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rory mcllroy is a two time champion at east lake. he scores! stanley cup champions! touchdown! only mahomes. the big events are back and xfinity is your home for the return of live sports. good evening. breaking news this hour on a new review by the inspector general for the u.s. postal service of controversial changes ordered by the postmaster general. that have, effectively, slowed down mail service by eliminating worker hours, as well as hundreds of sorting machines. according to a spokeswoman for the inspector general and an aide to senator elizabeth

warren. one of the senators who requested a review. the inspector general is also reviewing potential ethics complaints against louis dejoy, an ally and donor of president trump. this news comes today after president trump appeared to come out and confirm critics' suspicions that he was continuing to hold up a coronavirus deal to hold up postal services. >> they need all that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions of millions of ballots. by the way, those are just two items. but if you don't get those two items, that means you can't have universal mail-in voting because they're not equipped to have it. >> later at a news conference at the white house, the president chose different words, basically implying it was democrats who were holding up the deal. but the point was the same. >> if the post office, if they're not going to approve a bill. and the post office, therefore, won't have the money. and if they're not going to approve a big bill, a bigger bill. and they're not going to have the $3.5 billion for the

universal mail-in votes. how can you have those votes? what would mean is that people would have to go to the polls and vote. >> the comments come after the president's spent months attacking vote-by-mail efforts as susceptible to fraud, despite there being no evidence and despite his own intelligence officials testifying two weeks ago that massive vote-by-mail fraud is not something they are worried about. what there is evidence of is a slowdown in mail less than three months before an election. the memo sent by the postmaster ser general sent to workers this week. quote, unfortunately, this transformative initiative has had unintended consequences that impacted our overall service levels, said the postmaster general. furthermore, in letters obtained by cnn and sent to at least 14 states, which "the washington post" says occurred at the end of july, the postal service

tells state election officials this delay may meeans some ball may not be counted. president told the press on sunday that he hasn't spoken with the postmaster general. today, however, cnn has confirmed that, six days before he said that, the president did, in fact, speak with him. when asked about the discrepancy, the white house said, quote, it was a congratulatory meeting. a congratulatory meeting, in august, for a job he got in may. want to start with the latest on that inspector-general review of the postmaster general. kristen holmes, helped break the story, joins us now. so tell us about this investigation. how broad is this? >> well, anderson, hooersz' wer we know. this is all based on a letter from senator warren, among others, that really had six bullet points. and we are told by a source the inspector general is reviewing all six of these. now, the first five are pretty much the same bulk topic here.

they are about these changes you mentioned. these changes that are sounding alarms across the country because of the delay in mail. because of the upcoming election. the other, the last one, is about his finances. pretty broad scope, particularly about the changes. they talk about specific, operational changes. they want a list of exactly what was done. was there any rationale given? was there any analysis on the kind of impact that this could have? what did the delays actually look like? remember, at this point, we are hearing from postal service workers. we are seeing the mail piled up. but they want to know specifics of what these delays actually lik look like. and of course, the big question that all of us have, which is, is this going to impact the to 2020 election? and as we have heard from numerous sources at this point, it's hard to see it not impacting the election. you are talking about millions

of americans voting by mail-in ballot at a time there is this huge change in the post office. now, the last topic is very interesting. this is about his finances. louis dejoy, who you mentioned a trump donor and ally. he is not just the regular donor. he is the kind of donor that is named finance chair of the charlotte convention, before there was no charlotte convention. we obtained his documents. his financial documents. we went through them and this is what this review is about. and we found, from ethical experts, they said that there might be some concern here. he had not divested millions in stock from his former company, which is now a current contractor with the united states postal service. and on top of that, we know that he has stock options in amazon, which is a huge postal service customer. anderson. >> the vote -- vote by mail begins in just a few weeks in states, like north carolina. i mean, is this a full-on investigation? or is the inspector general just, you know, looking?

you know, what would one actually characterize this? just kind of looking into it to see if it warrants further investigation? >> well, like, that's always the big question with the inspector general, right? they are very cagey. they do not like to say what the investigation is, if there is an investigation. i mean, the fact that we even g got, on the record, that they were doing the bodywork in this is pretty extraordinary. and that means that they are reaching out, on behalf of all of these documents. they want to know if there is any sort of paper trail right now, on these changes. what led to these changes? was there some kind of meeting? and, on a separate note here, we have just learned from a service group that looks into foia that the postal service rejected a foia to look at the postmaster general's schedule, saying it had personal information on it. even though it's on a postal service computer. so, there is a lot going on here, in gathering of information. now, some of these investigations, as you know, can

go on for months. but the big question is whether or not it can be wrapped up by the election because, again, that is what everyone cares about right now. >> kristen holmes, thanks very much. joining me jenna griswold, secretary of state in colorado. the democrat that's called the president statements about holding funding for the postal service, voter suppression. what do you make of this news the inspector general's reviewing the new postmaster's policies? i mean, do you think anything will come of it? >> well, anderson, first, thank you for having me on. it's hard to say. but i do think we need immediate action. it's alarming that the postmaster general sent a letter to a lot of states, 49 states, basically laying out that millions of americans could be disenfranchised because of their service. that's un-democratic. it's unamerican. and it's donald trump's fault. the president, clearly, believes that vote by mail will help democrats win, which is just untrue. and so, he is trying to do

everything he can to tilt the election into his favor. i think it's reprehensible. and forcing americans into crowded polling locations, instead of doing the responsible thing to do, which is expanding vote by mail, is just one more way that the president is risking american lives. >> can you explain? when you say it's voter suppression, how so? >> well, the president is specifically trying to withhold funds, to enable vote by mail to work. he is, basically, trying to undermine the safest way to vote during a pandemic, and force americans to choose between risking their very lives in casting a ballot. and that's not just hyperbole. you know, we saw, in mailwaukee during their primary, more than 70 people get sick at crowded polling centers. so, that is voter suppression. scaring americans into a choice of risking their health and their lives to cast a ballot. it's 2020. we have a solution. it's vote by mail, for all. and the president is trying to put in barriers to suppress

turnout in november. >> so, colorado, obviously, has a long history with mail-in voting. the president has gone on saying, you know, and the vice president saying mail-in voting is susceptible to foreign interference, which there's no evidence of, according to election officials, and fraud. have you found any evidence of that in your state, over the years? is there -- is there widespread voter fraud in colorado? >> absolutely not. and it's laughable that the president, who invited foreign interference in our elections, would make up some type of story that is more better placed in a spy novel than reality. the nation can look at colorado. we have a history of extremely clean elections. we have safeguards in place. and we are able to have a wonderful election, even during the pandemic. you know, in our june 30th primary, we actually set a state primary turnout record. so the nation has the tools to have good elections. it's really whether the president wants voters to vote. >> i mean, is it too late to get

the post office, you know, getting things done right to make this move smooth -- smoothly? >> absolutely not. we still have time. and i will tell you, anderson. i ran for secretary of state because president trump had formed that voter commission, to suppress voters with chris kovach. he is doing the same thing again and i will not allow him to suppress the voice of americans. these are our constitutional rights. so we're considering all options, including legal options against the president and the postmaster general. >> i mean, i know it's not in your purview. what do you think about the country, as a whole? do you see this being a free and fair election nationwide? >> well, i do think that the silver lining is that we have expanded ballots for this election. but there are a lot of barriers being put up from this administration. whether that's trying to force americans to risk their very lives to cast a ballot. to meddling with the post

office. sabotaging the way that we deliver mail. to falsehoods and lies about vote by mail. so, i just think it's so important that every elected official, every elections official, and every american citizen, start sounding the alarm. the rhetoric coming out of the white house is something that you hear under dictatorships, not in the united states. we have to act. we cannot allow him to tilt this election. >> jen griswold, appreciate it. thank you very much. here with their perspective, van jones, senior political commentator, and former special adviser to president obama. david gergen. daviders let david, let's start with you. the president, now walking back h comments or changing the focus. a negotiating tool to get democrats to the table. but just yesterday, saying it's trying to undermine the election by blocking the funding. >> this -- this -- there are many threads in the story, anderson. listen.

we are heading for a potential crisis over this question of mail-in ballots and absentee ballots. the nightmare scenario is, on election night, to discover that it was a very, very close election. one person seemed to be ahead of the other. but the ballots haven't been counted. and then, we get into counting ballots and we find a lot of them were either, you know, they were sent in but they weren't counted, for one reason or another. and you can just see it. donald trump is losing and he is going to lose all of that kind of controversy to try to stay in office. to say this hasn't been resolved. therefore, i must stay here until we get this resolved. he is trying to delegitimize this election in all sorts of ways. we know that. but we don't really keep up with how many different ways republicans, unfortunately, are trying to suppress the vote. minority votes.

votes on absentee ballots from the wrong state. think of the hypocrisy of trump saying i hate mail-in ballots. they're fraudulent. by the way, florida happens to be a state where mail-in ballots will help him. that's the hypocrisy of it all. >> van, it is just blatantly political, what the president is doing. >> it is. and, you know, african-americans and our allies, you know, died for the right to vote. we shouldn't have to die, you know, in covid-infested voting lines, exercising that right. you shouldn't have to die for the chance to vote. and so, that's horrific. the president of the united states should be using his power to make sure that everyone in the country can vote, safely. seems like he is using his power in the opposite direction. it's worse than that, though. already, horrible things are happening to people as

prescription drugs are arriving late. veterans are getting their checks late. you have to understand. this is not going to be a problem for americans, just in november. it's a problem, right now. it's a problem, friday night, as people are not getting packages, they're not getting checks, they're not getting lifesaving drugs that they need right now because the backup is already started. you know, stuff that usually takes two days is taking two weeks right now. so this is an attack on the american people, in addition to the american, democratic process. and it's completely outrageous. >> david, i want to play something that president obama said in a podcast with his former campaign manager. let's listen. >> what we've seen, in a way that is unique to modern, political history, is a president who's explicit in trying to discourage people from voting. right? what we've never seen before is a president say, i'm going to

try to actively kneecap the postal service to encourage voting, and i will be explicit about the reason i'm doing it. >> i mean, the president continues to sow doubt in the system. with -- with, you know, false claims of voter fraud. you know, he had that commission with kovach, which disbanded because what the president -- the whole basis of it was just -- it was phony. what kind of impact does it actually have on voter confidence? regardless of, you know, what happens with the postal service funding? >> i think it's very corrosive, anderson, over a period of time. you know, trust in our institutions has plunged over the last 20, 30, years. but he has accelerated the downward spiral. maybe, the man who is running this, maybe just because he has 30 to $75 million, apparently invested in competitors to the postal service and there are signs trump wants to put the

postal service out of business. but, maybe, they are doing things that are honest. but the level of trust and the cynicism in the country is so much today that, when we see suspicious things like the blue boxes for -- for being moved around, in mysterious ways. you know, the blue boxing you have out on the street where you can go post a letter. they are being moved around. when you see the cutback in services that van just mentioned. when you see sorting machines being decommissioned. there are so many suspicious things going on, you can't help but be cynical. that is -- that is what is corrosive to our democracy. we've reached the point where we don't trust each other. >> van, this letter now from postal service warning states that it may not be able to deliver ballots in time. you know, david was talking about mail-sorting machines being removed. you have the president meeting with the postmaster general earlier this month or talking to

him. saying, hadn't spoken with him even though the white house confirmed the meeting. i mean, we're, what, 81 days from an election? >> yeah. it's beyond outrageous. one thing i will say is that, right now, because of what happened this week with regard to the postal service, you are seeing an explosion of grassroots activity. today, i talked to the people at black voters matter. they realized, hey, there's no such thing as election day, anymore. it's election month and you got to start doing this, everything that would ordinarily happen the last two weeks of the election, is going to start happening, right away. people are going to, immediately, start trying to get their hands on ballots. help people to do it earlier. you know, luckily, the news is reporting on this enough that groups, like black voters matter and others, are standing up. you also have leaders who are ready to go into court. there is going to be a big fight back here. i don't want to only focus on the repressive activities coming from the white house. there is real resistance.

people need to get involved now. support organizations that are helping people to vote. it's going to be a big fight. >> david, ad frside from, you k the inspector general, according to this report, looking at -- at this. i mean, should congress be doing -- getting to the bottom of this? i mean, we know what happens with inspector generals. the president either fires them or ignores them. >> yeah, absolutely, anderson. and, in fact, democrats on the house side are stirring on this and of course nancy pelosi is pushing it within the confines of the badly-run negotiations. anderson, and i do think there is time to do that. but just as we needed and never got a true czar in washington, in the white house, to oversee the whole pandemic. that we had this -- this group that the president picks off people. we need -- we need to centralize, on an urgent basis, watchdogs to oversee, at the national level, this entire unfolding saga about the post

office and about suppression of votes. and i would say what we ought to have is a bipartisan group, headed by a democrat and a republican. you know, maybe somebody out of the military, like a four star out of the military that everybody trusts. if we just got a couple people we can all trust in, then, i think we can unravel some of these mysteries and suspicions, and get on with the business and get back to doing, you know, serious work on covid. >> yeah. david gergen. van jones. thank you. still ahead tonight. president trump says he does not have an issue with strong women of color. we will play back his past comments and talk with atlanta mayor keisha lance bottoms. also, once again, the number of new, u.s. coronavirus cases in a single day tops 1,000. and something dr. anthony fauci mentioned today about working on a plan d for a vaccine. just what that might entail and will we actually need a plan d? when 360 returns. thinking about your financial plan...

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zblfrmts aft . after calling kamala harris nasty, president trump was asked a sensible question at today's briefing. do you have an issue with a strong woman of color being in this presidential race? the president's response, no, none whatsoever, as you know. as you know, that is not the impression that comes across when watching the president interact with strong women of color. >> to reign in robert mueller? >> what a stupid question that is.

what a stupid question. but i watch you a lot. you ask a lot of stupid questions. the same thing with april ryan. i watch her get up. i mean, you talk about somebody that's a loser. maxine waters. a very low-iq individual. >> the mayor of san juan puerto rico is a horror show. >> i watched, just this morning, this tlaib, she's vicious. she's like a crazed lunatic. >> kamala harris. >> well, she was probably very nasty. >> why don't you people act -- let me ask you -- why don't you -- why don't you act in a little more positive? it's always get ya, get ya. look, let me tell you something. be nice. don't be threatening. don't be threatening. be nice. excuse me, that's why you didn't he used to work for "the times" and now you work for someone else. >> keisha lance bottoms. mayor bottoms, you know, when

you hear about all the stuff the president's now saying about kamala harris. not surprising. though, you know, sort of regurgitating the birther, the racist, you know, birther conspiracy. i guess, that's not surprising, either. but, when he says he has no issue with women of color, do -- do you buy that? >> that was hard to watch, anderson. i felt my blood boiling. and you could have added to that, lori lightfoot and muriel bowser to that list. and i saw this great quote, when -- when you posed that question. it was, strong women don't have attitudes, they have standards and boundaries. and that's something we know this president doesn't have. he doesn't have any standards. he doesn't have any boundaries. and he's a drowning man. and if we aren't careful, he's going to take us all down to the bottom with him. and so, this is the reason it was so important that the ticket that joe biden put together reflected who we are, as

america. the diversity of america. and also, reflecting that there are strong women of color who lead with integrity. and i am looking forward to speaking at the dnc convention and casting my vote because this president is a disgrace to our country. and it's only getting worse. >> it's interesting to contrast, you know, what the president says about kamala harris with what she, actually, said and how she said it. you know, in the first public event with -- with vice president biden. you know, she -- she was, in a way, sort of disarming, tough, but also, conversational. i just thought it was a very interesting mix and a very talented mix of, you know, having a conversation with people. and making her points. but even, you know, doing things with a smile, at times.

i just thought it was -- it seemed like it sort of knocked president trump off -- it seems like the white house, at this point, is still unsure of how to kind of respond to her. >> yeah. he -- he, clearly, has been rattled. and i -- i know the one thing that he fears is having to go up on a stage and go up against, obviously vice president biden but, also, to have mike pence have to debate kamala harris. and what i see when i see president trump is someone who knows that he is going to lose. he will not stop at anything to make sure that, not only is there foreign interference with this election but, there is, also, domestic interference. he said as much. and i know that for -- as -- as many adjectives that he likes to use to describe women of color, in particular. the fact remains that this is a strong ticket.

this is a strong woman on that ticket. and he knows that it's one that will defeat him in november. >> you know better than anybody. georgia's now considered a tossup state given the ongoing concerns about the pandemic, plus, the unknowns about the funding for the postal service. how it might struggle to handle mail-in ballots. how concerned are you about residents of atlanta being able to vote safely and have their vote counted? >> i'm very concerned because, in june, our primary was a complete mess. people waited hours on end. they waited seven and eight hours to early vote. and i shared with you before, i requested an absentee ballot that never arrived in the mail. and so, we know that it's only going to get worse. it's my hope, in georgia, that people who are able and -- and are healthy, will go out and early vote, if possible, so that we can spread the crowds out. and hopefully, with the atlanta

hawks, a very large voting precinct at state farm arena. that will draw more people out, into a building that people can spread out and cast their vote, safely. >> you and the governor of georgia, obviously, brian kemp, republican, continue to be at odds over the response to the pandemic. you had rolled your economic reopening plan back. he sued you. he's since withdrawn the lawsuit saying you made some sort of concession, which i know you dispute. now, he is going to be issuing executive order. at this stage, where -- where do you see georgia going? where do you see atlanta going? >> you know what really disturbs me about this, anderson, is i reached out to the governor to try to reach some type of agreement because, quite frankly, i'm tired of our state looking bad, nationally. and i don't like the fact that people are being infected and they are dying of covid in our state, at very high rates. so i reached out to the governor to try and reach some type of agreement. we were in the middle of the mediation. and then, he issued a statement

saying the mediation was over. what the governor wanted me to agree to is what he is going to issue in this executive order. he wanted me to agree to not allow enforcement of the mask mandate in businesses. and to allow businesses to pick and choose, as to whether or not the -- that this mandate could be enforced and who would enforce it. we don't allow businesses to enforce a fire code. we don't let them pick and choose if it relates to building code. so, that made no sense to me but that's what he is going to put in the executive order. be that as it may, the mask mandate still stands. the lawsuit has been dropped. and hopefully, people will continue to exercise good common sense and listen to the science. when i am out and about, i see people wearing masks in the city of atlanta. and -- and hopefully, they're doing that across the state. >> mayor keisha lance bottoms, i appreciate your time.

thank you. >> thank you. >> ahead, controversial, new figure in the white house response to coronavirus is moving up, fast. the questions about his views on herd immunity and why he suddenly has the president's ear. we'll explain who we are talking about, next.

there is new behind-the-scenes concerns tonight on president trump's coronavirus response. now, has direct access to the oval office and president trump. cnn learned that from a source to the task force. the white house insists that the response coordinator, dr. deborah birx, remained a top

adviser to the president. atlas is not on the task force but attended one muof its meetis this week. among other things, dr. atlas is apparently a proponent of herd immunity. he's also been a critic of several lockdowns and has agreed with the president on several fronts. herd immunity happens when about 70 to 90% of a population becomes immune to a disease, either through infection or vaccination. herd immunity to coronavirus would likely take more than four years and lead to 1 million deaths in the united states. earlier today, dr. fauci confirmed to cnn that scientists are working to create a coronavirus strain that could be used in what's called a challenge trial of a vaccine. something that he is calling plan d. but challenge trials are normally used when a virus isn't widely circulating. dr. fauci said they may not be needed. his agency is looking into both the technical and ethical considerations. we have talked about this a number of times. once again, today, we learned the u.s. suffered more than a

thousand deaths in a single day. at least 1,200 and eight deaths, alone, reported today. art caplan, who leads here in new york. sanjay, i want to talk to you about scott atlas, who is a radiologist. he's not, you know, an epidemiologist, as far as i understand. but first, sanjay, even though dr. fauci's calling human challenge vaccine trial, plan d, how would that actually work? we have talked about this before. but -- but just let's remind our viewers. >> yeah. yeah. so typically, what happens after you go through the first couple of phases of a trial. then, there is phase three which, typically, you get lots of people. thousands of people. and they either get the vaccine or a placebo. and you basically follow them and see how they do. the problem is you require thousands and thousands of people and the people who receive the vaccine may also, not necessarily, get exposed to the virus. so you don't know did they not get the infection because of the vaccine? or because they weren't exposed? with the human challenge trial,

with the challenge trial, people also get the vaccine. and then, they are intentionally exposed. these are volunteers. intentionally exposed to a consistent, measurable strain of the virus. so, you know, for sure, they've been exposed. and you can tell, pretty quickly then, is the vaccine working, or not? but the whole key there is you challenge them. you knowingly expose them to this virus. >> i -- i remember you were on this program, months ago. i mean, early on in this, talking about the possibility of challenge trials. and some, you know, people, at the time, were saying, well, look. that's -- i mean, it's kind of unthinkable that you would have a challenge trial. you -- you were an early -- you were sort of, early on, raising this idea. explain the ethics of it. >> yeah. that's right, anderson. and sanjay said the regular way to study a vaccine is slow. and if you're lucky and the

virus goes away, you may not get the natural infection to see whether your vaccine candidate works. ethically, what you're going to do is expose people, deliberately, to a weakened, pure strain of covid. you try to make it so it won't hurt them. but generate enough that they give you a response. i think the number one ethical argument for it, and i'd make it plan 1a, not plan d, is that you get a faster response in terms of data as you are exposing people. you can see them and you track them, and you keep them in a location. and then, you are going to be able to use far fewer people because, you know, you don't need to wait for nature to infect some number, some percent, of 20,000 people. you've got 4 or 500 people, you'd be able to see what happens. some people say, you know, don't do it. you can't deliberately infect someone. but, look, either way, whether it's nature infecting them to see whether the vaccine works. or some researcher, deliberately, giving them a safer, lower-dose strain, people

are going to get infected. i don't find that a big reason to oppose challenge studies. >> sanjay, if it were to happen, how many people would be infected? >> in the challenge trial, you would need far -- far fewer people. if you -- when you talk about these phase-three trials, sometimes they talk about ten -- tens of thousands of people. here, it'd probably be in the hundreds of people. and you would get a faster, sort of, idea as well because you'd know, okay, the person was exposed. we make sure they're exposed. you see it. you are actually doing the exposing of the virus to this person. and you know, much more quickly, whether or not the person is actually protected. is not actually developing an infection. so hundreds of people and probably a faster timeline. but again, as art mentioned. you know, it's -- it's this line in medical science that is being crossed. where, in this case, you are now actively exposing someone to the virus, as opposed to letting them become naturally infected, as they -- as they live in their

own community. >> and, art, i mean, i guess, one objection is that, you know, there aren't proper treatments or therapeutics, maybe, to help people once they get sick? >> that's true. normally, you hope that you could rescue someone who got ill. but remember, in the standard way of doing the trial, anderson, they are going to get exposed to the nasty virus that we know can cause death and harm. hopefully, in the challenge study, you are giving them a weakened form of the virus that won't have the same risk of damage. i do think it's something that you're going to have to get informed consent. i've said, since i have been promoting this idea for a while, you have to have volunteers. they have to understand the risks. you have to make sure you take somewhat younger people. they don't seem to be as adversely affected. but, look. as the world is suffering so much from this plague, both economically, no school, and people dying. i think we've got the volunteers out there who would do this. i do think this is a step that we may find ourselves taking,

particularly if those first vaccine candidates don't work out. i hope they do. but if they don't. >> yeah. sanjay, just quickly. this new coronavirus adviser, scott atlas, he is a radiologist, right? >> he's a radiologist. he's, apparently, got the ear of the president. it's not clear. i have been talking to sources about this, you know, today. and he's in the oval office with the president. ambassador birx was not there. i guess, she's traveling. but he's clearly got the ear of the president. and he's been a advocate of some strategies that i can tell you other members of the coronavirus task force have been very vocally against. such as this idea of letting the country develop herd immunity. just letting the virus go, and letting what happens, happen. first of all, take a long time to get to herd immunity where 70% of the country's immune because of infection. and a lot of people would die.

more than a million people would likely die. >> president trump, months ago, was saying publicly, you know, there are a lot of people saying we should just let people get infected through herd immunity. but look what happened in sweden. more than a million people dying. it's interesting things are now where he is talking to this person. dr. deborah birx. i mean, last week, i think we talked she was being sent to like go around and sort of encourage mask wearing in various states. it seems like -- is that punishment for, you know, her speaking to reporters? and then, he called her pathetic. and then, she gets sent. it's like in broadcast news when they send the reporter who said something wrong to like cover something in alaska for months. to just get them out of the way. i mean, it's just -- it's sort of a classic -- just -- i hope that's not what's happening but it seems odd that, like, dr. birx is out on the road somewhere. >> right. and this guy is in the oval office, without anybody sort of,

you know, fact checking. you know, making the case for herd immunity. >> sure. what could go wrong? >> i think that was -- that was -- the sources i was talking to, that was their biggest concern. >> sounds like a great idea. >> that's plan f. >> yeah. we skipped over all the other plans. now, there's just plan f. sanjay, art caplan, thanks very much. up next, president trump embracing a qanon follower, who -- who is just a bizarre, nonsensical conspiracy. i mean, if you look into it and you are rational, it's startling. this person just won a primary race in her bid for congress. she's republican. more of her own conspiracy theories are surfacing. we'll look at why the gop isn't walking away from the online cult built solely on, well, just, insane, satanic conspiracy theories. that's coming up. feel the cool rush of claritin cool mint chewables.

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shlthsz president trump continues to avoid criticism, she may well be on her way to congress. her admiration of qanon, makes her a believer in a theory that

there's a global elite that are running the world, and many of those people, those celebrities and democratic politicians are kidnapping and sexually abusing kids, sucking their blood and using a pizza parlor as their prison and oh, they are worshipping satan, that is just the start. none of that stopped the president from congratulating her on her win. and today he was asked about that support. >> you congratulated marjorie taylor green, you called her a future republican star. green has been a proponent of the qanon conspiracy theory, she said it would be something that is worth listening to. >> she did well in the election. she won by a lot. very popular. comes from a great state and had a tremendous victory. and absolutely i did congratulate her had. >> do you agree with her on

that? that was the question -- >> go ahead? >> see, he doesn't want to address qanon, because they support him. they believe he is secretly fighting a, this global conspiracy, illuminati group of, you know, hollywood celebrities and democratic leaders who are drinking the blood of children and worshipping satan, that he is secretly fighting them. and they used to say that he was secretly fighting them with robert mueller. that was disproven, so they ignore the robert mueller thing, now it's trump secretly leading the fight. you heard the president's ignore the follow-up, he does not want to criticize them, he wants their support. he has no reason to. he doesn't care that it's slanderous and insane. green refused to talk about

qanon, we fried tried to speak . and she may well go to the washington. she was a 9/11 truther as well. >> we witnessed the 9/11, the terrorist attack in new york, and the plane that crashed in pennsylvania and the so-called plane that crashed in to the ponti pentagon, never any evidence for a so-called plane in the pontiac gone. >> people murdered on the flight and while working at the pentagon, and only after winning the primary did she acknowledge that it was not a missile that hit the pentagon. the people in georgia's 14th district that voted for her on thursday had no reason to think she was respecting the truth about the 9/11 and every reason to believe she was spreading lies about 9/11, and voted for her had. she still shows no sign of

distancing herself from qanon, with me, global affairs analyst and -- it traffics in age old tropes of the roth childs, the illuminati and anti-catholic conspiracy theories going back a long way. it's obvious that the president's not, didn't want to say anything about it, because he likes the support of the people. >> right and it's easy to dismiss qanon as kind of a joke. >> it's not a joke. the guy showed up to the pizza parlor with weapons. >> right, the fbi has classified them as a domestic terrorist

group. >> i get threats from them every day. >> in some ways, it's a john burs is e socie-- the john birc society. you had responsible voices in the republican party that basically were trying to marginalize them. and that is not happening here and as you rightly showed the president refuses to denounce them. his son, eric trump has posted a giant q on the qanon slogan on his instagram page. they are actively trying to get the support of the people that are kooks, and as somebody pointed out in today's republican party, it's easier to be a supporter of qanon than mitt romney. think of that for a second. that tells you where we are today. >> you were reporting on it, it's fascinating. the people i have communicated with some of the believers of this, and you know, some of them seem like good people that

genuinely seem to believe that there's a global kabal of, you know, celebrities and you know, who are drinking the blood of children, worshipping sat an. and a lot of them also just seem to, it plays in to whatever, i'm sure a lot of them are 9/11 truthers, it plays in to other racist anti-semitic tropes that have been around a long time. >> i call them the swiss army knife for conspiracy theories. it has a bit for everyone. you have the jfk, the every major conspiracy theory of really the last few decades wrapped together in one. and you do have now, the movement is, one thing that the john birch society didn't have, is facebook. and social media. and so, qanon is reaching out to other conspiracy theory groups.

natural health groups, and science and authority skeptical people and trying bring them in the followed, that's what we have been seeing a lot recently. >> when the guy showed up at the pizza parlor, with weapons, to free children who he seemed to believe were being held, i guess, in basement by the democratic leadership and torturing children in the basement of a pizza parlor in washington. it was just a piece parlor, he is arrested and doing five years in prison. his quote was, the information was not 100%, you know confirmed or something. it's not clear if he even know longer believes it. he may still very well believe this. they seem immune to facts. once that's proven wrong, it's sort of went away for a while, and the jeffrey epstein thing

brought it to life again and now there's a fake, you know, flight list floating around on the internet that has just about, you know, every well known person allegedly flying on it and they are receiving hate because of it. yeah, i think as with any sort of end times movement, and that's sort of what this functions like. it's sort of a dooms day cult almost. there's a sense that, there's predictions that are made, q, this anonymous message board poster that makes dozens of predictions. they don't come true and then instead of sort of doubting the theory, his followers sort of resolve their cognitive disonance, by finding ways to slot it in their world view, that happened today actually. president trump was asked about qanon as you showed and for people in the community, they have been predicting for years that the moment that president trump was asked about qanon directly he would confirm that it was true. he would say, yes, you are

right, this is all happening. he didn't, and so immediately they started to try to rationalize it and say, he didn't want to say it this time, it's too soon. maybe he will say it next time. these people will not be convinced by predictions. >> it's like they were saying the whole mueller team was working secretly to put out subpoenas against hillary clinton and they were all going to be arrested and mueller was working with trump on this. and that all of this stuff we were reporting was just a rooze then when the mueller report came out, they were saying it was disinformation that we had to put out in order to, you know, protect the work that is actually going on behind the scenes. again, logically aly, it's really extraordinary that so many people believe had this. >> yeah, but to me, anderson, the real story here is not that there's people with crazy kooky beliefs in america, we know that exists. the extraordinary story is that one of them is going to be a

member of congress and the president of the united states is not disavowing the views. >> and she is a future republican star. i have to go. a federal review in the inspector general looking had in the postal service controversy, we will have that ahead.