to the helicopter trying to be opposition still tears him to heard over the sound of the helicopter which is not a coincidence that the reagan white house had set it up that shreds. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. way. did they ever threaten to revoke >> pretty amazing to think of your press pass or were you ever worried about that? presidential pe >> no, i wasn't worried about presidential picture in an ambassador's residence. something you think would come it. from another type of country. i know on one or two occasions, thanks for joining us. someone, not the president, "a.c. 360" starts now. would call my boss in new york good evening, we begin and say he shouldn't do that, i think that was terrible what he said or did or what have you. tonight with breaking news. the senior national security official who found herself at odds with the first lady has my boss had seen it and thought been fired and as striking as i did okay. i never had any repercussions that lead sentence may sound, about it. it's no more so than the statement yesterday from first i didn't have to deal with someone like mr. trump. lady melania trump's i mean, with jimmy carter, with spokesperson that catapulted ronald reagan, with bill this story into the public eye. clinton, and with every president i went down there, "it is the position of the john kennedy, i never asked him office of the first lady that a question. she no longer deserves the honor i didn't have the courage to. of serving in this white house." she is deputy national security but i never had to deal -- other reporters haven't had to deal adviser mira ricardel. with them. i don't know quite what you do. you try to get truthful and full she's out. her forced departure coming as answers to questions. the president said to be in a that's all you're asking for. foul mood upset over the and almost all the time, the midterms, shut suulking about h president's cover gave some reception in europe. one white house official telling answer that was okay, whether it cnn, these are not my words, was the answer the public wanted

"yes, he's pissed at damn near to hear was another thing. so i didn't have to deal with it. i asked, yes, follow-up everyone." tonight, it seems it came. questions, but they were put in more from our jeff zeleny who a way that the president joins us now from the white house. so what are you learning, jeff? accepted them and responded. >> jeff toobin, are there -- i >> reporter: anderson, it has mean, there are actually two been a mystery really for the constitutional claims, i guess, last 24 hours or so surrounding that cnn is making here. all the drama here with the obviously, the 1st amendment deputy national security adviser who's not well known outside. claim. the other is a 5th amendment claim. inside the white house, she is can you explain to people who very well known. aren't attorneys what that she's been on the job seven entails? >> well, the gist of it is that months. she's john bolton the national president 1st amendment is simply punishing jim acosta for security adviser's top deputy, but after melania trump and the exercising his 1st amendment first lady's office fired that rights. i think everybody understands shot across the bow of the white that. that's the claim. house, it was unclear what her future was. even though the president was the other claim is they took the pass away without due process of saying he was going to remove law, delthey didn't really allo her. well, that finally happened this evening and we got this press secretary -- or this statement from a press secretary sarah jim acosta to make advertise sanders. she explained it briefly like this. case. that's a weaker claim. she said, "mira ricardel will i'm not sure they need to have a full due process hearing. continue to support the if i could follow-up on one president as she departs the white house to transition to a thing sam said because i think it's so important, if cnn and new role within the administration. jim a loses his press pass, every the president is grateful for journalist who asks a question her continued service to the of the white house is going to have in the back of his or her mind am i being too aggressive, american people and steadfast

pursuit of national security priorities." anderson, you don't see the word am i going to lose my press resign pass, should i ask a follow-up resigned or fired in there. question? that's really what this fight is about is that jim wanted to ask she clearly was removed from her a follow-up question. job. it was not her own choosing or doings in fact, she was trying and, you know, i don't really to convince allies to persuade object to the president saying the president to change his mind nasty things to jim acosta and on this. to cnn. i'm told that he knew it was a i mean, think it's terrible some of the things he says, but he deal breaker after the first lady weighed in. the questions, though, why did this become so public in the certainly has a right to say it. but taking jim's pass away is a first place? and that is still being discussed here and sorted out. completely different level of >> well, i mean, is there any clarity what was the reason that the first lady not only chose to harassment because that's stopping him from doing his job, weigh in publicly, but what the and i think, you know, this is one reason why so many news problem was in the first place between the first lady's office organizations, everyone from "the new york times" to fox or the first lady and ricardel? news, has weighed in on this >> reporter: we talked to a case on cnn's side because variety of people here, and this is the story as we've been able they're worried who's next and to piece it together. what are their reporters going we are told that the first lady to have to worry about when they ask questions? and her office felt that they >> yeah. jeff toobin, sam donaldson, were disrespected by her office. really appreciate you being with us, sam. it's great to see you. they said the national security thank you so much. adviser and their team was not taking seriously the -- the work coming up next, the president revives a favorite claim about election fraud and

of the first lady's office, all the people who he says voted particularly when she was illegally. the question is, does he have traveling to africa to be at the any evidence this time? beginning of october. we're keeping them honest. (vo) this is not a video game. they said that she did not treat the staff with respect. and they also said that she was trying to get the white house counsel's office to investigate members of the first lady's office, which they declined to do over some inappropriate activities. so at the end of the day, though, it was not just the first lady. the defense secretary james mattis, rothe ert others compla about her abrasive behavior. it took apparently the first lady to make this public to make this actually happen. we're told she's been arguing behind the scenes, the first lady has, talking to the white house chief of staff john kelly for a long time to try and get this to happen, but john bolton, national security adviser, was arguing to keep her in her position. this public grenade, if you will, essentially moved the ball forward, anderson. >> is there any indication the president actually did this firing, himself? because obviously in past

firings, jeff sessions, comey comes to mind, it's not something he actually did personally. >> reporter: no, there's no indication that he walked into her office today where she was working today and said, you're fired. that did not happen. we do believe it was by staff. the white house chief of staff or someone in his office. it was made clear that he is not going to serve at the white house, but she is going to still stay somewhere in the administration, but and anderson, again, why this all became so public, that i think shows the dysfunction that's very much alive tonight here at this is not a screensaver. the white house. anderson? this is the destruction of a cancer cell by the body's >> all right. jeff zeleny, jeff, thanks. own immune system, thanks to medicine that didn't exist until now. >> smpbl >>. more on the president's mood. and today can save your life. citing multiple administration ♪ forces, eli stoke bs wrieckels "trumkp cocooned into bitternes and resentment." ♪ maggie haberman reporting extensively on this joins us now. what have you been hearing? >> cocoon isn't the analys nana thiuninterrupted streaminglogy brilliant sound clarity heard. and life-like color. experience dell cinema on the xps 13.

you had a lot of factors going on in the past week. the midterms were what they shop the biggest black friday ever at dell.com were. he knows the loss of the house is potentially very damaging for (intel chime) his administration in terms of subpoenas the democrats will drop on them after january. he did not want to go to paris for a variety of reasons. one of which is that he knew he wont g wouldn't get a good reception. he doesn't like travel. he doesn't like sleeping in beds that are not his own or hotels that aren't his. e knew he was coming back to hours upon hours behind closed doors with his lawyers, his personal lawyers, preparing to give answers to the special counsel robert mueller. i think that loomed very heavy in his mind. you add all this up, and you get a pretty torrential bad mood. >> you know, lots of first ladies have had huge influences in the white house. usually it's behind closed doors. i mean, nancy reagan, of course, comes to mind. she got rid of several people. >> hillary clinton. >> right. so what is going on with the first lady making, actually her office making this public statement? it's -- i mean, again, i haven't heard of it happening before.

i may be wrong. >> no, it's extraordinary i think, jeff captured it correctly. this is actually a first lady who has not sought to have a heavy hand within the west wing. she's tended to be more stepped back. she's advised her husband personally but tended to only get involved directly with her husband's staff as necessary. and this speaks to a level of dysfunction that she had been complaining to john kelly, that john kelly had been complaining to john bolton, that others had complained to john bolton and the president and nothing happened. so you had the first lady's staff take this extraordinary step of going public. we've heard from multiple people we began the broadcast with the president was not happy about it, but clearly the first the white house firing and new reporting on what is said to be lady won. the president's foul mood over a >> so essentially it's trying to number of things including the midterms. box the first lady's office or here's, perhaps, another sign of the first lady trying to box the it. he is, once again, leveling a favorite unsubstantiated president in to pulling the allegation about the trigger on this. >> or at least box in john bolt speaking to the "daily caller" bolton, right? one of the things we know about he said, "the republicans don't this president is he is incredibly uncomfortable with win and that's because of interpersonal conflict. potentially illegal votes. he doesn't actually like firing when people get in line that people despite the tagline of have absolutely to right to vote and go around in circles. his show. sometimes they go to their car, almost always as you noted put on a different hat, put on a outsourced. he enjoys watching some level of different shirt, come in and

drama, so, yes, i think it was vote again." about boxing both of them in and he went on to say "if you buy a just making it impossible for box of cereal, you have a voter this to just sort of drag on. i.d." now the last part is easy because i'm not a big foodie, but there is one food item i do lo longer. shop for a lot and it's cereal. there were legitimate reasons i basically live on cereal. many people offered up as to why miss ricardel was a problem. that's why i look so healthy. >> just on a personal, i mean, i can assure you except for frosted lucky charms which as you all know are magically from a personal family dynamic, it's just an interesting thing, if the first lady has been delicious, no i.d. is necessary saying privately to the to purchase any cereal, thank president, this person's got to goodness, or any other breakfast go, saying it to john kelly, to food. as for the fraud allegations, then put out a public statement, the cars and disguises and so it's like a game of chess. >> the inside part is always said out loud with this white on, i'm told we may have video house. of that. it's unusual to see it from the first lady with this kind of a let's take a look. situation where she felt like ♪ she and her staff had been being abused, essentially, by this national security deputy, and that nobody was listening to all right. obviously that is from the ringling brothers and barnum & her, she had to go public with it essentially as a whistle-blower is shocking. bailey circus. maybe that's where mr. trump got >> i want to bring in the rest of our team. the idea of people going into jen psaki is here. their cars and changing served as white house communications director for disguises because the president offered no evidence to back up president obama. his claim. keeping them honest, that's also ken cuccinelli who was at probably because there isn't any the white house today. we know about.

take take our word for it, and cnn's abby phillip. listen to the authorities who ab abby, i guess this was a win for are actually in florida who say there's no evidence of voter the first lady. i don't know if that's way she or her team would see it. fraud. ballot disputes, yes, signature issues, yes, outdated voting it's certainly a sign of the machines, yes, but not the kind impact she can have. >> it does seem, though, like a of voter fraud the president is double-edged sword for her. alleging, not in arizona, in the first place, the fact she either. not anywhere during this election or according to state has to be public about this, this is a sign that she hasn't been able to influence her attorneys general, and secretaries of state, in any husband and, therefore, even his recent election. no evidence of people doing what staff to get what she needed the president says they did and did, he claims, in large doneened behind the scenes and numbers, large enough to flip go nuclear as she had to do this week. yeah, she did force the the house. not only is the president saying it now, he was saying it during president's hand. she did in some ways kind of publicly humiliated him bey doig the campaign. >> you know, if you go out and you want to buy groceries, you need a picture on a card. it without letting him know it was happening. you need i.d. he was blind sided by it you go out and you want to buy according to our sources. so both of these things are kind anything, you need i.d. and you need your picture. of both pluses and minuses for her. i think ricardel is gone but in this country, the only time she's not fired from the administration. you don't need it in many cases she's just being moved somewhere is when you want to vote for a president, when you want to vote else. at least as far as we know. i think it leads to a lot of for a senator, when you want to questions about what more might vote for a governor or a be behind this? it does seem that an congressman. it's crazy. interpersonal dispute between the first lady's staff and >> that was late july at a rally

in tampa, florida. the president sowing the seeds deputy national security adviser would not necessarily rise to of distrust in the electoral the occasion of doing something process raising an obvious question the very next day. so public and so extraordinary, >> does the president still believe that millions of people are voting illegally in this and also where does this go from country? is that the basis for this push here? is this something that we're going to see more of? for requiring voter i.d.s? are there more people, as >> even if there are ten people melania trump has implied in the that are voting illegally, it past, who she'd like to get rid shouldn't happen. the president wants to see the of because she thinks for whatever reason they don't integrity of our elections belong working in her systems upheld. husband's -- and that's the purpose of his >> jen, i'm thinking if, you know, michelle obama had done comments. >> sarah sanders could offer no this how that would be evidence of widespread illegal interpreted. is this weird to you? voting but these kind of >> extremely. allegations date further back and i think a couple of things stuck out to me. one, this is a woman the deputy for the president. here he is fwetweeting about it national security adviser who nobody had ever really heard of after taking office. kt in addition to winning the before a couple days ago and electoral college in the this role in any white house is landslide, i won the popular really the person running the vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally." process. they're overseeing the meetings there's no evidence of that. and the situation room. back then like now he offered no they're really kind of a senior evidence. the voter commission he set up a staffer moving paper around. short time later in part to so the fact that this is the validate his groundless claim hill melania trump decided to was disbanded after a year fight on is strange. without finding evidence of the i would also say that on the voter fraud the president was alleging back then and still is double-edged sword front which i think is a good point, the today despite the advice he got nearly two years ago from a

drawbacks for melania are that leading republican. the way she's allowing herself to be defined are on a strange >> so i would urge the president to knock this off. this is the greatest democracy choice of a jacket that she wore on earth. on a trip. you're the leader of the free that was in poor taste. a strange outfit in egypt or some people liked it. world. and people are going to start an anti-bullying campaign that doubting you as a person if you people see as ironic and not in a good way. keep making accusations against and now she's kind of publicly our electoral system without calling for the firing and successfully, i guess, of an justification. official who was really a senior >> that was the january 2017 paper pusher. version of lindsey graham. so it's strange. back now, jen psaki, ken most first ladies, michelle obama, for example, hillary clinton, first lady, you know, cuccinelli, abby phillip, and laura bush, they define their role on their own terms and maggie haberman. maggie, do we know if the she's really allowing this to be president actually believes this or just thinks this is defined in a way that's not a effective? >> actually i was thinking advantageous to her. exactexact >> ken, i'm wondering how you ly about that when you were see it and also should the first talking about this. it's hard to tell whether he lady be weighing in on a actually believes it. national security adviser even he certainly says things if she is a paper pusher? privately to people that makes clear he knows how cynical this >> a couple points. one on jen's point about is. other times he delivers this very convincingly and seems to definition. because melania trump is more believe it. i don't think it matters one way reserved than many of her or the other. he's the president of the united predecessors, everything she states and he's out there saying who are you going to believe, me or your lying officials who are does in the public has more telling you that what i'm saying

weight in defining whatever you is not true? it is a huge problem. there is already for a visitor may view as her, you know, br d brand, you if you will. here, i suspect that the public of reasons people are losing faith in constitutions in this aspect of this was partly, i country and constitutions of don't want to say to compensate, democracy and if people don't b but because this was born out of elections are fair and being conducted well, that's a very, problems at a staff level, three very dangerous slope to go down and he is just pouring grease on different people, the chief of it. >> jen psaki, when you were in the obama white house, how seriously did the administration staff, general mattis, the first take what the president was saying on the campaign trail? lady, herself, had all had >> well, anderson, this was the issue we were most focused on, before we knew, of course, the problems with this same person, and their staffs had had impact of the russia hacking. problems. realize, i've been a principal, this was in the months leading you're loyal to your people. up to the election and this was an issue we met about frequently and i think that there may have to talk about how he could bring been, while i wouldn't have done together a bipartisan group of members. there was actually a letter that it this way, may have been some was put out, that was put out element of trying to provide the same day that the tapes came some vindication to the staffs out of president trump using of each of these people. and she did. whether you like it or not, she some poor taste language about women, but, you know, this was our focus. we wanted to bring together, as did. and so do i expect to see a lot maggie said, there was great of this? concern about -- about this, and we brought democrats and no. but i also think that melania republicans together to try to make the point that these are

trump isn't going to have these kinds of process problems that legitimate, we do have a process they experienced in october. for monitoring, we do have a >> magg, in terms of changes in process for helping states and governors. the administration, we've that was really where our efforts were focused on. already seen nine senior and it's, you know, president trump has been running for re-election, i think, for quite administration officials leaving in the course of the some time. administration. there's more to be expected, as maggie and abby can attest. traditionally after midterms, he just lost the midterms as that often happens. but more, i mean, there's more we've been talking about and it's clear he's feeling the heat here and wants to begin to sow to come. >> we assume there's more to come. certainly everybody in the white the seeds of doubt about house, not everybody, but almost legitimacy of elections leading everybody right now feels as if up to his own re-election in two they're in a bit of limbo. they know that the president has years. talked openly about making whether he believes it or not, changes. they know that there are cabinet officials who he is targeting and they know there's the ever-present rumor now going on over a year that john kelly is that has to be in the back of his mind. >> probably the thing that going to be leaving. debunks this whole idea the most is the fact if there was such massive voter fraud in 2016 and that one seems truer than it has it always favored the democrats as president trump seems to in the past. or likelier than it could have suggest, why would he have then been elected? been. but the president actually just it just doesn't make any sense. kind of lets these things there's no way that anyone would marinate for ever and ever and concoct a scheme to allow president trump to win the ever until sudden he he makes a decision. i think most people think this electoral college vote, but not is going to go past thanksgiving the popular vote if the intent then we'll start to see some was to have the democrats win. changes. again, to your point, it is not not to mention the fact that president trump put together a

commission on this. unusual after a midterm, after and they had to disband themselves because they losses he he to make changes. people are expected to go the couldn't, "a," find any voter fraud and "b," they couldn't get campaign. that should not be a surprise. i think you're going to see him the cooperation even of republican states. so this is so outlandish, and it making changes at asqulgencagen making changes to senior staff. one thing we have talked about also surprises me that no one has yet apparently told the president that you don't need an as a staff exdwoodus from the w i.d. to buy cereal. it also highlights how kind of wing, there are not a ton of people left. they have been having trouble out of touch he is about how for two years attracting with this all works. exception to the white house about what is required for people to go about their counsel a lot of top talent and i think that's going to day-to-day lives. continue. >> thanks, everybody. i don't think the president has appreciate it. more to come. gone grocery shopping in probably many, many years. the judge in cnn's trial >> ken, i mean -- against the president says he'll >> unless you're -- make a ruling tomorrow afternoon >> should the president be doing of jim acosta's press pass being this? >> i mean, which some people do. revoked. later, a tragic update on which is -- the fires in california. >> but i think that the -- one the images are just extraordinary. the death toll has risen to at of you commented about the -- i least 50. think it was maggie about the more than 100 people, most of them senior citizens, are loss of confidence in institutions and let's face it, missing in one northern california county. when you look at florida, you we'll take you to the fire lines ahead. can also see why there's some loss in confidence of instituti

institutions. the same place has been making the same kind of mistakes for so long now it's unbelievable. now the elected official there before nexium 24hr mark could only imagine... says, you know, maybe i won't a peaceful night sleep without frequent heartburn waking him up. now that dream is a reality. run for relek-election this tim. i think she said this before. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for all-day, the whole debate currently starts with the 83,000 votes all-night protection. that were there, weren't there. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn? and when you don't follow your own rules, you invite the lack of confidence in the institution. does the president push that and use hyperbole? yes, he does. >> right, why not stick to that, though, rather than, i mean, this idea of people going in and out of cars wearing disguises in numbers so massive that it affects, you know, the popular vote is ludicrous. >> when -- when i was running conventions for cruz in the primary, we were winning the state conventions while the president was winning more primaries. it wasn't that obviously senator cruz won some of them as well, but we were coming away with delegates far out of proportion to the primary results, and they

couldn't catch up to us. and their strategic response was a messaging response. it was when you have this two-level election, that's not a fair system, that's a rigged system, and, look, that messaging worked. it worked. >> that's the lesson he's taking away, that this works. >> it worked. and i understand even put fairly why that message worked because it isn't what people are used to, but it was the rules in place at the time. so when you -- when you start to get outside people's expectat n expectations, you invite exactly that kind of attack and it worked for him there and in florida it definitely adds to the doubt, but i have very little sympathy for broward county in having that all dumped on them. this is repeated, continuous. i have serious questions about the legitimacy of -- >> two things can be true at once, right? is. >> yes. >> it can be true there are huge problems in florida, this continues over and over again. the margin appears to be so big that this is a mandated --

state-mandated recount. that is why this is being done. >> yes, came within numerical boundary. >> number one. number two, it can be true people can have concerns about that and still not consider it responsible to claim that voters are sneaking into their cars and wearing wigs. >> absolutely. >> or a case o and after bill's back needed a vacation from his vacation. senator nelson probably would love to have had the ballots be so he stepped on the dr. scholl's kiosk. more clear there. it recommends our best custom fit orthotic and i think any democrat or republican is probably looking to relieve foot, knee, or lower back pain at this thinking, are you so you can move more. kidding, why isn't that fix? dr. scholl's. born to move. why isn't there a clear ballot that everybody can vote on? >> yes. >> so there's agreement on that, but that's not voter fraud. and i think that's the point many of us are making. >> right. i hear that. >> ways to have a messaging argument when the odds of this process overturning the results on election day are pretty slim. i mean, this could just go as everyone wants it to go in terms of the process playing out without all of these conspiracy theories being muddled up into it. >> well, the kicker here, though, in terms of impact, is

when new votes come into the count that weren't there originally. that is an enormous change and for you to reflect on homecomingyour servicepace you can call it incompetence if you want, but in this divided and think about what comes next. era, no one will discount the i can't wait to hear your stories. potential for fraud and for intentional misconduct. >> ken cuccinelli, appreciate and talk to you it, jen psaki, abby phillip, about where you see yourself maggie haberman. yet more breaking news, in the years to come. does anyone have any questions i can answer? ♪ michael avenatti under arrest on allegations of domestic violence. cnn's m.j. lee joins us at th. >> michael avenatti has been arrested for domestic violence. according to the lapd, he has but some give their clients cookie cutter portfolios. fisher investments tailors portfolios been booked on felony domestic to your goals and needs. violence charges. we're told the domestic violence some only call when they have something to sell. report was taken yesterday in fisher calls regularly so you stay informed. west los angeles. and that the arrest was made today. now, we did just get a statement and while some advisors are happy to earn commissions whether you do well or not. fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. from michael avenatti responding to this. lot let me read that for you. he says "i wish to thank the maybe that's why most of our clients hardworking men and women of the come from other money managers. lapd for their professionalism.

fisher investments. clearly better money management. they were only doing their jobs if light of the completely bogus allegations against me. i have never been physically abusive in my life nor was i last night. any accusations to the contrary are fabricated and meant to harm the youjudge in a federal lawsuit -- cnn sued the my reputation. i look forward to being fully president and several white exonerated." so obviously this is a very house aides for suspending jim vehement denial that we're acosta's press passéi saying it getting from michael avenatti, and knowing him, this sounds violates the 1st and 5th like someone who's going to deny amendments. today the judge heard arguments this and fight this. in a hearing that lasted about anderson? >> the original report, which i two hours. the judge said, i quote, "we've believe was from tmz, claimed all seen the clip of the white that it was his -- what they say was his estranged wife who i house press conference where in the judge's words, acosta, quote, wouldn't give up his believe he's going through a divorce proceeding with. microphone, a point the trump his wife, though, to you, directly, has denied 100% that administration made in its briefs. brought up a fund-raising e-mail this happened with her saying the trump campaign sent touting the decision to take away she hasn't even seen him for acosta's press pass and attacking cnn's, quote, liberal months. bias. the judge asked cnn's lawyer is that correct? >> that's right. the tmz report did create some about the company's position on confusion initially because it the original white house did say that this incident accusation that acosta placed his hands on the white house intern who tried to grab the involved his estranged wife who he is currently in the process of getting divorced from. that story was actually then

microphone. kr with me, cnn chief legal analyst, jeffrey toobin. changed to just say a woman rather than estranged wife. jeff, the fact the judge pushed i did speak with her on the any ruling until tomorrow, is there a significance in that in itself? >> i don't think it's a lot of phone earlier tonight and she significance, but it is said that she hasn't seen avenatti in months. certainly a small victory for she was not at his apartment this week. she also said he is not somebody the white house since cnn's who would ever hit anyone. lawyers have said every moment that jim acosta is lacking his this also -- >> m.j., sorry, michael avenatti's making a statement. let's listen. press pass is a violation of the >> very succinct. first of all, i want to thank 1st amendment, so the fact he the hardworking men and women of put it off a day suggests that the lapd for their they don't -- the judge doesn't see the same immediacy as cnn's professionalism and their work lawyers do. today. they had no option in light of >> koeraccording to cnn's repoe the allegations. in the courtroom -- including secondly, i have never struck a woman. the revocation of acosta's pass i never will strike a woman. is, quote, content-based i have been an advocate for discrimination as cnn is alleging. that's a crucial phrase. isn't it? >> that is absolutely the heart women's rights my entire career of this case. and i'm going to continue to be and i wish i thought as a cnn an advocate. i am not going to be intimidated employee, and 1st amendment supporter that this case was as from stopping what i am doing. easy as some people think it is, but, you know, if the judge i am a father to two beautiful, feels that this was disruption

and the white house was smart, daughters. i would never disrespect them by reasonable in judging it as a touching a woman inappropriately disruption, not an expression of or striking a woman. i am looking forward to a full views that are protected by the 1st amendment, he could say, investigation at which point i look, i don't run the white am confident that i will be house, i'm not going to tell fully exonerated. them how to run the white house. i also want to thank everyone if they think it's a disruption, that seems reasonable to me. they can take the pass away. for their support that has now, of course, our lawyers have reached out. a very different view of that, you know my character. you know me as a man and i that jim acosta is being a appreciate it. thank you. journalist. asking hard questions in >> that's michael avenatti who's sometimes impertinent ways is just, m.j., been released from the heart of what journalism is about. so that -- that's the custody. we're, of course, going to continue to follow the story counterargument, but, you know, tonight. there's even more breaking you just don't know -- i mean, news this time in the russia investigation. potentially big development as just to answer your question, i'm sorry, but you said about we wait for new moves from special counsel mueller. content, you know, it's that is next. you've had quite the career. permissible to punish a -- yeah, i've had some pretty prestigious jobs over the years. someone who doesn't follow the rules, but it is impermissible news producer, executive transport manager, to punish someone for speech and a beverage distribution supervisor. that you object to. now i'm a director at a security software firm. wow, you've been at it a long time.

that you find too liberal, too conservati conservative. thing is, i like working. that you object to the content. so weather jim acosta's behavior what if my retirement plan is i don't want to retire? was was speech or simply then let's not create a retirement plan. let's create a plan for what's next. i like that. get a plan that's right for you. behavior that can be punished, that's the heart of this case. td ameritrade. >> the fact that the white ♪ house, specifically sarah sandesand yeah, this is bob barnett in chicago. e sanders initially claimed jim (john foley) i was there when bob barnett acosta was physical toward a made the first commercial wireless phone call. white house intern trying to take back a microphone, the we were both working on that first network white house put out altered that would eventually become verizon's. video footage of it. heir not even using that in that call opened the door to the billions of mobile calls their argument anymore and the judge understandably wanted to know why. that we've all made since. >> that's right because sarah i'm proud i was part of that first call, and i'm proud that i'm here now as we build america's first and only sanders and the white house made a big deal about the fact that 5g ultra wideband network jim acosta behaved, essentially that will transform how we all live, once again. assaulted this white house employee who was holding the (bob) the first call that we've made on the cellular system. microphone. as the video came out. that was just utterly untrue. they have changed their argument [baby laughing] to, from violence by jim acosta, [baby crying] [baby laughing] to disruption by jim acosta. [baby crying] [baby laughing] [baby crying] and that, you know, i think it we hide hotel names, so you can find four star hotels at two star prices. shows that they realize the violence argument was a total ♪ h-o-t-w-i-r-e hotwire.com

loser and simply not true, but disruption is not necessarily an argument that will lose in front of this judge. >> right. jeff, stay with us because i want to bring in abc news veteran sam donaldson. sam, thanks for being with us. you came up in court today, i know you submitted a declaration in support of cnn. can you explain why you think this case is important, especially given your own experience covering path preside presidents? >> sure, anderson. it was wrong. and it's unprecedented. i don't know of a president who's ever threatened, let alone actually pulled a white house pass from a reporter. sure, presidents don't like uncomfortable questions. would you? would i? why did you say that, why did you say that? you saw the testy exchange the other night. jim wants to know why do you call it a caravan, why do you call it an invasion? are you trying to demonize immigrants if front of the elections? the president can say, yeah, i'm

trying to gin up my base. of course not. he's got to have something to say and he tried and it was a testy exchange. if people want to say i think jim went too far, i think he was a little too tough, he didn't have to do that. that's a fair debate. i thought it was okay, of course, i'd been there, not in a position like that. let me them you something, anderson, what happened next was just outrageous. the president turned away and then came back and launched a very strong personal attack on this reporter. and what did he say? you can read the transcript for yourself. then he came back again. he wouldn't let it up. he was angry and he pulled the pass. why? because he's angry at acosta for asking questions that he doesn't want to answer. >> when you famously covered president reagan, you would often, you know, you doggedly asked questions and fol

lot of late developments tonight. here's another. it could play into all the news lately surrounding trump associate roger stone. wikileaks and potential charges in the russia investigation. now, at the center of the story, text messages that stone has just made public. sara murray joins us now with the breaking news. so what's in these text messages? >> these are text messages between roger stone and randy crediko, backchannel to wikileaks in october 2016. the very beginning. in them, randy says big news wednesday. he goes on to say "hillary's campaign will die this week." that was the week julian assange

was supposed to hold this big press conference and deliver a bunch of dirt. he didn't do that. a couple days later that's when wikileaks started rolling out all thoese disclosures of hacke e-mails. roger stone is putting these messages out trying to show, you know, in fact, randy crediko was his back channel. >> i think stone and his attorneys are frustrated that he's been out there insisting he was not a back channel, insisting he only relied on publicly available information at the time. and they feel like people don't believe roger stone. remember, roger stone was out there in 2016 saying he was in touch with assange. seeming to predict that stuff was going to be coming. now he's putting forth these text messages to try show, look, i was telling the truth, i did have a back channel, i was getting some kind of information from randy, where, how he was getting it, who knows. >> interesting. sara murray, thanks very much. appreciate it. fascinating stuff. i want to check in can chris. see what he's -- actually we'll

check in with chris -- actually, you know, i'm told he's ready now. chris, what are you working on? >> i'm here. just had to get my makeup done. i want to look good for you anderson. i don't like coming in half done up. so we're going -- we're going to be talking tonight with >> we're going to be talking with the man who believes he can help nancy pelosi be speaker. we're going to talk about his feelings who should lead the party, what's the strategy. i also want to talk to him about what the democrats plan to do about matthew whitaker. there is a lot of talk, but what are they actually going to do? we're going to talk to him. then the story hit, we saw michael avenatti put out a strong defense about these allegations. what does it mean for him going forward? got to look at the white house. we always say it's chaotic. they say it's never true, but it's never been more true than it is right now. what happened with the first lady? why did she have to go public, and what is going to be the fallout? we're going to take it all on.

>> yeah, it's kind of unprecedented for a first lady to make a statement like that about a national security figure. we'll come to you 9 minutes from now. coming up on 360, weeks and weeks the president warning over and over at his rallies about this impending invasion as he called it. he rushed active military to the border. you notice the president doesn't seem to be talking about did any more? if it's such a dangerous invasion, how come? we're keeping him honest next. ways to lose stubborn belly fat. the roasted core wrap. 2, 1... not cool. freezing away fat cells with coolsculpting? now that's cool! coolsculpting safely freezes and removes fat cells with little or no downtime. and no surgery. results and patient experience may vary.

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tonight keeping him honest, thousands of troops sent to the border for a mission that looks more than ever like a political ploy, an effort by the president of the united states to rally his base before the midterm elections. an effort that may cost tax pairs somewhere between 42 and $100 million according to center for strategic and budgetary assessments. we have to rely on that estimate, because despite our asking repeatedly, the pentagon will not tell us the actual cost. when all this hysteria was being whipped up, you can make your case about immigration reform, but it should be made on the facts. there's no doubt it's a controversial and complicated issue. but the facts were largely abandoned by this white house, and now so, too, has the story. for weeks and weeks the

president before the election, his allies and the immediate i don't spoke about an impending invasion they said was headed for the u.s. border. over and over again, the president talked about this invasion and announced he would send thousands of american troops to the border, even as the caravan of migrants was hundreds of miles away. >> at this very moment, large, well organized caravans of migrants are marching toward our southern border. some people call it an invasion. it's like an invasion. >> but that's an invasion. i don't care what they say. >> because you look at what's marching up, that's an invasion. that's an invasion. >> that's an invasion of our country. >> when you looked at that bridge loaded up with people, that's called an invasion of our country. >> went from some people called it an invasion to it's an invasion: i call it an invasion. it was really apparent on twitter that the president was very concerned about this so-called invasion from october 16 to november 6, also known as

election day. the president sent 45 tweets mentioning the border. nine tweets about this caravan between october 16 th and halloween. he warned of criminals, unknown middle easterners, bad people supposedly mixed into the group. now, that same group of migrants is closer with weeks having gone by, but suddenly there is relative silence from the president on this supposed invasion. since the election, there's been just one tweet and it was on friday. it was a link to a quote president proclamation addressing mass migration through the southern border of the united states. nothing about invasion or gangs or murderers or middle easterners. all that talk it seems that's gone away. but those thousands of american troops, well, they, of course, still have to do their job and they are as they always do. the job the defense secretary james mattis tried to explain today on his way to visit troops in texas, mattis said the defense department missions do not involve military personnel directly participating in any law enforcement or even come ing

into direct contact with migrants. the question is what is this mission about? >> i think many of you are aware president wilson 100 years ago, a little over 100 years ago, deployed the u.s. army to the southwest border. that's over a century ago. the threat then was poncho villa's troops raiding across the border into the united states, new mexico in 1916. and there's a more recent history of d.o.d. support on the border. it spans four administrations in both political parties. >> well, keeping him honest, the defense secretary was trying to justify the president wanting troops at the border by comparing a group of migrants, many with young children fleeing violence at home and economic issues, to poncho villa's troops attacking new mexico in 1916. you can decide for yourself whether that is an appropriate comparison. he is correct that more recently other administrations have also

had d.o.d. support in support roles along the border. when secretary mattis got in front of the deployed troops at the base camp, he had a simple message. put up razor wire and don't watch the news. >> there's all sorts of stuff in the news and that sort of thing. you just concentrate on what your company commander, your battalion commander tells you. if you read all that stuff, you'll go nuts, you know what i mean? >> well, on that point, we can probably all agree. if you were a member of the military, your son or daughter was deployed on a pretense that was said to be of vital importance, national security, just before the election, then seemed to disappear at least from the president's mind after the election, suppose that could drive anyone nuts. remind he, don't miss full circle our daily interactive news on facebook. you can get all the details and watch it 6:25 eastern on facebook.com/anderson cooper 360 full circle. also here on 360, news continues

right now, want to hand it over to chris for cuomo primetime. chris? >> presidents obama and bush did use the d.o.d. for support, but they used the national guard. it's exempt from a law that doesn't be allow the use of active duty troops for law enforcement mechanism. they also were willing to work with governors. both of those boxes are not checked right now by this administration. it is a meaningful distinction. anderson, thank you very much. appreciate the coverage. i am chris cuomo, and welcome to primetime. when melania says you got ago, you go. kind of. what's the real reason that the first lady went public with her feelings about a deputy national security advisor? and what happens now? despite the latest white house horror show, potus had time to cook up yet another goofy voter fraud story. is the white house getting its alternative facts from info wars again? i have something to show you. 100%, that's what nancy pelosi