i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia. we welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. president trump's former lawyer, michael cohen, sentenced this week and continuing to accuse the president of having directed him, but was part of what cohen pled guilty to not actually a crime? and a dire warning to the current senate about our democracy from 44 former senators, republicans, democrats, independents. will the current senate heed that call? plus, it was already a parent's worst nightmare, losing a child to suicide, but they say it got worse when the priest at their son's funeral denounced the way his life ended.

and in a new cnn poll, the leader of all democrats eyeing a 2020 run is one of the oldest, but is former vice president joe biden nevertheless the democrats' best candidate to beat donald trump? and he hit more home runs than any player in his era and was one of our first national celebrity brands, but what was babe ruth really like behind the scenes? i'll talk to the author of the new best selling biography. but first, what does michael cohen's sentencing this week mean for the president? you already know that cohen was sentenced wednesday to three years in prison for tax evasion, bank fraud, campaign finance violations, and lying to congress. in a moment, two perfect guests, a former chair of the federal election commission and a member of the prosecution team in the analogous case of john edwards. you'll remember that edwards sought to use a wealthy heiress to fix his mistress problem in a similar way to how the sdny

thinks donald trump used his personal lawyer and the "national enquirer." but edwards of course was found not guilty on one count. the jury deadlocked on five others. so, i want to drill down on the level of peril now faced by the president, regardless of what special counsel robert mueller may develop regarding russia. michael cohen has acknowledged being involved in illegal payments intended to influence the election, neither of which were disclosed and both in excess of contribution limits. he says he was directed to do so by the now president, which the president denies. federal election law prohibits expenditures. that includes anything of value for the purpose of influencing an election, in this case, the 2016 presidential. so, here's the critical question, assuming the president directed the payments, what was his purpose? was he acting to keep news of stormy daniels and karen mcdougal from the voting public

in the buildup to the election? that's apparently what the government thinks it can show by the testimony of cohen, enquirer owner american media incorporated and its president, david pecker, or was he trying to shield his wife and son from this scandal and protect his brand as a businessman and tv star in the event he lost the election? would he have acted the same irrespective of his campaign for the presidency? now, that answer requires getting into donald trump's head for the charge to be successfully prosecuted, whether by a jury after he leaves office or in a senate trial after being impeached by the house? a finder of fact would need to be convinced that president trump acted with knowledge that he was violating the law. i would suggest that no matter how ominous this week's developments might appear, the president's fate on this issue is far from clear, which leads question.s week's survey

go to my website at smerconish.com. answer this now. assuming president trump directed michael cohen, what was his primary purpose, to keep news of his affairs from the voting public before the election or to shield his wife and son from the scandal and protect his brand if he lost? as promised, joining me now, bradley smith, former chairman of the federal election commission, now chairman of the institute for free speech. he wrote the article for the national review to which i referred, michael cohen pled guilty to something that is not a crime. and jeff sigh, he was one of the prosecutors in the john edwards case. bradley, you say that michael cohen may have pled guilty to something not a crime. give me the short version. >> i disagree that the fundamental question here is whether or not he intended to influence the campaign. that is the statutory language but it has an objective component, and in fact, under fec regulations and under the laws traditionally understood t the obligation has to arise from

the campaign in order to be something that you pay with campaign expenditures. for example, if a businessman has lawsuits pending against his businesses, he thinks they're bogus, he tells his company lawyer, settle this because i don't want the distraction and i don't want people thinking i'm a heartless tycoon, it doesn't convert those expenditures. they're personal that are required to be paid personally. i think the question is were these campaign expenditures and i don't think most people think it was. if it were, then we're in a situation where -- for example, we've had about 40 congressmen or so who it's been revealed they've paid sexual harassment settlements out of their office accounts. we're saying that those have to be paid from campaign funds rather than by the congressmen personally. that's not what campaign funds are for. we're inverting the law and allowing campaign funds to be used as sort of a slush fund.

>> jeff, respond. >> campaign finance law is both highly tactical on one level but also fundamentally goes to the core issue of what our purpose is, and our purpose is to have have transparency and try to mitigate as much as possible the potential corruptive influence. i think that's what the prosecutors do in all of these cases, including the edwards case, including the cohen and other cases down the line, is try to look for where there is something that is, as the law describes, the primary purpose or a purpose being for the purpose of influencing the campaign. >> jeff, i was going to say and i'll ask you as a followup, what if his purpose was a little of both? i don't want the voters evaluating stormy daniels and karen mcdougal, and nor do i want my wife being aware of this, so it was a combination of

factors. then where is the president's legal defense, jeff? >> you hit on, michael, the horns of the dilemma right there. there is an issue that is to be debated. it was debated in the edwards case as to whether or not under the law for purposes of contributions and expenditures, whether or not the law says it has to be, as you said in your survey, the primary purpose, the sole purpose, or a purpose. as we argued in the edwards case, what we had to show was simply a purpose. to the extent there is this duality, i think it creates more difficulty for prosecutors to try to establish a case as to the point about drawing a line, as to where that line is. >> bradley, something you made reference to in the national review piece, what if the president did view this as campaign related and wanted to make it go away by the book? i guess he would have had to adhere to the $2700 limits taat

and disclosing. can you imagine the human cry of you had a candidate who paid rush money to go away and it was a campaign expenditure? >> had it been done that way, president trump is not subject to the $2700 limit himself so he could spend his own money for it. there would be questions about people advancing him money but let's shove that to the side. it would be reported, but how would it be reported? it would probably be reported as legal fees, the same way that the clintons reported the payments they made to their law firm to pay the british spy on trump. i'm not sure how enlightening that would have been to anybody involved. i think when we really look at the bottom line here, jeff's point is a good one. it's a tough question, but the fec has said it has to be an obligation that arises from the campaign. if it would have existed anyway, it's not a campaign expenditure. and they specifically rejected

the mixed use idea, that it primarily benefits the campaign but also benefits the candidate personal, it counts. that's a real problem. >> jeff, it occurs to me that perhaps from a legal standpoint the president might benefit from evidence that he had similarly acted and paid other women to go away long before he was a presidential candidate, thereby strengthening his case. this had nothing to do with the 2016, this is my m.o. to protect my brand. >> you know, i highlights, michael, what i think is some of the uniqueness of the situation here. some of that evidence might, in fact, go to help establish that point, but perhaps go to reinforce other issues, which is to say that putting aside whether there was an m.o. there, that there was a real motivation in this particular situation that the revelation of some of those things might serve to hurt the campaign. so to the extent the prosecutors are even looking at cases beyond

what they've already done, that's ami and mr. pecker and mr. cohen, i think one of the things they'll look at are some of those factual issues and the timing of these things and the manner in which it happened before and how all of it mixes together here. >> bradley, as a practical matter, if you're right -- i mean, look, you were the chair of the federal election commission and you think that michael cohen pled guilty to something not a crime. why, as a practical matter, would he have then pled guilty? because by all accounts he had great legal counsel and himself as a lawyer. >> that may be a question for michael cohen and maybe a better question for jeff. obviously people sometimes will cop pleas because they're going to get a better deal. he was facing a lot of potential jail time for other charges, tax fraud and various other things. it may be that the u.s. attorney was of course interested in getting at trump. it's not like the u.s. attorney's theory here is made out of nothing. he's got, as jeff has said, for

the purpose of influencing, that's what he's looking at. he wanted to get trump and he says to cohen that's what i want you to plead to and cohen might have decided that was the best deal to take. >> final question for jeff, what do you think the likelihood is that the president has already been indicted by the southern district of new york under seal? >> that is, i will tell you, beyond my kin, but what i will tell you is that if i know anything about prosecutors, including the men and women in sdny is that they will work tirelessly to find the evidence. to the extent that there is evidence beyond the cases that they've already established, you can look to things such as what kind of cooperation mr. cohen is providing right now, but also what kind of cooperation ami, ami employees and mr. pecker are providing. there is a reason why there is a nonprosecution agreement in place for those individuals. so the question will become whether or not they can find that evidence. >> jeff, finally, as you well

know, these are tough cases, right? getting into the mind of the individual, in this case the president of the united states, no slam dunk for a prosecutor, as you learned with john edwards. >> not even close. there's a reason why the standard of proof for these kinds of cases knowingly and wilfllfully as the law says is e hardest that the law has for purposes of proving this kind of case. campaign finance cases go to the heart of our democracy, and so they rightfully so should be difficult cases to prove. so when prosecutors have that evidence and are willing to bring a case, it's because they believe they've got the evidence to do it. >> bradley, jeff, many, many thanks. great expertise and we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> thank you, michael. >> what are your thoughts? >> tweet me @smerconish. from facebook, i feel like it's 1998 all over again. hey, it's just about some sex. doug ebersol, i'm going to get into that with mary landrew in a

couple of minutes' time because if in the end this should go to the house, he should be im peechl peec -- impeached, won't some say when the underlying content is sex, it's not enough to throw somebody out of office. one more if i've got time. smerconish, you need a third option, michael, both. it's got to be the primary purpose as has just been made clear. nevertheless, go to the website and vote @smerconish. assuming president trump directed michael cohen, what was his primary purpose to keep news of the affairs from the voting public before the election or to shield his wife and young son from scandal and protect his brand if he lost? ahead, in a new poll of all the democrats eyeing a 2020 run, the leader is by far one of the oldest, but is vice president

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. so, are age and experience a plus or a minus for the democratic presidential candidate? dozens are already vying for the 2020 nomination and there's a lot of post midterm hype about beto o'rourke. the latest by a wide margin is former vice president joe biden. biden has 30%. bernie sanders is at 13. o'rourke is up to 9 and nobody over 5. at a recent appearance in montana biden called himself the most qualified person to run, but he's run before, 1988 and 2008 with less than stellar results. on election day he'll be 77. joining me now is "new york times" columnist frank bruni who wrote the piece, i like joe biden, i urge him not to run. why? >> the stakes are enormous and if you believe as i do that the trump presidency has been a disgrace, the stakes here are making sure that donald trump

doesn't get another four years and that means being ruthlessly un emotiemotional about who has best chance. you mentioned the two failed presidential campaigns. they were sort of debacles. he didn't get far in those races. he exited them early with basically no votes. why would we believe that all this time later at the age of 76 he he's going to be a better candidate? there's a lot of history that shows democrats do better with younger candidates. i think when you add all that together and you ask yourself the question, is this the safest, best bet to take on trump and make sure he doesn't get another four years, i think the answer is no. >> so, if not by identifying a particular personalty, give me the parameters. what does he or she look like? what do they need to have? >> i think it's impossible to say because the most important thing is something we haven't seen yet. so we need to watch to see how everybody who's going to run and we don't know who's actually going to press the button at the

end of the day, how do they come out of the gate, what's their message, how well are they communicating that specific message? that's going to be one of the most important things if not the most important thing and we can't see that yet. at this point before 2016 donald trump who obviously ended up winning was not on anyone's radar. no one thought he was going to run. we hadn't seen him come down that escalator and say something that shockingly had enormous resonance with the american public. we're at too early a point here. you mentioned the poll which was fascinating. i went back and looked at in december -- four years ago, the same point in the cycle who was winning the polls. jeb bush was way ahead in the cnn poll from december 2014. after him was chris crhristi an in third place was ben carson. none of those men ended up getting far at all and none of those men are in the white house today. >> what you wrote generated huge discussion and ron mcclain who i think is a smart guy with ties

to the former veep, here's what he said. first, clinton won more votes than trump and nearly won the electoral college even with russian interference and james comey's infamous letter. while no democrat should repeat her 2016, her path to nearly 66 million votes should not be fully discarded. does he make a point? >> he makes an excellent point. i would urge people to not only read my piece but read his. it's a good debate and i appreciate that he wrote his retort to me respectfully. at the end of the day though hillary clinton is not in the white house at the end of the day. it's a little frustrating people say but she won the popular vote, but it was just 77,000 votes in three states. all of that is true. all of that doesn't matter if you're not sitting at the resolute desk. i want the democratic party to nominate someone who builds on her margins, even if there is a

sort of rigging like you could argue this last time, even so a democrat sitting at the resolute desk come inauguration day. >> his final point was one of saying, look, even if voters did undervalue governing skill in 2016 -- i'll paraphrase -- maybe after trump there's going to be pent-up demand to have somebody with a c.v. and who would be better than biden in that regard? >> there are a lot of people with very good c.v.s and when you look at what voters responded to in recent presidential elections, barack obama hardly had the most impressive or lengthy c.v. of all candidates. donald trump had the most unconventional c.v. of all our presidential candidates. i think experience matters greatly. it's going to make someone a better governor of the country. at the end of the day voters don't respond personally to a candidate's experience. there are plenty of people who cross the experience threshold and allow us to ask other questions like how much charisma

do they have, how well are they articulating their message, how well do they use social media. beto o'rourke is very good at that. >> did you hear from joe? >> i did not. one tends not to hear back in situations like that. listen, i like joe biden and as i said in the headline of my piece, i respect him very much, enormously. this is just about what is the safest bet at a moment in this country's history where we have to make the safest bet and make sure that we are digging ourselves back out from under only four years of donald trump and not eight years of donald trump. >> thank you, frank. >> thank you, michael. the results of the first cnn des moines register iowa poll revealed tonight right here on cnn 8:00 p.m. eastern. tune in to see how the 2020 potentials are doing in this crucial state. let's see how you're going in terms of my facebook and twitter accounts. from facebook, going with biden is setting up the democrats for another loss in the election. love biden but he's too darn old.

margie, how about the pairing of somebody like beto o'rourke arouand biden? just saying. still to come, they lost their teenage son to suicide and then sought compassion from a priest. instead, at the funeral he called their dead son a sinner. now they're fighting back. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ everything was so fresh in the beginning... but that plug quickly faded. luckily there's new febreze plug. it cleans away odors and freshens for 1200 hours.

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yippiekiyay. ♪ mom. ♪ president trump has announced in a tweet that embattled interior secretary ryan zinke will be leaving his administration at the end of the year. this happens amid federal investigations into zinke's travel, political activity and potential conflicts of interest. we'll have more details on this at the top of the hour. now, it was already a parent's worst nightmare, losing a child to suicide, and then, according to the reporting in the detroit free press and "washington post," they say it got even worse at his funeral.

18-year-old maison hullibarger was a freshman at the university of toledo studying criminal justice, even a straight a student and star linebacker in temperance, michigan. on december 4 he took his own life. and then, because the priest at their parish didn't personally know maison, his parents, jeffrey and linda, met with the reverend don la cuesta before the funeral to discuss what they wanted in the homily. but to their horror at the packed funeral on december 8, la cuesta mentioned the word suicide six times according to "the washington post." he told mourners maison may be denied admittance to heaven because of the way that he died and wondered aloud if maison had repented enough in the eyes of god. here's how jeffrey and linda, his parents, recounted it. >> he basically called our son a sinner in front of hundreds of people and judged him when he

didn't even know him. jeff went up to the pulpit -- >> asked him to stop. i didn't make a scene. i did it respectfully. >> he didn't stop. he didn't miss a beat. >> the parents say that when the priest was done, he had the organist start playing to prevent anyone else from speaking. the funeral director had to walk over and stop the organist. jeffrey, the father, then spoke, trying to steer the service towards what they expected the priest to do, celebrate their son's life. the casket was wheeled out, the couple told the priest he was not welcome at maison's gravesite burial. if that weren't bad enough, according to their account in the detroit free press, it was the appearance at the funeral of the late son's former football coach, jeffrey wood, who according to the parents had bullied maison and their other sons. wood had been asked not to attend and then when he showed up he was asked to leave. he did, but then he posted this

on social media, quote, if you need someone to blame, i'm your man. i'm your fall guy. this is how society is when things go not as planned. we blame others for our short comings. this tragedy is not about me or you. it's about looking in the mirror as a human being and being real and honest with yourself. hey, if what the parents say is true, maybe it's the coach who should be looking in the mirror. after school officials learned of the post, woods' coaching duties were terminated. what of the priest? catholic officials in the detroit archdiocese apologized in a statement, quote, for the foreseeable future, he will not be preaching at funerals and he will have his other homilies reviewed by a mentor and will get the assistance he needs in order to become a more effective minister in these difficult situations. the parents want la cuesta removed from his post, as jeff hullibarger told a local paper, everybody seems to understand but the catholic church.

a go fund me for maison's funeral expenses has already nearly doubled its goal. up ahead, the senate gets a dire warning about our democracy in a letter from 44 former senators from both sides of the aisle. i'll ask one of the signers if she thinks he'll get anybody to listen. and 100 years later he's still america's most iconic baseball player, but beyond the home runs, babe ruth had a hard scrabble life that shaped his outlook. here he is in 1946 singing "jingle bells" to kids suffering from polio. ♪ jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way ♪ ♪ oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh ♪ you ok there, kurt? we're about to move. karate helps... relieve some of the house-buying... stress. at least you don't have to worry about homeowners insurance. call geico. geico... helps with... homeowners insurance?

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♪ 44 former senators from both parties are warning america is entering a, quote unquote, dangerous period. the ominous message comes in a bipartisan letter to the currents u.s. senate. they cite challenges to the rule of law, our governing institutions and our national security and they explain, quote, at other critical moments in our history when constitutional crises have

threatened our foundations, it has been the senate that has stood in defense of our democracy. today is once again such a time. among the signers, my next guest, mary landrew, was the democratic senator from the great state of louisiana from 1997 to 2015 and joins me now. senator, what worries you most? >> well, there's so many things but i want to begin by saying that this was a respectful letter to our faormer colleague signed by democrats and republicans just urging them to keep their eyes on the fact that we all swear an oath to the constitution, to the united states, and while we're all excited at times and passionate about our parties and our politics, that this is a time to really keep your eyes on the constitution. so these investigations are coming to a head. the house is flipped now into democratic control. it's going to take the senate, republicans and democrats, keeping their eyes on the law,

keeping their allegiance to the constitution and to the country, not to their parties to really help us get through the next couple of months and years. >> here's another part of the letter that i'll read aloud. regardless of party affiliation, idealogical leanings or geography, as former members of this great body, we urge current and future leaders to be steadfast guardians of our democracy by ensuring that partship or self-interest not replace national interest. it sounds like you want to evaluate whatever evidence might be coming forward without regard to party affiliation. >> absolutely. that's the call to the senate. the house has the prosecutorial role. the senate has the role of judge and jury. you want the jury, if anything comes before them, to look at the evidence, what might be presented. you know, this president unfortunately has many legal challenges facing him, his

charges of potentially using his office for enrichment, potentially the charge of involvement with russian interference in the election, obviously this campaign finance issue which may not be as important to the others, but at a time like this what the american people want to know is will the rule of law be upheld? will our institutions of our democracy operate independently? the senate doesn't work for the president. it doesn't matter if it's a republican president, a republican senate. the senate does not work for the president. the senate works for the american people. the senate upholds the constitution, just like the supreme court doesn't work for the president. they have their own role to play. i think that's what we were saying as respectfully as we can because we understand the pressures of wanting to be, you know, a proud republican or a proud democrat or holding up the flags of our individual parties, but at times like this, those

flags have to stand down and the american flag has to stand up. >> i don't think anybody could disagree with that. senator, thanks so much for being here. >> thank you so much. let's check in on your tweets and facebook comments and see what you are thinking. what do we have katherine? yet, these former senators are supporting a coup, weird. how are they supporting a coup, chris? have you read the letter? the letter is one that reminds incumbents, hey, your allegiance is to the constitution, not to the democratic party and not to the republican party. what she's really saying and she got to it there in her second response is, should this get before you as triers of fact, you've got to be fair and impartial jurors. i want to remind you to answer the survey question at my website right now at smerconish.com. assuming president trump directed michael cohen, what was

the purpose, to influence voters or shield his wife and son and protect his brand if he lost? i'll give you the results in a couple of minutes. still to come, this dying man under the santa beard hearing wishes from kids with polio was the world's most famous baseball player, and his best selling biographer is here with amazing stories about babe ruth. >> i want to take this opportunity to wish all the children not only in america but all over the world a very merry christmas. where does it end? new olay whips. while not equal to cosmetic procedures, our b3 complex hydrates to smooth skin. injections? rejected. beautiful skin? accepted olay.

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he remains a century later the greatest baseball player of all time. when president trump awarded babe ruth a long overdue medal of freedom this year he said he should have gotten it a long time ago. and this photo of the babe went viral earlier this year, giving his signed autobiography to the then captain of the yale baseball team. that would be one george h.w. bush. beyond his legend, 715 home runs, a slugging percentage that nobody has ever topped, most people don't know many of the stories about the man, his tough childhood, frequent trips to orphanages and hospitals and kindness to black ball players. and when he was dying of cancer, december 1947, he dressed up as santa claus and met with children who they themselves were suffering from polio. watch this. >> i want a rabbit. >> you want a rabbit? >> yeah. >> a rabbit.

now, how can i get a rabbit? i'll give you one of these until we get a rabbit later. >> okay. >> we'll think about the rabbit later. >> thank you. >> these whiskers are getting me down. >> all these aspects of the man explored in a fascinating new best selling biography "the big fella: babe ruth and the world he created." the author, jane levy, joins me now. she's also written best selling biographies ofckey mantle and sandy colfax. >> my grandmother lived for the real original yankee stadium. >> i said this on radio and it's true. i took my own sons to see a phillies game when the giants were in town, barry bonds, a lot of controversy, and somebody in left field had a sign that said,

babe got it done with beer and hot dogs. is that true? >> yeah, it is. the thing about the hot dogs is, you know, the reform school that he spent his childhood at which was called st. mary's industrial school on the western cusp of baltimore city gave the kids meat only once a week. what do you think it was? hot dogs. it is absolutely no surprise to me that he would george himself on th -- gorge himself on them for the rest of his life. >> i'm well aware of your success. i'm nevertheless stunned by the fact that you thought there was new ground to be plowed. what made you think that even jane levy could write a book -- biography about a man that so much has been written about? >> i haven't sure there was so i spent a year before signing on to do it reading everything that had been written about him, all the very good biographies that had come before. but what was missing from all of them was the first 20 years of

his life. it was as if he stepped fully fledged out of st. mary's industrial school into an orioles uniform in 1914. when something is missing like that from everywhere, as a reporter, you know there's a story that hasn't been told that needs to be told. to understand the big fella -- >> what was the eureka moment? >> probably when his daughter, julia ruth stevens who's now 102 told me that of course nobody knew, and babe ruth had good reason for hiding it. his parents were divorced and it was an ugly divorce, and the reason he was sent to st. mary's had nothing to do with him being

encourageable. >> here's a lawyer's question. i don't know if you can see me. i am holding a baby ruth bar. how could he not get paid for this? >> babe ruth comes along just at the moment when technology and marketing and pr conspire to amplify and redefine his fame, but he was so far ahead of everybody else there was no law to protect him, and no right of publicity as it's called, and that came around in 1951, so when the curtis candy renamed their candy cake baby ruth and argued that it was died after glover cleveland's dead daughter, there was no way for the law to make him whole.

he tried to file suit in patten court, and he never made a dime off a candy bar that everybody still assumes was named for him. >> jane levy, continued success with yet another best-seller. >> thank you so much, michael. happy holidays. >> you, too. still to come, your best and worst tweets and facebook comments. the results, you have one last shot to vote on this survey question. assuming president trump did direct michael cohen, what was his primary purpose? was it to keep news from the affairs of the public, or was it to shield his wife and son from the scandal and protect his brand if he lost?

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okay. time to see how you responded to the survey question at summer smerconish.com. survey says, wow, 11,599 votes casts, 94% say hiding the news from voters. only 6% say to shield family and brand. a different way of wording the question, would he have acted the same irrespective of the election? i raise this question to my guests in a strange way, he might benefit if he made payments previously to women

when there was not a campaign in which he was running. it would give him the right to say, it was my mo to act as such and to make this go away regardless of any particular campaign. i ask that question and wrote that poll question because i think that's the clearest way you can distill the net impact of all the michael cohen news this week. of course mueller may have tons more coming in terms of the russian probe or not, but with what we know thus far, that's the issue that may have to be grappled with by both the house and senate. katherine, what do we have? a lot of social media i am told this week. it had nothing to do with his brand. those payments were to influence the election, period. remember the "access hollywood" tape. brian and finesse, it raises another question. brian stelter raised this in his

news letter this week. would it have been an impact, would any of this put a dent in his armour at the time? i have my doubts. i have my doubts of evangelical christians that were not dissuaded from him, what else? don't forget, trump might not be the only republican to run and might not make it to the general election. mckale, hope i am pronouncing your name directly, you might be right, but the president's approval rating among republicans at this stage is what, 80, 85%? it's very hard to see a path for someone, say, like john kasich. one more if i have got time. what kind of people lambast a

young coach. an 18-year-old from michigan dies and that's the treatment he gets at his funeral. disgraceful. i will see you next week. good morning. so glad to have you with us. i am christi paul. >> i am victor blackwell. breaking news. ryan zinke is out by the end of the year. >> ryan zinke was being investigated for possibly using his office for personal gain. sarah, what are you hearing this morning? >> president trump announcing this morning that yet another top administration official is heading for hits exits as his west