somewhat, but i think the judge, he or she, i don't know the gender in this case, will give some discovery in this case and then it'll proceed to a motion for summery judgment. and if that's denied, i expect there'll be a -- >> gloria? >> and it's a woman judge. we had a male judge assigned to the case first. he recused himself for reasons we do not know. and that's fine. and then it was assigned to a woman judge in new york supreme court. >> ed, let me ask you, nearly a dozen women have accused donald trump of sexual assault or misconduct. you don't think there's any truth to any of those dozen or so women? >> one of the things phyllis, my old boss used to talk about, when you run for office at a hiel level, she ran for congress twice, i ran for congress, you learn a lot about how the game is played. with donald trump having run for president, becoming president, if there was evidence, if gloria's client or others had evidence of these kinds of things i think we would have a different kind of outcome. so at a certain point you have to say the president, when he

says it's fake news, i think what he means it's politics -- he said that it's politics at this level. i mean, harvey weinstein was alleged -- >> can i ask a question before we get onto harvey weinstein? lots of people have run for president. how come donald trump is the only one who 12 or 13 people -- >> he's not the only one -- it happened to bill clinton. >> ronald reagan. what about george bush? >> it has? >> i thought he had other allegations of affairs that he had. but, don't you guys agree that -- >> this is sexual harassment. >> i said what about other presidents who have not been accused like ronald reagan, like president obama. >> i thought you guys were pretty clear that everything in politics has changed and i think everybody sort of concedes that now. >> what are you talking about now? >> what does the drudge report

have to do? >> ed, this is going to be -- >> can i answer the question? the answer to the question, don, is that after lewinsky became the center of politics, everything went down into the gutter and now you just throe things up and claim it. >> so lewinsky, the president was impeached for it. >> exactly. and the point is nothing was offlimits. >> you conflate several issues. and the volume of your voice does not change your argument in anyway. when you continue to talk about harvey weinstein or other cases, you are very dismissive about the opportunity to have discovery simply because somebody has said that it's fake, you would undermine any ability for any -- >> i agree with jeffrey toobin. >> excuse me, ed. if i could finish my point. you undermine the entire civil litigation system where people are entitled to discovery even if they're saying there is in fact a falsehood.

there is an entitlement of d discovery. >> people that file lawsuits against public figures alleging -- as jeffrey toobin said, she had no cause of action that was able to be brought under any real sexual harassment in in anyway, so he filed -- >> not because of statute of limitations, not because it's not true -- >> jeffrey too bin said. >> one at a time. >> jeffrey toobin said -- >> hang on. stop, everyone. gloria, this is your case, so explain to him why it was brought and the reason you brought it. >> to jeffrey. >> jeffrey's not a lawyer. she's a lawyer. >> jeffrey's a lawyer. >> ed. it was brought because truth matters. >> okay. >> it's as simple as that. because a woman's reputation matters, and you can laugh and think that our daughters' reputations don't matter, but they do. and summer, like many women, has worked her whole life to build a good reputation.

and then with one fell swoop the president of the united states or the would-be president, soon to be president tries to completely destroy and does destroy her reputation when he calls her and all the other women who made allegations liars. >> don. >> and i've got to go. >> ten seconds, don. >> this is the way. >> let her finish. >> this is the way to get the truth. because, for example, he has said we have asked for all documents concerning donald j. trump's statement -- >> gloria, we have to go. let him respond. >> and that's not how -- let's see those documents and find out if it's true. >> gloria, i'm with jeff toobin. it's a weak case, and you're grandstanding for politics. and that's not right. and it's fake news. trump's news. >> i appreciate his saying my name over and over again. i enjoy that part a lot. >> it's what you said. >> i said it's a question about whether a judge would dismiss it or not. >> you said it was bootstrapped, that's legal speak for it was

bootstrapped, meaning he didn't have a case, right? >> you know what, i think we should speak one at a time. but we're out of time now. >> and i don't think jeffrey toobin, that's what he said at all. >> that's not what i said. >> thank you all. appreciate it. this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. thank you so much for joining us. a little bit past 11:00 on the east coast, and we're live with new developments. president trump in the rose garden today seemed to have an awful lot on his predecessor blasting him on health care and saying he didn't call the families of fallen troops. >> if you look at president obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls, a lot of them didn't make calls. i like to call when it's appropriate. president obama after a long period of time was finally able to push it through but push through something that's failed. really failing badly. obamacare it's a wreck. it's destroying lives. we want to get it in those states, the states i did so well in, but also in states i didn't win. i want to get health care that's

much more affordable. plus the man who sparked the nfl protest, collin kaepernick, fighting back tonight as president trump doubles and triples down on his condemnation. we'll have more on that in a moment. we have a lot to cover, but i want to bring in now cnn political commentator -- good evening to all of you. matt, i'm going to start with you. president trump has done everything nearly in his power to roll back president obama's policies. here's what he said today about the affordable care act. >> obamacare is finished. it's gone. you shouldn't even mention it. it's gone. there is no such thing as obamacare anymore. it is a -- and i said this years ago. it's a concept that couldn't have worked. in its best days it couldn't have worked. >> so despite executive orders

obamacare is still the law of the land. so is the president off base here? >> so, first of all in the rose garden he has tendency to want to talk about barack obama. so i think there's an obsession. now that it's not unique to donald trump, i felt like barack obama talked about inheriting a bad economy from george w. bush for longer than i would have liked. i think donald trump has gotten to a point he's not able to pass a proactive agenda so all that is left is to teardown -- >> that's a diplomatic way of saying what? you're being very diplomatic. what are you saying? >> that's me, i'm diplomatic. >> tell the truth. shame the devil. what are you saying? >> i think that you can't get something done, you can't proactively get something done, you can tear down stuff the last guy did.

and i think he is trying to sabotage him. >> and as we saw by executive orders, they can be overturned. as we saw he's overturning a lot of the executive orders that obama put into place. is president trump just trying to undo former president obama's legacy? >> yes. because donald trump doesn't have much of a legislative accomplishment this year. he has just one note, which is beat on barack obama. he has one note that makes him feel big. it's been stunning to see what he said. i mean it started with the birther movement with donald trump, and then the fact he's claiming that he was wiretapped by barack obama. and now trump is making up things that barack obama wasn't caring about our soldiers that were killed in action. it's a constant trying to humiliate obama. and i think that 30% that backs donald trump likes when he does that. i don't know how much racism plays in what donald trump does, but i think there's a large chunk of it.

>> i'm glad you said that last part. listen, charles, your piece i thought was fascinating today. it's called "trump, chieftain of spite." you said if there's a defining feature of trump as president it is that he is an all ways the anti--obama. not only on policy but also on matters of propriety and polish. trump isn't governing with a vision. he's governing out of spite. obama's effectiveness highlights trump's ineptitude. why do you think president trump is obsessed with his predecessor? >> i actually don't know. it's hard to get inside of anybody's head, but you can analyze what they do. and his obsession obama predates the presidency, predates the election. it was, as david points out with the birther thing, it was much deeper than that. it was he didn't go to the schools that he said he went to. his book was -- the first book was too good to have been possibly been written by him --

i mean it was everything single thing about him and everything that went wrong, he attached it to obama. so every time even black lives matter would protest, he would attach that to obama. why hasn't obama fixed this? it was an intense fascination with one person that is inexplicable other than to be what we think it is, which is obsessive and that the only thing he can think to do and accomplish, because as matt says he doesn't have a legislative agenda that's got through. and he also didn't have a legislative agenda. even that was rolled back. >> hold on. i don't think it's inexplicable. have you met people that study you? like when -- you -- you cannot buy, no matter how much money you have, you can't buy class. president obama whatever you think of his politics, he's a very classy man. he's a smart man. he's one of the kindest people

you ever want to meet. he and his wife are. i'm not talking about politics. having met them and knowing them. you can't teach that. that's something that you cannot teach. i think that's something the president is jealous about. he doesn't have the qualities. even with all the money thatin world, that's not there. >> i think there is something to him, that obama was instantly granted a kind of cultural cashe that trump has been denied his entire life. even when he was at his most successful, moving into manhattan, building skyscrapers, he still was not part of new york city elite cultural life, because in fact he refused to do the things that are required. first of all, stop acting a fool. but second philanthropy. like you donate things. your name is on buildings because you actually give away money if you're a millionaire. and he just would not -- that's not part of who he is, and that kept him a bit apart from new

york city high life. >> go ahead alice. >> i want to say it was another phenomenal piece by charles, and i hope everyone reads it. i do want to point out one things he says in there. i'm one of the people charles talks about in this piece that that recognize that president obama brought a sense of honor and decency to the white house. even though i disagreed with his policies, he was a man who, as you say, was class and decency. i think it's important also to note a lot of what we're seeing out of president trump is not a personal grievance. these are policy difference. and he campaigned on doing away with obamacare. he campaigned on rolling back some of what they view as unconstitutional executive orders. and he campaigned on pulling back on a lot of the policies that barack obama implemented as president. and that's what we're seeing. that's why we're trying desperately to repeal and replace obamacare. that's why we're seeing a lot of -- it's not about the personal grievance. it's about the policy differences. and they couldn't be on more opposite sides of the fence. >> i would agree with that if donald trump exhibited any kind

of facility with the policies that he's advocating. what i have seen, and when people put the question directly to him, he can't answer the question. that means -- that says to me that it is actually not a policy debate. because if you had a replacement policy that you could articulate, you would do that. this is really about rolling back what obama did. whether you liked obamacare or not, he went on the road and tried to sell it. and he could talk to you about it. and you might not agree with what he said, and some of the things may not have been fulfilled the way he said they would be, and they weren't. but he could talk about the policy, the nitty-gritty of it. president trump to today has demonstrated he can't do that. >> douglas, you said something very interesting. it's just about race. let's be real, the story here. can you hear douglas? >> yeah, sorry. just beeped out for a second. i hear you now.

>> go on. go ahead. >> who do you want? >> there's a strange delay. it's you. go ahead, douglas. >> okay. good. all i was going to say is when you deal with donald trump in this issue, you have to look at the race baiting. you have to look at the border wall with mexico, the comments he said after charlottesville, that he feels by beating up on obama he's scoring points with people that didn't like the idea of a first african-american president. it seems pure and simple, and he goes back to it time and time again. >> donald trump was pretty nasty to hillary clinton, though, too. he likes to take shots at her, too. i'm not saying there isn't a racial component. there very well may be. i do think he's obsessed with barack obama. he's also obsessed with crowd sizes and also obsessed with hillary clinton, too. >> you just made my point what i said. some things you just can't teach.

that's class. >> that might be different than the race thing. >> no matter how much money, he cannot buy what barack obama has, and that's class. >> we're going to talk about john mccain who's asserting some of the things we said tontd. we'll be right back. you wouldn't do only half

of your daily routine, so why treat your mouth any differently?

complete the job with listerine® help prevent plaque, early gum disease, bad breath and kill up to 99.9% of germs. listerine® bring out the bold™ to f...nerve pain shoots and burns its way into your day... ...i hear you. when that pain makes simple errands simply unbearable... ...i hear you. i hear you because my dad struggled with this pain. make sure your doctor hears you too. so folks, don't wait. step on up. and talk to your doctor. because you have places to go... ...and people who can't wait for you to get there. if you have diabetes and burning, shooting pain in your feet or hands... step on up and talk to your doctor today.

an emotional john mccain choking up tonight as he blasts those who would abandon america's leadership in the world for the sake of what he calls half-baked spurious nationalism. listen. >> the fear in the world we've organized and led the three quarters of a century to abandon the ideals we have advance ed around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international

leadership and our duty to remain the last best hope of earth for the sake of some half-baked spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems. [ applause ] is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past that americans can sign to the trash heap of history. we live in the land made of ideals, not blood and soil. we are the custodians of those ideals at home and their champion abroad. >> back now with my panel. alice, what do you make of this? it's a very deliberate strike from senator mccain. >> absolutely. it was another thumbs down from senator mccain to this administration. and he was basically making his views known that, look, we cannot continue this nationalism

america-first policy or in his view, it would put the u.s. in the back seat of the world stage. and that is john mccain's view, it has always been his view. and certainly this speech was directly specifically at it president and the views that he has with regard to foreign policy. and the two of them disagree fundamentally on many issues, but hats off to john mccain for taking this opportunity to make his feelings known with regard to our national security and his position given his service to our country. >> douglas brinkly, that blood and soil reference i think was a clear reference to charlottesville and the white supremacists there shouting blood and soil, jews will not replace us. >> well, absolutely. and i think john mccain did us a great service by delivering this speech. it reminds me in a way of dwight eisenhower's fair well address, that someone who has unimpeachable great credentials as a war hero like john mccain and eisenhower are warning our

country about this half-baked nationalism going on. and the under mining of international order in u.s. policy. it's great for john mccain. it's going to play well in history. and he constantly impresses me, he's like john glen or something, just a hero always stepping up with our country needs his voice. >> charles, this is mccain's 2008 rival. this is president obama, tweeted tonight. i'm grateful to senator john mccain to his lifetime of service to our country. congratulations, john, on receiving this year's liberty medal. how do you think that's going to go over? >> i think former presidents get a lot of leeway, particularly in ways of being con grat la toir. i would like to say this to all of these republican leaders, donald trump has a name. use it. say his name. say that it is him who is doing

this, because these kind of oblique inferences are not enough. you had mitch mcconnell standing in that rose garden looking as uncomfortable as i've ever seen anybody look. but they won't go the extra step and say this is a problem, mr. president, this is too far. you have to pull back. you are hurting america. you are hurting our standing in the world. you have a name, and i'm going to call it out. and until one of these leaders does that and not give me oblique references, i have to reserve my applause. >> but i also think -- and that's a fair point. but i also think that the forces that we're up against, that john mccain is up against, isn't just donald trump's presidency. it's forces that are happening internationally with like le pen in france, with brexit.

and some of these forces donald trump really latched onto and exploited. we've got the alt-right in america, the richard spencers. and i do think that right now, you know, john mccain's sort of life has been lived in this post-world war ii consensus world, where, you know, the republicans had, preworld war ii, been isolationist, but after world war ii everyone was not globalist or internationalists. and we all sort of agree on a lot of the same things. and that is coming apart. our culture is coming apart. and there's a real debate on the right right now, sadly, over what makes it american. is it blood and soil? some people believe that's what's it is. or is it a credo thing, is it something that we believe in -- >> i happened to stumble across a book in a store today, and it was printed in 1903. the first essay in that book was from theodore roosevelt about

what americanism is. and it was -- great republican. it is almost everything that donald trump is not. it was everything that he is not saying. he starts off by saying we cannot have a religious test. and it is almost like a counter point to now and the islam phobia that's happening. everything about what donald trump is doing is against everything that is the bedrock of america, and they have an obligation to use his name. >> i've got to ask you this, douglas, and i know we have to go. if you could respond quickly. the president was asked about the public silence for nearly two weeks. those four green berets. that were killed in niger. he says he hasn't spoken to their families, he's written letters and they will be arriving soon. however, in these 12 days, he's found time to play golf, call people out, tweet other things. how bad are these optics? >> it's terrible optics. it's embarrassing. and i hope he gets on the phones

tomorrow first thing and make sure those letters get federal expressed. there's no excuse for him not to reach out to those families of those green berets. when we come back, you may be surprised to find out how russian trolls influenced our election. did they take cues from a popular american tv show? that's next. building a website in under an hour is easy with gocentral... ...from godaddy! in fact, 68% of people who have built their... ...website using gocentral, did it in under an hour, and you can too. build a better website - in under an hour. with gocentral from godaddy.

is there anything the russians didn't try to influence our election? we're learning tonight they even used a popular american tv show. here to discuss that now the man who broke that story. he's a chief investigative correspondent for yahoo news and cnn's contributor jill dohorty. fascinating, michael. you posted a great story for yahoo news. and you report that the russian internet trolls were made to watch the house of cards tv series for pointers on how american politics worked. what did they learn from the show? >> who knew? you know, they got a very dark view of the american political system. look, in some respects one could

argue that it is a view of how the world works, how government works, how politics works. that's closer to the way life in russia has been than it is in the united states. certainly, you know, frank underwood, the kevin spacy character, murders a journalist, murders a political opponent. that's the kind of thing we've seen or at least heard allegations of under vladimir putin in russia. but if you take that part away and grant that the "house of cards" is in some respects caricature, in other respects it's not off the mark. planting damaging stories in the press to corrupt dealings. all of that is not totally off

the mark of the way our political system works. so perhaps one could understand why the russians would want their english language trolls to be studying this show. >> you know, what can russian hackers get from "house of cards" they couldn't get from watching the evening news? >> you know it's different. you can go onto the website of any newspaper, you can get all the facts you want, you can get very cogent stories, but you don't get flavor. and what these guys were doing is they were making comments in english in stories that appeared let's say "the new york times," "the washington post," et cetera. so what they wanted to do was pick up on what are americans talking about? you know, what's popular? what give them an insight into the psychology of americans? so this guy apparently, maxim, was working a couple of years ago at the house of trolls in st. petersburg, and he was trying to understand it.

you pick up things like lingo, you pick up how do you say things, what are people worried about, what are they commenting about. and some of the things, you know, we find out now, taxes, gays, guns are things that americans really feel. i thought it was very interesting in that article, by the way, where you said, michael, that one of the things that he, maxim, talked about was how religious americans are. and that religion plays a role in some of this discussion on the web. that's not something you would hear, let's say, from the russian government. the russian government would say the american system is corrupt and all of that. but here's a guy who really wanted to apparently understand for bad purposes, but he still wanted to understand. >> let's talk more about the russia investigation. now, michael, the president says he is not considering firing robert mueller, the special

counsel. but i want you to listen to what he said about the investigation today. watch this. >> well, i'd like to see it. and look, the whole russian thing was an excuse. there's been absolutely no collusion. it's been stated they have no collusion. they ought to get to the end of it because i think the american public is sick of it. >> from what you're hearing, how close is mueller to wrapping this up? >> i don't think he's close at all. we are at a critical stage because we know that mueller has begun questioning folks in and around the white house relating to the obstruction part of the investigation. that's the firing of james comey. and we know he interviewed just the other day reince priebus who was then the chief of staff when all this went down. look, that is the part of this investigation that gets closest to donald trump based on the evidence we know. it was trump who decided to fire comey because he said of the russia investigation that the fbi was doing.

so we are at a part of the probe that is -- is probably the most precarious for the white house. and that may be why trump is backing off of it, on attacks on mueller. he doesn't want to antagonize him and his team right now when they are questioning people in and around him. you know, one big question here is, is mueller going to require an interview, a deposition or a testimony from the president himself under oath. that's clearly where it would be most perilous for the president. >> jill, not to give you a short shift here, but a very limited time here. are the russians worried about what the investigation may uncover? >> what they say is where's the proof? we haven't seen anything. and i think you have to say yet. we don't know.

so, you know, they can -- that's pretty much across the board. >> thank you, michael, thank you, jill. i appreciate it, see you next time. when we come back, colin kaepernick, filing a grievance against the nfl. did team owners collude to keep him from being signed? we're going to break that down next. you wouldn't do only half of your daily routine, so why treat your mouth any differently? complete the job with listerine® help prevent plaque, early gum disease, bad breath and kill up to 99.9% of germs. listerine® bring out the bold™

colin kaepernick filing a grievance against the nfl claiming owners have colluded to keep him from being signed by a team as punishment for kneeling during the national anthem last year while playing for the 49ers. president trump again blasting players who take a knee and even tying that to hillary clinton's election loss. here it is. >> you're disrespecting our flag and you're disrespecting our country. and the nfl should have suspend ed some of these players for one game, not fire him. suspended them for one game. and then if they did it again, it could have been two games and three games and then for the season. you wouldn't have people disrespecting our country right now. and if hillary clinton actually made the statement that in a forum sitting down during the playing of our great national

anthem is not disrespectful, then i fully understand why she didn't win. >> i want to bring in laura coats, denise white, and christine brennan. so much to discuss. so let's talk about how is this going to be difficult, laura. i want to get sort of a legal angle here. what does kaepernick need to do to prove that he is being colluded against. and how difficult is that going to be? if that's a term, colluded against. >> collusion is a term that continues to haunt president trump, even if we're talking about the nfl, but collusion in this context is a particularly hard thing to prove. and here's why. you have to show that two or more teams, and i think 14 or more of the teams had conspired against you to deny of you a right that you think you were otherwise entitled to. it's not enough to simply have a suspicion this happened or suspect you were black balled or suspect that there was a

conspiracy a foot. you actually have to have evidence. a smoking gun evidence towards this. and that would be very hard to prove. and if you have to show that he was worth it, because he could face treble damages, meaning three times whatever he was facing initially losing in terms of income or salary. so there is a risk to be taken, but it is an uphill legal battle. >> according to to the report from profootball talks, the last straw for kaepernick was when the tennessee -- do you think its kaepernick's way of sticking to the league on his way out? has he essentially given up on playing in the nfl? >> of course i don't want to speak on his behalf, but i think there's a line in a sand that you draw. and once you step over that line, it's kind of obvious that i think he feels that he ap not going to get a job in the nfl. we had the titans quarterback

go down this past weekend, we had aaron rogers go down. but coming into an nfl offense is not easy. these guys study play books. there's a special type of offense each team plays. you don't just pick up a quarterback on a whim and think, okay, we're going to throw him in and he's going to learn this offense right away. that's why we have backup quarterbacks and third string quarterbacks. you have to look at that and think this situation is the right situation for colon. he probably feels so, but that doesn't necessarily mean the team thinks so. >> christine, you're shaking your head. let me say this, because she mentioned it. the super star quarterback, aaron rogers went down with an injury last wednesday. here's what the head coach said when asked if he had any interest in collin kaepernick. >> did you just listen to that question i just answered? i got three years invested in brett huntley, two years in joe cal la han. the quarterback is right where

it needs to be. we're fortunate to have a great quarterback in aaron rogers. we're committed on the path we're on. brent huntley will be starting this week and callahan will be the backup. >> mccarthy very firmly shutting down the packers have any interest in kaepernick. >> collin kaepernick, don, is go ing to turn 30 november 3rd. that's old in quarterback years. it's been five years since he took a team to the super bowl. i think that's important to mention. he took a team to the super bowl. this is a quarterback who played in the super bowl and actually nearly won the super bowl. >> tom brady is 40, by the way. aaron rogers is not exactly 21 is he? >> absolutely. and he's not 23 either. i think he should have had a chance. there were those conversations about, well, has he shown enough interest? because he left the 49ers.

well, you had jay cutler, a quarterback who was retired that was signed by the miami dolphins. so cutler would have shown no interest whatsoever because he was retired and he was brought back. so, no, i think kaepernick -- we may never know, don, is the final answer here. we'll see lawyerura's points on legal side of this. we may never know. as a journalist, i would like to. i've got to believe that kaepernick is, again, the issue of the kneeling is certainly something you could even hear that in mccarthy's voice like, no, don't even bring that up. i don't even want to deal with that because a lot of these teams didn't want to have him be a part of their team, which is unfortunate, because i think kaepernick takes us to a national conversation, which is an important conversation to

have. >> there's a reason he filed the grievance a few days before the meeting in new york. it's not coincidental that he's doing this in the wake of what the president of the united states has been tweeting about and making comments. you got about a 90 day window to file these grievances. had it happened 90 days ago or within that 90-day window -- so you're looking at a very fixed period of time, not what happened last year necessarily but what's been happening recently. i think the claim is what has been happening recently among teams, maybe in cahoots with the president of the united states or maybe amongst themselves, just two or more. that is the information that is going to be so key about this case. when we come back more on colin kaepernick's claim. i can box out any muscle or joint pain immediately. blue-emu continuous pain relief spray, it works fast and you won't stink.

parts a and b and want more coverage, guess what? you could apply for a medicare supplement insurance plan whenever you want. no enrollment window. no waiting to apply. that means now may be a great time to shop for an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. medicare doesn't cover everything. and like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, these help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. so don't wait. call now to request your free decision guide. it could help you find the aarp medicare supplement plan

that works for you. these types of plans have no networks, so you get to choose any doctor who accepts medicare patients. rates are competitive, and they're the only plans of their kind endorsed by aarp. remember - these plans let you apply all year round. so call today. because now's the perfect time to learn more. go long. you know what's difficult? adulting... hi, guys. i'm back. time to slay! no,i have a long time girlfriend. you know what's easy? building your website with godaddy. get your domain today and get a free trial of gocentral. build a better website in under an hour.

president doubling down on his criticism of nfl players who kneel during the national anthem. want to bring in now ben ferguson and mark lumonthill. good evening, gentlemen. mark, president trump played the hits earlier today, going after both protests in the nfl and his old foe hillary clinton. >> in an interview earlier today hillary clinton said she did not believe players taking a knee in the nfl was about disrespecting the flag, at complete odds you have portrayed this.

you fired back in a tweet say ing you hope she runs again in 2020. >> oh, i hope she runs again. is she going to run? hillary, please run again. go ahead. >> she's at odds with you over whether or not this is disrespecting the flag? is she right or wrong? >> i think she's wrong. look, when they take a knee -- there's plenty of time to do knees and plenty of times to do lots of other things. but when you take a knee -- that's why she lost the election. honestly, it's that thinking, that is the reason she lost the election. >> that thinking is the reason she lost the election. what do you say to that, mark? >> this is historically unprecedented pettiness. you won the election, you're president. to constantly jab at hillary clinton is unnecessary. if hillary clinton makes a public statement as a private citizen, he has every right to respond. i don't think he should, but he has every right to. and i wouldn't have an issue with that. when you start making remarks, it's just unnecessary.

and it speaks to an insecurity of the president. but to the actual substance of the question, which is is it disrespectful, i think hillary clinton is right. it is not disrespectful. the players certainly aren't intending to disrespect the american flag by taking a knee. do other americans have a right to be offended? sure they do. but you can't state for someone else what their intent is. and you can't define the boundaries of patriotism or respect for the american flag. there are all kinds of flag rules that people ignore and disrespect. and president trump puts himself as the arbiter of what's right and wrong and that's not okay. >> he apparently liked his line at the press conference so much that he decided to tweet it out later today. look at that, ben. >> yeah. >> look -- >> hillary clinton is going to run in 2020. my answer was, i hope so. >> i do too. i hope she's the author of another book that is entitled it happened again. i mean, for the first time in my life i stand with her. i want hillary clinton to run for re-election. that would be amazing.

but to say that it's petty for donald trump to respond to a former secretary of state, a former senator, the woman has run for president not once but twice and with a nominee this time, to say that he shouldn't respond to her is just absurd. i mean, she's the highest democrat out there right now. >> you do realize i didn't say that, right? >> well, first of all, she's not a -- well, she's not a private citizen. she's a public figure. very much so. she's out there publicly criticizing the president. it is very fair when someone asks you a question in the press in the rose garden to respond to that question about the person that you just beat in an election. >> okay, ben. >> to say that somehow he's picking on her is absurd. >> mark, i want you to respond because i didn't hear you say that. >> ben, this is a dishonest argument. you're suggesting i said he shouldn't respond when actually i said he should respond to hillary clinton. and he has ever right to respond to hillary clinton. what he shouldn't do is point out why she lost the election.

that's the part i called petty. to say i said he was picking on her, i didn't say he was picking on her. again, she made a public statement. i said it was a public statement. but, yes, ben, you're incorrect. she is a private citizen, unless she holds a public office that i don't know about. please tell me what it is. >> let's move on. she is a private citizen. >> she's a public figure. >> but, ben, she is a public figure. but she is a private citizen. wisconsin governor scott walker sent out today to the nfl and the nfl players association. it is time for players in the nfl to stop protesting during the anthem and move on from what has become a divisive political side show. instead i encourage them to use their voices and influence to take a stand against domestic violence. with the owners and players meeting tomorrow during domestic violence awareness month, now we would be -- now would be an especially opportune time to strongly condemn domestic violence and lead the charge in supporting safe families across america. not to take anything away from that cause, that is a very good cause, but why does governor

walker think that he can just tell the nfl players what causes they should be using their platform for? >> look, i think he's as a governor has a right to say what he wants to say. and put out a letter. i don't think he's forcing them. he's giving them another idea. i'm kind of over this nfl protest thing. i think the nfl is in serious trouble with their fan base now. i think they completely misjudged this issue, and i think the majority of americans think that the way that they've handled this has been wrong. look at the stands this weekend in big games where there was a lot of empty seats. the ratings were also down again at week six. so i've moved on. a lot of americans have moved on on sundays. they're moving past this. i think the governor has a right to have an opinion here and i think he's giving good advice to the nfl which is you don't want to keep doing this. let's move on to something positive that we can all agree on which domestic violence is a month that we should be able to highlight and maybe that to the owners is a good way to move forward. >> we base what's moral and

what's right on ratings and -- but go on. >> i just think -- >> got this one wrong. >> go ahead, mark. >> it must be an extraordinary feeling to be able to just say, hey, let's on past this whole racial injustice thing. >> i'm saying the nfl issue in general at this point is just getting annoying because i'd love to watch a football game without it being all about what you and i are talking about right now and i think they're ruining the game -- >> i watched football all weekend and no one talked about this. >> i watched it on saturday. i didn't watch it on sunday because i'm over the nfl. i really am. >> i watched it on sunday with a whole lot of people and it was fun. go ahead, mark. >> i'm not so much over the nfl. i'm more over black people being shot in the street by police. i'm more worried about unarmed people dying. i'm more worried about mentally ill and people under the age of 18 being killed by law enforcement. that i'm actually really, really over. so if people taking a knee can stop any of that, i am so much on board with that that i don't mind missing an nfl football

game or hearing a conversation i don't want to hear. >> i've got -- >> we don't all -- >> then you should stand by governor walker and what he said on his letter. stand up on domestic violence issues. >> thanks for watching. i'll see you right back here tomorrow. good night. sys

hi i can understand fully how steve bannon feels. we're possibly now i think closer than ever before. >> president trump walking a very fine line within his own