their search for answers. while the recently unearthed bones cannot be considered evidence just yet, further studies next week will help steer the direction for everyone involved in this puzzling mystery. hello, thanks for joining me. i'm martin savidge in for fret reed -- fredricka whitfield. president trump is launching another attack against four congresswomen of color. this comes a week after his previous tweet. he tweeted i don't believe the four congresswomen are capable of loving their country. they should apologize to america and israel for the horrible, hateful things they have said. they are destroying the democratic party, but are weak and insecure people who can never destroy our great nation. today a top democrat and civil

rights icon accused the president of stoking racial fears and division, while many republicans tried to move on from the controversy. >> i've never in my total of 37 years in public service ever heard a constituent say that they were scared of their leader. >> scared of their leader? scared of the president of the united states? >> of the -- president of the united states, that's exactly right. >> do you believe president trump is a racist? >> and i've been in politics 37 years. go ahead, what did you say? >> do you believe president trump is a racist? >> i believe he is -- yes, no doubt about it. >> i would say in general the whole america love it or leave it is not a new sentiment. back in the '60s that wasn't considered racist. i just find it very unfortunate that so many parts of our public debate right now get immediately stuck inside a racial framework, when what i would like to see is us move toward that colorblind society. i was hoping when president obama was elected it would go a

long way toward healing the racial divide. >> vice president pence also coming to president trump's defense, vowing that the president will not stay silent if another racist chant breaks out at one of his rallies. >> the president was very clear. >> was he? >> that he wasn't happy about it. and that if it happened again, he -- he might -- he'd make an effort to speak out about it. >> he will make an effort to speak out about it? >> that's what he's already said. >> sarah westwood is in new jersey where the president is spending the weekend. sarah, the white house sent out one of the president's most divisive advisers to defend the president, stephen miller. what was he saying? >> reporter: that's right, martin. a relatively rare public appearance from stephen miller today in defense of the president's attacks on the so-called squad, those four progressive house democratic freshmen. stephen miller is one of the most vocal aides.

internally he's very influential when it comes to immigration and pushing the populist national agenda on immigration throughout the administration. miller made the argument that just because the president is criticizing these four democratic congresswomen of color, that doesn't automatically mean that that criticism is racist, although president trump initially said that these women should go back to where they came from. miller also argued that democrats throw around the word "racist" too often to silence their critics. take a listen. >> why shouldn't someone see all of that as racist? >> i think the term "racist," chris, has become a label that is too often deployed by the left democrats in this country simply to try and silence and punish and suppress people that they disagree with, speech that they don't want to hear. the reality is that this president has been a president for all americans. all the people in that audience and millions of patriotic americans across this country are tired of being beat up,

condescended to, looked down upon, talked down to by members of congress on the left in washington, d.c., and their allies in many corridors of the media. >> reporter: miller also highlighted the fact that president trump has disavowed the racist chant of "send her back" that broke out at his rally in north carolina. vice president mike pence as we just saw also pointing to the fact trump has tried to distance himself from those chants, although trump has sent mixed messages, for instance, defending the people who started those chants as incredible patriots. sources tell cnn that aides and allies and even the president's daughter, ivanka trump, had pressured the president to distance himself from the chants. trump, though, showing no signs of walking away from his attacks on those democratic house freshmen. sources tell cnn trump even views that, martin, as a political success. >> sarah westwood following the

president in new jersey today. thank you very much for that. with me is aisha moody-mills and brendan buck, a former top aide for republican house speaker paul ryan. thanks for joining me today. aisha, what do you make of the president who's now not trying to, he has changed the narrative somewhat to change this controversy of racist comments to now patriotism and anti-semitism. he's literally steering the conversation. >> here's the thing, changing meaning lying is what he's doing. he's back pedaling because he's lying. donald trump is a racist, the tweets were racist. this pivot to be, quote unquote, patriotic is also very fascist and we need to talk about that because donald trump's idea of patriotism suggests that you are white and somehow native born white, which is what makes this country your country. that in and of itself is problematic given the fact that the united states of america is -- was designed to be a, quote, unquote, melting pot and

is on its course to be majority people of color. the idea that this president would continue to stoke this racist attitude that the only thing that makes you american is if you happen to be a white person who was born here is just wrong. and by the way, that means that his wife isn't an american either in the terms the way that he defines it. >> that actually has been brought up. senator cory booker is running for president and earlier today he accused the president of using race to divide. he says that these attacks may define the 2020 election. let's just take a listen to what he had to say, strong stuff. >> reality is this is a guy who is worse than a racist. he's actually using racist tropes and racial language for political gain. he's trying to use this as a weapon to divide our nation against itself. we have a demagogue, fear mongering person who is using race to divide. this is a referendum not on him, it's actually a referendum on

the heart and soul of our country. who are we going to be, and who are we going to be to each other. >> brendan, if the 2020 election does turn into a referendum on trump and race instead of the economy, how might that impact not only the presidential election but the gop efforts to take back the house and hold on to the senate? >> yeah, we saw that two years ago in the 2018 election or less than that. we wanted to make the election in 2018 about the economy, a referendum on how much people were seeing in their paychecks and how much people were doing better in their lives, but the president didn't feel the same way and really tried to make that election about immigration and about some of these more nationalist policies that he has. you saw the result. we lost really big in areas like suburban areas where you've got more educated people. and we got wiped out with women. at this point it seems that the president either believes that those groups are lost causes or he just isn't interested in trying to win them back. what they're clearly trying to do is drive up the white vote in areas that were really important

to him last time. that's that upper midwest area, the rust belt. they have decided that they need to drive up numbers, drive up their base there, and that's how they're hoping to come back. it's not the kind of conversation i would hope that they would have. hopefully the referendum should be on the economy or other things that have been accomplished, but that's obviously not the direction they're heading. >> it could be a very dangerous strategy. aisha, the president claims that he is attacking these democratic congresswomen because of their views, not because they are all women of color. if it is because of the views, then my question is why isn't he attacking bernie sanders and elizabeth warren. they are expressed similar views and they're running for president. >> yeah, because he's lying. this president has never actually had any real conversation, debate, or attacks that are based on issues, facts, analysis around policy. so to completely suggest that that's what he's doing is obviously a lie and there's no precedent for it because he doesn't talk about anything of substance. what he is doing is he is trying

to really make these women of color be standard bearers for a certain type of democracy that he believes that his constituents do not want and are fearful of. he's doing that as a way to really bring white national iis to the fore of the party to help get him re-election. when you have a guy in the white house who's proud of the fact that he got there with white nationalist and racist support, then you see who he believes the americans are that deserve his attention. there's no way to dice it or back pedal it. the fact is, is that all the president cares about is how he can get his white nationalist base to put him back in office and that's not going to happen in 2020. >> brendan, i want to switch subjects a little bit. you worked with house speaker paul ryan and the president attacked ryan after a new book came out showing ryan speaking critical of him. but there are many who have said why didn't speaker ryan speak

out against the president when he was in office, when he had the real podium to do so? >> well, for a little context, these comments came about six months ago, a couple of weeks after he had left office. you know, i think that there is a misperception that the speaker never spoke out when the president was saying things that he was uncomfortable with. the troou is there's a long list that he did and some of the things highlighted in this book, whether it's the horse face comment or claiming that the president -- president obama was being wiretapped, those are things that the speaker did actually come out and talk about at the time. but the reality is when you are speaker of the house, it's easy for a pundit or blogger to say how you should handle it. when you're there, you have to be able to work with the person who is president. the speaker thought the best way to do that was to develop a level of trust. when he had concerns, often deliver those concerns privately to him, because if the speaker was out there constantly attacking them, there was no way they would be able to work with each other and get anything

done. he believes this president responds best and we've seen lots of examples of this where he doesn't respond well to public criticism. he responds pretty well if you talk to him privately and tell him why it's not the right approach. >> so you're saying you have to work with him even if you disagree fundamentally. >> when you're speaker of the house you don't have a choice other than to work with him other than resigning. i think he worked with him to the extent that he could. he spoke out when there were issues that arose where he had to and generally tried to have a good private relationship with him where there was a level of trust, where the president understood when he came to him and said, hey, you're not really doing this the right way or here's how people are hearing this, he understood that it was coming from a place where he was trying to help and not hurt him. >> we have to leave it there, i'm sorry. thank you both for joining us. still ahead, robert mueller is preparing for a crucial week on capitol hill. so are democrats. he will be testifying about his

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released last week shed new light on some of the back room activities of the 2016 trump campaign. cnn political correspondent sara murray says the documents show how the chaos of hush money, the payments that were made, unfolded between then trump attorney michael cohen and other close advisers. >> reporter: new court filings reveal how donald trump and his campaign scrambled to keep allegations of trump's alleged sexual yindiscretions under wras after the "access hollywood" tape surfaced. >> and when you're a star they let you do it. >> the trump campaign went into damage control. michael cohen, trump's personal attorney and fixer, spoke to candidate trump and hope hicks, the campaign spokeswoman. then he reached out to david pecker, the chief executive of american media which owns "the national enquirer." over a series of ten frenzied calls, cohen played middleman, seeking to keep stephanie

clifford, aka stormy daniels, quiet about the affair she had with trump. i believe some of these concern the need to prevent clifford from going public, particular low in the wake of the "access hollywood" story. two weeks before the general election, cohen initiated the $130,000 wire transfer to pay off daniels. the same day he spoke with trump over the phone at least twice. as president trump has insisted he had no knowledge of the hush money payments. >> did you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels? >> no, no. >> why did michael cohen make that statement -- >> well, you have to ask michael cohen. michael is my attorney. you'll have to ask michael. >> but cohen, who is now serving three years in prison, implicated the president when he pleaded guilty to eight counts of financial crimes, including campaign finance violations. new court filings reaffirm what

prosecutors previously alleged, that cohen acted at trump's direction in making illegal payments to silence women. this week the judge demanded less row daktd versions of search warrants and other materials be made public, calling them a matter of national importance. the filings show prosecutors have effectively concluded their investigation, a sign they're unlikely to bring charges against anyone else. when it comes to trump, they can't. justice department guidelines say a sitting president can't be charged. during the trump campaign's final sprint after daniels was paid off, karen mcdougals story was about to burst into public view. there was another scramble with cohen, american media and hicks. a fourth story was about to reveal that mcdougal allegedly had an affair with trump and american media tried to suppress her story. months earlier in september 2016, trump and cohen had discussed paying mcdougal off, a conversation that was secretly recorded by cohen. >> so i'm all over that.

i spoke to allen about it. when it comes time for the financing, which will be -- >> what financing. >> we'll have to pay -- >> pay catch? >> no, no, no, no. no, no, no. >> when the story was about to push, an american media said i think it will be okay, pal. i think it will fade into the distance. cohen responded he's pissed, a reference to trump. mcdougal's story came after a number of women came forward with allegations that trump had groped or sexually assaulted them. some aides were relieved to see mcdougal's story getting little attention. so far i see little traction. hicks responded same, keep praying. it's working. >> there's much more ahead, including this. growing fears in the persian gulf after iran seizes a british tanker. we're hearing the dramatic moments unfold in realtime with newly released audio. we'll have that update next. [ dogs barking ]

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dramatic new audio has surfaced of that confrontation between iranian forces and the british navy right before a british flagged oil tanker was boarded. here's a listen.

>> if you obey, you will be safe. if you obey, you will be safe. >> let me reiterate that as you are conducting transit passage in a recognized international strait, under international law, your passage must not be impaired. >> no challenge is spended. no challenge is intended. i want to inspect the ship for security reasons, over. >> iran seized that ship last week in the strait of hormuz. it was in apparent retaliation after britain captured an iranian ship it accused of trying to smuggle oil to syria. it also came just a few days after the u.s. claimed it shot down an iranian drone. our cnn matthew chance is near the strait of hormuz. matthew, do we know where the ship is now, and any updates on how the crew is? >> reporter: as a matter of fact, we do, yes. it's in a port called bander

abas in southern iran and a few miles to the north of where i'm talking to you right now on the gulf of oman right next to the persian gulf, one of the main and most important, strategically important shipping routes in the world. so much of the world's oil supply goes through this region. in terms of the ship, press television, which is a state-funded iranian broadcaster, has had one of its correspondents on the deck and has been broadcasting images of it in port. we understand the crew are safely inside the ship still, inside the quarters of the ship, and the managers or the owners of the vessel have requested the iranian authorities to gain access to the crew members, although there's been no iranian response on this. one little detail from the television pictures broadcast on iranian television earlier today is that the british flag that

would normally fly above that ship has been taken down and an iranian flag is now flying on it, as the iranians hold it inside that port. >> interesting. so i'm wondering a strategy here on the part of iran. is it simply to get back its ship that it believes was wrongfully detained by the british or is there maybe a broader strategy? >> reporter: no, i think it probably is that. i mean who knows what the iranians are thinking, it's such a multi-polled country but what they have achieved is they have managed to secure a very potent bargaining chip so if there are negotiations they can swatp thi for the tanker that was seized by the british. the problem is it's a very risky strategy when you set it against the escalating tensions that have been under way in this

persian gulf region for the past several months, particularly between iran and the united states. earlier our own fareed zakaria sat down with the foreign minister of iran and put it to him the question about whether he was concerned about this turning into an outright conflict. take a listen. >> the united states is intervening in order to make these waters insecure for iran. you cannot make these waters insecure for one country and secure for others. >> do you believe that as a result of this, whoever is to blame, you could have an escalation which could result in a military incident? >> in such a small body of water, if you have so many foreign vessels, i mean accidents will happen. >> reporter: but it's like this incident, the seizure of the british tanker showing the iranians are prepared to assert their power, certainly in this persian gulf region. >> matthew chance, thank you

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mueller. for republicans, it could be a chance to chip away at an investigation that has dauogged them for the last 22 months. for democrats, it's the chance to turn a 448-page legal report into a bottom line. the chairmen of the house and judiciary intelligence committees have high expectations for the hearings. take a listen. >> the report presents very substantial evidence that the president is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. we have to let mueller present those facts to the american people and see where we go from there, because the administration must be held account accountable. no president can be above the law. >> we want bob mueller to bring it to life and talk about what's in that report. it's a pretty damning set of facts that involve a presidential campaign in a close race, accepting help from a porn power, building it into their

campaign strategy. lying about it to cover it up and obstructing the investigation again to cover it. >> it sounds like democrats want more of what bob mueller has delivered. joining me to talk about that is elise, part of the council for democrats on impeachment of president clinton. we know from cnn reporting that the democrats are heavily preparing, even mock trials apparently for wednesday. you've helped lawmakers to prepare for testimony like this. so what kind of strategy would you recommend when it comes to questioning somebody like bob mueller? >> first of all, extreme discipline. they have got to be very linear in their questioning here. no grandstanding. because mueller has already said that he's going to stay within the four corners of the document. as you said, it's an extremely large document and they have to assume the american public, let's be honest, really hasn't

read the four corners of the document. so the first order of business is to really make sure at the ending of these hours, and it's really not that many hours when you think about it that he has to testify, that the american public comes away with a greater knowledge of really the high points of what's in that document. so if mueller is going to stay within the four corners of the document, have him elicit for the public what really the democrats want, the high points in that document. how do you do that? you've got to look at mueller as almost a hostile witness really because he doesn't want to be there, right? he didn't want to testify. he's going to be there begrudgingly. but still he wants to tell the truth, he's a prosecutor. he's been a prosecutor, he's been the director of the fbi. he wants to tell the truth. he will tell the truth. >> let me just stop you real quick because we're going to run out of time and i want to ask you a few other things. what are republicans going to

bring up? how do you think they're going to focus on mueller? >> with mueller they're going to try and say, look, this was bungled from the beginning. they're going to really try to attack the report. but they have to do that very carefully because they don't want to get the ire of mueller up to the point that he's going to give the democrats more than he would have, i.e. go into hypotheticals with the democrats and play into the democrats' hands. the republicans are walking a tight rope here. their best strategy would be to hold back and almost ask nothing. they're not going to do that, of koe course, because the republicans are going to grandstand a little bit. >> and the format, five minutes for each person to begin the line of questioning and you bounce back and forth, republican and democrats. how do you establish any real thorough timeline or line of questioning with that? >> here's what you do. the best strategy with the democrats, and this would take the staffers to really rein in their democrats and that's like herding cats, it's very difficult. is for the democrats to say

we're going to go five minutes each but in a linear fashion. with democrats you're going to go one question after the other and it's going to take a linear form of going from the report one statement from another, so there's no duplication, right, because in the report mueller goes through different indictment points really. each democrat take one point or parts of one point so there's no duplication. no grandstanding, to make sure that each democrat then takes only one of those points and so by the time you get to the end of the round, all of the points, the highlights have been covered. >> right. >> and only then at the end do they ask, hey, mr. mueller, did you -- in the background of all of this, did you always know that you could not indict a

sitting president. that is very important. >> we've got to leave it there, i appreciate it greatly. clearly the democrats will have to be very disciplined for this. cnn will have special kvcoverag of the mueller hearings on wednesday starting at 8:00 a.m. right here. avel c we do! the discoit® card. earn unlimited 1.5 miles on every purchase, plus we'll match your miles at the end of your first year. you'll match my miles? yeah! mile for mile! and no blackout dates or annual fee. nice! i was thinking about taking a scuba diving trip! i love that. or maybe go surfing... or not. ok. maybe somewhere else. maybe a petting zoo. can't go wrong. can't get eaten. earn miles. we'll match 'em at the end of your first year. plus no annual fee or blackouts. the discover it® miles card. this is the averys trying the hottest new bistro. this is the averys. wait...and the hottest taqueria? and the hottest...what are those? oh, pierogis? and this is the averys wondering if eating out is eating into saving for their first home.

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this afternoon 2020 contender bernie sanders held a rally to close out what has been a very busy campaign weekend in iowa. he is trying to focus on policies like medicare for all, but his competition is focusing on complaints on how much sanders is paying his campaign staffers. the issue is creating an interesting dilemma, you could say, for a candidate who says that he supports $15 minimum wage, $15 an hour. this morning 2020 candidate cory booker told our dana bash that his campaign makes sure to give his staffers and interns at least that. >> we've said in our campaign that we're not only going to pay our campaign staff that, but we're going to pay interns as well. so i'm very proud of the house that we have. not only do we pay our campaign staff wages that reflect what my

values are but we actually make sure that we have inclusive campaigns, diverse campaigns. >> so it's $15 an hour minimum? >> $15 an hour or more, yes. >> ryan nobles is at that rally in ft. madison, iowa. ryan, what are we hearing from the vermont senator today? >> reporter: well, there's no doubt, martin, this puts bernie sanders in a difficult position. we should point out the only reason this is happening is because his union took -- i should say his campaign took the historic step of allowing their employees to unionize. they settled on a salary of $36,000 a year for field staff. based on a 40-hour workweek that works out to $15 an hour. but as the campaign ramps up, they have to work more than 40 hours a week and at 60 hours a week that's under $15 an hour. for sanders a $15 minimum wage is one of the big things he fought for. he spoke about it just a few

minutes ago right here in ft. madison, iowa. take a listen. >> four years ago when i came here and i said we've got to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, people said, bernie, you are crazy. you can't more than double the minimum wage. four years ago, they told us it could not be done. well, it is being done right no now. >> reporter: so you see here the rub for sanders. he believes very, very much that $15 should be the standard across the country, but he's in a situation now where that might not necessarily reflect what's happening in his campaign. his campaign says they are working to iron out these issues with their union. there's a negotiating process within their collective bargaining agreement of as it stands right now, those workers will not work more than 40 hours a week so they can meet that $15 an hour standard. >> ryan nobles, thanks very much for that. i'm joined again by democratic strategist aisha moodie-mills

and brendan, a top aide to former speaker paul ryan. aisha, how much of a problem is this for bernie sanders? it's clearly an embarrassment and probably a distraction from the message he wants to deliver. but is it really a detriment long term? >> i think that it's a situation where to your point it's a distraction. i think it gives him an opportunity to do better at practicing what he preaches. i believe that people know where bernie sanders' values are, where his heart is in terms of the policy. now, how that plays out in practice is really just a testament of america and policy making, right? even though he may say one thing, it might not manifest that way as we heard on the campaign depending on how many hours folks work. but if i were his competitors on that debate stage, i would call him out on this because it's not okay to say this is what i fund mentally and idealistically want when it's not playing out in his own universe that he can control. >> brendan, many of these candidates have been very vocal in their attacks on president

trump. but in the upcoming cnn debate sanders will share the stage with progressive rival elizabeth warren. so do they really need to start to turn attention on one another to -- potentially they're going to avoid splitting votes here in the primaries. >> i actually think that pairing is one of the most interesting ones that you have for this cnn debate. >> i agree. >> because really four years ago, senator sanders was the ideas candidate. he was the champion of progressive ideas. at this point he is sort of losing that mantle to elizabeth warren. i think at this point she has overtaken that as the ideas candidate. they run around saying she's got a plan for that. when bernie sanders loses that mantle, there's not a lot left that's incredibly appealing to him. you can get all of the progressive ideas if you're a democrat and you get someone who's actually a little more articulate on stage, can connect with people better than bernie sanders does. so i think that he really is going to have to go after elizabeth warren, because she in

particular is a threat to him. >> and he has competition. aisha, sanders is the only democrat candidate self-described as a democratic socialist but president trump and republicans alike are using that label to describe everybody in the entire party. here's contender pete buttigieg when he was asked this weekend what do you do about that. here, listen. >> if we adopt a platform that's way out to the left, they're going to say we're socialists. if we adopt a more moderate or conservative platform, they have going to say we're socialists. so we might as well just do what we think is right, make the case for it and then let them do what they want. >> aisha, i'm going to ask you this because you're the strategist here. is that a wise approach? >> yeah, absolutely. i totally agree with mayor pete on this one. republicans are running a race, this is competition, right? they're going to try to defame the democrats and frankly suppress the vote of democratic supporters based upon the language and nasty rhetoric that

they use. so what democrats in the field need to do is actually run on their values, run on aspiration of who america could be, who we should be as a way to counter the nastiness, hatefulness and despicableness that's coming out of the republican camp and out of the president's tweets and mouth and the white house. so i totally agree with mayor pete that we need to actually run on our values, our policy ideas, and the people will respond to that. we can't keep getting in the muck and mud with this tit for tat around things that frankly don't matter. >> brendan, let me ask you first, do you agree with that? is that the way it's going to work or are republicans always going to define -- >> i think that is a risky proposition and doesn't give a lot of credit to the american people who are quite capable of looking at the policies being discussed of the other than maybe joe biden democrats are not running as old school traditional democrats. they're talking about universal health care and free college and decriminalizing border crossings. these are the types of things that i think can put enough doubt in voters' heads.

four years ago donald trump was not particularly popular in a lot of these states. he had low favorablity. what he was able to do is put enough doubt in enough voters they didn't want to vote for hillary clinton. what's happening now is i think democrats are giving a lot of ammunition, to which donald trump can put doubt in voters' heads and potentially push the president over the top for another re-election. >> that was an interesting point and of that the way it worked in 2016 from the conversations i had with many voters. brendan, thanks very much. aisha, thank you for joining me as well. you don't want to miss the two big nights of the democratic presidential debates. they are live from detroit and they are july 30th an 31st. and of course they're only going to be here on cnn. e. megared omega-3 power ur whoy. now with an antioxidant blend for great sleep, refreshed skin and less stress. one softgel. 7 benefits. new total body refresh. power your day with megared.

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president trump is calling for anfort national diplomatic effort to free an imprisoned american rapper asap rocky. after apparently being tipped off by the first lady president trump has been negotiating directly with the swedish prime minister. despite the president's intervention the swedish pm says the rapper will not get special treatment. asap rocky has been held for weeks after a street fight in sto stockholm. what is the swedish government saying on all this?

>> reporter: very little and that's they cannot. he and the swedish prime minister had had a friendly and respectful conversation about asap rocky but that the swedish prime minister would not and could not do anything to intervene in what is a proudly independent judicial system. free asap rocky asap. the sipe just outside the prison the only indication the trove of the american rapper is currently being held inside. on thursday the american president weighed in. >> i personally don't know asap rocky but i can tell you his tremendous support from the afffn american community. >> asap pps 10 million followers haven't heard from him in three tweaks ever since he was jailed for a brawl. these are images that appear to

joe asap rocky caught up in a street fight. other videos paint a different picture, one of harassment. >> look, just for the cameras we don't want no problem with these boys. they keep following us. >> both sides are being investigated although the swedish man allegedly involve remains free since the judiciary does not consider him a flight risk. asap rocky on the hand learned he would remain in custody while the prosecutor continues to investigate claiming he does provide a flight risk. and that his client is innocent, adding that he believed he was assaulted and acted in self-defense. asap rocky's lawyer and his media representatives have not responded to cnn for comment. on saturday the american president tweeted that he had been in touch with the swedish prime minister saying that asap was not a flight risk and offering to personally vouch for

his bail, but that is not how things work in season. >> if you know the swedish legal system you know there's no bail system. and he also said something like the swedish prime minister will get involved in the case. actually the ed swooish constitution forbids any minister, even a prime minister to get involved and even state anything about, an individual case. >> reporter: indeed the prime minister said he neither could or would try to influence the judicial process. celebrities have also weighed in. justin bieber thanking donald trump for helping his friend but asking whether he could also let the kids out of cages referencing the migrant crisis on the u.s.-mexico border. the former swedish prime minister also tweeted donald trump needs to understand sweden has an independent judiciary with any political meddling distinctly off-limits. that independent judiciary gives the prosecutor until thursday to rule whether asap rocky and two

members of his entourage should be charged here, released or held a little longer. it is here in that prison in the heart of stockholm that asap rocky remains in custody and will until the prosecutor gives her ruling. now, we have reached out in the last couple of hours to prosecuting authorities here in sweden. they have said that they will not be influenced by anything that any politicians of any country have had to say about the matter. this is decision they say that will be have the prosecutor and the prosecutor alone. >> thanks, melissa. we appreciate it. and we'll be right back. memory support brand.macisd you can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. hdo you like stranger things? tsure you do. that's why netflix is on us. and here's another reason to join.

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a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! hello. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm martin savidge in for fredericka whitfield. right now president trump is preparing to board air force one and return to the white house after a weekend he spent in new jersey where he launched a fresh assault on four democratic congresswomen of color. today's twitter rant comes one week after the president's racist attack against four congresswomen sparked racist chants at his rally. today he's questioning their patriotism and