a voting machine when they posted it on its website. to the untrained eye, this kind of just looks like a big computer screen. of course lots of security concerns here. but, poppy, you'll never know just what you'll find at a good will or on ebay. >> once again your reporting has my jaw on the floor. thank you very much for that. thanks to everyone for joining us. president biden about to speak in ten minutes live in philadelphia. "ac 360" starts now. speaking from the birth place of american democracy, president biden tonight will issue a warning about the state of that democracy as he sees it and what american can say do about it. john berman here in for anderson. you're looking at live pictures of independence hall in philadelphia where the president is expected to begin his remarks just after the top of the hour. we have some early passages from this speech and will talk about them shortly. first, though, take a look. this is new polling from quinnipiac and it's hard to find

anything more to the point tonight. 67%, two in three, say american democracy is in danger of collapse. the percentage of democrats and republicans who believe it, identical. however, don't go looking for a bipartisan silver lining. the poll doesn't ask people to give a reason why they believe this. so it's possible, even likely given such other recent polling that a deep partisan divide exists over what people think is wrong. to use a political science term, ain't good. it does not bode well. but it certainly sets the stage for what the president will say tonight. and the backdrop, significant new developments in the court battle over documents seized from the former president's mansion and what he said today about pardoning january 6th defendants. let's go first to cnn's jeff zeleny who is at independence hall in philadelphia. jeff, what more are you learning about the speech tonight, which begins in just a few minutes? >> reporter: john, we are berning that president biden is

going to say with some sense of urgency in his tone that democracy is not guaranteed. it's incumbent upon all americans to stand up, protect and fight for their democracy. he will argue that american democracy is under an urgent threat and assault from trumpism that has infected the republican party. look at this one excerpt. he said maga forces are determined to take this country backwards, backwards to an america where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no priet to contraception, no right to marry who you love. so you can hear by that sentence here, john, this clearly goes much beyond, farther beyond just voting rights and democracy overall. he's using this as a midterm election moment to pivot to try and really paint a stark contrast between the democratic party and in his view the republican party. >> jeff, talk more about the timing of this speech.

the president has wanted to make this speech, we understand, for some time. he's talked about the battle for the soul of the nation since he launched his campaign right there in 2019. so why is he choosing to make this speech now? >> reporter: well, john, quite simply because the midterm elections are nine weeks away, 68 days from today. so this is why there is some urgency in his message. he's been watching primary elections throughout the last several months, watching election deniers be elected for secretary of state positions, for gubernatorial candidates, and he is worried about this threat to democracy. but first and foremost, john, it is political. they are trying to sort of turn the criticism and focus away from the democratic party, concerns about the economy, inflation, gas prices, to focus on the former president and what he has done in his view to this republican party. john, it is all about setting up the stark contrast for the midterm elections. yes, we are here in front of independence hall. the liberty bell is just a few steps away.

most incorpomportantly, he's in pennsylvania for a reason. the governor's race and the senate race as well. this could certainly determine who controls the senate so that is why president biden is here tonight. >> we should say in pennsylvania again tonight, because he was just there. jeff zeleny at independence hall, thank you so much. as we wait for the president's remarks, i'm joined here tonight by cnn senior law enforcement analyst and former fbi deputy director andrew mccabe, eva mccann and kaitlin collins and evan osnos who has written a remarkable biography of the president. his latest point is called "wildland, the making of america's fury." with us as well, scott jennings, cnn political commentator, a former special assistant to former president george w. bush. we just heard jeff give some of the things he will hit on tonight. >> this idea of the struggle for the soul of the nation is

something deeply felt by joe biden. i remember a conversation with him when he was in the white house the last time as vice president about whether he was going to run for president. in the end it comes down to what is the cause. in a sense what is your vocation. what is the thing that history summons you to do? biden decided in the beginning stages of the 2020 campaign it was about a real wrestle for whether this country was committed to democracy and it has morphed over that time. it was about an armed attack on the capitol over the 2020 election. today it's about people potentially coming into office who would have control over the election apparatus in 2024. and they don't in fact respect the legitimacy of a free and fair election as far as 2020 goes. >> the battle for the soul of the nation is part of the story that he tells about why he ran this time around in the first place. kaitlin, again, what was the discussion or what has the discussion been about this speech? >> they have been talking about this for a while. so this is kind of the question that we had for officials this week, which is why now?

why was september 1st the time? and jeff is completely right that part of this is the political aspect of it, that the midterms are approaching. they understand that's going to be a real part of this. but also they won't say it's about trump. and in fact when you ask -- when reporters asked if it had anything to do with trump, if he would name trump, they said it would be a very direct discussion. it's a speech about democracy, it's not about the former president. they have been trying to emphasize that and draw that line there and say that it's not even reprimanding republicans, it's those who style themselves after trump. i think the timing of this, you can't miss the fact that the former president is back at the forefront and in the headlines with these investigations. his attorneys in court today. so they said tonight expect a more somber, serious president biden, but they also want him to be more optimistic. to look ahead and show there is a path. they argue that if you elect democrats in november that democracy can prevail. >> it's not the rally setting that we've seen earlier in the week in pennsylvania, 300 invited guests who were sitting outside independence hall.

again, you're looking at live pictures of the door where president biden will walk out in just a few minutes. scott jennings to you. jeff previewed one of the excerpts of this address and it says that president biden will say maga forces are trying to, quote, take this country backwards. how do you think that will land with republican voters? and the white house is trying to make a distinction between what they call maga forces and republican voters. >> i find it interesting that they keep saying that the speech isn't about trump but we're going to say maga. we've been saying maga, ultra maga from the white house press secretary's podium and joe biden's own lips so it's obviously about donald trump and it's clear why, because they think putting trump at the center of the election is their best chance to hold the congress, period. if it's a referendum on trump like it was in, say, the 2018 midterm, they think they have a great chance. >> what do you think? >> if it's a referendum on biden sitting in the low 40s, a referendum on the direction of the nation which is 25, 30% say right track, 70% say wrong

track, if it's a referendum on inflation, the border or crime, then it's going to be a great night for republicans. it's clear why he's making this campaign speech tonight. it has to be about trump. if it's about any policy issue that's in the top five for americans and for independent voters, republicans have a chance to do very well. so i see why they're doing it but i think it's a little disingenuous to say it's not about trump, it is. and his voters, which were about 74 million of them are going to take this fascism and extremism remarks pretty hard. i don't think it's convincing for them at all. >> the house minority leader kevin mccarthy has picked up on that, eva. i want to play a little bit of what he said just a short while ago tonight. >> when the president speaks tonight at independence hall, the first lines out of his mouth should be to appologize for slandering tens of millions of americans as fascists. what joe biden doesn't

understand is that the soul of america is in the tens of millions of hard-working people, of loving families, of law-abiding citizens whom he villified for simply wanting a stronger, safer, and more prosperous country. >> what the president said earlier in the week thaz semi fascism was a bit of the underpinning for maga philosophy. kevin mccarthy says he has to apologize for that. do you think the president will make a distinction between what he considers the maga philosophy and rank and file republicans? >> yes. and because he's been beat up over those remarks, which he said in private, that wasn't meant for a public forum, i think he'll soften that language a bit. listen, this speech isn't for kevin mccarthy. this is for the democratic base largely. i've been out on the campaign trail in recent weeks in georgia and pennsylvania. it's really surprised me when i speak to voters when they say they are principally concerned,

some of them, not all, about the preservation of our democracy. this is something on their minds. i think that is why we see the president and democrats sticking on this issue. >> we are just about at the top of the hour right now. and president biden is expected to speak momentarily. andy, while we wait, and eva just picked up on this, this quinnipiac poll says 67% of americans basically think democracy is in danger of collapse. it's split evenly, each party says the exact same thing. i'm asking you as someone who's worked in law enforcement from inside the institutions itself, not as a political question here but someone who's worked inside these institutions, what do you make of that? >> you know, i think it's reflective of the great concern that people inside government, inside institutions like the department of justice, the fbi and cia and other places across the intelligence community are similarly concerned about what they see. not in the same political way that i think is reflected in this poll but rather in the attack that has taken place,

focused on the institutions of government over the last five or six years. that's what scares them. that's what erodes their confidence and trust in their own ability to accomplish the very important missions they have to do every day. >> john, is there any wonder why two-thirds of both parties think that? because the leaders of both parties are telling them that. joe biden routinely says democracy is on the brink of collapse and so does donald trump. so you have the leaders of both parties telling their faithful that democracy is at stake here, democracy is on the brink. interestingly most americans want both parties to go in a different direction for the 2024 election. i think what joe biden is doing is less about the midterms and more about his own position at the top of the democratic party. a majority of democrats don't want him to run for re-election. i'm looking ahead to 2024 as much as i am for november. >> we just saw the marines walk in. kaitlin collins, as we're waiting for the president to walk out -- you know what -- >> one thing that we continue to

hear him say, the white house has talked about the path forward and having a more optimistic aspect to this speech. >> all right. the president and first lady walking in right now where the president will give this speech, again at independence hall. 300 invited guests there. kaitlin, again, why do they think -- how much wind does the president at this point think he has at his back. >> a lot. they feel very emboldened in recent weeks. they have talked about it publicly and touted it. just from the argument that he's making. i think that also played a factor into why he is giving this speech now given they have been talking about giving it for so long. and so we do expect it to be about a 25-minute speech. the question, though, is they want to reconcile that idea of the soul of the nation, the battle for democracy, but also optimistic and a tone given he

is president now. >> all right. this is the second speech he's given in pennsylvania in just a few nights, as we watch dr. jill biden sitting down. the president of the united states. >> my fellow americans, please, if you have a seat, take it. i speak to you tonight from sacred ground in america. independence hall in philadelphia, pennsylvania. this is where america made its declaration of independence to the world more than two centuries ago with an idea unique among nations that in america, we are all created equal. this is where the united states constitution was written and debated. this is where we set in motion the most extraordinary experiment of self-government the world has ever known.

with three simple words, "we the people." we the people. these two documents and the ideas they embody of quality and democracy are the rock upon which this nation is built. they are how we became the greatest nation on earth. they are why for more than two centuries america has been a beacon to the world. but as i stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under assault. we do ourselves no favor to pretend otherwise, so tonight i've come to this place where it all began to speak as plainly as i can to the nation. about the threats we face, about the power we have in our own

hands to meet these threats, and about the incredible future that lies in front of us if only we choose it. we must never forget, we the people, are the true heirs of the american experiment that began more than two centuries ago. we the people, have burning inside each of us, the flame of liberty that was lit here at independence hall. a flame that lit our way through abolition, the civil war, suffrage, the great depression, world wars, civil rights. that sacred flame still burns. now on our time, as we build an america that is more prosperous, free and just. that is the work of my

presidency, a mission i believe in with my whole soul. but first, we must be honest with each other and with ourselves. too much of what's happening in our country today is not normal. donald trump and the maga republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic. now, i want to be very clear, very clear up front. not every republican, not even the majority of republicans are maga republicans. not every republican embraces their extreme ideology. i know because i've been able to work with these mainstream republicans. but there's no question that the republican party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by donald trump and the maga republicans. and that is a threat to this

country. these are hard things, but i'm an american president, not a president of red america or blue america, but of all america. and i believe it's my duty, my duty to level with you to tell the truth, no matter how difficult, no matter how painful. and here in my view is what is true. maga republicans do not respect the constitution. they do not believe in the rule of law. they do not recognize the will of the people. they refuse to accept the results of a free election. and they're working right now as i speak in state after state to give power to decide elections in america to partisans and cronies, empowering election deniers to undermine democracy itself. maga forces are determined to

take this country backwards. backwards to an america where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love. they promote authoritarian leaders and they fan the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country. they look at the mob that stormed the united states capitol on january 6th, brutally attacking law enforcement. not as insurrectionists, who placed a dagger at the throat of our democracy, but they look at them at patriots and they see their maga failure to stop a peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 election as preparation for the 2022 and 2024 elections.

they tried everything last time to nullify the votes of 81 million people. this time, they're determined to succeed in thwarting the will of the people. that's why respected conservatives like federal circuit court judge michael ludig has called trump and extreme maga republicans, quote, a clear and present danger to our democracy. while the threat to american democracy is real, i want to say as clearly as we can we are not powerless in the face of these threats. we are not bystanders in this ongoing attack on democracy. there are far more americans, far more americans from every background and belief who reject the extreme maga ideology than those that accept it.

and folks, it's within our power, it's in our hands, yours and mine, to stop the assault on american democracy. i believe america is at an inflection point. one of those moments that determine the shape of everything that's to come after. and now america must choose to move forward or to move backwards. to build a future or obsess about the past. to be a nation of hope and unity and optimism, or a nation of fear, division and of darkness. maga republicans have made their choice. they embrace anger. they thrive on chaos. they live not in the light of truth but in the shadow of lies. but together, together we can

choose a different path. we can choose a better path. forward to the future. a future of possibility, a future to build and dream and hope. and we're on that path moving ahead. i know this nation. i know you, the american people. i know your courage. i know your hearts. and i know our history. this is a nation that honors our constitution. we do not reject it. this is a nation that believes in the rule of law. we do not repudiate it. this is a nation that respects free and fair elections. we honor the will of the people. we do not deny it. and this is a nation that rejects violence as a political tool. we do not encourage violence. we are still an america that believes in honesty and decency

and respect for others. patriotism, liberty, justice for all, hope, possibilities. we are still at our core a democracy. and yet, history tells us the blind loyalty to a single leader and a willingness to engage in political violence is fatal to democracy. for a long time we told ourselves that american democracy is guaranteed. but it's not. we have to defend it, protect it, stand up for it, each and every one of us. that's why tonight i'm asking our nation to come together, unite behind the single purpose of defending our democracy regardless of your ideology. we're all called by duty and

conscience to confront extremists who put their own pursuit of power above all else. democrats, independents, mainstream republicans, we must be stronger, more determined and more committed to saving american democracy than maga republicans are to destroying american democracy. we the people will not let anyone or anything tear us apart. today there are dangers around us. we cannot allow to prevail. you've heard it. more and more talk about violence as an acceptable political tool in this country. it's not. it can never be an acceptable tool. so i want to say this plain and simple. there is no place for political violence in america, period, none, ever.

you saw law enforcement brutally attacked on january the 6th. we've seen election officials, poll workers, many of them volunteers of both parties subject to intimidation and death threats. and can you believe it, fbi agents just doing their job as directed facing threats to their own lives from their own fellow citizens. on top of that, there are public figures today, yesterday and the day before predicting and all but calling for mass violence and rioting in the streets. this is inflammatory. it's dangerous. it's against the rule of law. and we the people must say this is not who we are.

ladies and gentlemen, we can't be pro insurrectionist and pro american. they're incompatible. we can't allow violence to be normalized in this country. it's wrong. we each have to reject political violence with all the moral clarity and conviction this nation can muster now. we can't let the integrity of our elections be undermined, for that is a path to chaos. look, i know politics can be fierce and mean and nasty in america. i get it. i believe in the give and take of politics, in disagreement and debate and dissent. we're a big, complicated country. but democracy endures only if we the people respect the guardrails of the republic. only if we the people accept the results of free and fair elections. only if we the people see

politics not as total war, but mediation of our differences. democracy cannot survive when one side believes there are only two outcomes to an election, either they win or they were cheated. and that's where the maga republicans are today. they don't understand what every patriotic american knows. you can't love your country only when you win. it's fundamental. american democracy only works only if we choose to respect the rule of law and the institutions that were set up in this chamber behind me. only if we respect our legitimate political differences. i will not stand by and watch.

i will not let the will of the american people be overturned by wild conspiracy theories and baseless evidence of claims of fraud. i will not stand by and watch elections in this country stolen by people who simply refuse to accept that they lost. i will not stand by and watch the most fundamental freedom in this country, the freedom to vote and have your vote counted and be taken from you and the american people. look, as your president, i will defend our democracy with every fiber in my being. and i'm asking every american to join me. throughout our history, america has often made the greatest progress coming out of some of our darkest moments like you're hearing that bull horn. i believe we can and must do

that again and we are. maga republicans look at america and see carnage and darkness and despair. they spread fear and lies. lies told for profit and power. but i see a different america, an america with an unlimited future, an america that's about to take off. i hope you see it as well. just look around. i believe we could lift america from the depths of covid so we passed the largest economic package since franklin delano roosevelt and today america's economy is faster, stronger than any other advanced nation in the world. we have more to go. i believe we can build a better america so we passed the biggest infrastructure investment since president dwight d. eisenhower and we've embarked on rebuilding the nation's roads, bridges,

highways, ports, high-speed internet, railroads. i believe we can make america safer, so we passed the most significant gun safety law since president clinton. i believe we could go from being the highest cost of prescriptions to the world to making prescription drugs and health care more affordable, so we passed the most significant health care reform since president obama signed the affordable care act. and i believed we could create a clean energy future and save the planet, so we passed the most important climate initiative ever, ever, ever. the cynics and the critics tell us nothing can get done, but they're wrong. there is not a single thing america cannot do, not a single thing beyond our capacity if we

do it together. it's never easy. but we're proving that america, no matter how long the road, progress does come. look, i know the last year, few years have been tough, but today covid no longer controls our lives. more americans are working than ever. businesses are growing, our schools are open, millions of americans have been lifted out of poverty. millions of veterans once exposed to toxic burn pits will now get what they deserve for their families in compensation. american manufacturing has come alive across the heartland and the future will be made in america. no what are the what the white supremacists and the extremists say. i made a bet on you, the

american people, and that bet is paying off, proving that from darkness, the darkness of charlottesville, of covid, of gun violence, of insurrection, we can see the light. light is now visible. light that will guide us forward. not only in words but in actions. actions for you, for your children, for your grandchildren, for america. even in this moment with all the challenges we face, i give you my word as a biden, i've never been more optimistic about america's future. not because of me, but because of who you are. we're going to endi cancer as w know it, mark my words. we're going to create millions of new jobs and a clean energy economy. we're going to think big. we're going to make the 21st century another american century, because the world needs us to. that's where we need to focus our energy. not in the past, not on divisive culture wars, not on the

politics of grievance, but on a future we can build together. the maga republicans believe that for them to succeed, everyone else has to fail. they believe america not what i believe about america. i believe america is big enough for all of us to succeed, and that is the nation we're building, a nation where no one is left behind. i ran for president because i believed we were in a battle of the soul of this nation. i still believe that to be true. i believe the soul is the breadth, the life and the essence of who we are. the soul is what makes us, us. the soul of america is defined by the sacred proposition that all are created equal in the image of god, that all are entitled to be treated with decency, dignity and respect, that all deserve justice and a shot at lives of prosperity and

consequence, and that democracy, democracy must be defended, for democracy makes all these things possible. folks, and it's up to us. democracy begins and will be preserved and we the people's habits of the heart, in our character, optimism that is tested, yet endures, courage that digs deep when we need it. empathy that fuels democracy. the willingness to see each other not as enemies but as fellow americans. look, our democracy isn't perfect. it always has been. notwithstanding those folks you hear on the other side there, they're entitled to be outrageous. this is a democracy. but history and common sense --

[ applause ] good manners is nothing they have ever suffered from. but history and common sense tell us that opportunity, liberty and justice for all are most likely to come to pass in a democracy. we have never fully realized the aspirations of our founding, but every generation has opened those doors a little bit wider to include more people who have been excluded before. my fellow americans, america is an idea, the most powerful idea in the history of the world and it beats in the hearts of the people of this country. it beats in all our hearts. it unites america. it is the american creed. the idea that america guarantees that everyone be treated with dignity. it gives hate no safe harbor. it installs in everyone the belief that no matter where you

start in life, there's nothing you can't achieve. that's who we are. that's what we stand for. that's what we believe. and that's precisely what we're doing, opening doors, creating possibilities, focusing on the future, and we're only just beginning. our task is to make our nation free and fair, just and strong, noble and whole, and this work is the work of democracy, the work of this generation. it is the work of our time for all time. we can't afford to leave anyone on the sidelines. we need everyone to do their part, so speak up, speak out, get engaged, vote, vote, vote! and if we do our duty, if we do

our duty, in 2022 and beyond, then ages still to come will say we, all of us here, we kept the faith. we preserved democracy. we heeded our words. we heeded not our worst instincts but our better angels. we proved that for all its imperfections, america is still the beacon to the world, an ideal to be realized, a promise to be kept. there's nothing more important. nothing more sacred. nothing more american. that's our soul. that's who we truly are. and that's who we must always be. i have no doubt, none, that this is who we will be and that we'll come together as a nation that will secure our democracy, that for the next 200 years we'll have what we had the past 200

years, the greatest nation on the face of the earth. we just need to remember who we are. we are the united states of america, the united states of america. and may god protect our nation and may god protect all those who stand watch over our democracy. god bless you all. democracy. thank you. [ applause ] >> president biden finishing a 24-minute speech at independence hall in philadelphia. he said as he stands there tonight, equality and democracy are under assault and he left no doubt whom he believes it is under assault by. he said donald trump and the maga republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic. a big portion of the speech, maybe the majority of the speech devoted to that very subject. i'm back with a panel of experts to discuss this.

kaitlin collins first to you. this was a combative speech and not at all subtle. >> a very political speech. i think with the exception of the speech that he gave on the anniversary of january 6th at the capitol, this might be the most political, most forceful speech in that sense that he has given since taking office. it's a bit of a surprise, because we had spoken to white house officials earlier. we asked, he is someone who strayed from naming trump very many times during his first year in office. he often stayed away from that. so as a white house reporter to hear him come out so quickly and name drop him so fast and talk about basically the brand of extremism that he thinks trump has founded within the republican party and clearly he thinks is thriving not in the sense that he wants it to, he came out very quickly and said trump and said maga time and time again. it was a very political attack against those republicans. he tried very hard to draw a distinction between republicans and republicans who style themselves after donald trump.

of course whether or not they take that distinction remains to be seen. a very political speech by president biden as this basically full frontal attack on what the white house has branded maga republicans. >> an attack on maga republicans, evan, and a defense as he put it of democracy. he literally framed this as a battle between light and darkness. >> yeah, look, it's clear this is a speech joe biden has wanted to give for a very long time. for the last 18 months he has needed to legislate. he's needed to operate within the boundaries of what washington would permit. but there has been a growing sense in his mind that actually the threat is much graver than just a political problem. as he said tonight, a really memorable moment was too much of what's happening in this country is not normal. he's appealing to what he believes what a lot of americans feel with playing footsie with political violence or throwing out a free and fair election. he said i know i'm drawing lines here but i think a lot of americans will be on the side of the line that i draw. >> let's talk about one of the

lines that he's drawing. the president did step up his criticism of maga republicans directly. let's listen. >> donald trump and the maga republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic. now, i want to be very clear, very clear up front. not every republican, not even the majority of republicans are maga republicans. not every republican embraces their extreme ideology. i know, because i've been able to work with these mainstream republicans. but there's no question that the republican party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by donald trump and the maga republicans. and that is a threat to this country. >> all right, scott, there was a lot in that excerpt to dissect really. he says not all republicans, maybe not even a majority are maga republicans. he talked about how he can work

with some republicans. how will this land? >> yeah, but there's not a single republican in the country he's endorsing for election or re-election. i mean he's not going to go out and campaign for republicans that he likes in their senate races or in their house races. this was a very, very partisan speech. his core message to me was if you don't vote democrat, we don't have a democracy anymore so that's not going to land very well at all with any republican voter, no matter what kind of republican they consider. as i was listening to this, it sounded like a convention speech to me. there's a lot of polling out there that show a majority of democrats do not want him to run for re-election. i thought this was candidly less about the midterms and more about convincing democrats that he's up for a re-election campaign. one final tactical thing. i do think it's smart for them to try to put trump at the center of politics right now. if republicans can stay focused on issues, they'll do better. if they stay focused on trump, they'll do worse. >> it was right away. he mentioned donald trump's name right away. >> within minutes.

>> and framed the whole speech around that. eva, you hear this talk about this being a political speech, and i don't think you could ignore any of the references to maga republicans there. but for supporters of joe biden, for some of the voters that you've been speaking to out on the trail there, if you do believe that democracy, small d, democracy is at stake, is this the type of defense that they have been wanting to hear? >> absolutely without a doubt. and something else that really stuck out to me is that he almost seemed to be reclaiming patriotism. often you hear republicans argue that they are the pro america party. the democrats are not patriotic enough. but what was more pro usa than this speech? and i think this is exactly what democratic voters wanted to hear. we honor the will of the people, right? a nod to our democracy but also a nod to preserving reproductive rights. he is the president of all america. you mentioned before too much of what is happening is not normal

in this country. we are still at our core a democracy. i mean all of these things, it was a very, very patriotic speech and i think that that is a lot of what democratic voters across the country, they want to be patriotic too. they want to be part of the american story too. i think he spoke to that. >> he made a direct plea to have violence out of politics. there is no place for violence in politics he says. he referenced the fact that you can't be an insurrectionist and be for democracy. for the people who are in law enforcement and to an extent are caught in the middle of this, is this something they want to hear. >> no question. no question. people in law enforcement and people within i think government more broadly want to hear national political figures, to include of course the president, to come out and absolutely call out political violence, everything from local school board officials to local election officials to our -- my own former colleagues at the fbi. no place in our country right

now. they sense very personally and daily the rising tide of threats that they face. and i think those things will be taken positively. on the other hand, i think people would like to have seen a bit more references to accountability. there really wasn't much talk about what we're doing about those insurrectionists, he was merely calling out the fact that nobody should support an insurrection. so i think it's a positive moment for those folks in law enforcement and government but maybe would have liked to have seen more as well. >> stand by for a second. we're going to take a quick break and pick up the political portion of the conversation when we come back. everyone gets a free new samsung galaxy z flip4 with a galaxy trade-in. any year. any condition. really? even if my old phone looks like this? *gasps* dude why? *gasps* how could you? it's okay people. i've trained for this. it's not complicated. new and existing customers get a free galaxy z flip4 with a galaxy trade-in.

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the former president's followers. >> maga republicans do not respect the constitution. they do not believe in the rule of law. they do not recognize the will of the people. they refuse to accept the results of a free election. and they're working right now as i speak in state after state to give power to decide elections in america to partisans and cronies, empowering election deniers to undermine democracy itself. >> the question now going forward is what impact these people the president named tonight will have on american politics and in the president's estimation on american democracy. that and what the impact will be of their leader's legal troubles on the republican party with sources telling cnn the former president is now looking to wait until after the midterms to launch his 2024 presidential campaign. this is a complicated picture. our political panel is back to help make sense of it.

kaitlin, again, notwithstanding the claims that this wasn't a political speech, talk to me about how you think this suggests the white house wants to frame the next nine weeks of the political season. >> they think the political head winds are in their favor right now. that is a large part of what picked this timing. he thought about giving this before. they had waited. they had been deliberating. he's been wanting to give this speech for a while. they picked now for a moment. he named trump within moments. if you're not someone who's watched biden during his presidency, he really tried to stay away from doing that. he would say the former guy. he would say my predecessor. he would not always name him directly. tonight he went there and he went there multiple times. and i think when it comes to what they were seeking to do here and frame what the next nine weeks are going to look like for the midterms, we'll see if any democrats pick up this message that the president used tonight. are any democrats running in pretty close races in swing districts, is that the argument that they're making? that remains to be seen i think

as well. i will say if you look at the overo overarching part of this speak, the beginning was very dark, about the brink of democracy and this argument that democracy is on the line and democrats are the answer. and then he switched and went into the democratic agenda. he talked about his hope to cure cancer, lowered prescription drug prices. it was a bit of a turn for him to make. so i do think the question is how do democrats who are out there running in races that are on the ballot take that. >> which do democrats choose? which part of that speech they choose to lean into. evan, let me play one more comment or bite of this speech. >> i will not let the will of the american people be overturned by wild conspiracy theories and baseless claims of fraud. i will not stand by and watch elections in this country stolen by people who simply refuse to accept that they lost. >> kaitlin was saying before he

was resistant to lean into trump but he gave the sense during this speech that he just couldn't take it anymore. >> yeah, i think that the reason he won the presidency was in part because he staked out a position as somebody who was willing to name donald trump as a threat to democracy. look, i remember talking to him during the campaign and he was reading a book about how democracies die, written by two political scientists who studied latin america and europe. they said it doesn't die in an inlt, it happens gradually, like twilight. his point tonight was that you have to recognize when you're talking about political violence and the erosion of confidence in institutions, those are the steps that lead to the death of democracy. >> does he think it's a winning message? >> that's why it was a merger of these two ideas. it's a political point but also the fundamental reason he ran for this job. >> scott, there was something that happened today and it does play a little bit into what president biden was talking about. president trump suggested today that he would look very, very strongly, very strongly, i think he used very three or four times

into pardoning january 6th insurrectionists if he is in a position to do so if he runs and if he wins re-election. he says he's very likely to pardon insurrectionists. is that a message that, for instance, mitch mcconnell or other people in the republican party who want to take back the senate, is that a message they want to hear? >> no. i mean this is looking backwards. it's what donald trump wants his next campaign to be about. he wants it to be about relitigating 2020, righting the wrongs in his mind of how it was taken away from him. just this week he tweeted that he thought he should be reinstated or we should have a new election right now. >> does the combination of the former president saying that or does the presence of that give the current president ammunition in this speech tonight? >> well, of course. biden knows if they put trump at the center, trump will be all too happy to oblige it. and every day we spend talking about what trump is saying and how biden is framing it and if you're on the -- from a republican messaging perspective, that's a day you're

not talking about inflation and border and schools and crime. that's a day biden is going to win. so from a pure republican operative perspective, you've got to not take -- you've got to resist this. you've got to put the american people and your constituents at the center of your messaging and not let donald trump hijack your campaign every day. biden knows this. that is why this is not an incorrect tactical impulse. they're not doing so hot on some of the economic stuff so to put trump at the center of it makes some strategic sense. >> this speech really felt like a reset that the administration felt like they needed. i'm curious to see now in the weeks ahead, democrats really needed a midterm message. let's not forget how chaotic the last two years have been for democrats in washington in terms of being able to land some policy victories. finally in the 11th hour they have been able to be cohesive enough to secure some. but democrats desperately need a midterm message. he just provided them one. i'm really curious to see if

they follow his lead and really center this argument over the health, being concerned about the health of american democracy in the weeks ahead. >> it's also not just about democrats. he was exactly right. it's also about independents. you've seen the numbers over the last six weeks or so. it's pretty clear his approval rating among independents, he's gone up nine points. it's still not great but people are responding to what they're getting done in washington. they're responding to the idea that he is drawing attention to the fact that most americans actually do not like what the supreme court has done. so those are the kinds of people that john fetterman is trying to get in pennsylvania. these are key voters and that's who he's talking to as well. >> what's interesting about these campaigns, if you look inside the partisan splits in these polls, what republican voters or conservative leaning voters want to hear, inflation, economy, border, crime, schools, is totally different than what the democratic leaning -- they want to hear abortion, climate, guns and other things. so these campaigns are on the battlefield against each other but they're two ships passing in

the night. they're talking about totally different issue sets to two totally different groups of people. i think it's risky for biden to totally ignore inflation and mostly ignore economic issues because a lot of independents do want to hear about that. >> scott, eva, evan, kaitlin, thank you all very much. next, the former president and the latest turn in his court battle over highly classified documents taken from mar-a-lago that one of his attorneys today likened to an overdue library book. discover is accepted at 99% of places in the u.s. ["only wanna be with you" by hootie & ththe blowfish] (johnny cash) ♪ i've traveled every road in this here land! ♪

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what was expected to be judgment day in the battle over documents seized at mar-a-lago turned into deferred judgment day, which is not to say a lack for interest or krcontroversy. as one of your lawyers, as the former president's did, compares said documents to an overdue library book, controversy does

follow. cnn's sara murray has the very latest for us tonight. sara, this was an interesting hearing. what happened? >> we've seen these two sides trading barbs in court filings but this was their day in court. it lasted a little over two hours. we heard an extraordinary argument from the trump team comparing, you know, the possible illegal retention of potentially classified documents, certainly documents with classified markings, as akin to a fight over an overdue library book. they are continuing, of course, to push for a special master to be an independent reviewer of all the materials. the justice department said their filter team has already been through this stuff. they said that there's no evidence that the former president's rights have been violated. but the judge said what is the harm in appointing a special master, kind of an indication that that was the direction that she has been leaning. she did not, though, as you point out make a ruling. she's going to rule on this on paper and we have no idea when it's coming out. >> what did the judge say, sara,

about the intelligence community reviewing documents if a special master is appointed? >> well, look, this is obviously an area that officials have been very concerned about as one of the potential national security risks if these documents are exposed to other people. the judge said that she would have a carve-out so the intelligence community could continue reviewing these documents part of their national security assessment. it is possible she will block the justice department from being able to review the materials while the special master does its job, john. >> sara murray, thank you, as always, for your reporting. we're joined by nick ackerman, sidney gerberer. judge gertner, i want to start with you. given everything we know so far, do you think, do you believe based on what you heard, that this judge will appoint a special master? and when do you think we might hear? >> i have no idea. that's not the answer you want to hear.

it sounds like she -- the arguments are overwhelming against appointing a special master. for one thing, trump waited three weeks almost to do this, and the review is already done. for another thing, he has no right to these documents, any of the documents, right? these are presidential records. there is no executive privilege. there's color bli a right to attorney/client privilege issues, which they have already identified. having said all that, it's clear that this judge wants to split the difference in some way. and she wants to appoint a special master. the problem is, how do you begin to disentangle the responsibilities of a special master so that you allow the intelligence community to deal with classified information, you allow attorney/client privileged information to go over what the doj has already gone over, and not interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation. so, it's a very narrow pathway, and it seems almost symbolic. she wants a special master, but it's not clear what he could do

or she could do. >> and it's complicated and in some ways it would be novel given a special master overseeing executive privilege is not something we've seen before. george, trump's lawyer tried to down play what the former president did, comparing his action to not returning an overdue library book. these are documents, some of them with markings of the highest classification. what do you think of that classification? >> to gaslight a federal court the way they gaslight people on fox news is appalling. we're talking about he took a truck load of library books, stole them from the library. the librarian came and asked for them. he didn't give them back. the librarian comes up with -- shows up with the cops. he gives a few of them back and then lies, and it turns out he's got a whole cache of the books still left in his house. that would be a proper analogy, except that we're not just talking about regular old books here. we'd be talking about rare

library books of the sort that, you know, you have to be very, very careful with and treat with great care. and this is -- this is just outrageous that they would down play the severity of what he did here in stealing these high -- national security documents of the highest, top secret order that -- whose release could result in grave damage by definition to the national security. >> yeah, that is the definition of top secret classification. nick, as we just heard from sara murray, the judge is considering publicly releasing a more detailed inventory of what was seized at mar-a-lago. what do you think that could mean? >> well, i don't think it means anything good for donald trump. i mean, again, he has shot himself in the foot with a shotgun. anything that comes out is only going to give us more context, more dates, more information that's not classified.

but it's going to put more texture and information around what it was that he stole and kept at mar-a-lago. none of this is going to help donald trump, and it's going to give journalists lots of fodder to go over, try and put the dates together, try and figure out what was going on at those particular times. it'll give you an idea of which documents were where, so you'll know exactly what came out of donald trump's desk. you'll know what came out of the storage room. you'll know what came out of any other place. i mean, none of this is good. i mean, the -- even if donald trump finally winds up getting his special master, this has been a colossal, political, and pr loss for him because this motion has nothing but put more context on what he did. and if he had said nothing and no one had ever got indicted for any of this, none of these facts

would have ever come out. >> judge gertner, both sides say if a special master were to be appointed, the whole process could be pretty quick. the judge int kated she thought it could be pretty quick. what does that mean? any sense? >> well, pretty quick is a relative term. special master has to be selected. both sides typically give names to the judge and the judge has to pick. the special master can't be anyone who has -- who could be disqualified because of pash y'allty. so, this is not going to be easy to pick somebody, former judge or whatever. it's not going to be easy to do. there were -- you know, what was it? how many boxes of material we're now talking about. how quick could that be? and, again, i don't completely understand how she is going to draw the lines. the classified information will be in one box, okay, one bucket. but does she give someone then total review of everything that isn't classified? how can that not delay the proceedings here?

>> george, very quickly, the former president on his speed outlet today has been complaining repeatedly about the picture that was put in the doj's filing which showed the documents laid out on the floor to take a picture of them. and he seemed to be most upset that they were put out in a messy way. but in the process, he also acknowledged that they came from his cartons. what do you make of that? >> well, it's funny. a few weeks ago he seemed to have acquainted himself quite well with the fifth amendment to the united states when he pled it 440 times in a state deposition in new york. he should go back to that and stop making statements because every time he makes a statement, he seems to be incriminating himself more. he just admitted he had these classified documents in his office. doesn't matter if they were in a floor, in a drawer, on a box, or on a shelf, he had them, he stole them, and they were in his office. and that's basically all she wrote. that's -- that's a crime. >> george conway, nancy gertner,

nick ackerman, thank you all for being with us on this busy night. we'll be right back. to tell you something? the clues are all around us... not that one... that's the one. at university of phoenix, you could earn your master's degree in less than a year for under $11k. learn more at phoenix.edu

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-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com it has been a big night however you look at it. and there's still more to come. with that in mind, let's hand it over to victor blackwell and "cnn tonight." >> john, thank you. i'm victor blackwell, and this is "cnn tonight." it is unprecedented to hea