Transcripts For CNNW New Day 20180102

All. We need to quit playing games. We need to take care of the daca kids. The president seems to have made clear he wants to use the wall as leverage. Nothing is going to happen unless it has the president s support. Announcer this is new day with chris cuomo and alisyn cam camerota. Chris is off, john berman is here. Happy new year. Lets get to it. There is more protests and bloodshed on the streets of iran. President trump is tweeting his support for the iranian people quoting, its time for change in iran. Now the iranian leader is blaming the uprising on his enemies. Infrastructure bill, plan for the nations d. R. E. A. M. Ers that needs to be hammered out by congress. Cnn covering every angle of this, starting with joe johns live at the white house this morning. Good morning, joe. Reporter good morning, john. The president back here at the white house after the long holiday break. His administration and congressional leaders now confronting many of the domestic issues they had to postpone in order to hit the road in december. However, it is the International Issues that have been dominating the president s twitter feed so far this year. President trump returning to washington with a large legislative to do list and a range of International Issues on his plate. Everybody is going to love whats happening with our country. Were taking this big, beautiful ship and were slowly turning it around. I would like to do it faster. Reporter mr. Trump weighing in multiple times over the holiday on the deadly antigovernment protests in iran. Saying that iran is failing at every level and calling for change after warning the u. S. Is watching very closely for human rights violations. Its not enough to watch. President trump is tweeting very sympathetically to the iranian people. You just cant tweet here. You have to lay out a plan. Reporter irans ambassador to the uk calling the tweets offensive in an instagram posting monday night. As for kim jonguns new years threat that the Nuclear Button is always hon his desk, President Trump saying only this. Well see. Well see. Reporter the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff warning that the u. S. Is closer to a nuclear war with north korea than ever before. I dont see the opportunities to solve this diplomatically at this particular point. Reporter the Trump Administrations relationship with pakistan also strained, heading into the new year. Mr. Trump accusing pakistan of lying and deceiving the United States in his first tweet of the year and again alleging that the countrys leaders have given safe haven to terrorists. We have been paying pakistan billions and billions of dollars. At the same time, they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting. Reporter National Security Council Spokesman later saying the u. S. Will continue to withhold 255 million of military aid from the country. Pakistan responding by summoning the u. S. Ambassador for a meeting and promising to respond shortly to let the world know the truth. All this as the administration confronts a number of legislative deadlines back here in the u. S. The first, a january 19th deadline to pass a spending bill and avert a Government Shutdown that could cost billions. One issue that will be front and center, protection for socalled d. R. E. A. M. Ers brought to the country illegally as children. The president insisting there will not be a deal on daca without funding for a wall, a nonstarter for democrats. Will you give anything to the president on border wall funding in order to get a daca deal done . Because he says its no. Reporter democrats have shown openness to work with the president on infrastructure issues, infrastructure, by the way, is likely to be part of the conversation when the president meets today with the labor secretary as well as the Vice President for lunch. Today, the press secretary holds the first News Conference in a couple of weeks, foreign polishes are expected to be front and center. Alisyn . Joe, thank you very much for that. Meanwhile, irans Supreme Leader is blaming the countrys enemies for stirring this unrest as the death toll continues to rise in the protest. Nick paton wal nick pat Nick Paton Walsh is there. Reporter above the presidency of iran as the countrys Supreme Leader was clear to blame, quote, the enemies waiting for an opportunity for a flaw through which they can enter, he said in a statement today, going on to blame those who have money for fomenting this unrest. I paraphrase. Iranian officials blame for fomenting these protests. The government of iran and the president Hassan Rouhani has expressed sympathy with these protesters, these unrests which sprang from nowhere some believe. Sadly the focus less being on how widespread geographically and numerous these protesters are and more on the increasing death toll. The rise from 12 to 21, the nine dead overnight, thats mostly focused on one area. Not widespread bloodshed, but a concern that were hearing stronger rhetoric from iran and Security Forces who perhaps now see the time to implement more traditional, oppressive measures that we certainly saw in the 2009 protests. The question really being, how do you negotiate calming down of protests that doesnt have a leadership, doesnt have a figure head you can talk to . Thats one major concern. The worlds eyes certainly on iran here, Foreign Policy having done very well in the past year or so. Domestically, though, this say real sign of the challenges they face. Alisyn, john . Thank you for setting that p up. Lets discuss it with john avlon and a. B. Stoddard. Great to have both of you. A. B. , interesting to hear how President Trump has decided to handle this and interesting to hear how people in prez president obamas National Security council coming out with support of President Trump tweeting that he stands with the im paraphrasing, but hes thinking of the iranian people here and how repressed theyve been. Right. I think its pretty much concluded, mostly privately but now publicly by many who were in the Obama Administration that president obamas efforts to Warm Communications with the regime to lay the groundwork for the Iran Nuclear Deal did not allow him, diminished his ability to take an opportunity with the revolution june of 2009 with those protesters, protest ing ahmadinejads election. Were at a point where theres obviously lots of criticism of the iran deal here. President trump is poised to perhaps withdraw from it early in this year and then, of course, in the streets of iran, the people are saying that the deal that president rouhani drew up with our government has failed to give them the Economic Relief that he sold it to do. And so it really is its an interesting moment that everyone is praising President Trumps response. But he has to follow through not only in sort of intervening with social media platforms and staying with these protests in order to take advantage of an opportunity. And you have senator Lindsey Graham and former ambassador to the u. N. John bolton saying its time for a regime change in iran. It gets complicated, clearly, john avlon. Its one thing to make the statements on twitter, which is further than president obama did, that is something, but what next here is complicated particularly when the Supreme Leader of iran is already out there saying these protests are backed by irans enemies, including the United States. Of course and thats the typical move. One reason that president obama was restrained, too restrained, is that if he played an active role on behalf of the protesters, their legitimacy would be undercut and they would be called puppets of the United States and that rhetoric. Were seeing that today. It is important to give courage, confidence, solidarity to folks in this environment. As Lindsey Graham pointed out, tweets are not enough. You need a plan of action. We do have a new statement from the president on twitter that came out literally seconds ago. The people of iran are finally acting against a brutal and corrupt iranian regime. All the money that president obama so foolishly gave them went into terrorism, and into their pockets. The people have little food, big inflation and no human rights. The United States is watching. Interesting, i think, on one level. To the extent theres strategy behind trumps tweets and the Foreign Policy ones there often are. Theyre trying to say that money in the deal ended up fueling a clubtocracy, meant to fuel between the protesters and the regime. The wording and the tone is different and the amount of information and background in there is different than when he, for instance, goes after, say, the media or Something Like that. So, whats the strategy . Whats the plan after these tweets . Well, thats the big question. I mean, he was tweeting about pakistan. Most people, democrat or republican, who have worked in administrations and dealt with that country that we are supposed to treat as an ally, have been very frustrated by that same relationship. Weve when would military aid from them before. That sounds like something he will follow through on. Its unclear what exactly hes going to do. He has a travel ban that blocks iranians from coming here. Social media platforms i mentioned because thats something that the Obama Administration did to an extent. If he really pushed that, that would be a powerful measure of support for the protesters and for sort of resistance to the regime there. And it would be very crippling for their efforts to crack this down. So its going to be its going to be something to watch in the days and weeks to come, especially what he does, whether or not he officially withdrawals from the iran deal is another big question. International events have a way of overwhelming a white house, and iran could become the issue of the month. But you have congress coming back over the next ten days. Yeah. A legislative agenda that includes just about everything. You know, what do you think will be the most complicated issue facing the white house and congress in the coming days . As you point out, American History is full of examples, president s whose domestic agendas are overwhelmed. That said, congress is coming. Nonoptional deadlines coming up, to stop a fix from a Government Shutdown january 19th. Over two weeks to do that. Then most urge enter, can they do a grand bargain on immigration that involves a fix for the d. R. E. A. M. Ers . Probably too much for democrats to up hold. In this new spirit of bipartisanship that Mitch Mcconnell and donald trump are talking about, given the fact that they need it with 51 republicans and 49 democrats is infrastructure reform. This is something that should be a great opportunity for both parties. Both parties support it. The president has unique credibility. Will democrats want to give the Trump Administration a win and whats the political cost to that . Thats the one that the president would be wisest to front load. Those are two good ones to watch, obviously, a. B. , as they unfold. Lets deal with daca, the d. R. E. A. M. Ers. Democrats wont pay for the wall. Republicans wont go along with protecting the d. R. E. A. M. Ers if you dont pay for the wall. Where does that leave everyone . Thats not entirely true. Thats the president s position. What he talked about with democrats months ago did not involve a wall. Then his new tweet over the holidays was demand for a wall. Immigration and lottery system and on and on, these sort of dealbreaking positions that are going to really throw more sort of gasoline on the fire of this already heated debate. I dont think it will be solved in january. I think they have until march 5th and it will be pushed off because its so contentious. Republicans have been work iingn many different measures. Langford and hatch, on their own working, some working with democrats. None of these involve a wall. They involve strict Border Security and visa reforms. The idea of a wall, when republicans in border states like texas and arizona support it and conservative fiscal hawks are mad about tax cuts and the steep debts theyre building up on their republican government watch, its really hard to imagine that thats going to be something that hes going to get funding for. But hes really thrown a huge wrench into what was already going to be a rollick iing january. Following a rollicking february. Unusual relationship with pakistan, thats next. I tried hard to quit smoking. But when we brought our daughter home, that was it. Now i have nicoderm cq. The nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release Technology Helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. Its the best thing that ever happened to me. Every great why needs a great how. When your stomach is all, oh yeah but your brain says, yeeeah. No. Well, no longer does watching what you eat mean being deprived of deliciousness. Introducing new roasted turkey and stuffing delights from marie callenders. Tender turkey in a white wine sauce with sweet potato and cranberry stuffing, all for only 260 calories. Because eating well calls for marie callenders® delights™. Just moments ago we got a new statement from President Trump about the protests in iran. He did so while slamming his predecessor, president obama. This is the statement. People of iran are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt iranian regime. All the money that president obama foolishly gave them went to terrorism and into their pockets. The people have little food, big inflation and no human rights. The u. S. Is watching. Joining us now, john kirby, cnn analyst, former Pentagon Press secretary, state Department Spokesperson during the Obama Administration. Admiral if, we can get your reaction from this new statement from President Trump that really does two, if not three things, expressing support for the protesters in iran, the second thing, critical once again of the Iran Nuclear Deal struck by the Obama Administration. Theres a lot there, john. Look, i agree with the president that we need to support the peaceful protests in iran. Its important for the United States to have a voice here, and not be afraid to come out in defense of peaceful protests and decry the violence against those protesting the regime. That said, i think its a mistake for him to try to conflate whats going on there with the iran deal itself. I cant speak for the protesters themselves and the degree to which they have a problem with the iran deal. President obama didnt foolishly give the iranians any money. Sanctions relief brought them to the table and it was sanctions relief they earned as a result of getting rid of nuclear capabilities. This wasnt money given to the iranians in any kind of fashion. By the way it wasnt just president obama at the negotiating table. It was five or six other parties as well. There may be some irony here, which may in some ways, you know, voice support for the nuclear deal. Maybe the president s right. And maybe the Iran Nuclear Deal is an impetus for these protests because president rouhani did promise that Economic Conditions would get better and theyre not. People are protesting because hes not delivering on what was promised. That part is true, john. Youre right. There seems to be some feeling by some of the protesters that theyve not seen the economic windfalls they were expecting to see as a result of that and that their country continues to foment terrorism around the world and foreign interventions that are not as popular back home with the demographic as i think the hardliners would have preferred them to be. Weve seen ayatollah khomeni come out to suggest that these protests are being fuel bid enemies of iran, outside agitators, as it were. Is there a risk that President Trump, his statements in some ways gives the regime a weapon here to act out against the protesters . Yeah. I think that yes, i think thats yes. And that was a concern i had yesterday when i saw him get so virulent in his tweets. Its important for us to come out and defend the protesters right to do this, do this safely and have a vote in human rights around the world. But i think he has been inserting us into the conversation probably in ways that have not been helpful. Now, that said, john, i mean, it was probably likely going to be the iranian regimes pursuit of a foreign enemy or interventionist as well to blame even without his tweet. I dont know that he caused it. He certainly is not helping to stem it. No. Todays statement may be more measured, using some more diplomatic type speech. If i can i want to get your reaction to other statements of the president , particularly on pakistan. Let me read you something that the president wrote on the new year about pakistan. United states has foolishly given pakistan 43 billion in aid and theyve given us nothing but lies and deceit. We hunt in afghanistan with little help. No more and, of course, the white house has been leaking that perhaps the white house would withhold some foreign aid funding going to pakistan. This, after the president suggested there was a whole new positive relationship with pakistan in the fall. Where do you see things . Hes not wrong to complain about this and hes not wrong to want to take action. Its not the first time an administration has when would aid in funding for their failure to shut down these safe havens and go after terrorist groups on their side of the border. President obama did that himself as well. This is the government, pakistan, that is playing a bit of a double game. They are fine in terms of supporting terrorists that will go after afghan and u. S. Interests on the afghan side of the border. They want assistance and aid to go after the terrorist networks on the pakistan side of the border targeting their own government. This is a government that is largely controlled by a military and a military that has a huge stake in the intelligence service, isi, which actually supports groups like the network. We should take a look and hold aid and assistance contingent to their cooperation on shared mutual interest which theyve not proven willing to do. Pakistan is an complicated ally. In the past has been a necessary ally in the battle against terrorism. How far can the u. S. Push here . I mean, how much will pakistan be willing to take . Theyve already summoned the u. S. Ambassador. Theres a political game that is frequently played out. Im not too worried about that. My concern here again, i dont have any concern about the president holding aid and assistance. He as on good ground there. We need to make sure we find a way to manage through this relationship. That sounds polyannaish. And pakistan hasnt held up their end. While we have to withhold aid to hold them accountable for that, we need each other. There are shared interests and threats on that spine between afghanistan and pakistan and we need to both Work Together to try to solve those problems. The other thing we need to be mindful of is that pakistan really considers china their best friend. Not the United States. Theyve long ago given up on thinking of us as a reliable partner in a tangible sense. They see china as their best friend. China has interest in that region. Its not our best interest for china to come in, be seen as the savior of pakistan. If i could ask you one question about the koreas, south korea has proposed a meeting with north korea after kim jonguns new years statement saying they can produce mass Nuclear Weapons but also that he said he wants to send athletes to the winter olympics. The u. S. Feels emboldened, encouraged, theyre holding out this fig leaf they feel theyve got a program thats farther advanced than ever before. Kim jongun is feeling confidence here. That said, we need to continue the International Pressure campaign to try to get him to change that behavior. That said, i think this could be a welcome and open and solid opening here. And i think southa has come out and said theyve supported this. To the degree that dialogue can be fostered even if it is over Something Like the olympics and sending a delegation to a sporting event thats generally helpful acres move in the right direction. Thats what the olympics have always been about, to some degree. Yes. General john kirby, thank you very much. Thank you. Congress is approaching a showdown over d. R. E. A. M. Ers with President Trump saying a deal hinges on the funding of his signature border wall. Does it . We debate that, next. Feast your eyes on new banquet mega bowls, and youre looking at a mouthful. Piled high with good eats, like creamy mashed potatoes, corn, and shredded cheese under a savory blanket of homestyle gravy. You might think its over, but its not. Because we rounded up crispy hunks of all white meat chicken, fried em countrylike and loaded them on top for an impressive 19 grams of protein. Now thats mega. One of the top agenda items for the new year is the program known as daca, granting legal status for undocumented immigrants brought here as children. That Program Expires march 5th. Democrats want to protect the d. R. E. A. M. Ers but President Trump says he will not agree to that without funding his border wall. Ana navarro and ben ferguson join us. Happy new year to you. Happy new year. Ben, when was this border wall part of this agreement . Thats not what nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer say they agree to. Look, im sure they say they agreed to something very different, very favorable to what they want to accomplish. Its also clear that nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer have always been against Border Security. When they came to meet with the president , they say the border wall wasnt mentioned. Ill read you the statement put out on october 8th. We told the president at our meeting we were open to reasonable Border Security measures alongside the d. R. E. A. M. Act. This list that the president put out after that goes so far beyond what is reasonable, fails any attempt at compromise, the wall, which was explicitly ruled out of the negotiations. So whats changed . Look, first of all, theyre in the minority party. This is part of negotiations. For them to come out and to say that theyre not going to do anything on certain issues when it deals with National Security and Border Security, i think, is also part of the game. This is part of, you know, the negotiations that are happening and theyre playing out in public, which i guess is good for transparency. But everything is on the table right now. The president clearly ran on and said we are going to have a secure border. Its one of the big reasons why he got elected, one of the big things that made his campaign get grounding and footing around the country. There are an awful lot of people in this country in favor of helping out d. R. E. A. M. Ers. Im one of them. I also want to make sure that when we do allow people to stay in this country brought here by a young age, none of their doing, by the way, their parents brought them here illegally, that we dont have to deal with this same issue 15, 20 years from now. Its vitally important. It should be on the table. Lets be clear. Border security is one of the main reasons were having this conversation about illegal immigration, including the d. R. E. A. M. Ers. And kids are being brought across the border because we have a porous border. Is this going to work . It depends how you approach this negotiation. Do you come at it as a place of yes or no . How do you define the wall . Great wall of china, kingdom of the north wall . Is it made out of legos . Is it a virtual wall . Secretary john kelly was then getting confirmed for then secretary of homeland security. He talked about how a wall could be a virtual wall. It doesnt need to be brick and mortar and big, beautiful wall. There are parts of the border which require a wall. There are parts of it which not. I think the democrats and republicans have to come at this from a place of yes. They have to come at this, looking at this creatively. How do we get to a negotiation, a deal that passes muster . The bottom line is this. That east of got a deadline. If you hear them talk, the Republican Leadership wants to do this. Mitch mcconnell wants to do this. Donald trump is in the negotiating mood and the democrats want to do it. So top jerking around, using immigration as a pawn. Stop using these kids as a pawn and get it done. Because every day that goes by, over 1,000 kids lose their status. Here is the thing. Quickly. I dont think that youre using kids as a pawn when the reality is we have a problem with the border. But theyre losing their status every day. When they were brought here through no choice of their own then how arent they a political football . Ive been dealing with this issue for decades and let me tell you something, both parties have used immigration as a wedge issue, both parties have used immigration as a pawn in political games. I understand your point completely, ana. Here is the bottom line. If you want to have both parties stop using this as a game or as a pawn, then clear ly reform on the border with security. Because if you dont, youre always going to have an issue of illegal immigration and children brought here against their will. At some point if you actually want to do something for these d. R. E. A. M. Ers, if you want to have legal status in this country mean something, if you want to make sure that you have other people that are not brought here and abused and hiding in the shadows and you want to allow them to come out of the shadows and live as american citizens, youre going to have to have a secure border to accomplish that. Without a secure border, we will never fix that problem and people will always be living in the shadows. I know thats your point and thats what President Trump has said is his starting point. However, part of why this seems so confusing is because President Trumps position has seemed confused or at least he has seemed ambivalent about what to do with the d. R. E. A. M. Ers. Let me remind people of some of what he has said. D krachlt a situation is a very difficult thing for me because, you know, i love these kids. I love kids. Should d. R. E. A. M. Ers be worried . We love the d. R. E. A. M. Ers. We love everybody. I want d. R. E. A. M. Ers to come from the United States. Anybody who illegally crosses the border will be detained until they are removed out of our country and back to the country from which they came. They shouldnt be very worried. They are here illegally. They shouldnt be very worried. I do have a big heart. They shouldnt be worried. They are here illegally. They shouldnt be worried. I have a big heart. Hes all over the map in terms of how he feels about this. I think hes genuinely torn about this. Hes a hardliner on immigration, made all these promises on the wall, et cetera, et cetera. On the other hand, the practical reality is these kids are living amongst us. They are working with us. They are our colleagues, our childrens friends. They are in our schools. Im sure that he first of all, he has met with d. R. E. A. M. Ers and made them compromises during the campaign. They are a very compelling story. Im saying over and over again, there are over 800,000 young people whose lives are in limbo right now, having a bad new year. Only in america, only in washington and this dysfunctional, paralyzed government can everybody want a solution and not reach one. Thats right. So i would be if i were a d. R. E. A. M. Act kid i would be sleepless and very worried because you can never count out the dysfunction of government. Theyve got to get something done and do it quick. Ana, one thing i think people need to understand, when you listen to what the president just said there and what you just played, its very clear hes talking about adults that he says will be deported. Hes always been compassionate and consistent towards d. R. E. A. M. Ers. Hes not talking about the children. Thats the reason why there doesnt need to be as much fear mongering. The president has been consistent. He wants there to be a pathway for d. R. E. A. M. Ers to stay in this country, people brought here no decision of their own, lived the majority of their life here who are lawabiding citizens. He has been extremely clear if, youre a grown adult, coming across the border illegally, were going to deport you and making it he has not said d. R. E. A. M. Ers, i will ensure your protections. What he is saying hold on, ben if i get my wall. Thats a big difference. Right. And, again, if you want to have reform, theres no way to have true, genuine reform and allow people to come out of the shadows and allow people not to have to worry unless you have an end date on this open border problem we have in this country. As ana said, is a virtual wall, a digital wall, are those okay . Would those be okay with conservatives . I think the reality is that theyre saying what you want and then theres get iting what you actually are okay with. And i think what you can see here say compromise where maybe you dont have a wall across the entire border, where you do have a virtual wall in some areas but clearly there are hundreds of miles of the border that need an actual and physical wall. Until we get that, we will never be done with this issue and there will not be closure for anyone involved because you still have people coming in across the border every day. Ana, would democrats agree to paying for hundreds of miles of an actual concrete wall if they had to . I dont know what theyre going to agree with. I dont know if it will be 100 miles. I think they will have some miles of wall so he can stand in front of it and make a campaign ad for 2020. Certainly give the man that. There will have to be a wall component. We cant get stuck on the semantics and symbolism of a wall versus not a wall when there are so many lives hanging in the balance. People have to get creative. Think outside the wall. Think outside the box. Not every wall is a wall is a wall. I like those semantics. Well see what a wall means in 2018. Ana, ben, thank you very much. John . Same brutal cold for most of the country. When will we see some relief . Thats next. I tried hard to quit smoking. But when we brought our daughter home, that was it. Now i have nicoderm cq. The nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release Technology Helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. Its the best thing that ever happened to me. Every great why needs a great how. This is frank. Sup this is franks favorite record. This is franks dog. And this is franks record shop. Frank knowns northern soul, but how to set up a limited liability company. Whats that mean . Not so much. So he turned to his friends at legalzoom. Yup they hooked me up. We helped with his llc, contracts, and some other stuff thats part of running a business. So frank can focus on the beat. You hear that . This is franks record shop. And this is where life meets legal. Looking for a hotel that fits. Whoooo. Your budget . Tripadvisor now searches over. 200 sites to find you the. Hotel you want at the lowest price. Grazi, gino find a price that fits. Tripadvisor. You know whats not awesome . Gigspeed internet. When only certain people can get it. Lets fix that. Lets give this guy gig really . And these kids, and these guys, him, ah. Oh hello. That lady, these houses yes, yes and yes. And dont forget about them. Uh huh, sure. Still yes xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. Now you can get it, too. Welcome to the party. We are following breaking news here in new york city. Sixalarm fire breaking out in an Apartment Building in the bronx. Most injuries not believed to be life threatening. This is a new fire happening on the heels of last weeks deadly inferno at a different Apartment Building in the bronx. 12 people died in that blaze. U. S. Customs says its Processing Systems are back up and running after a twohour outage caused massive delays at the nations airports. There were long lines and very little guidance given for passengers returning home who needed to show their passport and clear customs. The agency says the outage was not malicious in nature. Californians lining up monday to legally buy Recreational Marijuana for the first time, newly licensed store owners stocking up for huge demand. They were not disappointed. Increase in sales of some 30 overnight with an expected 50 to 60 jump over time. California is the sixth state to legalize the sale of Recreational Marijuana. The me too movement enters a new phase. 1,000 powerful women in entertainment, including oprah winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and meryl streep launching a plan to combat Sexual Harassment across Many Industries called times up, raising close to 14 million for Legal Support for women and men who have experienced Sexual Harassment in the workplace. 15 million viewers, star is apologizing after he posted disturbing video called we found a dead body in japans suicide forest, showing a body hanging from a tree in what is said to be a suicide. He posted an apology and said he was, quote, misguided by shock and awe. It sparked outrage on the internet. A lot of people commenting called it sickening and disgusting. Sometimes self policing on the internet doesnt work. Misguided by whom . He has no one but himself to blame. Meanwhile lets talk about how cold it is. Very. Much of the country in the grips of a deep freeze. How long will it last . Jennifer gray has our forecast. What is the answer, jennifer . It is freezing, literally, across the country. Temperatures are well below normal. 15 degrees below normal on the east coast. Once you get to the upper m midwest, 15 to 20 degrees below normal. As we go through the day today, we are going to see temperatures warm just a little bit. But not much at all. This Weather Report is brought to you by purina, your pet, our passion. Windchill threat stretching from north dakota all the way down to central florida. Here is why. Windchills this is what it feels like this morning. Teens and 20s all the way down to florida. 10 and 20 below zero up in the dakotas. We are talking about a deep freeze gripping all of the country, feeling like only two degrees in new york. Its not over. We do have this winter storm thats going to develop later in the week. We already have storm watches in effect for the low country. And this is going to continue up the coast. Here is wednesday. Wintry mix for the carolinas and then up into new england by the time we get into thursday. We could look at the first noreaster of 2018, john. It has barely broken 10 for like a week and a half. I was in vermont. When we woke up yesterday it was minus 14. Not how it feels. That was the real temperature, minus 14. And its a dry heat. Dry heat, thank goodness. President trump hitting the links with a couple of golf pros near maralago. Whats it like to play a round with the president . We got the funk, when we come back. vo dogs have evolved, but their nutritional needs remain instinctual. Thats why theres purina one true instinct. Nutrientdense, proteinrich, real meat number one. This is a different breed of natural nutrition. Purina one, true instinct. Since taking office President Trump has spent 92 days on one of his trump golf courses. What that is it like to hit the links with the president . Father and son, pga golfers, gentlemen, thank you for being with us. Hes the president of the United States. He loves to golf. We know that. What is it like to golf with the president . What does one talk about when golfing with President Trump . He asked a lot about tiger, and talked about who he has been playing with recently on the golf course with numerous guys he has played with on the pga tour, how far they hit it and where they hit it, and talked by game and my history and my sons game, pretty impressed with how taylor played . How was the president s game . It was good. I was really surprised. How did the back 9 do . Got a little tired. By the way, you are at risk of an audit by the irs for saying that. I would be careful. Just kidding. Continue. He played well. I was very surprised. He shot even on the front and played decent on the back, too. Hes definitely a lot better than i thought he was going to be. He was a good player, a lot of fun to play with and very engaging and really i dont have a bad thing to say about our round. It was amazing. He asked you about tiger woods and jack nichols. Are you allowed to ask questions to the president while you are golfing . Oh, yeah, it was wide open. We could ask anything, how he was doing in the political world and what its like. I asked him how his day was, and he doesnt seem to sleep much, and pretty much you could ask anything you wanted. We asked him interesting questions and had interesting answers. Can you share some of the interesting answers about his day and life . More than anything, it was just the amount of time dealing with all the issues around the world, and its an allday deal, and he wakes up and reads the Media Coverage and then goes to work and has meeting after meeting and just dealing with all of the issues. To me, its overwhelming. I dont know how he does it. I dont know how anybody would be president of the United States and deal with all the worlds problems and how it affects our country, and he said he loves it. He said he loves the aspect of being the president , and all the pressures that go along with it. You truly could tell how much he loves our country and enjoys the position he is. Was it all about golf or did he have to take phone calls or do any briefings or anything . No, it was all golf. He was fully in the moment and with us and we played with two other guys, and he was great with them, too. You know, i feel like whatever hes doing he will do it 100 at that time and he wanted to play good golf and we wanted to watch him play good golf, and it was a lot of fun and he did actually play good golf and was getting excited making putts, and we had two other guys, and it was President Trump and my dad, and we won. Once again, the irs is still calling, so be careful. Fred, when he was talking about his job and how much time he commits to certain things and how much he loves it and the country, did he speak glowingly and tell you how much he loves the press . No, we didnt really deal with that too much. It kept a pretty light it was more about golf, more about just getting away from it and escaping the pressures hes under, and yet he was looking forward to getting on the airplane and back to d. C. Taylor, did he play for money . Gambling involves . No gambling involves. Number two, does he cheat . He does not, no. He played so good, i mean, he didnt even half to and i dont think he would anyways. It was a lot of fun. You dont need to play for money when you are playing with the president , and its enough pressure in itself. And i heard he was the best golfing president we ever had. What does that mean . Every president , except for carter and one other, they golf. You have been invited back . Will you play with him again . It was not talked about yesterday but i think he had a really good time, we all had a great time. What is really neat is when a guy in his position that loves golf and has all of these golf courses and with what he is cape blg capable of doing, and he owns a lot of golf courses, and they are in topnotch shape, and he takes pride in that and something hes proud of. Hes proud of every property, because he talks about a lot of the properties he has. It was a lot of fun. The whole day. We had breakfast with him, and went to the range and played and then had a quick lunch, and then he was off to get back to d. C. Thats so great. Thank you for sharing it with us. One last question, was it weird to play around the secret service . Did you feel people staring and standing around you . Do you want to take that one. You talked to them more. It was amazing. It was a welloiled machine. There was a lot of them out there, couldnt tell us exactly how many, two holds ahead and two holes behind and probably some in trees, and they were ready if they needed to be. A firework went on on new years day and within seconds all the rifles were ready to go. Its Pretty Amazing just to see their intensity. Some of these guys jobs is to look in trees all day. I couldnt do that, but it was Pretty Amazing. What an experience. Guys, thank you. Fred, taylor, thank you both so much for sharing your experience with us. Great to talk to you. Thank you. Happy new year. You, too. We are following a lot of news this morning so lets get right to it. We are witnessing iranians that want regime change. The government has been cracking down on these demonstrations. We just dont have the kind of leverage to direct and shape what is happening in the streets of iran. Were actually closer to a nuclear war with north korea than we have ever been. Kim jongun threatening the u. S. And extending a rare olive branch to south korea. He should build on successes to finally bring north korea to the table. The president has a big domestic agenda planned for 2018. The budget will have to be dealt with. We have Border Security and marry that up with the d. R. E. A. M. Act. Welcome to your new day. Its tuesday, january 2nd. 8 00 in the east. Chris is off and john berman is here. We were up until 10 00 to ring in the new year. Wow, pop the champagne, everybody. We have a lot of news to get to, so lets get to it. President trump tweeting his support for the iranian people while declaring its time for change in tehran. Irans Supreme Leader blaming the up rising on their, quote, enemies, and what does it mean for the Iran Nuclear Deal. Immigration, just a few legislative challenges for the white house. Will the president get