Sentences for modified crimes, including two separate bombings, and the torture and murder of an 11yearold boy who testified against the mob. Captured, dies in less than a year. Year. Ac 360 starts now. Captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com tonight on 360, six days until a Government Shutdown, the man who could prevent it, House SpeakerKevin Mccarthy cant or wont if it means risking his job. And senator bob menendez, and whether anyone buys his explanation. Two more fellow democrats in the senate want him gone. And the words of a young poet, amanda gorman, and her warning about silencing writers and banning books. Good evening. Thanks for joining us. We begin tonight with Kevin Mccarthy, who by title, at least, is the most powerful republican in washington, not to mention as Speaker Of The House, second in line after Vice President harris to the presidency. It is a lofty role and lofty title. And today when asked about what it takes about working with democrats to prevent a Government Shutdown, Speaker Mccarthy had a lofty answer. My whole focus, whats in my mind, what drives me, is the American People. My whole focus, he said to cnns manu raju, is the American People. According to the census bureau, there are upwards of 335 Million People in the country. If Speaker Mccarthy were truly doing the peoples business, it would be an achievement. Tonight the evidence suggests hes mostly concerned with just five or so people, as in the five or so House Republicans who have so far blocked any legislation to keep the government operating after the end of the month, something President Biden underscored today. Just a few months ago, the Speaker Of The House and i agreed to spending levels for the government. Now, a small group of extreme House Republicans, they dont want to live up to that deal, and everyone in america could be faced with paying the price for that. Paying the price will be people who rely on Government Services and federal employees, including those who have to stay on the job with no money coming in, air traffic controllers, tsa, border agents. A shutdown means no paychecks for people in uniform. It could mean trouble for investors and the economy. The Political Party responsible pays the price on election day. Speaker mccarthy can avoid that by getting those five or so members of his own party on board, which has been tough enough, but just got tougher. In it he says republicans will not be blamed for the shutdown, quote, shut it down unless they get, quote, everything that theyre demanding. That reduces any clout Speaker Mccarthy might have had because its from the defacto leader in the Republican Party. And on top of not being able to gain the support of those five, he faces the prospect of losing his speakership by reaching across the aisle. Well see what is the priority for Speaker Mccarthy, whats best for the American People, as he says, or preserving his own position in power. Joining us now, james clyburn. Congressman clyburn, youve said that a Government Shutdown is not a foregone conclusion. Are you still relatively optimistic, even as the clock ticks . Yes, i am. Im just an optimist, i guess. I think that cooler heads will prevail in the final analysis. If we have a shutdown, i dont think we will recover from it any time soon. We are talking about us shutting down the government on the heels of a comeback from the Worst Health Care crisis weve had in this country in over 100 years. And we know what that did to the economy. Kids are getting back in school now, settling back into a normal routine, businesses are back up and running again. We now have a lot of unhappy workers, and we see strikes taking place because everybody is trying to get back on even keel, back to where we were before the pandemic. And for us to shut the government down now, that will destroy everything that needs to be done in order to get our country back just functioning but flourishing again. You said cooler heads will prevail. Who are the cooler heads . Speaker do you think mccarthy will attempt to work with democrats on a shortterm Stopgap Spending Bill . That would almost certainly endanger his speakership. Yeah, it may endanger his speakership. But ill tell you this. I do believe he has 150, 160, solid republicans in his conference who will stay with him no matter what. I do believe that he can find the other votes beyond the 150, 60, he needs on the democratic side if he were to settle down, sit down with Hakeem Jeffries and negotiate a way forward. I do believe thats possible. Do you think he would lose his speakership if he did that . Well, i said, if he got solid 160 people, why would he lose the speakership . You come out of your conference, the majority of the conference. So, he has around 221, 222 people, 150 or 60 certainly who would be reporting him in the conference. Then he gets to the floor, and thats when he sits down with Hakeem Jeffreys and see what he needs to do to get the other votes he needs on the democratic side. If theyre going to put people above politics, then Something Like this would be the way to go. What do you make of the social media post from the former president . How much influence do you think he has on this process . Unfortunately, he seems to have quite a bit of influence. And i dont understand, for the life of me. Ive been around this earth for a long, long time. Ive been in politics all but 12 or 15 of those years. And ive just never seen anything like this. I dont know anybody who would want this man, who seems to be controlling the Republican Party it seems to me that we ought to be looking at the leader of this country in such a way that we can say to our children, that is somebody you can look up to. With the record that he has, four indictments floating around, the kind of language that he use, threatening people, the kind of bullying that we all teach our children not to do, he does it all. And they seem to be listening to him. Let me ask you well, let me ask you because the former president campaigned in your home state, south carolina, today. He got endorsements from the State Attorney General and the secretary of state. Those are the folks responsible for election integrity. What does it tell you that they would choose the former president over a nikki haley or tim scott, also from your state . Yeah, he was in summerville, south carolina, today. My dad was passionate growing up. Im very familiar with that community. Theyre godfearing people. Theyre good people, who live by the Judaea Christian principles that we all were raised by. I dont quite understand why they feel it is necessary for them to kowtow to a guy like this. Hes not going to be elected president of the United States. Even if he were to get their nomination. And i dont think getting the nomi nomination, for him, is a foregone conclusion. Congressman clyburn, appreciate your time tonight. Thank you. Thank you very much for having me. Now senator bob menendez, member of the finance and banking committees, is under federal indictment accused of taking bribes. Today shortly before a Second Democratic senator called for his resignation, he offered an explanation, of sorts, for the cash found in his home. And tonight a third democrat has joined the other two. So, kara, talk more about What Menendez is saying about why he had all this cash in his home and gold bars . This was the first Public Statement he made addressing this indictment. And according to the indictment, he received hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exexchange for his effort to aid three new jersey businessmen and the government of egypt. Today he said he thinks hes going to be completely exonerated when all the facts are in. He offered an explanation for why the fbi, when they searched his home last year, found envelopes of cash stuffed in the pockets of a jacket with his name hon it. Heres what he said. For 30 years, i have withdrawn thousands of dollars in cash from my personal Savings Account, which i have kept for emergencies and because of the history of my family Facing Confiscation in cuba. This may seem old fashioned, but these were moneys drawn from my personal Savings Account based on the income that i have lawfully derived over those 30 years. Now, he also said that he wasnt aiding egypt. He pointed to his record on the hill as a lawmaker, saying he has taken a stance against egypt in human rights abuses. But these are some of the defenses hes starting to show, but he doesnt answer every question. In terms of the legal case against him, how strong is it . Oh, its strong. To point out, hes been accused of corruption before, and that didnt har he didntt found guilty. This is a stronger case. The prior case he was being bribed by someone he was friends with, trips they took together, rides on the private jet. So, i think jurors got a little confused. Was there a quid pro quo. Was this stuff they were doing because they were friends. This is not that. He doesnt have a relationship with these people. His wife brought them to him. This is transactional. And they have a Treasure Trove of evidence in the form of Text Messages and emails, where its really all written out. The wife is saying, well, you know, my husband can do these things for you. What do you want him to do . Okay. He can do that. He has done that. Wheres the money . Of course all the documentation of the money coming in. She had a noshow job. They bought a car for her. So, theres all this stuff that wasnt there before, making it a much, much stronger case. When i heard menendezs excuse about, you know, being from cuba and government confiscating stuff, he was on the finance committee. So, the guy who was on the finance committee, who clearly has access to a lot of smart people in finance, is keeping cash over a 30year period in his pockets of jackets around his house . I mean, thats what his explanation is . Not only in the jackets but in closets in his house, too, according to the indictment. Well, that makes sense. Yeah, i mean, it raises just some questions here about why he would do that. I mean, according to the indictment, there was dna on some of these envelopes from one of the coconspirators, one of the new jersey businessmen, which is them putting what they knew on the table about the strength of this evidence and to say, this wasnt just any money. This is money that came from one of the people that is a coconspirator in this case. And it ended up in your Jacket Pocket at home. Jennifer, what do you make of the senators comments today, as well as a statement he put out friday, in which he basically implied he was being prosecuted, at least in part, because hes latino. I dont know where hes coming up with that. I think hes testing the waters maybe with some of these defenses a little bit. If you want to claim selective prosecution, youve got to prove that. And i dont see how in the world he could prove that the Department Of Justice went after him because hes latino. Just look at the evidence here. They went after them because of the incredibly strong evidence. About this notion of the stuffing of the money and all that stuff, hes just begging prosecutors to bring unexplained wealth evidence. Look at what he makes. Look at what he has. How does he have all this money . The text maes sajs and the like. Thank you so much. Next, former white house aide, Cassidy Hutchinson, her new book and her new allegations since testifying before the house january 6th committee. And a live report from the border, as thousand of migrants make their way north. Cassidy hutchinsons testimony before the House Select Committee put millions of Television Viewers around the country and the world inside the white house, as mark meadows watched president trumps actions leading up to january 6th. She is out with a new book complete with more revelations about that day and fresh allegations about some of the players. More from randi kaye. I ended up moving down to atlanta for several months. They didnt think it was safe for you to stay in d. C. Reporter after months in hiding, Cassidy Hutchinson is talking again and she has plenty more to say since appearing before the january 6th committee. She told Cbs Sunday Morning she nearly testifying. I turned around and looked at my attorneys and said, i cant do this. And i started to walk and he gently pushed my shoulders. You can do this. And we walked out. Hutchinson details that and much more in her new memoir, enough. She describes how her first attorney was paid by a trump pac and advised her, the less she remembered, the better. The first transcript was riddled with i dont knows and i dont recalls. Hutchinson got herself a new attorney and gained confidence about moving forward after studying the testimony of Alexander Butterfield from the watergate hearings. Butterfield was the former aide to richard nixon, who exposed the Recording System that toppled nixons presidency. He really was the source of strength for me and gave me the perspective not only that i could do this but that there was liven to other side of it. Reporter hutchinson is also defending some of her most explosive testimony. She shared with the january 6th committee an incident that she said then White House DeputyChief Of StaffAnthony Orr Nadeau relayed to her describing how Donald Trump On January 6th insisted on being taken to the capitol to join his supporters. When secret Service Agent bobby engel refused, hutchinson described how trump allegedly lunged toward the secret Service Agent. He motioned towards his clavicles. Orr nadeau and agent engel have said they dont recall the conversation. I stand by what i testified to in that incidence and any other incident that had been disputed. Reporter hutchinson also stands by a disturbing new allegation from her regarding Donald Trumps personal lawyer rudy giuliani. Hutchinson describes how giuliani allegedly groped her backstage during a rally that preceded the attack on the capitol. His hand slips under my blazer, then my skirt. Giulianis team calls the allegation a disgusting lie. Absolutely false, totally absurd. Still, hutchinson stands by her story, and so does her publisher, simon and schuster. Through it all, hutchinson says shes still a republican, but dont expect her to vote for trump. He is dangerous for the country. He is willing and has showed time and time again willingness to proliferate lies and to vulnerable American People so he could stay in power. To me, that is the most unamerican thing that you can do. Reporter randi kaye, cnn. Perspective from two of Cassidy Hutchinsons former white house colleagues. Also cnn contributor, john dean, who had his own historic testimony before congress during watergate. The New York Times is reporting, she writes about Mark Meadows Burning so many documents in the waning days of the administration that meadows wife complained to hutchinson about how expensive it had become to dry clean the, quote, bonfire smell from the suits. So the Chief Of Staffs office has a lovely fireplace in it. My understanding is that in those final days by the way, publicly mark meadows and others were saying theres not going to be a transition, donald trump won the election they seemed to be getting ready knowing a transition was coming. He was burning paperwork. Im not an attorney but i was subject to the federal records act, which required any president ial documents, even if not classified, youre required to archive. Even at minimum, thats a basic violation of that. Who knows the actual contents of them. Just the fact he was doing this, while at the same time they were the president had actually won. They werent leaving office, kind of, shows he knew he didnt. Its like out of a mob movie, if true, the feds are coming in and theyre trying to destroy evidence. Thats exactly what it sounds like. You have to wonder, was this going on throughout the white house. What documents may we never have . Theres more i know from talking to cassidy that i dont want to get ahead of in the book, but it paints a puicture of a white house trying to cover any tracks they can and trying of any wrong doing there was but also prepare themselves for an outside i outside onslaught. Hutchinson describes fearing for her safety and not being able to return to her apartment in washington, d. C. For months. Did you feel you