence officials behind the assessment russia interfered in the election, including to help donald trump, james comey, he's been fired, john brennan, head of the cia, now had his clearance removed, and james clapper, he's now been threatened to have his clearance removed. do you see a method to this beyond pettiness? >> pettiness is certainly

present but there also might be an effort to influence them as witnesses, that he's going to make their life miserable, and then we're getting into an area beyond obstruction and witness tampering. he's walking a fine line saying to these people, as he did to the "wall street journal," he's going after them because of their work on the russian investigation. it is not a witch hunt. it will be shown not to be a witch hunt. he will be left out there with his actions he may well have to explain to a grand jury. >> thank you very much. >> it's a busy night. more breaking news. cnn's barbara starr just learned the veterans day military parade planned for washington requested by this president has now been postponed. the one estimated to cost $12 million, but whose price tag has since soared as high as $92

million according to the "washington post." the pentagon in a brief statement did not give a reason for the postponement saying only that parade opportunities will be explored next year. there's a lot more in the hour ahead. including omarosa's statement saying what she was told about the money she would get if she made nice with president trump. and up next, a good deal of the program remembering aretha franklin and words from closest friends and majestic rein as the queen of soul. if you have psoriasis, ... little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not a cream.

it's a pill that treats moderate to severe plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla . it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with... ...an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have  a history of depression or suicidal thoughts,... ...or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you. chair, new laptop headphones, with free 24/7 tech support. yep, thanks guys. i think he might need some support. yes. start them off right. with the school supplies they need at low prices all summer long. like these for only a 25 cents at office depot officemax.

♪ ♪ let your perfect drive come together at the lincoln summer invitation sales event. get 0% apr on select 2018 lincoln models plus $1,000 bonus cash.

omarosa breaking news tonight on the omarosa manigault newman fraunt. we learned the publisher of her book was threatened with arbitration saying it breaches her confidentiality agreement with the campaign. tonight, we're hearing the publisher is firing back saying it will not be intimidated by the trump campaign claiming she breached a confidentiality agreement she signed. this even as the fired white house aide released another audiotape where you can hear president trump's daughter-in-law offering her a job with the 2020 re-election campaign after she was fired from her job, an of that came in exchange for another non-disclosure agreement.

she played it during an appearance today on msnbc. >> listen obviously with like the "new york times" article and stuff you know. >> what's the new york time article? >> the one that the one that -- it was in the "new york times" today i guess you didn't -- with maggie haberman or they wrote about you. it sounds a little like obviously that there are some things you've got in the back pocket -- >> oh, god, no. >> the only thing we have to consider talking salary and part of the campaign is as you know, everything is public. all the money we raise and the paid salary is directly from donor, small dollar donors for the most part. i know you're making $179 at the white house, and i think we can work something out where we keep you right along those lines.

specifically, let me see, i haven't even added up the numbers, but we're talking about 15k a month. let me see what that adds up to. 12. yes. that's $180,000. does that sound like a fair deal for you? >> tonight, the "new york times" reporting that the white house is concerned that omarosa manigault newman may have as many as 200 recordings all together. joining me now are cnn political commentary, michael sellers and michael, with the trump campaign in 2016. thanks to both of you for joining us. michael, listening to that tape there, when you hear the juxtaposition of the job offer $15,000 a month, $180,000 a year, right after lara trump references her concern that manigault newman has something in her back pocket, that was the phrasing she used, does that sound to you like a quit proquo?

>> of course not. it sounds like she's being recruited to a campaign and they want to make sure she's not going to speak badly of a candidate which she threatened to do. this happens everyday in american politics. i remember talking to a young veteran that wanted to join the convention in 2016. she had spoken bad about the president after his commentary to senator mccain. i told her, listen, we know you're a veteran and that upset you. we can't have any more of that if you're coming over to the convention. she said, of course not, i support the president. >> why would you hire someone -- at this point, she was fired from the white house. clearly, lara trump was concern she had said critical things on him in the past but had goods on him. why would the campaign hire that person? >> that's funny you said that. america first policy is the

campaign. people that left the white house have gone to these places. i expect more people to leave the white house and go to outside political committees. omarosa all her life has failed up. it sounded like the president still wanted to help her out, to me, speaks volumes how much he trusted this person. she didn't deserve a bit of it. when i was asked to join the george h.w. bush campaign after working on jack kemp's campaign in my interview, they asked me if i was okay with stopping the criticism i wrote for jack kemp, this is business as usual. >> business as usual to offer $180,000 job to someone who had been fired? >> i think that's beautiful spin. the white house has an omarosa problem right now. if you look at this, she's been fired four times. what has to happen for someone to be fired four times from donald trump? you have to be hired four times.

this goes back. this is episode what 180 we hire the best people which turn out not to be the best people? look, i go back to this image all the time. omarosa by no means is a martyr. there's this picture everyone has seen, i'm sure, where a python is fighting a cobra. the cobra bites the python and the cobra wraps itself around the python and both snakes die. in this case, two snakes will handle themselves. president trump has an omarosa problem and she wasn't a good hire from the beginning and isn't now. lara trump offered her $180,000 for a no-show job. anyone can see this. i appreciate -- >> no, she didn't. >> i appreciate michael's spin on this, to show up in new york and give a couple speeches, you and i would take that gig for $180,000 tomorrow. >> i'm thinking about the

smaller donors that donate to the donald trump campaign, believe in him, they don't have a lot of money and a stretch to donate any money to a campaign. would they be concerned to know $180,000 was going to someone fired from the white house and had that kind of track record? >> most trump donors would want the known go to staff in an array the president thought was appropriate. i know nobody in the low dollar donor arena who would say this was an awful thing to do. i believe laura trump made it clear their concern was they got their value for the money. because this money comes from small donors digging deep in their pocketbook. she talked about the things she was going to have to do. in the same tape, she talked about her duties. to think lara trump was offering a drive to shut her up. even bakari doesn't believe that. i understand how he is saying

this looks like a bad hire. amanda carpenter last sunday, i think, said it best, i repeated it many times. mary shelly, she wrote this script, it's called" frankenstein," the theme is if you create a monster, sometimes it comes back to attack you. >> you think that's good spin? >> i think the one key thing both -- i left out in my last argument and michael is leaving out now, we listen to the john kelly tape. he said he fired her for some egregious ethical lapses. to fire someone in the "situation room" for egregious ethical lapses and then your daughter-in-law attempts to hire her, nothing happens in a vacuum. if someone has ethical lapses to the extent they have to be fired from the white house. why do you hire them on the campaign. to say you simply don't know and

you're literally every night sleeping beside the president's son and all of a sudden do not know makes no sense whatsoever. >> all right, guys. >> omarosa deserves what ever she gets. so does donald trump. let them have each other. >> we have to leave it there. thank you for taking the hard questions. >> thanks, guys. >> please stay with us. there is a lot more ahead including a nationwide round of editorials with one common theme, supporting a free press and decrying the president's attacks on the media. i will speak with a famous white house correspondent all about that. with two times more detail than any other dna test... you can get a new taste of your heritage. only $59- our site's lowest price ever. i can do more to lower my a1c. because my body can still make its own insulin. i take trulicity once a week to activate my body to release its own insulin, like it's supposed to.

trulicity is not insulin. it works 24/7. it comes in an easy-to-use pen. and i may even lose a little weight. trulicity is an injection to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. don't use it as the first medicine to treat diabetes, or if you have type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. don't take trulicity if you or your family have medullary thyroid cancer, you're allergic to trulicity, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of a serious allergic reaction, a lump or swelling in your neck or severe stomach pain. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. taking trulicity with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases your low blood sugar risk. common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and decreased appetite. these can lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. to help lower my a1c i choose trulicity to activate my within. ask your doctor about once-weekly trulicity.

just a stunning moment today, some 350 newspapers from coast-to-coast in this country in big cities and small standing up to president trump's attacks, each writing editorials, most if not all denouncing the president's anti-media message. here are some of the head lines. stop the war on a free press. that in the "philadelphia inquirer." from the fall city journal, we are not the enemy. we are your peers, friends and

neighbors. this from the topeka capital journal. press isn't the enemy of the people. and leading the charge on these op-eds, he wrote this, there is nothing i would want more from our country is true freedom of the press, the fact the press is free write and say anything it wants but much of what it says is fake news, pushing a political agenda or just plain trying to hurt people. honesty wins. joining me tonight, abc news correspondent and anchor, sam donaldson, who spent a lot of time in the white house briefing room most memorably confronting president ronald reagan. sam, thanks so much for joining us tonight. you have the advantage of having covered administrations, republican and democrats, some of them not particularly fond of the media, including going back to richard nixon. what we're seeing and hearing today from president trump, have you ever seen anything like it,

anything to that degree? >> no. no. richard nixon of course hated the press. his press secretary, ron ziegler, hated the press. it didn't do him any good. if you look at it, no one likes to be criticized, i don't. no president wants to be told he's doing something wrong. most of them understand that's our job and particularly jimmy carter and ronald reagan and bill clinton during the monica emergency understood why we were there and why we were asking the questions that we did. >> does it worry you when you see some of that feeling that the president expresses seeping through to significant portions of the american public? there was a poll recently 51% of republicans agreed that the press is the enemy of the people. is that a danger to the country? >> it's a danger if i thought that most americans thought that, or even some of them who go along with donald j. trump at the moment, will think that

forever. i don't believe that, not for a moment. beating the press does not work. john kennedy got so upset at david hall vor sten in vietnam he wanted him fired. he didn't get fired. lyndon johnson was so upset about the press that started beating up on him about vietnam later in this is presidency. vietnam turned out the way it did and richard nixon left town one foot ahead of the sheriff. it's the facts that matter, not what i say or the reporters or the press. the facts are the truth. the american public, a large part of it, it f it doesn't already will come to know what the truth is about donald trump and act accordingly. this is by patty davis the daughter of the late president ronald reagan who you covered and she said the following. i'm quoting, the verbal sparring between my father and sam donaldson of abc or helen thomas

of upi is well documented. there was never vitriol or name-calling. if anyone had attacked a journalist, my father would have been the first to stand in the way. you covered ronald reagan very closely. do you agree with that. what would he say about what president trump? >> ronald reagan was sure of himself and happy with himself and knew what he said or didn't want to say was what he wanted to do and let the devil take the hind post. he never yelled or screamed or no expletive at a reporter i ever heard of. for instance, sarah mcclendon, very aggressive, in the wax in world war ii said you did that and that. he replied, sarah, how can you say that about such a sweet fellow as me and it broke the room up. i said during a deep recession, mr. president you blamed this

recession on the congress and mistakes of the past. doesn't any of the blame belong to you? he replied, yes, for many years i was a democrat. we all sat down laughing. he could handle me and questions and he did. >> always great to get your wise perspective. >> a pleasure to be with you, thank you. coming up next, an occasion, a sad one, a deep appreciation of aretha franklin, who died today. flonase relieves sneezing, itchy, watery eyes and a runny nose, plus nasal congestion, which most pills don't. it's more complete allergy relief. flonase.

be right back. with moderate to severe crohn's disease, i was there, just not always where i needed to be. is she alright? i hope so. so i talked to my doctor about humira. i learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of crohn's disease after trying other medications. and the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief and many achieved remission in as little as 4 weeks. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common,

and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. be there for you, and them. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible. we hide hotel names, so you can find four star hotels at two star prices. h-o-t-w-i-r-e (e-e-e-e)

in the simplest turns a

light went out in the world today, yet somehow leaves it brighter for having burned and richer and more soulful and more serene. aretha franklin, she died today at 76. her voice could soar to the heavens and raise us up there with it. that was a miracle but wasn't the only one. so was her life's journey and how it became the soundtrack to moments that changed us all, whether on the national stage or even on a local dance floor with someone we loved. in a moment, two people who knew her well and loved her, first, let's hear from "360"'s randi kaye. >> aretha franklin. [applause] ♪ don't play that song for me >> reporter: long before she became the queen of soul she was

born aretha la wise franklin in memphis, tennessee. her mother a gospel singer and pianist. her father a pastor and he raised her in detroit after her parents split up. aretha franklin demanded respect from an early age. she taught herself to play piano before age 10. her first performances were at her father's church. >> my dad encouraged me to sing. i really didn't want to sing in front of a lot of people. he kept pushing me out there. come on rea, i want you to sing. okay, all right, dad. they without put a box, like this box right here, small box behind the pulpit and i would stand on that box and sing. >> reporter: by age 12 she was touring with her father whose sermons earned him the

reputation as the man with the golden voice, a trait he seems to have passed to his daughter. ♪ >> reporter: in 1964, aretha made one of her first television appearances on "the steve allen show," still a newcomer she performed the song "it won't be long" ♪ >> reporter: it was her song "respect" and original she recorded back in 1967, that catapulted the 25-year-old into stardom. >> respect, what it means to me. r-e-s-p-e-c-t. ♪ >> reporter: it surged to number one and earned aretha her first two grammy awards for best starring grammy artist and best solo r&b performance. for women it became an anthem

but changed history when the civil rights group adopted it as their mantra. aretha was barely in her 20s by the time the world recognized her as the queen of soul. she was just getting started. her recording career would go to span more than half a century and go far beyond soul music. her roots were in gospel but aretha thrilled audiences with jazz, opera and b&b. ♪ >> reporter: her songs were personal with not so hidden messages about pain and loss, also sensuality and sexuality. ♪ >> reporter: her song, "think" written near the end of her first marriage was a rallying cry for women fed up with lousy men. ♪

>> reporter: aretha won 18 grammy awards including best r&b performance eight years in a row. at the peak of her career in the '60s and '70s, she had more than two dozen top 40 hits. in 1987, aretha was the first woman inducted into the residenti residential -- rock n' roll hall of fame and a week before that she sang at martin luther king's funeral. and aeronauticsinaugurations fo carter and bill clinton and rosa parks in 1995. ♪ >> reporter: and in 2009, at the inauguration of barack obama.

>> i was delight and thrilled to be there. that was the most important thing, not so much my performance. >> reporter: later in 2015 she brought the president to tears at the kennedy center honors. ♪ >> reporter: the song, "a natural woman" was first recorded by carole king, who could hardly contain her excitement. ♪ >> reporter: earlier that year, she performed for pope francis in philadelphia. over the years, there were cameos on murphy brown. unforgettable performances with the likes of smokey robinson, rod stewart and elton john. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: and duets with james brown.

in february, 2017, aretha announced she would stop touring but her music will live on. ♪ ♪ how sweet the sounds >> the word is just wow. randi joins us now from outside the apollo theater in harlem, where we hear there's a party going on in honor of aretha. i know you've been watching this, a sample of what's been going on across the country today. >> reporter: jim, this is a very special place for aretha franklin fans and for aretha franklin. she first performed at the apollo theater in 1962, when she

was just 19 years old. they've been blasting her music in the streets outside the apollo theater. if you look at the marquee, it's been changed, rest in peace, aretha franklin, calling her the queen of soul and people are continuing to dance in the street and enjoy her and honor her and remember her. not just people in the streets. the current president and former presidents, mr. and mrs. obama released a statement saying in her voice you could feel our history, in every part of it our pain and light and request for redemption and respect. she helped us feel more connected to each other, more hopeful and human. the clintons as well. >> outside the apollo theater, joining us now, two of aretha's friends, the magnificent gloria gain nor, "i will survive."

isaiah, forever i could start with you. you were long time friends with her. what are you remembering about her tonight? >> just her beauty, the way she found a way not only to touch everyone with her music but to touch also with her friendship, and just who she was. she found a way to reach out and touch everyone. you know, her songs were the soundtrack in my household growing up. my mom -- you know, i can still see her sitting in the window crying, listening to "ain't no way" and "natural woman." she inspired all of us, you know, with her words. but again, just the way she reached out and touched us with her friendship, when i first got to detroit, her and her family were so welcoming to me. i've known all of them, and i've

known aretha since 1983. we had a long and deep friendship, and clive and i was just together two weeks ago just rec nissing and talking about the good times and some of >> i think the whole country is doing that today. gloria, you said that aretha frankly is not just the queen of soul. she's an american treasure. tell us about, as a singer, tell us about her voice. >> her voice was incredible. i've been sitting here thinking while you were talking and thinking that she personified the word "inimitable." there is no other. there were never be another to even compare to aretha franklin's voice, the way that she expressed a song made you feel it. you believed that she was living or had lived the words that she was singing because it was just

so -- seemingly so deeply felt and transferred to you as you were hearing it. she is so much of the brick and mortar of the foundation of my career. i sang so many of her songs when i first started performing because those were the songs to sing if you were going to sing anybody's song and be heard and be listened to. you had to have aretha franklin songs in your repertoire. and so i've always admired her for her tenacity in her career, for her voice, for her delivery, for her complete musicianship. the education that -- so many people go into singing without being ed educated. she was educated as a singer and sang so many different genres. who knew the woman could sing opera in italian. come on. she was inimitable. >> we played that earlier.

she jumped in for luciano pavarotti and sang like a natural. she covered your song "i will survive" on a recent album. i have to imagine as a singer, as a performer, that's about the biggest gift she could have given you. >> absolutely. absolutely. they say that imitation is the highest form of compliment, and so she highly complimented me by doing that song, by doing my song, and i am so flattered by that. i really, really was when i heard about it. >> isia seia, one of many thing about aretha franklin, she was a tremendous mous tremendous musical talent -- there's a lot of meaning behind that word respect. how important was that part of her legacy? >> it was extremely important,

particularly during those times in the '60s and '70s when african-american women and men were still asking for respect from this country. her and the staples singers, they were talking about how women needed to be respected, and my mother resonated with that. when my daughter was born, aretha found time to write her a note and send flowers to the house. and just when, you know, hillary was touring, trying to, you know, do fund-raisers in detroit, she was very political, and she was all about the women's movement, about respect. and her and my daughter shared a moment when they were singing a respect song in detroit and just, you know, she was political. she was a friend. she inspired all of us to speak up and speak out. and, again, we talk about her

music, but a lot of conversations that she and i had, particularly later in her life, was about the politics, and she was very, very concerned about the tone and the tenor of this country. >> a story i love, gloria, was how "respect," of course originally recorded by a man, singing about getting respect from his wife when he comes home -- gloria, she turned that around, right? this is a woman -- >> she certainly did. >> saying give me respect. >> she certainly did, absolutely. she made better use of it than anyone i know. >> as you're here tonight, both of you, i feel lucky to have two folks who knew her so well. isiah, she was very private personally, and she faced a lot of tragedy in her life. her father, who of course had been a preacher, he was shot by burglars, and he lingered on in a coma for five years. she had a child very young. how did that affect her? did she share with you -- how did she overcome personal

tragedy? >> well, as you said, she was very private, but there would be moments, you know, during our conversations that, you know, she would share some of those private struggles that she had dealt with, you know, trying to help me in terms of some of the private struggles that i was dealing with. so she was very willing to share with her close friends. but, you know, through her pain and through all of her ups and downs, she always found a way to smile and enjoy life and encourage others. she kept telling me, you got to get out of the hotel. you got to -- you know, when you visit these cities, you got to walk around. you got to meet people. you got to start enjoying life a little bit more. and at the end, i think she realized what was going on with her, and she would start just dropping little hints to all of us. but for the most part, she was very private. but, you know, through her struggles, she always found joy.

you know, i remember when she was singing, you know, driving in detroit with her pink cadillac, you know, it resonated so well with detroit. she was the heart and soul and the queen of soul, not only of detroit but for the world. and, you know, she would be happy with a night like tonight where the whole world is honoring her and giving her respect. >> folks, isiah thomas, gloria day for, thanks so much for shashi sharing your thoughts and memories with us. we'll be right back. >> thank you. >> thank you. okay we need to get all your school supplies today... school.. grade.. done. done. hit the snooze button and get low prices on school supplies all summer long. like these for only a 25 cents

at office depot officemax. mitzi: psoriatic arthritis tries to get in my way? watch me. ( ♪ ) mike: i've tried lots of things for my joint pain. now? watch me. ( ♪ ) joni: think i'd give up showing these guys how it's done? please. real people with active psoriatic arthritis are changing the way they fight it. they're moving forward with cosentyx. it's a different kind of targeted biologic. it's proven to help people find less joint pain and clearer skin. don't use if you are allergic to cosentyx. before starting cosentyx you should be checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms of an infection. or if you have received a vaccine, or plan to. if you have inflammatory bowel disease tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. serious allergic reactions may occur. mitzi: with less joint pain, watch me. for less joint pain and clearer skin, ask your rheumatologist

about cosentyx.

during her many special television appearances over the decades, aretha franklin made one very special stop. she was a guest on "larry king live" and this remarkable and rare piece of video is where we're going to leave you

tonight. ♪ ♪ that's the way that it was planned ♪ ♪ how can i, how can i give you everything that i can ♪ i'm chris cuomo. welcome to "prime time." the queen of soul is gone from this earth, but she's going to live forever in song and spiritual healing. aretha