>> is us? >> absolutely you do. how about. >> you know i do. >> what about you? um, you. >> know, i'm kind of into it. >> hence the. reason we need this room at the museum. >> trump is declassifying some things. it's surprising that he. >> goes to roswell then gets declassified. >> that your movie could be e.t. >> okay, fine. thank you. >> ashley eating. all right. >> this one is easy. we had two new jersey on set tonight. that's probably a record. um, there is no item of greater cultural significance to new jerseyans than the first album that skyrocketed our our favorite son to fame and stardom. bruce springsteen's 1975 born to run. it is beautiful from beginning to end. it makes me cry. still, uh, it needs to be preserved and treasured. put it in the museum. >> you know, i'm not going to comment. actually. >> you. don't have one. >> i'm not. no, i'm just not going to comment on the springsteen of it. but i appreciate the i

>> tonight a trump ordered a freeze. federal aid sparking nationwide confusion. and now a legal intervention is a constitutional clash on the horizon. plus, carolyn kennedy's brutal takedown of rfk jr.. this on the eve of his very high stakes confirmation hearing. the big question, though, is will it make any difference? and the trump white house says what was really going on over new jersey. but is the public buying it? tonight on laura coates live. so you know that phrase move fast and break things. the one made famous by mark zuckerberg? well, over the last 24 hours are any indication. it seems president trump is following that very same motto. on day eight of his second term, he

tried to freeze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans. more on that in a second. he signed an executive order that bans gender reassignment procedures for minors, offered buyouts to federal workers. he fired two democrats from the equal employment opportunity commission and fired the chair of the national labor relations board. and his team confirmed that they want to arrest around 900 people every day in his immigration crackdown. that's at a minimum, by the way, the man dubbed the great disrupter is certainly disrupting. but here's the kicker. everyone. we're talking about the federal government of the united states, not some startup. things can go really wrong really quickly for millions of americans. case in point, that freeze on federal aid. well, tonight, a federal judge has temporarily pumped the brakes. but for most of today, it was chaos. it was confusion. a vaguely worded but incredibly

broad memo left people asking who would be impacted. would 800,000 low income children lose access to their early education programs? with 2 million seniors still getting food from meals on wheels? >> the uncertainty, the chaos that has happened since last evening when we heard about this has caused a lot of grave concern on the part of older adults who rely on meals on wheels as a lifeline. >> now, the white house eventually had to step in and to clarify, insisting that the order was really meant to be more limited this is not a blanket pause on federal assistance and grant programs from the trump administration. >> individual assistance that includes. i'm not naming everything that's included, but just to give you a few examples, social security benefits, medicare benefits, food stamps, welfare benefits, assistance that is going

directly to individuals will not be impacted by this pause. >> now, there's one problem, because some of that aid that he's talking about may pass through other places before it goes to individual people, which, of course, one reporter was quick to point out. >> it wasn't clear to me whether you were saying that no medicaid would be cut off. obviously, a lot of this goes to states before it goes to individuals and so forth. so are you guaranteeing here that no individual now on medicaid would see a cutoff because of the pause? >> i'll check back on that and get back to. >> you. >> how comforting state officials were able to check on that. by the way. they said the online portal that they use to receive federal medicaid funds wasn't working. and the white house says it's aware and expects it to be back online shortly. no word from the administration on whether it's been fixed, but we'll get back to you on that. joining me now, senior political correspondent

for the wall street journal, molly ball, republican strategist lance trover and former senior spokesperson for the harris wallace campaign, adrienne elrod. good to have all of you here. i mean, this is day eight. i want to remind everyone, just so buckle up, buttercups on this. molly, let me ask you, trump freezing federal aid. it was blocked until now. this upcoming monday afternoon, a bit of a pause of the status quo. but the confusion and the chaos, it certainly remains. and trump called it. he called for a revolution of common sense. is this in line with that thinking, or is this problematic for even him? >> well, i think it depends where it all ends up. obviously, some things were over implemented in ways that the white house is now saying, were not their intent. you know, that whole idea of move fast and break things? the idea is if you don't disrupt the status quo, you're never going to get anything done. so they clearly wanted to come out of the gate getting stuff done in a very

forceful way and then rolling back whatever didn't sit right, which is a faster way to do things than case by case saying what it is you do want to cut off. and then there are the questions about whether the president even is allowed to do any of this. given that the constitution says that it's congress that gets to decide where federal money goes, where taxpayer money goes, and to what. so a lot of issues to sort out here. and what i think we don't know is at the end of the day, when all of the pieces settle, how much are they really taking away? and i think even they don't know yet exactly what is on that menu. >> i will say there's some new reporting, because today marco rubio, obviously who's now recently been confirmed, he issued a waiver for life saving humanitarian assistance to include core life saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter and subsistence assistance, as well as supplies and reasonable administrative costs. so you've got the concern about what foreign aid would be impacted by all of this. but let me ask you on this, lance. i mean, the omb sent out instructions and it was to

agencies asking for details on more than 2600 programs. that's quite the bureaucratic haul to do that with. but among the questions included, does this program promote gender ideology? does this program promote or support in any way abortion? does this program provide federal funding to ngos supporting or providing service to undocumented migrants? if the answer is yes, then what congress appropriated? of course, these funds. so what are they trying to elicit from them? >> well, those are those are all trump priorities or not trump. you know, i mean, he does not you know, he does not support, you know, money going to illegal immigrants. so that's the basis of all of this. look, this is going to get sorted out by a judge really soon. i think we should take a 30,000 foot view of what americans are going to be waking up and looking at tomorrow morning. they're going to be pulling up their phones, and they're going to be seeing a headline that says, donald trump wants to freeze federal spending trillions of dollars and have a review of taxpayer dollars and how they're spent. on the other hand, you're going to have, like we always do,

washington bureaucrats, democrats screaming bloody murder, that donald trump's going to end the world as we know it, something they've become way used to. and they adjudicated on november 5th. and i think that's what they're going to see. and i would give the advantage to donald trump on the headlines when they come out tomorrow morning. >> do you really think that this is a hair on fire moment, when there is the confusion as to whether aid is coming down? i mean, that's a significant question for people to, to wonder about. and of course, yes, judges could hash things out, but the interim in the meantime for the everyday person can be devastating and debilitating and uncertain, just at a basic level. so is it really that wrong for them to question and wonder, is this really part of the mandate you're talking. >> about has even happened yet? that's what i'm saying. it's hair on fire is happening when nothing is even happening. >> a lot has happened a lot. medicaid payments stop going out. that is not what the people who voted for trump voted for. >> and within a couple of hours. that's what i'm saying. no one's missed any payments anywhere. this is everybody is. it's inside the beltway rage that's going on that no one in america is really focused on. that's what i'm saying

tomorrow morning. that's the headlines they're going to see, and they're going to see bureaucrats and democrats hair on fire when nothing. >> is really i'm going to disagree with you on this. i think the average american, especially those who voted for trump, are going to wake up tomorrow morning and saying, wait a minute here. i did want someone to disrupt the system. i wanted somebody to come in and, you know, maybe cut some some funding here and there. but i didn't want my medicaid to be at risk. i didn't want my social security or medicare to be at risk. the payment system broke down today because trump made this crazy, crazy, you know, unauthorized order. and by the way, this is also we have to look at this from the standpoint of these are funds that have already been authorized by congress. there's a system of checks and balances in this country. i realize that donald trump does not care about that. that's not something that he is really focusing on, but it is something that our constitution mandates and stands for. and there's a reason why congress already appropriated these funds. so that's why the courts issued the stay today. we'll see what happens. but i think this is something that a lot of americans are looking at this and saying, this is not what we voted for. >> you know, i can't i, i know

that pearl clutching is passé. however, i can't be dismissive of the everyday person who is in fear of losing things that are going to benefit their salary on fixed incomes and beyond. that's a very real fear for people to have. but then there's the motivation behind it. and mollie, in a heated exchange with jake tapper, the top trump adviser and one of the top trump advisers, stephen miller, revealed perhaps the why. listen. >> what i'm saying to you is this there are 2 million employees in the federal government right? they are overwhelmingly left of center. the american people. i've got to finish the sentence. okay. i got to finish the sentence. the american people voted for dramatic change implemented by donald trump. so it is essential for him to get control of government. >> so is it cost cutting or control of government in the sense of the left leaning assumption? >> well, look, i will say, and we polled this a couple of weeks ago in our wall street journal poll, and the majority of voters

did say that they they want dramatic change. they want to see big things change. and this was litigated during the election. democrats were constantly accusing trump of of authoritarian intentions and wanting to be a fascist and a dictator. and the american people looked at that and said either they didn't believe it or it didn't bother them too much, in part because i think people are frustrated with what they see as the gridlock and bloat and sort of stasis of the government. i think the idea in the abstract of shaking things up is something that a lot of people support. on the other hand, this idea that everybody hates washington bureaucrats isn't necessarily true either. in that same poll, we asked people whether they would want to see, you know, thousands of civil servants replaced with people of the president's choosing. and we didn't say people politically loyal to the president or that sort of prejudicial language. and and in that case, it was 61, 31 people were against it. so this idea of remaking the civil service into a sort of army of loyalty to the

president is not necessarily something that as much as we think people hate washington and bureaucrats, not necessarily something people are on board with, and i think it's going to take to lance's point, it's going to take some of this stuff actually being implemented, going into effect, seeing, okay, now trump does have the ability as maybe he didn't in his first term to get things done in the way he sees fit to actually implement a lot of his plans, no matter what the critics say, there's much less of the sort of obstruction that bottled him up before. do people actually like that in practice? >> i agree the smoke will clear. what are your thoughts? >> yeah. well, i yeah, i agree with some of what you said. i think you made a very valid point. we are eight days in, eight days in. and this is exactly what happened in 2017. and this is what i was talking about earlier. and this to me is always the question for the democrats. how are you going to proceed? the over 77 million people in this country put donald trump back into office. he there was no one more clear about what he was going to do than donald trump. we've never had a candidate for office as clear as he was about what he's going to do. so that, to me is always the question for

democrats. and to me, what i've seen happen today is they are just reverting back to the never-trump raging about every single decision that is made. and i just don't think that's what the public is ready for right now. eight days into this administration. >> adrienne, i wonder how you see this idea of the mandate and, and sort of a carte blanche to everything he wants to do, including those who he wants confirmed in positions in his cabinet, for example, rfk jr.. you've got one kennedy family member, a very notable one i should mention, who is speaking out on the eve of his confirmation hearing. and it's his cousin carolyn, telling senators in her own voice, reading actually the letter as well, to reject his nomination. listen to this. >> i've known bobby my whole life. we grew up together. it's no surprise that he keeps birds of prey as pets, because bobby himself is a predator. bobby preys on the desperation of parents of sick children, vaccinating his own kids while building a

following, hypocritically discouraging other parents from vaccinating theirs. >> the numbers are not on the side of voting against confirming him, but who do you think her intended audience is? >> well, first of all, i think it's important to take a step back and realize that this is a very significant thing that caroline kennedy did today. she is somebody who is known to be really know, operates behind the scenes. she was just the ambassador to australia. i know her well. for her to come out and say something like, this is a really profound moment, and it's something she knew that it would break through. she knew that she was going to be using her voice, you know, at a very important time in this country, especially given her stature and the kennedy family and given her relationship to bobby. so i think, look, i don't know if it's how much of a difference it's going to make when it comes to the actual vote. but i think that this is something that is going to break through and really resonate with a lot of senators who are currently on the fence in terms of who, whether they're going to support him or not. and she made some very, very valid points. there's so much noise out there right now. there's so much, you know, this this happening. and i think, you know, when there are so many confirmations also going

on in the senate, it's oftentimes that, you know, you're focusing on, you know, this person to confirm or this person to confirm and to have her come out at this moment and really break through on bobby right before his senate confirmation hearings was really profound. and i think it's something, again, that will impact a lot of people when they decide how they're going to support him or not support him. >> i wonder if the pause will resonate in a way that influences how they will vote. >> look, we saw this happen with pete hegseth last week. i think folks in the senate and the public are kind of tired of these last minute injections before a confirmation vote or before a confirmation hearing. we saw it play out last week with hegseth. this is somewhat similar to me. i'm not sure it's going to make a whole lot of difference. >> well, we will see. i'm sure there's no invitation to the family picnic either way. i'll tell you about that. thank you so much everyone. we'll see how it all unfolds. up next, go bags and anxiety as trump critics now come face to face with his revenge tour, the fears ramping

up as the white house confirms it was trump himself who approved the purge of the doj. the attorney representing some of trump's top targets is going to join me tonight and later. remember that drone mystery? it's taking on a whole new life now, after the trump white house offers a curious explanation on what really happened. >> when we started feeding bogie the farmers dog, he lost so much weight. pre-portioned packs makes it really easy to keep him lean and healthy. >> in the morning he flies up the stairs and hops up on my bed. in the past, he would not have been able to do any of those things. >> we've always loved taking care of our home, but last year grandpa here broke his arm. we realized some home maintenance jobs aren't worth the risk. >> that's what we call leaf filter to protect our gutters. >> leaf filters patented filter technology keeps debris out of your gutters for good. >> they gave us a free inspection and we had the system installed that week. >> my only regret is not calling him sooner.

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had lines filled instantly and deep wrinkles reduced in four weeks. it's clinically proven. >> kobe the making of a legend. saturday at nine on cnn. >> breaking news tonight. defense secretary pete hegseth will remove the security detail of retired general mark milley and order an investigation into him. it is the clearest sign yet that trump is determined to exact retribution against his perceived enemies. trump chose milley to be his chairman of the joint chiefs of staff in 2019, but milley rebuffed trump's efforts to use the military on people protesting in 2020. that, of course, sparked a months long falling out. and after trump left office, milley called him, quote, fascist to the core. this comes as other officials targeted by trump for retribution are taking drastic action. the washington post reports that some people are hiring attorneys, packing go

bags, even buying weapons with me now, national security attorney mark zaid and cnn military analyst retired colonel cedric leighton. i will note, of course, that biden also gave a preemptive pardon to milley as well. colonel leighton, we begin with you here because hegseth is ordering an investigation into the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, mark milley. this statement about calling trump a fascist, that seems to be the sin that he has committed in trump's mind. but tell me about just the ramifications of investigating someone of this stature within the military. >> yeah, well, basically, it's never happened before, laura. you know, when you look at the smaller things, such as the removal of the portrait for denoting milley's time as chairman of the joint chiefs, and now they're supposedly going to remove the portrait denoting his time as chief of staff of the army. that is one way to whitewash, you know, his his past performance.

general milley's past performance. but the other part of this is that in our history, since we've had a chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, you know, since the late 1940s, we have never had a situation like this where a senior officer of this type i there are ways in which grades can be reduced, and that is perhaps one of the ways that secretary hegseth is looking at doing this. but it's clearly a big signal to the military to get in line, or else there will be potential ramifications. >> i will note one thing that i remember general milley said when he received the pardon from biden. he said, i do not wish to spend whatever remaining time the lord grants me, fighting those who unjustly might seek retribution for perceived slights. i do not want to put my family, my friends and those with whom i served through the through the resulting distraction, expense and anxiety. now, the statement from

the pentagon that was just released says the secretary informed general milley today that he is revoking the authorization for his security detail and suspending his security clearance, as well. secretary has also directed the dod ig to conduct an inquiry into the facts and circumstances surrounding general milley's conduct, so the secretary may determine whether it's appropriate to reopen his military grade review determination. um, mark, let me turn to you on this idea of the revocation of security clearance and certainly a detail as well. you have clients that you work with that are quite familiar with retribution. is this going to be the type that we will expect to see? and it seems like it's already underway. >> it's clearly underway. and it was absolutely predictable. and we were saying this was going to happen prior to inauguration because they said they were going to do this. they've been saying it for quite some time. so he actually is fulfilling his promises. the

suspension of the clearance. i don't know if the general still had an active eligibility. i mean, usually someone of that stature would continue to be on for advice to the white house, to the pentagon. but i imagine he had probably taken himself out of that loop so that he wasn't interacting anyway, so it might not have that much effect other than, you know, usually someone of that rank will end up on boards of directors and, you know, major defense contractor companies, whether they have access to classified information or not, they'll still have a clearance. so this could have a significant financial impact. and a suspension is not deemed an adverse action. so there is no due process associated with challenging a suspension. he will have to wait until a proposed revocation occurs if in fact, that is even allowed to have due process because there are procedures where someone, especially in the pentagon and the

intelligence community, can have a revocation or revocation, i can say the word right. a revoked security clearance and no due process. absolutely none at all. just stripped. it is rarely happened. i've had one case in 35 years, and i'm not aware of any others, but that's on the books. that would not be an abuse by this white house. that would be a use of existing law. >> so no due process means no advance notice. he likely learned when we were learning today, and no opportunity to be heard and to sort of defend himself and get the benefit of the doubt going forward, to have both sides be heard. but what about this pardon that he received from biden? obviously the pardon was preemptive. it would have likely no impact, though, on his ability to participate or not participate in inspector general's investigation. right. >> right. so the concern with his pardon was that he would be recalled to active duty and subject to court martial for

whatever offense they might make, that at least looks to be taken off the table. we'll see if the secretary, through the ig, wants to look at whether or not he acted in in. the colonel will know the language better, you know, bad conduct or whatever the last time of his rank where he deserves to to have it rescinded. and i've worked on some cases with that over the years in the pentagon. we've we've taken a star away from a general because of their misconduct with having affairs while married and and things like that. but, you know, we will wait and see. i guess the one good thing for the general is having myself spent decades with that office. they take forever. so we might not see any investigation completed for two, three, four years. unless, of course, trump puts in his loyalist as the ig. and then we'll see how quickly that investigation goes. >> i mean, if past is prolog, it's been eight days and it's been a whirlwind of activity at a very speedy pace so far.

colonel, let me ask you, what would be the impact if this investigation leads to a kind of demotion for him? >> yeah, that would be another case of a really unprecedented situation. i know of at least one case within the air force where a general officer was demoted for something other than the kind of misconduct that mark mentioned. this was a case where there were sexual assault allegations on, not against the general, but under his command. and those are the kinds of things that can happen where a person was demoted from three star to two star. in that particular case. so the impact of having the chairman, a former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, have their rank reduced from four star to three star would be significant, not just in the monetary way that mark mentioned, but also in a psychological way, because this is a the number one officer in the american military, by law, by statute, the chairman of the

joint chiefs is the number one officer, the top advisor to the president on military affairs, and a person who has achieved that position. it goes beyond rank. it's the position that that would really mark a turning point in american military civil relations, and it would be a negative turning point for sure. >> this is one area retribution seems to be in full swing. mark. the washington post is also reporting some of the career prosecutors who were fired by trump in the last 24 hours. frankly. they're preparing to go bags buying weapons. it appears, for protection. but you've spoken to some of them. what are they telling you about their fears? and what is the advice that you've been giving to them? >> well, they're shocked. these individuals are generally, if not completely, career prosecutors. they've worked under both administrations. they were pursuing the rule of law. and it's essentially anyone who

touched any of jack smith's cases. and i dare say, i guarantee you, it's the fbi agents who worked on those cases who will be next on the chopping block. the one thing i can say to all of these lawyers is, yes, we may very well have legal, viable legal claims to pursue. and those are being researched and in the works. don't panic. wait. nobody should rush into anything. there are so many of them that this needs to be a very coordinated response. frankly, it will take some time. what i tell a lot of my clients in in these positions is this is a matter of a of a war, not a battle. it's obviously not a physical war. so hopefully the trumpers don't get that idea. the notion of it's going to take some time to go through this, but there are some very good constitutional arguments. and as we've seen so far, the trump administration, the white house keeps losing. it's only a i think it's been a year and a half since this second

administration has started. or a week, i forget which one. i can't tell the difference any longer. but, you know, there will be some challenges and hopefully nobody will rush to it so that we can properly prepare them. >> you know, lawyers often give advice to their clients about trying to manage expectations, trying to quell their concerns until it happens to you. then you have to try to navigate the space as well. mark zaid, colonel cedric leighton, thank you both so much. >> anytime up next, the long awaited answer on that drone mystery that happened in new jersey. >> except is it really an answer, or did the new administration just make it even more mysterious? >> i don't play for money. my ambition is to play big, to help and inspire others. that's why i joined sofi. they help people earn more and save more so they can realize their ambitions.

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once again, nine tablets for just $7 is tri friday plans.com. >> lockerbie february 16th on cnn. >> well, the new jersey drone mystery is now officially solved. or is it because president trump saying today that the mysterious objects

flying over jersey a couple of months ago were in fact, quote, not the enemy? here's white house press secretary karoline leavitt with, as she called it, news directly from the president of the united states. >> after research and study the drones that were flying over new jersey in large numbers were authorized to be flown by the faa for research and various other reasons. many of these drones were also hobbyists, recreational and private individuals that enjoy flying drones. in meantime in in time, it got worse due to curiosity. this was not the enemy. >> so. but here's the thing that is almost exactly what biden officials were actually saying at the time. remember that the drones were not nefarious. listen to what trump was saying then when he was president elect. >> our military. >> knows and our our president knows. and for some reason, they want to keep people in suspense.

something strange is going on. for some reason, they don't want to tell the people, and they should. >> so will the public actually be satisfied with today's response, especially considering trump didn't accept the explanation that was coming from the biden administration. i want to get right to jon bramnick, a republican new jersey state senator. he's also running for governor in that state. also here is rob d'amico. he is a former fbi counter drone unit chief. thank you both for being here. i'll begin with you here, jon. does the trump administration's explanation for the drone sightings, does it satisfy you? >> well, it's. >> better than what we had when we started this entire drone situation. we got the answer. we weren't seeing what we were seeing. that's a tough one for new jerseyans to follow. and and eventually what happened was they started to have classified briefings and people got quiet. and now they're telling us it was faa

approved and that it wasn't the enemy. if you recall, there was a congressman who said it was a ship off the shore with possibly enemy drones. so at least we're moving to some point where people say, okay, it was faa approved, and i think they mentioned there was some research going on. that's all they had to say back a month or two ago. and i don't think there would have been a crisis in new jersey. but the answer we got was, no, there's nothing happening. at least now we know there was something happening. >> but are you satisfied, senator, to think about research? i mean, that's that's a broad term and ambiguous, isn't it? is it enough for you now to just have that umbrella term described? don't you want more information? and why haven't we gotten that? >> well, if the federal government is doing some research and i assume it has something to do with national

defense, i'm guessing, and i'm extrapolating, that there was a reason they can't tell us more. so i will assume the research had something to do with the defense of the country or something in terms of defending against drones, but i'm satisfied. at least it's not a bad guy flying around, and at least we're seeing what we're seeing, which is a big difference than we heard from the biden administration. >> rob, let me turn to you here because the white house said the drones were approved to fly by the faa for that term research. do you buy that? and what kind of research should we be talking about? >> no. it's just a different way. all the drones. before were approved. you get approval to fly drones or you have authorization because. >> it's g. rated airspace. >> and you can fly them. so it's saying nothing. >> different. >> um, research is just one reason that you fly a drone. so

it's not saying that the it's not like it was for like the 383 where faa was actually researching. uh counter-uas mitigation and detection systems. it wasn't faa research. you're just saying that's a reason that people fly drones. so there's really nothing new here. i was up in new jersey for my uncle's funeral, and in january, and i was looking in the sky, seeing nothing out. outrageous. um, that i'm used to seeing when i do counter drone work. it's planets, it's planes. it's drones that are authorized. um, i don't know how people are saying that. this is a great answer, because to me, it's the exact same answer worded differently. and i did, uh, i did hit the administration last time saying, you need to explain it better. and that's kind of what happened here. but there's no difference. i think the new administration came in. there's not enough counter drone detection systems in new jersey to tell you what they all were, because it's just not an area that's populated around airports. they have i.t. and military bases, but not the entire state.

>> state senator, what's your response to that? >> well, when we first met with the state police, the state police was getting nothing from the federal government. zero. the state police were concerned themselves because a massive drone the size of a vehicle was near a state helicopter. now, at least they're saying it's not an enemy drone. and it has to do with some research. now, would i like to know exactly what kind of research it is? sure i would, but i'm guessing based on classified briefings with the governor and classified briefings with members of congress, there is something going on that appears to be research for the federal government. and once again, we must have some secret research going on. at least there's a response. do i think it's a complete adequate response and answers all my questions? no. but at least it quells the fears of new jersey residents who thought there might be some

something suspicious going on. at least the federal government says, hey, listen, it's okay. we didn't get that originally from the federal government. they said, oh, there's nothing. this is just normal. they're not saying now that it's normal. there's some they're saying there's something going on. >> you know, i got to tell you, i'm not sure that the that knowing that it's research based on and saying that it's not nefarious and not enemies is all that qualitatively different to those who wonder if the response is classified is going to be enough. but, state senator, if you're satisfied by that at this point in time, and rob, if you have questions, that just goes to show maybe more explanations are warranted, whether we'll get them a very different story. thank you both for joining tonight. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> up next, jon stewart tearing into democrats over their response to trump's second term. >> it's enough with the. >> he's the hitler. he's the thing. stop doing it. that's

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message, and trump 2.0. democrats seek psychologists advice on trump's authoritarian behavior. and on that last point, the one about how democrats keep ringing the authoritarian bell. well, jon stewart had some advice on that one. >> look, i really hope that democrats figure out a way to contain this guy. the question is probably not. how dare he, though? the question should be, what are you learning from this? how would you use this power? what's your contract with america? democrats exist outside of him. tell people what you would do with the power that trump is wielding, and then convince us to give that power to you as soon as possible. that's the goal. it's enough with the he's the hitler. he's the thing. stop doing it. that's terrible. what would you do? >> lucky for us, because we have the perfect person to help

answer that very question. joining me now, martin o'malley contender for dnc chair and of course, former governor of maryland and a former mayor of baltimore as well. well, governor, glad to have you here. i know you're a fan of jon stewart. ironically, you wanted him to do stewart debate once at one point in time. but can you answer that question about what democrats would do? i mean, obviously pearl clutching ain't going to work. >> pearl clutching ain't going to work. what we have to do as the party that has been committed since the days of fdr to the economic security, health and well-being of every single man, woman and child in america is always bring it back to that reality. in other words, the things that donald trump did today on, you know, freezing medicaid, meals on wheels for seniors, really, and other programs. i mean, there are governors and mayors all over the country who are scrambling to figure out how to protect the people that donald trump is hurting. >> in the governors and mayors. obviously, there should be a federal response to a federal issue as well. is the last line

of defense or the first one? the local officials only? >> we need to we need to act like a party. and right now we don't have a leader, which is why i'm running for chair of the dnc, because yes, there has to be a legislation strategy. i'm sure leader jeffries is working on those things. there has to be a litigation strategy, and we trust that the attorney generals are doing that. but the democratic party needs to be since we're the last pro-democracy platform left in the united states, we need to be carrying the ball on the communications right back to people that you might have voted for him thinking you were hitting the refresh button. but the actions he's taking are hurting you and your family and neighbors in your community. that's what we need to bring it back to what he's doing to you and why we are fighting for you. >> so what is the message going to be? i mean, obviously people are looking at what's being done to them, but then they want to know more than just a listening session. as you know, you can imagine. what would democrats actually do? and frankly, a lot of what he has

done, we were on notice of he has said he would do this. so why has trump hit the ground running and democrats seem to be on the sidelines? >> i have no idea why it is that. well, let me say this. we need a leader at the dnc and we do not have a leader at the dnc. i didn't set the schedule for that. that's the way the rules are. but perhaps some underestimated just how quickly donald trump would move. there's a lot of damage that can be done. i mean, here's a man who swore to uphold the constitution, and now he's become a serial violator of the constitution, the on the birthright citizenship, on the on this particular thing, which angus king pointed out is blatantly unconstitutional. so as a party, we're going to have an election this saturday. it's important that we elect a leader who's ready to go on day one, who can take the fight to donald trump and explain, in plain language to people, these are the things

he's doing to your family right now. as democrats, we are fighting against that. hakeem jeffries is fighting against it. democratic attorneys general. and yes, we also need to make better use of our mayors and our governors because they're credible people. and if they didn't speak to people's economic concerns in plain language, they wouldn't be governors and they wouldn't be mayors. so we need to start acting like a party. we need to get coordinated in both our communications and our organization, and we cannot do that. >> and in the action, though, i come back to this same point, because there's the idea of planning and there's the idea of doing, and yet there was an interesting, interesting conversation that james carville, who, you know, is a democratic strategist, had with and with katie phang on msnbc, where he talked about maybe the strategy being, well, kind of muhammad ali esque approach. listen to this. >> we have to learn as democrats. just let him punch himself out. just a little bit before your time. but people in my generation remember muhammad ali and his rope a dope. he just let you just go to it. the first

6 or 7 rounds, and then you come in and you mess up, and then you start launching bombs, and it's hard to sit here and just look at one, you know, greenland, canada, canal zone, delta smelt, you name it. but you just you just got to keep bobbing and weaving and bobbing and weaving. and then in due course, you're going to be able to come in. >> do you agree with that strategy. and will voters be as patient to watch the beating? >> i don't think we can. i know james carville. i like james carville. i think with all that's at stake and the harm that donald trump's decisions are doing right away, real time to to families, i don't think we can shirk our responsibility. we need to use each of these as a contrasting opportunity. what he's doing to you and what we're fighting for in order to defend you, that's what this next two years is going to be about. and as i've made this run for dnc chair, i have led with a proposal to stand up an

information war room at the dnc for rapid response, for combating disinformation and misinformation, and for recruiting people into what is now the public square of the internet and social media to fight back against the things that donald trump is doing to harm the hardest working and most vulnerable people in our country. that's our mission as a party, and the biggest change we need to make, laura, is to return to our true selves and remember that we're the party that stands for and fights for the economic, health and well-being of every family in america. that's the challenge, and that's what we need to get up for and be great again. america has never needed a strong democratic party more than she needs us now. >> we'll see if you can undo what will happen. this is only day eight. >> yeah. >> governor martin o'malley, we'll see what the voters think about all of it. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> up ahead, a cold case gets new attention. who murdered child beauty queen jonbenet ramsey?

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father is speaking out to cnn. in an interview with jean casarez. 81 year old john ramsey says he's on a mission to convince law enforcement to solve his daughter's murder, using a cutting edge dna technology, genetic. genealogy. >> i think it's the only way this. >> case will be solved. the technology is there. we know. back in early 97, they sent a number of items to the lab for for sampling. a number of them were returned unsampled. we don't know why they weren't tested. >> ramsey is optimistic about working with the current boulder police department, telling cnn after a pivotal meeting monday that the investigation is moving forward in the hands of competent leadership. >> you also represent jonbenet, the victim victims deserve justice. >> yes they do. and the victim's family deserves that.

this affects my nine year old son at the time, burke, who's now an adult. he's been accused. he continues to be accused by the internet crazies that he's the killer. he's got to be the killer. everybody knows it. and that bothers him. it's not going to change my life at this point, but it will change the life of my kids. that's why i want to get it solved be sure to check out cnn.com for gene's full report. >> i want to thank you all for watching this evening. anderson cooper 360 starts right now. >> tonight on 360. >> there's breaking news. mass confusion and a major legal fight. can president trump unilaterally freeze potentially trillions in federal spending? also tonight, a global health program