thank you smerconish.here are ways to describe the poor performance of the president without insulting americans who live with mental illness. hash tag end the stigma. that's moipt. i have written on this subject and delivered a commentary last week. i don't articulate that view to carry the water of the president of the united states. that's not my objective. i'm thinking of those who have been diagnosed with maladies. who deserve better than to have their diagnosis become political fodder. banttied about by armchair psychiatrists and real psychiatrists who have never seen, much less treated, this individual that we're talking about. stick around. there is another great hour coming up on cnn. -looks great, honey. -right? sometimes you need an expert. i got it. and sometimes those experts need experts. on it. [ crash ] and sometimes the expert the expert needed needs insurance expertise. it's all good. steve, you're covered for general liability. and, paul, we got your back with workers' comp. wow, it's li

>>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia. we welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. president trump meeting at camp david today with senate gop leaders, staff, and several cabinet members, but not attorney general jeff sessions, he wasn't invited. this follows reports that the president asked several staffers to stop sessions from recusing himself from the russian probe, and a sessions' aide was assigned to find dirt on fbi director james comey. i'm going to break it all down with jeffrey rosen in a moment. and author of the dossier christopher steele charged with lying and they want the justice department to pursue a criminal prosecution. >>> are any of his supporters reading it? and do they even care? >>> plus, is a pot war pending? the attorney general trying to turn back the clock on federal enforcement of marijuana. does that mean that legal pot is in trouble? we'll talk with the governor of colorado, where $100 million in marijuana is sold every month. >>> and -- ♪ ♪ >> the cybercurrency bitcoin

"smerconish, the only thing missing from that incredible smerconish/michael wolff show down was hair.book. i tore through the book. i was left with questions. and i went in search of answers for those questions, like how did this best-selling author get such access? i'd never heard that significantly discussed in all the interviews i've watched over the course of the last week, and i wondered how much access did he really get to the president. and the questions that resulted were results of my curiosity. hit me with another one, please. "smerconish, michael wolff, when you give the last word twice, it ceases to be the last word." that's true, that is true. look, i treated him and i treat all my guests with dignity and respect. and i think he had plenty of opportunity to say the sort of things he wanted to say, and i did likewise. one more if i have time for it. "thank you, smerconish, there are ways to describe the poor performance of the president without stigmatizing or insulting americans who live with mental illness. #endthestigma." that's my point. i delivered a commentary last w

♪ >>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia.e welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. the president was up early tweeting defenses. his mental health. calling himself, quote, like really smart and a very stable genius. part of the ongoing white house response to the book that he helped propel to number one by having its lawyers try to prevent its publication. >>> among the many fires and furies stoked by michael wolff are questions about the president's mental health. i'll talk to one psychiatrist who says sometimes leaders perform better with a touchch mental illness. speaking of which are the president's seemingly unhinged belligerent tweets against kim jong-un that are making so many anxious actually a strategy and one that's working? >>> plus, after california legal ices pot, jeff sessions legal l bogarts it. i'll can former congressman rand paul. here's one of his recommendations. >> mr. president, why don't you fire this guy? why don't you fire jeff sessions? >> one thing president trump is getting c

>>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia. we welcome our viewers. so are headed for a face-to-face showdown between the president and the special counsel or despite the president's words might he never of it? i'll ask lawyers from both defense and prosecution in the investigation of bill clinton what lessons they learned about putting a president under oath. plus the justice department wants census takers to ask people if they are citizens. what impact might that one question have on the balance of state legislative and congressional power? and the nation was transfixed by the trial of the doctor who abused young female athletes. but did his sentencing judge overstep her legal role with words like this -- >> i would allow some or many people do to him what he did to others. >> and everybody loves the driving apps that show them how to escape traffic jams. except the towns that get used as short cuts. we have the mayor who shut down his roads to out of towners. is that legal? but first, what a week with regard to the mueller probe. the president surp

joining us now michael smerconish host of "smerconish." gentlemen, housekeeping with you here, jim, because of your proximity to everything being reported this morning. you were inside the white house counsel's office. did the president say he wanted to fire robert mueller? >> well, i have no inside information regarding what he did or didn't say. that wasn't part of my portfolio while i was in the white house. >> you never heard him say that he wanted to fire robert mueller? >> no. and i couldn't talk about it even if i d. so let's move on from that. >> hang on. i just want to get to this quickly and then get to a bigger issue because i think it is important. any knowledge did you ever he ever hear that he threatened to quit to stop the president from firing robert mueller. >> i wouldn't be able to do it under my obligations anyway. >> have you testified to special counsel? we have heard eight lawyers, eight people have? >> again, i wouldn't be sitting here today if i had been interviewed. so the answer to that is no as well because of my

♪ ♪ >>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia.welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. regarding those disparaging remarks about immigrants, president trump tweeted a partial denial, but in private bragged about them. i think i knew -- i know exactly what he's been doing in that regard, and i'll explain. look at what he's saying about it now, though, america first. this during a week that he also repeated no collusion, like a mantra. and giving dianne feinstein, one of his attack nicknames. how will that work with his base? i'm about to talk to trump persuasion expert and dilbert cartoon creator scott adams. and why do so many states have lopsided congressional delegations? well, because of rigged electoral maps as we await a ruling before a similar wisconsin case before the supreme court, a federal court in north carolina just threw out that state's map. >>> plus -- >> i'm watching marco sweating like a dog, romney choked like a dog. choking like a dog. boy, does he choke like a dog. she lied like a dog. >>

>>> i'm michael smerconish in washington. it's the first anniversary of president trump's inauguration, that is a lot of tweets. year two starting the same way. he is labeling the current government shutdown a present from the democrats. about that shutdown, cue the sound bites, finger pointing and fundraising. i'll explain why it is all of their faults. and president trump's first year is finally in the books. three historians are here to answer whether america has ever seen anything like it. plus the dow up 31%, highest first year boost since fdr. unemployment at record lows. businesses moving back to the united states. and yet the president's not winning over the naysayers. no wonder he is trying to revive james carville's mantra. >> it's the economy, stupid. did you ever hear that one? >> from the use of executive power to neil gorsuch to the russia probe, the trump presidency has wrestled with an unusual number of issues. so what lies ahead? we'll find out. but first, looking back at his first year as president, i keep t

. >> yeah, "smerconish" comes to us after this break. ♪ >>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia.ewers in the united states and around the world. the president was up early tweeting defenses. his mental health. calling himself, quote, like really smart and a very stable genius. part of the ongoing white house response to the book that he helped propel to number one by having its

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every great why needs a great how. >>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia.ers. so are headed for a face-to-face showdown between the president and the special counsel or despite the presid

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. ♪ >>> i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia.elcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. the president was up early tweeting defenses of his mental health, calling himself "like really smart and a very stable genius." part of the ongoing white house response to the book that he helped propel to number one by having his lawyers try to prevent its publication. among the many fires and furies stoked by author michael wolff