recently which news busters dot org was quick to catch axelrod is a senior political commentator for c.n.n. he started his career as a chicago tribune back in the early eighty's he's worked for media outlets political consultancy firms universities. he was even a senior advisor to president obama so this guy has worked in news and politics for several decades so he should be really wise about a lot of things by now you think now in this recent c.n.n. appearance axelrod did say some things that i thought were why for instance he talked about how the media tends to focus on the hysterical political strategizing the media does around certain issues over covering the sensational stuff well ignoring stuff that has a more direct effect on the day to day lives of people like you know health care financial reform or deregulation he said the media get submerged in a frenzy to cover more scandalous stuff which i think is a wise observation to make but that wasn't the thing that axelrod said that made me do the double take that they need that made me do the double take was that he actually said

david axelrod, this is a significant moment here.esident need to have a private conversation with just james comey and no other presidential aides present? >> look, i think there are a lot of things about this story that if you were a defender of the president you would say, well, look, comey told him that he wasn't the subject of an investigation, he wanted to get it out, this was an obsession of his because he thought it was hanging over his presidency, the thing that is very hard to explain is flynn. we know president obama told him that flynn, that he ought to reconsider flynn. we know that the acting attorney general came to the white house to report that flynn had lied and that the vice president had repeated that lie. and it took 18 days for the white house to act, or even apparently tell the vice president why, and now this meeting with flynn where he clears out the room, and obviously it's highly improper to clear the room out of the attorney general and others, and have this conversation, what is it about mike flynn that ca

. >> david axelrod, what do you make of trump calling this situation a cloud.hat on himself? >> there's no question about it. even this week, not just on this investigation, but in other ways, he keeps digging holes for himself. but i agree with van in that, you know, he seems obsessed with the salacious element of this report, but i think that if you're told by the fbi director and you want to interpret it more broadly than he means it, that you're not under investigation and the impression is that you are, you know, your frustration is why can't you just say i'm not? i think that that is shot through this. the flynn stuff is different. clearing the room out, asking for him to go easy on a guy, in he did for flynn, including se - delaying his firing for 18 days after discovering he had lied, all of that is suspicious, but it's not unreasonable for him to say, i want to get this behind me. i want you to say i'm not under investigation, so i can move on with what i want to do. >> the ethics of the -- you said this is the equivalent ofs nixon tapes. do you agree?

david axelrod, you said obamacare passed, quote, because of the sustained personal commitment of the president to the cause, the details and the process. do you see that from president trump sharing that commitment to getting a republican version of health care bill passed? because he certainly ran o it, he has been making calls about it. is that enough? >> no. look, i don't think that president trump has the personal investment in this issue or the knowledge of the issue that barack obama did. he -- president obama listened to all the details of this law. when he spoke to lawmakers about it, he understood it in intimate detail. for president trump, this is important to get a win and what isn't clear is whether he understands what a win is or what it would look like. and that makes his involvement difficult because he doesn't quite know where to go with this. i thought it was interesting to hear jeff talk about the fact that some of these moderates are hoping that he can impose on other republicans this bill with more heart. this is sort of what happened in the house. they had to rol

david axelrod, what do you believe?be a mistake for the president to even try to block director comey from testifying? >> huge. you know, you presentationed two options to mark. the third is the worst which is you -- you try and block him. the courts say you can't block him, and then you get the worst of both worlds. look, this story is a blazing inferno because the white house and the president have laid log after log after log on the fire. this would be another huge log that would create suspicion. i had senator tom cotton, a republican on that senate intelligence committee at the universities of chicago institute of politics and i asked him whether he thought the president should invoke executive privilege and he said, no. if you don't have anything to hide, the best thing for for you is to get all the facts out at quickly as possible, and we'll see if the president does that. one last note on that. it was clear from senator cotton and others that i've spoken to that the republicans are very much preparing for comey'

back now with david gergen and david axelrod and robby mook.oblem is roger stone for the trump administration when it comes to this investigation? because he says, look, he can explain it all and there was nothing there? >> i think he could be in very deep trouble. if any of the statements, and, as you said multiple times, he claimed the contact through julian assange, he predicted that john podesta would be in the barrel way back in august. if those statements are true, if what he was saying at that time is true, he's in very big trouble and the trump campaign is in very big trouble. so i'm frankly surprised that he is willing to testify. if his story is different than the story he was repeatedly telling before the lelection whn he maybe didn't take this very seriously or any conversations with wikileaks very seriously, his credibility is going to be up in the air, and that's going to urge investigators to look even more closely at this. >> david gergen, how do you see his testimony in. >> i think it's going to be very important. he gave every

jim axelrod met her. >> oh, my gosh. the sheriff?reporter: normally when the law shoes up, they're not laughing especially when they're checking on a 3-year-old. but hannah paslee is no normal 3-year-old. sure, what she wants to be when she grows up she set up a lemonade stand to for her first police uniform. then her mom had an idea. >> social media. she loves police officers and i would love it if someone could come and buy lemonade from her. >> after that it was 50 officers. >> soon the neighborhood was flooded with police cruisers, a police chopper, even police horses. >> those little patrol horses came and they just ate our grass. >> are you going to give me a hug? >> reporter: so hannah paslee is all set for her future career says sergeant jason kote. >> she now has thousands of brothers and sisters who are ro going to have her back for the rest of her life. that's later. for now she's focused on something better. >> i think we're best friends. >> i this e we are. >> reporter: the best play date a girl could ask for. >> reporte

here's jim axelrod. [siren blaring] >> oh, my gosh, the sheriff?ally when the law shows up, no one is laughing. especially when they're checking on the welfare of a three year old. >> my name is hannah. >> reporter: but hannah pasley -- >> this is mommy. >> reporter: -- is no normal three year old. sure what she wants to be when she grows up, hannah set up a lemonade stand to raise money for her first police uniform. then her mom had an idea. >> it could be real neat if we could have an officer stop by. >> reporter: out went an a.p.b. on a call box -- social media. "she loves police officers and i'd love it if an officer could stop by." soon the neighborhood was flooded with police cruisers, a police chopper, even police horses. >> those patrol horses came and they just ate our grass. >> can you give me a hug? >> reporter: so hannah pasley is all set for her future career, says sergeant jason kote. >> she now has thousands of brothers and sisters that will have her back for the rest of her life. >> reporter: but that's for later. for now hannah is

jim axelrod, cbs news, new york. >> mason: those same recording sessions at abbey road also gave us " scott pelley, i'm anthony mason. thanks for joining us. good night. ♪ let me introduce to you ♪ sgt. pepper's lonely hearts club band ♪ captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by >>> kpix 5 news at 6:00 begins with breaking news. chopper 5 is over a four-alarm grass fire in fairfield. smoke billowing near highway 12 and pennsylvania avenue in the area we can tell you there are a number of homes as well as an apartment complex nearby. police are asking drivers to avoid the area. you see the smoke at the bottom of the screen there. it's along highway 12. we have some video of the fire from our mount vaca cam. that smoke is visible for miles. this was the second brush fire of the day in fairfield. it was about 2:30 this afternoon. >>> california pushing back at president trump pulls out of a climate deal. business leaders the governor and some republican blasting the decision. it's a blow to the climate change fight. the president fulfilled his campaign promise. >> in order to fulfill my s

so let me introduce you to the one and only jim axelrod. >> reporter: it was a hit right out of the gater one, four agreements, including album of the year. ♪ it was 20 years ago today sgt. pepper taught the band to play ♪ >> reporter: but a half century and 32 million albums later, "sgt. pepper's lonely hearts club band" is something much more. "rolling stone" calls it the number one album of all time. tired of beatlemania, sick of touring, the beatles needed a break, and paul mccartney had an idea. >> we needed to get away from ourselves. how about if we just become sort of an alter-ego band. >> reporter: influenced by the beach boys' pet sounds and instruments and technology that stretched what pop music could sound like, "sgt. pepper" used everything from a 40-piece orchestra on "a day in the life"... ♪ i read the news today oh, boy >> reporter: ...to a harpsichord on fixing a hole. and there were other influences as well. >> and "sgt. pepper" owes a lot to drugs, to pot and stuff. that was us getting into that. >> reporter: another john lennon always said "lucy in the sky with diamo

here's jim axelrod. >> oh, my gosh. the sheriff?> reporter: normally, when the law shows up, no one's laughing. especially when they're checking on the welfare of a 3-year-old. >> my name's hannah -- >> reporter: but hannah -- >> this is my mommy. >> reporter: -- is no normal 3-year-old. sure what she wants to be when she grows up, hannah set up a lemonade stand to raise money for her first police uniform. then her mom had an idea. >> it would be neat to have an officer stop by. >> reporter: an abp went out. she loves police officers, and i would love it if someone could come and buy lemonade from her. >> after that, it was 50 officers. >> reporter: soon the neighborhood was flooded with police cruisers, a police chopper, even police horses. >> those were the patrol horses came and they just ate our grass. >> reporter: so hannah is all set for her future career, says sergeant jason coty. >> she now has thousands of bros. and sisters that are going to have her back for the rest of her life. >> reporter: that's for later. for now, han

jim axelrod, cbs news, new york. >>> and that's the overnight news for this thursday.t others check back later for the morning news and "cbs this morning." from the broadcast center in new york city, i'm anthony mason. >> announcer: this is the "cbs overnight news." >>> hi, everyone, and welcome to the overnight news. i'm demarco morgan. criticism is rolling in like thunder clouds from across the world after president trump announced he's pulling the united states out of the paris climate accord. the agreement signed by every nation on earth except two called for voluntary standards to reduce greenhouse gases. and the goal is to slow the increase and the world's temperature. mr. trump called it unfair to the united states and american workers. chip reid has the story. >> the united states will withdraw from the paris climate accord -- >> reporter: the president's announcement was exactly what conservative activists in and out of his administration were hoping to hear. but the president left the door open a bit, making clear that during the four years it takes to formal

. >> david axelrod, there are a bunch of republicans, more moderate. 22 million americans over the nextears who would have had health insurance under obamacare. dean heller in nevada, he faces a tough reelection as we know. now the pro-trump action committee is threatening to strike a major advertising barrage against him. you remember the fight to convince skeptical democrats of the affordable care act, obamacare, seven years ago. is this the right way for republicans to go? >> what i don't remember is a big blast of media on behalf of the aca. that was one of the frustrations for those of us who worked in the white house, and the marines never came on this. i think they are trying to put pressure on dean heller, because his state, affordable health care act uninsured has gone out to mainly -- they've had republican governors come out against this bill. else the most vulnerable member of the senate, but he's vulnerable because donald trump lost that stalt. i see local politics and caucus politics and my guess is he's going to stick where he is. >> one of the things -- david is right. o

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let's get the bottom line from david axelrod. is this media cynicism?s this a good thing that, you know, it is nice to be nice to the president? everybody is so tough on him all the time. >> i think it was embarrassing. i sat in committee cabinet meetings when i was in the white house. i think the president would have burst out laughing if a couple of people had gone down the row doing that because it was so clearly orchestrated. felt very north korean. i think donald trump is in a deep hole. his polling numbers are bad and we know that he reads them. the general narrative the negative and he's trying to create an alternative reality and they're trying to keep his spirits up. so we get what is this new reality show. but at the end of the day, only general mattis talked out of there with his dignity. >> i am curious what it's like in the white house. don't you have to be sick of it. yes, mr. president, how high? >> not if you have a secure president. there is no doubt that there is an aura to the presidency and when you walk-through that oval office you

joining in david axelrod aba work for the ov administration. flrm including communications director and state department spoke person. what it like personally david watching some of the work you and president obama worked on get taken apart by the administration. >> you know maybe this sounds disingenuous, anderson i'm less concerned about sort of 9 impact on president obama's legacy than i am the impact on the country moving forward. you see something like this today and the impact on the issue of climate. is deeply concerning. but more than that, the issue of american leadership and prestige in the world, and ability to shape events as we've shaped them since world war ii. knows are very much in question because of the decisions which i believe were made almost entirely on a political basis. to appease the president's base and not on the basis of the substantive facts. that's what concerns me. i think that there will be more durability to these accomplishments moving forward. but the one that worries me the most is just america's leadership i

jim axelrod has been following the story from the beginning. jim? >> reporter: anthony, cadden was the co-founder of the new england compounding center, a pharmacy that prepared customized forms of prescriptions. as we've reported over the last several years, hundreds of cases of fungal meningitis were traced to unsanitary conditions in preparing doses of steroids at n.e.c.c. in march, cadden was convicted on conspiracy and fraud charges but not on acts of second-degree murder related to racketeering, but look at the final verdict form. it revealed the jury was split on multiple charges, including the more serious acts of second- degree murder. typically if that was the case, a judge would have sent them back for more deliberations. instead the judge ruled cadden was not guilty of second-degree murder. and as the former federal prosecutor who brought the case told us today, even if the judge made a mistake, once that happened, the verdict cannot be revisited. the victims' families tell us the judge robbed them of not only a longer sentence for cadde

david axelrod says that james comey didn't make her go to wisconsin. and that hillary clinton blames everyone, but herself. there are people part of the mainstream media who you abhor who are appalled what she's doing and make her take responsibility in nicer language than you, lisa. the role that russia interference may have played and voter i.d. laws in wisconsin important to make sure that we do about eter. hillary clinton lost, i get it, we're sad, president trump, rah, rah, rah. i'm done. eric: the u.s. had successfully looked at an anti-missile system looked at an anti-missile system after north korea whuuuuuat?rtgage offer from the bank today. you never just get one offer. go to lendingtree.com and shop multiple loan offers for free! free? yeah. could save thousands. you should probably buy me dinner. no. go to lendingtree.com for a new home loan or refinance. receive up to five free offers and choose the loan that's right for you. our average customer could lower their monthly bills by over three hundred dollars. go to lendingtree.com right now

david axelrod, if the fbi does confirm that this stabbing was an act of terrorism, it will be the firstdomestic terror incident of the trump presidency. are you surprised we haven't yet heard directly from the president on this act, this stabbing in flint? >> well, i'm a little surprised because it's out of character for him not to leap into these stories. but i'm actually encouraged by that because i think the job of the president is to gather the facts and then respond responsibly proportionate to those facts. and if that's what he's going to do, that would be a welcomed innovation in his approach. we saw what happened during the london attacks when he waited right in and got into a back and forth with the london mayor and so on. that's really not the role a president should play. so, if this marks more of a reflective approach, a more responsible approach, that would be a step forward. >> you know, rebecca, this incident comes as the united states supreme court is taking up the president's proposed travel ban, lower courts have said it's not constitutional. but this ban, the travel b

david axelrod says that james comey didn't make her go to wisconsin. and that hillary clinton blames everyone, but herself. there are people part of the mainstream media who you abhor who are appalled what she's doing and make her take responsibility in nicer language than you, lisa. the role that russia interference may have played and voter i.d. laws in wisconsin important to make sure that we do about eter. hillary clinton lost, i get it, we're sad, president trump, rah, rah, rah. i'm done. eric: the u.s. had successfully looked at an anti-missile system after north korea tests another missile. maybe beefing up our defense spending is a good idea. roller derby. ♪ now give up half of 'em. do i have to? this is a tough financial choice we could face when we retire. but, if we start saving even just 1% more of our annual income... we could keep doing all the things we love. prudential. bring your challenges. how if guests book direct ater, choicehotels.com and stay twice they'll get a $50 gift card? summertime. badda book. badda boom. got you a shirt!

david axelrod, gloria borger, dana bash, mark preston and kevin madden.on the menu right now. what happens in the short term for what the agenda is for the trump administration right now? >> i think this is one of the most potentially important implications. we talk a lot about the 201 election. the question is what about tomorrow and the next day as senate republicans are trying to hammer out an agreement amongst themselves on a piece of legislation to repeal and relays obamacare. the fact that this republican didn't lose, not so much that she won but that she didn't lose is one of the main things that is allowing republican leaders to breathe a sigh of relief because she would have lost and the democrat in this race did pound away on health care as an issue, there's no question that is some skittish republicans and there are lots of them, would have taken that as a -- as a issue and said you know what? this is not something we should touch right now. and perhaps moved away from it. we don't know the if this is definitely going to seal the deal amongst r

david axelrod says that james comey didn't make her go to wisconsin.nd that hillary clinton blames everyone, but herself. there are people part of the mainstream media who you abhor who are appalled what she's doing and make her take responsibility in nicer language than you, lisa. the role that russia interference may have played and voter i.d. laws in wisconsin important to make sure that we do about eter. hillary clinton lost, i get it, we're sad, president trump, rah, rah, rah. i'm done. eric: the u.s. had successfully looked at an anti-missile system looked at an anti-missile system after north korea there's nothing traditional about my small business. i count on my dell small business advisor for tech advice. with one phone call, i get products that suit my needs, and i get back to business. ♪ i've always had that issue with the seeds getting under my denture. super poligrip free. it creates a seal of the dentures in my mouth. just a few dabs is clinically proven to seal out more food particles. try super poligrip free. ♪ ltry align probiotic.n y

and i talked to axelrod prior to and i was asking him, look, when you came into the white house, did you not get the protocol understanding about what happens, what you can and cannot do? there is a lot of stuff that's awry. he was president-elect at that time. you cannot hold him to that standard for this. >> i'm not holding him to that standard. comey made that distinction, trump did not. you said there is a chance they didn't know what they were doing. >> director comey made a point he only spoke alone with president obama your former boss twice in person, never on the phone. he recalled nine one-on-one conversations with president trump in just four months. what do you make of that? >> well, look, my recollection is that when the president appointed judges -- and i think when he appointed comey, the last thing he said to them after he made the appointment was this is the last time you and i are likely to be together alone in a room because he understood that there had to be a -- an independence for the fbi director, for judges and that presidents should not have that kind of rela

paul begala is here, jechry toobin, david axelrod and phil. jeff, you said if that isn't obstruction of justice, i don't know what it is. >> and i think that's true. when you look at the full scope of activity here by the president, when you see hem, you know, demanding loyalty and then making the demand once he's -- also, think about the scene in the oval office. it's just astonishing. he asks the vice president of the united states and the attorney general to leave. doesn't that suggest he wants real privacy? >> and jared kushner kind of lingers and then he tells jared kushner to leave. >> he wants comey alone. and what does he do? he says, can we make the investigation of michael flynn go away? repeatedly asks him, let him go. that, to me, is obstruction of justice. and the reason you know it's obstruction of justice is that when comey doesn't end the investigation, trump fires him. that's a pretty compelling case. >> mary katherine, is it obstruction of justice to you? >> i've been somebody along the way more likely to believe comey and be

jim axelrod is following this. >> reporter: outside philadelphia this afternoon, police held up this wanted poster, a drawing of the man driving this red pickup truck who allegedly shot and killed this 18-year-old recent high school graduate bianca roberson, in what appeared to be a traffic dispute. thomas hogan is the chester county, pennsylvania, district attorney. >> a man in a red pickup truck pulled out a gun and shot her in the head, killing her. this is now a murder case. >> reporter: roberson and the man were merging into a single lane on a road in the town of west gauchan, 25 miles west of philadelphia. west gauchan chief of police joseph gleason. >> reporter: roberson's car veered off the road into a tree. she had planned to start at jacksonville university in august. today, her parents spoke to reporters. >> she was a good girl. loved by many. never bothered anybody. she was just a sweet girl. >> reporter: the driver is described as a man of medium build, 30-40 years old, with blond or light-brown hair. the truck is described as a red faded pickup. >> turn yourself in. ple

it was originally written for me by a young playwright named george axelrod and i turned the role downike a dummy and jayne took it and became a star." mansfield's broadway debut coincided with another famous blonde's arrival in new york. marilyn monroe had abandonded hollywood to study at lee strasberg's actors studio. "when marilyn left twentieth century fox, they said, 'well, we'll show her.' and they said 'there's this hot blonde in this play in new york. we'll bring her in.' so, they brought jayne in, and they were trying to create like a super-monroe to lure marilyn back. for a brief period, while marilyn was gone, she was it in this town. she showed up at all the premieres and she was very glamorous and her second husband, the muscle man, mickey hargitay, would carry her in, and make quite a spectacle. she lived the life to the hilt." mansfield was the ideal '50s star like the cars of the era, she flared out in althe right places. but her hollywood career was about to come to an unexpected halt. "once marilyn came back from the actors studio, with 'bus stop,' and it was a really

. >> joining us now are david axelrod and mike rogers who was chairman of the house intelligence committeessing to have you both here. david, how unusual is that? is that -- is it normal to have -- >> it's not unusual if you live in north korea. here in the u.s., that is very unusual. i attended cabinet meetings. i've never seen anything like that. usually, the president gives a short statement. they leave. then there's business. you go through the cabinet and the cabinet reports on the business that they're doing. look, you have an embattled president who wants to change the narrative. he enlisted his cabinet to do that. i think at some expense to them, because they look so servile that it was absurd. >> chairman rogers, did it strike you as odd? >> odd and a bit clumsy. it reminds me of that old will rogers saying. it's like that feeling you get when a baby gets ahold of a hammer. it just feels really, really odd. you are not supposed to laugh at my jokes. >> it's really funny. i hadn't heard that. >> i will tell you the one thing that bothered me about it is that the adulation -- this w

. >> david axelrod, you know very well that brady press briefing room is like a stone's throw from the west wing. help us understand how -- and we have president trump on record initially talking about russian meddling. now totally backing off and unable to answer the question. what's up? >> well, look. that -- it may be a stone's throw away but i think in that white house it also could be the grand canyon for the relationship between the spokesman and the president. i don't mean their personal relationship. i have no reason to believe he's not talking to the president. but, look. the hardest job in america is to be donald trump's spokesman, because only donald trump speaks for donald trump and we saw that -- we've seen that so many times. we saw sean spicer and the vice president and others go out, for example, and explain why the president fired james comey only to be contradicted by the president on national tv. i think that's what happened is that sean spicer's decided to pull in his horns and simply plead ignorance rather than making declarative statements and then being proved wr

i didn't recognize doing office things and mixed in among them in shirtsleeves, look, it's david axelrod, they, there's the president-elect, there's joe biden about to be vice president. these low-key offices very busy, all taxpayer funded. that is a standard thing now, every president-elect gets taxpayer funded transition offices. after this last presidential election it was no exception. taxpayers paid for the trump folks to have low-key big centrally located transition office space in washington, d.c. just like every other modern president has had. what was different this year with this president-elect is this president-elect did not use those offices. we paid for them anyway but they didn't really use them. they used trump tower instead. why not? yes, there were some trump folks who worked out of the taxpayer funded transition offices in d.c. during the transition in november and december and into january before the inauguration, there were some people there but the candidate himself was not there. none of his top people were there. none of the decisions about the transition and the

and david axelrod, a senior advisor and jen pataki, from the state department and spokesperson. >> whatavid, watching some of what you and president obama worked on taken apart by this administration? >> maybe this sounds disingenuous, anderson, i'm less concerned about the impact on president obama's legacy than i am the impact on the country moving forward. you see something like this today and the impact on the issue of climate is deeply concerning, more than that, the issue of the american leadership and our prestige in the world and our ability to shape events since we've shaped them since world war ii, those are very much in question because of these decisions i believe were made almost entirely on a political basis, to apiece the president's base and not on the basis of the substantive facts. that's what concerns me. i think that there will be more durability to these accomplishments moving forward, but the one that worries me the most is just america's leadership in the world. >> do you think -- do you think president obama sees it in that same kind of perspective? >> you know,

but i think we also have to pull back, and david axelrod was talking about the polarization we're seeing in this health care fight and in washington. true. but maybe, just maybe the process might work the way it's supposed to, which is you get to a place where you don't achieve what you want from a conservative perspective, you have to start dealing with democrats. maybe you might get to a more constructive place of dealing with some of the problems within obamacare that have to be addressed. this is bigger than politics because the policy has so much impact, is so complicated to implement over time. >> chris, given what david is saying there, do you think -- can humpty dumpty be put back together again, or is this bill dead? >> short answer i don't know, which is the answer to everything in the donald trump era. when people ask me for predictions, i say i didn't think the guy who is the president would be the president. take that as a caveat. it always can be until it's officially dead. it's not officially dead. i'd be in the skeptical camp, clarissa. david mentions this. the longer a c

jason miller, chief political analyst gloria borger, and david axelrod, and editor at large chris saliza. good evening to all of you. where shall we begin? why don't we start with mr. preston. remarkable day in american history, don't you think? is this the worst day of this young presidency? >> we've used that terminology a lot. given so many things that have happened during this presidency. but i don't think it was the worst day of his presidency. i don't necessarily think it was a great day to have the former fbi director on national television across every network, laying out what he felt was intimidation by the president. i also don't think we can look at this through one prism. there are different ways you have to look at it. politically, legally, we just saw this past hour from gary tuchman's piece we were talking off camera, where his supporters still seem to be with him. so i just think it's very complicated. honestly, i've been saying this the last 24 hours, and will for the next receive or seven months, this is a very little piece of a very big jigsaw puzzle. >> i want to get

. >> david, axelrod. >> first of all, i agree with jeffrey and everyone else and david. this would increase the level of this crisis by 100 fold. every single member of congress, republican and democrat, said at the time of mueller's appointment, this is what we need, this is the impartial guy. you saw newt gingrich's tweet. i think what's happening now is because -- precisely because he is hiring these very, very high powered prosecutors that jeffrey talks about, there's a sense of nervousness and foreboding about where this might go. so there's a strategy now afoot to try and sully the investigation as political and to turn it into a republican/democrat thing. i think it's very hard to do with a guy like bob mueller. >> it's classic donald trump and his team. he is too close to trump, he can't be special counsel. he is too close to hillary and democrats. he can't be special counsel. they know that this guy is going to run a top notch, ethical investigation with some of the top lawyers in the country. they're frightened of that. they're going to crush to try to discredi

. >> reporter: and he infuriated trump when he told former aide david axelrod. >> i'm confident thati think i could have mobilized a majority of the american people. because if you succeed the country sulk seeds. >> reporter: after november's election the pair made nice after the meeting. >> he was nice to me with words and when i was with him. but after that there has been no relationship. >> reporter: now, one former obama official told me that one of the president obama's attributes is he's a mag ma tift. while he disagrees with most of the trump agenda, he doesn't want to see him fail as president. when they met obama treated trump as his successor, offered him candidate advice and perspective on a range of issues. but in his words, trump never struck obama as a particularly deep or intellectually curious guy and we're seeing that in real >> thanks very, very much. let's get to the panel. it is very fascinating, not only the relationship between the current president and the former president, but the current president tonight within the next hour or two, he's going to leave the w

i didn't recognize doing office things and mixed in among them in shirtsleeves, look, it's david axelrodt-elect, there's joe biden about to be vice president. these low-key offices very busy, all taxpayer funded. that is a standard thing now, every president-elect gets taxpayer funded transition offices. after this last presidential election it was no exception. taxpayers paid for the trump