we will continue to wait for your excellent, excellent reporting. thanks so much for doing what you're doing. we are grateful to you. and our viewers thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. erin burnett out front starts right now. out front next, trump fights back. never to be outdone, the president abruptly cancels the speaker's trip to afghanistan. plus rudy giuliani doing major damage control over contradicting the entire trump team's defense on collusion with russia. he's got a new explanation tonight. and michael cohen admitting he tried to rig online polls for trump. bags of cash exchanged reportedly, all directed by the president. let's go out front. good evening. i'm erin burnett. out front tonight president trump strikes back. lashing out at his nemesis, the house speaker nancy pelosi after he threatens to postpone his

"state of the union" address. pelosi's bus was idling outside her office, literally there it is, waiting for the speaker to come out as she was heading straight to andrew's air force base to board a military plane heading to afghanistan and then she gets this letter. and the only way to show you how childing this letter is, how un-presidential it is to read it to you. dear madam speaker, due to the shutdown i'm we will reschedule this seven day excursion when this shutdown is over. in light of the 800,000 federal workers not receiving pay i'm sure you would feel this is totally appropriate and i also feel during this period it would be better if you were in washington noeging with me and joining the strong border security movement and the shutdown. obviously if you would like to make the journey flying commercial that would certainly be your prerogative. i look forward to seeing you

soon and seeing our open and dangerous border receiving the attention it so desperately receives. i like his tweets all the way through he capitalizes words like strong border, shut done. her trip postponed, those are his words hours before take off. postponed just like pelosi threatened to do to the president's "state of the union." that's what this is about retaliation. and a trip by the house speaker in line to a war zone is not an excursion. that demeans the many men and women who are dying and serving there. hold that thought for just a moment because the next words to highlight from the letter are public relations event. the president writing i'm sure you would agree postponing this public relations evnlt was

totally appropriate. it was just three weeks ago the president of the united states went to a war zone, iraq, during a shutdown to visit troops. the goal to obtain intelligence from the front lines. did the president consider that to be a public relations event? i don't think so. and then this line. obviously if you'd like to make your journey by flying commercial that would certainly be your prerogative. t it is absurd to say the speaker should travel that way, but if this president believes pelosi should travel commercial to afghanistan, then why is his wife flying on a government plane tonight to mar-a-lago? i'm not making this up. melania trump just flew on the plane you see there to palm beach. you see the tail. it's not commercial. we're in the middle of a shutdown. she's not going to a war zone. she's going to mar-a-lago. and this entire later is also a breach of national security.

the president's trip to iraq was top secret. that's the way it goes. we keep these things secret so that the life of the president or the first and second in line to the presidency is not threatened. the president revealing pelosi's plan is simply not protocol and not appropriate. even if he is canceling her trip it should not be public information. abbey philip is out front live outside the white house. and abbey, does the white house have a strategy or is this just about retaliation? clearly the president wrote it himself with the random capitalizations and all. this is his letter. >> reporter: it had been 24 hours since nancy pelosi asked him to postpone his "state of the union" because of the shutdown. and a lot of people wondered why president trump and the white house seemed to have not responded at all to that. and that's partly because according to our sources they didn't have a plan. they didn't know how to respond to what she had put on the table and were looking for a strategy. they landed upon one this

morning. according to our sources the acting chief of staff mick mulvaney decided this might be the best opportunity for them to respond to her. and one official called it retaliation. now the president liked this idea and has since liked the coverage of it in the media believing the democrats had been seeming to have the upper hand in this shutdown as all of these stories have been being told this week of federal workers really at their wits end not being paid for almost a month now. but with this move, the president once again looks like he's basically sticking a thumb in nancy pelosi's eye canceling this trip just hours before she was scheduled to get on an airplane to go to afghanistan. the question is what happens now? we don't seem to be any closer to any kind of negotiations or any kind of end to the shutdown. the vice president mike pence traveled to the hill with jared kushner a few hours ago. he's meeting with the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. there's no meeting with it democrats on the agenda and

there's no sense anything was accomplished. so we have not moved from our starting positions, and in fact we could be getting much, much farther apart. the tone of this debate has really deteriorated, erin, over the last seven days and there does not seem to be an end in sight. >> thank you very much. just to be clear by the way the speaker said she was never going to egypt and is required to stop in brussels for pilot rest time. out front haley stevens, democrat from michigan who was copresident of the freshman class. i appreciate your time. welldom welld welcome to the show. what's your reaction, the president doing this to nancy pelosi's trip? >> look, i'm absolutely concerned about the national security breach with the president's actions. and it is ridiculous and it's childish. and i've been in congress for two weeks, erin, and i have voted nine times to reopen the government. we feed to reopen this

government. i represent a district from south eastern michigan. we make cars, we're waiting for those new cars to get off the product line, but yet the epa testing center that would approve those new cars to get on the road is shuttered. and so our economy is being hampered. we're $1.2 billion lost every week, our gdp is taking a ding. we need to act and we need to act now, and that's what we've been doing. that's what we're waiting on the senate to do and certainly the president. >> now, when it comes to this trip obviously it's something that has been planned. the president took one to iraq during the shutdown. these are the points i just made. but the question is should the speaker have gone to cancel this earlier? should she be traveling during a shutdown anywhere? >> i have a lot of respect for the national security process in place. certainly the troop visit, the visit to nato and reassuring our allies, that is her responsibility as third in command to the presidency. >> so you're all right with that

part. i want to play for you congressman mark meadows, he was talking about the "state of the union" address, which of course the speaker came out and said that should be postponed until the shutdown is over. here he is. >> i think he'll give the "state of the union" somewhere else and nancy pelosi's politics will come back to bite her. >> come back to bite her? >> this isn't politics. that is national security. to setup the "state of the union" you need the secret service, you need security measures in place. its a weeks long ordeal. i've been in conversation with house administration about the "state of the union" from before i was even sworn in. you have all elective members of the federal government assembled in one body. it's something we need to take seriously. it's not politics. it's good government, erin. and that's what this new congress, by the way, is all about. we are about serving the american taxpayer who's paying for this dysfunction. this is at the expense not only of the 800,000 workers who

aren't getting a paycheck, which is absolutely absurd. this is also about the taxpayers who are repeatedly paying for this chaos and confusion. we need to get back in the business of good government. that's where we're standing. that's what our caucus is working towards, and frankly, i believe that's what we're going to deliver. >> so when kirsten nielsen who obviously oversees secret service says they're fine, they've got it all under control, do you think she's playing politics or not telling the truth when it comes to the "state of the union"? >> i have a lot of doubts about that and i believe we need to put at the forefront a good government for people. our house administration is working in lock step with the secret service. we need to take that seriously. it's being evaluated, and frankly, i don't think we have ever had a congress sworn in during a partial government shutdown. this is a disgrace. we know it's ridiculous. we know it's got to end. we need to be negotiating when

the government is open. and i got elected, erin, because i talked about our manufacturing economy. i talked about the great innovation coming out of my region. that's what i want to deliver for. i want to stand up for our taxpayers and i want to make sure our government's working for people. >> and yet, you know, the president makes this point he wants a wall. the republican who happens to have the longest border section in the country, will hurd, think it's a terrible idea, doesn't work. but tons of people think there should be more wall, better wall, fill in the blank in certain places. are you for that and if so shouldn't you guys put up the white flag and talk to him? >> make no mistake, i'm a democrat and i stand for improved border security. that is something we need to take seriously. we need to be listening to people like will hurd, i care a

lot about this opioid epidemic and right now we can't even address the opioid epidemic in this country because our government shutdown. and so some of the resources to take care of those who are suffering and struggling with addiction, they don't have access to those resources. we know we need to take border security seriously. we need to improve technology. we need to improve the personnel, the humanitarian needs. we've got components of a deal. we need to reopen our government. that is priority number one. >> thank you very much. i appreciate your time, congresswoman. thank you. and next, president trump turns a military event into a political one about a wall and warnings of another caravan. plus, trump likes to claim the polls are rigged only according to michael cohen it was trump who was actually rigging polls. wait until you hear this. and rudy giuliani today trying to cleanup this stunning admission. >> i never said there was no

collusion between the campaign or between people in the campaign. >> yes, you had. >> i have no idea -- i have not. "green book" is the feel good movie woo! that's the winner of 3 golden globes. that was a good time. [ laughing ] best supporting actor, best screen play and best picture of the year. he's a true virtuoso. i think he's really good. with expedia, i saved when i added a hotel to our flight. so even when she grows up, she'll never outgrow the memory of our adventure. unlock savings when you add select hotels to your existing trip. only with expedia. four zero expense ratio index funds directly to investors. and now we have zero account fees for brokerage accounts. at fidelity, those zeros really add up.

♪ so maybe i'll win, saved by zero ♪ dad! hiding when i was supposed to be quitting. i thought, i should try something that works. i should try nicorette. nicorette mini relieves sudden cravings fast. anytime. anywhere. nicorette mini. you know why. we know how. they work together doing important stuff. the hitch? like you, your cells get hungry. feed them... with centrum® micronutrients. restoring your awesome... daily.

feed your cells with centrum® micronutrients today. (male announcer) we know some resolutions are easier to keep than others. we know what's around the corner is always worth the trip. we know the only thing better than the last adventure is the next one. we know the great outdoors. we love the great outdoors. bass pro shops and cabela's-- where incredible selection, great people, and an experience like no other,

all come together. [indistinct conversation] [friend] i've never seen that before. ♪ ♪ i have... ♪ tonight the president going political at a military event. trump spent 21 seconds expressing condolences to the families of those who died in a terror attack yesterday. four americans. and then he pivoted to talk about his wall. >> now you have more caravans forming and they're on their way

up, thousands and thousands of people. we don't know where they're from, who they are, nothing. we need strong borders. we need strong barriers and walls. nothing else is going to work. >> okay, that's a clip. it went on for three minutes and 14 seconds talking about the wall. so 21 seconds when he's talking to the military about the worst casualties since 2014 in syria, and three minutes and 14 seconds talking about his wall. and on twitter, for example, you know, this is the first time he's made any comment about the isis attack. he didn't say anything until today and those tweets were about shutdown, et cetera. out front now joan walsh, steven moore and former white house advisor. okay, joan, so we almost didn't hear anything from him in the past days. he's been almost quiet. he certainly didn't talk about what's going on with the military.

and then when his friend nancy comes out and says he should postpone his "state of the union" he goes quiet until he comes out with this letter today. >> yes, the lovely letter. yeah, that performance talking ability his wall was, again, he's slowing down -- there's something off about the way he was speaking today. and in terms of this petty canc cla ilation of her trip to brussels it's so not just juvenile, but i also want to part out it's not just a public relations tour but she was going to brussels to reassure our nato allies that the alliance is strong despite what the president says. i think that's part of what he wanted to undermine. it's pettiness personified. >> its unfortunately these things the same and either

they're both serious and important, which they both are, or they're both a joke. steven, we're on day 27 of the shutdown. the polls, we've been reporting or "the new york times" reported the president feels he's getting crushed on the shutdown issue and here's why. he cares more about the poll, more on that to come. and poll after poll showing the numbers are not looking good for him. no matter how you look at it you're up to blaming him anywhere from 53% to 56% of americans blame him or republicans for the shutdown. how worried is he that he's losing here? >> by the way, erin, i was never in favor of this government shutdown in the first place. i just don't feel it's a good way to resolve these conflicts. but this may be an example where trump is losing the battle but winning the war. it was very interesting, erin, i listened very closely to your conversation with that congresswoman, the new freshman congresswoman i think from michigan. and she must have said several times in that interview we're for border security.

democrats have a new line here. they're going back to their districts and they're getting hit pretty hard from a lot of their constituents about this issue of border security. they're weak on this issue, and, you know, i think trump in some ways is having the upper hand here because reinforcing in every statement he makes he is for border security and democrats are not. by the way, if democrats were for border security they would have funded it. >> they did fund it. >> they didn't fund the $5.5 billion that trump wants. >> separate from the conversation you're having on border security, it's an interesting point, but what he did today in his 3 minutes and 14 seconds wasn't about border security. he's talking about caravans and makes the points that's barriers and walls. nothing else is going to work. he is -- i don't know what we are at this point. he is going down again and again about it being a physical thing. >> i don't agree entirely with

what trump said. i think almost everyone agrees and i think the president would agree border security involves a lot more than a wall. by the way, it doesn't just involve what you do at the border it involves what you do inside the border, which is another area where democrats are so out of touch with the american people. every major democratic city in the country, my hometown of chicago, boston, san francisco, los angeles, they're all sanctuary cities basically telling illegal immigrants come to san francisco, come to boston, come to chicago and what kind of border security is that? >> that whole issue is played out -- don't interrupt me, please. >> how do you defend the sanctuary cities? >> go ahead, joan. >> the real issue is that the shutdown is hurting our security, that we can't use e-verify of actual employers

trying to hire can't verify that someone is here legally. we've got issues with tsa, when a lot of people come in by airplane we've got all kinds of security issues because of the shutdown, steve. so keep singing your sanctuary city song. it's no longer a big issue. >> why? >> and democrats favor border security. >> why -- >> they've made many offers to beef up border security. the 2013 bill was a masterpiece of bipartisanship, and it only did not become law because john boehner was a cowered and wouldn't put it on the house floor. >> he says drone and i know more about technology than anybody else and it's not enough. and will heard, republican represents the longest single border district could not be more clear, it is the most expensive and least effective way to protect the border. he's talk about a wall and he was laying out how we need more

technology. >> what about border patrol agents? wouldn't you say they know more about controlling the border than anyone? i'm sort of agnostic on the wall. i think it'll help but i think you got to take a lot more steps. but, you know, not funding the wall and not funding the border security is prohibiting us from getting real legal immigration reform done. and by the way, joan, i asked you four times to explain why all these democratic cities are sanctuary cities and you can't explain it because you can't defend it. >> it's absolutely an irrelevant issue right now. democrats have been making offers to donald trump since he got into office to do a big border security deal, whether it involves daca, whether it involves every kind of -- every other kind of border security including partially a wall. and he walks away from it every time. he can't be trusted. >> democrats have said they won't negotiate, so how is that -- there's no negotiating going on.

>> they both said they won't negotiate. he says give me everything i want or i won't talk, and they say give me everything i want or we won't talk. >> they're saying we won't negotiate period until the government is open. >> that's right. >> and he's saying i won't negotiate until you give me everything i want. it doesn't make it right. thank you, both. and next it's one of trump's go-to talking points, this. >> these polls are rigged. they were rigged. >> and now michael cohen with a new revelation, trump and his team were paying cold hard cash to rig polls. and rudy giuliani trying to get ahead of something s? is he? suggesting that the trump campaign could have colluded with russians.

fresh-baked, and hand-crafted, with 100% clean ingredients. just a few good reasons to give into your cravings. now delivering. panera. food as it should be.

when did you see the sign? when i needed to create a better visitor experience. improve our workflow. attract new customers. that's when fastsigns recommended fleet graphics. yeah! now business is rolling in. get started at fastsigns.com. yeah! now business is rolling in. my moderate to severe i ulcerative colitis.ing but i realized something was missing... me. the thought of my symptoms returning was keeping me from being there for the people and things i love most. so, i talked to my doctor and learned humira can help get, and keep, uc under control when other medications haven't worked well enough. and it helps people achieve control that lasts so you could experience few or no symptoms. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common,

and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. be there for you, and them. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, control is possible.

new tonight, michael cohen says he was paid to rig polls at the direction of his boss donald j. trump. an i.t. specialist according to

"the wall street journal," and cohen denies the cash payment but the i.t. specialist is extremely specific. he says cohen handed him a blue wal-mart bag which included between $12,000 to $13,000. evan perez is out front in washington. and evan, look, at the least this is bizarre and it does appear on the top level here yet another instance michael cohen willing to do anything for trump. >> that's right. and i think that's the story that michael cohen is going to be telling certainly if he gets to testify, erin, in the next couple of weeks here on capitol hill where he says he wants to testify, want to tell a story of all the things he's been doing for donald trump over the years. and certainly this idea that, think about this he was rigging online polls. these are things that nobody really pays attention to, right? but he says he was supposed to be rigging those polls for the future candidacy of donald trump, to sort of burnish his image ahead of his announcement

to run for president. i think it fits in line with all of the things that we've been hearing from michael cohen and certainly that the democrats are going to be pursuing has they're doing these investigations. they launched these investigations at the beginning of congress because they want to make the point that donald trump was willing to do anything to win election, to burnish his image and that includes colluding with the russians, of course. the funniest part of this story, the most bizarre part to this story obviously is the idea that donald trump yet again according to michael cohen, according to this account in "the wall street journal" essentially stiffed this guy. he was supposed to pay him $50,000 ends up paying him $13,000. we've heard that story before and here we hear it again. >> thank you very much, evan. i want to go to david gergen, julia kayan and here with me jeffrey toobin.

so michael cohen is trying to rig polls, online polls. >> and the polls didn't show him doing very well, either. so he didn't rig them very well. >> at the direction of trump. >> i -- i mean, you were right at the beginning. this is deeply weird at every level. i'm not sure there's any law enforcement matter here. i think this was actually before he declared for president so i'm not sure -- so it wouldn't be an unlawful campaign contribution but obviously michael cohen could be at some risk if he just stole some of the money that donald trump gave him. but in terms of actually violating the law i'm not sure anything here, anything violates the law. it does show how much donald trump was obsessed with polls, which is something we saw throughout the campaign. and also it just shows the depth

of trust that he had with michael cohen, which of course relates to a lot of other things. >> which is all very important when you talk about whether laws were broken, you know, as this campaign started and continued. according to the i.t. specialist cohen paid him in cash, right, this wal-mart bag, which as i said it's a pretty specific detail. cohen denies it, but we have a pattern of cash payments when it comes to team trump that are bizarre. you know, adam davidson wrote in "the new yorker" about the building that was never finished but over by the trump tower. he quoted the contractor and he said, quote, they would give us a giant pile of cash. $200,000 another time, once a colleague of his picked up a payment of $2 million. he needed to bring a big duffel bag. okay, ivanka trump, by the way, was running this project. we're talk about $2.4 million at least in cash. that is not normal.

cash payments like this are red flags. >> that's exactly right. i mean normal corporations you want to have accurate accounting and you also pay taxes. so why do people pay in cash? that's because they want to avoid what's going out the door and also what's coming in the door. and so this is consistent with us having no transparency on the taxes. but just picking up also on what jeff said, i think what makes this an interesting story for his testimony because it's kind of silly in some ways is that it does show trump went to michael cohen not only as a trusted advisor but what you might call special projects, this is also true of paying off porn stars. these special projects which include in some ways defrauding data or the american public. and just to remind people, right, this is what the dossier said about michael cohen. that michael cohen actually, so it gets to it russia stuff, was also the special projects guy. so keep that in mind when we get

to a couple of weeks from now to his testimony and what michael cohen was used for. >> and, you know, it does give context, david, not just to the fact the president was obsessed with polls, look at random polls, caring about polls, but when he talked ubrigged polls it was a word he used because that was indeed what he was paying others to do for him. does anybody remember things like this? >> the polls are crooked. they show these phony polls. these polls were rigged. >> some of them by him, david. >> and somebody else said the election was rigged. i wonder what he was really talking about there. but what we see here are two things that are very familiar. he plays by his own rules and they all come straight out of

ma machiavelli. the second thing that's so familiar is how inept these folks were when they tried to carry out little schemes like this. once again it just seems like sort of amateurish. >> if if they were this inept on the small, could they have done larger? cohen was reimbursed on this all cash payment. he was reimbursed by a hand written note, okay, so he didn't have any receipt, right? it was a hand written note and then basically repaid by trump personally. this is according to "the wall street journal." this says a lot about cohen's role. >> and just how seedy the whole operation was. and one thing you can be sure the republicans are going to raise when he testifies publicly is did he get more money from donald trump than he actually turned over to the -- did he

pocket some of trump's money and not pass it all off to the i.t. specialist? everybody is a grifter as far as i can tell and that may be the clearest lesson of all. >> next we want to talk about how one of the president's biggest evangelical supporters is now connected to cohen's claim about rigging the polls. plus why is rudy giuliani completely contradicting 18 months of adamant adamant details like these. >> there was no collusion with the campaign. there was no collusion between the trump campaign and the russian people. ♪ turn up your swagger game with one a day gummies. one serving... ...once a day...

...with nutrients that support 6 vital functions... ...and one healthy you. that's the power of one a day.

onmillionth order.r. ♪ there goes our first big order. ♪ 44, 45, 46... how many of these did they order? ooh, that's hot. ♪ you know, we could sell these. nah. ♪

we don't bake. ♪ opportunity. what we deliver by delivering.

new tonight, collusion delusion. president trump's lawyer rudy giuliani playing cleanup today after saying this. >> i never said there was no collusion between the campaign or between people in the campaign. >> yes, you have. >> i have no idea -- i have not. i said the president of the united states. >> okay, that's just blatantly false. both giuliani and trump have insisted there was no collusion with russia by the trump campaign on multiple occasions.

>> there was no collusion with the campaign. there was no collusion between the trump campaign and the russian people. there has been no collusion between the trump campaign and russians or trump and russians. no collusion. >> is it still the position of you and your client that there was no collusion with the russians whatsoever on behalf of the trump campaign? >> correct. >> okay. so i don't need to tell you. they just told you themselves. so now today giuliani is telling our dana bash, quote, if anyone was doing that he is unaware of it and so am i. but neither he nor i can possibly know what everyone in the campaign was doing. this is seismic shift. this has been almost two years of them saying there's been no collusion of the trump campaign or trump and russians. and giuliani is now saying it is possible there was collusion with russians and team trump.

his best argument now is, okay, maybe it was other people but it wasn't trump and trump kcouldn' have known everything going on so it was not his fault. the problem is if this is the truth and trump did nothing wrong and others might have, the president should be demanding to know the truth. he shouldn't be covering it up by saying this. >> this has nothing to do with russians. it's a russian hoax. it's a witch hunt and it is a disgrace. it's a witch hunt hoax. this was setup by the democrats. there is no collusion between me and my campaign and the russians. >> okay, everyone's back with me. david, let me start with you. and just want to be clear here, right, president trump's lawyer has now publicly said there could have been collusion between the trump campaign and russia. that is what has just happened. >> yes, yes. he opened the door to that possibility and he did it in such an emphatic way it was very

heavily suggested that he believed there might have been collusion. it was not only that there could have been but that there well might have been. and i think that's the big difference. he tried to walk it back today in what he said in the file analysis today was pretty neutral. but what we know is when he was really speaking from his gut, from his heart, from his head was last night when he opened that door. and by the way that was not his finest hour. >> i mean, maybe one could say that both specifically and metaphorically to the situation he's in right now. i want to read his tweet. my statements on collusion haven't changed. the misinterpretation has changed. the point is i represent the president, not the campaign. but from both perspectives there is no involvement with the russians on the e-mail hack. okay, hugely confusing if you're watching this.

that was the intent. he said what he said last night. it's the opposite of what they've been saying for almost two years. now he's trying to say there's only one crime, the hack of the dnc e-mails and no one from team trump had anything to do with that. first of all, there could be a lot more crimes. >> there's the e-mail hack that went to wikileaks, the social media crime, the use of facebook by the russians, which mueller has charged as a conspiracy to defraud the united states. and of course there is also the very serious investigation of the president and especially the president but perhaps others of obstruction of justice, the firing of james comey, false statements made, cover-up. all of that, which is by the way what led to richard nixon's resignation, that is part of the investigation here. so to define the only crime possibly as the e-mail hack is wishful thinking on the part -- >> giuliani, so let's just say

somebody watching thinks maybe he misspoke last night. he didn't. rudy giuliani did not misspeak. i want to remind everybody of another time when he came out and said something completely the opposite of what trump and others had been saying. i'm talking about stormy daniels. rudy giuliani with shawn hannity, right, when he dropped the bombshell about the hush money. here he is. >> having something to do with paying some stormy daniels woman $130,000, which mean which is going to turn out to be perfectly legal. that money was not campaign money. sorry, i'm giving you a fact now you don't know, it's not campaign money. no campaign finance violation. >> so they funneled it through a law firm? >> funneled it through a law firm and the president repaid it. >> oh, i didn't know. he did? >> yeah. >> my favorite part of that is shawn hannity.

wait a second, it's not part of the cover-up. i need to be informed of this. >> but that was -- and then by the way everyone said did rudy giuliani misspeak, did he know what he was talking about? trump did repave that whole thing, now. so when he came out last night and says there might have been collusion with the trump campaign and russians, is he saying something he already knows to be true, juliet? >> i believe so. giuliani wittingly or unwittingly sort of prepares let alone himself and the public for what may come down. and his statement today did not negate what he said yesterday. it is trump himself did nautica lewd but maybe someone on the campaign did. now, that doesn't solve the criminal problem for trump as jeffrey was saying about lots of other crimes including obstruction of justice.

but i also want to take a step back and say, you know, something was going on in this campaign whether trump knew it or not that so many felt either sort of like they had a welcome mat to talk to the russians. and that comes from the top. you know, trump set a tone for the campaign, which was this kind of behavior is okay. and that we have to remember. >> and then obviously now this leaves him only sticking out and saying the president himself didn't collude. that's the only thing that's left here. >> right, and since we found out last week that paul manafort gave secret polling data to a russian intelligence official the idea that no one was involved with collusion is becoming harder and harder to defend. thus yesterday's statement. >> and as i say before we go the fact the word poll is involved is pretty significant as well. thank you all. and next what's the connection between jerry fallwell, jr., donald trump and that i.t. expert? and this cardi b video

leavi leaving senators conflicked. jeanne moos complains. ly direct.

-jamie, this is your house? -i know, it's not much, but it's home. right, kids? -kids? -papa, papa! -[ laughs ] -you didn't tell me your friends were coming. -oh, yeah. -this one is tiny like a child. -yeah, she is.

oh, but seriously, it's good to be surrounded by what matters most -- a home and auto bundle from progressive. -oh, sweetie, please, play for us. -oh, no, i couldn't. -please. -okay. [ singing in spanish ] -please. -okay. we can't guarantee, you'll find gold in them therr hills on your vacation. but we can guarantee the best price on this rental cabin. or any accomodation from hotels to yurts. booking.com, booking.yeah nothing can prepare you to hear those words... stage 2 breast cancer. i have three little kids. i can't have cancer. so we decided to travel to cancer treatment centers of america. dr. fernandez was wonderful. he said it was up to me to do what's best. it's about giving her options, where

amy has all the information to make a decision that's best for her. we left on day one feeling like we're gonna beat this and this is the place that's gonna help us do it... that feeling is priceless. learn more at cancercenter.com. appointments available now. it's a revolution in sleep. the sleep number 360 smart bed is on sale now during the january savings event. it senses your movement, and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. it even helps with this. so you wake up ready to put your pedal to the metal. save up to $500 on select sleep number 360 smart beds, now ranked #1 in customer satisfaction with mattresses by j.d. power. plus, free premium delivery and 36-month financing. ends monday. sleep number... proven quality sleep. tonight, liberty university defending one of its top officials after "the wall street journal" reported that he was hired by michael cohen to rig online polls for trump.

that university is run by jerry falwell jr., one of the president's biggest defenders. tom foreman is "outfront." >> reporter: christian conservative liberty university is shrugging off accusations against its chief information officer, saying outside work for its staff is fine, as long as it does not interfere with their employment obligations. but the political link to liberty goes a lot deeper. >> in america, we don't worship government. we worship god. >> reporter: because long before president trump spoke at graduation, school president jerry falwell jr. was speaking up for candidate trump. >> when i walk into the voting booth, it's my job to choose -- not the best sunday school teacher, not the best pastor, but the best leader for our country. >> reporter: one of the first and loudest voices from the evangelical community, falwell endorsed trump and pushed back against critics as they railed over alleged infidelities, lying, and questionable conduct.

>> grab them by the [ bleep ]. >> when the "access hollywood" video came out, i was one of the few that said that i believe donald trump was a different person than he was in 2005. i really do believe that. >> our founding fathers were not all saints. >> reporter: falwell's father, founder of a potent christian political movement in the '70s and '80s called the moral majority supported ronald reagan. close to 30 years later at the gop convention -- >> i stand here with the sincerest prayer that history is about to repeat itself with the election of donald j. trump. >> reporter: still, it's been controversial. when falwell defended trump's statements about racial violence, some liberty graduates returned their diplomas, yet falwell has pressed on, steadily praising trump's hard lines on trade, terrorism, immigration and more. asked just weeks ago by "the washington post," there anything president trump could do that would endanger they're support

from you or other evangelical leaders? falwe falwell's answer, a flat no. >> we knew about his past as a real estate mogul, as sort of a playboy, as the owner of a beauty pageant, and we supported him for one reason, because of hs position on the issues. . >> and so often, erin, when we talk about trump's base, this is what we're talking about, people out there who are simply saying no matter what happens with him, they are standing by him because they see enough advantage to their point of view no matter what else he does. erin? >> all right, tom, thank you. and gene is next. y managers migt seem the same, but some give their clients cookie cutter portfolios. fisher investments tailors portfolios to your goals and needs. some only call when they have something to sell. fisher calls regularly so you stay informed. 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. maybe that's why most of our clients

come from other money managers. fisher investments. clearly better money management. woman 1: this... woman 2: ...this... man 1: ...this is my body of proof. man 2: proof of less joint pain... woman 3: ...and clearer skin. man 3: proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis... woman 4: ...with humira. woman 5: humira targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. it's proven to help relieve pain, stop further irreversible joint damage, and clear skin in many adults. humira is the number one prescribed biologic for psoriatic arthritis. (avo): humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. woman 6: ask your rheumatologist about humira.

woman 7: go to mypsaproof.com to see proof in action. with expedia, i saved when i added a hotel to our flight. so even when she grows up, she'll never outgrow the memory of our adventure. unlock savings when you add select hotels to your existing trip. only with expedia.

select hotels to your existing trip. the latest inisn't just a store.ty it's a save more with a new kind of wireless network store.

it's a look what your wifi can do now store. a get your questions answered by awesome experts store. it's a now there's one store that connects your life like never before store. the xfinity store is here. and it's simple, easy, awesome. jeanne moos is brought to you by salon pass. try it for your pain. tonight, dems don't know what to do after a rapper slams

trump. here's jeanne. >> reporter: rapper cardi b likes to rap about money. >> i need the dollars, i get the money and go. >> reporter: when she went on instagram to talk about money and the shutdown -- >> this is crazy, and i really feel bad for these people that go to go to [ bleep ] work to not get [ bleep ] paid. >> reporter: her rant, laced with all those swear words went viral. >> this is crazy. our country is in a hell hole right now, all for the [ bleep ] wall. >> reporter: it left democrats in a dilemma. they like her message. they really like that she has almost 40 million followers. but all those curse words? [ bleep ] i'm scared. >> reporter: so were senators trying to decide whether or not to retweet the cardi b video, wrote senator brian schatz of hawaii. omg, i had the same argument with myself 30 minutes ago responded connecticut senator chris murphy. schatz suggested they both retweet it.

murphy answered dhyb. don't hold your breath. then senator chuck schumer jumped in. guys, i'm still holding my breath. are you going to retweet cardi b or not? final answer, we decided not to do it. wouldn't be senatorial. the exchange prompted someone to suggest you guys need to take alexandria ocasio-cortez's social media class. yep, the 29-year-old congressional newbie tweeted class was in session. abc reported she offered fellow democrats nuggets like if you don't know what a meme is, don't post a meme. one fellow congressman joked the below pic is called a selfie. as for worrying about not being senatorial, not every congresswoman is congressional. >> we're going to impeach the [ bleep ]. >> reporter: and certainly not every president is presidential. >> we'll beat the [ bleep ] out

of them. >> reporter: but bleeping cardi b is as rhythmic as a cardiac monitor. >> but this is really [ bleep ] serious, bro. >> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> and thank you for joining us. anderson starts now. good evening. a lot of moving parts to the program tonight, and a few non-moving parts. the air force jet, for one, that was supposed to fly house speaker nancy pelosi as part of a congressional delegation to afghanistan. president trump today denied her the use of it, so she and the other congress people are grounded. his answer it seems to her letter asking to reschedule the state of the union address claiming security concerns in light of the shutdown. you could call it the latest in a game of political hardball, but for so many people around the country is no game. whether it was a woman in wisconsin rationing her insulin or setting up food banks for unemployed federal employees. also tonight, michael cohen, the one-time fixer for the