Transcripts For CNNW Anderson Cooper 360 20181220

All over him, by senator grahams way of thinking and others because the president s decision would seem to hurt u. S. Allies and help u. S. Adversaries. Namely, russia. Senator rubio even alluded to that on twitter retweeting kremlin praise for the move adding, himself, i found someone who is supportive of the decision to retreat from syria. But that tweet mocking though it may be gets to the heart of many of the questions about why this, why now, and whats behind it that we dont yet know. It is not just republican lawmakers speaking out, its the president s own inner circle. A Senior Administration official told cnns jake tapper, and im quoting now, senior officials across the administration agree that the president s decision by tweet will recklessly put american and allied lives in danger around the world, take the pressure off isis, allowing them to reconstitute and hand a strategic victory to our syrian, iranian, and russian adversaries. That same official quoted his colleagues as saying its a mistake of colossal proportions and the president fails to see how it will endanger our country. Thats right. The calls are coming from inside the house. Bottom line, nothing about any of this is like anything weve seen before except, of course, from this president. Starting with that tweet this morning, we have defeated isis in syria. My only reason for being there during the trump presidency. He did not elaborate. A short time later a source told us the president ordered a full and Rapid Military pullout from syria. To say that blind sided nearly everyone doesnt begin to describe it. It even caught the white house off guard. One senior official who was holding a Conference Call on it simply could not offer any details referring reporters to the pentagon. The pentagons response, ask the white house. Were not making this up. No one had any details, at least none that they could talk about. Republican senator bob corker whos the outgoing chair of the Senate Foreign relations committee, went to the white house for a scheduled meeting this afternoon hoping to ask the president about his decision, but the white house canceled the meeting when he was there. No one today seemed ready for this, perhaps many including longtime allies had no idea it was coming. Two diplomatic sources from two countries in the region tell us they had not been consulted or informed. The news, they said, came as a total surprise, which keeping them honest, truly is a surprise because back in april when the president floated the idea of a pullout, only to later be talked out of it, he had plenty to say about how he would be consulting everyone. I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back decision as to what we do in the very near future. Well be consulting also with the groups of our people and groups of our allies. So, clearly back in april, consulting the agencies and allies involved was important enough for the president to mention it at a televised news conference. This time, apparently not so much, or not at all. When asked about whether the president consulted with defense secretary james mattis or secretary of state mike pompeo, that Administration Official we mentioned a moment ago declined to comment. But we should note, he did push back, or she, did push back against a suggestion that Administration Officials were caught unaware. Still, its hard to imagine this was the process of anything resembling a robust interagency debate. Heres the state departments official in charge of fighting isis just last week, suggesting u. S. Troops were in syria for the long haul. And if weve learned one thing over the years and during defeat aftof a group means you cant defeat their physical space and leave. You have to make sure the internal Security Forces are if place to ensure that those gains, security gains are enduring. We have obviously learned a lot of lessonses in the past. Once the physical space is defeated, we cant pick up and leave. We want to stay on the ground to make sure stability can be maintained in the areas. Thats a top official eight days ago saying the official policy of this country is to stay in syria and the course. And john bolton, the former ambassador to the united nations, the Current National security adviser, said back in september, were not going to leave as long as iranian troops are outside iranian borders and that include iranian proxies and militias. Theyre still there. Keeping them honest, despite losing much of their territory, a recent pentagon report says as many as 30,000 isis fighters are still in the region. So whatever you might think about the wisdom of keeping several thousand u. S. Troops in the region, wherever you stand on American Intervention in global hotspots, whatever questions you might have about the president s motivations for this, with respect to russia or maybe as a diversion from the Mueller Investigation, one thing really is not debatable. The president is choosing to build his case to the public on a false notion, which he tweeted this morning and restated tonight in this white house video referring, as youll see, to the gratitude of those whove lost their lives. Ive been president for almost two years, and weve really stepped it up and we have won against isis. Weve beaten them and weve beaten them badly. We won and thats the way we want it and thats the way they want it. All right. Joining us now, cnn senior white house correspondent, jeff zeleny. Jeff, as we said, this caught many people by surprise. Members of the president s own party on capitol hill express deep unhappiness. How extensively was this plan within the administration . Reporter john, as far as we know, it was the president tweeting this morning about 9 30 or so washington time that 16word tweet that caught everyone by surprise including, im told, people here inside the white house. So initially, it seemed the president was trying to change the subject. Of course, the Mueller Investigation hanging over this white house so much, but also its odd because there was the criminal Justice Reform bill that was passing last night, actually a goodnews story for this white house, but the president clearly trying to engage here, but, john, i cannot recall a time where so many loyal allies of this president d Lindsey Graham, john cornyn, occasionally bob corker, really coming hard after this president. Vice president mike pence went to capitol hill today and he got an earful, im told, inside that Senate Republican lunch. People were saying it was the wrong decision, it was simply, you know, people were not, you know, briefed on this. So, john, the sense was the president , the commander in chief, clearly making the call essentially on his own, against the advice of his advisers and no prep about it. It wasnt until six hours later the administration had a Conference Call trying to explain all of this and, john, many answers were many questions, rather, were left unanswered. Then after that was this video that the president put out thats very different. Very, very different than how he has explained this in the past, very different than he normally makes proclamations. Why did the white house do it this way . Reporter theres no question this is something that weve seen President Trump do really increasingly over the last few months. He films a video on the south lawn of the white house. Of course, no questions can be asked. But it is not what a president normally does in terms of making an announcement like this that would have normally been done from the oval office, perhaps, from the diplomatic reception room. Hes making a major decision, a change in u. S. Foreign policy, saying were bringing troops home. So this is something hes been campaigning on. He talked a lot about. Unclear why they didnt have more of a grander proclamation than that simple statement there on the south lawn of the white house. John, im also told the president wanted to get this off the checklist before he heads to maralago on friday, but so many questions, and Lindsey Graham said congress is still going to press the pentagon and others about how this withdrawal will happen and why this was announced today. Even all that understates the strangeness of it all today. Thanks very much. Earlier today i spoke to adam k k kensinger, a member of the Foreign Affairs committee. What was your first reaction when you heard this announcement from President Trump . I didnt believe it, you know, we got indications, i was sitting eating breakfast, that this was going to happen. I thought, obviously, this was some untruth and then to see the president s tweet and to realize that, in fact, he had made a decision, i think against all his National Security advisers, to leave syria immediately, i was blown away. Ill tell you, im still speechless today. I have a lot to say on it. I sit around and im kind of numb because the president ran saying he was going to defeat isis. Isis isnt defeated. Were defeating them, but what this is going to do if the president follows through on it is double or triple the size of isis probably overnight and its very sad. So why do you say isis hasnt been defeated . Because that was his specific claim today. Yeah, well, we know by numbers that theres still at least ive heard some estimates as low as 2,000, and some estimates as high as 20,000 or 30,000. As long as theres one member of isis, were going to have to continue this fight. You know, fighting terrorism is not a choice we have. Its a choice that terrorists make on our behalf. What we do have a choice about is where we fight them. Do we fight them in syria . Do we fight them in iraq . Do we find them in their home area or do we fight them here on the streets of new york or d. C. Or shanahan, illinois . Thats the question. If the president follows through on what he said and we leave syria, that fight is going to move somewhere else because theyre not going anywhere. And its also more than the territorial battle, a territorial battle has been going well in syria. Isis has been pushed back and on the retreat in terms of territory, but theres more tosto isis than just land. Yeah, isis is a thought, its an idea. Theres probably a lot of people at any given time that are on the verge of joining isis and they may maybe not, you know, if they see all these isis members die. Its probably a bad decision to join them. But then all of a sudden, if, you know, around kmachristmasti it comes out that the United States is giving up the fight against isis in syria, now people on the verge of joining them will see this as a maybe whats been prof siphetsized, m the caliphate is coming true because the United States left. These are things we have to take into account. Were fighting them at relatively low costs. Its interesting, so i wear my buddy who was killed in iraq this year, his name was andreas okeefe, i followed them in iraq back in 08, he died fighting isis in iraq. They still exist. You know, i want to know that his sacrifice, as terrible as it was, would lead to the end of isis as we know it. And im worried by this decision. What happens to the u. S. Partners who have been fighting alongside the u. S. Troops . The Kurdish Forces there, among others. Well, im very much worried about them. If the rumors or the innuendos are true that it was after the president talked to president erdogan of turkey that then he made the decision, president erdogan wants to destroy the kurds. Hes made it very clear. He considers them a massive terrorist organization. Some kind of a deal was cut. If im a kurd right now, im extremely worried. As an american, im worried because if this is, in fact, the case, once again, we have enlisted people on our fight with us and then abandoned when they needed us the most. We have a terrible history of doing that and i hope this isnt one further example. You said you were surprised. You said you didnt believe it because you didnt think that the military was advising the president to do so. Do you think he did this without consultation . Yeah. I think so. I mean, i dont know, but i the people i know that are around the president that advise him would never advise anything like this. When just weeks ago, you have members of the government saying this is going to be a long fight. General du innen idunford sayin going to take a long time and all of a sudden this decision is made over night. As president , he has a right to do it. I dont question his ability and his authority to make this decision. But as a member of congress, and an american, i have a right and a responsibility to speak out when its wrong and this is wrong. Finally, into ask you to respond to what senator rand paul of kentucky said. He praised the announcement saying, im happy to see a president who can declare a victory and bring our troops out of war. Its been a long time since that happened. Ill remand rand paul of 2011 when victory was declared and we had to go back. Rand paul is a libertarian masquerading as a republican. He put out a budget when he got elected which would have slaughtered the amount of money we spent on the military, Something Like 20 , 30 . His Foreign Policy is is not going to lead to a safer america. I respect his viewpoint because its a legitimate viewpoint, vehemently id disagree. That should not be the view of the Republican Party at large. Adam kinsinger, thank you for joining us. Appreciate your time. Yeah, take care. With me now Washington Post National Security reporter jobi warwick back from iraq, and author of black flags the rise of isis. And david gergen whos advised four president s. David, i want to start with you here. To see the president make the kind of statement that he did, not from inside the white house, not from, you know, somewhere with troops behind him but on twitter. Yes. Like that. After really shocking everyone including members of his own administration. Yeah. Ever seen anything like this . No. And its interesting tonight were seeing the big split in the Republican Party. I think since donald trump took office. You have republican after republican is peeling off. Theyre very upset about this. There had been a consensus, yes, weve taken a lot of territory back from isis. Started under obama, its continued under trump. Good for us. That was terrific. But to get people out, we need to train up the people who are still there on our side. The kurds. And general dunford just said, head of the joint chiefs, were only 20 through the training. We need to have 80 still to go. What weve goting to erdogan of. Erdogan apparently saying im going to go after those kurds because theyre my enemies, we consider them terrorists. Trump then makes a decision very quickly, get out of there, i dont want to be in harms way when they come. What happens . We leave those kurds to be slaughtered. We destroy our reliability in the middle east. Who are the big winners tonight . Russia. Iran. You know, syria under isis. And you go down the list. Turkey has won out on this thing. If you go down that list, these are all countries that are muslim are really opposed to us. This is a victory for the other side. You know, let me just ask you, you got back from iraq, youve done a ton of reporting on this. Few people have your depth of knowledge on this subject. The president said flatout on twitter and then later today, isis has been not just defeated but beaten badly. How does that square with what youve seen . Thatd be a big surprise to people in the region. I was in there last week. Is jb isis not defeated. There are serious pockets of isis fighters. Determined resistance. Weve seen that in the last few weeks and closer to home for them they say signs of resurgen resurgence. Thousands of fighters were talking about, many have wandered across the border, gone back to towns and villages. Some are hiding out in mountain caves. Theyre coming back. There are attacks in places like the area south of mosul, around karkuk. Sometimes a couple dozen attacks in a month showing that isis is gaining its foothold there and has allieies and wants to do a t of damage. What happens based on your reporting and what youve seen when the u. S. Does pull its troops out . Heres the problem. You can start to see potentia y ly isis regaining its footing in syria. What does that mean . As happened back in 2013 and 14, the weapons start to flow again. Theres treatment of movement that allows terrorists to go to other places and make ambitious plans. Thats what the iraqis are concerned about. Whats going to happen if things get really bad in syria . Theres a border thats very porous and bad guys can cross it. Thats. Thats what theyre worried about and starting to see isign of that happening already. Youve heard senator corker, marco rubio and others express shock. We have quotes from Senior Administration officials who are also shocked and clearly there was no coordination between whoever knew in the white house, in the pentagon or the state department, so youve been inside administrations. What does a move like this do . Well, it really it erodes morale inside. People begin to think, we got two things wrong here. We got the substance of it wrong and got the process wrong. And both of them were terrible mistakes. A and its ironic, john, coming hours after he successfully built a consensus. Give credit to Jared Kushner for pulling that off. To have this, this is complete opposite from a president er p i power perspective. I cannot tell you how much once again the United States has turned tail on its own friends. And its really hard to build your friendships back up once you betrayed the people that youre fighting with. You know, joby, you heard people, we played it before in the show, say that the winners here are russia and iran. Is that accurate . Yeah, it is, and if you think about it, too, this is a fairly small deployment that we have. Its only a couple thousand people. So its not huge. But we control a really critical area. This area particularly in southern syria that essentially keeps all those other forces that were worried about at bay. This is our way of keeping the iranians from having a throughway essentially from iran to lebanon to support hezbollah fighters. Its much more important than even just the fight against isis. A lot of things that are sort of kept in place because we have a small troop presence there. So thats what we tend we are at risk of losing and thats the real concern. So tonight, this administration, people in the United States and leaders all around the world coming to terms with this decision and what it means. Coming up, more breaking news, indications Robert Mueller is leaving no stone unturned. The Washington Post reports the special counsel asked the House Intelligence Committee for an official transcript of trump adviser roger stones testimony. That request tells us a lot. Well tell you exactly what, next. And later, a California Power company blamed for more than a dozen california fires last year under the microscope again in this years deadly camp fire. Drew griffin investigates. Thats ahead. Theres no excuse for what they did to you. Its a hate crime. Its a miracle he survived. [ gasps ] i got your back. Based on an inspirational true story. Are these your drawings . I was a hell of a good artist. Now i can barely write my name. So, i created a world where i can be anyone i want. Hey, hey. Lookin good. A place where i can heal. Welcome to marwen. Welcome to healing. You need to face those jerks who beat you up. Welcome to hope. I have my friends and they cant take that away from me. Weve got your back hogan. From the groundbreaking director for forrest gump. Woo hoo hoo hoo and. Were one in the same, pal. If i can be a hero, so can you. In marwen, anything is possible. Hell yeah. Hes got legs he eats a bowl of hammers at every meal he holds your house in the palm of his hand hes your home and auto man big jim, hes got you covered great big jim, there aint no other so, this is covered, right . Yes, maam. Take care of it for you right now. Giddyup hi this is jamie. We need some help. Voicecommand navigation with waze wifi Wireless Charging 104 cubic feet of cargo room and seating for 8. Now thats a sleigh. Ford expedition. Built for the holidays. And for a limited time, get zero percent financing plus twelve hundred and fifty dollars ford credit bonus cash on ford expedition. Ford credit bonus cash but some give their clients cookie cutter portfolios. Fisher investments tailors portfolios to your goals and needs. Some only call when they have something to sell. Fisher calls regularly so you stay informed. And while some advisors are happy to earn commissions whether you do well or not. Fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. Maybe thats why most of our clients come from other money managers. Fisher investments. Clearly better money management. At t provides edgetoedge intelligence, covering virtually every part of your finance business. And so if someone tries to breach your firewall in london you start to panic. Dont. Because your cto says weve got allies on the outside. Security algorithms on the inside. That way you can focus on expanding into eastern europe. That makes the Branch Managers happy yes, thats the Branch Managers happy. At t provides edgetoedge intelligence. It can do so much for your business, the list goes on and on. Thats the power of. When this happens youll know how to quickly react. Heartburn and gas . Fight both fast tums chewy bites with gas relief all in one relief of heartburn and gas tum tum tum tums tums chewy bites with gas relief a lot will happen in your life. Wrinkles just wont. Neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repairs dermproven retinol works so fast, it takes only one week to reveal younger looking skin. Making wrinkles look so last week. Rapid wrinkle repair® pair with new retinol oil for 2x the wrinkle fighting power. Neutrogena® more breaking news tonight. The House Intelligence Committee is expected to vote tomorrow on whether to release the transcript of trump adviser roger stones Committee Interview that they did, whether to release it to the special counsel Robert Mueller. Thats according to a House Intel Committee member. The woefWashington Post repor mueller asked the committee friday for an official transcript of stones testimony. Its not clear what part of the testimony mueller would be focused on but the Washington Post points out mueller could use the threat of a false statement charge to get stones top ko cooperation, maybe as he did with Michael Flynn and Michael Cohen. Theres no reporting mueller might get what he wants. Two House Republicans on the Intelligence Committee tell cnn they would vote to release the transcript to mueller if he has formally requested it. Joining me now is congressman jim hynes, democrat of connecticut, and a member of the House Intelligence Committee. Now, congressman, i know you feel you cannot officially confirm or deny whether the request has been made. Cnn is reporting it. I will say that. But i would like to know from you is, if you were asked, would you have any reason to oppose releasing the official transcript to Robert Mueller . No, i dont think so, and, you know, as you probably know, john, the committee voted some weeks ago to release all of the transcripts to the public. Thats under way as a process right now. Scrubbing those transcripts for classified information. So one way or another, the transcript will become public at some point. No, again, i cannot confirm communications between the special counsel and the Intelligence Committee, but, no, were that request to be made, i would certainly be favorably inclined to approve it. Its interesting, though, because back in september, there was a democratic motion to release the transcripts to robert mule and it was voted down by republicans on the committee. Doesnt seem like theyre going to block it now, does it . Well, i dont know. I guess you had that story from two members on the republican side said they would support such a motion so if such a motion were made, presumably, it would pass. It is interesting, lets imagine that mueller does get his hands on that transcript. I for one, again, i cant confirm the specifics of whats been requested, but i for one would put roger stone at the top of my list of people that i would be concerned had not been truthful with the committee when he testified to us. And obviously, you know, if that is true, as we saw in the Michael Cohen case just a couple weeks ago, lying to congress is a big deal and mueller was not shy about using that as leverage with Michael Cohen. I know youre not going to tell me what you dont believe he was not truthful or not truthful about with your committee, but in public, he has been asked repeatedly about what he knew of wikileaks. The hacks and the hacked eed es that wikileaks had, when they would release them. He has always denied knowledge beforehand of the release. Do you have reason to doubt those public denials . Well, you know, as you point out, publicly, he said i, you know, the fact that i said that john podesta was about to get, i think the phrase was, some time in the barrel, right before wikileaks released John Podestas email, he has made publicly, and im not sure that he said anything to the committee that would be different from what he said publicly, that that was just a big coincidence, that he had no knowledge. I think thats too big of a coincidence, and you know, what weve learned, of course, since roger stone said that is that whether its Michael Cohen or Paul Manafort or you name any number of, you know, a half dozen officials, when it comes to these things, they lie about it. Even though it means that they risk or do go to prison. And i do want to adhere, if thats what this is all about, it gets to the center of the whole russia investigation. Did someone close to the president , roger stone advises him on politics, did he have knowledge of emails hacked by the russians and given to wikile wikileaks . Thats according to the indictments from Robert Muellers team over the summer. Did stone know about that. The Washington Post notes, this is interesting, that the mueller team somehow got an unofficial transcript of the report. Perhaps through director of national intelligence. So they know, they know what roger stone told you already. Theyve seen the notes already. The reason to get the official transcript the post says is because you need the official transcript for an indictment. Now, i dont know if that means mueller is going to indict roger stone or not, but does this move tell you that perhaps hes getting closer to making the decision . The final part of his investigation . At least into roger stone. Well, you know, yes is the answer to that question. Obviously, if roger stone told the special counsel or told anybody in an official capacity a lie, thats a very big deal and a very big point of leverage that mueller would now have on top of roger stone. Roger stone is not a young man. He could probably contemplate like Paul Manafort spending a good chunk of the rest of his life in jail if mueller decided to throw the book at him. This is a big point of leverage. The reason this is important, john, you made this point, you know, weve seen all sorts of efforts on the part of russians to reach out to the Trump Campaign. We saw it with the don junior meeting. We issaw it with Michael Cohen d various weve seen the trump people lie about it. R roger stone could be the guy who knew in advance what was going to happen because, again, he predicted bizarrely on time that wikileaks release of compromising emails on Hillary Clinton and if he knew about that in advance and didnt raise the alarm, you know, there is a very, very ugly fact for the Trump Campaign. He has denied it but then, again, roger stone has said a lot of things and denied a lot of things in the past. You just never know. Congressman jim himes, thanks for being with us tonight. I really appreciate. Thank you, john. With me now cnn chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin. This Washington Post story is fascinating as much for the process as the fact what happened here. I was not aware you need the official transcript of Congress Congressional testimony if youre going to indict for perjury. I dont know if thats what muellers going to do but if he is going to do it, he needs the official transcript. Just like in a tax case, you need the tax return, official copy of the tax return, not any old xerox copy. Same thing with congressional testimony, its got to come from congress in an official way. This is not a guarantee that roger stone is going to be indicted but if youre roger stone, its certainly an unnerving development. Yeah, i mean, they could not indict him for lying to Congress Without it. Right. And its also been clear for months based on who we know has been going in and out of the grand jury, theyve been looking at stone. Day have not called stone, himself, to testify, which is consistent with how you treat a target of a grand jury investigation. So its quite obvious that mueller has been close to indicting stone for some time, but thats not the same thing as an actual indictment. All right. Roger stone, whom youre reported on for a long, long time. This is how we responded to the Washington Post story today. He said mueller would need to prove intent and materiality and no reasonable attorney would conclude thats happened here in terms of his testimony to congress. You know, i dont like to throw around legal jargon on television, but roger stone is a classic bs artist. This is a guy who says Different Things at different times. And in a perverse way, that may actually help him here because the evidence against him like congressman himes was saying, he said he knew that that these wikileaks were coming this wikileaks disclosures about john podesta were coming. He could say and a lot of people would believe him, especially those of us whove followed him for a long time, says i was just blowing smoke, i didnt know what was happening, i was just throwing stuff in the air trying to get people to believe bad things were going to happen to the clinton campaign. That could be true. However, it could also be true that he did have this inside information and he was lying about it. And mueller may have documents. He may have sources to refute what roger stone said to congress. If, if the mueller team is able to go after stone for lying to congress, they did that with Michael Cohen. They used it as leverage. Do you ever think, based on what you know of roger stone, that he would cooperate . Well, you know, he has made a big point of saying that he would never cooperate. And, you know, this is a guy who values toughness above all else. His political hero is Richard Nixon. As weve discussed, he has a tattoo of Richard Nixon on his back. Not a no, its like ive seen it in person. Its, like, this big. Richard nixons head on his back. This is his political idol. You know, the guy who hung tough. In the face of an indictment, people sometime s change their minds, but of all the people in this story, i would say roger is among the least likely ever to flip against President Trump or anyone else for that matter. Is it my business how you saw the tattoo in person . He took off his shirt and showed it to me. Jeffrey toobin, thank you for being with us. Thank you for sharing. Theres even more sordid aspects to that story, but well leave it for another day. Is appreciate your time. Thank you very much. Part two. And your discretion, frankly. All right. Remember this white house reality show moment . I mean, meeting . The president lobbying for border wall money telling senator Chuck Schumer he would be proud to shut down the government for border security. Well tonight, it seems more and more likely there will be no wall money and also no government shutdown. The art of the no deal next. Keeping them honest. If you have moderate to severe psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis, Little Things can be a big deal. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not an injection or a cream. Its a pill that treats differently. For psoriasis, 75 clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. For psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. And the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. It may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. Tell your doctor about your medicines and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Otezla. Show more of you. Only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. They release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. Tylenol® the greatest wish of all is one that brings us together. The final days of wish list are here. Sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first months payment. Only at your lincoln dealer. Senate republicans hit some snags today but say theyre still close to passing a bill to keep the government funded for the next several months. Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell introduced it earlier today. Another Top Republican said the president would sign it. Keeping them honest, thats a bit odd for two reasons. One, because the bill does not contain money for the president s border wall, and two, because just about a week ago, the president said this. And ill tell you what we agree to disagree. I am proud to shut down the government for border security, chuck, because the people this country dont want criminals and people that have lots of problems and drugs pouring into our country. So i will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. Im not going to blame you for it. The last time you shut is down, it didnt work. Im going to shut it down for border security. Keeping them honest, sure seems like he wont. In fact, it almost seems like he bluffed, was called on it and is now backing down. This does not sound like a chapter from the art of the deal nor the kind of dealmaking he promised voters. Is we need somebody with great energy, with great passion, with great dealmaking skills. Im going to make the great deals. I am going to make great deals for our country. I mean, what i do is i do deals. I deal. I negotiate by creating leverage. So i can extract a good deal for the United States, for the people. He said all that. Then, again, he also said this. I promise, we will build the wall. And whos going to pay for the wall . Mexico whos going to pay for the wall . Mexico who . Mexico it will be a great wall, mexicos going to pay for the wall. Mexico is going to pay for the wall. Mexico will pay for the wall. Indirectly. Thats right. The new and improved version is now mexico will indirectly pay for the wall. And how do we know . Because the president said so. Mexico is paying indirectly for the wall through the new u. S. Mca. The replacement for nafta. Far more money coming to the u. S. Because of the tremendous dangers at the border, including largescale criminal and drug inflow. The United States military will build the wall. So whos going to pay for it . Mexico. Indirectly. Doesnt quite have the same ring, does it . Its kind of like the difference between lock her up and community service. With me now, usa today columnist and cnn political analyst Kirsten Powers and former Trump White House director of legislative affairs and cnn political commentator mark short. Mark, democrats are taking over the house a couple weeks from now so the way you look at this now, for all intents and purposes, was this the president s last best chance to get funding for his wall . I think it is one of the last opportunities to get funding for the wall, john, but i do think where the administration should be focussed, frankly, is to say accurately that last year they got the first new funding in ten years at 1. 6 billion. Ive heard the democrat talking points and some echoed on this network that say its not wall. Its actually 5 million of a levee system, 20foot concrete wall with a road in between and another wall on the other side. Its 200 million of actual new fencing on the Rio Grande River and about 900 million of repairing fences from about 8 feet to raising it to 30 feet of bollard fencing, what cuss comes and Border Patrol said they want. The administration should be taking credit for what they got and the new bill has another 1. 6 million in. Its actually the first new funding in ten years delivering on the president s commitment to actually build a wall. I understand what youre saying, yes, there is funding that have been used for these border barriers but it isnt the wall the president promised, in fact, specifically cited it cant be for the wall as he promised it. But i do understand what youre saying. John, to that point, what the president said after the campaign is customs and Border Patrol career officers came and said, heres the wall that we want. Here is the fencing that we want. Thats the plan the administration submitted to congress to get funding that congress has funded. So, in fact, that is the white house proposal. That is what is actually congress supporting. I understand democrats are in a tough spot because they want to say to their base, we never agreed to that, but they twi actually did. Again, look, mark, i understand that wasnt the promise, that wasnt whos going to build the wall, whos going to pay for it . Mexico. Its neither of the things he promised during the campaign. Yes, that was the deal that was struck more than a year ago with chuck and nancy. Chuck schumer and nancy pelosi. And what has been extended at least for a few more months now. Kirsten, you know, for a president who says he makes better deals than anybody, for a president who said he was going to get 5 billion for the wall this time, or else, what happened . Well, i mean, first of all, i just i do want to just respond to what was just said. I mean, he has not gotten what he said he was going to get and, you know, he most recently wanted 5 billion and he didnt get it. And the cbo has said that to build the wall will cost 18 billion. So lets just think about that for a minute. 18 billion for this wall that we dont even need. But he didnt get anywhere near the amount of money that he needs for the wall that he said was going to be paid for by mexico. So i would say hes definitely failing on terms of getting done what he said he would get done and getting the deals that he needs to get done to accomplish one of his goals that he, you know, when he had both the senate and the you know, both sides of the congress under republican control. So it seems like a failure. I would say its a good failure. And i dont think that we should shame him for it because i think it was actually very mature behavior to say im not going to shut down the government because of the wall. And so i think its turned into this thing of trying to shame donald trump for actually doing something that i think was mature. Look, i thing thats an important point. The government will stay end open until february. If you didnt want a shutdown over christmas, both sides figured out a way to get there at least until february. Maybe there will be a shutdown over valentines day. Will be a lot less romantic for a lot of people. The meeting with Chuck Schumer and nancy pelosi, did that backfire on him . Well, john, i dont think the expectations have been raised to get to 5 billion. As kirsten knows, yes, we had republican control of the house and senate but you need 60 votes in the senate on any spending bill. So that meant youre going to need to get nine, at least nine democrat votes in the senate which was unlikely. Having said that, again, i do think that its something that the administration on the messaging front should be talk bing about what they got already as opposed to raising expectations i think were difficult to meet. And kirsten, finally, on the fact that the president claims that mexico will indirectly pay for the wall by way of trade with nafta, which, by the way, is not how revenue actually works. Right. Is that an example of dealmaking . Look, thats what you just said, though, its not i dont even know how that would work. That how would you even earmark that money or direct that money assuming that that amount of money came in, anyway . And like i said, i just think people need to think about this 18 billion and its probably if the past is prologue, it will be more than that because usually when the government does something, whatever they think its going to be, its usually at least twice as much or more. So, so is he saying that were going to get some benefits from a trade deal that hasnt been ratified yet, either . And then hes going to take that toward, you know, put this toward the wall . I think people should be concerned about that. Kirsten powers, mark short, thank you so much for being with us. Happy holidays to both of you. Thanks, john. So the terrible forest fires in california, they have subsided. Investigators are now working on one of many possible causes as well as gathering evidence pointing to those responsible for more than a dozen of last years fires in the state. Coming up, a cnn investigation uncovers the same company is, again, under scrutiny. This is incredible last chance to join tmobile and get the awesome iphone xr, on us it has an amazing camera. I can bearly contain myself. Its your last chance this Holiday Season to join tmobile and get the iphone xr on us. Coaching means making tough choices. Jim youre in but when you have high Blood Pressure and need Cold Medicine that works fast, the choice is simple. Coricidin hbp is the 1 brand that gives powerful cold symptom relief without raising your Blood Pressure. Coricidin hbp. Investigators in california are hard at work trying to determine the cause of that terrible camp fire in the northern part of the state where at least 86 people were killed. Theres equipment from one company being looked at as a possible cause. And cnns drew griffin reports its the same Company Already blamed for nearly all of last years fires in a single month. This area was my studio with big windows. Reporter this is all norma has left of the home she lived in for 30 years. A macabre reminder of the day her physical world turned to ashes. The fire was behind us. Reporter she and her family had fooifr minuive minutes to e atlas fire in fall of 2017. When they returned, it was all gone. I couldnt negotiate the loss. I couldnt negotiate the loss of a home. Couldnt. Reporter across Northern California, the fires in october of 2017 fueled by high winds and drought would kill 44, burn 8,900 homes and other buildings. As the burning ended, the burning question began. How did this happen . We had a number of fires that were the result of some type of ignition from power lines. Reporter cal fire investigators concluded that 17 of the 18 fires in october of 2017 were caused by equipment from pacific gas electric. The multibillion dollar Power Company. In 11 of those fires, investigators found evidence pg e violated state law. James ingle oversees fire investigations for cal fire. Is pg e doing enough, in your mind . Well, thats thats not my call to make. In the case of those particular fires, they were referred to the District Attorney keen tan quintana a its actually been going on now for years, 1994, 99, 2004, the whiskey fire in 2008, the deadly butte fire in 2015. Fire after fire that investigators found were caused by a Power Company failing to follow state regulations to trim trees or maintain equipment. You see a pattern and practice that pg e is not willing to step up to the plate and do what it needs to do to prevent these utilitycaused wildfires. Reporter attorney john fiske has built a practice suing power companies, and specifically pg e, for causing fires that are destroying californians lives. Hes doing it because the state of california wont. If you had a company that was out in the atlantic and it kept starting hurricanes, and the government just kind of continued to let it start hurricanes, again, youd consider that behavior to be almost sociopathic because peoples lives would be devastated. Reporter pg e was convict the of six felonies because of a pipeline explosion in 2010. Just last month the president of the Public Utilities commission announced a new review of pg e, telling the wall street journal he was very concerned, they, pg e, still dont have accountability in place. Is pg e getting the message, do you think . I think youre going to have to ask them. Reporter we tried, but the company declined. And instead, sent a lengthy statement saying it expanded its Community Wildfire safety program, improving realtime monitoring, enhancing Vegetation Management efforts, conducting accelerated safety inspections, installing stronger and more resilient poles. Critics point to the way pg e has spent its money, awarding its ceo salary and stock worth 8. 5 million in 2017, and spending another 8 million lobbying lawmakers in sacramento to get a law passed that allows pg e to pass some of the cost of the fires on to customers. Now pg e is dealing with this. Last months camp fire in Northern California killed 86 and destroyed the town of paradise. Equipment from pg e is being investigated as a possible cause. Attorney john fiske says it has to stop. These wildfires oftentimes the most vulnerable members of our community are affected because theyre immobile and they cannot get out. Thats how devastating these wildfires are. Thats why it is so important these companies change their practices. It is a matter of life and death. Andrew griffin joins me now. 11 of those california fires last year, investigators found evidence pg e equipment not only started the fires, but the company violated state law. Are charges being filed . John, they are certainly being reviewed. Several District Attorneys are asking californias attorney general to review these cases. Pg e itself, we reached out to them. They say they have yet to review those investigative reports saying theyre not public yet, but in the meantime, the civil cases involving thousands of homeowners who lost homes like Norma Quintana in her piece have begun. John. Drew griffin, thank you so much for your reporting and your work. Coming up, Rudy Giuliani changes his story again about what the president did when he was trying to build a trump tower in moscow. Details on that next. Before nexium 24hr mark could only imagine. A peaceful night sleep without frequent heartburn waking him up. Now that dream is a reality. Nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for allday, allnight protection. Can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn . The united explorer card makes things easy. Traveling lighter. Taking a shortcut. Woooo taking a breather. Rewarded learn more at the explorer card dot com. Ultimate feast time itsat red lobster. R own pick four of ten favorites to create the ultimate feast youve been dreaming of. Like lobster mac cheese. Or tender snow crab. So hurry in before new create your own ultimate feast ends. Is time you make for yourself. Aveeno® daily moisturizing lotion improves skin hydration in just 1 day. And for twice the moisture, try the body wash, too. Aveeno® naturally beautiful results® there is more breaking news regarding the investigation into President Trumps business interests in russia and on what happened on my friend chris cuomos program last night t. All centered whether donald trump back in october of 2015, signed a letter of intent that was meant to set the stage for negotiations for a trump tower in moscow. Remember, during the 2016 election, there was zero indication from the Trump Campaign that his company had explored any business deals in russia during that campaign. And over the weekend, Rudy Giuliani, the president s tv lawyer, went even further, telling dana bash this. Quote, it was a real estate project. There was a letter of an intent to go forward, but no one signed it, unquote. No one signed it. Remember that, then watch this. My colleague chris cuomo producing that letter, that signed letter, signed by none other than donald trump. Heres the letter. Cohen didnt sign it. The president did. Then this weekend, the president s esteemed lawyer said, quote, it was a real estate project. There was a letter of intent to go forward, but no one signed it. Why are they doing this . This is Donald Trumps signature. Its here. We know this. All right. So, people do make mistakes, i guess. Donald trump obviously did sign it and tonight giuliani reached out to dana bash again and said this. Quote, i was wrong if i said it. I havent seen the quote, giuliani went on, but i meant to say there was never a deal, much less a signed one. Chris cuomo joins me now. Mr. Cuomo, when you see this, is this another example of Rudy Giuliani, not really working as the president s lawyer exactly, but as a p. R. Rep . I think from the beginning people have miss analyzed the mayors role, that they were never getting ready for trial. Of course, it would seem like malpractice giving things away, creating false permutations of fact. Thats why youll have experts on the show say, this is like malpractice. Not if youre getting ready for a p. R. Fight, it isnt. Theyre trying to own the facts. Theyre trying to own the narrative. That said, j. B. , i take mayor giuliani at his words. If he says he misspoke, thats good enough for me, ill take it. Doesnt explain away the whole situation, though, because you still have the president who put that letter in Michael Cohens mouth and said he signed it. He knows that he signed it himself. Why did they say that . That goes to the p. R. Campaign. You would never say things like that if you were worried about winding up in front of a judge or a prosecutor. You would do it if youre worried about how we process it and more importantly, the American People. And then Michael Cohen lied about it for well over a year, and the white house and donald trump let that lie sit out there. Uhhuh. The lie is all that the maer mamaters. Was there a deal . Is this a crime . Those are distractions. Let mueller deal with that. The lying is what matters. When you look at the American People as their president and you lie about whats going on with your business interests, that matters whether or not its a crime