here to talk about it jeffrey toobin, maria cardona, jeffrey lourd and in washington, john king. this surprise you, jeff toobin, this is coming up eight days till inauguration? >> not really. this is why inspector generals exist. this was a huge controversy over whether director comey appropriately released that letter on the. >> efan: -- >> that's the focus. >> one focus. that's the key issue here, something that clinton supporters remain enraged about. thnd this is why inspector generals exist to examine the propriety for internal investigations. >> why would it be made public there will be an investigation? >> it's fairly common that it's -- that they are public. it's not like a grand jury investigation. what's interesting is that michael horowitz, the inspector general, is a political appointee, which means usually, like most political appoint tees, he would leave on january 20th. but there has been historically an exception for inspect generals. 1981, jeffrey may remember, ronald reagan fired a bunch of inspector generals, caused a big stir of outrage, and since then there h

we'll talk about it with senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin and the rest of the panel. children: grandpa! i never want to miss these moments due to my pain. i live for this. arthritis used to get in the way. but now with blue-emu maximum arthritis cream, i'll never miss another hug. blue-emu maximum arthritis cream. beat the pain and enjoy life. >>> a report that sources say fbi director james comey briefed donald trump on the two-page document suggesting russia may have compromising material on him was only one of two breaking stories breaking on him. the other, he's facing a probe into the bureau's handling of the clinton e-mail server investigation. james comey saying he's grateful for the investigation and hopes the results are shared with the public. here to talk about the implications and many cnn's senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor jeffrey toobin, maria cardona trump supporter american spectator editor jeffrey lord and in washington inside politics editor john king. does this surprise you, jeff toobin, this is coming up eight days till inaugurati

let's go now to jeffrey toobin.emocrats are enraged at james comey. >> ep ranraged. >> here's a clip. >> i believe that the comey letter was a foul deed. it was the wrong thing to do. >> i think it was troubling that he put that vague letter out 11 days before the election. >> foul deed. nancy pelosi did not mince words. how necessary is this investigation? >> i think it's a very good idea. this is why we have inspector general. they investigate whether departments in the -- you know, their own departments are behaving properly. obviously this was a matter of great controversy. >> this investigation's going to go on under donald trump when you talk about an inspector general that isn't -- >> well, probably. >> it's not going to switch. >> see, this is where things get complicated. michael horowitz, the inspector general, is a political appointee. political appointees usually leave on january 20th. however, inspectors general are an exception, usually. in 1981, when ronald reagan took office, he fired all the inspect

bringing back jessica brown and our senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin. bama when he took office had to fill 50 vacancies. now 100. how will this have an impact across the country on so many key issues? jeffrey, can you hear me? >> oh, that's me. i'm sorry. i thought you were asking pamela. well, there is a huge difference between liberal judges and conservative judges, just as there is on liberal politicians and conservative politicians. abortion rights. gay rights. corporations versus labor unions. on all those issues you see dramatic differences between republican appointed judges and democratically appointed judges, especially at the supreme court, and that's where, as we all know, there is one vacancy that donald trump will have the opportunity to fill. and soon there will be three justices over 80 years old, which gives -- raises the possibility of even more. >> which suggests he could have an impact long, long beyond four years or even eight years. the impact of these supreme court justices and these federal judges, they go on for 20, 30, maybe even

bring this senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin, it's difficult to watch. immediate reaction? >> we can talk about the legalities but you just have to wonder how can human beings be so awful. as you said, who raised them? what motivates people to treat a disabled defenseless person like this, this way? and unfortunately in our line of work, we see a lot of evil and this just looks like evil. >> just dumb, stupid, behavior here that's obviously -- i don't know, no home training because no one i know raised by any parent would even dream of doing something like that. my mom would probably beat me worse than that kid. we've been talking to police, say still investigating. won't classify as hate crime. is this a hate crime? >> i don't know. and i don't want to prejudge too much because frankly even the video has so many bleeps that you would need to hear what he said because racial epithets perhaps might have been bleeped and that's something that would be relevant. not sure everyone knows that racial motivation can be black versus white, white versus black. so possibly a hate cri

joining me former federal prosecutor jeffrey toobin and jonathan turley, professor of law at george washingtonversity. jeffrey, how important are filling these vacancies? the number of issues these kind of judges rule on? >> it's enormously important in terms of what they do. but it's even more important for how long they serve. because all of these judges under the constitution serve for life. so there are still many judges who were appointed by ronald reagan, anthony kennedy on the supreme court is still there appointed in 1987. so this is an opportunity for a president to extend his influence decades after he leaves office. >> and jonathan, given the number of vacancies, seeps like trump is going to be able to shape the courts in a way that president obama wasn't. >> he will. he controls the senate through his party. so these vacancies will be filled which is good news for many judges who are desperate t have colleagues. and i do think it's important to remember these lower court judges are subject to the rules of precedent. and so they don't have as much leeway obviously as someone on the

i want to bring in jeffrey toobin. the video is difficult to watch. your immediate reaction? >> you know, we can talk about this in the legalities, but you just have to wonder, like how can human beings be so awful and just, as you said, who raised them? what motivates people to treaty in a disabled, defenseless person like this, this way? and unfortunately, in our line of work, we see a lot of evil and this just looks like evil. >> this is dumb, stupid behavior here. no home training. because no one i know who was raised by any parent would even dream of doing something like that. my mom would probably beat me worse than that guy. we've been talking to the police. police say they're still investigating. they won't classify it as a hate crime. is this a hate crime? >> well, i don't know. and i don't want to prejudge too much, because frankly, even the video has so many bleeps that you would need to hear what he said. racial epithets perhaps might have been bleeped, and that's something that would be relevant. i'm not sure everyone knows, but racial motivation can be black ver

. >> i want to go to jeffrey toobin joining us from overseas. senator sessions' staff, some staff members were involved in drafting this travel ban memo, if you will, or executive action as it's called. what do you make -- but chairmen of various committees and members were not involved at all. what do you make of this level of secrecy that was involved in coming up with this decision? >> reporter: well, i think it's indicative of how what a small group has been making policy during the early days of the trump administration. there are very few confirmed senior officials. there are not many appointed officials. and so they are relying on this very small group and the question about jeff sessions, which really is very clearly raised now, is what will his role be if he's confirmed as attorney general? will he be a check on the president as attorney general sometimes has been, or will he simply be rubber stamp on everything that the president wants to do? that's a question very much present now as his nomination comes up for a vote at some point. >>

two of our legal analysts, jeffrey toobin and laura koch.aura, it's obviously just sickening, unfathomable. and to broadcast it live on facebook and have one of the women talking about why she's not getting enough light while it's actually happening. insane. >> shocking to think somebody would first do this and then try to tell the world they'd done it and almost, you know, glorify their actions. from our human perspective, of course, you're horrified to see this. from a prosecutor's perspective as well, this is great evidence you need to use. it's very difficult often times to prove hate crimes. you have to prove bias and motive and intent here. here it's very clear, it's in front of you, because you have this sort of lack of remorse, you have this very clear mote they've's put before us. >> jeff, hate crimes is not a separate category -- it basically just adds to a criminal act, adds to a potential sen teps, right? >> right. it's an enhancement. this would be a crime regardless of the racial or disability motive. so it's not like they woul

here to discuss cnn's senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin and defense attorney alan dershowitz, the author of "electile dysfunction: a guide for unaroused voters" as well as many other. he is a very prolific author. thank you very much for joining us. and so is jeffrey, by the way. "the nine." and what's your new book? >> "american heiress." but i am always alan dershowitz's student. that's my chief claim to fame. >> so then we'll start with you, then, jeffrey. vice president joe biden confirms to cnn that cnn's reporting that he and president barack obama were briefed by intelligence chiefs on claims that russia had compromising information about donald trump. biden says intelligence leaders felt obligated to tell obama because they were planning on informing trump. and sources tell cnn that fbi director james comey also verbally briefed trump on the two-page document. what do you make of this? >> well, i mean, it's a fact in the world that they were briefed. and this is a developing story. and i don't know where it's going to go. i mean, i just -- you know, we at cnn have been very caref

. >> jeffrey toobin, he did say at one point, donald trump, that his lawyer made the point as well that any of the profits that trump hotels make from foreign entities if a foreign government were to book an event at a trump hotel in washington and new york, the profits from that event, the rooms, the ballrooms, whatever, the restaurants, the profits would go directly into the u.s. treasury. it would be money that would go to u.s. tax payers. you heard him say that. how would that work? >> beats me, wolf. i have to say, it sounds very convoluted. i don't know what exactly it accomplishes, specially since the payments for hotel rooms and catering are a very small part of the overall trump empire. even if you believe that is going to proceed and there will be some check cut to the treasury, the fact remains that he is going to make decisions every single day that will affect directly how his companies do. i any the correct prism to see this through is not legal. the president-elect was correct, he could run his business with no recusal at all. it's a political question. will republicans t

jeffrey toobin, button this up for us, day one for senator sessions, he wants to be the attorney general of the united states. what's the bottom line? >> in a majority public senate, an attorney general nominee is almost certain to be confirmed, and i don't think anything that happened today is likely to change that. jeff sessions repudiated the potion of president-elect trump on torture and waterboarding. is waterboarding torture? should it be prohibited? he said yes. also, should there be a religious test, should muslims be prohibited from emigrating to the united states. he said under no circumstances. so on that proposal, which has evolved in the trump campaign, he seems to be distancing himself from the president-elect. other than that, i think it was a good day for the attorney general designate. >> jeff zeleny, a lot of people thought he didn't hurt himself at all today. >> i don't think he did. he was so prepared for this moment. he has so much history here, particularly after what happened 30 years ago during the reagan administration when he was nominated to be a judge. jeffrey

it was written by jeffrey toobin. >> the fibers, all of it. >> reporter: that served as inspiration for first series, "the people versus o.j. simpson." >> what became clear with o.j., and i'm certain will be clear with this piece, is that you don't know the half of it. >> these gloves are too small. >> reporter: the o.j. simpson drama drew huge ratings. for its seconds series expected next year, american crime story will center on hurricane katrina. season three tackles the murder of johnny versace. as for the clinton scandal, the focus will be on the women who played a key role, paula jones, linda tripp and monica lewinsky. >> in the way that the o.j. series was much about race, i think this series will be much about gender. >> reporter: in recent years, lewinsky has opened up about the scandal, while speaking up against bullying. her ted talk, "the price of shame," has been viewed more than 10 million times. >> not a day goes by that i'm not reminded of my mistake. and i regret that mistake deeply. >> reporter: we did reach out to lewinsky to see if she had any comment about the minis