>> ♪ >> president trump sending a strong message to one of his former chief advisers. back off. this after those bombshell comments by steve bannon in a new book set to now be released tomorrow. >> yeah. >> now the president taking action. >> you can see from the run down on the side of your screen this is the big story tonight at 6:30 among many others. let's go. >> thank you. i don't talk to him. i don't talk to him. i don't talk to him. that's just a misnomer. i don't know, he called me a great man last night so, you know, he obviously changed his tune pretty quick. >> all right. so you heard the comments there from steve bannon -- from president trump on steve bannon

contentious situation right there between the two of them. there are -- there was a cease and desist order sent out to steve bannon and company, some people are saying well, is steve bannon going to be suing the president for defamation. well, that seems highly unlikely at this point but clearly a major topic tonight, major talker all across washington, d.c. as that continues to shape its way out. so, of course we'll continue to follow this story. that's the beginning as you mentioned the book was supposed to come out next week. >> tuesday. >> and now it's coming out tomorrow. as always in this city friday the big news dump and it seems like tomorrow will absolutely be no different. >> all right. hey, we're going to get out of the -- it's nick good to see you tonight. >> how is it going guys. >> let's talk about this. this is crazy. but let's take the legal aspect here because first of all today at the big white house press briefing a lot of people were asking sara huckabee sanders about this. this is not necessarily the picture of a functional workplace if this is true. >> indeed. well,

cease and desist. what's a cease and desist. it means, hey, don't do that or else. or else what, guys? so, we're really trying to see if the president has a legal claim, a base for the claim and he has two arguments here. one is, hey, bannon, you signed a -- an employment agreement stating that you would be quiet and you went against that. that's one. but i think the one that's more salacious is the defamation claim, right. so, you have basically fake news on the front -- front and center here and i think contrary to what people are saying, i think that the president should sue. i think that fake news and whether you should be able to tell truths or falsehoods within the media, within books, i think that that is a real basis here. the president has an opportunity that if he were to go forward he would really be able to do his deposition, get steve bannon on -- get

the author and the publisher to really back up their claims here instead of just going back and forth back and forth. will there really be merits there? probably not but i think it's really important for the american public to go beyond this. it's really important. we've heard things before but now the inner circle is really on trial here and what is the truth? i think the only way to get to the bottom of it is actually litigating. >> that's a big question. will the courts hear something like this because of course the president of the united states it's a pretty tall bar there for defamation and libel seeing that he's a pretty public figure. >> absolute. >> is there any sort of judicial precedent that would compare to a situation like this. >> so, you're absolutely right. when you are a public figure, your rights to privacy are a little less, so here the issue is did steve bannon, the publisher and author, did they have malaise when they were making these comments. so it's not even that it's just false but it had to be knowingly false andls

opinion -- i think the american public have the right to know what the opinion of the inner circle was. steve bannon is one of the major players, not only during the campaign but during the transition and during the first year of the presidency so his opinions while controversial, they are relevant but do they rise to the level of malaise probably not. >> we already saw the white house saying he just worked on the campaign. they didn't say he was a mastermind. >> that's their stan bard mo. yeah he was there. >> he was a coffee boy. >> doesn't pass the sniff test at all but, yeah, that's my opinion, too. >> nick, good to see you tonight. thanks for coming in. >> thanks so much guys. >> another big question can you be enemies with someone but still like their friends? president trump's explosive feud with bannon has put new pressure an gop candidates aligned with the former white house chief strategist. >> that's a gun point right there because we talked about leading up to the midterms the big battle seemed to be

with president trump and who was going to side with the -- with the likes of steve bannon versus the trump factions right there. it's going to take that up a little bit higher. >> a lot seem to be turning their back now. we'll see more of that play out but a lot of people want to wait still because there's so much time up to the midterms. we're not even close. >> ben from the hill.com joining us via skype. ben four days into 2018 looking pretty interesting so far. and there goes ben. >> just like bannon. [laughter] >> bye-bye. >> all right. so, let me ask here. i'm going to ask outer loop wonderful producer kimberly should we go on or what should we do? we're going to go to fitz. >> all right. >> is the white house paranoid. today the white house. >> the white house says it's because of security. critics however say it's to prevent leaks. fox5's tom fitzgerald joining us live from the hill with more on this one. fitz there's so much to talk about

>> reporter: yeah, and this one was kind of preordained by the events of the last couple of months. it's no secret to anybody the president's been railing against leaks. he wants leaks to stop. he wants leaks to go away. the problem is just about every president who has ever come to washington, d.c. has railed against leaks and wanted leaks to go away and leaks do not go away. however, at about 8:36 this morning, a white house statement came out attached to sara huckabee sanders saying that starting next week white house staffers will no longer be able to use personal cell phones within the west wing. now, the reason given for this was security. however, as we have mentioned, the president repeatedly on twitter has railed against leaks. the attorney general of the united states, jeff sessions, just months ago saying that the justice department would look into whether or not any leakers at the white house had committed any crimesnd

they found that indeed happened, they would prosecute them under federal law. so, jim and marina the real question is this. you can stop white house staffers from using personal phones inside the west wing, you can even stop visitors from using personal cell phones within the west wing. however, the entirety of the administration is not contained within the west wing. people have wires, they go out to lunch. there are still other ways to call sources in this city and simply telling white house staffers who work within the west wing that they're not able to use cell phones will not ever necessarily stop leaking. so, this is a step in a direction they would have to take but it's not at all clear tonight whether or not this step will get them to where they want to be. >> and fitz some would say the writing has already been on the wall for a long time. remember sean spicer asking people to show them their phones and go through the phones and see who was leaking the information. this has been a long time coming and apparently kelly

wanted this instituted awhile back. >> chief of staff john kelly. >> and it hasn't happened and they're saying next week will be the day. still there aren't any rules as to how this will exactly play out. will it stop the leaks? >> reporter: well, you know, we should point out -- it's -- we should point out there are instances where u.s. government employees are not allowed to use personal cell phones. certainly in the national security arena, you know, certainly in some areas of the defense arena. there are serious real national security reasons why you do not want people, you know, walking in with their cricket phone and snapping away pictures or calling from places that are supposed to be secure locations. and, you know, that's not a knock and cricket phone. we just use that as an example. [laughter] >> reporter: however, if this is an effort in some way that they're going to magically make leaking go away, there are other ways you can contact. it's, you know, open up all the president's men when

felt deep throat wanted to get in contact with bob woodward, all bob woodward had to do was put a red flag in a potted plant. the effort to stop leaks in this city is eternal and it will that continue to be eternal long after a cell phone or any other means of communication the future may hold for us comes and goes. >> i predict the leaks will continue. >> no matter what it always seems to be the case. fitz thanks much. on the way up in smoke the justice department rolls back those obama era rules that allowed legal marijuana to expand across the country. we're going to take a deeper dive when 5 at 6:30 comes right back. >> ♪

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>> ♪ >> president trump lighting the match on an obama administration policy to expand state marijuana laws. the move gives u.s. attorneys the green light to aggressively enforce federal laws against pot even in states where it's legal. now

criticism from colorado senator corey gardener whose state legalized pot back in 2014. he threatened to retaliate by holding up confirmation of attorney general jeff sessions picks for top doj positions. >> now sessions has a long history of opposing marijuana legalization so let's bring in our guest eric altieri. good evening. how are you? >> good evening. how are you doing. >> we're -- >> ed to have you here tonight. obviously there's a lot of talk about this one and it comes on the heels of california legalizing recreational marijuana just a couple days ago. your take away on this? i don't think a lot of people saw a surprise that jeff sessions was going to act on this. >> well its no surprise but it's truly not just bad policy, it's bad politics. legalization of marijuana is supported by 64 percent of the american people including a majority of republicans. what this also does is it drives what has become a billion dollar industry back into the hands of the black-market and instead of that revenue going to the state tax coffers to pay for in

treatment, it's going back to the black-market and criminal elements and this will only create uncertainty as well as greatly upset the majority of the americans who want to see us take a more sensible path on marijuana. >> so, why do this? do you think it's to allow the federal government to sue the states? i mean, why do you think jeff sessions now goes back because initially trump had said we give the states the firsthand on this. >> he said that in 2016. he had said. >> what they want to do and now it's going -- he's flip-flopping essentially on this. >> donald trump is technically breaking a campaign promise here where he said he would be rather lands out of when it comes to marijuana policy and jeff sessions is really living out his warped desire to take us back to the just say no and refer madness era and take us back to where we had no regulation over marijuana, no control. it's been proven that legalization keeps marijuana out of the hands of youth because state regulated businesses check id's and a recent check in colorado a hundred percent of places spot tested checked for i.t. and that's why

use go down in places like colorado not up like it is in states that have prohibition. i think this is fantasy fulfillment for jeff sessions more than jig. i don't know who this caters to other than members of the cricriminal market. >> eric you cited the polls out there but we have to point out that this is something that could be recollect if id on the congressional level. as far as things stand right now whether or not you agree with the idea of states rights, it's still -- it's still illegal so isn't jeff sessions just, you know, even though this may be his fantasy in your eyes, he's doing his job. >> well, in a way but, you know, the attorney general has the ability to give a lot of prosecutial discretion to his u.s. attorneys and there's a lot more important matters to be addressed than going after people that are abiding by state law and actually following regulations and you are absolutely correct, it is imperative that the congress acts and removes marijuana from the controlled substances act. so we can clean upll

problems and this tension between state and federal law because it's untenable as it is and unfortunately i think that this backlash that they're going to see well fortunately however this backlash will motivate people to really, really stand up and fight for these laws as we've seen even republicans like senator gardener do today. >> eric to that point the u.s. attorney's office out of colorado saying they're not going to up federal prosecutions when it comes to pot in that state so a lot of these states are still not going to do with the doj is asking them to do essentially now. >> we'll see how it is. attorney general sessions just appointed a whole slew of new u.s. attorneys across this country so these are people that have been hand picked by jeff sessions and while we may see resistance by certain ones it's likely that someone looking to make a name for themselves would like to be the first one to issue a ricoh state against a legal state business or something along those lines. >> good point. >> good to have you in tonight. appropriate to have you in tonight. we'll see you soon i'm sure. >> perfect. thanks for having me on. >> omarosa and whi

diversity. as the former apprentice time in the west wing comes to an end who will be filling her shoes when the news at 6:30 comes right back. i like these award-winning cheddar puffs. and i like these award-winning cheddar puffs. first place. both events? booyah! we're an awards family. you'll like them both but love our price. award-winning organic cheddar puffs from aldi. simply smarter shopping.

>> ♪ >> welcome back. it's been a couple weeks since we've said the name omarosa. she omarosa manigault newman will soon be leaving the white house officially. a lot of people questioning how the white house will have diversity. >> john kelly met with black republicans. the question now is what happens next. democrat simpson and eugene craig here to weigh in tonight. how else do you recruit minorities. how do you approach minorities talent top talent bring them into the white house. >> well, black republicans and black americans in general always have had access to the white house regardless of the administration and in particular to this election cycle you saw for the first time black republicans and black democrats actually come together under the

the joint center and gather thousands of black resumes to present to either administration to be prepared. the scenario we came across over the last year is that we had a black democrat in omarosa blocking qualified black republicans from administration posts. >> hm. >> maurice. >> well, i mean i think it's not so much the pool of talent that's available. we know that there are strong black candidates for every position. the problem is we're having is the rhetoric and the outreach and the actions that are being directed towards the african-american community. this administration has in an historic wave has worked against and spoken ill of black people. we do not feel comfortable with this administration and he's gone out of his way to push african-americans away. >> when you say spoken ill of black americans. >> when you talk about when you try to rationalize very fine people when we talk about the race riots in charlottesville, those are definitely racial implications in those comments. >> i think when you look at the cabinet as a whole and obviously there's a lot more people than

but you still have the fact that the highest ranking african-american member of the cabinet is ben carson. that's it. you don't have any african-american women in the cabinet. i mean, there is -- i mean, at least from this perspective there's a diversity problem. do you believe there's a diversity problem. >> i think there's a diversity problem but i do think a big part of that lie at the feet of omarosa. there were a slew of qualified individuals that were ready to go in the administration ready to serve their country that were involved in the transition team that were involved in the teams that landed on day one that went into the agencies that, you know, didn't make that next step. >> and she's a democrat. >> to this day she's a registered democrat and i think it's critical to point out that here you have, you know, black republicans that put 20, 30, 40 -- some 40 years into the party that served in the bush administration. now that serve in the reagan and previous bush administration ready to come back at senior level or mid level and serve their country in a major way put a black

had omarosa literally blocking folk doing a lot of tackling and blocking. >> while omarosa is the woman we all love to hate and it's convenient to blame all of this -- put this at the feet of a democratic woman so while she has her fair share this starts at the top. donald trump has set the tone at the top of this administration and has not been welcoming to african-americans. there are a lot of people who want to serve this country but he is pushing them away. he's doing a disservice to the qualified men and women who want to serve in the administration. that's one of the public service in particularly for the president of your party is the highest honor with his rhetoric and the tone he's carried out throughout from the campaign up until today, he has pushed this community away. >> well, i think history shows something slightly different. if we're to go back to summer 2016 when the rnc had their mass exodus of black staffers group of high level black republicans, kim blackwell michael steele, some others sat down with the rnc and said hey look this is what we

sean spicer when it came to the transition sean spicer and reince preibus gave it. black republicans always had good relations with the hierarchy of our party but the one difference maker we saw was that when omarosa got involved a lot of that stopped. >> go ahead. >> a lot of it stopped. i mean, myself personally i can show you the text messages of hey, you know, hey we're going to -- we pulled his record he's not -- he. >> why do you think she created in your words. >> she wanted to be the only one in his orbit. if you have somebody there that -- if you look at her resume compared to some of the others, you look at her resume compared to a kay james dina bass or angela sailor someone with real policy expertise, someone with real political -- real true political background and compare it to hers, you know, they're going to have more access, more influence by virtue of the work they've done and by virtue of the breadth of their talent than

personal relationship with the president of 14 years. >> now do you think the president maybe at some point is hesitant to offer certain positions to black republicans for being turned down? >> no, i don't think so. i mean, the meeting that john kelly had which was a tax reform meeting a policy, a meeting on tax reform and black businesses and black community, you know, he opened up the door and said hey, listen, it wasn't necessarily give me black resumes, hey if you have folks that are qualified, let me know. the doors of the white house are opened. >> talent is talent. >> talent is talent. >> 15 seconds. >> the reality is that it's hard for any minority black, you know, hispanic, asian the gamut its hard for any minority with a true conscience to really work in this administration considering the rhetoric. omarosa sat in that administration and was complicit. otherwise she would have been able to do what she would have done and would have been the outreach to the black community. she didn't do that and trump doesn't do that. >> thank you both so much. >> thank you. >> we got to get you

here. we love maurice but -- >> stick around. we're back after this on 5 at 6:30. >> ♪ >> ♪♪

>> ♪ >> somebody had to win. two months since votes were cast in the virginia 94th district house race. >> voters did not learn who won until today. >> for the drawings we print slips of paper with each candidates' name on them. we will then insert them into film canisters and seal the canisters. >> these are brand new canisters from amazon. >> we'll then place them into a bowl, stir them around and pull out the winner. >> reporter: the bowl for the historic occasion, handcrafted by a virginia artist and on loan from the virginia museum of fine art. and with the canisters placed inside and mixed, within seconds, democracy fell into the hands of random chance. >> the winner of house district 94 is david yancy. >> reporter: democrat shelley simonds sat motionless

husband and daughter as the names were drawn and her opponent declared the victor. james alcorn chairman of the virginia state board of elections appeared calm in spite of the significance of today's drawing. >> i don't feel calm on the inside. i'll tell you that. but i do trust the system. so i trust that the general assembly had these conversations about how to handle ties when there wasn't a case facing them. >> reporter: and while yancy did not attend, citing inclement weather, simonds would not immediately address whether she plans to take legal action in light of today's results. >> yesterday i offered my opponent a deal that would have made this final. he did not take the deal. and, therefore, for me all options are still on the table. do i think it's fair? you know, it was a long hard election season and it does seem like

of chance. >> ronica cleary reporting there. >> that's right. news continues on digital at fox5d.c.com. >> and we're back at 8 o'clock on fox5 plus.

announcer: today on "tmz" -- charles: to hell with all of these friendly hollywood greetings at parties. we've got video at a diddy party and this is the way celebrities should really greet each other. >> rah from "love & hip-hop" said she sees her archenemy sky so she walks up to sky like you know, hugs. >> it's a gadget fight. it's a gadget fight! >> khloe kardashian at l.a.x. we said what's your routine right now? do you work out every day, and she says -- >> when i feel up to it. >> normally with your first kid, you always snap back. >> it also depends how old you are, definitely. >> still, it's a good idea if you start your first kid at 30. that's what you should do. not like your