. >> david gergen worked in the ford administration and said the press secretary aspired to be a manpresident eisenhower's press secretary. >> haggerty said my job as press secretary is to help you get the news, to have the president held accountable through the press. increasingly it's become a political arm of the white house, one could even say it's become a propaganda arm of the white house. >> gergen is talking about spin, something he and others did for president reagan. >> we worked very, very hard to convince people that our version of the truth was the right version or at least a credible version of the truth. >> how would you define the difference between a spin and a lie? >> i think a lie is a story that's contrary to the truth. i think spin is an effort to draw on parts of the truth. it's more like a piece of advocacy. >> thanks for being here for your daily briefing. >> you don't have to lie, ever. you simply say i can't answer that question or i don't know. >> i always had a glass of water on the podium. and so if i got a tough question and i really needed to think, i w

, cnn political analyst kierstin powers, adolfo franco, and former adviser to four presidents, david gergent we know is they're telling us there's an agreement in principle. we don't know what the agreement is, and that kind of matters. >> we don't. but it is very encouraging news for the country. it will obviously have to go to the senate and the house. but i would assume, before the republicans went back into the session tonight, they had talked to the chief of staff at the white house, and make sure there at least wasn't a no coming from the white house. they have to know the president wasn't ready with pen in hand to veto it. this has been a long time coming. they've averted what would be a real embarrassment and a terrible decision not to make it. we ought to thank them for doing that, appreciate that and say mr. president, this next move is up to you. it would be helpful in el paso if he didn't go after the democrats hammer and tong and take the low road. >> terrific point, david gergen. this agreement comes 20 minutes before the president is scheduled to take the stage for what will

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david gergen back with us now. david we have seenent mr. of people at the top face scandals. you think of a time when four leaders from the same government have all been in trouble? >> no, i certainly can't. i don't think anybody else has been able to find precedents for what we are going through in virginia right now. >> i am kinds of speechless about it because it's just like, wow, they keep coming, the hits keep coming. there is a saying that all politics is local. this has become a national outrage story. let's take a little bit of a deep dive into virginia where northam has to govern. a poll conducted before the seconds fairfax accuser came out showed that when it comes to northam at least virginians were split evenly whether he should stay or go. african-americans by a wide margin, 58%, want northam to stay. does that give northam hope that he can survive this and actually govern? >> well, those numbers i'm sure were encouraging for him. and he's going to hang in. we didn't -- you know, we didn't get a number for fairfax where -- you know, they were mixed because people

>> david gergen? >> let me first come in on the international point. i have been surprised, frankly, that the white house hasn't provided counterprogramming. i mean, the whole point of this trip was to get big headlines for the president, so i think there was some foundation for the congress moving ahead on its side of things at the same time. but why hasn't the white house had some announcement from there? they've been there and they had one full day -- >> well, frankly, does the white house know what the president and kim jong-un are talking about? we still don't know -- it's not clear they know what he talked about with putin, it's not clear, you know, he's meeting with kim jong-un alone for a time. >> well, but you would think he would come out of this and instead of turning on television to watch this cohen, that he would sit down and they would have some plan. in fact, they would have had a plan going into the meeting on what they wanted to come out. so i have to tell you, i think they didn't serve the president well. >> i don't disagree with tha

i'm joined now by white house correspondent for "the washington post," lou oleranepa and david gergen. david, what do you make of northam's defense that he's not in this blackface photo, because he says he can actually remember the time he did put on shoe polish and darken his face and this wasn't it. >> well, he didn't restore his credibility in the press conference and now senators kaine and warner along with bobby scott, they've put the final nails in the coffin. there's no way he can survive this now. and in my judgment, ana, he made three serious mistakes along the way. several days ago, he came out to issue very troubling remarks about what democrats would like to see on abortion, on third trimester abortion, that he actually said that they would envision that the child could be delivered and then a decision could be made about abortion or that living. that opened him up to all sorts of charges of infanticide and really hurt the party. and then he came in yesterday not prepared for that press conference, apologized and said it was him in the photographs, which he should have pre

joining us as well, longtime political sage, david gergen. do you think this is going to come to, especially for a committee like the senate intelligence committee, one set of facts leading to two very different conclusions? >> not really. i think we're still in the midst of an investigation in which, oddly, these two men are actually -- each of those 20ese men, i think, is telling the truth. senator burr has said, we've had a lot of hearings and we haven't seen any evidence of collusion. senator warner, the democrat, is silent on that question. he's avoiding the question of whether they have no evidence so far, whether what he's saying is, we shouldn't reach conclusions about whether there's been collusion until we have complete evidence. and we don't have that so far. and the guy who really has it is going to have it in the send mueller. back in the background here, what warner is saying is, mueller has many more pieces of this puzzle in his possession already than the senate intelligence committee has. and therefore, we should wait and you

bush, scott jennings, and former presidential adviser to nixon, reagan, ford and clinton, david gergen trump is not the first president to declare a national emergency, but how does this one stack up? >> well, he's not the first. there have been nearly 60 national emergencies declared in recent years. but this is the first that really is about a declared emergency over a border. and that is as controversial as this one is. most of them have been fairly -- most of the past emergencies have been straight forward. this one is causing a storm, causing -- as scott will say, i think, that it's causing heartburn within a republican party. because there are a number of senators who think this -- and indeed, many in the house -- who believe this is an unprecedented and inappropriate, if not illegal grab of power by the president. >> scott, you worked for george w. bush. he declared 13 national emergencies, notably in the aftermath of 9/11. trump declared this national emergency and spent the weekend playing golf. what message does that send? >> well, i actually think these kinds of -- you know,

cnn political commentators bakari sellers and david gergen joins us now. david is a former trump campaign strategist. so david, roger stone is under a full gag order. michael cohen about to testify against the president in front of congress. manafort from a health standpoint is not doing well. he is going to be facing sentencing on multiple felonies. does it feel to you like for them it should be feeling less and less abstract? do you think the president is viewing it that way? >> i think roger stone when he left that courtroom today, you showed that tape there, anderson, where he left almost in jubilant on the first time when was taken into custody and he flashed the nixon victory symbol. he was pretty excited. there is the tape. and then today leaving, looks like quite a different guy. the fact of being incarcerated is very sobering. and i think that roger understood that today. >> bakari, you're an attorney. michael cohen certainly has lied many times in the past. the justice department wouldn't just take his word in exchange for the plea deal that he go

philip mudd, david gergen are here to do it next. in a world which is doing it's best to make you everybody else... ♪ ♪ means to fight the hardest battle, which any human being can fight and never stop. does this sound dismal? it isn't. ♪ ♪ it's the most wonderful life on earth. ♪ ♪ with expedia, i saved when i added a hotel to our flight. so even when she grows up, she'll never outgrow the memory of our adventure. unlock savings when you add select hotels to your existing trip. only with expedia. they have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps.com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the amazing services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again! >>> shocking news tonight. a coast guard officer, an alleged white supremacist arrested on gun and drug charges. prosecutors say he wanted to conduct a mass killing and that he ha

this is very big news. >> and david gergen, this also, we know the inaugural committee, it raised an-raising and historically unprecedented figure, right, of $100 million. this is coming out of the southern district of new york. as laura points out, separate from bob mueller. but the southern district of new york is, of course, also michael cohen. what's the significance of that, david? >> well, i think we have been assuming, perhaps wrongly, but many assume that the mueller report is going to come in within the month. and that basically is going to begin to end it. and what this says is, no, no, no, even as mueller closes up, there's another front opening. and for donald trump, that means that he may be mired in this kind of thing for the rest of his first term. this just may be a constant headache for him and it's going to be a subject of intensive reporting. >> so let me ask you, harry, because according to propublica, rick gates, who was the deputy to the chairman of the inaugural committee, the chairman was tom barrick, propublica is citing two sources saying that rick gates ask

and david gergen, former presidential adviser to four presidents. jack, if the president pressured his attorney general at the time, matt whitaker, to put a trump supporter, trump donor, trump transition adviser, in charge of the michael cohen criminal case, is that obstruction of justice? >> it is. and i think is because the stakes here, the criminal stakes for trump, are much higher, arguably, than in the mueller case. because here you have michael cohen who knows where all the dirty laundry is, where all the bodies are buried inside trump tower. the trump family. trump business dealings. every crooked land deal. every bit of money laundering they did for russian oligarch who bought a condo in florida. everything the trumps did wrong or may have done wrong before trump was elected to office, michael cohen has been singing about. and that has trump petrified. that's why if we believe what "the new york times" reported, and i do, because my guess is matthew whitaker told someone at the justice department, hey, trump asked me to do something about be

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but david gergen, s.e. cupp, chris cillizza, thanks for being with us at this hour. let's get our head straight. true-ish, democrats have never been strangers to border security or physical barriers. n it's always been bollard fencing. but i feel like that's changing now. am i right or wrong? >> there seems to be some shift for democrats away from fencing. going to smart technology, working at entry points and the like. but i think the democrat party shouldn't abandon the notion that more fencing, the kind that went up under barack obama, is still today. if they end up getting the blame for this, that is one of the stupidest things going on in american politics. >> are you hearing it that way, that the, we'll give you something, we gave you $45 billion, are you perceiving a shift to no money? >> there's two parts of this. democrats have no incentive to do anything that trump asks right now. they're a month into newly taking control of the house, largely elected to deny the president some of his key promises. but then there's how voters will come to see this. and that

. >> want to bring in david gergen and joe lock hart, former white house press secretary and mary catherine hamm, cnn political commentator and georgia football fan who produced sony michelle. i put the important things first. david, to you. we are told the president wants to project a message of unity tonight. you're laughing. credible message, credible messenger? >> he'll be up there with his right hand extended to shake your right hand. then the left hand and bang you around. that's his play. he's also going to kick the democrats around a little bit. it's inevitable. >> nancy pelosi will be actually standing over his shoulder there. it's the first time he'll deliver this in front of a divided congress calling her rigid, saying she wants criminals to come across the border. following a bitter battle over even having this speech. >> the drama is good for the president. this was delayed. i was with president clinton when he gave a speech both as the trial was about to start in the senate and the year earlier with the lewinsky story. this is a big opportunity. i'm struck by two things. one i

but it's a breakdown and process and i think an earlier show on cnn, david gergen was on and had saidction of sort of the civil war going on. you know among staff in the white house, that they would do this and ultimately, they're hurting the president and that's not right for any presidency. >> as cliff sims tweeted, vipers are going to vipe. thank you very much. coming up next, breaking news out of the state department. the u.s. and south korea have reached a preliminary agreement over u.s. troops in the region. >>> plus, the white house is about to see what democratic oversight looks like. a big week of blockbuster hearings ahead with trump administration in the hot seat. this is a very difficult job. failure is not an option.a. more than half of employees across the country bring financial stress to work. if you're stressed out financially at home, you're going to be too worried to be able to do a good job. i want to be able to offer all of the benefits that keep them satisfied. it is the people that is really the only asset that you have. put your employees on a path to financial

cnn's political analyst david gergen is joining me right now. nixon, reagan and clinton. david, from all the presidential schedules you've seen, what do you make of this schedule? >> first off, i think we have to grab the fact that presidents in the past spent a lot of time doing things other than being executive. calvin coolidge famously slept about 11 hours a day and then i took a nap in the hour he had remaining. president eisenhower went out and hit about 18 holes of golf twice a week, about 100 rounds of golf in the eight years he was president. i fondly remember ronald reagan once saying, they say hard work never kills anybody, but why take a chance? so there has been in the past forgiveness on this. but the truth is, the world has become a much more complicated place, and the work that the president does in the last few years has become much more intense, much more focused. p presidents in recent years spent about 65% of their time on international affairs because america is not just a major country in itself but the leader of the free wo

now an attorney for the southern district of new york and david gergen, advise tore four presidents.arry, when the judge finds out about this, apology included, twhas possible fallout? >> i think the way stone handled it by taking down the offending image and then submitting this apology will minimize the likely fallout. it's possible he'll get a warning. it's possible that he'll have to come to court and explain how this happened and promise not to do it again. i would be surprised just as a matter of my own experience, if he were actually put in. as we just mentioned a moment ago, when manafort was detained he was detained because of witness tampering which is more serious than this very, very bad instagram post. >> poor choice is i think not even close to what we should say about it. david, the president of the united states attacks judges on the judicial branch with relative regularity if they don't decide in his favor. we have seen this over and over again. i guess, on any level should anyone be surprised roger stone, his ally, confidant, adviser wanted to walk down. >> you migh

. >> and now former ambassador nicholas burns and former presidential adviser david gergen.eard his advisers can't stop him from staying up all night to watch michael cohen. how much of a risk would that be? >> obviously that's going to be a distraction for the president. michael cohen represents a possible extension threat to the trump presidency. we know how thin skinned he is and the president is going to need to be focused on kim jong un. these are high-stake negotiations. the president may try to engineer a summit result that might try to overshadow the cohen testimony. this is a marathon. i hope the president isn't going to entertain any ill-advised concessions to kim because kim hasn't done anything to deserve them yet. >> how concerned should we be that president trump does something rash or dramatic in vietnam to draw attention away from cohen? >> we should be concerned. i agree with every word that nick just said. listen, my experience, after you have your first set of summit meetings and you're in two-part sessions, in effect, when you end the first set of conferr

. >> first off, just to make a comment, there used to be a day looking at david gergen when a president was in a summit talking about nuclear arms that we wouldn't do anything to undermine the president here at home. this is as -- i can't think of a worse undermining of a president at a time when he is sitting with a foreign leader who has nuclear weapons. and no one seems to care about this. the idea that they couldn't put michael cohen's testimony off a few days until he gets back into the country is reprehensible. period. stop, full stop. it's reprehensible. now to the points that are made. number one, the idea that we're going to get an impeachment on a campaign violation reporting requirement that even if it was true, the controlling precedent was that these types of payoffs were not campaign finance violations. take the john edwards case. so i don't know how you have intent to do something if the only case on the matter shows that there is no campaign finance violation in doing so. so i don't think there is a crime there can't be a crime. >> well, trump org could be accused of a c