my mom was feisty and fun and a little sharp-witted, amazingly sharp, but she said things she might have regretted and she said more things later in life she probably would have regretted. having said that, dad's true nature was kind and gentle and caring. he did everything in life even to the very end of his life leaning in with love. >> i had a nice, longer talk with neal bush. you can go to cnn.com to see the full interview and watch the bush years, family, duty, power at 9:00 p.m. sunday on cnn. let's go to chris. see what he's working on. >> thank you, anderson. have a good weekend. i'm chris cuomo, welcome to "primetime." are our national secrets safe with this white house? the combination of all the lying about contact with russia and now word that the president forced clearances for his son-in-law despite questions about his conflicts? that is a recipe for a subpoena from congress, and that's what the democrats are threatening if they don't get answers.

we have one key lawmaker leading the charge. his panel is hauling michael cohen back to the hill next week and he has new questions for cohen, the white house, and a list of others. who, and what do they want to know? we'll ask. plus the president thinks we all heard him wrong when he provided cover for the death of otto warmbier. give me a break. what do you say? it's friday night. let's get after it. friday night. let me make something easy for you. there's all of this talk on cable right now. the president says he was misunderstood on whether he gave cover or not to kim jong-un. here's his tweet. i never like being misinterpreted but especially when it comes to otto warmbier and his great family. i got otto out along with others and the previous administration did nothing. let's go to the sound bite. you listen. it's completely clear. nothing came before it made a

difference and nothing came after what you're about to hear changed his context. here's the sound. >> i don't believe he would have allowed that to happen. just wasn't to his advantage to allow that to happen. i don't believe he knew about it. he tells me he didn't know about it and i'll take him at his word. >> he is talking about kim. he's talking about a murderous despot. and he heard what you think he said. he gave him cover. why? he has to explain it. that's what needs to be interpreted. where his head and his heart are. not what our ears hear. okay? that's done. no need to discuss it. let's move on. the clearance controversy surrounding jared kushner is not going away. it's getting worse and with good reason. house investigators are demanding answers and immediate compliance from the white house. what do they want to know? why did some of the president's closest advisers like kushner get access to top secret information without clearance?

and did the president lie about his role in all of this? it could lead to subpoenas in the coming days. i want to bring in a democrat, denny heck, washington state senator. thank you for joining me. especially on a friday night. >> you're welcome, chris. >> all right. so, let's test what your plan is here. what do you want to ask and why is it important to the american people? >> what we want to ask mr. cohen at the next meeting? >> let's start with the security clearance issue. >> right, right. look, chris. >> one crisis at a time. >> this is the culminating revelation of a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad week for the president. think about this. it started out with a failed summit. the house passed the disapproval resolution for his emergency declaration. michael cohen was in for three separate appearances and then of course this revelation about jared kushner. there is no nepotism carve out

or exception in the background check law of our country, nor should there be. this is serious. we're not talking about a bunch of high school boys at a slumber party playing risk. this is a matter of our national security and it needs to be treated with that. >> all right. >> but the real question, chris. >> go ahead. >> the real question is, why? why does he keep lying about this stuff? why wasn't jared kushner able to achieve the highest level of security? those are the questions we need to get after. >> so, you don't get the president. you don't really get the answer to why he lied, but if the answer generally becomes from whatever source, because i can, and because i love my son-in-law and i trust him and i think this process is a joke and i just did it because i know there's no problem there with him. now what? >> well, the remedy is obviously a change in law. but the fact that the president lied has been well documented.

to be frankly tantamount to dog bites man. it's been proven over and over again that his utterances are not to be taken at face value. so there's no reason to be surprised or shocked that he did it in this case, even though it's a matter of national security. he takes the word of kim jong-un over his own intelligence community. he takes the word of the crown prince of saudi arabia regarding the murder of the journalist khashoggi over his own intelligence community. he takes the word of vladimir putin over his own intelligence community. regarding russian interference in the 2016 election. he's willing to believe any autocrat any time. it shouldn't surprise us. in this case, he compromised a matter of national security. >> i don't think the american people at this point expect much better. i think the toxicity is so high. they just say more of the same.

they just shrug their shoulders. that's part of your burden as well, you don't want to get caught up in people's frustrations that you guys don't get anything done. and it never ends. so with michael cohen, you want to bring in other party. i heard maxine waters saying we want to talk to deutsche bank. what kind of money did they lend? the more you look, the more you'll build in an expectation of finding something. how do you balance that? >> the fact of the matter is that we're finding something. i don't know that we're managing any expectation and i also happen to serve on the financial services committee with maxine waters, and i'm personally looking forward to getting the information from deutsche bank and the real question is, at a time when very few if any domestic banks would touch the trump organization and deutsche bank would, why were they doing that? we now know that there was a misrepresentation of financial statements on the part of some people but was there something else involved here? this was the same bank that's

been demonstrated to have laundered a considerable amount of money for russian mobsters. was somebody guaranteeing the loans? a lot of questions need to be asked here that we need to get answers to in order to fully understand whether or not there was a compromising financial entanglement on the part of then-candidate president trump. >> i guess what i'm asking is and i appreciate your candor about the avenues, if at the end of the day you have the trump foundation, dirty, his representations of his wealth, false, his treatment of his taxes, not really by the book, and a host of other lies and misdeeds, then what? impeachment begins and ends in the same place, do the republicans want to play ball? >> they don't want to play ball yet. that was clear in case anybody didn't get the memo with the way in which the republicans responded to michael cohen's testimony in the oversight committee, which frankly i thought was a bit embarrassing

on their part and i'm not sure that they understand that they should have been embarrassed by how it is that they interacted with michael cohen. it was as though they weren't angry with him because he lied earlier, they were angry with him because he had stopped lying on behalf of the president. but i'm in the camp of those that think in order to legitimize this process, more steps have to be taken. not the least of which is allowing special counsel mueller to conclude his work. there's every expectation that that is in the not too distant future. either there's no basis for it, or there's something afoot here that he is getting near closure and i think that information will be very helpful. as will the various investigations being undertaken appropriately under our article one responsibilities under the constitution in the various committees in the house. you mentioned house financial services and the oversight committee and the judiciary committee and the intelligence committee, on which i have the honor to serve.

>> it's very likely that when the mueller report comes out, no matter what is made public, you'll subpoena, you'll get more information. it's almost 100% certain it can't be the end of the process because there's going to be a lot of questions that the american people have let alone you guys, even if it's opportunistic, that aren't going to be answered. it does create a political strategy issue. you have to show heading into the next election that you got things done. if it's just all oversight and there's no end in sight, are you concerned about that? >> i am. the way i try to explain this to people, there are, like, the three buckets. we have our oversight responsibilities. we have a responsibility to demonstrate to the public even though we don't have a majority in the senate, what it is that house democrats would like to do and will do if we ever have an opportunity to have control of all three levers of the federal government, we also have a responsibility to get some

things done. to compromise, principled compromises were possible with the senate and even the administration. we have all of these responsibilities and we have to balance them all out. so, you're exactly right. we can walk and chew gum at the same time. and we need to do them all. >> michael cohen, what do you want to know from him? you are bringing him back next week and give me a list of who else you want to talk to. >> so, michael cohen i want to represent because as you know we had him for seven hours yesterday, was 100% cooperative and i thought the information he provided was very productive and very helpful. >> new? >> yes, there were some things that were new, chris, that had not yet been in the open sources, as it were. >> new and valuable or new and additional? >> new, valuable, and additional. and the fact of the matter is

that we really didn't get halfway through the questions that we wanted to ask him yesterday, and so he graciously agreed to come back. he is accepting full responsibility and just in case you're going to ask, i believe he is legitimately, genuinely, in his heart remorseful for his past acts and deeds. i genuinely believe that. because he's taking responsibility for them. what he reminded me of is something that one of my favorite presidents in american history used to be one of the biggest advocates of, which was harry truman, when he said the buck stops here. he had that little plaque on his desk. boy, those are bygone days. a president that takes responsibility for his own actions. >> are you going to call him, weisselberg? >> felix sader.

he was obviously involved in the deal with respect to the proposed trump tower in moscow. >> all right. will that be public or private? >> i think the chair said it will be public but i don't know that for sure. his intention is to do what we can in public. his intention is, as well as all of the members of the committee, that our transcripts will be released at some point in the future. >> the more public it is, the more sanitizing that light of approval from the people. denny heck, this was a great conversation. thank you very much for the candor. appreciate it on a friday night. >> thank you, chris. >> all right. look. you see the enthusiasm. the democrats believe in the force of their oversight powers. they're pushing it a little bit. i understand that it's classified and they have to be careful about what they say. i'm trying to pick out a strategy for you because i don't think the president understands what's coming his way. i get his confusion but i'm going to clarify it for me and for you, next.

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you saw it right here, the gloves are off. listen. >> people that also can corroborate mr. cohen's testimony, or dispute it. >> but that is like real dynamite. you bring in the president's kids, you're asking for a war, are you not? >> i think we have one. >> oh, well, if this is a war, the trump team may be defending the wrong hill. listen to this. >> russia is a ruse. the russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. >> the russia story is a total fabrication. >> i call it the russian hoax. >> it's a democrat hoax. >> now, those are all lies. but as i have been telling you, i don't see the mueller report being a monumental moment to end this presidency. i know others do.

ones on tv right now and brilliant at it and maybe they want to make that case that the end is near. i don't see it. i see the line. i see collusion. collusion is a behavior. not a crime unless you're talking about securities and more than one of potus' posse did what they did to get close to and benefit from bad guys. that qualifies. is it a crime? probably not. so, i don't see a major case and you can't get momentum to impeach based on what we know about russia. russia, being the key word. but the problem is all the other threads being pulled at, other than mueller. the southern district. the super pac. the trump org's financing. we'll have to see what comes out of that, if anything. problem is, the sdny is still the justice department. the president is protected by the current guidelines. they could be tested. they could be challenged but as

it stands, indictment is off limits. then there's the trump hotel in d.c. that all hits trump in the wallet but we still don't know enough to really gauge the threat. so for all the attention on this week's michael cohen testimony, you may want to get used to this type of environment. you're going to be seeing a lot of congressional probes into this president. this is a list of all the democratic-led investigations in the house. i'm going to keep this playing for a little bit. look how many there are. why am i laughing? because it never ends. this political game we're playing here. the tit for tat. but before you start screaming harassment, remember, republicans used at least ten different agencies just to investigate benghazi. but that's why so many of you are so fed up by all of it. and i get it. i get it. i'm trying to help you see the plays made by each side and test

them. and there will be more players entering the field. looks like the next causalities will be those closest to the trump inner circle. those that spent decades on the inside of his business and those within his own family although that gets a little tricky legally. donald junior, he has trouble but jared and ivanka, trouble in terms of exposure, but they work for the white house and there is some exemption there. there's legal ground to keep them away from congressional testimony. we'll get into that as it becomes more relevant. but these men that aren't in government and work for trump, you can expect for congress to reach out and you will probably hear from them maybe soon. what matters enough to threaten the presidency? how much digging is too much by the democrats? those answers will come from you. you can be sure the democrats will try to keep this going until you vote next year. will that help or hurt? we're going to have to see. so, we know as a matter of fact with absolutely no misunderstanding that the president elevated another

despot. he said kim jong-un is not responsible for the death of otto warmbier. that's insulting and inaccurate. result from the party, crickets. why the silence? is it okay to keep quite? great debate. friday night. handsome men, next. coaching means making tough choices. jim! you're in! but when you have high blood pressure and need cold medicine that works fast, the choice is simple. coricidin hbp is the #1 brand that gives powerful cold symptom relief without raising your blood pressure. coricidin hbp.

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we know that potus had a hand in jared kushner's security clearance.

so far, crickets from most in the gop leadership. the president also said this week, he'd take kim jong-un, a murderous dictator, at his word in denying his role in the death of a young american. that drew some outrage. only from the left. tepid responses from the right. this, as his former attorney said under oath the president was involved in a felony while in office. but the gop continues to point at michael cohen as a liar. should they stand up as a matter of principle or is this just about raw practicality? paul begala, niger ennis, here for the great debate. i'm going to start this a little bit differently than usual. the defense is this, oh, you, you people did the same thing with clinton. this is how the game is played. when it's your man, defend, defend, defend, no matter what. and when it's the other guy, hit, hit, hit. >> that's not true. it was democrats that controlled the house when they began hearing about whitewater, which

even ken starr cleared bill clinton of. there's a big difference if you're in bed with the woman not your wife or in bed with vladimir putin. i think the republicans are wrong both on principle and on politics. it's never been worth it to put your soul in the blind trust of donald trump. that's a terrible line to go down in terms of your ethics and morals. but even politically, think of this, we just had a midterm election a couple of months ago. the democrats won their biggest landslide since watergate despite a strong economy. that should have been a republican year, despite redistricting that favored the republicans. should have been a republican year. if it had been a presidential election, the democrats would won back 286 electoral votes. and donald trump would be back trying to reopen his casinos in atlantic city.

>> niger, strategy aside, just as a straight principle play, are you concerned at all about gop leadership being quite in the face of things that this president says and does? >> sorry chris, but no, i'm not. what we have seen with the republican party, everybody knows i'm a republican. full disclosure. big surprise. the republican party of today is kind of like the democratic party of fdr. i think it was will rogers that said, i'm not a member of an organized party, i'm a democrat. in a strange way and in some ways the republican party has become that. you have a lot of different factions. i have never seen so many republicans of prominence, including in some cases leaders of a body, actually oppose the

president or not go along with the president on some key critical issues. >> such as? >> there's a lot of diversity within the republican party and you can be sure that on a question like this, if republicans were concerned, republican lawmakers were concerned, they don't march in lockstep like the democrats do. they just don't. >> i'm sorry, you said such as? >> what have they bucked him on? we'll see what happens with the emergency declaration. the expectation, the senate says they have enough votes. it's certainly not veto proof. what have they ever bucked him on? >> repealing and replacing obamacare unfortunately did not get done. it didn't pass. when we had both houses of congress at the house and the senate. you know, but, look, i actually believe that the president is

meeting regularly with leader mcconnell and other republicans and is making a determination on what is politically practical here. >> does that satisfy you, paul? >> no. the president is leading his party off a cliff and it was once a great party. the conservative political action committee is just finishing up their meeting in washington. ronald reagan spoke at the first cpac and he talked about freedom. he talks about ethics. he talks about our founding and the constitution, and let me tell you, i didn't support ronald reagan. i was with your old man and the democrats then. but he spoke about a moral call to america. and people responded. and this president has abandoned that and his party has abandoned that and it's really disgraceful to see people who hold themselves out as people of principle in the united states congress that have a constitutional obligation to check and balance this very unchecked and unbalanced

president, to just allow him to walk all over our constitution. it's going to come back to hurt them. as we've talked about the national emergency when the president has made up. you will see there's going to be enormous pressure on climate change and gun control. >> don't do it. >> i'm not for it then either. that's correct. >> somebody has to be better than what they condemn. it's just a straight thunderdome existence. i got to tell you, niger, i hear you about diversity of thought within the party. i don't know that it applies, but i'll give it to you. i'll give you the argument. the otto warmbier thing should be universally obnoxious. >> it is obnoxious. >> no matter what your shade of red, for the president to say what he said, it being untrue is the least of it. and nobody said a thing about him. how do you explain that other than straight practicality and fear?

>> i believe that otto warmbier is a horrible tragedy. it's awful. it's horrific. >> who did it? >> kim did it. >> not what the president says. >> well -- >> well, come on. do you see what i'm saying. do you see what i'm saying? >> no. i see that -- i see that you are concerned about that. i believe that the president came out and tweeted clearly that -- >> never said kim did it. never said kim did it. never said it. >> i believe he said it in many ways and we don't know -- >> in many ways -- >> we do not know exactly the conversation between kim and president trump. and we -- the discussions should not just go before all of the

american people. look, i am concerned, if you will, about the -- >> you're struggling. you're struggling with this. i understand why. it's like the angel on your shoulder jumping up and down on you right now, saying, no, no, no. don't say that it's okay that he gave a despot a break for the third time. that's not what we're about. that's not what conservative ideology is about. >> can i interrupt you for just a second. >> go ahead, please. >> thank you. thank you. i had been very hard on president obama. very hard. but i have to give him a thumbs-up because when president trump came into -- president elect trump and him had conversations privately and those two men do not like each other.

but they realized that there was a higher purpose that, frankly, and i tweeted this out, i think, that they're now brothers in a strange way. and president obama, i believe, or so it's come out, said one of the most critical national security concerns that he has was korea. >> i hear you. >> and president trump is doing -- look, has president trump gone outside of the box? he went outside of the box in the campaign. he's going outside of the box as president of the united states. he's taken some chances. but let me just say this and please allow me to feel my passion here. let me just say this, all i say in terms of the kim situation and north korea situation with us -- me taking a leap of faith, which is what i'm doing, it's part of my faith to take a leap

of faith, but i'm taking a leap of faith here that we have to win, all of us have to win. if this president wins, just like i was, believe it or not, rooting for him, too, if this president wins with north korea, then it's a win not for donald trump or for jared or for the trump family, it's a win for the american people and western civilization. >> i'm with you. >> period. so let's start rooting for that. not for president trump. but for the united states of america. >> i'm with you. we're out of time. i'm going to let you end it on that. nobody is rooting against america. we're rooting for what america is about. and we don't give comfort to despots who kill our people. but we'll leave it there. i respect your passion. paul, thank you for making this an appointment on a friday night. i appreciate it. >> thank you. republicans, cpac, you heard them talking about it. it's the conservatives.

they're taking aim at their new favorite boogeyman, socialism. don't roll your eyes. i have to tell you, this could be effective to use against the democrats given where that party seems to be moving. so, we're going to talk about that and whether or not you really are going to lose your pickup trucks and your hamburgers. hope not. just bought both. is that a winning strategy? we have cpac chairman matt schlapp joining us, next. feel the clarity of non-drowsy claritin and relief from symptoms caused by over 200 indoor and outdoor allergens. like those from buddy. because stuffed animals are clearly no substitute for real ones. feel the clarity. and live claritin clear. ♪

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all right. i think we know where the right is headed in the run-up to the

next set of elections. conservatives gathered at cpac to take aim at what seems to be their new favorite boogeyman, socialism. take a listen. >> the moment america becomes a socialist country is the moment that america ceases to be america. >> they want to take your pickup truck. they want to rebuild your home. they want to take away your hamburgers. this is what stalin dreamt about. >> sebastian gorka making the case there. the conservative bedrock of strength on the world stage. defense of truth, separation of powers. those are a harder find at cpac or at least they weren't the main theme. matt schlapp, good to have you on the show, cpac chairman. it's been awhile. >> great to be back with you, chris. >> who is that yelling behind you? oh, it's going on. so do me a favor, let's do a

little plus/minus, matt. make the pitch to the audience about the socialism bent. is this just hyperbole or are you going to make a real case that that's where we're headed? >> quite honestly it's a little shocking for some of us. the theme this year is what makes america great. the intent is to go back to some foundational principles for why america is exceptional and out of nowhere, as a result of the 2018 election, there's a brand new stridency. bernie is not standing alone, elizabeth warren is not standing alone. you have elected democrats that are embracing socialism. it's a totally legitimate pushback after it's failed so extravagantly all over the globe and most specifically right now in venezuela. so, i think the american people actually think the idea of embracing socialism is controversial and i think the democrats are on a risky gambit. i'm worried about it. because democrats win a lot of elections. i don't like the fact that they're going to run from the

center, but the extreme left. >> that's what you think. so, what is the weakness of doing that? if you go all-in on calling it socialism, aren't you vulnerable to somebody saying well, if we just want to get more health care to more people or tax cuts to more people or jobs to more people in a lower income bracket, that's what they're calling socialism, because you don't want to deal with the policies? >> yeah. so, i mean, it is -- there's something enticing about telling people you're going to do things for free for them, but you have to figure out the cost. you have to figure out the cost of this green new deal which seems extreme to me with some of the policy provisions. most of the policy provisions within it. you ask the right question. where are the american people on this? after eight years of obama, many americans liked president obama but they thought his economic policies were creating a soft economy and took away their economic prosperity and their ability to have rising wages and new economic opportunities. it's one of the reasons donald

trump won. he was able to swipe away a lot of blue collar and middle class voters that wanted that opportunity and since that election, the right track numbers in this country are much higher than they had been at any time in the obama administration. so, you see real improvement. now, i could be wrong on all of these things and it could be that america wants to embrace socialism. but i'll take that bet, if you want to make it. >> i get it. i think the clever part of this is that you are just calling policies that are more populist or play more to the middle class as socialist. i get it. that's politics and they'll have to counter your argument. but if you're talking about conservative bedrock policies, a return to those, one was fiscal conservativism. you didn't pay for this tax cut that trump got through. it's going to hit the deficit. it already is. you see that the tax checks that people are getting back is not what we expected. it's still early in the season. but that was a conservative bedrock principle. it was flouted by the president.

you guys went along with it. >> i'd love to respond to that. i think both parties deserve to be horsewhipped over their constant refrains that they're going to balance the budget. >> the president is in your policy, you guys controlled congress, you passed it. >> i'm not going to push back too aggressively on this. i think we have to do a lot better job of restraining spending. $22 trillion in debt and those chickens are going to come home to roost. it's a mistake to say after eight years of obama stagnation that it wasn't the right thing to do, to have steep tax cuts -- >> it wasn't stagnation. you know that we pulled out of one of the deepest holes in our history in 2008 when he came up. so, he got us out of that hole and the economy grew and grew and now it's continuing to grow. >> i worked for president bush, and it is fair to say at the end of his presidency, we had a banking collapse, a housing collapse, and there's no question, obama inherited a rough economy.

i will tell you that. the problem is, new regulations and obamacare and all of this federal overreach did not allow us to grow at a rate that made a difference for the middle class and for the poor. look at the poverty statistics after this try with obamanomics. people were worse off. why did people turn to donald trump? some people say it's because he had all of this rhetoric. they actually turned to him because in america, in presidential elections, the pocketbook matters. and people felt a pinch in their pocketbook. >> that's true but the tax cut wound up being a farce and i hope that you hold him accountable for that. >> it's not a farce. >> it didn't target the middle class and it wasn't paid for. that's a farcical notion. >> but let's look at something that is clear, which is america had, on the corporate side, one of the highest income tax rates in the world. >> not an effective rate. not an effective rate. >> that's not true.

that's not true. >> because of the loopholes and what they have actually paid. they were about in the middle of the pack. but there was no question. you can make improvements on it. i'm with you on that. i'm with you on that. >> okay. and let me just make this one point, which is there's a reason why people feel better about their economic situation in this country and there's a reason why we're growing at a more rapid rate and why we added more -- >> because you juiced the economy with a tax cut, that you'll have to pay for. >> all of those things are positive and helping americans and i'm glad that's happening and if that continues to happen and if we restrain our spending, i think we can do something about that debt and that deficit and in all honesty president clinton was the last president to oversee a balanced budget. >> we'll see what happens. one other principle. truth, character. that was the cudgel against clinton. mike pence wrote a very impressive essay about how you have to judge him as your neighbor. this president made a mockery of

political discourse, decency, and truth-telling and you know it, but you guys don't jump up and down. >> i don't know that. >> you do know. that third despot he just gave comfort to. he just said kim jong-un was not responsible for otto warmbier. >> that chapter mike pence wrote was in a book i edited and it's about the 13 speeches ronald reagan gave at cpac and i think it's a big mistake to say that donald trump is somehow a dishonest political leader. he went around this country and said the seven, eight, nine things that he intended to do and he -- >> he lies all the time. >> not true. >> what? please. >> not true. i reject that. >> how can you reject it? it's plain as the nose on my face. >> because what you are going to argue is that there are times when facts are wrong that come out of the president's mouth. >> he lies. he said he didn't have anything to do with jared's clearance and he did. he said he had nothing to do with the hush money payments and he did.

he said 2 million people voted illegally and they didn't. he lies all the time. >> so, we just came out of a congressional election, chris. >> come on. come on. >> are you still going to make the argument that there's not a huge voter fraud problem in this country? i heard you make that -- >> please, he said 2 million people voted illegally in california. he said he had nothing to do with the clearance. >> how many voted illegally in california? don't call him a liar without specifically telling me -- it's a big number in california. >> he's a liar. matt, it's not anywhere near it and you know it. there weren't people dancing on the buildings after 9/11. he lies all the time and you know it. >> i don't know. >> this thing with otto warmbier when president obama went to cairo and said america has to do better -- >> let me talk. let me try to answer. >> you're shirking the question. >> no, i'm not.

you're not going to let me talk. >> i want to set the table. i want to set the table. this is his third despot in a row. he said he believes putin about not being involved with interference, he believes saudi arabia about not having anything to do with khashoggi. and he believes kim about not having anything to with otto warmbier. if president obama said that, matt, your head would pop off your shoulders, now, silence. >> here's what i know, okay? i know that there are certain outlets that want to focus on things that they say some truth teller says is incorrect. the fact is, is this. the president was very clear with the american voter about what he intended to do. he wasn't lying about what he intended to do, chris. and what he has done is simply a -- is to put into place what he said he would do. what you all are obsessed with is the inaccuracies that some people say exist along the way. >> not some people say. >> i'd love to talk to you about each and every one of those but what he said he would do with north korea is engage the dictator, which is what he was doing. he said he would build a wall

and cut corporate taxes and bring back the american economy. talk about the forest. you're missing the forest and that's a mistake. >> i don't see them as saplings but i'll tell you what, i wish you well at cpac. you're always welcome to talk about issues. i get a little touchy when we ignore the obvious, but you're always welcome on here. be well and i'll see you soon. >> thank you, chris. thanks for having me on. >> all right. listen, i think that is an example of a problem for the republican party. they have to stand by this president. he is keeping promises. he is doing things that he would say, but part of his pitch to the american people is also that he doesn't play by the right rules and i think we're learning that those rules matter and that his party is now in a position of moral compromise. those guys used to go crazy at cpac about telling the truth and bill clinton and his immorality. now, new message, socialism. i have an argument for you about what's really going on here and we all know it, next.

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he likely knew about the hush money payments, a fraudulent reimbursement scheme, and he lied to you about it all. for all that, maybe one member on the committee there showed even a teeny bit of curiosity about it. his party members, supporters, they hear the president is part of a felony in office, shoulder shrug. lied about bone spurs to avoid the war. lied about deals with russia. lied about knowing felix sater. he may have run a scam with his foundation, may have cheated on his taxes, broken other laws. why don't they care? where's the outrage? don't they get who he is?

they get it. you don't get where they're coming from. the people who support this president voted for him because they expect nothing better from a politician. that's the problem, not potus. people throw around the idea of disaffection and the ratings, congress being unpopular, like they're afterthoughts, but that's the place to stop and think. that's the answer to why there's no outrage this week. outrage requires surprise, failed expectations. trump folk and many others who don't even identify with a party for the most part in this country anymore, they have zero respect for the political culture and the people in it. so when the opposition and even the media come to them and say, look what we learned. he lied. don't support this, they shake their heads. they say, you are no better. who are you to criticize him? so for those who keep trying to show that trump is a liar and a

threat, hear this. don't merely hate the player. hate the game. trump is everything people do expect in a politician these days. lies, deceit, allergic to responsibility, constant disrespect of others. that's what regular people think is normal in politics after years of what? scandals, perfidy, congressional inaction, broken promises, money, money, money. that's where they are. this president is more metaphor than man in some ways. all the flaws in one package. so when politicians, insiders, media, elites, whatever label you want to designate to people who are part of the system, when any comes and says that trump is bad, they say, compared to who? there's no alternative. why would they go bad on the president when at least he says he's fighting for people like them? and he does seem to be doing that by what he says. and by taking on the rest of you, by being disruptive. they see his flaws, his crassness, his indecency.

they see them as effective weapons in a land of bad people. what's the answer? reinforce the truth of course. call out the lies. we do it here. it's why the show was created. but that's not enough. you have to show that there is something better. reinforcing what is wrong with trump does not do that. change the game. don't let the game change you. don't be like him. you will not beat him. the job for the left should not be merely to denigrate the president or to track down all the proof that he's exactly who he's always been. yes, we need to know the facts. yes, we need to know if that means there was some type of real contamination, real problem with him and who he may owe money to. get the facts. but even if you prove all these things about his taxes and his personal life, that he knew that his pals were trying to take advantage of russian interference, even if you show all that and that he lied about it all, you won't surprise people who support him, and you won't turn his party members.

you saw that in the hearing. gopers are not going bad on this president because they are worried about their primaries, and rightly so. if the best they can do is bring down someone the base likes a lot, they'll all lose. so their problem is that by standing by this potus, they become the same things that he is, and that creates an opportunity. that opportunity is to show something better. make no mistake, people thinking this kind of politics stinks doesn't mean they want it that way. your challenge is to show you are better, right and left. those who want to lead, do it. don't be quiet. be loud. don't be shy. be bold. no slogans. actual service. fight for the right things and let people know it, and do it the right way. don't duck the questions. don't do what you saw a lot of on this show tonight and every night. tell the truth. at least tell people why you can't tell them what they want to know. don't spin everything that's uncomfortable.

whataboutism, moving to a different thing, distracting with a different -- don't do it. people see it for what it is. and don't seek safe harbors and pats on the back from the media. we ask tough questions here on "cuomo prime time." i show respect to the left and the right, and i know my audience respects them the same way for taking the opportunity and for playing it straight and being tested when they do. you will not beat this president by beating down his reputation. hear this because it is the truth. he is not in office because people put him on a pedestal. he is there because they think his flaws make him a perfect fit. don't hate the player. hate the game. recognize that this president is a metaphor for what our system has become. if you show you can be something better, people will be there for you. they are desperate for it. forget michael cohen. forget felix sater. there is a lawmaker that we're

going to introduce you to at the top of the next hour who wants to haul in another trump confidant in front of congress. they want to haul in sean hannity. didn't they hear what i just said? we're going to talk to the congressman. he's going to make his case, next. high blood pressure and need cold medicine that works fast, the choice is simple. coricidin hbp is the #1 brand that gives powerful cold symptom relief without raising your blood pressure. coricidin hbp. ♪ ♪ i can do more to lower my a1c. because my body can still make its own insulin. and i take trulicity once a week to activate my body to release it, like it's supposed to. trulicity is not insulin. it starts acting in my body from the first dose and continues to work when i need it, 24/7. trulicity is an injection to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. don't use it as the first medicine to treat diabetes, or if you have type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis.

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hey, everybody. i'm chris cuomo. don lemon is on vacation. he's got his birthday. happy beautiful, you beautiful man. prime time is two hours, a little overtime on this friday. it was bad week for the president. could be worse in the weeks coming. michael cohen is going back to the hill with more to spill. there's a possibility the mueller report could drop. we have a member of the democratic leadership here tonight. he is fighting for answers. which way will that search go? u.s. intel strongly objected, but the president still put his son-in-law in a position of getting top security clearance. very serious matter if true. i wonder how that's sitting wi