It will be at the law school at nyu. Are you familiar with the idea of senioritis, like what happens to you when you have already figured out what you are going to do over the summer, maybe even next year and, yeah, you are still at school but you kind of have checked out . Today the eagle eyed cnn Robert Muellers office stakeout team caught Andrew Weissman showing up to work today in something unexpe unexpected. Seen wearing a tan suit to work today. The New York Times then tweeted this photo of andrew wi weissman picking up lunch today in washington, d. C. Looks pretty close to a tan suit. It is possible that Andrew Weissman was just celebrating the first day of spring today. It is also possible that this is senioritis. But in any case, you do you, Andrew Weissman. I know that people get upset about tan suits. I think that looks nice on you. Now it is time for the last word they dont just get upset about it. Do you remember when this was a week long scandal when barack obama wore a tan suit . Well, the thing is that because of that, because we have all lived through that, you cant help but think any time somebody wears a suit that it is a signal. They are just looking for trouble. All right. Tonight as we await the Mueller Report, one of the people that wrote the rules for Special Counsel will join me to discuss why those rules exist and why donald trump, as hard as he tries cant talk or squirm his way out of it. We have a democrat president ial candidate tonight. Ill talk policy and politics with former mayor of san antonio yoechlt a. Why so many of Donald Trumps policies are going down in defeat in the courts. The president picking fights while failing to keep his promises. The president flew in to ohio for what was in many ways an unofficial 2020 campaign event. The president of course won ohio after promising to bring back Manufacturing Jobs. Today he spoke at the countrys last factory that makes tanks for the army in lima, ohio. The factory had been on the decline, but it is now growing as a result of the Trumps Administration increase in the military budget. You better love me. I kept that place open. They said were closing it. And i said, no, were not. But it only took a few minutes for the president to go off the rails and distract from his own message by launching an unprompted attack on a deceased war hero. They ask me about a man named john mccain, and if you want me to tell you about it. Should i or not . I have to be honest, i have never liked him much. Hasnt been for me. Ive really probably never will. I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted, which as president i had to approve. I dont care about this. I didnt get thank you. Thats okay. We sent him on the way, but i wasnt a fan of john mccain. I didnt get thank you, but thats okay. The president dedicated almost five minutes of his speech to attacking john mccain. It was the president s feuds that seemed to be on his mind the most today, not his economic promises. He did manage to squeak out a few lines about the economy. It is all about manufacturing, and were bringing it back in record numbers. We made some progress. Thats why you see these numbers. Look at that chart. Look at it. You dont have to know whats on it. What difference. You dont have to know what the
hell is on it. All you know is thats a good line. Wow. Id like to know what thats about because were not bringing manufacturing back in record numbers. Manufacturing jobs have increased slightly, not necessarily due to trumps policies but voters in ohio may not be feeling like the president kept his promise. A poll from Morning Consult shows President Trumps Approval Rating in ohio has fallen by 19 points since he took office in january 2017. That might be due to the fact that some Manufacturing Jobs are still leaving ohio. In lords town, just 200 miles away from where the president spoke, a General Motors plant is shutting down this month. Gm ceo cited the trump tariffs which cost the company about A Billion Dollars as a reason for the closure. The president seemed to recognize that closing as a threat to his core support. He spent the week tweeting demands about reopening the plant. Get the discussions going. Get it open. Lords town is a great area. I guess i like it because i won so big there. Meanwhile in washington, the Federal Reserve chairman gave an Economic Forecast that was less optimistic than what the president was saying and what the white house said yet. Data suggests that growth is slowing somewhat more than expected. Financial conditions tightened considerably over the Fourth Quarter while conditions have eased since then, they remain less supportive of growth than during most of 2018. But the president s focus seemed elsewhere. Donald trump began his way with a Tweet AttackingGeorge Conway, the husband of his adviser Kellyanne Conway and he kept that up when he said this to reporters. He is a whack job, there is no question about it. But i really dont know him. I think hes doing a tremendous
disservice to a wonderful wife. Kellyanne is a wonderful woman. I call him mr. Kellyanne. The fact is that hes doing a tremendous disservice to a wife and family. All right. Joining us now the editor at large for cnbc. John, I Dont Know What donald trump gets from attacking john mccain. It is mysterious. Hes been going at this for a few days. It is unprompted. Today it was entirely unprompted. He likes to start with today they asked me about john mccain. Everything the president was saying in the clips that you showed underscored the point that George Conway, Kellyanne Conways husband has been making the last couple of days, that this is a president completely absorbed within himself. You saw him say, you better love me, i saved these jobs here. Maybe i like this area because
they voted for me so much. It was not about others. It was about him. The same is true of his obsession with john mccain, who he is following the Accident Sated On for having voted against the repeal of obamacare and maybe other things. But it is a bizarre fixation for the president at a time that even when the economy is slowing, as j. Powell indicated and it is not posed to deliver the kind of growth the white house says it will, it still is growing. Among all the things the president could be talking about, that would probably be the most constructive for him. Earlier today, that stakeout before the president got on the helicopter to leave for ohio, he made another comment, and he was talking about the Mueller Investigation, in which he said i dont get it and my voters dont get it. So more than two years in, the president seems concerned with himself, his base and his
voters, not the country. Yeah. Thats right. And, i mean, at this point, whats so difficult with all these statements is there is no reason to believe anything he says, right . So he says lets release the Mueller Report. Let people see it. But there is no reason he is sufficiently disconnected from reality that he basically says whatever he thinks will be best for him in the moment. And this creates a big challenge for journalists because hes the president of the United States. And i know some people say just ignore him and ignore his tweets, but he is the president of the United States. Its not so easy to ignore him. Its also not clear that what hes saying has any particular meaning. It is just this continual need to talk about himself all the time. Im a new yorker. I grew up in new york in the 1980s. Donald trump was a Tabloid Character back then. He is unchanged. This is the way he was back then. The problem is now hes the president of the United States. John, what does it mean to you . The president on a 50 tweet tirade this weekend. 30 tweets since the weekend. You make an interesting point. Its Strong Enough that he could be tauting it. Wages are up. Gdp is up. Why does he so easily get distracted from something that was so central to his campaign . The folks in rural ohio might have voted for him because of the fact that he was promising to bring back jobs and to increase manufacturing output. Why does he not stick on that message . Whats on his mind that hes getting so off focus this week . I dont think he can help it. The president first of all, the president is under a lot of pressure. The Mueller Investigation is closing in. Thats one of his obsessions for very good reason. You have got the Special Counsel investigation, the Southern District of new york, the Attorney General of the state of new york, the Manhattan District Attorney all honing in on him, his businesses, his foundation, his transition, his family, his campaign aids. That is a tremendous source of
pressure. Hes had political setbacks. The democrats have taken control of the house. They left him naked in that Government Shutdown and having to capitulate to nancy pelosi on his wall. Thats not happening. Hes launched this trade war with china that has damaged the u. S. Economy as well as chinas economy. Now he seems very eager to get a deal, but its not clear that that deal is going to be anything that changes the growth path of the u. S. Economy. So hes coming up short in a lot of areas, and i think that is a source of stress for him on top of the legal problems. And thats interesting, david, because the fact is the effect of the trade war may be longterm damaging to u. S. Growth. So if the president does get a deal and today waiting for the fed to say that they werent raising interest rating, the market went up for about an hour and then went back down because
people are worried that this particular war with china doesnt look like it is coming to an end any time soon. Thats right. And it is a risk for the economy. I think the bigger problem, it is very easy for us to focus on the immediate numbers and the trade war and this plant in ohio. I think the larger problem is the economy is not that strong. Yes, wages have grown a little bit and unemployment is low, but wage growth has been weak for most workers. Thats part of why people are so dissatisfied. Its been a main trend and particularly since 2000. So it is difficult for trump to try to persuade people that the economy is great when its just pretty good for most people. Its really good if you own a lot of stock. But for most people it is pretty good. As you played in the clip from the fed chair, it looks like it is now getting weaker. So i think there are all kinds of Economic Risks out there,
even if it is impossible to know what route the economy is going to take. Im a little puzzled. Donald trump held up a chart like this. I have no idea what he held up in ohio. He said, you dont need to know what it is. It is a good line. It is a good number. I dont know what hes talking about. Did you know what that was . Obviously, you could find numbers out there that look like good numbers, right . Of anything. There was no labels, no words or nothing. It was classic trump. It was like here is a scoreboard. Im going to say its great. Im going to say its big and beautiful and take my word for it. You couldnt, guys, have a starker contrast than the white house coming out with a budget early this week and the Chief Economist in the white house said the Economic Growth in 2019 was going to be even higher than it was in 2018. It would be 3. 2 . Jay powell said exactly the opposite today. He said 2. 1 growth. The second Fed Downgrade in the last couple of months. There is a very big difference in outcomes between those two forecasts where now late in the First Quarter thats expected to be below 2 growth, that is another source of pressure on the president. If he loses what even on its face is a good economy, even if david says for many workers its not a big increase in their living standards, that is the most significant prop underneath the support he has. What do you think is going on with this Kellyanne Conway, George Conway, donald trump thing . Kellyanne conway did speak to politico today. She said he left it alone for months in respect to me. But you think he shouldnt respond when somebody, a nonmedical professional accuses him of having a Mental Disorder . I dont have a habit of defending President Trump. I have written i think he is unfit for office, and he is. I will say if we had any president that had a Senior Adviser in the white house whose spouse was basically out there saying all kinds of things about how terrible the president was, it would be a little bit weird for that president , too. I have to say of all the things that i object to with trump, the idea that he finally responded to one of his senior aids husband just constantly attacking him, if anything, he showed bizarre restraint for donald trump in this case. This thing gets weve seen it before. Martha mitchell, the wife of the Attorney GeneralJohn Mitchell for Richard Nixon was sounding the alarm during watergate. A lot of people dismissed her as kind of a cook and she turned out to be raising some significant points. Thanks, guys. Good to see you both. Coming up, President Trumpexpressed confusion today that Robert Mueller would be able to issue a report even though President Trump won the president ial election. That probably sounds confusing to you. Thats because it is. The Trump Administration is also not cooperating with congressional investigators. Former Justice Department official joins me next. And reports of disarray in executive agencies from the Department Of Housing to the faa. Former hudd secretary and president ial candidate will explain how to combat the reported president ial negligence of the government. In tonights last word, two Major Barriers broken by a candidate in the primary. Candidate in the primary feel the clarity of nondrowsy claritin
and relief from symptoms caused by over 200 indoor and outdoor allergens. Like those from buddy. Because stuffed animals are clearly no substitute for real ones. Feel the clarity. And live claritin clear. So recently my sons band was signed by a record label. While were on the road, i can keep my parents in the loop with the Whole Facetime thing. I created a rockstar. both laughing vo there when it matters. Get iphone xr on us when you buy the latest iphone. On verizon. When you rent from national. Its kind of like playing your own version of best ball. Because here, you can choose any car in the aisle, even if its a better car class than the one you reserved. So no matter what, youre guaranteed to have a perfect drive. [laughter] vo go national. Go like a pro. See what i did there . President trumps continued attacks on George Conway and the late john mccain seem to be the shiny objects hed like us to focus on instead of the looming release of Robert Muellers report of his russia investigation. Today the president tried to challenge his report nearly two years into the investigation. Some of what you are about to hear from the president simply isnt true and much of it simply doesnt make sense. I just won one of the greatest elections of all time in the history of this country, and even you will admit that and now i have somebody write a report that never got a vote . Tens of millions of voters and now somebody is going to write a report who never got a vote. The man Out Of The Blue just writes a report. I got 306 electoral votes. It is an amazing thing that when you have a great victory, somebody comes in, does a report out of nowhere . Tell me how that makes sense, who never got a vote, who the day before, he was retained to become Special Counsel. I told him he wouldnt be working at the fbi. And then the following day they get him for that . I dont think so. I dont think people get it. All right. So the president has a problem with unelected officials investigating him. But apparently he also doesnt care for congressional committees that have a constitutional duty to conduct oversight. Congressman says, quote, the white house has refused to hand over any documents or produce any witnesses for interviews, despite numerous requests. The chairman says this refusal reflects a decision at the highest levels to deny congressional oversight altogether. President trump also welcomed the release of the mueller
report. He welcomed it, despite the possibility it might further implicate membe