Transcripts For CNNW CNN Tonight With Don Lemon 20171222

Avoiding a Government Shutdown tomorrow night. Approving shortterm spending for federal agencies, but not for long. Now a new shutdown deadline looms over washington. We have a lot to get to tonight. I want to bring with our breaking news. The fbis Deputy Directors testimony today. I want to bring in cnns senior Congressional Correspondent manu raju. Manu, good evening to you. I understand you have learned tonight what fbi Deputy Director Andrew Mccabe has been telling lawmakers behind closed doors. What can you tell us . Reporter yeah, thats right, hes met with multiple committees this week for two different investigations and one of the committees he met with this week was the house Intelligence Committee, in a private testimony earlier this week, he was asked about james comey, his former boss of the fbi, before comey, of course, was fired by President Trump. And he was asked about conversations that occurred from comeys telling with President Trump, where trump apparently had asked james comey for loyalty, had suggested they should back off on the investigation of michael flynn, and had said things that made comey uncomfortable. This is according to comeys own public testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee Earlier this year. Now, when he testified before the Senate Intelligence committee, comey said that he had told some of the Senior Leadership about these conversations at the time. Well,learned one of the people he told was Andrew Mccabe. Mccabe testified before the house Intelligence Committee that comey did, indeed, tell him about all these conversations soon after they occurred. So that suggests, don, that he could presumably be a witness. He can provide this contemporaneous account of what comey had said occurred between him and trump, and presumably dispute what the president said which is, of course, denying comeys account saying he did not ask for loyalty, but mccabe says thats not what comey said, comey told him the opposite in their private conversation, don. Mccabe, hes been questioned for hours over the past couple of days. What else have lawmakers been grilling him on . Reporter well, in large part today was about the clinton email investigation. Two of the republicanled committees in the house have launched a separate investigation into fbis decisionmaking during the 2016 campaign. In large part, about how they handled the Hillary Clinton investigation. A lot of republicans are not happy with the way they handled it. They believe there was some bias there. They believed that Hillary Clinton should have been charged with a crime and she should not have been exonerated. Theyve questioned comeys handling of it. When Andrew Mccabe went behind closed doors today, don, was asked questions at length by republicans, in particular, about the clinton email investigation, and mccabe gave his answers about what happened, but im told that they provided emails and records that republicans showed mccabe in an effort to undermine comey, undermine the investigation, and i can tell you, don, afterwards, republicans that i talked to in that hearing said they felt pretty good about it. They felt that he actually reinforced their belief that clinton, in their view, was treated favorably by the fbi, don. All right, manu, i want you to stand by. I want to bring in Cnn National Security analyst, juliette kayy kayyem. Cnn contributor john dean. Former white House Counsel for president nixon. Micha micha michael zelldin. Thank you, guys, for joining us. Welcome to the show. John, lets get right into it. What do you make of reporting you just aeheard from manu . Of course, its hearsay at this point as far as comeys testimony is concerned but it is corroboration and just makes comey look more truthful. So its supportive in that regard. Yeah. Michael, President Trump has previous bly disputed comeys claim that he asked for a pledge of loyalty. Heres what trump said when he was asked about comeys account of the meeting. He said those things under oath. Would you be willing to speak under oath to give you version of events . 100 . I didnt say under oath. I hardly know the man. Im not going to say i want you to pledge allegiance. Who would do that . Who would ask a man to pledge allegiance under oath . I mean, think of it, i hardly know the man. It doesnt make sense. No, i didnt say that, and i didnt say the other. Is how much of an impact would this new information have . Well, if he does go under oath, and he does say that he never asked for comeys loyalty, and he never asked comey to let the Flynn Investigation go, and now you have mccabe, comey, and comeys memos all saying the opposite, then youve got a tough decision as a prosecutor to determine whether or not the president has made a false statement under oath which is a chargeable crime or as in the case of bill clinton, something that can be reported to congress for consideration of an article of impeachment thso its a very important matter that is arising today if especially the president goes under oath. If he doesnt go under oath, then it lets mueller make a decision independent of the lie part of it to determine whether or not the mccabe testimony supporting the comey memo and the comey testimony is enough to support an obstruction of justice inquiry. Juliette kayyem, as we have learned from manu, mccabe spent over eight hours in closeddoor hearings today. Yesterday he answered questions for over eight hours as well. What message are republicans trying to send by questioning Andrew Mccabe and other prominent members of the fbi . I think that they will never let go of Hillary Clinton even though she is not president. It seems that they just want to use the opportunity to go back to a campaign that many people viewed comey as somewhat responsible for trumps victory. I mean, in other words, his release of reopening the investigation was what may have been a contributing factor to trumps win. I think more importantly, though, just taking a step back, remember that the questions that mccabe is answering are about potential obstruction of justice questions about michael flynn. And whether he was compromised by the russians. So outside of the Legal Framework that were talking about, there are major National Security concerns which is donald trump seemed to be unconcerned that his National Security adviser could have been compromised by the russians, and then the question is, why was he unconcerned . And so i think that that gets to the heart of mccabes relevancy about jim comeys firing. I want to bring manu back in here. Manu, what are you hearing from democrats who participated in these hearings . Reporter well, theyre pushing back. They said that they believe that republicans today brought Andrew Mccabe in as an effort to distract from the russia investigation. They believe that one reason why theyre focusing on the 2016 clinton email probe is because donald trump is feeling some pressure from bob muellers investigation. Now, jerry nadler, a top democrat in the house judiciary committee, made this point earlier today. Listen to this. This hearing is part of an ongoing republican attempt to divert attention. Its just an attempt to dive divert part of the attempt to divert attention away from the real investigation into the collusion between the Trump Campaign and the russian government. And the subject matter is frivolous. Reporter now, don, republicans, of course, have a completely different view. I asked them about their the democratic concerns. They said, look, we are just frying fry i trying to get the facts, figure out exactly what happened here. If there was anything improper or long that the fbi did, the public deserves to know particularly as other major investigations are happening. So just shows the two sides on completely different sides on such a key issue and a key investigation as we head into an election year, don. John dean, despite republicans attempts to discredit Robert Mueller, this is what new polling is showing from cnn. 47 of americans approve of how mueller is handling the investigation, while 34 disapprove of his handling of it. At the same time. Approval for how President Trump has handled the russia investigation has sunk two points from november to just 32 . Do you think these polling numbers might convince republicans to back off a little . Well, it should. Theyve certainly been hammering at this and trying to discredit the orchestrated effort at the house judiciary committee, recently the constant barrage by the conservative media trying to undercut the investigation. Its clearly not sticking, so they might be wise to recalibrate and try to get on the right side of this issue. Go ahead, michael, is that michael . I was going to say, don, my recollection, youll know better than i, my recollection from the polling numbers also is that 56 of the American People do not believe the president is being truthful when he talks about the russian probe. Right. If im correct about that number, that supports john deans position that this strategy may be working with republicans, but generally speaking, its not working with americans. Yeah. Well, jewuliejuliette go ahe juliette, what did you want to say . I agree with both of them because we are probably all coming from the belief that if you have nothing to hide, why would you have this strategy . The strategy by the trump and the Trump White House and the republican supporters makes sense if the only other option is that mueller is actually on some steady drum beat closer and closer to the oval office. I mean, hes appointed in may, by early october he has indictments. By late october, hes got manafort. By late november, hes got flynn. This is as close to the oval office as you can imagine, so in some ways, i see whats happening as sort of potentially a last resort. Theres really no other no other explanation than that hay perceive they have no other option at this stage. Manu, thank you very much. Don everyone else stay with me. John, youll get a chance. Up next, a key republican congressman turning up the heat on the Justice Department and the fbi and issuing subpoenas. Whats really going on here . Cnn tonight presented by darkest hour. Now in select theaters everywhere tomorrow. Run, jthe power of in to tempurpedic sleep with our 90day trial and being the highest ranked mattress in Customer Satisfaction by jd power, its easy to love. Find your exclusive retailer at tempurpedic. Com allow you to take advantage of growth opportunities. With a level of protection in down markets. So you can head into retirement with confidence. Brighthouse financial established by metlife. A key republican in the house turning up the heat on the Justice Department and the fbi. Back with me, juliette kayyem, john dean and michael zeldin. John, you wanted to make a point before the break . No, i was agreeing with okay. Their analysis, what i was agreeing with. Fair enough. Michael, this is for you. Cnn learned today republican devin nunes issues subpoenas to Senior Department officials in an attempt to get information on what the fbi used on the Infamous Trump dossier, what they used it for. N, i nunes told cnn, its not a secret we have an investigation into doj. So, john, help me make sense of this. Is nunes allowed to just launch his own little parallel investigation . Well, don, when i read about that, what was described as a rogue investigation, my first reaction was that theyve got to be very careful. While there is a clause in the article 1 of the constitution called the speech and debate clause, which gives them a lot of latitude for activity for socalled legislative activity in the interest of separation of powers, they, too, could be guilty of obstruction of justice if they push the limits too far. And this doesnt sound like it was in the norm of legislative activity, sofact, tweeted on that to call it to their attention. Well, hes the chairman of the committee, though hes supposed to be recused, but he doesnt seem to remember that. But hes the chairman of the committee and i believe that he has the authority to issue is subpoe subpoenas. By running over to the white house and right. Right. Sort of being a lackey for the administration. Dont you think he embarrassed himself . Thats a political point youre free to make, im not. I think its true. Senator grassley specifically asked attorney general sessions would he steer clear of anything that has to do with the Clinton Foundation yet we learned today, too, he has ordered the fbi and the Justice Department to start looking into this same matter. So you got two recused politicians that are running this because it fits into the narrative of the president that the Justice Department and the fbi are in tatters and cant chief executive officer of the United States and the attorney general and the chairman of the committee sort of all running down the same path is not healthy for us. Whether or not theres anything there, whether or not the steele dossier was part of the intelligence that the fbi used to put together a request before the fisa court to get a warrant, well, we can look into that and juli juli juliette can tell us all about that. Theres nothing untoward about using sources of information once verified to support a warrant which has to be given to a judge and a probable cause finding has to be issued. So i dont believe theres much there, there, in the end. I think its their prerogative to look into it but its a distraction. So, juliette, what is the goal of nunes here . Is this all to make the fbi and the doj look bad . Yes. I mean, so, nunes what animates him, its just hard to tell at this stage. Whether its love for trump and the Trump White House or something more nefarious regarding russia, but he has been slightly unhinged. Thats not political, i think if anyone who knows sort of what has happened over the last year in terms of him jumping out of cars to go meet with the white house, giving a press statement, and so his goal, and i think all of their goals is this, they are greasing the runway. They are, you know, prepping the battlefield. Whatever you want to call it. For enough sort of tension and not sort of undermining of all the investigations that when the truth comes out, whether its through mueller, whether its through one of these state attorney general investigations, whether its through, you know, pictures, who knows what its going to be, that they have sort of undermined the polling above 50 which it wont or keeps their 30 behind them. That seems to be the goal. For me as i look at whats happening, ive long been saying on this show, i think the firing of mueller is really risky. Im nervous about it, as someone who cares about our democracy, but it does also seem that the sort of noise about mueller might be just to sort of prepare the American Public for potential pardons. That if this gets close to Jared Kushner or don jr. , that that, is, in fact, the sort of land that they will play. Who knows in the next couple weeks. I think everyone is tense because Something Big seems to be about to happen. John warner mark warner, i should say, john, made a statement on the senate floor yesterday saying that the firing of Robert Mueller would be a red line for democrats. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse was asked about it earlier tonight. Watch this. I dont have any particular inclination as to why senator warner chose this time. I suspect its a response to this increasing cacophony of criticism that is being set up that looks like its the precursor to some kind of an effort. It reminds me a little bit of the battlefield scenes where the artillery softens up the beach before the invasion. This is the Public Relations artillery designed to soften up the beach before they do something. What do you make of the senators comments, john . Well, it didnt strike me as were at the same point where nixon fired cox, for example, the special prosecutor. That the rumors have more to them than we might otherwise think of rumors. So he thought it good cause to go to the floor of the senate and put out there that this, indeed, was a red line and he and his colleagues would statak action. Hes worried about the fact, something happening over the holidays when nobodys in washington. So he was trying to alert people that they were still going to be watching even though it was the holiday recess. Don, one point, though, to be made for sure, is that ty cobb, the white House Counsel, has said categorically, again, that there is no plan to fire mueller. So hes trying to push back and say, you know, stay calm here, and well see, but it is, as others have said on this program and before, that the firing of Robert Mueller, one, wont end the investigation. Youll just get a new prosecutor. And, two, will potentially take us to that next level of abuse of office that john dean knows so well because that was the predicate for the impeachment of richard nixon. You know what stands out to me, michael, the one thing that jumps out, is that all the mud thats being thrown around, is the guy at the center of this other than the president hasnt said a single word about it. Thats Robert Mueller. You used to work for mueller. When you hear people claiming bias coming from him or his team, how is that likely going to go over with him . I honestly dont think hes going to Pay Attention to this. I think hes more in the Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein theory of this, which is people have an entitlement of their own political opinion, and as long as that political opinion doesnt implicate any sort of bias or impact on the analysis of evidence, hes just going to go about his job and let those people who are making noise about this make noise. Theres an adage that we used to say as defense lawyers, i was one of those long ago, which is if the laws on your side, are you the law . If you dont have the law, are you the facts . And if you dont have the facts, create a distraction. I think thats where we are now. They have no law, they have no facts. Theyre creating a distraction. I think mueller understands that thats what this is about. Hes just going to go about his business looking at the law and looking at the facts and making a decision on that basis. Absolutely. Thank you, all. I appreciate it. When we come back, the tax bill passed. The government wont shut down tomorrow. And the president visited troops at walter reed. There is one thing that isnt going to happen before President Trump heads to florida for christmas. Im going to tell you what that is, and thats next. avo when you have type 2 diabetes, you manage your a1c, but you also have a higher risk of heart attack or stroke. Noninsulin victoza® lowers a1c, and now reduces cardiovascular risk. 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Matt, the New York Times has new reporting out detaili inini tensions between the president s current advisers and former Campaign Team at the Oval Office Meeting yesterday. Former Trump Campaign manager Corey Lewandowski lashed out at a political director, bill stepian, for being too insular. Saying the white house is coming up short in outreach to republicans. Do you think that is a fair criticism . No, but it doesnt surprise me. I think these sort of things always happen. Theres the old regime who let trump be trump, there may be sour grapes involved, somebody who at one point was Donald Trumps righthand man on the campaign is now on the outside looking in. I think maybe theres a little jealousy involved. Look, donald trump, for the crazy year that its been, there have been a lot of chaos and, you know, charlottesville and the russia investigation you go through the litany of the erosion of norms that weve experienced this year, but Donald Trumps finishing on a pretty strong note right now with the tax reform thing. So, you know, i think this is the kind of washington parlor game that its not unique to the donald Trump Administration. I dont know about that, but, david, i mean, outlandish, crazy, unorthodox. You can call all that david, it is unusual. Is it unusual that Corey Lewandowski who officially left the white house back in june still has this much access and pull with the president . Don, i think its a little unusual and i think its a little unusual theyre still roping him in in some of these discussions. I agree with matt in the sense that it is an extension of this establishment versus outsider discussion thats been going on since trump was running for office. You know, lewandowski is, as matt said, on that let trump be trump school of thought, and you have other political pros inside the white house who are taking a slightly different course. The president is finishing the year with a big legislative win. He has some smaller wins that he can tout. On the other hand, he has dismal Approval Ratings. Hes at 35 in todays gallup Approval Rating and thats, you know, not good for republicans overall going into the midterms. It suggests that he doesnt have great coattails. Thats also the implication from the virginia and new jersey elections as well as the Alabama Senate race that we were all watching the last couple weeks. That being said, if there are republicans panicking that theyre going to lose the house, im a little more skeptical of that. They have a 40somethingseat advanta advantage. You know, i think were a little premature before we see whats really going on. Kirsten next year. The president is getting all the mouths he can out of the gop tax bill getting enough posted. He posted, this is a sligckly produced video, changed his background picture to show lawmakers about to lavish praise on him. Set to sign the tax bill tomorrow before heading to florida. Do you think the president deserves some of the changes they made in terms of being able to deduct local taxes. You want to say right now, yes, congratulations, he got a, you know, something passed in congress, then he yeah, its a political win. Yeah. So, but President Trump, kirsten, is also fore goring the traditional end of Year Press Conference president s auch s of hold. Is he missing an opportunity for avoiding a possible pitfall . Probably avoiding a possible pitfall. He seems to be comfortable doing what he did when he announced that the tax bill was passing. Which is just sort of surrounds him with people, himself with people who praise him and tell him how great he is versus having to actually talk to reporters who he doesnt make any secret of absolutely detesting. Yeah. No sooner than this bill had passed that congress had to deal with the impasse over the budget, over the budget, david. The president put blame for that on democrats, of course, hes tweeting out that heres what he tweeted. House democrats want a want a shutdown for the holidays in order to distract from the very popular just passed tax cuts. House republicans, dont let this happen. Pass the cr today and get our government open. Is the House Democrat problem when republicans control the majority, is this a problem . Theres two things President Trump when thats the case, they can avoid a shutdown on their own without any help from democrats. So this idea that if there were to be a shutdown, it would be on democrats, it centuriy it simpl hold water. The idea is the president has a core support around 45 , maybe 40 of the public. He sometimes acts as if democrats dont have their own core supporters, their own base, their own constituencies that want Different Things democratic district, Democratic House members, senators, their voters dont want them to vote with the president on the tax bill. If theyre going to not help the president get the budget passed, thats one thing. The idea they should fall in line because its popular with certain people ignores the fact its not popular with lets talk about the fix. A shortterm fix for a longerterm problem. Funding for victims of hurricanes and wildfires was signed off on as were temporary extensions for schip, provides Health Insurance to impoverished kids and pregnant women. The deepseeded problems over funding, they do remain. How will this play out, you think . I think we just kicked the can down the road and i expect, you know, in january, or whenever, this shortterm funding runs out, theres going to be some more tense negotiations and, of course, republicans have this problem where they have the majority and, yet, theres going to be people in the Freedom Caucus who have concerns about budgets and things like that. Wellfounded concerns about deficits. Look, i would just say i think republicans are really donald trump, that tweet, may be ill advised to send out a tweet. He was absolutely right in terms of his strategy. Republicans and democrat democrat, theyre finishing this year astonishingly on an up note, on a positive note, and then they could have immediately lost all that momentum and the worst possible way by not funding taking care of sick kids and disaster relief. I mean, you want to talk about ebenezer scrooge at christmastime, this could have been a horrible story and as much as im happy that it got resolved, i do wonder from the democrats perspective, i commend them for not playing politics on this and were happy to rest a little bit here at christmastime, but i wonder, there much have been a temptation for the democrats to really push this to the brink and to make republicans, you know, look like, you know, essentially they could have killed all the momentum from that tax cut yesterday. Make them look like the grinch. Thank you, i appreciate it. Merry christmas. Seriously, merry christmas. When we come back, whats behind Vice President mike pences lavish praise for his boss . Congratulations and thank you. I want to thank you, mr. Preside president. Thank you for your leadership. That think these days. Businesses are thinking. Factories are thinking. Even your toaster is thinking. Honey, clive owens in our kitchen. Im leaving. Oh never mind, hes leaving. But what if a business could turn all that thinking. Thinking. Endless thinking into doing . To make better decisions. Make a difference. Make the future. Not next week while you think about it a little more. But right now. Is there a company that can help you do all that . I can think of one. Blue moon is a wellcrafted belgian style wheat beer brewed with valencia orange peel for a refreshing taste that shines brighter. Blue moon. Using words like fawning, sycophant, to describe Vice President pence and over the top praise for President Trumps accomplishments this year. Here to discuss, bill kristol, editor at large of the Weekly Standard and cnn president ial historian, douglas brinkley. Hello, gentlemen. Hey. Bill, according to the washington posts analysis, Vice President pence praised President Trump once every 12. 5 seconds for three minutes. Heres some of what he said. Thank you for seeing through the course of this year an agenda that truly is restoring this country. Youve restored american credibility on the world stage. You signed more bills rolling back federal red tape than any president in american history. Youve unleashed american energy. Youve spurred an optimism in this country thats setting records. I want to thank you, mr. President. I want to thank you for speaking on behalf of and fighting every day for the forgotten men and women of america. Oh, boy. Dictionary. Com tweeted today, there is a word for a person who would praise someone every 12 seconds. Sycophant. Do you agree with that, bill . Yes. Especially when that persons your boss. I mean, whats ironic, of course, is the Vice President pence is uniquely positioned not to have to do that. Trump cant fire him. He could, i suppose, not ask him to be on the ticket again in three years, but pence in a way, if he had any, i dont know, something, would not have to bend over backwards as much as you can understand staffpeople who want to stay good with trump, good for the country by saying his good graces, its still difficult. Pence, the degree of sycophantsy by Vice President pence and the clips you just played are really shocking. I mean, he could just Say Something like we, you know, mr. President , under your leadership, weve accomplished this, we, the cabinet, around this table. Instead, its you, you, you, personal will ye personal. Yeah. Whys he doing it . Whys he doing it . Yeah. Trump likes it. You said any u. S. President would have fired a v. P. For acting that way. Why is that . I mean, most serious people, as bill knows, whether its Ronald Reagan or john f. Kennedy, dwight eisenhower, name any recent. Preside president s they dont want somebody like that around who every minute is groveling in front of them, thats going on that was being filmed. Its embarrassing. Like an episode of the apprenti apprentice when you dont like the guy, Vice President pences behavior. It turns people off. Nobody wants somebody that much of a lackey. However, you know, Vice President pence is in afghanistan tonight. Hes showing a kind of loyalty to donald trump. Hes still plan b for a lot of people if theres impeachment of trump or if hes forced to resign. I think his star, don, dimmed. At the beginning of the year he was seen as maybe representing conservative fundamentalists and by the end of the year here, his ratings really should be in the tank. If trumps at 35 Approval Rating, i would think pence is even worse. The turning point was that the Indianapolis Colts game when on trumps cue, he left the game. You know, that started this sort of decline the last few months. Yeah, i think people, you know, people saw right through that. I dont think they realized that. I got to ask you, bill, if pence is doing this, because he wants to be the successor to President Trump, isnt the irony that the way he acts could not be any more different than trump . Yeah, thats funny, but thats not surprising. I mean, trump likes himself acting in a certain way, then everyone else acting in a different way toward him. I just think, ive talked to people in the white house and around the white house. I think the degree of pressure the degree to which, you know, i dont know, look, Everyone Wants to get along with the president. Theres always a certain amount of sycophantsy in white houses and to president s and no one is exempt from that obviously. Look at lyndon johnson. Doug knows more about this than i do. Richard nixon. Theres always look atkissin very serious person. Conversations are very cringeinducing. Not in public. In the public, its the president , youre Vice President , and you behave with dignity. Theres a kind of third world a banana quality to the way pence is the personalization is what get me. I think its inappropriate for a institutional republic. This is an administration, not a oneman rule where everything depends on his brilliance and his ability to do this and his being in touch with the American People. Its quite appropriate to say were proud of what our administration has done under your leadership, mr. President. Its not appropriate to say you, mr. President , have done all these things, were here grateful to be around the table with you. Doug, have we ever seen this kind of relationship between the president and Vice President . Tno, not when you have a vic president , as bill is rightfully saying, all he does is kiss the ring of the president. Does it in public. Its not a whisper in the hallway, youre doing great, mr. President. Its embarrassing. And after the end of his first year, he doesnt stand for anything, don. What does pence stand for . I mean, somebody like al gore had the environment that he was fighting for as Vice President. Lyndon johnson under kennedy was pushing nasa in the moon shot. I mean, nixon was trying to do Foreign Affairs with eisenhower. The point being what at the end of the year has pence done, and even according to the new yorker, trump makes fun of pence behind his back to people all the time. Mocking him, belittling him. So its a it was a smart move, i think, donald trump, picking pence. He did a good job for him on the campaign and hes kind of doing a kind of, i guess, adequate job as v. P. Right now, but these sorts of scenes just diminish him when he does that sort of sick fycophant sycophantsy. Vice president president made a surprise trip to the troops in the war zone instead of the president , himself. Sth is that unusual . Mething positive in our life. Oh, i gotta get up get matthew on his treatment. matthew its not that bad, though. mom yeah. matthew the good thing about the surgeries is i get to have a popsicle at the end. mom he makes the best of everything and he teaches us to be strong and brave, too. vo through the subaru share the love event, weve helped grant the wishes of fifteen hundred kids so far. Get zero percent financing for 63 months on select models, plus well donate two hundred and fifty dollars to charity. Run, jthe power of in to tempurpedic sleep with our 90day trial and being the highest ranked mattress in Customer Satisfaction by jd power, its easy to love. Find your exclusive retailer at tempurpedic. Com directv has been rated number one in Customer Satisfaction over cable for 17 years running. But some people still like cable. Just like some people like preshaken sodas. Having their seat kicked on an airplane. Being rammed by a shopping cart. Sitting in gum. And walking into a glass door. But for everyone else, theres directv. For 1 rated Customer Satisfaction over cable, switch to directv and for a limited time get a 100 reward card. Call 1800directv. I use herpecin l. Re, it penetrates deep to treat. It soothes, moisturizes, and creates an spf 30 barrier, to protect against flareups caused by the sun. Herpecin l. We know praise is the way to President Trumps heart at home, but what happens when he wants loyalty from other countries, well judging by todays vote, 128 including our closest allies voted against his stand on jerusalem. Were going to weigh in on the response of the u. N. s rebuke of its decision to recognize jerusalem as israels captain tweeting this wow thats a lot coming from john brennan, does he have a point in. Yeah i was a little surprised how sharptongued that was. The word narcist has been applied to donald trump all year. Last few years. Were just getting normalized by it. The Peace Process has been pretty broken. One can argue about trumps move from moving the embassy to jerusalem or not. I dont think was wise to do what nikki haley did today at the u. N. , the blackmail threat, save that kind of diplomacy for behind closed doors, but to start pounding away at our allies all the time and becoming disdained around the world which donald trump is right now i dont see how that helps americas interest. He is threatening to slash the budget and tie it to one event like the jerusalem move. It seems to me like another trump miscue. Lets talk about that threat from nikki haley, do you think hes in favor of taking names of country whos voted against theous or is she like others just playing to President Trump. I dont think its a bad thing i was in First Bush Administration and we wanted to repeople desizionism and told countries it would be a vote for us and would be part of the whole relationship fabd they could see their way to voting when you say or abstaining wed appreciate it and haley did it and this Trump Administration does it with a little more bravado. I think theyre wildly overreacting. We dont like trump theres plenty to criticalize of his handle of our allies around the world but this is the least of the sins and i rather like what haley said today, we said we wanted to move our embassy to jerusalem, thats something the u. N. Has to get involve in . Im with nikki haley on this. I think shes eloquent and has been a good u. N. Ambassador when she challenges donald trump in the primaries thats going to be fantastic shell be the first re republican nominee and first woman president that will be exciting. Haley 2020 im on board. You said this idea that people need to praise an american president belittles our democracy why do you say that. Because were not a Banana Republic we dont have to be autocraftic we want a president that represents our best. Has some sense of civility. Humiliat humility, generosity. We just havent had Something Like that. Look at the recent president s in truman on down by in large with the exception of nixon fine public spirited men that dont vary to be constantly taking all of the credit for things. There was mention of george w. H. Bush and bake er all, the berlin wall came down because of me i broke up the soviet union, instead he demurrered and cared more about the Innovative National more about our international alliances, and behaved as a gentleman but trump is like a bull in a china shop. Before we go i want your take on Vice President mike pence surprise visit to afghanistan how unusual is it for a Vice President to go to a war zone before a president. I think theres been moments when linden and johnson started going into vietnam during the kennedy period, its pretty unusually. I thought donald trump would have gone to superior coupeak t troops. Pence is there with the troops wishing them merry christmas. Happy holidays. Thats a good thing. I am sure the security cautions in the tense zones has to be unbelievable. Thanks we appreciate it. We have a story about a coming up you dont want to miss. It all starts with a wish. The final days of wish list are here. Hurry in and sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down and a complimentary first months payment. Hey. Pass please. Im here to fix the elevator. Nothings wrong with the elevator. Right. But you want to fix it. Right. So who sent you . New guy. What new guy . Watson. My analysis of sensor and Maintenance Data indicates elevator 3 will malfunction in 2 days. There you go. You still need a pass. Thereally . Go. Really . Really . Really . Really . 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