the holidays begin here at the disneyland resort. >>> "nightline" continues with juju chang. >> matthew shepard after he was found tied to a fence, beaten and tortured. according to prosecutors, two locals, 21-year-old russell henderson and 22-year-old aaron mckinney met matthew at a bar and lured him into mckinney's truck by pretending to be gay. both were convicted of first degree murder. at the time hate crime laws didn't extend to cover sexual orientation. the trial becoming the crux for national debate around gay rights and bias. his murder made many examine the roots of prejudice and hate. >> it was mean spirited. homophobic and beak this investigation forced me to interact with the gay community many times. i feel kind of hypocritical talking about it because i flipped a 180 so quickly. it was just the way i had been for many years and interacting with these kids that were friends of matt's made me lose my ignorance quick. and it made me realize that my belief structures were based on what other people had told me. >> reporter: his murder basement inspiration for the laramie project. >>

when i think about matthew shepard was justin turned yesterday at the national cathedral.en i think about how the lgbt rights movement and how that change from ellen the generous to will and grace being the number one show on television to now you have trans women of color leading storytelling change in television and it wasn't until we saw lgbt q people as people that that became more important than the politics and the policies. so i believe cumulatively the stories we tell in books, the stories we tell in movies, the stories we tell each other about who we are is the only way forward. writing this book, i wrote it while i was traveling after trump was elected president, the building manager, i was living in la, said we are not sure what would happen if ice showed up. you might want to move out. this is february 2017. i packed everything i owned and i was thinking of leaving. if you -- my mom is waiting, canada seems great, let me go do that. then i went through this book and it wasn't until i wrote this book that i gave myself permission because i have to give special p

the matthew shepard, we need to make sure that we're more inclusive and we need to protect people and that's part of the constitution. that's what we do. >> thank you, mr. brubaker? >> well, i feel that the need back in the '60s for the integration acts was necessary. i think we need to start removing those. i've worked out in the trucking industry, the energy industry, and those discriminations that they're talking about are disappearing with the exception of the fact when somebody is hired, basically on the fact they are of a different race or sexual orientation, it aggravates the other employees. so i think we need to start clearing it away. i'm very proud of my son-in-law who, when he has to write-- fill out a form for his daughters and marks out native and puts in american. and he's both, well, has arapahoe blood in him. he does not see race, does not see sexual orientation, does not care about the gender of an individual. if they're a good employee, i'm blessed to have that in our society. >> dr. cummings. >> the biggest discriminator is the federal government and discrimination

we talked about the -- we talked about the acting attorney general, matthew whitaker -- >> shepard: what did he say? >> i can't tell you everything. it's my job to tease people to get them to watch sunday. we talked about that he talks about the khaishoggi tape and what is on that tape. >> shepard: does he know? >> very interesting with the relationships with saudi arabia going forward. we talk about the cnn decision. this was his first reaction before the clip that you just ran. we get into -- i think you'll be satisfied, a very spirited discussion about fake news and the argument that fake news is the enemy of the american people and then we talk about the criticism the president has taken about one failing to go to the cemetery in paris last saturday and also not going to arlington sunday. the president admits that he wishes he had a rare do-over. >> shepard: that is unusual. >> yes. it is unusual. he was in great form. you know, i threw a lot of tough pointed questions at him. he was in great form. answered everything. as i say, it's about 25 minutes. there you can see us walking in.

i said have you heard of matthew shepard? and she went who? and i said would you give me one minute but i had to go to the bathroom and splash water on my face and commerce of down because i was so angry in that moment because my journalist had had slipped off and my mom had went back on. for the purposes of the book i to go back in and finish the interview and create that point of view in the book. it is there. i can't even tell you how viscerally opposed to that point of view i am. it is in the book. >> host: this is melissa and sent a couple of treats. i wanted to get through 90 minutes and of being a teenager during the rise of school shootings and this was hard and i will try again when there is no further possibility. >> guest: like i said, i have two children who are public school teachers right now. my daughter, the one who wrote: with me teaches fourth grade and part of her masters program involves learning what to do during an active school shooti shooting. they gave every teacher a little rubber. because that will stop a door from c

. >> shepard, the acting attorney general, matthew whitaker worked for this group that said they werement. now whitaker lacks transparency when it comes to his past. according to financial disclosure statements, he served three years as the executive director for an organization known as fact. the documents show whitaker received $1.2 million in salary but the reports reveal little about the source of the organization's funding. now the state admission of the group on its tax filing says and i quote "the organization's purpose is to work for accountability, ethics and transparency in government through the legal process and education of the public in these issues." the executive director of the group, whitaker, was an outspoken critic of the russia investigation. now as the acting attorney general, he could limit the scope of mueller's authority. meanwhile, fact where whitaker once worked describes itself as a nonpartisan watch dog and says they're not required to release donor information. the latest controversy comes as a number of senate democrats as well as others say that it's un

. >> shepard: people close to the acting attorney general matthew whitaker tell "the washington post"t he has no intention of recusing himself from the russia investigation. some democrats say he should because in the past he questioned the scope of the investigation and more. ethics officials have not decided whether whitaker will be forced to recuse himself. chief intelligence correspondence catherine herridge is live in washington. >> the ethics review has not taken place for the acting attorney general over whether his past contacts, business relationships or press statements present a conflict requiring his recusal from the russia probe. critics today are highlights his july 2017 interview about cutting funding for robert mueller if his boss, jeff sessions, was out. >> i can see a scenario where jeff sessions is replaced and that attorney general doesn't fire bob mueller but reduces the budget so low that his investigation grinds to an absolute halt. >> when the president asking for session's resignation, this video that occurred there with the red tie shaking the attorney genera

pick for acting attorney general, but our own judge says matthew whitaker has no business in that role. the judge will explain why coming up on shepardmith reporting. >> julie: vice president mike pence in burma today. pence seek an update from burma's president about the crisis in the country. about 700,000 muslims fled to bangladesh among persecution. pence also making the case for free press following the jailing of two reuters journalists last year. so, we heard about the long lines. you saw the video on your tv screens as you were watching the election at the polling places all across the country last week as turnout was among the highest in more than a century. 49.2% of eligible voters made their voices heard. that is the most in a midterm since 1914. just to put it into perspective, i'm joined by bruce melman. okay. first of all just talk to us about how meaningful these numbers really mean. the midterm election is not a presidential election. that's why we're talking about this because these numbers are that much more significant. >> it was about one-third of the eligible voters in the last midterm in 2014. so to get to nearl

. >> shepard: it sounds like the person that will be overseeing this investigation is matthew whitaker. >> exactly, shep. one thing that is interesting to note about mr. whitaker, in his prior role as somebody as a television commentator, he was fairly critical or skeptical about the powers and scope of the mueller investigation. he had sort of suggested publicly that trump was within his rights to be a little bit unhappy if the investigation stretch into his finances. we'll see what happens in term of the oversight going forward. mr. whitaker has signalled a degree of skepticism before entering the justice department. >> shepard: and democrats have signals that they don't believe he's right and proper. >> that's right. we have a call from chuck schumer, the top senate democrat that whitaker should recuse himself. there's not a ground that has been publicly explained. but i anticipate more of that going forward. >> shepard: who is concerned most at this moment in the building behind you, if anyone? >> that is a good question. you know, i sort of don't know what happens next. i'm not su

i believe in those ideas and with matthew shepard we need to protect people. that is part of the constitution. brubaker: i feel the need for the sixties was necessary working out in the energy industry and those discriminations that they talk about it somebody is hired basic sexual orientation i am very proud of my son-in-law to fill out form for his daughters he just puts american he has shoshone and arapaho blood in him. he does not care about the gender of an individual i am very glad to have such a young person if we could extend that. cummings: the biggest discrimination but with the private markets. but for her discrimination and then to subject a problem but they have the right to make their own decisions. and then to enforce the standards of evidence. there should be no case because they want to blame it on discrimination. with evidence like that. >> with a polarizing legislature how do you effectively work with the other side of the aisle? . >> i wouldn't be. it is in wyoming's interest because i'm not sure so for wyoming's best business interest to g