Trump Triggers Controversy with "Raking" Remark; Khashoggi Affair Casts Shadow on Trump's Agenda; Trump Criticizes U.S. Admiral Who Led bin Laden Raid; White House, Acosta's Press Pass Could be Revoked Again.
ANDERSON: Well, it has been a rollercoaster of a weekend for President Trump, firing off a lot more than usual it seems. And in the context of this presidency, you can imagine just how much that is. Just days after the Trump administration called for, quote, decorum. The President tweeting this out. Attacking Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff. Typo maybe. But let's point out, it is not being corrected. Now, asking you to read what is on this screen. Then, from Twitter, to television, a wide-ranging interview on his favorite channel Fox News, Mr. Trump wept off against the critics while revealing, he chose not to hear the murder tape of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.</s>TRUMP: I don't want to hear the tape. No reason for me to hear the tape.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE, FOX NEWS: Why don't you want to hear it, sir?</s>TRUMP: Because it's a suffering tape. It's a terrible tape. I've been fully briefed on it. There's no reason for me to hear it. In fact, I said to the people, should I? They said you really shouldn't. There's no reason. I know exactly -- I know everything that went on in the tape, without hearing it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what happened?</s>TRUMP: It was very violent, very vicious and terrible.</s>ANDERSON: Well, those sources say the CIA, that points a finger at the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, as being behind the killing. The White House hasn't endorsed that assessment. As if that was not enough, in the same interview, the President turned on an all-out American hero, retired U.S. Admiral William McRaven. The man who oversaw the capture of Saddam Hussein and led the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in 2011.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE, FOX NEWS: Bill McRaven, retired admiral, Navy Seal, 37 years, former head of U.S. Special Operations.</s>TRUMP: Hillary Clinton fan.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Special operations --</s>TRUMP: Excuse me, Hillary Clinton fan.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- who led the operation, commanded the operations that took down Saddam Hussein and that killed Osama bin Laden, says that your sentiment is the greatest threat to democracy in his life.</s>TRUMP: He is a Hillary Clinton backer. And an Obama backer. And frankly --</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is a Navy Seal, 37 years.</s>TRUMP: Wouldn't it be nice if we had gotten Osama bin Laden a lot sooner?</s>ANDERSON: Well, he also attacked U.S. Special Counsel, Robert Mueller, saying he probably wouldn't sit down for an interview with the man in charge of the Russia investigation. And bemoaning the expense of Mueller's investigation to the U.S. taxpayer which chalked up $16 million in its first year. But to compare, Americans recently forked out an eye watering $174,000 for Melania Trump's 12-hour trip to Canada, 14,000 bucks an hour. And if you haven't got a calculator with you, and for the President's more than 100 golf club trips, including Trump's own Mar-a-Lago club, the cost runs into the tens and tens of millions. Four Mar-a-Lago members have been offered U.S. ambassadorships, maybe some work is being done. Well to break down the President's moods, let's bring in Dean Obeidallah, the host of Sirius XM radio daily program, Dean Obeidallah early show, and he joins us now from New York. What do you make of all of this, or put it another way, what is your take, dean?</s>DEAN OBEIDALLAH, CNN OPINION CONTRIBUTOR: I don't think it is really that abnormal. This is the Donald Trump that we see came down the escalate in 2015, who lashes out against anyone he doesn't like. There is no limit to that. His attacks on Mueller are nothing new. You know, it's interesting, I wrote an article for CNN over the weekend about Michelle Obama's comments Saturday, which I really think sums it up. She said, President Obama's view and his philosophy was when they go low, we go high. And Michelle Obama famously said that to the DNC. But she said that was really Barack's view. And she said, when people asked why didn't Barack go after him hard like Trump? She said, because he put his ego second and put America first. And to me that crystallizes this issue so much. Donald Trump his ego is first, America second or third or whatever it may be on that list. So, he can never deal with any kind of negative criticism in a way that's constructive or just let it roll off his back. He's got to attack, attack, attack and this is what you have. So, this weekend is really nothing new frankly to me.</s>ANDERSON: Dean, it wasn't just this weekend, because as we started this interview, I'm just looking at my Twitter feed, and have a look at this. Donald Trump, keeping his "told you so" on Osama bin Laden going. He says, and I quote, of course, we should have captured Osama bin Laden long before we did. I pointed him out in my book, just before the attack on the World Trade Center. President Clinton famously missed his shot. We paid Pakistan billions of dollars. And they never told us he was living there. Fools. We start this, and this has just come out in the last 14 minutes. We started -- you started this by saying, none of this really surprises me. But it should surprise us, when an American President is speaking like this. Shouldn't it?</s>OBEIDALLAH: Well, Becky, my point --</s>ANDERSON: Is it getting worse, I guess?</s>OBEIDALLAH: Right. The difference between surprise and pushing back against the President trying to normalize a campaign of misinformation, and propaganda are different. I am not surprised by Trump. I, and those who treasure facts, and the truth, will continue to push back against Donald Trump's campaign of misinformation and disinformation, like this one. It is remarkable, Donald Trump who had a chance to serve in the Vietnam war, but had bone spurs but that somehow is healthier at 72 than in his 20s is remarkable. He's sort of like the "Benjamin Button" of presidents who gets healthier as he gets older. But then attacking our generals and our military. A man who just a few weeks ago -- a week ago -- didn't go to Arlington National Cemetery to honor our fallen soldiers. Men and women who've sacrificed their lives, who are buried in our national cemetery, even though he was at the White House which is literally minutes away from Arlington. He stayed home and watched TV and tweeted. And literally that's what he did on last week's Veterans Day. So, for Donald Trump, he likes to stir the pot. He likes to cause trouble. He likes to be the center of attention. And again, it goes back to Michelle Obama, it about ego. Donald Trump wants us to talk about him, and I think we can debate all day if we should or not. I think we have an obligation to push back against his lies, his misinformation. Because if it doesn't, we normalize it. And that's not healthy for the United States of America. And that's not healthy for the world. They look to the U.S. to be a leader on key issues.</s>ANDERSON: That's fascinating. I wonder just how important satire is at this point. We told our viewers that the President is spending this weekend visiting wildfire-ravaged California and his comments that California should rake the forests like they do in Finland, across the sea and the bemused Fins to take their forest with their own rakes. Hash tagging rake news, and rake America great again and we're seeing some images on the screen. One woman even took a vacuum cleaner out for a spin. Is this the way to deal with him?</s>OBEIDALLAH: I think that's one of the ways. Because that keeps your sanity. I think laughing at something like what is going on with Donald Trump is important. But let's not lose sight of one big thing. Just less than two weeks ago, we had the midterm election, and America is responding. The Democrats took more house seats in the House of Representatives since any time since 1974, and that was a few months after Richard Nixon resigned in the wake of Watergate. Democrats, while we didn't pick up Senate seats on a net basis, we got 15 percent more of the votes than the Republicans did. We picked up seven governorships including red states like Kansas and knocked off Scott Walker. A man in Wisconsin, a Republican who had run for President. So, I think the American people have spoken. Donald Trump is not going to change. The American people, if we could have a Presidential election today or a parliamentary form of government, I think you'd see the government collapse. We have new elections. But in America we have to wait to 2020. So, Donald Trump's freaking out is going to continue for the next two years. We're going to continue in our obligation -- those that treasure the truth and honesty -- to push back against his attempts to normalize lies and falsities.</s>ANDERSON: And if anybody had missed your ideological bent, as you used the term "we," clearly you lean to the side of the aisle occupied by the Democrats, of course, in the U.S., and let's be completely transparent about this. The "Saturday Night Live" TV show as it has so often piled on Trump this weekend. Poking fun at the few, between the President, and Amazon's Jeff Bezos. The skit that saw Bezos played by Steve Carol, trolling Trump and the dire midterms warning about an invasion of migrants. Have a look at this.</s>STEVE CAROL, NBC SNL VIDEO OF JEFF BEZOS: I am here to announce a brand- new delivery option that doesn't involve the post office at all. Amazon caravan. Any package going to any Trump building will get delivered by hundreds of Honduran and Mexican immigrants and not the company billed. Unless you order the "Art of the Deal", that costs more to ship, because it is heavier. I guess it is the only book with four chapter 11s.</s>ANDERSON: Let's have you clarify your position so far as politics is concerned. And I wonder, is this kind of stuff what we just have seen fueling the President's ire, does actually make things worse?</s>OBEIDALLAH: Look, Donald Trump -- SNL has gotten under Donald Trump's skin so badly -- and I've written about this countless times here for CNN -- that in the campaign, he called for the show to be canceled, because they didn't like the way they were portraying him. Even as President-elect, he talked about SNL should be retired and went after Alec Baldwin because he didn't like his betrayal. Think about that. The President-elect of the United States calling for a comedy show to be canceled. And a few months ago, Donald Trump railed against late night comedy hosts like Jimmy Fallon, Steve Colbert, and the list goes on. Literally a rally going through them name by name. Donald Trump's got a thick skin, we are not going to be silent. And my politics -- look, what I'm saying now about Donald Trump and the truth is accurate. It is objective. There are Republicans, at least former Republicans, and current Republicans, who agree, that Donald Trump has a problem with the truth. And the "Washington Post" has quantified, we're talking about thousands of lies. So, it's not -- I don't come at this as a progressive. I don't come at this as a Democrat. I come at this as an American who treasures the truth. And I think that's what unites so many Americans right now. And that election last week in America I think sent a clear message. Although, Donald Trump in the Chris Wallace interview, gave himself an A-plus -- talk about grade inflation. He gave himself an A-plus when they suffered a horrible loss two weeks ago. America gets what's going on. And left and right his approval ratings are really low. They're not moving up. Despite a great economy on paper at least. He shouldn't be there. America's rejecting him.</s>ANDERSON:  10: 49 in New York. 7:49 in Abu Dhabi. Dean, thank you.</s>OBEIDALLAH: Thank you, Becky.</s>ANDERSON: Meanwhile, yet another front for the White House, the administration warning CNN's chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta, his press pass could be revoked again at the end of the month. And in response CNN asking the U.S. district court for another emergency hearing. You'll remember the Trump administration revoked Acosta's press pass after a heated exchange with Mr. Trump last week. We saw CNN win a temporary restraining order against the U.S. President, and some of his top aides, as a federal Judge said the White House was wrong in taking that pass away. Well, Mr. Trump downplayed that ruling on Fox News, saying it is not a big deal. CNN's Brian Stelter following this story for us from New York. Not a big deal. Is it?</s>BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Well, he says it is not a big deal but his administration is still moving forward. Trying to keep Acosta out of the press corps. And that's why CNN is back in court this morning, filing new papers. What is happening here is Acosta, as you see, was walking back to work on Friday. He has his press pass back, for two weeks. That's how long this temporary restraining order is in effect. Thanks to a judge in Washington, who ruled in CNN's favor on Friday. So that two-week period is already ticking. The clock is ticking. There is 11 days to go. And a new letter from the White House, to Acosta, indicates that when that temporary restraining order expires his press pass may very well be revoked again. The White House wanting to continue to keep this fight going. So, in response, CNN is asking for another urgent hearing before the judge. What CNN now wants is something called a preliminary injunction. That could last a whole lot longer than 14 days. That could last for as long as this legal battle goes on. So, CNN has just filed paperwork, asking for that new hearing, maybe early next week, since the Thanksgiving holiday is coming up. And the bottom line here is this is going to go on for a while, it looks like. CNN was victorious in round one. But there is going to be many more rounds ahead.</s>ANDERSON: Brian, remind us, is there any precedent to this?</s>STELTER: Absolutely not. But there is a little bit of case law involving the rules and regulations for handing out press passes. Essentially the White House and any past administration in the U.S. has been permissive about press access. Always airing on the side of giving more press passes, not fewer. But we've never seen a case like this where press passes have been revoked out of the blue and the White House has made up an excuse involving behavior in order to defend it. So ultimately had is going to be fought in the courts perhaps, even the appeals court or even higher. But CNN's message as of this morning in a new statement is that these actions are threatening all journalists not just Acosta. Yes, he is the person being targeted right now. But if the White House is able to successfully kick him out of the press corps, in essence, then the fear is that others will follow. The White House will be emboldened and we will do this same thing with other reporters.</s>ANDERSON: Right, Brian Stelter in the house, out of New York for you this evening. Thank you, Brian.</s>STELTER: Thanks.</s>ANDERSON: Sticking with the brighter side of U.S. politics next, as it is out with the primary colors, and with the Instagram filters, the budding lawmaker who is helping change the image of politicians one post at a time.