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tv   Anderson Cooper 360  CNN  June 15, 2017 5:00pm-6:01pm PDT

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counsel is investigating jared kushner's dealings. let's hand it off now to "ac 360" . >> erin, thanks very much. good evening, everyone from national park in washington where democratic and republicans lawmakers are squaring off in baseball tonight while trying to project unity to the country. a mile and a half it was united in shock as well as horror. alexandria virginia is only about a 15 minute drive in traffic and the hospital where steve scalise underwent a third operation today. we will have a conversation with the majority and minority leaders of the senate. in addition, breaking news of the investigation, the vice president is taking on outside legal advice. as erin mentioned the "washington post" robert mueller's investigation now
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includes jared kushner's finance and business dealings. we begin with sights and sounds from the ballpark tonight. >> i want to thank members of congress, their staffs and members across the country for supporting tonight's baseball game. ♪ oh say can you see so proudly we hail ♪ ♪ that the twilight's last gleaming whose stripes and bright stars ♪ ♪ through the perilous time gallantly gleaming ♪ ♪ and the rockets red glare bombs bursting in air proof through the night ♪ ♪ that our flag was still
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there ♪ ♪ oh say does that star spangled banner yet wave for the land of the free ♪ ♪ and the home of brave. ♪ >> in washington we have our disagreements. we all agree we are here to serve this nation we love and the people who call it home. that's the source of unity. and more than ever we must embrace it so that on this special night i leave you with three great american words that for generations have torn down barriers, built bridges of unity and defied those who have sought to pull us apart.
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ladies and gentlemen, let's play ball! >> some especially moving moments so far tonight. phil mattingly has been out here from the ballpark, joins us from the center field stands. what's the mood in the stands where you are? >> reporter: hopeful and possibly even buoyant. it's hard to overstate how rattled lawmakers were yesterday and a moment. tonight is an opportunity not only to unify but to try and get past that, if you think what the lawmakers and staff are going through, everybody here in full force. more than 20,000 tickets were sold. they already raised more than a million dollars for charity. you have steve scalise's office met in mass wearing steve scalise shirts and wearing ribbons like matt mika, upgraded
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from critical to serious condition. and this giving people an opportunity to get away from what happened yesterday if only for a couple of hours. >> we talked to people on the hill yesterday morning. they've been talking about wanting a change, ratcheting down the rhetoric. are you seeing some of that tonight? >> reporter: no question at all. republicans and democrats met at second base before the game. joined in prayer when the lineups were announced, all standing next to one another, nancy pelosi talking to republicans and ivanka trump and chuck schumer speaking to ivanka trump's children. there's a recognition things are not in a good place right now. some hope while this won't change everything some hope perhaps this is a first step of pulling people back together of what's been a divisive
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administration the last six months but for years. and we'll see -- there are sign that's happening. >> i know you talked to people from the opposite side of the aisle planning to sit together tonight. >> reporter: i want to go back there is a recognition things are in a bad place and they're trying in the smallest of ways to bring things together. two freshman lawmakers, brian evans and ryan fitzpatrick from neighboring districts. i want to press them, how does this change anything sitting next to each other at a game, trying to show bipartisan? this is their response. >> we're dealing with a deeply entrenched, deeply engrained system perpetuated for a long time.
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is it toes do it? no. but we have to have the resolve to get it done. >> the external event shows something normally you wouldn't have seen. unfortunately the shooting and violence occurs, on the floor, and republicans and democrats recognize looking at ourselves, looking at ourselves in the mirror and recognize if we are to sends a tone to our constituents it's how we conduct ourselves. if we want change we have to start with ourselves. >> i think that's what i've heard from lawmakers throughout the day anderson. there's a recognition if things are going to change it has to start in the capitol building. they hope this is one small step. we'll see how long it lasts. we've had a lot of events it hasn't been sustainable. at least for one night everybody appears to be very willing to come together at the ballpark. >> thanks. congressman scalise is recovering from a third round of surgery. it now seems clear he was more
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badly wounded than believed at first. joining us from the hospital with the latest. the congressman we understand underwent a third operation. what do we know about his condition? >> reporter: anderson, a source with knowledge of the situation tells us congressman scalise is out of that third surgery, unclear of the duration of that third surgery. he is now out of that. it is complete for the day. the source we talked to cautions this is what they did expect to do yesterday. not as if they had to rush him into surgery on an emergency basis today. they did expect to require additional surgeries and did have additional surgery. he is still listed in critical condition tonight at washington hospital center. when you look at the nature of his wound you can understand why they did require additional surgeries. he did suffer that single gunshot wound to the left hipy the bullet went across his pelvis, fractured bones and injured internal organs, caused
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severe bleeding. he was transferred in shock yesterday. had one initial surgery and additional to stop the bleeding and received multiple blood transfusions. they did expect him to require additional surgeries. when you're in critical condition it does mean you could be unconscious. there are issues with bleeding. this surgery, while we don't know the exact nature of it, it likely had to do with bleeding issues. >> what about matt mika, practicing the the team and shot in the chest? >> reporter: good news with matt mika, listed in serious condition and was in critical condition. he was upgraded to serious, good news. he was shot multiple times in the chest and arms. now said to be alert and will need additional surgeries, good
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news on him, listed in serious shot multiple times and we have an update on zach barth, the capitol hill staffer that was shot and he was back to work today, anderson. >> at the game tonight. we'll talk to him a little bit later on. more now on the congressman's condition from a surgeon's point of view. dr. gupta join us now. let's talk about steve scalise. what are some of the challenges when operating on a wound around the hip. there are certainly a lot of organs around there. >> the trajectory of the bullet and pelvis and abdomen. the biggest concern brian was referring to is the bleeding, blood vessels, when you're talking about a rifle injury, not necessarily the bullet actually strikes the blood vessels, it creates a wave, they call it cavitation they can
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affect blood vessels some distance away. that's one of the challenges. you know where the injuries should be and you have to look to other places for the sources of the bleeding. they have to sometimes stage a procedure. at some point you know you haven't completed what you need to complete, you have to stop and the reason being, let the patient recover from this part of the operation, give them some blood products back, make sure their blood is still clotting. that's a cycle that may continue for the next few days for him. >> he's still in critical condition after this third surgery. what does that tell you? sometimes people describe as critical but stable and they're saying just critical. >> just critical. his blood pressure and vital signs and heart rate are still fluctuating, having some degree of bleeding and still requiring blood to be replaced. when you bleed, you lose red blood cells but you're also
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losing the little ingredients within blood that allow you to clot your blood. it becomes a bit of a cycle. you lose blood but you also can't clot and that makes the bleeding even worse. that goes back to the notion of catching up. slowing down, stopping an operation even, replacing clotting factors. they're keeping him very close to the of rating room. they may need to go back to the operating room at any given time to stop that bleeding if it continues to get worse. >> we certainly wish him and matt and all the others the best. thanks very much. ordinarily we don't spend time on lawmakers except the bodiment and legislation they support. we don't focus on their humanity and what they share as colleagues and residents what is a small community. at the same time, it's more than a little sad we're celebrating the sudden recognition of
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politician or people and shouldn't be that all the time. i spoke to majority leader mcconnell. when you first heard of this, what went through your mind? >> we were shocked like anybody else, anybody would come in and start shooting at our members was something i don't think anybody contemplated. we have a pretty active group of opponents in the country. this is the first time i know anybody has taken up arms. >> minority leader schumer -- >> it doesn't excuse it and doesn't con doent done it, a good reminder maybe we can bring the temperature down across the country and in the congress and everywhere else. >> what does it say about the fact the two of you are doing this interview together. i don't know the last time you have done an interview together. what does it say about this moment? >> we ant everybody to know we have always had a robust
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discussion of the issues in this country throughout our history. we don't dislike each other. we work together all the time, senator schumer and i do and have our political arguments, but at the end we're all americans. everybody should remember that because we're all in this together. >> should it take -- >> we passed a bill for iran sanctions, mitch and i worked together on it along with committee members on both sides and it passed 98-2. somehow when it's contentious it gets more attention than when we're working together. we passed a budget appropriations and the whole federal government cooperation that made everybody pretty happy. >> should it take a tragedy like this to bring you two together to do an interview? >> we work together pretty closely before this tragedy but if it will help us all work closer together, it's a horrible
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way to do it, we pray for mr. scalise and the other people's recovery hopefully we will get good out of this tragedy? >> do you think this will lower the temperature? >> already today one congressman pointing the finger at mr. obama for this and nancy pelosi talking about republicans in a very unflattering way. >> we ought to be able to have big robust debates in this country without having this level of animosity a lot of people feel. i think most americans have not read a lot of history. we have had a lot of contentious period throughout our 230 year history. we haven't had a single instance a congressman from south carolina -- we had a single instance where a congressman from south carolina tried to beat up someone else. >> many of us go to the gym. i go to the gym every morning. i learned democrats exercise late in the day and republicans
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early in the morning. except for mitch the whole leadership team of republicans were there and we were all united in our shock and hope there would be fewer injuries. it was a moment. we do it all the time and we're talking and working with each other. a lot of contention. obviously the politics has become polarized and doesn't have to stand in the way of working relationships to do that. >> how does it change? there's already rhetoric flying on both sides. >> there's always going to be rhetoric, anderson. that, you can't stop. that's the history of the country as mitch pointed out, even on the senate floor. if we can work despite the rhetoric and the senate as the cooling saucer helping bring people together a little bit, that's a very good thing. i know mitch does we talked about it and we aim to do it. >> a lot of it goes on all the time unfortunately. it doesn't make news. our arguments tend to make news
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and our cooperation doesn't. there's a lot of cooperation on a whole lot of things all the time. >> president trump made a statement last night about congressman scalise getting bipartisan praise for his tone today tweeting about calling this a witch hunt against him, talking about the people leading it as being disturbed was his term or conflicted. is that appropriate? >> i typically don't comment on the president's tweeting habits. >> do you think it is a witch hunt? >> i don't have any observations about that. we had here an example of a horrendous event we all condemn and we're here together tonight to make the point the american people there's a whole lot of cooperation in the congress own though it is not covered on a daily basis. >> not that we won't try or it's covered. ? does that start at the top? >> today is not a day to criticize, to stay together.
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>> are you going to watch the game? >> i'm here for the republicans, by the way? >> still rooting for the republicans. >> see there. he can root for the republicans, i can root for the democrats but we scan still be friends. that's a model. baseball is a good -- some of my best friends hate the yankees, i love them. >> you both have been here. you know washington. you talked to folks who served in past decades said it used to be people go out to dinner together, there would be tough debates but there was mixing. do you hope it comes back -- gets back to that? >> i don't think the absence of that is a problem. i think there's pleasant of interaction across the -- there's plenty of interaction across the aisle. chuck just mentioned legislation good classic example of bipartisan cooperation. i really don't think it's a problem. >> thank you very much. >> go democrats. that was done in a bipartisan way. >> we're joined now by cnn's
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mike preston and gloria borger. will anything actually change? we heard talk two days about lowering of the temperature and we heard this a lot of times in the past. >> unfortunately, we have been through events like this, after 9/11, gabby giffords shooting, newtown and i think they change for a while and unfortunately they change back. i think, however, we've been through it enough that perhaps people will realize they're not going to get anything done unless it does change. it starts from the top. if president trump sometimes uses words and language that are disruptive to the democrats and are -- i think that if everybody would tone it down a little bit things might get done. congress has what, a 10% approval rating? it's not as if they shouldn't see that there are things they
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need to do better. >> let me say this. i do think the toning down of the rhetoric is extremely important. the idea, though that people are on different sides of issues, i think is healthy nor us, right? i think we all can agree diversity in the united states, ethnic or religious diversity or of opinion is what makes us unique than any other country. what does make us unique is the angry and vitriol is for people to express theirselves. the problem is it's not morally right and very disrespectful. not just congress but what we see on our streets. politics has risen to a level right now i think people need to check it back just a little bit. you can stand strong in your views. we heard paul ryan say it last hour and mitch mcconnell and chuck schumer say it this hour.
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bottom line is we are going to be divided when it comes to how we get to the end point but everybody wants to get to the end point. >> everybody wants to get something done, get different things done. that doesn't mean you troll each other. i think that's a problem here. members of congress used to come here and get to know each other. now, they're too busy. they don't now, go home every weekend. it's demanded of them and do town halls. >> you think it's part of it? >> they're not here. >> they're not really here. >> you can have a conversation with politicians whether that was good or bad. there were members of congress that cared about the institution and here a decade or more and got to know people. in and out, term limits or limit themselves and go home every weekend, even if republicans don't know republicans much less democrats. >> the thing about playing this game you actually meet people in your own party you wouldn't
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otherwise meet. >> or the other party. people get angry when members of congress are not home all the time. they're getting hired to take care of their interests in washington. they can't always be home. >> we will continue to follow developments, a lot happening at the ballpark and congressman scalise. we have information about the russian probe about the vice president and jared kushner and what raged most of the day today. what if technology
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and some you shouldn't have to shoulder alone. like being able to maintain your lifestyle, no matter what comes your way. ask a financial advisor how lincoln can help you get through your retirement, and not just to it. welcome back here to nationals' park, it is 3-2 democrats. all day the president has been tweeting angrily about the investigation, started at 7:00 a.m., picked it up again late this afternoon in the washington about the special counsel investigating him for obstruction of justice and then word came vice president pence obtained outside counsel meaning the country's two top executives have now lawyered up. now the "washington post" is reporting jared kushner's finances and business dealings are a focus of robert mueller.
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kushner met with a russian banker back in december. the white house said it was diplomatic, not business related, the banker said it was. at the time, kushner's family was seeking financing for flagship building. we just got this from the family, we do not know what this report refers to. it would be standard practice for anything related to russia. mr. kushner prevalence volunteered to share what he knows about the russia matters. he will do the same if he is contacted. >> the president very active on twitter today. what did he say? >> he had nothing to say when we asked the question if he believes he was under investigation. he was asked that question after signing an executive order. you were right, he was venting throughout the day on social media as he likes to do.
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the white house won't answer questions about the russian investigation referring all of them to his lawyer. this is a psychological whsampl president said about hillary clinton, 219 days after the election. he said this, why is it that the -- hillary clinton's family and democrats' dealings with russia are not looked at but my non-dealings are? he went on to say this about the investigation. he said you are witnessing the single greatest witch hunt in american political history led by some very bad and conflicted people presumably talking about bob mueller. they made up a phony collusion with the russian story and found zero proof and now go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. nice. that's a sample what the president was thinking and venting this afternoon. this is one of the issues here. the white house was hoping to wall off the questions about the
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russian investigation, refer everything to their lawyer. that becomes much more difficult when the president is out there tweeting, venting, saying things in realtime, things his white house advisors say they cannot say or explain. >> certainly, every attorney we have spoken to said the president's attorney must have suggested he not tweet, any attorney would suggest his client not make statements about the ongoing investigation. the vice president retaining a lawyer. what do we know about that? >> reporter: the vice president did retain a lawyer, they announced that this evening. this is someone who will lead the vice president separately throughout this special counsel investigation as well as the house and senate committees as well. his name is richard cullen, we a former virginia attorney general, a former u.s. attorney for the state of virginia from the george h.w. bush administration. this is a sign that the president and the vice president are linked on many things. they are not necessarily linked on this and will have their own
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representation here. the vice president is central to all of this, particularly the michael flynn investigation because it was the vice president who mr. flynn misled about his dealings and his meetings with the russian ambassador. this is a sign i'm sold by advisors to the vice president has been in the works a month or so and just announced this evening and not paid for through taxpayer funds, through non-taxpayer funds. we're not exactly sure if that means his political action committee or some other form here. one advisor to the vice president said he certainly has a smaller net worth than the president by several zeros and now has his own lawyer. >> this could be very expensive. >> we go to talk about the tweets and more. what are marco rubio and others saying? >> reporter: they're pushing back. a lot of republicans are
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uncomfortable the way the president is going after bob mueller, special counsel, who has gotten praise on both sides of the aisle. they're telling the president if he's truly innocent he will be exonerated if he sits back and let's the investigation happen and cooperates. here's what they're saying. >> do you think it's witch hunt bob mueller is launching? >> i don't know he would ever do a witch hunt, he's a very fine man. i think donald trump should watch his tweets a little differential? >> do you think he should have done something different? >> in hindsight if they had it to avoid again they would have avoided the february 14th meeting in the oval office. >> i go by what he does, not what he says. i learned that a long time ago. >> reporter: anderson when marco rubio was referring to the february 14th meeting, that was
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what james comey says when the president urged him to drop the michael flynn investigation and says i urge you to let this go, clearly one element, republicans say if president trump is truly innocent here he can interview with the special counsel and cooperate with committees on capitol hill and will be exonerated the ends of the day but stay off social media. >> some of the president's most ardent supporters calling for prosecutor mueller's resignation. has that come across at all within the gop members you have spoken with? >> reporter: a lot of members don't want to hear talk of dismissing bob mueller especially as the talk of obstruction of justice comes front and center. leaders of the senate intelligence committee were showing some deference to the bob mueller investigation saying they will not look into the issue of obstruction of justice. they want bob mueller to do that
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and will cooperate with him in that investigation as they look into the separate issue of russia meddling with any collusion of trump campaign associates. it shows how much respect there is for bob mueller from the investigation, any talk of dismissing him is not getting much help even from the president's own party. >> the president sounding off on twitter in the russia probe and the vice president higher outside counsel. joining us, jeffrey toobin and hartford law school allen dershowitz on talking points how to defend the president by republicans. the fact that the vice president obtained an attorney, outside counsel, any lawyer would recommend it and doesn't mean he did anything wrong? >> that's exactly right. there have been many significant developments in this investigation lately, mike pence
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higher a lawyer is not one of them. there will be document requests, he did the prudent thing higher a lawyer. it doesn't do anything suggesting culpability on his part. it's a non-event. >> the "washington post" reports the special counsel is investigating the president looking at obstruction of justice even adamant the president did nothing criminal. do you take issue with robert mueller investigating the possibility of obstruction? >> first, i want to talk about talking points. i don't provide talking points. >> no, no, you don't. you certainly don't. your name -- they have cited you as one of the experts who has talked about obstruction. >> they can do that. i'm a public figure, i talk about obstruction, sometimes i say things that are positive to the president, sometimes negative. for example, i think the laws have to be changed. i don't think the president should have the power to fire this special prosecutor or fbi. i think congress should be passing statutes restricting the
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president's power. in the absence of statutes there still cannot be obstruction of justice for engaging in purely lawful acts. i have no problem with mueller conducting an investigation. he should look to see if there was any bribery, attempt to intimidate witnesses, lying to the fbi or obstruction of evidence, any of those would constitute obstruction of justice. i maintain my position exercising his constitutional right to fire the director of the fbi and exercising his constitutional right to tell the fbi to end a particular investigation, though it's bad policy and shouldn't be allowed under the law today is allowed under the law. you don't fill gaps in the law by averett to actively creating or stretching criminal statutes that weren't criminal at the time it occurred. >> allen has been making that point since before this investigation began and it's no more true now than it was then.
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it can be obstruction of justice for the president to use the fbi for improper purposes. evidence of that can include firing the head of the fbi. that is very much similar to what the house judiciary committee in 1974 voted to impeach richard nixon for, misuse of the fbi can be obstruction of justice. that's what happened in watergate and that's what robert mueller very properly is investigate right now. >> no, i don't think that's right. i think this is much closer to what happened when the first president bush granted a pardon to casper wine burger on the eve of his trial and the special prosecutor said the reason was to prevent casper from pointing a finger at president bush and incriminating him. nobody at that point suggested a prosecutor could impeach a president for exercising his constitutional authority to pardon. the same thing is true with the president's constitutional
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authority to fire the director of the fbi. you should change the law. the law was changed for a while, when we had special prosecutor laws but congress has failed to repass those statutes. in the absence of a statute the president retains his full constitutional authority and that authority includes the right to fire the director of the fbi which is wrong but not criminal and the authority to tell the director of the fbi to end an investigation. i wish that were not the law and wish we had different rules. you can't fix up the law through criminal statutes filling the gap when the statutes are vague. jeffrey, who is a terrific lawyer, talks about well, if the president has a corrupt intent. do we really really want the presidency to turn on some jury's definition of corrupt? as i said over and over again, if this were hillary clinton in the crosshairs if she had been elected president all the people who are now saying we should expand obstruction of justice would be taking the other
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position. if the shoe were on the other foot, people would be taking the position. it's because it's an unpopular president. what you can do to an unpopular president today you could have done to hillary clinton yesterday and you can do to somebody else tomorrow. that's why the danger is so great. >> al said a lot of things. if donald trump wants to pardon somebody he can pardon somebody. it is a very different thing to offer a public pardon than it is on february 14th, to send the vice president and the attorney general out of the room and then secretly and recognizing the impropriety of what he's doing, one might argue, telling the fbi director, i hope you don't investigate my friend and advisor, mike flynn. that could easily be interpreted as acting corruptly. the federal statutes are full of
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wizar words like corruptly. they should be able to evaluate the president's standard and conduct. i don't -- sorry, go ahead, yes. >> let me just ask you about this "washington post" report about mueller probing jared kushner's business dealings. how significant do you think that is? >> it's potentially very significant but also entirely related to what mueller is already investigating. he is investigating improper activity potentially by the trump campaign in connection with russia during the 2016 election. at that time, in december, jared kushner is meeting with the head of a bank that has been sanctioned by the united states government while he is meeting with representatives of the trump -- of the russian
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government, the corrupt bank and the russian government. why? why is he meeting with them? i don't know. maybe there's an innocent explanation. but his business interests are relevant. doesn't mean he did anything wrong but it's personal relevant to investigate that. >> professor, do you think the president is being served by his outside counsel. i know you said he should not tweet and he hasn't taken that advice yet. >> i have no interest in serving as the president's lawyer. i'm interested in serving american civil liberties' interest. i want to criticize the president as he deserves criticism for example he leaked national security information to the russians, you remember on your show, i said this is the worst thing a president had been
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accused of. were his lawyer i couldn't say that. i don't want to be his lawyer. i want to stand up to civil liberties and the rights of all americans. i want to make sure statutes are not expanded beyond reason and applied to people in a targeted way because they disagree with their politics. i think the president has to put together a very effective legal team. it should include mr. kasowitz because he has the trust of the president but should also include experienced criminal and constitutional lawyers. i do not want to be part of that team but i want to defend civil liberties on television and in the media, i'm writing a book about it in which i talk about both president trump and those going after him are endangering our civil liberties. i want to maintain my independence as a commentator as i have the last 50 years of my career. >> i want to read that book and disagree with it as much as i disagree with allen on tv.
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i'm sure i will agree with some of it. >> we want both of you to continue on this program as long as possible. jeffrey toobin, thank you, professor dershowitz. he was injured with the others, starve zach barth. he said his adrenaline was running and he dove for his loaf. life.
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the annual congressional baseball game is still going down behind me. democrats up 7-2.
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safe to say this is the most attention the game has ever gotten. the game is for a good cause, attention for a tragic reason. the game got under way as planned after a shooting at the field where republicans were practicing yesterday morning. congressman steve scalise and four others were injured including zach barth. we just got this about the congressman, he remains in critical condition but has improved in the last 24 hours. the congressman will require additional operations and in the hospital for some time. zach barth works for one of the congressman's colleagues, congressman williams. when did you realize what was going on? >> i was in center field, shagging fly balls and i heard a loud pop. everything stopped and didn't know what it was and then a loud pop. >> there was one and then it paused. >> there was one and it seemed
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like an eternity, everything slows down. i heard the word, shooter, everybody run. i was in center field and he was shooting from the third baseline. >> could you see him? >>. >> i could. he was on the chain-link fence. there was no exit to get through. i made myself the smallest target that i could. just laid there and then i saw him -- >> you were down on the ground? >> i was down on the ground. he turned his rifle towards me. >> you were watching him the whole time? >> yes. >> he turned his rifle towards me and i started to hear and feel pops all around me. he struck me in my leg. >> you could tell he was shooting at you. >> absolutely. >> what goes through your mind? >> at that time i was pumping through -- adrenaline was pumping through my and my flight or fight reflexes took center stage, i decided i couldn't be a sitting duck and let this guy do target practice on me. i made a run for my life down
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the first baseline into the dugout. >> when were you hit? >> i was hit when i was laying down. when he was shooting at me i got struck in the leg, i looked down felt a burning sensation and saw blood and knew he was getting close to hit me more. at that point i decided i couldn't stay there. >> this is a dumb question, did you realize you were hit from the feel of it or when you actually saw blood? >> it was a burning sensation. i could tell i was hit. and the blood confirmed that, yeah. >> you just -- you ran? >> i ran. i don't know if i caught him reloading a magazine or what, but -- he might have been shooting at me, it all happened so fast, i don't know, i dove into the dugout into the congressman's arms. >> do you know how long it took you to run across? >> probably the fastest i could have ever run with a bullet wound in my league, yeah. >> congressman, where were you when the shots began? >> when they began i was hitting steve scalise ground balls by the batting cage.
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i hit him a ball and we heard this pop and thought it might be a car backfiring and then another pop pop pop. everybody yelled, he's got a gun, get for shelter. i don't know why i decided to do it or whatever, i went to the first base dugout, which is literally a dugout 6 feet deep, i dove in it headfirst like diving in a swimming pool with no water. when i got there i found myself face-to-face with congressman brooks and senator flake, we were right there together and out of nowhere comes zach from his sprint. >> did you see him running? >> no, i did not. all of a sudden there he was and jumped in there and said, i'm hit. it just so happened he jumped in my arms and i put my arms around him and he put his arms around me. mo brooks took his belt off, gave to it flake and flake put a tourniquet on his leg to stop the bleeding. we all just stayed down. the thing about this, we had probably 15 of our colleagues in
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this dugout laying low, getting fired upon. we had generation, older guys like me and then we had a 10-year-old. >> mo brooks' -- >> joe barton's son. >> son. >> there we were all sharing this unbelievable moment. it just felt lic it went on forever. then, i was able, where i was, zach was right there with me, i looked up, i can't remember who it was, i saw one of the police officers, capitol police with nothing in front of him, firing a gun like this, boom boom boom boom boom. the greatest amount of bravery i've ever seen. >> i hate to say this, had they not been there you all -- there were a lot of folks in that dugout sitting targets. >> if they had not been there i would say he would have killed everybody. he was trying to get into the ballpark but the fence was locked on the third base side. he kept trying to work his way over. if he hasn't been there, we literally had nothing but
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baseballs and bats. >> zach, you talked about adrenaline. adrenaline can mask pain quite a while. once you were in the dugout, did the adrenaline calm down and you start to feel your wounds? >> the bullets were still flying. the adrenaline probably didn't wear off until i was in the ambulance to think about staying alive. i was trying to keep my head down and just stay alive. >> why did you want to be here today? >> this is an important event. we are coming together for one thing and i kind of echoing speaker ryan's sentiment that an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. we are all americans in this fight. we might disagree on issues but at the end of the day we are all on the same team. >> i am so proud of him. he is a hero. i'm just really proud to be -- i'm proud to serve the people.
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i saw a lot of brave people within our group the other day. everybody did something to help the other one. it was a moment that probably three or four generations will share together that won't go away. i would like to say this game needs to be played today. if we didn't play this today we would give in to people who don't want us to have the freedom. i hope today begins healing. we bow down to the verbiage a little bit in congress and around the country. >> you hope that is a lasting change from this that people can disagree and think about atoning. >> we can agree to disagree. we need to turn the tone down a little bit. maybe this is the day that gets it going. >> it's an honor. >> i hope you recover quickly. >> in the after math of the shooting the president called for unity. that was yesterday.
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today team trump sent out an e-mail asking supporters to s n sign -- democrat they sparked pn the street, destroyed our health care system and used the media to spew vicious rhetoric against the president. in the aftermath of the shooting mark sanford says the president is at least partly to blame for the vicious rhetoric. first here is what he said earlier today. >> i would argue that the president at least is partially to blame for demons unleashed whether what i saw at a senior center back home and people saying fu to each other or with what happened not with what happened yesterday but the fact that you have the top guy saying
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i wish i could hit you in the face. if not why don't you and i will pay the legal fees. that is bizarre. we ought to call it as such. >> congressman sanford joins us now. it has to make you feel good to see so many people in the stands here tonight. >> it gives you goose bumps. i have never seen it as filled as it is tonight. >> when you said that about the president being partly to blame for the deepens unleashed. gl i didn't blame him for the shooting that took place yesterday. what i said was we have gotten to a point in terms of break down civility in our country that it is a problem and that everybody is to blame and the blame on the republican side, democratic side. when the president says to somebody in the audience i wish i could hit you in the face if not why don't you do it and i will pay your legal fees that is a problem. each other whether in church or business or civic we ought to
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call each other on are we being human to each other in the way that we relate. to have an open and civil society you have to have a civil debate. you saw that at a senior center people using expletives against each other. that is a new development. >> i have been around politics for 20 years. i have never seen this kind of energy before. it is a very negative energy. these are people playing croquet with each other the next day. they know each other yet they were using certain expletives that don't fit. i called somebody on it. that is when they said to me if the guy at the top could say anything to anybody at any time why can't i say what i want? i said that is not the way we relate to each other. >> how do things change? even today among the calls for toning down the rhetoric. nancy pelosi making very tough comments about republicans
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today. >> i think we do it one person to one person. i hope that tonight's game serves as an inflection point saying let's support these players and let the stands help a number of charities and standing for steve scalise in the hospital but in the larger theme of we have to dial this thing back. i think it begins at the neighborhood level. everybody has their own spirit of interest. you have influence in here and i think with those that we can influence whether or family and friends, those we work with, that's the place to start. >> if it doesn't -- if there is not real change do you worry about this escalating? >> i do because to have an open and free society there has to be a degree of civility in the way that we relate to one another to have real debates. if we are impugning motives to
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others you can't really get to the debate on the ideas themselves. >> i talked to general hayden a couple of weeks ago and he talked about civilization which he feels is being stripped away. we like to think it is so entrenched that it can never happen. whether you have gone overseas that veneer is there and it is important for individuals, it's not just respecting institutions but respecting each other. >> so history is filled with all kinds of examples that remind us of how thin that line is between complete unrest and break down of civil society and that which it stands for and institutions that are strong. so it's incumbent upon everyone of us in the body of politics to do our part. it is incumbent upon you to do your part. we like to relay blame to media and folks in politics.
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there are hundreds of millions of people in the country. the way we relate to one another as i saw in a way never before it is important we look at how we are relating to folks in our own backyard and how we are using social media. >> appreciate you being with us. coming up we will get an update on the condition of congressman steve scalise. tonight the baseball game he was practicing for has gone on as planned. a huge turnout raising a lot of money.
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we are at the nationals park in washington where democrats, republicans are slugging it out on the baseball diamond in the name of greater unity in this town and around the country. the game comes in the wake of yesterday's shooting apparently politically motivated targeting republican lawmakers practicing for tonight. congressman steve scalise recovering from a very serious gun shot wound. we will have the latest on his condition. the game -- talk about the mood. >> it's a baseball game. while that might seem simplistic that means a lot.