Transcripts For CNNW CNN Special Report 20201018

Trump, ultimately mean, you have to agree with him, all the time, if you want to keep your job . A president who seemed to thrive in division. Whether those who hate him or celebrate him, a look, now, at the moments that defined president donald j. Trumps first term. The issues he vowed to tackle. Build that wall. Repeal and replace obamacare. These massive tax cuts will be rocket fuel for the american economy. Those miners, get ready, because youre going to be working your asses off. All right . Reporter the crises he has faced. We will defeat the virus and emerge stronger, than ever before. Hear from the people who were there. I was in the early meetings in the oval office. Reporter in the rooms, where it happened. Why does he seem to like putin . This is a cnn special report. Fight for the white house, Donald Trumps presidency. Together, we will crush the virus. Reporter against the backdrop of a global pandemic, President Trump was making his case for a second term. And, from the looks of it, no real concerns about an extremely contagious and deadly virus. What the white house was trying to do was say, look, we believe that covids gone. You saw donald trump try to sort of put lipstick on a pig, last night. We will defeat the virus and the pandemic. I have witnessed him make some of the most difficult decisions of his life. Reporter but there might have been an accidental clue that this was not the whole story. Thanks to advances, we have pioneered the fatality rate. Pioneered the fatality rate . In fact, President Trump and his administration have been pie in pioneers of flawed leadership from the very beginning. Coronavirus outbreak in china and spreading across the globe. As early as january, President Trump was warned about the novel coronavirus, according to author, bob woodward. In a january 28th briefing, National Security adviser Robert Obrien told President Trump covid19 would be, quote, the biggest National Security threat of his presidency. President trump says he does not remember that briefing. There were, also, briefings with other intelligence and publichealth officials. Washington post White House Reporter and cnn contributor, josh dawsey. Hhs secretary alex azar called to brief the president , and they talked about it briefly. And the president , soon, moved the conversation to vaping and azar said to others that he was quite frustrated. I was in the early meetings in the office. Reporter Kellyanne Conway tells a different story. I mean, he banned travel from china, in january. Nobody thought we should do it. Zero cases. Zero deaths. Reporter it was not a full ban on travel from china. Tens of thousands of people were allowed to travel to the u. S. , even after it was ordered. Perhaps, more importantly, President Trump was publicly dismissing the threat. With cdc efforts to come up with a test, botched. And no comprehensive effort to identify and isolate the virus, nationwide. Still, the president would continue to point to partialtravel bans to argue that he was on the case. Cnns White House Correspondent, kaitlan collins. If you talk to experts, by the time that the president put those in place, the virus was already circulating inside the United States. Reporter all of this was accompanied by a nearlydaily barrage of president ial lies. We have it totally under control. Its one person, coming in from china. We think we have it very well under control. The consensus among the his own Health Experts was that we needed to shift to a strategy of trying to limit the numbers of deaths, instead of trying to block it from entering the United States. New york times investigative reporter, eric lipton. Throughout february, trump dismissed concerns that the coronavirus was worse than the flu. But, it turns out, privately, he was saying something very different. You just breathe the air. Thats how its passed. And so, thats a very tricky one. Thats a very delicate one. Its, also, more deadly than your, you know, your even your strenuous flus. Reporter trump says he downplayed the virus, so as to prevent the American People from panicking. And he continued to downplay it in early march. It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away. Reporter a message at odds with Health Experts. Cases kept increasing and increasing. Coronavirus death toll that jumped, again, today. Reporter finally, on march 11th, the day tom hanks and his wife, rita wilson, became the first, highprofile americans to announce they had tested positive. And the nba shut down its season. Trump set out to reassure a very nervous nation. My fellow americans. The president was uncomfortable, heading into it. Reporter New York Times White House Correspondent and cnn political analyst, maggie haberman. The president looked unfamiliar with the material, as he was reading it. It contained at least three errors. That speech was probably the singlemost important moment in the u. S. Response to the coronavirus, but for all the wrong reasons. Reporter cnns abby phillip. It really highlighted that the administration was not prepared to deal with the crisis. It was an historic day on wall street. Reporter the next day, the New York Stock Exchange halted trading for 15 minutes, after the s p 500 fell 7 . The white house scrambled to try to fix the errors about travel bans and insurance coverage. Then, one day later. Today, i am officially declaring a national emergency. Reporter the country had lost two months, really, to ramp up testing and production of key supplies, such as ppe or ventilators. He had that, at his fingertips. Reporter President Trump says president ial historian, tim neftali, could have nationalized the response and invoked the defense production act to immediately force companies to manufacture what was needed. He had an opportunity, with covid19, to use the enormous power of the presidency, in a moment of national crisis. Reporter governors were left to fend for their states. It was just mass pandemonium. Reporter maryland, republican governor, larry hogan. It was a 50state strategy. Some states, doing better than others. Reporter hogan secretly sourced half a million tests for his state from south korea. I asked the president about that at a briefing we had. Could have saved a lot of money but thats okay. You dont think he needed to go to south korea . No, i dont think he needed to go to south korea. I think he needed to little bit of knowledge would have been helpful. He assured me testing was amazing in the United States. And the question was, well, if thats true, then, why is the governor of maryland having to go to another country . Reporter testing was lagging far behind, despite the president s spin. Anybody that wants a test can get a test. Thats the bottom line. Reporter that was a lie. I said, earlier today, that i hope we can do this by easter. Reporter trump then tried to push governors to open up their states and their economies. I really do believe a lot of the governors should be opening up states. What mistakes do you think have been made by the president . Allowing some of the governors to make decision sqs mayors to make decisions about whether and when to lock down and how to lock down also made this more fraught. Reporter it was a political strategy, allowing the white house to blame the governors, no matter what, and accept zero responsibility. This, as the president also sought to undermine the nations leading Infectious Disease expert, dr. Anthony fauci, for telling the truth. Acknowledging the fact that the president s delay in action cost lives. You could logically say if you started mitigation earlier, you could have saved lives. Obviously, no one is going to deny that. Reporter the president tried to control the message. Minimizing the risk. Young people are almost immune to this disease. Reporter pushing unproven, potentially dangerous, drugs to treat covid19. Such as, hydroxychloroquine. What do you have to lose . Ill say it again. What do you have to lose . Take it. Reporter or this jawdropping moment. I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And, is there a way we can do Something Like that, by injection inside . Or or almost a cleaning . Reporter the president s briefings ended, for a while. And he let the experts take the lead. He pushed guidelines on social distancing and wearing a mask. And he, finally, wore a mask, himself. The Trump Administration did, eventually, invoke the dpa for key supplies, such as testing swabs. Progress has been made when it comes to treatments and the Trump Administration is optimistic about developing a vaccine. Dr. Francis collins, who spent decades at nih, alongside anthony fauci, jake has said hes never seen vaccine therapeutics come together so quickly in the way that they are. Reporter the facts sadly speak for themselves. The u. S. Has a much higher case count and death count than the rest of the western world. We wanted to ask President Trump about all of this and more, but he turned down repeated questions fquestiorequests for an interview. Recently, the president seems to be back to undermining efforts to save lives. Whether Holding Events with no social distancing or required mask wearing. Or frequently mocking joe biden for wearing a mask. I dont wear masks like him. Every time you see him, hes got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from you. And he shows up with the biggest mask i have ever seen. Reporter just days after that comment, President Trump, himself, was diagnosed with the virus. Coming up. The quality donald trump values, perhaps the most. Hmms and ahhs heard incall. d burke and ahhs i Nothing Happened. Appened. driver Nothing Happened . burke Nothing Happened. driver sure looks like something happened. burke well, youve been with farmers for three years with zero auto claims. driver yeah . burke so you earned your policy perk accident forgiveness. Now instead of this being something, it s driver its nothing burke get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. They should really turn this ride off. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum burke vo start with a quote at 1800farmers find a smarter way to learn with flexpath from capella university. You might even earn your masters degree in 12 months for under 11,500. Capella unversity. Dont just learn. Learn smarter. Dnoticks and fleas . 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Chocolate would be good. Snacking should be sweet and simple. The delicious taste of glucerna gives you the sweetness you crave while helping you manage your blood sugar. With nutrients to help support immune health. Still a father. But now a friend. Still an electric car. Just more electrifying. Still a night out. But everything fits in. Still hard work. Just a little easier. Still a legend. Just more legendary. Chevrolet. Making lifes journey, just better. People have, like, a 10 loyalty. Meaning, if they sneeze in the wrong direction, theyre gone. Loyalty. Good morning. Welcome to your new day. It is monday, december 19th. Texas electors sealing the deal for donald trump. To make Donald Trumps victory official, today. Reporter it was the day trumps win was officially certified by the electoral college. The president elect was reportedly celebrating with top aides at his private club in palm beach, florida. The conversation turned to whom he should hire. They focused on Campaign Advisers and supporters, who had been loyal to him during the 2016 campaign. At a time when most republicans were trying to distance themselves from him. That dinners certainly been consistent with everything we have seen from this president. He has been obsessed. Reporter obsessed with loyalty. He always has been. Here he is, in 1980. I laearned that there were some great, loyal people. And ive learned that there are some people that could have been more loyal and those people i have discarded, totally. Reporter and once donald trump became president , he didnt just look for it, he demanded it. Its a tradition that president s bring a little clique with them. Whether its the georgia mafia of jimmy carter. Loyalty is not new in the white house. Reporter but trumps brand of loyalty was new. The trump people said, essentially, if we can, ever, find that you publicly posted something about the president , you are very unlikely to get a position. I have never heard of that kind of vetting of people for negative comments about the president , in their past lives. Reporter his early hires were loyalists, throughout the campaign and in the early months of the presidency. He did hire a few, onetime opponents, who have been loyal, since. Thank you, mr. President. Reporter including secretary of housing and urban development, ben carson. Our president , donald j. Trump. He makes promises and he keeps them. And secretary of energy, former governor, rick perry. Mr. President , i know there are people that say you said you were the chosen one and you were. Reporter but it would not take long for President Trump to learn others loyalty was fleeting. I have a very, very good idea who the leakers are, who the senior leakers are in the white house. Former White House Communications director, anthony scaramucci, was hired six months into trumps presidency to weed out disloyal leakers. There were three or four people who were probably the biggest leakers so he wanted them gone. So, loyalty goes one way for him. Reporter this demand for loyalty could be a problem when it seemed to supersede ethics. Loyalty means you do what i need you to do, even if its unethical. You work for me. That may be a good strategy, if you run a small, private business. But its absolutely unacceptable for a constitutional officer, in a republic. He, immediately, tests you to see if you are going to be on his side. Or if youre going to be his enemy. Reporter it was an unfamiliar situation for someone such as andrew mccabe, thenacting director of the fbi. He had served four administrations at the fbi, for both republican and democratic president s. As career, government servants, dedicated first and foremost to the constitution and to the rule of law. Those folks are not going to simp simp simply exceed to the president s will. Does working for President Trump, ultimately, mean you have to agree with him, all the time, if you want to keep your job . Yeah, i think thats the case. Theyre going to do what they they is their job, and that is a very tough decision for people to make. And its one that will likely bring you great, personal pain and sacrifice. And so, if you are committed to doing that work, youre likely going to run headlong into a conflict with President Trump. I have now decided to recuse myself from any existing or future investigations of any matter relating, in any way, to the campaign for the president of the United States. Reporter for instance, jeff sessions, an incredible loyal guy. But made one decision, you know, complying with ethics suggestions from doj. And thats it. Hes dead to President Trump. He could run you over with a steamroller, at any time. I need you to do things and i need you to be willing to take the blame for me, when things go poorly. Reporter perhaps, contributing to unprecedented turnover. 89 of his senior staff, trumps ateam, have left. Thats more turnover than all of the past five president s had in their entire first terms. And one more number. Trump has had 40 of his top positions replaced, more than once. Former White House Press secretary, sean spicer. There were some people who werent qualified but they had been loyal to the president. Reporter and when people have left, several formers found themselves, vefr themselves, eventually, speaking out against President Trump. Its challenging for me to go to work for a man who is pretty undisciplined. Doesnt read briefing reports. The only person in the military that mr. Trump doesnt think is overrated is colonel sanders. Reporter the ultimate betrayal for trump, who resorted to name calling. Former National Security adviser, john bolton, a wacko. Former secretary of defense, jim mattis, the worlds most overrated general. Former secretary of state, rex tillerson, dumb as a rock. He would turn on them, in a really aggressive way. In a way that i have never seen or heard of president s doing before. I think, you know, turnover is natural, in any white house. Reporter former trump adviser, david urban. I think this Administration May be more high pressure, more issues that are that are pressing. Reporter a demand for loyalty that trump relied on for what he hoped to be his first, big policy win. Repealing and replacing obamacare. We have so many unbelievable alternatives. Much less expensive. I think donald trump believed that his iron grip on Republican Voters would get him all republican votes. Reporter two months after the trump inauguration, the republicans had a bill that would begin the dismantling of obamacare. And while the bill did make it through the house, the senate posed some issues. I think the bill would have to be fundamentally changed. Reporter the senate bill was known as skinny repeal, going into that vote in july, 2017. Trumps hopes for success rested with Arizona Republican senator, john mccain, whom trump had attacked, for years. Hes not a war hero. He is a war hero. He is a war hero cause he was captured. I like people that werent captured. Senator mccain was sick, and he was heading out to arizona. I made the suggestion, maybe, we should go out there and see him on one of these trips that we were making. And the president did not want to do that. Reporter in the early hours of july 28th, 2017, mccain arrived to vote. A singular motion, that left the Senate Chamber aghast and the white house reeling. It was incredibly personal. President trump holds onto grudges. And, like he wants loyalty, he probably will never let that moment go. Reporter for the rest of mccains life, and long after his death, trump would attack him. I was never a fan of john mccain and i never will be. Reporter something that trump would do to any republican, who turned against him. No, im not a fan of mitt romney. Well, jeb bush is a puppet to his donors. Reporter he has effectively chased many of his critics out of the republican party. The president has defied political wisdom, in bringing the party along with virtually everything that he has done for over four years, now, since he was a candidate. And he requires that loyalty. Reporter loyalty that would carry trump through many issues and crises in his first term. We want lower taxes, bigger paychecks. Reporter from tax reform to judicial appointments to impeachment. The only good headline ive ever had in the washington post. Reporter more on those, later. But, first, when we come back, trumps economy. With new rewards from chase freedom unlimited, i now earn even more cash back . Oh i got to tell everyone. Hey, rita you now earn 3 on dining, including takeout bon appetit. 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Reporter donald trump came to washington based on a promise. I am a great deal maker. Thats what i do. I made a lot of money. Im going to give it my best. We want lower taxes, bigger paychecks. Reporter and the president was determined to strike a deal on tax cuts, by the end of his first year in office. Theres never been tax cuts like what were talking about. Reporter democrats railed against republicans for rushing a complicated overhaul of the tax system through congress. It is about 500 pages. And they want us to vote on this thing, in about an hour. An hour. Reporter some republicans, such as senator jeff flake of arizona, worried that a radical tax cut might inflate the national debt. At first, you were a holdout. One of the two key holdouts. What were your concerns . I would have felt it was a better option to simply leave individual rates as they were but mine was not a popular opinion. At the 11th hour, senator flake reversed course, siding with President Trump. The tax cuts and jobs act, the first, major tax overhaul in more than three decades, passed the house, then the senate, in late december, 2017. The bill promised to slash individual and Corporate Tax rates, increase wages, and boost business spending. These massive tax cut will be rocket fuel for the american economy. Reporter some of that did happen. Most americans saw a small increase in their takehome pay. Some of them ended up with big tax bills, at the end of the year. And Many Americans felt that they just didnt get a tax cut. I can think of no better Christmas Present for the American People. Reporter experts say the tax bill was a much bigger present for companies. The Corporate Tax rate was slashed, from 35, to 21 . I mean, really, what we got, in 2017, was a big, Corporate Tax boondoggle. Rhana is an economic analyst. He sold this idea. He were going to see new factories. We are going to see hiring. Well, some did come back. But the majority of it went into share buybacks. When companies go into the market and they buy back their own shares. So its great for that top 10 . But it doesnt change the story on main street. I would respond with a lot of disagreement. Reporter white house economic adviser larry kudlow. The biggest beneficiaries of that 2017 bill, whose centerpiece was the business tax cuts, were actually middleincome, bluecollar workers, mainstreet folks, they had the largest gains in wages. Reporter economists say the bill probably did help lift wage growth for Many Americans. Overall momentum that began under president obama but the bulk of the tax bill benefit went to the rich. We are in the midst of the longest positive job growth streak in history. Reporter the dow jones hit more than 100 new highs between the 2016 election and the end of 2019. With the dow peaking at a recordbreaking high of 29,551 points, on february 12th, 2020. Right before the coronavirus outbreak froze the u. S. The president lives and dies by the market. And so, any time there is bad economic news, he does whatever he can to try and goose things. And hes done that by tax cuts. Hes done it by trying to encourage Interest Rates to be kept low. Pushing the fed around that. We have accomplished an economic turnaround of historic proportion. Reporter in september, 2018, President Trump, emboldened by americas Economic Growth and chinas economic slowdown, ramped up his trade war with beijing. Imposing tariffs on billions of dollars of chinese goods entering the u. S. There was a need, certainly, to right size the relationship with the United States. But what the president did was he disavowed the strategies that were put forth by trade experts. The tariffs are not being paid for by our people. Its being paid for by china. No. The tariffs are being paid by American Consumers on goods that are being essentially taxed as they enter the United States. Reporter by placing tariffs on hundreds of american products, such as soybeans, hurting american farmers. This great dealmaker undermines american farmers, by going after the chinese. And, in the end, has to get congress to send Financial Assistance to farmers. I think that the chinese were, at certain points, ready to come to the table and actually make some changes. But oftentimes, right when a true deal might about to have been cut, youd see the president really ramping up that inflammatory rhetoric. Its got all different names. Wuhan. Kung flu. Reporter the president escalated his tariff roulette with china. And the president vacillates, day to day, between wanting to make a deal with president xi and saying i like him, personall personally. Well, its a tricky business. We are very cross at them about denying the freedoms in hong kong and breaking that longstanding treaty. The president s cross with them with respect to their lack of human rights and uighur problem. We are holding them accountable. Reporter but former national skur security adviser john bolton says President Trumps recent sanctions involved in the mass incarceration of uighur muslims in xinjiang. During a meeting with xi last year, President Trump said, quote, xi should go ahead with building the camps which bolton writes trump thought was exactly the right thing to do. Were intermittently tough. But in many areas, we have been missing in action and sent inconsistent or weak signals. More significantly, we didnt join the transpacific partnership. If we wanted to put pressure on china, what better way than to join with all of our asia Pacific Trading partners . That would have been serious. Trump wouldnt to it. Says the foreign policies with china are working. There is a widespread belief that many reforms need to be made in china in terms of technology transfer. In terms of theft of intellectual property that this president concessions were able to get with president xi and the chinese by imposing tariffs. The longterm president of this president , similar to nixon, will be china. Reporter thats a harder case to make during a Global Health crisis. Were already in a recession. In fact, we are already in a depression, you know, technically. The numbers are that bad. When you layer the problems of the pandemic on an economy that already had all these structural weaknesses. That doesnt add up to any kind of a good picture. Reporter but during his acceptance speech at the Republican National convention, President Trump was painting a rosy picture. Over the past three months, we have gained over 9 million jobs and thats a record, in the history of our country. Reporter what the president failed to mention . Those gains followed a record, 22 million job loss, over the previous two months. Something else the president didnt cover . The enormous, economic toll, caused by his bungled pandemic response. We have seen the smallest Economic Contraction of any major, western nation. Reporter the economy has been President Trumps calling card, his entire first term. Goodness. Look at those numbers. They are down 7 . The covid crash on wall street is officially over. Reporter and even as coronavirus continues to grip the nation, the stock market has recovered. The s p 500 closed at a record high, tuesday, for the First Time Since the pandemic began. I do think, once we get rid of the virus, i think were going to have a boom economy. Reporter in september, a bombshell, New York Times report on the president s own finances surfaced. The dealmakerinchief is actually crushed by massive debt. And the selfproclaimed billionaire president who reformed the tax code, actually, paid 750 in federal income tax in 2016 and 2017, according to the times. Is it true that you paid 750 in federal income taxes, each of those two years . I paid millions of dollars, in taxes. Millions of dollars of income tax. I paid 27 million, one year. Show us your tax returns. Reporter something President Trump, still, refuses to do. Up next. The reshaping of the federal judiciary. E these, we look for control where we can find it. With flexpath from capella university, move at your own pace. You can even finish the bachelors degree you started in 12 months for 10,000. Capella university. Dont just learn. Learn smarter. Dont just learn. Wow, i wish i could get a deal on a smartphone, but im not a new customer. Well, actually now, new and existing customers can get our best smartphone deal. Its historic. That is historic. Which means. Im making history, right . Yea, i dont know if id exactly sa wow. Me, dave brown. Existing customer who got the greatest deal in history. Just like every other customer gets. Oh thats cool too. Its not complicated. At t is making history. 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When this pandemic first started, i bought my own ppe because uber and lyft didnt provide it. These companies have been exploiting drivers like me for years. Now prop 22 denies us basic rights like Unemployment Benefits and sick time. Uber and lyft are billiondollar companies, and they still wont let drivers get access to Unemployment Benefits. Thats just wrong. Tell uber and lyft to stop exploiting their drivers. Vote no on prop 22. Ive always heard, actually, that when you become president , the most singlemost important thing you can do is federal judges. Ruth Bader Ginsburg who was far more than really a Supreme Court justice has died. Youre telling me now, for the first time. She led an amazing life, and she was an amazing woman. Reporter that was President Trumps public reaction to justice ruth Bader Ginsburgs death. But privately, an independencsi trump had been salivating to replace ginsburg and now he had an opening. An opening to rally his base and remind some republicans, who were turning away from him because of various failures, including covid, that the future of the courts might be more important. Article 2 of the constitution says the President Shall nominate justices of the Supreme Court. Reporter all, reminiscent of 2016 and another justices passing. I have some very sad news. United states Supreme Court justice, antonin scalia, has died. Antonin scalia served on the court, since 1986. And it looks like president barack obama is going to appoint a new member of the court, which would tip the liberal balance, for the first time in years, to the liberal side. Reporter cnn legal analyst joan. But what happens that actual night sets in motion a series of dominos that produced the court we have today. Reporter though, leading in the polls, trump was still considered a long shot. But he knew the world would be watching later that night. Donald trump of new york. Reporter as the gop president ial debate took center stage. A moment of silence for justice antonin scalia. Reporter he capitalized on the moment, suggesting a couple of respectable conservative judges to fill scalias vacancy, sealing the deal with many conservatives. We could have a diane sykes or you could have a bill pryor. So just to be clear, you are okay with the president nominating somebody. I think hes going to do it whether im okay with it, or not. I think its up to Mitch Mcconnell and everybody else to stop it. Its called delay, delay, delay. This nomination should not be filled by this lameduck president. Reporter president obamas nominee, u. S. Court of appeals chief judge merrick garland, never even got a single hearing. Outside adviser to the president , leonard leo, the l. A. Times says you are the man to see if you aspire to the Supreme Court. Reporter leonard leo, cochair of the conservative federalist society, joined trumps team. He wanted to put out a list of individuals for the u. S. Supreme court. One of the most important things well be doing, whoever the next president is, is naming judges. He wanted, first, someone who was, in his words, not weak. What that did was it basically said to the American People, this is what i, donald trump, stand for, in terms evof judici selection. Reporter many felt that judicial Selection Campaign helped pave the path to the white house. Legal adviser don mcgahn, leo, and mechanic koncconnell wasted time. Today, i nominated judge neil gorsuch. The momentum did not stop there. When moderate republican and longtime jurist, Anthony Kennedy retired, trump nominated u. S. Appellate court judge brett kavanaugh. To try to swing the court even further to the right but he was not expecting this. Federal investigators will now be looking into a matter connected with federal judge Brett Kavanaughs u. S. Supreme court nomination. Started off, rather predictably. But then, woman by the name of christi Christine Blasey ford came forward. I believed he was going to rape me. I tried to yell for help. Reporter former arizona senator, jeff flake. Brett kavanaugh. He acted as if, i think i would have acted, had i felt that i had been unjustly accused. Im here, today, to tell the truth. Ive never sexually assaulted anyone. Reporter down the street, at the white house, trump fired off a shot of his own. This is a big con job. And schumer and his buddies are all in there laughing. How they fooled you all. Reporter following a weeklong investigation that critics of kavanaugh thought was too brief. Charade. Sham. Bullies. Reporter kavanaugh was confirmed to the u. S. Supreme court by a twovote margin. The nomination of brett m. Kavanaugh is confirmed. Reporter another victory for trump. Another justice on the bench. While the Supreme Court confirmations grabbed the headlines, Something Else was happening that largely went unnoticed by the public. District courts and the circuit courts. You know, its one of those quiet things that folks across america dont, perhaps, grasp. The gravity of these courts all interpret the laws of our country, every day, in so many different ways. Reporter they identified 40something, you know, conservative judges. And they jammed them through the senate, with incredible speed. Reporter speed and strategy. Because mcconnell blocked so many obama nominees, trump inherited 103 vacancies. Astoundingly, the president has appointed almost onethird of all current, Appellate Court judges. Much of the law in america is set by the federal courts of appeals. That is probably one of the very few things that helps republicans justify why they support him. Is that he got the judges they wanted confirmed and put in place. Reporter that means controversial issues, such as abortion, gun control, health care, immigration, and racial and samesex discrimination. Cases that could very likely be ruled on by trump appointees. Largely, young, white, male, conservative judges, serving Lifetime Appointments but perhaps none of those will have the Global Impact such as the rulings we will see dealing with the environment. Miners, get ready, because you are going to be working your asses off. All right . Reporter a longheld republican belief. The message was clear. Trump was going to roll back environmental regulations, that he said, hurt businesses. I am taking historic steps to lift the restrictions on american energy. And to cancel jobkilling regulations. It was considered a slap in the face. Former epa director, betsy sutherland, remembers trump signing an executive order to dismantle the clean power plan. Signed at the epa. It was absolutely a display of sheer contempt for all the scientists, engineers, and economists that have worked on that rule for years and years. Reporter and this would be just the beginning. The United States will withdraw. I was surprised that we stepped away from the Paris Climate Accord because the president giving former epa director and republican governor Christie Todd whitman. It was in sync with his total denial of climate change. I mean, its a hoax in his mind. Warning shots to environmental agencies everywhere. Deregulation had arrived. I think you can have clean air, clean air, safe skies, but do so in a manner that doesnt strangle business. The rollbacks have not produced the gloom and doom that so many predict. Every single man, woman, and child in this country has threatened drinking water, threatened fisheries, threatened air quality, and more contaminated land because of this administration. Donald Trumps Administration really doesnt want regulators in your life, in my life, in anybodys life. So their philosophy is to diminish regulations. A philosophy and legacy that could very well be defined by the legacy of the judges he has appointed and still hopes to appoint. Today it is my honor to nominate one of our nations most brilliant and gifted legal minds to the Supreme Court, amy coney barrett. I dont think theres any question his greatest success is going to be what hes done on the judiciary. That has a Lasting Legacy that probably can extend well beyond a generation. Theyre likely to affect the law in america for our children and our grandchildren long after donald trump is gone from this earth. Coming up, trumps divisive stand on immigration. When mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. Hmms and ahhs heard incall. Its our sharpest ever, and while some other companies would charge more for something new, we dont. Because why be like everyone else . Harrys. Not the same. Im a talking dog. The other issue. Oh. Im scratching like crazy. 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Or if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis. If you have hepatitis b, do not stop taking biktarvy without talking to your doctor. Common side effects were diarrhea, nausea, and headache. If youre living with hiv. Keep loving who you are. And ask your doctor if biktarvy is right for you. We are going to build a great border wall to stop illegal immigration. Long before the rally chants during the 2016 campaign build that wall. Build that wall. Build that wall. Donald trump believed immigration was the issue that would help land a republican back in the white house. Theyve lost on immigration. Theyre going to have to do something on immigration because you know our country is a different place than it was 50 years ago. So well see what happens. And what happened three years later . Donald trump entered the president ial election in 2015 with a harsh if not blatantly racist stand on illegal immigration. When mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. And some i assume are good people. It was an unscripted moment says julie hershfield davis, coauthor of the book border wars. It was so offensive that businesses started dumping trump. Youre fired. Nbc dropped him from apprentice. Macys discontinued selling his menswear collections. It was a real shock to a lot of other americans and frankly a lot of republicans. Reporter but solidifying a base especially energized by these calls to build a wall to keep undocumented immigrants out. Candidate trump also proposed one of the most shockingly bigoted policies modern politics has heard from a major party candidate. Stark discrimination based upon religious observance. Unconstitutional and hatefilled. Donald j. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the United States. And trump was clear once he got into the white house he would not back down. Weve defended other nations borders while refusing to defend our own. He signed this executive order which was a travel ban on these roughly half a dozen muslimmajority countries. And the idea was basically to catch people by surprise, to basically create confusion, to create mayhem. Chaos has of course rippled from washington, d. C. To airports in foreign capitals around the world. Today White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was complaining that members of the media are unfairly using the term ban to describe the president s action. Not everyone was on board in different aspects of the rollout. And that makes it challenging to then communicate while youre doing it. After many months of revising they did put in effect stricter vetting procedures for a large number of countries. So i think they saw it as sort of a qualified success. What was seen as an unqualified failure, the Trump Administrations family separation policy. If you cross the border unlawfully, even a first offense, were going to prosecute you. If youre smuggling a child, then were going to prosecute you. And that child will be separated from you probably as required i by law. Reporter a zero tolerance policy enforcing a law that had long been on the books but had never been enforced in a widespread manner. Children were being held behind chainlink fencing apart from their parents on the border with mexico. The policy led to thousands of children being separated from their families. Nonstop Horror Stories of children crying for their parents, alone and scared. Immigrants are welcome here when trump first started to hear the stories, he didnt want to be seen as the monster who would take children away from their parents. Almost two months after it began trump ended his own policy, one that his own white house pushed, with an executive order. Ivanka feels very strongly. My wife feels very strongly about it. I feel very strongly about it. A lot of Trump Supporters think that was one of the lower moments of his presidency. Well, look, i think as a nation we can do far better. We owe people as human beings a better shake than they got. In the wake of this crisis trump was looking for a way to turn the page and rally his base as he headed into the midterm elections. They marched for miles. Thousands of migrants in a massive caravan. It was the summer of 2018, and the president s hardline policies alone had failed to prevent undocumented immigrants from coming to the southern border. Were getting prepared for the caravan, folks. You dont have to worry about that. And theyve got a lot of rough people in those caravans. President trump threatened to yank aid from Central American countries and he lashed out at Administration Officials for not stemming the tide. How frustrated was he . He saw this as potentially fatal politically for him. They want to throw rocks at our military, our military fights back. The president went out and barnburned for republicans on caravans and immigration and the results would show that that maybe backfired. I mean, republicans lost the house overwhelmingly. The hype and lies about the caravan also fed into a deranged antiimmigrant and antisemitic Conspiracy Theory about jews bringing immigrants into the u. S. A man who posted about that has been charged with the massacre at the tree of life synagogue. 11 lives were lost. It loss brought violence to a walmart in el paso were 20 people were killed and more than two dozen injured by a man whose racist hatred was aimed at immigrants and latinos. President trumps stance on another immigration issue, ending daca, would threaten the livelihoods of young undocumented immigrants called the dreamers. I will immediately terminate president obamas illegal executive order on immigration. But after the inauguration he seemed to soften. He was getting a lot of private counsel that ending daca would be a total disaster. Daca is a very, very difficult subject for me. I will tell you. As early as january 9th, 2018 President Trump had an opening during a bipartisan white house meeting on immigration. Were here today to advance bipartisan immigration reform. Democratic senator dick durbin was seated right next to the president. He was saying things that did not fit into the republican platform when it came to immigration. Republicans were not going to vote for a bill that simply gave legal status to the dreamers without something in exchange for it. Ill take the heat, he says. Ill sign it. Send me a bipartisan bill. And thats exactly what senator durbin and senator Lindsey Graham did. But when they presented it to trump two days later at the white house, everything changed. They get to the point where it comes to talking about haiti and parts of africa and trump stops the conversation and says, well, why do we want all these people here from shithole countries . That was the end of the meaningful conversation when it came to solving this immigration problem. Ultimately when it came to the president and immigration the hardline views would win out. And while the dreamers future is uncertain, so is the zero tolerance policy that many thought was done. According to lifelong republican turned biden supporter miles taylor, the former chief of staff at the department of Homeland Security under trump, the president has wanted to reinstate the zero tolerance policy. He said he wanted to go further and have a deliberate policy of ripping children away from their parents to show those parents they shouldnt come to the border in the first place. Something the acting secretary of Homeland Security chad wolf denies. I think most reasonable americans understand what that is. Its politics and nothing more. There is no debate that as he approaches the 2020 election President Trump still prioritizes hardline policies on both illegal and legal immigration. Hes still selling the wall that he once said the mexicans would pay for. Were up to 122 miles. Only five miles of new wall has been built where no wall existed before. The rest is mostly replacement wall. And no, mexico is not paying for it. It has been paid for in part by congress and in part by reallocating military funds. Ken cuccinelli is acting director of u. S. Citizenship and immigration services. Looking back on it, how has President Trump delivered on this important pledge of his to his voters . He has delivered on that promise. Whether its building hundreds of miles of the wall system that has proven effective where its been built. That continues at an everaccelerating pace. Or whether it is applying our laws across the border to a degree of consistency and with a strength that just really hasnt happened in the past. If any president could achieve a real comprehensive Immigration Solution combining Border Security and a way to deal with the millions of undocumented immigrants in the u. S. , it would be President Trump. But he has chosen to focus on the divisions and not a solution. He found a way to divide america, to appeal to fear and hate and to create images of people coming to this country which were totally untrue and unfair. Trump the divider goes international, when we come back. Beautiful. But support the leg when i started cobra kai, the lack of control over my business made me a little intense. But now i practice a different philosophy. Quickbooks helps me get paid, manage cash flow, and run payroll. And now im back on top. With koala kai. Hey more mercy. Save over 30 hours a month with intuit quickbooks. The easy way to a happier business. d burke i Nothing Happened. 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Dissolves quickly. Instantly ready to start working. Oh, what a relief it is so fast hey kim with 5 cash back on travel purchased through chase from freedom unlimited, you can now earn even more. Book that hotel kim, because you are worth it. I am worth it. Now earn 5 on travel purchased through chase and so much more. Chase. Make more of whats yours. From this day forward a new vision will govern our land. From this day forward its going to be only america first. November 10th, 2016, days after the election, president elect donald trump traveled 230 miles south to the white house. Momentarily, the president elect, donald trump, will be arriving here at the white house. Its assumed that the president and his team will help give their successors a good start. Try to facilitate a transition that ensures our president elect is successful. From the getgo president elect trump was warned by the outgoing president that north korea was going to be a major headache for him. And he was agitated about how to handle it. So you would see him lashing out because of that anxiety. Breaking news this hour, just hours ago north korea launched another missile. North Koreas Nuclear ambitions are becoming more dangerous by the day. The president is at his new jersey club. Typically when wed go with the president to his golf club on the weekends we dont see him. They dont hold an event. Unless Something Big has happened. So they invite reporters in to see the president. He is asked about north korea. North korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. These are not preplanned remarks. And you can kind of see the looks on the faces of the people next to him. Not just Melania Trump but also Kellyanne Conway and the other officials. Theyre kind of like and im not sure even his own staff knew what to say. I thought initially it was pursuant to a strategy and that unlike the obama administration, which after eight years of strategic patience had left north korea much closer to achieving its objective of deliverable nuclear weapons, what i found when i arrived at the white house was it wasnt part of any strategy at all. It was just the way he felt on the days he made those remarks. Trump soon upped the ante in his first speech at the united nations. If it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy north korea. Rocket man is on a Suicide Mission for himself and for his regime. There is something to what was referred to during the nixon era as the madman theory. Lets talk about north korea. You can gain strategic advantage by being seen as kind of a madman and for them not to know what youre going to do next. The knocks at foggy bottom who are there for eons i think prefer to go very, very slowly and steadily. The idea that President Trump has been unpredictable, a lot of longtime diplomats obviously are not a fan of it. They take him much more seriously because he does things that others talked about but never do. Theres no comparing how trump operates to any other president. It is completely disruptive and different to anything youve seen before. Such as in israel. First moving the embassy to jerusalem and thus recognizing it as the capital of israel. Administration after administration after administration had pledged to do that. You had a president that was able to do that because he was not constrained and bound by the more traditional norms of oh, if you do that our adversaries are going to be upset. The president said were going to do it because its the right thing to do. And thats not all he was able to accomplish with israel. We finalized a historic Peace Agreement between israel and the united arab emirates. Nobody thought this was something that could happen for a long time. How important do you think this is . The israeliuae agreement is the First Agreement of its kind in 26 years. Due to the president s leadership and his patience and vigilance in changing the dynamic, instead of talking about ageold conflicts what hes trying to do is to do things other president s havent done. So the theory goes might disrupting the status quo work with the unstable north korean dictator. What he wanted to do repeatedly was get in a room with kim jong un and negotiate with him. I thought it was a bad idea. The meetings was a gift to kim jong un. It provided him visibility, legitimacy. Trump and kim not only met three times but also exchanged letters. He wrote me beautiful letters. And theyre great letters. We fell in love. They got straight into Donald Trumps brain, and hes convinced kim jong un is his friend. There were people in the National Security apparatus, commentators and former officia officials, who thought Everything Else has been tried, lets give this a shot. There he is on north korean soil. We gave north korea 2 1 2 more years to achieve progress in its nuclear and Ballistic Missile program. I would invite him right now. The president yanked the rug out in part under our south korean ally. By among other things unilaterally agreeing to the suspension of large u. S. South Korean Military exercises. By some estimates north korea may have doubled its arsenal during the trump presidency. All in all north korea looks at these four years and they go not bad at all. Particularly with the damaged relationship with u. S. Allies. It upset our allies in the region. I dont think its much of an exaggeration to say that the president gets it upside down or backwards in how he treats allies and how he treats adversaries. Justin trudeau. Nice guy. But theyve taken advantage of us for so many years. The european union. Sounds so nice, right . They are brutal whether its bullying or badgering allies or pulling out of Strategic Partnerships and longstanding trade agreements. We just officially terminated tpp. I withdrew the United States from the horrible onesided disgusting iran nuclear deal. We will be today terminating our relationship with the world health organization. Even hinting that one day he might pull the u. S. Out of nato. If allies do not pay their fair share. What this misses more than anything else, jake, is the great strategic and structural advantage of American Foreign policy. Because we get up every day and what we have are dozens and dozens of allies and partners in europe, asia, and around the world. Allies President Trump has neglected and in some cases abandoned. We are going to be leaving and were going to be bringing our soldiers back home. Such as u. S. Troops in northern syria. Were policing. Were not fighting. Were policing. Were not a police force. In the face of widespread criticism that he abandoned a reliable u. S. Ally, the kurds america first. The president looks out for whats in the best interests of our country. It doesnt mean america alone. It means the president is thinking whats in the best interests of our country. The president took office in early 2017 and the situation he inherited was daunting. American Foreign Policy had made mistakes. All of that is true. But before you tear things up, before you disrupt them youve got to be sure that you have something better. And in some cases trump did get something better. Such as replacing nafta with a new trade deal between the u. S. , canada and mexico. The usmca is the largest, fairest, most balanced and modern trade agreement ever achieved. Even Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreed. Theres no question of course that this trade agreement is much better than nafta. And when it comes to nato . Were also getting our allies finally to help pay their fair share. Why did all these president s, you will ask, promise to make the nato countries pay more for the common defense and hes the one, President Trump is the one that has 130 billion more from those countries to provide for the common defense . It might have not been pretty, it might not have made any friends but it benefited our country and our workers. So i think theres a balance. But its a balance that some worry might swing in the wrong direction. President trump if reelected will be one of the most consequential president s in american history. And he will have done more than most of his predecessors to have changed the world and as a result to have changed the United States. And my fear is that it will be largely for the worse. Time will tell trumps legacy and the u. S. s new standing in the world. One issue which continues to leave that in question, russia. Trump and putin, when we come back. Humira patients,. 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The same humira you trust with less pain immediately following injection. If you cant afford your medicine, abbvie may be able to help. Is now even more powerful. The stronger, lastslonger energizer max. After three years of lies and smears and slander the russia hoax is finally dead. But the russia story has never really died. The collusion delusion is over. We know now that was not what the Mueller Report had concluded. The special counsel was not able to find any prosecutable evidence proving conspiracy, but the white house has continued to misrepresent the finding to the public. It was an illegal witch hunt. I call it the russian hoax. It was not a hoax. Before election day 2016 this just in to cnn. Russian hackers managed to russia infiltrated the Democratic National committees Computer Systems and the email account of Hillary Clinton Campaign Chairman john podesta. Back then on the campaign trail trump cheered on the hackers. Russia, if youre listening, i hope youre able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. His former Campaign Adviser and longtime friend roger stone hinted that he had advance knowledge of the email releases, raising questions for the first time of possible cooperation between Trump Associates and russia. Theres no telling what the october surprise may be. Indeed, on october 7th, 2016, the same day another story broke. Hello. How are you . The infamous access Hollywood Tape of trump in 2005 caught on a hot mike making crude, vile comments about women, had surfaced. Minutes after that news steady drip of stolen emails being released. Reports of another bombshell. Wikileaks published the emails stolen by russian agents. It was the first time wed ever seen anything quite like that. There was plenty of evidence linking trump allies and moscow. The release of an email chain from last june between donald trump jr. And this man. During the 2016 Campaign Donald trump jr. , Jared Kushner and others on the trump team met with a russian lawyer at trump tower. The russian lawyer was offering dirt on Hillary Clinton and don jr. Very famously responded, if its what you say it is i love it. It was not i dont want to know this. In addition, the republicanchaired Senate Intelligence Committee Says the trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort was a grave counterintelligence threat to the United States and had shared inside information with a russian agent. During the transition the president began discussing his first meeting with Vladimir Putin. And some of his officials around him were concerned, you dont just go meet with the russians early in the presidency. We wanted to ask President Trump about his relationship with president putin, but he turned down repeated requests for an interview. And then what happened with general flynn was troubling as well. Just three weeks after entering office talk of russia intensified when the president fired National Security adviser Michael Flynn. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about the nature of his contacts with russia. But later claimed he had been pressured into a plea deal by prosecutors. In may 2017 fbi director james comey, who was leading the investigation into moscow meddling oh, and theres james. Was fired President Trump. Hes become nmore famous tha me. Comey had not seen it coming. Welcome to donald trump. He changes his mind. The president had blindsided his own press secretary at the time. Sean spicer. Lets just relax, enjoy the night. We rushed it out. We had no one to back it up. We didnt have a strategy to do it in a way that was effective, and it showed. All of a sudden bang, now were wide awake. That made inevitable some kind of an independent inquiry. An inquiry to consider whether President Trumps behavior constituted a possible threat to National Security and whether the president might be secretly working on behalf of moscow and president putin. That sparked the appointment of special counsel robert mueller. He said ive heard you were part of the resistance. Andrew mccabe replaced james comey. Mccabe says he met with the president the very day comey was fired. I said to him im not sure what youre referring to, sir. I heard you were one of the people who didnt agree with jim comey. And i said, no, sir, thats not true. He was looking for me to adopt his false narrative. The president s false narrative that comey was fired for mishandling the Hillary Clinton email probe. We had to consider was he truly fired because the president didnt want us to continue investigating this idea of russian collusion . Investigators felt confident of that after President Trump said this on primetime tv. And in fact, when i decided to just do it i said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a madeup story, its an excuse by the democrats for having lost an election. Its ridiculous. Its ridiculous with the probe. A ridiculous probe the president attempted to discredit in an extraordinary moment. Mr. President , ill give this ball to you and the other ball is in your court. It was july 16th, 2018. Being in helsinki for President Trumps press conference with Vladimir Putin is one thing i will never forget for the rest of my life. When he says that he talked to Vladimir Putin, that he believed him. He just said its not russia. I dont see any reason why it would be. Vladimir putin, this former kgb agent, for the president to take his word like that was so stunning. Why does he seem to like putin despite the fact that putin is perhaps the primary enemy of the United States . I think the president repeatedly confuses having good personal relationships with foreign leaders with having good overall bilateral relationships between the two countries. Trumps public allegiance to president putin, according to former National Security adviser john bolton, has led the president to resist intelligence warnings about russia. What was it like briefing him . It was clear he wasnt reading much of the material he was being sent. So i try to be opportunistic in finding circumstances where i could convey information i felt that he needed. But i dont think that proved very successful. Ive been in briefings many times when the president is being briefed on everything from domestic issues to National Security issues to Foreign Policy issues. Hes a listener. People miss how patient he is. I think that comes from being a dealmaker. Bolton left the white house last september. But the topic of trumps aversion to negative news about russia caused an uproar this year after reports surfaced that the president had ignored intelligence that russia may have paid bounties to taliban terrorists to kill american and British Service members in afghanistan. It never reached my desk. President trump has denied that over and over. And when pressed about it again in july he said he did not raise the topic during a recent call with president putin. Did you bring up this issue . No, that was a phone call to discuss other things and frankly thats an issue that many people said was fake news. Although there continues to be disagreement within the Intelligence Community on this matter, some experts say it is likely very real. Whats not plausible is that the president was not briefed on this or that his senior lieutenants, the National Security adviser and others, they were clearly briefed on this and they wouldnt have talked about this with the president. So i think what this does is once again highlight a pattern of unwillingness to confront russia. Trump supporters say critics are ignoring the president s military effort to deter russian aggression. 750 marines that are now on permanent rotation in norway for the First Time Since world war ii. The expanded military operations in the arctic challenging russians there. The projection of force into poland. The fact that in certain Areas Administration policy is more robust i applaud. But lets not overlook the bottom line, that many areas this administration has especially given mr. Putin way too much of a free hand. Here you have a russia that is violating american sovereignty, not with bombs, not with missiles but through the digital space. In january 2019 roger stone was indicted for his dealings with the hacked emails. Charged with lying to congress and witness tampering. Traitor stone was months later convicted by a federal jury on seven counts. After a nearly twoyear investigation the Mueller Report was released in april 2019. Netting dozens more criminal charges and indictments. One of the biggest takeaways was just how many of the president s allies got swept up in these probes. Including former Trump Campaign chair Paul Manafort, who was convicted on eight counts of financial fraud. Congratulations. And Campaign Adviser george papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi. And the mueller team found evidence of at least ten potential instances of President Trump himself obstructing justice. Yet the special counsel could not find prosecutable evidence of conspiracy with russia. Theres no obstruction. Theres no collusion. Theres no nothing. Ace false trump mantra. Coming up, another white house crisis. Im the first person to ever get impeached and theres no crime. And the ripple effects of russia. What if i sleep hot . Or cold . Introducing the new sleep number 360 smart bed. 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Richard nixon tried to make his defense, i didnt participate in a coverup. Thats what got him. There is the president waving goodbye. Theres no question about the illegal activity. Donald trump tried to make this an issue of collusion. The president and attorney general bill barr hammered that in an attempt to unravel the Mueller Report. Even though that is not what the special counsel concluded. But then came ukraine and a now infamous phone call President Trump made on july 25th, 2019. My phone call was perfecto. It was totally appropriate. That call ultimately led to his impeachment. Tonight, a white house whistleblower a whistleblowers report alleged that in a phone call with ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky President Trump pressured the foreign leader to announce an investigation into his likely democratic opponent, joe biden. It really seems to lay out a quid pro quo. The whistleblower got it all wrong also in that report President Trump pressuring zelensky to look into a bogus Conspiracy Theory that ukraine, not russia, interfered in the 2016 election. Its an honor to be with you. The president s request was seen as so plainly an abuse of president ial power by democrats that a month later the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, launched an impeachment inquiry. The house will be in order. In december 2019 house leaders began impeachment hearings focused on ukraine, unveiling two charges against President Trump abuse of power and the obstruction of congress. Speaker pelosi knew that there was no way that donald trump was going to be convicted. No president has ever been convicted because the bar in the senate is so high. A string of witnesses testified, many of them Foreign Service officials and diplomats, who corroborated the whistleblower complaint. Was there a quid pro quo . They included Gordon Sondland, the u. S. Ambassador to the european union. The answer is yes. Do you swear or affirm fiona hill was a Top White House russia expert with the National Security council but she had stepped down. She really laid out how the president was being driven by conspiracy theories. These fictions are harmful even if theyre deployed for purely domestic political purposes. Democrats had many solid witnesses. But they failed to land the testimony on the pivotal quid pro quo question from fiona hills boss, former National Security adviser john bolton. And that was a big thing because the question was are there enough firsthand witnesses to the president s behavior. The yeas are 230. A week before christmas the house impeached President Trump on both articles. Article 1 is adopted. It was a historic step. Donald trump became the third u. S. President to suffer the same fate after Andrew Johnson and bill clinton. The senates fair process will draw a sharp contrast with the unfair inquiry that was carried on. The Senate Majority went into this ready to end it almost as soon as it began. Hear yeh, hear ye, hear ye. The Senate Impeachment trial back on january 16th, 2020, lasting two weeks. Donald trumps legal team was very effective. You were being asked to remove a duly elected president of the United States and youre being asked to do it in an election year. In an election year. The yeas are 49. The nays are 51. All but two Senate Republicans blocked a dramatic vote at the beginning of the trial to call witnesses. It helped pave the way for an acquittal. Former National Security adviser john bolton, who had been criticized by democrats for not testifying willingly in the house impeachment hearings, spoke out months later. In a scathing tellall that confirmed the basics of the democrats impeachment case. Most of us understood for quite some time that there was a quid pro quo at work when Gordon Sondland testified. Everyone was in the loop. I think thats right. Some of us were in the loop trying to stop it, however. And mark esper, the defense secretary, mike pompeo, secretary of state and i were all trying to get trump to release the Security Assistance to ukraine. We probably tried eight or ten different meetings with the president to do that. And at one such conversation i had with him and that was the point where he made the clearest statement that i heard that describes a quid pro quo. And youve said if you were a republican senator you would have voted to convict . On that basis, yes. Mr. Scott of florida. Not guilty. On february 5th senators voted 4852 on the abuse of power and 4753 on obstruction of congress. Far below the necessary threshold for removing the president. My faith is at the heart of who i am. Senator mitt romney was the only republican to break ranks and vote to convict on abuse of power. Still, the president was acqu acquitt acquitted. Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States. The day after the president s acquittal this is what the end result is. [ applause ] he acted like someone who was further emboldened. And everything we have seen of him since. You can take that home, honey. Maybe well frame it. The president began escalating his attacks against investigators. It was dirty cops. It was leakers and liars. And this should never, ever happen to another president , ever. No, it was not. It was his own behavior that got him in trouble. He ramped up dismissals, firing Lieutenant Colonel alexander vindman, a National Security staffer, and Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the eu, both of whom testified against the president in the house impeachment hearing. Then President Trump began challenging the rule of law to help his convicted friends. Im actually i guess the chief Law Enforcement officer of the country. Five days after his acquittal the president publicly criticized in a barrage of tweets the federal judge who presided over the sentencing of his former adviser, roger stone. This is unheard of, to have a sitting president talking about such matters in such a disparaging light. Stone had been convicted of seven felony crimes during the russia probe. His sentencing played out amid a massive blowup at the Justice Department. Attorney general william barr accused of doing trumps bidding when he overruled his own Justice Department prosecutors, pushing a lighter sentence for roger stone. And thats what you did. No. Roger stone was treated horribly. Then President Trump using the power of his office commuted roger stones sentence altogether. The attorney general just weeks before said he believed the prosecution was righteous and the sentencing was fair. Stone had been just days away from beginning a 40month prison term. Thank you, mr. President. Thank you for saving my life. And it wasnt the first time President Trump had intervened in the Justice System to help a convicted ally. Early in his term President Trump fired National Security adviser Michael Flynn for lying about his contacts with russia. He had not only lied to the fbi agents but he also lied to the Vice President , mike pence. And then of course he pleads guilty to precisely that. Yet months after the president was acquitted by the senate he reversed course, accusing the fbi of framing flynn. They treated him very unfairly, as they have many people on this side. The fact that flynn could be welcomed back into the president s good graces is so striking given that mike flynn lied to mike pences face. Even more striking, the Justice Department under the direction of attorney general barr filed a motion to drop the criminal charges against flynn. You had this sort of outside pressure campaign. Flynns appeals case is now in the hands of the washington, d. C. Circuit court of appeals. John bolton says President Trump made a habit of shoving the law aside for political gain. In your book you talk about it as obstruction of justice as a way of life. Right. And thats why i discussed what i knew. Such as, bolton alleges, another shocking instance of a quid pro quo, this time with china. You say that he also asked president xi for help in getting reelected. Right. To purchase Agricultural Products from the farm states whose electoral votes that we needed. And that happened on a couple of occasions. All of which troubled me greatly. Trump denied it all, firing off a tweet, bolton is just trying to get even for me firing him like the sick puppy he is. Bolton insists he left on his own accord after trying to work for a president he ultimately deemed unfit for office. Every president takes politics into account in their decisionmaking. The differences with trump is it crosses a line that i thought was never going to happen in american history. Coming up lets go. 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I am the least racist person you have ever interviewed. Good evening. Im alice marie johnson. I was, once, told that the only way i would ever be reunited with my family would be as a corpse. Reporter it was an emotional and memorable moment at the Republican National convention. Johnson was pardoned by President Trump, after serving 21 years of a life sentence for a firsttime, nonviolent, drugtrafficking charge. Six months after President Trump granted me a second chance, he signed the First Step Act into law. It was real justice reform. Reporter that moment was an opportunity to showcase an important accomplishment. But also, an effort to get people to forget the many things that President Trump has said and done that have stoked divisions, including racial divisions, in the u. S. Such as, the first monday in june, 2020. In some ways, that afternoon shaped up to be one of the more Iconic Images of the presidency. Reporter President Trump had spent the weekend watching nonstop News Coverage of the protests following the killing of george floyd by a Minneapolis Police officer. The protests really got underway, here, in d. C. Two nights ago. The president was taken down to an underground bunker in the white house. The president was so irritated by that reporting because he feared it made him look weak. The streets of of washington were becoming, in his mind, increasingly embarrassing for him. Reporter so, monday morning, President Trump crashed Vice President pences weekly coronavirus call with the governors. You have to dominate. If you dont dominate, you are wasting your time. Theyre going to run all over you. Youre going to look like a buch bunch of jerks. He used this as some kind of call to action. Reporter and if they were not going to dominate, trump would. His advisers hatch an idea. There was a fire that started in st. Johns church. They decide they will have the president go to this church. He came out to the rose garden and gave this fiery speech. In recent days, our nation has been gripped by arsonists, looters, criminals, rioters, antifa, and others. Reporter in the background, mostly peaceful protestors. They were being forcibly, sometimes violently, removed from nearby lafayette park. ps from out in front, so you could not hear them in the rose garden. And you see him leave the white house, surrounded by his aides and military leaders. President trump, now, walk across the street. Gets in front of a church and he holds up his bible. Doesnt pray. Doesnt tour the church. It was such a mesmerizing, political moment. Saying, like, i am on gods side and god is on my side. I am in the right here. I am outraged. Reporter few agreed. This was a charade. This is james mattis, just a little while ago. Donald trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American People. I should not have been there. Thank you very much, everybody. Going to keep it nice and safe. Was it worth the blowback, do you think, ultimately . I want to go back to what the original intent was. He wanted to go there and take the stand. Reporter a stand that would become more and more disconnected from the pain and f fuehrer that had grown since floyds murder. June 5th in the rose garden, announcing the economic comeback, and also the need for equal treatment by Law Enforcement by every american. And then, just hours later, retweeting a post quoting a conservative commentator saying that the fact that floyd has been held up as a martyr sickens me. Instead of trying to lean into wanting to unify the country or bring in a more diverse constituency to his base, he leaned in, in the other direction. Reporter and despite polled that showed more and more people believe Racial Discrimination remains a big problem in the u. S. , donald trump went on offense. In a way, many, found offensive. Reminiscent of five years prior, when he said many mexicans were rapists and criminals. Theyre rapists. Its 1 00 in the morning, and a very tough ombre is breaking into the window of a young woman. Reporter not unlike when he refused to condemn all of those marching at the unitetheright rally in charlottesville. Very fine people, on both sides. Reporter prompting his top, economic adviser at the white house, gary cohen, to say, quote, this administration can and must do better in consistently and unequivocally condemning these groups. And now, also, attacking a movement to remove confederate statues. They want to demolish our heritage. Reporter also, this, at a time when asianamericans are being unfairly attacked because of the coronavirus pandemic. Kung flu. Its hard to believe that there is an american president who pushes the envelope, in every opportunity, in his use of racist, incendiary, divisive language. Hes scaring americans, about other americans. Reporter even retweeting a white nationalists video of a black man violently shoving a white woman. Former trump Homeland Security official, elizabeth newman. White supremacy, white nationalism, antigovernment, extremist ideas have been growing, for quite some time, in this country. And his divisive rhetoric is fuel on that fire, and it makes us less safe. Reporter trump would declare himself the chief Law Enforceme enforcement officer of the country. I am your president of law and order. Reporter he deployed federal officers, around the nation. Often, in conflict with local Law Enforcement. Especially, in states run by democratic governors. This is obviously a move that has prompted criticism, not just from the Nancy Pelosis and Chuck Schumers of the world but from former dhs secretaries. Why do this . The president has never objected to protestors or demonstrators. The objection is to those who riot, loot, and commit violence. In reality, the president thinks that there is an advantage to him highlighting conflicts. Showing a force of strength, by Law Enforcement, against protestors. He believes this is going to help him. Reporter help him win. President trump has survived, and even thrived, by spreading distrust and inciting division, even racism. He has gone, largely, unchecked by his party. I love you all. God bless you. Reporter republicans, happy with so many of the policies and afraid of his wrath, seem to almost expect and accept this from President Trump. The president is not responsible for systemic racism, but he has thrown accelerant on all of the factors in society that have had the potential to explode for a long time. Reporter this is something that he and his close advisers dispute, on the record. I have never, ever heard that man say anything untoward based on race, in my experience. Reporter yet, it seems, in stark contrast to a wellestablished pattern we have all witnessed throughout his presidency. Ive known for a long time. He says things and tweets things that you would never even think about, four congresswomen of color, telling them to go back where they came from and fix those countries, even though they are all american citizens and three are born here. I could go on and on but i wont. He hurts himself when he does those things, doesnt he . I understand when people feel that way, completely. And i always tease the president , oh, you need to tweet like we need to eat. Its just about better choices. Sometimes, i have the kale salad. Sometimes, i finish the brownies the kids made. It all balances out. Reporter but does it . Racism is not brownies. White supremacy is not dessert. Donald trump is not a private businessman or a realitytelevision star, anymore. Hes president of the United States of america. Every move he makes, watched and analyzed. Every tweet, every speech, every comment matters because words do matter. His words matter. And it will be those words and those deeds that will, ultimately, be the true legacy of president donald j. Trump. Hi. Welcome to our viewers, here, in the United States and all around the world. Thanks for joining me. This is cnn. I am robyn curnow. Trumps blitz rallies in the campaign, the president pushing ahead in states with new record numbers of coronavirus case. Plus, lining up early to vote. More than 22 million ballots have already been cast, across the u. S. Well break down the voting trends for you. And then, also, this. Hes still dishonest about it. He keeps saying its Getting Better and it never is. Its getting worse. And with the coronavirus surging, these