instagram @wolfblitzer. you can tweet the show show, @cnnsitroom. i'm wolf blitzer. "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. >> "outfront" next, breaking news. former acting attorney general matt whitaker not denying he spoke with president trump about michael cohen's case. >> and was involved in conversations about the scope of the southern district of new york investigation. this according to the chairman of the judiciary committee. plus, the president grounding boeing 737 max-8 plane s gettin ahead of the faa's announcement. they say the data shows there are similarities between those two fatal crashes in six months. and paul manafort with more prison time, the prison where he may be headed, no locks, no bars, no barbed wire. some say it's more like a dorm than a prison. let's go "outfront." >> and good evening. i'm erin burnett.

"outfront" tonight, breaking news. a major revolution by the chairman of the house judiciary committee, jerry nadler, revealing details about what he says former acting attorney general matt whitaker told him behind closed doors today. and this is what it all adds up to. an accusation that president trump tried to derail and interfere with the federal investigation into his former fixer, michael cohen. >> one, unlike in the hearing room, mr. whitaker did not deny that the president called him to discuss michael cohen, the michael cohen case. and personnel decisions in the southern district. two, while he was acting attorney general, mr. whitaker was directly involved in conversations about whether to fire one or more u.s. attorneys. and three, while he was attorney general, acting attorney general, mr. whitaker was involved in conversations about the scope of the southern

district of new york u.s. attorney berman's recusal, and whether the southern district went too far in pursuing the campaign finance case in which the president was listed as individual number one. >> okay. berman is jeffrey berman, a trump ally. he's the united states attorney for the southern district of new york. so he recused himself from the cohen case. so whitaker, according to nadler, admits he discussed berman's recusal. remember, "the new york times" has reported trump asked whitaker, directly asked whitaker, whether berman could be put in charge of the probe. he's admitting he discussed berman's recusal. it's a major accusation that could go all the way to the president. under oath in february, whitaker denied ever being pressured by the president to interfere in any investigation. this is under oath. >> at no time has the white house asked for nor have i provided any promises or

commitments concerning the special counsel's investigation or any other investigation. >> ultimately, if trump asked whitaker to intervene in the cohen probe and stack it with his ally, then not only did whitaker lie under oath, then this would also be a lie. >> did you ask acting attorney general matthew whitaker to change the leadership of the investigation into your former personal attorney, michael cohen? >> no, not at all. i don't know who gave you that. that's more fake news. a lot of -- there's a lot of fake news out there. >> but why would trump ask whitaker to interfere in the cohen investigation? well, the simple answer, often the right one, but the simple answer here would be because the president is terrified of cohen. cnn obtaining e-mails today that reveal a back channel set up between trump's legal team and cohen. this was back in april of 2018. after cohen's office was raided. an attorney who said he was speaking with the president's

attorney, wrote in part to cohen, quote, you are loved. sleep well tonight. you have friends in high places. manu raju is "outfront" live on capitol hill tonight, and manu, what happened today with chairman nadler, the former acting attorney general matt whitaker, was behind closed doors. what else are you learning? >> we're learning from both republicans and democrats that matt whitaker did in fact raise concerns with his staff about the scope of the southern district of new york's investigation into michael cohen. according to republican staff who were present at the meeting, whitaker believes some of the campaign finance charges against michael cohen were, quote, specious, those are the words whitaker uses in private testimony. he said he raised it privately, but republicans are saying he did not go and communicate those concerns directly with the southern district of new york. instead raising that to his own staff. now, we're also learning about his contacts that may or may not

have occurred with the president about the michael cohen case. now, he, according to jerry nadler, he did not deny having any conversations with the president about the michael cohen case. according to republican aides, he says he did not remember having any of those conversations, but he's told them today that he would have remembered if there were any contentious exchanges, but he couldn't remember if there were any exchanges that occurred at all between the president and whitaker over the cohen case. also, he discussed the firing, potential firing of certain u.s. attorneys, republicans downplaying that today, saying it's all just personnel issues. democrats say this could be a reason for concern. after the meeting, one of the republican who was in the meeting, doug collins, had a different take than jerry nadler. said it was clear from what he heard that whitaker did not interfere with the mueller investigation. >> one of the biggest takeaways i found of this whole thing was that mr. nadler agreed that the worst fears and expectations of mr. whitaker were not borne out.

he didn't interfere with the investigations going on. >> so they're saying he didn't interfere with the mueller investigation or the southern district of new york investigation. i asked specifically about the issue of recusal. the u.s. attorney in that office, if he recused. the republican aides said that what whitaker said was you just don't undo recusals. so he seems to have denied being involved in an effort to unrecuse, if you will, jeffrey berman's decision to step aside from that probe, but jerry nadler said that he was part of those discussions. one reason why there seems to be disagrement on both sides about what was said was there was no transcript of this closed-door interview happening just between these two leaders so it's open somewhat to interpretation. >> thank you. and i want to go now to barrett burger, former federal prosecutor, shan wu, and former lawyer for rick gates, jewel eette chi am.

>> barrett, does any of what nadler is saying raise red flags to you given the rules and given what the president and mr. whitaker have said in the past, which directly contradicts what nadler says whitaker said today? >> yeah, i mean, my first thought is for a meeting that was an attempt to clear up confusion over whitaker's prior testimony, this didn't really seem to clear anything up. it seems like there's still a lot of confusion about what he said then and now. i think when you actually look at what is proerment and what is inappropriate, it's important to put them in different categories. as the acting head of the justice department, it was totally appropriate for whitaker to have conversations with his staff about ongoing investigations, including the southern district of new york into michael cohen. in a normal case, it may not be inappropriate for him to have conversations with the president about ongoing investigations. this, however, was not a normal case because the president was implicated in this. as we know, he was individual one. exactly. so that would take this out of the normal case and put it into

a situation where if whitaker had had those conversations with the president, that could very much be an inappropriate conversation. >> i mean, so shan, i want to play again a little bit more of what nadler says whitaker told him today behind closed doors. here is jerry nadler. >> while he was attorney general, acting attorney general, mr. whitaker was involved in conversations about the scope of the southern district of new york u.s. attorney berman's recusal and whether the southern district went too far in pursuing the campaign finance case in which the president was listed as individual number one. >> so shan, i want to make this clear, again. jeffrey berman was a trump ally. he recused himself, so you know, if there was a discussion about trying to undo that, you know, that could matter. that could be a big development here. is this problematic if such conversations happen? >> i think it's very

problematic, erin. it's obviously very problematic if he was having those conversations with the president. i would disagree with barrett. even within his own staff, the idea that he is questioning the scope of berman's recusal, that just indicates he doesn't understand recusals. you recuse because you have a conscience, you have integrity, you're conflicted, and he wants to question the scope of that? that conversation in and of itself suggests there's a problem there. >> april, here's the thing. you know, berman, of course, was a trump ally, we know that. we can assume that was why he chose to recuse himself in a case where the president of the united states, with whom he is an ally, is individual number one. but i just played the president, of course, denying that he talked about any of this. fake news, fake news. what are you guys talking about? can you take him at his word here? >> no, not at all. because too much has come back on him. just let's go back to air force

one, when we asked about -- we asked the president if he knew anything about those payments. that's one thing out of so many different things. >> where he gave a blatant no and that was false. >> yes, and then we found something totally different. the white house has tried to reshape rudy giuliani. rudy giuliani has tried to reshape. the credibility issue is the problem. but we have to find out where the where is. we have to find the receipts or the proof, if you will, to make sure to nail this down. but once again, this is a smack of a conflict of interest, impropriety at the least. >> here's the thing, when april uses the words receipts and proof, that is what it comes down to. that appears to be where the big question is going to be. because no one has said that the president directed whitaker to stop the investigation directly. they didn't say, you know what, matt, you need to put this to rest. get rid of this thing, end it. he didn't do it that way. he called whitaker and lashed out about how unfair it is, it's

a load of baloney, how it doesn't make sense. that's what he says. when he says those sorts of things, that's what makes me wonder if what michael cohen had to say in his congressional testimony is actually going to be what this comes down to. here's michael cohen. >> he doesn't give you questions. he doesn't give you orders. he speaks in a code. and i understand the code because i have been around him for a decade. >> juliet, if this was in code, is there anything that would actually implicate the president in doing anything wrong? >> i mean, it could. i think that's right, i think that the president has learned to talk to certain people in this kind of code. i'm mad, i'm pissed off, you essentially in authority power need to do something about it. and what strikes me about whitaker, which i think is roly interesting coming out of this hearing today, is the president put a very weak and one has to just admit now, totally unqualified man to lead the department of justice. but it was his weakness that

ended up being sort of a bad thing for trump. because his ability, because whitaker's ability to actually act on any of this was completely sort of overwhelmed by essentially career justice department people who knew better, who basically were either not going to allow whitaker to do anything or stop whitaker from doing something that trump wanted. what we have to remember is the fact we're even having any conversation right now about how to interpret whitaker's conversations with the president of the united states, regarding an investigation of the president of the united states means to me that the president clearly wanted to influence the attorney general of the united states at that time. because those conversations in and of themselves should not have been happening under any rule system whatsoever. >> i mean, i guess that's the bottom line, right? he finds a way to get what he wants what explicitly saying it because he's a sophisticated player. i want to ask about the e-mails, that e-mail that came to michael

cohen from an attorney, robert costello. robert costello is kind of working on behalf of cohen, considering working for him, speaks to rudy giuliani who speaks for the president. you are loved, sleep well tonight. you have friends in high places. cohen is giving this e-mail over to say look, this is proof they were dangling a pardon. seems like costello is saying because you asked me to call and ask for one so i did, so then i wrote you that. are we ever going to know what happened here, whether cohen lied to congress? >> i'm not sure and i'm not sure this e-mail advances the ball. it's funny michael cohen is holding this up as the thing that's going to exonerate him from any questions here. this could have really had implications for michael cohen. we know this matter has now been referred to the justice department. it's not totally unheard of if the southern district of new york feels that michael cohen lied in his congressional testimony, they could charge him with additional crimes. in fact, this e-mail, look, it's vague enough that it's hard to look at it on its face and say, aha, this is the smoking gun one

way or another, but it raises eyebrows and it's funny to me that michael cohen would put that out there as something that actually proves his point. >> i mean, and again, why one would lie to congress again about something like that when, you know, everyone expected him to ask for a pardon, at least when they were friends. >> next, all of you staying with me. president trump saying he was exonerated after his former campaign chairman was sentenced to another 43 months in prison. >> that was proven today. no collusion. no collusion. >> except that wasn't on the table. that was not what was proven today. >> and breaking tonight, president trump announcing the united states grounding one of boeing's most popular, its newest plane, after two deadly crashes. and we've got new details about the links between those two tonight. >> and the biggest college cheating scam ever prosecuted in the united states. one congressman and possible 2020 candidate saying it shows a

shameless rigged system. tim ryan is "outfront." ♪ now audible members get free fitness and wellness programs to transform your mind and body. download the audible app and start listening today. ♪ the pain and swelling. the psoriasis. cosentyx treats more than just the joint pain of active psoriatic arthritis. it even helps stop further joint damage. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms, if your inflammatory bowel disease symptoms develop or worsen, or if you've had a vaccine or plan to. serious allergic reactions may occur. get real relief, with cosentyx.

you wouldn't accept an incomplete job from any one else. why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase sensimist relieves all your worst symptoms, including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. and all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. flonase sensimist. you can barely feel. steven could only imaginem 24hr to trenjoying a spicy taco.burn, now, his world explodes with flavor. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for all-day all-night protection. can you imagine 24-hours without heartburn?

[music playing] jerry has a membership to this gym, but he's not using it. and he has subscriptions to a music service he doesn't listen to and five streaming video services he doesn't watch. this is jerry learning that he's still paying for this stuff he's not using. he's seeing his recurring payments in control tower in the wells fargo mobile app. this is jerry canceling a few things. booyah. this is jerry appreciating the people who made this possible. oh look, there they are. (team member) this is wells fargo. driven each day to pursue bioplife-changing cures...ers. in a country built on fostering innovation.

here, they find breakthroughs... like a way to fight cancer by arming a patient's own t-cells... and a new therapy that gives the blind a working gene so they can see again. because it's not just about the next breakthrough... it's all the ones after that. new tonight, trump twisting words. president trump insisting he's been exonerated after paul manafort was hit with another 43

months in prison today. the total for manafort, seven and a half years. this was the former campaign chairman for president trump. president trump today claiming this. >> i can only tell you one thing. again, that was proven today. no collusion. no collusion. there's no collusion, and there hasn't been collusion. and it was all a big hoax. today, again, no collusion. the other day, no collusion. there was no collusion. >> there was no collusion on the table. okay. it was not proven there was no collusion because it wasn't part of the cases. so judge jackson actually went out of her way to make it crystal clear that today's sentencing had absolutely nothing to do with the president's collusion with russia or lack thereof, telling the courtroom, quote, any conspiracy, collusion, was not presented in this case. therefore, it was not resolved by this case, right? okay. no collusion was found because it was not presented. but that's not when president keeps saying.

shimon prokupecz is "outfront" in washington. just after the sentencing today for manafort, so we get up to the seven or so years, the manhattan d.a. has unsealed new charges for manafort, literally coming within an hour or two of the sentencing. what are the charges and what's the reason? it was not a coincidence on the timing. >> no, it absolutely was not a coincidence. there's obviously concern that paul manafort is going to be pardoned by the president and he would be a free man. he would be able to walk out whatever jail or prison he's ultimately going to serve his time. so what the manhattan d.a.'s office did, they unsealed this indictment which virtually means now that there is a hold on paul manafort. so if the president tomorrow or monday, tuesday, whenever, decided, you know what, i'm going to do this today. i'm going to pardon him, paul manafort is not going to be a free man. he won't be able to walk out of prison. if he does walk out, the manhattan d. amp's office will take custody of him and he'll be brought to new york where he will face charges. they're all similar to what he's

already been convicted of and pleaded guilty to. and erin, this is very rare. state prosecutors rarely bring similar charges in cases where the fbi and where the u.s. attorney's office has already gotten convictions and has already gotten defendants to plead guilty. it's obvious, the only reason they're doing this is because there's a real concern the president is going to pardon him, and the investigators do not want that. >> of course, and the complexity. manafort pleaded guilty to this stuff. so all right, thank you, shimon. and now let's go back to barrett, shan, juliette, and april. this point about collusion. the president keeps saying it, and i guess he obviously knows it's not true, but he doesn't care. he thinks half the people in the country may listen and believe regardless of the truth, even though this case wasn't about conspiracy, so the lack of conspiracy would not be proven. >> yes. i mean, the number of times he

says it, you know, is sort of irrelevant at this stage. what we have to understand is donald trump has the only defense strategy that donald trump has at this stage is what i'll call tlp, tweets, lies, and pardons. that's all he's got left at this stage. so the fact that he is going gang busters on the first two at least, you know, the couple dozen tweets this morning, the lies about what was said today in the manafort sentencing, and the dangling of the pardon, of which of course we know sarah sanders has not denied at this stage. that's the defense strategy. so we shouldn't be surprised that trump is essentially sort of doing what his lawyers said. he does not have the facts at this stage. we know that because so many people close to him are in jail at this stage. there's like, you can't deny that reality. >> so april, he's trying to create an alternative reality? he figures if he says it, there are enough people who will either believe him or be confused enough by what he's saying and therefore think we're

having a conversation about something that isn't on the table that he wins just by muddying the water? >> so yes, he has to muddy the water, especially as his former campaign manager is receiving more of a sentence. seven and a half years now. this president wants to create in the midst of paul manafort's extra sentencing, this winning picture for hickself, there's no collusion. there was no collusion on the table in this matter today, but the bottom line, the president wants to distance himself as far from the loss for paul manafort to still make himself look like he's a winner, to say there's no collusion. so the president, it's the ultimate reality show of his reality. white house reality show that's airing right now on cnn. >> barrett, just to make the point here, right, as shimon said how usual it is, not only has he been convicted, he has pleaded guilty. you can't try to fight it, but for state prosecutors to go after one. these new york charges,

residential mortgage fraud among them, one of the most serious. he's looking at one to three years minimum. eight to 25 years maximum. these are huge ranges. those would be inescapable. there's nothing the president can do to pardon on a state charge? >> that's exactly right. that's one perhaps motivation for the district attorney in bringing these charges is really as a backstop in case of a pardon on the federal charges. so they will involve some of the same conduct, and my guess is the defense will certainly raise arguments about double jeopardy. it is pretty easy to overcome that. even in new york, which has pretty strict double jeopardy rules, but i think the defense will not be successful in making those arguments. so manafort is facing some pardon-proof charges here in the state that would guarantee some state jail time. >> so shan, how significant are the new charges? >> they're very significant. they're probably disheartening to manafort, but i actually think there's a silver lining for him. i done think trump is very

inclined to pardon him right now because mueller's done with him. there's no more leverage they have on manafort, but there is incentive for the state prosecutor, for the manhattan district attorney, to want to leverage manafort. so trump may be worried afresh. and he would pardon manafort not out of any since of loyalty to him, but only if it serves his self hfl interests. if he's worried, he might not pardon him. >> which would cause epic chaos on capitol hill. thank you all very much. >> next, president trump's surprise announcement after two deadly crashes involving the new popular boeing model flown in the u.s. >> hopefully they'll very quickly come up with the answer. but until they do, the planes are grounded. >> plus, actress lori loughlin of "full house" released on bail after being charged in the largest college admissions scam ever. congressman tim ryan sense the

scandal speaks to a much larger issue in the u.s. he's "outfront." the sleep number 360 smart bed, from $999... senses your movement and automatically adjusts on each side to keep you both comfortable. and snoring? how smart is that? smarter sleep. so you can come out swinging, maintain your inner focus, and wake up rested and ready for anything. only at a sleep number store, save $500 on select sleep number 360 smart beds. plus, free premium delivery and setup. ends march 17th. introducing the all new chevy silverado. it's the official truck of calloused hands. the official truck of getting to work, and getting to work. it's the official truck of homecoming, and coming home. the all new chevy silverado. it's chevy truck month. get 0% financing for 72 months on this all-new silverado. or, current competitive owners get a total value of over nine thousand dollars when you finance with gm financial. find new roads at your local chevy dealer.

at first slice pizza lovers everywhere meet o, that's good! frozen pizza one third of our classic crust is made with cauliflower but that's not stopping anyone o, that's good! ♪ don't get mad, put your money to work with e*trade's easy-to-use investing tools. of non-drowsy claritin... and relief from symptoms caused by over... 200 outdoor and indoor allergens. like those from pollen, pets and dust. because new memories start with dusting off old ones. feel the clarity and live claritin clear.

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. breaking news. grounded. president trump making a surprise announcement that all boeing super max 8 and 9 planes in the united states will be grounded on his personal order. >> we're going to be issuing an emergency order of prohibition to ground all flights of the 737 max 8 and the 737 max 9. and planes associated with that line. boeing is an incredible company. they are working very, very hard

right now. and hopefully they'll very quickly come up with the answer. but until they do, the planes are grounded. >> all right, so he got ahead of the faa, which then says it has received new data, and that data shows similarities between ethiopian airlines crash in which 157 people were killed and the lion air crash, that was all the way back in october, 189 people were killed. abby phillip is "outfront" from the white house. martin savidge is here with what the faa is saying. abby, let me start with you. the president getting ahead of the faa on this big announcement. it sounded like he wanted to be the one to make it, to announce it, to have it be his prerogative. what made him do this? >> that's right. it seemed very much president trump wanted to be on the forefront of this announcement today, especially in light of how closely tied he has been to boeing. as a company. he's praised that company both today and in the past.

he personally played a role in selling these jets to foreign nations, most recently to vietnam after the president went there for a trip. but he spoke to the boeing ceo yesterday, who urged him to keep the planes in the air. but then today, after this new information was revealed, the president spoke again to the boeing ceo. he spoke to the american airlines ceo as well. and along with the faa and the transportation secretary elaine chao, they made this decision to ground these flights. the pressure had been building on the faa, on boeing, and on the white house for there to have been something done about this. and especially after canada grounded those flights today. it was untenable, according to an official for the united states to be the only major country allowing these planes to remain in the air. so president trump getting ahead of the faa, saying that he was going to ground the flights, but also notably saying that he had confidence in boeing to resolve the problems. because he continues to be very

closely tied to this company, especially because he believes they are closely tied to american jobs, erin. >> thank you very much, abby. of course, boeing, the largest exporter from the united states as well. and martin, what the faa is saying tonight is hugely significant. and concerning. the data shows similarities between both fatal flights that seems to be some sort of a pretty obvious link. >> right. and in fact, they say that they had some telemetry that actually verifies this. it isn't just that they suspect there are similarities. this is really what the faa has been talking about ever since the president announced the u.s. is taking part in grounding the max-8 aircraft. this began to come out through the canadians, actually. and it was the canadians who said there was new satellite data that seemed to imply significant similarities between these two tragic airline

crashes. and then later, the faa itself came out and said actually two things. there was some new information and evidence that apparently had been gathered on the ground in ethiopia, ntsb investigators are there, part of the teams helping out. and also, they refer to this satellite data. and essentially what this data shows is the upward motion of the aircraft. the ethiopian airline, from the moment it took off to the moment that it crashed. they took that kind of data track and they matched it up against the lion air flight, and what they found was that it was very, very similar. in fact, strikingly similar. so much so that the faa said given all that, it was best that they err on the side of precaution and become the last nation to declare that the flights, the planes would be grounded. >> thank you very much, martin. i want to go to bill mcgee, aviation adviser. bill, it's pretty frightening because they overlay those two

flight paths. they see how similar they are. and they were aware that there were issues. >> some of the key questions is what did boeing and the faa know after october 29th but prior to sunday? and those are the questions that we have to get answers to. yesterday, consumer reports, you know, announced along with many others that we think that both southwest and american, the two u.s. operators of this aircraft, should ground the airplanes. if they didn't, we thought the federal aviation administration should. now, we see that today. but there are a lot of questions about exactly what the timeline is here between october and march. >> and such crucial questions. you have 157 people who died. so there's also this issue of the faa itself. it's being run by an acting administrator. this is this issue we see across this administration. acting. a former american airlines

executive, industry lobbyist. the president doesn't actually have a nominee to take this over full time. how big a problem is this? >> well, i think it is a problem because that office has been vacant, and when you don't have a head of an agency for a long time, you know, obviously, that can affect how all of the different departments work. you know, you and i have talked about the faa before, and in 2012, i was here twice in fact, when my book intentional passengers came out, and we talked about some of the systemic problems at the faa. to be clear, at consumer reports since i have been there in 2000, we have seen problems with faa oversight across four administrations. you know, clinton -- >> it's a systemic problem. >> bush, obama, trump. now, what we're seeing is that with this government shutdown that has sort of been forgotten by some people, it was crucial. we wrote about it in consumer reports. we did an investigation in january. and we pointed out that, you know, air traffic controllers were getting a lot of attention, and understandably so and

rightfully so. but what was going on behind the scenes? a lot of people don't know exactly what faa inspectors do. and there was nobody, nobody on the beat for over a month. and that's what our concern was. we talk to inspectors all the time. >> now the president tweeted yesterday, and he said in part, airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly. pilots are no longer needed but rather computer scientists from m.i.t., and he continued with albert einstein. sort of a joke. does he have a point that planes are becoming too complex, or is it just completely and utterly inappropriate that a president would be coming out and basically saying, i would be scared to fly. planes are too complex for pilots? >> well, i'm not exactly clear what the point of the tweet was, but i think buried in there was a point about technology and the cockpit that has some validity. i wasn't exactly sure what the overall point was. sully sullenberger who we know from the hudson river, the pilot

of the us airways aircraft, he has been vocal about this for years. what we don't know in this case is these two airlines, were they given proper instruction from boeing when the aircraft was delivered so their pilots in turn could be trained properly on this system? you know, it's an automatic pilot type of thing. this is a real concern. is that our pilots being trained enough. >> are they being trained -- >> in his situation, he and his first officer, they were flying that aircraft. so now, when the technology fails or the technology is not available -- >> can the pilot fly? >> the old timers call it stick and rudder. can you actually fly that plane? the problem is in these two incidents, again, you can't stress it enough, these are brand-new airplanes. the one in november was two months old. the one the other day was four months old. you deenon't see that often. the problem is if the technology fails at such a low level on

takeoff, you don't have a lot of rafrby time. 35,000 feet is one thing. >> bill, thank you very much. >> thank you. next, one lawmaker says the largest college admissions scam has uncovered a much bigger issue plaguing this country. tim ryan is "outfront." >> plus, no locks, no bars, no barbed wire. we're going to take you inside the prison where paul manafort could be sent. your healthcare business.y everf so that if she has a heart problem & the staff needs to know, they will & they'll drop everything can you take a look at her vitals? & share the data with other specialists yeah, i'm looking at them now. & they'll drop everything hey. & take care of this baby yeah, that procedure seems right. & that one too. at&t provides edge to edge intelligence. it can do so much for your business, the list goes on and on. that's the power of &. & when your patient's tests come back... so... you're driven, and you have a ton of goals... but you're stuck in the vicious cycle of credit card payments. it's time to get a personal loan from sofi.

borrow up to $100k to pay off your credit cards, and then pay us back with one monthly payment. and it's all with zero fees. get a personal loan, and pay no fees. ( ♪ )

tonight, actress lauori loughlin appeared in court where her bond was set at $1 million. she's best known as aunt becky on the sitcom "full house" is accused of paying half a million dollars in bribes to get her daughters recruited to the usc crew team, despite the fact her daughters do not row. she is one of 50 people nationwide arrested in the largest college tuition scam. also paying tens of thousands of dollars to a fake charity, which they got to deduct on their taxes and then someone went and cheated on the s.a.t.s for their kids, upping the scores. for many, this speaks to a larger issue in this country. democratic congressman tim ryan from ohio tweeting this is a rigged system. in the real world, people work overtime to help their kids get into college. this is shameless. congressman ryan joins me now

"outfront." congressman, look, this is a horrible thing that we have heard happening and speaks to a real void in basic moral values by these individuals. you see this as something more, though. a divide between the haves and have nots. >> no question about it. i mean, i represent a district in northeast ohio, youngstown state university, kent state, university of akron, not too far from pittsburgh where a lot of working class people work really, really hard to make sure they can help their kids get into college. and you know, it's hard. and the kids have to work sometimes in order to make their way through school, and sometimes they get bumped and they can't get into a good school. like one of these coastal schools. and then you see what's happening here. i'm sure there's a lot of hard working people out there in california, middle-class, working-class families. they kids got bumped because people were cheating the system. i just don't think that's right. but it speaks to the fact that if you have a lot of money in

society today, you have access to the absolute best technology, the best health care, the best education, the best neighborhoods, the safest neighborhoods. and the system is in your favor. and i'm not mad if you're wealthy you have those advantages. i just get a little upset when everyone else gets screwed in the process. >> so look, you have talked about some things you would do. you sponsored multiple bills, for example, on college tuition. one of them that you have endorsed is bernie sanders' college for all act. that basically makes it free tuition at public colleges and universities, and slashes student loan rates as well. so usa today estimates that it is $70 billion a year in tuition alone in this country for public universities. that's $70 billion a year just for tuition. where would that money come from if you were going to give that for free? >> well, let's first start by saying we do k-12 education now, and that was for an industrial

age, an industrial economy. we now have to all go back to school. no one is going to get anywhere with a high school diploma. so this is a national investment that we need to make. and we get the question all the time, how are you going to pay for the tax cuts that are now costing us about a trillion dollars a year? look, i think we need to make this system much more efficient. i think a lot of people go to college who shouldn't be going to college and who really don't want to. we could save a boat load of money just by telling people, let's focus on community college. let's focus on going into the unions and getting an apprentice shp. let's focus on a two-year degree, because 70% of people who go to college end up dropping out, and we all pay for that one way or the other. so if we streamline the system, if we make the system more cohesive from k-14, for example, we'll save a lot of money that we could then use for a lot of other things in our society. and to me, the benefits of

having a well educated population outweigh the costs. >> when amy klobuchar, obviously, your colleague in the senate, she's running for president. she said when she was asked whether she supported this, i wish. if i was a madging genie and could give that to everyone and we could afford it, i would. she said categorically she is not for free four-year college for all. we can't afford it. you completely disagree. >> i'm not saying has to happen tomorrow. we can do that. first and foremost, you streamline the system. you squeeze all the fat out of it. we stop wasting all this money on people who do go to school for a year or a year and a half and then drop out because that costs the taxpayer a lot of money right now in pell grants, students loans and all these other things. if we squeeze that fat out, we're going to save a lot of money. then we start encouraging kids to get on a path where they may only need a year or two of college.

and the aspiration can be k-16, but let's stop saying we can't do things because it can't happen tomorrow. we didn't go to the moon in one day or one week or one year. but we got there. and i think it's important for us to say education is valued in society, and if we're going to compete against china and win in the long term, if we're going to reverse climate change in the long run, we better have a really skilled workforce out there working for us. >> all right, so look, you have a lot of passion about this. you disagree with others running. last time you and i spoke about a month ago, you said you were seriously considering. those were your words, whether you yourself would run. are you close to making a decision? >> we're getting there. the next few weeks we're going to make a decision one way or the other. these issues we face every day are concerning to me. you know, i sit in the classified briefings and see what china is doing. i see where our education system is, and really, the public discourse, which is the most

frustrating thing, isn't anywhere close to the challenges that the families are facing in the district that i represent or across the country. we are ill prepared for the challenges coming down the pike on climate change, where china is, income inequality, health care, our food system, our health care system. we're not addressing any of these challenges. and so i'm looking very closely at it because i'm not hearing a whole lot of new ideas, and it may be time for a generational shift for us. >> all right, congressman, thank you. >> thanks, erin. >> next, the prison on manafort's wish list. this one is racquetball court, softball fields and a menu that has fresh cappuccino. those are not the only perks. >> plus, how much would you fork over for a bible with trump's signature? hi. maria ramirez! mom! maria!

maria ramirez... mcdonald's is committing 150 million dollars in tuition assistance, education, and career advising programs... prof: maria ramirez mom and dad: maria ramirez!!! to help more employees achieve their dreams. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job from any one else. why accept it from your allergy pills? most pills don't finish the job because they don't relieve nasal congestion. flonase sensimist is different. it relieves all your worst symptoms, including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. it's more complete allergy relief. and all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. flonase sensimist helps block six key inflammatory substances. most pills only block one. and six is greater than one. flonase sensimist. and six is greater than one. (burke) at fso we know how ton almost evercover almost anything. even rooftop parking.

strange forces at work? only if you're referring to gravity-and we covered it. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ 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.

the way you triumph over adversity. and live your lives. that's why we redesigned humira. we wanted to make the experience better for you. now there's less pain immediately following injection. we've reduced the size of the needle and removed the citrate buffers. and it has the same effectiveness you know and trust. humira citrate-free is here. a little change can make a big difference. 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. ask your doctor about humira citrate-free.

here's to you. . tonight paul manafort making the case that the president's former campaign chairman should spipd -- should spend the next 7.5 years at a prison with perks. suzanne malveaux is out front. >> paul manafort's home for the next seven and a half years will be here in cumberland, maryland. more than 130 miles northwest of

the white house. the medium security facility can hold more than 1200 male inmates. with just over 2 houn housed in a minimum security area known as the camp where manafort would likely stay. the prison that looks more like a college campus or country club is famous for the celebrities that have done crime here. among them jack abramoff and web hubble. the secluded prison is surrounded by woodlands. no barbed wire. they could enroll in education and music and fill afternoons with dog walking or full time work. they have access to e-mail and unlimited phone calls. the topnotch facility at their disposal, a gym and tv rooms and softball field with running track. they could shop from a commissary with a french cappuccino and cocoa butter soap and racket bells. manafort's stay would begin with a 6:00 a.m. wake-up call but much of the rest is his own with

an inmate check in at 4:00 p.m. and lights out by midnight. visiting family and friends stay in nearby houses over the weekend. there are some restrictions at the prison camp. manafort would have to wear a green uniform monday through friday during the day. on off hours, no fancy suits. just athletic apparel and thermal underwear are allowed. no smoking or alcohol or illicit drugs, no gambling or tatooing. >> today in addition to sentencing manafort to more prison time, judge amy berman jackson made it clear for the record she did not appreciate manafort and his counsel describing his previous prison stay as solitary confinement whereby he had his own private cell and work space and own bathroom and shower and personal laptop and she called it disingenuous and used to get public sympathy. and the big bucks someone forked over for this book. >> nobody loves the bible more

than i do. like you can do it all. but mania, such as unusual changes in your mood, activity or energy levels, can leave you on shaky ground. help take control by asking your healthcare provider about vraylar. vraylar treats acute mania of bipolar i disorder. vraylar significantly reduces overall manic symptoms,... ...and was proven in adults with mixed episodes who have both mania and depression. vraylar should not be used in elderly patients with dementia, due to increased risk of death or stroke. call your doctor about fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, which may mean a life-threatening reaction or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be permanent. side effects may not appear for several weeks. high cholesterol; weight gain; high blood sugar and decreased white blood cells, both of which can be serious or fatal;... ...dizziness upon standing; falls; seizures; impaired judgment; heat sensitivity; and trouble swallowing may occur. ask if vraylar can help you get on track.

oh no. your new boss seems cool, but she might not be sweatpants cool. not quite ready to face the day? that's why we're here with free hot breakfast. book at hampton.com for our price match guarantee. hampton by hilton.

boowant more from yourr oentejust say teach me more. into your xfinice remote to discover all sorts of tips and tricks in x1. can i find my wifi password? just ask. [ ding ] show me my wifi password. hey now! [ ding ] you can even troubleshoot, learn new voice commands and much more. clean my daughter's room. [ ding ] oh, it won't do that. welp, someone should. just say "teach me more" into your voice remote and see how you can have an even better x1 experience. simple. easy. awesome.

here is jeanne. >> talk about an odd couple. >> i brought my bible, you but lately president trump and the bible have been buddies. for instance, this week a bible allegedly signed by the president at a rally three years ago was auctioned off on e-bay for $325 bucks. though truth be told, an expert we talked to suspects the bible signature on your left might be fake citing poor sizing, the constantly changing angle of the letters and other tell-tale signs. the collector who listed it didn't get back to us. when president trump recently visited a tornado-ravaged area of alabama, was handed bibles to sign.

even melania signed one. now there is no commandment saying thou shalt not sign a bible. there is actually a tradition of bible signing in the south. but that didn't stop this cartoonist from noting the irony. that is the same pen he used to sign hush money checks for the porn star he got with while cheating on melania. on the late show, the hand of god reached out to squirt cleaner on the autographed bible. conan made a similar joke. >> i lot donald trump sign my bible. >> don't worry, there is help. accu-clean bible wipes get to the source of sinner signers. >> it might be harsh for some spots. >> nobody loves bible more than i do. >> i'm wondering what one or to of your favorite bible verses are. >> i don't want to get into it. that's very personal. >> are you old or new testament. >> equal. >> like when sarah palin was

asked what newspaper she reads. >> awful them. any of them. >> and if you don't know a song from a proverb, best to avoid citing chapter and verse. >> two corinthians 2:17. that is the whole ball game. >> jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> anderson is next. good evening. we begin with breaking news. it could shed light on whether the president of the united states talked about possibly obstructing justice with the nation's top law enforcement official at the time. today former acting attorney general matthew whitaker met with the top democrat and republican on the house judiciary committee. now according to committee chairman jerry nadler who is a democrat, whitaker talked about what the president said to him in the wake of michael cohen's guilty plea about his former fixer as well as a southern district of new york investigation of cohen and the man known as individual one in court documents, also known as the president. however, at the top republican congressman doug collins said

that is not what