. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia. we welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. happy memorial day weekend to our friends here at home. so the president says everybody is calling it spygate, and if you listen to only the conservative media, you'll be convinced he's right. it's a confusing story, but what does the evidence show? i think i can cut through the partisan noise and spell out what you really need to know. >>> and with the midterms less than six months away, must mueller take account of the electoral calender as he decides when to wrap up his report? i say no. that was jim comey's mistake. >>> plus, after the president kept bashing nfl players for taking a knee during the national anthem, the league imposed new roles and fines, but if they think that's fixing the problem, i'm throwing a flag on that play. >>> and this is commencement season, and speakers of all stripes are addressing the political climate, but should they go so far as to name the president? >>> plus, an exclusive interview

. >> let's go to our cnn political commentator, michael smerconish and has a new book coming out called "clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right." i love that song! he has launched this mega p.r. campaign, trying to delegitimize the law enforcement community. we're calling it spygate and you're calling it spygate and, p.s., no we're not calling it spygate. >> who is aiding him? >> i think he's pretty effective thus far. it's hard not to see it as an attempt at inoculation. he lays out that moniker, spygate. it spreads among their base that if and when there's a report issued by robert mueller that goes to rosen stestein that we get to see that builds a case against the president, they'll be prepared to believe that it was all a witch hunt, it was all by virtue of spygate and a setup. it prays upon the attention span of the american people. this is a very complicated story and it requires a lot of read-in to come to terms on what transpired. i think i have a handle on it but here's one area of agreement with the president. i want to see all the documents. i want transparency. i wan

let's go to michael smerconish. you said on a 9 to 10 scale, she gets a 9 for race i aand a 10 f stupidity. >> i try to look at a circumstance and determine if there's a benign meaning, interpretation, is there something we're getting far too worked up about? no. in this case it deserves our consternation, it's a no-brainer. and that leads me to the second of those scores to say how could someone be so stupid as to send out that kind of a tweet and to think that it's acceptable or to think it a laugh line, in 2018? sorry. no, you're done. >> she obviously still thought it was a joke when she, apologized, i put that in air quotes. she wrote "i apologize to valerie jarrett and all americans, i apologize for making a bad joke about african-americans and their looks, i apologize, my joke was in bad taste." >> it's so beyond the pale, which i think a professional death sentence, which is what abc has given her in this case is warranted. >> we talk so much in this trump era about how apologies just don't seem to exist. an

. ♪ ♪ >>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia.welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. in a rare interview, white house chief of staff john kelly calls the russian probe an embarrassment for the president and then has to walk it back. but it's clearly affecting the u.s. stature on the world stage. i'll ask general michael hayden about that subject. and the democrats' big lead in the midterm polls is fast disappearing. are the drum beats about impoochment hurting their messaging? i'll ask the dnc chair tom perez that question. and while everybody is obsessing over north korea, iran and stormy daniels, the president's long-term legacy is already being cemented on something else. as he names young conservative judges in courts around the country at a record pace. >>> plus, a black graduate student at yale falls asleep on a dorm couch and the next thing she knows, the police are questioning her. why are white americans so quick to call the cops on their black neighbors? >>> when my car hit yet another pothole and

. ♪ ♪ >>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia.the united states and around the world. just as soon as america's mayor became the president's lawyer, giuliani wasted no time trying to rewrite the stormy daniels and comey narratives. but by friday, he was backtracking. will the latest addition to the president's legal team end up helping or hurting the president? >>> after the leak of mueller's potential questions, the president has still not decided if he'll testify. as we near the midterms, and a possible blue wave, does this endless delay put time on the side of his opponents who wish for impeachment? >>> plus, the president got some good news this week. the em

. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia.ted states and around the world. happy memorial day weekend to our friends here at home. so the president says everybody is calling it spygate, and if you listen to only

michael smerconish, chris cillizza, appreciate you both. >>> we are following breaking news. at any minute disgraced hollywood mogul harvey weinstein set to turn himself into police. you can see the crowd of media and onlookers already gathered. weinstein will face charges that he raped one woman and forced another to perform sex acts. cnn' brynn begin grass is live at the police precinct in new york. what's the latest? >> it involves two women. one involves rape. one alleges she was forced to perform oral sex on him. that would have been, according to my sources, evans, who we learned from the new yorker in 2004, aspiring actress alleges that's what harvey weinstein mailed her do. we are expecting him to come up to the front door and walk past this media and immediately be placed under arrest. soon after, he will be traps ported to the criminal courthouse not far from here where he will face a judge on rape charges and criminal sex act charge. we expect bond to be set at $2 million. dozens of women have come forward alleging various different clients against harvey weinstein

. >>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia. we welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. just as soon as america's mayor became the president's lawyer, rudy giuliani wasted no time trying to rewriete the stormy daniels and comey narratives. but by friday he was backtracking. will the latest edition to the president's legal team end up hurting or helping the president? after the leak of mueller's potential questions, the president has still not decided if he'll testify. as we near the midterms and a possible blue wave, does this endless delay put time on the side of his opponents who wish for impeachment? >>> plus, the president got some good news this week. the unemployment numbers are down to near historic lows. >> the unemployment rate just fell beneath 4% for the first time since the beginning of the century. >> and when a package was misdelivered to a harvard law school graduate in phoenix, he was afraid to let his sons redeliver it because they're a black family in a white neighborhood. a viral moment

. >>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia.s and around the world. just as soon as america's mayor became the president's lawyer, rudy giuliani wasted no time trying to rewriete the stormy daniels and comey narratives. but by friday he was backtracking. will the latest edition to the president's legal team end up hurting or helping the president? after the leak of mueller's potential questions, the president has still not decided if he'll

. ♪ ♪ >>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia.he united states and around the world. happy memorial day weekend to our friends here at home. so the president says everybody is calling it spygate. if you listen to only the conservative media, you'll be convinced he's right. it's a confusing story but what does the evidence show? i think i can cut through the partisan noise and spell out what you really need to know. >>> and with the midterms less than six months away, must mueller take account of the electoral calendar as he decid

. ♪ ♪ >>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia.wers in the united states and around the world. in a rare interview, white house chief of staff john kelly calls the russian probe an embarrassment for the president and then has to walk it back. but it's clearly affecting the u.s. stature on the world stage. i'll ask general michael hayden about that subject. and the democrats' big lead in the

also that evening we're in philadelphia at the free library, where radio and tv host michael smerconish, will share his thoughts on the current political climate. we hear peter stark, detail the early military career of george washington. and saturday, we're at the reagan library in california with former white house social secretaries jeremy bernard and lee berman, sharing thoughts on professional and public civility. that is a look at some of the events booktv will be covering this week. many of these events are open to the public. look for them to air in the near future on booktv on c-span2. >>> so seems to me what we do between birth and the grave is so incredibly vital because at some point, philosopher cornel west is fond of saying, quote, we become the culinary delight of terrestial worms, end quote. this small exercise is not about nilism. not to play jokingly with our human condition, share with us a shared embodied sense of vulnerability and shared sense of common alt. the point we out to carry with our finitude, this life, this moment, this right here right now is perhaps all