tonight, stephen welcome from the circus alex wagner and mark mckinnon and musical guest baby rose featuring john batiste and staim homan and now from the ed sullivan theater, it is stephen colbert! >> stephen: well, welling well. welcome to 'a' late show. i'm your host stephen colbert. ladies and gentlemen, i hope you are sitting. and i hope this afternoon when your world was rocked, you weren't knocked down because there was a huge bombshell in washington today from former trump fixer and man whose facial is socially distancing from his skull, michael cohen. out of know where cohen released his new tell all book disloyal, it was a complete surprise like when beyonce drops a new album. but not like that in anyway. cohen describes his tell-all this way. this is the book the president of the united states is does in the want you to read. so any book? some of the stuff is a little strange like how cohen describes the anticipation of when he testified before congress. it felt something like when i was in the hospital awaiting the birth of my daughter and son. daddy, were you happy when i was bo

think that this is working for at least a percentage of these voters. >> okay, tim miller and mark mckinnon, thanks to both of you. mark, i'm so glad to see you looking strong and healthy after that horrific bike accident i know you had. >> thank you. >> thank you both for being here. >>> it only took one week for covid-19 outbreaks to hit universities and colleges in at least 19 states. at least one dean attributing it to, quote, incredibly reckless behavior. we'll take you live to one of the colleges experiencing an outbreak right now. stay with us, you're live in the cnn newsroom. i can't wiat to share at&t's big 5g news... (shouting through the glass) at&t has nationwide 5g? yup! and that's faster? faster, yea! but is it reliable? ah huh and secure! you should consider making a big deal about it! bigger? i said bigger! oh, big-bigger deal bigger than what i'm doing? it's not complicated. a 5g network needs a 5g device. now everyone including existing customers can get a free samsung galaxy note20 after trade-in. who stood up. who stood strong. who demanded to be seen. to be heard. to be

mark mckinnon, jake sherman, thank you both.>> just ahead, president trump says mail-in voting is okay in florida, but he's now suing nevada over that same issue. we'll sort through that just ahead. >>> plus, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell now opening the door to extending emergency unemployment benefits. nbc's kasie hunt joins us with her new reporting on how close we may be to a deal. "morning joe's" coming right back. " coming right back ♪ book two separate qualifying stays and earn a free night. the open road is open again. and wherever you're headed, choice hotels is there. book direct at choicehotels.com. shingles doesn't care. i logged 10,000 steps today. shingles doesn't care. i get as much fresh air as possible. good for you, but shingles doesn't care. because 1 in 3 people will get shingles, you need protection. but no matter how healthy you feel, your immune system declines as you age, increasing your risk for getting shingles. so what can protect you? shingrix protects. for the first time ever, you can protec

and mark mckinnon, executive producer of "the circus." so watch "the circus" every weekend.your book is on my bed timetable. >> there's a little bit of a harry story -- but i need it to go to sleep. i don't have to watch the twilight zone, i just read your bo book. >> how do you think this resembles actual reality? >> i think it knows mch like my book are, that we cover as reporters, but it is a story that sean habity and tucker carl assault and battery told every night. it made sense to the fox office pu not if you're. >> you were at the white house last night. you said the president look a gamble. look at that beautiful picture of you, by the way, court soy of show time. did that gamble payoff. >> yeah, but he knew it would look great and it is lkd late. and he knows that legal proceedings, whatever, what we figured out for what may be a year or so from now. the upsidy. >> it was poorly written, it was flat and way, way too long. here's the thing. maybe they'll get to see it on or in clips somewhere. but, brian, the president is all about ratings, the the democratic nation

and i'm glad i have ron brownstein and mark mckinnon with me.of "the circus" on showtime, back sunday at 8:00 p.m., i will be watching. i hope you have something to cover. anyway, good evening to both of you. ron, i want to start with you. you wrote something in the atlantic that president trump is weaponizing the mail system to federal law enforcement. is this all about helping him win in november? yes. >> it's easy to get caught up in each individual controversy, but if you look at the totality, a number of public experts have said, we've never seen a president go as far as trump striking down all the guardrails about how the executive branch operates. administrations change, it's not surprising that environmental policy changed or public lands policy changed. but there have always been agencies and departments that have been somewhat insulated from political manipulation. that is gone. they're using the census, the post office, to benefit the republican party. the military, firing i.g.s, with the abetting of congressional republicans who are

mark mckinnon is here, former adviser to george w.h, and john mccain, executive producer of present shows not included, my favorite show, "the circus" on showtime. shows we're on don't get included in that. you doing okay? >> no lack of material. in scranton yesterday with the president and in d.c. a lot of week. lot's cooking. >> let's talk about the convention. this convention unlike any in history, how did it go? how did the democrats do? >> first of all, i had a lot of responsibility in 2004 convention, we had conversations about how anachronistic the conventions are but never changed it. covid has forced that. trepidation about it, going to do it in milwaukee ten days ago. but what they did was phenomenal, high wire act of astonishing challenge, and really, how many things could have gone wrong and didn't. not only didn't go wrong, in almost every way this is a better convention than others we've had. speeches are great, don't have tons of people on the floor doing standing ovations after every paragraph, much more intimate and c

mark mckinnon is here, the former advisor to george w. bush and john mccain. mark, long time no see. how you doing, buddy? >> i've been kicking it. how are you doing? >> i'm doing well. how's the wife? >> everybody's good. >> give her my love and i appreciate you joining us this evening. you wrote a piece for vanity fair entitled why vp's pick could cinch the 2020 race. what's his strategy here? >> well, you know historically, don, vp picks have not been consequential except in the negative sense. you think about sarah palin or don quail or thomas eagleton. i think it's different for several reasons. one, joe biden admits himself he's old. people are going to look at this pick not just as the vp but as the potential president of the united states should they have to step in god forbid he have a health issue. but also even if he does have a health issue it's unlikely he's going to run for a second term so the vp kamala harris is now in a good position to be either the next president of the united states or the nomination of the democratic party. she's historic,

also, mark mckinnon, he is former adviser to george w. bush and john mccain and executive producer of the circus. so, watch the circus every weekend. and your book is on my bedside table. i'm reading it. so, congratulations, to both of you. thank you. brian -- >> it's a little bit of a horror story. it's a scary story. >> but i need it to go to sleep. so, you know, it's fine. it helps. i don't have to watch the twilight zone. i just read your book. >> right. >> listen. the president painted quite a picture last night of what his administration has done. how much of it you think resembled actual reality? >> i think it resembles the fox-news reality. it is a scary story, much like my book. where law and order is what's needed, in order to quell the craziness that's happening in cities. this is not really connected to reality, that we know, as journalists. that we cover, as reporters. but it is a story that sean hannity and tucker carlson tell, every night. so it makes sense to the fox audience. it does not make sense to the rest of the coun

tune in tomorrow when my guests will be hosts of "the circus," alex wagner and mark mckinnon. now stickte and stay human. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org captioning sponsored by cbs ♪ the late late show, e late show ♪ow,h, oh

contributor as well, and co-host of "the circus" on showtime and contributor for "vanity fair," mark mckinnone morning off. so, jonathan lamire,

. >> mark mckinnon and karen finney. >>> we have amy klobuchar and cory booker on the program today.ck around for that. i used to work with ted koppel. >> but he doesn't whisper. >> no, but he has a great voice. >> the head tilt. when you tilt your head and lean in you -- >> he has really great hair. >> when you lean in you pay attention. >> cnn has brand-new reporting that iran has paid taliban fighters to target american and coalition troops in afghanistan. how will president trump respond to this? we have details for you in a live report, next. with sofi it's possible to get them paid off and start new. car vending machines and buying a car 100% online.vented now we've created a brand new way for you to sell your car. whether it's a year old or a few years old, we want to buy your car. so go to carvana and enter your license plate, answer a few questions, and our techno-wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds. when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot, and pick up your car. that's it. so ditch the old way of selling your car, and