erin burnett "outfront" starts now. taking controversial words and running wild. is barr covering for trump? the mueller report coming any day. growing opposition to president trump's pick for the federal reserve, nancy pelosi saying it is one of the worst picks he could possibly make. and former governor from massachusetts taking on trump in the primary? bill weld is my guest. let's go "outfront." good evening, i am erin burnett. out front tonight, fueling the fire. bill barr giving president trump what he needs to push trump's unfounded claim the obama administration spied on his campaign. >> i think what he said was absolutely true, there was absolutely spying into my campaign. i'll go a step further, in my opinion it was illegal spying,

unprecedented spying, and something that should never be allowed to happen in our country again. and i think his answer was actually a very accurate one. >> trump seizing on one word barr said again and again and again. spying. >> i think spying on a political campaign is a big deal. i think there was spying did occur. i think spying did occur. >> spying of course is a loaded word, a loaded word that barr used purposefully without as he said any proof. >> i have no specific evidence that i would cite right now. i do have questions about it. >> spying. a word that top republican senator marco rubio on the intelligence committee made it clear he thinks does not apply. >> espionage to me is an international thing. what we're talking about here is a law enforcement function. >> but the damage may be done as

barr prepares to make what could be the most important decision of his career. exactly how much and what to release of the mueller report. there are legitimate questions as to whether he is acting on the american people's behalf or president trump's because he is now refusing to answer a very simple question. listen to this. >> do you believe that the investigation that director mueller undertook was a witch hunt or illegal as has been asserted by the president? >> as i said during my confirmation, it really depends where you're sitting. >> you're sitting as the attorney general of the united states with the constitutional responsibility, so if you could answer in that regard. >> i'm not going to characterize, it is what it is. >> it is what it is. he doesn't want to characterize it? look, part of the reason this is a really strange response is barr had no problem answering the question very directly in his confirmation hearing. >> do you believe mr. mueller

would be involved in a witch hunt against anybody? >> i don't believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt. >> so that was very simple. now he won't say that. barr's about face is feeding witch hunt mania, and shows how much barr is all in with trump now. trump handpicked fbi director christopher wray has been clear too, no problem saying what he thinks is a witch hunt. >> i did not consider director mueller to be on a witch hunt. >> and leading republicans have no problem saying what they think either, lindsey graham, i don't believe this is a witch hunt, john thune saying it is not a witch hunt, saying i'm not sure i agree with witch hunt. abby, some clearly happy with where the attorney general's head is on the cusp of the release of the mueller report. >> reporter: this might be the first time in over two years the president has actually been happy with the person who has

the job of attorney general in his administration. the president clearly thinks bill barr is on his side when it comes to this all being an illegal, unprecedented spying campaign into his 2016 campaign, and he is doing that without needing much explanation from barr. barr didn't go into much detail what he meant by that, but the president is reading into it what he wants to, and parking lot -- part of that is an interesting turnaround. president trump didn't have much relationship with barr going into the post. he learned later after he was picked to be attorney general, barr had a personal relationship with robert mueller, there was some suspicion there. now it seems any concerns the president might have had about whether bill barr might be loyal to him in this job have been allayed, at least in his mind. the question is what does bill barr mean by this. does he buy into the whole idea that the russian investigation is a witch hunt. either way, president trump seems very comfortable leaving

these decisions up to the attorney general, and it is worth noting i also asked president trump about the mueller report and the fact that barr said he wasn't going to redact that report to protect the president's reputation. we know that the president's lawyers believe they may want to weigh in on what was in the report to perhaps try to protect any sort of executive privilege that might be necessary there, but the president told me that he had no concerns at all. he is saying this publicly and leaving this up to barr in public, and i think that's notable because in the past he has not been willing to do that when it comes to the mueller investigation. he clearly seems to be comfortable with where his attorney general is on all of the issues, erin. >> thank you very much. i appreciate it. i want to go to ted deutsch at the house judiciary committee. i appreciate your time, congressman. is it possible that, i'm pointing out he changed where he was on the witch hunt, he is throwing out the word spying and obviously we know his long and

respected career he is not doing it without understanding the significance of it. so is it possible that barr changed his mind on the issue of witch hunt and is using the word spying because he has come to those conclusions on his own based on something he saw in the mueller report? >> well, if that were the case, he would have answered that way. he didn't. erin, what's clear here is that the attorney general like so many other figures from the trump administration came up to capitol hill where he testified to an audience of one, and that's the president. when he couldn't rule out the term witch hunt about an investigation that if nothing else confirmed that people close to the president in his personal life, in his campaign, and in his administration are now either in jail or on the way to jail, if he can't rule out a witch hunt and then turns around and talks about spying which then leads the president to throw out words like a coup and

treason, he did it for the president, he made the president happy, but we can't ever get to the point where we accept someone from the administration triggering the president and having the president attack our institutions again and again and again when he uses words like coup and treason about the men and women who are pursuing justice in our country, that's damaging to our entire nation. >> and you have a point, whatever barr's intent was, no doubt, it triggered what the president said. the president said it did, that's fair. you accused barr of hiding the full mueller report, but yesterday he did say he is going to explain his redactions, and maybe that's why it is taking time. he will explain them, go point by point in footnotes, say why things are redacted. if congress feels like they need more information, he wants to provide it and talk to you guys. here is how he put it. >> we plan to identify

specifically which redactions relate to which category and try to explain why that redaction was made. the fact that information is classified doesn't mean congress can't see it. i'm willing to work with the judiciary committees to see if there's a work around that could address any concerns or needs that they have. >> do you not take him at his word when he makes those promises about redactions? >> well, we don't need work arounds, we need the facts. he can't use rules of secrecy to avoid providing congress a co-equal branch of government with all of the facts. we're weeks after mueller completed his work. mueller knows what's in the report, the attorney general knows what's in the report, and congress knows about a four-page summary with about 100 words from the report. it's not a question of whether

he works with us. he should turn over everything, the entire report, all of the evidence that goes with it. congress can handle it. congress needs the information. and ultimately the american people need and deserve the truth. that's what's at stake here. >> congressman, deputy attorney general rod rosenstein did an interview with "the wall street journal and said something i want to give you a chance to respond to. he sees it differently. he was asked about barr. he say he is being as forthcoming as he can, so this notion he is trying to mislead people is completely bizarre. does that surprise you to hear that from rod rosenstein? >> well, what's bizarre is the idea that the attorney general of the united states can't acknowledge the importance of this, can't rule out the term witch hunt, has chosen to refer to spying by the men and women of the justice department, and has told us he is going to turn

over a mueller report with multi color redactions, rather than giving us the full report which is what we deserve. we know how to handle classified information. we do it literally every day. he knows that. rod rosenstein knows that. they can't use these rules to prevent facts from coming out because when they do, it starts to look like a coverup. >> so the president was asked about democrats and the russian investigation and issue of a witch hunt. i want to play what he said, give you a chance to respond to this. here he is. >> you know when the democrats go behind the scenes and go into a room back stage and sit and talk, they laugh because they know it is all a big scam, a big hoax, and it's called politics, but this is dirty politics, so this is actually treason. >> so you know it is all a big scam, you know it is treason, you laugh behind closed doors, what do you say? >> i say we can't, we cannot accept as normal a president of

the united states that throws around terms like treason. the fact is at a time when the american people are desperate for congress and the white house to work together to give economic opportunity, to provide health care and lower prescription drug prices, invest in infrastructure, all of the things people want us to do, when the president throws around terms like treason and tried to take down the president, it shows that he's not committed to working on behalf of the american people, he is focused only on himself, every single day, and that prevents us in this case from getting the facts in the mueller report out to the american people and more importantly, frankly, prevents us from doing the things that the country is rightly demanding that we do, but there's a president who's only focused everyday on himself. >> thank you very much. i appreciate your time. next when it comes to investigations, bill barr and president trump sound alike even

decades apart. >> individuals are being singled out, treated unfairly. >> we have been treated very, very unfairly. >> plus, the president's federal reserve nominee steven moore facing fierce backlash. nancy pelosi getting personal, calling him one of the worst pin picks the president could have made. and the president claims he has nothing to do with wikileaks after julian assange is arrested. how does he explain this? >> wikileaks, i love it. >> this wikileaks is fascinating. it turns out, they want me to start next month. she can stay with you to finish her senior year. things will be tight but, we can make this work. ♪ now... grandpa, what about your dream car?

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because we know mom wants what's best. more beverage choices, smaller portions, less sugar. balanceus.org new tonight. former fbi director james comey rejecting bill barr's comments that barr believes spying took place against the trump campaign. >> i really don't know what he's talking about when he talks about spying on the campaign. it's concerning because the fbi, department of justice conduct court ordered electronic surveillance. i have never thought of that as spying and the reason i mention to know what he means by that is if the attorney general has come to the belief that should be called spying, wow. >> former deputy assistant attorney general of the justice department criminal division bob

litt, and white house correspondent for american urban radio network april ryan, and correspondent for yahoo news, michael isikoff who covered barr a long time. do you smhare the former fbi director's sentiment. >> i think there are a number of problems with barr's language. one as former director comey said, spying connotes that the fbi was secretly trying to find out what was going on in the trump campaign, and there's no suggestion that that was the case. it's also problematic that he used language that fits into a partisan political agenda which we saw the president seizing on this evening, and it's problematic also because he's basically throwing his own fbi and people in the department of justice under the bus suggesting they behaved improperly.

>> michael, comey went on to say of bill barr after he made it clear that he is shocked by what he said, but he said that of barr, quote, his career earned him a presumption he will be one of the rare trump cabinet members that will stand up for truth and facts. comey continued to say language like this makes it harder. you have covered barr for a long time. do you think barr's language, the spying, this lack of refusing to call something that resulted in nearly 200 criminal counts a witch hunt, that he won't say it is not a witch hunt, does that make it harder to believe barr will stand up for the truth? >> look, i was surprised actually more by his refusal to answer the witch hunt question than spying. the spying thing, look, that was a loaded term, but if you know bill barr, he prides himself on being blunt, on being something of a provok tour when he talks.

it didn't shock me he would use that word. he did make it clear that the issue was not spying per se, which is a word you can use that he was talking about surveillance under a fisa warrant, the most intrusive thing the u.s. government can do, suck up your emails, eavesdrop on your phone calls without you knowing about it, but he made it clear the issue is was there an adequate predicate for it. and i think that's something that the office of inspector general has been investigating for some time in the matter of the carter page fisa warrant, and i think that we should wait and see what the inspector general finds on this. you know, i will not be shocked if the inspector general doesn't come back and criticize some aspects of what the fbi has done here, if only because almost

every inspector general report i ever read contains criticism of the way the justice department conducts its business. >> april, on one hand you could say this is the top law enforcement official in the country and this person should be standing up for the american people and this person shouldn't throw the word spying around, it triggers as the congressman accurately said, the president to go on a rant about a coup and feeds into his narrative. however, the top enforcement, law enforcement official in the land in the case of bill barr is backing his president, which sounds a lot like eric holder. here's what he said in 2013 when eric holder was asked when he might leave the obama administration. here's how he answered it. i'm still the president's wing man, so im's there for my boy. >> how would that be any different. >> i covered eric holder and

barack obama. what's different here is that they were friends but the divider was the fact that they understood the separation between the white house and the justice department. that's the big divider. president barack obama did not reach his hand in and say look, this is what you need to do, you need to have an investigation on this and that. he allowed eric holder to do what eric holder had to do. they were -- when eric holder came into the administration, you could say they were of like minds and that was it. but here you have barr playing to the party of one, the president of the united states. when he was going for his confirmation hearings, he sounded like he was about we the people. he was doing this for the people. listening to the loaded words or this word, spying, you talk about a trigger and loading, oh my gosh. he's aiming, ready to fire, for the president. >> no question.

>> there's a big separation. i mean, yes, barack obama and eric holder were friends, are friends to this day. but there was a definite separation between president barack obama reaching into the justice department, understanding he could not influence and should not influence anything that the justice department did. >> okay. so bob, we found an interview, obviously bill barr echoing more witch hunt talk, using spying which of course, you know, he knows is a loaded term, a trigger word for the president. but we actually look back. larry king, bill barr went on larry king in 1992. everyone has been on larry king, treasure trove. barr explains why he opposed an independent counsel at the time. what he said then, just listen to bill barr, and now listen to donald trump attacking the mueller probe. it is pretty interesting. >> there's no one to determine whether or not time is being wasted. >> i think we've wasted enough time on the witch hunt. >> whether individuals are being

singled out, treated unfairly. >> we have been treated very, very unfairly. >> whether exorbitant money is spent on an investigation that doesn't warrant it. >> they wasted millions and millions of dollars. there never should have been a so-called investigation. >> sure sounds alike, bob. >> there are a lot of parallels there. i would like to know more of the context. i assume that attorney general barr in 1992 talked about the independent counsel statute, a lot of people thought that was a bad idea for some reasons. i don't think he was talking about any particular investigation which is what the president is doing in this case. again, i would hope that the attorney general would consider it part of his job and an important part of his job to be looking out for the institutional interests of department of justice against the poll itization that april talked about. >> to make the point on spying, you say barr wants to be a

provok tour, he knows that's trump's word. he knew what he was doing when he threw that word around yesterday. >> sure. and let's remember, he has a constituency on capitol hill that believes this as well, chairman of the senate judiciary committee, his authorizing committee, lindsey graham has endorsed and reflected the same sentiments and said he believes there are serious grounds to investigate the way the fbi conducted the origins of the russia investigation, so i think bar may have been playing to his authorizing chairman as much as to the president, but look, all of this is going to wash out next week when we actually see the report or see how much of the report we'll see, and i think that, you know, people are going to reach their conclusions on this after we read the actual contents of mueller's report instead of getting distracted by

descriptions such as this. >> thank you very much. one of trump's most ardent defenders next. >> his policies have been phenomenal. >> but can trump's fed pick steven moore put politics aside? he's outfront. and julian assange arrested, if he's extradited what could he say about wikileaks' ties to russia? there are healthy snacks, there are tasty snacks, and then there are kind bars. made with ingredients you know and love.

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going onto call them, quote, unqualified. without further adieu, steven moore. nancy pelosi says you're the worst, ill suited, and unqualified. and what do you say to the speaker? >> look, i have 35 years experience in the policy game. i was the youngest budget analyst in washington at the age of 25. i served at donald trump's economic adviser, i'm proud of what we accomplished. lot of people said it would be impossible to make this agenda work. by the way, got an incredible blockbuster number, lowest insurance claims in 50 years. i'm proud of the fact that the policies worked so well for america. i think my qualifications stand up pretty well. i have been on the show many times with you. >> indeed. >> i was one of the people said the fed made a mistake in december in raising rates. i remember it was very controversial when i said that, and i was proven right. the fed had to admit a couple weeks later they made a mistake,

and reverse course. i was the one who helped put the plan together. people can look at my qualifications. i was chief economics writer for "the wall street journal," chief ee do economist for heritage foundation. i think those are good qualifications. >> the fed is an independent body. you brought up the economic numbers from today. you openly support president trump. are you a contributor, i mean now, but you were until this announcement. you came on and argued for things for trump, whether it was economics or other issues. >> i would stop you there. there were many times, you can go back and look at the tape. there are many times on your show and others on cnn because i was a contributor here where i took issue with trump on issues of trade and issues of the budget, so look, i do support a lot of this president's policies. i think they have been phenomenally successful for the economy. i'm not going to apologize for that, i think i was right and

critics were wrong. there are many instances where you can see i differed with donald trump. >> you use the word phenomenal. you wrote a book called trump nomics. and the president, there's a couple of tweets he put out. he put out, tweeting about you that you completed an incredible book, referring to "trumpnomics". so he promoted your book. when you say phenomenal to talk about some of his policies, it is a word you used a lot. >> i think they have been phenomenal. >> you stand by it. >> i'm not sure we could have a presidential candidate that would deliver these kinds of results with this phenomenal economy. this policy, i mean, we have the best economy in 20 years. one of the things i discovered in the last two-and-a-half years i worked with donald trump on economic policy is he has an

amazing capacity to prove all of the economists wrong. >> will it be independent, when he says you're a fool and yelling in your face -- >> i believe in the importance of an independent fed, should be divorced from politics. i have a good economic record. by the way, many people on the fed, including previous chairman, ben bernanke worked as chief economist for george w. bush and it is not unusual for the president to take someone that agrees with his economic views, that was the case when barack obama chose janet yellen. i'm not sure why it is inappropriate. and it happens to be true. i was the one said if donald trump was elected, we could get 3% growth and full employment. wages are rising. by the way, when i get to the fed, erin, i'm going to be dogged in terms of promoting

growth. i want to be the growth. i want high wages for workers, stable prices. i disagree with the idea that higher wages are a problem. we want higher wages for workers. >> so the top banks testifying on capitol hill this week were asked specifically about your previous statements supporting overturn of the gold standard. >> i don't think i said much about the gold, i'm not in favor of gold standard, i am in favor of using commodities as forward looking indicator where prices are. >> i want to play something. do we have steve? here you are. >> i think we have to reestablish some kind of gold standard. >> we need to go back to a gold standard. we really do. >> what's your opinion on the gold standard, would you advocate that to mr. trump to make america great, you have to make the money great again. >> yeah. this is about monetary policy. let me just say this. yeah, i like the idea of going to gold standard and restoring.

>> so let me respond to that. i think that a gold standard would be better than we have now, but i think there's a much better system we could put in place, not just gold, all commodities. they're a forward looking indicator where prices are going. that's one of the reasons last summer -- >> so you changed your mind. >> i think a gold standard would probably be overly restrictive, but what i am in favor is looking at a basket of commodities, 30 commodities. >> so you're in favor of a -- >> i am in favor of a rule over discretionary policy. i do not agree with -- what i am in favor of is a stable dollar. the very reason we have a currency. you want the dollar in your pocketbook -- >> commodities is a big step. a big change from what you said before. >> if we have a commodity index, wouldn't have such a severe financial meltdown in 2008 and

9. >> oil prices surge to 150 bucks a barrel and everything else surges. >> one of the reasons prices were surging in terms of commodities is because the fed was pumping too much money into the economy, that's what created, it contributed in a major way to the financial bubble that burst and cost huge amounts of money to the american people. >> right now, looks like herman cain is out. he was also named -- >> that's news to me. >> count the number of republicans. >> i read that story. i think herman cain is a great choice. here's a -- >> 9% corporate tax, 9% personal tax. you like that. you're happy to be in the same sentence as herman cain. >> imagine how much growth with the economy if you get tax rates to 9%. i don't know if that's the exact way to do it, but i love the idea of a flat tax, where you go to have the lowest tax rates in the world and soak in capital

from the rest of the world. it would be huge for the economy. i don't know about the exact particulars of the 999 plan, but i love flattening rates and broadening the base. i have been for that for 25 years, just as steve forbes has, and i think the american people love the idea of a flat tax. >> when i said 9 is simple, 9 is okay. >> you could do worse than that, better than 30 and 40% tax rates. >> steve moore. thank you very much. good to see you. next, at one time, president trump couldn't get enough of wikileaks, now that its founder was arrested, times have changed. >> i know nothing about wikileaks. wikileaks, i love wikileaks. >> plus, former republican governor, a popular one, said this is the month he would decide whether or not to challenge president trump. bill weld is outfront. world w't to make you everybody else... ♪ ♪ means to fight the hardest battle, which any human being can fight and never stop.

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new tonight, wikileaks founder julian assange behind bars and president trump is keeping wikileaks at arms' length. >> i know nothing about wikileaks, it is not my thing. i know nothing really about them, it is not my deal in life. >> well, unfortunately for him that is not true. according to politico, trump talked about wikileaks more than 140 times during the 2016 election, like this. >> wikileaks. i love wikileaks.

this wikileaks stuff is unbelievable. it tells you the inner heart. you got to read it. amazing what's coming out on wikileaks. this wikileaks is fascinating. this wikileaks is like a treasure trove. >> he knows more than anybody about anything except for when he wants to say he knows nothing about something he appears to know a lot about. jessica snyder is outfront. >> reporter: tonight, julian assange is detained after being dragged out of the ecuadorian embassy by british police. the long bearded wikileaks founder hold up in the embassy nearly seven years faces extradition for conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. it revolves around wikileaks publishing nearly a million documents in 2010, including classified material about america's wars in iraq and afghanistan and secret state department cables. assange's attorneys insist he always acted as a journalist and is protected under the first

amendment. >> the precedent remains that any journalist can be extradited for prosecution in the united states for having published truthful information about the united states. >> reporter: federal prosecutors say assange broke the law when he conspired with then u.s. army intelligence analyst chelsea manning now in jail to crack a government password and steal classified documents. u.s. officials said leaks created a serious national security risk. >> julian assange put american lives at risk. >> reporter: so far, assange is not charged for wikileaks' role in the russian hack of thousands of democratic and clinton campaign emails posted on wikileaks during the 2016 campaign. >> we have more material related to the hillary clinton campaign. >> reporter: but a u.s. official tells cnn more charges against assange are expected. >> wikileaks, i love wikileaks. >> reporter: the president praised wikileaks as it dropped the stolen emails during the campaign. but backed away when he was asked about assange's indictment

today. >> i know nothing about wikileaks. it's not my thing. >> reporter: then the cia director mike pompeo called out wikileaks as a hostile actor. >> hostile intelligence service. >> reporter: assange's charges aren't part of the wrapped investigation, but mueller team mentioned them in several other indictments. roger stone was indicted in january for lying about seeking out the stolen emails from wikileaks founder julian assange. and last july, the special counsel mentioned wikileaks as organization one in an indictment alleging russian intelligence officers hacked dnc computers, starting in march, 2016. prosecutors said wikileaks wrote to gus fer 2.0, asking for anything hillary related. >> and it was a stunning court appearance in the uk with the judge there calling out julian assange as a narcissist who can't get beyond his own selfish interests, and erin, the judge

found assange guilty for violating terms of bail. now julian assange is in custody in the uk while he awaits extradition hearing may 2nd when he will find out if he will be sent here to the u.s. to face the first of what could be many charges. >> stunning with a sitting president that wikileaks helped, but the president says he didn't know but they were linked to russia. this is an incredible story happening now. i want to go to the cia chief of operations on national security. steve, mike pompeo, secretary of state who stands by the president on almost everything made it clear that wikileaks is a hostile intelligence service. that's obviously the way things are, and now you have the tangled web and julian assange could be coming to the united states after all these years when donald trump is president of the united states. >> you know, erin, there's good

stuff here. good stuff is looks like julian assange after holding up in the embassy in the uk will have to try to address his real issues and will have to face justice in the united states, which is as it should be. certainly in my mind based on the wikileaks cooperation and even perhaps working at the behest of the russians, so that's going to be a big deal as well as other things, the chelsea manning stuff and a lot of stuff now he has to answer for which he has been avoiding, successfully, for the past couple years by hiding in the embassy. >> the president said i don't know about wikileaks, i don't know anything about it, obviously over the years, i love wikileaks, i love wikileaks, going on and on and on and how fantastic it is and the treasure trove that it is. and today it is i know nothing. what do you make of that? >> you know, i really don't bother to listen much to the president any more because you

know as soon as he says x, the next day it is x or y or something different, it is almost irrelevant. to me, the interesting thing is when the legal proceedings are done in the uk and he is extradited, what comes out in the course of legal proceedings in the united states will be interesting, equally interesting in my view is how really the united states, not only the press but our society and system of government will deal with the atrocity when somebody like assange tries to cloak himself in the concept of journalism and open society stuff. we need to be smart how we deal with that, not allow him to do that. >> that's what he is going to try to do. thank you very much, steve. appreciate it. next, president trump's approval rating among republicans, near 90%. is the party looking for someone to take on trump. one governor flirting with that idea is "outfront." and sanjay on the search to relieve stress.

>> it is really cute and therefore supposed to relieve your stress. all i see is a bird of prey.

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who is standing up to trump, bill weld, who set up an exploratory to challenge trump in the republican primary. governor, look, you've run a libertarian ticket before. you have moderate stances on some issues, abortion, marijuana among them. president trump is obviously very popular among republicans. but you heard james comey saying the republican party bears responsibility for the situation we're in part because of not being willing to speak out. that why you're doing this? because you feel some sort of a moral obligation, an obligation to take him on? >> no, i'm doing it because i think i could start monday as president of the united states. and i've thought that for 10 or 15 years. however, i would agree with what james comey just said, and i think one of the major issues in this campaign is going to be the rule of law and the erosion of the laws and covenants that have undergirded the world economy and the united states system of justice in the past. they're really being thrown to the dogs. and that was made plain even

today by the statements involving spying by the attorney general. >> and i want to play that for you again. i want to make it clear, your background obviously as governor, you worked in the department of justice under ronald reagan. you know bill barr. you know bob mueller. what did you make of what bill barr said yesterday? and let me play again just the operative line here on what he said that there was spying and his basis for making that claim. here is bill barr. >> i think spying on a political campaign is a big deal. i think there is a spying did occur. i believe there is a basis for my concern, but i'm not going to discuss the basis. >> he went on the say he has no evidence he is able to discuss at this time. what do you make of that, governor? >> so let me tell you what the law is. since the time of the adoption, the constitution all down to the present, this country has spent mega dollars and spent a lot of blood, sweat and tears to make

sure that politics would not rule the department of justice. i resigned from the department of justice in 1988 when i saw that divide being breached. and we separate by law the investigative function and the prosecution function. an investigative agency like the fbi or the cia, if they want to start an investigation, they do it internally. they don't have to come to the prosecutors. they don't have to come to the justice department appointed officials and say may we open an investigation? so when they open an investigation of something they see going on in a political campaign that they think may transgress the law, nobody can say that's spying. that's opening an investigation. >> which is surveillance. and as they would have done. by the way, he made it clear he has no evidence that anybody did it illegally. he also said that directly. but we're talking about, let's say there is evidence that russia is trying to infiltrate

the campaign, and therefore we are going to surveil to see if that's true. and if that's what happened, that would be completely within the law, correct? >> yeah. let's suppose i'm investigating la cosa nostra organized crime in new england, as i did when i was u.s. attorney in boston. and i'm working with the fbi, and the fbi says let's open an investigation because we have predication here and we have evidence from this, that and the other. and it wouldn't have occurred to me say what? you're going to spy on organized crime? how can you spy on organized crime? it's not an opposite word. >> so the word as you point out, it's a political word. >> it's a charged word. >> you've said you'd make your announcement, your decision about running in april. obviously here we are, basically the middle of april. are you running? >> well, i'm going to make -- i'm going to make that call

within the next ten days to two weeks, erin. and i hope you'll be among the first to know. >> governor, i appreciate your time. we look forward to talking to you much more. appreciate it. >> thanks, erin. and next, sanjay gupta, traveling the globe for the secrets to living longer. what did he find? dealing with psoriatic arthritis pain was so frustrating. my skin... it was embarrassing. my joints... they hurt. the pain and swelling. the tenderness. the psoriasis. tina: i had to find something that worked on all of this. i found cosentyx. now, watch me. real people with active psoriatic arthritis are getting real relief with cosentyx. it's a different kind of targeted biologic. cosentyx treats more than just the joint pain of 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.

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automatically adjusts... so you wake up rested and ready for anything. save $400 on select sleep number 360 smart beds. only for a limited time. cnn's chief medical correspondent sanjay gupta is on a new mission, traveling across the world to find the secrets to living longer. here is a preview of his new cnn series, "chasing life." >> we know that there's remarkable things happening all over the world that can help us live longer, better, happier, more productive lives. >> it felt like the needle went almost to the bone. >> thought i was in pretty good shape. this takes it to a whole different level. >> is this what helps you live long? >> i could be arrested in the states for doing what i'm about to do. could i work here? >> and sanjay is with me now.

this is going to be so amazing. you're traveling and you're seeing culture and you're getting at the big questions that all of us have, which is how to live longer, and talking about mortality. so you go to japan. >> yeah. >> where we think of them as living incredibly long, and yet they have an epidemic of deadly stress. >> it's unbelievable. it's one of the most stressed countries in the world, japan. the mainland of japan. but as you point out, there is this juxtaposition because off the coast you have okinawa, this chain of islands which is beautiful. they call it the land of immortals. and people are likely to live over 100 years old. japan right now is dealing with something that i think is very concerning, though. young people, they have this term called kiroshi, which means illness or death from overwork. it's become such a big thing that they actually medically reimburse and hospitalize people for this. they're dealing with this. they're trying to figure out how to best curtail the stress. >> so what do they do? owl cafes?

what is this owl business? >> when you have a really stressed society, it evolves into all these various stress-relieving strategies. you have adult swaddling. they have crying sort of clinics. they have owl clinics. i got to tell you, erin. >> you're not a bird fan. >> i've always been fearful of birds. so they said that this is going to help relieve my stress. and it absolutely did not. that's a bird of prey, just to be clear, and that's all i could think about when i was doing that. but this is what's happening over there to try. and hot baths. forest bathing, unplug, breathing in the aroma of the forests. when a society is as stressed as japan they come up with these strategies. >> where are some of the other countries you take us? >> bolivia. i was living with an indigitious tribe, india, italy, norway, the happiest country in the world. what a privilege, right, that we get to travel to these places

and see this. but they all had some purpose, some reason that we visited them. >> what a privilege and what an exciting thing to see it. i know you talked about this ages ago, and have i been so excited. >> you were very supportive. i appreciate that. >> i'll be a big viewer. thank you, sanjay. and "chasing life with dr. sanjay gupta" premieres saturday at 9:00 on cnn. and anderson starts now. good evening. a very busy hour ahead, whether it's the arrest of wikileaks's julian assange or the story we begin with tonight, the attorney general of the united states and exactly who he is and is not working for. is he an impartial lawman or trying to curry favor with president trump? the question is being asked tonight because of barr's most recent senate testimony and the way he characterized aspects of the fbi's russia counterintelligence investigation, specifically this. >> we want to make sure that during -- i think spying on a political campaign is a