sean hannity on twitter. we hope you follow us back here on monday. laura ingraham is up next. ♪ ♪. >> laura: good evening from washington i am laura ingraham and this is the ingraham angle. fantastic fry friday. comey memo may have let a big cat out of the bag. did he use a meeting with trump as a set-up to tarnish him with that dirty dossier dossier? and also, it's official. the democrats have hit rock bottom. by filing a lawsuit claiming that the trump campaign conspired with russia and wikileaks to situate election. my angle later on in the show. you don't want to miss that and, get this: democrats first tried to expand their

voter base with illegal immigrants. then with children and now with felons. that's a motley crue. and another huge diplomatic win for trump. rocket man might be becoming pocket man. pledging to pocket all of his missiles, hey, and the guys haven't even met yet. maybe it was pompeo. maybe he does have the magic touch. but, first, james comey might want to pull the plug on that book tour now that the former investigator himself is under investigation. fox news has confirmed that the justice department inspector general is investigating comey's handling of his memos describing his meetings with president trump. a source saying that the doj's watchdog is looking into whether the former fbi director leaked any classified information. let's get into the details with attorney tom dupree who served as principle deputy

sent a attorney general in the george w. bush administration plus republican ron desantis who joins us from florida tonight and steven, a former federal prosecutor. gentlemen, it's great to see all of you. steven, let's start with you here. jim comey as former fbi director, perhaps thought that, look, i'm the fbi director. i can declare what's classified and declare what's not classified and so if i shoot these memos over to pal of mine at columbia law school, no big deal. he will give them to the press and it will cause a big stir and maybe my reputation bolstered maybe even start a special counsel. but, doesn't this mean that you know, comey could be in hot water now with this new investigation? >> i'm not sure that's really the case, laura. it's important to remember exactly what we know here. we won't know for sure until the inspector general has concluded its investigation about what all the facts are for sure. but the "wall street journal" has reported that

there are only two memos that comey gave to his friend that had any classified information. one of them he went through and redacted out the classified information. and the other one wasn't classified at the time. it was only classified later on. so it seems like his course of conduct here was fairly inoffensive. you can't very well blame him if a document wasn't classified until a later point in time. that kind of retroactive liability, i think he could argue is unfair. >> laura: tom dupree is self-redaction legit here? he can we americans with disabilities act. get it to my pal going to get it to the press. i will get my big sharpy and block out foreign intel names. >> even comey's defenders would admit he is walking a very fine line here. the difference between criminal jeopardy and innocent is where you draw the line with the sharpy.

my goodness. i wouldn't want to be in jim comey's shoes. trying to see if he left something in that should have gone out the door. the newspaperrer general had no patience for andy mccabe. is he in real trouble here. we will see if he has any criminal jeopardy there. congressman desantis, let's remember what jim comey said back in june of last year when he was testifying on capitol hill about why he decided to transmit those memos to his friend. and i think we have the spot. let's watch. >> my judgment was i needed to get that out into the public square. and so i asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with the reporter. didn't do it myself for a variety of reasons. but i asked him to because i thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel. >> laura: for a variety of reasons, congressman. for a variety of reasons he also self-redacted at least one of the two memos. >> it's important to point out that that was malicious

leaking of government documents. i asked christopher wray under oath is it appropriate for fbi agents to leak their work product to the press. and he said absolutely not. i do think he is facing exposure because some of that stuff very well may have been classified. but, at the end of the day, this is a guy who took those documents, he wanted to generate a special counsel, and it's interesting you look at those memos, he actually writes down in the memos, i told the president i don't leak. the fact that he is writing that in the memo that he doesn't leak tells me probably was a habitual leaker. >> laura: actually, you bring up a great point, congressman. this is from the comey memo. this is from january 6th. right after his first meeting at trump tower with the president. he said and he wrote he said i was eager to find leakers and nail one to the door as a message. that's very dramatic. i said something about it being difficult he relied we red

we need to create a narrow tifer that we need to investigate him and i worried such a thing would be misconstrued. he kept as congressman desantis said, he went out of his way a number of times to say to the president, he said, he claims in this memo that i'm not a leaker. you can trust andrew mccabe, he is a stand-up guy and i don't leak and mccabe is in your corner. memos to the file were written by people to do what, steve? to do what? >> i think probably to memorialize the conversation so that there can be no doubt later on if it comes up what exactly was said and what wasn't said. i think this course of conduct shows that comey was a bit concerned about a potential obstruction of justice. he knew there was a big trophy about it. he knew it might become important later on to know exactly what was said and wasn't said. he want to contemporaneously document it so there would be no doubt. >> laura: on january 6th he was worried about obstruction of justifiable?

>> i think quite possibly. if you take a look at his whole course of conduct. >> laura: why do you work for this man? if you think he is obstructing justice awnged are sitting there and i'm looking forward to staying on with you, and i'm looking forward -- he said what your plans? i enjoy my job. i would like to stay on. that's why mollie hemingway today wrote this whole thing smells like a big set up. the whole meeting talking about thes to yea, rattle trump or try to rattle him. we don't know if it's true. there is this thing and looks like they are saying. this tom, your reaction? >> it is puzzling. the administration is just getting started and already the fbi director is memorializing for whatever his purposes were. >> laura: you don't memorialize to make yourself look bad. you memorialize to make yourself look good. >> i think that's fair. this is exceedingly unusual. i can't imagine any other administration where a few days in you have someone needing to create this sort of record. there is unusual things going on here.

>> laura: congressman desantis, there is a comey point in these memos that talked about cnn. i want to read it he says i said media like cnn had them. the memos. and were looking for a news hook. i said it was important that we not give them the excuse to write that the fbi halls the material or that's redacted, and that we were keeping it very close hold. he said he couldn't believe they hadn't gone with it. and i said it was inflammatory stuff and they would get killed for reporting straight up from source reports. and then bing divo, just a few days later, congressman desantis, cnn runs with it and then it gets published elsewhere. this is why people were saying, again, the way this is written, this memo to the file, i said cnn would be crazy to put -- i don't know. if you are writing a novel here, yeah, there is the cnn headline until chief presented trump with claims.

russian efforts to compromise him. where door they get that from? where do they get that headline from. >> just think about it. jim comey this is a guy who never memorialized any wufertion with barack obama. he never did with loretta lynch. even though he now says loretta lynch was conflicted. it was only from day one with donald trump. that meeting to me is very fishy. jim clapper, i and most of my republican colleagues believe is the one that actually leaked the existence of the meeting to cnn. but, why would comey have. >> laura: how do you know that? why do you think that? >> based off the intelligence committee what they were able to come up with and they allude to it in their report. but, that's just out inference i make. i have think he was the guy. now, here's the deal, comey acknowledges that it's not news worthy at the time they needed a hook. what does he do? he gist them the hook. so either him and clapper knew this together or maybe he was acting at clapper's suggestion. but he provided the hook for that to go out and when is

he briefing donald trump on it i only talks about the one salacious allegation. he didn't discuss other aspects of the dossier. don't you think that's something the president-elect should have been entitled to you know about? and, yet, comey hid that from him. this thing smells very badly and i think he is going to have to answer more questions about that. >> laura: he has to come back to capitol hill, does he not, steve? i think the point that congressman desantis is making is that when you go out of your way to bring up the dossier and you bring only one of the inflammatory elements of the dossier up. that's rocket fuel. there is a lot of other stuff in the dossier. you bring up that one point. and we know now in hindsight that he was using that professor at columbia to then get information out to the press. so he had it in his mind couple months later to disseminate stuff to the press. he wanted to get out there. he wanted a special counsel

appointed. why wouldn't it be logical now to think huh, maybe he and clapper chatted about this. you know, we got to get this out. i mean, trump is rattled about this. >> set up artist is another person's, you know, whistle blower. here is a lifelong republican who was promoted by republican presidents and whose handling of the clinton email investigation at least his public handling of it arguably was very much to clinton's detriment. got a motive to -- i'm not sure that he has got the motive to do this set-up job that we're speculating about. >> laura: hillary clinton got off scot-free in this investigation. the clinton foundation investigation was totally scochesd ultimately. the idea that he like helped hillary, i never bought that argue: hillary clinton if she were i didn't know else could be in jail right now. >> what i'm suggesting is that a prosecutor would just simply announce we are not bringing charges. he wouldn't go on to say but

she was extremely reckless. >> laura: because she was. he had to say that. >> well, i'm not sure. i think you can make an argument. argumentlawye. >> laura: hammerhammer blackberries? >> shows he was not pro-clinton. >> laura: i see this as comey has shown us if he wants to get information to the press he will figure out a way to do it. now, that was a couple months later. he hated donald trump. today he said on an interview or yesterday oh, no, i don't hate him. i didn't even dislike him. oh, please he walked into that trump tower meeting. everything about trump he despises, the way he cress, the why he speaks. he probably doesn't think he is as educated as he is. he has you will. he is a lush republican. condescending supe supercilious and priggish. donald trump is a different

guy. >> one of the tragedies here, laura, historically, the reasonable why the fbi has been held in such esteem by the american public they have been viewed as independent law enforcement agency. what jim comey is doing now undercuts that what it is is portraying a former fbi director as a partisan actor, as someone who has a political ax to grind. he is going to be the talk shows and taking personal jabs at the president. it may be satisfying to him and people who don't like the president. for purposes of the american people's perception of the fbi. i think it disserves the institution frankly. >> laura: fantastic panel. a related development rudy giuliani now has confirmed that he has joined trump's legal team to negotiate the end of special counsel bob mueller's probe. good luck. rudy giuliani apparently is looking to use his personal relationship to mueller to smooth things over. okay. joining us now is someone who also knows bob mueller former attorney general mike mukasey who held that

position which mueller was fbi director. general mukasey, judge mukasey, you were on radio with me this morning and on tv tonight. it's like we are playing the whole day today, i love it? >> me too. >> laura: judge, let's talk about this wild day. now we have an investigation going on at the ig, a criminal referral of andrew mccabe who is, of course, comey's deputy. now the insuranc inspector genes investigating whether comey knew some of this information was classified when he transmitted it to his pal at columbia. yeah, i think we ought to put to rest one of the things one of your guests said in the last segment. the mommies weren't marked classified at the time. they were classified as soon as he wrote them. i had an experience when i started as ag on taking notes on a top secret procedure. and when i got up to leave the meeting, my chen chief

of staff leaned over and wrote ts/sci. top secret. secure deement mental. those weren't my notes they were the government's notes. they weren't comey's memos they were the government's memos. if the information in them was classified was classified as soon as they put it down on paper. >> laura: he said they were personal reflections. personal thoughts and reflects on the meeting he had with the president. >> personal thoughts and reflections are fine. if they were personal thoughts and reflections about classified information, then they are classified. personal thoughts and reflections. you can't simply take them out and leak them. >> laura: judge mukasey, you were attorney general when bob mueller was fbi director. and tell us a little bit about him. i know you had daily brief with him. you met at the white house with others with him on a weekly basis at least. what was it like? >> that's an excellent

question. the trouble is i'm not in much of a position to answer this. although there were many people that i met with less frequently than i met with him, i really have very little in the way of insight into what he is like as a person. i didn't get to see that. you'll notice that he always wears button down white shirts. well, he is very buttoned down and buttoned up. it's very hard to get a take on him as a person if he doesn't want to give it to you and he apparent live1 didn't want to give it to me. >> laura: when you one-on-one conversations with him, did he seem like a straight up kind of guy? because you were his boss. people forget the attorney general is the boss of the fbi director. we think of the fbi director as autonomous person. but you were his boss. and then, of course, president bush was, you know, his ultimate boss. >> nominally i was his boss. there were situations in which he performed

superbably in helping to try to convert the fbi from simply a crime-solving organization into an intelligence gathering organization. that was a tough sell to a lot of people. and we had to put in place guidelines that, i along with others at the department drafted and gave to him. and he helped put them in place and did a superb job at it. however, when there were questions some policy questions where i questioned him about things the fbi was doing, he pushed back. >> and he was somebody who was very devoted to defending the interests of the bureau. there was a saying at the fbi, never embarrass it bureau. and bureaucratic thing and they call it the federal bureau of investigation for a good reason it's a bureaucracy. he defended it. >> laura: were these disputes about the way he was handling certain types of investigations? >> i'm not going to get into

what it was about. but there was push back in the interest of defending what the fbi was doing. >> laura: who was his deputy back then? i can't remember who it was? what was it? you can't remember. >> right. >> laura: i can't remember as deputy. it wasn't andrew mccabe. >> no it was not andrew mccabe. that, i can tell you. >> laura: as we close this out at the end of this week james comey been on this book tour that seems like it's been going on for months but only really been going on a few days. do you agree that the damage to the bureau is somewhat significant given the fact that he led this agency and now he is, clearly administrativinstraffingthe pre. >> i think the damage is auto nor must because the head of the organization becomes the figure head that everybody looks to to judge how the organization performs. his handling in particular, everybody has their own

favorite issue, mine is with his handling of the clinton email investigation. bass an outrageous performance. president obama will was sending messages and receiving messages on hillary clinton's private email server. jim comey knew that. and when president obama went on television and said there is no issue here. she doesn't really intend to cause harm. what he was saying in essence is you better let her off if you wind up accusing her, you accuse me. the notion this was something he had to do for the welfare of the country is a lot of disenjustous clap trap. >> laura: i love that word. under used words and it's one of my favorites. of course you use it judge, thank you very much. you have to wonder if the democrats drank their own kool-aid here. their latest stunt may be proof that their obsession

with russian collusion is making them totally lose their mind. i'm going to diagnose this latest insanity in the angle. stay there. we had long deployments in iraq. i'm really grateful that usaa was able to take care of my family while i was overseas serving. it was my very first car accident. we were hit from behind. i called usaa and the first thing they asked was 'are you ok?' they always thank you for your service, which is nice because as a spouse you serve too.

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but, look, should we really be surprised by any of this? the wage and the fury on the left over trump's election, and their frantic search for something, anything to explain why hillary clinton lost has become a total obsession. they thought coat lucien would invalidate the election. >> there is, however, extensive press reporting on the relationships between the russians and the individuals associated with both the trump campaign and the incoming administration. >> we note russians played a very significant role in the campaign. >> so you have seen direct evidence of collusion?

>> i don't want to go into specifics, but i will say that there is evidence that is not circumstantial. >> i've always said that i believe there was collusion. >> laura: poor aunte maxine after all these months and special counsel and congressional investigation too numerous to count, what have they actually found? a multi-million-dollar pile of nothing. well, good luck to the dnc in trying to make a case in court with these star witnesses. >> have you seen any evidence that this dirt, these emails were ever given to the trump campaign? >> not so far. >> any reflection of collusion between members of the trump campaign and the russians, there was no evidence of that, included in our report. >> i understand that. but does it exist? >> not time. >> when yonot to my knowledge.>u

trump campaign and russian state actors? >> as i said, gowdy, i don't do evidence. >> laura: there is a lot apparently that john brennan doesn't do. that is just a joke. now, just imagine the discovery process, that this foolishness ever made it to trial? like what if the defense demands to see the dnc servers that they claim wikileaks hacked? you know, the servers, the democrats refused to let the fbi examine? and that the fbi for some strange reason neglected to subpoena. what's on those servers, the dnc is so desperate to keep hidden? also, how about this scene on the witness stand? does the name christopher steele ring a bell, mrs. clinton? how about his dossier? does the dnc really want to go down this road? for a media apparatus that has been predicting huge wins for months. >> evidence for democrats to

be optimistic as their chances for a big blue wave. >> big blue wave is now looking so big, so overwhelming. >> and we fell short but next year, watch out. next year is gonna be a blue wave. >> laura: this absurd lawsuit which reads like a first year law student shows that democrats aren't sure the wave may not just flatten out before it hits the shore. at this point, when you really look at the totality of all of this, rather than looking like a party that has the wind at its back this year, the democrats increasingly look like a party desperately trying to find its own identity and relevance. and trump, meanwhile, chalks up win after win on things like trade, north korea, and, yes, the economy. now, my personal advice to democrats is this: keep doing what you're doing

because american people are a lot smarter than you give them credit for. i actually look forward to their final ruling on this latest complaint of the democrats and all those that preceded it come this november. and that's the angle. joining me now for reaction is sean duffy, a republican congressman from wisconsin. and with me here in the studio is philippe reines advisor to hillary clinton 2016 campaign. gentlemen, great to see both of you tonight. let's start with you felipe, this lawsuit, i read all 64 pages. i mean it's 64 pages. and it's goofy. are they going to serve like vladimir putin with papers? this to me looks like they are not getting what they want with the special counsel. the russia collusion is not going anywhere. maybe something will happen with cohen. they have to desperately keep this thing going. breathing more air on the fire until the mid terms. is this the real deal or

what. >> well, i'm not a lawyer but i understand your point. you know, i don't know congressman did you havey. bear with me while i make a point. he was elected in 2010. >> laura: you always do little research on the guests. >> i was hoping he would be here. >> laura: you pull that every time. you come out with a tid bit. >> i work with somebody who likes to be prepared. he won decency and you won handily your last two. with all due respect i hope you lose in november because i'm a democrat and i would like to flip the house. i want to you lose fair and square or win fair and square. i don't want anyone meddling. i know no one likes to admit that the problem we are in now is that it is such a hillary clinton blames russia thing that no one is talking about russians or chinese or north koreans or whoever it may be screwing around with our election. and the point trying to make about the court is because it's a republican congress, there are no bills to

protect the election. this is something the lawsuit can't be fired. >> laura: go ahead, sean. >> it's outrageous. it's rich that the dnc is trying to file a lawsuit about russia collusion. the very dnc that hired and funded a dossier with information that came from russian informants. they are of the ones that colluded with the russians. beyond that i don't know why they don't name barack obama who didn't do anything in the election of '16 to stop the russian involvement in the election or james comey who came out and did press releases on his investigation. but, frankly i think the dnc should have included garr garmin and google maps because hillary clinton couldn't find wisconsin on the map to campaign. to come and make up excuses why the democrats lost is pathetic. they had a bad message and bad candidate. donald trump understood he had to go out and win the electorate with a set of ideas they bought into. that's why we won. i agree with your point. i hope the democrats keep talking about russia. i hope they keep nancy pelosi in the leadership

position because we're focusing on ideas that grow the economy, that make people's listlesz better and their families. and democrats can't get beyond why they lost the last elections and russia, russia, russia. >> laura: gloria was on espn today. this is what he she'd about the lawsuit. >> honestly, it's just a way to raise money. that's what they are trying to do is raise money off of it one more way to get into the act here and continue what they have been doing all along. >> okay. >> look, i would make two points. one is president trump's own intelligence community has said the russians are going to meddle in 2018. unless the congressman doesn't agree with that i do think there has to be steps to protect. on the lawsuit thing, i will be honest with you, without being a lawyer, i'm glad the democrats are doing. this the republican party has very effective live used

outlets like judicial watch and others. >> laura: media matters. move on.org. think progress. let me count the ways. >> but they don't sue. judicial watch is very effective. >> laura: it's foia requests. talk about something that's kind of funnel. this is fun. >> for you. >> laura: no. it's fun. this is the new book out by amy of the "new york times." and we have a couple of fun experts. >> i bet. >> laura: she covered hillary clinton for 10 years. the book is called chasing hillary, 10 years, two presidential campaigns and one intact glass ceiling. she lost because she woman, don't you know. this is one quote. this is what hillary says on election night. i knew it. i knew this would happen to me. should i you do it in her voice? i knew this was going to happen to me. they were never going to let me be president. >> this is not gun let's hope the next part is fun.

i wai was in the room. it was hard to take. and she knew immediately that a series of things. >> laura: why didn't she come out and do a concession speech. >> both campaigns had agreed to wait until a.p. called it. i was in the room when she called donald trump. >> laura: sean, ril real quickly. >> they the deplorables wouldn't let me win. is she entitled to be the president of the united states of america? you earn the presidency. did you go out and earn the vote. she thinks she is entitled they won't let me be the president. this quote encompasses everything that's wrong with hillary clinton. she felt shy could say i'm a clinton, bill was my husband and i'm entitled to win this election without working and givings a direction for the country frankly shameful. she will never go away. >> you are not letting her go away. >> what's that? >> laura: this is amy's book. >> fox don't let her go away.

>> laura: we didn't even get into the mention of you. we have a hard break on a friday night. guys. we let you off the hook. noipsz trying to rally the troops against tax cuts. what happens to that champ? when we get back.

i have a little grievance against these animals. >> laura: oh, fine. >> all right. >> the numbers of these emotional support animals have gone through the roof, laura, 481,000 two years ago to 751,000 animals. now, the reason people try to pass them off as emotional support animals, is because they fly free. okay? all you have to do. >> laura: free? >> alert the airline and present a paper from a medical professional showing that you need your emotional support animal.

now, the airlines are reacting. because they have been mauling people on the planes. they leave droppings here and there, which contaminate the plane. >> laura: so do the passengers. i have seen some of these passengers lately show up in pajamas for flights. >> they have to fly but not so for the animals. read that statement for the airline. >> laura: here is the american -- airlines for america lobby group. airlines have experienced a surge in passengers bringing animals on board that haven't been appropriately trained as service animals. this has resulted in our crew members and passengers being bitten and subject to other offensive and injurious behavior. oh, they need to lighten up. i would rather be sitting next to most dogs than some of the other people. >> this woman tried to get a peacock on a southwest airline and she was denied. >> laura: peacocks need to fly. that's anti-ntsb bias. >> i have one to top you. my friend walter said look up old "wall street journal" article we did. read this and have some video for you. this man brought a miniature

horse onto the plane. this was the article. pox was traveling with a miniature service horse. the horse had a bowel movement on the carpet of the bulk head. service had to do excessive cleaning in order to leave for the next flight. we found i had video of a woman who had miniature horse emotional animal in her home. look, it's opening the refrigerator for her. i mean, come on. >> laura: they are making your point. it can do pretty much anything. >> it can't be on a plane with me, laura. there is barely enough space for me at this point. >> laura: i want more support animals. one woman let me hold her dog as she went to the bathroom. she came back, this is on a delta flight. she came back and i said can i hold the dog for the rest of the flight she said sure. i held the dog. >> you are the dog support animal. >> laura: i help the dogs. >> wear one of those things that say do not support emotional support animal.

>> laura: when a chant is not a chant. >> when a chant is not a chant. >> laura: democrats seem to have trouble and do so do republicans coming up with new chants. you pointed this out nancy pelosi was at a tax rally this past week and it was saying that democrats are going to raise taxes on the rich. republicans are letting the rich get off scott-free, let's hear some of this blame chant. >> we can thought let it stand. we won't let it stand. we won't let it stand. we won't let it stand. we won't let it stand. >> repeal the tax trump replace the ones that passed it repeal the ta the trump tax, rereplace the ones that passed it. >> boy is, that bad. >> these are not chants. these are not great chants. >> laura: i lost my chain of

thought. >> it's you can't remember it. it's so long. they could try to sing it in a meter. a chant has to have rhyme. it should have a certain musicality. it should be memorable. and i will add passionately delivered. none of which you could accuse those chants. >> laura: it should rhyme, what is it from the chant handbook? you. >> i'm sharing this for you. >> laura: hell no, we won't go. that actually rhymes u give peace a chance. it had a song to it? >> i want to be bipartisan here. this is mitt romney listen to this supposed chantsd. >> laura: oh come on. that's mean. [wait a second. romney-ryan. romney-ryan. >> unmemorable chant if there ever was one.

>> laura: vape shops everywhere. everyone getting ready for the national push on legalized marijuana. >> i agree with you. >> laura: put the pot in the vape? >> the chamber of the vape has a liquid component. now, these 63% of young people, laura, teens and those in high school believe that the vape, 63%, that ecigarettes and vapes do not contain nicotine amend they andd for your health. in twattl actuality the liquid cylinder contains as much as a pack of cigarettes. they are very addictive and i think you are right. this is a precursor getting them ready to put other substances into that vape. they're not supposed to be selling this to people under 18. some manufacturers require they be 21 before they use the vape. >> laura: remember now john boehner used to be against

medical marijuana. now suddenly he is in this #alternative acre. some pot lobbying group. pot advocacy group. he is on the advisory board. >> he was a big smoker as well as the merlot drinker. maybe is he vaping the merlot now. that may be a good way for him to go. >> laura: it's friday u it's 11:00 somewhere. thanks so much. >> have a great weekend. >> laura: sounds like a bad parody of a deterrent ad. new and improved democratic party now featuring felons. it's no joke and we're going to tell you why next.

>> laura: now, we all know many democrats embrace illegal immigration to expand their voter base. the republicans like the cheap labor. this week we told you how the democrats in washington, d.c. may actually now start letting 16-year-olds vote.

both in local and in national elections. and we now are ready to add felons? oh, felons on parole to the base of the democrat party? i kid you not. well, new york governor andrew cuomo has recently issued an executive order giving 35,000 paroled felons the right to vote. joining us now, someone who supports this proposal, i'm delighted he is with us, corey johnson who is the speaker of the new york city council answered represents like the coolest part of new york. greenwich village and hell's kitchen. that's like the coolest place to represent. i mean, come on. i'm hanging out with you in new york next time i come. how are you doing, counts sillman? good to see you. >> very good. thanks for having me tonight. >> laura: give us the sense behind the felons. these aren't felons that are finished their parole. these are felons that are still within the penal system having to demonstrate good faith and lawfulness and so forth.

>> these are folks that have been paroled. the parole board has made a decision they are not a risk and they are not incarcerated anymore. this isn't anything new. ask 14 states allow this. deep red states like utah and north dakota allow the same thing. so, deep blue states, hawaii and massachusetts, deep red states, north dakota and utah. this is about reenfranchising people, reintegrating people into civic life and studies show >> laura: i don't mean to interrupt. but we have 76%, i believe, recidivism rate in new york state and similar across the country in the first five years of being released. so 76% go on to commit another crime, back in the penal system. your argument tonight is by voting, they're going to be

drawn into this system. >> it's not one thing. there are multiple things. probably the most important thing is getting people jobs. it's getting people who are let out of prison actually reintegrated. having an income to support themselves. >> laura: i agree with you on that. let's go through the other ways that felons forfeit various rights that are important to people like you and me and others. holding many government jobs. they can't hold a lot of them as felons on parole. certain welfare benefits are not able to get. second amendment rights, no can do. and they are broadly excluded from running for office, mr. speaker. so, would any of those rights, would you submit should also be, you know, given back to felons that are on parole, second amendment rights? could they run for your position, for instance, as speaker or as council member? >> sadly, in certain places, they actually can. in new york, if you are a convicted felon, you can run for office, which i'm not sure that's a good idea and

there are probably some constitutional issues involved. but, right now if you are a parolee, there could be curfew requirements. there could be drug treatment program requirements. things that have to do with public safety. allowing someone to vote does not endanger the public safety anyway. own a gun, as you just mentioned? public safety issue. >> laura: isn't this a way to get votes you? are so well-spoken and such an interesting person on so many levels. you are hilarious. i watched -- where were you going when you were dancing in a taxi recently in that video. >> i'm always happy to sing lady gaga with you. >> laura: that was hilarious. >> laura: friday i'm in love. listen to that acoustic, my friend. that's the best version of that song. but, i digress, because right now a lot of the people think governor cuomo is just trying to -- it's whether it's the illegal immigrants or i am woman. he said today i'm a woman. let's watch that for our

viewers who missed that, let's watch. >> i'm undocumented. you want to deport an undocumented person? start with me. because i'm an undocumented person. >> laura: well, we don't have the part where he said i'm a woman. he said i'm a woman. what was that? that was a curious -- i like to be all things to all people but you literally cannot be, mr. speaker, your reaction to that? >> i think this is about in many way as the point he was trying to make though i'm not sure, i'm guessing, has to do with intersectionality. identifying with folks who have been disenfranchised. governor cuomo helped pass gay marriagpasssame sex marriag. george will spoke recently in favor, ensuring that people who have prison in florida going to be ballot initiative there get the right to vote. >> laura: after parole. after parole, correct? that's his point, i believe?

>> have you seen jared kushner speak out in favor of susan collins, republican senator. >> ainsley: prison reform. >> you have seen rand paul talk about getting rid of mass incarceration rates. you have seen the koch brothers talk about the cost of prison. lawyer lawmaker when you start citing koch brothers i'm worried. they are like out boogie man. >> you look at states like utah and north dakota. >> laura: how many felons do they have in utah. probably 35,000 in a state. i can't imagine it's even 35,000. look, i think the issue is expanding voter rolls. why do it by executive order? why not go to the legislature and make the case for this to the people of new york. maybe the people in new york will be fine with this. >> we should have a segment on why the trump administration do everything by executive order? why are cabinet secretary changing the rules. >> laura: yeah. >> by executive order or by fiat. >> laura: what's good for the goose is good for the

gansder. thanks for coming on tonight. i'm coming to do lady gaga in the cab with you. 100 percent. >> thank you for having me. i'm really grateful. >> laura: hard break. we'll come right back. de in the aisle - without starting any conversations- -or paying any upcharges. what can i say? control suits me. go national. go like a pro.

>> laura: there was another national student walkout today from school to protest gun violence. this one was timed to cosign side with the 19th anniversary hard to believe with the shootings at columbine high school in colorado. joining to us discuss how to make schools safer is darrell scott. darryl is the father of rachel scott the first victim of the columbine high school shooters in littleton, colorado. darrell, it's so great to talk to you. we have so many friends in common and i'm so bowled over by everything have you done in these 19 years. i'm sure to you it seems like yesterday. and you run this foundation called rachel's challenge. tell us how you think it's the best way to proceed to actually stop these school shootings. >> well, thank you, laura, it's great to be here with you. i really wants to applaud young people as far as wanting to make a difference

and for marching for what they believe in. i want to just gentlely challenge them to focus on more than just focusing on gun control. the shooters 19 years ago said in a camera you are going to change the gun laws and add more gun laws it's not going to stop people like us from doing what we do. i'm as passionate about change as these young people are. in fact, when the cameras go away, when the passion dies down, my challenge to all the young people is to maintain their desire to end the violence. and our family has chosen to do that over the last 19 years. we created a program for schools. we reach about 1 million to 2 million students each year. over 22 million over the last 19 years. we have seen seven school shootings prevented and seen an average of about three suicides prevented every week. far more suicides than there are school victims of school shootings.

>> laura: right. >> we have done that through a message of kindness, compassion and helping connect people to one another. because, when there's violence or when there is reaction to these kind of situations, we can do one of three things. we can hate and we can retaliate. dr. king told us that hate will not remove hate. only love can do that. so we can hate and retaliate. we can debate and demonstrate. or we can relate and communicate. and relating and communicating is what our message has been. and we see the fruit of that. >> laura: i want to play for our viewers a description of rachel's writing, your daughter's writing. let's listen. >> she understood the power that a simple act of kindness can have. i have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, it will start a chain reaction of the same. >> you notate when most kids in high school are just trying to fit in, she just wanted to be herself and

encouraged others to do the same. >> laura: now, i imagine although it's hard to imagine, there probably isn't a 15-minute period, a five-minute period over the last 19 years where you didn't think about your daughter. >> that's right. and, you know, there is a lot of attention being poured -- a lot of money is being poured into the gun issue. and i'm not here to debate that there is money from both sides being poured into that as a solution. we need to look beyond the instrument and look at how we can prevent these things from happening. starting with the hearts of our kids. and i want to challenge people to pour as much money into programs like sandy hook promise, like kick start for kids, like why try? like rachel's challenge. we have a friend, foster freese put up $2.5 million from now until the end of july. and every one of you who donate $5? $10, it's going to be

doubled to rachel's challenge. >> laura: that's awesome. >> go to rachel scott.org or rachel scott.com and it's going to help us reach a lot more kids. >> laura: this is a perfect way to end this week, something incredibly positive and incredibly compassionate and real. person touching person. >> thank you. >> laura: not through a screen. it's people helping people, one-on-one. have you got to reach out to people who are in trouble. have you done that for the past 19 years. have you turned tragedy into triumph. we pray for you and for all the victims of gun violence and tragedy acontrols this country. thank you for what you are doing. we need a spiritual reawakening in this country and you are helping along with foster frees and so many others. you have a donation coming from me my friend. we'll be right back. i'm very proud of the fact

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