in the "crossfire" tonight donna brazil, democratic strategist. his new book is called "america, hope for change." >> i got to ask. for those who don't know donna is from louisiana. i went to tulane. i knew the dog hunting would get to her immediately. isn't this a fact that this is like christmas for the democrats? finally something other than obamacare to talk about? >> there is no question that chris christie deflected from the controversy surrounding him. the dog may not hunt right now but the dog is sniffing. this scandal is live. it's in living color. it is going to continue to dog governor christie. >> the truth is i think that while conservatives are looking for a way to bring president obama in this or hillary clinton or anyone else, the truth is chris christie did something i think every good manager should do. that is he stepped up and took responsibility. now today he said he will fully cooperate with the investigators. and there is a lot of investigating to do. >> i agree with you. that's not good for ratings, by the way. transparency,

as a matter of fact it's donna brazil herself. >> hi there. >> hi, donna. >> so let's see your best donnacnn. i am donna brazil. i will be your moderator for this 2016 presidential debate. join me now in welcoming our nominees. democratic nominee, former secretary of state hillary clinton. and the republican nominee, governor chris christie. governor christie, you will have one minute and 30 seconds to answer my questions. good luck. former secretary of state hillary clinton? you take all the time you need, girl power. >> yeah. >> girl power. >> yes, love. there you go. all the time. >> what did you think, donna? >> i love her. i love her. >> that was great. i'm don lemon. thanks for joining us. "ac 360" starts right now. >>> don, thanks very much. good evening, everyone. tonight break news in the scandal involving america's busiest bridge. the gop's brightest presidential hope right now, chris christie, and evidence that his administration played the kind of bare knuckle partisan politics that he criticizes in others. we're keeping them honest tonight. >>> also ahead in the program, her

as a matter of fact it's donna brazil herself. >> hi there. >> hi, donna. >> so let's see your best donname to cnn. i am donna brazil. i will be your moderator for this 2016 presidential debate. join me now in welcoming our nominees. democratic nominee, former secretary of state hillary clinton. and the republican nominee, governor chris christie. governor christie, you will have one minute and 30 seconds to answer my questions. good luck. former secretary of state hillary clinton? you take all the time you need, girl power. >> yeah. >> girl power. >> yes, love. there you go. all the time. >> what did you think, donna? >> i love her. i love her. >> nanks for joining us. "piers morgan live" is next. hey guys! sorry we're late. did you run into traffic? no, just had to stop by the house to grab a few things. you stopped by the house? uh-huh. yea. alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. you leave the house in good shape? yea. yea, of course. ♪ [ sportscaster talking on tv ] last-second field go-- yea, sure ya did. [ male announcer ] introducing at&t dig

let me turn back to donna brazile. donna, what did you think? >> i thought the president was very aspirational. he used the word opportunity a lot. and he vowed to take action if congress continues to do nothing on many issues. there wasn't a lot of substance, in terms of new policy initiatives. but the president repeated that he wanted to get things done for the american people. >> bill kristol, the president talks about he doesn't have hope that he can persuade pundits in congress to come his way. anything you can see he can grab on to? >> not much. if you're a republican, did he persuade you of anything? did he offer you olive branches or carrots to get you to come along on something? this wasn't much there. as reagan and clinton did, did he make republicans nervous at any point in the speech? was there a moment when they thought this will be tough to fight? a couple of the small pieces, that might be the case. but overall, it does -- if you're a conservative, this sounds like a litany of one more smallish-big government program after another

. >> from the left i'm donna brazille. >> from the right i'm newt gingrich.n us again tomorrow for another edition of "crossfire." "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. >>> next, breaking news. guilty in a shocking verdict an italian appeals court has just convicted amanda knox of murder. live to florence for the latest. a huge question tonight. will the united states extradite knox to italy to serve decades in jail? >>> plus, cnn holds the georgia governor accountable for his bungling of the storm that paralyzed atlanta. how did this happen? >>> what was justin bieber on the night police stopped him for drag racing. the toxicology is out and let's go "outfront."

on the left, donna brazile, on the right, newt gingrich.en, who worked with the obama administration, and amy kremer of the tea party express. is reaching for compromise a slap in the face to the grassroots? tonight on "crossfire." >>> welcome to "crossfire," i'm donna brazile on the left. >> i'm newt gingrich on the right. in the "crossfire" tonight, an obama democrat and a tea party republican. after five years of failing to get the economy going, the president today used an exclusive interview with cnn's jake tapper to reveal his latest gimmick. let's listen to the president. >> what we've done is to gather together 300 companies, just to start with, including some of the top 50 companies in the country, companies like walmart and apple and ford and others, to say, let's establish best practices. do not screen people out of the hiring process just because they've been out of work for a long time. >> so if you're a new college or high school graduate, you're out of luck because the president's bias, you now have to wait a year and a half

my best friend donna brazile said you need to get on tweet or twitter or whatever it is. sick girl if you are after 30 and you like a glass of wine at night you don't need no twitter account. [laughter] so we need people like you and james teaches at tulane. i work with lie a lot. we work with young people. that is why we are so optimistic you very much better generation than we deserve. don't judge the current politics ring your idealism to it. >> you know a lot of times i politely tell them it's the wrong point. i want to do what you do. what advice you have for me? you are you. and you follow your passion and you make your way the way that you want to. you can't look to me who is 69 years old and it came up in entirely different time. you have to kind of make your own way. one of the great women of washington was sally smith who had two kids that were learning disabled and decided to teach and took them to a lab school. it's like a college down there and i like a lot of most children had learning disabilities and sally was very clever. she would bring people in and we

. >> that was cnn political commentator donna brazil talking about the the first lady's 50th birthday party to remember, for everyone to remember. it was a star-studded affair. national correspondent has more. >> reporter: after the sun went down, the stars came out. >> looking forward to are good old school dance music. >> have a good time. >> thank you, guys. i'm going to have a ball. this is great. >> beyonce performed. john legend and stevie wonder among many who sang happy birthday to the first lady. the hottest ticket came with a blunt presidential directive. this could be a dance party. >> the first lady asks you to cut a rug, you cut a rug. >> no dinner, no formalities, loosen the tie, come with a full stomach and wear comfortable shoes. >> have you got your dancing shoes on? >> absolutely. >> i have my flats. >> the entire white house tate floor transformed into a dance floor. the bar was set high. the first lady is known to bust a move. with ellen. at white house event. even doing the dougie. last night it was president obama who stole the show. >> beyonce was pretty good. b

. >>> joining me around the table, michael crowley, donna brazile.here, especially since we have to shorten our time with you. here's the mayor of hoboken, sort of adding on, where are we in the assessment damage for chris christie? >> we're still in the everybody's trying to figure things out stage, right now when you look at for instance chris christie's favorable ratings, there's four out of ten americans that are still unsure. a lot of folks are saying, this is odd, i don't know if this adds up, nothing's been connected to governor christie yet, let's wait until -- >> but true, but not connected then becomes the guy can't manage his own store? >> that's right. i think the big question now is will another shoe drop that shows that direct connection, which is really a nuclear bomb, you can imagine his career being over if it looks as if he gave direct orders to do the bridge closure, but even short of that, i do think people are judging him and i think it's fair to judge him based on the kinds of people that are around him and who you surround your

i love donna brazile's comment when she says, look, i love peter, paul, and mary, but you have to bringnother one she said, i love barbara streisand, but you have to make her beyonce. how do they know whom to trust and who to bring in? >> exactly, the clintons are so unique in american politics in that they have been collecting loyal friends and advisers literally since bill clinton's kindergarten class. now these people are invested in her future and want to help and some are. the question is, if she forms a campaign, how do you kind of utilize all these people they've collected over the years, but also bring in the new people, the data crunchers, somebody said the next david plouffe, the 30-year-old david plouffe who understands how campaigns are waged in 2016 and how to organize this. in 2008 we saw a lot of cooks in the kitchen, a lot of voices thrown out there, and a lot of chaos, so i think they are thinking about how do you make people feel listened to while also keeping it organized and keeping a clear voice. >> okay, ladies, thank you so much. amy chozick from "the new york tim

plouffe, illinois republican congressman, adam kinzinger, matthew dowd and democratic strategist donna brazile. welcome to you all. matthew, i want to start with you if you can stop laughing. let's talk about the way the republicans approach this. we have heard, from lindsey graham, the drudge report, rush limbaugh. i want to read from the washington post -- the coming gop campaign is likely to be neither tidy or predictable. a power struggle is underway between the establishment and the insurgent wings, meaning the business elite and the poplist tea party factions. what do you see as the fallout for the republicans from chris christie? what happens? >> that's why the importance has been raised so much, because this is uncharted territory for republicans. they normally are lined up behind a dominant candidate that has the money, is going to be the nominee. it's been that way for 50, 60, 70 years. now in a nominating process that the republicans are faced with without a leading candidate. but the only pre-season favorite in all of this was chris christie. the pre-season favorite that could brid

"crossfire" with special guest donna brazil starts right now.

donna brazile is a democratic strategist. thank you for joining me on this very, very cold day. , speaker john boehner said this morning that the president will run into a "brick wall" if he tries to bypass congress with executive orders. has the president given up on working with republicans? >> absolutely not. to the extent that the do nothing congress would like to try to do something in 2014, this president i'm sure is willing to reach out and continue to work with the republicans. but as you well know, don, today they have taken up an abortion bill. one of the other issues that they'd like to take up, of course, trying to defund, derail obama care. but this president i think is doing what is right by the american people. he's trying to help them. raising the minimum wage for federal employees, federal workers, federal contractcontra that's a step in the right direction. hopefully we can get the minimum wage raised for all americans. >> but the question is what kind of a message is he sending by doing it on the day of his state of the union before the state of the union witho

my best friend donna brazil's says we need to get a twitter account, if you are over 30 and like a glasswine after 10:00 you don't need a twitter account. we need people like you and james teaches at tulane, we work with young people, we are so -- that is why we are so optimistic. you are a much better generations and we deserve. don't judge the current politics. bring your idealism to it. >> a lot of times -- i politely -- i want to do what you do. what advice do you have for me? you are you. you follow your passion and you make the way you want to. you can't look to me who is 69 years old, who came up in an entirely different time. one of the great women of washington was sally smith who had two kids that were learning disabled and decided -- it looks like a college now. like a lot of those children i have learning disabilities and sally was very clever. she would bring people in and have a big banquet and it was myself and clarence page and kelly mcgill less, the actress, and whatever. and bring you in and raise a lot of money and it was a really cool thing and you were glad to do it