Skip to main content

tv   Smerconish  CNN  April 13, 2019 6:00am-7:00am PDT

6:00 am
you're fearful or out of your comfort zone and you get through that, the joy you get on the other side of that, the stress relief you get on the other side of that is gold. you just got to get through that. >> we are looking forward to watching the episode tonight at 9 eastern, be sure to watch "chasing life" with dr. sanjay gupta. . >> thank you. >> smerconish is next. i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia. i'm a never forget guy. i'm of the opinion we don't see the imagery of 9/11 often enough. it seems relegated to just once a year, usually on the anniversary, but this is not what i had in mind. thursday's new york post cover showed images of the twin towers burning down on september 11, juxtaposed with a quote from represe representative elan omar, hosted by the council on islamic relations, her description of
6:01 am
9/11 as some people did something has now caused a fire storm. well, here's some context. >> far too long we have lived with the discomfort of being a second class citizen. and frankly i'm tired of it and every single muslim in this country should be tired of it. care was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties. >> "washington post" fact checker glenn kessler pointed out that care was founded in 1994, not after september 11. omar's spokesperson jeremy slevin said the congresswoman misspoke, meant to refer to the fact that the organization had doubled in size after the september 11th attacks. there has been a full-throated reaction from both sides of the aisle. texas republican congressman and former navy seal dan crenshaw
6:02 am
tweeted this. first member of congress to ever described terrorists who killed thousands of americans on 9/11 as some people who did something, unbelievable. donald trump jr. tweeted this woman is a disgrace. on fox and friends, cohost brian kilmede said this. >> really, some people did something, you have to wonder if she's an american first. >> others faulted the new york post, michigan democratic representative rashida tlaib said taking her words out of context was a racist act. representative alexandria ocasio-cortez was similarly appalled. >> we are getting to a level where this is an incitement of violence against progressive women of color. and if they can't figure out how to get it back to policy, we need to call it out for what it is, because this is not normal and this is not a normal level of political debate or rhetoric as wild as it can get, sometimes
6:03 am
this is something beyond what is normal. >> the new york post didn't back off. instead, running a follow up editorial that doubled down saying omar and her supporters simply want to stifle debate by declaring any criticism of her to be out of bounds and democrats are playing along, either echoing the out of context excuse or just staying silent. it's even worse than their failed effort to condemn her remarks accusing american jews of duel loyalty, and political support for israel. the dodgers may play well on twitter, we expect most americans will remain appalled. then congresswoman omar made things worse with another tweet. she cited president george w. bush's quote, the people and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon, was bush down playing the attack, what if he was a muslim. i don't think the comparison is a good one. president bush unlike omar wasn't ignoring the perpetrators
6:04 am
of 9/11, he was threatening revenge against them. and yesterday, president trump joined the fray himself with this tweet which incorporated grizzly images of the towers with her quote. everybody has had their say expect me. so here it goes. i think that at best her words were poorly chosen. never should anyone much less a member of congress minimize september 11 by saying that some people did something. better than in making a point about civil liberties she had correctly noted the terrorists killed 3,000 innocent americans robbing them of all of their civil liberties. i can understand why she might have been uncomfortable using the words radical islam in front of an islamic group but here's what she should have said. she should have said care doubled in size after 9/11 because it recognized that in the aftermath of the most despicable and heinous terror
6:05 am
attack on our country, which was perpetrated by individuals who distorted our faith, law-abiding peace loving muslims were losing access to all of our civil liberties. after i made that point on siriusxm radio, a friend of mine objected and said omar is being held to a different saturday because she's a muslim, and that made me reconsider, what if it had been a different type of political leader who similarly sought to make representative omar's point about the curtailment of civil liberties post 9/11. after all, that's a libertarian mantra. what if a libertarian leader, maybe ron paul, was speaking at an affinity group and similarly said some people did something that caused the rest of us to lose all of our civil liberties. would he have faced the same reaction as congresswoman omar? probably not. here's the bottom line. her words were totally
6:06 am
inappropriate, and so, too, was much of the reaction. i want to know what you think. go to my web site at smerconish.com, answer this survey question, the new york post cover using 9/11 photo to condemn i condemn elan omar, was that morally wrong or a fair come back to her 9/11 comment. i'll give you the results at the end of the hour. looking ahead to the 2020 election, are the democrats headed for a nasty slug fest at the 2020 convention. remember that donald trump won in 2016 by taking advantage of the crowded gop field and the winner take all primary rules to grab an unexpected victory. my next guest says that in 2020 the president could again benefit thanks to similar factors, a crowded field, primary rules, but this time, on the democratic side of the aisle, and it could lead to a floor fight at the convention. joining me now to discuss is
6:07 am
david wasserman, house editor at the cook political report, he wrote this recently piece in "the new york times." trump may have an unlikely reelection ally, david, hypothetical, if the 2016 republican contest had been fought under democratic rules, what would have been the outcome, it absolutely would have gone to a contestant convention. >> everyone knows that democrats are headed for a zillion way primary field. that didn't hurt donald trump's chances in 2016, but republicans and democrats primary rules are fundamentally different in a way that penalizes democrats for having a large field. the reason is that republicans are more about free markets and they allocate most of their delegates on a winner take all basis, which allows trump to wrap up the nomination fairly early, gave himself two more months before the convention to attack hillary clinton and kind of jackhammer away at her. democrats rules are more
6:08 am
egalitarian. everyone gets a participation trophy, everyone gets a share of delegates as long as they have more than 15% of the vote in any district or state. and so what that means is if you have seven or eight viable candidates next spring, then you're going to have a scenario where it's very very difficult for one candidate to get 50% of the delegates before the convention, and that means -- and this is the irony of the dnc's rule change on super delegates, even though they don't get a first vote at the convention on a first ballot, if this thing goes to a second or third or fourth ballot, the irony is the super delegates which the grass roots hates could end up having more say in deciding who the democratic nominee is. >> let me illustrate by showing a slide from south carolina in 2016 and the final result in south carolina. there it is, 32.5% of the vote won by donald trump, and yet he gets all the delegates.
6:09 am
>> that's right. and, you know, we didn't give republicans enough credit, i don't think, in 2016 for just how much their primary process rewarded a front running candidate who is winning small pluralities. in fact, we looked at it and said, okay, well, maybe winner take all by district. donald trump may have won 33% of the vote in south carolina total but he managed to eke out majorities in every district in south carolina. this was repeated across the board where he was able to get essentially a delegate majority, clinch the nomination before the convention. that's not true on the democratic side. today's democratic party is highly fractious. this is not going to be a picnic. you have candidates raising enormous money from small donations, from grass roots which will allow them to fight deeper into the primary calendar. we don't know when the checkered flag is going to be on the democratic side, and also consider that democrats have
6:10 am
front loaded their calendar. california and texas have moved up their primaries to super tuesday, so you will have at least 36% of delegates allocated by early march, which means that this primary will have allocated a whole lot of delegates before the herd has been called. >> right. the point is, and we're showing the graphic, that super tuesday is going to be of critical importance, and you're saying everyone will still be standing, 15, maybe 20 candidates on march 3. the vote will get whacked proportionately, and that will decrease the odds that someone on the democratic side can do that which donald trump did on the republican side, which is to lock it up. now, let me ask a question because i think you make a very convincing argument. is this necessarily bad for the party? i mean, maybe it will energize the interest level if the thing goes down to the wire to the convention? >> it could. but look, what we found out in 2016 is that donald trump is an
6:11 am
expert when it comes to prying open cracks in the party's coalition. he's a highly manipulative politician as we know. democrats are a factious party. there are democrats who want nothing less than a green new deal, to abolish i.c.e., for a single payer health care. there is also a new convention of democratic primary voters i would argue, suburban republicans who trump has converted to democrats who bristle. you want democratic voters who don't want a white male, who don't want a coastal elite. there's a broader array on this wish list, and no democrat, i think, is going to get everything they want in a nominee. but, you know, that could lead to a scenario where the president is able to kind of use social media and use ads on facebook and other channels as he did to suppress elements of the democratic coalition in 2016
6:12 am
to do the same in 2020. >> let me just roll some footage, katherine, show the bernie footage from the last cycle at the convention. those bernie folks at the convention were bummed. i mean, that's them at the convention. look at the misery in some of their faces because their guy went down, and you know they thought that it was super delegates, actually super delegates didn't determine the outcome, but my point is there could be some very disappointed people if, in fact, it goes to the convention with a lot of candidates still viable at the outset. >> that's right. and, you know, kind of the myth from 2016 was that super delegates, you know, swooped in and rigged the nominating process on the democratic side for hillary clinton. well, you know, the danger for democrats in 2020 is not necessarily, you know, the super delegates overriding the will of democratic primary voters so much as the fact that large field could lead to a very very
6:13 am
divisive convention in milwaukee, and you know, this wasn't a danger for democrats in '08 or 2016 because the field boiled down very quickly to two candidates, it was virtually guaranteed that one of those candidates in those years would receive the delegate majority. that's not guaranteed in 2020. >> fascinating analysis. david wasserman, thank you so much for coming back. >> go to the web site and answer this week's survey question, the new york post cover using 9/11 photo to condemn ilhan omar, morally or realistically wrong or fair comeback to her 9/11 comment. tweet me at smerconish, go to my facebook page. i'll read some during the course of the program. >> she was 100% correct, her delivery was just not eloquent. she was correct in so far as there were civil liberties sacrificed by the muslim community. i can't say she was 100% correct
6:14 am
whereby omission she ignored the heinous nature of what happened on september 11th. that's my view. up ahead, will we ever be able to solve the border situation? not until people's views are based on data, i say, and not their perception of the president. >> and when attorney general bill barr discussed spying on the trump campaign, he was talking about former trump campaign aide carter page. mr. page is here to discuss. an incomplete job wo't from any one else. why accept it from your allergy pills? most pills don't finish the job because they don't relieve nasal congestion. flonase sensimist is different. it relieves all your worst symptoms, including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. it's more complete allergy relief. and all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. flonase sensimist helps block six key inflammatory substances. most pills only block one. and six is greater than one. flonase sensimist. and six is greater than one. hey, who are you? oh, hey jeff, i'm a car thief...
6:15 am
what?! i'm here to steal your car because, well, that's my job. what? what?? what?! (laughing) what?? what?! what?! [crash] what?! haha, it happens. and if you've got cut-rate car insurance, paying for this could feel like getting robbed twice. so get allstate... and be better protected from mayhem... like me. ♪ hi, what's this social security alert? it's a free alert if we find your social security number on the dark web. good, cuz i'm a little worried about my information getting out. why's that? [bird speaking] my social is 8- 7- 5 dash okay, i see. [bird laughing] somebody thinks it's hilarious. free social security alerts from discover. hi, i'm joan lunden. when my mother began forgetting things, we didn't know where to turn for more information. that's why i recommend a free service called a place for mom. we have local senior living advisors who can answer your questions about dementia or memory care and, if necessary, help you find the right place for your mom or dad.
6:16 am
we all want what's best for our parents, so call today. how do you get skin happy aveeno® with prebiotic oat. it hydrates and softens skin. so it looks like this... and you feel like this. aveeno® daily moisturizer get skin happy™ straight from the world's best plant scientists comes miracle-gro performance organics. it's miracle-gro's next big thing. ♪ ♪ organic plant food and soil that finally work. ♪ ♪ and work... and work. ♪ ♪ and yes we did say organic. for twice the bounty, guaranteed. miracle-gro performance organics. organics finally grow up. and up, and up. but some give their clients cookie cutter portfolios.
6:17 am
fisher investments tailors portfolios to your goals and needs. some only call when they have something to sell. fisher calls regularly so you stay informed. and while some advisors are happy to earn commissions whether you do well or not. fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. maybe that's why most of our clients come from other money managers. fisher investments. clearly better money management.
6:18 am
when so many people's views of the border situation are tied to their perception of the president for or against him and not tied to the data, it's our nation that suffers. u.s. border authorities are predicting the number of undocumented migrants stopped or turned away at the southern border could reach as high as 1 million by the end of the year, potentially doubling last year's level, yet the issue has become a political football. this was reinforced this week when we learned that the president wants to relocate migrants to sanctuary cities as a kind of punishment to the quote unquote radical left. cnn reported that the president told cbp head kevin mcaleenan that if he's jailed for blocking asylum seekers, the president would pardon him. joining me now is daryl lynn,
6:19 am
senior correspondent at vox, who covers the immigration beat, author of the recent piece "9 questions about the border crisis you were too embarrassed to ask", which was perfect for me because she answered many i was wondering. this isn't a manufactured crisis or a politically engineered one. explain. >> so, for a while, and this has diminished somewhat as it's become clear just how many people are coming in, but in the last couple of months it was tempting for democrats to say yes, there are problems but the only problems on the border are those that the administration has created. it's since become apparent that the magnitude of central american families coming into the u.s. really is something that we have just never seen before, and that this isn't entirely something that the trump administration has provoked even if there are fairly strong arguments that the number of people being caught by border agents crossing illegally as opposed to to ports of
6:20 am
industry may be slightly reduced if the administration were allowing people to seek asylum at those ports. >> the first question that you address, is there an unprecedented surge of unauthorized migration to the u.s., what's the answer? >> so it's unprecedented in terms of who is coming, definitely if you look at the top line numbers, we're not really near where we were in the turn of the 21st century, the george w. bush administration, kind of prerecession levels, we haven't hit those yet, although we're now at higher levels than we have been since 2007. that said, what's different now is that a majority of people coming in are family members or unaccompanied minors and that's really something that we have to all accounts never seen before, and because of the specific protections that are built into u.s. law for families, for children, and for asylum seekers, that means that people can't just be kind of detained and easily deported, which is what the system is set up to do. so border agents are in a
6:21 am
position where they have to deal with people who they have to kind of give a certain standard of care, treat in a certain way, and they don't have the resources or structures to do that. >> you published a graph, i'm going to put it up on the screen of border patrol apprehensions, october of 2011. look at the spike when you get to where we are today. can you explain what's depicted in that? >> sure. it's important to bear in mind that if you compared that to, say, 2000, it would still look much lower than kind of the 2000 peak. what's really notable about that graph, and you can kind of see it in there, is the lightest color, the parents and children family units are just so much higher than we have seen before. there's a broad trend over the last several years to more people coming into the u.s. being families and that has been accelerated over the last six months or so to the point where it's now a solid 60%. the trump administration argues that that's because u.s. law
6:22 am
currently prohibits them from keeping families in detention until their cases are resolved. there's probably something to the idea that, like, we know that smugglers are giving discounts for people who come as families, but it's not really clear that people who are coming to the u.s. have a perfect understanding of what exactly asylum law is. i have talked to asylum seekers who have no idea exactly what it is they're claiming and don't know what the process is going to be when they get there. >> here was the take away, tell me if i got it accurate, we have an unprecedented number of families and children coming in, and we are not equipped to process and handle them. is that fair? >> that's absolutely fair. it's just the question is what processing is handling them looks like. the trump administration is absolutely dead set that being able to process and handle them means being able to swiftly deport large numbers of them who don't necessarily ultimately qualify for asylum.
6:23 am
democrats, on the other hand, are convinced that because some of them will ultimately qualify for asylum, the most important thing is to give them fair and humane treatment in the meantime to maximize the number who if they do have legitimate asylum claims will ultimately be able to stay in the u.s. >> my criticism, final thought, my criticism of democrats and progressives in this regard is there's such hesitancy to use the c word, crisis, because they regard that as giving the president a win. they think they're playing into his hand if they acknowledge that we have a problem. but we have a problem. >> it's really, it's a big hairy policy issue. at this point, we are dealing with a regional issue. mexico's policies extremely relevant here, the northern triangle countries and what they're going through is extremely relevant, and of course let's not even get into this is the fact it's much smaller than what we're seeing in venezuela, so it's one of those issues that it would be a very large problem if there were willingness to attack it, and so
6:24 am
the crisis-frame, while it does open the door to having that conversation also might encourage the idea that there's just a very easy, very rapid fix, which i think is really what democrats are worried about. they don't want the idea that you can just flip the switch as the president appears to think you can do and stop people from coming and it's very difficult to talk about how hard the problem is in a way that doesn't give politicians an easy way to solve it. >> i would like more conversation about data, which is by the way, what you supplied at vox, thank you, dara, appreciate it. let's see what you're saying on my smerconish twitter and facebook pages. my observation of the border is trump has just made it worse. trump is labeling a crisis of bad people when in reality, it's tons of mothers and children fleeing a terrible situation. louis, i think that's what the data shows. i think there's a hesitancy on the part of democrats to acknowledge the level of crisis we face, whatever the causation
6:25 am
might be because they think gives him a win and justifies the wall. i don't know that the wall is going to solve the issues that are being faced right now. in fact, it probably wouldn't help the type of problem that we have. up ahead, the anti-abortion movie, unplanned, has made $14 million at the box office despite being shunned by traditional hollywood. is the story it tells accurate? plus, attorney general barr threw a grenade in washington when he said quote unquote, spying occurred during the 2016 election and it seems everybody in washington has an opinion on it. what about at person at the center of that claim, the man himself, carter page is here to discuss next. i'm working to keep the fire going for another 150 years. ♪ to inspire confidence through style. ♪ i'm working to make connections of a different kind. ♪ i'm working for beauty that begins with nature. ♪ to treat every car like i treat mine. ♪
6:26 am
at adp we're designing a better way to work, so you can achieve what you're working for. ♪ i had a few good tricks to help hide my bladder leak pad. like the old "tunic tug". but always discreet is less bulky. and it really protects. 'cause it turns liquid to gel. so i have nothing to hide. always discreet.
6:27 am
they're america's bpursuing life-changing cures. in a country that fosters innovation here, they find breakthroughs... like a way to fight cancer by arming a patient's own t-cells... because it's not just about the next breakthrough... it's all the ones after that. our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy! whoo-hoo! great-tasting ensure. with nine grams of protein and twenty-six vitamins and minerals. ensure, for strength and energy. and twenty-six vitamins and minerals. patients that i see about dry mouth. they feel that they have to drink a lot of water. medications seem to be the number one cause for dry mouth.
6:28 am
i like to recommend biotene. it replenishes the moisture in your mouth. biotene definitely works. [heartbeat] - there but what are wes to get our messactually saying?ys. any message is a story. and all stories tell the tale of the times we live in right now. how do you want to be remembered? how do you want your story to play out? our own experiences make the best stories, and your words carry a lot of weight. think about what you want to say before you say it.
6:29 am
or send it. down two runs in the ebottom of the ninth. because there's always another game on deck. with mlb extra innings on xfinity x1, you'll get up to 90 out of market games per week with mlb.tv included. get all the body sacrificing catches, home plate heroics, and 6-4-3 double plays. plus, with x1 you can get every stat and every score all with the power of your voice. that's simple. easy. awesome. order mlb extra innings for a great low price and get mlb.tv included with your subscription. go online to learn more. congressional testimony by attorney general bill barr this week, it was this answer that sent shock waves through an already frenzied post mueller
6:30 am
investigation. >> i think there's a spying did occur, yes, i think spying did occur. the question is whether it was predicated, adequately predicated and i'm not suggesting it wasn't adequately predicated but i need to explore that. >> so what spying is barr referring to. while he didn't elaborate, he's most likely talking about a situation involving a man by the name of carter page. let's go back to the height of the 2016 campaign season. in march of 2016, trump named page a member of his foreign policy team. in september, page left the campaign after his communications with russians came to light. then in october, the fbi applied for a foreign surveillance warrant because the agency believed quote page has been the subject of targeted recruitment by the russian government. that warrant for surveillance on page was approved and then renewed three different times. page maintains that he was never an agent of a foreign power calling the accusations
6:31 am
ridiculous. the president and republicans continually claim that because the fisa warrant helped launch the russia probe, the whole investigation is tainted, and barr's use of the word quote unquote spying seems to play right into that. joining me now is carter page. carter, ag barr uses that word spying, which to me has an illegal or illicit con notation, but in your case, you were surveilled pursuant to a court order. it was based on a finding of probable cause and it was renewed three different times, right? >> kind of, i would say, michael a lot of that was based on exactly what we talked about two years ago this month in april of 2017, which is the dodgy dossier, paid for by the dnc and their candidate in 2016. right around that time -- you refer to that 2016 me stepping away, taking a leave of absence
6:32 am
from the campaign, that was a couple of days after the defamatory article by yahoo news and radio free europe, which is a propaganda network paid for by the broadcasting board of governors and their follow up agency in washington, so it's absolutely, as i noted before, ridiculous. >> but my point is that when you say spying, i think it conjures up an image of, you know, g. gordon litty at the water gate. was there a process here in which judges made four different determinations that the government had met some threshold of probable cause and that's why they were granted permission to surveil you. >> okay. well, that's two separate issues. let me kind of go back to your first question on spying. look, there's good spies there's bad spies, there's good cops and there's bad cops.
6:33 am
what we found with new evidence, again, it's exactly as we talked about for ten minutes two years ago this month. there was a lot of wrong doing going on within the u.s. department of justice and the fbi, so that is a major problem, and in terms of those warrants, you know, we now have some initial details of those warrants in the fisa applications and granting the actual warrants themselves from the judges, and actually, the same month that you and i had that conversation in april of 2017, judge conway from the u.s. district court of middle district of florida signed off on a -- the fraud fisa warrant application by mr. comey, which had just been submitted. again, the same month as our conversation. so if they actually looked at the facts and listened to what i was saying, they might have avoided this complete mess that
6:34 am
they're in right now. >> but that kind of underscores if what you're telling me is you were still be surveilled at the time you were appearing on cnn with me, that was long after you were no longer associated with the trump campaign, and the papadopoulos aspect of this is what began the investigation. the president is fond of saying, and i could put up a succession of tweets, i remember it was a saturday, march of 2017, i guess, when he first, yeah, just found out obama had my wires tapped in trump tower, you know, it's really all about you and there was no trump tower aspect to this. but my point, carter, is simply, the investigation began before you, and it was taking place with regard to you at a time when you'd cut your tie with the trump campaign. >> there's a -- we could talk for hours on a lot of those points, michael, but let me kind of cut to the point on the series of tweets on march 4,
6:35 am
2017, two weeks later, the same person that the following month, the same month as our interview, mr. comey filed that fraudulent fisa warrant. you know, he testified in congress on march 20th that what he was saying, there's no evidence of that. to the contrary, i spent a -- my office, when i used to work in new york is right next door to trump tower. i was in and out of there quite frequently. the starbucks coffee, you know, the cafe downstairs, so there was absolutely spying in trump tower. there's no question about that. and look -- >> go ahead and finish your thought, but i want to ask another question. >> look, i think there is a lot of -- look, there's a complete double standard kind of across the board in terms of, you know, these various investigations that have been going on, and i think what attorney general barr has been saying in terms of actually looking at what exactly happened, i think there's huge
6:36 am
reason for that, you're talking about predicates, there's just a mountain of evidence of wrong doing, and you know, you compare those false fisa warrants, michael to the pleadings that i have had in the southern district of new york and now in the second circuit, to this day, actually to last week on april 5th, the u.s. district -- or the u.s. attorney, mr. berman, you know, is still filing these misleading statements and so it's a complete double standard where, you know, people are all over me, but, you know, these falsified court pleadings in various u.s. district courts, both the fisa court as well as southern district of new york just go unquestioned. >> a final thought, if i may. very easily you get lost in the weeds of this case because it's complicated so let me try and simplify with this thought, wouldn't the fbi have been
6:37 am
derelict in not focussing on you, given that you were on their radar in 2013, you had the association with the trump campaign, you had met with the ambassador, however briefly, in cleveland, you gave that pro putin speech when you were in moscow, you were headed back over there, i mean, there was a lot of stuff that if they hadn't focussed on you, i as an american would be asking why not, is that not fair? >> the month before our interview in april of '17, i had the long series of interviews with the fbi, and i told them about, you know, representative ocasio-cortez talking about incitement of violence. right around the time of our interview, i was getting death threats from oklahoma, where the brunt of the injury was, across the nation, based on the incitement the of violence paid for by the dnc, and pushed by the democrat, including congressman schiff during his testimony with mr. comey where
6:38 am
mr. comey made the false statement. there's a lot of things they should be focussed on. i think it's unfortunate they did not focus on the incitement of violence here in the united states which they were very much a part of, and there was absolutely -- each of those points you alluded to on my side, i did nothing wrong and if you look at the first amendment, you're allowed to have free speech, michael, last i checked. at least some individuals are supposed to, but the, you know, it hasn't worked out that way thus far. only the, you know, big massive media companies. >> thank you for coming back. come back after we see the mueller report and the ig report. >> looking baforward to it, michael. let's check on your tweets and facebook comments. what do we have? if our intelligence community thought carter page was a russian operative, we are really in trouble. bill, i just laid out some of the criteria that caused them to want to take a look at him. i guess your argument is that they should have ignored all those factors, notwithstanding the fact that they were focussed on flynn and manafort at the
6:39 am
time. there was a lot of smoke and it surprises me that you as an american would say they shouldn't have looked at any of that. one more quickly if i have time. barr carrying trump's water and not independent. let's see what happens this week. it seems like we are about to finally read the mueller report and hopefully it will not appear as swiss cheese when we get a look. i want to remind you to answer the survey question at smerconish.com, results at the end of the hour, the new york post cover usie -- still to com, i'll talk with the producer of the surprise box office hit. it's an anti-abortion feature, "unplanned" is the title. it's made 14 million at the box office. is what it depicts accurate? i was cured and left those doubts behind. i faced reminders of my hep c every day. but in only 8 weeks with mavyret,
6:40 am
i was cured. even hanging with friends i worried about my hep c. but in only 8 weeks with mavyret, i was cured. mavyret is the only 8-week cure for all common types of hep c. before starting mavyret your doctor will test if you've had hepatitis b which may flare up and cause serious liver problems during and after treatment. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b, a liver or kidney transplant, other liver problems, hiv-1, or other medical conditions, and all medicines you take including herbal supplements. don't take mavyret with atazanavir or rifampin, or if you've had certain liver problems. common side effects include headache and tiredness. with hep c behind me, i feel free... ...fearless... ...and there's no looking back, because i am cured. talk to your doctor about mavyret. ( ♪ ) only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief.
6:41 am
tylenol®. for fast pain relief. if ywhen you brush or floss, you don't have to choose between healthy gums and strong teeth. complete protection from parodontax has 8 designed benefits for healthy gums and strong teeth. complete protection from parodontax. every day, visionaries are creating the future. ♪ so, every day, we put our latest technology and unrivaled network to work. ♪ the united states postal service makes more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. ♪ because the future only happens with people who really know how to deliver it.
6:42 am
because the future only happens with people stop fearing your alarm clock... with zzzquil pure zzzs. a drug-free blend of botanicals with melatonin that supports your natural sleep cycle so you can seize the morning. zzzquil pure zzzs. i couldn't catch my breath. it was the last song of the night. it felt like my heart was skipping beats. they said i had afib. what's afib? i knew that meant i was at a greater risk of stroke. i needed answers. my doctor and i chose xarelto®. to help keep me protected from a stroke. once-daily xarelto®, a latest-generation blood thinner...
6:43 am
significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. in a clinical study, over 96% of people taking xarelto® remained stroke-free. don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of stroke. while taking, you may bruise more easily or take longer for bleeding to stop. xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. it may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. before starting, tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. learn all you can... ...to help protect yourself from a stroke. ask your doctor about xarelto®. to learn more about cost and how janssen can help, visit xarelto.com.
6:44 am
abortion very much in the news this week, on thursday, the republican governor of ohio signed into law a fetal heart beat bill. it's one of the most restrictive abortions laws which prohibits abortions if there's a detectable heart beat which can be as early as six weeks. the legal threshold set by the supreme court is states can ban abortions at the point of viability which usually occurs at 24 weeks, meaning this law is almost certainly headed for a legal fight. this comes as the white house hosted a screening friday of the anti-abortion movie about dr. kermit gosnell, an portion practitioner who was convicted of murder in my hometown of philadelphia. antiabortion activists bill the event as a way to encourage the president to advance their cause. as activists continue to push for support in the political arena. the struggle over the production of a new movie, "unplanned"
6:45 am
suggests they're turning their sights toward hollywood. it tells the story of abby johnson who became a pro-life activist after assisting in an abortion at 13 weeks when she was one of the youngest clinic directors at planned parenthood. >> sorry to bother you, they need an extra person in the back room. are you free? >> i saw it and it was like it was twisting and fighting for its life. >> we commend the souls of these hundreds of children and lord, we pray to end abortion. >> i really appreciate what you have done for us. i'll not forget it. >> 22,000 abortions. >> joining me now is film producer, joe knopp. how hard to make in hollywood, a
6:46 am
pro-life feature film? >> well, it's hard to -- thanks for having me first, michael, we struggled from the beginning as far as finance and then trying to get a location, that was also a struggle but the real struggle we have had was a marketing standpoint. we weren't able to get ads in all the normal places we like to get ads. we weren't able to get radio spots. we had struggled with social media, even after we released. the hard part was getting the word out that the movie was available. >> nevertheless, you are on how many screens right now and have grossed how much going into the weekend? >> yes, so it's been great. we have already grossed $14 million in the box office. we jumped out number four in the country opening weekend, and then today we're on over 1400 screens still in our third weekend. >> it's pretty jarring to watch. i've watched the movie. you and i have had a prior conversation, ten minutes or so in, you depict an ultrasound guided abortion where the patient is at 13 weeks.
6:47 am
abby, the protagonist says this was the e pif -- she saw the fe recoil. the medical community says the fetus can't feel pain at that point, and therefore it's inaccurate. what's your response. >> well, you know, abby has already been sued by planned parenthood. she won the case very quickly, if you think about it, when the surgical instrumentation was entered into the safety of the womb and poked the fetus, the fetus is going to react, just like you or i would react if an instrument touched us in the abdomen. >> there's also controversy about whether this was the break point for her with planned parenthood. texas monthly wrote a lengthy feature in which they noted that on facebook, on the very day that she quit, and again, for the benefit of those who have not seen it, she maintains she
6:48 am
was asked nine years in her employment on this one day because they were shorthanded to play a role relative to this ultrasound guided abortion, and that was it, she walked out the door and never came back. but that night, she wrote on her facebook page what's now on the screen, here's the deal, i have been doing the work of two full-time people for two years. then after i was working my whole big butt off for them and prioritizing that company over my family, my friends and pretty much everything else in my life, they have the nerve to tell me my job performance is slipping. what, this is crazy. anybody that knows me knows how committed i was to that job. they obviously do not value me at all, so i'm out, and i really feel good about it. point being, no reference to the abortion on the day that she quit. can you speak to that? >> well, from speaking with abby, you know, what she experienced that day was shocking, and you know, like you said, for nine years, she was a champion for that organization and for that cause, so it did take her, you know, a few days to really understand what she just saw and go against what
6:49 am
she's been supporting for the previous nine years. so it did take her a day or so to realize that moment did change her forever. >> hey, joe, i looked at the latest data from gallop, and i was shocked. i hadn't realized that we are really on a 50/50. it's literally a 48/48 point in terms of the abortion issue. do you consider yourself to be pro choice or pro life? back in the mid-90s, the company was 56% pro choice. now it's a break even. the movie seeks to, what, entertain or to also advance a perspective? >> you know, i think the beauty of a true story is just to follow abby's journey and to become aware of how she did a complete 180 in her life. so it's just -- our desire with all of the headlines talking about abortion these days, and all the most progressive laws we have ever seen about abortion,
6:50 am
we just want to make people aware of what they are truly voting for by experiencing it through someone joe, thank you for being here. >> thanks, michael. still could tom, your best and worst tweets and facebook comments and the final results. you can still go vote at smerconish.com on today's survey question, the "new york post" using a 9/11 picture on the cover to condemn ilhan omar. was that wrong? most pills don't finish the job because they don't relieve nasal congestion. flonase sensimist is different. it relieves all your worst symptoms, including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. it's more complete allergy relief. and all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. flonase sensimist helps block six key inflammatory substances. most pills only block one.
6:51 am
and six is greater than one. flonase sensimist.
6:52 am
and six is greater than one. ♪ when you have nausea, ♪ heartburn, ♪ indigestion, ♪ upset stomach, ♪ diarrhea... girl, pepto ultra coating will treat your stomach right. ♪nausea, heartburn, ♪ indigestion, upset stomach, ♪ diarrhea... try pepto with ultra coating.
6:53 am
a lot will happen in your life. wrinkles just won't. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair's derm-proven retinol works so fast, it takes only one week to reveal younger looking skin. neutrogena®
6:54 am
6:55 am
this will be interesting. survey results aras follows -- the photo -- survey says 14,000, 89 votes, morally and journalistically wrong, 59%. fair comeback to her 9/11 comeback, 49%. let's call it 60/40. what do we have? paper where 9/11 struck at their heart, perfectly fair says don brown. okay. not the way the survey ended up. wish we had time for more but we don't. make sure you join me for my american life in columns tour new york city coming up on the 22nd, then atlanta and nashville. you can catch us with any time at cnn go and on demand. see you next week.
6:56 am
( ♪ ) only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol®. for fast pain relief. it comes to the investigation into this president? do you really believe attorney general barr read a nearly 400-page report in one day? and that his 4-page summary is the whole truth? i'm tom steyer, and i'm organizing an effort to to release the full mueller report now and let the american people decide. if you think we have a right to read the report for ourselves, you can call the attorney general at this number. our tax dollars paid for the report. don't let him cover up the truth. with tough food, your dentures may slip and fall. fixodent ultra-max hold gives you the strongest hold ever to lock your dentures. so now you can eat tough food without worry.
6:57 am
fixodent and forget it. ensure max protein... to give you the protein you need with less of the sugar you don't. (straining) i'll take that. (cheers) 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar. ensure max protein. in two great flavors. i couldn't catch my breath. it was the last song of the night. it felt like my heart was skipping beats. they said i had afib. what's afib? i knew that meant i was at a greater risk of stroke. i needed answers. my doctor and i chose xarelto®. to help keep me protected from a stroke. once-daily xarelto®, a latest-generation blood thinner...
6:58 am
significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. in a clinical study, over 96% of people taking xarelto® remained stroke-free. don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of stroke. while taking, you may bruise more easily or take longer for bleeding to stop. xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. it may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. before starting, tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. learn all you can... ...to help protect yourself from a stroke. ask your doctor about xarelto®. to learn more about cost and how janssen can help, visit xarelto.com.
6:59 am
how janssen can help, mno kidding.rd. but moving your internet and tv? that's easy. easy?! easy? easy. because now xfinity lets you transfer your service online in just about a minute with a few simple steps. really? really. that was easy. yup. plus, with two-hour appointment windows, it's all on your schedule. awesome. now all you have to do is move...that thing. [ sigh ] introducing an easier way to move with xfinity. it's just another way we're working to make your life simple, easy, awesome.
7:00 am
go to xfinity.com/moving to get started. good morning to you and happy saturday, april 13th. we're so glad to have you here of the i'm christi paul. >> and i'm victor blackwell. you are in the cnn "newsroom." >> democrats are taking a new route to try and get president trump's taxes. >> richard neal has given an ultimate to the commissioner of the irs. let's go to congressional reporter lauren fox who joins us now to break this story. what are you learning? >> reporter: we're learning that this committee chairman richard neal from ways and means he's doubling down on his request for six years of the president's personal and business tax returns. now what we know is that this is