>> tune in for "parts unknown" sunday at 9:00 p.m. on cnn. time to hand it over to don lemon and "cnn tonight." this is cnn breaking news. >> breaking news, tension rising inside the justice department. this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. the source of that tension, deputy attorney general rod rosenstein for his handling of the russia investigation and his surprise move to appoint robert mueller, a special counsel, to oversee that probe. president trump taking aim at rosenstein in a stunning tweet. the president acknowledging that he's being investigated for firing former fbi director james comey and blaming rosenstein for what he calls a witch hunt. will he fire rosenstein? a lot to get to tonight.

i want to get to justice department correspondent evan perez. evan, let's talk about what you're learning. the new reporting that you have on some of the growing tension going on over at the justice department, over at the justice department over this russia probe, what do you know? >> that's right, don. everything goes back to rod rosenstein's decision to bring in robert mueller as a special counsel. look, that has unleashed the anger of the president, as you saw from that tweet that he sent out earlier today. and it also applies to his fellow colleagues at the justice department where the attorney general sits a floor above him on the fifth floor of the justice department. a lot of consternation and, frankly, anger at the way that rosenstein has handled this. the attorney general was surprised, to say the least, that they were going to bring in mueller. at that point, it looked like mueller was going to be interim fbi director. he was surprised by this announcement by rosenstein and now we know that rosenstein himself may end up having to be a witness in this investigation.

>> so listen, is there a good chance that we could see the deputy attorney general rosenstein recuse himself in what do you think? >> look, i think we're walking very quickly towards that point. as i mentioned, he very well may become a witness in this investigation because he wrote the memo that president trump used to fire james comey, the fbi director. and it's widely believed that the firing of comey is going to be a part of mueller's investigation into whether or not the president was trying to interfere with or obstruct the justice department's investigation. so all of this is going to come to a head pretty quickly, pretty soon because we believe that mueller, once he's done staffing and looks at all of the evidence, will make a decision as to whether or not this becomes a full-blown investigation of the president, don. >> evan, thank you. stay with me. i want to bring in cnn political analyst carl bernstein, senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny, laura coats and tara pamieri.

here we go. we're seeing a frustrated president today, at least on twitter. you could see that he's frustrated. writing this, "i am being investigated for firing the fbi director by the man who told me to fire the fbi director. witch hunt." what do folks around the president say about his complaint? >> well, don, there's no sort of guessing what his mindset is. we all know what his mindset is. we can see it here in realtime. i'm being told that the tweets that we've been seeing particularly on this matter are less spontaneous than you might think. the fact of the matter is, he's basically trying to take the reins of the communication strategy here, the talking points, if you will, and send the message out early in the morning about this and that witch hunt message, he wants his core supporters to believe and

in many respects they do. but the challenge here is this. i mean, this is a different type of fight that he's ever been in. according to one person he spoke to in the last 24 hours who i talked to today said this is a political fight and he wants to win the political fight and take the matter into his own hands. the more serious matter in this is not political at all. it's legal. so that is the challenge here. all of his lawyers have advised him to stop talking, you know, to stop commenting on this sort of blow by blow. clearly, he was sending a message or talking about his displeasure for rod rosenstein, the deputy attorney general here. this is definitely -- and perhaps the president is trying to urge this towards a recusal. he's weighing in on this here. we'll see how he tweets over the weekend here. but the president is basically now a one-man communications shop leading the strategy on his own and be damn the consequences. >> carl, i'd like to know what

you think about this because dianne feinstein is concerned that president trump may try to fire bob mueller and rod rosenstein. she put out a warning. she said, "the message that the president is sending through his tweets is he believes the rule of law doesn't apply to him and that anyone who thinks otherwise will be fired." so what happens, carl, if the president fires the special counsel or if he fires deputy attorney general? >> first of all, he has the authority to do so. and we seem to be heading towards a constitutional crisis approaching one, if we're not already there yet, because we have an authoritarian-inclined president who is taking the reins, as jeff just told us, and his political strategy is to act in an authoritarian way rather than see the legal lawful procedures proceed. and there has been certainly what fbi believes and reporters covering the white house believes a coverup in the white

house because this president has not told his people, okay, there's this investigation going on. let's see the facts. so we're heading toward a real collision here and at the same time, he has the authority to do this. i don't think there's any question that rosenstein is going to have to recuse himself and the president, i think, would like to see him recuse himself and in which case rachel brand would become the acting deputy attorney general. >> what is mess this is. >> well, it's a little more than a mess because the real question is -- and i believe and said last night on the air, that trump's strategy that trump just outlined playing to his base is probably a smart one from his point of view if he doesn't give a damn about the country and trying to unite the country in some way but playing to his base and we're going to play into a constitutional crisis if this

keeps going because the only thing that will stop the collision is the congress of the united states looking into impeachment in some way and republicans are very reluctant to do that and especially reluctant as long as the president can keep this base aroused. so far, he's kept them aroused. >> evan, i have to ask you, what do we know about rachel brand? >> she's a long-time republican official, obviously. she's not known, however, as any kind of ideologue. president trump picked her. in the last few years, she served on a privacy and civil liberties board that overlooked the surveillance and intelligence agency. so she's an expert in national security. she's not an expert in prosecutions and in doing these types of cases. so it's going to be interesting to see whether or not she has to assume the role of overseeing this investigation.

certainly, don, not what she was expecting when she decided to take the number three job at the justice department. >> laura, let's talk about the house speaker newt gingrich weighing in. listen to this. >> technically, the president of the united states cannot obstruct justice. the president of the united states is the chief executive officer of the united states. if he wants to fire the fbi director, all he has to do is fire him. >> laura, this is coming from the man who voted to impeach president bill clinton for obstruction of justice. so what gives here? >> perhaps the word he meant instead of can't is shouldn't try to obstruct justice. to suggest that the president of the united states is somehow immunized from all criminal conduct or allegations against him would be entirely false. yes, he has the absolute prerogative to fire an at-will employee who serves at his pleasure and that was the fbi director james comey. however, he does not have the bandwidth in order to fire for an unlawful purpose or certainly one with a criminal purpose or

wrongdoing. we don't yet know whether or not in fact he had that criminal intention but we do know that he suggested not only to the russian ambassadors and also to lester holt that he did it because of the handling of the russia investigation and it alleviated a great deal of pressure on himself. the hypocrisy is dripping from the words of newt gingrich. the idea that the president of the united states can do no wrong is a fallacy that democracy does not allow. >> yeah. and here he is, this is him on nbc news talking about what laura said. listen. >> i was going to fire comey. my decision. it was not -- >> you had made the decision before -- >> i was going to fire comey. there's no good time to do it, by the way. >> because in your letter you said i accepted their recommendations. so you had already made the decision. >> oh, i was going to fire regardless of recommendation. he made a recommendation. he's highly respected.

very good guy, very smart guy. the democrats like him. the republicans like him. he made a recommendation. but regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey knowing there was no good time to do it. >> okay. so if you listen to that and you look at today's tweet, he's contradicting himself, because originally it was said, well, he fired him in his letter because rod rosenstein and then he said, no, i was going to fire him anyway. it didn't matter. and now -- >> i know. well, president donald trump is obviously punching into the air. he's punching at whatever is around. this is a typical crouch for him. let's not forget when he was in the private sector as a real estate tycoon. he was often the subject of inquiries. he was investigated for trump university for allegations of sham and fraud and he tried to discredit attorney general

schneiderman on twitter. he would often tweet things about him before an event to reporters would have to ask mr. schneiderman about it at the event. in the new york observer which was owned by his son-in-law kushner at the time that actually alleged a lot of things about schneiderman but basically said he was not a scrupulous person and said to the point that he was wearing eyeliner. they were trying to assassinate his character. this is part of the trump playbook. according to my source in the white house, this is typical of trump. he feels there's no one out there defending him and the words that he wants. he's unhappy with the way his communications department is dealing with this and in fact they really can't deal with this because they've been instructed by lawyers not to comment. because if they do start commenting, they'll get thrown into this whole legal disaster and they are not making enough money to afford lawyers at the

hourly rate that they cost. but trump feels like he's out there on his own fighting his fight on his own and he's punching into the air not knowing who the enemy is. >> at a certain point, it's always good to listen to your attorneys. that's why you hire them. >> today his lawyers were actually surprised when they saw the tweets. they didn't know what was going to come. there's some consequences to this, potentially, for the president. >> and trump is adding another high-profile attorney to the russia legal team, speaking of, you know, what are you learning? >> well, we're learning tonight that he's adding more fire power. john dowd is the lawyer he's hired. this is a long-time prosecutor in one life but he was hired by major league baseball to investigate pete rose, the betting scandal. it went on from there. he also defended senator john mccain in the keating five scandal. more than three decades ago. he has deep experience in

prosecution and defense. he'll be joining the president's growing legal team here. but the question is, no matter who the president brings on, can anyone sort of persuade him or dissuading him from engaging in this respect? and the reality is, probably not. politically speaking, him doing this probably is, you know, keeping his support high among his base and his core supporters. many who believe there is a witch hunt going on, but he's sending out those talking points. but the president talking to roger stone and other friends of his who believe this is a witch hunt, you know, he's hearing their advice. not necessarily taking the advice from his lawyers. roger stone says that he should fire bob mueller and fire rod rosenstein. we'll see if he does that, but interestingly, roger stone was in new york and used the same

word the president has been using, witch hunt. >> thank you, appreciate it. breaking news off the coast of japan. seven u.s. soldiers are missing after their navy destroyer collided with a merchant ship. at least four have suffered injuries, including the ship's commanding officer is hospitalized in stable condition. search is under way for the missing soldiers. the "uss fitzgerald" suffered damage to its starboard side above and below the water line. this resulted in some flooding. i'm going to linger on these pictures for a bit. the ship is operating, i should tell you, under its own power. u.s. naval vessels and aircraft on hand to assist. we'll continue to update you. when we come back, will the president fire robert mueller, the man investigating him, or the deputy attorney general. and what will the consequences be if he does? expert legal advice, next. to its roots.

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y286oy ywty president trump tweeting that he's being investigated as part of the russia probe angrily blaming deputy attorney general rod rosenstein for what he calls a witch hunt. i want to bring in the former prosecutor for the southern district of new york, matthew whitaker and cnn analyst richard ben-veniste a former watergate prosecutor and john flannery. we brought the heavy hitters here. we're not measuring around today. seriously. richard, i want to start with you. tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of when five men were arrested for breaking into the democratic national headquarters. there's been so many comparisons

to watergate over the past weeks. do you think we're on the verge of another saturday night massacre? >> 45 years since then and it sure looks like it. it looks like we've got a simmering tea kettle here and the president is testing the waters here about whether he should fire bob mueller. he's received bipartisan acclaim. you look in the dictionary for public servant and you see bob mueller's picture. he was an outstanding choice and is doing his job. he's doing nothing other than doing his job. the president just can't pick the opposing team, you know, if you're playing baseball, you don't pitch -- you don't pick the person who pitches for the other team. you don't say you can only have

three infielders. you don't mess with the criminal justice system in this way. and the fact that he wishes to test the waters on firing mueller has gotten a lot of attention in congress and you saw senator feinstein today make the statement that there should be consequences in the congress if the president goes ahead and does that. and watergate, archibald cox, the man who was investigating nixon, was fired for no reason that passed muster causing the resignation rather than doing that deed. the president is on very tenuous ground here, don. >> i've got to ask you, john, richard nixon considered a mix son is hoping for a saturday

night massacre. he said, "identifier mueller and rosenstein for wasting the taxpayers' money. this is a witch hunt." do you agree that the consequences of a saturday night massacre would be so severe for this country and the president? >> they would be severe. i think they'd be even more severe. we've had the suspense leading up to this. we already have fired comey and then we find out that he had given advance notice to rod rosenstein that he was going to get rid of comey anyhow and it turned out that rosenstein wrote a memo that in fact didn't correspondent with the real motive of mr. trump, which was the investigation was pending, which has put him in kind of a trick board seat because if he were to fire mueller who he appointed, he'd be firing the

person who is in fact investigating him as well. so it's a multidimensional puzzle. rosenstein and jeff sessions who i saw one thing -- one ad said that we have a man who has amnesia and can't remember anything and still holds down a very demanding legal job every day. >> do you have any questions for the deputy attorney general? >> yes, i do. >> what are they? >> they'd be pretty simple. what were the conversations that you had with mr. trump and/or jeff sessions before you wrote the memo? what was your direction on that? and when did you have information after you wrote the memo about what trump was going to say? was it after he talked to holt on the tv show, in which he admitted -- this is a case where you have trump doing something nixon never did. instead of shooting himself in the foot, he shot himself in the head and it's metaphorical but it's critical. >> matthew, i have a couple of different questions for you.

do you think rosenstein should recuse himself? >> if there is any evidence that this investigation is about obstruction of justice in the firing of jim comey, then he has to. i mean, that is a direct conflict. but i took rod's strange tweet -- he didn't tweet. that was the president that strangely tweeted. the statement from last night about not believing the leaks and the unsubstantiated sources and unknown sources that we shouldn't trust those, i took that to mean that there wasn't an obstruction of justice investigation going on. >> we have -- president trump added another lawyer to his team. i discussed it in the last segment. plus, we've seen a number of associates of the president lawyering up. and there they are. what does that tell you? >> well, first of all, because of what bob mueller is doing by adding a dozen lawyers to his team, this is an expanding investigation and the response to that is, as you would expect, those who think that they may be in the crosshairs of this

investigation, getting lawyers, but these are people who have real jobs, for example, the vice president, among others, who have hired lawyers and they need to continue to do their jobs. having a lawyer that can interact with the investigators, can represent you and take some of this pressure so you can do your real job is an important thing and also lawyers made this world great, didn't they? so it's good to have a lawyer on your side. >> it's entirely appropriate that they do so. >> richard, why add john dowd to this russia investigation? >> john dowd is an experienced criminal lawyer. mr. kasowitz while a good civil lawyer doesn't have the kind of experience that john does in the criminal cases. and so the president ought to get the best advice that he can. he can afford it and he needs it. and the real question is whether he will listen to advice because

he continues to make statements that will not help him when the rubber meets the road. >> yeah. go ahead. what did you -- >> i was going to say, john dowd and i, when i was in the southern district and he was in main justice, we prosecuted a congressman from pennsylvania in a bribery case and he was a great trial lawyer. a lawyer is only as good as the facts. and to think that one is on the wrong end of the criminal investigation can go about their business, you spend a lot of time in terms of client management trying to help a person have the will to help you defend them and to live realistically with what is going on and tell you that you can defend them. there's nothing worse than finding out from the investigators something that your client should have told you. that happens a lot with political figures. >> thank you, gentlemen. appreciate it. >> hey, don -- >> quick, please. >> the only difference between watergate and this situation is watergate there were crimes that occurred and right now we have no evidence of any crime happening. >> well, we'll see about that. we'll see about that. >> wishful. >> everybody on the panel is like, oh, well --

>> well, good for you. you're on the christmas list for the president. >> that was a mike drop there, matthew. thank you. when we come back, carl bernstein will tell me why he thinks this is a watershed moment for the president. you don't let anything

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find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. tonight, sources are telling cnn that president trump's tweet acknowledging that he's under investigation came as a surprise to his legal team and white house aides. back with political analyst carl bernstein. we have a lot to cover so let's get through this. you say today is a watershed moment. why do you say that? >> because trump's strategy is now apparent and it's being talked about by some around him. and that is to stop this investigation in its tracks, to stop it no more whether it involves firings of mueller, rosenstein, but to stop it in its track and at the same time to prevent a move for impeachment. you would think that the two would be mutually exclusive but

he's trying to do both at once. >> let's talk about these tweets. this is one of two tweets. i'm being investigated for firing the fbi director by the man who told me to fire the fbi director. he calls it a witch hunt. is he contradicting himself? in the interview with lester holt he says i was going to do it anyway, it doesn't matter what rosenstein said. >> he's not contradicting himself in terms of strategy. once again, let's get rosenstein out of this thing. that's his objective. rosenstein will recuse and let's stop the investigation at all costs because he does not want any more penetration of the facts of this matter involving his own finances, those of his family, whatever contacts there are with russians. he wants it to stop. and once it -- if he can do that, then he needs to stave off impeachment with republicans joining in a move for impeachment. he thinks he can do that and

partly because he is going to get a health care bill in the next couple of months with the republicans, he believes, and probably with good reason that will also get him some political capital. >> dianne feinstein has clearly had enough in the statement she put out today, this was a blatant violation of the president's oath of office. how do you respond to that? >> she is saying that he's an outlaw president and he's moving towards being an outlaw president and at the same time, he is allowed to do the things he is doing unless the congress and the united states says enough and moves to impeach him. >> what happens next then, carl? >> we don't know. we are in the midst of something that we've never been through before. partly because it's not just about the legal ramifications or even the constitutional ones. it's also about the comportment, emotional stability of the president of the united states which many people in congress

are talking about in very, very upset ways. they've never seen a president who behaves like this. and they question his emotional stability and his temperament and whether he's really suited or fit for the presidency. and that's an underlying element of what we're going through as we approach what may well be a constitutional crisis. >> i've been wanting to get your response to this, carl. newt gingrich saying technically the president of the united states cannot obstruct justice. what do you think? >> that's it's nonsense because the president of the united states in the case of richard nixon was -- there were articles of impeachment passed by the house judiciary committee accusing him of just that, obstruction of justice. he would have been found guilty of obstruction of justice by a trial in the senate of the united states. he's playing wrong and not just for the first time. >> is the president getting angrier?

>> the president is isolated. he's furious. he really does believe, i think, that this is a witch hunt. he has little understanding, i think, of what the salem witch trials were about or what the mccarthy era witch hunts were about and how draconian they were and meanwhile he goes about in this authoritarian fashion but his fury is something -- in fact, there are reports today about him yelling at the television set through the afternoon as he's watched the reporting going on. look, he is a mercurial rageaholic inclined figure. they talk about him being a rageaholic. that's what we're dealing with here. we're dealing with his temperament and investigations are closing in on him and he knows it. he does not want his life, his campaign, his finances examined

by lawful authorities. it's as simple as that. and that is what he's trying to avoid. he might feel persecuted. he might feel that this is a witch hunt and he is determined to stop those investigations and that's why we're in such a precarious moment. >> having your life and your business dealings and your finances exposed, it's called being the president of the united states. carl, thank you. always a pleasure. when we come back, eric trump's wedding planner reportedly tapped to head federal housing programs in new york and new jersey. more on the latest questionable hire by the trump administration. we can bounce backthing about bfrom anything.s that and so can our hair. so i use this. total repair 5 from l'oréal. fights 5 signs of damage. total repair 5 with ceramide. renews fibers. for hair that's shiny, healthy-looking, resilient. total repair 5.

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the trump organization's former event planner could soon be in charge of federal housing programs in new york and new jersey, according to "the new york daily news." let's talk about it with my panel. good evening to all of you. michael, your reaction to "the new york daily news" report

about the president's former event planner. >> as a former public servant and one who cares about public policy, the president has basically said to the people of new york and new jersey, especially poor people and those in need, to drop dead. i don't know what kind of vetting would even allow someone with the reported background to get anywhere near an interview, let alone this level of a job. the hud region 2 office is probably the largest in the united states of america. >> billions and billions of taxpayers -- >> billions of dollars. it's the housing and urban development. it's not the housing and event planning or housing and, you know, urban decoration. it's a serious operation. you know, you think about hurricane sandy and the impact

that it had on new york and new jersey. that hud office played a significant role and it's probably still doing work. so i mean, just -- this makes no sense. >> i want to bring the rest of the panel in. we have limited time. keith, what do you think? because it seems like he's going back to what some would consider a weak team of loyalists. you live here in new york city, in the new york area. you know how important this job is, how big of a job it is. >> it's an important job and it's a devastating blow i think to the people in this community to have this kind of appointment and an example of nepotism, if you will. we've seen this with the appointment of people like jared kushner and his administration. but it's a reflection of trump's inability to vet anyone. michael flynn spent 24 days as the national security adviser. he appointed monica crowelling. he couldn't keep chris christie in the position as transition director and mike pence picked ben carson to run the housing

and urban development. he had no experience in housing. >> some people that don't want to be associated with the campaign. maybe he can't get people who were qualified? >> i would assume, even for donald trump, that people would want to have an important position like this if they know they can do the job seriously and maybe they don't -- >> i should say with the administration, not the campaign. margaret, can we take a look at -- go ahead. i want to get your response. what do you think? >> look, i hate to disagree with all of these democrats because, you know, i try to be a republican -- a responsible republican voice here. i worked in the bush administration and in every administration, there's a little bit of patronage but not to this degree. this is just offensive. i do mean there's people you know, people you trust and you put them in trusted positions but they have to be qualified. okay? and they have to have like a -- it has to pass the sniff test and this doesn't pass the sniff test.

you know, i wouldn't go so far as saying that drop dead but there are 400,000 people that rely on billions and billions of dollars dispersed through this, the most important regional position at the housing and urban development executive branch office. this is disappointing. but it's more about what we know about trump, which is a lot of cronyism at the expense of competence which is not draining the swamp. >> "the daily news ran an update reporting that federal housing officials have appeared to have backed away from appointing lynn patton and this is what they did with sharif clark as well. what do you make of this? >> she reports back to washington but the person she's replacing worked for the new york department of housing and preservati preservation. advocation before she had the prior person. this is coming from a group that

celebrated when caroline kennedy became the ambassador to japan. and the only thing she knew about japan was what she had seen in a kung fu movie. >> that's a great line but the problem is no matter -- >> they are traditionally people who were donors or -- >> so he's replacing the advocacy group. >> the housing of urban development, you don't pick a wedding planner. if i wanted to do eric trump's wedding, yes, but -- [ talking at once ] >> the people he's picked are not qualified, including donald trump. >> one at a time. >> president obama worked for the parks advocacy group and that person was qualified. >> the parks advocacy group -- go ahead, margaret. >> look, andre, she's perfectly capable to run large-scale events. if they trust her and want to put her in a good position, put

on the events for the president in the east room, estate dining room, the easter egg roll. that's the skill set that is translatable to someone who you trust and that happens in the white house. >> the last person who had this job -- >> you know who the last person was? the mayor of new york city. in 1997 bill clinton appointed bill de blasio joined urban housing development. that's the precedent for this kind of job, somebody who is deeply qualified in public housing issues. all right. that is what is common -- >> hang on. andre, have you ever been to -- do you know how big central park, one of the biggest parks in the world and -- listen, i'm not here to argue for or against but when you say the parks advocacy group, you'd have to think about how big the parks department and the role parks play in the new york city area. it's not a job like planning a wedding.

it's actually a big deal. >> i ran all senior housing in south carolina so i do know. i had it under my agency. trump wants people in there to not have a lot of experience in government. he wants people to come from the outside and that's why people voted for him. >> that's fine, andre. you can made an ideological point like that. >> this is serious business. >> the problem with not having people in position of power and responsibility is trump doesn't know anything about government. i could see if it was a person who had a lifelong experience, like hillary clinton or even a george w. bush. >> we don't want those people. >> but you don't want a country or any organization where not only the leader has no experience but the people who the leader appoints has no experience. that's a recipe for disaster, andre. that's what donald trump is diastolic. >> no qualifications required? no qualifications required?

>> this is insane. it's disgusting. >> andre, really quick. really quick. andre -- >> please. >> when you take people from outside and you say you want people from outside government, that's fine. but take them with comparable skill sets, not people who have no idea what the issues are regarding public housing. >> she's been working at hud already for several months. >> for six months. >> okay. get out of here. anybody want to declare their run for presidency right now? >> caroline kennedy, ambassador to japan, no qualifications. >> we'll be right back. we'll be right back. you didn't hear me. we'll be right back. but you've never had 'em quite like this. at red lobster's lobster & shrimp summerfest, the lobster and shrimp you love are teaming up in so many new ways. like new coastal lobster and shrimp, with a lobster tail with butter and herbs, sweet, smoky bbq red shrimp,

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looking at. bill, describe the protests around you. >> reporter: hi, don. i'm in the middle of a protest right now. these started about an hour ago, a little more in downtown st. paul at the capital. they started marching west on university avenue through different st. paul neighborhoods. this crowd right now has probably swelled to about 2,000 people. st. paul police are saying at least 1,500 to 2,000, and i would definitely agree to that. every time when step over a little hill here you can see the crowd stretching for blocks and blocks. they're loud, they're peaceful, they're respectful when they go through different neighborhoods but they're mad, and this crowd isn't split among ethnic divisions, either. it is a mix of everybody. i would say a majority of this crowd is actually white. there are whites, there are blacks, there are the front -- the front of the crowd as you

can probably imagine with lots of these protests are younger people on bull horns trying to rally and very loud, but as you go further back into the crowd you see a mix of everybody. >> yeah. >> reporter: and some of the slogans you hear, just are related to philando. you know, guilty yanez is one of the things they keep repeating over and over. >> bill, stand by. i want to get perspective. i want to bring in judge, attorney for the family. as we look at the pictures, there are about 2,000 people according to him. you have spoken to philando castile's family. i'm sure they know about the protests. how are they doing? >> as well as you can expect. i have been in minnesota for literally more than two weeks monitoring the criminal trial and i'm still in awe, as we talked about, of the strength valerie castile has exhibited in this.

this is really, really hard. i will tell you frankly, i mean, you know, you have known me for a long time and i don't pull any punches that this is not only for me difficult, for them far beyond description, but really the question, don, tonight is if this can happen to a philando castile who is fully compliant, who has no felony record, who is not fleeing, who is not fighting with the police, who is doing everything he possibly can to do what he's asked to do, and he still dies, that is the question not only for the people in st. paul tonight, not only for the castile family, but for this entire nation. >> and, judge, if i can just interject here. >> please. >> in the facebook live video that we're looking at now, i don't have to remind people that, you know, how graphic it is. it is just unbelievable. how do you think they -- considering all of this, the

jury reached this verdict? >> i can't understand it. i cannot understand it. the supreme court, bottom line, has said that -- that police officers can use lethal force when there's a reasonable basis to believe that their life is being threatened, bodily harm or death, or someone else's. in this situation, philando castile had a permit to carry a gun. he says, officer, i must tell you i have a firearm. he gave him his insurance and then he was asked for his driver's license. but before he could do that, he shot seven times at close range. five of those bullets hit philando. one was less than two inches from diamond, i.e. the second and third counts in this complaint, and a few inches from her daughter in the back seat. we are grateful to diamond because had she not done that live streaming, we would have really never had a perspective on this. >> yeah. >> but, don, when you see the

dash cam video which was shown for the first time in court to the jury, i don't understand how they reached this conclusion, i don't. >> i have to ask you, the officer is no longer an officer. i wonder if that provides any solace? >> no, it doesn't. >> okay. what's next? what is next for this family? >> what is next for the family is that valerie is committed through the foundation to do good work. robert bennett, who is my local counsel there who is a federal civil rights attorney and has the best track record in minnesota, we're going to be meeting on monday. but i want to go back just for a minute to this. i have to tell you that the prosecutors in this case did an excellent job under the leadership of john toye the lead prosecutor. i don't know what else they could have done. i don't know how we could have had a stronger case and them come to the conclusion that this was reasonable. his partner didn't see a gun. his partner didn't react. he didn't even have his gun out.

i don't understand it. >> judge -- >> i'm really disgusted by it. >> thank you, judge. i have to get to the top of the hour. >> i understand. >> we appreciate you joining us on cnn. i want to remind the viewer you are looking at live pictures from st. paul, minnesota, and protesters are out in force there. they're upset about the officer in this case who shot and killed philando castile. not guilty on all charges. we'll continue to update that. again, our thanks to judge hatchett. when we come back the president shooting off a series of controversial tweets again and they're getting him into a lot of trouble. [vo] what made secretariat the greatest racehorse who ever lived? of course he was strong... ...intelligent. ...explosive. but the true secret to his perfection... was a heart, twice the size of

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