the entire family is doing great except for maybe a little sleep deprivation. erin, hugs and kiss for you. sleep comes eventually. you've been through it before. i wish you all the best and enjoy every minute of this special time. we will see you back in this chair very soon. thanks for being with me tonight. ac "360" starts now. good evening tonight, somewhere former mob boss, john gotti, rotting in his grave must be smiling because the president is attacking a former associate for cooperating with loh and praising a convicted felon about staying silence and may reward him with a pardon. today, we heard about silence. he called it flipping. another associate flipped and received federal immunity. and the publisher who bought

karen mcdougal's story. and said impeachment proceedings would reduce america to poverty. his conversation came when he had high praise for himself. >> i give myself and a-plus. i don't think any president has done what i've done. we haven't even been two years. >> and he warns what he believes would happen if he were ever impeached. >> i don't know how you can impeach somebody who's done a great job. i tell you what, if i ever got impeached, i think the market would crash, i think everybody would be very poor. >> as for factors that might lead to impeachment or expose him liability, he said buying the silence of two women in the closing days of his campaign is not against the law even though michael cohen has pled guilty to

exactly that saying he broke the law. the president continued to try to distance himself from his former lawyer. didn't do big deals, did small deals. not that much. they made it sound like i didn't live without him. >> confessing to crimes and the kind of things mob bosses -- >> he made up stories. this whole thing of flipping, i've known all about flipping for 30, 40 years, i've been watching flippers, everything is wonderful and they get 10 years in jail is and flip on the next one, as high as you can go. it almost ought to be outlawed? almost ought to be outlawed, cooperating with loh, confessing. what about the mafia term, staying silent? the president seems to like that a lot. >> one of the reasons i respect paul manafort so much is he went

through that trial. >> are you considering pardoning paul manafort? >> i have great respect what he's done in terms of what he's gone through. >> what he went through, for the record, is a federal trial on 18 counts of tax evasion and bank fraud in which a jury of his peers convicted him of eight felony counts carrying decades of prison time possibly. he has another trial to come. he is an eight time felon, serial lawmaker, taxpayer who cheated americans out of millions of dollars. the president says he is a friend of ours, as they used to stay in the mob. jim acosta joins us. i understand you're learning more about the advice the president is getting about issuing pardons related to the russian investigation. >> that's right. i have been told by a source inside the president's legal team he has been advised for months now to avoid any pardon

is in the russia investigation including paul manafort. interesting to point out earlier this evening the "washington post" was reporting rudy guiliani told them in just the last several weeks, rudy guiliani guiliani had had to ta president out of pardoning paul manafort until it is over. the white house secretary, sarah sanders, apparently was giving us a false or incomplete information that did not add up when she said that a pardon was not under discussion, has not been under discussion. this evening, she put out a statement saying this pardon is not something being discussed in the white house. the president has not made a decision on pardoning paul manafort or anyone else. just because the discussion is not happening at the white house doesn't mean it isn't happening at other places, at bedminster or anywhere else.

interesting to see the white house parsing its words over this issue. this is something under discussion, something been on the president's mind and appears it's been on the president's mind lately as well. >> to hear the president yet again go after attorney general jeff sessions, going after him in that interview, we will talk to him more about it later. where do things stand on that. >> you heard him earlier on fox, what kind of man is this, once again seizing on this recusal jeff sessions decided to go with early on in the administration to stay out of the russian investigation. that has obviously been under the president's skin ever since then and he went after jeff sessions. what changed, a watershed moment often this punching bag relationship the president constantly beating up on jeff sessions, jeff sessions fired back showing what a lot of people in washington have been waiting for for a long time,

some independence what the justice department should have from this white house and says what he decides to do will be independent from political considerations at the white house, something a leather of people have been waiting -- a lot of people have been waiting a long time. thank you. david gergen, access tv, dan rather, and investigative reporter, carl bernstein. dan, i've been reading some of your tweets today, suggesting martin scorsese should direct the movie of the trump presidency with "good fellas." what do you make of this? >> we move into the political theater of the absurd. i did discuss martin scorcese might make the bio-pick. he had "good fellas" gangs in new york or might warrant to turn to the "sopranos."

scorsese, i say this half ingest that he had a lot of experience -- in jest -- this whole trump era has moved to a completely different position now. by my own analysis, i say my own upon, in the last 48, 60 hours, there is an outrage fatigue in the country. trump, i can't think about that anymore. the manafort guilty verdict and the cohen guilty plea, i think, changed the dynamic into a much more dangerous period for donald trump personally and politically for the american presidency, and therefore for the country. i do use the word, absurd, what else can you say about it? i said with you a couple of occasions going back a month or a year, what's happening in the trump era is worth a shakespeare

play or ancient greeks. it's moved into a whole different era now. i do find when one tweets any suggestion about gangster movies, gangster connection here that seems to resonate with the public. i don't think there's the outrage fatigue anymore. people are centered on this. i know are trump people who say they don't care. i don't believe that for a second. americans, whether they're trump supporters or not somewhere down in their core believe the american presidency should be about honor and integrity. it's very hard to see what's happening these last few days and hear what the president is saying, trying to move us to believe truth is not truth, crime is not crime, facts are not facts. the american people have a lot of common sense. it may be a long time coming. i myself think it's far too early to talk about impeachment as long as the republicans control at least the senate and

have effective control of the supreme court i don't think there will be any impeachment. this story is yet to unfold. >> david, to dan's point the president of the united states, truth is not truth and crime is not crime, the president is saying people who confess to crimes are flippers and almost ought to be outlawed because it's not fair and people who stay silent and fight and go through trial and get convicted as felon, they're stand-up people. >> i think, anderson, all four of us agree tonight it's deeply offensive to have a president who is the guardian of the justice system, protector of the law in our country so blatantly disagree what we believe, undermine much of what we agree.

i agree very much with dan's analysis the dynamics have been changed. donald trump is a control freak in many ways. he wants to control everything he controlled this epic battle month after month. he alone had the platform and mueller couldn't speak. we talked about that before. mueller had a chance to speak in courtrooms. trump is losing control of the narrative and mueller is taking it away from him. you can see it in a fox poll fascinating. in july, you ask americans if they approve or disapprove. in fox poll, 48 approve, 40 disapprove. today, this week, 59% approve, it's gone from 48 to 59. the disapprove has gone from 30 to 47. i think you can see the power of the courtroom can change the dynamics. mueller is holding a lot of

cards. we don't know what they are. trump himself must be panicked because he doesn't know what the cards are and he has lost control. >> how many times have wee been at points we said this is an inflection point in the presidency, tipping point, turning point, whatever the phrase you want to use yet it just continues on? >> here's what's different. we have now seen in its naked ugliness the instinctive lawlessness of this president of the united states. the sewage, the stench of the sewage seeping from the white house swamp is starting to waft across the country. it's becoming tangible. there has been a change. i think people are now getting a look at the real donald trump in a way that is taking the

blinders off some eye, not enough eyes on republicans in congress, his enablers and protectors through the awful months of his presidency. we're also seeing great examples of his incompetence. the rails are starting to come off visibly. you hear init in the rails of congress discussing it in private in ways they have not. we're into a new era of the trump presidency in which he is not only not in control in the way of his authoritarian instincts, his authoritarian instincts are starting to fail him because too many people are on to those authoritarian instincts, and they frighten people, they frighten what he is trying to do to this country and

its traditions. in every despotic tyrann call country that the leader has tried to seize the institutions of justice and undermine the press as the real means of controlling through authoritarianism. people are starting to realize that. >> dan, just the lies, whether something is against the law or not, we had good people on either sides arguing good law. just the lies, the swamp, at the heart of the swamp, the the number of lies is overwhelming. >> this is a good example how much has changed in the american political landscape. the word lies has been used for much of what donald trump has said quite a while now. this is something new.

previously people were reluctant to say somebody told a lie especially the president of the united states. president trump has so clearly adopted the attitude, if i donald trump say it no matter how big a lie, the word is just, no matter how big a lie it is, it isn't going to matter. there have been books written about authoritarian technique in history. much of what the president has been doing is aversion of a big lie, tell a lie, know it's untrue, but given the bully pulpit. >> repeat it over and over. >> repeat it over and over. one reason he tweets so much, bombards it and counts on the power of the presidency to persuade and influence. he feels and i wonder if he still feels given the last couple of days, he was invincible and he could say any damn thing he pleased, if he

said it often enough people would believe it. i would guess using a poker phrase he's checking his hold cards to counted on these lies. >> david pekker of ami, american media incorporated that owns the "national enquirer" and tabloid like magazines. he in donald trump's terms, flipped and cooperating with federal prosecutors like michael cohen. that's stunning. david pekker, there's no telling how many files he has on the man who is now the president of the united states. no telling how many catch and kill stories or sleazy things david pekker has access to he has on the president. >> that's absolutely right, anderson and why i think the president is so upset and panicked. we hear continual reports from

the white house to that effect and he has lost control. one of the harsh lessons in life is loyalty runs both ways. donald trump is only loyal to himself and cuts people loose. now, people are turning it on him and disclaiming their loyalty to him, breaking their bonds with him to save themselves. that has made it particularly dangerous. let me emphasize one other thing. he can still cling onto office a lot longer than people think. i don't think he's down and out yet. he's down but not out. a lot still will depend ultimately what mueller has on the collusion question. >> we will discuss this when we come back. we have to take a quick break. we have never seen donald trump truly cornered with his back against the wall and truly down. we have no idea what he is capable of for better or for

worse, when truly cornered. that's something obviously we may come to witness and may not. coming up next we talk more about the attorney general and how much longer he might be the attorney general and one of the president's earliest congressional supporters and duncan hunter and his day in court. unlimited ways share with others. unlimited ways to live for the moment. all for as low as 30 bucks a line. unlimited for you. for them. for all. get unlimited for as low at 30 bucks per line for four lines at t-mobile. 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.

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justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations. i demand the highest standards and where they are not met i take action. how long he remains in the job is an open question. it is incredible, jeff sessions has probably done more than anyone else in this administration to execute the president's agenda, getting judges through confirmation process, the fact he is the person the president is focused on with such mockery is extraordinary. >> it's the ultimate irony, you're right. sessions has done more to advance the trump agenda, not only judges but in other ways than anybody i can think of in the administration. the fact president trump does this tells us a lot because it raises the view, if president

trump is not guilty of anything, why does he act like he's guilty by doing such things by saying if sessions had told me he would recuse himself about the russian probe. this is erie. i'm prepared to say there's never been anything quite like it in the history of the american presidency. my friend, david gergen, a presidential scholar and served in all sorts of white houses would know, there's been nothing like this. >> i would like to hear your thoughts on it. dan tweeted, the question is we enter the next chapter and the fate of this nation lies not in the acts of the president but gop leaders and party faithful who seem determined to explain away criminality for their own cynical grip on power. in watergate, it was republicans who ultimately turned the tide. other than republicans saying things and whispering, you still don't hear an awful lot of folks going on the record, even

speaker ryan's response to the michael cohen guilty plea was, oh, well, we need more information. >> ryan is a great example of the most crazy leadership of a political party i think i've ever seen, in all the years i've been covering politics. the fact is two things are going on at once, running on parallel tracks. republicans in washington who have shown no inclination and probably won't show any inclination to have a spine until after the midterm elections. also, we have to look at who trump's constituency is. he still commands 80, 90% approval of those people in this country who call themselves republicans. that's a huge difference between

now and watergate. in watergate when nixon left office, perhaps 52% of republicans according to the polls approved of nixon still. disapproval rating of trump's is extraordinary. and he is the president of his base during a cold civil war in this country. he has brought that cold civil war to the point of ignition. when we talk about the danger during the next few months, that cold civil war is fraught because he is intent on doing whatever he has to do to hold onto these powers, to hold onto his presidency, and his followers are indeed many of them ready to stand behind anything that he does. that's the extraordinary difference between -- one of the extraordinary differences between a period of watergate

and now because the behavior and conduct as demonstrated by donald trump is so far beyond what would have been approved in 1974 by republicans an voters and representatives in congress alike, that's the real difference. we have to wait for the midterms to see if anything changes. >> david, do you agree with that? >> yes. i agree with most of that. i think for all of us here, this republican party is increasingly unrecognizable. it has become the trump party. because of what many consider the cowardice of the republican leaders, if trump goes down, this party may go down with him. their values setting forth and not facing reality and

unwillingness to see climate change, the tax bill presented, a whole range of things that will leave this party in serious serious trouble with minorities and women and millennials. they will pay a price for this. if they don't change soon and start drawing clear red lines, i think the consensus what is happening with jeff sessions on the hill and the senate, he may well be removed from office after the mid-terms. we're building towards a climax after the mid-terms, a real danger sessions will be out and trump will fire mueller and put somebody in to close the mueller investigation. republicans have to move to protect special counsel now. if he gets fired without republicans making that protection they will be jointly responsible for dismantling this investigation. >> david gergen, carl bernstein, dan rather, thank you so much. appreciate it. good to have you all.

>> thank you. we touched on this reporting long time trump friend, david pecker, was given immunity and weigh in on the possible significance of this in a moment. hey so he took aleve. if he'd taken tylenol, he'd be stopping for more pills right now. only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. aleve. all day strong. but let's be honest, nobody likes dealing with insurance. which is why esurance hired me, dennis quaid, as their spokesperson because apparently, i'm highly likable. see, they know it's confusing. i literally have no idea what i'm getting, dennis quaid. that's why they're making it simple, man in cafe. and more affordable. thank you, dennis quaid. you're welcome. that's a prop apple. i'd tell you more, but i only have 30 seconds. so here's a dramatic shot of their tagline so you'll remember it. esurance. it's surprisingly painless. so you'll remember it. hey, what do you guys wanna listen to? ooh, hip-hop! reggaeton. edm. what about bubble trance? bubble what?

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we mentioned at the top the man who kept some of donald trump's secrets and other secrets as well cut a deal with the feds. david pecker, the head of the company that publishes the "national enquirer" was granted immunity. he says, i am the ceo of the company and they squelched stories implicating trump

himself. david pecker, it now seems clear is the david on the tape that michael cohen made just before the election discussing the possibility of getting the rights to karen mcdougal story already bought in a catch and kill deal right before the election. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend, david. i will do that right away. i've spoken to allen about how to set the whole thing up with funding. yes. it's all the stuff -- all the stuff, you never know where that company -- he gets hit by a truck -- i'm all over that. i spoke to allen about it. when it comes time for financing -- >> what financing? >> i have to -- >> pay with cash? >> no, no.

>> allen wiseleberg is the trump organization's chief financial officer, david pecker and talking about the karen mcdougal catch and kill arrangement. there is a report that they kept a safe on other damaging stories it killed, as part of its relationship with donald trump. here to talk about it, jeffrey toobin. you wrote a lengthy piece in "the new yorker," i recall, about david pecker. >> i did. >> what do you think about this, that there's a safe, potential information that david pecker or ami would have on donald trump -- >> is enormous. >> david pecker is very open with me including talking about karen mcdougal saying, we supported donald trump and i wanted to help him by making this deal with karen mcdougal. that may -- it's certainly not unlawful to support a candidate,

that's what magazines do. but getting involved financially in buying silence for -- in return -- as a political favor is potentially a big problem. it's part of what michael cohen pleaded guilty to. we obviously know there are these two hush money deals, but inside this safe, it is certainly possible there's more in there. >> if david pecker got immunity in the situation, does that mean it would be blanket immunity to cooperate with anything with the prosecutors? >> i would assume he has been given immunity with conversations with them and refused to walk in and would incriminate himself if he's paying money and if it's related to the political campaign, he's potentially guilty of a crime. what happened he saw that liability and refused to walk in

the door without a grant or immunity. if he had a decent lawyer they bawled have said he wants immunity. >> i'm sure. he is now free from prosecution from both the southern district of new york that did the michael cohen investigation as well as the mueller investigation starting increasingly to bleed together. >> if it seems logical he walks in with a grant of blanket immunity, would the southern district attorneys ask him about other cases not related to -- >> i have to believe. > agree. >> they certainly would be free to do that. given the scope of the relationship between trump and pecker, it's a lot to talk about because they go back to the '80s together. the enquirer was and organ of support for trump in a really

extravagant way. >> the -- >> remember, the government doesn't just give out immunity. you can't walk in and say i'm potentially guilty of a crime, i want immunity. they had to make proffers and the lawyer says here's what we know and would say and why we want immunity. the government already probably has some of this information or some sense. >> not just related to michael cohen. >> it might have been. that's a very important point you're making, you have to show the government you have something worthwhile before they'll give you immunity. it's a big deal to give immunity to someone because you are potentially avoiding prosecution of serious crimes. the fact they gave him immunity suggests that pecker has something serious they need. >> the interview the president gave which aired this morning, in which he talked about, first of all, the campaign finance violations of michael cohen, they weren't really campaign

finance related. said they weren't crimes. >> and it wasn't campaign money. and he talked about flippers as being something that should almost be outlawed. did that make any sense to you? >> it's hard to be shocked by stuff donald trump says. all of federal loh aw enforceme is based on the idea of going from the bottom up. you get them to cooperate. >> that's how courts exist. >> let's how you get the heads of organized crime families and the leaders of drug -- the president is very big talking about how evil ms-13 is, this gang from central america. the only way they prosecute people from ms-13 is by using flippers. the idea there is something sinister of flippers just because it led to the conviction of paul manafort is surreal.

>> i agree. the people who flip are guilty and are sentenced and get a benefit on sentencing and can be good. as a rule, they do a lot of time on the crimes they committed. >> thank you. why is the president suddenly interested in south african land policy and could it have anything to do with the fox news report and white nationalist talking point. what he tweeted about was wrong and we're keeping him honest next. ♪ i don't care where we go ♪ and i don't care what we do ♪ just take me with you there are roadside attractions. and then there's our world-famous on-road attraction. the 2018 glc. lease the glc300 for just $459 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. at at&t innovations, we give you more for your thing. here we're adding tv and movies from our unlimited plan

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the president is all of a sudden concerned about south africa or concerned about some white people in south africa. after watching a segment on fox news tweeting i've asked secretary of state pompeo to closely sudi the africa land and farm seizures and the large scale killing of farmers. south africa government is now seizing land from white farmers. land reforms is complex and racialal sensitivity and past policies removed black south

africans from the land in favor of whites. as for the president keeping them simple and honest, there's not large scale killing of farmers. it shows it's reached a 20 year low, 47 killed in 2017, 2018, obviously, still a high number, a huge crime situation in south africa. getting the facts wrong, curious the president is suddenly interested in south africa at all since the only other time as president he tweeted anything about south africa was 2017, challenges and opportunities facing our nations today and four months later he called them s-hole organizations in private meetings and suggested they live in huts. why is the president suddenly tweeting about south african land policy particularly relating to whites. carlson talked about it last night and why is it an issue regarding white south africans.

the anti-defamation league is concerned the president is echoing a long-time false claim. and tweeting south africa totally rejects this narrow perception which only seeks to divide our nation. race matters and the dr. king. he tweeted president trump was attacking south africa with a disproven racial myth of large scale killings of farmers. this man has never visited the continent and has no discernible africa policy. i wonder if you agree with that? >> you know, brother anderson, there's a line in the t.s. eliot poem we're distracted by distraction. fairly clear he's lying again. i read recently told 429 lies in

58 days. we shouldn't be surprised. he's at moment in these last days where it looks like brother donald trump, gangster, racist, misogynist, a brother because he's a human being. he's a human being who chooses to be demonic, reaching the end, meeting his match with brother mueller. when mueller lays bare and discloses the facts donald trump will not just be shaking in his boots but saying good-bye. he expresses something deep in the american culture. in terms of catastrophic and keeping track of gangsters, not all by himself, not isolated. he has something in the culture, he has followers. we have to come to term what's produced him. corporate elites still running amuck. the wall street still breaking records, stock market breaking records, wealth inequality still

increasing, racial divide still deep and homophobia still running amuck. not just getting donald trump on his way but on his way out, i believe. we have to keep track of his humanity as he goes out. >> you talk about a distraction a technique he used before, what do you think it says the first time the president decided to comment on issues in africa, africa is an extraordinary continent with many different countries in it, other than that one tweet about meeting with african leaders in which i think he welcomed leaders from a country that doesn't exist he chooses to offer focus on a small population of white people in south africa. >> he's in over his head. he's got a white supremacist tilt, no doubt about it. i wish he could say something about uganda, what's going on with the arrest of opposition

leaders, a u.s. ally and say something about yemen, especially women and children, u.s. supporteded saudi forces doing that. he's in over his head. i don't think we ought to take it too seriously, he at this point is throwing whatever he can in hopes that it sticks and tries to get us away from the fact that he is going under. i think, in many ways, you think of the tiers of fred and mary ann, his mother and father, this is the son that we produced, look at the levels of criminality, but as a human being he can still change. i'm not making a program on it. i'm saying that because i don't want us to be self-righteous in our criticism. even after trump we have to be just as righteously outraged and full of indignation in terms of wealth and in equality and prison situation and women are

treated, gays, lesbians, trans and especially black and brown folks. once trump leaves the racism doesn't leave, my brother. >> you really believe -- >> absolutely, my god, i know you can be better, i know i can be better. >> i don't know if i can be -- >> hard to think of a better panel than that, everybody can be better. i'm a christian not because i'm naive, i'm a christian because i believe we all have the capacity, given our wretch chedness to be better, true for everybody, right wing, left wing, center, liberal, across the board. donald trump is my foe, no doubt about that. we swing at each other. even still, even as a gangster that he chooses to be, i know i have some gangster in me. i have to try to control it. >> this is maybe getting off topic, in your belief, is the key to change to acknowledging

one's wretchedness, the word that you used? >> the key to change is to have the courage to criticize, courage to hope and courage to love and be forces of good before the worms get your body. that is the history that gets your best. the dominant is resentment, domination, oppression, what's so beautiful about democracy and love and justice and what love looks like in public and tenderness and feels in private. that is an interruption from the dark and vicious history somebody of all of us have to wrestle with in the depths of our soul, that's what it is to be human. let's be honest about it, all of us stand in need of transformation. we used to say at my church if the kingdom of god is within you everywhere you go you ought to leave a little heaven behind. donald trump not leaving a lot

of heaven behind, a whole lot of hell and why he has to go. he will go. >> dr. west, always an education. thank you for talking to me. >> thank you so much, my brother. stay strong. >> to chris for cuomo primetime at the top of the hour. chris. >> there you are. hey, chris. >> i was just playing. i heard you the whole time. i'm down in washington, d.c., this strange land where nothing really works the way it would anywhere else, so even the coms are a little screwed mup we came down here for a couple of reasons. one, there's so much in the air the white house needs defense. kelly is going to come from the white house and defend everything in the air, and it's also going to give us a chance to meet some of the familiar faces from the white house press

briefings and give us their perspective on where they are think we are and where we're headed from the capital. >> coming up congressman duncan hunter entering a plea he and his wife misused more than $250,000 of funds. now t-mobile has unlimited for the rest of us. unlimited ways to be you. unlimited ways share with others.

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republican congressman and early trump supporter congressman hunter was in court today and pleading not guilty he and his wife were not using campaign funds. he's planned to step down from his congressional assignment eand ifdited. and living well beyond their means on things like trips and a

pet rabbit. >> reporter: a lavish lifestyle despite being strapped for crash. in 2015 alone he and his wife allegedly took a family vacation that cost nearly 1,400 and all of it prosecutors paid for by campaign funds. and the hunters are accused of disgiesi disguising their purchases at benefitting charities and veterans. an alleged 215 conversation about buying hawaii shorts. they'd run out of of money indictment says, so she suggested they buy the shorts at a golf prohad- shop so they could describe it later as the golf balls from wounded warriors. in an effort to explain why that

trip was described as campaign funds, he allegedly offer said this terse response, tell the navy to go f themselves. prosecutors say the couple was in such dire straights they overdrew their bank account more than 11 times in the past seven years. >> when i joined the marine corp i give power of attorney to my wife because i was gone all the time. >> his wife margaret allegedly spent a lot, too. also $152 on make-up at nordstrom, disguising it as gift basket items for the boys and girls club of san diego. a $394 purchase from macy's prosecutors say was listed as

gift baskets, too. she too has pleaded not guilty to the charges. >> that'll come out in court. i mean that's for the court and for her, right. >> was she in charge of those big charges? >> she was the campaign manager of the campaign. >> more than 5,700 at wal-mart. if everything in this 60-count indictment is true the temerity is tough to hide. for example, the indictment says duncan hunter claimed $257.40 reembursement for campaign funds for driving his car to a trip to the beach with a fellow congressman despite the fact they did not use duncan's car for that trip. and he allegedly spent more than $1,100 at a ski trip.

duncan saying it's all just politically motivated. >> this is modern politics and modern media mixed in with law enforcement that has a political agenda. that's a new department of justice. >> is there any evidence at all this is politically motivated? looking through that indictment it's hard to see. >> no, it's certainly not in that indictment at all. sources tell cnn that the guy, the prosecutor that actually chose to indict was appointed by jeff sessions last year and there's no connection to the clinton campaign. >> and the new department of justice is run by jeff sessions. >> exactly who appointed the guy who's indicted him. it's certain an interesting argument he's making. but also duncan's campaign treasure had warned him had said, look, this is against the

law. you can't spend campaign funds on yourself or your family, and he himself if according to the indictment it's true, said that's silly, end quote. >> a reminder don't missed full circle on facebook, it's a lot of fun. you pick some of the stories we cover. 6:25 p.m. eastern. the news continues. want to hold it down to chris down in d.c. "cuomo primetime" starts now. welcome to prime time, we are in the nation's capital in washington, d.c. tonight. the president's former lawyer says the president directed him to commit crimes. the president said you cannot believe michael cohen. well, can we trust one of his closest friends who says the