jane: ron christie, thanks for joining me. ron: great to see you. jane: the florida shooting was nothe only thing on the president's mind this weekend. he tweeted not month twice, -- not once, not, twicebut 12 times about the russia investigation and the indictments handed down by robert mueller on iday. during the tirade, he made sure he pointed out that there was no collusion and no impact on the r electionesults. for more, i was joined earlier by thomas pickering, who formerly served as u.s.ss ambassador to . abat effect do these tweets have on america'ity to tackle what trump's own security advir state is incontrovertible proof of russian meddling? >> we have to one concept, that putin and russia can do no harm, they are preeminently believable, that y is inhers have to the category of fake news, and that fake news is perhaps reinforced by the television he watches, which seems to be the major draw for information. we have a president who is, put it this way, at best out ofa touch, a best seemingly theff prisoner of a ent kind of reality. and th

rajini: ron christie, thanks for coming in. ron: good to see you. rajini: well, another dantroversy in washington was over the crowd size of tuesday night's state of the union address. prident trump took to twitter for the first time since the speech to say that tv viewership was the highest in history. nielsen, which tracks the ditrendsutes the claims. had to defehas similar claims by the president was former press secretary sean spicer, and a short time ago he spoke to my colleagues katty kay and christian fraser for their program "beyond 100 days." katty: you served this president who has this needed to say everything is the bi why does he do that? does he believe he has bigger ratings for the state of the union address than any president has had before? sean: two things. one, i am out of the audience d crowd size business. number two, i think with respect to your question, the president is a marketer. this is what he has been doing his whe life -- selling buildings, talking about shows and how well the ratings are doing. he has his own way of pr

here to help us sort it out is ron christie.yments of to somebody as if you do, i would love to hear it! not on valentine's day, i want my wife to stay married to me! this is so unusual and the language used by the law is strategic and careful. not saying they're admitting guilt or innocence but just saying they're admitting guilt or innocence butjust the settlement payment that has nothing to do with the trump organisation or donald trump. really? ithink the trump organisation or donald trump. really? i think there is more fired than smoke here. a 130,000 dollar payment before the election, trouble. i'm tempted to sayjust another day in the white house! but this is not normal by the standards of most administrations here in the us. none of this. i think if you deleted the name donald trump and instead of the name of any other president, of the previous 44, and that there has been a pay—out to a porn star of $130,000, a can of scandal about someone alleged to have beaten his two previous wives and why the white house was not abl

steve you may want to chime in but ron christy, i would like to get your thoughts on where the economyically the first quarter is the low growth quarter but this one -- the atlanta fed it is a 5% quarter or better. >> good afternoon to you, ty i think it is a good snapshot of where we are in america right now. i agree with mayor, we've seen consistent job growth for several months now an it is a good indication that consumer confidence is up. business confidence is up. and as it relates to the african-american unemployment rate, look, we haven't seen in 45 years that number dip in 7% we saw it at 6.8% last month which is a great step forward and the number this month is an out liar and i have a hard time believing it will tick up a percentage point but this gives americans a lot to feel confident about and my goodness, i sure hope the atlanta fed is right if we could get 5.4% growth this economy is going to take off like a rocket ship. >> isn't it wrong, though, to expect that the big issue here, which to me is the gap between black and white unemployment and some of the work i do whic

and our political analyst ron christie is back with me now.epublicans were doing better. how do you see them shaking up now? one thing i've learnt in politics is to not pay too much attention to the opinion polls this early. i think the house of representatives could be in play, a number of republicans from moderate districts are retiring, almost 40 not coming back so the question for me is can the democrats field candidates in these districts that candidates in these districts that can be competitive. and i think that they can. what is the key for the president and the republican party in these mid—term elections, is it expanding their appeal or making sure that base we keep hearing about actually turns out to vote? it is keeping that case and keeping them voting. it is a referendum essentially on the president. you will see a loss typically in the range of 25 seeds for the party in power. republicans control everything in washington so if you‘re donald trump or paul ryan mitch mcconnell you will say to people you need to stick with us. and o

with me in the studio is our political analyst and former advisor to george w bush, ron christie.th us. let's just start on some of what donald trump said today. that they might be in favour of tighter background checks on guns. is this the start of a movement or is this a limited bit of space that donald trump is willing to give and doesn't simplify very much? good afternoon to you. it is too early to say. it isa to you. it is too early to say. it is a step in the right direction but, as we know, with congress being controlled by republicans, i don't know that there is a movement necessarily to have significant gun—control legislation at this point that could pass the 60 vote senate and make the present‘s desk. thank you for that. i wanted to stay with us, because it's been a holiday weekend in the united states. the president has been at malalai go. the president has been at malalai 90- -- the president has been at malalai go. —— mar—a—lago. but this time took the decision not to play golf. it might have looked unseemely so close to the florida shooting. instead, by all accounts

back with us is ron christie.ou put your fortune? i think you will find an initiative to extend the age of long guns, from 18 to 21. will republicans agree to that? possibly, the president seems very inclined to wa nt to the president seems very inclined to want to do this, i think he can get enough moderate republicans, over a third of republicans are retiring from office and if you can get them ina from office and if you can get them in a coalition with democrats, that could pass. christian nra has made it clear they don't like that. republicans don't really know where the president is, he has put forward a lot of proposals but they are facing in the primaries, the second amendment supporters, energy on the left, do they want a fight over the second amendment? they don't and this is perilous for republicans, as you have identified, on one hand they are strong proponents of the second amendment, the right to bear arms, but there is a new atmosphere here, that these school shootings, something has to be done and p

for more on the politics of this we are joined now by former advisor to george w bush, ron christie.ch of these events. we think things will change and america will find a way to stop these killings but that doesn't happen. it doesn't happen. one of the reasons is we have the second amendment in the united states. it's in the bill of rights. it says on the constitution you're allowed to bear arms. there has been such a growing politicalfight allowed to bear arms. there has been such a growing political fight after each one of these shootings where we think we will reform the gun laws and expand background checks but ultimately, the congress and president do nothing. part of the reason on this and i think we have the numbers is that the number of people for her and our rights a single issue is a bigger number than those who want gun—control. if you call your congressmen, they listen to you. having worked in that area for many years, we had many calls saying, don't restrict my right to bear arms. and yet, they voted not to have a discussion on gun ownership. but devoted to have a discu

delighted to say i am joined once again here in the london studio by former advisor to george w bush, ron christiens unemployed has fallen, as we are all saying, but there is the stopper and disparity. why do you think it is still there? part of it could be systemic racism, part could be lack of educational opportunities. if you don't have a couege opportunities. if you don't have a college diploma in america your options are severely limited so if you look at the number of african americans, christian, the gap divot—mac graduated from college with a format your degree in america it isa with a format your degree in america it is a very small percentage compared to the number of the publishing —— those who graduated from college with a four year degree. i suppose the other part of this, does tax reform help black people into employment?” this, does tax reform help black people into employment? i think every president likes to take a victory lap, but in this case i think the president should be a bit more nuanced. if you're talking about a one—month changed where it has gone down to under 7% for the

with me as former adviser to george w bush, ron christie. this didn't happen very much during mr bush's white house. six days. people are talking about a staffing issue up bout somebody who is accused of beating his wife. why has the white house let this go on for so the white house let this go on for so long? it is a shame. in the bush administration and i believe also in the 0bama administration, this would have been a one—day story. you have a supper who is accused, rightly or not, of committing a very horrible crime, domestic violence, they would be gone. there is no place for that in the white house. we have been talking about this for six days and it isa talking about this for six days and it is a testament to the fact that the president likes some of the guys who are around him and doesn't want to get rid of them. 0k, who are around him and doesn't want to get rid of them. ok, so there is a political invitation to this, beyond whether general kelly stays or goes, as we were discussing, and thatis or goes, as we were discussing, and th

ron claiborne do it? >> we'll hear the answer tomorrow. see you guys. >>> i'm gray hall with christiet on "action news" saturday at 9:00 just how big was thursday eagles super bowl celebration. >>> a break down of the preliminary numbers. >>> sky 6hd taking a live look at center city sky line, cloudy, dry for now but wet weather could put a damper on your plans tonight and tomorrow. meteorologist chris sowers will have the exclusive accu weather forecast. >>> those stories and more next on "action news"/saturday morning. z2p9hz z5yz y2p9hy y5yy >>> "action news", delaware valley's leading news program with gray hall, and meteorologist chris sowers. >>> good morning to you, it is saturday february 10th aim gray hall alongside christie ileto. >> here are some of the stories we are following for you right now on "action news" prison inmate was shot a short time after being released from what police say he tried to do >>> was it outfit? fan interaction? or speech that made jason kelce a star during the super bowl parade? hear what fans say about the stand out player. >>> pennsylvania's go