how deadly, at least 1,110 lives lost just today. over 190,000 in the u.s. tomorrow night, a town hall on the coronavirus. dr. sanjay gupta and i will be taking your questions. the news continues, i want to hand it over to chris for cuomo prime time. >> thank you very much. i am chris cuomo, welcome to prime time. i'm sorry to say this, but tonight i have to tell you the worst thing i ever have about coronavirus. it is a really ugly truth. or president knew that covid-19 was going to be much worse than he was telling you. he lied. he pressured others to lie essentially. too underplay. and worst of all, to underprepare. as a result, more of us got

sick, more of us died than needed to happen. he let us get sick and die. because he thought it was better for him. this isn't hear day. i wish. it's not my opinion. i wish it were. it's not an unnamed source. it's trump. >> it goes through air, bob. that's always tougher than the touch. the touch you don't have to touch things, the air, you breathe the air and that's how it's passed. and so that's a very tricky one, that's a very delicate one. it's also more deadly than your -- even your strenuous flues. this is more deadly, this is five per -- this is 5%, versus 1% or less than 1%. this is deadly stuff. >> he knew it was going to get worse, he knew it was worse than a flu.

he knew the numbers. and he knew he was being recorded. he was talking to bob woodward for a new book that's coming out, that's where the tape comes from. why would he do that? my suggestion before i get into the meat of this thing. this is the most important thing i've ever had to tell you. is that he knows that his supporters won't give a damn, i want you to hear that. i know a lot of you watch this show. he was okay telling a reporter on tape that he was going to lie to you. at the same time, he said that to bob woodward. this is what he was saying to us. >> the flu in comparison to the coronavirus. the flu has a fatality ratio of 1%. this has a fatality ratio

between 2 and 3%. >> we don't know that for a fact. the flu is higher than that. it is what it is, we're ready for it. >> it is what it is means, can't do anything about this, expression is used a lot where he and i grew up. this was the exact opposite. now, listen, the end of the day we're all brothers and sisters. i know everyone's upset about stuff. at the end of the day, none of it matters when you start looking at the big problems we have in life. if you don't have your health, you have nothing. none of you can support what you know for a fact you just heard that this president did. trump -- not trump, bide ing, whoever. your family's got sick. you know people who died. many of you, especially his followers -- many of you took it easy because of his false assurances. what he just said to sanjay, he knew was a lie.

how can this be forgive ing? and remember, there is no accident. this is on purpose. how do we know? because he knows it's out there. i'll play you what his defense is in a second. and he knows it's out there, so he's starting to attack. he wants to tweet about bad people and bad acts and liars even though he can't spell the damn word. well, i say to our president, right now who's preparing to go on with his buddies, the fox frauds, hide, not have to respond to the tape, just talk about joe biden being worse. talk about how the media's bad. they're pushing another virus on you there, because they don't want you to see this sound the way you are here. he's going to go there, he's going to lie. and they're going to lap it up. and then anybody who tells you

differently they'll attack. because they don't want there to be any truth. they want you angry, not informed. so i say this, this is easy. mr. president, i'm the dope, you're the genius, don't talk about me, come on my show and talk to me. show everyone how right you are. that this was the right thing for you to say at the right time. now, i don't expect that. i expect others will defend him, and i expect there will be lots of aing tas of those of us who keep asking these questions. and i will never stop. because this is the time to fight power, not to cowher. there is no price worth forgiving this kind of perfiddy. mr. president, you stand accuses of lying, denying and there by endangering too many of us for too long, causing illness and

death. here's his excuse. >> i wanted to always play it down. i still like playing it down. >> yes, sir. >> because i don't want to create a panic. >> you didn't want to create panic, so instead you insured it and a pandemic. tell us why it was okay? our kids in so many places not back in school, because you didn't push for the prep on testing and the resources you could have. families not being able to work the way they could have. the economy suffering in a way it didn't have to. you made it all more likely to happen by your intentional lying about the reality, because people weren't preparing and you kept your agencies from doing the same. and you knew it was worse than the flu. you knew it was airborne. you knew the percentages would

be bad. all those rallies, the people you say you love. encouraging them to come to a place in concentration. discouraging masks, not providing testing. when you knew they would be exposed to something potentially deadly? these people love you, they love what you represent. some of them support you despite you, that's how forgiving they are. this is how you rewarded them. so many of us were begging them to wear masks, begging them to social distance. not wanting them to go through what we did. you knew you were full of it. the medical implications, for you it was all political implications. and by the way, this is why it's the worst thing i've had to tell you. it ain't just him. you think he was the only one who was in those briefings? you think he's the only one who

knew he was lying and that he was going to hide the reality from you? you don't think there are all these people in the white house and congress who say, i love my country. we will find out who knew, they should be exposed and they should be shamed. again, we know the charges, the tape is him, he did it willingly. and here is how he defends what's on that tape as he found out about his neglect today. >> i'm not going to drive this country or the world into a frenzy. we want to show confidence, we want to show don't want to inst. we don't want to say we have a tremendous problem and scare everybody. we have to have leadership, the last thing you want to do is

create a panic in the country. >> you can't buy that. we all tell people things that -- a certain way when we don't want to worry them too much. our kids, spouses, friends. this is not so unique dynamic to being president. so you tell them don't wear a mask? you tell them, keep everything open? don't shut anything down? when you know it's airborne and you know it's going to be worse? that's how you don't create panic? you don't believe that. he might. who knows. forget about him, this is about us now. i've been telling you this for months. you want to protect yourself and your family, you cannot look to help from above. i know his evangelical friends were trying to say there's no god. it's all part of the same deal of hate, lying and defying, and making you think that they are

the right ones. there's a way to lead and warn people about danger. imminent danger, deadly danger, without instilling panic, and instead actually instilling a sense of purpose, not panic. that's leadership, that's winston churchill. >> mr. churchill allowing his people -- he offered them nothing but blood and sweat and toil -- >> i want you to see this. they're getting killed in world war ii by the nazis, they're getting crushed. they're coming to the u.k., they're going to bomb the hell out of london. it won't be that bad, it will be all right. forget about the shelters, you don't have to enlist. there's no need for that. that's what he would have said, where do you think we would be today. he fed his country the truth not a farce. he believed in their resolve.

the germans were going to try to bomb the british into submission, and he needed everyone to fight with everything they had. here's what he said. >> we should fight, bring confidence and strength in the air. we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds. we shall fight in the fields and in the streets. we shall fight in the hills. we shall never surrender. >> that's leadership. you're going to wear your mask, you're going to socially distance. we're all going to go home, i'm going to take care of your pay. the government's going to figure it out. it's going to be hard, we're going to get through it. we're going to find a way to get our kids back. i'm going to own country like it meant everything to this country p.m. i'm going to get the manufacturers to do it. i'll capitalize them, i'll buy everything they can make to keep

us safe. i'm going to make maga a reality, manufacturing here the things we need the most to stay alive against the deadliest health risk in a generation. what i have been told is the biggest national security threat of my administration and his head popped up says bob woodward. we would have been better off if it popped off. that's leadership. here's the truth. here are the stakes. here's what we need to do. and we'll get through it together. nobody has ever lived that reality more than america has. the only thing that's worse than panic is ensuring that people don't have a chance to protect themselves. that they don't do the things they could do to help their families, because they're listening to you. was it really just about protecting your election bid? what a stupid idea somebody gave you. how did you think it was going to help you win by making a

pandemic worse. or did you not trust the american people to not handle the truth? did you really not believe if you gave americans the truth, they would know what to do with it, and fight for themselves in this country, that only gets better when things are hard? hard times make strong people. that's why america is who she is. your decision was let me just lie to them. they're better off being victims. now, how big a deal was this? let's bring back dr. ashish jha. tough night to have you, i got to tell you, these tapes. i had given him the benefit of being dumb of not listening to briefings, of not wanting to believe the data. that's bad enough, but he knew. he took sanjay's question. and he lied about the numbers.

he lied about the relative severity during the same period, he told people not to wear masks, that places should open up, you attack those who didn't. he attacked those of us who gave a different message. and now you know you knew. he knew he was falsely accusing the rest of us, and lying to the country. what do you think the difference was medically between what he was doing and if he had gone the other way of, we all have to do the following things, we have to get testing right now, we have to get through it. we have to get through it together. this is our national resolve, this is our big moment. let's do it. what would have been the difference? is it measurable? >> chris, thank you for having me on. look, we are 190,000 americans are dead. i believe that if the president and this administration had acted with resolve, with vigor

in late january and decided to put the full weight of the american government behind protecting the american people, 80, 90% of those people would have been alive. we could have saved 100,000, 150,000 or maybe more. >> how can you measure it? >> we know, because we look at other countries that have taken the virus very seriously, some of the countries that have done badly, not as badly as us, didn't take the virus seriously. now we know that our president knew how serious this was. he knew that young people got infected. he knew this was not the flu. and if he had acted on that knowledge, the same knowledge that all of us in the public health world were screaming about, we would have been in a very different situation. we could have been a assuming korea or a japan or new zealand or germany. which has not been stellar, but their mortality rate per population is dramatically

better than ours. >> it's even worse than the woodward tape that's going around. i think they have on march 26th, the control room will tell me what the date is, i did some rooting around, my sources around the cdc and the task force. he knew well before that, that it's not just an old person's disease. young people can get it, and yet he was patting his boy desantis on the head about spring break and saying that was the right approach, young people don't get it. he knew, how many of those cases that wound up being bad were transmitted by young people who didn't know they were symptomatic. >> it still continues to plague us. you see all of this misinformation of people out there saying, young people, it's not a big deal. they -- actually, even his latest health care adviser dr. scott atlas has been out there saying, it's fine for young people to get sick. there are two problems for that. it's not fine, some of those

people get very sick, the young people end up interacting with older people and pass it along. all around, this strategy of let the young get sick is a disaster, and what is amazing to me, is that the president has known that it's a disaster, probably back since march. >> march 19th was the date he was talking to woodward. it's right around the spring break time. you hear lindsey graham and other republicans. they give their one standard thing. it's shameful, i want to go back. i got to talk to the boss. i want to start jumping these guys again, you're walking somewhere and you jump out with the camera. oh, i didn't read the book. you knew too. you know they knew. this isn't some top security national -- that's our next story, about briefers being told to not talk about russian interference any more with the president.

it's my next story. they knew, ashish, you knew. that's my point, if a schmo like me knows, the president of the united states know. >> and the congressmen know. none of them said a damn thing except to echo what he was saying. we wonder why our kids can't be in school. and why this has taken so much longer than it has all around the world. we don't have any proof that any other leader lied like this at critical points, do we? >> yeah, this whole thing is stunning. in some ways, i don't know if it makes me feel better or worse. in some ways it makes me feel worse that the president knew and could not marshall the forces of the u.s. government to act. in some ways, you know, i -- i don't know, i'm glad he knew -- what's amazing to me for months, this idea that he couldn't have known what i and every other public health person knew. it's all stunning, and the

biggest part is, it's so unfortunate and so preventable. so many people have died needlessly because of this. >> i appreciate it. we'll move on. the next time i have you on, we get more productive. people have to be like, we have to swallow this lie that this is no big deal. put on your masks, please. socially distance. i know cases seem to be coming down. they're just spreading out in other areas, this is what the virus does, doesn't mean it can't come back. just because you live in a community with few people doesn't mean there aren't going to be too many sick people. and god forbid people die. wear the masks, socially distance, please, please. i do not want you to go through what too many have. i don't even want you to be in my position, professionally or personally. now what's going to happen? this is a part that you need to think about. trump ain't gonna take this.

he's on fox right now. this is about the truth, they are going to kill people like me and the people who say that they knew and woodward, everybody's going to get a beatdown now to protect trump. so we're going to bring in tom friedman, he's got a theory he wants to explain about why that is, the politics of humiliation. what it is, why they use it, what it looks like. and god willing how to counter it, next. (vo) businesses are always making choices. here's a choice you don't have to make: the largest 5g network... award-winning customer satisfaction... or insanely great value. now, with t-mobile for business, there's no compromise. network. support. value.

choose. all. three. t-mobile for business. ready when you are. [ heavy breathing ] breathe more freely with congpowerful claritin-d.you? claritin-d improves nasal airflow two times more than the leading allergy spray at hour one. [ deep inhale ] claritin-d. get more airflow. that's your weathered deck, crying for help. while you do nothing, it's inviting those geese over for target practice. today, let's stain. and right now, get incredible savings on behr premium paints and stains. exclusively at the home depot. like the "visit a doctor anywhere our rv takes us" plan.

and the "zero copays means more money for rumba lessons" plan. find the right plan for you from unitedhealthcare. get medicare with more. find the right plan for you from unitedhealthcare. - [child] what is a wish? (submarine rings) - [man] captain, we're ready to dive. - [child] it's adventure in seeing the unknown. (dolphin chatters) it's imagination! - [man] we're ready to surface. and coming up for air. but really, deep down, a wish is hope. and right now, we need hope more than ever. that's why we need your help. by giving $20 a month, 67 cents a day, or any amount to make a wish, you make wishes real. (hopeful music) wishes provide hope and give strength to children

and their families. wishes change lives. - [narrator] call the number on your screen, or visit wish.org to grant wishes today. my derm jglycolic acid.on her little anti-aging secret- - [narrator] call the number on your screen, revitalift 10 percent glycolic acid serum. with our highest concentration of glycolic acid. resurfaces skin to visibly reduce dark spots and wrinkles. revitalift glycolic acid serum from l'oréal. that selling carsarvana, 100% online wouldn't work. but we went to work. building an experience that lets you shop over 17,000 cars from home. creating a coast to coast network to deliver your car as soon as tomorrow. recruiting an army of customer advocates to make your experience incredible. and putting you in control of the whole thing

with powerful technology. that's why we've become the nation's fastest growing retailer. because our customers love it. see for yourself, at carvana.com. let's bring in tom friedman, the politics of humiliation, you should read his article about it. it is a very interesting and intelligent look at how powerful humiliation is in pushing human

behavior. what is more humiliating than to learn that your president thought you were too weak and too stupid to give you the truth about the severity of a pandemic, such that he didn't even think you had the right or the ability to protect yourself and your family. that isn't humiliating, i don't know what is. how do you think this plays into the dynamic of this election, which is about the politics of humiliation? >> chris, the around umts i made in my column in the new york times. it's about this question of political humiliation. really makes the point that trump voters from the beginning, i think have not been paying that much attention to trump. they hate the people who hate trump more than they care about trump. and they hate those people, progressives, liberals, elites.

these are white working class americans for the most part. people without college degrees at a time when we valorized college degrees. basically said to people that don't have college degrees, your work whether it's with your hands or whatever else, doesn't measure up. that's brought resentment from a certain segment of the population. they don't follow trump for his policies, but they follow him for his attitudes. the biggest thing is how he sticks it to liberals and progressives, the very people that they feel look down on them. >> you're exactly right. people don't get it. many of his supporters support trump despite trump the person, because of his attitudes about the people who they don't trust

and who they think are trying to humiliate them. that's why this fraud on fox tries to pretend he's anti-elite when he has four names and a wife who's family has all this money. now he's anti-elite, because that's who they want people to be angry at. how does this play into that. they now have proof on tape he lied to them. and it was okay for him to pay the price for his own political ambition? >> i was talking to a friend tonight, and we decided that the uber book on the trump years by journalists should be called surely, surely this is the story that will bring him down. i'm afraid there is no story that will bring him down. trump has teflon, these people that are looking at him, they're looking through him and seeing him as a club, a stick they poke in the eye of the people they don't like. he has another kind of teflon,

there have been so many stories about his misbehavior. his teflon is mud. when you're covered in mud and i throw more mud at you, nothing really sticks any more. so i would suggest that because we -- you've alluded to this, he's on fox right now, a whole group of people watching your show, not reading about this in the washington post or new york times, we live in alternative information ecosystems. what outrages you is not going to get to those people. in the fox ecosystem or the breitbart ecosystem, it's not going to be presented that way. secondly, even if it did, they made up their minds. when you trigger humiliation in people it trumps everything. >> that's why white privilege is such a powerful tool against the democrats. you're taking people who feel they are struggling to get by, who are frustrated and failed by a process, who believe their

kids are disadvantaged because everybody has to check a diversity box, and you're telling them they're the privileged ones, and it is really dynamite to that group of white working people that are a paycheck and a half away from not having any money in the bank. what's the anti-dote? >> one of my all time favorite movielines is from jerry maguire. renee zellweger is sitting there watching someone in first class get a meal. she said to her son, it used to be a better meal, now it's a better life. so the disparity between working people and college degrees is feeding into this. i would love to see joe biden go into trump country, spend five days traveling through the countrysi countryside, sitting with people, listening to people.

i'm a huge believer that listening to people is a huge sign of respect. do i think they're going to turn around the trump base. you know what the margins -- when people feel they're respected. when they think you don't look at them as deplorables, that can make a difference. maybe the difference of just not voting, of staying home. it may be a difference of a few at the margin. seeing the working class guy from scranton is the real person they should trust. >> this is the opportunity. forget about biden. i think you're right, i think he should get out there and show why he's better. saying trump stinks isn't going to be enough. they're not voting for him, because he's a good man. they're voting for him because he's a virus of his own into the political corpus, that will make it sick because they hate that political corpus.

they hope it changes or dies. some people don't get it. they have to prove they're an antedote. this is their opportunity, the president just said more than anyone i've ever read about, his own words, tom he admitted that he was lying to his own supporters about the safety of their families, because it was better for him. he knows it's not about causing panic, there's no better way to cause panic than leaving people unprepared for a pandemic. >> one of the key pillars of leadership is, trusting people with the truth. when you trust people with the truth, they tend to trust you back. i would say two things, one, the president is saying, i didn't want to get people worried and anxious. he spent the last two weeks trying to frighten white americans -- that black people are coming to take over their neighborhoods. so this is a guy who's trying to

make the whole country terrified when he wants to, and i thinks it serves his interest. we need to go back to the beginning. this is the real criticism of trump. from the very beginning of this pang demick, we needed a policy, a plan that maximally saved lives and livelihoods. we needed to do both. focus on saving livelihoods, many more people will die than should have. focus on saving lives and people will die deaths of despair from lost jobs. we needed a plan for both, and what trump never gave us was that. so what he said was, i stopped the chinese flights from coming in. that's great, and then three weeks later, a month later he told people in michigan, virginia and minnesota to rise up against their governors for closing down their economies. trump took lives and live llihos and put them at war with each other rather than siynthesizing them into a single plan.

that is what history should and will damn him for. >> closed down china late, after it went to europe. and 40,000 more people from china got in here because of his exemptions much he doesn't want to cause panic. but he tells you the black man's coming with his crazy white friends to take your homes led by this animal named cory booker. he doesn't want to cause pangic. your election is going to be rigged, can't vote by mail. fraud. irrational fear, what are those things? that's your truth. now, tom friedman has the best selling book. thank you for being late. an optimist's guide to thriving in the age of accelerations. when i read the book, i was like, i don the understand this title. what it does when you read it, it tells you about how to deal with the cycle of information and how things move in the society today. and how to feel your way through

it in all deliberate speed as we used to say. tom friedman, he's the man, let's take a break. my family wa. now, i've got fifty employees. when the pandemic hit, i was really scared about losing my business. but osmar, my financial advisor from northwestern mutual, he told me, brother we got your back. his financial planning helped to save my business. if i could talk to my younger self, i would say, you're going to be proud of yourself.

i can't wiat to share at&t's big 5g news... (shouting through the glass) at&t has nationwide 5g? yup! and that's faster? faster, yea! but is it reliable? ah huh and secure! you should consider making a big deal about it! bigger? i said bigger! oh, big-bigger deal bigger than what i'm doing? it's not complicated. a 5g network needs a 5g device. now everyone including existing customers can get a free samsung galaxy note20 after trade-in.

i had this hundred thousand dollar student debt. two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars in debt. ah, sofi literally changed my life. it was the easiest application process. sofi made it so there's no tradeoff between my dreams and paying student loans. student loans don't have to take over for the rest of your life. thank you for allowing me to get my money right. ♪

the president's top guys at homeland security are accused of trying to shut down reports about the threat of russian election interference and white supremacists. acting dhs secretary chad wolf and his acting deputy are accused of ordering career officials to make sure that threat assessments line up only with what the president says. the complaint was filed to the dhs inspector general by brian murphy, who used to oversee the intelligence division but got reassigned after if was noted

his department got to complaints. the department generally does not comment on the specifics of oig referrals. we deny there's merits to mr. murphy's claim. murphy's attorney joins me right now. how are you doing, counselor? >> i'm good, chris, how are you? >> what is the meat of the allegation? how does your client know that briefings were changed to just mirror what the president wanted to be known and said. >> because they were conversations that he had with both chad wolf and ken cuccinelli. these were not hearsay allegations, they were direct conversations. brian murphy was in charge of the intelligence side of dhs and they were coming up with intelligence analysis that was not favorable to president trump or at least not favorable to

what spin the administration wanted to put out there, and mr. murphy was specifically told to change some of the dynamics of it, and he declined to do so. >> in ways that is always done. stay on message, this is no big deal? >> i certainly hope not. and i'm not going to say that prior administrations have not tried to politicize intelligence. this administration has gone beyond that too many times and i'm just dealing with the here and now, and in this particular case, intelligence analysis that came into the department of homeland security, they were told to change it at least this one whistle-blower refused to do so, and now he's willing to step up to the plate and say so. >> murphy's a bum, looking up intel information, he's a sneak, they reasirened him, he got upset, now he's working with the democrats to try to hurt the

president. >> his performance appraisals are at the top of the top, highest marks ever. at least in a conversation with acting secretary wolf who admitted to mr. murphy that in fact he was only being reassigned because it made him look good, because he wanted to be the nominee, to be the actual secretary which he now is. and in fact, these -- the allegations that he has filed, the whistle-blower allegations date back two years, obviously long before he had anything of what you just rattled off as the possible response by the administration. he filed some of those anonymously, know he said he's acknowledged they were his. >> why should the media and people trust him when he was investigating the media. >> he wasn't. and that's the long and short of it, and we'll certainly address that further. that's not a direct part of the whistle blower allegations, but actually what he was doing

because he would never do that, what he was doing was trying to determine what russia was doing in looking at american media. they weren't focusing on the american journalist, they were trying to see what russia was doing with that information to see if they were conducting disinformation campaigns. and wolf in fact told him, he didn't believe that brian murphy had, or his office had done anything like that. and to the extent anything was done was done with -- following the regulations of the department, whether or not those need to be changed i'll leave that to congress and the executive branch. >> did he tape anything? any emails, any documents? >> there's a lot of information, this complaint scratches the surface, if you look at it, you're going to see repeated references to, we can't provide this information because it's classified. so there are classified emails, classified documents, there are other witnesses absolutely, there were other people in the room. >> does he have the stuff?

>> he would not -- he still works at dhs, but obviously classified information would only be maintained in secure systems. and we hope to be able to provide that information to the inspector general as well as any over site committee of congress. >> counselor, appreciate you making the case, as you know, your client is welcome here, i know he still works at the agency. but he is welcome here, he's going to have to make his voice heard for people to understand these allegations, especially in this environment. thank you for setting the table. >> thank you, chris. one of the reasons i wanted to do this story is one, i don't like people hiding things from you. and shaping them in a way that is just good for their agenda, left, right, we got to be reasonable about those things. and russian interference is real, and all the reporting reveals that we're just as set up for it as we were the last time, that literally we're no better off. i've got a good voice for you on that. former fbi agent peter strzok.

you know his back story, you haven't heard much from him directly. what does he think of this whistle-blower claim. why does he call this president a national security threat? what does he think about the election, what's going on with his book, next. kids love me. i'm what they dream of. i'm a horse, but cuter. i'm a horse, but magical. pizza on a bagel-we can all agree with that. you're like a party rental. we're all finding ways to keep moving. but how do we make sure the direction we're headed is forward? at fidelity, you'll get the planning and advice to prepare you for the future, without sacrificing the things that are important to you today.

we'll help you plan for healthcare costs, taxes and any other uncertainties along the way. because with fidelity, you can feel confident that the only direction you're moving is forward. because with fidelity, you can feel confident okay, give it a try. between wisdom and curiosity, there's a bridge. between ideas and inspiration, trauma and treatment. gained a couple of more pounds.

that's good for the babies. between the moments that make us who we are, and keeping them safe, private and secure, there's webex. ♪ ♪ beautiful. from maybelline new york. get lasting hydration, fuller looking, glossy lips from our hydrating formula with hyaluronic acid. new lifter gloss in 10 shades. only from maybelline new york. that selling carsarvana, 100% online wouldn't work. new lifter gloss in 10 shades. but we went to work. building an experience that lets you shop over 17,000 cars from home. creating a coast to coast network to deliver your car as soon as tomorrow. recruiting an army of customer advocates to make your experience incredible. and putting you in control of the whole thing with powerful technology. that's why we've become the nation's fastest growing retailer. because our customers love it. see for yourself, at carvana.com.

they were the text messages that launched everything from conspiracy theories to congressional investigations. not to mention more than 50 presidential tweets and countless hours of programming on state tv, a/k/a fox. now, peter strzok is telling his story in a new book, compromise and the threat of donald j. trump. >> welcome to prime time. >> it's great to be here. >> let's deal with the order of the moment.

con texturally in your book, this is why you're warning people in the book anyway, of the situation exactly like the two we had today. the russian intelligence report. do you believe murphy, that wolf and cuccinelli would say to him, listen, this stuff's got to be tailored to what trump is saying, don't go outside the lines on this, we have to be on message? >> i recruited spies and supervised counter intelligence investigations for over 20 years. not once in that time was i told don't report this intelligence, ignore what you're seeing. i haven't seen those reports, but what's critical to understand, the administration has said russia is actively interfering with our elections right now, and they're aiming to help donald trump get re-elected. this is his administration who said that, if you take that comment in the context of these new allegations, the fact that they would be seeking to not

easte only ignore but outright bury those allegations. >> it's already out there they're trying to infiltrate it, we were doing message consistency. taking the intel and making sure it was articulated familiar with the president's messaging. >> it's one thing to sit and say that you have the information or trying to understand it. to suppress it is an entirely different matter. when you know a foreign nation -- i don't care who it is, what administration an american citizen who is the president of the united states would find it acceptable for any foreign nation to be interfering in a democratic process. why have we heard nothing. the administration says they are

concerned about russia. concerned about china, iran. what have they done about it. what has president trump done to anyone to prevent them from interfering? >> what good reason -- you're right. plain answer is you don't like it and it plays to your advantage. what's the reason to sit on the nazis and white nationalists? same thing? there's a belief leaving them alone would be good for you? >> i haven't read the report. i don't know what's in it. or what is says. i can say this, when you look at at the same times out of the department of justice it's clear the range of domestic activity spans the g mutt from actors. from right wing or white supremacists to anti-fa and other elements that span the political gamut. what has been shown time and time again. most violent elements within the

groups historically provably have been from right wing elements not left. you have to ask yourself when you hear the repeated drum beat, that based on fact and what we have seen or a political agenda based on what the president will help him in his reaction? >> we should take down bad guys whoever they are. go after them. two more things. how do we sit in this election and in terms of what we have done to keep russia's efforts minimized compared to the last time? are we bet r, same, worse position? >> worse. i have not seen anything that reassures me there is a whole of government approach going onto combat the threat. rite here and now as we're speaking people in russia are sitting blind computers looking at all the news of america. trying to figure out the flash

points that divide us. probing each and every state. the voting system. the electoral system. lt hardware. at the same time they are doing all the things they have always done. infiltrate campaigns or place agents within. i'm concerned though individual agencies after 2016 for instance the fbi did a a lot to bring together group to look across counter intelligence and organize crime. cyber elements to look at the threat of foreign influence. what hasn't happened. former homeland of secretary tried to bring up whether the u.s. should be confronting this threat. she was laughed out of the room. told don't dare bring that up in front of the president. he'll lose his mind. the only place the united states can effectively combat what's over seas is a whole of government approach. is has to come from the white house.

>> one personal thing people have to get context on in the book. i don't report on personal lives. i never had interest in you and lisa page. i want to ask from a personal perspective. how haunted are you that those text messages loom so large in the defense of the supporters of the donald trump and donald trump himself. they relied on that as proof that everything else had to be false? how does that haunt? >> look, i understand that question. i regret. i will always regret those texts. the way they were used. and relate to the worse mistake of my life. having said that, i also understand the enormity of those impacting my personal life and the professional life the work of the fbi. i can tell you this, repeated looks at everything that bureau did. that i did and the people around me did, whether inspector

general, u.s. attorney and congress. determine that all the time we were doing an objective good job for the american people. so while i carry a significant amount of regret i know we did a good job. we did the right job for the right reasons. and something america can be proud of. >> i appreciate you not ducking the question. thank you very much. good luck with the book. compromised -- counter intelligence and the threat of donald trump. why peter strzok believes our president is a national security threat. thank you, sir. we'll be right back. >> thank you, chris. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

cancer won't wait. it won't wait for appointments to open up or test results to come back. that's why at cancer treatment centers of america,

our world-class experts give you the care you need, when you need it. with appointments in as little as 24 hours and rapid test results to get you a personalized treatment plan. because cancer isn't just what we do, it's all we do. call today. appointments available now. a lot goes through your mind. with fidelity wealth management, your dedicated adviser can give you straightforward advice and tailored recommendations. that's the clarity you get with fidelity wealth management.

and tailored recommendations. lookentertainmentour experience: xfinity x1. it's the easiest way to watch live tv and all your favorite streaming apps. plus, x1 also includes peacock premium at no extra cost. this baby is the total package. it streams exclusive originals, the full peacock movie library, complete collections of iconic tv shows, and more. yup, the best really did get better. magnificent. xfinity x1 just got even better, with peacock premium included at no additional cost. no strings attached.

best part of the night. "cnn tonight" with don lemon starts now. >> really? so, here's what i have to say. i caught the end of the interview with peter strzok. interesting. it's fascinating what's going on right now especially in light of the wood ward book. peter strzok and wood ward and michael cohen book. i'll interview him in a bit if you haven't seen it.

disloyal. anyway. let's talk about the wood ward book. it's fascinating to watch politicians go on tv and say, this is a got you book. the president when he's doing what we're doing. playing the president's words back for the audience to hear but somehow it's a got ya hit job. and they don't want to really respond to it. it's fascinating. >> i haven't seen it. i have to hear it for myself. >> let me play the sound bite. >> they are fos. they knew when he knew. i have been digging into this since it came out. for months. they all knew -- did they get it wrong earl will on? yes. all the scientists in there the consensus was we don't think it will be like it is in china or europe. we'll be all right. they were wrong. when they made the shift, trump