. >> "smerconish" starts now. ♪ >>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia.appy easter, everybody. we welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. in a military parade today, north korea displayed two canisters that could hold two intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the united states. then again, they could just be empty painted cans. general michael hey is here to analyze. president trump conferred with ceos this week at the white house. the legendary jack welch was there and now he's here to discuss the president's impact so far on american business in his first three months. and, palace intrigue steve bannon's power on the wane and jared and ivanka's influence rising, should the white house be run like a family business? the answer from yale dean and professor jeffrey sunfeld might surprise you. and, sorry, seems to be the hard word. it's been a banner week as crisis management, sean spicer stumbles with reference to the holocaust and united airlines has the worst in-flight video ever. lanny davis will tell us what sho

>>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia. we welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. this week president trump went after the freedom caucus and threatened to take down its members, but are they actually more politically secure than he is? and might this be a precursor to his working with democrats? then, before testifying to the intelligence committee about russia, general michael flynn wants immunity. is that a sign that he has real dirt to dish, or just a good lawyer? plus, there were many headlines this week about how the gop sold out our internet privacy rights. but were they accurate? or will the move just preserve the status quo? and should prosecutors in the bill cosby assault case be allowed to introduce into evidence this exchange with larry king about an afrodesiac. >> there's a little thing about spanish fly, put it on the head of a pin -- >> coca-cola, doesn't matter. >> and the girl would drink it and hello america. >> plus, when she was outed for being white, she lost her position at the

"smerconish" is next. ♪ >>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia.e welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. cnn is exclusively reporting that the fbi believes russian operatives tried to use trump advisers to infiltrate his presidential campaign, including former foreign policy adviser carter page. he is here to give his first response. >>> and, trying to explain away the outrageous behavior of infowars host alex jones. lawyers for the provocateur are claiming in a child custody case that he is a performance artist. why am i not surprised. and what this trial says about our national discourse. >>> plus, she was supposed to win bigly, but hillary clinton somehow fumbled the biggest football of her life. the authors of a best-selling book sure to be the first of many are here to dissect how hillary's campaign ended up shattered. >>> and what did bill o'reilly's exit from fox news and the reaction to it tell us about america in 2017? a troubling message about our divide. i'll explain. >>> plus, when is a craft beer not a craft bee

♪ >>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia.e welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world on this the 100th day of donald trump's young presidency. everybody is eager it seems to give him a grade. i'm more concerned with what the first 100 days tell us about the 1,360 still to come and i'll explain. >>> plus, instead of attending the correspondents dinner with what steve bannon calls the opposition party president trump will be the first president in 36 years to skip it. he's holding what sounds like a reelection rally in president. >>> the president of the correspondents association just interviewed the commander in chief in the oval office who told him he misses his old life. jeff mason is here. >>> selena zito of the washington examiner also interviewed the president she writes me found him, quote, humble. this week he tried to make good on the promise of the biggest tax cut in history, but what would his one-page memo do to the deficit? >>> and north korea causing more trouble on day 99, firing another ball

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"smerconish" starts now. ♪ >>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia. viewers in the united states and around the world. cnn is exclusively reporting that the fbi believes russian operatives tried to use trump advisers to infiltrate his presidential campaign, including former foreign policy adviser carter page. he is here to give his first response. >>> and, trying to explain away the outrageous behavior of infowars host alex jones. lawyers for the provocateur are claiming that he is a performance artist. why am i not surprised. and what this trial says about our national discourse. >>> plus, she was supposed to win bigly, but hillary clinton somehow fumbled the biggest football of her life. the authors of a best selling book sure to be the first of many are here to dissect how hillary's campaign ended up shattered. >>> and what did bill o'reilly's exit from fox news and the reaction to it tell us about america in 2017? a troubling message about our divide. i'll expl

joining us now is commentator and host of "smerconish" mierchl smerconish.have chris with us. who does he look to most for counsel? >> he has a large universe. i say he is a feedback junkie. i saw him this weekend. he is doing that with friends and associates. he is using media channels to get information and absorb what people are thinking. it is a myth, chris, to think a family member can influence or make decision for him. he will take input because of proximity. at the end of the day, donald trump makes the decision himself. that has been my experience. >> so michael smerconish, is this much to do about nothing? "snl" had the skit this weekend. so many say this is the fall of ban i don't knnon and rise of k rise of gary cohn. listening to chris, it sounds like none of that is true. >> in this white house, there are different spheres around him and have competing views around the president is not new. the objectives are different. you have the family tier. you have the bannon tier. you have the priebus tier. i don't know they are all headed in the same di

>>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia. we welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. president trump's first big foreign policy move, a missile attack on syria. worthy payback for poisoning children and civilians, or an unauthorized act of war? senator rand paul is here. and the strikes occurred the same day that he met with chinese president xi after campaigning bigly against china. did the timing of the syrian strike send a message about north korea? >>> plus to override a filibuster and confirm neil gorsuch to the supreme court, the gop changed the rules. did the democrats lose a much bigger fight? i'll ask former senator allen simpson. >>> and after reports that fox paid out at least $13 million to female employees accusing bill o'reilly of harassment, advertisers are fleeing the show. is this justice or censorship? first, the president is mostly receiving praise from both sides of the ail for the tomahawk missile strike on syria in response to bashar al assad's sarin gas attack on children. i'm not

. >> "smerconish" starts now. ♪ >>> i'm michael smerconish in

and michael smerconish. host of "smerconish." david gregory, you have two issues here that are showing a really big example of the impact of words. you have donald trump talking to the financial times csaber rattling. on the eve of the big meeting, a missile launch. he has tillerson go out. nikki haley saying syria will figure it out. then a chemical attack. do you think that disconnect is setting the white house on its heels? >> i don't know that there is a coherent view of how they want to go after the two problems. problems that have been around for a long time and very difficult to solve. you know, in the case of north korea, as you talked with guests this morning, the united states has limited military options. they want to show strength and the possibility of a military response. the north koreans have very little to lose. governor richardson has a lot of experience with this regime. he can talk more about that. now tillerson is saying very little. strikes me as prudent. they don't want to saber rattle against north korea.

"smerconish" is next. ♪ >>> i'm michael s'more coppish smerconish in philadelphia. easter, everybody. we welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. in a military parade today, north korea displayed two canisters that could hold two intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the united states. then again, they could just be empty painted cans. general mic

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it's not saturday without smerconish.w. >>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia. we welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. this week president trump went after the freedom caucus and threatened to take down its members, but are they actually more politically secure than he is? and might this be a precursor to his working with democrats? then, before testifying to the intelligence committee about russia, general michael flynn wants immunity. is that a sign that he has real dirt to dish, or just a good lawyer? plus, there were many headlines this week about how the gop sold out our internet privacy rights. but were they accurate? or will the move just preserve the status quo? and should prosecutors in the bill cosby assault case be

an important programming note, carter page will be a guest on cnn's smerconish with michael smerconishtomorrow morning, 9:00 a.m. eastern, right here on cnn. >>> just ahead, the attorney general of the united states, jeff sessions, is defending his controversial remarks about hawaii and a federal judge who blocked the president's travel ban. stand by. we will hear what sessions said to cnn. we will also get reaction from a hawaii senator who urged sessions to show some respect. >>> and hillary clinton's post election silence about president trump is over. big league. what's motivating her to speak out? we'll be right back. when did anyone start calling this salad? at panera, a good salad is so much more than a bowl of something green. more than an obligation to be good. more than just something you have on the side. more than just one flavor, or texture, or color. a good clean salad is so much more than green. and with panera catering, more for your event. panera. food as it should be. bp developed new, industry-leading software to monitor drilling operations in real-time, so our engin

know where you stand. >>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelph philadelphia. viewers in the united states and around the world. president trump's first big foreign policy move, a missile attack on syria. worthy packback for poisoning children andive yans or an unauthorized act of war? senator rand paul is here. and the strikes occurred the same day that he met with chinese president xi after campaigning bigly against china. did the timing send a message about north korea? >>> plus to override a filibuster and

"smerconish" is next. ♪ >>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia.united states and around the world. cnn is exclusively reporting that the fbi believes russian operatives tried to use trump advisers to infiltrate his presidential campaign, including former foreign policy adviser carter page. he is here to give his first response.

when he goes on, when carter page goes on michael smerconish's show and says nothing to see here and brands the phrase dodgy dossier, that does not make him look like someone who is really trying to clear his name. he makes him look, frankly to me, smug. >> does that make him less naive if a defense was he was just naive and didn't know he was meeting with someone who had interest to try to infiltrate the trump campaign. >> it's odd. i guess the broader way -- again, i don't want to characterize him or attack him personally but it shows how polarized we are. in the interview he's asked would you be concerned, carter page, if the russian government tried to influence the american election. he said he was more concerned about the eavesdropping against himself. the fbi was doing its job. these were foreign intelligence agents trying to contact, you know, it seems advisers to the trump campaign. trying to monitor the communications of what russian intelligence agents were doing in the united states. he's not been accused of a crime. >> so, you know, all of this now happening on the eve o

page spoke with michael smerconish this morning and once again denied any wrongdoing in his contact with russian officials. >> no information i was ever asked for was anything beyond what you could see on cnn. there is great depth of reporting, great information, nothing i ever talked about with any russian official, extends beyond that publicly available immaterial information. >> joining me now is cnn crime and justice producer showmoan, part of the team that broke that story. good to see you. explain to us furtherer what this new reporting reveals in terms of tried to infiltrate trump's orbit? >> well, we're told by several u.s. officials that back last -- as early as last summer, when carter page was making these trips to russia, there is information that came to the fbi that indicates the russian operatives, russian people working for the russian intelligence services, were sort of talking to him, were trying to get information out of him, were sort of using him to try to learn more about what donald trump was thinking. you know, there was this idea that carter page was working for

. >>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia.tes and around the world. president trump's first big foreign policy move, a missile attack on syria. worthy payback for poisoning children and civilians, or an unauthorized act of war? senator rand paul is here. and the strikes occurred the same day that he met with chinese president xi after campaigning bigly against china. did the timing of the syrian strike send a message about north korea? >>> plus to override a filibuster and confirm neil gorsuch to the supreme court, the gop changed the rules. did the democrats lose a much

. ♪ >>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia.e welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. this week president trump went after the freedom caucus and threatened to take down its members, but are they actually more politically secure than he is?

cover the russia investigation, but you can also catch carter page's full interview with michael smerconish0 p.m. eastern. up here next in the newsroom, yet another airline forced into the spotlight after a passenger recorded this confrontation between a mother and flight attendant. what happened that left the mother in tears and the flight attendant daring at passengers to hit him. you're live in the "cnn newsroom." truecar shows you what other people paid for the car you want. after that, just sign up, and their certified dealers go to work. they help you find your car... very nice. and make you competitive offers. this is the one. this is truecar. you know win control? be this guy. check it out! self-appendectomy! oh, that's really attached. that's why i rent from national. where i get the control to choose any car in the aisle i want, not some car they choose for me. which makes me one smooth operator. ah! still a little tender. (vo) go national. go like a pro. when they thought they should westart saving for retirement.le then we asked some older people when they actually did start sav

. >> former trump adviser carter page will be live with smerconish this morning right here on cnn. we'll get more on his response to cnn's new report. >>> we are one week away from president trump's first 100 days in office. long been a presidential milestone. the white house is looking to notch its first big legislative win in that time period. >> you heard the president say he likes to be flexible. brags about being flexible. that applies to his contract with voters he outlined as a candidate. here's cnn white correspondent athena jones. >> reporter: with the clock running out on his first 100 days president trump is now questioning the significance of the marker. tweeting no matter how much i accomplish during the ridiculous standard of the first 100 days, and it has been a lot including supreme court, media will kill. that sentiment a far cry the one he expressed in october when he embraced the standard and spelled out a long list of measures he hoped to achieve by the 100 day mark which arrives next saturday. >> i'm asking the american people to dream big once again. what foll

would they know about whether he is telling the truth then in what he just said to michael smerconish they would have some knowledge, buts fi ts the fisas geared toward phone calls that he may be having with one or someone else may be having with him. what carter page seemed to be alluding to seemed more private conversations, so that would mean bugging a room he was in or a listening guys on him or the person he was talking to, which would be almost difficult to do. but there is other intelligence, there is 450u78 iis human intel source on the ground in russia that could be talking to the fbi and other intelligence services that are then relaying some of that information to the fbi and other authorities here in the u.s. >> sources tell cnn that investigators have found possible collusion or signs of possible collusion, but nothing that is proof necessarily of that collusion. so explain what more we know about that. >> yeah, so that is a key issue in the fbi investigation. there is intelligence, there is human intelligence, there is other intelligence, there is financial records, ther

smerconish and al b. stoddard. great to have all of you here. chris, what are you watching for this week in terms of this budget bill, this spending bill, and the border wall? >> well, donald trump, i think, has blink. i don't think it's terribly surprising that's the case. look, last week it was we need $4 billion to fund the border wall, now it's we can get it in september. the truth is that $1.4 billion was never going to make it into a spending bill that averts shutting down the government. democrats would be universally opposed and concern among republicans concerned about debt and deficit. this is a pragmatic move about someone ultimately a pragmatic dealmaker. i don't think we should be terribly surprised. i do think we should note in the standoff, this first major brinks manship, the president blinked. >> the wall is another example, coming after corporate tax, the next one on the table. how big a deal is it he's not getting what he wants on these things. >> a, he's an overpromiser. during the campaign, everything was going to be easy. e

. >>> the man we've been discussing former trump advice are carter page will be live on smerconish. that show starts at 9:00 a.m. eastern. >>> also new this morning, vice president mike pence says the u.s. will honor a deal to take in more than a thousand refugees from australia. the deal was brokered by president obama before the election. this is the same deal that president trump slammed back in february. he called it a dumb deal. here's what the vice president had to say about it today during his visit to australia. >> make it clear the united states intends to honor the agreement subject to the results of the vetting process that now apply to all refugees considered forced a mission to the united states of america. president trump has made it clear we'll honor the agreement. doesn't mean we admire the agreement. frankly looking back on the last administration the president has never been shy expressing frustration with other international agreements. >> you'll remember the president's frustration over the agreement led to reports of a contentious first call with the australian

page spoke with cnn's michael smerconish this morning and once again denied any wrongdoing in his contact with russian officials. >> no information i was ever asked for was anything beyond what you could see on cnn. there is great depth of reporting, great information, nothing i ever talked about with any russian official, extends beyond that publicly available material information. >> it has since been revealed the fbi obtained a fisa warrant to surveil carter page, page and other trump campaign associates have volunteered to testify in front of the house intelligence committee that is investigating any meddling into the 2016 election. let's talk more about this with cnn national security analyst steve hall. he is a retired cia chief of russia operations. all right. good to see you, steve. do you buy that carter page could have been some sort of linchpin in whatever may have happened with russia and that he, perhaps, was an unwitting, you know, participant? >> well, linchpin, fred, might be a bit of a strong term for somebody like carter page. i can tell you that the russians would certa