the bill was backed by the white house and negotiated with the help of jared kushner, the president's son-in-law and senior adviser. the house is expected to take up the bill on thursday. the news continues. i will hand it over to chris cuomo. "cuomo prime time" starts right now. >> thank you, j.b. i am chris cuomo. welcome to "prime time." some big blows to the president's case he has done nothing wrong. first, a sitting president forced to shut down after a quote shocking pattern of illegality that involved his campaign. could the president of the united states really be banned from ever running a charity? and treason. the flynn sentencing postponed asking the attorneys if he was treasonous. the judge forced flynn to report in court that theories of entrapment were bogus. the white house promoting that lie. why?

and we have proof that the president is trying to change the facts as he prepares for the political fight of his life. a key part of the trump tower moscow deal is being twisted up for political effect. we will prove what is true. facts first. let's get after it. ♪ tonight, the facts fly in the face of the story, or at least the story the president would have you believe. take a look at this. this is the letter of intent for the proposed trump tower moscow. all right. it is signed by donald j. trump. how do i know? because we have been told it was by his lawyer and it is. i'll show it to you in a second. now, i want you to take a walk down memory lane to remind you of what the president, himself, has said about this project. first he said there was no deal. listen to this. >> i have nothing to do with putin. i have nothing to do with russia. i have nothing to do with russia. >> we have nothing to do with russia. >> for a deal that didn't mean anything, it's a lot of pages, man, with a lot of detail about

what they wanted, how they wanted. how he'd be paid. there is his signature. okay. cohen said that, so cohen said this was the case. the president said nothing happened. then he gave a different story, where the letter kind of came up, but not in the context of his signing it. listen. >> i think you should go back to -- i think it was january, it was just reported very well by katherine harris, who is a terrific reporter on fox. she talks about a letter that he signed. i don't even remember it. it specifically talks about this deal. >> katherine is a good reporter at fox, worked with her, know her, respect her. the president doesn't need her to tell him what happened in his own deal. here's the letter. cohen didn't sign it, the president did. then this weekend the president's esteemed lawyer said, quote, it was a real estate project.

there was a letter of intent to go forward. but no one signed it. why are they doing this? this is donald trump's signature. it's here. we know this. now, here's what itself going on, this doesn't matter legally. that's the point. they're not preparing for trial. don't examine it that way. they're preparing for a p.r. campaign to convince you of what they want you to believe. our job is to help you keep the facts front and center and we'll do that. let's discuss this and the other major blow to the trump theory of the case that went down in federal court today. we got michael isikoff. and neil cutial. he knows the legal questions at play as well as anyone. gentleman, welcome back. it's good to have the dream team. mike, help me understand this. it is not news the president signed this letter of intent. michael cohen said it. we believed him at the time. that's a good shot of my tie.

then why would the president in a press conference push out there is some other letter about the deal, michael cohen signed him, not him? why would rudy say there was a letter of intent but the president didn't sign it? >> look, clearly the president is trying to spin this. i think, especially with the revelations about what michael cohen pled to, this became a much more serious matter, because the fact is it went on, building the moscow tower project until june of 2016, according to mueller's filing, well into the campaign, six months past when they previously said it had ended and more seriously, you go back to that mueller filing, it may have been the most serious in terms of the president, himself. you had cohen communicating

directly with a kremlin official about securing land and financing for the deal. so, you know, now the president is going to minimize his role. you got the evidence, my co-author signed the letter of intent, so the facts are going to trump to spin here. >> i have to tell you, this is no, we'll see what happens, i'll put my name on a piece of paper. this is a very negotiate situation. it didn't buy anybody anything. a letter of intent is just that. it was very well negotiated. there are a lot of ryders on here. there are a lot of specifics in here and donald j. trump signed it. that takes us to the other big development of the day, neil. we all thought that general flynn was going to get sentenced today and it would probably be just a little bit of time. oh, no, something very different happened.

why did it get so sideways? >> so, it got sideways because of i think a couple of things, one is the judge, ed sullivan, who is a really well regarded judge, who is known to be harsh on the government, actually was very harsh on flynn for the crime saying, look, this looks like you sold your company out. >> treason. >> so the degree, he at one point and then he backed off later. he was concerned about the gravity of the defense, this is the national security adviser to the president. in my two administrations, that was one step under god, only the vice president and the chief of staff sometimes had a closer relationship with the president. so this is a big deal that this guy committed a felony and was put in as president trump's you know, trusted right-hand guy. >> so it was very interesting -- >> one other thing -- >> let me ask if you thought this was interesting and go

wherever you want, neil, the idea the judge said, what you put in these papers, you think you were setup, ambushed, no, no, no, i wasn't entrapped. you said it in here, no, i wasn't, i admit i did it all myself. that's a big proceed to the president, neil, that's their theory of the case. the only reason flynn lied is because he got framed. and he had to. and then sarah sanders, even after the general said, it didn't happen, says we have no reason to back off that. no, you mean you don't want to back off it. but they have every reason to back off it. >> oh, absolutely. you think that loud sound you heard at 12:30 eastern was the sound of 10,000 conspiracy theories by the trump defenders exploding. flynn and his lawyers exploded it. this started last week, a bunch ed of conservatives said you basically had to read him his miranda rights the fbi doesn't go change --

>> it wasn't a custodial investigation. >> robert hansen, you don't tell people -- plus, he's the national security adviser, i think he knows better. it's a bogus claim. it comes from people when 5-year-olds have to sign away their rights as immigrants and their parents. they're perfectly fine with that. when it comes to michael flynn, that's something else. his lawyer, he, flynn, himself, directly when asked about this said absolutely not. which is 100% a law. this is bad, bad law floated by sarah sanders. >> remember, it's not law, though. this is something we keep trying to get the audience to understand this. trump, the president of the united states and his team, mike, they're not preparing for litigation. they're not preparing for trial. they don't think this is ever going to be a legal contest. you know this as well as i do.

they think it's going to be a pr campaign with the american people. that's why they fudged the fact about the letter of intent. that's why they stick by a story of michael flynn being entrapped after he admits it's not true in open court. >> look. you know, the judge couldn't have been clearer about how he used the word disgust, which i think really startled a lot of people to hear a federal judge say he was disgusted, the defendant's conduct. i think that really sent a chill through the spine of michael flynn and his lawyers, signaling he was prepared to send them to prison, to send him to prison. but that said, you are right, chris, you know, about the likelihood that this is going to be a criminal case.

it keeps getting smaller and smaller and in fact, what emerged in court today is both the prosecutor and the defendant said that as far as the mueller investigation goes, flynn's cooperation is basically complete. which means they don't need him or they don't plan to use him to bring a criminal case against somebody else. >> right. >> whether it be donald trump, jr. or jared kushner or whoever and, you know, that is a further sign that mueller's investigation, i believe, is nearing its end, that there is not plans for other big criminal prosecutions on the, you know, collusion coordination front. because now we've had the sentencing of flynn and we've had the sentencing of michael cohen. >> right. >> and sullivan made clear, judge sullivan made clear, this is unusual. he said it's rare, you usually don't go to sentencing until the cooperating witnesses had completed their cooperation, including in cases that might be brought in the future. >> right. >> neil. >> but there is still one big mystery, you know, which is why did flynn lie about the russia stuff?

i mean, you know, nothing today has answered that question. you know, it's preposterous to think he was lying, forgetting about sanctions on israel. >> you know they prompted him. >> it was asked again. >> he had no know they knew. >> again and again and again. here's the important point. it connects up with the document that you discovered today about the trump tower thing. why is it that trump keeps lying? this isn't spinning. this is lying to the american people 23 different times he said he had nothing to do with russia. the story keeps on changing. now he's caught red handed signing a letter of intent, which i can tell you is a big deal. as a lawyer, that is not something you whip off. >> that is a serious document. he pretended it never existed up until this minute. >> clearly, we're not likely going to wind up in a courtroom. it's going to be incumbent on journalists to keep track of the facts.

it's clear they will twist what they can out of convenience. if you are one of the people calling them on the facts, they're going to try to kick you in the teeth. you felt that today from the president of the united states. i want to put up the tweet. michael isikoff was the first to report dossier allegations, and now seriously doubts the dossier claims. the whole russian collusion thing is a hoax. but who is going to restore the good name of so many people whose reputations have been destroyed? michael, your response. >> the president didn't read to far into what i said. i made clear in broad strokes that the steele dossier was on to some very serious stuff, that there was a major russian effort to interfere in our election. there were extensive efforts to cultivate members of the trump campaign, there were multiple contacts between people associated with the trump campaign and people associated with the russians concealed from the american public. all that is clear. what i was referring to, that the president jumped on, was

that some of the more sensational allegations -- >> we're not corroborating. >> the steele dossier, remain uncorroborated and likely not to be. in fact, the evidence for them seems -- the sensational allegations seem to be getting weaker rather than stronger. i specifically was referring to the allegation that michael cohen went to prague to meet with russian officials to talk about paying hackers, hacking the clinton campaign. >> uncorroborated. >> it was more serious, the most specific serious allegation in the steele dossier. >> and wrong. >> and the fact that cohen did not have to balance sheet guilty to lying about that, which he flatly denied. >> yes. >> to the senate is a good sign mueller doesn't have the evidence that that's true. >> michael cohen denies it. >> and mueller hasn't charged him -- that's the point. >> not everything in the dossier

was true. but we see what's happening time and again the president and those around him who support him, they are mounting a pr campaign and that's why i keep telling people, don't be a sucker. thank you for clarifying the record. are you a mentor and one of the best. thank you very much. you are just good looking. that's more than enough on television. thank you for the legal analysis. i'll have you both back soon. all right. another big thing that happened today. i don't settle lawsuits. i heard the president say that most of my life. however, tonight he may be settling, shuddering a foundation and maybe agreeing to be shunned. another shocking exam of our new normal. next. look, if you're not the lead dog, the scenery never changes. that's why this is the view for every other full-size pickup. and this year, it's déjà vu all over again. 'cuz only the ford f-150 gives you best-in-class torque, best-in-class payload . . . and you got it, baby . . . best-in-class towing. this is the big dog! this is the ford f-150. it doesn't just raise the bar, pal.

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17. that's how many known investigations there are that involve our president.

think about that. it's almost instructive. the president waives away all of them as partisan attacks. every one of them. today he folded on one, his foundation. he agreed to shut down the trump foundation amidst allegations that he and his family use charity funds for their own personal and political benefit. the attorney general says that that's what happened. now, the president says, they did nothing wrong. but in the settlement, the new york a.g. says her investigation found quote shocking pattern of illegality, that included repeated and willful self dealing. many of the allegations that led to this first came to light through "the washington post," he did reporting with us on "new day." look at the foundation's new gift. you know what it was spent on? renovating a fountain outside trump's hotel. that's what they used it for. hold on a second. what else? $12,000 to buy trump a tim tebow helmet and jersey.

and even the small donations. look at this, donald trump has to donate $7 bucks to the boy scouts. it matched the amount to enroll a young man in the boy scouts, trump jr. was 11 in 1989. you can connect the dots. allegedly, infected the 2016 campaign, what they were doing with the charity, trump raised $2 million for a fundraising group in iowa. his then campaign manager, corey lewandowski, wrote in an e-mail, quote, is there anyway we can make some disbursements this week while in iowa? make no mistakes. donations were directed to veterans, let's keep the allegations clear. but the ag has multiple e-mails suggesting the donations were also done in key states that helped boost trump's candidacy. all right? then there is this $20,000 portrait of trump, himself, paid

for by the charitable foundation. there is no word on where the painting is. but if it's in one of his homes or businesses, that would certainly violate the law against self dealing. keep in mind, this is one new york state investigation hanging over donald trump. michael cohen has also met with the new york a.g., which has vowed to keep previewing the foundation. a new attorney general will be coming in. she has said i will be looking and seeing what's there. they're seeking more than $2.8 million in restitution from the institution. from the charity. and that's not over yet. and, listen to this, what the new york a.g. wants is to ban the president of the united states and his kids from serving on the board of any other new york non-profit, for different periods of time. ten year on trump. can you imagine that? sitting president of the united states banned for ten years from

sitting on the board of a charity? donald trump has pointed his fingers at others like the clinton foundation. now it's his own charity that's been found to be dirty and the idea that they could deal with this type of disrespect at the time that he occupies the presidency, it is just something we have never, ever seen before. it's unprecedented and it should be unthinkable. but it's also known now as the new normal. those are the facts. the great debate is next. for a limited time, $50 for them $10 for you. applebee's. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood.

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mom. ♪ once again, plenty of breaking news tonight. moments ago, the senate overwhelming passed the criminal justice reform bill. just hours ago, the white house finally banned bump stocks. you know, we all learned the ugly reality of what they can do in los vegas. that's what the sniper used and the space force moved a step closer to reality tonight. those are all positive things the president could have been talking about. what is he focused on? attacking our justice system,

shuddering his foundation for bad business practices and the theory that flynn was railroaded, even though it just got blown up in court. big blows to the story the president is bringing to you. what's the impact? let's have a great debate. it's been interesting, i have been making the case to our audience, the president is not preparing for a political battle. he se preparing for a political fight where he will shape what people think. that's the only thing i can think about this letter of intent. he knows we reported he signed it. he knows we will find the letter. so i had it. why put out that michael cohen had a letter he signed? why would his letter say there

was a letter, no one signed it? what do you make of it? >> i think it's more of the same, chris, this president's inability or lack of desire to tell the truth at every turn. you went over it. at any turn, anything wary or bearing the trump's name is running into legal trouble, whether it's in a civil court or under criminal investigation. whether we are talking about the trump organization or trump university or the trump foundation now. right at every single turn, anything attached to donald trump is under -- is embattled and under severe -- not just attack, but under investigation. i think there is something to be said for that. you called this the new normal. i reject that. it's the new abnormal. it couldn't be more abnormal. people need to understand, this is not okay. it's not a good thing. i think one other note. you brought up the first step act. we should know our colleague van jones worked diligently on this despite of what donald trump demonstrated himself to be. and this is a big victory for him. maybe donald trump knew he would need criminal justice reform, that's why he signed -- >> point is, though, scott, he had good news to talk about today. bump stocks is a big deal. criminal justice reform. it's a good first step, as the

act implies, even a space force, physical governments, there is an ambitiousness. to it, he ignores all of it and attack what is is happening in the probe, even though he had a bad day on the facts. >> yeah, i'd like to see the president get focused on the good news on a routine basis now she in cycle. i think he has to recon figure his thinking. when you are headed towards your own re-election, you can't let the good news go by without the notice of a white house. if you run as an incumbent and run as someone who kept positive and has a positive track record of results. you have to trumpet those results. i'm flood the first step passed tonight and did so with the white house support and jared kushner support. it's a really good achievement, a bipartisan achievement.

i think the republican party, led by donald trump, can fairly take credit for being many, many disparate sides to get something done. as you point out, there will be other things to dominate the news, other than that, the president's team has got to get him focused on these days where you have something to tout. to tout it and don't let other things distract you. >> right, i'm just saying. the idea of what they like to say is, you guys never focus on the good news, not true. i do it all the time. but i'm not going to disrupt the president of the united states, which is what he thinks is important. today, sarah sanders went out of her way to say we're not backing off the idea that flynn was entrapped. how can you not back off it when the general, himself, said several times, in open court, it didn't happen, it didn't happen? i own it. i admit it. i knew what was going on. i knew all the rules. i was not entrapped. why do they say they're not backing off? >> exactly. >> no, it's not for you, it's for scott. why not? >> they got to let this go. this guy lied.

he admitted that he lied. you know, we can debate the circumstances all we want. it doesn't change what flynn said in court today. they got to let this guy go. when they fired him, they said he lied to the vice president. they need to cut this loose. and understand that in an investigation like this, in a situation like this, you don't want to draw your principle closer to the bad actor. you want to separate this person from the bad actor. >> the narrative is so important. the corrupt intent narrative, as false as it may be, so so important, so central for this white house that they don't let it go even when the man they're pinning it on says in open court, it's not true. and we see it also with what happened with the foundation today, angela. this is for you. 17 investigations, all bogus. all bogus. and yet he is shuddering his foundation in a firestorm of

allegations that are ugly. the sitting president of the united states may be banned from sitting on the board of a charity for a decade. talk about the new normal the new abnormal. whatever you want to calm it. it's crazy sauce and there are no rules for us how to process it. >> crazy sauce is the nicest thing you can call this, chris. i think what's interesting is their response to the foundation finally being shut down. we have been trying to do this since 2016. yeah, you were trying to do this, like you were trying to do donald trump's tax returns without any accountability or oversight. so the reality of it is, now there is someone saying this is how this has to be shut down. this is why. you were funneling money to your campaign. remember during the campaign they were raising money for veterans, instead of him going

to debate. that was a stunt to raise money for his campaign. they funneled resources to his campaign after that. so again, i cannot emphasize this enough. whether we're talking about what happens in mar-a-lago, whether we're talking about what happens in trump organization, at the trump foundation and trump university, which was also shut down. why? fraud. they were taking money from unsuspected students. they filed a fraud claim. they had to pay $25 million. all i'm saying is, this isn't just a pattern anymore. i think he is running -- i don't know like a mob boss. it's not the white house. he's not the commander-in-chief. he se a mob boss. it's like he wants to be the new star of power on stars, i guess, i don't know, i don't know, it's crazy. >> well, scott, look, what seems pretty clear is they are gearing up for the political fight of his life. they don't think they will be in a courtroom. they don't think they will have to be face-to-face with mueller. it's not going to be a legal struggle. it will be about p.r. that's the only explanation i have for why they fudged the

fact about the letter of intent. it makes no sense. why say he didn't sign it? why suggest some fox reporter was talking about a letter that cohen signed? why distract from something i can hold in my hand and show to my audience? why set yourself up for that? >> yeah. they need to prepare for both fronts they are going to have a pr fight, of course. they may have a legal fight. we don't know what legal fights they are or will not have on a number of fronts so my advice it would be gear up on both fronts. can you not assume you will have a legal front on several different issues. i actually think they may have indicted a president on the cohen campaign finance issue and put it under seal, which you know could come out. so i am worried about what legal fronts they may face. this doesn't absolve them of needing to prepare on the p.r. side. they will put their principle in the best possible light. but this legal front is not going away. they're going to have to win it as much as they win the p.r. battle. >> the irony is they are basically making the decision the facts don't matter, we will fudge it, the poll numbers show

they don't want impeachment, we will be okay. the irony is the lion may be what triggers consensus in this country about what they feel is too much, coming from the president of the united states. angela, scott, thank you very much. i appreciate the arguments, as always. nobody saw this beatdown of general flynn in court coming today. i'm telling you, you could see mueller's guys were shocked by this certainly, flynn's guys were shocked. they were celebrating when he came in, his family. they thought this would be a good day. it wound up being a postponement, because his people were so worried the judge was going to drop the hammer. so what did what happened in that courtroom mean to the president? former attorney general michael lucasse is here next. it's geico's all-time greatest hits back on tv for a limited time. and if you love the best of geico, you're gonna really love voting online for your favorite. you can even enter for a chance to appear in an upcoming geico commercial.

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17 probes involving the president of the united states. he says they're all bogus.

why is he shuttering his national charity after they say he made a mockery of charity, they may get him and his kids banned from sitting on boards for a period of years. he says general michael flynn was railroaded. flynn says, no, he wasn't. as this judge held his feet to the fire. potus pushed a letter of intent, we have a copy here. why do in? it boggles my mind, i need a better mind to understand these legalities and tactics him former attorney general is here. always a pleasure, counsel. >> good to be here. >> thank you for being here. help me with the easy one first. >> which one is easy? >> we know he signed a letter of intent. i have it in my hand. why would the president suggest, yeah, some reporter said there was a letter. i think cohen signed it. no, you signed it. why would his lawyer say, yeah, there was a letter about the

deal. no one ever signed it. it's right here. why do this? >> i don't know. the closest i can come to guessing is the notion that there was no contract and there wasn't any contract. a letter of intent is as you know different. >> true. >> they negotiate over letters of intent. it's supposed to show you are serious about doing something and you have the means if you go ahead. they never go ahead. so whether there was confusion about that i can't come one any other reason. >> michael wouldn't use the letter, he'd say there was no eventual contract. the deal never got done. you would say there was no letter of intent. >> not if there was a letter of intent. >> it's right in front of you. >> got it. >> i believe that is part and parcel of a strategy, which is, we're not going to court. i'm never going to have to deal with it. nobody will throw this letter at me. it's all p.r. and people will believe what i tell them if i say it in off. >> if that's the case, then how come if you know there is letter there, you are not alerted to the fact it will blindside you

publicly, if not in a courtroom. i don't see the distinction, other than some sloppiness whether you got a signed, binding document in the sense of a contract or letter of intent, which itself is some indication of seriousness, of course, do you don't go ahead with the deal. >> you are 100% on contract law and the legalities of transactions. >> people sign letters of intent. >> all the time, nothing happens. >> true. what they don't do or shouldn't do is say i never talked to casey about a deal. somebody shows me a letter of intent that's like 50 pages long with all these details negotiated. not a good fact. >> not a good fact. >> so today, general michael flynn gets raked by judge sullivan. and some of it i thought was -- >> bizarre. >> right. >> bizarre performance by the judge. >> the judge not knowing the time line. >> treason? >> you know what, you take that

job, you are either told or you know that job being a judge, it's not a fair fight. you get out on that bench, you can say things to a lawyer. you can say things to a defendant. they can't respond in kind. so generally, you watch your mouth. he really let it go today in a way that i thought was inappropriate. i think a lot of other people did too. >> then he backed off, but it was enough to spook flynn's counsel to say, hey, let's postpone this. >> put yourself in flynn's place. stuff comes out, tumbling out of his mouth. of course, you are going to put it off. >> now, there is one fair point that gets put back on flynn and his counsel. they went out of their way in their memo to say things that really weren't true and painted a picture of inappropriate behavior by the government and the judge didn't like that. mueller didn't like it. >> i don't know that's not true.

but put yourself in this situation, you are a defendant, you got a guideline range of zero to six months. the government is saying, you ought to be sentenced to zero. you don't, under those circumstances, file a memo accusing the government of anything. you go out and say, i'm sorry, you move on. i have no idea. no idea. >> so then, all right, do you think this would be a part of it? we can bat it aside. the idea that, well, this is what the president wants me to say. this is his theory. for sarah sanders to get up on a podium, not legal, political, say, we're not backing off the entrapment, after what the general said in open court. how do you stand by it? >> there are two categories of behavior, flynn's behavior and the government's behavior, either one was anything to write home about. comey boasted in public about having circumvented procedures. he says i got away with something i couldn't have gotten away with, if there was a better organized administration and doran it the right way.

and doing it the right way. >> it was not a custodial interrogation. you don't have to warn them. i'm talking about not consulting the lawyers at the department of justice, where you send two agents in. >> to conduct flynn. >> to conduct, wait a second, a violation of the logan act. that was what the paper said. >> they put it on flynn. they said if you want to bring in a counsel, that's fine. but then we have to bring in the d.o.j. flynn said no. >> the question is, why did he do that? >> tell me. i hate when you turn questions on me. you are already smarter than i am. >> that was a rhetorical question. i'm not sure. he would do that only if he thought that something more serious was going to emerge. the only thing more serious was the fact that at one time, not then, he had served as a lobbyist for the turks without register.

that's a crime. in fact. two of his associates were charged with that crime today. >> they pleaded not guilty. answer me this. so, he's savvy. he's in the intelligence business. they are clearly -- >> those aren't necessarily the same thing. go ahead. >> he's in the interview and they clearly are prompting him in a way that would make me the rube feel mike already knows. >> he knew that they knew. >> so, and yet he doesn't answer the right way. if you know that they know that you talked about these things, why would you deny it? unless you are protecting something that matters more to you in the moment than telling the truth. >> if you look at the 302 that they finally disclosed today about the interview, itself, not months later, but the interview, itself, his answers were equivocal. i didn't take lot of time persuading him, i didn't do this, do that, i don't have

entirely recall. he's called on vacation for this interview. >> the dominican republic. >> right. >> where seemingly no devices work. even though i've had fine coms every time i've been there. >> the point is that's a very thin false statements case. yet, he pleads guilty to it. >> what does that tell you? >> it tells me that he would rather stay off other subject. which i think is turkey. is don't think it has anything to do about these 18 days and who knew what about what was being said in the white house. >> are you talking about kislyak? he was then the designee for national security advisor. >> yes. >> he had every reason to be talking to the russian ambassador. in fact, it would be malpractice for him not to be talking to the russian ambassador. >> it depends about what else? >> no it doesn't depend. >> what about sanctions? and what to do before they were

installed. >> he was talking about after they were installed. people were saying at the time you shouldn't have done that, we have one president at a time. that's two-way street. we have one president before january 20th. we have one president after january 20th. and he had, i think, a good reason to talk about what was going to happen when the president who was going to be president after january 20th took office. >> let me ask you this as the wise old owl. >> keep off the wise, keep off the old. >> i was going to say, the idea of the president shuttering his charity and maybe being kept off of any charitable board for ten years. the president of the united states, did you ever think you would hear that? >> no on the other hand, i never associated this president with charity. i associate him, frankly, with ego. everything he has done up until now is -- look at all his buildings. they've all got his name open it.

look at his charities, they put money into the park. the park was right near his building. >> he promotes himself. >> on the other hand, it was a charitable contribution, albeit one that brought him benefit. what, a little hesitant about is the fact that they're shuddering the charity now amid all kind of allegations, but nobody has brought a case. >> it's all civil. it's not criminal. >> it's all civil. they haven't brought a civil case. he wanted to shut it down go years ago. no, we're conducting an investigation. they conduct the. >> he is the president of the united states. it's probably more. >> not in my case.

>> i got to tell you, it is always edifying and enjoy obviously. thank you for being here. we'll have to do this a lot more. it keeps piling up, my friend, it does. thank you very much. you know the words, so many want to forget them. give me your tired, your poor, huddled masses, yearning debris free. it used to be, epluribus unum. that's not what one of the fox trios thinks. now advertisers are pulling away from his mouth. is that the right reaction? next. if your moderate to severe ulcerative colitis or crohn's symptoms are holding you back,

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whetor surprise pizza,aco night, zantac works when you need it. it relieves or prevents heartburn in as little as 30 minutes, and lasts up to 12 hours. zantac. eat your way. treat your way.™ all right. the fox fear train ran into a familiar roadblock. the same rancor that fuels their demonizing of migrants and drives their numbers also tends to turn off advertisers that turn ratings into revenue. more than a dozen companies have pulled their ads after this comment from tucker carlson about migrants. >> our leaders demand that you shut up and accept this. we have a moral obligation to admit the world's poor, they tell us, even if it makes our own country poorer and dirtier

and more divided. >> i don't know where his people come from, but dirtier? is he really talking about human come from, but dirtier? is he really talking about human beings that way? let's bring in don lemon. i don't know ordinarily play hateful speech on the show, but >> yeah. i was going to ask you. you first. you've sort of given what you said about how you feel about it. i don't want to -- i try not to criticize colleagues. remember the whole thing with megyn, whatever, but it was part of the news, and people ask. here's how i feel about it. we don't usually like to criticize colleagues. but if you turn on fox any night, it is the cnn, msnbc criticism channel. they almost always lead with something that we're doing that they hate, and they hate because we're actually talking about

real news and the mueller investigation and what's actually going on in the country. so another reason i don't like to do it is because people in glass houses shouldn't throw bricks because one day it could be you or me, because we sit here and we're live. i'm live for two nights at least every single night, and sometimes you say things, and it comes out, and you didn't realize you said it, or it comes out the wrong way, and you offend people. but here's the difference, and i don't think people should be boycotted for something that they do that's a one-off, or occasionally you make a mistake and you say something wrong. but when it's how you use your platform comprehensively, how you use it on an overall basis, on a general basis every single day. >> mm-hmm. >> i come at that. you come at that. and the people on this network come at that through truth, through journalism, and telling people what is real and what is not. now, the folks who are there are

opinion journalists. they don't have to abide by those rules. for the most part, tucker carlson uses his platform to demonize immigrants almost on a nightly basis, to demonize this network almost on a nightly basis, to spread false information, misinformation, to spread the president's lies, to cover the president's back, to carry his water on a nightly basis. so you be the judge of how you feel about what's happening with him and his advertisers, that's one thing. >> right. >> but what he said about immigrants in this country, about making the country dirtier. >> dirtier. >> and poorer. that is completely false. that is the opposite of what we do on this network every day. we give the truth about what's happening with the so-called caravan, what's happening with legal immigration, what's happening with illegal immigration. and we know, the studies show

that immigration has and continues to make this country a better, stronger, more productive, and vibrant country. that's why you're here, i'm here. that's why we do what we do, because of immigration in this country. some of us immigrated through slavery, didn't want to come here. some, your ancestors, wanted to come here. but we're all better for it at this juncture. >> diversity is our greatest strength. it always has been. again, on the coin, e pluribus unum, one out of many. but you know what? as long as that has been true, so has its ugly opposite. people have been trying to divide this country on the basis of the us and the them for a long time. what tucker carlson does is not new, and you said he's your colleague. i worked at fox news. it was my first real job in this business. i worked for roger ailes. >> he once worked here too. >> i didn't work with him. i don't consider him my colleague. i think the trump trio are in a different business than the one that i'm in. they have different tactics. they have different reasons for doing it, and they have different goals of what they're trying to do. so i don't consider him a colleague. it doesn't mean he doesn't have the right to say it, but so do

advertisers have the right to respond to what he says. same thing for us. >> the other thing that is interesting, it is a tactic -- demonizing immigrants is a tactic for the people you mentioned, for the folks over there. and also demonizing other networks and conflating liberals and democrats with actual journalists and news networks. it is a tactic to them. they do it every single night. >> right. >> they know it's not true, but they do it because of what? they are exploiting -- >> i hope you're right on one level. >> of course. they're exploiting it for ratings. >> i hope on one level you're right. it's more scary if he believes it. >> people believe it because it's division. as you said, it's dividing people. it's fear. >> i don't know what's worse. if he knows it's effective but doesn't believe it but does it for effect, i think that's worse than if he's deluded enough to believe that kind of jingoism, that kind of ugliness. it's not like i'm looking for a fight. i guarantee you in person he's

not going to be that loud and proud, you know, puppy dog puss. this is about tv and what he comes across as. the reason not to fight it is i don't want to give it too much of an audience, although they already have a huge audience within fox. but we've got to call it out. i don't care what advertisers do. if they want to be in, they're in. if they want to be out, they're out. that's the business model. but the idea of saying that we are forced, they're forcing us to take in these people, who's "they"? who's us? that's what we need to call out because it needs to stop. but i'll be back with you at the top of the hour. >> i know you got to go, but you won't believe the conversation i just had with van jones. we're going to be talking about criminal justice and also cory booker is on. >> you know what? it's so sad that the president didn't jump on his own success. van jones, others very involved with the first step act. criminal justice reform passed tonight on our watch. >> okay. >> the president could have been talking about that, but he wasn't. >> i'm just told cory is not available. another night, but van jones will be here in minutes. we'll see you. >> see ya. all right. lists, that's what you do about holiday shopping season, right? everybody is making lists right now. who do you have to get what for? that's not the list i'm making.

i have one index that stands out to me, and it's like nothing i've ever seen before. i'll share it with you next. ♪ there's no place like home ♪

argh! i'm trying... ♪ yippiekiyay. ♪ mom. ♪

the final fact is 17. that's how many separate investigations of the president of the united states there are, federal, state, local levels. shoutout to garrett graff, by the way, from wired. he compiled the list and here it is. start scrolling it. it takes time. his charity, taxes, business dealings, contact with an alleged russian spy, his campaign's involvement in russian interference, maybe his own personal interaction with what he knew and when. him benefiting from the presidency with his businesses. it goes on and on, and where it ends no one knows. but here's what we do know. they're not witch hunts. it's not a hoax. we saw that today with him shuttering his own charity amid really ugly allegations, and none of it is okay. it's not normal. it is like a perverse reality show where the truth is what the president says he wants it to be. his problem? that's not reality. in reality, the facts must come out. and more importantly, they must be kept straight. that's my job. that's our job together. and i say facts first. let's get after it together again tomorrow. thank you for watching. "cnn tonight with don lemon"

starts right now. d. lemon. >> hey, it's always good to have you on and to be on with you, and i really appreciate what you said about immigration. i think that was a very productive conversation we had, and we should continue to have it. >> and we will because it's going to continue to be under attack. and unfortunately -- fortunately, rather, you are doing something that the president didn't make easy for you today. his criminal reform bill matters. he doesn't want to talk about it because he wants to bash the investigations. but it's good that you're talking about it because a lot of people -- it's called the first step act for good reason. there's a lot more that needs to be done.