State. Mr. Trump today also named former Texas Governor rick perry as his choice for Energy Secretary and while perry certainly has years of government experience, tillerson has none. But he is a business titan with a record of overcoming challenges. Sound familiar . Yet, unlike donald trump, tillerson has the enthusiastic backing of some big names from the bush administration. They include former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, former defense secretary bob gates, both of whom served under president george w. Bush. We should also point out that exxon is a client of the Consulting Firm that rice and gates started. Also supporting Rex Tillerson, former Vice President dick cheney and bush 41s own secretary of state james baker. But tillerson still faces a potential capitol hill showdown because of his ties specifically to russian president vladimir putin. So for that, let me first go to cnn National Politics reporter mj lee. Tell me first about these key senators and specifically republicans who are criticizing this pick . Yeah, well, brooke, i can tell you this is the nomination that is turning a lot of heads on capitol hill for several reasons. Tillerson is a controversial pick. The first reason is he has no prior government experience, much like president elect donald trump and the other reason, of course, is the one that you mentioned, his close ties, businesses the, i should say, to russia and russian president vladimir putin. Of course, the backdrop for these concerns about tillersons ties to russia is the concern that russia may have interfered with the u. S. Elections and this is, of course, an issue that many republicans are now saying they want to look into further. Already we are seeing some republicans sort of voicing their concerns about the tillerson nomination. We have heard senator john mccain, for example, saying putin is a thug and murderer and he cant understand why anyone would be friends with him. Senator marco rubio is also weighing in and i want to read part of his statement. Rubio writing while Rex Tillerson is a respected businessman, i have serious concerns about his nomination. The next secretary of state must be someone who views the world with moral clarity as free of potential conflicts of interest, has a clearer sense of americas interest and will be a forceful advocate for americas Foreign Policy goals to the president within the administration and on the world stage. Now, brooke, you can imagine if thats the kind of mixed reaction that were getting from the republican side of congress, theres some fierce opposition coming from, of course, the democratic lawmakers on capitol hill as well. This includes senator bernie sanders. He said today that tillersons nomination must be opposed and that the exxon ceo is a pal of putin. The big question going into the next year is whether tillerson will get the support he needs to be confirmed or whether enough republicans cant get on board with his nomination and they end up tanking his nomination. Brooke . Well loop back to that point, mj lee, thank you for setting it up. Let me bring in heidi perrzybyr the cnn political reporter sara murray. Ladies, welcome. Sara, on the note that apparently this tillerson pick came to fruition because of the urgings of bob gates, Condoleezza Rice and jim baker. Talk about that and how they had a hand in making this happen. They helped put this candidate in front of donald trump at a time he was looking at other folks. He was looking at mitt romney for instance as part of an effort to look at former rivals and he kind of liked him. Donald trumps team felt like he needed more candidates, this is someone that Condoleezza Rice, robert gates and others urged him to look at. They hit it off. Had they met before saturday . Not to my knowledge. Forgive me, let me stop, we have to go to oakland, california. Atf about to brief us on potentially the cause of the warehouse fire. Atf has assisted by providing our fire expertise and conducting witness interviews. All of the scene information has been gathered and our analysis will continue in conjunction with the Fire Department investigators. All of the findings will be submitted to the oakland Fire Department who will prepare the final report and give it to the District Attorneys Office for their Ongoing Investigation. To clear up the concern over the determination being electrical, the electrical system is part of the analysis atf experts and the oakland Fire Department investigators are looking at in determining the cause of the fire. The investigation is still ongoing, though, and at this time no final determination has been made as to the exact cause of the fire. Atf will continue to support the Fire Department with analyzing all of the findings for the final report. Atf will also continue to assist with the interviewing of witnesses for the District Attorneys Office investigation. Although atf is no longer on the scene, we would like to let the families and friends of the victims know that our thoughts are with them. At this time, id like to turn the podium over to fire chief rei reid. Good morning, everyone. I would like to start off by acknowledging the remarkable work that was done by oakland Fire Department personnel. Their time on scene during those four days was very taxing, both physically and mentally. I want to thank them personally for the contributions theyve made in regards to this tragic incident. The work they perform ed was spectacular because it was a very difficult event. I want to thank the atf for their participation and support throughout this incident. For providing us with investigators and specialized personnel from their Fire Research laboratory in maryland. Currently our fire investigators are still working with atf to compile all the information necessary for a final fire report. The determination of cause and other gin has not been identified yet. This investigation is still ongoing. Once we complete the fire report and as i mentioned, the investigation is still ongoing so i cannot give you a date on when that report will be completed. But once the report is completed it will be turned over to the d. A. s office as mentioned by atf to continue their Ongoing Investigation that is taking place. Again, this was a tragic event. It was something that the city of oakland suggest that is that they would it was a tragic event. So with the families, our thoughts and prayer are with you and for all the different agencies that were out supporting that event i just want to say thank you to everyone for your participation and your help during these ti s times. Good morning, im nancy omalley, the District Attorney and i want to just begin by echoing what chief reed just said, and that is to acknowledge the dedicated hard work of the first responders, the firefighters, Law Enforcement and including all of the leaders of those organizations who worked so hard over the last several days to make sure that this tragic event is being addressed with the utmost seriousness and focus that we can. I want to thank specifically the atf for their expertise and working so closely with my investigative team. Between the atf and my team we have conducted numerous interviews with witnesses, we are working with the atf and the oakland Fire Department to identify what we can from the evidence thats been presented, the analysis is ongoing and that will continue. As you know, my office now stands in the lead of the criminal investigation and were working closely with now the oakland Fire Department to make sure that we are thorough, that we are methodical and that we are calculated in how we are able to analyze every piece of information and evidence that we believe we have recovered from the fire scene as well as surrounding circumstances that led up to that tragic fire. We will continue with our investigation. The lead prosecutor is david lim, an assistant District Attorney and we have several investigators from my office who are working committed 100 to this investigation. We will work as efficiently as we can. We will move it along as quickly as we can but we will not sacrifice the integrity of the investigation or any of the analysis to try to get to an end result before we are ready i want to emphasize its an active investigation and we will not be commenting on any of the information we have gathered. I thank the media for the attention and care you have shown in your reporting to the family members of those who died in the fire and to all of the people who have who survived the fire and those who have information that give us a better context under which this fire occurred. I also want to say that the my office, victim witness division, has been working actively and very significantly in reaching out and working with the families of those who have died and those who survived the fire. We have prepared for you a number of phone numbers for resources for people in the community who have been impacted by this fire, particularly those who have been directly impacted unfortunately no concrete answers yet as far as what started what caused that fire. We heard the fire chief in oakland repeat over and over what a tragic event that was, that quote unquote ghost ship is what it was called this. Warehouse in oakland, california, where 36 lives were lost. The investigation as far as the cause is still under way as is the criminal investigation so still to be continued as far as oakland, california. Meantime, so much to talk about today when it comes to politics. We were talking about the guy mr. Trump wants to tap as secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, we will talk to our panel as far as concerns, could there be a nasty nomination battle . What about ties to russia . Do people care he doesnt necessarily have diplomatic experience . And, oh, yeah, governor rick perry being tapped to lead an agency he couldnt name and wanted to abolish a couple years ago. Dont move a muscle. You wouldnt want your painter to quit part way. I think you missed a spot. So when it comes to pain relievers, why put up with just part of a day . Aleve, live whole not part. Painter you want this color over the whole house . Wont replace the full value of your totaled new car. The guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. No, i picked the wrong Insurance Company. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, you wont have to worry about replacing your car because youll get the full value back including depreciation. And if you have more than one Liberty Mutual policy, you qualify for a multipolicy discount, saving you money on your car and home coverage. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. [ male announcer ] at customink, we make it easy for you to create custom tshirts and other apparel for all of lifes events. Get Free Shipping and ontime delivery guaranteed. Go to customink. Com to get started today. Back to politics. As far as this Rex Tillerson pick for secretary of state, we know former secretaries of state james baker and Condoleezza Rice had a hand in this as did former defense bob gates. How much of a hand . How did this come to be . They were important in putting Rex Tillerson in front of donald trump. Theyre not two men who have a long history together but making it clear if there was going to be opposition, which we are seeing from senators, that they were going to put their names out publicly in support of this guy. Thats the thing that could sway these senators. Weve seen senators mentioning it a bit saying it gives them confidence to see people like Condoleezza Rice and robert gates throwing their support behind tillerson but i think when the two guys met, when tillerson and trump met, you saw two businessmen who have been successful in their fields coming together and they saw a similar pragmatism in one another and that helped donald trump feel comfortable in a way he didnt necessarily feel with mitt romney. So theyre saying this could be a difficult nomination confirmation fight. Do you think the Trump Team Knows that . Do you think theyre naive . Do you think they dont care . Trump knows that and by picking Rex Tillerson hes setting up a proxy battle within the republican party. You have on one side the names you just mentioned, senator graham, senator john mccain, senator rubio, then you have trump and his allies like senator jeff session. So its a referendum on russia and Rex Tillerson to his credit has negotiated great deals with russia. He received the order of frie friendship from russia, the guy know house to negotiate but thats the very thing that concerns a lot of these senators. This is not a new issue. It came up on the campaign trail all the time. So you say that this is a referendum on russia. Im wondering if some of the worries about a Rex Tillerson pick is more about the friendship award and about ties with russia and stock with exxon and russia he has. Well, i think coming on the heels of this bombshell information about russia possibly having launched an unprecedented cyber attack on us during the election, brooke, we are just at the beginning of our discovery about the, tent to which the russians were successful which is astonishing so the question is not just does he not have experience but in terms of the experience he does have and the conflicts of interest he does have, hes going to have to dwoes himseliv. But the company, exxon, has billions of dollars riding on the sanctions we have in place against russia. That he was very outspoken about. And that tillerson was outspoken about in terms of being critical. Lets say, we go through our discovery and find that there was an awful lot of successful attempts by russia in terms of tinkering in our election, were going to need someone who has a really strong spine to go up against the russians and try and preserve the institutions and the diplomatic approach weve had in place since world war ii, which has been to try to create a bulwark against russia aggression which were seeing in ukraine and syria, which is underreported in terms of the russians being involved in the bombing there, its not just the syrians so its overall that tillerson is the question is if tillerson is a proxy for what is a new approach to russia since world war ii in terms of the policy weve had. Theres so much more to be said about him but i want to make time for the former Texas Governor rick perry. Just because we can. Lets play the sound. You all know where im going. A couple years ago heres what where he was. The third agency of government. I would do away with education, the commerce. Commerce. And, lets see i cant. The third one i cant. Sorry. Oops. Okay, sara murray. Its still awkward to watch, isnt it . He is a wellrespected politician but he couldnt name it. Whats more important is that was an agency he wanted to do away with and now hes being tapped to lead it. Its interesting to see what a donald trump direction for the department of energy will be but i think when you see someone like rick perry, the reason trump liked him is because he used his helm to spur job creation and that had to do with capitalizing on Energy Assets already in texas but that had to do with going to nearby states and luring in businesses and being aggressive. Thats something that can help an individual state but thats not something that can spur job creation nationwide one of the things you need to remember when you look at these picks is donald trump is looking at these people through the lens of a businessman and what hisser arching goal is as his which is do create jobs and protect american workers. So when he sees perrys legacy in texas, he sees someone who did that as a governor and that i think is what helped him get to perry as a pick for the Energy Department as convoluted as that may seem after watching that clip. Finally shelby, to you as far as the losers, i guess, of the revolving door process, you look at the rudy giulianis, the mitt romneys, governor romney tweeting kindly about the process. What do you make of that . Even if it is such a tough confirmation battle for Rex Tillerson could romney still be in play . Is that a crazy question . No, donald trump has run his cabinet process like the apprentice or the bachelor so hes been very vocal about it and a lot of these candidates have spoken publicly about going through the process. Rudy giuliani said he will help donald trump from the sidelines and the private sector. He wont have a job in the cabinet but i dont think its crazy to think mitt romney might be considered. They seem to have a warmer relationship over the past couple weeks and the one thing maybe the rnc chairmanship . People close to donald trump were very opposed to mitt romney being secretary of state. Just quickly, heidi, on rudy giuliani, shelby says hell help from the private sector. What do you think his future is with regard to the administration . I think he probably the only job he would have been interested in is secretary of state and he probably has a lucrative consulting business which he will continue to operate and continue to profit from and theres a lot of people as you know who donald trump tends to rely on who get kicked out of his circle like Corey Lewandowski and still have a direct pipeline to him, he likes to solicit those opinions so i think he will still be a surrogate for this administration and occasionally possibly have influence over trump as well. Heidi, shelby, and sara, thank you so much. Heres one name i didnt think id be talking about today. Kanye west meeting with mr. Trump and stopping to speak to cameras in the lobby of trump tower. Hear why he was there and what they discussed. Plus, we are getting word that trumps team is split on how far he should go separating himself from his company. We have that for you. And breaking news today, as Syrian Forces reportedly execute civilians and families, theyre sending out their final messages, word of a Major Development inside of aleppo. Youre watching cnn. Oh, thats lovely. So graceful. The corkscrew spin, flawless. His signature move, the flying dutchman. Poetry in motion. And there it is, the baby bird. Breathtaking. A sumo wrestler figure skating . Surprising. Whats not surprising . How much money heather saved by switching to geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. Before i had the shooting, burning, pinsandneedles of diabetic nerve pain, these feet. Kicked off a lot of high school games. Built a life for my family. And liked to help others in need. But i couldnt bear my diabetic nerve pain any longer. So i talked to my doctor and he prescribed lyrica. Nerve damage from diabetes causes diabetic nerve pain. Lyrica is fdaapproved to treat this pain, from moderate to even severe diabetic nerve pain. Lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. Tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. Or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling or blurry vision. Common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs, and feet. Dont drink alcohol while taking lyrica. Dont drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. Those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. Now i have less diabetic nerve pain. And its great to help others get back on their feet. Ask your doctor about lyrica. Some breaking news from wall street. A major rally going on right now. The dow is now close to reaching a record high of 20,000 for the first time. Ever. Cnn money digital correspondent paul la monica is live down at the new york stock exchange. Paul, this is great, but why . Paul la monica, its brooke, were live on cnn, can you hear he . I can hear you, yes. Why the spike . Were seeing this rally continue and its shifted to tech stocks in anticipation, perhaps, of the big meeting donald trump is going to have with tech leaders. Youre seeing microsoft, ibm, apple, all these stocks are helping to lead the dow higher. I have a story on cnn money right now that microsoft is at the highest level that its ever been. But why, exactly . Why . What was the catalyst driving this and how long does it last . Thats the to be determined. This is the big to be determined, definitely. I think right now investors are afraid of missing the boat. We are getting closer and closer to year end, obviously. So many professional investors want to clean up their portfolio and make it look good for year end but weve got the fed meeting tomorrow, theyll raise rates. We know that will happen so money is shifting out of bounds and into stocks which are just looking more and more attractive with all the hope hope of trump stimulus. Look at that. Well talk again if and when it hits that 20,000 mark. An hour and a half to go before closing bell. Paul, thank you. Stand by. Next, its being described as a complete meltdown of humanity. Late word of a possible ceasefire as the battle for aleppo enters what could be its final stage. Reports of children trapped, civilians executed in the streets, people there filming their final goodbyes. Final goodbyes as the Syrian Army Closes in. Militias are maybe 300 meters away. No place now to go. Its the last place. This may be my last video. This might be close to if not the last communication. We are getting some breaking news. Sources inside aleppo tell cnn a ceasefire and evacuation agreement has been reached in syrias largest city. This comes after the mass slaughter of dozens of people. And what the u. N. Has now labelled, and im quoting here, a complete meltdown of humanity. The United Nations says women and children were among those killed by progovernment forces loyal to the regime. These gruesome murders of some 82 men, women, and children, are said to have happened in their homes, in the streets as they tried to run. The people of this besieged city are taking to social media, some of them posting desperate pleas for help. Others telling the world goodbye. To everyone who can hear me, we are here exposed to a genocide in the besieged city of aleppo. This may be my last video. I am going to be killed, that is what is going to happen. Im going to be killed. We didnt want anything else but freedom. I hope you can remember us i dont know. Thank you very much. Wow. Let me bring in a Syrian American whose family is caught in aleppo, nora, weve talked before, thank you so much for coming back on today. Just listening to those men and women who are saying goodbye because they dont think they will give to get out of aleppo, your family is there. We wont name them, i know youre so worried about their safety. How are they . Theyre suffering, brooke. Theyre like millions of syrians that have been suffering under the assad regime for the past five years. While it hurts to see all these people being massacred, it hurts more to see the inaction of the u. S. And international community. What is the difference between assad and hundreds of women and men being executed by isis and assad . What is the difference between these two . They both are exterminating. Assad and russia are at war with humanity. Aleppo will be president obamas legacy unless he decides to make a decision. Will his legacy be that his inaction has led to the genocide of the Syrian People or will he in his final weeks of his presidency listen to his secretaries of state and build a legacy as the savior of the Syrian People. Mr. Obama, you get to decide that. Nora, i hear you on the geopolitical ramifications of all this, but personally on your family are they hopeful they will get out . Tell me about their lives . Are they eating . Are they getting medical assistance . Tell me about them. Theres no food, theres no medicine, theres nothing normal. Theres nothing normal like millions of syrians that are suffering across syria. Theyre not living under any kind of normal conditions. Many of my family have been killed. Theyve been displaced. Many have become refugees and are suffering abroad and they would just like to go home. People want to stay home, they dont choose to become refugees for the past five years there have been plenty of band aids on the syrian issue. We can treat the wounded and we can take the refugees in but has anyone tried to solve the core problem . Safe zones is what they need. Right now if we had save zones in syria like the ones being advocated by the help me go home campaign, which im part of, they would protect the Syrian People, stop the refugee crisis and people can return home. The situation is horrific yet 20 became commit suicide to avoid being raped by assads militia. You have children being burned in the streets in front of their mothers. Is this the kind of world we would like to live in . This is a genocide happening on our watch and history will remember so if you want to do something go helpmegohome. Org and sign the petition to press president obama to create nofly zones in syria because assad taking over all these neighborhoods, some news media is reporting that this will bring peace to syria. I would like to remind them that assad is the one killing his own people. They will be killed and him taking over neighborhoods as weve seen the past 24 hours, hes demolishing everyone he encounters. Nora barre, our thoughts and prayers are with your family and so many others in aleppo and beyond, within syria. Thank you so much for continuing to shine a light. We have to continue talking about this. Thank you very much. Yes, we do. Thank you brooke. Coming up, my next three guests spend some time today at trump tower meeting with president elect trump. What did they discuss . We have nfl greats jim brown and ray lewis joining me live here on set. Next. Your Insurance Company wont replace the full value of your totaled new car. The guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. No, i picked the wrong Insurance Company. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, you wont have to worry about replacing your car because youll get the full value back including depreciation. And if you have more than one Liberty Mutual policy, you qualify for a multipolicy discount, saving you money on your car and home coverage. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. It didnt make sense. Those are the words of an investigator who worked on the. Ramsey case. Seep then has a special report on this case. Heres a look. Reporter on new years eve in their hometown, atlanta, georgia, the family buried jonbene jonbenet. Its the worst thing a human being can experience. Reporter but things were about to get worse. Investigators had grown suspicious. A lot of things didnt make sense. Why would they leave a ransom note with her body still in the house . My First Impression was that this guy wrote the magna carta. You will withdraw 118,000 from your account. If i were kidnapping this guys daughter, id ask for a quarter million, a half million, a million. So the amount of money is just odd to me. Reporter the ramseys thought so, too. What does that mean . We looked at psalm 118, was it a biblical reference . Where did this number come from . Reporter when did it hit you that the 118,000 equated to your christmas bonus . It didnt initially because that bonus had occurred a year earlier in january of 96. But it was on every pay stub that i got. Reporter police asked the ramseys for handwriting samples. John gave them two note pads. These pads were pads that were kept by the telephone and each john and patsy had their own pads. Reporter detectives concluded the ransom note was written on pages torn out of patsys note pad. That was the voice of jean casarez whos host this special report for years the world was following this family and the case is still open. There are no statute of limitations on murder. I spoke with the current District Attorney of boulder and he said we get tips, somebody knows something and as long as i have the evidence that i believe beyond a reasonable doubt that someone murdered her i will bring charges. What about the evidence . Of course there are challenges. This little girl was a kindergartener. John ramsey doesnt give interviews, very rarely does he. We were able to go to where he lives, an undisclosed location, he doesnt like people to know where he is, he wants his privacy because he lost it. I spoke with him. We take him back 20 years. He didnt want to go there but he tells us what happened, how he found her, her condition. Do you know she had duct tape over her mouth and she ripped it off because he was so horrified, he said, when he found her in the cellar and i spoke with an acclaimed forensic pathologist who told me its a shame that happened because that could have been a mechanism of death depending on how that duct tape was put on her nose or her mouth. He shouldnt have removed it. But as a father, he saw his child, has there been new information . Theres new information all the time but the question is they still have various theories running and everyone believes something and as you look at the proposed evidence we have, you have to decide what you think. Remember, john and patsy ramsey, unanimously by a jury they returned a true bill of indictment on child abuse resulting in death and accessory after the fact meaning after the murder of first degree murder. Helping somebody after the fact committing first degree murder and the District Attorney didnt believe he could prove it, didnt bring the charges so hes lived with that for all these years. 20 years later, you have to special. Let me tell everyone where they can watch it. Its a special report, the murder of jonbenet, tonight 9 00 eastern and pacific on cnn. Jean casarez, thank you so much. Thank you, brooke. Now a number of Police Shootings across the state of georgia has put Law Enforcement on edge. Six officers have been shot in as many days, two of them killed. That shooting happened last wednesday in americus, georgia. Since then, four more officers were shot and injured in separate incidents in two other towns. Nick valencia is following the story from atlanta. Six officers. Why . Six days, six officers, two of them shot fatally, brooke. This spate of shootings in georgia perhaps the worst weve seen since this summer, you remember the assassination of three Police Officers in baton rouge, louisiana, five others murdered at the hands of a gunman in dallas, texas. With this spate of shootings in georgia, 2016 now becomes well above the number that we saw for officers killed in the line of duty in 2015 to be fair, 2015 was one of the safest years in the last ten years for anyone to be a Police Officer because this year georgia has been the fourth deadliest state for anyone putting on a badge and one of the shootings thats gotten a lot of attention is the murder of two best friends. One of them, an americus Police Officer, the other a friend of his from a nearby University Police department. He responded because he didnt want his friend to not have backup. Both of those men youre looking at on your screen were schott and killed. One of them was engaged to be married, the other was going to be his best man. In 2016 one of the deadliest years for officers in the last 10 years 64 shot and killed in the line of duty. They range from rookies to veterans, from west coast to east coast and it seems brooke anyone who put on a badge this year in america was a target for a gunman. Brooke . You talked to Police Officers and they say its a frightening time to be a Police Officer but we need them, we need them, we need them. Nick valencia, thank you. You got it. Coming up next, nfl greats jim brown and ray lewis also pastor daryl scott will be joining me here live. What they discussed in trump tower with the president elect today. Plus why did trump meet with kanye west this mornin inging . Hear what they said coming up. I really did save hundreds on my Car Insurance with geico. I should take a closer look at geico. Geico has a long history of great savings and great service. Over seventyfive years. Wait. 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He spent decades working to get young gang members off the streets and jim brown is here with me along with the organizer of todays meeting, pastor daryl scott, who supported the president elect during the campaign. Gentlem gentlemen, an honor, both of you. Thank you. Cleveland represented here at cnn. Great city. Jim brown, you supported hillary clinton. Yes, i did. What brought you to trump tower, this guy . Well i tell you the president of the United States brought me. My president. You know, thats he won it fair and square. Hes going to be our man for the next four years at least, probably eight and hes amenable to listening to people who did not vote for him. He listened to you, you told me in commercial break that you were in there for a long time. Yes. What did you talk about and what did you ask of him . We talked about making america a better country. We talked about the poor people. We talked about africanamerican people. We talked about education, getting rid of violence. Dealing with Economic Development realistically and how to work together. You know, people listening to these nfl greats and the pastor being in this room, thats a stellar lineup of men but when youre thinking about those who voted for mr. Trump and the working class and Middle America and you have fought on behalf of a lot of these people for your lifetime but speak to those people in this country who feel theyre not being listened or being represented. You almost have the wrong guy. I look like a bourgeoisie middleclass but ive been there out for many, many years in the ghettos across this country. The American Program concentrates on being in the community, developing leadership in that community, teaching life skills to those individuals and teaching them how to deal with responsibility of selfdetermination and how to gain success over working hard and intelligently so were not bourgeoisie, were not above the people, we are a part of the people and i cant speak for the pastor but i fell in love with him because he really talks about helping africanamerican, black people and thats why im here. You fell in love with donald trump today . Well, it isnt really ant just donald trump, its about him and the position he occupies. That position is considered the most important person in the world, the most powerful person in the world is supposed to be our president when he goes through what he went through to become the president , he got my admiration. Because no one gave him a chance, you know . They called him names people that called him names when he won he reached back and brought them along with him. He held no grudges so who am i to say i played quarterback when i only played running back . I dont know everything and i dont try to address everything but the reception i got today from him. Ill always remember that because he listened to us and he knows that we can bring something to him to help the people of this country. Is that a speech . Appreciate you coming through and i want to hear from you, pastor scott, though, on more of the conversation and the substance that was had and what the specific plans are to reach out to the black communities in this country . First of all, president elect trump continues to honor the commitment he made to america and to africanamericans, we discussed when he said what do you have to lose . He meant give me a chance to prove myself. So i have dialogue with him on a regular basis and he interacts with our Diversity Coalition on a regular basis and formulating strategy to positively affect the africanamerican community, i was already familiar with the American Program. I was born and raised in cleveland. Jim brown was my first hero growing up, not just a sports hero. So i had desire to convene a summit during the campaign to have mr. Brown come in and we have a sit down with donald trump, president elect trump while he was campaigning but i wasnt able to for scheduling make that happen but he and i had a great discussion this past weekend. Im very familiar with the ameriican program. It addresses the number of kills our community faces. Unemployment, underemployment, prison reformation. And youre the perfect voice. And hes a standup guy. I believe you. Hes the standup guy. I know about this guy and i love im sitting next to him. Its important to have the right people in the room but make also to make sure talk turns to action. When you look at other than these phenomenal people in the room today, when you look at the pictures of this cabinet, jim, you have the majority are white men in mr. Trump ice cabinet. There have been critics who have said this is not diverse enough. Yes there are women, yes there are minorities represented but not the majority does that bother you . Is that a big deal to you . Ive lived all my life in america and im 80 years old so i have seen discrimination at its worst, i understand slavery, i studied history. The only thing that ive always done ive tried to make sure that i was a decent person and that i worked outside of myself to make things better so i dont always look at black and white but ill say this to you, and i dont ever say this, the three greatest people in my life were white. My high school coach, my High School Superintendent and my mentor in long island. I never had a father, my great grandmother raise met but i was in this country where i got help from people that were not of my same color so when i come out of the box, i dont come out of the box as racial, i look for good people and people that will be likeminded and help me try to do good for other human beings so thats where im coming from. Mr. Brown, an honor and privilege. Truly, thank you so much, pastor scott, thank you for swinging by and bringing this along. Its an important conversation, well continue. It thank you. Coming up next, he is a friend of vladimir putin, he is the ceo of exxon but today he is Donald Trumps pick to be secretary of state and the showdown about whether he will even see the inside of that department has just begun. Hear which republicans may endanger Rex Tillersons future. Were back in 60 seconds
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