>> i did a show with sam donaldson. there was a segment called stump sam. he never got stumped. he is. nobody got a hat. mongoose, what was the name of the famous mongoose and cobra that fought. in the famous child's cartoon. and what was the snake's name? >> three letters. >> nag. >> i did not know that. >> do i get a bonus? >> i expect it. you're our best. you rise to the occasion once more. we'll try to take your lead. we'll get inside the intrigue and call out o why the shutdown has gotten so bad. the head of the air traffic controllers union wants to come on the show to tell people how concerned he is. we both know that's very rare. we're giving them time to do that. we'll look at how legitimate to threat to cohen's safety is. and i believe there's something that could unite washington. it's going on right now. it involves your favorite thing, football. >> really? >> they haven't seen those pictures of you playing linebacker. i have. >> we're on the old pig skin. >> yes, sir. >> thanks very much. up next, more kellyanne conway, she's asked a simple question about the overwh

sam donaldson joins me now. white house has leakers as you know better than almost anyone. how often is such a prolific leaker in such a high level position? >> well, i've not seen anything like kellyanne conway. i mean, she and the president are symbiotic in their relationship. they look in a mirror and see each other. they're both narcissists. they both want all the media spotlight on them. they don't mind trashing anyone. she tries on morning, joe, for instance, he trashes people. you want great stuff if you're going to publish it. so kelly. anne has to be very careful. when she covers herself by saying these are alternative facts, no, they're not alternative facts or alternatives truths. you can't buy that. >> if president trump hates leaks as he claims and kellyanne conway is a serial leaker, i guess why is she still there? i guess he doesn't believe she's a leaker or she has some sort of tacit green light to do it, even if it includes bashing his son-in-law. >> she does good things for him. and he hates le

sam donaldson covered watergate and later the white house for abc. >> before nixon, the press saw manyffice. richard nixon didn't want that. >> he hated the press. felt they'd mistreated him during the '60 campaign. >> when nixon lost to john kennedy. >> so president nixon gets in office and said, we're going to move them sons of bitches. the scheme was, put them over in the executive office building. >> across the street. >> every news organization in the country said, you know, this is ridiculous. and so somebody on the nixon staff came up with what for president nixon was a brilliant idea. among the people president nixon couldn't stand was president john kennedy. the white house swimming pool was identified somewhat with president kennedy because president kennedy had a bad back and he liked to swim a lot. so the advice to president nixon was, look, we can board over the swimming pool and put this press room there. it'll still be in the white house. it'll be out of the west wing. but mr. president, we're going to board over jack kennedy's swimming pool. and that's how the president

because you and susan and i covered reagan and at the time, sam donaldson was the jim acosta, you know, of that period and was known for shouting out "mr. president, mr. president" and reagan would go "oh, sam." but it wasn't the same as is with trump who sounds more aggrieved. reagan just sort of took it in stride. he understood what the game was. the journalists were going to shout at him and try to get him to say something and then in all likelihood take it out of the context, which is what we do for a living. it's an interesting practice over the years. clinton had his problems and his detractors. they all do. i mean, somebody is always needling and some presidents take it better than others. i mean, trump it should be pointed out is not just a real estate developer, a former real estate developer but a new york real estate developer. where hiyperbole is taken. he thinks everything is about him and so do the media. and they tend to elevate him in that regard because they make it about him. he wouldn't be on the news every day because of what he said. if the news media weren't putti

and at the time, sam donaldson was the jim acosta of that period. and was known for shouting out mr. president, mr. president. and reagan would just go oh, sam. but it wasn't the same as it is with trump who sounds more aggrieved. reagan just sort of took it in stride. he understood what the game was, that journalists were going to shout at him, going to try to get him to say something and take it out of context. which is what we do for a living. if we presented the entire context we'd be on 24 hours a day. i guess some of us are, actually. not as individuals. and it's an interesting practice over the years. i only covered four presidents. including clinton and bush 43. you know, clinton had his problems and his detractors. they all do. somebody is always, you know, needling. and some presidents take it better than others. i mean, trump, it should be pointed out is not just a real estate developer, a former real estate developer, but a new york real estate developer. where exaggeration is tools of the trade. he's taken that into the white house. i do