a lot has been written about the trump/roy cohn connection.us operandi was if you quit hit, fight back until you kill the other or devastate the other. he lied about being homosexual. donald trump in the play actually abandoned him when he knew -- >> instantly. >> when he knew he was gay. >> which i think is the main difference between roy and trump. the reason i could write a character based on roy cohn, i think it would be difficult to write a character based on donald trump or ronald reagan for that matter. you need to have a core coherence to be interesting adds a dramatic character. roy had that. there was a deep loyalty in this guy which is, of course, absolutely the antithesis in trump. so it's a strange thing to say, but i think he was a much finer person in his way for all the evils that he did than his client. >> that is quite a dramatic statement. i want to turn to you, andrew about the angel because the angel is not the angel of the christmas tree fairy. it's not the white winged, angelic benign angel. some people were actually a l

roy cohn. roy cohn died in 1986, the same year stephen miller was born. coincidence? i don't think so. he's got his own kind of roy cohn working for him now. they play by the same thuggish rules. >> there are no rules. >> there are no rules, but they have their own kind of code. and it comes from the mafia, which roy cohn was deeply involved in and there's some trump investments that have been connected. >> ned, i do want to get your take on this. regardless of the answer to the questions, what did donald trump know about collusion or the e-mails or what did he do about obstruction or what did mcgahn tell mueller. what we are very clearly seeing is a strategy to tear down truth at all costs, to tear down our institutions, to tear down credibility, to make people not believe what they see with their eyes and what they hear with their ears. talk about what that means for the future. >> well, look, there are some things in the trump era that we will be able to repair in the short term, a matter of weeks, a matter of months, sometimes a matter of years. this is what i fea

you wouldn't hire roy cohn. who enabled and worked for joe mccarthy.ought joe mccarthy was abhorrent, you know, roy cohn was part and parcel of that. >> absolutely. that is john mccarthy was one of the great villains in american history. he will always be remembered not only for destroying the trustworthiness of many institutions, but destroying the lives of many of the people he attacked. and the way that donald trump goes after individuals and institutions, some 484 since he became president. you know, is a replica of what roy cohn, schooled donald trump in years ago. his whole confrontational, let's take it to the court, bullying style, that comes right out of the roy cohn playbook. >> it's a dirty playbook. >> no president has ever used mccarthyite tactics. >> thank you very much. appreciate it. >>> coming up, rudy giuliani is taking on john brennan. and the latest from colorado, where charges have now been filed in the murder of a pregnant woman and her two young daughters. ♪ you shouldn't be rushed into booking a hotel. with expedia's add-on adva

he was once reported to be as close to roy cohn as if roy cohn was a second father to him.and again interestingly with trump this quality of projecting onto others, qualities he himself has. remember just last week when he withdrew brennen's security clearance the stated reason by the white house was reckless behavior and indiscriminate public commentary. to have trump saying we should study mccarthyism it seems that's what he simself has been doing in these exercises. it's a very elaborate n sense inside trump's mind. this twitter feed is going to be studied i'm convinced by historians for generations who say we just never had this unbelievable realtime insight into this complicated and even bizarre rantings of the most powerful man in the world. >> i think if you -- you should probably do like a trump what did you mast in, what's your major, trumpism? what does that say? projection. i was writing that and susan said it because he projects everything. >> you can go through every single person. lying ted, crooked hillary, who's more crooked than hillary. >> donald trump. >>

he was once reported to be as close to roy cohn as if roy cohn was a second father to him. see again and again interestingly with trump this quality of projecting onto others, qualities he himself has. just last week, remember, when he withdrew john brennan's security clearance, the stated reason by the white house was reckless behavior and essentially indiscriminate public commentary. it really was a great example of this habit of projectionism. and to have donald trump saying, we should study mccarthyism it seems like that is what he, himself, has been doing in this exercise. it's a very elaborate sort of sense inside, once again, donald trump's mind. this twitter feed is going to be studied, i'm convinced, for generations by historians who say we've just never had this unbelievable real-time insight into this complicated and at times even bizarre rantings of the most powerful man in the world. >> it's interesting. i mean, i think if you take -- they should do a trump -- what did you master? what's your major? trumpism. what does that say? projection. i was writing that a

he wants a roy cohn. how can we possibly dispute the fact that he asked comey for comey's loyalty? >> i don't think clear minded people do. frank figliuzzi, let me bring you in on this. the president also said i put an attorney general in who never took control of the justice department. my understanding is that by recusing he actually got himself in with the career law enforcement people who advise on recusals and i'm sort of -- with chuck, i'm not a big fan of the zero tolerance child separation policy or other things that he's done there, but the idea that he didn't take control of the justice department, he seemed to in that act of recusing himself, fall in line behind the public servants who gave him that advice. >> we have to give jeff sessions credit for doing the right thing. we don't know all the reasons for it, but clearly he's earned the respect in speaking out today and in previously recusing himself. look, it's kind of -- there's another motivating factor going on here i think for mr. sessions, which is it's a little bit like someone who is not allowed to read the weat

. >> where's my roy cohn. >> he puts himself at the center of the government that doesn't reflect the legal realities of the executive branch. >> how does jeff sessions go to work everyday? >> i don't know that any attorney general has been attacked by the president. i guess there's reason to be grateful jeff sessions is understanding this storm, i think what happens next is the president puts in his hand selected person who would not be recused off the russia investigation who would perhaps do the president's bidding from there. >> thank you for being here. i appreciate it. aisha, nice to have you and alex. >>> new cnn polling this morning, voters have a message for special counsel bob mueller -- wrap it up. we'll dig into the numbers. it started with a fight over a parking spot. now the florida man who claimed stand your grand in defense of shooting and killing another man is charged with manslaughter. he will have his day in court and joining me will be the victim's father. >>> and breaking news out of italy. rescuers racing to find survivors and save lives after a highway bridge c

but it is ironic that mccarthy's lawyer was roy cohn and every few days trump is asking where's my royohn, who's going to defend me? one wonders who's a mccarthy. >> also a few days after he puts out his hit list -- he had a whole list of people he was going to take the security clearances from. >> it's also worse than ironic. mccarthyism was bad because it was an undemocratic project trying to boot out differences in ideology. there's nothing undemocratic about trying to get to the bottom of whether russia hacked our elections and had help of people inside the white house. >> he would be investigating what's going on within doj and fbi with respect to hillary clinton and all these other things. it's his job to do a thorough investigation. >> who says he isn't? >> and he's ignoring a huge -- >> how do you know? >> well, there's certainly no evidence he is looking into this. >> because it's been looked at and passed over. how long does the special investigation into benghazi have to go? really, you're going to bring that up again? >> being a feed to the fbi of information from the steel

the name in hs tri and now revokes mccarthyism and famous for saying in the white house, was my roy cohn. i can hear the echo of cohn saying -- mccarthy was my guy, enough already with mccarthy. >> you're laughing and think it's funny but is there something unsettling about this or that should bother the american people when the president is talking about an investigation and an investigator in robert mueller who let me remind people, we really haven't heard from in more than a year. joe mccarthy was never quiet for a week let alone a year. >> there's everything unsettling about it, john, including rudy giuliani's undocumented attack on mueller for leaking. they have not leaked at the special counsel's office. they have been absolutely careful about their responsibility, not to leak information. this is a textbookcase of projection where somebody takes their own misgivings and bad acts and projects them on someone else. mueller is a complete boy scout as far as conducting an honest and fair investigation is concerned. there's no evidence whatsoever that they are violating their responsib

trump then asked, where's my roy cohn.enberg. and later fought back, wave after wave, of federal charges, tooth and nail. >> i'm outlining 15 specific documentable instances where morgan's office called down ladies i go with, and interrogated them, frightened lawyers out of the office, gotten a hold of every bank in which i deal and my firm deals. >> this latest indictment is deceitful, dishonest and a cheap grand stand plays. he tries his cases with the smear headlines and he loses them when they get to court. this thing is made up out of whole cloth and is just a continuation of mr. morgan's vendetta against me. >> i wonder with rudy giuliani has been studying those tapes. rick tyler, this is a president who, to a certain extent, seems to be increasingly on an island, his original legal team is no longer working for him. the lawyers inside the white house, don mcgahn, has cooperated with mueller's team. jeff sessions, obviously, still recused. to a certain extent. it's clear that it seems as though the walls are closing

when we continue, president trump is in search of his wartime consigliary with no roy cohn to turn to. dr. kelli ward joins me from arizona live. up next. oh! oh! ♪ ozempic®! ♪ (vo) people with type 2 diabetes are excited about the potential of once-weekly ozempic®. in a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than seven and maintained it. oh! under seven? (vo) and you may lose weight. in the same one-year study, adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. oh! up to 12 pounds? (vo) a two-year study showed that ozempic® does not increase the risk of major cardiovascular events like heart attack, stroke, or death. oh! no increased risk? ♪ ozempic®! ♪ ozempic® should not be the first medicine for treating diabetes, or for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. do not share needles or pens. don't reuse needles. do not take ozempic® if you have a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to ozempic®. stop taking ozempic® and get medical help r

it seems as though he is still looking for his roy cohn.hi department where there is a lawyer, he's hoping someone in his direct employ will be someone in the government who will go out and defend him. not the presidency, but him. and that's not what jeff sessions, that's not what the attorney general is supposed to do or was meant to do when the framers put this together. >> i would love to get lindsey graham's honest reaction to reading this passage in politico that the president hates his attorney general's southern accent, but jill weinbanks, it's almost impossible to get an honest reaction from lindsey graham involving anything with donald trump or the attorney general. but you can see they understand, everyone except for possibly donald trump, understands that it would be disastrous for republicans if the president were to fire the attorney general before election day this year. >> i think everyone should see that, and i think -- although i agree 100% with everything jonathan said and could not have said it better, but i would add tha

he took roy cohn, who was senator joe mccarthy's lawyers, he was one of the nastiest lawyers in new york. the bottom line is donald trump doesn't want to listen to good lawyers, good lawyers don't want to work for him. he ends up with people like michael cohen. it's been a disaster. i would never want to be donald trump's lawyer. i wouldn't want to end up going to jail. >> there is a lot of liability that seems to come with working in this white house. thank you, guys. >>> coming up, while robert mueller's team ponders its next move, paul manafort's lawyers want to move his next trial. >>> why this contest is being called a proxy war in the national political debate. "the 11th hour" just getting started on a wednesday night. this isn't just any moving day. this is moving day with the best in-home wifi experience and millions of wifi hotspots to help you stay connected. and this is moving day with reliable service appointments in a two-hour window so you're up and running in no time. show me decorating shows. this is staying connected with xfinity to make moving... simple. easy. awesome.

he took roy cohn, who was senator joe mccarthy's lawyers, he was one of the nastiest lawyers in new york. the bottom line is donald trump doesn't want to listen to good lawyers, good lawyers don't want to work for him. he ends up with people like michael cohen. it's been a disaster. i would never want to be donald trump's lawyer. i wouldn't want to end up going to jail. >> there is a lot of liability that seems to come with working in this white house. thank you, guys. >>> coming up, while robert mueller's team ponders its next move, paul manafort's lawyers want to move his next trial. an investigation update ahead. >>> why this contest is being called a proxy war in the national political debate. "the 11th hour" just getting started on a wednesday night. to rent a movie? showtime. or buy the hottest shows. even here? we've got you covered. now they are all yours. to take on the go. on any screen. bingo! alright! and watch whatever you buy. wherever you are. head to xfinity.com/stream to start watching. simple to rent, easy to buy, awesome to go. >>> president trump's former campaign man

. >> we were talking in the break about roy cohn, the president's mentor and god father in the 1970s80s. he was the choice for crime families. this was the world donald trump grew up in. he spoke the language. e understand that your loyalty is to your family, not to law enforcement, and the fact that the president of the united states would call into question the way our criminal justice system works, to me that's another sign he has pure authoritarian instincts. the only thing keeping him on the road is the fact we have guard rails, institutions that are keeping him there. but he has the mind-set of, as jim comey wrote in his book, of a mob boss. he thinks he makes the law, not the state makes the law. >> i'll get you to redo that eyebrow raise. gabe is talking about institution versus individuals. that's what we're seeing, a fine focus here. there are still people who have a lot of faith in the fact that in this country, institutions are supposed to trump individuals. you raised your eyebrows. >> he said we have guard rails. those guard rails have become loops because we have a rep

his thing with sessions is he won't be his roy cohn, as the president put it.n. if he did, that would be another indication of obstruction of justice, which we may be hearing about. >> real quick, just because it is so much we're talking about today, can i get your reaction to what's going on between omarosa and the president? >> well, neither character in this soap opera deserves any sympathy or trust. i don't trust the word of the president, who's shown himself to be a serial liar. apparently ms. omarosa may also be a liar. the fact she taped in the situation room in the white house is not the right thing to do. but those tapes may be very revealing of a very ugly president. >> i have to cut in because we have more breaking news coming in. thank you for your time. i'm going to wrap up here. the defense has just rested in the paul manafort trial. with that, i'm going to hand this over to my colleague john king. "inside politics" starts right now. >>> welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thank you for sharing your day with us. big breaking news this hou

. >> look, this is the trump playbook dating back to his advice from his lawyer, roy cohn, that you never apologize and you always aggress. anyone comes at you, you come at them. lebron james says something in an interview, you tweet about lebron james. you never let anything go. you never let any criticism pass you. >> so why do republicans cheer him on for that? >> this is where his attack -- this is where his attacks on the media and his attacks on the critics become extremely corrosive and you see their actual impact. so he's lumping all of his critics in with what john brennan has done and how he has acted, which is not true. >> why do republicans cheer this on? why do they enjoy it? >> well, you have to divide the republicans who cheer it on from the republicans who are living in kind of shocked silence. >> why don't they speak out against it? >> because of mark sanford losing his seat, because of bob corker and jeff flake not running for re-election, because they crossed him. >> why doesn't jeff -- jeff flake and bob corker and some of these people who are on the way out could do m

he took roy cohn, who was senator joe mccarthy's lawyers, he was one of the nastiest lawyers in new york. the bottom line is donald trump doesn't want to listen to good lawyers, good lawyers don't want to work for him. he ends up with people like michael cohen. it's been a disaster. i would never want to be donald trump's lawyer. i wouldn't want to end up going to jail. >> there is a lot of liability that seems to come with working in this white house. thank you, guys. >>> coming up, while robert mueller's team ponders its next move, paul manafort's lawyers want to move his next trial. >>> why this contest is being called a proxy war in the national political debate. "the 11th hour" just getting started on a wednesday night. which is why esurance hired me, dennis quaid, as their spokesperson because apparently, i'm highly likable. i like dennis quaid. awww. and they want me to let you know that, cue overdramatic music, they're on a mission to make insurance painless. excuse me, you dropped this. they know it's confusing. i literally have no idea what i'm getting, dennis quaid. that's why

roy cohn. you know whose personal lawyer he became? donald trump's. now, some more proof. just listen to how desperate the efforts are. it reminds me of groucho marx. who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes. >> i'm not going to be rushed into having him testify so that he gets trapped into perjury. when you tell me he should testify because he's going to tell the truth and he shouldn't worry, that's so silly because it's somebody's version of the truth, not the truth. he didn't have a conversation -- >> truth is truth. i don't mean to go like -- >> no, it isn't truth. truth isn't truth. >> so what was that? was that a one-off, a misstatement, or is it part of a pattern of distortion and fabrication? listen to this. >> you're saying it's a falsehood, and they're giving sean spicer, our press secretary gave alternative facts. >> in a situation like this, you have, over time, facts develop. >> what you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening. >> if fact-counting is anything, we've never had any anybody with the level of mendacity that he has, not

we started the case and he was represented by roy cohn from the army mccarthy hearings.was his attorney. the first thing they did was the sue the government, the justice department for $100 million. you can't sue the government for $100 million. and it was very -- you know, very exciting. we had a big developer, not so much donald, more his father, who owned what was called trump village in brooklyn, which was a huge housing unit. and basically what happened at trump village is that if a person of color came to look for an apartment they would be told there were no apartments available and a fair housing group had set up a group of testers, white and people of color to come in. and the white people were offered apartments, the people of color were told there were no vacancies, or that they could go and look at apartments at patio gardens which was in a neighborhood that was a neighborhood of color. >> so what do you think you achieved through that suit? in a sense the decree means the doj won. but he also learned that it does pay to fight back really hard if you have no

i mean, who is he going to put there that would be his roy cohn? >> i think that what is the most disturbing thing is he's actually normalizing that you can tell a prosecutor, don't prosecute me, because think of what he's saying. he's saying if i knew you were going to recuse yourself -- >> if i knew you were going to follow the law -- >> your job description is you can't prosecute or investigate me. he's saying that in plain sight. you're talking about gangster, i mean it doesn't get any more gang. you mean you're going to investigate me? i would have never gave you the job if i thought you were going to do the job against me. that's what he's saying. so whoever he would put there, are you saying, first question in the confirmation hearing, have you agreed not to investigator prosecute the president? because that's what he says is among your -- who would want that job? whose self respecting prosecuting attorney would want that job, you are saying i am the president's patsy? >> the ball is in the court on the senate republicans because -- >> don't

he's asking, where's my roy cohn? at the end of the day it's about that fact.feels sessions isn't protecting him, isn't a loyalist, isn't controlling the russia investigation. that's what he wanted. >> do you think he wants him to quit? >> he wants a cohn type inside of the d.o.j. that's what he wants. and he'd rather have him quit because firing him, chris, could be seen as another point in a possible obstruction of justice case. >> well said. thank you. congressman eric swalwell of california 37 kim whaley, eli stokols and robert costa. special prosecutor robert mueller's prosecutors rest their case in the paul manafort case. this is "hardball" where the action is. once-weekly ozempic®. in a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than seven and maintained it. oh! under seven? (vo) and you may lose weight. in the same one-year study, adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. oh! up to 12 pounds? (vo) a two-year study showed that ozempic® does not increase the risk of major cardiovascular events like heart a

his guys, roy cohn, he admired eric holder because he saw him as someone who protected obama. how does that kind of thinking about what your own justice department officials could or should do look to robert mueller's investigators? >> well, the original sin for the president -- and he openly says he has an interesting transparency to this -- he says, look, i never would have made sessions my attorney general if i knew he was going to recuse himself. he said that out loud in public in an interview with us last july. so that is the thing that is -- bothers the president the most, that he does not have someone loyal to him like he thinks obama did, or jfk did running the justice department. he wants someone who will do what he wants in the justice department. the thing i don't understand, i tried to press the lawyers on, the president could call the justice department. he could call rod rosenstein, who actually oversees the investigation. sessions doesn't. sessions doesn't have the authority to do it because he's recused. et could call rosenstein and say shut this down, if not,

roy cohn, joe mccarthy's counsel and donald trump's. sometimes you don't have to make this stuff up. it falls in your lap. he wrote a book about mccarthy saying, a., he bought anti-communism the way other people buy a used car, it was just a vehicle to take over the american politics and particularly in the right wing, and secondly, people got tired of the show. they got tired of having as fdr once said, the highest note in the scale repeated again and again and again. >> susan del percio, then donny. what's your gut? >> the first thing i thought of listening, again, to all of this falsehoods is, wow, this is really why his attorneys, president trump's attorneys, do not want him to go in front of robert mueller. he gets all revved up and he just -- he simply cannot tell the truth, and, yes, it's getting old, but thank goodness people are still speaking up and trying to, you know, speak out against it, but, boy, is he in trouble if he goes in front of mueller. >> donny? >> the saddest and most frightening thing to me when trump is at the