david gergen? >> yes, i think that if you're the president tonight is a good night in the sense that jeffrey and jonathan are talking about and that is that manafort -- mueller was likely counting on manafort as being the star witness and now he doesn't have th that. >> it's possible will stretch out the time. mueller may have to double check. he may have to get to a whole new path for bringing whatever case he's going to bring forward and this may extend the time. now we have whitaker at the justice department. who the hell knows what will happen in the next few days of weeks? it's one more reason why the mueller investigation ought to be protected by congress because this has become so unzblern this is like a three dimensional future game of chess. is this 134g you think paul manafort would have planned out long ago? >> it doesn't seem the way it fell that she planned it out. he has ten more counts that there was a hung jury on that could be brought by the prosecutor, mueller, against him so they

david gergen? >> yes. i think if you're the president tonight is a good night in the sense of jeffrey and jonathan were talking about and that is manafort -- mueller was likely counting upon manafort as being a star witness. and now he doesn't have that. it's also possible that this will stretch out the time. now, mueller may have to go back and double-check and he may have to get a whole new path for bringing whatever case he's going to bring forward. and this may extend the time, and now we've got whitaker at the justice department. who the hell knows what's going to happen the next few days or few weeks with all of this. i think it's one more reason why the mueller investigation ought to be protected by the congress because this has become so uncertain and so bizarre. >> john dean, it's like a three-dimensional future game of chess. is this something that you think paul manafort would have planned out long ago? >> it doesn't seem the way it fell that he planned it out. you've got to realize also, anders

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they have got to come legally. >> let's bring david gergen in here. >> a couple of things. one thing is i think trump has gone hard line on immigration because that's just in his dna. you know, he's a brawler, he likes to fight, he likes to turn down -- >> you don't think he thinks that it's smart politics? >> i think he thinks it's smart politics for senators. it's much more helpful for senators in red states than it is -- and in red states than it is for the house members, because that's where the suburbs are getting so turned off. but i think underneath this immigration, this is about race. this is about ethnicity. >> yes. >> can you remember a white house that has produced an ad for national television that has been rejected because it's racist? it was flatly label racist? i mean it's unbelievable. >> fox news. >> mark preston, a new cnn poll asked voters, take a look at this, which issues are extremely important for them for tomorrow's congressional election. 64% of republican voters say immigration. that is more than any other issue, even more than the economy, which

to four separate administrations both democrats and republicans, cnn senior political analyst david gergenot of tests for the president this week. which one are you going to be paying most attention to? >> think the g20 summit that's coming up is going to be extremely significant, because the emerging and possible trade war with china has, you know, caught the attention now of investors and people all over the world and there is an economic slowdown that's going on around the world and the robust american economy has been the one thing that has really worked well for the president and now he's got to protect that and how does he thread that needle with the chinese. i think it means his meeting with putin will be significant, not as significant with china. that's the most important bilateral relationship in the world. he's coming in at a time, too, when many in europe are questioning his leadership especially after he refused to accept the recommendations or findings on the khashoggi case and brushed them aside in favor of khashoggi and also there's a growing sense in europe and in much of

presidents david gergen and cnn chief media correspondent and host of "reliable sources" here on cnn n stelter. david, how do you think president trump took macron's not so subtle message? >> not well at all. and didn't take the message from macron a few months ago and he needs to build his own army to protect itself from russia and china and indeed perhaps from the united states. we now reached a stage where the honeymoon where macron and trump has clearly become very divisive. it's falling apart around that has some danger for the united states because macron is first and foremost someone who believes that france and europe will best be saved if it's in a collaborative framework. that's the lesson in the first world war and second world war and at the end of the first ward where where is a million people, soldiers and civilians died through excessive nationalism one of the reasons why europe is is going its own in the united states macron makes the comments where they do have a counter to what the president has been saying and the president did not strike back. >> he did not. i'm no

retired general mark hurtling and political analyst and former adviser to four presidents, david gergen. hit me with your reaction to the president suggesting that mccraven should have caught osama bin laden sooner. >> ana, what i would say in terms of my reaction is we can never become immune to this kind of narrative, to this kind of jack assry. mccraven is a good friend of mine. we both have served during the same period of time and under multiple presidents from both parties. we serve in the military the constitution of the united states. we don't serve an individual. that's what makes our military different from all the other militaries in the world. >> david? >> this comment by the president with you disrespectful, demoralizing, it was shallow and it was unprofessional. >> the president obviously faced criticism in the past for saying john mccain wasn't a war hero, for insult ago gold star family. david, does this rise to the same level? >> yes, i think so, especially because mccraven was a man who did command the operations against osama bin laden and took him down. there's been

the question to you, joyce, as david gergen speculated tonight, this is someone who is trying to hide something very big or protect someone very big. do you concur with that? because clearly he is not enjoying life in prison. he came into court last time in a wheelchair. >> i think that that's exactly right. the question we don't know the answer to that perhaps mueller will give us some hint about when he files his more deliberate pleading in this matter is, what is it that manafort is sitting on? what did he either do or what did he know about that's so sensitive that he's willing to go to jail that for him will be a virtual life sentence and appears to be connecting with him during a campaign. is it possible he got questions about deripaska that he wasn't prepared to answer because it could be dangerous? that's highly speculative but we have to consider that also. >> that report he was referring to was the "new york times" report back when o'dowd had at least dangled the possibility of a pardon. that is a weighty thing to dangle in the middle of a conversation. the question to you,

the question to you, joyce, as david gergen speculated tonight, this is someone who is trying to hide something very big or protect someone very big. do you concur with that? because clearly he is not enjoying life in prison. he came into court last time in a wheelchair. >> i think that that's exactly right. the question we don't know the answer to that perhaps mueller will give us some hint about when he files his more deliberate pleading in this matter is, what is it that manafort is sitting on? what did he either do or what did he know about that's so sensitive that he's willing to go to jail that for him will be a virtual life sentence in prison rather than coming clean with mueller. one suspects that's a weighty secret. we don't know if it goes in tandem with the corsi allegation that he had a plea arrangement with mueller that has now fallen apart, whether it's somehow related to the president turning in his answers to the written test that he took for bob mueller. we don't know if that's all related or if it's the special counsel saying in his filing, manafort was simply not tr

let's begin with mary catherine hamm, senior political analyst david gergen. lection day, all. good to be in your town. let me start with you and then follow up with you, david. has trump managed to do something, no matter what side you're on, that bloggers and politicians and tv ads haven't been able to do because he's made voting great again? look, i do think there's energy on both sides and i think it's a bit understated that some of these republican enthusiasm numbers are pretty good. that's not to say democrats aren't outdoing them because they are but they're closer to parity than what they're given credit for. when you have a situation like 2016 when you have a lot of trump voters but you have races that are run completely differently. i'm thinking of an ohio senate race in 2016, the republican outperformed trump doing a very different game. there are a lot of house candidates on the ground doing a very different thing. whether that can exist outside of the trump orbit is the question. it can happen with senate races. the house is more difficult. >> in t

david gergen, bill kristol, james clapper. where are those people today?oaming and ranting on twitter like drunk children. what about brennan? here's what brennan sounds like now? >> he is feeding and fuelling hatred and animosity and misunderstandings among americans. it's nothing short of treasonous. he's giving aid and comfort to the enemy. he's aiding and abetting the enemy. >> tucker: treason, aiding and abetting the enemy. people didn't used to say things like that in public, no t for a long time. now it's just another midday panel on msnbc. our culture grows less open and more stifling by the day. comedians no longer tell unapproved jokes. scientists must abandon politically unpopular research. the left is clamping down with maximum force on dissent. they demand nothing less than total obedience to their ever-expanding programs, whose outlines change and are confusing. step out of line though and they will hurt you. so why is the left doing this? well, because they're losing and they know it. take a step back for a minute. is humorless political cor

joining me now is david gergen and max boot, author of "the corrosion of conservatism, why i left thehe president's explanation that it's about ukrainian sailors? >> no. the ukrainian sailor story has been out there for a few days and he decided he was going to go. it's clearly, what happened on the plane after he heard about his lawyer, cohen. michelle kaczynski of cnn reported on the plane he was talking to white house aides, he was in a terrible mood, he was spooked and distracted. that i think drove the decision. it's also true, i think, that they saw this be a pr disaster to be meeting with putin at the very time his relationships with russia are in question. he's much better off to keep his distance. >> particularly with this story of a $50 million penthouse offer. the visual of him -- >> just $50 million? >> max, you know, it's not just a meeting with putin. basically, a number of the president's meetings have now been scaled back to kind of just shorter meetings now with the leader of turkey and south korea. >> he's obviously in a foul mood, and for very good reason. just in t

also kirsten powers and david gergen. good evening to all of you. so, david, jeff zeleny is reporting that the president insisted on this hard line immigration ad to be the closing of his campaign. he didn't want this -- you know, they made this ad about the economy, and he hated it. so we'll know if his gut is right tomorrow. >> that's right. and i think probably everybody here thinks his gut is wrong. but we have to remember that in 2016, we all thought that too, and his gut turned out to be -- i do think it's stunning that in the closing days of a major race, the white house tries to put an ad on the air, and the networks refuse to put it on because cnn called it racist. it's a racist ad. when have we had a white house that wanted to put an ad on the air in the final days -- i mean it's a reminder of jim crow days to have something like that. >> i don't know if i think that it's wrong. i think fear is the ultimate motivator, right? when you're afraid of something, you can be angry at something all day, but if a snake runs up behind you and you're

david gergen. and jeffrey toobin. who wrote the book too close to call. what is up with florida?t's important to point out this is not a recount yet. they are counting the votes. and that's those are very different things. florida has had a terrible history in figuring out how to count its votes. they have terrible technology. it's not chad. it's not the punch card anymore. it's still a very inferior system. arizona and california which are still counting. are actually in a different situation. and actually are much more confident because they allow people to mail in ballots on election day. so the fact they haven't gotten all the votes in it's a flexion of them allowing people to vote. it's not a flaw in the system. you can't argue anything is wrong in arizona or california. florida is a mess. but it's there's no evidence as far as i can see there's actual fraud. >> we have seen this before. the president claiming election fraud. this is for races where he's not on the ballot. what kind of effect is this on the public faith and the integrity of elections and the which is obvious

talk about these elections and what they mean for this president, for the congress, susan page, david gergen, symone sanders, and rob estarenose. we're going to start with you because you have seen a couple elections through the years, and worked for both democrats and republicans. you had a pretty big spread on the gener iic ballot. a presidential rating in the 30s. what does that say to you? >> it says to me that there's been a shift in the last couple weeks. i think this is starting to break toward the democrats. the president had a lot of momentum coming out of the kavanaugh hearings. good economy and all the rest, but this week of violence with the pipe bombs and the shootings and then top that off with the whole caravan stunt, which i think is seen now as a stunt, suggests that this could be a real shift, a dramatic shift. it could really bring in the house and even change the odds on the senate. i was quite surprised by the polling. >> susan page, the one figure in there that was tighter in a positive, you might say, for republicans, is the enthusiasm gap. democrats had a pretty wide

forming adviser to four presidents, political analyst david gergen, and ron brownstein. great to see you guys. so, races to watch. the races to watch, we could do this for the entire hour. but narrowing in, if we go off comstock is one thing. >> exactly. >> there's another race everyone is watching in virginia which is virginia seventh, the congressional district. dave brat facing a big challenge from his democratic challenger, abigail span brger. why is everyone watching this one? >> we know the epicenter of republican vulnerability are the white-collar suburbs outside of the south. brat will measure how far the blast radius extends. comstock is one thing. democrats have to win that race. they expect to win that race. and it will be a big surprise if they don't. brat is something else. brat, like brian fitzpatrick in philadelphia, are republicans who are in a stronger position but are subject to the same current that we are seeing. and that current is the pullback from, and it's ordinarily republican leaning suburbs, among college educated voters who are thriving. they'

david gergen getting an early preliminary look at exit polls. don't know how much you put faith in them. what do you think? >> exit polls have notoriously shifted over the course of the evening. having said that, i was surprised how low the president's approval rating was at voters at 45%. the right track/wrong track, alternative argument to trump's conduct in office, the tone, was that america is doing well, the economy is booming zblun employment. >> all those things yet right track/wrong track, people say no, the country isn't in good shape. >> notion that the president, it shades the way people see even economic numbers or see the way the country is going. >> it's surprising that, given the economy, how well it's doing. still, so many people view this president so negatively less than two years in his term. he's inciting numbers about that, giving himself cover in case they do lose to house democrats. he has been saying tra deshlly, historic historically, they lose the house, whoever is in power. he has been citing that on the trail and also

former adviser of four presidents, david gergen, former staff member, margaret hoover and cnn senior political analyst mark preston. margaret, you're with me. no problem calling someone stupid or a loser if he doesn't want to hear what they have to ask but now, fine, we'll reinstate the press pass but we may not hold the availability. we may not allow questions. we may try to get you guys all to turn on each other. not about decorum. >> well, it's all about decorum so long as decorum is a one-way street and that's the deal with president trump is that decorum is a one-way street. he wants to be treated with respect, but he expects a certain kind of coverage from the press, because this is what he is actually good at in the private sector was branding and marketing himself and he did that by very carefully crafting how the press covered him, and it just turns out that when you're a private entrepreneur and businessman, there's a lot more flexibility to be able to do that with the tools and levers of the press and not when you're the president of the united states. >> i mean, you know,

former new jersey attorney and former adviser to four presidents, including nixon and clinton, david gergen. ann, what do you make of this? you know, he made the comment, you'd be in jail. it was a laugh line at the time. >> yeah. >> he did then want to move forward with this. >> and i think even in the tweets, it was -- it seemed almost like -- like it was a laugh line or he was just venting. this is unbelievable. this basically is showing us that he's asked senior leadership at the department of justice and the white house counsel to try to influence an investigation which is not how it works. politicians don't get to say, go investigate and charge my rival. that's, you know, it's all about what law -- what laws exist and what facts are there and the idea that any president would try to do that is really boast astonishing and deeply troubling. >> astonishing? >> it's shocking, although perhaps not surprising. for years, he has this, you know, lock her up chant that he leads people in, and so it turns out that true to the that chant, he was indeed asking people in his administration to, so

. >> david gergen, is it possible the democrats have been overly optimistic?tephen colbert show saying it was going to be a big night, and he reminded her about hillary clinton's firework barge. >> i think they should be cautiously optimistic. >> but if they do not take back the house tonight -- >> it would be a shock. >> for the democrats. >> yes, it would be a shock, especially when you start out the evening with the exit polls looking encouraging. one of the things watching the votes come in, it is somewhat sobering. you have to keep in mind, the exit polls can continue to be as favorable to the democrats, but it is not clear the tide will lift all ships. a lot depends on the conditions in the district or the state. in indiana, for example, to have trump at 52% approval is different from having trump and so, in these red states, trump is going to be more popular and it's going to be much harder for the democrats. >> exit polls are interesting to talk about, but time and time again, they have been misleading. >> no doubt about it. we should explain this is t

david gergen. >> i got caught up in the demonstrations on fifth avenue outside trump tower.much anger, so much fear. we have never had demonstrations in the streets like this days after an election. >> it was a soul-crushing defeat for us. and obviously it ended with profound disappointment. it's really hard. i mean, i can't sugarcoat it. >> here is president obama right now. >> hello, everybody. first of all, as i discussed with the president-elect on thursday, my team stands ready to accelerate in the next steps that are required to ensure a smooth transition. i have been blessed by having -- and i admittedly am biased, some of the smartest, hardestworking, good people in my administration that i think any president's ever had. >> i am hoping we built sufficient momentum that it will be easy to keep going in a positive direction and we hope that the progress that we have made is sustainable. >> the people have spoken. donald trump will be the next president. the 45th president of the united states. ( ♪ ) ready to juvÉderm it? correct age-related volume loss in cheeks with