move over crescents. there's a new wanted pastry in paris and it is not french at all. it's an american krispy kreme donut. seriously. this week the u.s. donut chain opened its first outpost in france, and the company tells cnn that 400 customers were waiting outside for opening day with some lining up the night before to snag the first few dozen freshly glazed treats. over the next year the chain plans 500 points of access for the french to load up on donuts. it's a full circle moment for the bakery, almost 100 years ago, the founder bought the recipe for it original donut from a french chef in new orleans. thanks for being with us tonight. the news starts now. >> america holds up a mirror to itself. what we see is ugly. that's tonight on news night. good evening, i'm abby phillips in washington. this week the united states gave itself a physical of sort and found extremism runs deep in its bloodstream. it runs across both parties and it courses through our most esteemed institutions. the most discussion and the most fear of a constitutional crisis was delivered by the former president. >> under no circumstances, you're promising america tonight. you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody. >> except for day one. and except for day one. >> by now this kind of rhetoric from trump isn't surprising and neither are the mental gymnastics from republicans determined to dismiss it. >> are you okay with that kind of rhetoric? >> i mean it is entertainment. you know, we've been around there long enough and it is entertaining, that they do make decisions and they get things done. >> now all of this would be easier to dismiss if trump didn't have a shadow cabinet to see his words as an invitation for retribution. >> we will go out and in the media, yes. and who helped joe biden. and that mr. patel is under consideration to be director of the central intelligence agency under the second trump administration. and it would be easy too to wave a side, pedaling about january 6. and the racist doctor and responsible for inspiring real life massacres if it wasn't being said on the biggest stage available right now to a republican politician. >> why am i the only person on the stage at least who can say the january 6 does look like it was an inside job? that they lied to us for 20 years. and involved in 9/11 and that the great replacement is not some light wing theory. and on that platform. it's the highest republican on the land and wasn't recommending giving a pass to criminals who bought into the extremist lines. >> and we're going through the process of releasing them as quickly as we can and we have to blur some of the faces of the persons who participated in the events of that day because we don't want them to be retaliated against and to be charged by the doj. >> it would be easy to say this is a reflection of the few. if we didn't have video of people claiming that. and instead people, like the executive director of counsel on islamic relations who said this. >> and only decided to break the siege. and yet i was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land and walk free into their lands. an wil walk in. >> it would be easy to say this is one person speaking to themselves if we didn't have weeks of evidence. on college campuses of the anti-semitism, fuel by a few on the left. now it would be easy to say we could blame it on ignorance if we didn't hear the elite college president. >> i am asking specifically calling for the genocide of jews. does that constitute bling harassment? >> it is a complex decision. and if targeted individuals are not making public statements. >> now clearly extremism isn't something, but they are eating away every segment. and the question now is at what point does it get cut out? joining me now to discuss all of this is cnn contributor and long-time journalist and the sports commentator, bob costas. bob, thank you for joining us tonight. you've been a journalist and the key observer for the american life for a long time. >> some of this is fueled by the media landscape, which has changed so drastically over the last generation or so. and they are set up to basically only feed the resentments and affirm them already of their core audience. and it is worse on the internet where you can seek anybody else. when they did the own research. and until i found somewhere and to affirm what i wanted to believe in the first place. there is just more of that out there. and to get attention, you have to be more extreme. that's a general thing, but that is the way it is and they would play into that. and also what has been going on academia for a while. and those that would identify somewhat left of center have been slow to recognize. if we do recognize it, we've been slow to call it out. what's been going out for academia just became large by what we're seeing now on campuses and by the despicable testimony of the three university presidents this past week in congress. and we haven't even addressed the specifics yet because it would take a month. the specifics of the toxic insanity that is maga world. >> yeah, look, one of the things that will strike me about the particular moment is that so much of it is about the language. and as they said when they apologized, language matters. we are hearing disputes over what it really means when you say from the river to the sea. and the use of the word to describe people in this country. >> yeah. >> what do you think it means to use language like that in the public square? >> well, let's leave the right side of the aisle aside for a moment and talk about what the university president said. these are people, three women, who are the heads of universities. and the meaning of genocide from the river to the sea should not be beyond them. and keep in mind they preside over the universities whether they believe in all of this or not where surely safe spaces have been created for the delicate flowers in their charge who can't possibly be confronted by anything that they are not prepared to deal with. anything that challenges what should be them still developing the world view. where they might come across or to kill a mockingbird might jaw them a little bit. that is a progressive thing. they do not have a clarity to say loudly and to congress? yes. calling for genocide under any circumstances will get you tossed off the campus or will get you censured. when the head of the university of pennsylvania said i was looking at it through the prism, when you become a university president, you can pass the tenth grade course in civics. most people know if they paid any attention that where that applies is to the governmental action that might affect free speech. in that had case action could only be taken if that speech is a direct incitement to silence or violence itself. that doesn't have to apply to the university campus. it doesn't have to apply within cnn or any other business. you're allowed to make your own rules, your own standards, and establish your own boundaries, so that was a cowardly way to address the question or frame the question. >> and in the open just a few minutes ago, you heard one of trump's allies say that they would pursue criminal charges to target the media if they get a second term as a journalist, and what do you make of that? >> well, in the media, there are some good journalists there. we didn't think that was possible and whatever was found on the internet or in that right wing top radio. and there are some journalists and they are right about some issues when they take on the extremes of the left that we have been reluctant to confront and highlight. but in general, they have been a propaganda outfit and they glorified him and nationalized their worst excessive and of specifics that would affect the way the nation is run and that tone of our discourse. they cast all criticism of him as trump derangement syndrome. it is real. it's his supporters who have it. you know, it is one thing to give them a pass for maybe thinking they could roll that dice. but forget about what is said on cnn or in the washington post or anywhere else. just look at what trump himself has told you unfiltered. look at insane rallies and what he says on the truth social and there is an oxymoron, that's it. look at what the people who have been closest to him and the people that have been in business with him and look at what they say. don't pay attention. as mark twain once said, it is easier to fool a man than to convince him. and for now, even if you don't like the alternative of joe biden, it is not to endorse the left wing policy. if you can't see this now for what it is, the maga world and media are a coalition of the brainless and spineless. >> look, i think a lot of trump supporters are seeing what they like to do and they like it and that is what we'll have to face when they become the nominee. thank you for joining us. >> give me 20 more seconds. i've said this for a long time. if you like some of trump's policies, which can be debated, but the nominees and the border and all the rest, you like it. find an honest rational man or woman to advance those policies. and if you are concerned about joe biden's age and his failing capacities, which are obvious, but you like some of his policies. find a vigorous younger person to put the policy out there in a convincing way. it shouldn't be so difficult. 75% of the country isn't pleased with our choices. >> there is always 20 seconds for the last word from you, bob costas, thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> thank you. have a good weekend. up next for us as hunt hadder biden faces new criminal charges, he tells his friend that republicans are trying to kill him. he'll join me next. and a new conspiracy from the republican who is investigating joe biden in a surreal jake tapper interview. an operative said he was fired because he publicly criticized nikki haley, and he'll join me lateter on in the show.. it seems that no one is happy. hunter biden isn't. his lawyer isn't. the white house is tired of answering questions about it. conservative media is calling hunter bide an whiner tonight, and the republicans investigating hunter biden aren't happy because they think it is all a conspiracy. >> my concern is they might have guided hunter biden to protect them from the committee on wednesday. yes, he indicted him to protect him? >> yes, the classic rubric. he indicted him to protect him. >> and jake, the whole thing has been about a cover-up. you've got two serious concerns. >> is that why he did that? >> you indict him on the little things, the gun charge and not paying taxes? >> and look at what he has done. >> and it is not clear whether james comber realized he was being sarcastic, but yes, the explanation does not make sense. just as republicans are also not happy with hunter biden offering to testify next week. >> i guess my other question is isn't something better than nothing? why not grill hunter biden on national television. here it is. >> this isn't about politics. my job, i know the media. i know the media, and i like you, jake. but the media would like a big public show and that would be entertaining. >> it is me that wants a public show. >> yeah. >> what jake was trying to say is the public show is what republicans have been going for here. congressman and trump backer says it will give trump a little bit of ammo to fire back. and also the same republicans who are hitting hunter biden with the subpoena parade for private testimony are the same republicans who didn't believe in subpoenas over the last few years. for instance jim jordan is threatening to hold hunter biden in contempt of congress, even though jim jordan himself defied a congressional subpoena. and tonight the president's son is making a thing saying republicans are trying to end his father's presidency by killing him. >> they are trying to in their most illegitimate way and rational way, they're trying to destroy a presidency, so it is not about me. and in the most base way what they're trying to do is they're trying to kill me. knowing it will be a pain greater than my father could be able to handle. >> with me now is mobi. thank you for being here. why does hunter biden think the gop is trying to kill him? >> good question. my assumption is because everything the gop says and does indicates that they are trying to destroy him. i interviewed hunter, and my hope was really simple to show the hunter biden, who is my friend. i got to know hunter through addiction and then recovery, and the hunter i know is this gentle, smart, lovely person and it has been discerning for me to watch the gop drag my friend through the mud. and i'm sorrying for rambling on, but he's a complicated person because many of us are complicated. i'm sure he's done stuff in his life he's not thrilled with, but he's really quite a delightful person, and it is very baffling watching, especially right wing media try to turn him into an evil thing when the truth is he is just a nice guy. >> yeah. i mean you mentioned that he's made mistakes. does he show or talk much about remorse for his past actions, especially in light of the charges that he's facing? >> yeah. that's one of the things that i don't know. i don't want to make the assumption that you are people watching him with the direct experience with the addicts or the addiction or recovery. but the one thing i'll find with myself as a former recovering addict and also talking to hunter and the other friends of mine who really have been through the ringer is that there is the sort of sadness about the mistakes we've made in the past and also bringing a lightness to it as well and that self-lightness around the mistakes they made because there is no point in spending your entire life and beating yourself up rather than you would acknowledge your mistakes. you make amends and you hope not to make those mistakes again. >> he talks about how he thinks the republican party or the gop, they're trying to destroy him in order to hurt his father. do you worry about what that means for him and his sobriety? do you worry about a relapse? >> i worry about my friend, the same way i worry about my other friends who are in recovery. for some people their recovery is very solid. other people it is tenuous, and that can change day to day. but what really baffles me, and i don't want to necessarily be too critical of the gop, but what confuses me so much is how the gop is extensively christian. to attack and criticize addicts and people who are trying to get better. where they are not forgiving and loving. >> you know him at this point really well. are you worried that all of this could impact joe biden and his re-election bid? >> i mean i don't know. i don't understand at this point. and what their criteria is for choosing a presidential candidate. i'm baffled by the world of electoral politics. i wish i could be opinionuated about that, but i have no idea. >> fair enough. he's talked to you about maga fanatics harassing him. what has he said has happened? >> well one thing that happened that i found so depressioning was the new york post, you know, the paper published hunter and his wife and their newborn child's address, home address. hundreds of trump supporters showed up like in a pilgrim with pitch forks to try to attack hunter and his young wife and their newborn child. i was just like how is this okay? how does anyone think that attacking, physically attacking at 2:00 in the morning, the family of the president's family. i was like what has happened? where someone thinks that's a good idea. how is it encouraged? whatever ethical standards i have are so horrified by that sort of behavior and the encouragement of that sort of behavior. >> so i have to be honest. i think you are maybe the last person i would think would be the kind of character in this saga. what do you think it is that brought you and hunter to have such a close friendship over the years? >> we're middle-aged guys. we grew up on the east coast. we grew up kind of going to the same record stores. it's sort of the world view and the view itself that you develop when you have been through the ringer of recovery and addiction. it gives you a perspective of yourself and the world around you that's kind of unique. not better, not worse than other people's perspective, but there is a bonding that will come with that. addicts who have been through the ringer, we tend to understand each other's jokes, sadness, and despair. so it is just, almost like the connection you have when you've been in the trenches together. >> just broadly speaking before you go. if donald trump is elected again, what do you think happens as a result of that? >> well, fingers crossed. and i'm just going by what people who have served in his cabinet and known him to have said that he is deeply qualified to be president of the united states. but if somehow he'll get elected, reelected, we have one thing going for us. he spent most of his time eating hamburgers, watching tv. he played more golf than any president ever. so the only thing that will save us from his sort of autocratic is the fact he's a lazy person that just wants to sit in the oval office and watch tv. >> well, on that note, moby, thank you very much for joining us. i hope you have a great weekend. >> thanks for having me on. harvard's president is apologizing saying her testimony to congress about campus anti-semitism hurts students. we'll speak to the j journalistt who inteterviewed heher next. 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(♪♪) (♪♪) the new festive family meal. starting at $24. now celebrating at el pollo loco. tonight an apology from harvard's president and acknowledgment that words matter, and an admission that hers did not meet the moment. in an interview with the harvard crimson, claudine gay, says she's sorry in some of the testimony that you heard earlier amplified, distress and pain of students on campus. joining me now are two of the journalists who conducted that interview. from the harvard crimson. miles and clare, thank you both for joining us. claire, i want to start with you. did you get the sense as you sat in this interview with her that she had genuine regret about this testimony or did it feel like we kind of checked the box moment? >> i mean this has certainly been sort of a crisis moment on campus and in particular for president claudine gay. she has only been in office for less than a semester. it is such a major moment for the university. i think two days with all the backlash that has been happening on campus, online, everyone basically just being very upset over how the hearing went. it's a message president gay heard, something they've been thinking about. in our interview, she did express regrets, and it's pretty remarkable that the president of the university like harvard would say i am sorry about something that i said and about something that i did. and miles, you all cover the university, but also the university administration very closely. what are you hearing about the fate of claudine gay's job? there are a lot of calls for her to step aside. do you think it is safe right now? >> right, in the days after the congressional hearing, there were calls for all three presidents to resign in particular at the