>> sam, thanks very much. and to our viewers, thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." you can follow me on twitter and instagram @wolfblitzer. tweet the show @cnnsit room. erin burnett is next. releasing the mueller report. this is according to the chairman of the judiciary committee in the house. why is barr e fusing to do it? and the white house admitting it does not have a new plan to replace obamacare, even as trump brags republicans will come up with something better. and chicago's controversial chief prosecutor breaking her silence in the jussie smollett case. now saying her office could have proven smollett guilty. so then why drop the charges? let's go "outfront." good evening i'm erin burnett. breaking news. attorney general bill barr tonight refusing to commit to

releasing bob mueller's full report. this is according to the chairman of the house judiciary committee, jerry nadler, who just told cnn he spoke bar for ten minutes afternoon. >> the attorney general would not commit to release the full report? >> no, he would not. i just had a conversation with the attorney general. i asked about the length and breadth of the report. he said it was a very substantial report. so substantial, i don't see how you can summarize it in four pages, fairly. he said it was a very substantial report. i'm most concerned that when i asked whether the -- he could commit that the american people and the congress would see the entire unredacted report and the underlying evidence, he would not make a commitment on that. and that is not acceptable. >> not acceptable to nadler or to the american people. just look at the new poll we have tonight. the country is split on on the

majority. 56% of voters say president trump and his campaign have not been exonerated of collusion. let me just repeat that. has not been exonerated of collusion, despite bar's memo. clearly, we need the full report. and tonight there are not just questions about when congress will see the report. but also if the american public will see it at all. because for the second time this week, the senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell, blocked a resolution that called for mueller's report to be released. that res inclusiolution cleared house. why would mcconnell do that? if you take president trump at his word, he's all for the report's release. >> it wouldn't bother me at all. >> of course, he doesn't always mean what he says. and the question is whether mcconnell is trying to protect the president. evan perez is "outfront" live in

washington. evan, pretty incredible this conversation with bill barr. what's the likelihood that congress gets -- let's start there -- the full mueller report. >> well, i think they're probably going to end up having to fight this out in court, erin, before they get the full report. i think bill barr is speaking the way he has been speaking all along. he's not going to make a commitment they're going to get the full report. he wouldn't do it during the time that he was being confirmed by the senate. and you can see why the majority leader, mitch mcconnell, is also doing the same thing. i think he's trying to give some cover to the attorney general, because they know that there's parts of this that i think they're going to have to deal with the idea of getting grand jury testimony, perhaps cleared by a judge. they need permission from a judge before they can include that. so there is a lot of -- i think some hurdles for the justice department. and that's the reason why bill barr is certainly answering the question that way. but i think you're right. i think in the end, the

people -- the american public wants this. i think members of congress as a bipartisan consensus that this needs to be released. and i think eventually they might find a judge who will eventually agree that this report should be released to the american public. and certainly to members of congress. >> and evan, just before you go, manu had asked chairman nadler further in their conversation about how long -- emphasizing how substantial it was. and manu had referenced, you know, some people banding about 700 pages. do you have any sense of what substantial means? >> yeah, that's what's so incredible about this. the justice department won't even tell us how many pages is in this thing. it still seems to be a closely guarded secret. we -- certainly, jerry nadler said fewer than 1,000 pages. so at least we're getting closer. >> it's incredible that 1,000 is the bar. i mean -- although, you know, obviously could be anything less than that. but, wow. all right. thank you very much, evan. i want to go now to democratic

congresswoman jackie speier, member of the house intelligence committee. and i appreciate your time. okay, congresswoman. so chairman nadler, you know, says that he talked to bill barr today. the attorney general. and bill barr will not commit to releasing the full report, an unredacted report with the underlying documentation. and that's the bottom line. you heard evan saying this could go to court. is there anything you can do about this to force the attorney general's hand? >> we can certainly subpoena the report. and, of course, that will go to court, as well. but here's what's so ridiculous about this. the american people paid for this report. the president and the attorney general say the president is exonerated. so what are we hiding and why are we hiding it from the american people? they won't even tell us how many pages is in the report. but they do say it's very substantial. well, if it's very substantial, we have every right to see it. and, again, the american public is going to demand it.

>> do you share chairman nadler's concern that four pages is not enough to summarize what is in this report when we're talking about substantial and all we know is it's less than 1,000 pages? >> in some respects, it's laughable. when barr was auditioning for the job of attorney general, he sent a 19-page opinion on why the special counsel was unconstitutional and why the president could not be indicted. and yet he presents to us and the american people a four-page document that is supposed to cover upwards of 900 to 1,000 pages of a report? i think something is very fishy here. >> so let me ask you about something that just happened a few moments ago. we just heard from obviously the former fbi director, jim comey, who president trump fired. he just spoke to lester holt. and lester asked comey about another question here. there's two issues, right. there's the issue of collusion and whether that was established and whether the president has been exonerated of that.

and whether you need an underlying crime to have obstruction of justice to obstruct investigation to that crime. here is part of how comey answered that question. >> every day in this country, people are prosecuted for obstructing justice to avoid embarrassment, to avoid harm to their business, to avoid threats to their families where there isn't an underlying crime that they committed. and you wouldn't want it any other way, because if you had always prove the underlying crime, you would create incentives to obstruct, because people get away with both if they successfully stop an investigation. >> politically, in this case, does there need to be an underlying crime for congress, even if you see the full report to move forward with obstruction of justice? >> you know, i'm not prepared, erin, to say you need an underlying crime or not. but look at michael cohen. michael cohen isn't responsible for the unlawful issue around a

gift during a campaign that was illegal. but he's going to jail because he lied. and, again, i think it makes the case that you can look at conduct that appears to be an effort to obstruct justice, even though there isn't a crime. but i'm not really prepared to opine upon that tonight. >> right. i guess. well, we want to see more of the report, i would presume, so you can gauge what's there and if there is a there there or not a there there. again, the president -- congresswoman spears, said he's fine with the release of the report and obviously said he was fine to sit down and talk to mueller, too. and it doesn't seem like he ever really meant that. it never happened. but in it case, he says he's fine with it. and you've got this unanimous vote in the house. democrats and republicans agree they want it. republicans and democrats in the senate agree they want it released. except for mitch mcconnell has blocked it. has blocked the vote. from going forward here. in the senate.

>> is there collusion there? >> why is he doing that? >> i think there is collusion there between the president and mitch mcconnell. i mean, this is no different than everything else that president trump has done during his entire campaign and election. he also said he wanted to release his tax return. you know, we're still waiting two-and-a-half years later for that tax return. and he doesn't talk about it any more. he doesn't talk about a rigged election after he won the election. he is a man who will do whatever is convenient at the time, knowing that he can use it somehow later. and in this case, i think he has a deal with mitch mcconnell. >> so if you think there is a deal there, i want to get back to this point of the underlying crime, which, of course, would be collusion or, you know, what -- conspiracy, obviously, would be the legal term. it's very clear bill barr says it didn't meet that level. the chairman of your committee, congressman adam schiff tells the "washington post," quote, undoubtedly there is collusion. we will continue to investigate the counterintelligence issues.

of course, the barr memo did not establish that members of the trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the russian government. this is your committee. do you guys have evidence of collusion? >> i think that we are still -- no, i don't think we can say that we have evidence of collusion. i think what we can say is, we have evidence that there was an effort to coordinate. you know, we still have roger stone sitting out there, who has been charged. we don't know what kind of evidence has been secured about roger stone and wikileaks. we do know that the chairman of the trump campaign, who is now a convicted felon, met with a russian operative, who was associated with the russian spy agency, and was willing to give him polling information. at some point, you just add all of these puzzle pieces together, and i think you can get a coordination or an interest in coordinating, whether it was actually consummated may be a

question. but the american people, i think, want to know why it is that there is such an interest in russia and the trump campaign and trump and the trump organization and russia. >> all right. congresswoman spear, i appreciate your time. thank you very much. >> thank you, erin. and breaking news at this hour. a white house official just revealing they do not have a new proposal for replacing obamacare. so how does president trump explain this? >> the supreme court rules that obamacare is out, we will have a plan that's far better than obamacare. plus, she has met with just about every 2020 democratic contender, but does stacy abrams want something more than number two? . >> you don't run for second place. i'm going to enter a primary, then i'm going to enter a primary. >> plus, breaking news. chicago's chief prosecutor says she believed her office could have proven jussie smollett guilty.

the president of the chicago fraternal order of police who is furious prosecutors dropped all charges against smollett responds "outfront." ♪ ♪

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(buzzer sound) holiday inn express. be the readiest. breaking news. no backup plan. a senior white house official telling cnn, the white house does not have a plan to replace obamacare if it is struck down in court. this is as we learn that attorney general bill barr is now taking on trump over trump's push to get rid of obamacare. a source telling cnn that attorney general barr does not

agree with trump's decision to back a judge, which, you know, which is trying to strike down obamacare. and neither does trump's hand-picked health and human services secretary, alex azar. trump is forcing the issue, causing a fiery oval office exchange between the white house counsel, pat cipollone and mick mulvaney. kaitlan collins is at the white house. and kaitlan, obviously, is this a pretty important moment, right? they've got no plan, you're reporting. and you've got two of the president's, you know, staunch allies, hand-picked people, totally at odds with him on this. >> yeah. and the fact that they have no plan to back this up and to what happens if they do repeal the affordable care act is really what led to that fight in the oval office on monday. now, things got pretty heated. and here's essentially where things stand. the attorney general, bill barr, is worried that the trump administration doesn't have the legal ground here so it would be upheld in court. that's his concern. then you've got the health and

human services secretary, alex azar, who is worried this could amount to essential lly a polic failure and americans millions of americans would be left without insurance. and mike pence on board with mulvaney in trying to nullify the health care plan but worried about what would happen if they succeeded because they do not have a backup plan. so if they succeeded in repealing this, where do they go from there? now pence's chief of staff was just on cnn and said president trump plans to introduce a health care plan to congress this year. we asked him to narrow down that time line, but he didn't really expand any on when exactly that plan is going to be. but clearly, it's going to have to be a plan that they develop. now, senate republicans on capitol hill are pretty skeptical about this. because for several years and, of course, you've seen those two failed tries in the most recent years while trump has been in the white house, they have not been able to find a way to fix this. so now they're praept skeptical they're going to magically find something to do right now.

but the president made clear, he was siding with mick mulvaney on this. he wanted the justice department to agree with the lawsuit striking down obamacare and that is where they are going from here. so even though pat cipollone and al alex azar still have reservations, they're essentially getting on board with trump. >> thank you very much. it's either do that or get on the highway. "outfront" now, former clinton white house aide, keith boykin and presidential candidate, rick santorum. senator, let me start with you. look, it's not insignificant when you talk about the counsel for the white house. you talk about the health and human services secretary, the guy who leads the justice department. by god, attorney general bill barr. you know, who put out the memo. which trump adores. they are taking him on. why does the president think he knows better than everyone else here? >> well, because he knows obamacare has been a disaster. i mean, you've seen premiums more than double and more important than that, you've seen out-of-pocket cost. and people not even covered by

obamacare are feel this. people in the employer market are feel the tremendously high cost of health care going up and up and up. and the principle reason is because of the defect of obamacare, which did nothing to control cost. and so what president obama -- president trump is doing to respond to that is let's put something else in place that we know can work. and the idea that the president doesn't have a plan -- >> he's not putting anything out there, because no one has any idea. >> actually, the president did. if you look at his budget, the president does have a proposal in his budget on health care. it calls for program grants to the states, take the money that is now being used for medicaid expansion and for the subsidies and get that money out to the states and give them the -- a program grant that gives them some direction to make sure that we have a robust, competitive private marketplace that can lower cost for the american consumer. >> okay. keith? >> that's not a solution, rick. that's a punt. what the president's plan is -- i heard lindsey graham say the

same thing earlier today. basically block-granting health care. >> by the way, you're both giving up credit for a plan. the white house today is admitting it doesn't have a plan. >> the white house -- >> they're saying they don't have a plan. >> erin, it's in their budget. >> well, you call it what you want. but it's a hoax. the reality is, rick, you know this as well as anyone. health care is very complicated. democrats -- >> that's why the federal government shouldn't do it. >> well, democrats have been trying to extend health care to more people, going back to the harry truman when he was president, lyndon johnson was able to get medicare passed through when i was in the white house with bill clinton, hillary and bill clinton tried to get a health care plan passed. they couldn't do it. obama took a year to try to come up with a plan. it was very hard to get it done, very complex. >> george w. bush, prescription drugs. it's a bipartisan thing. >> but trump came in by saying only that he was going to repeal and replace obamacare with something terrific. and he never expressed or explained what that something terrific was. that lack of specificity for

something so complex was a file failure of leadership on his part but a reflection on how he leads. >> i would agree, keith, it was a failure of leadership on the part of the president and house republicans a year-and-a-half ago. and that's why for the last year-and-a-half i've been working with a bunch of -- over 100 groups around this country, state think tanks, folks here in washington, united states senators and folks in the administration. yes, many people in the administration -- that's why you heard mick mulvaney and others arguing to take this battle on, because we've been working on a plan and it is a plan we think will work. you say it is just a punt. it is not a punt. it is giving states who have been in charge of health care up until this takeover by obama have been in charge of -- >> guarantee coverage -- >> able to take care of the people who need to be taken care of to get insurance for folks who can't afford it. that's what we're going to do. and -- >> the problem is, rick, you're just going to back to where we were before. >> no, i'm not. providing resources and providing oversight to make sure those resources develop private

markets. >> since the affordable care act passed, 20 million people have gained health care. >> through medicaid, mostly. >> we also know -- not only do we have 20 million people who have health insurance but coverage for preexisting conditions. >> we're all for that, keith. >> under -- 25 or under can stay on their parents' plans. we have no more discrimination against women. we also have a system that actually does have a -- some components in place to try to control cost, despite the fact it hasn't been completely effective. >> completely effective? we have seen exploding costs. you ask the american consumer, it's ridiculous. >> remember this, too, rick. why is obamacare so popular today? more popular than when it started in 2010. the majority of americans actually support the affordable care act, because they know it actually is an improvement of what we had before. >> thanks to the last couple years -- thanks to donald trump's changes in the affordable care act that have actually made it more affordable and stabilized prices and states that have done things -- >> no. >> getting rid of the mandate to require people to have health insurance so you only end up

with six people and premiums surge? in what way is that stabilizing, eric? >> hold on one second. if you look at the state waivers -- obama wouldn't give any waivers to states to industry innovation. >> that's not true. >> under the trump administration, you have seen several states right here in the backyard of washington, the state of maryland was expected to get a 30% increase in premiums. governor hogan put in a risk pool -- high risk pool and actually had a reduction in premiums as a result of that. you leave innovation out there, and that's never allowed under obamacare. you will see lower cost and people benefit. >> rick had the first word, you get the last. >> that's not true. innovation is still part of what you do under the affordable care act. the reason why it's so popular, the american people know it's an improvement of the people. the reason why kevin mccarthy and people like -- i think mike pence, perhaps, and alex azar are opposed to taking this on right now, and the republicans had it, because they realize it's a political loser. republicans lost in this election at 40 seats they lost in the house in 2018 while they were running on this health care

issue and democrats are running on the health care issue. >> running away from the health care issue. >> exactly. the american people made it very clear, they support the democrats on this issue, not the republicans. >> 75% of the people who thought health care was the top issue in the mid terms, 75 voted for democrat. >> we didn't have a plan. we need to have the president leading and i applaud him. >> so you're going to trust him to make something out of thin air. >> we're working on it. >> we'll leave it there. thank you. and next, stacy abrams and why she believes she is not getting the same attention as other 2018 candidates like beto o'rourke. >> i think race plays a part. i think region plays a part and phenotype plays a part. >> and chicago's top prosecutor said she had the evidence to prove jussie smollett was guilty. so why then did they drop all charges? after walking six miles at an amusement park... bill's back needed a vacation from his vacation. so he stepped on the dr. scholl's kiosk. it recommends our best custom fit orthotic to relieve foot, knee, or lower back pain.

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tonight in demand. virtually every single democrat running for president has been talking to stacy abrams, who ran for georgia governor and lost. she is a hot ticket now, and she is saying settling for second is not what she is aiming for. jeff zeleny is "outfront." >> i think you don't run for second place. >> with those words -- >> wow! >> and with that smile -- stacy abrams closing the door to all that talk of an early partnership with joe biden. >> if i'm going to enter a primary, then i'm going to enter a primary. and if i don't enter the primary, my job is to make certain that the best democrat becomes the nominee. >> for now, abrams is leaving

unanswered big questions about her future. as a leading voice in the democratic party. >> i do not know if i'm running. i am thinking about everything. and it's a senate race -- >> senate -- >> it's possibly running for president. and my responsibility is to take seriously the opportunity to give credibility to those who are asking me. but to make sure i'm the right person. this is the right time and the right job. >> yet one thing is clear. abrams is everywhere. after narrowly losing the georgia governor's race last year, she introduced herself to the nation. >> i'm stacy abrams. and i'm honored to join the conversation about the state of our union. >> and now is playing a central role in the 2020 presidential race. >> run, stacy, run! run, stacy, run. >> call it the stacy abrams primary. a recent lunch with biden touched off a wave of speculation and headlines like this. if joe biden wants to win, he needs stacy abrams now. but abrams has also met recently with senators cory booker,

kirsten gillibrand, kamala harris, amy klobuchar and elizabeth warren. her aides say beto o'rourke has not called and after losing to ted cruz last year in texas hasn't gone unnoticed. >> i would challenge people to consider why we were not lifted up in the same way. i think race plays a part. i want people to understand i may not look like the typical candidate but that does not diminish my capacity to run for this job. >> so abrams saying exactly out loud what democrats have been asking privately. why has she not been getting as much attention as beto or rourke and others have. erin, there is no question she is now front and center in the conversation. i am told yes she is thinking

about a presidential run but is much more likely to run for the senate from that seat in georgia. she'll likely make up her mind sometime next month. >> thank you very much, jeff. okay. so cnm political commentators, joan walsh, and former republican congresswoman mea love from utah join me. stacy abrams she she was not lifted up as beto o'rourke. by the way, he lost his race as we hear all of the time. and she says race is part of the reason. once of the reasons. is that fair? >> well, i think that it's definitely going to have some sort of play. one of the things i wanted to mention, that i actually witnessed that in my race. i was in an r-plus-13 district and i was heavily targeted by democrat because of what i look like. and the voice that i provided on the other side. and i have to tell you, it's one of the things i talk about all of the time. the congressional black caucus not one of them came after me. they cared more about the community and the fact that i

had a voice on the gop that actually helped push those policies. so stacy wants to find someone that is -- a group that is actually going to help her and lift her up. she should actually go to the congressional black caucus, because they care more about the community than they actually care about the politics of everything. so, you know, i don't agree with her much, but this is an area where i do think that race comes into play. >> i mean, you know, joan, you look at beto o'rourke, he's getting the "vanity fair" cover and the obama questions and all this and he's a loser. as trump will say -- right? he lost. >> he lost by more than she did. >> yes. now she did the state of the union rebuttal. she is not getting the beto treatment. is it fair to say race is part of the reason? >> of course it is. it is race and also gender, i would say. erin, you and me and i all know the political media team is

disp disproporti disproportionally still white and male. they look at beto and they see themselves. his real name is robert francis, which i believe is after robert francis kennedy. so he gets all these kennedy-esque comparisons. i like him, don't get me wrong. but there is definitely a way in which he scratches an itch for a certain kind of campaign pundit as well as campaign consultant. and women out here love stacy abrams. >> so mea, abrams today talked about that meeting she had with joe biden. and biden, by the way, has now addressed the issue of race. here he is last night. >> we all have an obligation to do nothing less than change the culture in this country. this is english jurist prudential culture. a white man's culture. it's got to change.

it's got to change. >> mea, the big question, is joe biden the right white man to do that? >> well, it's really interesting. because he talked about anita hill and how he could have done more. this is years after. so this delayed apology is a little suspect to me. i'm trying to figure out why so many years after you're feeling like i should have done more. look, i understand what's going on. and i actually -- i agree with joan. i can't tell you how much pressure was always put for me to go above and beyond, because people already just assume that you're not educated enough. or you don't have the right upbringing. and i always had to rise to the occasion. and i can understand some of that pressure that she has. you have to do a lot more, twice as much. and i think that just stepping out there and being involved and actually putting your name out there and the fact she said, look, i'm not going to be a

number two. i think that's a great step. but this whole thing with biden is blowing my mind. i find it really disingenuous. >> i said that to be -- i wouldn't say funny, joan. but i was -- the irony. >> ironic, yeah. >> i was making a point of the irony. you've got joe biden as the white grandfather in all of this, the white man saying it's a white man's culture. okay. it's got to change. >> i have an idea for how he can change it. don't run. come out and support a woman. there's six women in the race, four female senators. if you want to change it, that's a way to change it. you know, i admire joe biden. i am a fond democrat. he was a great vice president. but you want to change it? don't run. and his treatment of anita hill will remain a huge issue if he does run. a lot of his apologies -- >> do you think there is genuine change and he says, okay, i regret it, or is it all political expediency. >> i think he regrets it. i'm going to step out and give

him that much credit. i believe he has never actually said those words to anita hill. if i'm wrong, i will take that back. i'm pretty sure i'm right. i also think some of the things he's been saying in the last couple of days, and mea will back me up on this -- he regrets the way she was treated. she was the chairman of the judiciary committee. he was the person who decided not to allow corroborating witnesses as well as he let some of his male republican colleagues treat her shamefully. he was not a back-bencher who just watched this happen. >> not at all. thank you both very much. and don't miss tonight's presidential town hall, senator cory booker. don lemon moderating at 10:00 eastern here on cnn. and next, chicago's controversial chief prosecutor under huge pressure tonight. some are blaming her for dropping all charges against the actor, jussie smollett. she recused herself of the case, but said guess what, my office could have totally proven it. and boeing scrambling to get the popular 737 max back up in the air. and they have a new software

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breaking news. chicago's top prosecutor says her office could have proven jussie smollett guilty. >> the court has not found him guilty. i believe based on the facts and the evidence that was presented in the charging decision made by this office, this office believed they could prove him guilty.

>> so those comments from kim foxx are deepening the mystery surrounding the sudden dismissal of charges against smollett, right? so the charges just got dropped. she's now saying they could have proven it. she actually recused herself from the case. and she's already under fire for having had contact with the actor's family before he was charged. sarah sidner is "outfront" of the. >> tonight, for the first time, the state's attorney, kim foxx, speaking out and addressing the criticism for dropping all charges against "empire" actor, jussie smollett. >> i don't want people to believe there are two measures of justice for the privilege and those without. that's why we're so transparent. and i think the course of the last couple of days and once the rhetoric and the emotions stop, we will stand by our record. >> she said sealing the entire case was not supposed to happen. >> i think what happened was the clerk sealed the whole thing. we did not advocate, do not

believe, that the court files should be sealed. we believe in transparency, even on difficult situations. >> foxx, who was elected to her post in 2016, said her office should not be making examples of people, and the city has more serious crimes to worry about. >> i do want to use our resources effectively. i do want to go after violent crime. i do want to make sure our streets are safe. and when there's an alternative to use diversion for nonviolent offenses involving people without a criminal background, we will do that. >> foxx is now facing questions about her handling of the case, questions that arose early on when she recused herself from the case due to contact with smollett's camp, spelled out in e-mails and texts. tina chin, former chief of staff, saying she was in touch with smollett's family. i wanted to give you a call. they have concerns about the

investigation, she wrote. smollett's family member then contacts foxx. >>, asking for a chat. foxx trying to figure out logistics. i'll keep you posted. smollett's family member responds, omg, this would be a huge victory. foxx responded, i make no guarantees, but i am trying. the fraternal order of police initially asked for an investigation into foxx's recusal. now they want more. >> we'll be asking for a full investigation on the entire matter. why the charges were dropped, and the state's attorney's involvement in the case. >> still smollett's attorneys in the investigation were not used to get the charges dropped. >> there was no political influence in this case. there were a team of lawyers. we communicated with the state's attorneys, and we convinced them that the right thing to do in this case was to dismiss the charges. >> the mayor of chicago has blasted the decision. >> do you think it was a corrupt

decision? >> i don't think it's as i said yesterday and i stand by what i said. and that's why everybody across the city and chicago and i have gone over parts of the city. it's not on the level. >> now, smollett, for his part, has repeatedly said that he is innocent of all the charges. we should mention this, though, erin. the prosecutor, you heard her there, states attorney, saying that they didn't really want the entire case sealed. but in court, when this case came up to the judge, the defense attorneys asked for it to be sealed, and the prosecutor did not say no to that. essentially, they agreed by their silence. >> all right. thank you very much, sarah. i want to go now to kevin graham, president of the chicago fraternal order of police. and you just saw a brief clip of him there in sarah's reporting. you know, look, obviously we all know a lot of the evidence that you all had accumulated, text messages, check transfers, you know, was incredibly damning.

and the cook county state's attorney, kim foxx, right, she says her office could have proven smollett guilty. she seemed extremely confident of that. when you hear her say that, what do you think? >> well, i think what we did, asking for an investigation over a week ago was the correct move. i think we were on top of it. i think we were pointed in the right direction. we had sent a letter to the u.s. attorney, northern district of illinois, asking for that investigation. and that was long before yesterday's offense. i think we certainly are looking out for the people and the city of chicago. we're looking out for our members, the detectives that worked hard and i think they probably will do an investigation. >> this was not on the level? >> well, the -- the mayor and i don't agree on very much. but i would say we agree on this. there's something that is just not right.

and i want to back up just a little bit. one of smollett's attorneys, patricia brown-holmes, was also the special prosecutor just a few weeks ago for cook county. and she accused three innocent police officers without a shred of evidence of wrongdoing, and then they were acquitted. so something is not right over in the prosecutor's office. >> okay. let's talk about foxx herself, right? she recused herself. she announced she was recusing herself from the investigation on february 13th, which just to be clear, was a week before smollett was charged. do you think she had anything to do with the charges being dropped? technically, she had recused herself. so the answer to that question should be no. but i -- understand that you're not confident in that. >> here's what we believe. we believe that in this smollett case, there should have been a special prosecutor of appointed, because we don't believe anybody

from her office who she had already had contact with an outside attorney from los angeles should have been involved in it at all. so we believe a special prosecutor should have been called at that time. now, i think that that is probably the -- where it should have gone. it didn't go that way. and that's -- and when we found out about the text messages, we felt that it was improper and we needed to ask for assistance from the federal government. >> all right. kevin, i appreciate your time. thank you very much. as the story develops. >> hey. there is one thing, though. our detectives worked extremely hard, and i am very proud of them. they did an outstanding job. and it was a rock solid case. >> all right. thank you very much. and sounds like on that front, you agree with kim foxx. you're saying rock solid. she said they could have proven him guilty. the big question is why the heck is that not happening. thank you. next, drew griffin with an "outfront" investigation into the grounded boeing plan, the

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recent versions of a 737 that airlines would save million dollars on training because experienced 737 pilots would require no more than a computer course to fly it. >> if they approve this for two and a half hours of training for the transition between the aircraft. >> reporter: 737 pilot and union rep jason goldberg said his training consisted of 56 minutes on an ipad. it never mentioned mcass. >> we were not aware of the mcas nor do we have any reference prior to the lion air crash that it existed or what it did. >> on capitol hill the question is why. >> clearly confidence in faa as a gold standard for aviation safety has been shaken. >> reporter: why did the faa allow boeing to roll out a system that no one knew about. why would it make training requirements to minimal and was the relationship between federal

regulators and boeing so cozy that faa overlooked crucial safety issues. it is all under review say u.s. transportation officials. >> the faa will go wherever the facts lead us in our pursuit of safety. >> reporter: fact is the faa doesn't have the resources. the federal agency tasked with making sure new airplanes are safe is allowed to outsource inspections to delegated organizations which are designated to perform the authorized functions of the faa. who are they? in this case, they are boeing employees hired by boeing, paid by boeing, to oversee boeing. >> boeing hires their own people. they certify their own people and they oversee their own people with how they get this airplane manufactured. the faa has very little, if anything, to do with the actual manufacturer of the aircraft. >> reporter: transportation secretary elaine chou on capitol hill admitted there is a problem. >> the faa does not build planes.

they certify. they need to have the input from the manufacturer. having said that, i am of course concerned about any allegations of coziness with any company, manufacturer -- >> reporter: as lawmakers debated with regulators, boeing rolled out software fixes it hopes will lift the grounding of the 737 max. not an admission the system caused the crash but according to boeing, a way to make it more robust and we're making that change now. the company said it is mcas computer system that points the airplane nose down in the event of a potential stall will not engage unless two instruments that measure the angle a plane is flying agree something is wrong and until now it relied on one reading with no back-up. and one faa approved faa said planes could be back in the air in days and all you have to do is take a computer-based training around the upgrade which would last about half an

hour. and boeing will make standard a warning light about the angle of flight which in the past was sold to airlines as an upgrade. but until the faa approves all of the changes that 737 max will remain grounded. erin. >> thank you very much, drew. and next, is it a germ concern? jeanne moos on pope francis trying to stop people from kissing his ring. with the most s of the year like lobster lover's dream and new ultimate lobsterfest surf and turf. so come lobsterfest today! and now for a limited time, get ten percent off red lobster to go. on a john deere x300 series mower. because seasons change but true character doesn't. wow, you've outdone yourself this time. hey, what're neighbors for? it's beautiful. run with us. search "john deere x300" for more.

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the pope. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: but it is not as if the pope tells everyone to kiss off when they go for his ring. he usually goes along with it. most memorably when this circus performer did it last year. ring kissing does tend to slow down the line. this man puckered up and got hustled away. on the day in question, pope francis allowed folks to dive bomb him for ten minutes before he started playing hard to get. supporters say it is the pope being humble, preferring to wash people's feet rather than have them kiss his ring. most hand kisses don't involve a ring. be it the queen or melania trump or kellyanne conway. one guy -- who doesn't refuse it is don coraly own and you better not refuse him. someone tweet tad pope francis looks like he's batting off

flies but he did stop for hugs, a papal treat. >> it is good if you add an ice cream cone. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> all right. thanks for watching. anderson starts now. good evening. we begin with breaking news on two issues. on capitol hill, bill barr is refusing to commit to releasing the full mueller report. that is according to house judiciary chairman jerry nad -- nadler who spoke with barr tonight and trump vowing his administration will have a plan far better than obamacare. a white house official said they have no alternative plan as of right now. in a moment i'll talk about this and 2020 race with steve bannon. a cnn exclusive. we begin with the congressman nadler talk with barr about the muel