trump was furious. he was furious and he yelled at esper you are taking we might authorities. >> he would not be pushed around and the unabashedly shoved his statesman at trump was sitting at the resolute desk. this is what i said. understand, don't misinterpret it. so this is one of the many incidents where milley just said, my god, there is a mental decline here. there is a danger and he had a wonderful phrase for it, which i want to read i don't ruin it. for milley said, this is the absolute darkest moment of theoretical possibility. in other words, the moment was dark but the possibility was theoretical, but then it became real when you mix it with the trump personality and this irrational raging. so what esper and milley realized -- on this, that they had actually checkmated -- i mean, we worked together for years. there's a point where you -- you keep the boss from doing what we be damage to the institution or even the boss, and they believe they checkmated trump on bringing the combat troops to w

trump is crazy. chairman millie then says, yes, i agree completely with you, but we have procedures. and then after he realizes the procedures are not sufficient. >> to your point, it's an important one. you look out in the states now, all the state legislativers run by republicans trying to get trump supporters to be election officials. you have a culture in the republican party, where senator lee and senator graham were trying to fact-check what was going on with the trump legal team's claims, that is not a pervasive effort inside the gop. in fact, so many leaders are standing with president trump despite what happened. >> and, again, talking about this in the past tense. i think we should never used past tense verbs here. donald trump wrote a letter last week to the secretary of state of georgia trying to decertify the georgia election results now. now. >> nine months after -- sorry. almost a year after the election. and so he won't give up. okay, that's fine. but what we found with that memo, whi

that donald trump posed. obviously trump was on first president to be accused of excessive use of the president's power. some of trump's predecessors characteristic excesses released alleged excesses such as unilateral uses of force and aggressive ways or unilateral extensions of the administrative power, these were not the kind of where is my boss is bush did, disregarding laws in the name of article to power presidential power, these are not trump's characteristic views. truce abuses i had to summarize them, were the following. he basically merged the institutional presidency, the office of the presidency the public office, with his personal interests in a way that had never been done by the president and in a way to basically cover the landscape in every form of corruption. just to give you some examples, these are examples remembering from the truck presidency, nondisclosing's taxes nondisclosing his finances, these are all things the presence had done going back to the 70s. in a really great his wife mix

and donald trump? who is knocked out of often by joe biden remains the leader of what is left of the republican party. leading off our discussion tonight's democratic congressman we hakeem jeffries, congressman jeffries thank you for joining us tonight, what is your reaction to what we are looking learning in bob woodward and robert costa's book. about paul ryan's interaction with donald trump. and his preparation for dealing with what's he considered to be at minimum a mentally unstable incoming president? >> well it's extraordinary, but the challenge in dealing with donald trump is that not only is he a malignant narcissist, but he of course is a psychopath, any pathological liar, at the same. time that is pretty complicated for an ordinary citizen. it's incredible to have to deal with someone of that nature. as the president of the united states of america. the challenge that the republican's have had. is that they accepted donald trump for who he was. and continues to be, in part because for the ac

this is premised on the idea we may have another trump and we may have a much more clever trump, one of the most important things to understand is that in many instances, thankfully it was executive power. he was a very good, those episodes i mentioned about trump trying to get someone to stop the investigation to find him, the president of the united states who have the power to accomplish that, he couldn't get anyone to do it. he wasn't good at the executive power to achieve it. these week norms and gaps when we have another president is a populist demagogue and could be republican/or could be a left-wing demagogue but you will have a more complicated president who can take an even greater advantage of these weaknesses. basically think it's now we will talk more about that. let me just say assumptions proposing a set of reforms we do for fixing the presidency so to speak. our project is not to significantly reduce presidential power. we don't think it needs to be executive branch needs to be significantly trumpeted for the conversation to be had about that, it's not our project, mo

how does a not friend of trump run for president in donald trump's party? >> it's a difficult question looming over not just mike pence but all republicans who want to run in 2024. but of course, we know that pence and trump have this unique relationship. i'm told, john, that they don't have much of a relationship at all right now. that quote kind of shows where things are right now. pence and trump have not spoken to each other i'm told by two republicans in five months. since april when pence had heart surgery. donald trump called his former vice president and said i wish you well. but what i'm also told is this expansion of his political team opening up a new office space last month here in washington d.c. for his nonprofit group all of this crisscrossing across the country, making plans to visit iowa, and south carolina all a part of this effort where mike pence is not trying to patch things up with the former president. he's going to be making his decision independent of all that. i spoke with somebody close to mike pence earlier this week. this is wha

it's going to be donald trump's party and it's going to be whoever donald trump decides to bring along with them. and i'll say this because people like to call, trump supporters mindless. that is as long as donald trump states about stays true to the values that got him where he is. and the reason there was so much tumult once he was elected is because he came in and shook things up and did it to them. the way, the sort of almost one party system that we've seen over the last couple of decades emerge where democrats and republicans were practically indistinguishable. which means they're not interested, real republicans are not interested in having that kind of leader represent them. they want leaders that are out there, you know, send it on fire like, you know, saying things that, that bring us together. thing, things that dismantle the swamp. those are the kinds of things donald trump did. and others like mack gates, others like rod to santa and that you can, you can honestly tell who the most successful, most beloved. and the most feared republicans are by looking at who the democrat

trump was going to do even better. i think the combination of the pandemic and the summer protests stirred things up, called that into question. and so they were skeptical about how he would do among latinos. it seems like that was a very effective strategy for him to try to exploit some of the tensions of 2020. >> you are right about that. the one thing the republican party does very well and the trunk campaign is they are exploiting or making issues of issues that are very regional importance. we think of immigration and people crossing the border. for folks who live along arizona and southern texas border, my family has history in laredo, texas right on the border. and last summer a national story about how latinos, mexican americans living in a little town on the border that my family has a history of that are supportive of donald trump's initiative because they are addressing a very real issue of immigrants crossing the border onto their property. it can be a very scary issue. no matter what the background is of t

trump won. right. i didn't choose donald trump. the american people chose donald trump. my state voted for donald trump. i'm a senator from south carolina. john mccain was pretty good with working people he didn't get along with. i made a conscious decision after saying everything bad i could during 2016. you know i'm going to wheel out the quote for you called donald trump, you said, don't vote for this guy �*cause he's a race baiting xenophobic bigot. religious bigot. he does not represent me. and you know what my party told me? go to hell. he won. you thought the guy was a xenophobic bigot. i accepted the consequences of the election. ina in a democracy i could take my ball and go home but the people of south carolina chose president trump. the people of america chose president trump. i tried to help where i could. so it is ok to help a guy who you believe is a racist bigot through four years? it is ok for kamala harris to service joe biden�*s vice president when it's suggested he supported racist policies. if you know anything about democracy, when the electionï¿

trump left the door open. the muffled sound track of excited screams and yells from his supporters filling the room, the noise outside grew louder, almost like a party. isn't that great, trump exclaimed is this tomorrow is going to be a big day. leading off our discussion tonight, bob woodward, two-time pulitzer prize winning author, robert costa national political reporter for "the washington post." they are the co-authors of the new already best seller "peril." bob woodward, let me begin with you, and that scene just described, that's in your book, on january 5th, this is the night before what became an attack on the capitol and there's the president of the united states believing and insisting to his vice president that he can change the outcome of the presidential election the next day. mike pence saying i've tried, in effect. i've hoped that i could find a way to do that, and i can't find it. and that's how close we came to a different electoral college count in the congress the next day. >> yes, more tha

but he couldn't name trump. meanwhile, that same weekend donald trump is pushing the rigged election conspiracy claims. christie, if he wants to sit in the abc news studio and tell that to a panel, fine. go take that message to newsmax, try it out at fox. i don't believe it. then when he's confronted about those claims that he made talking about the need for passionate engagement, he throws up his hands, i don't have to answer to you. you have to answer to republican voters like me who don't believe you. >> so, two things. i think he should acknowledge his part in this, and that is what -- how you claw back being a credible messenger. you do need different messengers for different voters. christie might be that messenger with a segment of republican voters who believe this because he was close to trump, right. so explaining that and giving him a chance to do that is part of allowing people to stop doing the humiliating dance and attempting to be besties with donald trump. so if i see a little bit of that, i'm go

the the cross talking trump 2024. i'm joined by my guess, jen kerns and new york sheets. host of all american radio, with jennifer kerns, also new york. we have david fisher. he is author of the book, the executive order, as well as the ghost writer for donald trump. 2016 campaign book crippled america. and in west palm beach, we cross to gene allowed, and she is like psychology expert and a long time trump advisor her across soc rules and effects. that means you can jump any time you want, and i always appreciate it. david, let me go to you 1st here. let's start from the basics here. what is the identity of the republican party as we speak right now? and is donald trump a reflection of that party? go ahead david. well, i think it's a party in search of an identity. you know, already here it's become known as call 45. where the, where? so many millions of people sort of mindlessly follow whatever. trump says, you know, the question becomes, are there enough of those people just swing national action and we don't know

trump one.- i - what it actually happened. trump one.- i didn't| trump one. right. ididn't choose donald _ trump one. right. ididn't choose donald trump. - trump one. right. ididn't| choose donald trump. the american people chose donald trump. my state voted for donald trump. i'm a senator from south carolina. a conscious decision after saying everything bad i could during 2016. ., ~ ., ., ., ., 2016. you know i am going to wheel out _ 2016. you know i am going to wheel out the _ 2016. you know i am going to wheel out the quote - 2016. you know i am going to wheel out the quote for - 2016. you know i am going to wheel out the quote for you l wheel out the quote for you called donald trump, you said, don't vote for this guy because he is a race baiting xenophobic bigot. he is a race baiting xenophobic biuot. ., , , ., he is a race baiting xenophobic biot. ., , , ., it he is a race baiting xenophobic bigot._ it does | bigot. religious bigot. it does not represent _ bigot. religious bigot. it does not represent me. _ bigot. religious bigot. it does not represent me. an

what discussion trump 2024? the the, the, the, the world is driven by a dreamer shaped by the in me dares thing. we dare to ask more of my guide and financial survival. this is a hedge fund, is a device used by professional gal you ags to earn money? that's right. these hedge funds are completely not accountable, and we're just adding more, more to them. totally. the stabilize the global economy. you need to protect yourself and get inform. watch because we're forward to talking to you all. that technology should work for people. a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except when the short or conflict with the 1st law show your identification. we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. at the point obviously is too great truck rather than fear i would take on various jobs with artificial intelligence, we'll summoning the demon a robot must protect its own existence with the welcome back across sack. were all things considered peter lavelle to remind you of discussing trump 2024? ah,

it's going to be donald trump's party and it's going to be whoever donald trump decides to bring along with them. and i'll say this because people like to call, trump supporters mindless. that is as long as donald trump states about stays true to the values that got him where he is. and the reason there was so much tumult once he was elected is because he came in and shook things up and did it to them. the way, the sort of almost one party system that we've seen over the last couple of decades emerge where democrats and republicans were practically indistinguishable. which means they're not interested, real republicans are not interested in having that kind of leader represent them. they want leaders that are out there, you know, send it on fire like, you know, saying things that, that bring us together. thing, things that dismantle the swamp. those are the kind of things donald trump did, and others like matt gates, others like rod to santa and that you can, you can honestly tell who the most successful, most beloved. and the most feared republicans are by looking at who the democrats

the american people chose donald trump. my state voted for donald trump. i'm a senator from south carolina. john mccain was pretty good with working with people he didn't get along with, so i made a conscious decision, after saying every bad thing i could about trump during the 2016 campaign... you know that i'm going to wheel out the quote, which has been hung around your neck a million times. you called trump, when you were running against him, you said to the republican party, "don't vote for this guy cos he's a race baiting, "xenophobic bigot..." religion bigot. "he does not... yeah. religion bigot. "he does not represent my party." and you know what my party told me? go to hell. he won. so you abandoned your principles. no, i didn't abandon my principles. well, you thought the guy was a xenophobic bigot. i accepted the consequences of the election. in a democracy, i can take my ball and go home, but the people in south carolina chose president trump, the people of america chose president trump. i've tried to help him where i could. so it's ok to help

er, trump won. right. so you... no, i didn't choose donald trump. the american people chose donald trump. my state voted for donald trump. i'm a senator from south carolina. john mccain was pretty good with working with people he didn't get along with. so i made a conscious decision after saying everything bad thing i could about trump during the 2016 campaign... you know, you know that i'm going to wheel out the quote which has been hung round your neck a million times, you called trump, you said, don't vote for this guy cos he's a race baiting xenophobic bigot. religious bigot. "he does not represent my party". and you know what my party told me? go to hell. he won. and so you abandoned your principles. no, i didn't abandon my principles. well, you thought the guy was a xenophobic bigot. i accepted the consequences of the election. in a democracy, i can take my ball and go home but the people in south carolina chose president trump. the people of america chose president trump. i've tried to help him where i could. so it's ok to help a guy who you

about trump? >> well, newsom tried and democratic strategists think he succeeded in making this not just about him. when the recall got on the ballot, keep newsom or recall newsom. everyone is frustrated. everyone has a reason to take a stick to the pinata that's the powerful person that is your governor. newsom trump-fies it but going after elder. california is becoming more and more democratic. if this is just about newsom, some trouble. still overwhelming democratic numbers but erin, a little history here. again, i've been around a little longer. 20 years ago, i was covering politics back in those days. california republicans were 36% of the registration. now they're down to 24%. if gavin newsom makes this me versus trump, d versus r, there aren't enough republicans to recall him. >> right. it's math. john king, thank you. >>> now as i promised, we're getting the first results out of exit polls from california tonight where governor gavin newsom is waiting to see these results as they come in l

filing a $100 million lawsuit trump says mary trump conspired with "the times" to get his tax return for a pulitzer prize winning story about his apparent losses and tax avoidance. the suit alleges "the times" pushed mary trump to smuggle records out of her attorney's office. mary trump has responded to the lawsuit saying, quote, i think he is a loser and he is going to throw anything against the wall he can. joining me now is trump's former personal attorney, michael cohen, author of the "new york times" best seller "disloyal" and host of the podcast "mea culpa" with michael cohen, which is certainly one to tune in to. let's settle in here. i've got a bunch of questions for you. we're going to take some time and go through them. first question comes from mediaite, which says that trump admits in his suit against his niece that the "new york times" story on his taxes which he previously calls fake news was real. so do you agree, does his lawsuit contradict his previous claims? >> okay. everything about donald trump contradicts his earlier claims, and then what he'll do is tomorrow he

he wanted to accommodate trump. he had been subservient to trump. and so he was -- he was looking for an out. and if he had -- it's -- in the end, he followed the law and the constitution. but if he had gone out there and said, you know, i'm confused, i can't decide and walked off, we would have had a constitutional crisis because who's president? what about the legitimacy of the presidency? and he did not do that, but if you look at what we found, which is charted in great detail in the book, he wanted to see, oh is there some way to do it? and in the end, i think under the influence of his advise ors, his staff, his lawyers who were telling him, you know, you just can't. that's not the law. that's not the constitution. yamiche: your last words in this book, they say, the peril remains. explain that. explain the danger that remains. >> well, he's out there. he's got this support. and the questionou have to ask is, people likeenator graham, senator mike lee of utah have bailed on him because they investigateed the claims of the stolen election and f

it's passion for trump. the numbers, as you point out are astounding, what we discovered in the reporting on the book is that two of the trump loyalists, lindsey graham, senator mike lee from utah, conservative, very devoted to trump, investigated these claims through memos that rudy giuliani and white house lawyer named john eastman gave them, and it was the kind of investigation almost predisposed, oh, okay, there's going to be supporting evidence here. they found the absolute opposite. zero. nothing. and both went, both senators graham and mike lee went on the floor of the senate and said no, nothing. and walked away. so what does that mean? i mean, i think if you're -- you really want to look at the facts as we tried to do here, and you -- if you like trump or don't like trump, read what his allies concluded that this stolen election claim is untrue. >> but do you see this as an assault on democracy by trump and his supporters? >> well, you know, we're just -- people will judge it. what is stunning is, a

one of the reasons that trump picked pence was because he was a statue, he would stand over trump's shoulder, smiling looking adoreingly of everything that trump did. and yet january 6th it seemed to be the breaking point and it's ironic what trump expected him to be a statue when he couldn't be. >> and the reward for loyalty was a mob chanting hang mike pence. and carol asked the former president point blank what he wanted to happen when he encouraged the crowds to march, and in his answer, trump suggested that capitol police were responsible that day by allowing crowds into the building. let's listen to the tape. >> there was a lot love, i heard that from many people. many people told me that was a loving crowd. and, you know, it was -- it was too bad -- it was too bad that it got -- you know, they didn't -- >> there were just some -- >> mr. president, i apologize. what we're trying to understand is not blame, not castigate -- >> i understand. >> -- we want to understand what did you want when you said go up there? what would you have dreamed for them to do? >> that you will show not to go

he wanted to accommodate trump. he had been subservient to trump. and so he was -- he was looking for an out. and if he had -- it's -- in the end, he followed the law and the constitution. but if he had gone out there and said, you know, i'm confused, i can't decide and walked off, we would have had a constitutional crisis because who's president? what about the legitimacy of the presidency? and he did not do that, but if you look at what we found, which is charted in great detail in the book, he wanted to see, oh is there some way to do it? and in the end, i think under the influence of his advise ors, his staff, his lawyers who were telling him, you know, you just can't. that's not the law. that's not the constitution. yamiche: your last words in this book, they say, the peril remains. explain that. explain the danger that remains. >> well, he's out there. he's got this support. and the question you have to ask is, people like senator graham, senator mike lee of utah have bailed on him beuse they investigateed these claims of the stolen election a

and then he meets with trump. and according to woodward and costa, trump goes -- just starts yelling. and trump says in the book, quote, who do you think you are? you took away my authorities. you are not the president. i'm the goddamn president. and after that, he's not only shouting at esper. he turns to everyone in the oval office, the rest of the team, and we'll try to keep the language clear here, but trump says, according to the book, quote, you're all f'ed up, everybody. you're all f'ed. every one of you is f'ed up. there are so many outbursts like this throughout the book that you understand how in the lead-up to when you get to january 8th and milley's actions and the assault on the capital, cabinet officers were concerned. >> really, really concerned. can't wait to read it. excellent reporting as usual. thank you so, so much. >>> let's get to the california recall right now as the clock ticks toward the first results. some republicans are relying on the trump play book. our senior national correspondent

donald trump lost 261 votes. you hear john talk about being a bigger loser, that's that he's talking about. this immediately drew a statement from the maricopa county board of supervisors saying this. this means the tabulation equipment counted the ballots as they were designed to do. the results reflect the will of the voters. that should be the end of the story. everything else is just noise. now, i read through this entire report, and i can tell you that the rest of it, the depths of it is really a lot of conspiracy spaghetti thrown against the wall. and that's what they are expecting later today had the final report is presented. i want you to take a listen to another member of the maricopa county board of supervisors, bill gates. >> i call it a show trial. i mean, that's what all these have been up to this point. it's a soviet show trial. democracy is not the word i would use. a theater show of an attempt to steal an election, or at the very least to sow significant doubts in our election system. . >> so tha

yeah, they'd ask them about trump. they'd ask them, you know, that they'd ask them if there's any resources we can exploit on their planet. and jeff bezos would ask when he can get a trip to where they're at it just be, it would be an interesting corresponded gram. i think they told us yet why would day, why would i would stay stay, stay clear. ok. you know, you, graham, you know, one of the things that, you know, there's all this talk about gain of function and all of this, with the, with the, with the facts and with the coven. but, you know, you know, these phrases sometimes i think you can take advantage of because, you know, when i watch mainstream media it's, it's called gain of stupidity. this is what they're doing. it's gain of stupidity night after night after night. ok. and it is, i find it really, really exhausting, and i have to really temper myself. i have to watch its little bits a bit of time because it really can drive you insane. dana gave peyton, if you want to use it, take it danish stupidity. what do

>> it was a match made in trump's hotel in washington in 2016 costa said to me trump might be president he was on the verge of getting the nomination and he said we should go interview him. we did and i got two titles from the interview, i always bring out fear or a use fear to get my way and i bring outrage in people so fear in rage came from the interview and after the interview he said some things and if he was elected president he would end the national debt in the first term and i observed that is not happen in the national debt and is going through the roof and i remember what you said to me. >> we have several conversations at the time how we had to take trump seriously. , that interview in 2016 was a precursor to this book in terms of the method must talk to this candidate donald trump he said let's not go in there with a fishing pole as reporters and try to get different soundbites and really prepare for the interview. in other presidents of the past and he said to me in 2016 in february and march as we were getting ready and thinking about decisions why did trump decide to run

as to mary trump and the allegations that she violated her contract with donald trump in disclosing these documents, the complaint fails to point to a specific provision in the agreement between them that she breached. and that's of course essential if you're going to prove a contract claim. there would be no reason to withhold that in the complaint. it could even mean that the complaint would be subject to a motion to dismiss. so at least on its face without having access to the primary documents, this doesn't look like a lawsuit that's going very far. >> i kind of get what he's doing because he's done this before and he uses courts as a kind of a theater. trump university was a case that he lied about repeatedly. he ultimately paid millions to people that he -- by paying them had signaled that he may have defruded them although he had a settlement that didn't technically admit fault. i get what he's doing. i get why he's doing it. mary trump does as well with her somewhat cheeky comments. what i don't get is the when. do you have any insight legal or otherwise as to this coming up now?

there's no claim that trump's making that mary trump lied or is liable. the lawsuit basically admits that all this stuff is true. trump's claim is hey, she hurt my reputation. i didn't really know that was possible, but that's what he's arguing. trump himself has noted that this "new york times" piece was viewed the most of all of its online articles. enough to give him a $100 million bruise to his ego. the first amendment where founders have is really pretty ironclad. i think tim's right. this is a garbage lawsuit. the other question is why file it. i can think of two reasons. one is his lawyers, who let's face it, are not ever very good. from john eastman to rudy giuliani. maybe he's getting bad legal advice, but even then, why wait a year to sue? all this stuff happened a year ago. the other possibility is that remember donald trump forced his white house staff to sign nondisclosure. it's not something i've ever heard the president doing before. the basis is mary trump violated a nondisclosure agreement. maybe it's a shot at its white house staff to no

one is december 30th when trump is on the phone, trump is down in mar-a-lago. steve bannon's in washington. and trump is complaining that the republicans aren't doing enough for his effort. and bannon says to him, and when you read it there's sort of a certain quality to this passage. he says you've got to return to washington right now, you've got to make a dramatic return. and then he says, according to woodward and costa, and you've got to call pence off the effing ski slopes and get him back here today, this is a crisis. he calls january 6th a moment for reckoning. and then he goes even further. this is about bannon on biden. and he says, quote, people are going to go, what the f is going on here, we're going to bury biden on january 6th, effing bury him. this was, it sounds like from woodward and costa, that bannon saw this as a moment to undermine biden's legitimacy, and he goes on, according to the book, bannon says, quote, we're going to kill it in the crib, kill the biden presidency in the crib. and there are also some extraordinary scenes where bannon

, and he sort of confronts trump about his chances of getting re-elected and he says to trump, they just think you're an -- you can read on the screen what he says. but -- >> we got it, yeah. >> -- the number of shouting matches, the -- word is used in this book more than i would say every quin ton tarantino movie, "the big lebowski" and another combined, it really shows how milley came to the point he was at because of just explosion after explosion. >> jamie, it is fascinating. obviously it is not just the expletives that got all of these officials' attention. >> yeah. >> it was just the behavior and the seeming unhinged quality that is depicted, that you describe and bob woodward. jamie, stay with us, if you would. >> sure. >> we are joined by cnn global affairs analyst susan glasser, a staff writer for "the new yorker." and retired general mark hertling. general, i will start with you because all of the stuff about obviously have the nuclear codes, maybe launching a nuclear weapon, having access to declare, you know, some sort of military strike, i mean the way it is depicted in this

because of the lingering symptoms of the trump era, and politics. last night democratic governor gavin newsom of california defeated a trump inspired recall effort, just a landslide margin, put some perspective on how big of a failure this republican recall effort turned out to be, what a waste of 200 and $76 million, it turned out to be for the people of california. who consider that governor newsom was first elected governor in california in 2018 in 2018, he won by a gigantic margin, he won the governorship in 2018 with 61.9% of the vote. last night in the recall, all avoids are not in, yet they will still be coming in for the next few weeks actually. but lastly in the recall, the don't recall gavin newsom, vote looks like it may have been even larger than the vote to elect him in the first place. as of right now the don't recall gavin newsom vote stands at 63.9%, which is two points higher than the vote he got to win the governorship in the first place, in 2018. the republicans whole rationale for doing this recall is that they didn't really thin

trump. "the lead" starts right now. trump praised them as, quote, highly respected auditors and then he deleted the statement once the bogus results came in concluding, again, anyway, that biden won. so why is the republican party continuing to push these nonsensical election lies in more more states. >>> a shot of confusion. the cdc director just broke with her agency's own independent vaccine advisers to allow more americans to get a third covid shot. >>> plus, even president biden admitting now that his massive agenda is at a, quote, stalemate. can his big spending plans make it through his own party? >>> welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. we begin with some breaking news in our politics lead. this just in. white house press secretary jen psakis is the biden administration will not assert executive privilege and will not shield trump-era records from the january 6th select committee investigating the attack on the capitol. simply put this means the select committee can potentially access documents and other info

who saw trump closes close-up and personal in his abusive diplomatic power he mostly said that trump saw obstruction of justice as a way of life and the last one i will use is trump used power promiscuously and not an obvious ways but certainly visibly. no president has come close to using the pardon power to help friends to pursue a political agenda to help himself in a way that trump did. some present have done in the past and it was exceptional but trump made it into row. these are what bob and i would call serious abuses of power. some of these things might have been it's not clear but most abuses of power and his other abuses of power for various reasons were certainly non-violative and this was a distinction we heard a lot. expectations of behavior that we have for president but aren't with the penalty attached to them them and he can't endorse them in court. there's no prosecution. these are rules of expected behavior that president to act like presidents are expected to end these norms grew up self-consciously -- subconsciously and presidents complied with conflict of interes

there is no rug in trump tower big enough to do that. we must make sure that we hold him to the same standard we would hold any criminal suspect in this country. and as it relates to executive privilege, i think they should apply it with that lens as well. >> and are there situations where -- where you can imagine that there would be legitimate executive privileges claims here? >> well, especially as it relates to what is inside the bounds of being president. you know, making decisions around foreign policy, making decisions around appointments, you know, when they're free from corruption or fraud or, you know, crime, yes, i would say they should assert those privileges, because they would want them for themselves or any future president republican or democratic. i happen to believe when you incite -- when you assemble, incite aband i and aim a mob at the capitol to help you steal an election that's far outside the bounds. >> before you go, let me get your assessment where things stand on the two track biden infrastructure legislation. t

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they mistakenly believe that trump won the 2020 election. some of them threatening violence against election officials for just doing their jobs. once again, here's cnn's senior investigative correspondent, drew griffin. >> john, there are two things happening all across the country and at an alarming rate. both are dangerous to democracy, threats against elections officials, which are causing some to quit, and laws in more than a dozen states that change the rules on voting. we have to warn you, some of the language you're about to hear is very graphic. in milwaukee, elections executive director claire woodall vogue has been bombarded by hate, ever since an extremist right wing web site, published lies about her. >> you rigged my fucking election, you fucking piece of hit, we're going to try you and hang you. >> we're coming for you claire. >> i really sincerely hope you get what's coming to you you fraudulent fuck. >> what was your immediate reaction to what was on that machine? >> it's frightening: there are crazy people out there. while

look at this trump number right here. donald trump, 44% of the vote in orange county. for this recall to succeed statewide, the rule of thumb is this. the recall needs to be running about 16 points better in any given county than donald trump ran. that's how democratic the state is. that's the challenge for recall supporters. they have to convince democrats, they have to convince biden supporters to vote for this. in a place like orange county the number to look for here is 60, is the recall anywhere near 60%. if it were to hit 60%, if it were to go over 60% in a place like orange county it bodes well for the recall passing statewide. if it is significantly under 60%, it bodes terribly for the recall statewide. we will be tracking in every county when the votes start to come in in less than an hour from now. but the challenge, lawrence, democratic state, biden won it by nearly 30 poichbts. i think you can see on the screen right there. one of the questions asked in the exit poll today, do you approve or disapprove of joe biden's performance, biden has a 60% approval ra

>>> plus, trump stacking the deck. now, pushing supporters of his big lie to become top election officials in crucial swing states. >>> and we are standing by for a decision by the fda and whether to authorize booster shots for some americans. the former-fda commissioner, dr. scott gottlieb, is my guest. let's go outfront. >>> and good evening, i'm erin burnett. out front tonight, the breaking news. president biden all in as he attempts to save his domestic agenda from imploding. the president holding three lengthy meetings with to

more clever trump. one of the most important things to understand about trump is that in many instances thankfully he was incompetent at yielding executive power. he wasn't very good. the report about trying to get someone to stop the investigation and fire mueller and the like. the amazing thing is the president of the united states who had the formal power to accomplish that he couldn't get anyone to do it. he wasn't good at yielding executive power to achieve his ends. the worry is these gaps in accountability and these weak norms and gaps in the law are going to still be there when we have another president who is a popular demagogue and it could be a republican right-wing populist demagogues or it could be a democrat left-wing. but the worry is you will have a more competent resident that can take even greater advantages of these weaknesses. so we basically think the time for action is now and bob will talk more about that and why that is. so if i were describing -- let me just say four things, the

trump lost by a lot in michigan. but that didn't stop him from once again complaining loud le he must have one within won michigan there must have been some scandal, fraud, must be investigated and exposed. and everybody will know he won it. in the case of michigan republicans in the state legislature were happy to oblige this complaining and the republicans in the state legislature conducted a months long investigation of the election results in michigan. ooh, ooh, in will be it, the republican report will finally show that trump actually won michigan, michigan was stolen from him, and the election results from fake, all fraud, right. we show the report conclusions quote this committee found no evidence of widespread or symptom attic fraud in michigan's prosecution of the 2020 election. beyond that, the republicans in the legislature pronounced themselves appalled at what can only be deduced as willful ignorance by those claiming fraud in michigan. beyond that, michigan republicans in the legislature recommended tha

trump's business. as to the question of whether there is going to be more coming from prosecutors in this case, the same defense counsel who held up the envelope today and said these key tax documents were just recovered from co-conspirators' basements the same counsel also told the judge today quote we have strong reason to believe there could be other indictments coming. we don't know why mr. weisselberg's attorney thinks that or who those might apply to. new york prosecutors have reportedly been investigating other senior trump organization executives but who knows? whatever is going on right now the former president appears to be quite upset about it firing off an incoherent statement this weekend attacking the manhattan district attorney by name and the new york attorney general by name, going after one of the district attorney's lawyers by name. objecting to how many documents from his company they have examined. saying the american people will not stand for this. i think they will. we'll see. jo

it is sketchy, which is why trump doesn't talk about the vaccine the way he could. he could say i brought it to you. take it, take it. he doesn't because he got booed and alabama and he knows there are too many in the base he doesn't want to upset. do they want to own removing roe v wade and telling women from 8 to 80 you don't get to decide on your body. let's say from 18 to 80 because voting age. you don't get to determine freedom of choice, not for you, ladies. >> do you want to own this end runaround and what should be constitutionally correct if possible if democrats one day want to do a similar law for taking guns? if they say we can do this with guns? the supreme court won't be able to challenge this and go around and get your guns. it's a hypothetical. that's what conservatives should really be concerned about is what does this set for a precedent for? are you setting a precedent in the future? i know you think it's a win when it comes to roe v wade but also a win for your opponents when it comes to other laws that you may not like and that you're trying to

this is donald trump's party. it's going to be donald trump's party. there's no question about that. but i'm hesitant about taking these -- i know we want to jump on tv and take these themes away and what democrats should do and the messaging for democrats, just a month ago people were telling me that eric adams when he won the democratic primary in new york, was the future of the democratic party. now people are saying that the message we should take out of california is this and that. the fact is, i mean, i could have beat larry elder tonight. like that is not a difficult task in california. democrats -- >> so humble. >> that was an ounce of humility. a dash. >> i think he could have beat governor newsom tonight as well. >> i mean, but the fact is shawn clegg, ace smith, juan rodriguez were able to turn this election on their head and they were able to make this a referendum not on their candidate gavin newsom but a referendum on larry elder. and the problem the republican party has is that they have a long list of todd akins and is it -- catherine o

putin tried to throw trump off by bringing an attractive female interpreter to distract trump. she said putin also coughed a lot trying to rile up his germ phobia. trump told putin he had to act tough in front of the cameras standing next to him, ensuring the russian president it was all for show. as for the mysterious visit to walter reed, a colonoscopy for which the president needed anesthesia. he didn't want to give up power to mike pence while he was under. >> trump harassed women on the staff, she claims. she claims he requested a young female staffer be brought to his cab oeupb air force one so he could look at her from behind. and she claims trump once asked a staffer's boyfriend if she was good in bed. >> and assuring his equipment was normal as stormy daniels described it as a character in super mario brothers and describes his temper as terr terrifying but one staffer had a trick to calm him down. ♪ so a white house staffer nicknamed the music man played that song from "cats" to soothe the president of the united states. to me, of all the alarming revelations in the