he began cleaning looks today, go to cnnheroes.com. thanks for watching. our coverage continues. good evening. we begin tonight with breaking news. more damaging testimony on the ukraine affair. another indication of how badly president trump's personal attorney wanted to obtain dirt on the president's political rivals. the news follows two weeks of other testimony that taken together lays out the parts and pieces of what is a wide-ranging, sustained, intensive campaign to get a foreign government to do the president's personal political bidding in exchange for badly needed military assistance. and of course this comes at the end of a day of damage control after the president's own acting chief of staff conceded yesterday that, yes, there was a quid pro quo with ukraine. >> but to be clear, what you just described is a quid pro quo. it is funding will not flow unless the investigation into the democratic server happened as well. >> we -- we do that all the time

with foreign policy. i have news for everybody. get over it. >> he put out a statement just hours later trying to say that he never said that or didn't mean that, which is a hard case to make when you put it in the context of two weeks of congressional testimony, documentary evidence on the question. two thursdays ago, lawmakers released text messages among the key players outlining this aid for dirt deal as well as one diplomat's sharp objection to what he recognized as a quid pro quo. he called it crazy. he's going to testify next week. this past monday, former white house russia adviser fiona hill told investigators that rudy giuliani was doing an end run around professional diplomats for the president and that then-national security adviser john bolton was so alarmed about it, he told her to alert white house lawyers. this followed testimony from marie yovanovitch, the fired ambassador to ukraine, that she herself was cut out of the loop. and yesterday one of the three people who bypassed her added to

the picture, ambassador gord on sondland telling investigators that the president made giuliani his point man on all of this saying he didn't realize what he, departmenting energy secretary rick perry, were actually working on. cnn has obtained exclusive new reporting on what else the president's tv lawyer and ukraine fixer was up to. kylie atwood got the scoop. >> reporter: we are learning that in his testimony behind closed doors as part of this ukraine impeachment inquiry just this week, a career state department official, george kent, told lawmakers that it was rudy giuliani who had pressed the white house and the state department to try and get a visa for viktor shokin. that is the ousted prosecutor general from ukraine. he was ousted because he did not take on corruption in his country, and there was pressure from vice president biden at the time and other countries to get rid of him. now, that visa, however, was not provided to shokin, and so the

white house actually made an appeal and went to the state department, called up george kent, and asked why is he not getting this visa. it was george kent's understanding that giuliani had called the white house and asked them to figure out why this visa wasn't coming through. now, it's important here that giuliani has told cnn previously that he wanted to talk to shokin because shokin had dirt for him on the democrats. so we know he wanted to interview him in person. clearly he was not able to do so because that visa was not provided to him. but this provides some more insight into how giuliani had his fingers all over this ukrainian policy and really was able to push forth on some of his efforts to try and get people to the united states to dig up more dirt on the democrats. >> so this is -- i mean this sounds nuts. so giuliani is trying to get this guy, this allegedly or believed to be corrupt former

prosecutor, to come to the united states to deliver more dirt on the bidens or his conspiracy theories or whatever it may be. his visa is rejected by the state department, so he calls the white house. do we know -- i mean do we know if the president was involved in this whole thing, or was just a conversation between giuliani and somebody else in the white house? >> reporter: we don't know the exact dynamics of how president trump was involved in this situation specifically. but let's take a step back here because what we do know from testimony this week, ambassador sondland told lawmakers that president trump had told people working at the state department, including ambassador sondland himself, that giuliani was the key person that they had to go through when it came to ukraine policy. so it's no secret that president trump was speaking with giuliani about ukraine, and giuliani declined to comment for our report tonight. but i'm sure that we will learn more details about how president trump was involved in this whole

situation in the coming days because there is more testimony to come from u.s. officials on this matter. >> what's the state department saying? >> reporter: well, the state department doesn't comment on specific visas. they say that those are confidential and they're not going to put out a statement specifically on this. but what we do have to look back on is what the state department says on visas generally. so they say that they are confidential, but they're awarded in accordance with u.s. law, and they can be denied for a number of reasons, including -- and this is according to the state department's website -- if the information reviewed falls within the scope of the inadmissibility or ineligibility grounds of the law. so clearly right now there was a reason that this visa was denied. the white house pushed back. but ultimately the state department won out here. >> kylie atwood, appreciate it. joining us now, someone who not only is running to defeat president trump next year but will also be one of the senate

jurors if he is impeached. she also sits on the senate intelligence and judiciary co , committees, kamala harris. what is your reaction to this latest reporting about giuliani trying to override the ukraine embassy and the state department to get a visa for this former prosecutor? >> anderson, it's further evidence of corruption by this administration and the personal attorney of the president of the united states. clearly implicitly being permission to act as though he is an arm of the government and the state department. and it's a violation of an extraordinary number of rules and ethical laws about who should do what. and i'm just glad to see that the process is beginning to really do the investigation into rudy giuliani. he has clearly broken many laws. and, you know, i was listening to the report as you were playing it, and it also raises for me questions about, again, who knew what in the administration. as i've been thinking about it,

clearly there are questions to be asked of the chief of staff. we've talked about mick mulvaney, but i frankly think that we should also be asking questions of john kelly and reince priebus because clearly for a long time now, we've been talking about bad behaviors coming from this administration and coming from the desk of the president of the united states. >> are there specific laws you believe giuliani has broken or may have broken? >> well, i don't know. we're going to find out. but i think that the range includes not only abuse of power and perhaps misstatement and mischaracterization of his role and his responsibilities, but i also really do wonder just instinctively whether there's been any bribery associated with giuliani's conduct. i think there are a number of questions to be asked, and once the facts are transparent and have been available for congress at the very beginning to see it, i think we'll know what laws have been broken. >> what's so interesting about

giuliani's involvement too, it seems like with every day that passes, there's another example of giuliani kind of running and being licensed by the president to run a shadow foreign policy, circumvent state department protocols, and it's not only for the president's benefit, but giuliani also has business interests in the region. i mean he's got business interests in ukraine that go back years. he's got business interests, i understand, in turkey as well. so it's not clear exactly who he's working for. he's working for the president, but he's also working for himself. >> well, you're right, anderson. and this is part of -- this is part of the character of this administration as a whole. there are many people in donald trump's administration who i think, you know, have questionable priorities. and whether those priorities are, in fact, on behalf of the people of the united states or on behalf of their special interests based on former relationships in the private sector or what they anticipate and are planning in terms of future relationships in the

private sector. you're absolutely right. and that is why it is corrupt, because this is -- these are positions, especially for those who hold elected office and appointed office in this administration, these are positions that are held in the public trust. and they are not meant to be or designed to be for personal interests. but donald trump and many of the members, i think, of his administration are not clear about that point, which is why we need this impeachment process to proceed. >> it's also the president is holding this money over ukraine. this is not his money. it is taxpayer money. american taxpayers have given this money. >> exactly right. >> so when you think about it in that way -- >> that's exactly right. >> he's holding american taxpayer money over the ukrainian president's head. they need it to fight russia. lives are hanging in the balance. >> that's right. >> and he would get information that helps him against his main -- or at the time a political opponent in the upcoming election with american taxpayer dollars. so american taxpayers are paying

for dirt on a person running for president. >> well, and you are absolutely right. these are not donald trump's personal dollars. these are the -- these are the dollars of hardworking americans who have been paying taxes to their government with an expectation that that money will be used to their benefit, in their best interests, which includes the best interest of national security. but, yet, donald trump is bartering and holding hostage american taxpayer dollars for the sake of his personal political benefit. again, let's remember this money was to be used to support a partner in a democracy who has been trying to defend his country against an insurgence from russia, which is a long-standing adversary of our country. and it is -- so the corruption is rampant in so many ways because it is not only about what might be for his personal benefit. it is also a misuse of public

funds in a way that is unethical and is frankly in violation of all that we would expect the president as commander in chief would do for the best interest of national security. >> it's so strange, yesterday the mulvaney press catastrophe was strange on many different levels. one of the things he insisted on was that the bidens -- dirt on biden had nothing to do with what the president was seeking. it was all just this conspiracy theory about the server being in ukraine and crowdstrike and that, yes, that was the quid pro quo that he wanted information on. but i don't understand how with a straight face mulvaney can claim that dirt on the bidens had nothing to do with it when the president in the transcript not only says the bidens -- that's item number two on his ask after the guy, you know, is asking for the aid -- but also just on the white house lawn, i think it was october 3rd, you

know, when he wa asked -- he was asked, what did you want the ukrainian president to do after the call? and he said words to the effect of -- i don't have the exact transcript. he said, you know, investigate the bidens, do something on the bidens. he has said it multiple times. >> he's committing -- he's committing -- he is committing these acts that are violations of the law in the open, in the plain sight of the american people. and i think there are some who might be confused and might try to interpret, well, how could he possibly be committing a crime if it happens in public? there are plenty of crimes, let me tell you as a former prosecutor, that happen in public. and the people that see it are called witnesses. and witnesses then come forward with evidence that proves that crime. and that's exactly what's going to happen in this case and what has been happening in this case. and it both relates to what donald trump has done. mick mulvaney, people say could he have possibly -- he must have meant something else. how could he possibly have told the truth about the fact that this was quid pro quo? that's called a confession.

that also happens a lot in criminal cases. so, you know, what we are seeing is frankly not atypical in a criminal proceeding and in criminal cases, which there are confessions. that's why we have that term, and we use it often. that's why we have the term witnesses, because often there are people who actually observe the crime as it is happening. so hthis is what we're seeing with this case. >> i'm always fascinated in courtrooms when a defendant or their attorney argues, no one would be so stupid to do what my client is accused of the way he's being accused of it, when in fact many people are that stupid to do things as exactly as they are charged with. i'm sure you have seen that many times. senator kamala harris, thank you. i appreciate it. >> yes. okay. tare care. new reporting on white house damage control after mick mulvaney's admission that there was a quid pro quo. lig lightlator, one of the lawmakers raising concerns about the

president's plan to hold next year's g7 summit at his florida country club. saturdays happen.

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fidelity wealth management. a remarkable week in the ukraine affair ends with cnn exclusive reporting on testimony detailing rudy giuliani's efforts to obtain a visa for a ukrainian official promising dirt on the bidens. in addition, it comes with the white house still in full-on damage control mode over mick mulvaney's quid pro quo admission though he didn't use the words "quid pro quo" and then his un-admission if you will. cnn's jim acosta joins us with more on that. talk about how the white house has been responding to all this. >> reporter: anderson, they were continuing to say that up was down, that black was white, that mick mulvaney did not commit a gaffe even though they put out a statement cleaning up what he said yesterday. anderson, i think when i tried to ask the president a question about this, it spoke volumes. when i asked him, you know, whether or not there was some sort of contingency for ukraine to receive this money for them to investigate the democratic party, he simply said that

mulvaney clarified what he said yesterday, and then he moved on and talked about many and sundry things. but, anderson, the president i think very revealingly did not once again reiterate that there was no quid pro quo, and he really did not spend much time defending his chief of staff either. >> is mulvaney's future now in question? >> reporter: i do think that's a real question, anderson. we were talking to a number of sources today. i talked to a couple who have said that mulvaney has been on thin ice. he's been on shaky ground for several months now. the president from time to time has sounded out the idea of whether or not he should keep mulvaney around. but i talked to one source close to the president earlier this evening who said there might be some difficulty in giving mulvaney the boot because of what he knows in terms of this ukraine investigation. but, anderson, i will tell you one thing that we should point out, mulvaney will be at camp david this weekend according to

a white house official, meeting with gop lawmakers on a range of issues. that is an indication that perhaps he's not in immediate jeopardy. but i wanted to just share a quote i got from a source close to the white house, a trump adviser earlier this evening, who is defending mulvaney and saying, we all get turned into a pretzel defending trump. that's the sad reality. anderson, at the end of this very long and exhausting week where things were turned upside down from a fact standpoint, sad indeed. >> jim acosta, thanks very much. pretzels taste good. i'm not sure that's a great analogy. even a few republicans are having a tough time buying the white house line. francis rooney telling reporters, quote, this isn't an etch a sketch, you can't revise what you say in front of the cameras and say actually i meant the opposite. joining us now, jeffrey toobin, maggie haberman and carl bernstein. there are many times i wish i could have reversed what i said on camera. it doesn't really work that way.

i mean does the white house really expect anyone to believe that mulvaney's reversal is really what i meant to say? it seems like he was saying what he really thought, in fact was belligerent about it and told people to get over it. >> he also was asked the question several times so it's hard to suggest he didn't understand it. i don't know whether he meant to go that far. he certainly wasn't expected to go that far by people in the white house. nobody expected that the sentence that would come out was some version of, yes, this was a quid pro quo. the white house, i think, knows that they have a problem with this. i think they are just trying to turn the page as fast as possible and tell all of us that, you know, he didn't really say what he said. tell us that the president is not angry, which i actually just based on my reporting, i think the president's not as focused on this as people think that he is. >> on the mulvaney thing? >> on the mulvaney thing. he's very focused on impeachment. but on the mulvaney piece, aides are much mover concerned about it. jay sekulow put out a pretty

remarkable statement yesterday making clear he didn't know about it. they are trying to mop this up. but to your point, it's not like members who were on the house who were on the fence possibly about voting for impeachment are going to be swayed by, actually i didn't mean to say that much it's right out there. >> jeff, in terms of giuliani and the latest reporting by cnn that he tried to get a visa for this, you know, allegedly corrupt former prosecutor who he wanted to come to the united states, is there anything illegal about that? >> well, there's a lot we still don't know, and the most important thing we don't know is where the money was coming from for all of this. it's certainly not illegal. >> you mean -- >> who was paying giuliani. it's not illegal for him to talk to lots of different people. it remains mysterious what his ultimate responsibility was. was he working just as the president's personal lawyer? was he working for the u.s. government? was he working for the two ukrainians who were just arrested? he's been in ukraine for years

with businesses, with trying to -- there was a mayor who wanted to hire him for security in kiev. then he ended up getting hired by somebody else. >> correct. the question is, you know, was he a foreign agent for them? should he have registered? i mean i think legally the potentially biggest problem for him is the foreign agent's registration act, that if he didn't register as a lobbyist for the ukraine. but putting aside the technical legalities, it's just wildly inappropriate that he was doing all this at the same time. >> mm-hmm. >> and one of the things we've seen all through the hearings  this week is that people in the government knew it was inappropriate, and they were frustrated and angry. but he had donald trump's support, so they had to deal with it. >> carl, is there any legitimate reason you can think of that rudy giuliani would want this guy viktor shokin to come to the u.s. besides political reasons? >> we certainly have seen it. perhaps for business reasons.

that's possible. >> because i mean all of this was being sold as anti-corruption in ukraine. that's not really something he needs to be in the united states for. you know, that would be in ukraine. >> no, and we're going to find out eventually why he wanted this visa. but more important is the large question of we're looking at a conspiracy led by the president of the united states and his personal lawyer to undermine our own electoral system in the united states through the intervention of a foreign power. that is a high crime, and that's what we're looking at here, and that's what the impeachment thus far is about. and it's also occurring at exactly the same time that the ukrainian -- pardon me -- the

syrian adventure by the turks with the president's support is really telling on a lot of republicans in the congress of the united states who are starting to criticize the president in a way that they haven't before. >> everyone stay with us because we've got to take a quick break. a lot more to talk about including tur a committee war against the kurds and how some republicans are more willing to blame president trump by name. we'll be right back. home to three of bp's wind farms. which, every day, generate enough electricity to power over 150,000 homes. and of course, fowler. at bp, we see possibilities everywhere.

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the cease-fire president trump said he negotiated but which turkey said wasn't one may have ended.

that's according to kurdish fighters and witnesses who saw artillery fired on one town today. we do know who is not happy, and that's some members of his own party. this was senator mitt romney on thursday. >> what we have done to the kurds will stand as a bloodstain in the annals of american history. was there no chance for diplomacy? are we so weak and so inept diplomatically that turkey forced the hand of the united states of america? turkey? i believe that it's imperative that public hearings are held to answer these questions, and i hope the senate is able to conduct those hearings next week. >> romney's demand for accountability is far stronger than one made today by senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. while he does call u.s. withdrawal a grave mistake, he never names president trump one time, which is pretty nifty

trick when you think about it. he does, however, lash out at former president obama three times by name. back with us, jeff toobin, maggie haberman, and carl bernstein. maggie, do you have any explanation for the president's behavior on this? i mean the idea of -- i know there's the promise to get troops out. but we're talking about, you know, 50 to 100 u.s. special forces who are in that border region which was preventing this invasion that the president has now said he knew was going to come because they've been watching the troops massing on the border for quite some time. and then he sends 2,000 troops to saudi arabia. so it's not as if there's a big withdrawal of troops from the world there. >> no. and his argument in terms of the saudi arabia troops is he claims that saudi arabia is paying for it, which actually makes our troops mercenaries in ways we are unused to seeing this. i think a couple of things. a, according to every source i have, the president has always been very pliant in his phone conversations with erdogan. i think that was the case here as well. >> he got rolled by erdogan.

>> pretty much based on the descriptions i've heard of this call. i also don't think he cares very much about that area of the world. i think that's very clear. >> he said it's nothing but sand. let them fight -- >> i think he is, when you take away all of that language, i think you get to a policy -- it's not really a policy but an impulse he has had on foreign policy for a long time, which is essentially, come home, america, and voters do not favor these overseas engagements, that he believes that obama created a mess in syria, and i think he feels he's not going to perpetuate that. and he has some gut instinct that voters agree with him and that this is not going to hurt him personally. it's not at all talking about is this the right thing to do from a humanitarian front. it's not talking about whether it's the right thing to do in terms of allies who have fought with the u.s. but it is as he tends to see all things, how it will impact him, and he thinks it's not going to hurt him politically. >> carl, what's so interesting is if you go back to the mueller

investigation, the one talking point that so many republicans on this network and elsewhere would say in defense of the president and his self-professed toughness against russia was that there are u.s. troops in syria, and there was even a fight in which russian-backed forces were killed by u.s. forces, and that that shows the president's resolve and that he bombed, you know, an airfield. he's now given all the rest of the one-third of syria to the assad regime and to russian-backed forces and iranian-backed forces. >> and walked away, took us out of the picture completely, and opened this piece of business in a terrible place to slaughter. but more important, senator romney is on to something here. there is a record of what the president has done here, and it's in the phone calls -- or phone call with erdogan, and it's also in whatever he and

putin have discussed about this matter. and just as we saw the readout of the conversations with the president of ukraine, it is essential that the congress of the united states have a look at the readout of these conversations in some kind of hearings conducted by the intelligence committee or another committee of the senate because what we are finding is the president of the united states once again, as general mattis and others keep saying and the generals and admirals revoting against this president are saying, he is undermining the national security of the united states. and we have a roadmap to find out whether or not that's the case. and that's in those same lockbox phone calls at the national security council, and the people who witnessed and heard and read the readouts of those phone calls, they need to come before the senate of the united states as romney has suggested. >> jeff, is there, just from a

legal standpoint -- there's no way whatever phone calls are out there, that they're just going to be given up. >> no. >> and we don't even know that the transcript we have seen, the rough transcript of the readout of the call with the ukrainian president -- we don't know how accurate it is. >> no. >> it's not a word for word as the president claimed it was. >> one of the deeply weird things about how the whole ukraine scandal has unfolded is that they have objected to disclosing basically any sorts of documents, any white house interviews, yet they have released the partial transcript of this phone call, which presidents almost never release. i mean that is an area where i think no court would ever force them to disclose, you know, head of state to head of state phone calls. those are sort of the sacrosanct private foreign policy repocord of a president. so i don't think we're ever going to see the putin records, the erdogan records, but they chose to release the ukraine phone call. >> it seems like they thought it

actually was good for them. >> it just shows when you listen to donald trump saying something is perfect, you better check it first. >> i think part of the issue with that phone call -- >> if i could interject. >> hold on. maggie was talking. >> no, it's fine. i think part of the issue with that phone call is i think there were early reports that they felt like they were trying to knock down, which was specifically how many times biden's name was mentioned and so forth. but it really didn't matter. if you look at the context of the call and the way in which biden was mentioned, once was plenty. >> we're out of time, so we're going to have to continue this conversation another time. carl, thank you. jeff toobin, maggie haberman. president trump and his acting chief of staff say there's nothing wrong with hosting the g7 at the president's florida golf resort in doral. up next, i'll talk with a member of the house judiciary committee on the democrats' plan to investigate. you see? i see an unbelievable opportunity. i see best-in-class platforms and education. i see award-winning service, and a trade desk full of experts, available to answer your toughest questions.

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as norm breaking as it may seem to be for president trump to award himself and his florida golf resort a no bid contract to host next year's g7, it is a pattern. attorney general william barr is reportedly planning a holiday

bash at trump's d.c. hotel. the sauds booked hundreds of rooms there after the 2016 election. the president even plugged his own charlottesville winery in 2017 while responding to the neo-nazi violence that had occurred there three days earlier. despite the pattern, however, his acting chief of staff says nothing to see here. it is all on the up and up. >> we're going to do the 46th g7 summit on june 10th through june 12th at the trump national doral facility in miami. doral was by far and away, far and away the best physical facility for this meeting. >> yeah. the president doesn't even hide what he's trying to do here either. listen to how he pitched his own resort in august. >> with doral, we have a series of magnificent buildings. we call them bungalows. they each hold from 50 to 70 very luxurious rooms with magnificent views.

we have incredible conference rooms, incredible restaurants. it's like -- it's like such a natural. each country can have their own villa or their own bungalow. >> anyway, a source tells cnn that doral wasn't even on the list of venues because of ethical concerns. mulvaney nyesterday said it was the president who suggested it. just before air time, i spoke with congressman steve cohen about what democrats plan to do. congressman cohen, is this anything other than the president awarding a huge federal contract to himself? i mean does anyone really believe that, you know, this resort, that doral was far and away the best physical facility for this meeting as the white house says? >> i can't imagine travel and leisure choosing this resort and, you know, june in miami is not exactly the prime season. that's when they're making all kind of deals to come down here at 50% off in miami at that time of the year. this is self-dealing.

this is just the utmost grifting and arrogance to take as much money and prestige as he can from his job and extend it to himself and his family. and, you know, generally politicians are taught to avoid even the appearance of an impropriety. this just smacks of impropriety. the appearance is so far off the charts. this is mainlining it. >> it's also free advertising for media from around the world which covers these events. you know, the whole notion that the president won't actually profit from this, that doral will do this at cost f they won't release documentation showing how doral was chosen, it's certainly hard to believe they're going to release documentation showing that they made no money off it. >> the president makes money off of everything. that's what the president lives for is to make money and to see his name in big, big letters on buildings. he will make money on this.

the occupancy rate is very low in early june, and he'll charge and make lots of money, and he'll charge the government for lots of other things. today i joined with representative lois frankel and representative bennie thompson introducing the thug act, which is trump heist at the g7. it would require the trump administration to release all of the information on how they chose the doral, who the other competitors were, and what the rating system was and what they did and also ban the united states government from spending any money at doral for the g7. we hope we get a hearing and a vote in the house, and we hope the senate comes to their senses. >> you know, if this were any other federal employee, i mean they could be facing criminal charges, even prison for trying to profit from their position. those conflict of interest rules don't apply to the president because it was believed, when they were written, that they didn't need to apply to the president, that a president would be above doing something like this. and yet here we are.

>> yeah. i mean it would be obviously self-dealing and, you know, there's just so many places where you'd rather be in june and other facilities that could accommodate this type of event in a better way. but, you know, the first thing you learn i would think as a small-time alderman in a small town is to avoid the appearance of impropriety. this man has no shame, no shame whatsoever. >> it's a great point that you raise about florida during the summer not being obviously the high tourist time at a resort like this. the cooper family has reunions in a state park in mississippi in the summer, and i can tell you it is really, really hot. >>ia yeah, the early bird special is about the only thing you got going in june. >> they probably have that at doral as well. congressman cohen, appreciate it. thank you. >> i imagine they do. you're welcome, anderson.

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busy week, another busy friday night. i want to check in with chris. >> little bit of a culmination and reset. i believe that the cnn exclusive about rudy giuliani trying to get this visa really ends the discussion of what this situation was about and what it involved in terms of different methods and means by the president and those around him. so the argument becomes to the left, what are you going to do about it? what do you believe this and the right, how can you ignore saying this is wrong? you can argue all day about whether or not it's impeachable. i honestly see both sides of that argument, but you cannot ignore what happened. you cannot ignore that it was wrong, and you cannot ignore it was an abuse of office. so how was that done? we'll test both sides and we've got anthony scaramucci for the mindset of where the right is. >> certainly seems like there's a lot of republicans who have figured out a way to just ignore it. >> look, you got the jim jordans, right? i believe that's the irrational

right, that they are with this president out of fealty. i don't know that that will apply to the main. they have to worry about their personal dignity at some point, anderson. i'm an optimist. >> you sure are. >> coming up the art form best appreciated by gaslight the white house trying to get us to unsee what we all saw on national television. see for yourself on the ridiculist. pain happens.

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since taking the job over the summer has yet to hold a news briefing, appeared on fox and friends. it's fox & friends. it's got an ampersand. you can take that off your list of great unknowns. her appearance came less than 24 hours after mick mulvaney's news conference, which drew huge reviews ranging from not helpful to a confession. she said mulvaney did everything a good accomplice should. >> he did a great job, mentioned the same message over and over. we put a statement out clarifying some of the things the media got themselves in a tizzy over. >> tizzy. damn, grisham's a truth teller. you know what, let the chips fall where they may. stephanie don't care. does everybody who works for the president have to lie and debase themselves? i guess so.

i've got to say stephanie grisham may have him beat. in the alternative universe version of what happened, mulvaney stayed on message, did a great job and the white house only had to clarify his statement because the media was in such a tizzy. friggin' media, always in a tizzy over silly little things like using the presidency for corrupt personal gain, using taxpayer money to coerce a desperate leader of a country under attack by russians to dig up dirt on president trump's political opponents, that's nothing! turns out what stephanie said was something she's workshopped before on fox & friends. >> it is more theater, about people wanting to make names for themselves. >> it had become theater and they weren't being good to his people. >> ooh, stephanie! you got to increase your vocabulary.

criticism, theater has been used twice. she doesn't get to broadway enough if she thinks those press conferences are theater. maybe on one of these seven days a week she's not doing her job, she can catch a matinee. and i hate to break it to you, tv reporters are already on tv. no need to try to get on tv because that's where they work, on tv. it's tough to grasp but it's how the entire tv medium works. i am on tv right now. newspaper reporters are covering the white house so they probably already made a name for themselves. you know what i mean? it's a position that used to be kind of an exalted position of people wanted to be there covering it because important things happened at the old white houses.

holding the president and his staff to account, that's not theater. theater is, i don't know, the president spending taxpayers dollars on a military parade fluff fluffing his own ego, campaigning next to a pile of steaks you claim your company sells but someone on your staff bought them at a nearby butcher remember when that happened? that happened. the steaks used to be sold -- i'm in a tizzy -- used to be sold at a sharper image when he actually sold steaks. theater is standing in front of novelty size paper and tell people you're not going to have anything to do with your family business which you spend your time working toward. but when stephanie grisham finally, it's the stage, which all the president's people seem to do, whether they want to or not, let's see whether the president is in a tizzy or not when he delivers here review on the ridiculist. the news continues.

>> as a student of cooperology, it's hard to know when you're in a tizzy and when you are not. >> i've started pushing my emotions deep down inside. >> i have no emotions. >> i long to be you. >> i am chris cuomo. welcome to "prime time." breaking news, new evidence of the depths of the efforts of this president to go after the bidens. a cnn exclusive and key players making the case and trying to defend on the show tonight. where do you stand? let's get after it. all right. so here is the latest. the president's personal lawyer pushed the state department and the white house to get a visa for the ousted ukrainian prosecutor who promised dirt on the bidens. this comes in an cnn exclusive from four sources citing the