he asked the first three questions. now, can you imagine that. >> whoa. >> she took that -- in a way, she took lemons and made lemonade. she began to set up her own interviews outside the studio to ask the first question and second question and all the questions in the interview. >> that's amazing. the new book is entitled the rule breaker, the life and times of barbara walters. susan page, thank you so much for coming on this morning and congratulations on the book. amazing. >> thank you. >> that's all the time we have this weekend. we will be back tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. eastern kicking off a new week of morning joe. until then, enjoy the rest of your weekend. good morning. it is sunday, april 28th. i'm

elisea hernandez. the white house correspondence dinner had just one item on the menu last night. jabs at donald trump. the highlights in just a moment. plus, new reporting on president biden's confidence that he can beat the ex- president this fall. previewing week three of the 2016 election interference trial in new york. we're going to talk with the former national enquirer editor. so grab your coffee, settle into "the weekend." it is the morning after the white house core correspondence dinner. snl star, colin jost headlined

the event, throwing more than a few jabs at donald trump in his set. take a listen. >> trump's so desperate, he started reading those bibles he's selling. then he got to the first commandment. you shall have no other god's before me. that's when he put it down and said this book's not for me. age is the only thing we have in common. my vice president actually endorses me. >> i was about to say the reaction from vice president harris, the whole thing. joining us now, the author of the brand new book, "undiplomatic." >> it's giving a book that the former first lady, mrs. obama even posted on instagram. not mad about it.

what did you think of last night's foreign correspondence dinner. you've been around these. >> i've been around these a lot. the thing is, it was entertaining to me, because i wasn't there. i got to sit at home, and judge everybody, and listen to colin, and the vice president, and see eugene. it was great to see him up there. i loved it. i was sitting at home relaxing, while y'all were there, so it was great. >> i want to say, congratulations to the two of you all. >> she was in slippers in a hotel lob by. >> even i was skeptical this morning. >> i know i'm the rookie guy, but they said you have to show up this morning. so you were the social secretary for the white house. >> i was. >> your job is to insist on an exacting standard for every event, every moment. the power of the white house

correspondence dinner, though, inverts that a little bit. it's about the vulnerability of the president. you see a president kind of humble themselves, be self- deprecating. you see them throw some lines, when he calls donald trump a 6- year-old, that's unpresidental in another format, but it works there. there's got to be an anxiety piece to that. >> of course it is. we're in a time where people make fun of both presidential candidates, but president biden, you know, people make fun of him, and they say things. it's a chance for him to also make fun of himself. at the expense of everyone. that kind of, to me, shows that he's willing to not take himself so seriously when it comes to, you know, being in that kind of environment, and it kind of humanizes him a little bit. but there definitely is a vulnerability, and anxiety, because you don't know what everyone else will say. you can see a script, but it may change on the fly.

>> i think the lesson last night, never underestimate joe biden. >> and you know what? it was -- the past couple of white house correspondence dinners i feel like are a little more weighty and seriously. obviously this year, folks coming out to have a good time, but the dinner raises money for scholarships. journalists who are still detained, wrongfully detained in other countries. it is literally dangerous to go out and report, the job that journalists have been killed in gaza. i was wondering how the white house correspondence association and also the president were going to address the gravity of the moment, and the president talks about the press where he's, you know he eludes to some, refer to you all as the enemy of the people. i want to play this out for people who maybe didn't hear it. >> there are some who call you

the enemy of the people. that's wrong, and it's dangerous. you literally risk your lives doing your job. you do. covering everything from natural disasters to wars, and so much more. and some of your colleagues have given their lives, and many have suffered grieveious injuries. other reporters have lost their freedom. >> there's something that happens in that room, which is it is a hard room to play to, because it is a big room. it is a loud room, so you have a dual audience. you have the people who are actually in the room, and you have what i would argue as the more important audience, the americans watching at home. so as much there as president biden is speaking to us as journalists about the importance of the fourth estate. i would argue that really what he is doing is saying to the american people, there's currently an attack on this institution. you know where that attack is

coming from, and i want you the american people to remember, just how important the role of the free and fair press is. >> 100%. even using the word enemy, that resonates with people at home being like, that's a major word to use. that's a heavy word to use. i think, it really gets people thinking how serious that it is, not just, you know, what we're seeing right now, but also disinformation. also ai. there's all types of things. when i heard that, i perked up, being he actually said that, and he said it in this room, and with people watching. i think all types of people watch the correspondence dinner. i think it was a chance to really say that. >> it was interesting to me, also, the sort of one-two punch of the president having done howard stern. his team made that decision, given there's this critique of the president not having ample opportunities to the press.

i thought your point about the weightiness of the moment, was the way in which he set the stakes and almost issued a challenge to the press to consider the way they cover this forthcoming election. take a listen. >> he promised a bloodbath when he loses again. we have to take this seriously. eight years ago, he could have written off at just trump talk. but no longer. not after january 6th. i'm sincerely not asking you to take sides, but move past the horse race moments and the gotcha moments, and the moments that have sensationalized our politics and to focus on what's actually at stake. >> it's norm setting. it's saying, i know y'all want to talk about poll numbers and who's up, who's down, but

please don't get distracted from the fundamental stakes of this election. >> this was an incredible moment, i think, because symone said the context this year is different than past years. there's always a context. what we saw from is joe biden is talking about attacks on the press as an example of attacks on democracy. and look, the american experiment is not guaranteed. we're custodians of it. and if there were bull works that were built in, you would look at the courts and say, could the courts really protect democracy in this moment? we have legitimate questions. they put in the congress. but this is a senate that failed to convict donald trump after j 6th, and disqualified him from office. they put in a vote of the people and even know that looks like maybe they want to bring in a strongman. i think what joe biden said is your last job to the media is

to make sure you are protecting the constitution. you don't have to choose sides, but what are the guiding lines that ensure this american experiment continues. it was a powerful night last night. >> i don't know if folks saw this on television, but prior to that, kelly donald, eugene will take over this summer, she, in her remarks did a kind of a scene setter and a call out to the president. and saying, we -- it's our job to tell the story. we are saying, they too are custodians of democracy, and they are the journalist who cover the white house are the public record and we want to interview. >> we definitely heard that. when she said that i was just like, okay girl, okay. she had to communicate that. that's her job. that's her responsibility.

and this is the platform to do it, when you have all of these people in a room, it not only shows that she is part of, and sticking up for the press. it shows that like, we hear you, but now you're right in front of us. you're here. you have to hear us. and you have to act, and you have to make sure that we have access and we are protected. no, we heard that at home. >> deesha, we don't have a lot of time left, so i want to make sure we hear from you about your book. i heard you say, you were thick with imposter syndrome. >> i was. even with the white house correspondence dinner, how the first time i went, i ran out of there fast. fast. i didn't think i belonged there. i got on the bus on the street and went home. it was one of those things where i just felt like i didn't know anybody in the room. i didn't understand what the correspondence dinner was, and it was really eating away at me. but the thing was i did belong

there. i am a regular person. i am the american people. so that is the whole, you know, dream about my story, about going to the white house as a 31-year-old who dropped out of college and was in community college. i needed to go there to represent people, and to bring the community there, and to tell truth. but i suffer from imposter syndrome, because we're in washington, and everyone has this law degree and this, that, and third. and i don't have any of that. but it turns out i didn't need any of that. because what i did have was the quality of a social secretary. >> from imposter to impact. i'll cover the book review. >> yeah, i thought i was not qualified, and it turns out, you know, being a hip-hop journalist back in the day, which i thought was just a random thing, eight years later, i'm using hip-hop for

education and criminal justice reform. everything i thought made me an imposter had an impact. >> what a perfect day to have you join us. congratulations. >> thank you so much. up next, we have dnc chair jamie harrison is going to talk to us about president biden's comedic chops, and the plans coming to shape for this year's convention. this is "the weekend." i was excited to be on stage with president biden tonight, mostly to see if i could figure out where obama was pulling the strings from. they want that hollywood white smile. new sensodyne clinical white provides 2 shades whiter teeth and 24/7 sensitivity protection. i think it's a great product. it's going to help a lot of patients. >> tech: does your windshield have a crack? trust safelite. this customer had auto glass damage, but he was busy working from home... ...so he scheduled with safelite in just a few clicks. we came to his house... then we got to work. we replaced his windshield...

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president biden is confident that he will beat donald trump this november. how do we know? well, new reporting from nbc news says the president's mood has been lifted by recent polling and his visits to battleground states. that confidence might have showed in the president's speech last night at the white house correspondence dinner. >> of course, the 2024 election is in full swing. and yes, age is an issue. i'm a grown man. running against a 6-year-old. >> joining us now is the chair of the democratic national committee, jaime harrison, who we had the pleasure of sharing the photo last night. first of all, kudos for being

here. >> i wouldn't miss it. >> we appreciate your time. what did you think? the room was buoyant. what did you think? >> well, it was buzzing. and joe biden does what joe biden does every time, he knocks it out of the park. he was great at the state of the union. he's great every time he's in that setting. he has low expectations, and he continues to show them, when you bet against joe biden, you're going to lose. you are going to lose. he was funny. he went at trump, but the moment that was really important for me was the serious point at the end, which is, this is the moment that we are in, that our democracy, what we love, the freedom that we had to gather and to do what we did last night, that is on the ballot. that is what is at stake. so i thought it was a wonderful moment for joe biden, and we're going to continue to get these wonderful moments between now and november. >> you saw, of course, as we were entering the building,

there were protests outside, over what is happening in gaza. if there is not a peace agreement in place by the time of the democratic national convention, what kind of plans are you putting in place, assuming there will be that level of energy and protest? >> listen, we all believe in the first amendment. everybody should have the opportunity to protest a government, to express their feelings about where things are, and we fundamentally believe in that. but at the end of the day, we understand that the goals of many of these protesters as it relates to getting peace in the middle east, those are the same goals that most people across the way here on capitol hill, and over at the white house all share. that's what joe biden is trying to fight for every single day, is to get peace in the middle east. to establish a two-state solution. so in the end, i hope folks step back, we can protest, you can do what you have, but let's make sure we do it in a way

where there is no racist rhetoric, there is no islamophobia, there is no anti- sematic messages there. so we express our feelings, but do it in a respectful manner. >> i wonder, do democrats and the president, vice president, do they need to do more to communicate what the position is? it strikes me that there is a perhaps fundamental misunderstanding of where the president and the white house is now. i think a lot of folks are looking at the immediate aftermath of october 7th, the literal embrace of prime minister netanyahu when the president traveled to israel to tel aviv on that trip. and, you know, get the press conferences that he had at the white house, notably once where he couldn't believe the numbers coming out of gaza, because hamas controls the numbers. he later apologized for those remarks to arab-american community leaders after meeting with them at the white house.

he has had tougher rhetoric, absolutely privately, and even more publicly for president netanyahu. what more should you be doing to communicate that out? because people in the streets don't think joe biden is hearing them. >> i think the president and the vice president have been very clear on where they are. they want peace. that is the ultimate goal. but we understand in this part of the world, conflict has been there as long as i've been alive, and even longer. for generations. it is not going to be as simple as black and white in terms of how you get to that resolution. but this president and his team are on the phones all the time. secretary blinken is always out there. jake sullivan is always out there, trying to figure out how do we get the hostages returned? how do we get peace in the region. how do we take care of the innocent folks that are in gaza. the women, and the children. and so it is not -- it's

complicated. it is not simple. but we've got a president who actually gives a about making sure that we have peace in that. unlike the president, the former president, who we know believes, he wants to reinstitute a muslim ban. he wantsto do all of these other things that will create even more tension in the region, rather than resolve. >> there's the substantive contrast. there's also the past where you have president biden both active at the white house and on the campaign trail, and then you have donald trump on a criminal trial in new york city. part of that was brought out by the president himself, but colin jost had a line that i thought really summed things up. let's take a listen and talk on the other side. >> i love, by the way, that trump's two attacks on president biden are that he's a senile old man and a criminal mastermind.

i'm like, i think you've got to pick one. personally, i don't know any criminal mastermintserminds who bike to get ice cream. >> there's also the possibility, it's none of the above. >> amen. listen, joe biden showed last night what i've known about him from the start, he's a good and a decent man. this is a man, when he was a vice president and we had the mother emmanuel massacre in south carolina, most people remember barack obama and singing amazing grace. but that same period before president obama came down there, then vice president joe biden, and dr. jill biden came, and they prayed with the worshipers. they worshiped with the worshipers. no cameras, no press releases, no pomp and circumstance. when he came back to charleston, just recently, again, met with those families, that is who joe biden is. this is a man who has experienced so much pain, so much hardship, but every day, still wakes up hopeful. it is that hope which is what

he uses to fight for the american people. donald trump has a campaign built on retribution, and revenge. joe biden has a campaign built on the hope of the american people. keeping that flame of freedom alive in this country, and that is what he's fighting for. that's what he's protecting. that's why he's going all around the country, making sure he campaigns wile the other guy is sitting in a cold, municipal building. joe biden is clear on what we need to protect our democracy, and hopefully the american people see that. >> reporting says that because of the president's travels what he has seen himself and experienced with the people outside of the beltway, as we like to call it, he is more hopeful and more optimistic, and confident in his campaign. you've been out there with the president. >> and the vice president. >> what have you seen?

>> listen, they are a dynamic duo. they really are. the vice president has hit 16 states. she's -- just this year, i mean, she's hitting the road making sure, talking about reproductive freedom. she's about to announce a new tour on economic freedom. >> with a focus on black men. she's been quietly doing that work without the cameras. and i'm like, y'all got to let the cameras come see, so we can cover what the people say. >> exactly right. and i'm so proud of the work that she's been doing, because she's been doing the work. joe biden has been out there on the campaign trail. you keep talking about sleepy joe. this man, he's sleeping, i don't know when he is, because he's hitting the campaign trail. he's going all over the country. donald trump is golfing, or sitting at a table, and complaining and wining and everything else. joe biden is working for the people. that's the contrast.

laura trump is at the rnc and the dnc. l >> she got an album? >> something. if you want to call it that. while we are doing the work. we're opening 100 some offices across the country. i don't know if they've opened any. i know they've closed a few of their minority offices, but they haven't done any. we have been doing the fundraising. we've been doing the voter registration, doing the voter protection. so the contrast is clear in this election. it's about hope versus fear, progress versus chaos. and folks, joe biden has to win. not because the democrats need to be in control, but if you enjoy the american democracy, if you enjoy the america that we live in now, we understand that. because we heard in the supreme court, you've got one former guy who believes that the president of the united states should be immune from assassinating his opposition. folks, have you ever heard that? democrat or republican, have you heard anything as insane as that? that is what is at stake in

this election. so folks, don't sleep. as the queen says, i'm quoting beyonce, it's time to get information. right? it's time to do it. >> information, people. it's time to vote. not just yet though. in a couple months. dnc chair, jaime harrison. he was ready to go this morning. >> love it. >> we're going to get into donald trump's unprecedented rhetoric. after the break, how the "new york times" is framing his words, and let me just tell y'all, it's a proper frame. also, you can follow our show on social media. it's at "the weekend," msnbc. (vo) verizon small business days are here. april 22nd to the 28th. get a free tech check. and special offers. like a free 5g phone, when you switch.

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using in this campaign is unlike any other campaign before. before november 2020, his speeches stopped short of language like vermin, and enemies within. this is how fascists campaign. >> it's one of the interesting things about what is happening in the new york trial, which is on one hand, there is the legal case, and as donald trump so often thinks about these things, there is legal case, and there is for him, the sort of pr nightmare of it all, or handling it as a public relations thing. there is, of course an open question of whether or not there is going to be accountability for him as it relates to the proposition that alvin bragg and his team have about what happened here. there's also the question of accountability, if he's going going to be held accountable if he double talks. what he does in the courtroom. the gag order that's before him. and he's not enforced to be

held accountable to his word. >> no. >> i think the most interesting thing is that the pr campaign works. and this is the part where it's revealing of who we are as a country. >> you always come back to this, and it's always so alarming to me. you like to think, if joe biden beats donald trump in november, that concern is gone. but your point is the concern remains on the table. >> it's the hardest part to correct. you can see a world in which the courts are effective. you can see a world in which the press figures out, how do we cover someone who continues to spout racist, xenophobic language. what's the part of the press in that moment? the hard part is 50% of the country looks at that, and says i'm good with that. i want him to be our leader. that's a cultural question, i guess depending on someone's civics orientation, it's what you heard from joe biden last night. a return to decency has to come

from this. >> it's a fundamental piece of what he's always believed. i don't know if we are ever going back to that place anytime soon. donald trump has not just gotten away with it, it has been encouraged. it has been encouraged. it has been supported. it has been mimicked. it's been swept under the rug. it is a failure. it is a failure of many different pieces of our system that this is the first time i've seen the paper of record refer to donald trump's rhetoric as a language of fascists. remember when we were arguing whether we could say he was a liar or not. whether that was proper. or whether it was proper to say, do you think donald trump is a racist? if you dine with white supremacists. if you call out the proud boys

and have them on standby sitting at ready, what quacks must be a duck. i'm glad we have arrived at this point. the question is whether it is too late. he is not the problem. he is a symptom. he is a physical manifestation of the issue. but he could be gone tomorrow. he could be handily beat in november, and this will still be there. >> one of the things we learned this past week watching this trial, that's why up next, one of the people who saw firsthand the alleged catch and kill at the national enquirer is going to be joining us. you're watching "the weekend." (vo) if you have graves' disease, your eye symptoms could mean something more. that gritty feeling can't be brushed away. even a little blurry vision can distort things. and something serious may be behind those itchy eyes.

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week three of donald trump's 2016 election interference trial begins tuesday. during week two, david pecker from the national enquirer says he bought negative stories of donald trump to keep him out of the press. in the "new york times," quote, i've been managing a newsroom with improvised explosive devices everywhere. pecker told michael cohen, he would act as the campaign's eyes and ears. a scheme to influence the 2016 election. michael cartwright joins us now. what a strange week for america. what a strange week for you, i imagine. >> a surreal week to be in court, and to see david pecker, who i've not seen since i left american media in the summer of 2017. then see him detail, in forensic detail to the jury, you know, what was going on at this meeting where he goes to see trump and michael cohen at trump tower, just a couple

months after trump announces he's running. and he says after being asked, what can you do for us? what can you do for the campaign? he says i'll be the eyes and ears. i'll run negative stories about your rivals, while also promoting donald trump. everything i thought could potentially be going on in realtime as we're running these pieces, as i'm hearing about karen mcdougal, and i whispered to friends late at night at bars, i think something is going on. and they would say, chill out, you could be a conspiracy theorist. now i'm hearing it confirmed by david pecker in court. now my friends are saying, sorry, you were not a conspiracy theorists. there's one candidate up in the polls, we're running a hit piece. and it seemed like it was

coordination. i had nothing to go on. then you had the other thing with these catch and kills. we're going through the process with a doorman, paid him $30,000, which is a large amount of money to pay for a story, especially a story we're not even running. then karen mcdougal. she has an incredible story about an affair with donald trump. i thought, brilliant, this is the kind of scoop i came here to break. when are we running it? we're not. david pecker has bought the story to kill it. i thought, what world are we living in ? >> did you ever want to ask why? >> he said this is something david has decided, and that's that. >> you said in that you regret your three years there. was it around catch and kill, or donald trump? what was the source of that regret? >> i, you know, had a journalism life before american media. i was at the new york post, i

was at the daily news. papers in london. i came to ami to break significant, impactful stories, such as what would have been the karen mcdougal story, and instead, we're running these hit pieces where the american media was turning to a criminal enterprise to protect the rich and powerful, and it became a propaganda machine, and that's not something i signed up for. >> david testimony got to a line, the ability of alvin bragg to bring felony charges on business fraud is because there was a secondary crime alleged of election interference. pecker seemed to cut off some of his testimony as though there was a bit of an attorney- client privilege for ami, for himself on perhaps counsel he had received. give us a look into behind the scenes at ami. you had to have been getting some type of legal counsel, whether or not catch and kill was in violation of federal

election law at the time, in realtime. was that counsel available to you? was it modifying the behavior of pecker and others? >> so what we've learned is david pecker was getting this legal guidance from the general counsel who in one source actually outsourced someone to look at the karen mcdougal agreement. and that person, as we learned from the court, took half an hour to learn this contract is safe to go. is good to go. because they're looking at a contract with all of these provisions, saying we're buying these fitness covers. that's how they were structuring karen mcdougal's deal. as david howard told me, i'm going out to los angeles to buy this story, to bury it. there was no mention of fitness columns, that came to late later, i was the one that was instructed, we now need to come up with these fitness columns. i was assigned a ghost writer. the first column ran and karen mcdougal called david pecker in

a rage, because there was something in the column about vitamin c, and so we needed to get a new ghost writer. >> i mean lord, she does look good. we do have, obviously, there's no sound coming out of court, but i do want to read for folks this exchange. pecker didn't want to purchase the stormy daniels story. that was part of the -- one of the bombshells, if you will, this past week in court from thursday. pecker says michael cohen asked me to pay for this story to purchase it. i said i'm not purchasing this story. i'm not going to be involved with a porn star. we're not paying any more monies. the prosecution said how did michael cohen take that? pecker, he was the boss, he said he was infuriated at me. the boss is donald trump. >> he was annoyed they put up

30k for the doorman, then 150k for karen mcdougal, which he hadn't been paid back. so by the time stormy daniels comes on the scene, which is right after the access hollywood tape, which is crucial in the timing of the thought process, of not just ami and david pecker, but also the trump campaign and michael cohen. by the time that situation comes on, david pecker, as he said, i'm not a bank. you guys have to handle this transaction. and that's, you know, ironically why we're here, because of the structure that michael cohen then went and did this hush money deal. i felt is very much, this week was about substantiating the catch and kill story release. it's legalise. the question is going to become about the way in which these payments were recorded, right?

and that, i think that becomes the harder piece then to substantiate. >> yeah. and look, it's clear that what was the thought process with david pecker when he spoke about this on the stand? they had the whole situation with arnold schwartzenegger several years ago. in this case, they thought there was some danger. he thought he had some exposure with the karen mcdougal deal. hence why he got that further legal advice. >> one of the things that came up this week was pecker revealing that sarah huckabee sanders had hoped hope hicks had discussed the deal. >> i think why hope hicks is going to play an important part, just like david pecker, she can help set the table. what was being discussed in that crucial meeting in august of 2015 before michael cohen gets up on the stand, and before the defense really goes for his credibility. they can ascertain the contents of this meeting, via david

pecker, i think did a great job this week of setting the table, and having that backed up with hope hicks. hope was on the phone with a lot of those stormy daniels conversations with dylan howard, who was my editor, and michael cohen, as they were furiously trying to sort this situation out in the wake of the access hollywood tape. >> we talked about the importance of the white house journalist who covered the white house, huckabee sanders, obviously was the press secretary. donald trump himself lied on camera about this many times. who knows what sarah huckabee sanders, hope hicks and others within the press operation knew about this, and were concealing from the press, not only the press, the american people. >> we're going to continue this conversation after we take a quick break. next hour, mary mccord is going to be previewing what we're going to see this week at the trial. you're watching "the weekend." i have to get back to new

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with the bailiff saying "all rise"? >> i was like, ooh. hollywood reporter special correspondent, laughlin cartwright is back with you. >> so my question for you is, is there anything new coming out of this trial for the american people? and i actually think there is. i think there's a new little bit of storytelling here, where maybe people understand the rich and famous get to bury stories, and pay off reporters. part of the new storytelling is there came a moment, for you, but where people realizing this is now becoming an arm of the presidential campaign. and that is where then, the crime is implemented. when did we turn the corner? when did you turn the corner and realize this is a campaign activity? >> it was only much later when i really realized the significance, when i saw the indictment, because i had nothing to go on. it was just me trying to join

the dots, things that seemed pretty opaque in the moment. requests for certain things, covers we were running. the situation with the door man. it only crystallized reading the indictment, the lead up to it, everyone is saying stormy daniels hush money. it was like a reunion tour of all the catch and kills that i sadly were in the environment of. then the through line was the meeting. this underlining meeting in august of 2015. i'm still learning new things in court. this week, david pecker detailed this meeting, speaking of meetings, a meeting that he goes to at trump tower to meet with donald trump. and there he is, you know, mike pompeo, sean spicer and there is james comey briefing him. and there comes the publisher

of the national enquirer. i would just love to know what james comey was thinking, as david pecker comes in. and trump saying, pecker knows more than all three of you guys and makes a joke. no one laughed. >> they're probably thinking, i shouldn't have held that press conference. >> today's reminder we're in a very dangerous moment. >> then the press conference, where trump brings in not only david pecker, but dylan howard, and they have this dinner. my understand is, trump is saying to dylan howard, how many more copies of the national enquirer do i sell vis- a-vis any other celebrity. this is just the stuff out of a coen brothers' movie. >> don't you think it's just wild? to have it confirmed that your political rival was placing ridiculous stories that would go on to hurt, not just your political campaign, but also your family, and then to still,

in light of that, carry that person's water is really something. >> look, in every level of politics, and it's a bit of the seedy side. tries to get stories placed. you generally think that happens in city council races, you don't think of that as a technique of someone trying to reach the white house. in this case, it was used, and it was very effective. look, again, the questions from last night's correspondence dinner about the role of the press in this moment, i think joe biden was on point saying, this is a critical moment for free press in the world. how we treat this moment. this is kind of a higher calling. >> we haven't been around politics enough for a media organization to do favors before a campaign. never before in american

democracy have we seen a media company twist and turn itself into a criminal enterprise, and use the first amendment as a shield. >> pecker got a non-prosecution agreement. >> he had the details. he had the receipts. i used to be a spokesperson for a very long time for lots of different campaigns, candidates, obviously the vice president. this is -- this does not happen. so for people at home who are probably like, oh -- so this does not happen. you usually can't get a media organization to come up and say, i need you to plant that story about so and so now. i need to see some bad headlines about so and so. >> can also, can you pay this person off $150,000, and kill this story? that's where the dino, the doorman contract was, and i had to get that out to wall street journal, to report that out and

the safe wouldn't close. so i'm hammering out the dusty old safe. trying to get the safe of secrets closed, and i finally managed to get it shut just in time before anyone came in. so it's been, for me, a really surreal week, and we're coming into next week. the court is only sitting two or three days this coming week. but i'm expecting hope hicks potentially this week, then we'll come into michael cohen, and that probably will go including cross, for a couple of weeks. >> we will be watching. thank you very much. we will have you back. stick around, folks, we have another hour of "the weekend" straight ahead. legal analyst, mary mccord. they're all coming. don't you go anywhere. this is "the weekend."

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