that will do it for me this week. join me next sunday at 4:00 p.m. to break down the major stories of the week. you can reach out to me, of course, as always on social media. now i turn it over to reverend al sharpton and "politics nation." good evening. and welcome to "politics nation." tonight's lead, fault line at the border. democratic lawmakers prepare their challengers for president trump's national emergency. as the administration looks to divert funding from one of its favorite rallying cries. the military.

to get the president his wall without going through congress. >> he's pretty much daring the court to strike this down. >> the wall the president wants to build is not appropriate, and, in fact, it's just a fulfillment of a campaign promise he hasn't been able to keep. >> lending the charge with a lot of energy and leading the charge at a state level. california's attorney general explicit today on if and when the trump administration can expect its first multistate lawsuit over the emergency. >> definitely, and imminently. we are prepared. we knew something like this might happen. and with our sister state partners, we are ready to go. we're confident there are at least 8 billion ways that we can prove harm. >> and there's a lot of talk about that here. i am in california live today. president trump is headed back to washington after spending the weekend at his mar-a-lago

resort. he spent his morning hate-tweeting against his enemies and the media, and "saturday night live," because that's presidential. as republican lawmakers and trump advisers carried water for their boss, logistically -- >> the president has authority. yes, it is a crisis and emergency along our border. >> this is a serious situation. this is a crisis. >> he's going to protect his national emergency declaration, guaranteed. >> joining me now, two radio hosts who cater to different audiences. on the left, mark thompson, host of "make it plain" on siriusxm radio. on the right, eric erickson, editor of "the resurgent" and host of "the eric erickson show" on wsb radio. eric, the president says he has

called for this national emergency. he predicted it will go to court. i'm in los angeles, and clearly the california state attorney general has said definitely their part of legally challenging this. didn't the president really give ammunition to those opposing this when he said it really -- he didn't have to do it, which is really antithetical to what an emergency is? >> listen, i've told the white house i'm opposed to this emergency declaration, and they understand. there are a lot of conservatives who also don't like it. the president himself, however, thinks this is the only option. and i do think it's worth meditating on for just a moment the reason the president is in this position is because republicans got him to this position. it was republicans who held congress for two years, who could have done this, who didn't do this, they waited until the very last minute, had a government shutdown, handled the shutdown poorly and so now we're here. i've told the white house, that's my position. i know they're hearing from

members of congress, some of whom are publicly supporting the emergency but behind the scenes trying to walk it back. >> mark thompson, this started with the president saying he needed $20 billion. it went down to $5.7 billion. now he got $1.4 billion, and that's for just part particles on the wall or some kinds of things that is much less than a wall. it's a resounding defeat for the president. why not leave good enough alone? why come back with this national emergency, which is only going to end up in court, only prolongs this debate of what experts are saying is unnecessary in the first place? is this ego? is this just playing to his base, mark? >> well, it's playing to his base, even, i think, unnecessarily, reverend al. his base will accept what he says. he could almost claim a victory, even though he's been defeated. some people even think that he's been saying, you know, the wall has been built, but we know it

hasn't been. some people believe that. i think that he is trying to create as much of a distraction from the ongoing investigations that the special counsel in the southern district of new york and obviously the democratic house are about to get into. this is a wedge issue. it divides the country. republicans can't win elections without dividing the country. and if you look at the timetable on this, this will take a long time, as he did a sing song thing from the rose garden and then he'll go to the supreme court and all of that. that's going to take time. not to mention how many years it will take to build a wall in the first place. it won't even get built. so he is going to do a repeat of 2016. the wall will be his issue in 2020 again. i think that's really what his agenda is. not to mention the fact, as i said on yesterday, you know, people with tiny hands need to build tall buildings and build long walls. and then even have some type of long game. lastly, i would say, he keeps

referencing women with tape and prayer rugs. we know he's got the movie sicario. whether he's getting this whole wall thing from jack nicholson and "a few good men." you need me on that wall. everything he does, he gets from television or media. and it's not really rooted in fact. but this is a big, big mistake. >> well, he loves movies, he loves tv. but let me go back to this whole question of is he trying to distract the public's attention. eric, listen to congressman adam schiff today about the fight to come. >> he's pretty much daring the court to strike this down. so it's hard to imagine a poorer case. i'll say this, dana. it is going to be a real test for my gop colleagues in congress and their devotion to the institution. if we give away -- if we surrender the power of the purse, which is our most important power, there will be little check and no balance

left. it will not be a separation of powers any more. just a separation of parties. so this is going to be a moment of truth for my gop colleagues. >> and now listen to house minority leader, republican kevin mccarthy. >> the president, one, has the authority. yes, it is a crisis and emergency along our border. this is moving it in the right direction. is it as far as i want it to go? no. it was a down payment moving forward. i believe at the end of the day, this wall is going to be built. not sea to shining sea, but about 200 miles. >> now, eric, repeating what mark talked about, the president with his back and forth singsong i think was the term used -- the court going to this appellate division and then the supreme court. how do you sell if you're mccarthy this emergency, this need to do this to stop the coming to get us when everybody

is acknowledging, it's going to be in the court for months, if not longer, and it will take time to build a wall. i mean, what kind of emergency do you have that will be through the 2020 election before this is even resolved? i mean, do people think that -- around the president and the president that people are that gullible? >> well, this gets to mark's point of distraction. i don't think it's to distract from investigations. i think it's to distract from the fact that the president has failed to deliver on one of his signature initiatives, which was building the wall. and he failed because of republicans in congress. not because of democrats. so by declaring an emergency and passing it off to the courts, where the courts can say you can't do this, he can say, see, see, it's the liberals in the court system that are the problem. and that's why i'm stacking new conservative judges and so you've got to get me re-elected to put in more conservatives to stop these liberal judges. that's the deflection here. a deflection from the fact that republicans had congress for two years. you hear kevin mccarthy now saying this is somehow an emergency. it wasn't an emergency for the

two years kevin mccarthy was the majority leader? >> you talked to someone at the white house, you said, and you said that you told them you didn't support the emergency. what did they say? who did you talk to? >> well, i talked to one of the president's advisers and told him i thought this was a terrible precedent for future presidents, as well. that future presidents could be able to say, oh, couldn't get what i wanted from congress so i'm going to declare an emergency. then it was bad for him and also hard to actually say it's an emergency when the numbers show improvement at the border. and they understood those things, but they also think that they can rely on article 4 of the constitution, that the federal government has a duty to -- to protect states from invasion and they can say these caravans qualify as that -- >> what do you mean, invasion? if you're going to protect from an invasion, you might need to show and demonstrate an invasion. >> right. >> mark, i think what eric is raising, is something that i'm not hearing a lot of the

democrats say. as we go into 2020, a lot of the senate is up. this time it leans more the republican seats are the ones that are the ones more challenged. why are the democrats saying and challenging them that if this wall were so important, if we were facing an invasion, why didn't y'all do it when you had the majority of the house, the senate and the white house? why did you wait until the midterm elections to try to bring this issue back up to energize your base? >> well, i think, rev, the democrats sometimes take for granted that the majority of the american public kind of sees us on their own and it's transparent. democrats probably should say it a bit more emphatically and not rely on it being simply understood. on the other hand, and i'm really wondering, erick is a conservative. he's not talking much like one. but i appreciate that. are you sure -- >> i'm conservative. i want a massive government overreach. >> he's doing all right in my

book tonight. >> he is. congratulations. you know, i may have a hard time disagreeing with him. >> he's doing all right in my book tonight. >> i am having a hard time disagreeing with him. but since you brought that up, reverend al, and i'm sure erick would agree with this, as well. those republicans that are jumping on this bandwagon who are not having the courage to point out how wrong this is, and how there is no invasion, there is no emergency, not to mention he admitted in a press conference, i didn't have to do this. i'm just doing it. which, you know, betrays the very notion of an emergency. >> and he mentioned 2020. >> and he mentioned 2020. but, see, because so many republicans are up, they don't want to be primary. and they don't someone on their far right who represents trump to run against them. that's really what this is all about. it's not about a wall. it's not about an invasion. there are no caravans. this is about people trying to protect themselves and their own home states. >> erick, will the president get a primary? we saw former governor weld

announce an exploratory committee yesterday. i had a republican strategist on last night when i was in washington that says, she feels the president may get two or three more challenges. kasich is looking at it. do you think president trump will face a republican primary next year? >> with the exception of bill weld, i don't think so. and i don't think bill weld will give him a run for miss money. i think president trump could probably beat him among massachusetts republicans, as well. i had assumed there would be. but the longer this goes along and the more the republican party has changed some of the primary rules, it makes it very cost prohibitive. and frankly, i've talked to three different candidates who are very interested in running and they view john kasich as not viable as a candidate, but also viable enough to run and keep everyone else out. so, i mean, i think if kasich runs, which it looks like he's going to do, he actually hurts a third party or independent shot at beating the president in a primary. >> so you think kasich does run. you think weld will not matter.

>> right. i don't think weld matters. i think kasich runs. the question is, does he run as a republican or third party? >> now, mark thompson, yesterday i was at the dnc, speaking on voter rights. and one of the things that i'm questioning is what type of candidate. i'm not asking for a name. what type of candidate do you think the democrats would need to defeat president trump if trump is, in fact, the nominee? >> well -- >> because -- and let me tell you where i'm going with this. >> please. >> because who may be popular in the primaries in terms of leaning toward progressives as we call it or on the left may not be good in the general. and who is good in the general election may not be able to win the primaries, because they're not progressive enough. >> right. >> so how do we thread that needle? >> well, you know, i don't think there will be much of a needle to thread.

and i think the train has left the station as far as democratic party is concerned. the old template no longer applies. we can tell that from diversity of the candidate pool, more women, more people of color. i just think it's going to be very, very different. and because the democratic party is thinking more idealistically or some would say moving more to the left, you're going get a nominee that's going to be about that. a nominee that supports a green new deal. a nominee that supports no longer giving welfare to the rich and corporations. a nominee that supports voting rights and -- >> but can that nominee win a general election? >> i believe so. i think people have learned from 2016. i don't think that the majority of people in this country can stand another four years of trump. and if i could, reverend, just even on -- what you and erick were discussing in terms of

republicans, i think that's too early to tell. we still don't know yet what the mueller report is going to say or what the house committee is going to do or whether or not the southern district might find a way to indict the president or unseal an indictment that may already exist. that's going to change the game, too, if that happens. >> all right. i'm going to hold you -- both my panelists are sticking around. but up next, a congresswoman whose son was shot and killed says gun violence is the real national emergency. lucy mcbeth, next. emergency lucy mcbeth, next. billions of mouths. billions of problems. morning breath? garlic breath? stinky breath? there's a therabreath for you. therabreath fresh breath oral rinse instantly fights all types of bad breath and works for 24 hours. so you can... breathe easy.

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. too many families experience tragedies like ours every single day. the pain of losing a child to gun violence never ends. and it's in that pain that drives me to do this work to prevent gun violence. these stories are vitally important as we work to pass common sense safety legislation to keep families like ours from experiencing the horror and heartbreak brought on by gun violence. >> two days after declaring a national emergency over alleged criminals at the border, president trump still has nothing to say about how the gunman in friday's deadly shooting in illinois came to own a gun with a criminal record that should have prevented him from doing so. one year after the parkland

shooting, congressional democrats scored a minor victory with major implications for the gun debate. this week when the house judiciary committee advanced a bill to require background checks on all firearms sales. joining me now, one of the bill's co sponsors, florida democratic congresswoman lucy mcbath. i'm sorry -- georgia freshman congresswoman lucy mcbath, whose son, jordan davis, was killed in a shooting in 2012. she's the author of "standing our ground: the triumph of faith over gun violence, a mother's story." i think our producers thought you were from florida because of jordan. but you are a georgia congresswoman, and, in fact, you represent a district newt gingrich used to represent. you know, congresswoman mcbath, i thought about yesterday,

jordan davis, your son, would have been 24 years old. >> yes. >> and i remember when you and i first met, i was on an airplane, and you were working, and you told me that story. and if anyone told me then you would be in congress and that the whole world would know about your son, i would have said, right, i don't know what you're thinking about. but you are. and that same passion and same drive and same sincerity for all people's kids, black, white, latino, asian, that you showed me on that plane when you let me walk to my seat. you are showing in congress. >> well, it is kind of phenomenal that i actually am in congress now. but, of course, this is all a part of my story. and that's what i just continue to do, is just continue to tell my story. and the stories of so many others like me. hence, having written the book, "standing our ground," which is my story.

i talk about jordan when he was a small child. i talk about my family experience, having grown up in the civil rights movement with my parents. and i talk about the work that i've done with survivors, and legislators around the state. it is my memoir, and it's all of my memories and everything that i've experienced that has helped to bring me to this point. >> now, you have pointed out that there needs to be more done around gun reform, gun control, in this country. that's the national emergency. explain that to us and where you want to take this. >> well, we know that the gun culture is an epidemic. it is a public health crisis. the fact that we have just experienced there, again, you know, another mass shooting. and this will continue, reverend al. we know this will continue until we're able to change the legislation. change what happens federally with our gun laws to prevent these kinds of tragedies. and each and every day that we

do not act, this will continue again and again. so i'm very grateful to sit in this seat to help move forth the legislation that helps to prevent these kinds of tragedies with a lot of gun champions like myself that now sit in washington to do this work with me. >> now, it seems to me a blatant contradiction that you have some of your colleagues in congress that want to see voter i.d., government photos, to vote, but don't want background checks to buy guns. i mean, if we are that -- wanting to see that kind of strict i.d. to exercise the right to vote, we're going to put weapons in people's hands that don't even want to have strict background checks? that seems like a blatant contradiction to me. >> absolutely. they're diametrically opposed in every sense of the word. if you have to have an i.d. to exercise your right to vote at

the ballot box, then why would you not have to have, you know, a legal i.d. to own a gun? why would you not need a permit to carry a gun? why would you not need a background check to make sure that you can lawfully carry a gun? so there again, we need to continue to make sure that our laws are not controlling people's ability to own guns other than people who should not have guns. for people that are law-abiding gun owners as i've said over and over again, you have no need to worry. but we have to make sure that we are keeping out of the hands of those people that should not have guns. we need to make sure that we're exercising every ability that we have to keep people safe. >> one of the things that was very compelling to me is how you and -- as one of the leaders of mothers of the movement, other mothers that went through similar loss in their family, their children.

and how you explain how horrific it is. it's almost like the shooting this week in aurora, illinois, that you mothers and fathers have to relive this over and over and over again. and i think one of the things about your book is that people lose sight of the human factor. this never, ever leaves you. you had to bury your son where in what is natural in this culture is that the children bury their parents. and this is a pain, a hole, that is never filled. the human side of it, you really brought home. >> well, thank you very much. and that's what i try to do. because we are not just numbers and statistics. we're real live human beings that are having these very tragic experiences over and over again. and so i try to, through my book, talk about my own lived experience, and also touch upon the experiences that other people are having, as well. and what i've been able to learn

historically about how this culture has expanded, the influences that the nra gun lobbies had on this extremist culture and where we go from here. what has to happen going forward to make sure that we're not living in this kind of culture and the future. >> now, we also have seen a year later after the parkland shooting some of those young students have become involved. some are even running for office. and we're seeing a whole new kind of activism in the electoral arena. we're seeing even with the presidential candidates that have announced on the democratic side a more diverse group. are you beginning to see as a democratic congresswoman a freshman that ran in a state where stacy abrams, a black woman, almost became governor, and many of us feel she would have, had there not been some voting shenanigans. are you seeing a shift in terms

of where mainstream voters are in this country around issues like guns and other issues, and that people don't understand that a lot of people are more toward the center in terms of their political views and they may have been 15, 20 years ago. >> absolutely. if you had said even six years ago that a person like me running on guns as a policy platform for this seat would even be elected, i would say to you, that's virtually impossible. there are several of us that used guns and gun violence prevention and gun safety as a platform for our candidacies. and you're actually seeing the results of us stepping up and stepping out on this issue, and we're actually here doing good work in washington now on gun violence prevention. definitely, as i've said before, i think what's considered a

credible candidate is changing across the nation. i think we're seeing a lot of candidates stand up who have been very active and engaged within their own communities, doing a lot of really good work there. and they've recognized that maybe they have not always wanted to be a politician, but we need credible people in washington that have lived experiences. and these are the realities that they can bring this credibility to washington to really fight on behalf of the people they live among. i think that's truly what you see happening with my class. and i will tell you, i'm sure you'll see even more people like myself standing up, running for office in future elections. >> and i think that's healthy. i mean, you have been one that has become a face in the fight against gun violence. but you weren't involved in this, saying i want to go to congress. i think that was probably one of the least things on your mind. and i think when regular, ordinary people that become

passionate about something start going into the halls of congress in the senate, and local municipal seats, that's when we begin to legislate in a way that helps all americans, because people that feel it are sitting in those seats. >> i couldn't agree with you more. >> well, thank you for being with us, and i'm certainly going to be pushing the book. thank you, georgia congresswoman mcbath. still ahead. an explosive interview claiming leaders in the justice department were deciding if cabinet members would agree to invoke the 25th amendment to remove donald trump from office. be right back. ack. run with us on a john deere 1 series tractor.

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we want to update you on some stories we've been following these past few weeks on "politics nation." you remember that last month we had the president of north carolina's historically black bennett college, dr. phyllis dawkins, just days ahead of the school's deadline to raise $5 million or risk being shuttered for insolvency. well, i'm pleased to say, they did make that $5 million.

they came away with $8.2 million. dr. dawkins says the extra money will go to additional capabilities, and we are very, very happy for the ladies of bennett college. go, bells! and while we're talking young black collegiates thriving, ohio state quarterback justin fields turned a corner earlier this month, after enduring racial slurs while playing at the university of georgia. he's finally been cleared to play for the buckeyes this upcoming season after ncaa held up his transfer. we'll be watching and rooting. and lastly, speaking of georgia, 21 savages back home in atlanta after his ten-day detainment by i.c.e. agents who revealed the rap per is a british national

living in the u.s. illegally since childhood. his lawyers say they're now plotting next steps to prevent his possible deportation. we wish them luck. we'll be right back. we'll be ri. billions of mouths.

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the alfa romeo giulia, stelvio and c37. if the president committed obstruction of justice, fired the director of the fbi to negatively impact or to shut down our investigation of russia's maligned activity and

possibly in support of his campaign, as a counterintelligence investigator, you have to ask yourself, why would a president of the united states do that? so all those same sorts of facts cause us to wonder, is there an inappropriate relationship, a connection, between this president and our most fearsome enemy, the government of russia? >> all eyes tonight will be on former fbi acting director, andrew mccabe, explaining on "60 minutes" why the bureau ultimately decided to open a counterintelligence investigation into president trump. and why allegations of trump's possible inappropriate relationship with vladimir putin continue to swirl, some of the president's closest allies, like senator lindsey graham, say it's really the fbi we should be worried about. take a listen.

>> mueller will tell us about what trump did or didn't do. i'm going to tell the country about mccabe and the people at the department of justice and how they behaved. did they take the law in their own hands? did they abuse the fisa warrant process, because they had a political agenda? did their hatred of trump go so far they abandoned their role of law enforcement agents and become advocates for a political cause? >> my panel is back. talk radio host, mark thompson on the left. erick erickson on the right. erick, isn't that a bit too far to suggest that because they are concerned that there may be an inappropriate relationship with russia, given the president firing comey, given there's been indications of meetings with russians, that they have now in some ways shirked their responsibility as investigators and that they have a deep-seated

hatred of the president? i mean, isn't it their job when we're talking about whether american adversaries may have been influenced in an election of the united states president? >> well, you know, to lindsey graham's point, i think bob mueller is investigating that. and i think we're almost near the end of that investigation. i just -- i've got an issue with comey and mccabe and coming out and wanting to sell books. and frankly, you had the mccabe quote the other day about the 25th amendment that he then said was taken out of context and blown out of proportion. it seems to me you've got some of these guys in the fbi who were really helping the president's narrative and lindsey graham that the fbi is a partisan organization and it's really not. and trying to sell books is one thing but i think they're undermining their colleagues within the fbi by doing this. >> mark thompson, i mean, usually those of us in the civil rights community have questioned a lot of law enforcement. but isn't this a twist where law

enforcement now is being attacked by those on the right, and the possibility of engagement or inappropriate behavior with russia seems not to bother them at all, and we grew up when there was a cold war where the enemy was russia? it seems to me two very interesting new positions that a lot of people in the right are taking. >> well, on the first position, in terms of those of us in the civil rights community, yes, we have always been suspicious of the fbi and held him accountable. i also think it was still appropriate here, because, quite frankly, reverend al, i think we all would have to admit, if comey had not been fired, there may not have been such a counterintelligence investigation, and we may not have even known there was any inkling of interest in collusion or conspiracy. remember, now, the fbi was a lot more interested in scrutinizing hillary clinton than donald trump, and making that scrutiny of hillary clinton public more

so than the scrutiny of donald trump. in terms of republicans, you're right. i mean, ronald reagan's presidency was built against the former soviet union, now russia. that was the rights bogeyman. now, yes, it has come full circle, whereby people are willing to let that go, and abide the relationship between the -- the obvious relationship between putin and trump as well as the possibility that there is financial collusion, even some evidence some members of the house and senate have been puppets of putin, as well. so, yeah, we definitely have done a 180. >> now, erick, does it not bother people on the right, including you, when you hear that the president, during the campaign, was actively in negotiations with a business deal in russia, in terms of one

of his deals that michael cohen was negotiating, that his campaign chair was actively doing things with russia and on behalf of ukraine or dealing with the question of ukraine? i mean, all of these things around the president. and we do not know yet until the mueller report comes out how much involved the president directly. but doesn't it bother you as someone on the right that always saw russia as the enemy of the american republic? >> right. you know, going back to 2012, when mitt romney said that russia was the greatest geopolitical threat to the united states, and at the time it was democrats laughing, saying the 1980s called and wanted their foreign policy back. i think russia has been there all along and both sides have used it, and used opposition to it for partisan machinations and now we have donald trump. to be honest with you, reverend al, i always used this as donald trump never expected to win the presidency.

he was hoping to build his business out of it and doing these deals with russia as real estate deals. and winning the white house was kind of a surprise to him. and around him were these people who thought they could pull strings, just in case he won. paul manafort and mike flynn and others. i don't know that bob mueller is going to find there was collusion to try to get donald trump elected. i suspect what's going to happen is we're going to find that there were people around the president who were really trying to get rich off of this, get rich off of a presidential run, not expecting him to win. and well, then they got caught by winning. >> all right. let's follow that up, mark thompson. say that they were just trying to get rich and they were surprised that trump won. and i do believe trump was surprised that he won. but the question then becomes, now they are all being -- many of them, not all -- are being prosecuted for lying. why don't they just say that and rather than try to mislead the investigators and try and act as though certain things that

clearly happen did not happen, and tried to say that. because now it gives us reason to say, well, if you won't be transparent, then maybe there was those trying to get rich. >> i think that's absolutely accurate, reverend al. people don't want to admit it. i think because they have some hope. they're holding out some hope, possibly, for a pardon. frankly, some may be afraid of the consequences dealing with putin. some folk might be safer in prison than out here walking around in these streets, knowing what putin does to some of his enemies and those who betray him. but, you know, then what erick just described, if that's true, a possibility, that's even worse than collusion. because that means that in the words of malcolm nance, donald trump is truly an unwitting agent. he had no idea he was being set up, perhaps even to win the presidency. to be exploited. and help destabilize the u.s. government, destabilize u.s.

foreign policy, and ultimately destabilize the american electorate. so, you know, that may be a little worse than collusion, be i don't know. but they both are pretty bad. and we know that if this were a democratic president, barack obama or if this were hillary clinton, impeachment hearings would have already started and the impeachment trial would have begun. >> but erick, what about that? if they were being manipulated because they were just trying to get rich and that was it, and they were able to manipulate that to be assets to russia, isn't that as bad or worse? >> i don't know that it's as bad or worse. it's certainly not good, though. i do think when you look at the president's administration, he surrounded himself with people like john bolton and mike pompeo or rick perry and others who are not friendly to russia. so while the president may be, he is certainly getting advice from people like pompeo and john bolton and others who are deeply skeptical of, and very hyper realist when it comes to dealing with vladimir putin. >> yeah, but pompeo and bolton

were not there in those positions at the beginning of this administration. >> right. >> so -- >> yeah, that's true. but he certainly headed in the direction -- >> did he bring them in to give the appearance that he's being advised by people that are anti russia? they were not the ones that were there with him when he started in january '17. >> well, you know, pompeo was with the cia, but you also had people like general mattis of the defense department who were also deeply skeptical. i think the bigger issue are the hangers-on. you've got to remember, reverend al, a lot of republicans don't like to say this because he won. but president trump was surrounded by the c and d team in politics because the b and a teams were getting well-paid by losing candidates. so he built a campaign of people that weren't desirable to the other candidates, and they wound up winning, and those are the people he brought with him. and they're not necessarily the best people to run a campaign or a white house with. >> russia was -- >> you can't be in the c and d team and not be colluding or trying to make money with the

announced enemies of the united states government, no matter what level of the team you're in. but thank you, mark thompson. thank you, erick erickson. >> thank you. up next, my thoughts on the viral story of the weekend. "empire" actor, jesse smollett and the investigation everyone is talking about. be right back. ♪ hoo

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in the last 48 hours a lot has been said about the ongoing investigation in to the alleged assault against actor jussie smollett. late last month in chicago. lawyers for smollett remain adamant that their client was a victim of a hate crime centering on his race and sexual orientation amid some reports that smollett may have colluded with two former persons of interest to stage the alleged attack. i among many others when hearing of the report said that the reports were horrific and that we should come with all that we

can come with in law enforcement to find out what happened and the guilty should suffer the maximum. i still maintain that. and if it is found that smollett and these gentlemen did in some way perpetrate something that is not true, they ought to face accountability to the maximum. but let's not act like this is some left wing hoax that some are saying on social media. president trump called this horrible and he is certainly not a left winger. and many across the spectrum because of smollett's history as an actor and an activist stood and said this needs to be looked into. none of us talked directly with him. we were alarmed at what was reported. donald trump jr. started tweeting yesterday, well, they just did this to discredit those that wear maga hats.

jussie smollett went on good morning america, don jr., and said it didn't happen. so people who were told that were being misled. let us get to the bottom of it and let justice be done no matter who is right or wrong. we cannot not get to the truth here. up next, my final thoughts. we'll be right back. l be right . to be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing it's best to make you everybody else... ♪ ♪

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tomorrow is presidents' day and all americans have been taught that american presidents are symbols and role models. of what we want our children to grow up and look up to. and respect and regard and in some cases emulate or imitate. that is why i would challenge this sitting president to really look at not just his policies, because we certainly have disagreed with other presidents' policies. but your behavior. your conduct. your conduct, as one that seems to not care about facts, as one that seems to be insensitive to bodies of people. as one that has been as divisive and as polarizing as you can even when it didn't call for it. yes, i disagree with a lot of your policies, president trump.

but i disagreed with many presidents. but i have never seen one that i did not think did not reach the bar of presidential behavior the way you have. spend presidents' day to grow into being presidential that does it for me. thanks for watching. see you back here next friday, 5:00 p.m. eastern. up next, "meet the press" with chuck todd. this sunday, national emergency. president trump makes that declaration to build a wall after congress refuses him the money. >> we're talking about an invasion of our country with drugs, with human traffickers and with all types of criminals and gangs. >> the move unites democrats. >> this declaration of an emergency is completely unnecessary. >> there's no rational reason to do this. >> and splits republicans. some for. >> trump's only sin is that