covfefe next to a fire on "the ridiculist." it is cold. the news continues. i want to hand it over to chris for "cuomo primetime." chris? >> thank you, very much, anderson, i appreciate it. i'm chris cuomo. welcome to "primetime." new information on russian interference, to mess directly with robert mueller, our president takes putin's word over that of his own intelligence officials. what is going on here? now, many speculate about why the president and those around him do what they do regarding russia. tonight we can get answers from a man who should know some of those answers. he was there for a lot of what was said and done. former governor chris christie, former trump transition chief is here. he has a new look with inside scoop. we're also learning new information tonight on the president's seething state of mind, when he put at thought hit tweet this morning on our nation's top intel chiefs. was that, itself, a threat to our national security?

that is the beginning of a great debate. and, another presidential promise broken. have you, my friends, been foxconn'd? the argument for that ahead. what do you say? let's get after it. i'd like to say, well, it can't be, but you never know these days. did the president undermine the intelligence chief simply because they disagreed with him? cnn's sources say the president seethed this morning as he watched tv coverage of his intel chiefs contradicting him on capitol hill. at one point, we're told, he singled out his director of national intelligence, dan coats, a man he put there, singling out by name, appearing to be more frustrated with the graphics at the bottom of the screen than the actual assessments delivered by the group yesterday to the senate intel committee. more to come on that. that raging tweet that he put out about it. but first, we now know the russians are trying to interfere with mueller's interference investigation. talk about irony.

in a new doj filing, the special counsel claims nonsensitive evidence from the probe that was handed over as part of a criminal case was then altered by russians to discredit the probe. he also says he's identified individuals and entities yet to be charged who are interfering with our government. this news comes as the chair of the senate judiciary committee takes aim at the special counsel for that raid on roger stone. lindsey graham goes back and forth. now he's helping the president. and demanding an fbi briefing. the president said in a new interview, he could think about asking the fbi to review its methods. with us to talk everything mueller an more is a man who says he laughed in the president's face when he told him mueller's probe would end with the firing of michael flynn. he is former governor chris christie. led the trump transition team. writes all about it in his new tell-all, "let me finish." governor, the book in my hand the whole time. great to have you on "primetime." >> thanks for having me. >> obviously, you're a big shot at abc news.

>> i'm happy to be there. >> appreciate that. first thing off the bat, we're going to get into this book in two segments tonight because you're a special guest. with confidence. the american people -- one of the questions is where we getting the best we can and should out of the white house? reading your book, the question has to be no, the american people could be getting better then they're getting. fair assessment and why? >> it's a fair assessment in my view and was so much worse in the beginning of the administration in my view than the post-john kelly era. generally kelly brought discipline to the place, more structure. and attracted better folks when he got there. the beginning was a disaster. i write about it in the book. the transition we worked on for six months. 140 people working in office in washington. volunteers from all across private sector and government folks who are working on things. got thrown out two days after

the election when i got thrown out. it's okay to throw me out, but they threw all the work out and worked off the back of an envelope for 71 days and it looked like they worked off the back of the envelope. >> proof's in the performance. putting people in that weren't vetted. getting thrown out in unprecedented fashion. doing things we've anyone seen officials at that level do this kind of number. >> chris, the day after the election, i practically threw my body in front of the president-elect begging him not to appoint michael flynn national security adviser. we've been arguing about this, he and i, from june to november. >> what did you know? >> i didn't know anything. i just watched him. what i said was the national security adviser is supposed to be the person who is the conciliator between the state department, the defense department, and the intelligence agencies. bring them together to bring consensus to the president on national security issues. i said, this guy's temperament is so ill-fit for that job, he's such a showboat, he's such a car wreck, that he's not right for this job.

i begged the president not to do it. in the end, the president said to me the day after the election, you just don't like him. i said the, you're right, mr. president. you know why i don't like him? he's going to get you in trouble. >> news of day. is it surprising to you that russian operatives would try to manipulate evidence and information given by mueller in part of a case to try to screw with the probe? >> no. >> do you believe that they tried to interfere in the election? >> yes. >> do you believe the intel chiefs? >> yes. >> why can't the president answer that question? >> listen, i don't know, he and i had conversations about this over the course of time. i don't know the new head of the cia, miss haspel, but i do personally know senator coats and i know chris wray very well. and these are serious people who -- >> is put there by the president. >> all put there by the president. i recommended chris wray for president after james comey was fired. these are serious people who

deserve to be listened to. listen, are they right 100% of the time? of course, not. no one is right 100% of the time. i will tell you when i believe when there's such an consensus among the intelligence community about certain facts, give deference to the facts unless there's startling evidence to contradict it. i haven't seen any evidence contradicting it at this point. >> do you think with the president it's about him knowing better, he has some sources we don't know about, that that leads him to say, i know why they think that but this guy i have on the inside, i know better, because i know where they get their information. he doesn't have that level of sophistication. >> i think if it was that, he would say it knowing him. the president says what's on his mind. i don't think that's the case. i think that, unfortunately, because of all the things that happened in the run-up to the election, and in the aftermath, the president had a gut distrust of the intelligence community, and one of the things i told him was that, you know, you got to

let go of that, if you can't, you got to replace all the people that are there and bring new people in. >> he did. >> he's now done that. yet, it doesn't seem to be changing it which is a concern for him because if you're the president of the united states, there's going to be a moment, probably a number of moments where you're going to have to rely on intelligence chiefs to be able to direct you. if you don't trust them, that becomes impossible to do. >> do you understand why the people who worked in those positions in the past call on a day like today and say, i have to tell you, this tweet is not just some bs thing to dismiss of more trump talk, this kind of thing is a threat to us. not that he's going to do something even more absurd, but that it sends messages, it sends messages to allies, it hurts our confidence with other people. this hurts us. >> listen, on that part, chris, i think they overreact because i think the world has adjusted to the twitter feed of the president. i don't think -- i think in the beginning, the world reacted like they would normally react to a presidential statement.

i think they now understand the president uses this for a variety of reasons. some politically rhetorical. some defensive. some offensive. but to say that, like, everything that he says there turns out to be a threat, i think people have decided that they're going to wait to see his actions and see if his actions are married to the words. on that point, i think they overreact a little. i understand, listen, they don't like him and i know why they don't like him because he's attacked them, and he doesn't like them because he believes they weren't honest brokers in the pre-election period. >> they're all his people now. >> now i'm talking about the folks you said who were calling in. >> right. >> his people, now, that's a different story. i think his people are conditioned now to these type of things. i can tell you this much, i haven't spoken to my friend, chris wray, but i've known him now for 15 years. none of that stuff's going to bother him. he's going to say to the people of the fbi, i'm your leader, i'm going to stand up for what's

right for the fbi, i'm going to defend the institution, do your work, let me handle the rest. >> he just doesn't expect to have to defend it from the president. usually it's from outside opponents or someone like me. >> that's true. if you watched chris during those hearings, he's unflappable. he's a pro. >> he seemed fine. it's a weird adversary. >> it is different. >> let me ask you this. here's the big question. if there is no crime, if there is nothing to hide, why do so many around and including the president lie about russia-related things? >> well, listen, on the president, i can't answer that directly. >> you must. >> i can't. let me -- let me first answer the people around -- >> how do you not know? >> hold on. well, because i don't know everything. i'd right to believe i know everything, but i don't. this is what i can say about the people around him who have been charged and some convicted or pled. i learned when i was prosecutor that bad people and stupid people lie all the time for no explicable reason. right? >> you think that there are bad and stupid people around the president? >> oh, there have been.

i mean, paul manafort, bad guy. michael flynn, i've already said, bad guy. george papadopoulos, bad guy. so you circle through the list of folks, rick gates, bad guy. i mean, so there's no debating that any longer. >> other than papadopoulos, all picked including roger stone by the president, and you say bad or stupid, look, i am all about respecting the presidency, no matter how much heat i get for that because of what the man in the office does on a daily basis. but what category does he fall under? because he has lied gratuitously about these things. >> i understand the argument that goes on perpetually between the white house and certain aspects of the media and whatever. i don't think -- i understand why it happens. i don't think that's useful. i think in the end, i want to look at the president and the president's actions, and when you look at his actions, they're not nearly as drastic as his words. and that goes in concert with the person that i know. and he's a salesman.

he's been a salesman his whole life. and he uses overblown rhetoric at times to make a sale or to defend something that he's doing. i always in the years i've known donald trump, i listen to his words, but i pay attention to his actions. >> i'll take that on policy, but when it comes to you have anything to do with russia and any kind of business? no, no, no. you're lying. that's a problem. trump tower, did you know anything about this meeting? no, no, i didn't know anything. did you anything to do with -- no, i had nothing to do with it. yes, you did. you're lying. why? that's the kind of thing that matters. when you were governor, if we couldn't take your word about things that mattered, it's part of your job, part of your trust. presidents don't do that much. they say a lot. >> there's no question, i don't know if i agree with that last part. let's skip over it. there's no question that your veracity, that your integrity, is an important of leadership. there's no doubt about that.

now, there's a large sector of this country, not a majority, but a plurality, that believes the president and supports him and trusts him. his -- >> maybe a third. >> well, like, a plurality, i'd say. now, his -- >> generous saying a third. >> his judgment, now, is going to have to go into play in this next two years to decide whether he's satisfied with just that measure of the electorate. or whether he wants to try to win those other people over. i told him when he won the election, i said, listen, you didn't win the election. hillary clinton lost it. because she's this bad candidate, in my opinion. and i said, so that doesn't matter. when i won for governor in '09, i didn't win. jon corzine lost. the people rejected him. i was the seemingly reasonable alternative standing there, i got 48% of the vote. said the next four years are going to be about you and that next election is going to be about you, so build in these next four years to do what i did. 41% to 61% in a blue state. he has to do that now. he's got two years left to do it

and has to decide what do i need to do to get there? >> let's go to break because the book is all about what's going to help him or hurt him in getting where he needs to be. so stay with me. we'll go to break. when we come back, chris christie and a book that's going to be another one of these must reads. "let me finish" is going to be a starting point for a lot of people about making their decision for 2020. stay with us. we'll be right back. give dry skin the elbow. new age perfect hydra nutrition moisturizer from l'oreal. an ultra-nourishing cream enriched with manuka honey extract. age perfect relieves dry skin and leaves it hydrated, toned

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like me. ♪ all right. we're very fortunate to have chris christie here with us tonight. the book he has is called "let me finish." we'll put it up there. my copy is all dog eared. you see it right here. there is a lot in this book that we need here. and i'm obviously no bookseller, but why do they do what they do in this house? who is around the president? who's giving him good counsel? who isn't? and what does that mean for the rest of us in the future?

there's a lot of that right in this book by chris christie. we have the man, himself. great. so you said before we went to the break, you've got to separate what the president says from what he does more than with most politicians. >> yep. >> okay. may not like it, but let's accept it. who is giving him good advice? we ask this all the time. how did they let him tweet this? why would they let him say this? why would they let him recently with the putin stuff? >> right. >> who lets him take the interpreter's notes? who lets him go with this guy alone? who lets him say that in helsinki? what's the answer? >> i -- look, divide it into two ways, chris. two different approaches. i've known donald trump for 17 years. the idea of letting him do something is something that maybe works with other politicians, even worked with someone with a strong personality like me. it doesn't work with him. in fact, when you try to force him to do something, or not do something, he almost reflexively does the opposite. so idea of who lets him do these things, i've said to people plenty of times, he's 72 years old.

he's simply not changing who he is. >> but everybody, even you, you know, strong guy, my brother, strong guy, you have people around you who when they say, gov, not only are you wrong, but this is going to be a step in a hole that you're not going to climb out. >> that's right. >> you stop. >> we do. >> you think. you get angry. you walk away. you come back. you're like, what do we do? that never seems to happen. >> sometimes it does. for instance, you see what he said on syria then obviously john bolton and mike pompeo and others got to him and now he's walked that back a bit. same thing on afghanistan. he's walked it back a bit. there is evidence of him doing that at times, chris. and i think that he does do it at times on issues that i think are vitally important in our national security. but let me get to who gives him good advice and who doesn't, right? that is important. i believe in the old adage, garbage in, garbage out. in the beginning he had a group of people around him like steve bannon, rick dearborn, like omarosa. what the hell was somebody like omarosa doing in the white house?

>> we were going to have the best. >> we didn't because jared kushner, rick dearborn, and steve bannon decided it was more important for them to have control than it was for the president to get a well-prepared transition. >> what did they know? like, who among them has ever done anything impressive in. governmental life? >> none of them. and that's what i said to the president-elect at the time. and i think that's one of the reasons they got rid of me was because they didn't want to have somebody who had been an executive in government, was an executive in government at that time, who had run two transitions of his own, who could call bs on a lot of the stuff and the people they were suggesting. i mean, that's -- we talk about the transition. you know, our top pick for recommendation for him for secretary of health and human services, alex azar. now, he ultimately picks him, but we go through the mess of tom price. we should have never gone through that mess. he picks rex tillerson who is a very competent, qualified executive, but he didn't know him.

you can't pick a secretary of you who doesn't know you and you don't know them. they put that name in front of him because it was impressive. >> part of the farce was, i know all the big shots, my friends, they'll all come and help me. >> that's the salesman rhetoric. he knows wilbur ross. he knows steven mnuchin. a quality guy and one of the good people that gives him advice on a regular basis. and one of the moderating forces on him. kellyanne conway, for all the abuse she takes because she comes out in public, comes on your shows -- >> and she gives. >> she does, too. she's one of the people in the private moments in the white house who gives the president very good advice. >> no question, people undersell her at their own peril. >> they do. they've done it over and over again. i'm telling you, it's a short list. john kelly was very good for what he did in that period of time and gave him some very good advice. but, you know, there's a lot of folks around there who only cared about themselves and put their self-interests ahead of the interests of the country and

it is, of course, the president's got to be accountable for that because he picked those people. but it also is true that he never served in government before, and he more than anybody else needed some people who had experience in government and people like his son-in-law, jared kushner, and steve bannon, were intent on keeping those kind of people away from him so they'd have greater control. >> bannon is gone. you always hear the same story about people who work with kushner. nice enough, smart enough, knows nothing about what he was doing. we don't know why he was here, had to tutor him on this. president keep putting him in those situations. let me ask you about one thing in the book without giving too much away. if you have the books page 535. so, context of when the president went to comey and said, be easy on flynn. okay? people say, well, you know, where was his mind? is that really obstruction? i'm not going to get into that with a seasoned prosecutor like you, but in context, you had a conversation with him, it's in the book. "at one point during the lunch,

donald said to me, the russia thing is all over because i fired flynn. i started to laugh. sir, this russia thing is far from over. what do you mean? he said, flynn met with the russians, that was the problem, i fired flynn, that's over. that's right, jared piped in, firing flynn ends the whole russia thing." first of all, all right, that's all you need to know about jared kushner. the president says that. later maybe that same day he goes to comey and says, go easy on flynn. now, why isn't that proof of his mindset that he thought if he could cover up the flynn thing, and make it go away, the russia thing went away, and why isn't that proof of an intent to obstruct? >> well, part of what i didn't include in the book that he also said that day to me, part of that was -- >> i would never obstruct? >> no, no, no. that the reason they fired flynn was because he lied to pence. he said, you know, if you lie to the vice president, i can't have you around here anymore. >> so they knew that he was talking to russia, only after he lied about it to pence. they didn't know what he was doing before? >> that's what i was told.

now, that's what i was told at that time, that that was the precipitating action that caused the firing. >> look, you've known trump a long time. >> yep. >> okay. i've known him a long time. everybody who knows him will say, the reason he can't build a big, good team, is because he never had a team. nobody does anything for him. he has his hands on everything. all these contacts, he said, i knew nothing. his oldest advisers, manafort and stone, certainly stone, do these things obviously on his behalf. he knows nothing. flynn is doing this. he knows nothing. how does that square with the man we both know? >> i can't speak to manafort and stone because i didn't spend much time at all -- i've never spent any time at all with roger stone and limited amount of time with paul manafort when he had that short window in the campaign, but i can say with flynn, i believe from watching mike flynn, mike flynn felt incredibly empowered. i don't think he was asking anybody's permission or telling anybody what he was doing. he was going to be the national security adviser. it's one of the reasons i told

the president this guy was dangerous. he had an arrogance about him. he's a bright guy. he's not dumb. he had an arrogance about him, led him to do the things he did with kislyak and lie about it. i don't think the president knew about that. so everyone understands the context of the statement you read, you read it completely accurately, it wasn't that he said i fired flynn to end the russia thing, he was saying i fired flynn because he lied to pence. and since he was the guy who was talking to the russians and that's what this whole thing is about, who's talking to the russians, then the russian thing is over. what i was saying to him was, that's ridiculous. >> yeah. >> i've run these investigations. i said, i've run these investigations, this is far from over. in fact, if you go a little further, what i said, we'll still be talking about this in february of 2018. this was february of 2017. i undersold him. we're still talking about it in february of 2019. and what i was trying to impress upon him, that's the other thing i said to him which is not in

the book, i said to him, mr. president, there's no way you can make this investigation shorter, but there are lots of ways you can make it longer. keep quiet. don't talk about it. don't poke the bear. because you poke these prosecutors, you give them more places to look, and it lengthens the thing. and, of course, he did not accept that advice as we've seen by tweet after tweet after tweet, but there's no doubt in my mind that that's what he's done and it's hurt him, it's hurt his administration and hurt the country. >> the only thing that's worse for a leader than not having good people around you, when you get good advice, you don't take it. chris christie, this book has a nice take on it about your life, how you got to where you are and also what needs to change for this president. that's a big part of the lesson of going forward. whether it's learned or not, we'll see. governor christie, thanks for being on the show. >> chris, thanks for having me. >> "let me finish" is the book, governor christie is the man. all right. if you weren't on twitter today, you're in luck. the president of the united

states used his favorite social media platform to attack his own chosen top intelligence chiefs. why? because they told you the truth about what they see as threats to america and it contradicted his truth. ugly stuff. where does it leave us? next. ok, here's the deal.

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so, potus called intelligence officials, quote, extremely passive and naive, in his latest effort to undermine the people he put in place to keep us safe. why? because the people who gather all the knowledge that our government uses gave assessments that are the different than what the president says are threats to this country. including iran and its nuclear capability. the president noted, "their economy is crashing which is the only thing holding them back. perhaps intelligence should go back to school." hmm. does potus know school and economics better than he knows, say, grammar? it's not new that this president would undermine his own staff for his own gain. what is new is that the intel officials picked by trump did something that we've never seen. all of them in a united front contradicted him in public. not in private, not one by one, in public for the world to hear. at tuesday's senate intelligence hearing.

the heads of the cia and the fbi shot down some of the president's most recent statements on truly pressing issues. in particular, the director of national intelligence dan coats. take, for instance, what the president recently said about isis. >> we have won against isis. >> isis is intent on resurging and still commands thousands of fighters in iraq and syria. >> we just learned this evening the president singled out dan coats by name during a morning rant. the problem with this disagreement is that only one side knows what the hell it's talking about. with all due respect, the president has evidenced zero expertise in this area, or in any area other than to say he's an expert in something or he knows more about it than anyone. decades of experience, legions of agents, analysts versus the president's gut. to say the president chooses ignorance over the experts is bad. worse is the fact that this president has taken the word of the russian leader about election interference and the north korean leader about his

intentions over the reckoning of his own intelligence agencies. the reality is the world is a dangerous place, and we have a ton of money and personnel tied up in intel for a very good reason. the president is distorting the facts about national security. his distorted reality is in itself arguably a national security threat. so, whom should we believe? the nation's top intel officers who closely monitor our threats? or the president who doesn't read or heed daily warnings? you may think the answer is easy, but let's see what happens in a great debate. ♪ ♪ let's go from plans... to full-blown production. ♪ ♪ let's go from being on-call... ♪ ♪ to being on-line. american express can help move your business forward with loans, vendor payments and buying power.

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ed gets copays as lowlily go to as zero dollars on medicare part d prescriptions. ed gets labels clear as day. and, lily.... lily gets anything she wants. ed knows he could just have us deliver his prescriptions. but what's the fun in that? switch to cvs pharmacy. you can't make any of this stuff up. first the intel chiefs contradict the president on several foreign policy issues. what does he do? he slams them. telling his own chiefs to go back to school. didn't have better facts, just bad feelings. now the senate minority leader chuck schumer is urging those same intel heads to educate the president about the facts. the question remains, why doesn't the president believe his own people? now a secondary question, is all

of this okay because god wants trump to be president? as sarah sanders said today. let's get after all of it with our great debaters. angela rye and former michigan gop senate candidate, john james. mr. james, welcome to the show. angela, as always. so what is your conjecture, ms. rye? why do you believe the president goes against his intel chiefs? is it just personality? or something more troubling? >> i think it's something far more troubling and it starts with the fact that he doesn't actually read his intel briefs. what a great security risk that is for the country, and it is especially and abundantly challenging when, you know, you have folks going to the hill, coats testifies before the committee and says that one of the biggest threats before us is weaponized disinformation. it would harm donald trump to accept that as fact when he is someone who his entire presidency would be undermined by that same fact, right? there are reports today that said that there were polls that

were paid for by his attorney to help to make sure that he would be the front-runner during the 2016 election. i think it is also abundantly challenging when you have something like cyber security and cyber warfare being things we need to pay for, and instead of putting those as priorities, you're putting, or trying to put, $5.7 billion toward a wall we don't need. >> all right. >> and saying it's a national emergency. that is why all of this is challenging and has to undermine what they're saying because it flies in the face of donald trump's priorities. >> now, mr. james, i know you're not smiling because this is how you'd handle it if the intel chiefs came to you and told you what you needed to worry. doing research on you, you study like crazy. you want this kind of -- what is your explanation of why the president does this? >> i absolutely stand with our intelligence community so closely, as a combat veteran, i've literally put my life and the life of my men into their hands. our intelligence community is extremely professional, but they're not perfect. they are eminently qualified,

but they're not infallible. they have done a tremendous job and a lot of things we don't even know that they're doing to keep us safe, but there have been failings in the past. i believe that it's absolutely the priority and the prerogative of our elected leaders to hold our intelligence community accountable because we can't get things wrong. >> fair point. >> when it comes to iran. we can't get it wrong -- >> fair point. >> -- when it comes to north korea. these are fair deals. >> there's an element, though, missing from your analysis. i bet you angela agrees with everything you just said, however, that assumes that you know something better. that assumes that you're exposing a flaw. and say, wait a minute, you made us put the lives of good men like mr. james on the line for the iraq war and yellow cake was bs. why did you tell us that? okay. that's not the situation here, though, mr. james. the president doesn't have better information. he's questioning information for some reason that he doesn't like. >> well, whether or not he likes it, this is information that

we're getting. again, the intelligence community told us that there was yellow cake in iraq. the intelligence community was snuck up on when north korea started launching rockets over our allies, japan and south korea. again, our intelligence community is eminently qualified but not infallible. i believe most people have the biggest problem with the act and manner of which this was handled over twitter and not necessarily behind closed doors. everybody needs to recage and reassess and then come back to do what's best for the american people. >> i hear you on that. as chris christie says, people have gotten used to the fact the president is irresponsible in terms of how he puts messaging out. i think that's a little bit apologetic. whatever. angela. still. the point stands. you're not going to disagree with what mr. james is saying. if you have reason to push on the intel, you should. should hold power to account. that's not what's going on here. >> i guess where's the smoking gun here, what intelligence do we have, no pun intended, what intelligence do we have that demonstrates that that is, in

fact, the case, that donald trump is somehow infallible and knows something -- >> takes putin's word about russian interference over his own intel chiefs. twice. >> not only that, donald trump is so -- he regularly has typos on twitter. i'm going to sign with john brennan who said there's intellectual bankruptcy going on with commander in chief. that's the reality of this. donald trump, again, will not even read the intelligence briefing. why are yes taking his word? >> he's the president of the united states, that's why. >> okay, welsh you know what, that hasn't gotten us very far this administration. but there was a homeland security -- don't laugh, chris. i saw that. >> i'm not. >> there's a homeland -- >> just my face. >> there's a homeland security head, michael chertoff, who had a gut feeling once and we got threat levels put in the the airports. people made fun of him for that. now we're going with gut feelings? >> go ahead, mr. james. >> if i may, have a firsthand experience, iran has mal-intent

for the united states and israel and to take our eye off the ball, which i'm not implying that our qualified intelligence community is, but the reports that were put out there, iran intends to hurt us. when i was over there, iran trained fighters that were actively engaging americans and we cannot take our eye off the ball and so, again, i would encourage our president and anyone else to go back behind closed doors, understand the information that's put out there so we can keep american soldiers and american people safe. >> and, again, the intelligent thing there was so you don't blow up the iran deal because that's the best mechanism you have, you want to strengthen it, you want to make it better, fine. so, again, it takes you back to this basic premise. you want to go after the intel guys, fine, but have reason to do it. and do things that are actually bolstering the cause that you say is american safety, not hurting it. all right. so then comes to the other issue. here's why it's all okay, angela. here's why. because it's in god's hands. and god wanted trump to be president. sarah sanders said it. listen.

>> i think god calls all of us to fill different roles at different times and i think that he wanted donald trump to become president and that's why he's there. >> and how dare you, angela rye, question god's will by questioning this president or his motives when this was all but ordained. does that quiet your criticism? >> amen and hallelujah, no, it does not. here's the thing. here's the small thing. we have this thing, and i'm a christian. we have this thing called free will. we're allowed to exercise our votes, or russia is allowed to exercise them on our behalf. whatever it may be. the reality of it, perhaps donald trump was called for such a time as this. he called a lot of the rest of us to resist, to avoid the nonsense, say to pay attention, to ensure he doesn't pull the wool over our eyes whether about a wall, intelligence. in two ways, i don't believe donald trump anointed and

appointed to take us to greatness. i think, perhaps, we needed to figure out how we would fight together, unite on common ground and restore the humanity and humankind and our better angels. that is about it. but i do believe that we have free will. i believe that god called me to make sure that people know that donald trump is not the dude. so, hey, we're both called. >> i often say that you were god sent. mr. james, i am -- >> hey, my name is angela, chris. you know, that is a messenger of god. >> i got, like, two cousins named angelo. very close. so, look, i'm no one to play with faith. i say all the time, i have faith because i am flawed. mass is a place for sinners, not saints. but it does -- >> preach. >> -- seem to smack of a little bit of irony, mr. james, that you're going to say that donald trump is an example of what god wanted in the presidency. i've had the same struggle with evangelical voters on this. it seems to be such a contradiction of so many things they've made paramount over the

years about what the christian test was for leadership. do you see mr. trump as evidence of what god would want in a president? >> well, so, i will not presume to speak for the president. i certainly won't presume to speak for god. >> you can't duck on this show, mr. james. you're a combat vet. get after it. >> well, i'll tell you what, i believe that god has no party. i believe that the lord, and i'll agree with angela here, the lord did give us free will. he established government over men and i truly believe that in this system, he gave men in this country and women, of course, free will to elect our leaders, and he also gave us the ability to live with our consequences. whether good or bad. we're in this situation because we're allowed to elect our leaders, and that's why these elections are so important. i truly believe that everybody is -- we had a binary choice. hillary clinton or president trump. and everybody made their selection for their varying

reasons, but right now, at this point, we have the obligation to make sure that we're informed. to make sure that we love everyone as ourselves, to make sure that we love god first and to do everything that we can to do what we have, to use what we have, to be a blessing to others. that's what i'm intent to do. he also tells us to pray for our leaders so we can have peace in this country and all over the world. that's what i intend to do whether a democrat or republican. >> i'm going to take any opportunity for a big amen i can get on this show in this current time we're living through. what we just got gets an amen. >> amen. >> angela, mr. james, welcome to the show. great to have you both. be well. cities in the midwest, what a tough time. they're in shutdown mode. i'm not talking about the government. extreme temperatures. really extreme temperatures. i want to show you what's happening there. remember, we're all brothers and sisters. look at how some of us are suffering, next. when did soup become this? at panera, we treat soup differently. with vine ripened tomatoes,

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think about that. science experiments, boiling snow clouds. d. lemon, wasn't that your code name? >> i live in chicago, yes. >> experiments are cool. >> yeah. >> no pun intended, but the reality is, life-threatening conditions. >> life-threatening. we talked about this yesterday. 60 degrees below windchill temperatures. can you imagine that? the low in minneapolis is 20 below. i just left minneapolis, thank goodness. the people there are suffering. if you go outside, within minutes or seconds, you can have frostbite. it's nothing to joke about. and hundreds of millions of people are in the path of this.

did you see the snow that came out today? >> whiteout conditions. out of nowhere. >> i was at cha-cha's harry potter birthday party and they thought it was a spell out there. the reason i want to talk about the story is the need is going to be great. look out for your brothers and sisters, the elderly, the people in need who might not have enough to heat themselves in this situation. it can get bad fast. >> speaking of the midwest, chicago, we're doing a story that has been discussed a lot. and it is the alleged attack involving jussie smollett. >> from "empire." >> the actor from "empire" in chicago. and we're going to have a report on that and discuss where police are now in this situation. but it is interesting. also, the president is obsessed, as you know, with mar-a-lago, right?

he loves mar-a-lago. >> mm-hmm. >> the author of this book will be on. >> oh. >> yeah, "mar-a-lago: inside the gates of power at donald trump's presidential palace." lawrence leamer. >> another good get for d. lemon. i'll see you soon. >> all right. you remember all the promises that the president made to bring back manufacturing jobs to america. one of his shining examples of delivering on his promise is now going the wrong way. what is the truth about manufacturing in this country and what the president has done and can do? facts first, next. hey, darryl! hey, thomas. if you were choosing a network, would you want the one the experts at rootmetrics say is number one in the nation? sure, they probably know what they're talking about. or the one that j.d. power says is highest in network quality

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all in the same place as your live tv. its all included with your amazon prime membership. that's how xfinity makes tv... simple. easy. awesome. today we learned that foxconn, this big company that made big promises that the president used as proof of his promise kept about manufacturing greatness, that it's all turned out to be largely a false promise. all right. now, let me take a step back for context. maga, make america great again. we're told that it is in part meant as a return to the golden age of manufacturing. >> the rebirth of american industry is beginning. we will once again rediscover our heritage as a manufacturing nation. we're seeing companies open up

factories in america. >> sounds good. facts first. the glory days of manufacturing here were in the late '70s. 20 million workers -- that's 25% of the working population then -- earned their paycheck from factory work. it's been a fairly steady decline ever since. today only 12.8 million workers are in the industry. that's about 8.5% of that population. our manufacturing output is still huge compared to the rest of the world, but we're not number one anymore. the key question is why. and the answer is not because the u.s. quit on manufacturing or on workers or that companies simply ran away as the president suggests. the reason is innovation in tech changed manufacturing and drove us toward a service economy. and this country did not retrain, did not reeducate and nurture workers and new industries as it could have, adding to the negative impact. that's the truth. trump doesn't talk about these factors because he has no ideas

there and because it would frustrate the simple solution suggested by maga. if we go back to how it was, we'll be better. can't happen. oh, yeah, says the administration. then how do we add 473,000 manufacturing jobs since trump took office, returning us to the levels of 2007? first, more jobs, more better. it's great to see growth. but is the reason for that growth continued recovery from the great recession or trump being great? well, for proof of the latter, let's look at two of his signature achievements. remember the carrier plant in indiana? trump took credit, saving 1,100 jobs from being sent to mexico. he says it was his ability to convince business to return, make good deals, make it better for them here. result, hundreds of jobs cut anyhow, and they moved guess where? mexico. does this mean trump is bad? not necessarily.

it means he misled you about the realities of the modern economy. that's just a one-off say trump folk. that brings us to the news today. foxconn, the taiwanese electronics company that was supposed to building a factory in wisconsin. trump was there, you'll remember, in june, shovel in hand for the groundbreaking. it was supposed to employ 13,000 people, mostly blue collar workers. now, at the time, the president said this. >> this is a great day for american workers and manufacturing and for everyone who believes in the concept and the label "made in the usa". >> now the reality. foxconn says labor costs are too high here. the need for labor has changed. it won't build a factory. it's going to build a tech hub instead. not going to hire an army of blue collar workers. it's looking for engineers and researchers. it said it would hire 5,200 people by 2020. now that number will be closer

to 1,000 workers. the argument is this reality reveals two problems. one is that the president is selling something he can't deliver on. time and time again we have seen maga turned out to be something that spreads division or, as it does here, disillusionment. the president can say he can bring back factories but the facts and economics and his own experience as president suggest otherwise. secondly, the president should not be trying to take us back to a bygone economic era. the right portrays the suggestion as a slap to the working man and woman. no. the slap is hiding the reality, feeding false hope to good people who need a break, retraining, education, incentivizing new industries here, cutting deals like tpp to access foreign markets with our own manufactured goods. trump has done none of that. tell the truth. confront the truth. realize that there are new challenges and take the steps that take our workers and our economy forward. that is progress. that will make us greater still. the future will never lie in the past.

thank you for watching tonight. "cnn tonight with don lemon" starts right now. >> well done. i've been saying that for years, not that i'm taking credit for what you -- but you did a much better job. >> that's exactly what you just did. >> no, no, no. you did a much better job of explaining that because you went beyond and talked about manufacturing. my whole thing has been about the folks in the rust belt, the folks who are in coal country that during the course of the campaign, he made these false promises. i've been saying, listen, we want everyone to have jobs. but we also want people to live in reality. the coal industry is never going to get back to where it was. we have simply moved beyond that. that doesn't have to do with people come across the border and what have you. it mostly has to do with automation and computers and the way we use energy now. unless you start building these