entire globe and there are -- they're a very forward thinking organization. very willing to wait and bide their time and emerge more powerful as they have in the past, than before. >> arwa damon, thank you so much. very, very excellent report. we're grateful to you. that's it for me. "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. breaking news, the attorney general giving a new time line for a release with redactions. plus, the president threatens to shut down the u.s./mexican border next week. what would that mean? we're live at the border. the gop's new villain, why republicans are talking about ocasio-cortez more than any other democrat, including anybody running for president. let's go outfront. good evening. i'm erin burnett. tonight, the breaking news, showdown over the mueller report. the attorney general bill barr has put out today this, a

two-page letter to congress. in it he promises to give something to the public by mid april, but he adds a quote. this is one of the operative lines we are preparing the report for release, making the redactions that are required. the emphasis of course is mine. but attorney general barr then spends six lines in here, the biggest chunk right in here, okay, listing possible areas of redactions including information that would induly infringe on the personal privacy and reputational interests of peripheral third parties. peripheral is quite a subjective word isn't it? redaction can be a hugely subjective enterprise a way to hide important information the country has a right to know or utterly innocuous. which is it going to be? redactions are not flying with the powerful chairman, jerry nadler. he fired back be his own letter writing in part, quote, as i informed the attorney general earlier this week, congressdact.

emphasis again mine. as well as access to the underlying evidence by april 2nd. that deadline still stands. the battle lines are drawn with barr fighting the battle as president trump acts as if he could care less. he doesn't have a care in the world about the nearly 400-page mueller report. >> i have nothing to hide. this was a hoax. this was a witch-hunt. i have absolutely nothing to hide. >> never mind of course you know the six people are going to prison and the 38 others charged and the russians and the criminal counts, putting that aside that we all know this was not a witch-hunt or a hoax let's hone in on the operative words, nothing to hide. let's bring it on. all 300 to 400 pages because as we have seen, so far, of those nearly 400 pages all we have gotten is 101 words from the actual report. right? we've got this summary which is

a loaded term today, the summary from bill barr. if you take away the title, and the footnote it's 74 words. that is all we have to go on. manu raju, redactions or no redactions and when are we going to get it? nadler and barr fisticuffs on. how tough is this going to get? >> it can get very intense it depends on how much latitude the justice department feels it has to redact information, how much information is ultimately redacted. i can tell you in a private phone call that bill barr had with nadler earlier this beak the question is how much would be redacted came up in the ten minute phone call. while the call was cordial, that key question was not answered when nadler pressed him. nadler suggested to barr they go to court, work together to get a court order to release the grand jury information that the

democrats have been demanding as part of their demands for releasing the full report. barr was open to those -- i'm told, but he did not say that he would go forward with that. nevertheless, democrats are saying that they want the full report by april 2nd which they're not going to get. the question is what do they do next, when do they start to issue subpoenas and what will they ultimately be satisfied with given that there will be redactions, will they agree to some sort of middle ground? at the moment they're showing that they're going to offer no give here. but the bottom line is how hard do they push it, will they succeed? they're saying tonight that precedent is on their side. they're citing the watergate case, the ken starr case and the clinton e-mail probe to say on all of these cases, all the grand jury information came to congress. in this situation it should happen as well. >> thank you very much, manu. i want to go now to jimmy gomez who sits on the house oversight

committee. thank you for being with me. so are you satisfied with this report? >> no, not at all. see i wanted to see the report and the american people want to see the report immediately. and we want to make sure that all of the evidence comes out and the truth comes out. you know, if they were going to redact something i understand on some level, but at the same time, if they're redacting in order to protect the president from saving him from embarrassment or preventing congress from following lineuna we'll push back. >> so let me get to the bottom of this issue. this is what this is about. they're fighting over the date but the real issue is what we'll get. and chairman nadler is saying i don't want any redactions. he's going all the way over here. the top republican on the judiciary committee doug collins said if that happens, barr would quote break the law. there need to be redactions. according to barr's letter as i said the longest part was listing out what he's working topically to redact. including material the intelligence community identifies as potentially compromising, sensitive sources and methods. so do you support those sorts of

redactions? >> i think that he has to work with chairman nadler to determine what is actually redacted. i think that in that sense they can really get to a middle ground but at the same time nobody trusts this administration. we don't trust bill barr to not redact information and parts of the report that congress needs in order to follow up on -- >> why do you think chairman nadler is saying no redactions at all? >> because he -- yeah, listen, we have dealt with this administration. every time we bring anybody in to testify in front of congress, they dodge, they delay. they don't answer anything. and at the same time, we need to do our jobs. so i can understand why nadler is pushing very hard to make sure that the -- they listen to congress which is a coequal branch of government. >> so then on the other issue of redaction i mentioned in our lead but i think this is very important. barr says he's working currently to redact based on several things including information

that would unduly infringe on the personal privacy and reputational interest of peripheral third parties. are you okay with the redactions given that peripheral is subjective? >> who does it include, donald jr., who does it really include? that's part of the problem. if we don't know who it includes it can prevent us from doing our job and following up. so i understand why we'll continue to push back. i support that. i want to see the report with no redactions but if something is made i will -- i will try to see what it is first. you know what, the american people deserve a full report with no redactions. >> do you support it going to the gang of eight and not everyone in congress? >> no. we have had sensitive briefings on a variety of issues with

everybody in congress. and i think everybody in congress deserves to know. >> i want to play again some of what president trump said today about the mueller report for you, congressman. here he is. >> i have nothing to hide. this was a hoax. this was a witch-hunt. >> congressman gomez, do you think he genuinely okay with the release of the entire report or is he saying that while he expects bill barr, mitch mcconnell to run interference for him? >> this president has hid everything from the moment he started running. let's -- i don't believe him whatsoever. but remember, he also said that he wasn't really -- releasing the taxes because they're under audit. later we found out that he was lying about that. he's just saying that because he believes that barr will do his dirty work. >> in congress that's the issue of the deadline which i want to understand from you. chairman nadler says april 2nd and he's not moving from it. now barr has said mid april. now dianne feinstein says she'd be fine with april 15th. are you fine with those extra

few days, april 15th or do you think this do or die on april 2nd is the right way to go? >> i trust chairman nadler. he has been excellent as the chairman of the judiciary as well as the ranking member. he has -- >> if he's sticking with april 2nd you're behind? >> i'm behind him 100%. >> all right we go, finally, attorney general bill barr has offered to testify before the senate judiciary committee on may 1st. house judiciary committee, may 2nd. what's the most important question you want asked? >> first, honestly i'm going to leave that up to chairman nadler and here's the thing. i sit on oversight. i have other questions regarding the taxes, regarding payments to stormy daniels. i want to get to the bottom of that. i'm still pursuing that. at the same time, we have seen that these individuals from the administration have been coached by attorneys to not answer a word. so i honestly don't know what information we're going to get from the attorney general if he

goes before congress. they have showed that time and time again that they're going to dodge and not be forthright. >> congressman gomez, thank you. >> thank you so much. and next, attorney general bill barr taking issue with anybody who called his four-page summary memo a summary. of the mueller investigation. what's up, what's with the problem with the word? you take 400 pages you distill them down to four and which can't use the word summary? plus, president trump insisting the situation on the u.s. southern border is so terrible he may have to take drastic measures. >> it's a very good likely i'll be closing the border next week and that will be just fine with me. >> and donald trump jr. directing his father's followers to attack a democrat. >> aoc sucks! aoc sucks! "erin burnett outfront"

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march 24, 2019, supplemental notification as a quote, summary of the special counsel's investigation and report. my notification to congress and the public provided pending release of the report a summary of its principal conclusions. i mean, you know, i don't know lawyers. is it true that shakespeare said kill all lawyers? okay, former special agent for the fbi and i'm sorry, what is the difference between a summary and a summary of principal conclusions? >> we can use words to be as specific as we want to be. i suppose in some abstract sense what he is saying, you know, is logical. but i think it is somewhat misleading. the way in which it was presented to the public and the way in which president trump talked about it was not just a summary of principal conclusions but he and his supporters talked about it as a total exoneration. so he's sort of walking that back. one thinks maybe there's things in this report that don't sound

like a total exoneration. and so better to begin the process of backpedaling now. >> all right. here's the thing. it's been nearly a week, right, almost to the day this weekend it will be since barr, you know, put the four-page distillation out. >> report. >> if he had an issue with it being called a summary as opposed to the principal conclusions, unless he's trying to backpedal? >> i agree with harry. look, as lawyers we are trained to know that words have meaning. and how those words can be interpreted by the public. i don't see any reason why even if he chose to do this a week ago he couldn't have for example given the number of pages in the full length of the report or offered a caveat that this does not summarize each individual investigation, which the special counsel has provided.

i also don't know why if the full report is 400 pages he couldn't have waited a little longer to provide a more thorough summary if that's what he wanted to do. so yeah, i think this backpedaling. i think that the pushback has been severe. and that it has misled the public on both sides and it does a disservice to americans. and to congress. >> right. better it would seem to just have the fight you'll have on redactions and have gotten th whole thing next week or two weeks later. patrick, barr also writes in his new letter -- i love this. it's like -- write a letter and communicate by letter. he writes, quote, although the president would have the right to assert privilege he's referring here to executive privilege over certain parts of the report he stated he intends to defer to me and there are no plans to support a report to the white house for privileged review. to me, the words that stood out

here were intends to defer to me. is barr running interference for the president, saving him from having to claim executive privilege because that looks bad? >> that's exactly right. bill barr is not jeff sessions. this is a clear statement of trust in bill barr to make decisions that will keep the president, keep the white house from getting into an executive privilege fight that really the takeaway from that would be what are you hiding? or what are you trying to hide? instead, deferring or at least intends to defer to bill barr suggests that the president, you know, has nothing to worry about here. the justice department can take care of it. redactions can be easily done. he's fine because he has come away from this with exoneration being the central message that he wants out. he doesn't want it to be a fight about executive privilege. he wants exoneration. >> of course, the big question is how the president and bill barr are communicating but one

way they're communicating is how the president communicates. he lays praise on bill barr. you're amazing. you're amazing. here he is. >> i have great confidence in the attorney general. i will say this. our new attorney general, bill barr, is a great gentleman. i have heard about him for years. he's a great man. i'm going to leave that to our new attorney general who's been so incredible actually and that's based on a lot of people saying it. this is a very, very special person. >> the message is clear. >> the message is clear and i also think that from trump's previous behavior, his pattern of behavior he's not inclined to blanketly trust someone and i think one question that members of congress might have for barr is whether attorney general barr had any conversations with the president either before or after

the report was released. because if he did, then we have a replay of the bill clinton/loretta lynch scenario on the tarmac. that would be mightily inappropriate and call into question perception wise his ability to make ultimately a prosecutorial decision which is exactly what happened in the hillary clinton case. so, you know, i also think that ultimately these facts are going to come out one way or the other. and bill barr as a pretty highly respected attorney has really put himself on the line in the way that he has decided to present and characterize this report at the outset. >> i mean, harry, it is pretty incredible. there's something going on between these two. >> it does seem like and, you know, why did bill barr get this job? he had been out of politics, out of government for many years. i don't want to say he was retired but i don't think they was sort of in the -- you know, in the middle of his career to

put -- to say the least so he emerges because he wrote this 19-page memo in which he said i don't think that this can be obstruction. and then barr jumps into the vacuum, it's not clear that mueller intended him to make a finding on obstruction and said there's no chargeable obstruction here. so it's understandable why the president would view him with confidence and it's understandable why there would be some skepticism and let him prove everyone who is skeptical, let him prove them wrong through handling this in a fair and transparent way. i hope he does. >> so what happens then, patrick? >> i think you have a process over the next two weeks where there's going to be a lot of concerns from democrats about these categories that the justice department is suggesting they can do redactions on. i mean -- >> personal privacy and reputational interest. >> right. that's a very broad category

with the third -- with these third party figures whose reputations apparently need to be protected. >> what does peripheral mean? is donald trump jr. peripheral because he's not being indicted? you can see how you can legally parse that. >> sure. but you have it in the hands of the political appointee making the redactions himself and that team making the redactions himself. you will hear democrats who are able to make a pretty effective argument about wanting to see transparency from the administration and from the special counsel on this report. so the pressure at least for two weeks over redactions is going to be pretty big. if it's not about executive privilege though, that is something that helps trump. >> it will be fascinating to see does the president truly trust bill barr to do that. i trust you i won't see anything in there that i don't like. a tall order. we're talking about 400 pages. close to it. thank you all. next, president trump says

the u.s. is facing an unprecedented security crisis at the border but what is really happening? we are on the ground for an outfront investigation with ed lavender a. and alexandria ocasio-cortez is fighting back to this chant from president trump's rally last night. >> aoc sucks! aoc sucks! aoc sucks! there are a lot of snack bars out there. what makes a kind bar so special? maybe it's the whole nuts and real fruit. maybe it's the drizzle of dark chocolate.

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just now the new villain for republicans, alexandria ocasio-cortez, is fighting back against this attack that donald trump jr. used to rally the base last night. >> think about the fact that every mainstream leading democratic contender is taking the advice of a freshman congresswoman who three weeks ago didn't know the three branches of government. i don't know about you guys, but that's pretty scary. >> aoc sucks! aoc sucks! aoc sucks! >> you guys, you're not very nice. >> moments ago, ocasio-cortez responded. >> he doesn't have another

woman, hillary clinton, or who ever else to vilify anymore so they need to find another woman to kind of prop up and become a lightning rod. >> outfront now, scott jennings and former senior adviser to mitch mcconnell and keith boykin former clinton white house aide. scott, you heard what she said. this is about them just needing to find a woman to hate on, basically. lightning rod was the word she used. what do you say? >> well, i think she's wrong. i think what they're hating on is the drift of the democratic party towards socialism. i think this entire thing you heard donald trump jr. do last night is a continue eight of what president trump started in the state of the union where he's starting to define the democratic party and the nominee he runs against as a socialist. so i think -- as long as she's basically the heart and soul of the party, i think they'll keep going back to this well to

define the democrats as socialists as they head towards re-election. >> i think obviously there's a lot of republicans who want to act like she is the heart and soul of the party. that's the big question for democrats right now. keith, what do you say? is she right that this is about them needing -- it was hillary and now it's going to be her? >> i think she's exactly right. she's a 29-year-old freshman member of congress. she has been in office for all of two months now. last year she said at this time she was waitressing at a taco bar. she just got health insurance a month ago. she is finding her sea legs as they say. she's a voice within the party. she is not the only voice of the party. not only in the leadership of the party but republicans are so fixated on alexandria ocasio-cortez because she's young, because she's a woman and a woman of color, she's she's all the things they're afraid of about the changing demographics of this country so

they have a consistent pattern that they attack people, like frederica wilson and maxine waters and people like colin kaepernick. donald trump isn't even talking about jussie smollett. he doesn't have anything better to talk about. it's always women. always people of color or minorities. it is always people want to engage in a fear campaign to gin up their right wing base and it's despicable for the president of the united states and his family do to that. >> it might be apples and oranges to throw jussie smollett in there. he went after him. but that's in a different category. >> but the president of the united states shouldn't be talking about that. >> what do you make of the obsession that republicans have with aoc? according to the hill they counted 766 times she has been mentioned on fox news this time, more than any democrat who is running for president. >> i don't think republicans are obsessed with aoc. i thinker to a leading voice in the party. so much so she is leading on one

of the top issueshe senate democrats had a chance to vote on one of her ideas on climate change, the green new deal ande. i don't think republicans are obsessed with her. i think democrats are and look, they have elevated her. she is an exciting voice for them. she is an exciting voice for socialism in this country. and i think as long as she continues to be that kind of a voice you'll hear the republicans talk about it because think think it's indicative of where the democrats actually are. >> keith, you know, when you speak about her being the voice of the party look the green new deal is her. marky couldn't get anyone to pay attention to it until she put her face to it. i want to play this between her and sean duffy who slammed it this week. >> we should not focus on the rich, wealthy elites who will look at this and go, i love it because i have big money in the bank. everyone should do this. we should all sign on to it. but if you're a poor family just

trying to make ends meet, it's a horrible idea. >> this is not an elitist issue. this is a quality of life issue. you want to tell people that their concern and their desire for clean air and water is elitist? tell that to the kids in the south bronx which are suffering from the highest rates of childhood asthma in the country. tell that to the families in flint whose it kids have their blood -- it's ascending in lead levels, their brains are damaged for the rest of their lives. call them elitist. >> all right, moments like that are why presidential candidate julio castro said that she is a breath of fresh air. is she the leader of the party right now? >> no, she's a leader within the party. that's clear. she's an important voice. she's an impressive voice. an impressive young member of congress. but she's not the leader of the party and there's no reason why that -- the only people are trying to make her the leader of the party right now are the

republicans because again, it fits into their stereotype of the people who they don't like who they want to demonize in the democratic party. mind you, melania trump is running the whole campaign and donald trump jr. is out thread there leading a chant aoc sucks for the rally>> back to donald he's not supposed to be doing all this political stuff but i guess they don't care about that. he is out there saying some things that are well, inappropriate. here he is last night at the rally. a few of the other things he said. >> let's call him adam full of schiff. adam schiff has been peddling so much bull schiff he really schiff the bed. when i see what my father is doing and i'm the [ bleep ] proudest americans to see the result. >> is that okay, f bombs?

s word? >> adam schiff deserves everything he's getting and more from the trumps. he's spent the last two years -- >> i understand your point of view -- okay. >> did adam schiff ever use a profanity to describe donald trump? >> i think accusing someone of treason is worse than a profanity. accusing someone of being a traitor to their country is worse than a -- it's a profanity to me as a patriotic american. if someone call my father a traitor, what donald trump jr. said last night would sound like a bedtime story. >> well, trump accused obama of being treasonist with the birth certificate, thank you. it's the hypocrisy, they consistently attack black people, minorities, anyone who doesn't fit into their image of what america should be and you know that. and at least call out the

inconsistency. >> all right. thank you both very much. next president trump threatens to close down the border in days. so what's really happening there? we investigate. coming up our comments like -- are comments like this going to derail steve moore's nomination to the fed? >> i'm going to be on a steep learning curve about how the federal reserve makes the decisions. us as people. they see us as profits. we're paying the highest prescription drug prices in the world so they can make billions? americans shouldn't have to choose between buying medication and buying food for our families. it's time for someone to look out for us.

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breaking news, president trump threatening to shut down the southern border as early as next weeks. if mexico doesn't stop all undocumented immigrants from entering the united states. >> we're not going to give them hundreds of billions of dollars and tell them they're not going to use the strong immigration laws to help the united states. so there's a very good likelihood that i'll be closing the border next week and that'll be just fine with me. >> so what is happening on the mexican border tonight? ed lavandera investigates. >> every day this week, buses have dropped off nearly a hun sen australia american migrants on the good neighborhood settlement shelter in brownsville, texas. most are requesting asylum. but legions of volunteers are scrambling to help mothers and fathers with their children. >> what we see is our community is being instrumentalized as a tool in a larger political game

that is completely antithetical to what the communities here want. >> reporter: good neighbor settlement is helping the migrants suddenly released by customs and border protection. the agency can't handle the number crossing the border. >> the breaking point has arrive this week at the border. >> reporter: border patrol agents are on pace with more than 100,000 migrants in march which is the highest number of illegal border crossings in a decade. the system is in free-fall and president trump says the tens of thousands of migrants requesting asylum are carrying out a big fat con job and is threatening to shut down the border to control illegal immigration. >> we are on track for a million illegal aliens trying to rush our borders.

it is an invasion, you know that. >> reporter: we met vilma and her daughter at the shelter in brownsville. we asked they not -- that we not share their faces. she fled with her daughter because they feared being killed. gang members murdered her mother last year and her daughter says three police officers unleashed a bruising attack on her in january. kicking and punching her for reasons that were never clear that's when they decided to leave. advocates say this is not a con job but real people facing life and death consequences. >> we are not ignorant here in the rio grande valley. we know what's happening. >> reporter: immigrant rights advocates say the trump administration is deliberately creating a sense of chaos with mass releases of migrants or housing migrants under a bridge in el paso and giving families confusing paperwork. this is one of the migrants here who asked us not to identify her, but these are the forms that they're given once they're released from custody here.

if you look closely here, this is supposed to be a notice to appear, giving them a date to appear in immigration court. here they're not getting the dates. the trump administration says there's no manufactured crisis on the southern border and that there is a real humanitarian and security crisis unfolding. so erin, critics say the trump administration is trying to bolster the case for the national emergency to build more wall, but the threat to close down the border is sending shock waves through this part of the world. you can see brownsville, millions of people depends on bridges and ports of entry to get back and forth every day. they go to school, work, see family and friends. closing those ports of entry will have a devastating effect along the border region. those ports of entry, the bridges, are a life line for these border communities. erin? >> thank you very much. i want to go to democratic congressman raul grijalva of arizona. his district is along the southern border. he joins me from tucson tonight.

so the customs of border protections said the system is at a breaking point. 100,000 migrants apprehended this month, the highest in a decade. 40,000 children in custody. 60 migrants going to the hospital every single day. do you believe there is a humanitarian crisis at the border? >> i think there's a tragedy at the border. i believe that it is rapidly becoming a humanitarian crisis in the sense that this whole situation that we're seeing in the border, that we're seeing in the border area that i represent, is contrived. it's manufactured. to meet a political end. you president -- president trump declares the emergency. uses unilateral power to shift money to build the wall and now you have to justify it and the justifications are what's causing the tragedy and what's causing the crisis. you know, of the 70,000 they

talk about, they forget to mention they come to the ports of entry, to customs and border patrol and turn themselves in seeking asylum, seeking refugee status. the 40,000 children did not sneak across. they came and voluntarily want to be processed to prove they're credible here and now taking custom officers away from the ports of entry which is a security check point where 60,000 of apprehensions of drugs and individuals happens at that border, and removing them from there and the threat of closing the border and the economic life line to the region beyond anything else. >> so let me ask about shutting the border. because he's now threatening to do so as soon as next week as you heard him say, congressman grijalva. when you look at the wilson center, lost. the president is trying to spin this as a good thing.

here he is today. >> with the deficit like we have with mexico and had for many years, closing the border will be a profit making operation. >> do you agree with that, profit making? >> well, no. for those states along the border and for the rest of the nation, this is about jobs. this is about one of our biggest trading partners. this is about visitation, retail sales, et cetera. it is an economic life line and to the region. both sides of the border. and to the threat of closure to the border is going to -- whatever crisis they have been manufacturing is indeed going to become a major tragedy, both economic and in terms of humanity. i think this threat is not -- you know, the problem with his threats they're not always idle. >> no. >> he could follow through on it and the consequences would be horrible. >> speaking of threats that i

hope are idle, i want to ask about one related to puerto rico which is something i know very -- i know is very important to you. your committee is holding hearings on puerto rico and the rico is not spending money wisely. here's what the governor said. >> does it feel that way sometimes, that you're dealing with a bully? >> if the bully gets close, i'll punch the bully in the mouth. it would be a mistake to confuse courtesy with courage. >> do you support that way of speaking? >> i -- no. the threat of violence is not the way to conduct a discussion. but, you know, given that and with that caveat, you know, the governor is correct.

this has been a pattern here, a pattern of disdain, disrespect, lack of equity of treating the american citizens in puerto rico after the devastation of maria, after the fiscal collapse, treating them in harsh manners, not wanting to give food stamps, wanting to cut the amount of support and recovery money that has already been approved by congress. so my point is this. this is a pattern that this president has. whether it is the border, and he talks about invasion or whether it's puerto rico. there seems to be a tilt that he wants to make people in this -- of color in this country his fodder in this coming election. i think it's sad. i think it devalues our -- all of us. and, you know, puerto rico needs help and we'll have hearings on that. but the issue with the president's taunt and threat is totally disrespectful and discriminatory to be honest with

you. >> thank you very much. congressman grijalva, good to speak to you. and the pick for the federal reserve is talking about his past political views so what's his defense? and jeanne moos on donald trump's love for the third person. >> donald trump. trump. maria ramirez! mom! maria! maria ramirez... mcdonald's is committing 150 million dollars in tuition assistance, education, and career advising programs... if these industrial plants had technology that captured carbon like trees we could help lower emissions. carbon capture is important technology - and experts agree. that's why we're working on ways to improve it.

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federal reserve on defense. steve moore, former senior economic advisor to the trump campaign, former cnn contributor. you saw him here a lot. fighting back against criticism over his political positions and lack of experience, and about $75,000 in unpaid taxes and penalties to the irs. cristina alesci is outfront. >> steve, i'm talking, still talking. still talking, steve. i'm talking here. >> reporter: stephen moore, conservative analyst and frequent trump defender. >> i'm not so sure we could have a presidential candidate that would deliver these kinds of results. >> reporter: whose praise of president trump may have earned him a seat on the prestigious panel that helps decide monetary policy for the u.s. economy. the federal reserve board. >> i will be nominating mr. moore to the fed. >> reporter: there are two vacancies on the board. candidates are typically former finance executives and bank regulators. the board is supposed to operate above the political fray. >> wait a minute -- >> and besides deflation -- no,

i want -- i want viewers. >> reporter: but moore is better known as a political pundit than an economist. >> i'm not defending the president. >> reporter: a former cnn contributor, he advised president trump's 2016 campaign. but moore insists that won't impact his ability to be an independent voice. >> i love what he's doing. i will be an independent voice. i'll just tell you what i'm for. i'm for a strong economy, strong dollar, stable prices and high wages. >> reporter: when it comes to policy, both moore and trump appear to speak the same language. >> frankly, if we didn't have somebody that would raise interest rates and do quantitative tightening, we would have been at over 4 instead of 3.1. >> i think that the fed is way too tight right now. i think they have depressed the market. >> reporter: but it's more than just his political background and cozy witneiyness with trump raising concerns. a court filing shows he owes the irs $75,000. moore told cnn the irs owes him

money. i'm eager to reach an agreement about the dispute and for them to move quickly on my case. if the senate confirms him it's unclear whether moore is even ready for the job. he said so himself. >> i'm kind of new to this game frankly, so i'll be on a steep learning curve myself about how the fed operates, how the federal reserve makes its decisions. >> reporter: some economists question moore's qualifications, while others support his nontraditional background. >> you don't need a ph.d. in economics or have written an economics textbook in order to be qualified to make policy at the federal reserve. and i think stephen moore is a breath of fresh air in that respect. >> reporter: so stephen moore is defending himself against this criticism that he's overly political, saying that he's actually broken with the president on the deficit, on government spending and on steel tariffs, but in that same interview, he says that the president calls him every time he opposes him, every time

stephen moore opposes the president on tv. it's that coziness that bothers the economists who believe the fed should be entirely independent. >> all right, thank you very much. and next, jeanne moos takes on trump's tendency to talk about trump. is not a bed... it's a revolution in sleep. the sleep number 360 smart bed, from $999, intelligently senses your movement and automatically adjusts... so you wake up rested and ready for anything. it's the final days to save $500 on select sleep number 360 smart beds. ends saturday. is it to carry cargo... greatness of an suv? or to carry on a legacy? its show of strength... or its sign of intelligence? in crossing harsh terrain... or breaking new ground? this is the mercedes-benz suv family. greatness comes in many forms. lease the glc 300 for just $479 a month at the mercedes-benz spring event. going on now.

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>> and here's jeanne. >> reporter: he's first when it comes to the third person. >> nobody would be tougher on isis than donald trump. >> reporter: he's even done it in a tweet, perhaps trump just ran a great campaign. which prompted author j.k. rowling to poke the president. i wonder whether trump talks to trumpself in the third trump person when trump's alone. >> if putin likes donald trump you wouldn't even be hearing about the word immigration if it wasn't for donald trump. donald trump was able to get them to give something. >> reporter: this is a man who tweeted congratulations, donald, on his own "apprentice" ratings. he said, thanks, donald, when consumer confidence went up. but donald doesn't have a monopoly on thanking himself. remember this guy? >> thanks, obama. >> reporter: thanking himself for lower gas prices. you know, there's actually a technical term for this. >> ilism.

>> reporter: there's two theories for president trump's use of a third person. >> i think it's either he's branding himself, which he's very good at and i think he does that almost unconsciously. and i think also this could be indicative of narcissism where you're constantly referring to yourself. >> no side tracks, donald, nice and easy. >> reporter: you want the world to revolve around you. >> reporter: psychologists say toddlers are illeists until they grab the concept of i and me like elmo. tweeted one trump critic, he gives people like cookie monster a bad name. >> cookie monster alive. >> reporter: forget tookies, the president likes his own name in his donald trump. trump. donald trump. >> reporter: jeanne moos, >> stay on point, donald, stay

on point. >> reporter: -- new york. >> have a great weekend. anderson starts now. good evening. john berman here for anderson, and we begin with this breaking news. did the president just threaten to block the release of the mueller report? we don't know for sure but depending on how you read what he just wrote, he might have. a little background first. this afternoon in a letter to congress attorney general bill barr said the mueller report will be ready for release by mid-april if not sooner. that full report is nearly 400 pages excluding